Have you ever wondered why our hearts go to our sweet hearts, we tend to miss them very intensely when it rains, we feel low, even feel like weeping alone on a cloudy day…we sometimes go through sudden mood change with no exact reason behind, we tend to eat more and sleep more and experience depression, lethargy, fatigue, cravings for sweets and starches, headaches, sleep problems and irritability as the temperature drops. The influence of season on human mood and his energy level is undeniable, and time and again the psychologists have studied and documented the facts.

Seasonal Affective Disorder is not only a couple of symptoms related to winter blah; it is mostly associated with day light, that is why SAD is prevalent in high latitude and mid latitude areas. People who live in the Arctic region are more susceptible due to the fact that they are affected by polar nights, prolonged periods of overcast weather also induce SAD, however, It is more serious disorder, sometimes requiring hospitalization when the depression is aggravated and turns into dysthymia or clinical depression. Our biological internal clocks or circadian rhythm goes through a shift as seasons change, and our biological clocks fall out of our daily schedules. January and February are the months when a SAD sufferer suffers the most, young people and women are comparatively more victimized.

The most frequent symptoms are recurring symptoms of depression and excessive eating and sleeping, weight gain during the fall or winter months. The patient would fully cutback from depression in the spring and summer months. SAD symptoms occur in them with no non-seasonal depression episodes and seasonal episodes significantly outnumber non-seasonal depression episodes. The patient craves for sugary and starchy foods during the winter. Possible cause of the disorder, as the researchers and psychologists say, is Melatonin, a sleep-related hormone secreted by the pineal gland in the brain. This hormone is said to cause symptoms of depression, because it is produced at increased levels in the dark. Therefore, when the days are shorter and darker the production of this hormone increases and people are affected.

Apart from antidepressants like Xanax, photo therapy or bright light therapy is proved to suppress the brain’s secretion of melatonin. The use of bright light box at a dose of 10,000 lux for 30-60 minutes per day has given good results. During these minutes the eyes should remain open but should not stare directly to the light. The light box is a bank of white fluorescent lights on a metal reflector and shield with a plastic screen. The light therapy may take several weeks to treat the depression but some patients have shown results within one week. For patients with mild symptoms, spending time in the sun or arranging picnics or outdoors to receive more sunlight may be helpful. A daily walk of an hour in the sunlight during the winter is more effective than two and a half hours of light therapy. When photo therapy does not work, an antidepressant drug proves to be effective in reducing or eliminating SAD symptoms. But before taking an antidepressant, a doctor’s advice is required so that a proper antidepressant medication is taken.

There is no cure for SAD discovered yet; nevertheless, the above mentioned treatments are helpful in managing the winter blues so that one can go though all the seasons in the year comfortably.

The author, Monalisa Hyden, addresses psychological issues. If you wish to help yourself and your loved ones to fight emotional problems, you can log on to buy-xanax-online-now.com buy-xanax-online-now.com for more information and advice.

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Tags: Heart, sleep, sleep problems

It’s been felt for some time now that inadequate or poor quality sleep in teenagers leads to poor performance at school but it was not until quite recently that a formal research study confirmed that teenage children with poor sleeping habits do indeed have lower grade point averages.

Here are 10 simple tips to ensure that an otherwise healthy child gets the quality of sleep needed to perform well in school:

Tip 1. Set a regular time for going to bed and try not to vary this time by more than a few minutes from day to day.

Tip 2. Make sure that you get up at the same time every morning, whether or not it is a school day. Teenagers commonly have a lie-in at the weekends and during the school holidays and, rather than helping to make you feel better, this simply disrupts your pattern of sleep.

Tip 3. If you find that you cannot get to sleep within about 15 or 20 minutes of getting into bed then don’t simply lie in bed trying to sleep, because the harder you try the more difficult it will become. Instead, get up and do something such as reading a book (not a school book) or listening to some relaxing music. Once you begin to feel tired, climb back into bed and you’ll be asleep in no time at all.

Tip 4. Don’t be tempted to stay up late doing homework or studying for a test. Although this may seem like the answer to a specific problem in the short term, and might well keep you out of trouble for handing in your homework late or get you through a specific test, in the longer term your overall performance will suffer and any short term gain will soon be lost.

