Experiencing Road Rage?

According to the WebMD article, “Car Trouble,” multiple cases of road rage have been reported in the United States every year. Road rage incidents include intentional unsafe driving that is usually caused by stress, impaired emotions, and aggressive thoughts. If you feel as if you are in an angry state of mind and have intense aggressive thoughts, take deep breaths and try to drive as safe as possible. These types of emotions and actions are one of the primary causes of traffic fatalities each year.

In order to minimize the amount of traffic danger, individuals who experience road rage often should try to manage their anger, take deep breaths to calm down, and leave early to avoid getting stressed from being late. Manage your stress as much as possible and do not take your anger out on others on the road as it can result in a very bad traffic accident.  In addition, if you are a driver who notices another driver that seems angry, try to stay away from them on the road, if possible. Lastly, always try to drive the speed limit and obey traffic rules to have the safest driving experience not only for you, but for others on the road as well. 

Sources:

Article: MD, Farrell, Patricia A. (2012). Car Trouble. Road rage is on the rise. What's behind it - and what you can do to tame your own. WebMD, June 2012.

Image: http://www.shutterstock.com/cat.mhtml?searchterm=road%20rage&anyorall=all#id=1725243

Written by: Jennifer Gal

Importance of Maintaining Sleep Routines for Children

We all know that sleep is important because it allows us to recharge and store information in our minds about the day’s events. Sleep is beneficial for many other reasons, such as boosting the body’s immune system, but cutting hours can result in serious problems. Did you know that lack of sleep not only causes crankiness and anxiety but obesity and a higher body mass index as well in kids? In one study following children ages 3 to 7, it was found that every extra hour of sleep a child had “reduced the likelihood of a child being overweight at age 7 by 61%”. Not catching enough zzz’s can also increase suicidal tendencies and depression in adolescents. It can also have a negative effect on academic performance in school.

Maintaining sleep routines for children may be tough at first, but it has to be made into a habit. Some good ways to create healthier sleeping patterns are to have consistent times for sleeping and waking up and not playing video games, watching TV, or using the computer an hour before bedtime, regardless of whether the child is in preschool or high school. Good sleep hygiene will create a healthy routine where children will get the appropriate amount of sleep they need as well as reaping the benefits of a good night’s rest. 

Source:

Bhargava, H. (2012).  Sleep Tight. Is your kids’ bedtime routine a constant struggle? Put the nightly pushback to rest. WebMD, June, 27

Written by: Salma Khan

Image provided by Yahoo Images

The Cost of Feeling Powerless

Why do Americans who are deeply in debt continue to spend? The idea of retail therapy has been proven: when we feel badly or powerless, we’re more likely to spend more money. A study at Northwestern University used a study of three experiments to confirm this. Participants were asked to describe a time in which they held power over someone else or a time in which someone else held power of them. After, the researchers showed them pictures of objects and asked how much money they would be willing to pay for them. The subjects who recalled situations in which they felt powerless were more willing to spend more money on things that signaled status like fur coats, but they weren’t willing to spend more on neutral objects like dryers. The increased willingness to pay more for an item that signals higher status comes from the belief that these things will give them the powerful feeling that they lost. People are using purchases to make them feel better about themselves and compensate for their insecurities, but this kind of a coping strategy can be extremely costly.

Written by Lisa Drake

Article: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/06/080625193859.htm

Image: http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/images/

The Anatomy Behind the Pain

Why would it feel good for anyone to hurt themselves? Self harm like cutting or burning oneself is a maladaptive coping mechanism seen in many different disorders; though, a study was done to identify how the brain was affected by this behavior in those with borderline personality disorder. People who have borderline personality disorder have trouble regulating their intense emotions. They also show higher rates of self harm (than those with other disorders), which may help them control their emotions. To test this theory researchers presented pictures to induce negative, positive, or neutral affect and induced thermal stimuli to create pain caused by heat. They tested subjects with and without borderline personality disorder. In response to the pictures that created positive and negative emotions, subjects with borderline personality disorder showed heightened activation of the limbic circuitry system and amygdala. The thermal stimuli that induced pain reportedly inhibited amygdala activation in subjects with the disorder and in healthy ones. By suppressing the amygdala, the pain that people feel from harming themselves may be suppressing emotional activity which causes them to feel a relief from emotional stress.

