A number of people say they drink alcohol to ‘hide their sorrows’ after a messy breakup, loss of job, or other major stresses related to the usual ups and downs of life. Alcohol does have a temporary tranquilizing effect on the brain. A few pints of beer or an occasional glass of wine do have a calming effect and tend to relieve a lot of people of their anxieties.
Drinking alcohol occasionally with friends and having a good time is one thing, but using it to deal with personal problems is symptomatic of alcohol abuse. Drinking heavily might also be an indication that a person is depressed, or in worst cases is the cause of depression itself….
Studies conducted across the world are finding a strong link between serious alcohol use and behavioral problems like depression and anxiety. The moot question that perplexes researchers is, whether regular alcohol consumption leads to depression, or depressed people tend to drink more than other.
Opinion is divided on the issue. The following article discusses in brief some of the causative factors that make alcohol abuse and depression so inextricably linked with each other.
Can depression lead to reckless alcohol consumption?
According to a major study conducted by the American National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, almost one-third of people suffering from depression related problems, also grappled with alcohol related issues at some point in their life. In the majority of cases, depression may be the first to occur.
The same research also shows that people who were depressed during their childhood are more susceptible to develop alcohol problems once they reach adolescence. Teenagers who have suffered from an episode of major depression are two times as likely to start drinking alcohol in comparison to people who didn’t have any major psychological problem before.
Depression may also be a significant causal factor for alcohol abuse in women, who are highly susceptible to start drinking profoundly if they have a history of depression. Experts say that women have a higher propensity to heal themselves with alcohol than men.
Does uncontrolled alcohol consumption lead to depressed minds?
Human Behavioral studies suggest that excessive alcohol consumption increases the risk of suffering from depression in a significant number of people. This causal link may be because of the direct exposure of the brain to the toxic effects of heavy alcohol consumption.
Reckless alcohol consumption also can have serious impact on a person’s life by causing financial and legal troubles, weakened judgment & thinking, as well as marital discord. If a person is struggling with paucity of monetary resources or coming to terms with a failed relationship, they have a higher chance to feel depressed and may also resort to binge drinking.
Are Genetic or Lifestyle characteristics accountable for the connection between reckless alcohol use and Depression?
Researchers have not yet come across clinching evidence that depression triggers alcohol abuse or vice versa, but it’s very likely that they share causative factors. Studies conducted on twins have shown that the same determinants that add to heavy drinking in families are also responsible for causing major depression in the same person.
Researchers have been probing for a similar gene or genes that might be behind both conditions. They have located at least one such gene i.e. a sub-type of the gene CHRM2 that plays a major role in controlling important brain functions, including memory and retention. Variations in the quantity and availability of this gene might put people at risk for alcohol dependence and depression.
A person’s domestic and social environment also plays a huge role in determining whether they might be susceptible to both depression and a drinking problem. Children who have been privy to physical or mental abuse or the ones who were raised in poverty tend to be more susceptible to both the conditions than other children of the same age-group.
Heavy and irresponsible consumption of alcohol results in worsening the problem of depression that a person already suffers from. People who are depressed and are dependent on severe alcohol addiction have more recurrent and harsh episodes of depression, and are more likely encounter suicidal feelings.
Alcohol abuse and depression are both serious problems that shouldn’t be ignored at any cost. People with chronic alcohol related problems can look up to Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) to help them better understand their problem.
They must visit one of AA’s meetings, at least once and instead of relying on other people’s opinions, should seek a first-hand experience of the strong peer support group that AA has built for its members. Also consulting with a psychologist on a regular basis and subscribing to non-medicinal treatments like cognitive behavioral therapy helps to lessen the frequency of depressing episode in a patient’s life.
There is some evidence that taking antidepressants may help relieve depression on a long term basis and also reduce the craving for consuming alcohol for relieving stress and anxiety from such depression. However, recourse to any such medicine should be taken only after a thorough consultation with a reputable physician or psychiatrist.
About The Author: Alia is a writer/blogger. She loves writing, travelling and Spices. These days she is busy to write an article on Indian Sweets.
Anxiety attacks are a state of mental confusion and agitation which is characterized by uneasiness, worry, dread, and unrealistic fear of events that are unlikely to happen. These are brought on by an overload of stress, poor dietary habits, negative thought patterns, environmental factors and a genetic predisposition.
There are many methods used in the treatment of anxiety. One of them is the elimination of caffeine from your diet since it is one of the triggers of anxiety and is one of the substances that make the condition worse. It is highly addictive and found in coffee, popular soft drinks, tea and chocolate.
It is a psychoactive substance that affects the mind, behavior and mood. Once ingested it is completely absorbed by your stomach and digested nearly 45 minutes later after which it is distributed to the brain through the blood vessels.
Why caffeine elimination is vital in the treatment of anxiety?
