Monthly Archives: October 2018

Reducing Depression – A New Approach to Reducing Depression

According to a research conducted by the American Psychological Association in 2017, 25% of all primary care patients experience depression. However, only 33% of these are diagnosed and treated. The figures prove that mental illness is as common an issue as obesity or cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, and cancer. At least 14 million Americans suffer depressive disorders. The sad part is that majority of them are clueless about their condition and do not attempt to find relevant solutions.

The important and relieving issue is that depression is highly treatable and manageable too. You do not have to be helpless anymore. Along with workable therapy and medication, there is a lot that you can do by yourself in reducing depression. This includes your physical activity, lifestyle, and way of thinking.

reducing depression

Here are some tips on how to reduce depression

Adopt a Routine

Experts recommend routines for depressed people. Since depression strips victims of a structural life, you need to create habits as a fight back. When you are depressed, days melt quickly into weeks without any reasonable or useful work done. Adopting a routine helps you bring back order in your life. This is possible through developing a daily schedule to help you get back on track.

Exercise

Exercise is responsible for stimulating the ‘feel-good’ chemicals called endorphins. This means that exercise is a good long-term solution for depressed people. Regular exercise causes rewiring of your brain in positive ways.

You do not need to run marathons to get a benefit from exercise. Maintaining light exercise but on a regular basis will have the biggest positive effects, which you need.

Adopting a Healthy Diet

Admittedly, there is no magic diet solution for depression. However, it is wise to watch what you eat, as some foods will only make the problem worsen. For example, if the condition pushes you to overeat, you are at risk of gaining weight. Getting control of your eating will improve your life.

You may not find a prescription, which is definitive to adopt. However, foods rich in omega-3 fatty acids and folic acids help in reducing depression. They include salmon and tuna (rich in omega-3 fatty acids) and spinach or avocado (rich in folic acid).

Enough Sleep

Insufficient sleep makes depression worse. It makes it difficult for a victim to get enough shut-eye moments. Finding enough sleep will counter its effects. You may begin by choosing a lifestyle, which includes a schedule for bed time. Avoid all distractions from your bedroom. For example, get rid of your computer, TV, lighting and music. These measures will help improve your sleep patterns.

Take on Responsibilities

Depression compels one to pull back from life and withdraw from responsibilities. Do not accept to be pulled off from responsibilities from home and work. Staying involved and having daily responsibilities helps to maintain a lifestyle that keeps depression at bay. Duties ground you and have a sense of accomplishment. If you are busy with full-time school or work, you may introduce some part-time activities.

, ,
Posted on

The history and future of self-storage

Introduction

There are items that people own that they at times outgrow. Some of the items that were used 10 years ago are not in use today. These items end up filling the house and either need to be disposed through family auctions or stored away. Also, at times people can need to store goods in a single place especially when they are not sure of when next to settle. In a divorce, some of the things gained as settlement may need to be stored someplace else before being moved back to the house. This brought about the rise of the self storage industry.

History

There are many records of how self-storage units came to be. Some sources claim that China is one of the oldest cultures to use storage units. They used to store their items in a common storage place. Towards the middle of the 19th century, there were a lot of voyages and conquests by British sailors and explorers. Due to security issues, they left their wealth with the available bank institutions. However, with time, these banks became overwhelmed and sought another option which led them to set up one of the first storage warehouses in order to store these items. Recently, about 50 years ago, the very first modern storage unit was built in Texas. So optimal was this facility that other countries picked the idea and currently there are hundreds of thousands of self-storage units.

Development today

The continued demand for the use of self-storage units over the years has led to the creation of the Self Storage industry. It is now legal to have a self-storage unit and to either become a tenant or an owner to one. This is to say that it has developed into a booming business. Contractors construct them as chains of multiple units which they sell to real estate owners who can then rent them out. This is attributed to the increased demand for storage spaces around the globe. It has been discovered that a lot of households especially in developed nations have a self-storage facility where they store the excesses from their homes. There is a global quest to live a minimalist life. In order to do so, less stuff is encouraged in homes. Most of this stuff such as old sofa sets, obsolete electronics and others are stored up in self-storage units.

Future

  1. Increase in value in the market

There is an ever increasing demand for self-storage facilities especially in urban centres. This is warranting more construction and more sales leading to a growth in the global market. In addition, firms have rapidly emerged to see the delivery of these products and this is set to continue for a while.

  1. Increase in market competition

There is set to be increased players in the market due to the strong demand of units. As such, in the future, there will be more players in the market then that there are now, translating to more competition.

  1. Increased service provision

In order to beat competition, future firms will be forced to provide optimal service and product provision to clients in order to retain them and gain others in the process. This will ensure quality provision in the self-storage industry.

