What are the basic requirements of losing weight naturally and consistently in short time?

Last Updated on Friday, 21 October 2011 01:10 Written by Natural Health Team Friday, 21 October 2011 01:10

Health Information about What are the basic requirements of losing weight naturally and consistently in short time?

First is the determination to work-out and second, a systematic weight-loss program. You must be wondering how one can lose weight naturally without any surgical or external aid. One of the answers is by using the Hoodia herb. This ancient herbal plant of Africa is used since ages as an appetite suppressant by Bushmen and now its secret is revealed to modern men as well.

First and foremost, quit all shorthand methods that you have been resorting to for losing weight including popping in pills, gym sessions, terrible diet plans, and exercising gadgets. You must have noticed that all these aforementioned methods never helped you in long run. Once you bring a gap of day or two in any one of these you feel sluggish to regain the fervor and your body does not even relent to such hardships easily.

You can opt for Hoodia herbal extract which is used widely as natural weight loss supplement by many people. It is a safe, organic and pure means of shedding a large amount of body flab in natural way. You can also incorporate a light weight-loss regime along with intake of Hoodia herb to lose weight quickly.

8 easy steps to cut down those fatty layers from your body parts and shed kilos considerably.

1. Healthy eating habits- this will help in increasing body metabolism which will lead to active functioning of body. Take small, 6 meals a day instead of three heavy meals. This means that your body will burn fat quickly and will not let fat creep into your body cells

2. Avoid aerated drinks and junk foods completely as these are rich in excessive calories content and degrade your digestive system as well.

3. Drink plenty of water. Water is a natural and organic detoxifier that helps in purifying your internal body system of toxic substances.

4. Say no to starchy food as this increases the level of cholesterol which may pose a risk to your heart and may lead to cardiac arrest. Cut short on pizzas, burgers, doughnuts, cakes, cookies, muffins, chocolates, and pasts. Instead inculcate fiber diet, brown rice, nuts, and whole grains in your daily diet.

5. Minimize the level of sugar intake in coffees and teas

6. Avoid liquor as much as possible since it deteriorates your health to a greater extent.

7. Smoking and any other kind of drug intake should be avoided.

8. Hoodia herbal weight loss supplement which is available without any prescription on all drug stores.

Though there is no specific consultation required for taking Hoodia weight loss supplement but in certain cases like pregnancy and diabetes doctor’s advice should be sought after.

Today, going green, being healthy, and getting back to nature are all hot topics. The trend seems to be to use herbal supplements instead of other products or medications that are available. With natural supplements, there are many health benefits to be had with very few risks, which is part of what makes them so desirable.

There are many different areas of all natural health, but herbology and the use of natural products as health supplements is becoming very common among people who probably wouldn’t have used these products in the past because they are not regulated or deemed as ‘effective’ as western medicine.

As times change and this industry of herbal supplements becomes more popular, people have to watch out for the companies who are just out to make a buck. Not all supplements are created equally, and many companies are simply taking a generic formula and branding it while trying to cash in on the natural trend.

Fortunately, there are reputable companies out there trying to offer the best healthcare solutions for herbal products with a history that can be trusted. Anytime there is a trend, people have to watch out for those trying to cash in their chips and make sure that they aren’t being taken advantage of.

Herbal supplements offer a variety of different health benefits. People can find everything from weight loss supplements to heart health and even skincare products that are all-natural. There are so many different remedies available that everyone can benefit from herbal products and natural healthcare.

Plus, there aren’t side effects, chemicals, or high risks of serious reactions that come with many of the products on the market today. If you’re looking for a better alternative for your healthcare needs, join the trend and try herbal supplements today.

Trends aren’t always a good thing, but in this case the trend is definitely an improvement. There are some things that can’t replace innovation and western medicine, but many common health issues are easily able to be taken care of by supplement products.

It is up to each person to find the herbal supplements that serve their specific healthcare needs and determine how they can benefit from these products the most. While it is a hot trend, it’s not something that can be done simply by following everyone else. You have to forge your own path in the world of herbal supplements and all natural healthcare.

