3 Ways to Reboot Your Brain Now

Exhausted? Nervous about a big change? Can't seem to break those bad habits? Maybe you just need a mental reset, says Adam Alter, NYU professor of marketing and psychology and author of the new book, Drunk Tank Pink, which hits bookstores tomorrow. About the name: Cops used to paint the "drunk tank" -- the jail cell where they tossed intoxicated prisoners -- a Pepto Bismol-pink hue, because they believed it had a weakening effect. Football teams even made their visiting teams' locker rooms this color, until it was outlawed by the NFL. Nuts, right?

The premise of the book? Our surroundings have a huge impact on the way we think -- and that because of this, we can use our surroundings to our advantage. Check out three of our fave examples below.

Use nature to restore your focus. Trees, water, grass, sky -- essentially anything that naturally moves and changes and evolves -- can help snap you out of a mental rut, says Alter. When you're feeling frazzled or burnt out, try spending five minutes in a natural setting -- your backyard, a park or just looking out your window at the birds and squirrels scampering around. (Better yet, squeeze in an outdoor workout. Major mind/body benefits all around.)

Hold yourself accountable. Research shows that we tend to be more honest when we feel we're being watched. (Specifically, one study found that office workers were more likely to pay for their self-serve coffee when there was a photograph of eyes taped above the "honesty box." Crazy!) Apply this idea to self-accountability, by hanging a mirror -- or a photo of someone you don't want judging you -- in places you want to encourage good behavior: in the freezer near the ice cream, in your wallet to stop mindless credit card spending, etc.

Give challenges a positive spin. If you're worried about a stressful work event or a social gathering, think of it with a different label -- an opportunity, rather than a threat. Nervous about hosting an elaborate dinner party for friends? Call it the "Dinner Party Challenge" and push yourself to make something new you've never tried before. If it goes well, fantastic ... and if it doesn't go quite as planned, that's okay too. Party on, Wayne!

How have you used your environment to outsmart negative thoughts? Tweet us at @amandaemac and @SELFmagazine.

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low calorie lunches

I find it really hard to find low calorie lunches that are easy to make and I can take to college. Does anyone have any suggestions?

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COPD Patients May Do Fine With Shorter Course of Steroids

Coming off meds sooner means fewer harmful side effects, study author says

By Steven Reinberg

HealthDay Reporter

TUESDAY, May 21 (HealthDay News) -- Less is more when it comes to steroid therapy for patients having severe bouts of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), according to Swiss investigators.

Five days of glucocorticoid treatment with prednisone to treat COPD flare-ups was as good as the standard 14 days, but with fewer chances for adverse side effects, they said.

"We wanted to show that a shorter period of treatment was not less effective than 14 days," said lead researcher Dr. Jorg Leuppi, with the department of medicine at the University Hospital of Basel.

The shorter course of treatment had the same outcome as the longer course of treatment, the study found. "There is exactly the same time to recovery and exactly the same number of re-exacerbations," Leuppi said.

In addition, the shorter course of treatment meant fewer side effects from the drug, such as increased blood pressure and elevated blood sugar, he said.

The report was published May 21 in the online edition of the Journal of the American Medical Association to coincide with its Tuesday presentation at the American Thoracic Society meeting in Philadelphia.

COPD is a progressive disease involving bronchitis and emphysema -- often tied to smoking -- that makes it hard for patients to breathe. Patients periodically have flare-ups or exacerbations, when symptoms are at their worst.

Prednisone is a glucocorticoid pill that acts as an anti-inflammatory. Since a generic version is available, it is a relatively low-cost therapy.

"COPD exacerbations, which are the leading cause of medical hospitalization in the U.S. and elsewhere, can be treated with a five-day course of prednisone, which is a corticosteroid, not 10 to 14 days as recommended by most national and international guidelines," said Dr. Don Sin, a professor of medicine at the University of British Columbia, in Vancouver, and co-author of an accompanying journal editorial.

Corticosteroids are highly toxic drugs, he said. "Thus, by using a five-day versus a 10- to 14-day [course], we will prevent many steroid-related complications -- such as diabetes, osteoporosis and adrenal insufficiency -- without sacrificing any of the benefits of steroids for management of COPD exacerbations," he said. "There is no rationale for giving more steroids than this."

