Tag: Stress Levels

Antidepressants And Their Side Effects

Antidepressant medications can often help depression sufferers. However, they do have side effects and some can be dangerous. Before starting any antidepressant medication, it is a good idea to consult with your doctor so you can weigh the benefits and the risks. Sometimes antidepressant meds are not the solution because of the side effects.

Depression is most often caused by lower levels of serotonin in the brain. Antidepressants raise these levels back to their state of normalcy. While it is true that there are many studies that contradict the theory of depression being caused by a chemical imbalance, they have yet to figure out exactly what is the cause.

Serotonin levels cannot be measured, so researchers do not know what a normal level is. All they know is that something causes the serotonin levels to decrease and there are drugs to reverse this. Some studies have shown that moods and depression do not always worsen when the individuals serotonin levels are reduced. Also in question is the fact that antidepressants take several weeks to start having an effect, yet it only takes a few hours for the same medications to raise serotonin levels. It would make sense that a depressed person should feel better in a few hours, not a few weeks.

Researchers are starting to realize that depression involves more than a chemical imbalance in the brain. While lower serotonin levels appear to be one of the causes, they are also finding that elevated stress levels, inflammation, nutritional deficiencies, shrinking brain cells, suppressing immune systems and abnormal activity in the brain are surfacing as causes. There are also many psychological and social factors that have an effect as well.

Antidepressant medication has proven to be effective when treating depression. It has also shown to cause side effects in approximately 50% of the people that take them. Medication should only be prescrib3ed when the symptoms of depression are severe. In most cases of mild depression, exercise, changes to diet, and therapy can work just as effectively.

The most prescribed types of antidepressants are called selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI). These medications are commonly known as Prozac, Zoloft, Paxil, Celexa, Luvox, and Lexapro. SSRIs are responsible for increasing serotonin levels in the brain.

Serotonin is responsible for regulating mood and helps with pain, sleep, digestion, and mental clarity. Due to these roles, SSRIs come with a large range of side effects such as nausea, anxiety, insomnia, decreased sex drive, sweating, sleepiness, dizziness, dry mouth, headaches, and weight gain/loss. The most common of these side effects are lowered sex drive, sleepiness, insomnia, and nausea. These side effects usually go away within a few weeks. Sometimes though, they remain and even can get worse.

Some of the newer drugs on the market such as Wellbutrin and Effexor are called atypical antidepressants because they affect other neurotransmitters as well as serotonin. The side effects of these drugs are less severe and include nausea, fatigue, weight gain, nervousness, and dry mouth.

Regardless of which medication path the doctor prescribes, always weigh the benefits against the risks to make sure the chosen medication is right for you.

Helpful Tips to Better Your Memory

Through time, as you grow old, you will encounter many health problems that can be countered by leading a healthy lifestyle. This will also be beneficial in the goal to better your memory. In psychology, this is defined as one’s mental ability to encode the registered information, retain and use the helpful data whenever necessary.

You must do everything necessary to keep your brain functioning well. This way, you can avoid getting numerous disorders that are associated with the brain. As people grow old, the one aspect that usually gets affected is their memory. They are having difficult time remembering valuable information, especially at times when they need to come up with an answer. The following processes of how your brain functions get affected, especially when you just let it be and you don’t act upon the problem.

1. Encoding. When your brain receives information, it processes everything and combines pieces of what has been received with the data already stored in your system.

2. Storage. Your brain acts like the hard disk of your system where you store everything. But unlike the computer system, your brain records the information permanently. And it will stay there for as long as you are healthy and you haven’t encountered serious problems that have caused your brain to malfunction.

3. Recall. In cases wherein you have to answer questions and situations based on what has already been stored in your brain, you try to recall the data that may help you arrive at the right conclusions.

Improve Your Memory

The International Longevity Center released a report in 2001 that includes vital tips in improving your brain’s performance. The more pronounced tips include actively seeking new information through learning. This can be achieved by reading and training. You should also engage yourself in physical activities that promote blood circulation on your brain. You should also learn to keep your stress levels at a low by not thinking too much about problems. It is also recommended to get enough sleep and eat right. To help you exercise your memory to improve its performance, here are some more tips that you can opt to do.

1. Make it a habit to write down notes about the things that you want to do and whatever you want to remember. This can aid you in achieving your goal until you no longer have to resort to this activity or do it less often.

2. If you are reviewing for exams and the likes, you must get enough rest after storing too much information on your brain. You can repeat the process after you have rested and before the date of the exam to help your brain absorb more information and retain most of them.

3. You should also practice visualizing things that you need to remember. For example, you need to remember too many names at a short period of time. It will help if you will associate the faces of the people and their names on images that will make you recall them easily.

4. While some people may attest that cramming work for them, this is not healthy as you try to force and overload your brain with too many information for a short period of time. If you have to study, give yourself ample time to finish everything that you have to review. Give your brain time to rest after absorbing too many data. This will help better your memory and for you to perform well on your exams.

Can Aromatherapy Stimulate your Brain Activity?

