By Quintin Whitfield
In the old days, people rely on medicine men, oracles, and even the position of the stars to find a cure for various illnesses. Much for what was considered as medicine were merely based on myth and superstition. But with the advent of modern medicine, people became more aware of scientific means of diagnosing and treating illnesses. Medications, or drugs prepared in laboratories, are widely used for their convenience and effectiveness. For many years, we have used different kinds of medications in order to ease and alleviate the pain we feel in our bodies. It has become a necessity for each home to have at least a couple of basic medications for cough and colds, fever and flu, headaches, and so on. Having these medications at hand can prevent further aggravation of an ailment when dealing with hospitals, drugstores, and doctors.
An interesting kind of drug medication would be the class of psychoactive medication. Also called psychotropic substances, this specific drug is a chemical substance that acts on a person’s central nervous system wherein it alters the brain’s function, causing short term changes with regards to a person’s mood, perception, consciousness, and behavior. These drugs can be used recreationally (entheogens) for ritual and spiritual purposes, or therapeutically for medication. Since this would be the only kind of medication that can be used for recreation, it can sometimes be abused because of the mind altering effect that it can bring, making the person feel more pleasant as he was before.
But in a more medical sense, psychoactive medication are often helpful in treating psychological disorders such as depression, anxiety, insomnia, among many others. Although these psychoactive drugs do not affect the underlying cause of these disorders, they can serve symptomatic relief for patients who wants to live a normal life.
Anxiety is seen as the continuous tension, nervousness, or panic caused by stress or any other psychological causes. This disorder is seen in many, and is often resolved by taking psychoactive medication. Anti anxiety drugs are used to give relaxation or to reduce the physical symptoms of anxiety, such as shaking and palpitations. Causing such relaxation and sedation, a certain class of psychoactive medication called “benzodiazepines” are included in anxiety medications that depress the person’s central nervous system. “Beta blockers” also contribute to these medications, allowing the suppression of physical symptoms. Having depression can interfere with a person’s daily activities, and when this situation starts to stay there for a time, a person may need medical help. Psychoactive medications can be appropriate for this kind of disorder. Antidepressants would be the specific kind of medication, offering the increase of the neurotransmitters’ level in the brain. More often than not, it takes some time (from six to eight weeks) before these antidepressants take effect.
When a person has trouble sleeping, they may be experiencing insomnia. Both anxiety and depression can cause insomnia, among many others. When this specific cause is known and treated, the person’s sleep patterns generally return to normal. When insomnia gets persistent, sleeping pills may be appropriate. Most sleeping pills cause sedation by depressing the central nervous system (more likely as those of anxiety medications). Although a person can sleep while under these medications, the sleep induced by the drug will not be the same as of natural sleep, since the drug suppresses brain activity.
These are just examples of how psychoactive medications are commonly used in our everyday lives. It is important to know and be well-informed about every aspect of the medication, to prevent any side effects, withdrawal symptoms, and any negative impact on the body and brain itself.
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Less expensive and more inclusive, the alternative plan for a recreation center in Woodland Park can be accomplished by private enterprise and volunteer efforts, say representatives of Teller Alliance for Fitness.
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The Walker Ice & Fitness Center, 4151 Remembrance Road, will hold its 5th annual Pump and Run event on Saturday, March 27. Competitors will bench press a percentage of their body weight (80 percent for men and 60 percent for women) as many times as possible.
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By Josh Mcclure
”You are what you eat” —- this often-used phrase has come to describe the belief that a person’s totality, including his health, appearance, mood, and thoughts, is shaped by the food he eats. Anthelme Brillat-Savarin wrote, in Physiologie du Gout, ou Meditations de Gastronomie Transcendante, 1826: “Dis-moi ce que tu manges, je te dirai ce que tu es.” meaning “Tell me what you eat and I will tell you what you are.” In an essay entitled Concerning Spiritualism and Materialism, 1863/4, Ludwig Andreas Feuerbach wrote: “Der Mensch ist, was er i?t,” which translates into English as “man is what he eats.”
Actually, neither Brillat-Savarin or Feuerbach meant for their quotations to be taken literally. They were merely stating that that the food that one eats has a bearing on one’s state of mind and health. The actual phrase didn’t emerge as part of the common English language until some time later. In the ’20s and ’30s, the nutritionist Victor Lindlahr, who was a strong believer in the idea that food controls health, developed what he called as the Catabolic Diet. The said diet was accepted and gained some adherents. Lindlahr’s theories became so popular that even advertising was shaped by his nutritional dogmas. A 1923 advertisement for beef released through the Bridgeport Telegraph had the following message: “Ninety per cent of the diseases known to man are caused by cheap foodstuffs. You are what you eat.”
To some, the old adage, “You are what you eat” may be a bit exaggerated. Still, many studies have shown that the food, water, and other substances we consume can have profound effects on our physical, mental, and emotional wellness. Evidence continues to mount up suggesting that the food we eat have powerful psychological effects.
For starters, there are clear connections between mood and food that are rich in folates like green leafy vegetables. A 1997 Harvard study supports earlier findings that show a link between folate deficiency and depressive symptoms. The study revealed that low folate levels can interfere with the antidepressant activity of the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). A Tufts University study of nearly 2,948 individuals found that those who met the criteria for a lifetime diagnosis of major depression had lower serum and red blood folate concentrations than those who had never been depressed. Those with dysthymia had lower red blood cell folate only. The authors of the study recommend folate supplementation during the year following a depressive episode.
A case study from University of Alaska best exemplifies how food intake affect the people from the North Pole region. This happens when various populations change from their traditional means of consuming and procuring food to steak and lots of junk food. Though the traditional diets of circumpolar people vary from region to region, the menu generally draws from marine mammals, fish, hoofed animals, fur-bearing animals, birds and their eggs, plants, and berries. These food are rich in nutrients, with high levels of protein, omega-3 fatty acids, and antioxidants, while low in carbohydrates. However, radical changes in their diet occurred after establishing contact and engaging in trade with Westerners. Obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease were virtually unknown to the frozen North. The introduction of fat and carbohydrate-rich Western diets made previously unrecorded diseases to the North Pole.
A recent case study also found that rates of depression, seasonal affective disorder, anxiety, and other mental illnesses are on the rise in circumpolar regions, especially among non-isolated populations. Suicide rates have increased seven-fold in many northern populations over the past several decades. The authors of the case study acknowledge that the combined decline in mental health and the disappearance of traditional diets in circumpolar people make a direct connection between diet and mental health in these people a very real possibility.
“You are what you eat”, the phrase got a new lease of life in the ’60s Hippie era. The food of choice of the champions of this notion was macrobiotic wholefood and the phrase was adopted by them as a slogan for healthy eating. The belief in the diet in some quarters was so strong that when Adelle Davis, a leading spokesperson for the organic food movement, contracted cancer that later killed her, she attributed the illness to the junk food she had eaten at college. Indeed, you are what you eat and believe it!
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