Various Symptoms of Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD)
By: Greg Frost
Approximately 5% of the population suffers from ADD, with majority of them being children. However, it is possible for ADD to carry on into adulthood due to a lack of treatment. Whilst there is insufficient research to support the causes of ADD, it can be due to genetics, prenatal conditions or neurological damage.
ADD is a condition whereby the reticular activating system is impaired, reducing the amount of norepinephrine in the brain, which causes difficulty in communication within different regions of the brain. The symptoms of ADD are similar for children and adults, although adults are seldom diagnosed as they have a better ability to cover up their reactions. There are many forms of ADD as well, ranging from Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Attention Deficit Behavior Disorder (ADBD) and Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD) to Conduct Disorder (CD).
In general, the symptoms such as inability to focus and agitation are known to carry over into adulthood. For our purposes, we will be identifying the various symptoms without distinction towards adults or children. This is due to the likelihood of symptoms carrying over as the children mature.
Inability to Focus
Due to the short attention span of individuals suffering from ADD, they find it difficult to focus on any one task or thought process at a time. This causes them to appear as bored, and they tend to be forgetful. Misplacing items or having wandering thoughts during discussions are very common for them.
Disorganization
For individuals who suffer from ADD, they tend to be restless and inattentive, making it difficult for them to focus on one task at a time. Hence, they tend to be more disorganized as they jump from one object to another, and most of the times they are unaware of their environment, giving them the appearance of being highly disorganized and flighty.
Hyperactivity
Especially for children, it is easy to observe symptoms of hyperactivity. These is usually reflected in their ability to remain in the same position for more than a few seconds. For children, there is a tendency to ignore instructions and be immersed in playing or running around the room. For adults, it may be subtle signs such as fidgeting in the seat continuously, or playing with their hands and feet.
Impulsiveness
This could be manifested in the need to talk excessively, or cutting into conversations before the other party has finished. For children who are playing, it could be sudden actions or a stubborn streak to halt playtime activities. In the classroom, they tend to speak out of turn without waiting for the teacher to call on them, or even before the teacher has finished asking a question. In adults, there is a dangerous tendency to indulge in dangerous activities without careful considerations of the risks or consequences.
Health Center Staff Take Lead Role In Preparing Their Campuses For Pandemic Flu
By: Cassie Harman
It sounds like the plot of the next blockbuster movie. A third of the worlds population is struck down by a deadly virus that spreads across the globe so rapidly that there is no time to develop a vaccine. Up to half of those infected even young, healthy adults die. But as health professionals know, this scenario is not just a flight of fancy. It could be the very real effects of the next pandemic flu outbreak, particularly if H5N1 (also known as highly pathogenic avian flu) is the virus in question, and it is this knowledge that is pushing not just federal and state government but organizations and businesses throughout the world to develop a strategy to tackle it.
Within colleges and universities, the burden of pandemic flu planning is likely to fall upon many student health directors, even at institutions with environmental health and safety departments. John Covely, a consultant on pandemic flu planning and the co-author of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hills pandemic plan, explains why this is so.
Traditionally, emergency planning originates from public safety, or environment health and safety, but a communicable disease poses the biggest threat to students in group quarters. Thus, student health directors are often leading the emergency planning effort for the whole university, because the entire plan - not just the student health component - could be the difference in life or death for their students.
The importance of having a campus-wide plan that is ready not just in the preliminary stages when the pandemic strikes is all the more clear when you consider that, unlike seasonal flu, H5N1 has an increased risk for the typical student demographic of young, healthy adults. The startlingly high mortality rate of up to 60 percent is partly due to a protein, also found in the strain of virus responsible for the 1918 pandemic flu outbreak, which causes a response in a healthy immune system known as a cytokine storm, often leading to respiratory failure and death.
Planning for such a massive and yet unpredictable event may seem a formidable task, but Dr. Anita Barkin, chair of the American College Health Associations pandemic planning committee, counsels that those universities and colleges that have yet to formulate a pandemic plan shouldnt feel overwhelmed by the work that lies before them. Pandemic planning is about good emergency preparedness. The things we do to prepare for any emergency are the things we would do to prepare for pandemic flu, she explains.
