Why you should talk about sex before marriage By Ian Kerner, Special to CNN

2013-02-04

Editor’s note: Ian Kerner, a sexuality counselor and New York Times best-selling author, writes about sex and relationships for CNN Health. Read more from him on his website, GoodInBed.

Most couples tying the knot don’t want to wait until the honeymoon to know if things are going to work in the bedroom, and would agree that having sex before marriage is an important way to establish if there’s a basic level of sexual compatibility.

But — without getting into the moral pros and cons of premarital sex — that may not always be the case.

“Just because you have good sex, and a lot of it, before marriage doesn’t mean it will be that way for your entire life,” says social psychologist Justin Lehmiller.

“Our bodies and desires naturally change over time in response to both age and major life events, such as having children, and these changes don’t affect everyone in the same way. This means that one partner’s sexual needs and wants often change at a much faster rate than the other’s, resulting in discrepancies that can precipitate conflict, adultery and divorce.”

You can’t judge the rest of your sex life by your current experiences, especially if you’ve had a whirlwind romance. In the beginning of your relationship, you’re both under the influence of a potent biochemical cocktail of infatuation hormones.

“A person’s inherent need for sensation is not necessarily obvious in the early stages of a relationship, when love itself is a novelty and carries its own thrills,” says Marvin Zuckerman, a professor at the University of Delaware whose research involves sensation-seeking. “It’s when the sex becomes routine that problems occur.”

That’s why I recommend that couples talk openly and honestly about sex — whether or not they’re already having it — before they walk down the aisle.

“As a newlywed sex educator, I’ve been surprised at how much marriage has changed our sex life in ways I would never have anticipated,” says Emily Nagoski, author of the book “A Scientific Guide to Successful Relationships.”

“Based on my experience, I think that the best thing a couple can do is talk through a wide range of hypothetical scenarios — what if one person’s interest in sex changes a lot, either increase or decrease? What if one of you gets cancer or is in a car accident and loses sensation below the waist? These ‘what ifs’ aren’t about having a plan for every contingency; they’re about practicing your collaborative problem-solving skills.”

But talking about sex isn’t always easy, even for couples who plan to share everything with each other. Most of us have had some sex education somewhere in the past, but nobody ever taught us how to have a constructive conversation with a partner about the sex we’re having.

“When you’re not able to openly talk about sexual preferences with your partner, those bedroom problems will resurface in other aspects of their relationship, and can lead to misdirected frustration,” says Patty Brisben, a sex education advocate and entrepreneur.

For those couples who are too inhibited to get this conversation started on their own, a trip to a marriage and family therapist should be a priority.

“Premarital counseling provides a safe space for couples to discuss their sexual hopes, fears and expectations,” says Ami Bhalodkar, a New York marriage and family therapist. “Counselors can help couples initiate and engage in conversations about sex in ways that are tailored to their particular style of communication, cultural/religious background and overall level of comfort and emotional safety — be it through journaling, making art, reflecting on poetry and music, playing a card game or participating in a speaker/listener dialogue.

“Regardless of the methods used, once couples have broken the silence around this issue, they report feeling incredibly relieved and more secure and optimistic about their sexual future together.”

So keep an eye on the long view. “This person is going to be sleeping next to you every night for the rest of your lives — decades, hopefully,” Nagoski says.

“Without making a little effort to try new things, it can get routine, fast. Trying new things together isn’t really about the things you try, it’s about the sense of adventure as you explore together.”

If you’re curious about whether or not you and your partner are on the same page, you can each take this survey entitled “What Are You Up for in the Bedroom?” created by Kristen Mark, author of the book “Good in Bed Guide to Sexual Adventure.”

By talking about your concerns and expectations now, you can build a strong foundation for a healthy, happy sex life — till death do you part.

Says Amy Levine, sex coach and founder of Ignite Your Pleasure: “The key is to become sexually empowered and confident before marriage. For some people this may happen by being sexually experienced before they meet their potential spouse, but it’s also about taking care of their sexual health, feeling good in their own skin, knowing what turns them on and off and being communicative about their needs, wants and desires.”

Obese girls at risk of multiple sclerosis, study finds

2013-02-01

Obese girls are at greater risk of developing multiple sclerosis or MS-like illness, according to a new study published Wednesday in the online journal Neurology.

