By Jacob Franek
He came out in the night, eyes wide open, newspaper in hand, and oddly open to suggestion: The naked sleepwalker marches on.
Sleepwalking is a peculiar disorder and, admittedly, your typical sleepwalker does not exactly fit the above profile, although recent media reports do suggest otherwise. Back in November 2007, Travelodge UK released the results of an internal study that left many in Britain scratching their heads. Amazingly, the study found a sevenfold increase in sleepwalking customers when compared to results from 2006, with 95% of sleepwalkers being naked men. Take a second, and let that sink in.
Now for a disease that occurs in about 1% to 15% of the general population, it's no big surprise that hotels see their fair share of sleepwalking customers - a phenomenon driven simply by the sheer number of sleeping customers in a hotel at any one time - but the fact that most sleepwalkers identified in the Travelodge study were naked men is hopefully just a statistical anomaly - hopefully.
All jokes aside, sleepwalking is really no laughing matter; it can lead to serious injury, damage to property and even death. In fact, most know very little about the disorder. So let's give you a quick cheat sheet to impress your friends during casual conversation, because we all know how often sleepwalking comes up.
Otherwise coolly known as somnambulism, sleepwalking is a disorder characterized by complicated activity that takes place during sleep or when in a sleep-like state. Affected individuals will actually rise from a sleeping position and perform actions normally undertaken when awake, such as walking around, cooking, playing an instrument, moving furniture, cleaning or even driving (and guys, we know what you're thinking, but exploiting a sleepwalking roommate to do your house chores is just cruel).
Sleepwalking occurs early in the night during the slow-wave stages of non-rapid eye movement (nREM) sleep. A common misconception is that sleepwalkers act out physical components of their dreams; however, because acts of sleepwalking happen before the dream stage of sleep (REM sleep), this is simply not true. Episodes of sleepwalking can be very brief, lasting only a few seconds, and may last up to a few minutes or can even last for up to 30 minutes or longer. If seeing someone staggering around at night all zombie-like is not enough to creep you out, most sleepwalkers usually have their eyes wide open in an eerie stare (cue '70s horror flick music).
Causes of sleepwalking are varied and often difficult to identify, but the disorder appears more frequently in children as they spend more time in slow-wave sleep than adults. In adults, the disorder usually carries over from childhood and only very rarely does the disorder first appear in adulthood. There is a definite genetic component to somnambulism, as sleepwalking occurs more frequently in identical twins than in unrelated individuals and tends to run in families. Fatigue, lack of sleep, anxiety, stress, fever, and magnesium deficiency commonly trigger sleepwalking. Other environmental factors including alcohol intoxication and certain drugs such as sedatives or antihistamines may also cause sleepwalking, at least in adults. And lastly, sleepwalking may be brought on by underlying medical conditions, such as arrhythmia, gastroesophageal reflux, nocturnal asthma, nocturnal seizures, and apnea or psychiatric conditions, such as post-traumatic stress disorder, panic attacks or multiple personality disorders.
Anyone who's ever had a conversation with someone who is half asleep (or downright hammered) might appreciate the bizarre behavior of an individual who is sleepwalking. Common symptoms include:
Before treatment, sleepwalking must first be identified and this is usually done by a family member or friend who happens to witness an individual sleepwalking or by the individual themselves if injured or otherwise alerted during the nocturnal act. Once at the doctor's office, there are really no valid diagnostic tests or examinations that a physician can perform to confirm sleepwalking; however, doctors may run tests to rule out any underlying conditions that might be causing the sleepwalking.
In most cases of sleepwalking, no treatment is necessary as the disorder is most often caused by lack of sleep, emotional problems, stress or anxiety. As these conditions resolve, sleepwalking should disappear over time. A psychological evaluation can identify those mental issues that might be causing the sleepwalking.