Caffeine is highly effective in changing the brain’s biochemistry leaving you vulnerable to anxiety attacks and worsening them in the following ways.
The intake of caffeine causes excitement to your mind and body and creates energy which is turned into anxiety. This is because caffeine speeds up your heart rate and lead to the creation of physical sensations that are unusual.
The intake of caffeine leads to sleeping difficulties. Sleeping is one of the best known techniques in the elimination of anxiety.
Unused energy in your body can present problems if you have anxiety. Since caffeine results in the creation of more energy, the situation becomes worse.
Other effects that are caused by caffeine and related to anxiety include trembling or twitching, restlessness, nervousness, speech and thought distractions, mood swings, physical agitation and light-headedness.
Research has shown that caffeine causes more mental problems to women and children than to men. This is because of their limited ability to detoxify it. This results in it staying in their blood and brain for longer periods than for men affecting their mental functions which exposes them to anxiety.
Since only 1 percent is excreted your liver is left with the difficult task of detoxifying the rest which is difficult and slow. It takes your liver a massive 12 hours to detoxify a cup of coffee and an additional 3 weeks for your body’s stress hormones to return to normal. This means that your morning cup of coffee heightens your stress levels throughout the day.
It may cause temporary lift of moods because it causes the increase of adrenalin levels in your body, but this is usually followed by negative mental effects which include anxiety.
It results in the constriction of the brain’ blood vessels reducing its oxygen flow by nearly 30 percent which results in decreased mental keenness especially in the areas of thought and vision. This is a perfect breeding ground for anxiety attacks.
Anxiety may be turned into a worse disorder by the intake of caffeine especially if it causes the symptoms to become worse. You end up having an anxiety about your anxiety condition.
How to effectively cut caffeine in your diet?
Because of its addictive nature care must be taken to benefit from its elimination in the treatment of anxiety.
Its total elimination from your diet abruptly can lead to serious side effects which may heighten your anxiety. It is best advised that you cut your caffeine intake by 10 to 20 percent each week over a period of 5 to 10 weeks. In case your consumption was heavy, you may need to extend this period further.
The preparation of caffeine drinks should include shortened brewing times so that the caffeine content is reduced. Caffeine products should not be used in the mid and late afternoons to avoid disrupting your sleep pattern.
The urge to take caffeine products can be reduced by sleeping early and ensuring that you get at least 8 hours of it so that you are in no need of caffeine products to keep you awake during the day.
Make sure your water intake is high to act as a substitute for caffeine products and to help your liver and kidney in their detoxification processes.
Your physician can be consulted on the healthy alternatives for gradual elimination of caffeine such as herbal teas such as red tea caffeine.
Repetitive Strain Injury or RSI is caused due to a person’s hand movements which are forced, awkward or repetitive. Many times, we use our hands constantly to click the mouse or type. This results in repetitive strain injury.
When we use our hands way too much, the tendons, muscles and nerves in our forearm, shoulder, neck and hand are more likely to get damaged. Some of you might already be experiencing some symptoms like weakness, numbness, tingling, stiffness and burning pain.
If you are using the computer regularly, then you need to follow the tips mentioned below to prevent repetitive strain injury.
Use a wrist rest
Always, remember that your palms have to be parallel to the keyboard. So, you need to get a wrist rest. It will straighten your hand and give good support.
Use a proper chair and sit in the right posture
When you are working with your computer, see to it that you use an adjustable chair which offers good back support. In case you require lower back support, you could use a cushion. Make sure that the seat is tilted slightly forward to help you maintain a good posture. And, the backrest has to be tilted back to about ten inches.
Take regular breaks
When working with the computer, you might sometimes feel sore. So, get up and do some walking. This helps you to improve your circulation. Or, you could just do some movements with your fingers and wrists. By doing this, you can relieve the pressure on your joints.
You need to sit in an erect posture in front of the computer. Instead of leaning over the keyboard, you can adjust your seat appropriately. Also, set the monitor screen at your eye level. In case you use bifocal glasses, you need to adjust the screen to a little lower height from your eye level.
Take it easy after the holiday
Well, holidays truly are a relief from work and are a great time to relax and enjoy with your family. But, you will most likely be facing some trouble when you return. As you would have taken some time off, it would be difficult for you to start working again all of a sudden. So, you need to take breaks more regularly and then improve your routine day by day until you finally get hold of your regular routine.
Eat vegetables and exercise
When you aren’t exercising regularly, you might soon experience RSI. So, you need to practice some exercises like swimming, walking and running. Not only do they avoid RSI, but also prevent you from getting heart disorders.
If you think you have RSI, visit your doctor
Sometimes, it is not good to completely rely on the internet for all of your medical advice. While many maybe out of date, some are just completely wrong. So, if you ever get a feeling that you have RSI, it is better to consult a doctor than just browsing over the net for some advice.