Researchers looked at body mass index (BMI) data from more than 900,000 children from the Kaiser Permanente Southern California Children’s health study. Seventy-five of those children and adolescents between the ages of 2 and 18 were diagnosed with pediatric MS. More than 50% of them were overweight or obese, and the majority were girls.

According to the study, the MS risk was more than one and a half times higher for overweight girls, almost two times higher in moderately obese girls and almost four times higher in extremely obese girls.

“Over the last 30 years, childhood obesity has tripled,” said study author Dr. Annette Langer-Gould, a neurologist and regional MS expert for Kaiser Permanente in Southern California. “In our study, the risk of pediatric MS was highest among moderately and extremely obese teenage girls, suggesting that the rate of pediatric MS cases is likely to increase as the childhood obesity epidemic continues.”

MS is a chronic, debilitating disease that attacks the central nervous system. “Some patients do very well and have minimal to no disability even 20 years later,” Langer-Gould said, “While other patients do poorly and can be wheelchair bound in 5 years. It’s a huge spectrum.”

Dr. Tanuja Chitnis is a neurologist and pediatric MS specialist at Massachusetts General Hospital for Children with 50 MS publications to her credit. She says 10 years ago MS was not recognized as a disease that occurred in children, but today evidence is mounting that obesity is a risk factor for MS in kids, particularly adolescent girls.

“This is one more piece of evidence, but really in order to make a definitive link, you need at least five or six studies showing the same thing,” she says. “You need to have an underlying biological reason, which still has not been worked out and you need to show that blocking or interfering with the biological mechanism can prevent the disease.”

“The overall message is that there are an increasing number of diseases associated with obesity and particularly early obesity and that it’s an important risk factor to try to mitigate. It is something you can do something about,” Chitnis says.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, over the last 30 years childhood obesity has doubled in children and tripled in teenagers. In 2010, more than a third of all children and teens were overweight or obese.

At Children’s Hospital of Alabama, pediatric neurologist Dr. Jayne Ness has seen more than 100 pediatric MS patients, predominantly girls, whose average age at onset is 13. Ness told CNN she has noticed a rise in obesity in their MS patients, kids who at the time of diagnosis are obese.

“Does this mean that obesity is a risk factor for MS? We don’t know yet,” Ness said. “It’s one more piece that helps us potentially better understand some of the underlying triggers of pediatric MS and may help us understand MS in general.”

Langer-Gould says that while pediatric MS is very rare – only 1.6 per 100,000 children – there are red flags parents should look out for. “Constant numbness or tingling from the waist down or numbness, pins and needles sensations in the chest, abdomen or back that last for 24 hours.”

Those children should be evaluated by a neurologist. Other symptoms to have checked out are collapsing weakness in the legs after modest exertion, and pain and loss of vision in one eye.

The National MS Society estimates about 10,000 children in the United States have the disease and another 10 to 15,000 have had at least one MS-like symptom. An estimated 5% of all MS cases worldwide are childhood or adolescent onset.
Post by: Saundra Young – CNN Medical Senior Producer

Is drinking extra water good for your skin?

2013-01-21

The idea that you’ll have a better complexion if you stay hydrated is so commonplace it’s surprising to discover the lack of evidence to back this up.

If you yearn for smooth skin that glows with youth, the chances are that at some point you will have heard the exhortation to drink lots of water in order to flush out those evil toxins and keep your skin healthy.

The exact amount people suggest varies. US-based advice tends to recommend eight glasses a day, while in hotter climates people are advised to drink more to compensate for higher rates of sweating. But regardless of the exact volume of water suggested, the principle behind the advice remains the same – taking extra water on board will keep your skin hydrated. In other words, water acts like a moisturiser, but from the inside out.

This is such a common idea you might be surprised at the lack of evidence to back this up. You might expect there to be countless studies where people are separated into two groups, one assigned to sip water all day, the other to drink a normal amount. Then the smoothness of the skin could be assessed a month or so later to establish whether sipping more led to smoother skin.