It's when an individual experiences frequent bouts of sleepwalking during which they become injured or destructive that a sleep specialist or behavioral therapist should be contacted, but there is little in the way of treatment. What’s important is reducing an individual’s stress and instituting proper safety measures to prevent injury. Ensuring adequate rest, performing relaxation exercises or mental imagery techniques, limiting alcohol, and reducing any stimuli prior to bedtime may prove beneficial to the sleepwalker in preventing future bouts. Sometimes, sleep-promoting medications such as the benzodiazepines, diazepam and clonazepam are used.
To ensure personal safety, the following measures can be implemented:
Dealing with a sleepwalker can easily be one of the most comical or frustrating experiences of anyone’s life. Contrary to popular belief, it is not dangerous to wake a sleepwalker, they will not respond with anger and it might actually save their life. Upon waking, most sleepwalkers will likely be confused, disoriented, annoyed at being awoken or possibly even embarrassed, depending on the circumstances. However, be cautioned; actually waking a sleepwalker can be extremely difficult and thus is ill-advised for that reason. So, if waking is attempted, it should be done in a safe area and with gentle force. Talking may be of little use. Often it’s best just to assist a sleepwalker back into bed using gentle motions. However, even this may prove futile as the sleepwalking individual may rise again to complete the task that they were previously doing. In such cases, helping the individual complete their task in a safe environment until they feel the task is accomplished might be the most helpful.
Sleepwalking is a peculiar condition that may or may not reduce with age. The overall prognosis for most individuals with sleepwalking is good, unless an individual becomes seriously injured or if the sleepwalking is caused by some other underlying medical condition. And, of course, there are always those rare, but freakish, outcomes that an act of sleepwalking can produce: Read up on Albert Tirrell or Kenneth Parks, two homicidal somnambulists or Jessie Gilbert, a British teenage chess champion who died from a fall presumably while sleepwalking. Lastly, there is the outrageous story of a 15-year-old girl in London, England, who was rescued - after waking on the arm of a 130-foot crane.
By Jacob Franek
Mental health for men is being called a silent crisis, a sleeper issue that has crept into the minds of millions. At the heart of the problem are new and emerging pressures for men, stemming from changes in societal dynamics at work, and in family and personal life.
While the concept of mental health for men is nothing new, comparatively, gender-specific health awareness and research have focused predominately on women. Women have the tendency to band together, and they are more vocal and expressive about emotions and other aspects of their mental health. As a result, women seek health care in much greater proportion than men. Men, on the other hand, traditionally shy away from the health-care system, and we are only now starting to understand why that is.
Men tend to view partners and friends as primary health sources. When they do reach a physician, men tend to focus more on physical problems, and are less likely to discuss deeper emotional issues - particularly if the physician is female. Perhaps most influential are perceptions around male masculinity. As it is seen unmanly to discuss weakness, mental issues become masked and often go undiagnosed.
Recognizing these barriers is only the first step to overcoming illnesses that might be weighing on a man's mind. Greater understanding of new and emerging mental illnesses for men is equally as important, and hopefully the following will help to raise your awareness.
Researchers estimate that at least 6 million men suffer from depression each year in the United States. While this number is larger in women, men are almost four times more likely to suffer the ultimate consequence of their depression: suicide. Even though women attempt more suicides each year, men are more successful, in part because the methods employed by men are more lethal.
Sadly, the above statistics make one point clear: Depression in men is different form women. The question is why?
Looking back to those barriers introduced above, similarities are seen when it comes to depression. Men are simply not seeking proper treatment. The issue is confounded because men's depressive symptoms are not being readily recognized by physicians and by men themselves. Men are more willing to acknowledge physical symptoms - fatigue, headaches, irritability, loss of interest in work, lowered sexual drive, and sleep disturbances - rather than emotional feelings of sadness, worthlessness, hopelessness, and excessive guilt. It is these physical symptoms, and other signs such as alcohol or drug dependence, that require greater recognition by men as possibly pointing toward an underlying illness of depression.