Tip 5. Avoid the temptation to take a nap in the afternoon after school. If you do find that you’re so tired you can’t keep your eyes open then go ahead and take a nap but limit it to no more than an hour.

Tip 6. Avoid any form of drink that contains caffeine after about 3 o’clock in the afternoon. This of course means tea and coffee, but also includes colas and chocolate drinks.

Tip 7. Avoid eating a heavy meal too close to bedtime. You certainly don’t want to go to bed feeling hungry and a light snack before bedtime is fine, but going to bed on a full stomach can make it difficult to get to sleep and affect the quality of your sleep.

Tip 8. Although teenagers will often spend a lot of time in their bedroom and turn it into more of a ‘living’ than a ’sleeping’ room, avoid using the bed for anything other than sleeping. Don’t sit in bed reading, writing, watching TV or playing games but reserve it only for sleeping so that your body associates climbing into bed with going to sleep.

Tip 9. Don’t take any vigorous exercise within several hours of going to bed. If you want to play football or engage in other sporting or vigorous activities then do these shortly after school and not an hour or two before going to bed.

Tip 10. When it comes to bedtime make sure that your bedroom is quiet, dark and cool. Don’t shut the room up, turn up the heat and climb into bed to watch TV. Instead, turn the heating down, open the window a little if possible to let in some fresh air and have the room as dark as you can get it.

Follow these 10 tips and within no time at all your quality of sleep will improve, you’ll feel more awake and active during the day and your grades will improve.

Help-Me-To-Sleep.com provides a wealth of information on a variety of sleep disorders including help-me-to-sleep.com” target=”_blank insomnia, sleep apnea, restless leg syndrome, narcolepsy and jet lag. In particular, Help Me To Sleep provides information and advice on natural remedies as an help-me-to-sleep.com/insomnia/” target=”_blank insomnia cure.

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Tags: sleep, sleep disorder, sleep problems

Normally an inhibitor of pain, norepinephrine can produce pain as well–especially in the case of fibromyalgia. Your subconscious may be able to help counteract the effects of this pain-related brain chemical.

When your brain receives a pain signal transmitted by substance P, a major amplifier of pain, it immediately ships a packet of pain-relieving chemicals to the site where substance P was first released. Included in that packet is norepinephrine.

If the pain becomes chronic, however, norepinephrine may begin to alter nerve cells so that they intensify pain signals rather than dampen them.

Norepinephrine and Fibromyalgia

The abnormal alteration of nerve cells by norepinephrine seems to play a large role in fibromyalgia pain.

Fibromyalgia often begins with a car accident or some other physical or psychological trauma. That event sets off the sympathetic nervous system, which controls the fight or flight syndrome, to be hyperactive 24/7. This can cause the sleep problems, fatigue, digestive upsets and cognitive difficulties associated with fibromyalgia.

The constant activity of the sympathetic nervous system can also cause pain. If it becomes chronic, the mechanism described above kicks in–norepinephrine begins to alter nerve cells so that more pain is produced. This leads to more hyperactivity of the sympathetic system, which leads to more pain, thus starting a vicious cycle.

This pain shows up in tender points throughout the body. Many of these points are in the neck area, which contains a large number of interconnections for the sympathetic nervous system.

Norepinephrine and Visualization

Through visualization statements it may be possible to focus your subconscious on reducing the impact of norepinephrine in the pain process. This could be true not only for fibromyalgia but for back pain or pain in the neck or other extremities, arthritis pain, or neuropathic pain (nerve pain).

Visualization statements represent the specific language that your subconscious wants you to read back to it to help ease your pain. They’re simple and are targeted directly at the main factors that could bring you relief.

You can obtain these statements by learning how to communicate directly with your own subconscious mind. The process is straightforward and can be done at home by working with a facilitator over the telephone. You you need no special skills and no previous experience in working with the subconscious.

To help break the vicious cycle of more pain leading to more hyperactivity of the sympathetic system, the subconscious will probably suggest visualizing a decrease in the amount of norepinephrine that you release.

Easing the Pain

Fibromyalgia has no known cure, but we’ve found that visualization statements do seem to ease the pain in some cases. It may be worth exploring this technique as an alternative way of dealing with norepinephrine-related pain.