In fact such studies are rare, partly because water can’t be patented, so it is hard to find anyone to fund such research when there will be no new medication or cosmetic to sell that could repay the costs. A review by the dermatologist Ronni Wolf at the Kaplan Medical Centre in Israel found just one study looking at the effect of long-term water intake on the skin. But the results were contradictory. After four weeks, the group who drank extra mineral water showed a decrease in skin density, which some believe suggests the skin is retaining more moisture, while those who drank tap water showed an increase in skin density. But regardless of the type of water they drank, it made no difference to their wrinkles or to the smoothness of their skin.

That’s not to say that dehydration has no effect on skin. We can measure some effect through the assessment of skin turgor. This is a measure of how fast it takes the skin to return to normal if you pinch some skin and lift it up. If you are dehydrated your skin will take longer to get its shape back.

But it doesn’t follow that because drinking too little water is bad for the skin, drinking above average quantities is good. It would be like saying that because a lack of food leads to malnutrition, overeating must be good for us. Or as Wolf puts it, it’s like saying a car needs petrol, therefore the more petrol the better.

Mystery advice

Another common belief is that if you drink extra water the body will somehow store it. But it depends on how fast you drink it. Drink several glasses within a fifteen-minute period and you will just pass extra urine. If you spend more than two hours sipping the same amount, more liquid is retained.

There is one study suggesting that drinking 500ml of water increases the blood flow through the capillaries in the skin. But the skin was only evaluated thirty minutes after drinking the water, and what we don’t know is whether this in turn improves skin tone.

One counterargument is that skin contains up to 30% water, and this helps it to look plump. This may be true, but the skin’s youthful appearance is affected more by factors such as genetics, exposure to the sun and damage from smoking.

So the mystery is where the eight-glasses-a-day recommendation for good skin comes from. Few of the official guidelines even refer to the skin. Water is undoubtedly the most important nutrient for the body. Without it we die in a matter of days, and there are of course other health benefits from staying hydrated. A review in 2010 found good evidence that it reduces the recurrence of kidney stones in those who have already had them, but evidence for other specific benefits is weaker.

Arguments rage over the eight glasses a day rule, with disputes over how much is needed to clear the kidneys of toxins and whether or not water helps curb the appetite. It depends on how high the ambient temperature is and how much you are exerting yourself. It’s also a myth that other liquids don’t count. It doesn’t have to be water. Even food contains more liquid than you might expect. Pizza is 40-49% water, for instance. The percentage of water we derive from food in the diet depends on where you live. In the US it’s 22%. In Greece, where people eat more fruit and vegetables it is much higher.

So the problem is a general lack of evidence that drinking more water makes any difference to your skin. We can’t say it definitely doesn’t work, but there’s no evidence that it does. Which leaves the question of how much water you should drink. Since it depends on the weather and what you are doing, then there is a very good internal guideline we all have that can help. And that’s thirst.

If you would like to comment on this article or anything else you have seen on Future, head over to our Facebook page or message us on Twitter.

You can hear more Medical Myths on Health Check on the BBC World Service.

Thin is in, but fat might be better By Lisa O’Neill Hill

2013-01-18

When Janet Servoss shops for clothes in Orange County, California, she sees plenty of selection in sizes 0, 2 and 4, but fewer in sizes 12 and 14.

“You’re bombarded by it daily,” she said of the message that thin is better. “It’s everywhere.”

But according to a report published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, being thin might not be in your best interest in the long run. The report is drawing strong reaction in the medical community, among proponents who hail its findings and among critics, one of whom dismisses it as “rubbish.”

The comprehensive study confirmed that obese people tend to die earlier than people of normal weight. But it also found that overweight people — those with a body mass index (BMI) of 25 to 30 — had a lower risk of dying than people of normal weight.
Study: Pleasantly plump may live longer
Study: Belly fat can weaken men’s bones
Obesity projections for America
Corner stores help clean up obesity

“If I were to look at this study and if it is shown to be true, I would think maybe I should be worrying less that I’m wearing a size 12 and focus on how I feel,” said Servoss, a 44-year-old nurse whose BMI fluctuates from 24 to 26.

Researchers analyzed nearly 100 studies that included more than 2.8 million people. While obese people had a higher risk of death — particularly those whose BMI was 35 or more — overweight people had a 6% lower risk of death than those of normal weight.

