Celebrate Life · Fun

On This Day In History February 28th

Have a great day! Thanks for reading and following my blog. I appreciate you. M

 

‘MAS*H’ finale airs to record-smashing ratings. 1983

Nearly 106 million viewers, or 77 percent of the American TV-watching public, tune in to the last episode of the beloved series ‘MAS*H.’ After 11 seasons, the television show about a US Army medical unit serving in the Korean War lasted longer than the war itself.

Watson and Crick reveal DNA discovery  1953

Cambridge University scientists James Watson and Francis Crick announce that they’ve uncovered the double-helix structure of the DNA molecule, helping to unlock the genetic code of humans and other living things. Their breakthrough drew on the pioneering work by their former colleague, Rosalind Franklin, who had produced X-ray diffraction images of DNA, but Franklin’s contribution to the discovery of the DNA double helix will go largely unrecognized during her lifetime.

Getty Museum endowed  1982

On February 28, 1982, the J. Paul Getty Museum becomes the most richly endowed museum on earth when it receives a $1.2 billion bequest left to it by the late J. Paul Getty. The American oil billionaire died in 1976, but legal wrangling over his fortune by his children and ex-wives kept his will in probate until 1982. During those six years, what was a originally a $700 million bequest to the museum nearly doubled. By 2000, the endowment was worth $5 billion–even after the trust spent nearly $1 billion in the 1990s on the construction of a massive museum and arts education complex in Los Angeles.

Congress creates Colorado Territory  1861

With the region’s population booming because of the Pike’s Peak gold rush, Congress creates the new Territory of Colorado.

When the United States acquired it after the Mexican War ended in 1848, the land that would one day become Colorado was nearly unpopulated by Anglo settlers. Ute, Arapaho, Cheyenne, and other Indians had occupied the land for centuries, but the Europeans who had made sporadic appearances there since the 17th century never stayed for long. It was not until 1851 that the first permanent non-Indian settlement was established, in the San Luis Valley.

Birthdays

 

 

BERNADETTE PETERS Actress  1948

MARIO ANDRETTI  Auto Racing  1940  

JASON ALDEAN  Country Musician  1977

BRIAN JONES  British Musician  1942

 

 

Health and Wellbeing · Men & Womens Health

Genetics of insomnia more similar to psychiatric conditions than to other sleep traits

 

We’ve always known that getting enough sleep is important and can have a significant impact on one’s health, but scientists have just begun to unravel the genetics behind why some people are more prone to sleep problems. Insomnia is the most common sleep disorder. About 30 percent of adults report short term problems, while about 10 percent report chronic insomnia. It’s also the second most common mental disorder.

Recently, 23andMe collaborated with researchers from VU University Amsterdamand Netherlands Institute for Neuroscienceon one of the largest genome-wide analysis studies to identify genes associated with insomnia. Published in the journal Nature Genetics, the study used data from more than 1.3 million consenting research volunteers from the 23andMe database and the UK Biobank.

“Our study shows that insomnia, like so many other neuropsychiatric disorders, is influenced by 100’s of genes, each of small effect,” said Guus Smit, a VU-University neurobiologist involved in the study. “These genes by themselves are not that interesting to look at. What counts is their combined effect on the risk of insomnia. We investigated that with a new method, which enabled us to identify specific types of brain cells, like the so-called medium spiny neurons.”

Study Size

The sheer size of this research cohort enabled us to ask questions about genetics of insomnia and its relationships with other conditions and sleep-related problems individuals may face. With this large dataset, researchers were able to identify 202 genome-wide significant loci involved in insomnia. They were also able to show the involvement of specific cell type — striatal medium spiny neurons, hypothalamic neurons and clastrum pyramidal neurons — and specific cortical and subcortical tissues — some of which have been implicated previously in the regulation of reward processing, sleep and arousal in animal studies, but have never been genetically linked to insomnia in humans.

 

“This study is an immense step forward in understanding the genetic background of insomnia, made possible by the unprecedented increase in cohort size,” said Vladimir Vacic, Senior Scientist, Computational Biology at 23andMe and co-author on the paper. “Our results underline that insomnia is a serious condition, sharing genetics with psychiatric disorders and increasing the risk of metabolic syndrome phenotypes.”

 

What researchers found particularly interesting was the low genetic overlap between insomnia and other sleep-related traits. Findings show that insomnia is more genetically similar to psychiatric conditions, such as anxiety and major depressive disorder, and personality traits such as neuroticism. It has less in common with sleep traits like morningness, which describes the ease of getting up in the morning, and daytime dozing, snoring or excessive napping.

 

Finding key brain areas and cell types implicated in the neurobiology of insomnia and related disorders help us better understand how insomnia affects humans and may provide novel avenues for treatment.