If you are among the millions of men being plagued by the symptoms described above, it is important to seek help promptly, adn there are numerous resources readily available online. While the cause of your depression may not be immediately clear, on account of the numerous factors at potential blame - specific distressing life events, biochemical imbalances in the brain or certain psychological factors - what is clear is that you're not alone and should never feel ashamed. Depression is common, and most cases are entirely treatable.
Social and economic changes have affected the family structure and have redefined the role of men within the home, hence impacting mental health for men. With the increasing independence of women, men have seen greater responsibility in contributing to housework and child-rearing. The result is an increase in associated mental illnesses.
But before one can even consider the prospects of fatherhood, one must first consider the prospects of conception.
Infertility in both men and women is no small concern, as it can be an important cause of stress and can significantly affect partner relationships. Generally, younger couples (30 to 35 years and younger) should commit to at least one year of well-timed intercourse before even thinking about fertility testing. If you are considering testing, however, be advised that because infertility has numerous causes - some environmental, some from medication or infection - testing and subsequent treatment can be extremely difficult, excessively expensive and even traumatic.
Instead, increasing your infertility awareness and committing to prevention well ahead of planning pregnancy can really take a load off your mind. General prevention techniques include limiting tobacco and alcohol, limiting the number of sex partners and wearing a condom to prevent STD's, and maintaining ideal body weight to prevent hormonal balances. Men diagnosed with cancer should also consider saving sperm prior to cancer treatment.
If conception is successful, as a male, you aren't out of the woods just yet. Pregnancy-related health concerns specific to men are now becoming apparent. Perinatal (during pregnancy) research indicates that men undergo significant stress during the first three months of pregnancy, with only minimal resolve for the months thereafter. A major contributor to this stress for men is a decline in sexual function, a decline that often fails to return to pre-pregnancy levels even up to a year after the pregnancy is completed - a prospect that men fail to anticipate. Further studies have shown that men are also significantly affected by postpartum (after pregnancy) depression more so than previously thought. Depression in new fathers may take the form of isolation. And such isolation can have a negative impact on a child's development as children may consequently receive less attention and less stimulating interaction.
Two powerful words with powerful implications: sexual abuse. Sexual abuse is not necessarily physical, and can include any non-consensual act of sexual coercion and/or domination that threatens the physical and/or psychological well-being of an individual. While most men are well aware of the issues surrounding sexual abuse, once again, the majority of this awareness is focused on women. The scary fact is that sexual abuse is also largely prevalent in males with some conservative estimates suggesting that one in six males have been sexually abused before age 16. While exact statistics are difficult to confirm, a valid point remains: Sexual abuse in males is a problem - and it can lead to serious mental complications.
The extent to which sexual abuse affects an individual is dependent on a variety of factors: the age of the victim, who committed the abuse, whether or not violence was involved, and how long the abuse went on. The psychological effects, however, are even more diverse and can thus manifest in a number of different ways.
Men who are sexually abused often experience problems with gender and sexuality. Feelings of masculine inadequacy, or the reverse, hyper masculinity, are common. Men may also become confused about their sexual orientation. Other mood disturbances such as depression or anxiety can lead to devastating physical effects, and men can become subject to denial, leading to stubbornness and difficulty in recognizing that what happened was actually sexual abuse.
What's important to understand is that most victims do not become offenders. And most victims can overcome their mental issues and can have perfectly normal sexual relationships with a little help. Amvosa, The Men's Project and Male Survivor are excellent organizations that offer tons of information online.
Times have changed; the Tim Allen Tool Time depiction of masculinity is becoming a thing of the past. No, this doesn't mean that males are becoming more effeminate, just simply more aware. Normal Mailer once said that "masculinity is not something given to you, but something you gain. And you gain it by winning small battles with honor." Battling the mind can be one of the most hard-fought contests, but a win against it commands the ultimate esteem. In times of mental hardship, your greatest enemy is silence. Overcome this and you are well on your way to having good mental health.
