ADHD Kids?

Get rid of the sugar, add yoga and try this new technology to calm the mind...

With more than 6 million U.S. children and teens suffering from ADHD, parents and clinicians are trying new ways to help kids focus.

First, it’s important for parents, caregivers and teachers to understand what Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (AHDH) is. Anxiety, depression, cognitive disabilities, bipolar disorder and other mood disorders can mimic ADHD and lead to misdiagnosis.

“ADD is an old name for ADHD. It is not the type where there is no hyperactivity,” says Dr. Eugene Hershorin, chief of the division of general pediatrics and director of developmental and behavioral pediatrics at UHealth — the University of Miami Health System.

“ADHD comes in three types,” he says: “The inattentive type where they just have attention problems with little or no hyperactivity; the hyperactive type where there is little or no attention problems; and the combined type where you have both.”

Hershorin says parents should consider this diagnosis if teachers say the child can’t stay seated, fidgets all the time, talks incessantly, blurts out answers, can’t stay on task, can’t finish the work and regularly loses things.

“It’s not just the presence of these things,” he says, “but that they occur more than in other kids. These things should be happening at home, as well.”

Researchers from the National Survey of Children’s Health found that in children ages 2 to 17 with ADHD, six out of 10 (62 percent) were taking medication for their ADHD, which represents 1 out of 20 of all U.S. children. Just under half (47 percent) received behavioral treatment.

ADHD drugs fall into two categories: stimulants and non-stimulants, with the former more widely prescribed. (MORE)

Source: Miami Hearld

The Sanskrit Effect: How Verbal Recitation Boosts Cognitive Function

You hear a lot of strange theories in yoga studios. In my 20 years of practicing yoga I’ve listened to plenty of suspect claims based on intuition rather than verified science, regardless of modern yogis calling the system an “ancient science.” That said, yoga holds up well in certain regards, for pain, flexibility, and stress. Now, you can add to this list the recitation of Sanskrit mantras. 

I’ve never been much of an advocate for chanting. I don’t OM when teaching and generally avoid styles like Kundalini that emphasize it. That said, when I have sat for kirtans, the chemistry of oral repetition can be hypnotizing. For my first book I spent many hours with Jeff Kagel (Krishna Das), one of America’s foremost kirtan artists. KD takes a holistic viewpoint on the community aspect of chanting: 

"The stresses and lack of communication to the world that people feel, the way they feel cut off from each other, isolated and unhappy, without a lot of options, that leads to a need to connect and get back into yourself somehow. It’s debilitating, it’s crippling, living in the world without any deeper awareness that there’s anything else." (MORE)

Source:  BigThink.com

Yoga May Help Breast Cancer Patients

Study found it lowered levels of stress hormones, reduced fatigue, improved quality of life

Women with breast cancer who practiced yoga had lower levels of stress hormones and reported less fatigue and better quality of life, new research shows.

"Yoga is having an impact on subjective well-being, as well as better regulation of cortisol, a stress hormone," said study co-author Lorenzo Cohen, director of the integrative medicine program at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, in Houston. "Better regulation of stress hormones has been linked with better survival and longer survival."

The study is published in the March 3 online edition of the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

Other research has found yoga helpful for cancer patients, Cohen said, but some of those studies have looked at small numbers of patients and others have not compared the yoga group to a "control" group to measure results.

For the new study, Cohen assigned more than 160 women with breast cancer who were undergoing radiation therapy to do either yoga or stretching up to three times a week for an hour each session. Those two groups were compared to a control group that received no instruction in either yoga or stretching.

The women reported on their quality of life, including how fatigued or depressed they felt, and described their daily functioning. They gave saliva samples at the study's start, the end of treatment, and at one, three and six months after treatment, so cortisol could be measured.

Women in the yoga group had the greatest reduction in cortisol levels across the day, which reflected the ability of yoga to help regulate stress hormones, the study authors noted.

After finishing radiation treatment, which is linked with fatigue, only the yoga and stretching groups reported feeling less tired, the findings showed. The yoga group had more benefits in physical functioning than the other two groups. (MORE)

Source: WebMD

Health Kick 'Reverses Cell Ageing'

Going on a health kick reverses ageing at the cellular level, researchers say.

The University of California team says it has found the first evidence a strict regime of exercise, diet and meditation can have such an effect.

But experts say although the study in Lancet Oncology is intriguing, it is too early to draw any firm conclusions.

The study looked at just 35 men with prostate cancer. Those who changed their lifestyle had demonstrably younger cells in genetic terms.
Safety caps
The researchers saw visible cellular changes in the group of 10 men who switched to a vegetarian diet and stuck to a recommended timetable of exercise and stress-busting meditation and yoga.

The changes related to protective caps at the end of our chromosomes, called telomeres.

Their role is to safeguard the end of the chromosome and to prevent the loss of genetic information during cell division.

As we age and our cells divide, our telomeres get shorter - their structural integrity weakens, which can tell cells to stop dividing and die. (MORE)

Source: BBC Health

5 Yoga Poses to Cure Erectile Dysfunction

Earlier most male reproductive problems were related to age factors. However today other factors are found to play culprits too: the most common ones being stress, poor or a nutrient deficient diet and irregular eating habits, certain chronic ailments like diabetes and high blood pressure, certain medications used to treat problems like insomnia, depression, high blood pressure and diabetes can also cause these issues.

The treatment for this has to be clearly multi-pronged and yoga must be part of this therapy. In classical yoga, there are several spiritual practices used to sublimate one's sexual energy that are also, intriguingly, used to treat problems in the uro-genital system. (MORE)

Source: rediff.com

Benefits of Yoga: How Different Types Affect Health

Whether Bikram or Iyengar, yoga does the body—and mind—good

Perhaps it's a testament to the power of yoga that so many spin-offs have emerged—dozens since it originated some 6,000 years ago. There's laughter yoga, which turns humor into a healing power, AcroYoga, which revolves around flying, and hot yoga, taught in a 105-degree studio. Even naked yoga is catching on, described by followers as a therapeutic way to burst out of the confines of clothing.

Research bolsters the claims made for the trend: Yoga protects the brain from depression, an August study found; three sessions per week boosted participants' levels of the brain chemical GABA, which typically translates into improved mood and decreased anxiety. "People who have disorders like depression and anxiety can definitely benefit from yoga, because it returns [GABA] levels to the normal range," says study author Chris Streeter, an assistant professor of psychiatry and neurology at Boston University School of Medicine. Streeter says yoga can be used to complement—not substitute—drug treatment for depression. (MORE)

Source: US News