As days get shorter and nights get longer in the northern hemisphere, seasonal affective disorder starts once again to rear its ugly head. Feeling sad or depressed during times when the outside world is literally darker is a not uncommon experience. According to research, the experience of laziness, avoidance, and even despair in the winter season may affect up to …
International Bipolar Federation Virtual Event
The International Bipolar Federation, a frequent mention in this blog (See our sidebar “Outside Blogs”), is again hosting its annual Starry, Starry Night event online. You can view the one-hour video of the event on Oct. 24, any time between 2:00 pm and 7:00 pm Pacific time. The event promises to be a packed hour of motivational speakers and real-life …
Low Serotonin
Low Serotonin – What do you need? Serotonin is a neurotransmitter and hormone that our bodies produce naturally and that is used by the brain to regulate and support several systems throughout the body. The body produces serotonin using building blocks synthesized from nutritional input. The amount of serotonin produced can vary depending on a number of circumstances, some of …
Three Minute Exercise Breaks
Three-minute exercise benefits People who sit for many hours at a desk, computer, or in front of the TV are at higher risk for health problems like obesity and other risk factors for heart disease, and a recent study finds that a three-minute break every 30 minutes can improve measures of blood sugar and blood sugar fluctuations. The study participants …
Meditation Apps Review
Meditation Apps: a new review Meditation is one of the best ways to cope with the stresses and anxieties of daily life, and MoodSurfing has long been a fan of awareness and relaxation techniques from many sources. Recently, the phenomenon of websites and apps to facilitate the meditation experience has become widespread and the field is competitive and constantly changing. …
Return to the Office
Return to the office? Well, maybe People who have been able (or forced) to work from home during the pandemic are estimated to be about one-third to one-half of the US workforce. For these workers, who may have been called “office workers” in the past, a big reckoning is coming up. Some are anxious to return to the office environment …
Social Support Lengthens Lives
Social support lengthens lives – But how? A recent study looks at how interventions directed at patients recovering from medical treatment or conditions can help improve outcomes, particularly by reducing overall mortality. Numerous studies and clinical experiences have shown that social support, broadly understood, can have a substantial effect on survival rates and recovery times for patients in a variety …
Watching TV is Bad for Brain Health
Three studies have recently been concluded, each of which looks at the effect of television watching habits on brain health, specifically gradual reductions in the amount of gray matter found in the aging brain. All three studies found that those who watched less television on average had less loss of brain volume in tests conducted after a period of several …
Mental Health Awareness 2021
For now over 70 years, Americans have delegated the month of May as “Mental Health Awareness Month” (since 1949). And with medical experts and researchers across the planet sharing their observation that the Covid-19 pandemic is going to continue to have an array of mental health impacts into the foreseeable future, mental health awareness needs to remain in the forefront …
Cognitive Issues and Bipolar Disorder
Does bipolar disorder cause problems with memory, attention focus, speed of thinking and cognition? Does depression cause dementia, or does it just feel like it? Are memory problems and cognition issues caused by the medications that control mood episodes? Is there anything one can do about troubles in thinking and memory related to mood issues? “Suddenly becoming demented” is a …
Staying Active in a Covid Winter
I was reminded this past week about the importance of staying active during the winter, as well as some of the challenges people face during this COVID-19 winter Why is this Hard? Our brains are somewhat poorly adapted to modern life. Our distant ancestors would go into hibernation mode during the winter. Food was not as plentiful, and going outdoors …
Stress, Pregnancy and the Infant
Women who are pregnant, especially if it is a first child, are usually extremely protective of the child, so much so that it can sometimes be hard to convince the mother-to-be that taking care of her need for emotional stability is as important as protecting the child from risk. This makes it hard to explain the potential value of continuing …
Dietary Interventions Control Mood Swings
Dietary interventions for bipolar and major depression A modified diet including high omega-3 and low omega-6 fatty acids has shown “exciting” findings in a small study looking at adjunct treatments to control mood swings in bipolar patients. Researchers at Penn State College of Medicine randomized 41 patients, some to receive a high omega-3, low omega-6 diet, and some to receive …
Vital Signs Home Monitoring Kit
Since getting in to see a doctor these days can be very difficult (for example, we are not going to be seeing patients in person until 2021), now seems like a good time to get a home monitoring kit. For around 200$ you can purchase a set of devices that will measure your blood pressure, heart rate, weight, temperature and …
The Inactivity Pandemic: What to Do About It
A woman who is an HR manager complained that working from home has made her more physically inactive than ever. This seems to be a common complaint. Because of the risk of social isolation, she encouraged her team to use the chat application to check in with teammates more often. But what began as an effort to make people feel …
Sweet Moods
Sweet Moods? Sugar and mood, a constant dietary struggle. The body learns that reaching for a sweet treat brings energy, alertness and low anxiety. Somehow it doesn’t learn that the crash will inevitably follow. There is now a small literature that supports the common sense observation that simple carbohydrates, like sugar and white flour, have effects that are somewhat akin …
Sleep – How Much is Enough
How much sleep is enough? The question might seem simple. Most of us heard that we were supposed to get about 8 hours of sleep a night. But with the increasingly hectic pace of modern life, many of us don’t get that much sleep. What are the consequences of this? A recent study in a cardiology journal answers the question …
Can a Change in Diet Cure Psychological Illnesses?
Can a change in diet cure psychological illnesses? What dietary changes or interventions may be effective in treatment or management of mental or mood disorders? Diet is more than weight loss, and has been invoked, modified and studied for a wide variety of physical and mental ills and conditions. Yet there is surprisingly little hard data available to tell us …
Lack of Sleep and Weight Gain
Lack of sleep is associated with weight gain, but why is this? Is it just because sleep deprivation makes us grumpy and we “self-medicate” with food? People who get poor quality sleep, or not enough sleep, start craving high carbohydrate and high fat foods that are more likely to cause weight gain. And sleep deprivation makes us less likely to …
The Mediterranean Diet Is Better than You Thought!
Moodsurfing has been promoting the value of the Mediterranean diet for quite a while. It is linked with better weight control, anti-aging, and reduction of depression. A diet rich in fresh vegetables, fruits, nuts, whole grains, legumes, and fish is known to help people lose weight and is associated with longer life expectancies. Eating a lot of refined grains (white …