Although the tragic Virginia Tech shootings this spring were a different kind of emergency, the issues are similar to the issues faced in the event of a pandemic flu outbreak. Coordinating resources, communicating with everyone on campus and deciding at what stage classes should be called off are questions that have to be answered in most emergency situations. Take your pandemic planning one step at a time, advises Barkin.
The first step is to find out whether there is an existing emergency plan on campus, she says. If there is, who is in charge of it? Health providers on campus should then take charge and begin to formulate the plan.
There are many unknown factors, but build the framework of the plan first with the elements you can be sure of. Form a committee with all key areas represented, including executive leadership. ACHAs Guidelines for Pandemic Planning provides a list as an example that may help you collate this. Identify the functions that will be critical in the case of a pandemic and the personnel on campus responsible for each of these, making sure there are enough people representing each function that should some become sick, the plan is not compromised. Identify decision makers, a chain of command, and what channels of communication are to be used. Finally, decide on the role of student health services. Many campuses will have the student health director as the key decision maker in the event of a pandemic, but for some it will be more appropriate for the student health director to have an advisory role instead. In any case, college health professionals will be crucial to the success of every plan.
The biggest question that is central to every campus-wide pandemic plan: when is the right time to send students home? Covely warns that universities cannot necessarily wait for cues from state public health departments before they make their decisions. The university has to have its own in-depth criteria in advance of a pandemic, and the student health director should be very involved in developing those criteria.
Don’t wait too long to send your students home. Nor should your trigger for this decision rely on the geographical proximity of the virus to your campus alone.
The factors that will determine how early you make the call to send students home will center on the composition of your student population. If your students are mostly from in-state, they will probably be traveling home by car and so you can wait slightly longer before canceling classes and closing the campus down. If many students live a long way away and are going to need to use mass transportation, you may have to act more quickly or risk being swamped with very ill students at a time when the local hospitals will not have the resources to help.
There are three main elements that will shape the logistics and the scale of your plan, and help you figure out the best trigger to send students home. Remember that, as Barkin comments, The longer you wait, the higher the rate of infection, the less chance of being able to get students home and the less likely you can manage the burden of disease.
These factors are as follows:
* Student demographics, particularly the number of students who live on campus and the number of non-local students who are likely to be dependent on care.
* The size of your staff (taking into account that up to 50 percent may be sick at one time).
* Your ability to stockpile enough basic supplies, including medications, as well as personal protective equipment such as respirators.
This is where things start to get more complicated, however. Most student health services cant afford to stockpile many medical supplies. ACHA is running a survey on pandemic planning, reveals Barkin. Of the schools that have responded, most have not stockpiled, or if they have, its not a lot. This could clearly prove disastrous, and for many colleges is a manifestation of what Covely cites as one of the biggest challenges of pandemic planning for some universities: getting buy-in from the executive leadership. Pandemic planning is by no means a cost-free exercise.
One tip if you are facing resistance from campus decision-makers over spending money on pandemic planning is to emphasize the fact that once youve formulated a response to a possible pandemic, you will have a robust emergency response strategy that can be adapted to fit virtually any emergency, whether its evacuation in the event of wildfires, such as Pepperdine University faced recently, a terrorist threat, or an active shooter. Investment in, say, developing a Web site with emergency information and updates can be a public relations bonus and a reliable resource. Villanova Universitys plan includes broadcasting SMS text messages and e-mails and using an emergency Web page for mass communication.
Mary McGonigle, director of the student health center at Villanova University, says that their dialogue with their local health department led to Villanova being assessed and labeled a push site, a location that is self-sufficient in this type of emergency. She explains:
In the event of a pandemic, wed go and pick up supplies from the county and then administer medicine to our Villanova community. That includes students, faculty and their families.
Help from the county is a financial boon but being self-sufficient and staying local also lowers the risk of spreading the virus so rapidly. The dialogue helps your local health services too. If your local hospitals are likely to have a shortage of beds, they may want to use college dorms for surge capacity at the peak of a pandemic. In return, they may be able to offer you some resources, although research suggests that most hospitals have not had the budget to be able to stockpile effectively either.
