DEPRESSION, The Disease Men Don't Talk About (PART 2)

WHILE alcohol can cause obvious changes in mood and behaviour, the effect of nicotine and some other drugs may be less conspicious. Not long before the first game of the 1997 season, American baseball player Pete Harnisch quit chewing tobacco. In a few days he noticed that his energy and his sense of humour were vanishing. Over five or six nights, Harnisch quit chewing tobacco. In a few days he noticed that his energy and his sense of humour were vanishing. Over five or six nights, Harnisch got no more than 20 hours of sleep. Then he began to lose weight.


Finally, exhausted and worried, he went to a doctor. Tests showed no disease, but the doctor suspected that his problem was a chemical imbalance, perhaps related to nicotine withdrawal, and prescribed an antidepressant. Within a couple of months, Harnisch was his old self again.


The Dangers Accelerate

LEAVING DEPRESSION untreated can be fatal. "There is a 15-per-cent risk of suicide with untreated depression," says Dr.Merry Miller, associate professor of psychiatry at East Tennessee State University. "Men are more likely than women to choose a lethal method  -- like shooting themselves -- if they are thinking about suicide."


In the television film Dead Blue, American TV reporter Mike Wallace speaks eloquently of the suicidal he had during a bout of major depression. "This cloud descends upon you again," Wallace says in the documentary. "And you really do begin to think about how to get rid of this pain, this shame, this fraud, this endless darkness."


It was only after he returned ill from an assignment in famineravaged Ethiopia that he got help. Physically depleted, he checked into New York's Lenox Hill Hospital. There he was diagnosed with depression and put on antidepressants.


Depression can shorten men's lives in other ways as well. A 40-year American study found that men who have suffered from depression have more than double the risk of developing heart disease. A Swedish study showed that, even after excluding suicide, depressive disorders were associated with death rates on a par with those for cancer, diabetes and heart disease. Another long-term study, published in the American Journal of Psychiatry, indicated that the bodies of depressed men seem to age at an accelerated rate.


How to Recognise the Symptoms


A TEMPORARY DOWNTURN in mood in response to unhappy events is common, even appropriate. That's not depression. In depression, the duration and intensity of the mood is much greater than a passing episode of feeling down.


Watch out for these symptoms in your mate: a bad or sad mood that continues for two weeks or more, or an inability to enjoy the things that usually give him pleasure (a condition known as anhedonia). Depression is especially likely if either of the above is accompanied by four or more of the following:


1. Excessive sleepiness or insomnia
2. Appetite changes
3. Fatigue, lethargy or apathy
4. Feelings of excessive or inappropriate guilt, of worthlessness and of hopelessness
5. Forgetfulness, indecisiveness or lack of concentration
6. Thoughts of, or attempts at, committing suicide.


Call your local hospital or mental-health professional. And if someone you care about starts talking about death or suicide, get him to an emergency room.


Treatments That Work


CERTAIN TYPES of psychotherapy often help. In major depression, doctors will usually prescribe anti-depressants as well, which work by keeping more of the mood-modulating neurotransmitters circulating within the brain. The antidepressant bupropion is also used for people who want to stop smoking. It seems to dampen nicotine cravings and moderate nicotine-withdrawal symptoms.


For men whose depression is traced to testosterone deficiency, doctors can prescribe testosterone-replacement therapy via injections or skin patches similar to the ones used to replace oestrogen in women.


If testosterone enhances mood, what about testosterone for men whose depression is due to other causes? Katznelson doesn't recommend it. Testosterone can stimulate the growth of a previously undetected prostate cancer, and therefore should be administered only when indicated for the treatment of an actual deficiency.


THE IMPORTANT THING to remember is that depression is not a sign of weakness, and it's not just a women's problem. It's an illness, just like heart disease, diabetes and flu. And, like other illnesses, it can be treated. No-one has to tough it out alone.

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DEPRESSION, The Disease Men Don't Talk About (PART 1)

Unexplained anger or apathy may signal something even deeper


Carrie McIntyre and Damon Thompson were eagerly planning their future together. The young couple had good jobs and were sports enthusiats. Damon was an avid basketball player and a competitive cyclist and golfer. But when his employer announced a downsizing, he started to worry that he might be fired. Gradually he began to withdraw, declining social invitations and refusing to play sports. Instead he watched TV for hours on end.


CARRIE CHALKED UP his moods to job concerns and thought they would pass. But months later when Damon hadn't been dismissed, he was still lethargic and cold. When Carrie tried to find out what was wrong, all he would say was, "Nothing."


Damon's career worries had triggered a bout of depression that he couldn't shake, even when its cause was gone. But instead of showing Carrie he needed her, he shunned her. To Carrie, his behaviour made no sense at all. Eventually she broke off their relationship.


"Women in our culture know they are distressed and they reach out for help," says Terrence Real, a family therapist and author of I don't Want to Talk About It. "men express depression differently," he adds.

Depression afflicts more than 33 million people in Asia and the Western Pacific, according to the World Health Organisation. The WHO's 1999 World Health Report says approximately 6 per cent of all women and about 3 per cent of men worldwide suffer from depression --- but some researchers question the low number for men. "Men are less likely than women to seek mental-health treatment in general," says Michael Addis, assistant professor of psychology at Clark University in Worcester, Massachussets. The tendency to though it out rather than ask for help is just one of several reasons why experts believe the statistics are artificially low. Men express emotional pain differently from women, so their symptoms are not always recognised and their depression goes undectected. Fortunately, however, when the condition is recognised, there are many ways it can be successfully treated.