By Jasper Anson
Stress is meant to protect us, and in small doses it is healthy. As a fight-or-flight response, we feel it physically during a challenging emotional situation or when we are physically threatened. Whether it's a sudden confrontation or a marital argument, more often than not, our bodies immediately jump to top speed and stress out.
When stress responses become habitual, there can be a problem. Work issues or difficulties at home can become chronic stressors, encouraging the same fight-or-flight response at maximum intensity, whether it's justified or not. The more frequently we have that response, the harder it is to turn off, and health complications may follow. Doctors estimate that 60% to 90% of illnesses are rooted in stress. There are other contributing factors, but stress is at least partially responsible for many serious conditions.
Here's the lowdown on what stressing out can do to your health.
It's the news that no man wants to hear: Yes, guys, stress has a negative effect on your sperm count. When guys are stressed out, stress hormones interfere with the Leydig cells, which are supposed to regulate the production of testosterone. Instead of keeping things balanced, the Leydigs are overpowered by the glucocorticoid hormone, which slows down testosterone to a point where the body stops making sperm.
Stress and infertility are not a desirable combination. A study in Copenhagen found that men have greater stress in their social lives and their marriages as a result of their infertility.
The good news is that a low sperm count due to stress can be reversed by reducing your stress level. Where fertility is concerned, a regular dose of exercise can serve the dual purpose of reducing stress and increasing sperm count. Although men like to use sex as a means to reduce stress, too much of it can also reduce your sperm count, so not partaking as frequently will prove worthwhile.
Stress is significant to your skin's health, especially when it deregulates the fat balance in the skin's epidermis, allowing infectious bacteria to get through. A study at the University of California in San Francisco showed a higher prevalence of group A streptococcal skin infections in mice that were subjected to stress.
Those findings have led some scientists to believe that stress could be a partial cause in skin disorders like eczema and psoriasis. Some blotches and rashes are not even from skin disorders; they are purely from stress.
To reduce stress and skin problems, a stress-reducing activity like meditation coupled with psychological treatment and skin medications can lead to noticeable improvements.
As more adults get stressed out, many also get heavier. When the extra weight is due to overeating, stress is often a culprit by promoting the consumption of excessive food as an emotional response.
For people under emotional stress, eating becomes their coping mechanism of choice. This wouldn't be so bad if it only happened on an empty stomach, but stress can make people hungrier after they've eaten already. If your boss is making you upset an hour after breakfast, you might be ready for a meal break regardless of the fact that you aren't actually hungry. The frequency and portions of eating begin to increase, making fast food a common and unhealthy choice. The University of Liverpool concluded that both sexes are prone to eating excessively during stress, with men eating twice as quickly and women eating more.
Overeating and stress can lead to obesity because diets get worse and exercise lessens. Obesity carries its own dangers, but exercise is the most productive solution for stress reduction and weight loss together. Prevention comes from finding other ways besides eating to deal with stress and stressful situations.
For asthma sufferers, stress is a trigger for attacks and discomfort. Since anxiety is a common stress trait, high anxiety brings with it a change in natural breathing patterns. Stress-induced anxiety attacks can induce shortness of breath and a smothered sensation. If you have asthma, an anxiety attack can cause your symptoms to flare up and worsen. As a combination, asthma and stress form a double-edged sword since asthma attacks can increase stress and anxiety together.
Asthma discomfort might feel sudden, but it's usually after a stressful event. As a means of dealing with the issue, asthma patients are encouraged to isolate and deal with chronic stressors and, ultimately, focus their minds away from stress. Relaxation exercises promote calm breathing patterns that lesson symptoms, as do caffeine-free diets and increased daily fruit servings.
Stress hasn't been directly linked as a cause of asthma itself, but a Columbia University study suggests one unique possibility. The study found a tie between post-traumatic stress disorder and asthma among thousands of twins who served in Vietnam. The jury is still out on which of the two ailments is the precursor, but it raises a lot of questions about how asthma and stress are interrelated.