The ongoing and fluid nature of pandemic planning is very much evident in some of the complex and thorny issues that have no definitive answer. These may need to be revisited and rethought as scientific discoveries are made, as you approach a pandemic, and if your colleges resources change. One such issue is the availability of expensive antivirals. The federal government has announced that it is stockpiling them and coming up with a strategy for distribution, which might seem to take some of the financial pressure off student health services. Barkin however has a caveat. Im concerned that stockpiles would not be distributed in enough of a timely fashion to make an impact on the community. Katrina is a situation that has to come to mind.
Even if you did manage to persuade campus decision-makers to invest budget in stockpiling antivirals, a potentially challenging feat, theres a chance that they would be ineffective by the time a pandemic occurs, as overuse can cause the emergence of a resistant strain. Barkin explains that infectious disease experts are talking about using a treatment cocktail Tamiflu plus one or two other agents - to protect against the emergence of resistant strains, but this would be prohibitively expensive for the average college health center.
Another ethical dilemma surrounding pandemic planning concerns who should get prepandemic vaccines. Scientists are developing vaccines based on the strain of avian flu that has been circulating in Asia, hoping that the vaccine would be enough of a match to combat the illness until a proper vaccine could be developed six months after the pandemics emergence. But supplies of this prepandemic vaccine will be limited.
Some of the conversations around who should get these prepandemic vaccines are very complex, says Barkin. Should it be health care workers that get it, or public safety workers such as firemen? Should it be government officials, or the very young and elderly? Recently, the federal government has announced a three-tiered approach to vaccination that it has developed in consultation with public focus groups and ethicists that places health care workers in the second tier. Whether your health center staff will receive the vaccine, whether it will be in a timely fashion, and how effective it will actually be, are all factors that will affect your pandemic plan greatly and demonstrate how much of your planning has to leave room for the unknown.
One thing that is beyond question is the importance of student health services acting now. Formulating a pandemic plan may be a slow and ponderous task, but theres one vital aspect that will slow the spread of a pandemic and can be tackled by your department immediately without getting tangled in red tape and endless meetings.
This public health education can be a collaborative effort with human resources and residence life staff. Covely agrees and even suggests extending the scope beyond campus boundaries. Its part of being a good and responsible neighbor to the community, he says.
Brainwave Entrainment Can Help You Dramatically Improve Your Mental Abilities!
By: Sonika Gandotra
I am a great fan of Stephen Pierce and recently I came across his website in which he talked about Brainwave Entertainment. I think it will be worth while to disseminate such a crucial piece of information with people who are interested in good health.
I have just taken the few facts from this website in this article for everybody,s benefit:
Recently, professionals in the areas of psychology, neurology, medical health and self-help have begun utilizing the power of brainwave entrainment in their work with patients.
What is brainwave entrainment? It is a relatively young but rapidly growing field that involves the study of how altering brainwaves naturally can allow people to easily enter states of increased intelligence, creativity, relaxation, pure energy and more!
Heres the science behind this incredible breakthrough: The brain is made up of billions of brain cells called neurons, which communicate with each other using electrical signals.
All of these neurons sending signals at once produce a large amount of electrical activity commonly called a Brainwave pattern, because of its wave or cyclic-like nature.
Researchers and scientists have found that different bands of brainwaves are associated with different mental states. For instance, the brainwaves of a sleeping person are much different than the brainwaves of an individual who is wide awake.
Years of research has shown that brainwaves not only provide insight into an individuals mind and body, but they can be stimulated to actually change that persons current state.
By causing the brain to produce or decrease specific types of brainwave frequencies, it is possible to bring about a large variety of mental states and emotional reactions.
How does this work? Entrainment is a principle in physics, where two cycles synchronize naturally with each other in order to work more efficiently. Entrainment is applied to chemistry, astronomy, electrical systems and much more but can also be applied to the brain.
When the brain is provided with a stimulus, through the ears, eyes or other senses, it emits an electrical charge in response. This is called a Cortical Evoked Response. These electrical responses travel throughout the brain to become what an individual sees and hears.
When the brain is given a consistent, repeating stimulus, such as drum beats or flashes of light, the brain responds by synchronizing, or entraining, its electric cycles to the external rhythm. This is commonly called the Frequency Following Response (or FFR), and it can be used to effectively alter the brainwave pattern of the audience.
