Researchers say Ice cream could be as addictive as cocaine!!!

Ice cream ‘could be as addictive as cocaine’, as researchers reveal cravings for the two are similar

  • Brain is left ‘wanting more’ in the same way as cocaine
  • Study results seem to support claims that some can become ‘addicted’ to junk food

By KERRY MCQUEENEY

Last updated at 10:00 AM on 6th March 2012

Cravings for ice cream can be so strong they are similar to those experienced by drug addicts, a study has found.

The research has sparked concerns that the dessert could be genuinely addictive after it found the brain was left wanting more ice cream in the same way as someone who regularly uses cocaine.

The results of the study now seem to support previous claims that some people can become ‘addicted’ to junk food.

Moreish: The effects of ice cream cravings mirror those experienced by regular cocaine usersMoreish: The effects of ice cream cravings mirror those experienced by regular cocaine users

The research, published online by the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, found that those who regualrly ate ice cream needed more and more to replicate the ‘high’ they first experienced.

This mirrors the effect cocaine – and other class A drugs – has on users, it was reported.

According to Dr Kyle Burger, from the Oregon Research Institute, overeating food with high fat and sugar seems to change the way the brain responds to it, resulting in it downgrading the mental ‘reward’.

Dr Burger, who is a co-author of the study, told The Telegraph: ‘This down-regulation pattern is seen with frequent drug use, where the more an individual uses the drug, the less reward they receive for using it.

Similarities: Much like the effects of the class A substance (pictured), those who regularly ate ice cream needed more and more to replicate the initial 'high' they feltSimilarities: Much like the effects of the class A substance (pictured), those who regularly ate ice cream needed more and more to replicate the initial ‘high’ they felt

‘This tolerance is thought to increase use, or eating, because the individual [is] trying to achieve the previous level of satisfaction.’

More than 150 teenagers – aged between 14 and 16 – took part in the study, which required them to consume chocolate milkshakes before being interviewed about their eating habits and subsequent cravings.

The teens also had their brains scanned while they were shown pictures of chocolate milkshakes before they were given one to drink.

According to the research, all participants wanted the ice cream but those who ate the most enjoyed it less and less. Instead, they had to eat more of it to experience the same level of enjoyment.

Dr Burger added: ‘You could be continually trying to match the earlier experience.’


Read more...

Good Stress vs. Bad Stress

Good Stress/Bad Stress

Good Stress/Bad Stress

By Victoria L. Freeman, PhD. Experience Life
December 24, 2009

“Stress Is Ruining Your Life and Your Health.”; “Stress Translates to Billions of Dollars a Year in Healthcare Costs.”; “Five Ways to Stop Stress Before It Stops You!”

With headlines like these, it’s obvious that the negative side of stress has our attention trapped between its tightly clenched jaws. Yet amid the clamor over this “deadly” foe, a few voices from the scientific community say: Not so fast! There’s a service-minded side to stress, too. And by better understanding the gifts that certain types of stress have to offer us, we can become better equipped at putting the not-so-nice kind in its place.

In his book The End of Stress as We Know It (Dana Press, 2004), Bruce McEwen, PhD, explains that stress is a natural and highly adaptive biological process that strengthens and safeguards us in many ways. After all, the body’s classic sympathetic-nervous-system reaction to stress, commonly called the fight-or-flight response, can save your life in an emergency. When a swift getaway or super strength is required, this is your body’s system for turning on the juice. And the stress to which you expose your body during a tough weight-training session is what triggers your muscles to become stronger. A certain amount of mental and emotional stress can actually help breed motivation, excitement and forward movement – if we know how to handle it.

History Lesson
The problem is not stress itself, point out McEwen and other researchers, like Robert Sapolsky, PhD, author of Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers (Owl Books, 2004). Rather, it’s that the kinds of stress we face today are vastly different from the stressors that prompted the evolution of our stress response. In times past, when humans were running from predators or stalking their own prey, the sources of stress were acute (intense, but short-lived) and obvious (“Ack! A lion!”). The resultant cascade of biological events known as “the stress response” came in handy for activities like running or fighting.

Back then, for better or worse, the sources of our stress arose and passed relatively quickly. We either went down fighting or we won and lived to see another day, during which we could recover from our fright and nurse our wounds.

Today, our struggle for survival more often involves chronic (ongoing) sources of stress: battling bad bosses and traffic jams, grappling with impossible schedules, credit card bills that just keep coming.

