Health Politics. Politics affects health, hospital management, physicians and patients in a big way. Dr. David Samadi will explore major national and global health political issues and debates affecting the patient outcome. Learn what you need to know and get Dr. Samadi's take.
When we feel stress, our body behaves by reacting in the “fight or flight” response, releasing adrenal gland or stress hormones such as cortisol, adrenaline, and epinephrine.
Read MoreToo much sitting can also increase the risk of death from cardiovascular disease and cancer.
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Zika virus is a disease that is spread from person to person through the bite of an infected mosquito.
Read More“What happens if an astronaut at a space station is in need of an emergency appendectomy?”
Read MoreThere are an estimated 20% of people in the United States have used prescription drugs for non-medical reasons.
Read MoreWith a name like a Bond villain's and no known prevention nor treatment, it's no wonder the Zika virus has caught the attention of the tabloid press. But what is it really, and are we at risk?
Read More“Binge-watching” is the latest media consumption fad to be borne from the marriage of gadgets and entertainment.
Read MoreThe CDC confirmed cases of the virus in the United States for the first time in January
Read MoreCyber-sickness, sometimes called virtual reality sickness or sim-sickness, looks to be a not insignificant hurdle for the nascent VR industry to vault.
Read More· Phobias, panic attacks and PTSD extremely common
o 29% of American adults suffer anxiety at some point in their lives
· What is fear?
o Fear is a chain reaction in the brain that starts with a stressful stimulus
§ Causes the release of chemicals that cause:
· racing heart
· fast breathing
· energized muscles
· also known as the fight-or-flight response
o Stimulus could be a spider, a knife at your throat, an auditorium full of people waiting for you to speak or the sudden, load noise
o The process of creating fear begins with a scary stimulus and ends with the fight-or-flight response.
· Fear and anxiety stems from emotional memory
o Emotional memory: associations you have between various stimuli and experiences and your emotional response to them.
o Because of emotional memory fear is learned
o Previously harmless situation can predict danger
· Current treatment for phobias
o Exposure therapy: repeated exposure to feared object or frightening memory in a safe setting
§ Done to create new safe memory in the brain alongside the bad memory
§ Fear is suppressed
§ If patient is re-traumatized or re-exposed to original experience, his old fear will return worse than before
§ Can be difficult to relive scarring memories
§ Limitations of exposure therapy
§ Only works for ~50% of PTSD cases
· New Research in Curing Fear
o New research from University of Amsterdam suggests that it may be possible to change and perhaps ERASE certain types of emotional memories
o Past research
§ Memories are uniquely vulnerable to alteration at two points
· when we first lay them down
· when we retrieve them
o Study published last month suggests emotional fear response in healthy people with arachnophobia, erased
o published in the journal Biological Psychiatry
§ compared three groups made up of 45 subjects in total
· One group was exposed to a tarantula in a glass jar for two minutes then given a beta-blocker (propranolol)
· One was exposed to the tarantula and given a placebo
· One was just given propranolol without being shown the spider, to rule out the possibility that propranolol by itself could decrease spider fear
§ subjects’ anxiety when they were shown the spider the first time, then again three months later, and finally after a year
o Results:
§ Those given propranolol alone and those who got the placebo had no improvement in their anxiety
§ Those exposed to the spider and given the drug were able to touch the tarantula within days and, by three months, many felt comfortable holding the spider with their bare hands
§ Their fear did not return even at the end of one year
o Mechanism:
§ Propranolol blocks the effects of norepinephrine in the brain
§ Chemical similar to adrenaline, enhances learning
· Blocking it disrupts the way a memory is put back in storage after it is retrieved — a process called reconsolidation
· By reactivating the fear, the fear memory was made susceptible to the influence of propranolol
Improve your sleep quality by going to bed at the same time each night. According to the Sleep Health Foundation, routine sets your body clock and makes you more likely to get the recommended eight hours’ sleep each night.
Read MoreNew Year’s is quickly approaching
· This means New Year resolutions that are made and quickly abandoned
· Estimated that only 8% of Americans successfully achieve their New Year resolutions
· Make sure this year is different
Read MoreEvery year, thousands of people end up in the emergency room as a result of using supplements for various purposes such as for an energy boost, to lose weight or build muscle mass.
Read MoreDid you know that Americans are spending more on healthcare than any other industrialized nation? While this may not be a surprise to all people, what is a surprise is that simultaneously Americans also have one of the lowest life expectancies.
Read MoreU.S. tobacco companies on Wednesday filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Food and Drug Administration hoping to stop the agency from enforcing a directive on changes to a tobacco product’s labeling or quantity
Read MoreA new study suggests that when patients are hospitalized more than once in the same month. It may have more to do with their income or education levels than the quality of care they received.
According to the analysis of data from Medicare, patients 85 and older are more likely to return to the hospital within 30 days of being sent home than people a decade or two younger.
Patients also have higher odds of returning soon after discharge if they lack a high school diploma, have limited income and assets or have health benefits from Medicaid.
The White House isn't likely to wait long to challenge Wednesday's ruling allowing House Republicans to sue the Obama administration for spending federal funds on the Affordable Care Act's cost-sharing assistance.
Read MoreAn alarming new study released in England showed that an early cancer diagnosis depends on where you live, meaning the level of care you have direct access too. Some patients across the country were even shown to have an early diagnosis of the disease more than 4 times other patients. It also showed that insurance companies specifically have carried 25 times more scans for tumor detection. Why is this an issue? Let's explore.
Read MoreA U.S-backed panel of independent medical experts are not recommended a daily low-dose of aspirin for people between the ages of 50-59 at an increased risk of heart disease and stroke. In addition to preventing heart attack and stroke, some people may also reduce their risk of colon cancer if they take aspirin for at least 10 years. This was stated by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force. This recommendation is more narrow than the group's previous recommendation which segmented out the guidelines based on gender.
Read MoreAs a result to New York City's board of health, fast food chains and popular chain restaurants will not be required to have warning labels on restaurant foods that contain more than a day's worth of sodium which is currently at 2,300 mg. The American Heart Association is in full support for the new initiative because sodium is highly linked to high blood pressure and heart disease risk. It also causes bloating which means cutting down on sodium is one of the fastest ways to flatten the belly. 2300 mg might sound like a lot until you find out that one of those mini salt packages add up to a total of 189 mg of sodium.
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