Find More Health Care Articles

Don’t Listen to Those Who Tell You Everything is Your Fault: When a Health Professsional Blames You, It’ s Time to Walk Away

Last Updated on Wednesday, 19 October 2011 01:21 Written by Natural Health Team Wednesday, 19 October 2011 01:21

Health Information about Don’t Listen to Those Who Tell You Everything is Your Fault: When a Health Professsional Blames You, It’ s Time to Walk Away

”Everything that happens in your life is either because you subconsciously wanted it to happen or it is a mirror of your own inner beliefs.” 

, and others like it, was not realized until Rachel was scribbling her Last Will and Testament.  There was no option—death was the only answer to protect those she loved; she just needed to find a way to make it happen.

      But that was exactly what Michelle* did.  Rachel had sought counseling with Michelle for anxiety related to money and fears of being alone if her husband would die.  During the seven years Rachel was under her care, Michelle repeatedly told Rachel that she, Rachel, was not a victim, and only victims believed things happened to them.  In reality, according to Michelle, people have a say in what happens to them; nothing happens unless the person wanted things to happen or needed to learn from the incident.

     “Everything that happens in your life is either because you subconsciously want it to happen or it is a mirror of your own inner beliefs.”  Michelle called it manifesting.  This was an every-session statement to Rachel.  This statement thus started the decline in Rachel’s desire to live.  “There are no victims in the world,” Michelle would say.

     The concept behind Michelle’s teachings was that what a person thinks about will become a reality either to teach the person a lesson or to show the person what the person truly believed.  Every person that is alive today came to learn something, to enhance their spirit in some way.  We chose our parents (before we were born) to assist us in our learning, so there was no reason to be upset if we didn’t like what our parents were like or if we had an abusive or neglectful childhood; after all, we chose the parents and our childhood situations.  All of our past experiences were there to help our spirit grow; therefore, there was no reason to be upset about the past—we chose all those experiences.

     “There are no victims,” in other words.

     But for Rachel, a woman who cared about others, all she saw was how she was causing misery in others’ lives, including that of her husband and children.

     Over the seven years Rachel was “counseled” by Michelle, Rachel came to the conclusion that every problem in the family was because of her subconscious beliefs or because there was a lesson to be learned for her highest good.  Most of the time, however, she could not see the lesson that was to be learned.  She spent most of her time in inner-reflection trying to glean some idea of what she was not seeing.  Twice each month, she returned to counseling with Michelle hoping to gain some clarity during the session.  After each session with Michelle, Rachel often felt a little better, until a few days later when she returned to feeling helpless and paranoid over anything she thought, or didn’t think; Rachel was convinced all the answers lay in her subconscious.

     As she searched for answers to her questions, Rachel came to the point where she was unable to function.  As a self-employed person, her business was slowly failing, just limping along enough to convince her that she should keep it open.  With the decline in income, money matters began to surface at home.  Thus another layer to her self-blame was added to the already heavy burden.

     And all the time, she kept asking herself, “What am I doing wrong?”  Rachel had read about manifesting, even though it was different from what Michelle taught; still, Rachel seemed unable to manifest customers, health or peace of mind.  No matter how hard she tried, she could not find the cause of her struggles.

     After all, she would not be having money troubles or health issues now if they weren’t something she was either thinking or a mirror-image of her own beliefs.

     Still, Rachel continued to see Michelle, opting to pay for the visits over buying medicines for her back pain, seeing she felt the pain would disappear if she could find out what it was teaching her.  Her husband’s medical insurance did not cover Michelle’s services as she had a private practice.

     By the time she closed the doors of her business, Rachel was in a deep depression.  It was her fault that her business failed.  It was her fault the customers didn’t walk through the door any more.  It was her fault the family now had financial troubles.  It was her fault….

     In an attempt to take action for their financial status, Rachel had a rummage sale.  During the sale, she noticed several things had been stolen.  When Rachel told Michelle, she put the blame on Rachel:  “People steal from you because you believe there is not enough money in the world to go around.”  Michelle also proceeded to tell Rachel to have no further rummage sales because only poor people have rummage sales and Rachel had to stop believing she was poor.

     When her son Joshua, 10, became ill and was diagnosed with asthma, Rachel took it upon herself to find out why she had caused Joshua’s illness; after all, Joshua would not be ill unless Rachel wanted it to occur, right?

     Rachel stopped seeing Michelle when she could no longer afford to pay her.  Thinking she had lost the only one who could help her find the way to the reason behind all her failures and her son’s asthma, Rachel lost all hope.  The self-hatred and loathing she began to feel a couple of years earlier intensified dramatically.

