A Cyclist’s Life in Tenerife (Canary Islands)

(February 9, 2004)–BETHESDA, MD– As Valentine’s Day approaches, one prevailing argument for marriage may well be that studies show married people are less depressed than their single counterparts. Behind this string of scientific reasoning for matrimony is a proven fact: the prevalence of depression in patients with coronary artery disease (e.g., myocardial infarction and heart failure) is approximately five times that of the general population.

Major depression is a significant predictor of mortality after myocardial infarction. Its predictive ability on subsequent cardiovascular events, for example, myocardial infarction, arrhythmias, ischemia, or sudden cardiac death, is comparable to that of left ventricular dysfunction, previous myocardial infarction, and smoking. Even more alarming is the finding that depression is a significant risk factor for coronary artery disease in patients without a history of heart disease. In other words, the risk for a heart attack or other cardiac disease for depressed but otherwise healthy patients is similar to the risk for patients with established cardiovascular disease.

Gender does play a role. Psychological depression is a common mood disorder affecting 2–3% of males and 5–9% of females. Depression is the leading cause of disability worldwide (quantified by years lived with a disease) and is exceeded only by coronary artery disease as the leading cause of disability in the United States. So, in addition to all the social and medical costs of depression, the disorder is considered a risk factor for coronary artery disease.

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Tags: Mental Anguish, Science Simplified, Vida Enigmática by Dr. Leslie Brown
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PERHAPS Winnie the Pooh knows something we don’t. Honey could soon be marketed as a way to combat the effects of ageing.

Lynne Chepulis and Nicola Starkey of the University of Waikato in Hamilton, New Zealand, raised rats on diets containing 10 per cent honey, 8 per cent sucrose, or no sugar at all for 12 months. The rats were two months old at the start of the trial, and were assessed every three months using tests designed to measure anxiety and spatial memory.

Honey-fed rats spent almost twice as much time in the open sections of an assessment maze than sucrose-fed rats, suggesting they were less anxious. They were also were more likely to enter novel sections of a Y-shaped maze, suggesting they knew where they had been previously and had better spatial memory.

“Diets sweetened with honey may be beneficial in decreasing anxiety and improving memory during ageing,” says Starkey, whose work was funded by Fonterra, a dairy company interested in sweetening yoghurt with honey.

She suggests the findings may be due to the antioxidant properties of honey, which have previously been demonstrated in humans. The results were presented at the Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour meeting at Newcastle University, UK, last week. From issue 2621 of New Scientist magazine, 14 September 2007, page 23. Source

Tags: Mental Anguish, Science Simplified by Dr. Leslie Brown
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The World Health Organisation (WHO) is appealing to countries to increase their support for mental health services. The appeal is part of a series of six reviews on global mental health which has been published this week in the journal The Lancet. All the review papers and commentaries included in The Lancet Global Mental Health Series can be accessed without payment at the following weblink. The Lancet Global Mental Health Series

• Mental, neurological and behavioural disorders are common to all countries and cause immense suffering. People with these disorders are often subjected to social isolation, poor quality of life and increased mortality. These disorders are the cause of staggering economic and social costs.
• Hundreds of millions of people worldwide are affected by mental, behavioural, neurological and substance use disorders. For example, estimates made by WHO in 2002 showed that 154 million people globally suffer from depression and 25 million people from schizophrenia; 91 million people are affected by alcohol use disorders and 15 million by drug use disorders. A recently published WHO report shows that 50 million people suffer from epilepsy and 24 million from Alzheimer and other dementias.
• In addition to the above figures, many other disorders affect the nervous system or produce neurological sequelae. Projections based on a WHO study show that worldwide in 2005, 326 million people suffer from migraine; 61 million from cerebrovascular diseases; 18 million from neuroinfections or neurological sequelae of infections. Number of people with neurological sequelae of nutritional disorders and neuropathies (352 million) and neurological sequelae secondary to injuries (170 million) also add substantially to the above burden.
• About 877,000 people die by suicide every year.
• One in four patients visiting a health service has at least one mental, neurological or behavioural disorder but most of these disorders are neither diagnosed nor treated.
• Mental illnesses affect and are affected by chronic conditions such as cancer, heart and cardiovascular diseases, diabetes and HIV/AIDS. Untreated, they bring about unhealthy behaviour, non-compliance with prescribed medical regimens, diminished immune functioning, and poor prognosis.
• Cost-effective treatments exist for most disorders and, if correctly applied, could enable most of those affected to become functioning members of society.
• Barriers to effective treatment of mental illness include lack of recognition of the seriousness of mental illness and lack of understanding about the benefits of services. Policy makers, insurance companies, health and labour policies, and the public at large – all discriminate between physical and mental problems.
• Most middle and low-income countries devote less than 1% of their health expenditure to mental health. Consequently mental health policies, legislation, community care facilities, and treatments for people with mental illness are not given the priority they deserve.

Tags: Mental Anguish by Dr. Leslie Brown
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Here’s a recent Abstract from the Scientific Journal “Dreaming”:

The cause of nightmares remains unclear. However, previous research suggests that stress may play a key role and that nightmares may actually serve a beneficial function. Thus, the purpose of this study was to examine the overall relationship between these two variables and assess the hypothesis that nightmares serve as a coping mechanism for stress. To accomplish these goals, a group of 412 psychology students were separated into low, medium, and high nightmare frequency groups as well as low, medium, and high nightmare intensity groups. Comparisons were then conducted for daily stressors, life stressors, social support, and coping. Most notably, this study demonstrated a positive association between nightmares and coping with stress. The overall pattern seen in the analyses reflect the significant relationship between nightmares and stress, while the finding that nightmares were positively associated with coping bolsters the supposition that nightmares may help to alleviate stress. Source

Tags: Mental Anguish by Dr. Leslie Brown
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To be in the running to WIN A FREE SET OF SPINERGY ROAD SKEWERS, all you have to do is e-mail the correct answer to cycling@tenerife-training.net along with your name and postal address. These came with a Stealth PBO wheelset and are valued at US$30.

WATCH THE VIDEO HERE!

Entrance by Email only! NOTE: This promotion has now been extended 1 more week! The competition winner will be the first sucessful entry drawn at random on the 12th September, 2007. Pictures to follow.

UPDATE: 20/09/07

…and the winner is… ISMAEL MELENDEZ OF BROOKLYYYN NEEEEEW YOOOOOOORK!!!!! Step forward and take your priiiiiize…

Congratulations Ismael, well done! Really great effort!! You’re new spinergy skewers are already on the way (no they’re not, they actually still sitting on my desk, but when I get round to it, they’ll be posted to you).

Thanks once again for all the particpants that entered this special promotion. (or rather, thanks to the SOLE person that entered… hehehe)

Tags: News Reel, Sales Pitch by Dr. Leslie Brown
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