For the study, Leuppi's team randomly assigned more than 300 patients suffering from an acute COPD exacerbation to daily doses of prednisone for either five or 14 days.

The goal of the study was to see whether either treatment resulted in fewer new exacerbations of COPD over six months.

The researchers found that prednisone treatment resulted in about the same number of patients having new bouts of COPD. Among those who got five days of therapy, 56 had a new bout within six months; 57 patients given 14 days of therapy had a new flare-up.

The average time to a new exacerbation of COPD was 43.5 days in the short-term treatment group and 29 days in the standard treatment group, the researchers said.

Dr. Len Horovitz, a pulmonary specialist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City, said that "while treatment with corticosteroids is often necessary in exacerbations of COPD, it has not been clear how long the treatment should be given."

"The authors found that a shorter duration of treatment with steroids was possible," he said. "The accompanying side effects were less, and total dose of steroids was less long term."

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Sugary Drinks Tied to 25,000 U.S. Deaths a Year

Study estimated beverages' role in worldwide obesity and heart disease, diabetes, some cancers

By Amy Norton

HealthDay Reporter

TUESDAY, March 19 (HealthDay News) -- More than 180,000 deaths worldwide in 2010 were linked to a high intake of sugar-laden drinks, a new study estimates, including 25,000 deaths in the United States.

Most deaths occurred in middle- to low-income countries, the Harvard researchers noted.

The findings are surprising because "we often think of this as a problem only in high-income countries, like the U.S.," said lead researcher Gitanjali Singh, a research fellow at Harvard School of Public Health, in Boston.

She said her findings, presented Tuesday at an American Heart Association meeting in New Orleans, point to a need for policies that curb people's sugary drink intake.

One such effort, in New York City, is currently in the spotlight. Last week, a judge struck down Mayor Michael Bloomberg's controversial limit on large sweetened sodas and other sugary beverages, one day before the rule was to go into effect. Bloomberg said he would appeal the decision and defended his plan, which would have limited the size of sugary drinks sold at restaurants, food carts and theaters to 16 ounces.

Singh said that's not the only type of measure officials could take. Others could include taxing sugar-added drinks, or limiting advertising of the beverages to children.

But "anti-soda" moves are a tough sell -- not only because the beverage industry and many consumers resist. It's also hard to pin ill health effects on one component of people's diets, even if it's a nutritionally dubious one.

These latest findings do not prove that sugary drinks kill people. They only show a correlation between high consumption and deaths from heart disease, diabetes and certain cancers.

"This type of study cannot prove cause-and-effect," said Lona Sandon, an assistant professor of clinical nutrition at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas.

"Sugary beverage consumption is often paired with other unhealthy food choices or behaviors," said Sandon, who was not involved in the study. "Chronic diseases, such as heart disease and diabetes, are the result of many factors, not just excess sugar intake."

That said, everyone should be limiting added sugar -- from drinks and food -- Sandon stressed. "We just do not need added sugar that is empty calories," she said.

The beverage industry also weighed in on the findings.

"This [study], which is neither peer-reviewed nor published, is more about sensationalism than science," the American Beverage Association (ABA) said in a statement issued Tuesday.

"In no way does it show that consuming sugar-sweetened beverages causes chronic diseases such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease or cancer -- the real causes of death among the studied subjects," the ABA added. "The researchers make a huge leap when they illogically and wrongly take beverage intake calculations from around the globe and allege that those beverages are the cause of deaths which the authors themselves acknowledge are due to chronic disease."

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Kids Poisoned by Medical Marijuana, Study Finds

Children helping themselves to drug-laced cookies, brownies

By Steven Reinberg

HealthDay Reporter

MONDAY, May 27 (HealthDay News) -- Legalizing marijuana may have unintended consequences. Since medical marijuana was legalized in Colorado, more than a dozen young children have been unintentionally poisoned with the drug, researchers report.