Yet our body’s biological response to modern stress is the same as it was when we were literally fighting for our lives: a flood of chemicals that shuts down important-but-not-urgent-for-immediate-survival functions (like digestion, growth, emotional bonding) in favor of other functions (energy bursts, enhanced focus, quick reaction times, faster blood clotting) designed to help us get through a short-term crisis.

Scientists now know that it’s the constant oversupply of stress hormones like cortisol and adrenaline, and the resultant suppression of the healing and growth hormones we require to recover from stress, that wreak havoc on our bodies and minds over the long term.

Chronic stress, of course, undermines our health. It can contribute or lead to asthma, atherosclerosis, heart attacks, strokes, depression, ulcers and ulcerative colitis, among other problems. There’s even evidence to suggest that stress may advance the progression of Alzheimer’s disease.

Yet when you examine the stress response, as McEwen, Sapolsky and others have, you find that some aspects of your body’s response to stress, such as heightened sensory awareness and mental acuity, can actually benefit you – at least in the short term.

The differences between good stress and bad stress really come down to two somewhat related things: duration and perception. First, duration: Good stressors, for the most part, are acute and temporary, triggering an adaptive (strengthening) response. Bad stressors are chronic, long term and persistent, triggering a destructive (breaking-down) response.
And the perception angle? Well, that’s a bit more complex.

A Matter of Perception
Your body’s physical reaction to anything it experiences as stress is always the same: The same physiological systems are involved, and the same hormones are released (more on that in a moment). You do, however, have a chance to influence your physical reaction to stress based on your brain’s interpretive ability to identify something as stressful or not, and your mental or emotional response to potentially stressful situations.

It may help to think of the distinction as good response/bad response instead of good stress/bad stress, suggests Gary Kaplan, MD, PhD, a neurologist and clinical associate professor of neurology at the New York University School of Medicine. “It is true that some sources of stress are almost universal in how people react to them, like the death of a spouse or child. Almost everyone would consider that an overwhelming challenge,” he says. “But other things are open to interpretation.”

For instance, you may view an argument with your spouse as a sign that your marriage is in jeopardy – or you may feel relief and optimism that the lines of communication are finally open. You could be devastated by a change in your responsibilities at work, but you might also reframe it as an opportunity to break the monotony and try something new.

In these situations, what could easily become a source of chronic stress turns out to be an acute, temporary stress followed by the opportunity for recovery and an adaptive response. That’s good stress in action, but making it work that way is largely up to you and the way you interpret and respond to your reality.

“It’s all about perception,” confirms Bruce Rabin, MD, PhD, professor of pathology and psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania. “Your brain has to perceive something as novel or threatening in order to invoke the stress response. And what my brain perceives as threatening may be totally different from what your brain perceives as threatening.”

Once your brain does perceive something as threatening, though, your body’s stress machinery goes to town.

Stress in Action
Our physiological response to stress is complex. In The End of Stress as We Know It, McEwen describes the mechanics:

Stage 1. The stress response begins when the brain perceives a threat. The fight-or-flight response is set in motion by the hypothalamus, which sounds an alert to the adrenal glands located above the kidneys. The adrenals release the first of two primary stress hormones, epinephrine, more commonly known as adrenaline.

Adrenaline speeds up heart rate and increases blood pressure as extra blood is sent to the muscles and organs in preparation for a quick getaway. Breathing rate increases and bronchial tubes dilate, sending extra oxygen to the brain to heighten our senses and make us more alert. Hair stands on end as adrenaline constricts blood vessels in the skin to prevent bleeding in the event our adversary strikes us.

Adrenaline also triggers the release of fibrinogen, a protein that speeds up blood clotting and provides extra protection against excessive bleeding. To fuel us for battle, blood sugar dramatically rises as adrenaline stimulates the release of energy from storage sites like fat and liver tissues. Finally, the brain releases endorphins, our natural painkillers, in case we’re injured but have to keep going.

Stage 2. The hypothalamus stimulates the pituitary gland, which in turn signals the adrenals to release the second primary stress hormone, cortisol. Cortisol’s first job is to replace the energy stores that have been zapped by the adrenaline response, and it does this by converting food into glycogen (carbs for your muscles) and fat. Cortisol also makes you hungry, so you’ll eat more post-battle, restocking your lost nutritional reserves with food. Additionally, the hormone draws protein from muscles to use as energy and draws minerals from bone to meet your body’s urgent needs.

Just enough cortisol and all is well, but it’s easy to see how an overstimulated stress response and too much cortisol leads to cardiovascular trouble and extra fat storage. Cortisol also affects the immune system. The right amount boosts immunity by mobilizing white blood cells, the body’s main defense team against injury and invaders. Yet too much cortisol suppresses the immune response and makes us more vulnerable to disease, low bone density and other problems.

