This is my first post ans I wanted it to be something good. As a very anxious student I usually (reads: all the time) find it very difficult to relax during exams week, before important tests or during the week in general. So I put together a little list of things that help me relax.
1. food/drinks (following a recipe helps you not to think in whatever is making you nervous)
2. music (i’d recommend listen to classical or music you don’t alredy know the lyrics for, grab that abound that released last month and you still haven’t heard)
4. plan!!! (having a so said “control” of your day, week, month, etc will help your mind to settle down a little bit, schedules and routines are a great way to put your mind at ease. go figure)
so this entire past month has been extremely, extremely stressful for me because i had so many exams and i only realised how hideously unprepared i was for them on the day before the exam, which was really really awful. so in the middle of september i created a studyblr to keep myself motivated + get some helpful tips from the studyblr community on how to go abt studying for tests. the results proved to be super helpful and ive resolved to keep running this blog for as long as i can, because it really helps me stay motivated and i’ve already learned so many things from the community, despite the fact that i’ve only been here for around a month.
but anyways, i decided to create this masterpost in order to help others stay motivated + keep studying not only well but also properly i.e. not necessarily studying for exams but life in general, if that makes sense.
i think that includes most of the best resources i could find!!! feel free to message me in case 1) any of the links are broken, 2) u want me to add on to something, 3) u have a suggestion for a masterpost [i would love that so go ahead and ask if u do] or if u just wanna talk! also, feel free to reblog and add ur own comments/resources. hope this helped!!
the stuff I learned today about my brain and addiction was really interesting
if you were to scan an addict and a nonaddict’s brains, they would be lit up differently. the frontal cortex of our brain controls who we are, our morals, our decision making and reasoning skills, etc.
our mid brain handles life or death survival processing. there is no consciousness at this level. it’s only ability is to try to avoid death and keep us alive
in an addict, the drug of choice triggers the mid brain while damaging/shutting down the frontal cortex. it feels like we have no control over it because in a way we really don’t; the part of our brain that makes logical choices isn’t functioning. our mid brain that thinks we’re dying is functioning, and it sees that drug as the only means to survive
i also learned that we each have a certain dopamine (the chemical that makes you happy) threshold. we have a “bar” that must be reached chemically to make us able to experience joy and pleasure. if you’re over the bar, you’re happy. under it, you’re sad
addicts have set the bar so high that it frequently is the case that nothing can make them happy unless they are high first and foremost. they need a much, much larger amount of dopamine to feel joy because so many dopamine receptors have been damaged and shut down
you know what other group of people have extremely high dopamine thresholds? children in abusive or otherwise high stress environments
addicts and abused children both require much higher amounts of dopamine to feel happy compared to “normal” people. this is a huge contributing factor as to why a lot of these kids turn to drugs: for the first time in our lives we have the amount of dopamine we need to feel genuinely happy, and we never want to go back to being sad
yes! the longer you go without using your drug of choice, the lower your dopamine threshold becomes until finally it is once again at normal levels. the broken dopamine receptors will heal themselves, and with therapy and medication the frontal cortex will gradually strengthen so the survival-focused midbrain has less control and actual decisions can once again be made
yes, please do. please help spread awareness about the disease of addiction and end the stigma against it
What will it take to make intrauterine devices sexy?
IUDs are highly effective forms of contraception, but fear of side effects, lack of training for doctors and costs can keep women away. Health organizations and private companies are trying to change that by breaking down misconceptions and broadening access.
The contraceptives are inserted into the uterus and can prevent pregnancy for years. And they’re reversible. Shortly after they’re taken out, a woman can become pregnant.
IUDs are more than 99 percent effective. The World Health Organization reports they are “the most widely used reversible contraceptive method globally.” But few women in the U.S. use them; the percentage is only in the single digits, in part because IUDs have a checkered past. The Dalkon Shield IUD, marketed nationwide beginning in 1971, was found to raise the risk of pelvic inflammatory disease. Medical complications and deaths sparked lawsuits with thousands of claimants.
“So we had a whole generation in the ‘70s and '80s … where doctors and clinicians weren’t trained and women didn’t have that option,” says Dr. Jeffrey Peipert, a professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Washington University in St. Louis.