This I personally realised after listening to the scientifically proven Beta Brainwave Entertainment to understand that we have an all access pass to the high performance peak state that our worlds greatest achievers know intimately.
The EEG visual shown at the beginning of this article was taken while observing the effects of Beta Brainwave Entertainment on an independent listener. This visual reading not only proves that Beta Brainwave Entertainment works, but powerfully demonstrates how quickly your mind can be optimized and your cerebral functioning accelerated.
The Baseline (left-side) illustrates the listeners brainwave activity prior to listening to Brainwaves. The Beta Increase (right-side) shows the considerable increase in beta activity after just 20 minutes of listening to Beta waves.
Brainwave research on cognitive performance has pointed to the mid Beta brainwave frequencies as the zone to create a super focus mental state, intellectual endurance, and optimize your brain to handle intensive task with high levels of mental stamina.
As you listen to your brainwaves will be entrained into the Beta brainwave zone and have you mentally fine tuned for success.
If you have ever dreamed of realizing your full potential and receiving all the benefits that will help you to quickly and easily unleash your mental powers and achieve your dreams. Listen to this audio and you will:
Sharpen your mental focus, attention, and concentration
Enhance your thinking speed and clarity
Improve your ability to remember and recall information
Increase your mental energy and alertness
And much, much more
you can be experiencing acute concentration, accelerated cognition and amazing mental states that the most focused and zoned achievers on the planet know.
Psoriasis is a long lasting, chronic skin ailment characterized by inflammation and scaling of outer layer of skin. The symptoms of psoriasis are chronic skin rash condition with a red or silver color and the skin has blisters. The symptoms of having the disease are recurring attacks of skin rashes, small red patches that expands and becomes scaly, red plaques and silvery scales etc.
When psoriasis occurs, patches on the skin thicken, reddens, and become covered with silvery scales referred to as plaques. These patches are itchy or have a burning sensation with crack in the skin at the joints. Psoriasis occurs in a wide variety of areas in the body including the elbows, knees, scalp, lower back, face, palms, fingernails, and soles of the feet, toenails and even on the soft tissues inside the mouth. Psoriasis often leads to psoriatic arthritis.
Researchers have commented that, psoriasis is a disorder of the immune system. In psoriasis the abnormal immune system leads to the over-production of T-cells; a type of white blood cell that protects against infections; that in turn triggers the excessive skin cell production and inflammation. There are certain conditions that flare up the problem of psoriasis, like infections, stress, change of climate and excessive dry skin. There are certain medications that worsen the problem of psoriasis such as nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and medicines for treating high blood pressure or depression. Psoriasis may also be hereditary. Genetic connections with a psoriasis patient may also trigger the diseases.
Diagnosis of psoriasis requires a through examination and required diagnosis. There are various types of psoriasis. The most common type is the plaque psoriasis or psoriasis vulgaris as known scientifically. In this type of psoriasis, the lesions have a reddened base covered by silvery base. Guttate psoriasis are caused by viral respiratory infections or streptococcal infections. In this type, drop like lesions occur on the limbs, and scalp. The non-infectious pus characterizes pustular psoriasis. Sunlight allergies, medications, infections, perspirations, emotional stress, chemicals and even pregnancy cause it. Large, dry, smooth red plaques occurring in the folds of the skin near the genitals, in the armpits and under the breast, characterizes inverse psoriasis. It is related to over-sensitivity to sweating and friction. Reddening and scaling of the skin, accompanied by itching sensation and pain in the area happens in the case of erythrodermic psoriasis.
The disease, psoriasis requires a systematic treatment according to the severity of the problem and responsiveness to certain medication. The effectiveness of the treatments varies from one individual to another.
The treatment is according to the specific forms of disorder.
There are mainly three types of treatment provided to the patients affected by psoriasis. In the topical treatment, the patient is suggested loads of fresh air and sunlight, steroid ointments, and medicines prepared from coal tar or anthralin and vitamin D3. Other topical solutions include, bath solutions and moisturizers. Phototherapy and systematic treatment for severe cases are other forms of psoriasis treatment.