Feeling Down? Why It's Different for Men


COMMUNICATIONS EXECUTIVE David Binder couldn't sleep and had no desire for sex. He vaguely worried about his loss of libido, but decided that source of his problem was chronic sleeplessness. His lack of emotion was such that even when his marriage ended, he barely seemed to care. His career also ceased to matter to him.


The problem was not a sleep disorder, however. While the outward signs - insomnia, apathy, lost libido --- didn't match the tearful, unhappy state often associated with the disorder, his problem was depression, and it lasted for about five years before a doctor diagnosed and then successfully treated it with antidepressants.


Most people assume sadness always accompanies depression. But that's not necessarily true for men. "With men, you may see more of the angry and irritable depression than the typical sad depression that we are used to seeing in women," notes Kenneth Carter, assistant professor of psychology at Emory University's Oxford College in Atlanta.


While depressed women tend to cling to sources of comfort and turn their angst against themselves, depressed men often do the opposite, says Real. They may isolate themselves from family and friends and act aggressively. "Men may strike out at their wives, children and coworkers," Real explains.


Societal norms can exacerbate these destructive behaviours, say Addis. "We do not encourage men to express their feelings or to seek help, but rather to deal with it independently, 'like a man.'"


What cause male depression in the first place? Neurotransmitters, including serotonin, norepinephrine and dopamine, which relay signals from one brain cell to the next, play key roles. If, because of a genetic abnormality or other cause, neurotransmitter stores are affected, we may suffer depression or any of a number of other psychological problems.


In some cases of mild depression, says Harvard Medical School endocrinologist Laurence Katznelson, the cause may be testosterone deficiency, which can bring on classic symptoms such as fatigue, lack of initiative and sexual difficulties.


Hormones are only part of the story, of course. As with depressed women, a man's negative life experience  - job loss, rejection in love - can devastate the mood and affect neurotransmitter flow. "You take a perfectly normal person and put him under stress, you'll produce biological abnormalities that can be treated biologically," says Real.


Alcohol can boost moods temporarily, which may be why some people with depression drink. But heavy drinking itself may produce or worsen symptoms of depression. According to the US National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, men are two to three times more likely than women to become alcoholics.


to be continued - DEPRESSION, The Disease Men Don't Talk About (PART 2)

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Some Prohibitions After Having a Meal

Keeping the health is not just fixated on watching the type of food. More than that,  you have to watch what should be done and should be abandoned

after having meal. If we observe properly, things that should be abandoned,

you will feel more the benefit from the food that you eat.

SMOKING

Imagine! Smoking alone is harmful to the body especially if you do this after a meal. Based on research, smoking one cigarette after a meal equivalent to smoking ten sticks. Thus, the possibility of cancer is much greater.

EATING FRUIT

So far people having a wrong perception about this one. 

Most people eat fruit once regarded as a tradition and 

they believe the fruit as a dessert. In fact, eating fruit after having a meal will make the stomach full of air or bloating.


But that does not mean you should not seek a way. 

Well, you could try to eat fruit with a lag time of 1-2 hours 

after eating. And don't you eat fruit one hour before meals, this will make your stomach full and can not eating a bit much.

DRINKING TEA

Based on research, tea leaves have a high acid content. This causes the protein content in foods difficult to digest. Apart from that, drinking tea after eating can cause a barrier to the absorption of substances in the body up to 80 percent. In fact, as we know, iron is needed for the growth of the quality of the human body.

LOOSEN BELT

This is a trivial but often done by most people. Perhaps you mean that the food intake can be much more and you do not feel stiff. Therefore, you loosen the belt. Did You Know? Loosen the belt can cause the bowel twisted and blocked.

SHOWER

Although not many people do this, sometimes there are some people are thinking about doing a shower after eating. In the morning most people prefer to eat first instead of a bath for the reason after eating the stomach is certainly getting full and desire to defecate greater. So you think to take a bath and at once defecate.

In fact, bathing is done after a meal will increase blood flow to the hands, feet and body that cause the amount of blood around the stomach will continue to decrease. This will weaken the digestive system in the stomach.

WALK

One more thing you should really avoid. Have you heard the story about people who are following the road race and marathon running motion suddenly vomited middle of the road? Yes, that is one reason why you can not walk or moreover 

run immediately after having a meal. Walking will cause the digestive system is unable to absorb nutrients from food that you eat.


DIRECT SLEEP
One of the most difficult thing to avoid is the feeling of drowsiness after meals. Moreover, if the food you just consumed is very satisfactory of the abdomen in terms of is very filling. However, try not to follow your drowsiness. Sleeping after eating made a food can not be digested properly. As a result, the intestinal getting bloating and the inflammation happens.


DRINKING COLD WATER
Last thing is that many people do not realize is the drink of cold water. Cold temperatures caused ice which is condense with the water able to freeze foods, especially those containing oils (fat will be frozen). Until finally it can build up in the intestines and cause the narrowing of the digestive ducts and lead to the obesity. Well, for that from now on try changing the ice water that you normally drink with drinking warm water.

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