I believe one of the most meaningful ways to manage the health care crisis, that has been ongoing for 20 years, is to incorporate a holistic approach to health, as the foundation of our health care system. In reality, we have a disease diagnosis and treatment system. One that has made great contributions in the treatment of acute, traumatic illnesses, and infectious diseases, but ineffectively manages, and actually suppresses the symptoms of diseases rooted in chronic emotional distress, lifestyle choices, and nutrient deficiencies.
Would you think about this possibility for a moment: what if there was a new treatment that in research and clinical trials demonstrated its ability to not only improve health outcomes in a number ofillnesses, speed postsurgical recovery, reduce unnecessary procedures,decrease medical costs, and improve patient satisfaction?
Andwhat if it’s a significant bonus was that patients experience more happiness, were satisfied, more confident, felt less isolated without any side effects?
Believe it or not, there is a treatment approach that has in fact demonstrated these qualities. Why haven’t you heard about it in the media or had an introduction by your physician to this powerful approach?
Unfortunately, this body of research has been overlooked by most physicians for many years. Fortunately mind/body therapies are making inroads into the medical establishment.
Although emerging evidence during the past thirty years clearly indicates that psychosocial factors directly influence the body’s function and health outcomes, medicine has failed to expand beyond the 16th century biomedical model, due to the ingrained and limited thinking
Research suggests that psychosocial factors from emotional states, including depression, behavioral dispositions, such as hostility and psychosocial stress can directly influence both physiology and health outcomes. Evidence from several converging lines of research however also suggests that despite seemingly widespread acknowledgment and support for the importance of the biopsychosocial model, these factors are continuously overlooked or ignored in many clinical encounters, and are frequently underemphasized in medical education.
Whereas the reason underlying the failure of medicine to move beyond the biomedical model are complex, lack of exposure to the evidence base supporting the biopsychosocial model may be one of them.
Furthermore, while studies have shown that evidence of the effectiveness of a given therapy is frequently insufficient to change clinical practice, the generation, synthesis, and communication of research findings continue to be central tasks for evidence based medicine.
However, medical research studies have emphatically determined that mind-body therapies in the treatment of numerous illnesses improves outcomes. There is now considerable evidence that an array of mind-body therapies can be used as effective adjuncts to convention medical treatment for a number of common clinical conditions.
In a retrospective study, researchers assessed the impact on health care utilization and costs of a multiple component prevention program (MVAH). The program included meditation, exercise, and diet. Compared Blue Cross/Blue Shield Iowa to statewide norms for 1985 through 1995 and a demographically similar group.
The research found that the 4 year total medical costs in the MVAH group were 59% and 57% lower than those in the norm and control groups, respectively; the 111 year average was 63% lower than the norm. The MVAH group had lower use of medical services and costs across all age groups and for all disease categories. Hospital admission rates in the control group were 11.4 times higher than those in the MVAH group for heart disease, 3.3 times higher for cancer, and 6.7 times higher for mental health and substance abuse. The greatest savings were seen among MVAH patients over 45 years of age, who had 88% fewer total patient days, compared with control patients.
The results confirm research supporting the effectiveness of MVAH for preventing disease. Their evaluation suggests that MVAH can be used safely as a cost-effective treatment regimen in the managed care setting.
It is important for a patient to appropriately prepare for surgery. One study gave patients positive physiologicalsuggestions and imagery. In a randomized, placebo-controlled,double-blind clinical trial, 335 patients were given 1 of 4different audiotapes to listen to before and during surgery.A placebo group listened to a tape with a neutral white noise.
Only 1 of the experimental tapes produced statistically significantbenefits. This tape contained guided imagery, music, and specificsuggestions of diminished blood loss and rapid healing. Patientswho listened to this tape experienced a 43% reduction in bloodloss and were able to leave the hospital more than a day earlierthan the other groups.
Dr. Elizabeth Devin a professor at the University of Wisconsin school of Nursing in Milwaukee analyzed 191 different scientific studies in which surgery patients were taught simple, easy to use mind/body techniques. She determined there was an average reduction in the length of hospital stay.
Results include faster recovery from surgery, fewer complications and reduced postsurgical pains.
Other studies have found reduced utilization rates for outpatient medical services. For example in one study 109 chronic pain patients took a ten session outpatient group mind/body program. A 26 percent reduction in total monthly clinic visits for pain management was found in the first year after the program.