Blood pressure is the force of the blood pushing against the walls of the arteries. Blood pressure is the result of two forces: from the heart as it pumps blood into the arteries and throughout the circulatory system, and the force of the arteries as they resist blood flow. Blood pressure is measured by putting a blood pressure cuff around your arm, inflating the cuff and listening for the flow of blood. Blood pressure is always given as these two numbers, the systolic and diastolic pressures. Blood pressure is traditionally measured with a device called a sphygmomanometer. Blood pressure is measured in millimeters of mercury (mm Hg). Blood pressure is generally felt to be abnormally high at a level of 140/90, and some sort of definitive therapy and follow-up should be started at this level. High blood pressure is called the silent killer because it usually has no symptoms.
Blood is carried from the heart to all parts of your body in vessels called arteries. Blood does not flow regularly like water from a tap:-When the heart contracts (systole), the blood is propelled into the main arteries that act as a pressurised reservoir.
Pressure in a hose can be regulated either by controlling the rate at which fluid passes through it or by widening it. Pressure inside your arteries can cause the muscles that line the walls of the arteries to thicken. Your blood pressure is at its highest when the heart beats, pumping the blood. When the heart is at rest, between beats, your blood pressure falls. Still, for most of your waking hours, your blood pressure stays pretty much the same when you are sitting or standing still.
Heart disease is the UKs biggest killer, claiming thousands of lives each year. Heart failure is when your heart cannot pump blood around the body as well as it should, and this can cause you to become short of breath and can cause your ankles to swell. Heart attack High blood pressure is a major risk factor for heart attacks.
Various disorders and drugs can cause the compensatory mechanisms to malfunction, and high blood pressure may result. Causes In most instances of high blood pressure, no known cause can be identified. Doctors do not know what causes high blood pressure in 90 to 95 percent of people who have it. For some people, just being in a medical setting causes their blood pressure to rise.
Symptoms When blood pressure is too low, the first organ to malfunction is usually the brain. Symptoms that may occur include: Confusion Chest pain Ear noise or buzzing Irregular heartbeat Nosebleed Tiredness Vision changes. What is treatment, medication, medicines, remedy, drugs, cure of lowering high Blood pressure or Hypertension? . Although high blood pressure, also known as hypertension, can cause headaches, dizziness and problems with vision, the majority of people with the condition do not display any noticeable symptoms.
Treatment
Treatment is focused on reducing water retention and lowering blood pressure to normal limits. Treatment for high blood pressure depends on the severity of the disease and whether you have other health problems, such as heart failure or diabetes, or you are pregnant. Treatment of primary high blood pressure, especially moderate or severe high blood pressure, decreases the risk of heart failure, coronary artery disease, heart attack, abnormal heartbeats, stroke, and kidney disease, and reduces the risk of death from these conditions. Treatment for high blood pressure must be highly individualized and based on your risk factors, such as diabetes, smoking, and heart disease. Treatment when blood pressure increases slightly and the woman is not near the end of her pregnancy, bed rest may help reduce the pressure.
High blood pressure is called the silent killer because it usually has no symptoms. When high blood pressure is not found and treated, it can cause: The heart to get larger, which may lead to heart failure. If your blood pressure is in the prehypertension range, it is more likely that you will end up with high blood pressure unless you take action to prevent it. High blood pressure is dangerous because it makes the heart work too hard and contributes to atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries). If your blood pressure is between 120/80 mmHg and 139/89 mmHg, then you have prehypertension. The good news is that if your blood pressure is high, it can be lowered by making changes to your lifestyle, for example changing your diet, exercising and losing weight, and when needed, with tablets. The medical community?s knowledge of high blood pressure is great, but far from perfect. High blood pressure is more common: In patients whose families have high blood pressure In those over 35 years old In males In Afro-Americans In women on oral contraceptives. The only way to know whether you have high blood pressure is to have it taken by a person who knows how (those automatic machines you sit at in the supermarket are not necessarily kept accurate condition.
Belly Dancing And Erasing Cellulite: The Perfect Combination!
By: Sharon Bell
With all the noise about cellulite, many women wonder if these fatty lumps can ever be eliminated after they have developed on different areas of the body. And to add to the confusion, a number of fitness gurus and medical professionals proclaim that it is impossible for anyone to be free of cellulite. But there are those who took these proclamations more as a challenge than a barrier; and what these remarkable individuals did blew up many preconceived notions about cellulite.