The fight-or-flight response is good for the immune system when it prepares the body to fight a sudden infection, like a scratch. When the immune system responds this way repeatedly, it can eventually lead to body-wide immunity suppression. But how?
Stress causes an imbalance in the immune system's entire foundation. Healthy people have natural immunity cells that are always ready to cure infections like fevers.
There are also specific immunity cells that take longer to create and fight specific viruses. Chronic stressors debilitate the immune system by weakening its ability to create both of these essential cells. With an improper immunity structure, there's a marked change in the body's ability to fight off infections and remain trouble-free. Since autoimmune disease is linked primarily to chronic stress, it's important to know what things stress you out consistently (such as family relationships, work relationships, etc.). When you know that, you can look at speaking to the parties involved to find a common ground and hopefully reduce the stress on all sides.
Physical stress, like exercise, is a vital part of keeping your heart healthy. Chronic emotional stress isn't so good, even though it's a difficult theory to prove conclusively.
Links between chronic stress and heart disease can be found in marital status and recent stressful events. Single people statistically die sooner than their married counterparts because they have less emotional support. Mortality also increases in people who are going through life-changing events like a family member's death or a job loss. It's difficult to explain how stress affects the heart, but some of the outlets people choose during stressful times (like smoking) contribute to the problem. In addition, one of the risks of heart disease is high blood pressure, which can also be caused by stress - specifically, hormones that tighten blood vessels and raise the pulse during a stress response.
Reduce stress and heart disease by studying your personality. Overly driven and competitive people are more likely to develop heart trouble, so a more low-key approach to life is a good start for keeping things in check.
Chronic pain affects over 80 million Americans. Lower-back pain, as well as muscle and ligament stiffness, are just a couple of ways that stress can bring about feelings of malaise. Stress and pain are linked because one can cause the other to get worse. Pain is essentially your body's way of telling you that it's stressed out. So when the stress continues, the pain becomes prolonged and can get substantially worse. As pain increases, so too does anxiety and the vicious cycle carries on.
Headaches and migraines are no strangers to stress. Stress creates migraines by expanding blood vessels beneath the skull as part of a chemical imbalance. The imbalance leads to pain and the migraine is born.
Finding the roots of your stress and dealing with them will relieve chronic pain and migraines, but it's not always that simple. You can also try massage and spa treatments. In a professional environment, these treatments can target specific pain areas and even if they don't provide permanent relief, they can still provide a relaxing reprieve.
Dramatists aside, nobody wants to be stressed out. We're preconditioned for it on some levels, but we need to be proactive in how we handle it. As we've seen, chronic stress can literally be a killer, so don't let the small stuff evolve into a stress-induced state of physical ailments. Find an outlet. For some, it might be exercise. For others, it's counseling. Whatever your preferred stress-relieving method, make sure you have one that won't do more damage than good. Your body will thank you for it.
Here are some of the links used within. Enjoy!
www.canadian-health-network.ca
http://massagetherapy.suite101.com
By Joshua Levine
Are you sick of hearing your girlfriend nagging you about letting go of your pot pastime? Have you been hearing a lot of negative things about the use of marijuana lately? Would you like to know what the real deal is behind the use of this infamous drug? Then read on because you're in for a surprise.
One of the saddest things in North America is the lack of clinical trials on marijuana use. Many other countries in the world have already performed such tests in order to destroy myths about this drug, which has been in use for thousands of years ...mainly for medical purposes.
The data from previous studies, published in numerous books and scholarly journals, covered such matters as marijuana's effects on the brain, lungs, immune and reproductive systems; its impact on personality, developmental and motivational states; and its addictive potential.
Although these studies did not answer all remaining questions about marijuana toxicity, they generally supported the idea that marijuana was a relatively safe drug - not totally free from potential harm, but unlikely to create serious harm for most individual users or society.
