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Stress Management

Pregnant women who are depressed are twice as likely to have a premature baby compared with those who have no symptoms of depression, say scientists.

Depression can double risk of premature baby, scientists say
Report in the Telegraph

Extract:

"The most severely depressed women have the highest chance of giving birth early. The study also suggests that other risk factors, such as obesity and stress, can make the link between depression and premature labour even stronger.

Researchers interviewed 791 women in San Francisco around their 10th week of pregnancy and found that 41 per cent of the women reported significant or severe depressive symptoms.

The women with less severe depressive symptoms had a 60 per cent higher risk of a premature baby compared with women without significant depressive symptoms. Women with severe depressive symptoms had more than twice the risk."

Reducing salt intake reduces all these risk factors - obesity, depression and stress, so pregnant mothers should be strongly advised to avoid salt and salty food during their pregnancy.

Lose weight, reduce your risk of most cancers, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, stroke, heart disease, heart attack, vascular dementia, osteopenia, osteoporosis, hypercholesterolaemia, depression, liver and kidney problems, and improve your health in many other ways without drugs or expense by eating less salt! - Try it! - You will feel so much better!

Read my Mensa article on Obesity and the Salt Connection

See advice for pregnant mothers

Children and Obesity

And see Sodium in foods and

amitriptyline

prescribed steroids and HRT

Associated health conditions

A single can of energy drink Red Bull could raise the risk of a heart attack and stroke, researchers claim.

Red Bull puts heart at risk, says study
Article in the Telegraph

Extract:

"An Australian study found the sugar free version of the caffeine-loaded beverage causes the blood to become sticky and increases the chance of a life threatening clot.

Dr Scott Willoughby, who tested the drink on students, said: “One hour after they drank Red Bull, their blood systems were no longer normal. They were abnormal like we would expect in a patient with cardiovascular disease.

“If you add in other risk factors for cardiovascular disease - stress or high blood pressure - this could be potentially deadly.”

The study was carried out at the Cardiovascular Research Centre at the Royal Adelaide Hospital.

Red Bull spokeswoman Linda Rychter said the report would be assessed by the company’s head office in Austria."

If you are worried about your risk of cardioascular disease you should also consider reducing your intake of salt and salty food, a major factor in heart disease, high blood pressure and stroke.
Lose weight, reduce your risk of most cancers, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, stroke, heart disease, heart attack, angina, vascular dementia, osteopenia, osteoporosis, hypercholesterolaemia, depression, liver and kidney problems, and improve your health in many other ways without drugs or expense by eating less salt! - Try it! - You will feel so much better!

See Sodium in foods

Long tours in combat zones linked to serious mental problems, study finds.

Long tours in combat zones linked to serious mental problems, study finds - Guardian

Extract:

"Thousands of frontline veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are facing escalating mental health problems, alcoholism and family breakdown, an extensive examination of the British military has found.

Prolonged periods in conflict are linked to higher levels of post-traumatic stress disorder, psychological distress and problems at home, researchers report in the British Medical Journal online.

The Ministry of Defence said it would study the findings to try to better understand mental health problems in the military, but last night there was pressure on the government to address accusations that the military is currently overstretched, forcing personnel into longer tours of duty. Opposition MPs said the burden on the military was another reason to begin phased withdrawal from Iraq.

The Kings College London military health centre's study of 5,547 veterans of overseas tours focused on the 20% who were deployed for more than 13 months within a three-year period, the maximum recommended time limit set by the government and known as the "harmony guidelines".

Nicola Fear, one of the researchers, said: "We asked about problems with partners, children, financial problems and whether their families were receiving enough support. Being deployed for 13 months or more was associated with significantly higher problems at home. It could be that people aren't home long enough to adjust from military to family life.""

Depression and stress result in workers taking many days off work.

The growing problem of depression and stress - Telegraph

Extract:

"Depression and stress together make up the second largest cause of workers taking time off sick, according to figures released today.

A study of 30,000 workers showed that people suffering from depression took an average of 30 days off, while stress-sufferers were away for 21 days.

They are outnumbered only by people suffering from muscle-related problems such as bad backs."

There is a positive correlation between obesity and depression. Obesity is easily and swiftly reduced by cutting down on salt and salty food. - And most people who reduce salt intake report greater mental efficiency and alertness and much more energy and feelings of well-being. - So if you are depressed, it's most likely you will feel better if you cut down on salt.

And MIND, the respected mental health charity, has found that a walk in the country is more likely than antidepressants to lift feelings of depression.

Lose weight by eating less salt! Go on! - Try it! - You will feel so much better!
See my website www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk and
http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/socio.html
(The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)

Ofsted inspections are causing so much pressure on teachers that some of them kill themselves.

Inspection pressure 'drives teachers to suicide' - Telegraph

Extracts:

"Teachers are being driven to suicide because of pressure from school inspectors, it was claimed yesterday.

Others are becoming hooked on drink and drugs or developing eating disorders after being swamped by work, according to the National Union of Teachers.

At the union's annual conference in Harrogate, teachers told how they had been reduced to tears in the classroom and warned that colleagues had taken their lives after working up to 90 hours a week.

One head teacher committed suicide just two months after quitting because of a critical inspection by Ofsted, the education watchdog.

Another teacher disappeared on the morning she was due to face Government inspectors and was found dead more than 10 months later in parkland.

A snapshot survey of primary and secondary school teachers in Nottingham, which was presented to the conference, revealed that a third resort to drugs, drink, smoking or binge eating to help them cope. One in 15 takes prescribed medication to get through the day, said the survey of 140 teachers."

"The NUT said it had written to Beverley Hughes, the children's minister, requesting a meeting to discuss the problem of stress, but had been refused."

Teaching is a very stressful job and most teachers get little or no help with their stress problems. I suspect it is the 'prescribed medication' that is precipitating any eating disorders that arise. - It's a very poor show that Beverley Hughes has refused to discuss the problem of the stress that teachers experience.

Lose weight by eating less salt! Go on! - Try it! - You will feel so much better! See my website www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk (The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)