The information contained on this website is for informational purposes only. It has not been evaluated by the FDA. The information is not intended to prevent, treat, diagnose or cure any illness or disease.
All material provided on www.howtogetwellfaster.com is only for the education of the reader. You should always consult with your physician or other licensed health care provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition regarding your health and/or medical condition, and before undertaking any changes in your exercise, eating habits, diet, physical therapy or other health program. This website does not recommend self-management of one’s health care.
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Over 23,000 Swedish men between the ages of 45 and 79 were evaluated regarding the association of dietary calcium and magnesium intake with death from all causes, heart disease and cancer among men who didn’t take mineral supplements.
The men were monitored from 1998 through December 2007, 2,358 deaths from all causes were recorded in the Swedish population registry; through December 2006, 819 CVD and 738 cancer deaths were recorded in the Swedish cause-of-death registry.
Dietary calcium was associated with a statistically significant lower rate of all-cause mortality and a lower rate of but not cancer mortality, when the highest intake level average 1,953 mg/day was compared with the lowest 990 mg/day.
Dietary magnesium intake from 387 mg/day to 523 mg/day was not associated with all-cause, CVD, or cancer mortality.
The study revealed that the men with relatively high intakes of dietary calcium and magnesium showed that intake of calcium above that recommended daily experienced a reduction in all cause of death.
The information contained on this website is for informational purposes only. It has not been evaluated by the FDA. The information is not intended to prevent, treat, diagnose or cure any illness or disease.
All material provided on www.howtogetwellfaster.com is only for the education of the reader. You should always consult with your physician or other licensed health care provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition regarding your health and/or medical condition, and before undertaking any changes in your exercise, eating habits, diet, physical therapy or other health program. This website does not recommend self-management of one’s health care.
Images, text and logic are copyright protected. All rights are explicitly reserved without prejudice, and no part of this website may be reproduced except by written consent. Copyright. All rights remain in force. Removing this notice forfeits all rights to recourse.
The anxiety that often accompanies a chronic illness can gradually diminish the quality of life and make patients less likely to follow their treatment plan. Anxiety often remains unrecognized or untreatedamong patients with a chronic illness. Exercise training mayhelp improve anxiety symptoms among patients Regular exercise can significantly reduce symptoms of anxiety, a new University of Georgia study shows.
The study featured in the Feb. 22, 2010 edition of the Archives of Internal Medicine. Forty randomized clinical trial involving almost 3,000 patients, with numerous medical conditions were reviewed. The researchers determined that patients who exercised, experience a 20 per cent reduction in their symptoms of anxiety compared to those who did not exercise.
“Our findings add to the growing body of evidence that physical activities such as walking or weight lifting may turn out to be the best medicine that physicians can prescribe to help their patients feel less anxious,” said lead author Matthew Herring, a doctoral student in the department of kinesiology, part of the UGA College of Education.
Anxiety and exercise has not been evaluated as extensively as depression and exercise has. Because the number of people experiencing chronic illnesses is likely to grow, as our population ages, emphasizes the need for a low-cost, effective treatment.
The researchers reviewed only randomized controlled trials, which are the gold standard of clinical research, to ensure that only the highest quality data were used. The patients in the studies had cancer, chronic arthritis pain, cardiovascular (heart) disease, and multiple sclerosis. In 90 percent of the studies examined, the patients randomly assigned to exercise had fewer anxiety symptoms-nervousness, worry, and apprehension, compared to the control group.
“We found that exercise seems to work with just about everybody under most situations,” said study co-author Pat O’Connor, professor and co-director of the UGA Exercise Psychology Laboratory. “Exercise even helps people who are not very anxious to begin with become more calm.”
Exercising for longer than a half hour caused better results, compared to exercising for less than 30 minutes. And quite surprisingly, the programs lasting more than 12 weeks were not as effective at reducing anxiety as were those with a duration between 3 and 12 weeks. The researchers suggested that the participants were not as likely to continue their participation in the longer programs.
Professor of Kinesiology, Rod Dishman, study co-author wrote “Because not all study participants completed every exercise session, the effect of exercise on anxiety reported in our study may be underestimated,” Regardless, our work supports the use of exercise to treat a variety of physical and mental health conditions, with less risk of adverse events than medication.”