Moving Forward

# Face the truth with pleasure! — My experience

Accepting the truth is not always easy. But when you have the courage to see the truth and adopt it, then life becomes very easy.What happened if there is a bad phase at this time? What if the time is not giving up? What if the other are going ahead? Instead of being distracted by […]

via # Face the truth with pleasure! — My experience

Health and Wellbeing · Men & Womens Health

Zechstein Magnesium Chloride Mother Earth’s 250 Million Year Old Healing Treasure

Last week Fighting With Fibro  shared a cream that worked on her Fibromyalgia pain. It was a magnesium based product, being curious I had to understand the difference of the type she purchased. The magic word is Zechstein, many products claimed to relieve pain and a host of other problems but they didn’t have Zechstein included in ingredients. https://fightingwithfibro.com/2019/02/19/finally-something-that-actually-works-for-my-fibro-and-rls-pain/

I could not find the brand she bought and bought two other brands from Amazon. Austra Melt pain away and Ancient Minerals Ultra with OptiMSM. The Austra Melt pain away smells so good with Lemongrass essential oil. It’s non-toxic, eco-friendly, not tested on animals and Paraben free. The container is round and you have to scoop out how much you want. I felt relief but was having a rough day so didn’t judge too harshly.

The next day I tried the Ancient Minerals Ultra with OptiMSM. WOW, this did make a difference in some of my ongoing and most painful areas. I also like that it is a pump and you can control better the amount needed. It soaks in the skin very quickly, very light pleasant smell. I get up in the morning before writing and rub into hands and it’s pretty amazing for a critic like me.

Zechstein

The Zechstein is a unit of sedimentary rock layers of Middle to Late Permian age located in the European Permian Basin which stretches from the east coast of England to northern Poland. The name Zechstein was formerly also used as a unit of time in the geologic timescale, but nowadays it is only used for the corresponding sedimentary deposits in Europe.

If you want to read the history of Zechstein in depth here is a great site,
M
Men & Womens Health · Survivor

I Am Not…..I Am

I Am Not 

Chronic Lyme

Fibromyalgia

Dementia

Neuropathy

Agrophobic

Shut-in

Over-focused on illness

Stagnate

Guilty

Hopeless

Looking for sympathy


vintage-butterfly_zyEH0ddO

I am

A Women

Wife

Dog mother

Sister

Determined

Honest

Caring to a fault

Loving

Scared

Have high goals

Living with symptoms

Strong willed

Open minded

Writer

Student

Not a player

Which one do you like? 

Health and Wellbeing · Men & Womens Health

Why Yoga? 6 Steps to Relieve Anxious Moods Naturally

 

By
Last updated: 11 Feb 2019

I’m anxious. Anxious traveler. Anxious driver. Anxious mother. There I said it. It was only when I found yoga with psychotherapy that I could regulate it on the spot. Now I use mind/body approaches in all my work. Why?

Science has shown that the body keeps the score.

Google anxiety, google yoga. The breathe complements our nervous systems. Calm the breathe and you calm your mind.

Do a child’s pose. Legs up the wall, forward fold, butterfly, mountain and alternate nostril breathing. Then see if your body is more relaxed. You can do this right in the session.

Now summon that deep relaxation each time you need it. Yoga, a centuries old practice, takes the focus on your breathe to the places that scare you.

I remember the first time I tried yoga, I almost passed out. The teacher came over not too gently and said, you’re actually not breathing. I was mortified. But it was true. Every time I bent my head down I came up dizzy, probably due to shallow breathing. This was the beginning of my ten year yoga journey. I am now 200 hour yin yoga trained.

It beats drugs and alcohol by a long shot. It actually teaches the cells of our bodies to be less reactive and more flexible. The very thing we need in this chaotic world.

If you hold the poses just a bit longer, to the edge, to the point of tolerable sensations, then you get a bonus benefit; a deep knowing that you can bear your own pain with grace and wisdom, and the physical release that follows. Two for one.

So here are 6 yin yoga actions you can take right now.

1. Yin Yoga is simple, but simple does not mean easy.

2. In meditation and in our daily lives there are three qualities that we can nurture, cultivate, and bring out. We already possess these, but they can be ripened: precision, gentleness, and the ability to let go.

3. Yin Yoga takes a normal healthy body and brings it up to optimum.

4. Yin practice takes you deeper into where you are, not out to where you think you should be.

5. Yin yoga challenges you to sit in the pure presence of awareness.

6. How do I react when I let my thoughts move towards the idea of rest, relaxation and restoring energy?

So the next time you are overtired and underwhelmed, bored, listless, sick or scared, just sit, eyes closed, and bring your breath from your root to your crown. Don’t be the judge and the jury. Just be.

 

 

Health and Wellbeing · Men & Womens Health

Depression Affects 15% of New Moms. A New Guideline Could Help Prevent It

TIME

By JAMIE DUCHARME

February 13, 2019

A new recommendation from a group of independent experts convened by the government could help more new and expecting mothers avoid depression, one of the most common complications of pregnancy and childbirth.

The recommendation is the first from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) on preventing perinatal depression, which strikes during pregnancy or after childbirth and affects almost 15% of new mothers. The guideline states that clinicians, namely primary care providers, should provide counseling services, or references to them, to all pregnant and postpartum women at increased risk of perinatal depression. The guidance could help prevent mental health issues in this vulnerable population, and prompt more insurance providers to cover counseling services for pregnant and postpartum women.