     Then she realized the only way to rid Joshua of his asthma and restore the monetary balance to her family was to leave.  As Rachel felt she was the one totally responsible for any family suffering, the family would fair better if she were not there to cause more problems.  Rachel’s ability to see beyond her self-blame caused a narrowness of vision in that she could only see part of the picture.  She was unable even to think that others in the family might be contributing to family problems; her focus was totally at herself for all issues and it was her responsibility to help her family by leaving.

     But then she started thinking.  No matter where she went, she would cause problems for others because she didn’t know why she was causing so many problems currently; and she had no way to search for the answers as the only light out of the darkness Rachel perceived was Michelle, and she could no longer afford to see Michelle.

     So her thoughts turned to suicide.  It seemed like the only answer.  It was the most logical answer.

     As tears streamed down her face, Rachel scribbled her Last Will and Testament.  The only thing left to do was to find a way to die.

     As Rachel didn’t like pain and could not consciously swallow a bunch of pills, she realized she would not be able to die by her hand.  In the end, she realized she would not be able to commit suicide.  So she prayed and thought hard about dying—after all, if she thought about it, it would happen, or so Michelle often had said.

     After a week of not dying, Rachel resigned to the fact that she would have to find her own way out of the turmoil.  She called a friend who instantly recommended Rachel find a “real counselor” and to go to the doctor for some help.  Having seen the impact of “psych drugs” on her mother, Rachel refused to take an antidepressant or anti-anxiety drug, so she opted to not seek medical care.  Instead, she called a Classical Homeopath.

     The Homeopath knew she had to work quickly or Rachel would be lost.  Even though Rachel was not actively suicidal, her symptoms were intense and had the potential to cause a lot of health damage even without trying to die.

     Rescue Remedy (a mixture of Bach Flower Essences) was immediately given to help with the intense emotional symptoms.  The Homeopath also gave Rachel Psorinum (a Homeopathic Medicine) to calm the desire to commit suicide.  The Homeopath also told Rachel that things were going to be okay—that statement alone probably helped more than anything before that point.  It gave Rachel a glimmer of hope.  A follow-up appointment was set for the next day.

     Until the next visit, the Homeopath work-ed to find a core-healing remedy to assist Rachel with her healing.  As the principle of Classical Homeopathy is to heal the person, not just manage symptoms, the Homeopath has to find the one remedy to start the healing process.  The Psorinum given to Rachel was to help with the intensity of the depression; it was not considered a core-healing remedy when given as it was.

     The following day, at her next visit, Rachel was already feeling a little better.  Although she was confused and very depressed, she didn’t feel as heavy with sorrow.  The core-healing remedy was given, along with instructions to seek the care of a counselor, but not the counselor from before (e.g. Michelle).  The Home-opath had listened to the words Michelle had told Rachel and knew they, the words, were not right and were the primary reason Rachel now felt suicidal and severely depressed.

     At the next follow-up appointment a week later, Rachel looked at least 50% brighter.  She walked taller and was no longer so pale.  She even smiled a couple of times during the office visit.

     When working with the new counselor, Rachel had realized that Michelle’s teachings were in error and were probably just a way she, Michelle, caused people to become dependent upon her and ensuring a steady stream of income by convincing her clients that Michelle was needed to help them uncover the truths of their subconscious mind.  At the office visit with the Homeopath, Rachel oddly credited Michelle for most of the improvements in her mood since the previous visit.

     Looking through new eyes, Rachel had listened in on one of Michelle’s free tele-conferences.  In the seminar, Michelle had stated that sometimes things happen to us to teach others a lesson—we just happened to be the one God or the Universe used to help teach them.

     In all the times Michelle had told Rachel about manifesting and that all things happen to us to teach us a lesson, Michelle had never told Rachel that something could happen to us that was not to teach us a lesson.

     In her anger, in the question-and-answer part of the presentation, Rachel had spoken up and had asked if she had heard it correctly, that things happen to us without our control, and is not always a reflection of our beliefs.  There had been a long pause; Michelle had recognized Rachel’s voice.  Michelle was now caught between having her lies exposed to one person and telling the truth to all the other listeners.  So Michelle chose to tell the truth:  we aren’t always at fault.

