It isn’t hard to imagine doctors getting burned out or depressed. They usually see people at their worst and their most vulnerable. The responsibilities on a doctor can become overwhelming. Surgeons, for example, have to make split second decisions sometimes as their patients lie open, literally, in front of them.

Mistakes by an accountant may cost someone a lot of money, mistakes by a surgeon can cost someone their life. Considering that many errors do occur in a hospital, from the nurses to the doctors, finding ways to cut back on the number of mistakes is essential.

Charles M. Balch, M.D., a professor of surgery at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine led a study examining the issue of burned out and/or depressed surgeons. They sent out questionnaires to surgeons asking questions about mistakes and burn out. Among the 7,905 surgeons who responded, 9% said that they had made at least one major mistake within the previous three months.

In addition:

• 40% said they were burned out
• 30% screened positively for depression
• 28% showed signs of low quality of life

Of course, work isn’t the only factor that contributes to these types of findings, but some may be a bit surprising – such as younger surgeons feeling more burn out than older ones. Factors in this survey included:

• Being younger
• Having children
• Specialty
• Number of nights on call per week
• Hours worked per week
• Billing for pay rather than salary

When asked how they felt about their lives and their profession, only 51% said that they would recommend surgery as a career for their own children.

Sadly, medical professionals are known for their reluctance to seek help. But if their mental health is affecting not only their own lives, but that of their patients, then it’s time the whole medical community get its act together and help each other. Medical professionals need to recognize how to help each other – not just their patients.

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Image: PhotoXpress.com

Post from: Healthbolt

Researchers in Australia sent questionnaires to  60,556 workers that asked about anxiety, depression and other mental disorders. These results were matched with job performance. The researchers were looking for a relationship between the two.

Guess what they found? If you said “those who had symptoms of mental illness didn’t do as well at work as those who didn’t,” go to the head of the class. The more productive workers were those who scored best on the questionnaires, having fewer or no symptoms of depression, anxiety or other mental illness. Put into numbers, this came out to a 20% difference. If a worker had a mental illness and received treatment, there was a 17% increase in productivity.

The conclusion? The authors said that if employers help employees work on mental health issues, they’ll have more productive employees.

Really.

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Image: PhotoXpress.com

Post from: Healthbolt

Healing through writing is the theme of Writing Away The Demons: Stories of Creative Coping through Transformative Writing edited by Dr. Sherry Reiter. The book is a collection of stories written by those who took up a pen and paper during their crisis -  be it alcoholism, domestic violence, cancer, and addiction.  Informative, enlightening, and inspiring, each story offers encouragement and insight to readers who might be in similar circumstances.

Deborah King suggests that what you hide can hurt you in Truth Heals, a book that focuses on the relationship between the suppression of truth and how this can later manifest into pain or illness. Using her own personal journey as well as client and celebrity profiles, Deborah offers a roadmap for people wanting to learn how to recognize and release emotional baggage.

Post from: Healthbolt

• Extroversion
• Openness 
• Agreeableness
• Conscientiousness
• Neuroticism

So, want to know where you sit on the Big Five Scale?

Then take this free personality test to find out.

Post from: Healthbolt

According to the study, conducted by researcher Mary C. Tierney, PhD, of the University of Toronto,  long term strenuous activity such as running, swimming laps, or calisthenics may lead to memory loss.

The study looked at 90 recently menopausal women between the ages of 50 and 63. They were surveyed on their exercise regime – how frequently they did both strenuous and moderate recreational activities – from high school to menopause.

For this study, strenuous activities were defined as swimming laps, aerobics, calisthenics, running, jogging, basketball, cycling on hills, and racquetball. Moderate exercises, on the other hand,  included brisk walking, golf, volleyball, cycling on level streets, recreational tennis, and softball.

Each of the participants were also given eight memory and brain function tests.

Turns out the more strenuous activity a woman did, the worse her cognitive function on all eight of the tests, with the tests of recall, memory, and attention scoring worst.

On the other hand, it seemed that those who did followed a long-term moderate exercise regime had much sharper mental skills.