About The Author – Alia is a writer/blogger. She loves writing, travelling and reading books & contributes to Hydroxycut.
When the stress grips your mind, then you should think that you have you have some excessive pressure on you. But, the pressure does not develop automatically on your mind. The reason is that you have to know the elements which are responsible for it. If you know it well, then you will able to relieve the stress from your mind as well.
In our mind always, a lot of desires, dreams and expectations move around. So, sometime these elements become so precious, then we cannot remove from our mind at any cost. After that, the stress gets in our mind. But, one thing is sure that if we control it wisely, then we will able to live our life comfortably.
Evert man should have dreams but it should be achievable. The dreams which build the castle in the air, these kinds of dreams will inevitably bring the stress in your mind. You should follow your dream which you achieve in your lifetime without any trouble. But, in the reality, we see that sometime the unfulfilled dreams destroy the peace of mind and also develop depression, frustration and failure.
You should always remember that your dream should not swallow you; rather you should resist it from swallowing you. But, when you like to get your dreams within your capability, then you have to nourish it accordingly. So, in the course of time, you will able to achieve it. As soon as you mark your dream, then you have to hone your skills as well. The reason is that you have to prepare yourself for making it happen in the due course.
The ambition has a sky limit. So, more you are ambitious, more your life will be stressful as well. The reason is that your ambition will have no limit. So, you can expect the higher as much. When you fix your ambition wisely, then you have to strive for it at any cost. But, sometimes it does not work as your life gets under the tremendous pressure from all around.
On the way to your ambition fulfillment, you should not dislodge someone who is making obstruction in your way. Rather, you have to make the other way to get away from it and achieve your ambition as well.
After achieving your success, you should be cool and composed, so that everybody will know that you take your achievement casually. It will help to ease more pressure from the society surroundings as well.
This approach will count so many things which you will get in the course of time. Always try to enjoy your life stress-less, so you and your surrounding people can lead a healthy life as well.
You should know that the human wanting does not have any limit. If you able to control it , then your life will be free from the stress. Actually, you have to stop at the point where you think that you should put a full stop in the journey of your wanting. It will make your life happy and comfortable.
So, you can able to free yourself from the menace of stress, if you are very much aware of your ability and limitation well.
About The Author: Alia is a writer/blogger. She loves writing, travelling and reading books. She contributes to Hydroxycut
It is absolutely essential for you to get a good night’s sleep. Sleeping has many benefits. It provides your body the needed energy to recover from your stresses and also keeps you active and alert the following day.
These days, many people are suffering from insomnia, thereby feeling it very difficult to fall asleep. If this is the case with you, then read on to know the many tips to get a better sleep.
Maintain your mattress
This is one of the important tips you need to consider. Don’t use the same mattress for a long period. You’ll have to replace it once in five years at least. When you can feel springs underneath the surface of your bed, then it is time for you to buy a new one.
There are new types of mattresses available that help you to adjust it according to your convenience. You can check them out over the net.
Watch what and when you eat
You need to avoid consuming food in the evening. It will have an effect on your ability to fall asleep. Even though you consume, avoid foods that have white sugar in them, for example, chocolate, coffee/tea or sodas.
Now that you know that you should avoid stimulants, let’s move to the next part. It involves the time when you should stop eating, i.e. two hours before going to bed. Because, when you eat shortly just before going to bed, your body is forced to apply its energy on digestion and prevents you from sleeping well.
Change your sleeping position
By sleeping in a different position, you can benefit a lot from your sleep. Well, we all know it is not possible to control in what position we sleep as we won’t be aware of what we do when we sleep. But, you really can change it.
Make sure that your body is at least roughly straight when you sleep. Also, avoid using pillows that are too skinny. Don’t sleep on your stomach. It usually causes aches and pains.
Don’t go to bed on an empty stomach
Remember the 2nd tip? Well, don’t mistake it for ‘not to eat anything before going to bed’. If your stomach is fully empty, it is definite to interfere with your sleep.
Even after eating your dinner, if you find your stomach grumbling after sometime, you can have a light snack one hour prior to your bedtime.
Let your mind flow and relax
Take care to pen all the thoughts that are dancing through your mind throughout the day. It is very useful for those who are engrossed in all their daily office issues.
This technique is helpful for all ages. For kids who are too young to write, you can help them by penning down their thoughts for them.
Self massage to fall asleep
This is one of the easiest techniques that you can implement to fall asleep. You should know the fact that there are about 7,200 nerve endings in your feet which are connected to your entire body.
So, take some time in massaging your feet and you’ll feel the benefits when you wake up and also through your sleep time.
All these tips help you to sleep efficiently. By following them, you’ll see that you are falling asleep quickly and easily.
About The Author: Alia is a writer/blogger. She loves writing, travelling and reading books. She contributes to Social Cloud.