     Immediately after the seminar, Michelle had called Rachel in an attempt to explain.  Michelle made excuses and tried to convince Rachel to return to see her; she would even start a tab until money became more plentiful in Rachel’s life.  Rachel told Mich-elle what she had learned and that she was seeing a Classical Homeopath now who was helping her more than Michelle ever had.  Rachel also talked about starting a law suit against Michelle, at which time she stated that Rachel only heard what she had needed to hear, and that she needed to experience the situation for her highest good. 

     Rachel then remembered the time she had found a business card from a pimp in a library book—she had told Michelle of the find.  Michelle had stated “You wouldn’t have found the card had you not believed you could be wealthy without having to resort to crime.  If you didn’t have this belief, you would not have seen the card.”  Rachel didn’t have that belief and had felt Michelle was wrong in her interpretations of the incident.  Remembering that lie, Rachel hung up.

     As time passed and Rachel grew stronger mentally, she again thought of taking the steps to sue Michelle.  But suing Michelle would not help anyone, unless Michelle went out of business from it.  Still, Rachel could not in good conscience leave others to suffer under Michelle’s care; she felt she had to tell someone.  So she set out to help as many people as possible by telling her story.

     In the end, it was Rachel who had the courage to move beyond the faulty lessons from Michelle.  Although some of the teachings still remain, even 6 months after the last session with Michelle, Rachel is no longer suicidal.  She still blames herself for just about everything, but now she is conscious of the fact that the self-blaming is a conditioned response from faulty coun-seling.  “I am almost free of the brain washing!”

Manifesting is not wrong—Michelle was wrong.  Everyone makes mistakes and does things that are not right.  No one is perfect.  When looking through clear eyes, people can see those things that contribute to their decisions; assigning blame to yourself clouds the vision, keeping learning from occurring.

     And no one causes bad things to happen just by thinking of them or by being alive.

     People do learn and grow based on the changes in their lives.  But God or the Universe does not introduce turmoil into a person’s life to help them grow spiritually; He/She also does not wait around watching you to pounce on every thought and action just so He/She can throw a block in your path of discovery.

     Don’t follow the path that Rachel did.  If your coun-selor or health prof-essional tells you something that does not feel right, don’t take it to heart.  If they blame you for anything, then turn around and walk away.  Better to be a little anxious over a situation in your life than to want to commit suicide because of being blamed for that situation. 

* “Michelle” is not the actual name of the counselor, although Rachel felt all should be given the true name of the counselor to be protected from her.  “Rachel” is not the name of the woman who experienced this event; her name was changed to protect her confidentiality. 

The emotions a person feels is usually a result of the person’s thoughts.  Rarely does an emotion occur before the thinking.  On occasion, a person may have an emotional outburst without knowing why; but often if the person thinks about it, a thought process can be found.

     People react to their environment and situations in their lives based on past experiences; those experiences contribute to thought formation.  For example, a woman who was scorned by her husband tells herself that she would never trust a man again.  The decision to not trust a man again is a thought process; the emotion behind it could be anger, resentment, sorrow, or some combination.

     With Homeopathy, the practitioner works to understand the thought processes that are contributing to the ailments in the patient.  The mind is very powerful and can reek havoc on health just as much as chemicals, poor dietary choices, cigarette smoking, and so on.  In many respects, the thoughts can start a person down the disease path.

     Homeopathic Medicines, when given accurately, can help the person understand the thoughts behind the illnesses and emotional turmoil.  The Medicines can help the person see what they could not see before.

     When looking to heal, call a Classical Homeopath.  They will listen to you.  

Best wishes,

Dr. Ronda

Introduction to Psychology (PSYC 110) Professor Susan Nolen-Hoeksema describes how modern clinical psychology both identifies and treats various mental disorders. Particular focus is placed upon mood disorders such as bipolar disorder and depression, including current diagnostic criteria and current practices for treatment. 00:00 – Chapter 1. Introduction to Dr Susan Nolen-Hoeksema 01:36 – Chapter 2. Behavioral Criteria for Accessing Mental Disorders 11:53 – Chapter 3. Unipolar Disorders 21:30 – Chapter 4. Bipolar Disorders 30:20 – Chapter 5. Statistics for Depression 34:04 – Chapter 6. Biological, Cognitive and Interpersonal Theories and Treatments Complete course materials are available at the Open Yale Courses website: open.yale.edu This course was recorded in Spring 2007.
Video Rating: 0 / 5

