Improving your posture can help improve your mental state. Though studies are few, there does seem to be a link between how you carry yourself physically and how you feel emotionally. If you spend your days hunched over, your shoulders pulled forward, and your head hanging down, you might want to consider improving your posture. It’s not a cure-all, but it can help change your frame of mind. At the very least, you’ll look better — which can pay social, physical, and financial dividends.
Look Skinnier, Taller
In one study, researchers found that women who stood up straight looked younger and more attractive then their slumping counterparts. Subjects in the study thought that a 125 pound model with good posture looked thinner then a 105 pound model with bad posture.
Meanwhile, men with poor posture can look taller and more confident simply by learning how to carry themselves properly. It’s no secret that taller men are more likely to be promoted, or that shorter police officers are more likely to meet with resistant suspects. People respect height, and walking tall is an easy way of adding an inch to your frame.
Use it or lose it
You might also want to keep the following in mind: men and women who fail to improve their posture are at risk of losing inches later in life. Good posture can help prevent you from growing shorter in your golden years.
How can you improve your posture? You’ve got a few options at your disposal. Yoga, pilates, stretching, or lifting weights will all do the trick. You might also want to consider meeting with an Alexander Technique practitioner, who can give you some one-on-one advice for getting your body back in order.
Posture is an essential, though sometimes neglected, aspect of our personal health. Better posture can lead to better health over all, so it’s important not to ignore it.
According to the American Academy of Family Physicians, up to twenty percent of people suffer from seasonal affective disorder, also known as SAD, with about six percent of cases being severe. I’ll caution that the exact numbers are currently unknown, and that the numbers of cases for winter depression vary depending on how rigorous the study was and where the study was taken. Canadians, for example, are much more likely to be diagnosed with the condition than are Americans. What we know for certain is that SAD is a very real and common condition, and that it makes the winter season a miserable one for millions of people.
SAD Symptoms
Not everyone experiences SAD in the same way. Some symptoms are more pronounced in certain sufferers than they are in others. Personal genetics and environmental factors play a role in shaping how people experience seasonal affective disorder. With that out of the way, the following list of symptoms will give you an idea of some of the things SAD sufferers might experience:
- Unwanted weight gain
- Constant fatigue
- Lethargy
- Feeling irritated
- Carbohydrate cravings
- Decreased interest in sex
- Mood swings
- Feelings of apathy and depression
Cybersex Bums You Out
Filed Under Personal Stories, Relating to People, Uncategorized | Oct 31, MDT 10:43 am
A recent Australian study from the Swinburne University of Technology reveals that the more time a man spends online looking for sexual thrills, the more likely he is to suffer from poor mental health. In a survey of 1325 Australian and American men, doctoral student Marcus Squirrel found that 27 percent of the men surveyed were moderately depressed, 30 percent had high levels of anxiety, and 35 percent were moderately to severely stressed. Those numbers were directly related to the amount of time the men spent on sex sites.
That’s not to say that cybersex is in itself a bad thing, however an excessive amount of online sexual activity can be a sign of deeper personal problems. It’s important for people to be aware of what motivates them to do the things they do. Sometimes, our hobbies are actually forms of self-medication, subconscious efforts on our part to bring balance back to our lives.
Cybersex itself is a snack, it’s not a meal. People who spend more time on cybersex than the actual kind are a bit like people who spend more time eating junk food then real meals. They’re trading real calories for the empty variety. Instead of eating a healthy dinner, they’re muching on cheatos and drinking cola. After awhile, their health will take a hit.
In the end, it’s about moderation and self-control. Cybersex itself isn’t a determinant of poor health — the majority of the men surveyed were healthy, and many of the men who spent a lot of time engaging in cybersex didn’t suffer from depression. However, on average, the more time that was spent on sex sites, the more likely the person had problems of some kind. This knowledge should encourage people who do frequent sex sites to examine their habits and find out if they’re approaching them in a way that adds to their life or in a way that masks their unhappiness. Put differently, they need to make sure that they treat cybersex like a snack and not a meal replacement.