About half the cases resulted from kids eating marijuana-laced cookies, brownies, sodas or candy. In many cases, the marijuana came from their grandparents' stash, the investigators said.

"We are seeing increases in exposure to marijuana in young pediatric patients, and they have more severe symptoms than we typically associate with marijuana," said lead researcher Dr. George Sam Wang, a medical toxicology fellow at the Rocky Mountain Poison and Drug Center in Denver.

But doctors aren't familiar with marijuana poisoning in children, so unless the parents are forthcoming it can take time and tests to diagnose the problem, Wang said. Symptoms of marijuana poisoning in children include sleepiness and balance problems while walking.

"We hadn't seen these exposures before the big boom of the medical marijuana industry," Wang said.

The active chemical in marijuana, tetrahydrocannabinol, is in higher than normal concentrations in medical marijuana, and often is sold in baked goods, soft drinks and candies, the researchers said in the study, which was published online May 27 in the journal JAMA Pediatrics.

"We are seeing more symptoms because some of these products have very high amounts of marijuana in them," Wang said. "You get such a high dose on such a small child, the symptoms are more severe."

As with many similar poisonings, treatment is limited to supportive care and waiting until the marijuana clears the system, he said.

Children recover quickly in most cases, Wang said. "They don't need more than a day or two of hospitalization," he said. "There were no deaths or lasting side effects."

This report stems from one Denver hospital, and Wang said he doesn't know how extensive the problem is elsewhere. Colorado adults are allowed to possess up to 1 ounce of marijuana or six marijuana plants, according to the study. And Denver issued more than 300 sales tax licenses for marijuana dispensaries in 2010.

For the study, Wang's team compared the number of children treated in the emergency room for marijuana poisoning before and after the law was enacted in October 2009.

In all, almost 1,400 children under 12 were evaluated for accidental poisonings in this one hospital -- 790 before Sept. 30, 2009, and 588 after that.

After decriminalization, 14 children -- mostly boys and some as young as 8 months -- were found to have ingested marijuana. Eight had consumed medical marijuana, and seven ate marijuana in foods. Two were admitted to the intensive care unit.

Before Sept. 30, 2009, none of those possible poisonings was attributed to marijuana, the researchers found.

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High Blood Pressure May Add to Alzheimer's Risk, Study Finds

Title: High Blood Pressure May Add to Alzheimer's Risk, Study Finds
Category: Health News
Created: 3/18/2013 4:36:00 PM
Last Editorial Review: 3/19/2013 12:00:00 AM

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Cellphone Use May Reveal Your 'Dominant Brain'

People with left-brain dominance tend to listen with right ear, and vice-versa, study finds

By Alan Mozes

HealthDay Reporter

FRIDAY, May 17 (HealthDay News) -- New research suggests the dominant side of your brain may make the call on which ear you choose to use while talking on your cellphone.

The dominant side of your brain is where your speech and language center resides. Ninety-five percent of the human population is left-brain dominant, and those people tend to be right-handed. The opposite holds true for people who are right-brain dominant. In this study, scientists found that roughly 70 percent of those surveyed held their cellphone up to the ear that was on the same side as their dominant hand.

This insight into the way people use their cellphones could one day help doctors quickly and safely locate and protect a patient's language center before beginning a potentially risky brain operation, the researchers said.

"In essence, this could be used as a poor man's Wada test," said study author Dr. Michael Seidman, director of the division of otologic/neurotologic surgery at the Henry Ford Health System in West Bloomfield, Mich. "[The Wada test] is the standard test used today to determine exactly where a surgical patient's language center is located, which is critical information to have if you want to carefully preserve a person's language abilities.

"The Wada test is, however, invasive and risky," Seidman said. "But by looking at how a person uses their cellphone, which side they listen in to, you can get shorthand insight into brain dominance. It's not a foolproof guarantee, but I would say it's a pretty reliable and safe way of going about it."

Seidman and his colleagues reported their findings in the May issue of the journal JAMA Otolaryngology -- Head & Neck Surgery.

To explore how brain dominance may relate to cellphone handling, the authors sifted through more than 700 online surveys completed by people who were members of a web-based otology (hearing) discussion group, as well as those already undergoing Wada and MRI testing for various purposes.