After reviewing the relevant research, the USPSTF specifically recommended that at-risk women try cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), which focuses on changing a person’s thoughts to change how they feel, or interpersonal therapy, which focuses on building relationship skills. Those at heightened risk of depression include single, young and lower-income mothers, people with a history of depression and women showing depressive symptoms including low energy and mood.

The proactive focus of the recommendations is important, says Jeff Temple, a psychologist in the department of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Texas Medical Branch, who was not involved with the task force. Past USPSTF recommendations have focused on screening for existing depression among all adults, including pregnant and postpartum women.

“I am very happy to see anything related to prevention, whether it’s mental health generally or perinatal depression specifically,” Temple says. “If we can prevent problems from occurring, not only do we do a great service to humans, but [the health care system] saves a great deal of money.”

The new recommendation also means that more mothers will have access to insurance-covered mental health care. Under the Affordable Care Act, private insurance plans are directed to cover preventive care recommended by groups including the USPSTF at no cost.

“If we need to see 15% of perinatal women, there’s absolutely no way that we have the ability to do that,” Temple says. “We need to put more money and effort into training more psychologists and counselors.”

The good news, Temple says, is that the USPSTF recommendation could provide the kind of validation hospitals and practices need to dedicate those resources, especially if they see demand for services increasing. Ideally, Temple says, they would focus their efforts on integrating mental health care into primary care, rather than leaving it in a silo.

“If these women are screened and they’re recommended to someone [for counseling] and it’s kind of a cold handoff, very few will follow up with it,” Temple says. “But if one implication of this is that OB/GYN departments start to incorporate counselors and psychologists within their services, then we’ll see a huge benefit. If we did that, I am 100% positive we would see declines in perinatal depression.”

Simone Lambert, president of the American Counseling Association, agrees that the recommendation will likely increase demand for mental health services, but says that’s a small price to pay for better preventive care, which can reduce the need for future treatments.

“The benefits of increased maternal and infant wellness and decreased stigma to seek mental health assistance would likely lead to less of a toll on our healthcare system than when mental health concerns are unaddressed,” Lambert says, adding that healthier moms also lead to healthier babies and families.

Temple says methods like CBT are effective because factors like stress, identity changes and overwhelming circumstances often contribute to perinatal depression, and all of these obstacles can be effectively addressed by a counselor. Research suggests that counseling can provide moderate or substantial benefits to new or expecting mothers, according to the USPSTF’s recommendation.

“I think we’re starting to understand the importance of mental health as a society, and the importance of prevention,” Temple says. “The future is definitely going to be psychologists within primary care departments.”

Write to Jamie Ducharme at jamie.ducharme@time.com.

Moving Forward

How to Stop Being Irritable — The Psych Talk

Everyone experiences irritability at some point in their lives but for some people, it can become problematic and affect their relationships and personal well-being. In this case, there are many things you can do in order to reduce your levels of irritability and have more productive encounters with others. Avoid triggers and Change Environments: Removing […]

via How to Stop Being Irritable — The Psych Talk

Celebrate Life · Fun · Moving Forward

Stream of Consciousness Saturday Prompt “Critic/(cal).” #SoCS

Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “critic(al).” Use it any way you’d like. Have fun!

At the height of my career as a Sales Executive, I was critical of everyone who didn’t do the agreed process. In the Consulting business processes are important, if a Recruiter sent an unqualified consultant to my client, I had to fire the employee and walk them off the job-site. I was forever critical until realizing work wasn’t everything and the sun will come out soon.   M   

 


Join us for the fun and sharing good media stories  

For more on the Stream of Consciousness Saturday, visit Linda Hill’s blog. Here’s the link:
Here are the rules for SoCS:
1. Your post must be stream of consciousness writing, meaning no editing, (typos can be fixed) and minimal planning on what you’re going to write.
2. Your post can be as long or as short as you want it to be. One sentence – one thousand words. Fact, fiction, poetry – it doesn’t matter. Just let the words carry you along until you’re ready to stop.
3. There will be a prompt every week. I will post the prompt here on my blog on Friday, along with a reminder for you to join in. The prompt will be one random thing, but it will not be a subject. For instance, I will not say “Write about dogs”; the prompt will be more like, “Make your first sentence a question,” “Begin with the word ‘The’,” or simply a single word to get your started.
4. Ping back! It’s important, so that I and other people can come and read your post! For example, in your post you can write “This post is part of SoCS:” and then copy and paste the URL found in your address bar at the top of this post into yours. Your link will show up in my comments for everyone to see. The most recent pingbacks will be found at the top. NOTE: Pingbacks only work from WordPress sites. If you’re self-hosted or are participating from another host, such as Blogger, please leave a link to your post in the comments below.
5. Read at least one other person’s blog who has linked back their post. Even better, read everyone’s! If you’re the first person to link back, you can check back later, or go to the previous week, by following my category, “Stream of Consciousness Saturday,” which you’ll find right below the “Like” button on my post.
6. Copy and paste the rules (if you’d like to) in your post. The more people who join in, the more new bloggers you’ll meet and the bigger your community will get!
7. As a suggestion, tag your post “SoCS” and/or “#SoCS” for more exposure and more views.
8. Have fun!