The information contained on this website is for informational purposes only. It has not been evaluated by the FDA. The information is not intended to prevent, treat, diagnose or cure any illness or disease.
All material provided on www.howtogetwellfaster.com is only for the education of the reader. You should always consult with your physician or other licensed health care provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition regarding your health and/or medical condition, and before undertaking any changes in your exercise, eating habits, diet, physical therapy or other health program. This website does not recommend self-management of one’s health care.
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Over the years, I’ve read numerous intriguing studies about the role nutrition plays in violent behavior. Other studies have clearly demonstrated a link between heavy metals and vitamin deficiencies.
A new study from the Netherlands found prisoners given supplements of vitamins, minerals and omega-3 f and omega-6 fatty acids, have the potential to reduce the frequency of violent and aggressive incidents. Prisoners receiving supplements experienced a significant reduction of violent incidents, over 34 percent, among 200 young adult offenders.
The group receiving a placebo, experienced a 14 per cent increase in the number of reported incidents.
The researchers noted, “The prospect of influencing aggression and rule-breaking behavior with nutrients in moderate doses is important enough to warrant further research. This is particularly true as adequate supplementation may also have beneficial effects on mental health and cognitive functioning.”
Surprisingly, the young men did not report any difference in the number of violent incidents, when asked to rate their health and aggression. The reductions in violent incidents were documented by the prison staff.
“Yet, the results in terms of a substantial reduction in reported incidents seem promising, as this outcome measure in particular may have practical relevance,” wrote Dr. Zaalberg.
This study continues along the lines of one reported in 200, an Oxford University study that also found a 39 per cent reduction in violent behavior among young offenders receiving micronutrients and fatty acids.
“In my view, this could be milestone research, the research that finally makes the world take seriously the connection between diet and mental ill health, in all its forms,” said Prof Winkler.
Professor Crawford noted the association between aggressive behavior and nutrition, “Makes sense on the basis of evidence of links between major depression, suicide and homicide reported by Dr Joseph Hibblen at the National Institutes of Health in the USA and of course our stuff demonstrating the absolute dependence of the brain on the long chain essential fatty acids.”
Source:
Aggressive Behavior
March/April 2010, Volume 36, Issue 2, Pages 117-126
“Effects of nutritional supplements on aggression, rule-breaking, and psychopathology among young adult prisoners”
Disclaimer
The information contained on this website is for informational purposes only. It has not been evaluated by the FDA. The information is not intended to prevent, treat, diagnose or cure any illness or disease.
All material provided on www.howtogetwellfaster.com is only for the education of the reader. You should always consult with your physician or other licensed health care provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition regarding your health and/or medical condition, and before undertaking any changes in your exercise, eating habits, diet, physical therapy or other health program. This website does not recommend self-management of one’s health care.
Images, text and logic are copyright protected. All rights are explicitly reserved without prejudice, and no part of this website may be reproduced except by written consent. Copyright. All rights remain in force. Removing this notice forfeits all rights to recourse.
The results of a University of Pennsylvania study, published in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease found that a specific meditation, Kirtan Kriya performed daily for eight weeks increased brain activity in areas important to memory and actually improved their cognitive function in people suffering from memory decline.
Kirtan Kriya (KK), originated in the Kundalini yoga tradition, is a 12-minute practice from the Kundalini yoga tradition that people have been practicing for thousands of years. This meditation involves repetitive finger movements, or mudras, plus singing the sounds, or mantra, Saa Taa Naa Maa. These ancient primal sounds from Sanskrit, taken together, mean “my true identity” or “my highest self.
A kirtan is a song. Kriya refers to a specific set of movements. In the Eastern tradition, kriyas are used to help bring the body, mind, and emotions into balance, thus creating healing.
Kirtan Kriya is a 12-minute singing exercise in the Kundalini yoga tradition.
It was hypothesized that Kirtan Kriya singing exercise would show activation of the frontal lobe and activation of the hippocampus. Eleven subjects (experienced at meditation) were brought in to test this hypothesis.
Fifteen subjects with impaired cognitive functioning from 52 to 77 years, participated in the study. Brain images, brain blood flow, Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography (SPECT) scans and cognitive tests were conducted at the beginning of the study. The participants were taught KK and instructed to practice it each day for eight weeks.