“Because this bias against weight has been so prevalent, it’s really been unquestioned, and I think this concept that thin is healthy and fat is not healthy is clearly not true,” said Michelle May, a physician and author of “Eat What You Love, Love What You Eat.”

Big deal: You can be fat and fit

Some thin people exercise excessively and don’t eat a balanced diet, and there are people in the overweight and obese categories who have good diets and are active, she said.

May said people need to focus on choices about eating and physical activity rather than be concerned about the numbers on a scale.

“I find it interesting that the reason they did this is because this is something that has shown up over and over again. It is challenging to shift a paradigm that has become so deeply entrenched, that being overweight by BMI category automatically puts you at high risk,” she said.

Americans overemphasize the importance of being thin, said professor Glenn Gaesser, author of “Big Fat Lies” and director of the Healthy Lifestyles Research Center at Arizona State University.

“We have had for decades now an obsession with thinness and an obsession with weight and how to lose it,” he said. “I think the forces in our culture — in fashion, in fitness, in health and wellness — all have been predicated on, ‘A thin body is a good body and a fat body is a bad body,’ and that’s wrong. I have always believed that a good, healthy body can come in many shapes and sizes.”

Fat, fit people tend to be better off healthwise than thin people who are unfit, Gaesser said, suggesting that being fit is far more important than being thin.

“I think in general, America is still not ready to accept this notion that fitness comes in many shapes and sizes,” he said. “It’s a good message, but I still think people would rather be thin.”

Exercise lengthens your life — even if you’re overweight

The study authors say it’s possible that overweight people live longer because they get better medical care and are tested for diabetes, heart problems and other diseases stemming from their weight. Heavier people might also be able to better survive infections or surgery.

While many say the findings make sense, some experts take issue with the way the research was conducted and express concern it will send wrong message.

“Of course, a lot of people would like to hear that it’s no problem that they are overweight or obese,” said Walter Willett, professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and chair of the Harvard School of Public Health’s Department of Nutrition. “It causes a lot of confusion that’s completely unnecessary.”

He called the study “a pile of rubbish.”

Scientists often disagree, said Barry Graubard, senior investigator at the National Cancer Institute and one of the authors of the study.

“We published our findings in the peer-reviewed scientific literature to invite discussion,” he said in an e-mail. “It is by engaging with our colleagues in this manner that science advances.”

BMI is one of three numbers people should watch, according to Willett.

“It’s also useful to look at weight change since age 20,” he said. “That’s going to primarily be fat. The third is your waistline. The vast majority of people will be best off if they do not increase their weight or waistline after age 20.”

Not smoking, eating a high-quality and healthful diet, not being overweight and being physically active all contribute to a person’s health, he said.

Memphis, most obese U.S. city, moving from fat to fit

While the majority of experts and scientists believe that excess weight is unhealthy, Dr. Kamyar Kalantar-Zadeh, professor of medicine and public health at the University of California, Irvine, takes a different stance. A black-and-white approach to obesity is inappropriate, he said.

“Most experts have problems with this sort of data,” he said. “It’s difficult to see that some of these principles are being questioned.”

Kalantar-Zadeh compares the lack of consensus about weight and fat to the evolution of thought about alcohol consumption.

Alcohol was thought to be detrimental to a person’s health, but studies started to show that alcohol consumption in moderation could have some health benefits, he said.

“The fat-is-bad principle is a very recent approach,” he said. “Body-stored fat has helped us for hundreds of thousands of years to survive hardships. That should tell us evolutionarily there was something good in that.”

A higher body mass index can be protective in certain situations, he said.

“Once you are in your 70s, 80s or 90s, or if you have chronic disease like heart failure, rheumatoid arthritis, chronic lung and kidney disease, a larger body size gives you longevity,” he said.

Not all fat is bad, but belly fat is more harmful than fat in the arms, legs or buttocks, he said.

Global report: Obesity bigger health crisis than hunger

Fitness expert John Siracuse said people shouldn’t get caught up with numbers.

“I always got people focused on their bodies rather than on a number and make them more aware of their muscle tissue, their shape,” he said. “Are they getting stronger? Faster? Can they pedal longer? If you listen to your body more, you will know the symptoms before your body starts to break down. We tend to forget about our bodies and that’s when we start getting fat.”

