By Elisabeth Kuhn Maybe this sounds a little overdramatic, but unfortunately the reality is that excessive, untreated stress can actually kill you. When you’re stressed, your body produces the hormone cortisol, which is designed to get your rear in gear as part of the fight-or-flight mechanism. However, this hormone is…
By John Purfield Sleep deprivation is when your body does not get the required sleep it needs. Sleep deprivation could be voluntary or not (through a sleep disorder). There are many signs of sleep deprivation. Some are noticeably obvious and some symptoms are not because you may think the other…
By Brenda Skidmore SAD, otherwise known as ‘seasonal affective disorder,’ is systemic in nature, and this condition can affect anywhere from 5 to 25 percent of the American population. The symptoms can range from a relatively mild subtype form, of which affects a larger number of people and is commonly…
By Richard Nicastro, Ph.D. Q: I love my husband, but somewhere along the line we’ve become more like friends than lovers. We had an amazing sex life early in our relationship but now we’re lucky if we have sex once a month, and when we do it’s pretty unremarkable. I…
Learning to love your body is crucial. From magazine ads to music videos, women are barraged by images of stick-figure women who are far from the norm. If a woman is not a size 4, she may consider herself overweight and strive to obtain a body image that’s unachievable. These…
By Kristin Gerstley After you realize that you have binge eating disorder, it’s important to figure out the root of why you binge. The root is the reason you turn to bingeing; it’s why you do what you do. This is one of the first steps you need to figure…
By Laura Ng We spent one third of our life sleeping — an activity that’s seemingly useless. But we need sleep as much as we need oxygen and food. Sleep is important to us. It increases one’s work efficiency, extends one’s lifespan, cures illnesses. One should not deprive him/herself of…
As a psychiatrist I know that there is more to overeating and obesity that meets the eye. One big reason that many diets fail is that traditional weight loss programs don’t factor in how we process subtle energy, what Chinese medicine terms “life force” or “chi.” Subtle energy penetrates and…
By Martin Mak If you need to recall something that you learned just a few seconds ago or maybe 2 minutes ago, you are using your short term memory. Many factors affect your short term memory, also known as working memory. Understanding, or being aware of these factors, can help…
Stress is no stranger to any of us and we need to accept that it is an indefinite part of our lives. Every time we get stressed out, our bodies will naturally produce certain hormones because of the intense feelings we are having. As a result, our heart starts to…