Gain Mental, Physical and Emotional Balance with ZEN MEDITATION

Washington, Feb 4 (ANI): Zen meditation - a centuries-old practice that helps people gain mental, physical and emotional balance - can keep pain at bay, according to Universite de Montreal researchers.

According to a Psychosomatic Medicine study, Zen meditators have lower pain sensitivity both in and out of a meditative state compared to non-meditators.

Along with Pierre Rainville, a professor and researcher at the Universite de Montreal, Joshua A. Grant, a doctoral student in the Department of Physiology co-authored the paper.

The main aim of the study was to examine whether trained meditators perceived pain differently than non-meditators.

"While previous studies have shown that teaching chronic pain patients to meditate is beneficial, very few studies have looked at pain processing in healthy, highly trained meditators. This study was a first step in determining how or why meditation might influence pain perception," says Grant.

To reach the conclusion, the scientists recruited 13 Zen meditators with a minimum of 1,000 hours of practice to undergo a pain test and contrasted their reaction with 13 non-meditators. Subjects included 10 women and 16 men between the ages of 22 to 56.

The administered pain test was simple: A thermal heat source, a computer controlled heating plate, was pressed against the calves of subjects intermittently at varying temperatures. Heat levels began at 43 degrees Celsius and went to a maximum of 53 degrees Celsius depending on each participant's sensitivity. While quite a few of the meditators tolerated the maximum temperature, all control subjects were well below 53 degrees Celsius.

Grant and Rainville noticed a marked difference in how their two test groups reacted to pain testing - Zen meditators had much lower pain sensitivity (even without meditating) compared to non-meditators. During the meditation-like conditions it appeared meditators further reduced their pain partly through slower breathing: 12 breaths per minute versus an average of 15 breaths for non-meditators.

"Slower breathing certainly coincided with reduced pain and may influence pain by keeping the body in a relaxed state. While previous studies have found that the emotional aspects of pain are influenced by meditation, we found that the sensation itself, as well as the emotional response, is different in meditators," Grant said.

The ultimate result was that Zen meditators experienced an 18 percent reduction in pain intensity.(ANI)

Why Some People Become Fat and Others Don't!

London, Jan 19 (ANI): Researchers at Imperial College London, the French National Research Institute CNRS and other international institutions have discovered three new genetic variations that increase the risk of obesity, giving new insight into the reasons why some people become fat and others don't.

They suggest that if each acted independently, these variants could be responsible for up to 50 percent of cases of severe obesity.

According to researchers, the new findings should ultimately provide the tools to predict which young children are at risk of becoming obese.

For the study, the researchers looked at the genetic makeup of obese children under six and morbidly obese adults, most of whom had been obese since childhood or adolescence, and compared this with age matched people of normal weight.

The researchers discovered three previously unidentified genetic variations that increase the risk of severe obesity significantly.

The gene variant most strongly linked to childhood obesity and adult morbid obesity in the study is located near the PTER gene, the function of which is not known.

This variant is estimated to account for up to a third of all childhood obesity, and a fifth of all cases of adult obesity.

The second variant linked to child and adult obesity is found in the NPC1 gene.

Previous studies in mice have suggested that this gene has a role in controlling appetite, as mice with a non-functioning NPC1 gene suffer late-onset weight loss and have poor food intake.

This gene variant accounts for around 10 per cent of all childhood obesity and about 14 per cent of adult morbid obesity cases.

The final variant is found near the MAF gene, which controls the production of the hormones insulin and glucagon, as well as chains of amino acids called glucagon-like peptides.

These hormones and peptides are known to play key roles in people's metabolisms by metabolising glucose and carbohydrates in the body. Also, glucagon and glucagon-like peptides appear to have a strong effect on people's ability to feel 'full' or satiated after eating.

This variant accounts for about 6 per cent of early-onset obesity in children, and 16 per cent of adult morbid obesity.

The researchers reached their conclusions by conducting a genome-wide association study of 1,380 Europeans with early-onset childhood obesity and adult morbid obesity, and 1,416 age-matched normal weight controls.