Find More Mental Health Articles

The First Week Sign of Pregnancy ? Time to Get Alerted of your Pregnancy

Last Updated on Thursday, 13 October 2011 03:27 Written by Natural Health Team Thursday, 13 October 2011 03:27

Health Information about The First Week Sign of Pregnancy ? Time to Get Alerted of your Pregnancy

The first week sign of pregnancy ticks the alarm that you have started blooming a new life inside you. The pregnancy symptoms are not so visible in the first week of pregnancy. Both your physical and mental health undergoes certain changes after you become pregnant. Make a note of all these changes that start surfacing as early pregnancy symptoms within a couple days from conceiving. Onset of these symptoms at the first week of pregnancy marks implantation of fetus in the uterus and gradual development of it in your body. Drastic hormonal changes take place during this phase to support growth of the baby and the symptoms are just your body’s reaction to these changes. Hence, take care of your body and monitor each first week sign of pregnancy and add to your pregnancy journal to create a week by week pregnancy calendar till the end of nine months course of pregnancy. Pregnancy journals or calendars help women to observe if they are making healthy progress towards childbirth.

How To Determine First Week Of Pregnancy

Now many women wonder how to calculate their pregnancy. Which is the first day of their nine months course of pregnancy? Usually, the first day of the last menstrual period commences the nine months duration of pregnancy. That means the day on which the last normal menstrual period ends is the day when you have become pregnant.

Usually, the ovulation is a thirty-day period and during this time, egg from ovary travels gets into fallopian tube where it is fertilized by a sperm and then descends to uterus for getting developed. The period when the fertilized egg gets into the inner lining of the uterus is considered the first week of pregnancy. Implantation of the fertilized egg at the inner lining of the uterus can be perceivable by slight bleeding and other symptoms. Take care to notice each first week sign of pregnancy for the right calculation of the pregnancy period and to be prepared for the childbirth, gradually.

First Week Pregnancy Symptoms

Following are the most probable changes pregnant women are supposed to undergo at the first week of pregnancy –

When you are suddenly experiencing a degree of enhanced exhaustion even If you are a full-fledged healthy, active workingwoman, you should take it seriously. Women many tend to feel a heightened level of exhaustion and may even faint due to low blood pressure.

Feeling nausea in the morning or throughout the day is a prevalent first week sign of pregnancy. Often your stomach may prone to feel queasy and feel aversion to foods.

Frequent urination is another first week sign of pregnancy. If you are expecting pregnancy, you may rush to bathroom more frequently than ever. Enlarging of your uterus to accommodate growth of the fetus inside it pushes your bladder and cause frequent urination.

Implantation bleeding is a significant first week sign of pregnancy. Because this bleeding results from implanting of egg in the uterus, it is termed as implantation bleeding. This light bleeding may accompany slight abdominal cramping.

Your breasts will show significant changes such as varicose veins, getting larger, more tender, sore and sensitive.

You will undergo dramatic mood swings and depression, anxiety, sudden onset of joy etc. This drastic transition of mood is an outcome of hormonal changes.

Gas is an embarrassing first week sign of pregnancy. However, you can reduce such discomforts by enriching your meals with adequate fibers and cutting down on spices. Constipation can accompany this gas symptom of pregnancy.

To reduce discomforts of first week sign of pregnancy, consume proper diet containing vitamin, mineral and folic acid as per charted by your doctor.

Find More Health Care Articles

Prevention and Early Intervention for Mental Illness – The Time is Right

Last Updated on Sunday, 9 October 2011 01:20 Written by Natural Health Team Sunday, 9 October 2011 01:20

Health Information about Prevention and Early Intervention for Mental Illness – The Time is Right

Epic arguments are being waged regarding the pros and cons of disease prevention. However, few, if any, are offering serious insight as to how to address the host of mental health disorders estimated to affect 14 to 20 percent of America’s young people in any given year. A perfect storm is brewing, exacerbated by a troubled economy, rising unemployment, increasing bankruptcies and home foreclosures, and dwindling funds for programs. Dismal realities affect families and threaten the mental health of our nation’s youth.