Servoss said she can see where a little bit of extra fat could be good for people facing a serious illness, but said the more weight you have, the harder it is on your joints. Excess weight also comes with numerous health challenges, including circulatory problems, high blood pressure and diabetes, she said.

“I think the numbers have their place,” she said. “They do give us some reference but it does ultimately come down to how you are feeling, your exercise tolerance, are you able to do the things you love to do without any difficulty?

“That’s the kind of thing I should be focusing more on, rather than that my jeans come from the back of the rack rather than the front,” she said.

Q&A: Willpower Expert Roy Baumeister on Staying in Control

2013-01-15

It’s the third week of the new year, and many of us are realizing that those New Year’s resolutions are getting harder to keep. So TIME asked Roy Baumeister, professor of psychology at Florida State University and co-author of the bestselling book, Willpower for tips, gleaned from the latest scientific research, on how maximize self control, especially when you need it most.

What does energy and glucose — the fuel our bodies extract from food — have to do with willpower?

Self regulation depends on a limited energy supply. As you use it, [your willpower] gets temporarily depleted [as your energy stores fall], but if you use [willpower] a lot, your capacity improves [because you can change how you allocate your energy]. As the day wears on, people get worse and worse and more likely to give in to temptation. If you are spending a day at the beach, there may be no effect, but the accumulating demands of the day can really deplete you.

Is willpower in a sense finite, and its level dependent on energy? Or is there more to it than a biological process?

It’s more complicated than the early idea that it’s a matter of just how much [glucose] you had in your bloodstream. The body has a lot in storage and a number of other people are suggesting that it’s really more about allocating resources than about how much is active in the bloodstream.

There are a lot of things that can help you overcome [reduced willpower] when you are slightly depleted. Those who believe [that willpower is unlimited, for example] generally continue to perform well [in that situation].

But when people are more seriously depleted, belief in unlimited willpower actually may make things worse. A good analogy is physical tiredness. When you just start getting tired, believing you have unlimited strength or [that you] are superman can help you continue to perform well. But at some point, it really does catch up with you.

So if dieters are trying to avoid eating sugar, which turns into glucose, and self-control relies on glucose, are they doomed to fail?

Glucose doesn’t come just from sugar. Our advice for dieters is that it’s important to eat healthy foods first. That gives enough willpower to persist. If nothing else, it means you are somewhat full and even if you do eat some sweets, it’s not likely to be as bad.

You’ve found that making any type of decision— not just about whether or not to control a desired behavior— can sap your willpower.

Yes, after making a lot of decisions, your self control is lower and conversely, after exerting self control, your capacity for making decisions is lower. As you make a bunch of decisions, you gradually deplete the energy you have available and subsequent decisions are more passive and tend to go with the default option.

A study with Audi dealers [found that car buyers] were more effortful with their first few choices. [After that] they were more likely to take the default option, which can end up costing lot of money. They used up their energy deciding which of 200 interior fabrics they wanted and ended up buying lot of stuff they don’t need and spending extra money.

How do you conserve your willpower?

What you have to do is either save big decisions for when you are fresh— one piece of advice is don’t make big decisions on a Friday after a hard week. [Also] realize that you do deplete your energy and this changes your decision making process and realize how it changes. [There is] more avoidance, more taking the easy way out, more sticking with the default and status quo. All of those increase when people’s willpower is down.

MORE: How to Make New Year’s Resolutions Stick: Q&A with an Expert on Change

I read that President Obama only wears blue or grey suits so that deciding what to wear is one decision he doesn’t have to make. Is eliminating extra decisions a good strategy for improving willpower?

Yes. Obviously, the president has an exceptionally high number of decisions to make and needs to conserve his energy. Probably most people have set routines in the morning and that’s to conserve this energy. You don’t want to waste all your willpower making decisions about breakfast. That’s a good strategy and Obama is right: if you don’t have think about what to wear ever day, you don’t have to deplete your self control on that.

Does stress deplete willpower?

I have a research grant and am conducting a study right now. The assumption is that stress does deplete your willpower.

Are new tracking apps for fitness and diet useful in maintaining self control for dieting and exercise?

