This is a story that just supports the way that we live as a society and it is not just about quitting smoking but also about drinking, losing weight, doing drugs and buying new cars. The fact is that when people that we are around and share values with make a change in their lives then we do too.

You may have heard sometime in the past that if you want to make more money then hang around people that make more money. The same is true if you want to get in shape, hang out with people that are in shape. We all pick up on the habits of those around us and reading about the following study helps us to understand that changes do in fact come in a large part due to those around us.

A team of researchers who showed that obesity can spread person-to-person has found a similar pattern with smoking cessation: A smoker is more likely to kick the habit if a spouse, friend, co-worker or sibling did.

What’s more, smokers tend to quit in groups, and those who don’t stop puffing increasingly find themselves pushed to the edge of their social circles, the researchers found. Read the rest of this entry »

Looking to make a change and lose some weight? I have reviewed the top diet on the internet and you can go and read over 200 comments people have made about why this diet has worked well for them, as well as some of the problems.

Tags: alcoholism, California, co-worker, Harvard Medical School, infectious disease, James Fowler, Jennifer Unger, large social network, lead author, medical sociologist, National Institute on Aging, New England Journal of Medicine, Nicholas Christakis, obesity, San Diego, social network, University of California, University of Southern California

What if your mind’s eye could take you to a place so peaceful that the experience eased your pain or sped your recovery from surgery? It’s not such a far-fetched concept. In fact there are many studies that show that guided imagery can be good in many parts of your life.

“Guided imagery,” a type of mind-body therapy that uses visualized images to communicate to the housekeeping systems of the body, is making its way into traditional medical settings.

“People are just now taking a very serious look at it,” said David E. Bresler, co-founder of the Academy for Guided Imagery, in Malibu, Calif., and author of the book Free Yourself From Pain. “There are a handful of hospitals around the country and around the world that are starting to implement these programs,” he said.

In one study, researchers at Harvard Medical School found that more than 30 percent of U.S. adults have used some form of mind-body medicine, a category that includes imagery, according to the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine.

Bresler, a traditionally trained Ph.D. neuroscientist, first became intrigued with alternative methods of pain relief in the early 1970s, as founder and director of the University of California, Los Angeles, Pain Control Unit. Patients often used vivid images to describe their pain. It felt like an ice pick to one person, fire ants to another. One particular patient, a psychiatrist with a painful rectal carcinoma, suffered low back pain that he said “felt like a dog chewing on my spine.”

Bresler knew that when patients used their imagination to go to a peaceful place, it helped them to relax, so he guided the agitated psychiatrist through a relaxation exercise. When the man’s pain flared up, Bresler instructed him to speak to the dog. Would it let go of his spine? Then, an astonishing thing happened — when the dog let go to talk, the man’s pain subsided.

Today, guided imagery has numerous applications. Sports psychologists use it to enhance athletes’ physical performance. Cancer centers often use it to relieve patients’ pain and nausea.

In a 2004 study in the journal Pain, researchers at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center found that children who used guided-imagery tapes before and after routine surgery had significantly less pain and anxiety than a control group. More recently, researchers examined how children used these tapes, which suggested that they “go” to a park, at least in their mind. Many, though, put their own spin on the proposed image, allowing them to escape to places like a swimming pool, a lake or an amusement park.
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Tags: Academy for Guided Imagery, agitated psychiatrist, Author, California, cancer, carcinoma, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, co-founder, Complementary Medicine, David E. Bresler, fatigue, fibromyalgia, Florida International University's School of Nursing, founder and director, Guided imagery, Harvard Medical School, imagery, imagery researcher and professor, involving chronic, Los Angeles, low back pain, Malibu, Miami, National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, nausea, pain, Pain Control Unit, psychiatrist, relaxation, Sports psychologists, surgery, Swimming, United States, University of California, Victoria Menzies

Mom’s dieting habits can have a bad influence on the children. Some research indicates youngsters learn attitudes about dieting through observation. For some youngsters, that might mean an unhealthy fixation on body image, experts warn.

“It’s like trying on Mom’s high heels. They’re trying on their diets, too,” said Carolyn Costin, spokeswoman for the National Eating Disorder Association.

As obesity rates climb among children, health officials are warning parents about the dangers of junk food and lack of exercise. Yet few speak about parents who meticulously count every calorie that crosses their lips.

That type of obsession can be just as destructive and eventually teaches kids to weigh their self-worth on the scale, said Christine Gerbstadt, spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association.

While fathers also play a crucial a role in shaping children’s attitudes about food, research has focused primarily on women and their daughters, since females are more likely to diet and worry about body image.

One study published this year by researchers at Harvard Medical School found that frequent dieting by mothers was associated with frequent dieting by their adolescent daughters. The study also found that girls with mothers who had weight concerns were more likely to develop anxieties about their own bodies.