In the face of unremitting stress, our minds and bodies become overwhelmed. It’s not uncommon for people to feel like they’ve lost control of their lives and adopt a sort of “learned helplessness” – a disempowered attitude that Kaplan says often mushrooms into depression. With no recovery time, no sense of choice toward change and no relief in sight, a person’s stress continues to mount, and the danger of overload and sickness becomes imminent.

Where to Draw the Line
In defense of stress, it can be a powerful, positive motivator. “Stress causes you to get things done,” says registered dietitian Libby Mills, MS, RD, who’s also a lifestyle coach and personal trainer. “I have many clients who, under stress, reach personal and professional goals they didn’t think they could.” In fact, most of us know several individuals who claim to “do their best work under stress.”

There’s a good reason for this. Faced with a project deadline, or a brutal, final mile between you and a race finish line, your body’s fight-or-flight mechanisms can kick in, delivering focus and a temporary energy boost. The anxiety about potential failure may temporarily sharpen your mental skills, heighten your concentration and jolt your body into an alert state. As a result, you may perform better.

Still, even this type of stress is a two-faced companion. The inspired all-nighter you pull at work can leave you feeling dull-witted, crabby and strung out the rest of the week. The day after that glorious race finish, you may be sore as the dickens.

As previously stated, for stress to be “good,” it must be balanced with adequate support and recovery. The other thing about both of the previous examples is that they involve an element of choice: the decision to persist in the face of difficulty, presumably in exchange for some desired reward that’s seen as worthwhile and that’s quite certain to be forthcoming.

One popular definition of bad stress characterizes it as “a combination of high responsibility and low control” – meaning you have to get something done, but the variables determining how and even whether you can accomplish it are not entirely within your grasp. Consider this: An otherwise odious and stressful project can feel empowering if it’s in the name of something you believe in or expect to be rewarding and thus happily agree to do. The same stressor, if dumped in your lap and not in the service of your goals, will probably be experienced as punishment and victimization, thus stressing you out far more, and for long after the task itself is done.

This is an important point, because, as noted, how you perceive a stressful event (both its source and significance) dictates your response to it. Many stress-management techniques hinge, in fact, on three basic skills: 1) differentiating between those things that are and are not within your control; 2) identifying to what extent your stress is the result of your interpretation, beliefs and judgments about the events (vs. the events themselves); and 3) learning to consciously adjust your reactions and perceptions in ways that help you feel more powerful, less threatened and helpless, and thus, less stressed.

So how do you know when you’re dealing with a short-term, adaptive “good stress” opportunity and when you’re sinking into a downward-spiraling “bad stress” quagmire? That line is different for everyone, and finding it for yourself requires tuning in to your feelings.

“When you feel energized under pressure, you’re still striving, still adapting,” Kaplan says. “But when that energized feeling shifts to overwhelming, you’re in over your head.”

Your body will give you signals, too. Cross the line from adaptive to damaging and you’ll probably start noticing problems like lingering fatigue, short temper, headaches, depression, lowered sex drive, gastrointestinal disturbances, increased or lost appetite, skin problems, cravings for sweets, and weight fluctuations. Your creativity and ability to juggle multiple tasks (both of which are initially boosted by the body’s stress response), may evaporate.

“Under chronic stress, we see systematic breakdown,” asserts Shawn Talbott, PhD, an Ironman triathlete and author of The Cortisol Connection: The Breakthrough Program to Control Stress and Lose Weight (Hunter House, 2004). “Core-level metabolic disturbances often result in weight gain. They also make people more vulnerable to diseases like diabetes and heart disease. Immunity, which in the short term is actually boosted by the stress response, can be seriously undermined by chronic stress.”

Another site for symptoms? Your daily routine. “I can tell people are approaching stress overload when they abandon their normal routines for a couple of weeks or more,” says Mills. “Or their sleep patterns change and they start showing some impulsive behaviors like binge eating or drinking.”

How Healthy Habits Help 
Unfortunately, poor lifestyle choices like junk food, excessive alcohol and inadequate sleep only feed the stress response. In fact, they can significantly increase cortisol production even when you aren’t consciously upset about anything. By the same token, the more stressed out you are, the more essential it is that you embrace healthy lifestyle choices that help mitigate stress’s damaging effects.

The importance of rest in managing stress, for example, was highlighted in a study published in Revue Neurologique in 2003. Belgian researchers measured the effects of six days of sleep deprivation on 11 healthy young men (participants were allowed to sleep only four hours per day). They found significantly increased cortisol in the subjects’ blood, and the rest periods between cycles of cortisol production were also shorter than normal. The men’s bodies continued producing cortisol when they should have been taking a break.