Respondents were asked to give information regarding their cellphone habits, favored hand for executing various tasks (such as writing, throwing and cellphone handling) and any hearing-loss issues. Any history of brain, head or neck tumors also was noted.

Ninety percent of those polled were right-handed, and 68 percent used their right ear, 25 percent used their left ear and 7 percent used both ears.

The story was similar among the left-handed people: 72 percent used their left ear, 23 percent used their right ear and 5 percent used both ears.

The team concluded that there is an association between cellphone handling habits and brain dominance, with right-ear cellphone use typically indicating left-brain dominance, and vice versa.

"We're pretty confident in our results," Seidman said. "Basically, if your speech and language centers are in the left side of the brain -- which for most people they are -- a cellphone conversation is going to sound better in your right ear."

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Study Probes Use of Filter Device to Stop Deadly Blood Clots

Title: Study Probes Use of Filter Device to Stop Deadly Blood Clots
Category: Health News
Created: 3/18/2013 4:35:00 PM
Last Editorial Review: 3/19/2013 12:00:00 AM

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Yogurt for weight loss

Hello.

Lately i've been eating a lot of yogurt each day, it keeps me full. I eat like 10 125gr yogurt servings each day, a 125gr serving has 56 calories. so that is 560 calories in yogurt, plus other meals i just eat like 1100 calories every day, is that too low? I dont feel hungry during the day so i just dont eat more. (Im 14)

Thanks.

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weights VS cardio

Hi Guys :)

Im back at it again second times a charm? lol, anyways i need your help! i need the inside scoop on weights , and cardio, which  is better? why? and if combined how should i go about it

Im doing one day cardio next day weights

Should i combine both in a day?

 if so can someone tell me how the results can differ

Sorry but i have so many questions i just need help to put it in perspective!

Off course doing both excercide plus DIET! always lol

Thanks again

Anna 

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Saoirse Rohan at The Host LA premiere

Saoirse Rohan wears a maroon Lanvin shift dress and black Mary Janes shoes to The Host LA premiere - vote on celebrity fashion, style and red carpet looks in GLAMOUR.COM’s Dos and Don’ts

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5 tips for healthy grilling

Posted May 27, 2013, 1:31 pm

Memorial Day marks the unofficial beginning of summer and the official beginning of grilling season. From northern Maine to southern California, the backyard barbeque will be a key part of the holiday weekend. Whether your menu includes simple burgers or something more elaborate, a little preparation can help you serve up a healthy meal.

Start out clean. Don’t let the charred buildup on your grill transfer to your meal. Use a wire brush to give your grill a good cleaning. Then wipe it down with a cloth or wadded-up bunch of paper towels to make sure that no grill-cleaning bristles will get into your food—or your guests.

Smoke and fire. Exposing protein-rich meat, poultry, and fish to high heat and open flames creates heterocyclic amines. When fat drips and burns on the grill, the resulting smoke contains polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. These two groups of chemicals have been linked to various types of cancer. You can reduce the formation of heterocyclic amines and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons several ways: Line the grill with foil perforated with holes. Cook for longer at a lower temperature. Have a spray bottle filled with water handy to control fatty flare-ups.

Marinate. Marinating food for a while before cooking limits the formation of potential carcinogens while grilling. Recipes abound for healthy marinades that will add flavor to whatever you are grilling. If you rely on bottled marinades, choose those that are low in salt.

Give veggies and fruit equal billing with meat. Grilling intensifies the flavor of fruits and vegetables, just as it does for meat. Kebabs that alternate meat with pieces of onion, pepper, or other produce, like spicy chicken kebabs with Moorish flavors, are a great way to increase vegetable and fruit intake. Or skip meat altogether, with something like grilled eggplant cutlets with tomato or portabella mushroom “steak” sandwiches.

Practice safe grilling. Keep raw meat, poultry, and seafood separate from vegetables and other foods. Use a food thermometer to check the internal temperature of grilled meat, poultry, and seafood. Place grilled foods on clean plates, not on the ones that held them when they were raw. The USDA offers other tips for keeping food safe.