So is it possible to eradicate cellulite? The answer is a big yes! You can definitely say goodbye to most, if not every inch, of the cellulite in your thighs, tummy, arms or any other area of your body. But just like in any other aspect of life, nothing comes for free when it comes to dealing with cellulite. You have to work hard and you need a lot of self-discipline in order for you to stamp out unwanted fatty dimples on your skin.
To begin, you have to realize that cellulite is nothing more than an accumulated fat that is huddled just under your skin tissues. So to deal with it, you need to build solid full-figured muscles in your body. Doing so, you allow your skin to become firmer and more consistent on the surface. And the most effective ways in which you can build more muscles and have smoother skin is through classic exercise and diet.
Adopting a balanced diet to combat your cellulite can be fairly easy. With the countless diet books and information around, you will be able to take on a balanced eating plan according to your needs in not time at all. But when it comes to the right kind and amount of exercise, you need to be a little more creative. You see, unlike diet or eating which is always a part of your day, exercise for most people requires extra time off your daily schedule; otherwise, if you have always been an exercise junkie, then you do not need help with cellulite after all.
Exercises come in many forms and intensities. But if you want to make it relatively easy for yourself, then you should take a look at belly dancing in your fight against cellulite. This dance is a good aerobic exercise that can be excellent in burning calories off your body.
The benefits that you can derive from belly dancing actually goes beyond eradicating cellulite. But no matter how you look at this dance, you will find that the core moves are always about building lean muscles on many parts of your body. Plus, the steps required in this kind of dance offers superior workout not only for your muscles but for your heart as well. And of course, all the twisting and shaking that are unique to belly dancing can increase the elasticity of your skin.
Belly dancing is a series of low impact movements which is why it is convenient and suitable for people across all ages. This means women who are well in their forties or fifties, age brackets where cellulite is prevalent, can safely include this dance in their daily regimen. All in all, this dance can bring about better blood circulation, which is needed to flush away toxins responsible for trapping all the fatty lumps under your skin.
Indeed, reducing or eliminating cellulite should never be cumbersome and boring. With proper diet and a lot of belly dancing, you can dance your way to a body that is cellulite-free.
Ayurveda Medicines, Ayurvedic Herbs and Ayurvedic Treatments
By: Dev Sri
Ayurveda is not just only about treating diseases. Ayurveda is just about leading a healthy life in a physical, mental and divine level. The food items we eat, the air we breathe, the freshness of nature we experience, the fragrance we smell, the good sights we enjoy, all have potential medicinal values.
This is best illustrated by the story of Jeevakas test. It is the final test assigned by Jeevakas Acharya (teacher) Athreya.
Jeevaka (Jivaka), like other disciples of Atreya had to bring a herb or a leaf with no medicinal value. Jivaka, could not find such a plant or a herb. However, it was only a manifestation of superior knowledge he had on the value of plants, herbs and all elements of nature.
Jivaka explained that whatever plant he saw had some medicinal property, which can be used under optimum conditions for best results. He said even the slanting sunrays, cool breeze, the sound of water flowing through a rivulet, the singing of birds too have medicinal properties. Some have medicinal qualities to treat physical ailments while others have powers to cure mental disturbances.
One should look at Ayurveda medicines in this light. Nothing on the earth is without a reason. Every leaf, flower, root and stem has medicinal qualities under specific conditions.
Have a look at Ayurvedic medicines prepared by Ayurvedic herbs for different Ayurvedic treatments. Ayurvedic medicines are prepared by a combination of selected roots, leaves or stems of Ayurvedic medicinal herbs. These herbs form part of Ayurvedic massage oil, Ayurvedic herbal decoctions called kashaya, Ayurvedic jam called Rasayana, Ayurvedic Ghee called ghrita etc.
According to Ayurveda, diseases can occur when there is a slight imbalance in the basic humors of human body vata, pitta and kapha, which collectively is known as tridosha or three doshas.
Ayurvedic treatment is a method of restoring balance of human system through proper application of medicine by drinking, eating or application by massaging.
Preparations of medicines are under controlled conditions. Slight variations from standard condition can spoil the medicine.
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