They first sat quietly and had a baseline control SPECT scan study of their brain (SPECT stands for Single Photon Emission Computerized Tomography). The subjects then practiced the Kirtan Kriya exercise for 12 minutes. After completion, they each had another SPECT scan taken.
A small comparison group was also recruited in which the meditation was replaced with a music listening task. The “music group” was instructed to listen to two Mozart violin concertos each day for approximately 12 minutes. Subjects kept a daily log of their study activity and were contacted at four weeks with a reminder to continue the practice.
After eight weeks, cognitive tests and SPECT scans were repeated for both groups and researchers compared pre-program with post-program results. The study found that blood flow was increased in the KK group in the frontal lobe regions and the right superior parietal lobe.
The frontal lobe of the brain, which became more active as a result of meditation in the study, aids in attention and concentration and has been shown to be affected in patients with dementia disorders. Both parts of the brain the frontal lobe and the parietal lobe, positively affected in the study, are involved in retrieving memories.
The music group did not experience improvements in memories or their thinking processes. Participants found the meditation to be enjoyable and beneficial.
“While meditation is already practiced by millions, this is the first study to investigate its potential to reverse memory loss in patients with cognitive impairment,” said Dharma Singh Khalsa, M.D., the president of the Alzheimer’s Research and Prevention Foundation.
“These results confirm what we have long observed in clinical practice, that this brief, simple meditation can have a meaningful impact on memory and on the quality of people’s lives as they age.”
“It would be extremely useful to have a cost-effective, non-pharmacological approach to slowing memory loss that could bolster the effect of medications without fear of side effects or drug-drug interactions,” said Andrew Newberg, M.D., assistant professor of radiology at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, and study co-author. “While further study into the impact of Kirtan Kriya is required, the pilot study demonstrates that this meditation could be a very important tool in slowing cognitive decline.”
The information contained on this website is for informational purposes only. It has not been evaluated by the FDA. The information is not intended to prevent, treat, diagnose or cure any illness or disease.
All material provided on www.howtogetwellfaster.com is only for the education of the reader. You should always consult with your physician or other licensed health care provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition regarding your health and/or medical condition, and before undertaking any changes in your exercise, eating habits, diet, physical therapy or other health program. This website does not recommend self-management of one’s health care.
Images, text and logic are copyright protected. All rights are explicitly reserved without prejudice, and no part of this website may be reproduced except by written consent. Copyright. All rights remain in force. Removing this notice forfeits all rights to recourse.
I apologize for not including this post in last week’s newsletter. However, I do know that everything, even mistakes happens for a reason. A couple of weeks ago, my heart was deeply touched by two people in the media. While searching a video for one of the amazing persons, I wanted to share with you, I discovered a third, the smallest baby to ever survive.
During the last month, two people in the media deeply touched my heart. One, Evan Muncie, a man pulled from the rubble of the grocery store where he was employed after 4 weeks. To my knowledge no one has ever survived 4 weeks without water, until now.
Joannie Rochette, the Canadian figure skater who took to the ice, and touched the world with her grace, fortitude and artistry in the wake her beloved mother’s sudden death, two days earlier.
And finally to my amazement, a baby born June 25, 2009 weighing only 9 ounces in Germany, spent 6 months in the intensive care nursery at the University of Goettingen Hospital and went home in December weighing 3.7 Kg, almost 8 pounds!
Please keep in mind doctors usually believe any baby weighing less than 12 ounces (350 grams) will not survive.
Previously, the most premature baby to have survived, a girl born in Miami, America in 2004, is believed to have been born after 21 weeks.
The information contained on this website is for informational purposes only. It has not been evaluated by the FDA. The information is not intended to prevent, treat, diagnose or cure any illness or disease.
All material provided on www.howtogetwellfaster.com is only for the education of the reader. You should always consult with your physician or other licensed health care provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition regarding your health and/or medical condition, and before undertaking any changes in your exercise, eating habits, diet, physical therapy or other health program. This website does not recommend self-management of one’s health care.
Images, text and logic are copyright protected. All rights are explicitly reserved without prejudice, and no part of this website may be reproduced except by written consent. Copyright. All rights remain in force. Removing this notice forfeits all rights to recourse.
Researchers investigated the effectiveness of two approaches to anxiety-meditation and self-hypnosis in 32 patients with long term and severe anxiety.
