Soothing Music Reduces Stress, Anxiety And Depression During Pregnancy

ScienceDaily (Oct. 14, 2008)

— Music therapy can reduce psychological stress among pregnant women, according to research just published in a special complementary and alternative therapy medicine issue of the UK-based Journal of Clinical Nursing. Read the story »

St. John’s Wort Helps Some Patients With Major Depression

Newswise — The herbal medicine St. John’s wort appears to work just as well as some prescribed antidepressants for treating patients with major depression, a new review finds. However, patients in German-speaking countries might experience the best benefits.

While there is public interest in the United States about whether St. John’s wort adequately treats depression, in some countries, like Germany, doctors commonly prescribe it for mild symptoms. Authors of the review found that studies with German patients did, in fact, have the best results.

“The most striking finding from our review is that trials from German-speaking countries have clearly more positive effects, both compared to placebo and standard antidepressants, than trials from elsewhere,” said lead reviewer Klaus Linde of the Centre for Complementary Medicine Research at Technical University in Munich. “In principle, we can say that hypericum extracts work in German-speaking countries, but we are less certain for other countries.” Read the story »

Tai chi exercise improves knee arthritis pain

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The traditional Chinese form of exercise known as tai chi can help reduce pain and physical impairment in people who have knee arthritis, researchers said on Saturday.

In their study, one group of people in their 60s with severe knee osteoarthritis performed tai chi for an hour twice a week for 12 weeks while a similar group did the same amount of conventional stretching exercises over the same period. Read the story »

Eating fish reduces the risk of kidney disease?!

CAMBRIDGE, England, Nov. 4 (UPI) — Eating fish twice a week may reduce the risk of kidney disease in diabetics, British researchers say.

The study of 22,000 adults, including 517 with diabetes, also found those with the disease who ate less than one serving of fish per week were about four times more likely to have protein in their urine than those who ate at least two servings of fish per week.
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On Aging and the Worthlessness of Worrying

Some people worry more than others. You know them. Maybe you are one. They often chew on some possible event like a dog gnawing an old bone, willing to fight if you try to take it away. Some worriers are perfectionists seeking the correct answer. Some have a nearly superstitious belief if they worry enough, the feared event won’t happen. Worrying gives all of them something to do and a feeling of control. Read the story »

Aging gracefully: It’s a real workout

The most depressing thing about getting older is that it seems to be a process of inevitable withering away of body and mind. No matter how much we rage against the dying of the light, we’ll forget where we put our car keys. But is our fate so fixed? Is the march of time always cruel? All signs point to: not really.

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