Dealing with Depression, A few personal stories
Filed Under Personal Stories, Round-ups | Oct 29, MDT 12:13 pm
When you’re suffering through a depression, you often find yourself cut off from the rest of the world. It’s difficult to relate to people who don’t understand what you’re going through. For this reason, it’s important to seek out and learn from the experiences of people who have gone through similar trials as yours — otherwise, you risk becoming increasingly alienated from society. The more you understand how common your problems are, the more confident you’ll feel that they can be overcome.
Today, I’d like to point you towards the stories of people who’ve struggled with mental health problems. These individuals have seen the pit of despair and lived to talk about it. Some have overcome their problems, others are simply managing them.
Stories of Depression
Gayathri Ramprasad, spent a decade tackling suicidal thoughts, hospital visits, and electro-shock therapy before she found peace and became an international advocate for mental health.
The story of Y. Euny Hong doesn’t end on as positive a note as Ramprasad’s. Her struggles with being bipolar were complicated by the fact that her husband was also bipolar. Their marriage didn’t last.
Over in Afghanistan, Sher Mohammed has been chained to a tree for a month as part of a treatment for his illness. His story provides an example of how culture filters the way we approach mental health. The more we appreciate this fact, the more flexibility we’ll have when dealing with mental illness.
In Vietnam, Mai Huong Day Psychiatric Hospital is the only hospital in the country to provide outpatient psychiatric care. Their doctors struggle with the lack of awareness that people have of mental illness, a problem that also exists in the West. Some issues seem to be universal.
Students at the University of California, San Francisco share their own struggles with depression during a panel titled “Living With Depression“. A recurring theme during the panel was how important it was for people to come forward about their problem. Living with depression is easier if you don’t try to tackle it all by yourself.
The british TV personality Fern Britton discusses her struggles with post-partum depression. Her story highlights how people from all walks of life can fall victim to mental illness.
Next comes the story of Nicola Leggat. She’s a talented singer living with bipolar disorder. She’s come a long way since her early manic episodes, where she felt disconnected from the world. Her story is one of triumph over adversity, of moving forward and wresting control over her life away from her condition.
Finally, we hit on the story of Lynn Johnson, who fell into a deep depression after the death of her daughter. This depression spiralled out of control, until Johnson was left homeless. She turned to professionals for help, and managed to build a new life for herself.
One of the recurring themes from all these stories, the good ones and the bad ones, is that recovery came after turning to other people for help. That’s not to say that it’s impossible to pull yoursef out of your misery, but you are more likely to succeed with a helping hand.
Why do depressed people wake up exhausted?
Filed Under Improve your sleep, Media, Overcome Depression | Oct 27, MDT 12:21 pm
This little video addresses an important issue — why do people who suffer from depression often wake up feeling exhausted? The answer that this video advances is rather interesting. It turns out that depressed people dream more intensely and have longer periods of REM sleep then people who aren’t depressed. Expectation fulfillment theory helps explain why the depressed spend more time dreaming.
Dreams, according to this theory, help people act out undischarged emotions. The more emotions we haven’t acted on, the more intensely we dream. Eventually, if we’re not careful, we end up with a backlog of unresolved emotions that our subconscious simply can’t cope with. We wake up feeling tired because our minds have spent a good chunk of the night trying to resolve issues we didn’t take care of during the day.
That of course, is my spin on the subject. I haven’t read the book yet, but I find the ideas discussed in the video fascinating, and I look forward to learning more about them.
- The Power of Posture
- Beating Seasonal Affective Disorder
- Cybersex Bums You Out
- Dealing with Depression, A few personal stories
- Why do depressed people wake up exhausted?
- What is Depression? A Brief Introduction
- Tales of Mere Existence
- Stress Round-Up
- Women who smoke are at greater risk of becoming depressed
- Ten Illusion Clips
genes exercise Treatments and Therapies for Better Health evolutionary psychology epigenetics childhood abuse genetics lithium anti-depressants studies mania buddhism friendships videos relationships misanthropy SLC6A4 misery pharmacogenetics depression citalopram drugs FKBP5 celexa emotional vampires