Psychological Conditions

This week we learned about a few different eating disorders. I learned some interesting and scary things about them. For example, althouh they occur often in teenage girls, there are more and more adult women developing eating disorders. This puts an unwanted stress on the whole family. Also, no matter what kind of eating disorder someone may have, the first thing they are taught when they seek help, is how to eat properly. This is such an important health issue to be aware of, as potentially anybody could develop a disorder like anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, or binge eating, if they are not careful. A lot of these disorders are caused by the stresses of life, and I haven't met anybody yet who is completely free of stress. Also, there is so much pressure from the world to have the perfect body, when in reality, the stuff on tv and in magazines are fake. I feel very sad for anyone who suffers from these kinds of psychological conditions, as it is not that easy to break those habits, or to retrain your mind to accept your body how it is. I don't personally know anybody with an eating condition, but I want to do everything I can to not only prevent myself from ever developing a disorder, but to help prevent my close friends and family from ever developing one. I think that these kinds of disorders happen so often in America, because of all the pressure that is placed on people, especially teenage girls, to obtain the perfect body or nobody will ever love them. I hope those who have any type of disorder will realize the dangers of it and will not be afraid to ask for help.

How Some Women Never Get Sick

This article is entitled, "How Some Women Never Get Sick." It is written by Alicia Potter from the Health Magazine.
It has a pretty catchy title, right? That's what I thought when I saw it as a health article. What woman wouldn't want to know how to prevent herself from getting sick? I sure want to know the secret. Well, this article gave 7 secrets to staying healthy. The first one is to get a monthly massage. Mindy Hardwick said she gets a massage every month and has been able to decrease her stress level, and therefore, build a high immunity to the stomach flu and other illnesses. Now, that sounds like a pretty good reason to get a massage to me!
The second secret is to take cold showers. Gwendolyn Witherspoon states that this helps keep her cold-free, her skin glowing, and her energy level higher than ever, but one must be careful when doing this, as a sudden chill can cause a spike in blood pressure. Witherspoon limits her 10-minute cold showers to the summer months and in the winter, she takes a 1-minute cold blast at the end of a regular shower. I don't really enjoy cold showers, so this one may be a challenge for me, but it sounds like it's worth a try.
Third, treat GI problems with ginger. Gwynne Berry sips her homemade remedy- a few slices of peeled ginger and honey in a mug of hot water- to regulate her digestive system. It works within 3 hours and does not have negative side effects. Berry also used it during her pregnancies and had little morning sickness. I've never tried this, but it would be interesting to test it out.
Fourth, lather up a lot. Chris Pope Campbell washes her hands several times a day to get rid of unwanted germs collected from various places. She rarely gets sick with a cold or the stomach flu. Anybody can easily do this, it's just a matter of actually going to the sink and washing.
The fifth secret to staying healthy is to try a cold-blasting cocktail at the first signs of illness. A lady named Jenny Spring drinks a vitamin C mixture called Emergen-C and takes zinc just as a cold is starting, to prevent it from growing worse. She doesn't even remember the last time she had a cold, because she always fights it off at the very first signs.
Sixth, eat more garlic. A woman named Susan Spain hasn't been sick since 1992. She credits it to eating a clove of raw garlic right after breakfast every day. That sounds kind of crazy to me, but Spain says she quarters it and puts it in applesauce so it's easier to swallow and doesn't upset her stomach. Garlic is full of antioxidants that boost immunity and fight inflammation, so maybe I'll just start with taking garlic capsules daily instead of eating it raw.
Finally, the seventh secret is to stay positive! In addition to her cold-blasting cocktails, Jenny Spring tells herself that she refuses to be sick at the first sign of illness. Studies have shown that having a positive attitude produces greater amounts of flu antibodies. So, I guess I need to work on thinking positively rather than dwelling on the negative side of things, even if I am sick, and it will hopefully help me not get as sick.
I really like this article. I learned a lot of useful ways to avoid getting sick, which will be very helpful as I try to balance so many things in my life. I often find myself over-stressed with school and work, so hopefully I can learn to reduce my stress, to prevent falling ill throughout the semester.
The link to this article is http://edition.cnn.com/2008/HEALTH/10/01/healthmag.women.sick/index.html