Exercise, in moderation, is a great way to counter stress, and aerobic exercise is especially effective. It provides an outlet for the residual tension created by the fight-or-flight response, and it decreases your risk of several metabolic illnesses like heart disease and diabetes.

Exercise can also keep strong emotional reactions, like fear or anger, in check – so when stressful challenges pop up, you’re more likely to keep your even keel and choose more adaptive-oriented attitudes and behaviors.

But, Sapolsky cautions in Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers, that doesn’t mean insanely large amounts of exercise are insanely good for your body. In fact, repeated intense exercise without adequate recovery can actually suppress the immune system, reminds Rabin: “That’s why so many competitive athletes get sick during heavy training.”

Get the Better of Stress
Some of the best things you can do to counter the effects of stress and make yourself more resilient, according to Sapolsky, Talbott and other experts, are the same things you must do to stay healthy in general: Get adequate sleep; regular, moderate exercise; and good nutrition. Under stress, though, these things become even more important.

Having a good support network can help a lot, too. So can simply emphasizing more fun, pleasure and emotional intimacy in your life. Finally, keep in mind that while you can’t control everything life throws your way, by adjusting your perceptions about stressful situations, you can reclaim a lot of control over the duration of stressful experiences. The faster and more adept you become at transforming bad-stress responses into good ones, the less you will suffer at stress’s hands.

The maxim about stress used to be: “Whatever doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.” Today, given the more chronic nature of our stress experience, that maxim should be amended to say: “Whatever isn’t slowly killing you may make you stronger.”

From a biological standpoint, unfortunately, virtually anything that exposes you to stress from which you have inadequate opportunity to recover is, in essence, killing you slowly. But you can fight back. Just remember: The more stress-filled and anxiety-producing your life becomes, the more mental and emotional skills you need to help you filter and process your experiences. The busier and more demanding your work and workout schedules become, the more mental and physical recovery windows you have to open – even when your schedule seems intent on slamming them shut.


Read more...

Good Friends are Good for You!!!

Good Friends Are Good for You

They might get on your nerves at times, but good friends have bigger benefits than you may realize.
By 
WebMD Feature

“You got to have friends to make that day last long,” sings Bette Midler. But good friends may help your life last longer, too, according to an Australian study. Conducted by the Centre for Ageing Studies at Flinders University, the study followed nearly 1,500 older people for 10 years. It found that those who had a large network of friends outlived those with the fewest friends by 22%.

Why is this so? The authors suspect that good friends discourage unhealthy behaviors such as smoking and heavy drinking. And the companionship provided by friends may ward off depression, boost self-esteem, and provide support. Also, as people age, they may become more selective in their choice of friends, so they spend more time with people they like.

Recommended Related to Mind, Body, Spirit

The Simple Secret to a Happier Life

By Charlotte Latvala In the immortal words of the Rolling Stones, you can’t always get what you want. And you know what? That’s really okay. Discover how letting go of impossible (and draining) dreams puts you on the path to peace. In the 37th week of my third pregnancy, I was cruising right along with no major health problems until — bam — I developed Bell’s palsy, a partial paralysis of the left side of my face. I couldn’t close my eye, I drooled when I ate, and, worst of all,…

Close relationships with children and relatives, in contrast, had almost no effect on longevity. Lynne C. Giles, one of the four researchers who conducted the study, emphasized that family ties are important; they just seem to have little effect on survival.

The Health Benefits of Good Friends

Lots of research has shown the health benefits of social support.

One such study, reported in the journalCancer, followed 61 women with advancedovarian cancer. Those with ample social support had much lower levels of a protein linked to more aggressive types of cancer. Lower levels of the protein, known as interleukin 6, or IL-6, also boosted the effectiveness of chemotherapy. Women with weak social support had levels of IL-6 that were 70% higher in general, and two-and-a-half times higher in the area around the tumor.

In 1989, David Spiegel, MD, a professor of psychiatry at Stanford University, published a landmark paper in Lancet. Itshowed that women with breast cancer who participated in a support group lived twice as long as those who didn’t. They also had much less pain.

Sheldon Cohen, PhD, a psychology professor at Carnegie Mellon University, in Pittsburgh, has shown that strong social support helps people cope with stress.

“Friends help you face adverse events,” Cohen tells WebMD. “They provide material aid, emotional support, and information that helps you deal with the stressors. There may be broader effects as well. Friends encourage you to take better care of yourself. And people with wider social networks are higher in self-esteem, and they feel they have more control over their lives.”