Passionate exchanges tout the medical benefits and lives saved through the early detection of breast cancer, stroke, and heart disease, while the stigma surrounding mental illness persists. Workplace shootings, familicides, and the overdose deaths and suicides of notable celebrities prompt frequent news coverage, with discourse on prevention and early detection in an everyday setting taking a noticeable backseat. The public interprets the message: the mentally ill aren’t safe to be around. As a result, would-be-patients fly below the radar to avoid detection. Without the increased use of prevention strategies that are scientifically proven to work, and a correspondingly swift uptick in early detection efforts and community awareness and education in national media, mental disorders continue to fester like an undetected cancer.

The discussions regarding preventative healthcare are more than politically fueled punditry about dollars and cents. Saving money is important, however, the bottom line should include safeguarding a quality of life. When it comes to mental healthcare, or lack thereof, individuals and their families are hoping for anyone to throw them a lifeline, to live a “normal” life. According to the March 2009 Institute of Medicine (IOM) report brief for policymakers: Preventing Mental, Emotional, and Behavioral Disorders Among Young People, Progress and Possibilities, evidence-based approaches are proving to prevent certain mental health disorders, and limit risk factors, and are likely to be far more cost-effective at addressing mental, emotional, and behavioral disorders (MEBs).

Most MEB disorders erupt during childhood and adolescence. The IOM report suggests that the “window of opportunity” when symptoms first appear, typically 2 to 4 years before the onset of the disorder, is the prime time when prevention strategies have the most impact. Persons with mental health disorders have usually been identified only after they dropped out of school, and shuffled through the criminal justice system, and multiple hospitals, leaving extraordinary healthcare bills in their wake. The Early Detection and Intervention for the Prevention of Psychosis Program, a national effort launched by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and spearheaded by program director, William R. McFarlane, MD, estimates the cost to society to be higher than $ 10 million over the lifespan of a person who has schizophrenia. Most community mental health organizations supports early intervention, before costs escalate and the prospects of a happy, healthy life disintegrate. The ensuing discussions beg the question – just how much is an improved quality of life worth these days?

Community mental health organizations also recognize that the issue reaches beyond the bread and butter aspects of healthcare, and becomes muddled when editorials sound the alarm of diagnosing millions with a disease that requires treatment. An op-ed piece by David Harsanyi in The Denver Post insists that expanding the definition of diseases such as diabetes, high cholesterol, and osteoporosis, has already placed millions more Americans at the swelling healthcare trough. The idea that patients shouldn’t be identified for having a disease, or the potential to develop one, is a precarious one, especially for mental health. Sweeping mentally ill patients under the carpet has been going on for years and has hindered even the most ardent efforts of dedicated mental health professionals. Harsanyi is blunt – end of life care is costly, and free will overrides the patient’s decision to follow the doctors’ advice anyway. Part of the stigma plaguing mental illness is the notion that one can simply “snap out of” depression, or that persons “choose” to be mentally ill.

Chicago Tribune reporter Carla Johnson acknowledges in her article, Disease Prevention Often Costs More than it Saves, that disease prevention won’t necessarily save money, but that some efforts to prevent illness are necessary. Johnson quotes Robert Gould, president of the nonprofit Partnership for Prevention, saying that “Many of the services that don’t save money, improve people’s lives at relatively low cost.” A “pro-prevention” piece, More Attacks on Prevention and Its Role in Health Reform That Make No Sense, by Kenneth Thorpe in The Huffington Post, cautions against using “imprecise language” when it comes to policy-making, and strongly supports effective prevention programs that work simply “because they reach the right people at the right places with the right interventions” -  precisely steering back to that “window of opportunity” and the value of a healthy mind and a sound quality of life.

Several community mental health organizations have helped to bring the evidence-based public education program, Mental Health First Aid to the U.S. The program has trained more than 3,000 persons in its first year. Studies show that persons trained in what to do when someone is experiencing a mental health crisis have a greater likelihood of actually helping the person, and show a decrease in attitudes that encourage stigma and misperceptions.

The Early Detection and Intervention for the Prevention of Psychosis Program uses evidence-based interventions that help youths succeed, without stigma, before they experience the negative effects of a fully developed mental illness.

Geoffrey Canada’s Harlem Children’s Zone, launched in 1970 as a community-based truancy prevention program, has grown to include diverse programs and serve more than 10,000 youth. The proven results – in 2008, nearly all students in third and eighth grade in HCZ charter schools outperformed the average New York student in math.