A simple, meditational relaxation technique that causes relaxes the body and lowers the activity of the sympathetic nervous system was compared to hypnosis. The groups were divided into 3 based on their response to hypnosis moderate-high and low.
The group members were there randomly assigned either self-hypnosis or meditation. Four treatment groups were then evaluated low response-self hypnosis; moderate –high response self hypnosis; moderate-high response meditation; low response meditation.
The low response group by definition could not achieve the altered perceptions that are a necessary component of self-hypnosis, was designated as the control group. The patients were directed to practice their assigned technique on a daily basis.
Their anxiety was measured and determined by three separate evaluations: psychiatric assessment, physiologic measurement and self-assessment.
There was essentially no difference between the two techniques in therapeutic efficacy according to these evaluations. Psychiatric assessment revealed overall improvement in 34% of the patients and the self-rating assessment indicated improvement in 63% of the population.
Patients experiencing moderate-high hypnotic responsivity, regardless of the technique used, significantly improved on psychiatric assessment and decreased average blood pressure measurements from 126.1 to 122.5 mm Hg over the 8-week period. The responsivity scores at the higher end of the hypnotic responsivity spectrum were proportionately related larger drops in the blood pressure and to improvement by psychiatric assessment.
There was, however, no consistent relation between hypnotic responsivity and the other assessments made, such as diastolic blood pressure, oxygen consumption, heart rate and the self-rating questionnaires. The meditation and self-hypnosis techniques used in this investigation are easy to use and effective in the therapy of anxiety.
The information contained on this website is for informational purposes only. It has not been evaluated by the FDA. The information is not intended to prevent, treat, diagnose or cure any illness or disease.
All material provided on www.howtogetwellfaster.com is only for the education of the reader. You should always consult with your physician or other licensed health care provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition regarding your health and/or medical condition, and before undertaking any changes in your exercise, eating habits, diet, physical therapy or other health program. This website does not recommend self-management of one’s health care.
Images, text and logic are copyright protected. All rights are explicitly reserved without prejudice, and no part of this website may be reproduced except by written consent. Copyright. All rights remain in force. Removing this notice forfeits all rights to recourse.
Several prominent Vitamin D research studies have found that higher blood levels of the active and circulating form of Higher serum levels of the main circulating form of vitamin D, 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D), are associated with significantly lower rates of colon, breast, ovarian, renal, pancreatic, aggressive prostate and other cancers.
Their research findings, of population studies, combined with newly discovered mechanisms suggest a new model of cancer causes accounts for the actions of Vitamin D’s active form.
Dr. Cedric Garland proposes that 58,000 cases of breast cancer and 49,000 new cases of colon and rectal cancer each year can be reduced with appropriate Vitamin D levels in the United States and Canada. And could eliminate 75% of all deaths from these diseases in the US and Canada, if the 25 (OH) D level is raised to 50 to 60 ng/ml (100-150 nmol/L).
There are no unreasonable risks from intake of 2000 IU per day of vitamin D3, or from a population serum 25(OH)D level of 40 to 60 ng/mL. Dr. Garland asserts that the time has arrived for nationally coordinated action to substantially increase Vitamin D intake that would not only prevent the occurrence of these tragic and costly diseases, but also tremendously improve our national level of health and the quality of life.
This is stunning information, in my opinion, especially for people with a family history of these cancers. I’ve seen people worry themselves chronically about the possibility of cancer developing. Now, with a simple test, and taking the supplement, what could be easier? And consider the relief of mind from the worry surrounding yearly tests, checkups, etc.
Sometimes, easy solutions are the most difficult ones to grasp.
The information contained on this website is for informational purposes only. It has not been evaluated by the FDA. The information is not intended to prevent, treat, diagnose or cure any illness or disease.
All material provided on www.howtogetwellfaster.com is only for the education of the reader. You should always consult with your physician or other licensed health care provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition regarding your health and/or medical condition, and before undertaking any changes in your exercise, eating habits, diet, physical therapy or other health program. This website does not recommend self-management of one’s health care.
Images, text and logic are copyright protected. All rights are explicitly reserved without prejudice, and no part of this website may be reproduced except by written consent. Copyright. All rights remain in force. Removing this notice forfeits all rights to recourse.
Impressive evidence is emerging regarding how adequate vitamin D intake can reduce the risk of babies being born prematurely and improve the health of full term babies, as well. Earlier, researchers at the University of Calgary in Canada found a link between substandard vitamin D intake during pregnancy and low birth weight. Interestingly, more premature births occur during the late winter months when Vitamin D levels are the lowest.