The study revealed 38 genetic markers with a strong association to a higher than normal body mass index, which the researchers evaluated in 14,186 Europeans, identifying three mutations that are significantly linked to obesity.

The study is published in the journal Nature Genetics. (ANI)

Regular 3 minute Workout Bursts Best for Health

Washington, January 28 (ANI): A regular and intense three-minute workout can do wonders in boosting your metabolism, says a new study.

According to Professor James Timmons, who worked with a team of researchers from Heriot-Watt University Edinburgh, Scotland, brief high-intensity exercises repeated in every couple of days may significantly take down the risk of diabetes.

Timmons investigated the effect of 'high-intensity interval training' (HIT) on the metabolism of sixteen sedentary male participants, who used exercise bikes to perform a quick sprint at their highest possible intensity.

It was found that there was a significant effect on their body's ability to process sugars.

He said, "The risk of developing cardiovascular disease and type two diabetes is substantially reduced through regular physical activity. Unfortunately, many people feel they simply don't have the time to follow current exercise guidelines.

"What we have found is that doing a few intense muscle exercises, each lasting only about 30 seconds, dramatically improves your metabolism in just two weeks."

He continued: "Current guidelines, with regards to designing exercise regimes to yield the best health outcomes, may not be optimal and certainly require further discussion.

"The low volume, high intensity training utilized in our study substantially improved both insulin action and glucose clearance in otherwise sedentary young males and this indicates that we do not yet fully appreciate the traditional connection between exercise and diabetes".

He added: "This novel approach may help people to lead a healthier life, improve the future health of the population and save the health service millions of pounds simply by making it easier for people to find the time to exercise".

The research was published in the open access journal BMC Endocrine Disorders.(ANI)

How to Challenge, Exercise and Feed Your Brain

By: Dr. Lorne S. Label

When most people think of exercise, they envision working out to keep their bodies physically fit and healthy. But the brain – so important to living a full life -- also needs an ongoing exercise regimen to stay agile and alert as we grow older.

Scientists used to believe that people were basically stuck with the brain they were born with – and that individuals naturally began to lose cognitive function as they aged. This old thinking allowed people to accept memory loss as inevitable and believe that nothing could be done about it.

However, recent brain research – conducted over the past few years – has shown that the brain constantly renews itself, providing new hope for those with cognitive decline. And, we now know that the brain can learn as much in the second half of life as it did during the first half. However, during the senior years this learning may require more repetition and it may take a little longer. The key is to give the brain a daily workout so that it will constantly generate new cells and neural pathway connections, thereby creating a higher level of brain functionality.

What can you do in your daily life to challenge your brain? Activities that stimulate thought and cause you to retain information as well as problem-solve are excellent activities. It could be as simple as daily hobbies like crossword puzzles, card games, reading, Sudoku number puzzles, or art projects -- such as painting. Even planning a vacation or learning about a foreign culture will require the brain to process new information.

More challenging activities for the brain would be mastering a foreign language or learning to play a musical instrument – both will cause the brain to work hard. The end result will enrich a person’s life and help keep the memory sharp.

Good overall physical health is vital to good brain health. Be sure to get regular medical check-ups and follow your doctor’s advice. Make sure that together you review all of the medications and supplements you are taking to avoid any drug interactions. If you have any memory concerns, don’t delay, see a doctor immediately.

The brain will also benefit greatly by certain lifestyle changes that can make a tremendous impact. Constant stress, for example, can be a serious “brain drain” as can many underlying medical conditions, such as heart disease or a chronic illness. A prolonged lack of quality sleep will have a serious adverse affect on brain function.

Smoking isn’t good for the brain – or for any part of the body. Also avoid drinking to excess and overeating. In fact, a poor diet is as bad for your brain as it is your waistline. Eat healthy, drink plenty of water and focus on a balanced diet.

Your brain and your general outlook on life will benefit from positive social interactions. To avoid depression and isolation, it’s recommended that people have at least five meaningful social interactions each day. Take advantage of any opportunities to meet new people and stay in touch with friends and family. These important social interactions will help keep you alert and involved.