, ,
Posted on

Who pays for the news? – Find out more about inside secrets

Have you ever thought about why/how the news is free? When you listen to the radio, have you ever thought that if you are not paying for it then why is it freely provided for you? How does MSNBC live stream is easily accessible for us. This is a very interesting matter that has so many different aspects to it. When you watch the news or listen to the radio you do not have to pay for any of the programs.

Event newspapers are offered to people at a very cheap cost although it takes a large amount of money for companies to produce those newspapers. The answer is advertisements. When you are broadcasting any sort of TV/ Radio program you need to buy “time” from the media to broadcast your shows. But who owns the media? Advertisements in between the shows you watch or listen to are the reason that those programs are free. The reason why companies do this is that what they get in return is far greater for them than the programs that they give you.

The interesting part is that people think that TV or radio is for their benefits but in fact, TV and radio is the medium that advertisers use to reach to people and the programs and TV shows in between are just there to keep you watching or listening.

How advertisements work

Have you ever watched a news channel and an advertisement kept popping up? This is the simplest way of advertisement that they keep replaying an ad for you. The first times you see it you do not pay attention. The second and the third time you get pissed off because it is interrupting you. After the third time automatically you start to listen to the ads.

Most of the time after a couple of times when we see an advertisement we would go and purchase that product or service. And if we didn’t do that, the next time we are in a shop and we see the brand that kept popping up on our screen is the brand we would like to go to. We all know the feeling of hating an advertisement but keep singing or knowing the words. This is a way of marketing for many different companies. Some think and believe that the TV is not programs interrupted by advertisements, TV or any other media is advertisements interrupted by programs. So channels like MSNBC live must buy time for their programs and mostly the advertisements will provide the budget.

It is more complicated than this as so many other factors are included in this matter. Some news channel use funds that they receive from the people and some of them are run by the government.

Serving the audience or profits

Knowing who is paying for a news channel tells a lot about the company. For example, in MSNBC live streaming the content that they create or the news they talk about can show you if the channel is serving the audience by giving them the news or this channel is just trying to keep their advertisers satisfied for their own sake.

,
Posted on

Bone Conduction Technology: A New Pathway of Hearing

Who doesn’t like music? Well, that’s just a rhetorical question. Everybody likes music, one genre or the other. It’s just how our world works. We usually have earphones tucked in, volume full blast and we’re lost in our own imaginary music videos. Don’t worry, it’s universal. You’re not the only one.

With the advancement of music industry, science and technology, a crossover invention can be expected, honestly. Here comes bone conduction technology. I’ll tell you a secret; when we first heard the term, our minds instantly went to medical jargons. We thought it would be some sort of medical equipment. Oh boy, were we wrong. But with a little bit of research, test and trial on our part, we instantly became fascinated with this medical sounding bone conduction technology, partially because wow! The human body is a wonder and partially because who would’ve thought bones worked that way too.

How Does Bone Conduction Work?

Normally, fully functioning ears work with ear drums. Sound waves are vibrations in the air that travel to our ear and through to the eardrum where the eardrum feels the vibrations against its walls and interprets them into a different type of vibrations transferred to the cochlea deep inside the ear which lets us hear the sounds. Even this simple and small concept is fascinating in itself but wait! There’s bone conduction technology now.

Bone conduction completely ignores the eardrum. Poor eardrums get sidelined by the more powerful bone conduction technology. Mostly these devices or gadgets (normally headphones) take over which was basically the role of eardrums. The bone conduction devices interpret the sound waves into the vibrations fit to be sent to the cochlea and transfer them through the bones in our face, namely the cheekbones and the jaw bones to the cochlea itself which lets us hear the sounds. The technology clearly bypasses the use of the outer and middle ear and the sounds are directly chained to the inner ear.

Beethoven Was Hearing Impaired?

Have you ever thought of how the famous German composer Ludwig van Beethoven composed all the musical masterpieces when he was hearing impaired? Well, it’s largely and historically believed that Beethoven discovered the bone conduction technique by attaching a rod to his piano and fixating it between his teeth to feel the vibrations and hear the music himself.

Classy, that guy. Created masterpieces upon masterpieces despite being completely deaf.

Bone Conduction, Where?

Bone conduction technology works primarily for various groups of people in a wide range of products; hearing aid alternatives, ordinary gadgets like headphones and even deep sea diver equipment depending on the sensitivity and making of the device itself.

