chronic conditions Articles

Moderate to severely depressed clients showed greater improvement in cognitive therapy when therapists emphasized changing how they think rather than how they behave.

Creating Good Thoughts

To create good thoughts means looking for the beauty and positive aspect of everyday life. Facing life in a way that gives you control means extracting what you want to focus on. It means being aware how your thoughts set up your reality.

Two people win a 20 thousand dollar lottery, one laments if he just had one more number he would be set for life. The other person realizes how fortune he was to come into this windfall.

Of course the winner for life is the person who enjoys what he received. You either trade down or you trade up in life. The choice is yours.

Create Your World

What has been found was that a concentration on changing behavior of patients by having them schedule activities to get them out and about, did not significantly predict subsequent change in depression symptoms.

The research suggests that cognitive strategies are what will help patients improve. Scientific research has found that perception, expectations, values, attitudes of both self and others will affect behavior.

When a person is depressed they will focus on minor negative aspects of an everyday experience. When small things seem go wrong the depressed person will see the whole experience as negative.

Creating your world starts with self talk. That is the dialog you have with yourself. The longest conversation is the one you have with yourself. Self-talk is the things we say to ourselves all day long.

Automatic Thoughts

Automatic thoughts are repetitive, statements that we say to ourselves.

Again they can be positive or negative. They are called automatic, because they are thoughts that we always say no matter what the evidence is. It is presumptions that don’t weigh any contradictions to the emotional response to people and situations.

Irrational Thoughts

Irrational thoughts are ideas that are based on false assumptions. These are usually unrealistic, and incorrect. Fundamentally they make no sense, and are illogical. These can take you the brink and are the profile of many maladaptive responses to the world. Thoughts that put conditions on your ability to be joyful are usually irrational.

These are I can’t be happy unless I either loss weight, get into my bikini, win the lottery, and please a boss, husband, friend, or relative. These aren’t what your happiness depends on.

Neither does getting into a bikini or winning the lottery guarantee happiness. Many lottery winners can attest to that fact. These ideas aren’t conductive to any long lasting future happiness.

Instrumental Thoughts

The good part is many of these beliefs are not etched in stone. It takes intuitive work to develop a correct thought pattern. Awareness is something that is needed.

Instrumental thoughts are ones that supply you with sheer delight. They become effortless if you make it a point to entertain them.

Learning the right and empowering way of thinking has a profound change on your self view.

The world you live in is inside your mind. You create your thoughts, and you should be the master of them. If not then the thoughts are your master, and that may not be the best program to go though life with. If you have been previously programmed, then you may be going through life with other people’s voices leading the way.

Stress relief is a pill away according to a pharmaceutical perspective. Global Health Venture, Inc. (OTCBB;GHLV ) (the “company”) has announced that it has targeted the development of a new anti-stress medication “Relax-B” using its proprietary sublingual technology. The company’s lead therapeutic product “X-Excite” (male sexual enhancement drug) is already proceeding successfully through the clinical trials. “Relax-B” is designed to cause relaxation of muscles leading to stress relief. The new product uses an already FDA approved drug with a special formulation at a very low dosage that reaches blood rapidly.

Anti-Stress Market

The anti-stress market is estimated to be over $5 billion and counting. The company has a mission and it turns out to be how much is stress worth. The perpetual conundrums for the consumer is can you identify health problems in the future from this fast fix.

The pharmaceutical companies’ viewpoint is how much resource to allocate for the perceived revenue returns. Consumers must beware of their bias; they view stress and depression as a chronic disease that can involve lifetime intervention. The current anti-stress medications are slow action and may require months to see results. The need for rapid anti-stress medication is highly desirable so is a fast payload.

Anti-Stress Medication

Anti-stress medication takes away the possibility of change. There is a danger of losing direction, changing your life doesn’t mean reaching for a pill. High stress levels may mean your diet isn’t supporting your nervous system, brain, or hormone levels, and you have a poor lifestyle habits. This could include working too many hours, poor relationships, and poor problem solving ability.

Your stress level doesn’t lie, so a pill that protects you from it may decrease your ability to see and find a new way to manage your life. Just because a pill is validated to relieve stress doesn’t mean it is a natural alternative. Being dependent on a drug to help you manage your life isn’t a good strategy.

A better mood, more energy, will not come from a pharmaceutical. We live in stressful times and the stress related conditions are on the rise, from socio-economic problems, constant news coverage, and a feeling that the world is going in the wrong direction.

Anti-stress medication doesn’t balance the sheet; it doesn’t give you an ounce more of control. What is does is swing the pendulum by boosting your feeling of calmness. It doesn’t help you upgrade your actions, optimize your situation, refigure, and refresh your life. Without doing that you will always be a pill away from calm.

Relaxing muscles is not the magic solution to stress. An audit of your life is what stress relief is about. The company goes from “X-Excite” for men to cracking down on stress with a pill. Who will scrutinize this trend, and determine if a growth oriented company is looking out for you. There is contradiction in terms to say that their aim is to dominate the market, and at the same time lifting the mood of people who are stressed.

If you want to get ready, set, and grow emotionally, spiritually, and physically forget the pill and take steps to improve and regulate your life.

Essential oils are powerful antimicrobial that could potentially combat drug-resistant super-bugs.

Essential Oils

The next-generation of antimicrobial protection may be derived from plants. Essential oils are a cheap and effective first line of defense against infections. It can be used as an intervention in treating microbes responsible for staph infections. With it being both safer than antibiotics it could become a healthy alternative.

Professor Yiannis Samaras and Dr. Effimia Eriotou, from the Technological Educational Institute of Ionian Islands, in Greece led the research by testing the antimicrobial activity of eight plant essential oils. They found thyme essential’s oil was the most effective, and just about completely eliminated bacteria within 60 minutes.

The essential oils of thyme and cinnamon were found to be particularly efficient antibacterial agents against Staphylococcus a bacteria that is common inhabitant of the skin. Drug-resistant strains such as meticillin- resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) are extremely difficult to treat. “Not only are essential oils a cheap and effective option for antibiotic-resistant strains, but decreased use of antibiotics will help minimize the risk of new strains of antibiotic resistant micro-organisms emerging,” said Professor Samaras.

Essential Oil Use

The Greek team believes essential oils have diverse medical and industrial applications. “The oils-or their active ingredients-could be easily incorporated into antimicrobial creams or gels for external application. In the food industry the impregnation of food packaging with essential oils has already been successfully trialed. They could also be included in food stuffs to replace synthetic chemicals that act as preservatives,” they said.

Hibiscus has a range of powerful compounds that prevent E. coli from adhering to the urinary track and bladder wall linings. Both the flower and calyx are abundant in a distinct antimicrobial compound that has been shown to inhibit the activity of a host of microbes.

Essential oils can be used in hot or cold compresses for muscle aches and pains. They are used in gargles and mouthwashes. Also, they are used in sore throat remedies as an antiseptic.

Aromatherapy

Aromatherapy has gained in popularity. The most common ones are lavender, myrtle, peppermint, tea tree, eucalyptus, rosemary, sage, and thyme. The most basic method of administering aromatherapy is direct or indirect such as inhalation of essential oils. Aromatherapy steam devices are commercially available.

Essential oil diffusers, vaporizers can be used to disperse essential oil over large areas. Eucalyptus and tea tree oil are known for their antiseptic qualities and are used to disinfect areas.

Because of their potency, essential oils are diluted in carrier oil before being applied. Aromatherapy is used in health care practices by aromatherapists.

For direct application massage is a therapeutic technique used in conjunction with aromatherapy.