"In the health area of psychology at Rice, we're very focused on the intersection of health behavior, psychology and medicine," said Christopher Fagundes, an assistant professor of psychology and co-author of the paper. "One thing that we're particularly interested in is how stress affects the immune system, which in turn affects diseases and mental health outcomes, the focus of this paper."
The authors found that in addition to being linked to numerous physical health issues, including cancer and diabetes, systemic inflammation is linked to mental health issues such as depression.
Among patients suffering from clinical depression, concentrations of two inflammatory markers, CRP and IL-6, were elevated by up to 50 percent.
Fagundes said chronic inflammation is most common in individuals who have experienced stress in their lives, including lower socio-economic status or those who experienced abuse or neglect as children.
Other contributing factors are a high-fat diet and high body mass index.
"In the health area of psychology at Rice, we're very focused on the intersection of health behavior, psychology and medicine," said Christopher Fagundes, an assistant professor of psychology and co-author of the paper. "One thing that we're particularly interested in is how stress affects the immune system, which in turn affects diseases and mental health outcomes, the focus of this paper."
The authors found that in addition to being linked to numerous physical health issues, including cancer and diabetes, systemic inflammation is linked to mental health issues such as depression.
Among patients suffering from clinical depression, concentrations of two inflammatory markers, CRP and IL-6, were elevated by up to 50 percent.
Fagundes said chronic inflammation is most common in individuals who have experienced stress in their lives, including lower socio-economic status or those who experienced abuse or neglect as children.
Other contributing factors are a high-fat diet and high body mass index.
one of the nasty results of a acid diet (sugar, mammal/fowl products, etc) is that the body will buffer the serum pH on the low side to stay within the body's healthy pH range by robbing calcium from bones and teeth.
statins-for-cholesterol is a hugely profitable business pushed hard for decades by BigPharma, going back to a single faulty "study" in the 1950s, after Eisenhower's heart attack.
My opinion is that statins-for-cholesterol, obsession with cholesterol is as big of a medical scam, a BigPharma misdirection-for-profit, as BigFood's "low-fat" and "whole grain", and gluten scams.
Cholesterol is essential, so much so 90% is produced by the liver without any dietary consumption.
Cholesterol + lipids + calcium sticking to arteries is a reaction to an injury, mostly from systemic, low-grade inflammation. High blood pressure also injures arteries, also causing cholesterol plaque.
Some people with high cholesterol have no CVD, while some people with low cholesterol die from CVD. Maybe cholesterol isn't the problem?
Aspirin's help with CVD was initially thought to be due it blood-thinning effect, getting blood through narrowed arteries, but then its anti-inflammatory effect was more reasonable. btw, statins are also anti-inflammatory (aspirin and similar are cheaper).
Systemic inflammation reduced by aspirin (or statins), less injury to arteries, less plaque.
Systemic, low-grade inflammation also reduces insulin sensitivity, so the body produces more insulin, which is a really nasty hormone. result? adult-onset Type II diabetes.
So "I think" watching inflammatory bio-markers is more important than watching cholesterol, as one could take away from the New Yorker article.
An alkalizing, anti-inflammatory diet is key, complemented by both moderate resistance work and moderate cardio exercise, which also reduce inflammation.
"life-style" of diet and exercise is your best "Heal Thyself" strategy, not BigPharma.
btw, chronic, systemic, low-grade inflammation causes chronic high-levels of cortisone (derived from cholesterol) to reduce the inflammation, and wreaks havoc on the immune system, which of course causes inflammation as a response to injury or foreign matter.
The Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, trained as a physicist, welcomed, encouraged Western science to validate Transcendental Meditation, a mechanical mantra repetition technique, with the stress on lack of effort which is opposed to mindfulness, concentration, self-observation, and other effortful techniques.
Electro-encephalographs of TM meditators, after just a few weeks of initiation into TM technique, show the various brain waves frequencies spreading from back to front, plus left-right hemispheric synchrony, and increasing in amplitude. This behaviour was seen a few decades ago, and is even more verified lately as detectors and signal processing advanced.
Was do the data mean? That's less "scientific", but clearly something is happening, and subjective reports are that it's a very positive experience with benefits that last outside of meditation.
Why does this behavior persist, is repeatable across many TM meditators, even neophyte meditators? It suggests, verifies even, that the TM technique recognizes inherent properties, abilities, behavior of the human brain.
Again, the benefits, if any, meditative sessions causing whole-brain wave synchrony, coherence, and increased wave amplitude? You'll have to ask TM meditators.
Banks pocket, depend heavily on $30B/year on bank account overdrafts alone, and have supported smartcards in Europe and around the planet for 30+ years.
Retailers prefer to be cracked (Target, etc) rather than protect themselves with better equipment and serious IT defenses.
Typical financial (payment) services: sh!tt!est possible product for lowest possible investment.
https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/579160-stunning-sur...