Let’s see if we can get caught up, shall we?

This week at Mental Health Notes, I spent most of my time trying to get away from the topic of celebrities. I shared with you a study regarding the aroma of coffee and your brain, talked about the governor of Virginia’s decision to take a mentally ill inmate off death row, updated you on Pfizer’s defense of Chantix, discussed a study involving heavy marijuana use and brain size, and discussed another study involving the similarities in the brains of homosexual men and straight women. (I admit, however, that I didn’t get too far away from celebrities: I also announced the upcoming arrivals of Mental, a FOX drama starring Prison Break’s Chris Vance, and Shrink, a movie in which Kevin Spacey portrays a pot-smoking psychiatrist. Geez, what’s with all the weed lately.)

In the world of mental health news, The court-appointed receiver who oversees health care in California’s prisons has asked Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger for $7 billion to upgrade the physical and mental health care lacking so much that it has been deemed unconstitutional. French researchers believe smoking affects the memory and reasoning skills of middle-aged smokers. Dr. Mark D. Seery and his group of researchers have concluded that people who experience trauma may not benefit from being urged to talk about it unless they want to. Aetna has agreed to cover eating disorders under the same terms and conditions as biologically based mental illnesses. British researchers have linked low serotonin levels with aggression. And, sadly, the number of suicides in Japan increased in 2007 to 30,777.

Regarding mental health advocacy, Chato B. Stewart of Mental Health Humor has launched 5 Question FRIDAYS, a weekly feature he’ll be doing to help readers get to know each other better, as well as share their experiences in the world of mental health. Tammi Green, a remitted borderline personality disorder consumer, has released her new book Self Help for Managing the Symptoms of Borderline Personality Disorder. Brian Gordon Sinclair, author of Hemingway On Stage, recently performed as a fund raiser for Coalition Against Psychiatric Assault and is open to requests for more fund raisers for promoting awareness of depression and bipolar disorder. The Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance has released the 2008 National Conference Agenda.

Here at b5media’s Health & Wellness Channel, we tackled our monthly theme day posts on Monday. June’s theme? “School’s Out!” I wrote about the importance of helping your children maintain healthy sleep schedules during the summer months, and thanks to host Gloria Gamat of Cancer Commentary you can also check out what the rest of my fellow bloggers had to say!

That’s all for this week’s Saturday Sanity! If you have any mental health news, announcements, or entertainment to share, send it my way for next week.

First image: morgueFile
Second image: morgueFile
Third image: Newscom
Fourth image: b5media

If you have a mental illness and are still living the life you love, head on over to the This Is Why I ROCK! and enter!

Post from: Blisstree

Saturday Sanity: Let’s Catch Up!

I keep no secrets about my love affair with coffee; however, I know lots of folks steer clear of coffee because of the negative mental and physical effects it has on them such as making them nervous, jittery, unable to sleep, speeding up their heart rates, and in some cases even causing convulsions and delirium.

I didn’t start drinking coffee until I was…hmm…almost 20 years old, I believe, but I like to think in the last six years I’ve become quite seasoned. I know what brands I like and don’t like, I know the store chains with which I can trust my coffee addiction, and I know that while they’re pretty and do a lot of neat things, a fancy-shmancy coffee maker doesn’t really make a better tasting cup of joe than my $12 set up from Wal-Mart.

And, like most people, I also know how much coffee my brain and body can handle.

If the amount of coffee your brain and body can handle is very little – or zilch – you may still want to venture down the coffee aisle during your next grocery store run. According to studies conducted by an international group of researchers, just the aroma of coffee “orchestrates the expression of more than a dozen genes and some changes in protein expressions, in ways that help reduce the stress of sleep deprivation.”

Of course, Han-Seok Seo, one of the researchers, notes that this is the first study to deal with coffee aromas and the brain, and it is being conducted on rats, but, still – I always tend to feel a bit more alert when I get a whiff of fresh brewing coffee.

I doubt many folks will run out and buy coffee makers and cans of coffee just for the brain-boosting effects of the aroma, but…do I see a market for coffee incense? Room spray? Those little smell-good-hang-down-things for the rear view mirrors of cars?

Haha.

Image: Newscom

If you have a mental illness and are still living the life you love, head on over the the This Is Why I ROCK! and enter!

Post from: Blisstree

Wake Up Your Brain With Coffee Aroma