Ben Plumb is CEO and President of The Visualization Group, Inc. The company’s service is delivered by people like himself who personally suffered from years of chronic pain, and used the visualization method described in this article to obtain relief when nothing else worked. For more information, please visit thevisualizationgroup.com thevisualizationgroup.com.

(c) 2005 The Visualization Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved. The methodology and program disclosed in this article are Patent Pending.

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Tags: sleep, sleep problems

Hawthorne berry (crataegus oxyacantha) is found in Europe, North Africa, and Western Asia. It is a small thorny tree with reddish fruit and it is part of the rose family. The herb’s active ingredients are amenes, flavonoids, and powerful antioxidants. The benefits of Hawthorne Berry come from the fiber of the plant. Hawthorne Berry has been used since the times of the ancient Greeks to treat sleep problems and nervousness issues.

Benefits of Hawthorne Berry

The herb is now most often used for the alleviation and possible prevention of heart problems. It is said to strengthen the walls of the arteries, and may also strengthen the hearts pumping power. The herb may also help the symptoms of angina, hypertension, and tachycardia (rapid heart beats), as well as Arrhythmia (irregular heart beats). It may have astringent properties and be helpful in treating seborrhea and acne. The herb may also be beneficial in other skin inflammatory conditions.

Side effects and precautions

Potential side effects are rare; some of the side effects of Hawthorne Berry include sweating, fatigue, and nausea. With larger doses, there could be a sudden and dangerous drop in blood pressure, as well as a rash.

Also, individuals who are not afflicted with any heart condition may experience a significant drop in blood pressure if very large doses of Hawthorne Berry are consumed. Other than these considerations, it is generally seen as one of the safest herbal remedies on the market.

Do not take Hawthorne berry without talking to your doctor first. It is not to be taken by those taking any medications for heart conditions. If you even suspect you might have a heart problem or concern, consult with your doctor.

Studies have shown that 160 mg to 190 mg of berry extract per day for eight weeks showed great improvement in patients with congestive heart failure. It helped them to be able to exercise without loss of breath and little to no fatigue. Hawthorne Berry does not cause irregular heart beats, but it can increase circulation without lowering the blood pressure.

Our opinion on the benefits of Hawthorne berry

Hawthorne Berry is renounced for its ability and benefits worldwide now, especially given its history of use and the time period the herb has been around for. Studies have shown that this herb works well for benefiting ones heart, and can even act as a remedy for some heart ailments. However, people taking prescribed medication for heart problems should be extra cautious when consuming this herb, as may interact with certain medications, although none such interactions are known at the current time of writing.

Our conclusion is that the herb is worth checking out for people wanting the benefits of Hawthorne Berry for preventing heart problems or helping aid with certain heart conditions.

Benefits of Hawthorne Berry - Hawthorne Berry Supplement Tips

1. Try and obtain herbal supplements that are produced using standardized extracts, which are of the best possible quality, this is where the active herb is contained within the plant fiber and this may only constitute 1/1000th of the dried weight of the plant. Standardized extracts are produced from this way meaning you get the best therapeutic benefits as you don’t get any waste, just the potent herb itself.

2. Typical Dosages people consume daily can range from 25 mg up to 300 mg per tablet or capsule. Those people who fall into the risk group for heart disease may wish to take at least 100 mg of hawthorne berry daily. Otherwise, 25 mg would normally be adequate, that is if standardized extract is being used.

The product we personally use called Total Balance, which contains Hawthorne Berry - natural-nutritional-health-supplement.com natural-nutritional-health-supplement.com is the best supplement we have come across. We have been using this supplement for over 3 years with excellent health results.

We highly reccomend you learn more about our natural-nutritional-health-supplement.com best natural nutritional supplement if you are interested in improving your overall health.

John Gibb runs a series of health websites, We offer a free health book for subscribers to our websites newsletter. We cover everything you need to know on nutrition and how to improve your general overall health. Check out our nutritional-supplement-guides.com/nut-ebook.html nutrition e-book, for more information on our nutrition book.

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Tags: acne, antioxidant, Heart, herbal remedies, sleep, sleep problems