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need weight loss motivation

So I am bipolar, and I was put on Zoloft months ago and I gained 25 pounds since I started. I'm not exactly blaming it on the Zoloft because I had stopped eating well and exercising when I started the med. but I no longer had motivation and I stopped caring. I need motivation again. I need to exercise again. I started counting calories yesterday and I already didn't do well. Anyone have motivation tips or things I could maybe start doing? I'm just ready to start caring and get back in shape.

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Joint Replacement May Reinvigorate Sex Life

Study shows unsung benefit of the surgery may be the ability to enjoy all aspects of life more

By Barbara Bronson Gray

HealthDay Reporter

TUESDAY, March 19 (HealthDay News) -- Although most people get a total hip or knee replacement to decrease pain and move around more easily, a team of orthopedic surgeons has discovered an unexpected benefit: people enjoy sex more after surgery.

A new study found that total hip or total knee replacement surgery improved self-reported sexual function in 90 percent of patients.

Study author Dr. Jose Rodriguez, director of the Center for Joint Preservation and Reconstruction at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City, created a survey to learn more about how sexual experience was affected by getting a new joint. He said he thought that if he brought up the topic by asking questions about sexuality, people would respond. And they did. "Most patients won't bring up the topic on their own," he said.

Rodriguez said that many patients fear they'll damage the new joint if they have sex, but don't ask any questions about it. Now he makes a point of telling people, after their operations, that "most of what you want to do -- physical and intimate -- you can do."

Getting total hip or knee replacement may improve overall well-being and self-esteem, which itself can be a turn-on, said Rodriguez. "Anything that causes pain and affects how you move is going to influence sexuality," he explained. After surgery, if you feel you are more sensual yourself, you're going to enjoy having sex, he added.

The study, which is scheduled to be presented Tuesday at the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons annual meeting in Chicago, involved reports about sexual activity done before and after total hip or knee replacement surgery. Male and female patients under 70 years old were recruited from the practices of two arthroplasty surgeons. They were asked to anonymously complete and mail back one survey before surgery and two other surveys at six months and one year after surgery.

Out of 147 people who returned the preoperative questionnaire, 116 returned the six-month survey and 65 also sent back the one-year survey. The mean age of patients was about 58 years; there were 69 males and 78 females in the initial group.

Before surgery, 67 percent of respondents reported having physical problems with sexual activity that included pain and stiffness; reduced sex drive (49 percent); an inability to attain the necessary position (14 percent); and psychological issues such as a lack of well-being (91 percent) and low self-image (53 percent).

After surgery, 42 percent of the patients reported an improvement in interest in sex; 35 percent said they had increased duration of intercourse; 41 percent reported more frequent sex; 84 percent said they had improved well-being; and 55 percent reported having an improved self-image.

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Calories in take out shrimp and snow pea pods?

my family got Chinese food tonight and I'm really scared because I never eat fast food or sodium filled crap and I'm SO scared because of the brown sauce they put on it and I'm terrified of sauces.

I can't find the calories online.

1 cup of just shrimp and snow pea pods, no rice, would be how many calories approximately? I must know the calories so I can see if I ate enough at the end of the day

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Americans Still Making Unhealthy Choices: CDC

High rates of obesity, heavy drinking, smoking and inactivity reported, but most people getting enough sleep

By Dennis Thompson

HealthDay Reporter

TUESDAY, May 21 (HealthDay News) -- The overall health of Americans isn't improving much, with about six in 10 people either overweight or obese and large numbers engaging in unhealthy behaviors like smoking, heavy drinking or not exercising, a new government report shows.

Released Tuesday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the report found Americans continuing to make many of the lifestyle choices that have led to soaring rates of heart disease, diabetes and other chronic illnesses, including the following:

About six of 10 adults drink, including an increase in those who reported episodic heavy drinking of five or more drinks in one day during the previous year.Twenty percent of adults smoke, and less than one-half of smokers attempted to quit in the past year.Only one in five adults met federal guidelines for both aerobic activity and muscle-strengthening exercise. One in three was completely inactive when it came to any leisure-time aerobic activity.