There are many different ways that people choose to stimulate their brain activity. One of them that seems to be getting a great deal of attention these days is called aromatherapy. This involves lighting candles or heating up oils with various types of scents on them. These scents will trigger a variety of reactions from the brain that are positive in nature. Not everyone is a follower of such methods though because they are skeptical about such capabilities. There are other people though that will tell you that aromatherapy has changed many things in their thinking process for the better.

When it comes to the use of aromatherapy for increased brain activity, you need to do your homework. You need to be aware of what the different scents are able to offer. It is also important to note that you dont need very much to get the job done. A few drops of essential oils are very potent and that will do the job. Dont mix scents either as you dont know how they will affect your brain when they are in a mix versus each one separately.

If you want to energize your brain such as when you are studying for a test or trying to write a paper you need to avoid turning to the caffeine. Instead you should try peppermint, cypress, or lemon. When you feel that your brain is on overload it is important to relax and to reduce stress levels. You wont be able to make good decisions until you can think clearly about a topic. Some great aromatherapy scents for this include geranium, lavender, and rose.

You will have to decide for yourself if aromatherapy is something that stimulates your brain or not. There is certainly nothing negative about the use of aromatherapy so you dont have anything to lose by trying it. Many people have done so to curb their own curiosity on the topic. Discovering if there are any such benefits first hand means that you have taken on a role of discovery. That in itself is also a great way to continue to increase your brain activity.

What may surprise you though is that your brain may already be reacting to aromatherapy around you. Many businesses already know the value of it so they use it to their advantage. They use scents that rejuvenate the brain so that you will feel good while you are in their business. This is important because when you leave there your mind will associate that location with positive experiences. It is very likely that you will return to that retailer again and again because of the positive influence it has on your brain activity.

Some employers have experimented with aromatherapy as well. Some of the studies indicate that production levels are higher than in the past with certain types of scents that rejuvenate the mind and to help reduce stress. Common mistakes also are reduced because the employees are in a better frame of mind.

The world of aromatherapy is very fascinating and one you should explore in further detail. It is one of the most natural ways to evoke positive responses relating to your brain activity. Many people burn candles of a given scent in their home to help give it a warm and inviting feeling for all that enter it. They also feel that it helps keep the harmony within the family because everyone is exhibiting healthy brain activities.

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Managing stress through self hypnosis

If you have even a passing interest in the topic of hypnosis, then you should take a look at the following information. This enlightening article presents some of the latest news on the subject of hypnosis.

The stress levels of people now are much higher compared before. This is one of the reasons why exceeding and more of them are finding ways to manage stress so considering not to affect their overall health. One of the ways that peopleespecially those that have super stressful jobsprefer is self hypnosis. This is because the practice can help them relieve and manage stress the most natural part possible.

Why use self hypnosis?

When the word ” hypnosis ” is mentioned, many people are hesitant to stab it because of the simple misconception that it can manipulate one to do things beyond his or her wishes. Not many of them envision that this is not always the case. If truth to be told, hypnosisthrough self hypnosiscan show one of the best therapeutic tools that a person can use. This is because people can use this in overcoming their fears. It will also be able to help them in withstanding pain and manage varying levels of stress that they observation in their lives.

Nowadays, the horror of hypnosis is being poles apart because of the rise in excitation in its seemingly endless possibilities by using it in a therapeutic way. In fact, more and more establishments now are quite open to give hypnosis services to people. This is to prove that hypnosis can embody a good article if it is practiced or conducted by a licensed or a professional hypnotist. It is good to take note the are various types of hypnotists. In the industry of hypnosis, types of hypnotists include showroom hypnotists that regularly work in bars and clubs and whose subjects are those people whose idea of good time by joining hundreds of people in places where alcohol is used considering a social lubricant and clinical hypnotists, on the other hand, are those who alertness with people that have problems and those who consider hypnotherapy as a means of relieving pain and overcoming addiction, fear and confusion.

But, if you still dont have enough trust to other people in hypnotizing you because they might cause you to do something without your consent or well-suited awareness, it is best to conduct self hypnosis. This is because you are quite sure that nobody would try to hurt you or make fun of you since you will symbolize conducting it yourself. Aside from ensuring that you are safe, you will also be able to save lots of time and some money since you won’t have to travel all the way to a certain clinic and pay for the services of the hypnotist. All you have to do is do some research and you will learn how to use your own voice during the process.

Self hypnosis as a stress buster

Many people are finding it best to use self hypnosis as a stress buster because it does not really require so much time, pay or effort. In fact, many people would agree that self hypnosis can be one of the easiest means of relieving stress by means of being clout a relaxed state where you can directly inscription the tensions that you feel and somehow trigger your body’s response to relaxation. This is helpful to be able to avoid chronic stress that may lead to many health problems. It can also lift you achieve a healthier life because heartfelt power lead you to develop good habits that can veer you momentarily from activities that have bitchy effects not only to your physical body but to your emotional state for well.

That’s how things stand right now. Keep in mind that any subject can change over time, so be sure you keep up with the latest news.