The investigators, Dr Bruce Hollis and Dr Carol Wagner of the Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, met rigorous safety tests which were required by the Federal Drug Administration. The study was funded by the National Institutes of Health.
Furthermore, the authors observed these effects at relatively modest differences in vitamin D intake.
Dr. Hollis and Wagner’s laboratory and clinics, at the University of South Carolina Medical School, conducted a study of vitamin D supplementation of up to 4000 IU of vitamin D3 per day during pregnancy over many years. The mothers were given ten times the normal dose of vitamin D during pregnancy experienced a 50 per cent reduction in premature births and had fewer low birth weight babies.
The women, who all lived around Charleston, South Carolina, began taking 4,000 IUs per day of vitamin D after their first clinic visit at about three months of pregnancy. (4,000 IUs or international units equal 100 micrograms). A control group took 400 IUs, equivalent to the normal recommended dose in the US and UK. The women had their blood and urine tested monthly to ensure calcium and vitamin D levels was within safe limits.
Over the 2½ years of the study thousands of tests were made and monitored by an external safety committee. No test showed any adverse effect of the large dose of vitamin D. The average level of vitamin D in the women’s blood increased by about 50 per cent.
About 600 women took part in the trial which included similar numbers of African Americans, Hispanic Americans and whites. Premature babies born to women taking high doses of vitamin D were reduced by half at both 32 and 37 weeks, and there were also fewer babies who were born “small for dates” — that is smaller than would be expected considering the length of time spent in the womb.
The mothers also experience a significant reduction in infections (25 percent), especially the flu and colds, as well as fewer vaginal infections. The primary causes of complications during pregnancy were also lowered by 30 percent among the women who took the high-dose vitamin D. They include, high blood pressure, gestational (pregnancy related) diabetes and pre-eclampsia, a condition that occurs shortly before labor and delivery that causes high blood pressure, and fluid retention, which if unresolved can become fatal.
The babies receiving vitamin D after birth also experienced fewer colds, and a reduced incidence of asthma.
“I’m telling every pregnant mother I see to take 4,000 IUs and every nursing mother to take 6,400 IUs of vitamin D a day,” said Dr Hollis. “I think it is medical malpractice for obstetricians not to know what the vitamin D level of their patients is. This study will put them on notice.”
The Charleston team is also conducting another trial, supplementing breastfeeding mothers with 6,400 IUs per day. This high dose enables women to make breast milk which has sufficient vitamin D for the baby’s needs, 400 IUs per day.
The entire study will not be completed for another 21.5 years, but preliminary findings are extremely encouraging.
They report thus far, that some mothers attain a robust nutritional vitamin D status with no observable adverse side-effects.
The vitamin’s benefits have been observed previously in uncontrolled studies of pregnant women and babies, but this is the first time they have been found in a scientific trial which met the most stringent criteria for “evidence-based inquiry”. The findings may make it necessary for health departments to revise advice presently given to pregnant and breastfeeding women in the United States.
The information contained on this website is for informational purposes only. It has not been evaluated by the FDA. The information is not intended to prevent, treat, diagnose or cure any illness or disease.
All material provided on www.howtogetwellfaster.com is only for the education of the reader. You should always consult with your physician or other licensed health care provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition regarding your health and/or medical condition, and before undertaking any changes in your exercise, eating habits, diet, physical therapy or other health program. This website does not recommend self-management of one’s health care.
Images, text and logic are copyright protected. All rights are explicitly reserved without prejudice, and no part of this website may be reproduced except by written consent. Copyright. All rights remain in force. Removing this notice forfeits all rights to recourse.
I’ve always suspected that violent video games were unhealthy to the mental health and well-being of children playing them.
New research in the field of video games investigated how violent games affect the emotional behavior of children and how it impacts their response to life events.
Playing video games that are violent, for as little as 20 minutes, promotes desensitization to real world violence, on a physiologic level.
“We found that the subjects who played violent video games for 20 minutes had lower physiologic responses when they watched videos of real-life violence,” said Nicholas Carnagey, who conducted the research while a psychology instructor at Iowa State University in Ames.
The study found that over exposure to violence tended to cause the children to become numb and insensitive to acts of violence. Iowa State University researchers warned that it is not important the amount of time the child spends playing the violent games.