Of course, this does not conclusively prove a relationship between vigorous exercise and mental decline.

But it makes you think that maybe that old saying ‘everything in moderation’ works best for exercise too.

(image source)

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Dr. Matsumoto, who has made a career out of focusing not on what people say but what the face itself says, works with police and experts around the world to find the truth by reading faces.

 It’s a fascinating topic that’s become even more interesting since the arrival of the television show Lie to Me, based on the work of Paul Ekman, which is turning all of us into amateur face readers.

And let’s face it, there’s plenty of scope of practice, especially with all the television interviews featuring politicians and celebrities.

After all, even famous people aren’t aware of the micro-expressions they are conveying.

(image source)

Post from: Healthbolt

Then maybe you need to think about living abroad. 

According to a new research by the American Psychological Association, living abroad expands the mind.

This conclusion is based on 5 studies involving students at Sorbonne University, INSEAD and the Kellogg School of Management in the US. 

Of course, despite these findings, moving abroad does not guarantee a budding writer or artist will create the perfect masterpiece or manuscript.

But as an expat, it’s interesting to know that living overseas is possibly increasing my creativity.

One more reason to stay where I am!

(source and image source)
http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1065698

Post from: Healthbolt

Would you be able to recognize, say for example, a waitress that served you once five years ago? Or  someone at the checkout counter at the grocery store you visited while on holiday in, say, California a decade ago?

If the answer is no, then you are like most of the population that sits in the middle of the face recognition spectrum.

But if the answer is yes, then you are probably a ’super-recognizer’.

It’s a term coined  by Harvard researchers  following a recent study they conducted on face recognition. They administered  standardized face recognition tests to a group of participants and discovered  that some people scored way above average on these tests.

Of course, there are also, around 2% of the population,  those who can never remember a face.

Want to know where you sit on the face recognition spectrum?

Check out these fun face recognition tests.

(image source )

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Post from: Healthbolt

Apparently a study on identical twins, conducted by researchers at the University Hospitals Case Medical Center, found that the use of antidepressants can contribute to faster aging.

Of course, the reasons that people are on the antidepressants in the first place are also probably contributing to the faster aging as well.

But because antidepressants function as muscle relaxants, their continued use might well lead to decreased facial muscle tone, resulting in a face that sags.

Read the full study here…

(image from sxc.hu)

Post from: Healthbolt

image from sxc.hu

Each of the words that have had a single letter added, deleted, or to create a new word with a humorous meaning.

Here’s the list so far…

Cashtration (n.): The act of buying a house, which renders the subject
financially impotent for an indefinite period.

Inoculatte : To take coffee intravenously when you are running late.

Intaxication: Euphoria at getting a tax refund, which lasts until you
realize it was your money to start with.
Reintarnation: Coming back to life as a hillbilly.

Bozone (n.): The substance surrounding stupid people that stops bright
ideas from penetrating. The bozone layer, unfortunately, shows little sign
of breaking down in the near future.

Caterpallor (n.): The color you turn after finding half a worm in the
fruit you’re eating.

Hipatitis: Terminal coolness

Giraffiti: Vandalism spray-painted very, very high.

Sarchasm: The gulf between the author of sarcastic wit and the person who
doesn’t get it.

Osteopornosis: A degenerate disease.

Decafalon (n.): The gruelling event of getting through the day consuming
only things that are good for you..

Karmageddon: It’s like, when everybody is sending off all these really
bad vibes, right? And then, like, the Earth explodes and it’s, like, a
serious bummer.

Glibido: All talk and no action.

Dopeler effect: The tendency of stupid ideas to seem smarter when they
come at you rapidly.

Arachnoleptic fit (n.): The frantic dance performed just after you’ve
accidentally walked through a spider web.

Beelzebug (n.): Satan in the form of a mosquito, that gets into your
bedroom at three in the morning and cannot be cast out.

Ignoranus: A person who’s both stupid and an asshole.

Any more that you know of???

(source)

Post from: Healthbolt