It’s very hard to regulate anything without keeping track of it. When the government wants to regulate something, it has to keep tabs on what [people or businesses are] doing. You could make a law but not look at whether [it’s being followed] but that probably will not produce as much compliance as if you audit and keep track.

Record-keeping itself is often a motivator. If you are trying to start exercising, it’s easy to say yeah I’ll exercise a lot. You don’t feel like doing it but you also don’t want to write down that you didn’t. You do that to make sure problems are recorded and to make sure you perform the behavior.

So how else can you maximize willpower?

In the short run, food and rest are the best things. In the long run, exercise seems to improve it.

And does it get better with practice?

Yes, metaphorically, it’s like a muscle.

Maia Szalavitz @maiasz

You Annoyed Me at Hello: Why Kids Still Need to Learn Manners

2012-10-22

It’s fall, which means that the new academic year has started. It also means that my husband, a 37-year-old college professor, has started to shake a fist at his inbox. Why? Because, as surely as leaves fall from trees, my husband’s new crop of undergrads won’t know how to address him. They’ll toggle between no salutation, using his first name only, or greeting him with a cheery: “Hey!”

Sadly, being called “Hey!” by a teen doesn’t inspire my husband’s cheer, nor does it establish the rapport the sender may have wished. Instead, it makes the vexed professor and his wife wonder whether titles are as defunct as an iPhone 4 charger.

Our concerns aren’t just academic. We have a daughter, not yet three, and like many parents, we have grand ambitions for her. One is that we’d like her to be a polite member of society starting, we believe, by addressing adults as Mr., Mrs. and Ms.

Continue reading You Annoyed Me at Hello: Why Kids Still Need to Learn Manners →

How Exercise-Friendly Is Your Body? A Genetic Test Claims to Tell You

2012-10-15

By Alexandra Sifferlin

Is that daily jog really doing your body any good? A new test purports to tell you whether you’re genetically wired to benefit from exercise — or not so much.

As the New York Times reports, the genetic test is developed by British company XRGenomics, and is based on the findings of a 2010 study that identified about 30 gene variations that predicted how fit an individual may become through aerobic endurance activity.

The study’s authors, including researchers from the Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Louisiana, discovered the gene variations by genotyping muscle tissue of study participants who completed 6 to 20 weeks of endurance training. People’s aerobic fitness levels were gauges by looking at increases in their VO12 max — the body’s ability to circulate oxygen to muscles during exercise.

(MORE: For Better Heart Health Exercise Harder, Not Longer)

Not surprisingly, the results led to an onslaught of requests for a genetic test, so the study’s lead researcher, James Timmons, a professor of systems biology at Loughborough University in England, and his colleagues filed a patent for the gene variants and developed the test. It’s not the first such test on the market: there are others (none of which are regulated by the Food and Drug Administration) that say they can predict whether young, aspiring athletes are better suited to sprinting or long-distance running, for example. But these test focus only on single genes, while XRGenomics’ product, with its analysis of 30 gene variants, is more reliable and scientifically validated, say its developers.

Curious gym-goers can send the company a cheek swab, and within six weeks they will receive results identifying them as low- or high-responders based on their DNA profile. It’ll cost you, though: the basic test and report run about $318; the price goes up to $478 for a more detailed analysis and personalized exercise recommendations from the company’s experts.

(MORE: For More Weight Loss, Exercise Less?)

But whatever your genetic profile, the test can’t predict all the ways in which you may benefit from exercise. The test won’t tell you, for example, whether or not you will lose weight through physical activity, or how it will influence other health factors like blood pressure and insulin levels, though there are plans to include such measures in the future.

The makers of the test still say it allows people to tailor their exercise and diet habits to meet realistic health goals. “The test can be used to guide and inform adult fitness and be used to explain why an aerobic training regime might not be as effective as your personal trainer or exercise specialist told you it would be,” they write on their website.

Your detour to a stress-free life

2012-09-25

Ever feel overwhelmed by worries? Do you find yourself dwelling on concerns big (is my job safe?) and small (that darn clogged sink!)?

It’s official: You’re human and living in the United States. Anxiety levels in this country are the highest they’ve been in seven decades, surveys show.

Not surprisingly, money and work woes top most people’s freak-out lists (thank you, lingering recession). All that e-mailing, texting, and tweeting aren’t helping; social technology has reduced actual face time (a known stress reliever) and made us compulsively available to everyone at all times.