Finally, get moving. A brisk walk, an exercise class or a trip to the gym is essential for the brain as well as the body. Aerobic exercise increases the blood flow to the brain and will activate the repair formation and growth of brain cells. Regular exercise is one of the best activities for helping to maintain and improve brain function.

So, the next time you think of a workout, remember to include the brain. The overall health goal is to keep people physically healthy and mentally alert for as long as possible, so the quality of life is at its optimum.


About Author :
Lorne S. Label, MD, MBA, FAAN, is the founder and director of the Brain Longevity Center in Thousand Oaks, California. A board-certified neurologist, Dr. Label is trained in both traditional Western and Eastern medicines and he incorporates integrative techniques into his practice. Dr. Label writes and speaks on the subject of brain health and how to keep the mind active, sharp and agile as one ages.

NINE WAYS TO AID YOUR MEMORY

It is more natural to forget something than to remember it. If you intend to remember something, apply as many of the following techniques as possible.

1. Be flexible. Experiment with many learning procedures. Be willing to abandon outmoded and faulty learning procedures so you will be free to acquire new and more efficient methods.

2. Over learn. In order to retain anything learned, you must practice and reorganize it into your current ongoing activity. One way to do this is to incorporate the learned material as part of your present habit system. Use it in speaking and writing. Act out the material as a rehearsal of a part in a play-a process known as role-playing. This is especially helpful in learning a foreign language.

3. Schedule. Schedule your study time so that the time at which something is learned or relearned is close to the time at which it will be used.

4. Rephrase and explain. Try a little role-playing. Take the point of view of the teacher, for a change. Rephrase and explain the material, in your own words, to a classmate. Allow your classmate to criticize your presentation. Then let the classmate be the teacher, while you criticize. If you can't explain something, you don't really know it.

Many students adopt the so-called warm-body attitude toward learning. A "warm" feeling toward one particular answer becomes the basis for its selection, regardless of whether one really knows why the answer is correct. This attitude is the result of classroom examining procedures in which true-false and multiple-choice items are used exclusively for testing. Testing in this manner encourages the attitude that mere recognition of the most probable answer constitutes learning.

Even though a particular course may not require adequate recall by using more penetrating recall-type questions, don't allow yourself to fall into this warm-body learning trap. Insist on testing yourself! If you can explain the material, most certainly you can pass any "objective" test calling for superficial recognition. However, the reverse is most certainly not true. Learning only to a point of recognition, and depending on your ability to ferret out the correct response, is insufficient for total-recall kinds of tests. Sooner or later this habit will result in total failure in a demanding test situation.

5. Eliminate accidental and unrelated associations. A study situation in which a phone is constantly jangling produces breaks in the mental association process. Remove the receiver. The only suggestion that can be made for the elimination of television during the study period is to donate the set to a family that is not involved in higher education.

6. Eliminate previous mistakes. Take note of all previous mistakes and make every effort to eliminate them from future practice. It has been shown experimentally that consciously reviewing mistakes, making note of exactly why they were incorrect, helps to reinforce the correct response. This process is sometimes referred to as negative practice.

7. Decide on an order of importance. Some things are more important than others. In a particular study unit, decide what these are and organize the important material into an outline or framework. "Over-learn" this particular framework.

8. Become emotionally involved. Assume the attitude that you fully believe the viewpoint of the author. Strive for perfection. You may never achieve it, but you will most certainly improve your performance. Learn to discuss your current beliefs calmly with people holding different attitudes. Cite authorities to back up your position.

9. Use mechanical memory aids. When material is complicated, it may be necessary to use mechanical memory aids. For example, suppose you had reason to believe that a certain table showing all of the endocrine glands of the body with their secretions and functions would be called for in an examination. In order to be sure that you would be able to recall all of the glands, you memorized the first letter or syllable of each gland, and organized them into three very strange words: Anpothy Paramed Adcorpan, the novelty of which aided recall. This could be deciphered as follows: An=anterior pituitary, po=posterior pituitary, thy=thyroid, par=parathyroid, amed=adrenal medulla, adcor=adrenal cortex, pan=pancreas, etc.