The following list will hopefully demystify several myths about marijuana use and help answer a lot of serious questions:
Marijuana Overdose
There is no existing evidence of anyone dying of a marijuana overdose. Tests performed on mice have shown that the ratio of cannabinoids (the chemicals in marijuana that make you high) necessary for overdose to the amount necessary for intoxication is 40,000:1.
For comparison's sake, that ratio for alcohol is generally between 4:1 and 10:1. Alcohol overdoses claim approximately 5,000 casualties yearly, but marijuana overdoses kill no one as far as any official reports.
Brain Damage
Marijuana is psychoactive because it stimulates certain brain receptors, but it does not produce toxins that kill them (like alcohol), and it does not wear them out as other drugs may. There is no evidence that marijuana use causes brain damage. Studies performed on actual human populations will confirm these results, even for chronic marijuana users (up to 18 joints per day) after many years of use.
In fact, following the publication of two 1977 JAMA studies, the American Medical Association (AMA) officially announced its support for the decriminalization of marijuana.
In reality, marijuana has the effect of slightly increasing alpha-wave activity in your brain. Alpha waves are generally associated with meditative and relaxed states, which are, in turn, often associated with human creativity.
Memory
Marijuana does impair short-term memory, but only during intoxication. Although the authoritative studies on marijuana use seem to agree that there is no residual impairment following intoxication, persistent impairment of short-term memory has been noted in chronic marijuana smokers, up to 6 and 12 weeks following abstinence.
Heart Problems
It is accepted in medical circles today that marijuana use causes no evident long-term cardiovascular problems for normal persons. Marijuana smoking, however, does cause changes in the heart and body's circulation characteristic of stress, which may complicate preexisting cardiovascular problems like hypertension, cerebrovascular disease, adn coronary atherosclerosis. Marijuana's effects on blood pressure are complex and inconsistent as of yet.
Hormones
Chronic marijuana use has not been found to alter testosterone or other sex hormone levels. In contrast, heavy alcohol use is known to lower these same testosterone levels.
Reproductive Damage
No trustworthy study has ever shown that marijuana use damages the reproductive system, or causes chromosome breakage. Studies of actual human populations have failed to demonstrate that marijuana adversely affects the reproductive system. Claims that marijuana use may impair hormone production, menstrual cycles, or fertility in females are both unproven and unfounded.
The Immune System
Studies in which lab rats were injected with extremely large quantities of THC (the active compound in marijuana) have found that marijuana (in such unrealistically huge quantities) does have an "immunosuppressive effect" in those lab rats, in that it temporarily shuts off certain cells in the liver called lymphocytes and macrophages. These macrophages are useful in fighting off bacterial, not viral, infections.
But this is only for the duration of intoxication. There also exists some evidence that marijuana metabolites remain in the lungs for up to seven months after smoking has ceased, possibly affecting the immune system of the lungs (but not by turning the cells off).
This said, doctors and researchers are still not sure that the immune system is actually negatively affected in realistic situations since there are no numbers to support the idea. In fact, three studies showed that THC might have actually stimulated the immune system in the people studied.
Cancer
Smoking marijuana has the potential to cause both bronchitis and cancer of the lungs, throat, and neck, but this is generally no different than inhaling any other burnt carbon-containing matter since they all increase the number of lesions (and therefore possible infections) in your airways.
The Gateway Effect
Marijuana use has not been found to act as a gateway drug to the use of harder drugs. Studies show that when the Dutch partially legalized marijuana in the 70's, heroin and cocaine use substantially declined, despite a slight increase in marijuana use.
If the stepping stone theory were true, use should have gone up rather than down. In reality, it appears that marijuana use tends to substitute for the use of relatively more dangerous hard drugs like cocaine and heroin, rather than lead to their use.
Thus, oftentimes strict marijuana laws themselves are the most significant factor involved in moving on to harder drugs like cocaine. Such is the case in Nevada and Arizona, the states toughest on marijuana use.
