Archive for the 'Brain' Category
Posted by fredjoiners on June 18, 2008
Where does one draw the line between being a social drinker and having an alcohol addiction?
For many people, the lines aren’t always so clear, especially when everyone around them seems to be binge drinking, drinking on a daily basis or glamorizing alcohol use.
Social drinking can easily progress into a psychological, or even physical, dependence over time, as it becomes habitually ingrained in our behavioral patterns.
Suddenly, we drink to be more interesting, drink to make others more interesting, drink for courage in social settings, drink to give ourselves a boost of energy, or drink to cover up negative feelings like pain, depression or anxiety.
Prior to an addiction to alcohol, there is generally a prolonged time period when the social drinker finds that he or she is drinking more frequently, experiencing more adverse effects and is slightly losing control.
Alcohol abusers start showing signs like drinking and driving, participating in dangerous activities while under the influence, continuing to drink even when problems with friends or family happen as a result of alcohol consumption and getting into physical fights. Drinking alcohol begins to interfere with not only social relations, but also obligations at work and school, and in some cases, drinking may even land an individual in legal trouble. These are early warning signs that alcohol use is crossing over into alcohol abuse.
The next stage is alcohol addiction, or as it is sometimes called, alcoholism or alcohol dependency.
Now the drinker loses all control and the physiological/psychological effects of alcohol surface. Drinkers find that they’re consuming more than they originally intended to, find that they can’t stop or cut back drinking, and find that they need to drink more to get drunk. They may have trouble sleeping, have shaky hands, sweating, nauseousness, nervousness or the feeling of bugs crawling all over them. They likely drink or take medication to avoid hangovers and continue drinking alcohol to cover up sadness, anger or anxiety. The binge drinking bouts become progressively longer and the individual often loses interest in all other hobbies in favor of drinking.
Full story at Cool Kids Stuff
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Posted in Brain, Emotions, Health, Liver, Youth, addiction, alcohol, alcoholism, men, women | Tagged: binge, dependence, drinker, psychological, social | No Comments »
Posted by fredjoiners on June 17, 2008
Legal Drugs Kill Far More Than Illegal, Florida Says
From “Scarface” to “Miami Vice,” Florida’s drug problem has been portrayed as the story of a single narcotic: cocaine. But for Floridians, prescription drugs are increasingly a far more lethal habit.
An analysis of autopsies in 2007 released this week by the Florida Medical Examiners Commission found that the rate of deaths caused by prescription drugs was three times the rate of deaths caused by all illicit drugs combined.
Law enforcement officials said that the shift toward prescription-drug abuse, which began here about eight years ago, showed no sign of letting up and that the state must do more to control it.
“You have health care providers involved, you have doctor shoppers, and then there are crimes like robbing drug shipments,” said Jeff Beasley, a drug intelligence inspector for the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, which co-sponsored the study. “There is a multitude of ways to get these drugs, and that’s what makes things complicated.”
Full story at the New York Times
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Posted in Brain, Comorbidity, Drugs, Health, Medication, Opiates, Research reports, addiction, alcohol | Tagged: Florida, prescription, crime, legal drugs, illegal, Miami, narcotic, cocaine, drug abuse, doctor shopping | 2 Comments »
Posted by fredjoiners on June 10, 2008
Alcohol and pregnancy; New draft alcohol guidelines for Australia state that, for pregnant women and women planning pregnancy,
‘no drinking is the safest option’.
One of the best known adverse effects of alcohol exposure on the fetus is the fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS).
Others include
- alcohol-related birth defects,
- alcohol-related brain development disorders and
- increased risks of miscarriage,
- stillbirth,
- intrauterine growth restriction,
- preterm birth and
- low birthweight.
Over half of Australian women consume alcohol during pregnancy. Obstetricians have a pivotal role in advising women of the effects of alcohol on the fetus and reducing fetal exposure.
Volume 48 Issue 3 Page 236-239, June 2008, Elizabeth J. ELLIOTT, Carol BOWER (200 
Alcohol and pregnancy: The pivotal role of the obstetrician
The Australian and New Zealand Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology 48 (3) , 236–239.
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Posted in Brain, alcohol, alcoholism, women | Tagged: Australia, birth defects, drinking, FAS, fetus, miscarriage, obstetrician, pregnancy, pregnant, preterm, stillbirth | No Comments »
Posted by fredjoiners on June 9, 2008
Young people and alcohol - a new approach launched in British Government action plan
A comprehensive plan to stop young people drinking in public; help them make the right decisions about alcohol; and provide clear information to parents and young people about the risks of early drinking was announced today by the UK Government’s Youth Alcohol Action Plan.