College Dreams, an alcohol and drug prevention program in Oregon, has saved thousands of youth from school dropout, substance abuse, and delinquency. The program is based on scientific evidence regarding the risk factors for substance abuse and the protective factors that lead to long-term success for children who are beset by multiple and severe life adversities.

The following suggestions serve to increase public awareness and education efforts concerning mental illness, and to also fortify the case for evidence-based research and the use of proven practices regarding prevention and early detection:

Taking charge on a national level: The IOM report recommends that “the White House create an entity to lead toward a broad implementation of evidence-based prevention approaches and to direct research on interventions.” Public goals must be set for preventing specific mental disorders and promoting mental health, and funding must be provided to launch and improve evidence-based programs.

Dovetail efforts: Many mental disorders have common developmental pathways. Resources must be aligned between the departments of Education, Justice, and Health and Human Services. The National Institutes of Health should develop a comprehensive 10-year plan to research ways to promote mental health and prevent mental disorders in young people. State and local agencies should coordinate efforts and foster a multi-agency approach to ensure a comprehensive developmental perspective.

Equality in research funding: At present, a great deal of research leans toward treatment. Research needs to move from laboratory settings to real world settings, and must be responsive to community socioeconomic needs, diversities, values, and goals. The IOM report also cautions that funding should not support mental health programs that lack empirical evidence, despite their popularity within communities.

Identifying children with risk factors: Mental health screenings can be a helpful tool if parents and communities are aware of the purposes and methods of screenings, and have the ability to decline if they do not want their children included. But all families can learn to be aware of warning signals for teen depression, for example, and to distinguish between signs of impending psychosis, and teenage angst that falls within the norm of behaviors prompted by the transition from children to teens to young adults.

Speak up: Programs that work need media attention to thrive. Seek out members of the media, distribute press releases, and invite the media and the public to “community education nights” that highlight prevention and early intervention efforts that build strong, healthy communities and improve the quality of life. Society can no longer afford to ignore the risk factors for and the onset of mental illnesses and substance use disorders. Ignoring prevention and early intervention is issuing a personal invitation to cut a young life drastically short.

Find More Mental Health Articles

How to Improve Your Mental Health by Listening to Old Time Radio Shows

Last Updated on Friday, 7 October 2011 10:20 Written by Natural Health Team Friday, 7 October 2011 10:20

Health Information about How to Improve Your Mental Health by Listening to Old Time Radio Shows

Recently, there was a study conducted on recalling of positive memories which has been cited in Prevention Magazine.  It has been said that in this study, participants spent ten minutes twice a day recalling positive memories.  They reported that only after a week, there have been effects to those participants such as the greater sense of well-being, cheerfulness and even improvements in their blood work analysis.  In addition, there are about number of studies which shows the beneficial results of music therapy even to the Alzheimer’s patients.  Even though there’s no direct study connecting the old time radio and memory, still many customers testify that old time radio has a comparable effect.

Our clients are usually extending their experience as they write to us about the good benefits of having old time radio to family members or friends with memory impairment.  We understand that it’s normal for an individual to experience loss of memory because of aging. Based from casual observation, it seems that old time radio can help people who suffer memory ailment or related issues. Evidence noted that many Alzheimer’s patients are able to recall long-term memories through old time shows or old time radio which helps them to remember positive memories.

There was one particular customer who reported that his mom with memory impairment was able to recall exact details from a Jack Benny episode—right down to the punch lines! Another customer testified that his aunt enjoyed the old time radio shows so much that the nursing staff asked if they could share the programs with the rest of the ward.  The shows were enjoyed by many of them and they were really encouraged and prompted on interesting and lively discussion as they recall the special memories of golden age of radio.  My great aunt who also suffered from complications of Alzheimer’s disease, but before she passed away, she enjoyed listening to music that brought her warm feeling- and I believe that it was something she and her children could do together while battling against her disease.

If countless people enjoy and benefit from the old time radio, absolutely there would be many of your friends and family members that would enjoy some old radio shows comedy or musical to have blissful moment with you.  Considering, many people that suffer memory impairment need attention, companionship and affection.

Whether the shows can help you recall good memories or simply sharing the old time radio with younger folk, come to visit OTRCAT.com today and enjoy an episode or two from the thousands of recordings available online for free.  I would recommend positive comedy shows like Jack Benny, Bergen and McCarthy, Fibber McGee and Molly, Phil Harris and Alice Faye.

Find More Mental Health Articles