Women suffer most — we’re twice as likely as men to be diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder, which involves excessive worry about a wide range of things (and requires medical attention).

Continue reading Your detour to a stress-free life →

Going public with depression

2012-08-23

Editor’s note: Politicians Jesse Jackson Jr. and Patrick Kennedy have each recently revealed struggles with depression and mental illness. After the death this week of “Top Gun” director Tony Scott in an apparent suicide (it’s unclear whether Scott suffered from mental health issues), CNN’s Kat Kinsman writes that talking freely about personal mental health issues and suicidal thoughts, whether you’re a public figure or a private person, can help those who share the struggle.

(CNN) — I am 14 years old, it’s the middle of the afternoon, and I’m curled into a ball at the bottom of the stairs. I’ve intended to drag my uncooperative limbs upstairs to my dark disaster of a bedroom and sleep until everything hurts a little less, but my body and brain have simply drained down. I crumple into a bony, frizzy-haired heap on the gold shag rug, convinced that the only thing I have left to offer the world is the removal of my ugly presence from it, but at that moment, I’m too exhausted to do anything about it.

I sink into unconsciousness, mumbling over and over again, “I need help… I need help… I need help.” I’m too quiet. No one hears.

Several months, countless medical tests and many slept-through school days later, a diagnosis is dispensed, along with a bottle of thick, chalky pills. There is palpable relief from my physician and parents; nothing is physically wrong with me (thank God, not the cancer they’ve quietly feared) — likely just a bout of depression. While it helps a little to have a name for the sensation, I’m less enthralled with the diagnosis, because I know it will return. While this is the first time it’s manifested heavily enough for anyone else to see it, I’ve been slipping in and out of this dull gray sweater for as long as I can remember.

What doesn’t help at the time are the pills: clunky mid-1980s tricyclic antidepressants that seize up my bowels, cause my tongue to click from lack of moisture, and upon my return to school cause me to nearly pitch over a third-story railing from dizziness. I flush the rest and, mercifully, no one bothers me about it.

If they do, I probably don’t even notice; my brain is too occupied, thrumming with guilt, stupidity and embarrassment. Nothing is physically wrong. It’s all in your head. This ache, this low, this sickness, this sadness — they are of your making and there is no cure.

Now, 25 years later, I’ve lost too much time and too many people to feel any shame about the way my psyche is built. How from time to time, for no good reason, it drops a thick, dark jar over me to block out air and love and light, and keeps me at arm’s length from the people I love most.

The pain and ferocity of the bouts have never eased, but I’ve lived in my body long enough to know that while I’ll never “snap out of it,” at some point the glass will crack and I’ll be free to walk about in the world again. It happens every time, and I have developed a few tricks to remind myself of that as best I can when I’m buried deepest.

The thing that’s always saved me has been regular sessions with an excellent therapist and solidarity with other people battling the same gray monster (medication worked for me for a little while — I take nothing now, but it’s a lifesaver and a necessity for some). When I was diagnosed, it was not in an era of Depression Pride parades on the main street of my small Kentucky town. In 1987, less than one person in 100 was being treated for depression. That had doubled in 1997, and by 2007, the number had increased to slightly less than three.

My friend Dave was part of that tally. We met in our freshman year of college, and he was one of the loudest, funniest, most exuberant humans I’d ever met — and the most deeply depressed. Not that anyone outside our intimate circle knew; like many of us who live with the condition, he wore a brighter self in public to distract from the darkness that settled over him behind closed doors. Most people don’t see depression in others, and that’s by design. We depressives simply spirit ourselves away when we’ve dimmed so as not to stain those who live in the sun.

Dave saw it in me, though, and I in him; and for the first time in my life, I felt somewhat normal. Like I didn’t have to tap dance, sparkle and shine to distract from the fact that I was broken. I could just be me, and that wasn’t a half-bad thing in his eyes. I began to tell more people as plainly as I did other facts of my being — I was born in New Jersey, my real hair color under all this pink dye is very dark brown, and I’ve suffered from depression as long as I can remember. I’m Kat — nice to know you.

