Good News for Worriers Who Suffer from Depression

Good News for Worriers Who Suffer from Depression


Reference：
Good News for Worriers Who Suffer from Depression, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Retrieved April 15, 2010, from http://www.apa.org/news/psycport/PsycPORTArticle.aspx?id=knightridder_2010_04_15__0000-7012-SL-Good-news-for-worriers-who-suffer-from-depression-0415.xml

Summary：
Researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign found that worrying action can help reduce the effects of depression. Through the searcher of brain, researchers found that depression and anxiety are common co-diagnoses, and anxiousness can causes patterns of brain activity in the right inferior temporal lobe and chronic worry can causes patterns of brain in the left frontal lobe region, a place which is connected to language and depression has been advanced revealed to activate the brain's right frontal lobe. For this study, researcher found that there is an increased activity in the area of the brain when people feel anxiety, and this phenomenon is also commonly happened in depression. So the research suggests that sometimes worrying is a good thing to do for people because it can counterbalance the depressed emotion and reduce its effects.

Reaction：
With the development of society, more and more people feel high pressure from their life or careers that lead to production of some negative sentiments, like anxiousness, fidgeting and testiness. Meanwhile, a new study result of depression has founded that worrying is not a bad phenomenon any more, and can reduce the effects of depression. For example, someone took a test yesterday, but he doesn’t know whether he can get a high score in this test, so he feels a little worried about this test. But he can accept the situation easily when he knows he didn’t pass the test, because he already had anticipated this result in his mind before. Sometimes, a little worrying can help us accept the bad news with anticipation and keep us far from depression.

Vocabulary：
Combination: together
Panic: a sudden, strong feeling of anxiety or fear that prevents reasonable thought and action and may spread to influence many people
Arousal: not always sexual, but it sounds sexual
Chronic: A chronic illness or problem continues for a long time.
Frontal: a frontal attack/assault when you criticize or attack someone or something in a very strong and direct way
Diagnosis: when a doctor says what is wrong with someone who is ill
Patterns: way a particular way that something is often done or re

Self-Control, and Lack of Self-Control, Is Contagious

Self-Control, and Lack of Self-Control, Is Contagious
Reference:
Adapted from materials provided by University of Georgia. Self-control -- and the lack of -- is contagious. Science daily, Retrieved Jan 18, 2010, from http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/01/100113172359.htm

Summary:
Researchers have found that self-control is contagious to people because people tend to mimic the behavior of those around them and self-control is contagious across behaviors. Researchers design five different ways to measure the self-control of people a. the researchers ask volunteers who were randomly assigned to think about a friend with either good or bad self-control. On a later test of self-control, those who wrote about friends with good self-control did the best, while those who wrote about friends with bad self-control did the worst. Finally, the result of this study demonstrate that self-control is contagious because being exposed to people with either good or bad self-control influences how accessible thoughts about self-control are.

Reaction:
Self-control is a concept of social psychology that frequently used. It says that people still can control themselves behaviors and decision under influence and temptation of the outside world. The self-control ability of people is different and each person’s self –control resources are limited, when the self-control resources are consumed by something, we are likely to do something impulsive and irrational, lying is a typical example, if everybody lie to answer questions ,maybe you can also choose to lie. Although others’ ideas can affect you and it also can reduce your self-control.So self-control is not only depending on who you are but also depending on how about the people around you. But I think people should persist their own ideas that they think right even if when they facing some opposition.

Vocabulary:
Exert - to cause yourself to make an effort
Mimic - to copy the way someone speak or moves
Obesity - fat
Contagious – able to be caught by touching someone with disease
Persisted – to continue something in a determined way even when facing difficulties
Randomly – chosen on regular
Interaction - correlation
Subliminally – not recognized or understood by the conscious mind ,but still having an influence on it
Ultimately - finally
Temptation – attract people

Loneliness Linked to High Blood Pressure

Loneliness Linked to High Blood Pressure
By Psych Central News Editor Reviewed by John M. Groho l, Psy .D. on March 19, 2010

Loneliness shares a close association with high blood pressure according to new research.
Researchers at the University of Chicago found that feeling lonely increases the blood pressure rate of individuals 50 years and older. The scientists examined the possibility that loneliness could bring on feelings of depression and stress, both of which are known to increase blood pressure levels.
The study examined 229 people between the ages of 50 and 68 and found that there was a connection between their blood pressure levels and need for companionship. While researchers were able to make a direct connection between the two, it still took a number of years before the correlation was noticed.
“The increase associated with loneliness wasn’t observable until two years into the study, but then continued to increase until four years later,” researcher Louise Hawley said.
This link is independent of age as well as other factors which cause blood pressure such as smoking, demographic difference like income and race, alcohol and body mass index (BMI).
Dr. Hawley concluded that individuals’ fears of not having social connections could play into their increased blood pressure levels.
“Unfortunately, there aren’t a lot of people yet who have done loneliness interventions to any great success. So even if we know that we should be doing something about it, to find somebody who’s effective at helping may be a challenge,” Dr. Hawley says.
Researchers suspect that evolution may explain the link between loneliness and high blood pressure.
“Loneliness reflects a very fundamental need to feel connected,” Dr. Hawkley says.
“In evolutionary terms, you had to have the sense that you had your back covered. You traveled in groups, in tribes, in families. Anything to fend off threats from the environment… And that, I think, persists. We still need to feel like we belong, like we’re connected.”
Nutritional supplements such as potassium may help lower blood pressure.
The study appears in the March issue of the journal Psychology and Aging.
Source: University of Chicago

Reference:
John, M. (2010, March 19). Loneliness Linked to high blood pressure. Psych Central News Editor，Retrieved March 29, 2010, from http://psychcentral.com/news/2010/03/19/loneliness-linked-to-high-blood-pressure/12275.html.

Summary:
Loneliness can make people feel depression and stress, both of which could lead to the blood pressure increasing. Accord to survey 229 people that the ages of them are from 50 to 68, researchers at the University of Chicago found that there was a connection between blood pressure levels and need for relationship. But this phenomenon cannot be observed until 2 years, the blood pressure increasing will appear after four years later. So we need keep us contact with the others. However, some people don’t pay attention to it.

Reaction:
Everybody knows smoking, drinking a lot and some physical reasons could lead to bloody pressure increasing. But they cannot recognize that loneliness also can increase the bloody pressure. Because we maybe feel sad, boring, nothing is interesting or don’t want to do anything when we feel loneliness. If you always have the kind of negative feeling, you could feel so heavy stress that your blood pressure would be increased. I consider that human cannot living without relationship, we should always communicate with the other people, get some information from people, or share happy or sorrow with your friends. People can relieve their stress through the connection, which is benefit for our healthy, no matter the mental or physical.

Vocabulary:
Individuals – personal
Companionship – friendship
Correlation – relationship
Demographic – statistics of population
Alcohol –an element in drinking
Fundamental – basic
Fend off – resist
Persists – never give up