Other studies have shown that people with fewer friends tend to die sooner after having a heart attack than people with a strong social network. Having lots of friends may even reduce your chances of catching a cold. That’s true even though you’re probably exposed to more viruses if you spend a lot of time with others.

“People with social support have fewer cardiovascular problems and immune problems, and lower levels of cortisol — a stress hormone,” says Tasha R. Howe, PhD, associate professor of psychology at Humboldt State University. “Why? The evolutionary argument maintains that humans are social animals, and we have evolved to be in groups. We have always needed others for our survival. It’s in our genes. Therefore, people with social connections feel more relaxed and at peace, which is related to better health.”

They might get on your nerves at times, but good friends have bigger benefits than you may realize.
 (continued)

Friends Can Be Stressful

Friends can be a source of stress, though. In fact, friends can cause more stress than others precisely because we care so much about them.

Julianne Holt-Lunstad, PhD, an assistant professor of psychology at Brigham Young University, has found that dealing with people who arouse conflicted feelings in us can raise blood pressure more than dealing with people we don’t like.

“My colleagues and I were interested in relationships that contain a mix of positivity and negativity,” she says. “For example, you might love your mother very much, but still find her overbearing or critical at times.”

By attaching people to portable blood pressure monitors, Holt-Lunstad and her colleagues found that blood pressure was highest when people were interacting with someone they felt ambivalent about.

What she found really surprising was that these interactions caused higher blood pressure than those with people the research subjects felt completely negative about. “We suspect that people we feel positive toward can hurt us that much more when they make a snide comment or don’t come through for us because they are important to us. Friends may help us cope with stress, but they also may create stress.”

So would we be better off having no friends at all?

Hardly. “One thing research shows is that as one’s social network gets smaller, one’s risk for mortality increases,” Holt-Lunstad says. “And it’s a strong correlation — almost as strong as the correlation between smoking and mortality.”

The Impact of Loneliness

What about loners? Are they at greater risk of dying because they prefer to be alone?

Only if they feel lonely. One study found that drug use among young people was higher among those who said they were lonely. Older lonely people tended to have higher blood pressure and poorer sleep quality. They also were more tense and anxious.

Another study found that college freshmen who had small social networks and claimed to be lonely had weaker immune responses to flu vaccinations. They also had higher levels of stress hormones in their blood.

Unfortunately, Americans have fewer friends than they used to, according to a recent study, “Social Isolation in America,” published in the American Sociological Review. The authors found that from 1985 to 2004, the number of Americans who feel they have someone with whom they can discuss important matters dropped by nearly one-third. The number of people who said they had no one they could discuss such matters with tripled to nearly 25%. The authors suspect that long work hours and the popularity of the Internet may contribute to the decline in close relationships.

The study also found that the percentage of people who talk about important matters only to family members increased from 57% to 80%. Those who depend solely on their spouse for these talks increased from 5% to 9%.

How Women’s Friendships Are Different From Men’s

In general, women are better at maintaining friendships than men. Women “tend and befriend,” says Shelley E. Taylor, PhD, a psychology professor at UCLA. They respond to stress by protecting and nurturing others (“tending”), and by seeking support from others (“befriending”). This pattern regulates the seeking, giving, and receipt of social support, Taylor says. It produces health benefits by reducing psychological and biological stress.

And Margaret Gibbs, PhD, a professor of psychology at Fairleigh Dickinson University, found that men and women relate to others differently throughout life.

“We found that women seemed more geared to empathy, while male friendships are more geared to companionship and altruism,” she tells WebMD. “Male friendships are more about helping each other — mending the lawn mower, that sort of thing. Women’s friendships tend to have a more emotional content — listening to friends’ stories and coming up with helpful solutions.”

 

Published January 2007


Read more...

4 Responses to “Blog”

  1. Jane says:

    awesome…

    It is appropriate time to make some plans for the future and it’s time to be happy. I have read this post and if I could I want to suggest you some interesting things or tips. Perhaps you can write next articles referring to this article. I wish to re…

  2. Recommended Reading…

    […]I blog quite often and I genuinely thank you for your information. This article has really peaked my interest. I’m going to book mark your website and keep checking for new details about once per week. I opted in for your RSS feed too.[…]…

  3. Third Flower…

    My wife and i happen to be now delighted that Albert could execute his scientific studies as a consequence of the ideas he had as a result of your web content. It really is from time to time perplexing to simply always be giving freely methods which a …

  4. Zoe Munch says:

    The Slave of the Husband…

    Trying to get forward to finding out added from you afterward!……