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Health News Review

Are you certain your relationship can last beyond the "Big Day"?
 Today's couples discover that planning a wedding is a complex, expensive and   challenging project. At times it takes over the relationship itself. Weeks into the planning, the newlyweds-to-be start questioning their motivation and eloping becomes a frequent fantasy. Some folks think that the wedding planning offers the first true test of the viability of the relationship.

Most churches insist on brief premarital classes before they will agree to book the wedding. Unfortunately, many couples assume that there is little else available to insure the long term success of their lifelong dream. There is a huge amount of information which counselors and therapists who specialize in marriage can share with you in premarital counseling.  This allows them to identify the unique needs of your marriage that can transform your relationship. Research data can now predict, with great accuracy, whether a marriage will last based on the presence or absence of key behaviors & attitudes. Learning these behaviors can provide your relationship with resiliency that will allow you to relax and enjoy your marriage for years to come.
 

 

A gift for your brain..............
Most people are terrified of losing their jobs, their homes, their relationships and their minds.  They spend lots of time and money learning how to prevent the first three types of losses and very little to prevent the loss of their minds. For some reason, the emotions, the gatekeepers of daily life, are left to "woo-woo land".  But there is nothing "woo-woo" about your emotions. Emotions are not simply a product of your imagination. In fact, new technology is now able to "show" emotions in action in the brain. Biochemical changes can now be tracked and identified along with structural changes in the brain thanks to real-time brain scanning technology. We can now see the positive changes in the brain that occur as a result of psychotherapy. Psychotherapy helps develop long term cellular changes in the brain. Clients can continue the skills they learn and apply them to challenges they are confronted with years after they've completed therapy. That makes therapy, along with education, the gift that keeps on giving.

    Mind Body Connections
Depression May Double the Risk of Heart Disease

A study by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and the VA analyzed data gathered from more than 1,200 male twins who served in the U.S. military during the Vietnam War. The men were surveyed in 1992 about depression and other health problems, and were assessed again in 2005. Investigators examined the onset of heart disease in depressed study participants between 1993 and 2005. Those men who had depression in 1992 were twice as likely to develop heart disease in the ensuing years, compared to men with no history of depression. "Based on our findings, we can say that after adjusting for other risk factors, depression remains a significant predictor of heart disease," says first author Jeffrey F. Scherrer, Ph.D., research assistant professor of psychiatry at Washington University School of Medicine and the St. Louis Veterans Affairs Medical Center. In twins with high genetic risk of depression and heart disease, but who never actually develop depression, there was no increased risk for heart disease.

 

Your Child's Mind

Spirituality Is the Key To Children's Happiness, Research Shows

Science Daily (Jan. 12, 2009) — New study suggests spirituality, not religious practices, determine how happy children are.

To make children happier, we may need to encourage them to develop a strong sense of personal worth, according to Dr. Mark Holder from the University of British Columbia in Canada and his colleagues Dr. Ben Coleman and Judi Wallace. Their research shows that children who feel that their lives have meaning and value and who develop deep, quality relationships - both measures of spirituality - are happier. It would appear, however, that their religious practices have little effect on their happiness. These findings have been published in the online edition of Springer's Journal of Happiness Studies.

Both spirituality (an inner belief system that a person relies on for strength and comfort) and religiousness (institutional religious rituals, practices and beliefs) have been linked to increased happiness in adults and adolescents.

The authors found that those children who said they were more spiritual were happier. In particular, the personal (i.e. meaning and value in one's own life) and communal (i.e. quality and depth of inter-personal relationships) aspects of spirituality were strong predictors of children's happiness. Spirituality explained up to 27 percent of the differences in happiness levels amongst children.

A child's temperament was also an important predictor of happiness. In particular, happier children were more sociable and less shy. The relationship between spirituality and happiness remained strong, even when the authors took temperament into account. However, counter intuitively, religious practices - including attending church, praying and meditating - had little effect on a child's happiness.

According to the authors, "enhancing personal meaning may be a key factor in the relation between spirituality and happiness." They suggest that strategies aimed at increasing personal meaning in children - such as expressing kindness towards others and recording these acts of kindness, as well as acts of altruism and volunteering - may help to make children happier.

Journal reference: Holder et al. Spirituality, Religiousness, and Happiness in Children Aged 8–12 Years. Journal of Happiness Studies, 2008.

 
 

Mood, Cognition and Learning Problems Start in the Stomach
 Today's brides discover that planning a wedding is a complex, expensive and   challenging project. At times it takes over the relationship itself. Weeks into the planning, the newlyweds-to-be are questioning their motivation and eloping is often a frequent fantasy. Lore has it that the wedding planning offers the first true test of the viability of the relationship.

Most churches insist on packaged "premarital classes" before they will agree to book the wedding. Unfortunately, many couples assume that there is little else available to insure the long term success of their lifelong dream.
 
 
Mind Body Connections

Does Your Heart Have a Mind of Its Own?

Dr. Kathy Magliato at St. John's Medical Center says
that stress in marriage is a higher risk factor for heart disease in women than cholestral or smoking! Heart disease is the number one killer of women (& men) so it's very important to lower the risk factors related to heart disease. A University of  Utah study found that while both men and women suffered depression and stress in conflictual marriages, the increased risk of heart disease  as a result of that stress was only evident in women. The high stress levels caused metabolic syndrome characterized by high blood pressure, high triglycerides, high blood sugar, and  fat around the waistline along with low LDL levels (the good cholestral)

Kevin Powell appeared
on the Oprah show to talk about domestic violence. An activist  and author,  Powell calls on men to face  their abuse of women and girls. Powell shares his own experiences when years ago he battered several girlfriends. He calls on his brothers to examine their attitudes toward women, to look closely at their definitions of manhood and to own up to their own needs to find help. Hats off to Powell for his years of holding town hall meetings across the country to allow and assist men in acknowledging ways that they can free themselves from lives of hurting women. Powell feels that many of these men simply don't know how to handle conflict any other way.  He urges men to get into therapy and stay until they completely understand why they've been unable to  express themselves in a healthy, respectful way. Freedom, he feels, lies in being in charge of one's reactions and being able to have mutual power in relationships through respect and equity. Check out Kevin's  "Seven Steps for Ending Violence Against Women and Girls".