Depression & Treatment
Jack is a psychiatrist, which means he treats people who have mental problems.
He has been treating patients for many years and has used a variety of treatments .
Sometimes he just listens and talks to patients, and sometimes he uses medications.
These medications affect the brain in many different ways.
Over the years, Jack found that some patients improved with treatment while others didn't improve at all.
In some cases, a patient's response to a treatment was the opposite of what was expected.
Several years ago, he had a young patient who showed him why these treatments didn't work.
The patient's name was Bob.
He was 20 years old when he first came to see Jack for help.
The reason he came was that he had attempted suicide.
Bob was extremely smart and was a student at one of the best universities in the world.
However, he was often extremely depressed.
Because of his depression, he took drugs and drank a lot of alcohol.
It was an overdose of drugs and alcohol that nearly killed him.
His roommate called 911 when he discovered Bob unconscious in their dormitory room.
Once Bob recovered and was discharged from the hospital, he took time off from school to get help.
That was when he came to the clinic where Jack practices medicine.
At first, Jack attempted to treat Bob with antidepressant medications.
He also used conversation and recommendations to help him rethink his life and memories.
After a few months, Bob began to improve, but only moderately.
Though he cooperated with the treatment, he continued to think negatively.
He also continued to go through periods of depression.
As a result, he wasn't able to return to school .
Because the treatment wasn't working, Jack tried something new.
He decided to use brain scans to look inside Bob's brain .(Because the other treatments weren’t working.)
Brain scans are a way to look inside the brain to see how it is functioning.
What the scans showed about Bob was crucial.
They showed that his brain was damaged in a way that nobody had anticipated.
There was significant damage to the front part of his brain.
An injury in this part of the brain can contribute to depression and negative feeling.
It can also contribute to feelings of anger and rage .
The fact that his brain was injured unbalanced explained why the treatments hadn't worked.
The brain scans showed why the medications and other treatments hadn't worked.
They had failed because they didn't address the brain injury.
After discussing the injury with Bob and his parents, they concluded that the cause of the injury was from playing soccer.
In fact, Jack knew of a quite few of soccer players who had suffered head injuries from playing that sport.
Heading a hard soccer ball many times can damage the brain.
With this new information, Jack used a new medication to treat the injury.
Gradually, Bob improved , and after a few months was close to full recovery .
He no longer had any signs of depression, and was finally able to return to school.
Ultimately, Bob graduated from his university with honors, and entered a famous law school.
From this experience , Jack realized that the brain imaging had allowed him to save Bob's life.
If it hadn't been for the scans , Bob would have ended up killing himself.
Detecting and treating the injury to the front part of his brain was the key step in his treatment.
Jack now believes that brain scans can be an important tool for psychiatrists.
An injured brain must be healed before other treatments, such as vitamins, drugs or counseling, can work.
New Policy of a Company
We've got a real problem on our hands.
We are getting a lot of complaints.
About the proposed new policy?
Yes, people think it's an invasion of privacy.
Don't they agree that regular exercise and staying in shape is good for everyone?
Sure, they agreed.
But they don't think we have the right to use an app to track how much they exercise.
Using the app is the only way to make sure our employees get enough exercise.
This new policy will reduce our health costs and improve productivity, which helps everyone.
That's not how they see it.
This kind of regulation makes people feel like robots .
They have no freedom anymore .
Requiring everyone to wear a smart device like this on the wrist means they have no privacy.
Well, if you put it that way, I can see the problem.
However, I don't see any other way to change people's habits.
This is just a friendly reminder.
It's more than a reminder.
It makes things public, and puts pressure on people to meet the requirements.
It will force people to work out even when they don't want to.
There won't be any choice.
No, it doesn't have to be that way.
We can still be flexible.
That's not the point.
People hate the idea that the company knows everything they do.
It's better enough that they have to communicate with each other at night and on the weekends.
What if we make the use of the app an option.
If you do that, it still puts pressure on people to use it.
I think it's best that we get rid of this idea.
I'm all for standards, but what about freedom, and creativity.
If we go ahead with this policy, I think we will lose some of our best people.
There are other ways to deal with health issues.
Such as... What's your suggestion?
Give extra holidays to people who take fewer sick days.
No... That wouldn't work.
It will put pressure on people to come to work sick and get everyone else sick too.
If someone is sick, I'd rather that they stay at home.
Then here is a radical idea.
Why not let your department managers handle it?
They are the ones who decide on promotions and bonuses.
Setting everything in stone in the form of policies can be very dangerous.
OK, I'll consider it.
For now, I'll give up the idea of using this app.
Please let people know that we are listening to them.
We do care about our employees.
I will, I'm sure people will appreciate it.
It shows that you have faith in them.
Thanks, I appreciate your advice.
Preventing Injuries
Exercise and a certain amount of strenuous physical activity are important for maintaining good health. However, before engaging in them, it's important to know how to prevent injuries from occurring, especially for athletes and elderly people. Injuries can be minimized by doing a proper warm up. This consists of increasing your heart rate and the blood flow to all parts of your body. A good way to do this is through a series of static stretches followed by a series of dynamic stretches, which are done while moving.
Using the proper equipment is essential , especially in contact sports. To protect the head, for example, well-designed helmets can greatly reduce the incidence of concussions. Concussions are caused when the soft, jello-like brain slams into the hard human skull. Research shows that repeated concussions can have serious consequences.
Compression sportswear is another way to reduce the risk of injury, especially muscle injuries. More and more athletes are using them because their use can also speed up muscle recovery when an injury occurs . Another contributing factor in sports injuries is fatigue. Doctors believe that fatigue is an important warning sign that the body has reached its limit. When fatigued it is more difficult for the body to protect itself.
Therefore it's a good idea to stop an activity at the first sign of fatigue. Rest periods, even for professional athletes, can prevent serious injuries from occurring. Understanding Injuries and the body's reaction to them can help people cope with the problems that accompany physical exercise. The support and understanding of coaches, teammates and family can be a critical factor in prevention and recovery. Once an injury occurs, it's too late to prevent it, and recovery can take a long time. For the elderly, a simple fall can be fatal.
Blood Pressure and Stroke
A large international study has found that ten risk factors account for 90 percent of all the risk of stroke.Of that list, five risk factors usually related to lifestyle are responsible for a full 80 percent of stroke risk. According to the researchers these risk factors - high blood pressure,smoking,abdominal obesity, diet and physical activity - are modifiable and can be controlled.
The findings come from a study of 3,000 people who had had strokes and an equal number of healthy individuals with no history of stroke. The study also includes a brain scan of all participating stroke survivors, according to the researchers.
Across the board, high blood pressure was the most important factor, accounting for one-third of all stroke risk. Blood pressure, it was noted , plays a major role in both forms of stroke: ischemic,the most common form(caused by blockage of a brain blood vessel), and hemorrhagic or bleeding stroke, in which a blood vessel in the brain bursts .
Blood pressure is easily measured, and there are lots of treatments. Lifestyle modifications to control it include increasing physical activity and reducing salt intake . The other lifestyle risk factors are modifiable as well. High intake of fish and fruits, for example, is associated with a lower risk of stroke.
Many of the same risk factors have been reported in other studies, but this is the first stroke risk study to include both low-and middle-income participants in developing countries. The study confirms that high blood pressure is the leading cause of stroke in both developing and developed countries. This highlights the need for health authorities in those countries to develop strategies to reduce high blood pressure, salt intake and other risk factors.