A study in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association found that 5-year-old girls whose mothers dieted were twice as likely to be aware of dieting and weight-loss strategies as girls whose mothers didn’t diet.

“If their mothers diet, it’s a marker of how important weight is in the household,” said Alison Field, lead author of the Harvard study and an assistant professor of pediatrics.

Even small cues _ such as making self-deprecating remarks about bulging thighs or squealing in delight over a few lost pounds _ can send the message that thinness is to be prized above all else, Field said.

“Parents, especially moms, need to understand kids watch and hear things at an early age and are like little sponges,” Costin said.

Walking the line between encouraging healthy habits and not making an issue of weight can be tough, especially with parents already bearing the blame for rising obesity rates among children.

The best strategy is to lead by example, Costin said: If a fad diet isn’t right for the child, what makes it right for the parent?

One Albany mom, Donna Choiniere, does just that. She threw dieting out the window long ago and has made fitness a part of family life. The 52-year-old runs marathons, and her 15-year-old daughter, Katelyn, is on the track team.

She tries not to keep heavy-duty junk food in the house, but does not make a big deal about it, and is OK with things like pretzels and popcorn.

On the Net:

American Dietetic Association, http://www.eatright.org

Tags: Alison Field, American Dietetic Association, Carolyn Costin, Christine Gerbstadt, Donna Choiniere, food, Harvard, Harvard Medical School, heavy-duty junk food, junk food, Katelyn, lead author, National Eating Disorder Association, obesity, professor of pediatrics, spokeswoman

Over the last few years tattoos have become more and move common. I should know as I have no tattoos but my wife has several and is right now planning to get another with an integration of our two kids names in this one. This new tattoo started me thinking about how people usually go through the process of getting a tattoo and all of the sterilization methods and the importance of safety in a tattoo parlor.

First of all there is a real sense of menace that permeates most tattoo parlors. The staff are covered in tattoos and the customers tend to be the same. Tattoos are still a bit of an anti establishment type of attitude so the first time customer can sometimes feel a little intimidated to ask safety questions, please don’t.

The industry is regulated by state and local officials, but not the FDA, and there is no such thing as an agency-approved tattoo pigment or ink. The FDA is considering more involvement, said Dr. Linda Katz, director of agency’s Office of Cosmetics and Colors.
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Tags: antibacterial solution, director of agency, Environmental Protection Agency, fda, Harvard Medical School, hepatitis, Linda Katz, materials, Office of Cosmetics and Colors, R. Rox Anderson, surgical sterilizer, tattoo artist, telephone survey, tuberculosis

I think most people reading this weblog know that I am a pretty big fan of meditation and because of this I tend to find and post articles about meditation more than I should. I found this article at Psychology today and thought I would post it in its entirety.

In the highlands of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, people look at life differently. Upon entering the local Buddhist monastery, there is a spectacular sculpture the size of a large oak. The intricate carving of clouds and patterns are painted in powerful colors. But as soon as winter gives way, this magnificent work will melt to nothing. The sculpture, in fact, is made of butter, and it is one of the highland people’s symbols of the transient nature of life.

And life here is not easy. Villagers bicycle to work before dawn and return home long after sunset. Many live with nothing more than dirt floors and rickety outhouses. Upon entering these modest mud-brick homes, you’ll find no tables or chairs — just a long platform bed, which sleeps a family of eight. However, when the people invite you in for tea, their smiles are wide and welcoming. How do they possess such inner calm in conditions we would call less than ideal?

When villagers cook, sew or plow the fields, they do so in a tranquil state. As an approach to life, weaving meditation seamlessly into almost every action throughout the day seems unfamiliar to Western cultures. Is there something we can glean from this way of life that will improve our own? The romantic notion of quitting everything and joining Tibetan monks on a mountaintop is not the only way to meditate. You don’t need to quit your job, give up your possessions and spend 30 years chanting. Recent research indicates that meditating brings about dramatic effects in as little as a 10-minute session. Several studies have demonstrated that subjects who meditated for a short time showed increased alpha waves (the relaxed brain waves) and decreased anxiety and depression.
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Tags: alpha waves, atherosclerosis, brain meditation, California, cancer, cardiovascular disease, Chicago, clinical psychologist, depression, Diana Adile Kirschner, energy, Fairfield, fight disease, Harvard Medical School, heart attack, heart disease, Herbert Benson, infertility, Iowa, Irvine, Mark Epstein, meditation, Monterey Park, MRI technology, New York City, pain, Philadelphia, psychiatrist, psychologist, Psychotherapy, Qinghai, Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, Rob Nairn, Roger Thomson, School of Management, Steven Hendlin, the American Journal of Psychotherapy, tibetan monks, welcome tool