The Action Plan sets out what the Government will do to address drinking by young people in three main arenas:
Police and Courts
- Working with police and the courts to stop it, making it clear that unsupervised drinking by young people under-18 in public places is unacceptable;
Families
- Recognising that drinking by young people in the home is clearly the responsibility of parents and families, but providing clearer health information for parents and young people about how consumption of alcohol can affect children and young people. The Action Plan announces that the Chief Medical Officer, Sir Liam Donaldson will produce clear guidelines for families;
Alcohol Industry
- Working with the alcohol industry to continue the good progress made to reduce the sale of alcohol to under-18’s but also in marketing and promoting alcohol in a more responsible way.
While the proportion of young people who drink regularly has fallen, the consumption of alcohol by those who do drink has risen sharply. And the ways in which young people are drinking have changed. The Youth Alcohol Action Plan promises a powerful package of action to tackle this.
Full story at Young people and alcohol
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Posted in Brain, Families, Health, Policy, Youth, alcohol | Tagged: British, courts, industry, medical, parents, police, UK | 1 Comment »
Posted by fredjoiners on June 6, 2008
Ten Keys to Happiness By Deepak Chopra
Physical well being is inseparable from emotional well being. Happy people are healthy people. The wisdom traditions of the world tell us that happiness does not depend on what you have, but on who you are. Let’s take a moment to reflect on what really creates happiness in us.
The following ten keys, gleaned from the wisdom traditions, may give us some insight.
- Listen to your body’s wisdom, which expresses itself through signals of comfort and discomfort. When choosing a certain behavior, ask your body, ‘How do you feel about this?’ If your body sends a signal of physical or emotional distress, watch out. If your body sends a signal of comfort and eagerness, proceed.
- Live in the present, for it is the only moment you have. Keep your attention on what is here and now; look for the fullness in every moment. Accept what comes to you totally and completely so that you can appreciate it, learn from it, and then let it go. The present is as it should be. It reflects infinite laws of Nature that have brought you this exact thought, this exact physical response. This moment is as it is because the universe is as it is. Don’t struggle against the infinite scheme of things; instead, be at one with it.
- Take time to be silent, to meditate, to quiet the internal dialogue. In moments of silence, realize that you are recontacting your source of pure awareness. Pay attention to your inner life so that you can be guided by intuition rather than externally imposed interpretations of what is or isn’t good for you.
- Relinquish your need for external approval. You alone are the judge of your worth, and your goal is to discover infinite worth in yourself, no matter what anyone else thinks. There is great freedom in this realization.
- When you find yourself reacting with anger or opposition to any person or circumstance, realize that you are only struggling with yourself. Putting up resistance is the response of defenses created by old hurts. When you relinquish this anger, you will be healing yourself and cooperating with the flow of the universe.
- Know that the world ‘out there’ reflects your reality ‘in here.’ The people you react to most strongly, whether with love or hate, are projections of your inner world. What you most hate is what you most deny in yourself. What you most love is what you most wish for in yourself. Use the mirror of relationships to guide your evolution. The goal is total self-knowledge. When you achieve that, what you most want will automatically be there, and what you most dislike will disappear.
- Shed the burden of judgment you will feel much lighter. Judgment imposes right and wrong on situations that just are. Everything can be understood and forgiven, but when you judge, you cut off understanding and shut down the process of learning to love. In judging others, you reflect your lack of self-acceptance. Remember that every person you forgive adds to your self love.
- Don’t contaminate your body with toxins, either through food, drink, or toxic emotions. Your body is more than a life-support system. It is the vehicle that will carry you on the journey of your evolution. The health of every cell directly contributes to your state of well being, because every cell is a point of awareness within the field of awareness that is you.
- Replace fear-motivated behavior with love-motivated behavior. Fear is the product of memory, which dwells in the past. Remembering what hurt us before, we direct our energies toward making certain that an old hurt will not repeat itself. But trying to impose the past on the present will never wipe out the threat of being hurt. That happens only when you find the security of your own being, which is love. Motivated by the truth inside you, you can face any threat because your inner strength is invulnerable to fear.
- Understand that the physical world is just a mirror of a deeper intelligence. Intelligence is the invisible organizer of all matter and energy, and since a portion of this intelligence resides in you, you share in the organizing power of the cosmos. Because you are inseparably linked to everything, you cannot afford to foul the planet’s air and water. But at a deeper level, you cannot afford to live with a toxic mind, because every thought makes an impression on the whole field of intelligence. Living in balance and purity is the highest good for you and the Earth.
Deepak Chopra
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Posted in Brain, Eating Problems, Emotions, Health, Higher Power, Just for today, Recovery, Relationships, Relaxation, help, spiritual | Tagged: Deepak Chopra, Happiness, wisdom | No Comments »