The two common intrauterine devices in the U.S. are ParaGard, which releases copper to interfere with sperm, and Mirena, which prevents pregnancy with the hormone progesterone. There is still a slight risk of pelvic inflammatory disease. But Bayer Healthcare Pharmaceuticals, the maker of Mirena, says fewer than 1 percent of users of its device get the infection. More common side effects for women using IUDs are irregular bleeding or cramping.
Upfront costs also limit access; the price of the device and getting it inserted can cost hundreds of dollars.
But Mirena works for up to five years, and the copper IUD up to 10. So over time, they can actually be cheaper than monthly payments for, say, the pill. And IUDs, like other contraceptives approved by the Food and Drug Administration, are expected to be covered for most users under the Affordable Care Act.
Through a government program that provides universal, bare-bones, health care, perhaps?
Ethiopia’s network of 30,000 health extension workers provides basic health care across the country.
By treating diarrhea, pneumonia, malaria and other common ailments, these health extension workers have been the driving force in reducing Ethiopia’s child mortality rate. They also assist with births and provide routine immunizations to children.
Twenty years ago 1 in 5 kids born in Ethiopia would die before their 5th birthday. Now that rate has been cut in a third to only 1 in 15. The credit for that dramatic drop goes largely to women like health worker Foos Muhamed Gudaal (top) and the government officials who had the vision and conviction to set up such a program.
Photograph:
Top: Health worker Foos Muhamed Gudaal at a rural health post in the eastern Somali Region of Ethiopia (Jason Beaubien/NPR)
Pregnant women hear a lot about things they should avoid: alcohol, tobacco, chemical exposures, stress. All of those have the potential to affect a developing fetus. And now scientists are beginning to understand why.
One important factor, they say, is something called epigenetics, which involves the mechanisms that turn individual genes on and off in a cell.
There’s growing evidence that epigenetics is critical in determining a child’s risk of developing problems ranging from autism to diabetes, says Dani Fallin, who studies the genetics of mental disorders at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
Epigenetic control of genes is part of what allows a tiny cluster of identical cells in the womb to grow into a fully formed baby. By switching certain genes on and off, some cells become heart cells while others become brain cells.
It’s a delicate process that can be disrupted by exposure to certain chemicals or hormones, says Susan Kay Murphy, an associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Duke University School of Medicine. And the first week or so after conception appears to be “a particularly vulnerable time where environmental influences can directly affect an epigenetic outcome,” she says.
Murphy’s interest in epigenetics is personal as well as professional. She entered the field in the 1990s after her young son died from a rare form of liver cancer that has been linked to epigenetic changes. She also has a son with autism and a daughter with ADHD.
Did you have a look yet at our last issue? The topic was Mental Health. Works include how your #medicalschools deal with #mentalhealth, #depression, a #shortstory, and some #artworks. Print or digital copies are available on magcloud.com (link in bio). Remember, proceeds are donated to UNICEF. And a reminder that the deadline to submit for the next issue is June 19th. Theme: “Love, Death, and Dying.” However, since “Mental Health” is always an important topic, works will also be accepted on that topic as well! . . . #art #community #health #humanities #latinx #medstudent #physician #healthprofessionals #science #prisonindustrialcomplex #writing #essay #narratives https://www.instagram.com/p/CA1a7tPhI5o/?igshid=1hoktsph7jvcg
Almonds are arguably the best nut to be munching on these days.
You always here non-vegans continually question vegans on how in God’s green Earth are we getting our proper protein content. It is one of those odd questions that despite all the press on protein and the fact that humans, namely Americans, over eat and intake too much protein anyway, that vegans are still stereotyped as lacking…
Diets high in fish do not promote heart heath and may increase risk of heart disease, according to a study in the Canadian Journal of Cardiology.
Researchers conducted a review of ten different studies analyzing the diets and health of Eskimos and Inuits in Greenland and North America. They found that Eskimos in Greenland have similar rates of heart…
Depending on where you live, these are the diseases that will most likely kill you. Using data from the World Health Organization, Simran Khosla at the GlobalPost labeled each nation with the disease that caused the most death in that country.
And it seems like much of the world will succumb to heart disease. Most prevalent in Africa is HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis. You can zoom in on the other regions at GlobalPost.
