Archive for February, 2009

If you regularly suffer from insomnia, you know that it’s a real problem that can cause you considerable difficulties. When you’re short on sleep, it can have a major impact on your ability to carry out your day to day routine.

You can always ask your doctor for a prescription. But sometimes the side effects of insomnia medications are almost as bad as the condition itself. If that’s the case, you might want to consider some herbal options that are considered to be a useful insomnia remedy.

Consider beginning with something relatively mild, such as chamomile. Chamomile has been used for centuries as a way to get a good night’s sleep. It is also believed to have anti-inflammatory qualities. So it might help to relieve your minor aches and pains, which you might not even be aware of. Have a cup of chamomile tea before turning in for the night for the best results.

Lavender is another herbal treatment you might want to take a look at. Lavender is known for its ability to calm down the nervous system. People who experience insomnia due to stress and anxiety find this to be a particularly effective remedy. Try spritzing some lavender oil on your pillow before you go to bed at night.

Passion flower is considered by many herbalists to be a highly effective natural remedy for insomnia. Not only can it calm you and help to induce sleep, it’s also known as a pain reliever. It was used by the ancient Aztecs as a sedative and analgesic.

Another popular insomnia remedy is St. John’s Wort. It’s been used for ages as a treatment for insomnia, as well as for other health concerns like depression and anxiety.

You could also try Valerian Root. People have been treating their insomnia with this herb for countless generations. Because of its natural sedative abilities, it’s become one of the most popular herbs for the treatment of insomnia. Another of its uses is as a muscle relaxant. Not only do its sedative properties fight insomnia, they can also relieve nervous problems and calm your restlessness.

Keep in mind that you must use any of these herbal treatments according to the directions. The fact that they’re a natural product doesn’t mean that there can’t be side effects. And taking more of them won’t make the condition go away any faster. And there’s a chance it will actually get worse.

These herbal remedies have all been shown to be effective for encouraging a restful sleep. But it will most likely require some patient testing before you find one that helps you the most.

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In the world of mental health, there are so few illnesses that can be categorized as “stand alone”. All Illnesses are developed on a combination of sicknesses and finding the source problem has the ability to be challenging. Take for example Major Depression; there are many sub-levels of the sickness which include insomnia (not enough sleep) or hyposomnia (too much sleep). frequently, it isn’t easy to diagnose which illness is the chief one – is the lack of sleep inducing depression or is depression causing the lack of sleep?

Mental health disorders that occur simultaneously with some other primary disorder are named “co-morbid” disorders; “morbid” implying sick, or ill.  It is quite commonplace, for example, to diagnose a patient with Alcohol Dependence (underlying diagnosis) and a co-morbid health condition of Dysthymia, a more moderate form of chronic depression.  Both of these health conditions are handled in concert; getting better in one health condition entails getting better in the other condition. Looking at this website which Bariatric Obesity Physician which will provide you with a lot more multipurpose information.

Looking specifically at Anorexia Nervosa as a underlying condition, let us take a look at co-morbid mental health conditions oftentimes follow this eating disorder:

Major Depressive Disorder as manifested by way of depressed mood, social withdrawal, excitability, insomnia as well as neutrality in sex. 

Obsessive-Compulsive characteristics. Obsessive ideas of food are what pre-occupy an Anorexic’s mind.  An Anorexic will oftentimes compile foods that have little to no nutritional value, for example plain lettuce, celery, or saltine crackers. Anorexics are always inventorying their supplies, maintaining a close eye on the amount of items they permit themselves to consume, while compulsively watching to make sure that paltry food supply is still where they left it.

Body Dysmorphic Disorder.  With this type of disorder, the patient has an unwavering notion that his/her body is terribly atrocious despite hearing the truth about their the way you look from other people.  Anorexics are certain that their abdomen, buttocks as well as thighs are fat and unappealing, although these body parts may in reality be agonizingly skeletal in the way you look.  The full term “flat butt” that is used by mental health professionals who treat eating disorders indicate a patient’s totally flat buttocks, a sign of severe malnutrition.
Alcohol and Drug Abuse. Anorexics are inclined to abuse illegal stimulant drugs to avert feeling hungry and to keep up a false level of energy.  Alcohol is misused for similar reasons; anorexics that drink in excess produce alcohol gastritis, an penetrating stomach pain that keeps them from eating. 

Borderline Personality Disorder.  A personality disorder is a mental health condition that comes from from the rudimentary character, or personality, of the patient.  They reflect the patient’s perspective of the world and their place in it.  Personality disorders are unending conditions although their symptoms can be efficaciously managed.  The Borderline Personality Disorder’s primal characteristics are a life always in bedlam and turmoil, history of attempts at suicide, sporadic and spontaneous mood, lack of honest-to-goodness personal relationships, and a constant need for “drama” contained in their lives.  Anorexics with BPD make regular suicide attempts, have very erratic personal relationships, and their manic demeanor may try the patience of everybody who acknowledges them.  A blended primary disorder such as Anorexia Nervosa and a co-morbid personality disorder are called as “double trouble” among mental health professionals.

Anorexia Nervosa is an extremely intricate mental disorder. When you combine Anorexia with the tremendous mixture of co-morbid disorders, and you can see how difficult the problem can be to treat. This is why only an experienced mental health provider ought to be the one to administrate this kind of therapy. Anorexia is not for the beginner therapist by any means.

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An all too common problem with high blood pressure nowadays is that it is so common and so often talked about that far too many people do not appear to treat it with the respect it deserves. The simple fact is high blood pressure, or hypertension (to give it its medical name), is a killer disease and has to be treated as such.

A lot of scientists and doctors have spent a great deal of time and money trying to describe precisely what the true definition of high blood pressure is.

Over the years there have been a large number of studies carried out on this subject which have given the researchers and doctors a wide range of blood pressure values to work with. The results however are often skewed and differ from one country to the next and even from district to district within a specific country. It has been concluded therefore that the true definition of high blood pressure can only be arrived at through continuous observation and experiment.

Normal blood pressure is seen today much like normal body weight in that the defining level is that which is associated with the greatest chance of life expectancy. This is the level at which the heart along with other important elements of the body such as the circulatory system are able to function under optimum conditions without running the risk of heart disease and other related disorders.

There are a number of other considerations that have to be taken into account when defining hypertension and some of these have to be excluded. For instance, If a healthy person becomes their systolic (or pumping) blood pressure can be expected to rise by possibly as much as fifty percent as their blood flow rises in response to emotional excitement or any form of energetic activity. But it will not remain high for very long and as soon as the level of excitement has gone down your blood pressure also returns to normal.

As well as your systolic (pumping) pressure you also have a diastolic (resting) pressure which is the more important and is an excellent guide in ascertaining whether a high blood pressure reading is a false positive. Diastolic pressure is important because it points to the state of your arteries and if you have a high reading it may show that the arteries are constricted and not permitting the free flow of blood.

It is very important to understand that hypertension is not in itself a disease but is a key criterion by which doctors can predict other conditions.

Lastly, it is also necessary to understand that hypertension cannot be cured although it can be very well controlled with the right treatment.

TheBloodPressureCenter.com provides information on many different aspects of blood pressure including what causes high blood pressure and finding the best home blood pressure monitors

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