Written by Lisa Drake

Article: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/08/100830114953.htm

Image: http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/images/

Is There Really Still Sexism in the Workplace?

According to a study by Christian Thoroughgood, there is. His new study suggests that male leaders are judged more harshly in the workplace by their employees than female ones. Nobody is perfect, and even our bosses make mistakes, but they have negative consequences in the eyes of their employees. When a boss makes a mistake, workers see them as less competent and less desirable to work for. Thoroughgood studied the reactions of subordinates when working for a male or a female leader in a “masculine” job like construction as well as when working for a male or a female leader in a “women’s” job like nursing when they made a mistake. They also tested the subordinates’ reactions when their boss made a task error or a relationship error. He found that employees were upset when either a man or a woman leader made any mistake in either job. Though, male leaders were evaluated as less competent, qualified, and desirable to work for when they made a mistake in the construction job than female leaders in the same job. This shows that employees still think that men should be expected to perform at a superior level in a masculine settings while women are expected to fail in those settings.

Written by Lisa Drake

Article: http://psychcentral.com/news/2012/05/26/double-standard-for-male-v-female-leadership/39198.html

Image: http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/images/

Internet Usage Styles May Predict Depression

Researchers at Missouri University have recently proposed that differences in internet usage styles may be predicted by the presence of depressive symptoms.  This proposal was supported by evidence gathered anonymously from the network usage of 216 undergrad students at the University.  Prior to data analysis, the students were tested for signs of depression.  Over the course of a month, the data usage by these students was analyzed, and it was found that students who displayed depressive symptoms were more likely to use file-sharing programs, check e-mail, and spend time in chat rooms constantly.  The depressed individuals also utilized the internet in a more random fashion, switching sporadically between types of websites and using a much more significant amount of bandwidth than their non-depressed counterparts.  Dr. Sriram Chellappan, one of the co-authors of the study, has indicated an interest in utilizing this newfound information to create computer programs that will monitor data usage and alert computer users that their usage is characteristic of a depressed individual, and advise these individuals to seek mental health assistance.  If you or a loved one is showing signs of depression or other mood disturbances, call 212-996-3939 today.

For specific information about the study highlighted above, visit: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/05/120516135504.htm

Exercise Can Decrease Your Stress Level

Feeling Stressed? According to a American Psychological Association article, “Exercise Fuels the Brain’s Stress Buffers,”exercising regularly can decrease the amount of stress and anxiety an individual experiences. Exercise decreases an individual’s stress level by increasing the amount of norepinephrine released, enabling the body to respond to stress more effectively. Exercise also allows an individual to practice responding to stress, which helps them respond to other stressors in their lives successfully. 

In addition, other experiments have been done to measure the changes in mood states of individuals involved in an exercise program. For example, Guzkowska and Sionek (2009) conducted a study measuring the change in mood states of a group of women following a 12-week exercise program. The result of the experiment showed that exercise not only decreases the amount of stress an individual feels, but it also increases the amount of optimism in their lives. This increase in optimism can then encourage individuals to engage in additional pro-health behaviors. Through this research study, women had a large improvement in their psychological well-being as well as an improvement in their “sense of control of their own behavior and environment.”

Exercise can contribute to a healthier lifestyle and make you feel happier. Going to the gym or going for a run outside gives you the time for a mind break from all of the other stressors you may have in your life.  Summertime is the perfect time of year to decrease your stress level by enjoying the weather and engaging in physical activities outside!

Sources:

Guszkowska, M. and Sionek, S. (2009), Changes in mood states and selected personality traits in women participating in a 12-week exercise program. Human Movement, 10: 163-169. Doi: 10.2478/v10038-009-0014-2.

http://www.apa.org/helpcenter/exercise-stress.aspx