Helping PTSD Patients Thru Meditation

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• Meditation

While PTSD is now being fully recognized as a mental health condition, helping professionals are still struggling to find viable and evidence-based treatments for PTSD (Foa, Keane, & Friedman, 2000). Conventional treatment efforts involve mostly cognitive-behavioral therapy, which has received the greatest research attention and support for its efficacy (Please refer to Foa & Meadows, 1997, and Rothbaum, Meadows, Resick, & Foy, 2000 for detailed reviews). Findings, however, revealed that PTSD subjects with prolonged histories of interpersonal abuse responded adversely to prolonged exposure and cognitive restructuring treatment.

Dr. Mo Yee Lee in partnership with Dr. Amy Zaharlick (Anthropology) and Dr. Deborah Akers (Miami University) has been investigating the effectiveness of a six-week meditation curriculum on mental health outcomes among female trauma survivors who also have substance use problems.  Dr. Lee’s research team works in collaboration with Amethyst Inc., a local organization that serves to break the cycle of addiction, poverty, and violence for women and their children.  The team’s work explores the utility, cultural adaptability and appropriateness of using meditation, a primarily Eastern-based practice, as an intervention with clinical populations in the U.S. A preliminary study examined two specific questions: (1) Is a 6-week meditation curriculum effective in reducing PTSD symptoms and improving functioning of female trauma survivors who have histories of prolonged interpersonal abuse? (2) How did participants understand and perceive their meditation experience and its potential benefits? Continue Reading

Can Anything Help With Sleep

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• Wellness

Drink some warm milk before bedtime

Decades ago, scientists looked into this folk remedy and posited that tryptophan, an amino acid in milk (and turkey), might be responsible for its supposed sleep-inducing effects. Earlier research had shown that when tryptophan is released into the brain, it produces serotonin—a serenity-boosting neurotransmitter. But when milk (and other tryptophan-rich foods) were tested, they failed to affect sleep patterns. “Tryptophan-containing foods don’t produce the hypnotic effects pure tryptophan does, because other amino acids in those foods compete to get into the brain,” explains Art Spielman, M.D., an insomnia expert and professor of psychology at the City University of New York. Warm milk at bedtime may be comforting, but it won’t boost sleep-promoting serotonin.

Have a bedtime snack.

A light bedtime snack can stave off hunger, a known sleep robber. But eating high-glycemic-index (GI) carbohydrates—hours earlier at dinner—might also help. (High-GI foods cause a greater rise in blood sugar and insulin than do lower-GI foods.) A recent paper in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that when healthy sleepers ate carbohydrate-rich suppers of veggies and tomato sauce over rice, they fell asleep significantly faster at bedtime if the meal included high-GI jasmine rice rather than lower-GI long-grain rice. While the authors aren’t sure how it happened, they speculated that the greater amounts of insulin triggered by the high-GI meals increased the ratio of tryptophan relative to other amino acids in the blood, allowing proportionately more to get into the brain. Continue Reading

Personality Helps Determine Our Stress

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• Wellness

Our ability to withstand stress-related, inflammatory diseases may be associated, not just with our race and sex, but with our personality as well, according to a study published in the July issue of the journal Brain, Behavior and Immunity. Especially in aging women, low levels of the personality trait extraversion may signal that blood levels of a key inflammatory molecule have crossed over a threshold linked to a doubling of risk of death within five years.

An emerging area of medical science examines the mind-body connection, and how personality and stress contribute to disease in the aging body. Long-term exposure to hormones released by the brains of people under stress, for instance, takes a toll on organs. Like any injury, this brings a reaction from the body’s immune system, including the release of immune chemicals that trigger inflammation in an attempt to begin the healing process. The same process goes too far as part of diseases from rheumatoid arthritis to Alzheimer’s disease to atherosclerosis, where inflammation contributes to clogged arteries, heart attacks and strokes. Continue Reading

Looking To Stay Eco Green For The Holidays

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• Eco Friendly

Eco Friendly Pet Toys

Have yout bought anything yet for the pet in your life?  Squeaky dog toys made of 100% organic cotton and natural dyes from plants and minerals. Made with a low-eco impact, the pink caterpillar and green lizard are certified non-toxic, chemical-free, saliva resistant and have a reduced allergy level.

Find it at: Uncommon Goods

Pea's In A Pod Baby Clothes

Cute embroidered cap, bib, booties and bodysuit inside gift box. Soft 100% organic cotton.

Find it at: Babies R Us

Sustainable Soy Candles

Made entirely of natural materials, our Soy Candles offer an environmentally responsible take on ambient candlelight. Each of our votives is hand poured from a blend of highly renewable soybean, vegetable and beeswax oils in a recycled-glass cup.

Find it at: Pottery Barn

Electricity Usage Monitoring Devices

his revolutionary power strip prevents that waste. Plug your main device (computer, TV, etc.) into the primary outlet and its peripherals (printer/scanner or VCR/cable box, etc.) into the others. High-tech sensors know when you shut down the main device, and they cut off everything else.

Find it at: Terrapass

Stories Of Success During Hard Times

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• Inspire

At Lily of Light we like to help people stay inspired and motivated. A many of you have may experience this past year or even in 2008, the economy has hit home for many people.  I read this article on Reader’s Digest, that they call ” Recession Success Stories.” The one that I have included was one that I found to be very interesting, and also inspiring. It makes me realize how much we can be in control of our lives, and not stuck having to always worry about what to do next.

My husband, Michael, an attorney and a co-owner of a real estate development company, came home from work one day and said, “It’s not looking good.” In the middle of the night, I’d wake up and see him sitting in a chair, with his hand on his forehead. I was worried. I wanted to cheer him up and help us financially.

I’ve been a corporate consultant for years, brainstorming ideas for top companies such as Campbell’s and Mars. I also teach creative thinking at the college level. I thought, What if we embarked on an adventure and monetized it? As a family, we’d always talked about traveling more, but we’d been tied to routines. Now I saw no point in sitting around worrying when we could see the country. We’d take our kids, Aidan, 11, Charlie, 8, and Rosie, 6, out of school and teach them on the road. It was the perfect time, before they reached high school. We’d rent out our house. Continue Reading