He explained that these lowered physical responses meant the person felt less emotional upset when viewing real-life brutality.
Prior studies have reported a correlation between exposure to violent video games and desensitization to real violence. But Carnagey’s team says theirs is the first to expose subjects to video games and then measure their physiologic reactions to real-life violence through heart rate and galvanic skin response, which evaluates perspiration.
As heart rate and perspiration increase, so does emotional arousal, said Carnagey, currently a professor at Wake Forest University.
Released in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, the study involved 257 college students (133 women, 124 men and 133) that were evaluated prior to and after playing either non-violent or violent video games for 20 minutes. The violent games included Mortal Kombat, Future Cop, Carmageddon, and Duke Nukem. The non-violent games selection of games included 3D Pinball, 3D Munch Man, Glider Plus and Tetra Madness.
The participants had similar heart rates and other signs of arousal before exposure to real-life violence, which included videotaped shootings, prison fights and police confrontations.
The people who played violent video games for 20 minutes had lower galvanic skin responses (lower perspiration) and heart rates while watching the real-life footage. “A lot of other studies on exposure to violent video games indicated that we would find this [desensitization], but it surprised us that only 20 minutes of exposure was enough to show this effect,” Carnagey said.
“It appears that individuals who play violent video games…get used to all the violence and eventually become physiologically numb to it. The modern entertainment media landscape could accurately be described as an effective systematic violence desensitization tool.
“The only time we saw physiologic differences among participants was while they were watching real-life violence.” Their findings, “demonstrate that violent video game exposure can cause desensitization to real-life violence. Children receive high doses of media violence. It is initially packaged in ways that are not too threatening, with cute cartoon-like characters. However, older children consume increasingly threatening and realistic violence, but the increases are gradual and always in a way that is fun.”
Translated to the real world, these signs of lower emotional upset may mean a person is more desensitized to violence. He or she may also be less able to identify violence and less likely to help victims of violence, Carnagey explained.
These findings raise a red flag for parents.
Even though the study targeted college students, “there’s no doubt that these results apply to younger children, and there’s every reason to be concerned that the effects be may even greater in those under the age of 7 because these children don’t distinguish very well between fantasy and reality,” said pediatrician Dimitri A. Christakis, director of the Child Health Institute at the University of Washington, Seattle, and author of the book The Elephant in the Living Room: Make TV Work for Your Kids.
The caution for parents is real, Christakis said. “Children are much more media-savvy at a much younger age than their parents were,” he noted.
Many parents believe that violent games won’t make their children more violent, but they might not be witnessing any increase in aggressive behaviors first-hand, he noted. The negative effects of video game exposure often infiltrate children’s real-life games, Christakis said. “This increasing violence is mutually enhancing in a negative way,” he warned, because “it reinforces violence in their own lives.”
Much of the media children watch is laden with violence, Carnagey added. In G-rated movies and games, violence is often packaged in a “cute and friendly manner,” the researcher noted.
And “as children grow older, they’re exposed to ever more realistic and gory scenes,” he said. “Parents might say, ‘My child is not ready to see that yet,’ but what does that comment mean? When would children be ready to see someone beheaded?”
This unintended desensitization from exposure to very violent media can have a real impact on children’s development, according to the researchers.
“In real life, were not talking about a simple 20-minute exposure, were talking about exposure that’s hours on end, day after day,” Carnagey said. “Parents should be aware and active in their child’s exposure to media. They should really think about what messages they’re exposing their children to.”
The study also raises some important questions for future research, including whether the effects of short-term exposure to violent games lingers, and what the cumulative effect might be of playing violent video games over days, weeks, and years.
The information contained on this website is for informational purposes only. It has not been evaluated by the FDA. The information is not intended to prevent, treat, diagnose or cure any illness or disease.
All material provided on www.howtogetwellfaster.com is only for the education of the reader. You should always consult with your physician or other licensed health care provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition regarding your health and/or medical condition, and before undertaking any changes in your exercise, eating habits, diet, physical therapy or other health program. This website does not recommend self-management of one’s health care.
Images, text and logic are copyright protected. All rights are explicitly reserved without prejudice, and no part of this website may be reproduced except by written consent. Copyright. All rights remain in force. Removing this notice forfeits all rights to recourse.