The one bright spot in the report came in the area of sleep behavior. About seven in 10 adults meet the federal objective for sufficient sleep.

The findings have been gleaned from nearly 77,000 random interviews conducted between 2008 and 2010.

The numbers reflect persistent trends, said report author Charlotte Schoenborn, a health statistician at the CDC's National Center for Health Statistics.

"Changes have not been enormous," Schoenborn said. "It's been a very, very slow process of changing awareness of personal choices for healthier ways of life. All of the health-related federal agencies, and a lot of nonfederal groups, are putting a lot of resources to make people aware of the effect they can have on their own health. This report is just designed to say where we are."

The findings did not surprise Rich Hamburg, deputy director of Trust for America's Health, a nonprofit public health organization.

"I think we're in a situation now where we're at a crossroads," Hamburg said. "We have two paths to go. We're hopeful that if we continue to invest in community-based prevention, if we promote healthy eating and active living, these rates will begin to decrease."

Public health organizations use this report to determine which groups of Americans are susceptible to unhealthy behaviors, study author Schoenborn said.

For example, while overall people are getting enough sleep, it turns out that doesn't hold true for people with marital problems, she said. About 38 percent of divorced, separated, or widowed adults have trouble getting enough sleep, compared with 27 percent of married folks.

While this is not the federal government's official report on obesity, its findings jibe with both public and private research into the epidemic, said Hamburg at Trust for America's Health.

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Man Dies After Parasitic Worms Invade Lungs

Steroid treatment for inflammatory disorder may have spurred 'hyperinfection,' report says

By Randy Dotinga

HealthDay Reporter

WEDNESDAY, March 20 (HealthDay News) -- A Vietnamese immigrant in California died of a massive infection with parasitic worms that spread throughout his body, including his lungs. They had remained dormant until his immune system was suppressed by steroid drugs used to treat an inflammatory disorder, according to the report.

The 65-year-old man was apparently infected by the worms in Vietnam, one of many countries in the world where they're known to infect humans. About 80 percent to 90 percent of people die if they are infected by the worm species and then suffer from so-called "hyperinfection" as the worms travel through their bodies, said report co-author Dr. Niaz Banaei, an assistant professor of infectious diseases at Stanford University School of Medicine.

The man's case emphasizes the importance of testing patients who might be infected with the parasite before giving them drugs to dampen the immune system, said Dr. Peter Hotez, dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine, who's familiar with the report findings.

"You have to think twice before starting big doses of steroids," Hotez said. "The problem is that most physicians are not taught about this disease. It often does not get recognized until it's too late."

Parasitic worms of the Strongyloides stercoralis species are most commonly found in tropical and subtropical areas of the world, although they've also appeared in the Appalachian region of the United States. Typically, they infect people in rural areas such as Brazil, northern Argentina and Southeast Asia, Hotez noted, and may currently infect as many 100 million people worldwide.

The worms live in the ground or water, typically in places with poor sanitation, and infect humans by penetrating the skin. They may live in the intestines for years or even decades, creating new larvae that grow into worms about 2 millimeters long, Hotez explained.

For the patient in this case, trouble came when he took steroids, which dampen the immune system, to treat "giant-cell arteritis," a disorder that causes inflammation of arteries of the scalp, neck and arms. The drugs appeared to have allowed the worms to grow and spread because they were no longer kept in check.

Exams uncovered a massive lung infection, report co-author Banaei noted. "The adult worms were producing eggs, and the larvae emerging from the eggs were invading the intestinal wall and disseminating to multiple organs in the body," Banaei said.

When this happens, Baylor's Hotez said, hundreds of thousands of larvae can transmit bacteria from the intestines into other parts of the body.

A medication can help treat infestation with the worms, but it doesn't help when the hyperinfection reaches an advanced stage, he said.

What should be done? In cases where patients come from a region of the world where the worms are common, Hotez suggested that physicians consider that they may be infected and screen them for the worms. That may be difficult though, because multiple fecal tests may be necessary, he said, and another kind of test has limited value in terms of detecting cases.

The study findings are published in the March 21 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

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