Initially, the bone conduction got its early usage in military communication where ambient awareness was a necessary component for survival and the bone conduction headsets provided a communication channel just as well as they opened the airways to the ambient noises for a more aware and active prospect. Later on, the bone conduction technology got its roots into hearing aid alternatives and people suffering from conductive hearing loss caused mostly by damaged eardrums started seeking assistance of bone conduction which helped them hear better bypassing the eardrums entirely. As technology grew, the deep sea divers got introduced to bone conduction technology as well for under water, the bone conduction worked tremendously for it is something whales and various other sea animals use for communication. Wonders, man, wonders!

Nowadays, the technology is also widely used in ordinary headphones just as much as sports gear. Cyclists, runners etc. prefer using bone conduction headphones as to be aware of their surroundings to avoid accidents and take in their surroundings as well.

Is it Beneficial?

When it comes to benefits, the one crucial and widely marketed benefit that bone conduction technology has and the products around it have is the ambient awareness. Since the earphones do not directly plug in as earbuds, the sounds around us are not blocked out which creates both a sense of connection just as much as the awareness of what is happening around us. It is useful around organizational environments where you can take calls, play music and listen to podcasts while being around people and interacting positively.

Another useful thing about products surrounding bone conduction is the comfort level. Earbuds fall out, headphones get uncomfortably painful after a little while. The bone conduction headphones do not. They sit comfortable and lightweight around your head without being a pain.

What are some of the best bone conduction headphones you ask?

One of the most widely used and functionally best bone conduction headphones are the AfterShokz Trekz Titanium Mini headphones. However your praises will fall short. The headphones are durable for long term use, comfortable to wear hours on end and with a battery life that is to die for.

Tested, we can say, they are extremely lightweight, you don’t feel anything when wearing them. The sounds and pitch are on point. There’s the Bluetooth connectivity that gets you going and playing music for ages. It comes with a 2 year reliable warranty. The design itself is attractive and trendy; a bonus point.

The device creates the perfect balance between ambient noise and the sounds you play to give you a safe but enjoyable trip.

For outdoors, the runner’s’ best friend is this device. The Discover Devices team of device analysts did a pretty detailed review on these things; one we religiously believed and got this one for a day to day use.

The bone conduction technology is quite possible one of the best discoveries and the inventions surrounding it are surely a masterpiece in itself.

, ,
Posted on

What is Cushing Syndrome? | Symptoms, Causes and Treatment

Cushing Syndrome is a rare condition that is caused by overproduction of cortisol hormone. Cortisol is a stress hormone that is produced in the adrenal glands. This hormone is very useful especially when you are dealing with stressful conditions. It is produced in bursts in the morning with few in the evening. When the body has too much of this hormone, the excess hormone can throw off other body’s systems. Although most of the instances of Cushing Syndrome can be cured, the symptoms may take a longer time to ease up.

This condition is very common in women than in men and it usually affects people from 25-40 years. Some of the patients develop this condition because the adrenal glands have a tumor that leads to the release of too much cortisol. Several other people develop it because they make too much of ACTH which initiates adrenal glands to produce too much of cortisol.

Causes of Cushing Syndrome

As I had already stated, this condition is caused by too much production of cortisol which is produced in the adrenal glands located in your liver. The most common cause is linked to medications called glucocorticoids which are in other words known as Steroids or prednisone. These medications are prescribed for conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis, asthma, and lupus. Studies show that taking too much of them for too long can cause Cushing Syndrome.

The other common cause is the existence of tumor in your Pituitary gland which is found in the brain. Also if there’s a tumor in the adrenal glands, there’s likelihood of this condition developing. Although this isn’t a condition passed in families, there are some rare cases where it develops because there’s a gene problem in the family.

Read also, What is Facial Plethora as it is closely related with cushing syndrome so you could have a better understanding of the condition.

Symptoms

The fact is that people with Cushing Syndrome don’t develop the same signs and symptoms. For this reason, you need to analyze them closely because your condition maybe different from another person’s. However, some of the most common symptoms includes;

  • Acne
  • Rounded rosy face
  • Weight gain
  • Thinning skin
  • Tiredness
  • Sleep problems
  • Depression and anxiety
  • Kidney stones
  • Irregular periods in women
  • Extra hair growth on the body and face
  • Osteoporosis

If you notice any of the above symptoms, then it’s time to visit your doctor for diagnosis and treatment. Children with this condition are likely to be obese and grow slowly.

Treatment

First of all, the doctor will have to carry on some tests to detect the existence of Cushing syndrome and later the cause. If the overproduction of cortisol is caused by the steroids you are taking, then the doctor will see if you can stop taking them. If the condition is caused by a tumor, then the doctor will recommend more tests to determine the location of the tumor and corrective measures taken. A surgery to remove the tumor may be done. The other way is that the doctor can shrink the tumor using medicine or radiation. On your part, eat well because a healthy diet can ease some symptoms of Cushing syndrome.

,
Posted on