Dave never made it that far. His cracks were too deep and dark, and he poured so much vodka down into them to dilute the pain. A year after graduation, in the late summer of 1995, I was unsurprised but thoroughly gutted when I got the call — Dave had tidied his apartment, neatly laid out a note, his accounts and bills, next to checks from his balanced checkbook, and stepped into a closet with a belt.

I see Dave in little flashes all the time, still — hear his braying OHMYGAAWWWDD laugh around a corner and see his handsome gap-toothed smile in a crowd. I want to smack him full across the face for giving up and leaving us all, and I want to drag him to a computer and sit him down: Look — we’re not alone.

Dave was the first person I ever knew with Internet access. Among a million other things I wish he’d lived to see is the community of souls online, generously baring and sharing their depression struggles with strangers. There’s no substitute for quality therapy (in whatever flavor you take it) or medication (if that’s your cup of homeopathic tea), but by God, it’s hard to get there.

To see your feelings echoed and normalized in essays like comedian Rob Delaney’s much-forwarded “On Depression and Getting Help”; author Stephen Fry’s legendary letter to a fan, “It will be sunny one day”; the ongoing, public struggles of widely read bloggers and authors Dooce and The Bloggess; and guests of the no-edges-blunted WTF Podcast from comedian Marc Maron — all highly successful and public people — is to dare to let a crack of blue sky into the basement where you’ve been tucked away. I can barely imagine what it would have meant to my 14-year-old self to read Delaney’s words:

“The sole reason I’ve written this is so that someone who is depressed or knows someone who is depressed might see it. … But after having been through depression and having had the wonderful good fortune to help a couple of people who’ve been through it, I will say that as hard as it is, IT CAN BE SURVIVED. And after the stabilization process, which can be and often is f**king terrifying, a HAPPY PRODUCTIVE LIFE is possible and statistically likely. Get help. Don’t think. Get help.”

Or Fry’s:

“Here are some obvious things about the weather:
It’s real.
You can’t change it by wishing it away.
If it’s dark and rainy it really is dark and rainy and you can’t alter it.
It might be dark and rainy for two weeks in a row.
BUT
It will be sunny one day.
It isn’t under one’s control as to when the sun comes out, but come out it will.
One day.

It really is the same with one’s moods, I think. The wrong approach is to believe that they are illusions. They are real. Depression, anxiety, listlessness — these are as real as the weather — AND EQUALLY NOT UNDER ONE’S CONTROL. Not one’s fault.

BUT

They will pass: they really will.”

Dave will never see those words, or these, but someone will — including the 14-year-old me who still sometimes rides shotgun as I’m driving through a storm. I show her these words, these essays, these poems, these podcasts beamed out by the other souls who glitter out in the darkness. And I take her hand and lead her up the stairs.

Can Two-Minute Sprints Burn as Many Calories as a 30-Minute Workout?

2012-08-07

There’s been no shortage of articles touting the benefits of quick, intense exercise. A new study in the International Journal Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism just dug a little deeper to compare oxygen consumption — an indication of metabolism speed — between athletes who performed sprint intervals versus longer bouts of endurance exercise.

The Study
The researchers asked eight male students to partake in either 30 minutes of endurance exercise or two-minutes of sprint intervals, three times a week for six weeks. Researchers measured their oxygen consumption (VO2) during and after 24 hours of exercise. Their VO2 was 150 percent higher during endurance exercise than sprinting intervals, yet after 24 hours the overall amount of oxygen consumed between athletes was nearly identical.

Can We Trust It?
The study suggests that when it comes to exercise and metabolism, intensity may be just as important as how long we’re hitting the roads. For those who don’t have 30 minutes to spare, two minutes of (now here’s the key!) intense sprinting will boost metabolism over the next day just as much as a longer aerobic jaunt.

On the flip side, the results are based on a super small sample and only included males subjects. The abstract also leaves us wondering what the two aerobic exercises were, exactly, and what shape the men were in to start with. Caveats aside, there is enough science to say that aerobic exercise will help people get healthy and happy, so make sure to squeeze in some heart-pumping cardio, no matter how many minutes long.

Read more: http://healthland.time.com/2012/08/06/can-two-minute-sprints-burn-as-many-calories-as-a-30-minute-workout/#ixzz22ph5Lcuv