Vim & Vigor - Spring 2013 - North Mississippi - (Page 47)

Stress. Download. Relax. Breathe2Relax, a free app created by the National Center for Telehealth & Technology and available for iPhone, iPad and Android devices, provides a guided way to diminish your response to a hairy situation. It shows you the effects of stress on the body and instructs you on how to do diaphragmatic breathing—a proven technique to lessen pressure and anxiety—to manage your stress. What’s more, Breathe2Relax was recently the subject of research at the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing examining whether apps help people deal with stress. The small preliminary study found participants’ cortisol levels—a biological marker—decreased signiﬁcantly after using the app for two weeks. Misguided MULTITASKING Doing more than one thing at a time may seem like the norm, but, according to research published in Computers in Human Behavior, the type of tasks done together might dictate the outcome. Specifically, doing two visual tasks at once, such as texting and driving, hurt performance much more than doing visual and audio tasks, such as talking on the phone and driving. (Of course, both these examples have proved to be highly dangerous and should not be done at the same time.) What seems most alarming is that the researchers found that the multitaskers’ perception of their performance when engaging in two visual tasks simultaneously was overconfident—meaning the participants thought they nailed each task even though their performance was poor. In other words, even if you think you’re doing a great job of keeping your eyes on the road, make that your only job at the moment. FEELING DIZZY? Watch YouTube There’s no doubt YouTube can provide hours upon hours of mindless stimulation. But a do-it-yourself cure for dizziness? It may well do that, too! Research examining the social media site’s video selection about benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV)—an inner ear disorder that is a common cause of dizziness—suggests that watching a how-to clip and then completing an at-home treatment for the disorder, the Epley maneuver, may be effective. A report in the journal Neurology found that healthcare providers are using the videos, such as the one at tinyurl.com/d687ysz, to help patients learn about the procedure. The researchers’ only complaint was that there wasn’t complementary information to explain what BPPV was (Editor’s note: BPPV is likely caused by loose calcium carbonate crystals that move in the sensing tubes of the inner ear. The Epley maneuver moves these crystals out and into another inner chamber of the ear, which does not cause dizziness). If watching a four-minute video helps ease your fear of treatment, why not check it out? SPRI NG 2013 47 http://www.tinyurl.com/d687ysz

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Vim & Vigor - Spring 2013 - North Mississippi

Vim & Vigor - Spring 2013 - North Mississippi
Contents
Opening Thoughts
Brain Power
No Bones About It
You're the Star
Heart-to-Heart
Lighten Up!
Have No Fear
Work It!
What Are the Chances?
9 Symptoms Never to Ignore
When Allergies Attack
Virtual Health
Botox: A New Miracle Drug?
The Doctor Will See You Now
Catch the Spirit

Vim & Vigor - Spring 2013 - North Mississippi