Signs of Mental Illness

Whether it is depression, anxiety, or something else, mental illness is not something to take lightly. Individuals who feel they might be struggling with some type of issue with their mental health should reach out for assistance and visit a doctor or mental health professional, such as a psychologist or psychiatrist, as soon as they can. Doing so can greatly assist in the identification of what is wrong, if anything, and can help with starting effective treatment sooner. Individuals may also want to consider speaking to a trusted friend or other loved one, particularly if they are nervous about seeking professional help, as they can be a great source of support.

Prolonged Sadness
Feeling down every now and again is normal. Everyone has bad days and there are always going to be some rough patches throughout life. Yet, if an individual has felt disengaged for an extended period with no true reason for feeling this way, they may have something more serious they should be treated for. If at any point individuals feel their feelings are overtaking their life and are more than they can handle, they should seek out help right away and take control.


Extreme Highs And Lows
If frequent mood changes could be a serious sign an individual has a mental health condition. Someone's emotions are likely to change throughout the day, but if an individual finds themselves bringing these emotions to the extreme and doing so quite frequently, they may be dealing with a mental health disorder like bipolar disorder. With this condtion, patients may sometimes feel over-excited about things and lose sleep due to it, acting impulsively, and experiencing racing thoughts. Other times, getting out of bed may seem like an impossibility. There are medication and lifestyle tactics patients can implement to help cope with this disorder.


Social Withdrawal
Social activity is important and keeps the mind stimulated and engaged on a regular basis. When individuals find themselves feeling down more regularly, it is often easy to withdraw from others and avoid going out at all possible costs. In doing this, individuals are enabling themselves to shut down and sink deeper into their feelings of depression and loneliness. Patients experiencing this, beyond seeking professional assistance, should often try to set small goals to lessen their isolation. These small goals include making a phone call or going on a short walk with a friend. Any little bit helps.


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Psychedelics and Consciousness

SOURCE:  Johns Hopkins Medicine 

Psychedelic drugs like psilocybin, an ingredient found in so-called magic mushrooms, have shown promise in treating a range of addictions and mental health disorders. Yet, there’s something mysterious and almost mystical about their effects, and they are commonly believed to provide unique insights into the nature of consciousness.

Now, a new study by Johns Hopkins Medicine researchers addresses the question of whether psychedelics might change the attribution of consciousness to a range of living and nonliving things.

The findings, published March 28 in Frontiers in Psychology, reveal that higher ratings of mystical type experiences, which often include a sense that everything is alive, were associated with greater increases in the attribution of consciousness.

“This study demonstrates that when beliefs change following a psychedelic experience, attributions of consciousness to various entities tend to increase,” says Sandeep Nayak, M.D., postdoctoral research fellow at the Johns Hopkins Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research and one of the researchers involved in the study.

“It’s not clear why, whether that might be an innate drug effect, cultural factors, or whether psychedelics might somehow expose innate cognitive biases that attribute features of the mind to the world.”

For the study, the researchers analyzed data gathered between August 2020 and January 2021 on 1,606 people who had had a belief-changing psychedelic experience. Participants averaged 35 years of age and were predominately white (89%), male (67%) and from the United States (69%).  READ MORE...

Shorter Work Week

More than ever, workers want to work fewer hours, saying they can be just as effective in less time – and happier, too. They may be on to something.

We’re living in an age of radical transformation in the workplace. Options like all-remote or hybrid – which were completely unthinkable for most people just two years ago – are now becoming part of work mainstream. 

The idea of shrinking the workweek is also gaining traction, particularly in light of recent examples of workforces who have successfully trialed a reduced-hours’ week.

A shorter workweek could take various forms. There’s the four-day week, where you reduce your working hours by 20%. There are different models; everyone at a company might take the same day off, or people chose the structure that works for them, like taking two afternoons off. 

Or you might just reduce the workweek by a certain number of hours, from 40 down to 36, for example. A commonality across all models is that you’re not cramming your previous work span into a shorter timeframe, like working 40 hours in four days; you are removing a portion of your total work time for the week. Most importantly, salaries remain the same.

Experts and workers alike are debating the idea, because the pandemic has forced us to take a long, hard look at the modern workplace, and associated themes like work-life balance, mental health and worker flexibility. 

Proponents argue that a reduced-hours working model can help address many current work negatives, making employees more productive, healthier and happier.  READ MORE

Gut Health

SCIENTISTS DISCOVER A “MIND-BLOWING” LINK BETWEEN GUT HEALTH AND AGE REVERSAL

“By restoring health in the microbiome we’re able to reverse age-related cognitive deficits,” scientists say about their new study in mice.

TO STAVE OFF THE EFFECTS OF AGING, ONE MIGHT USE RETINOL CREAMS OR PLAY SUDOKU.

But maybe we should be focusing on something different altogether.

Scientists have known for the past two decades that the metropolis home to trillions of bacteria in your belly — the gut microbiome — is also central to mental health, the immune system, and more.

One of the latest studies in gut health scrutinizes how our microbiome affects aging in mice, using a surprising transplant.

The research, published Monday in the journal Nature Aging, reveals that older mice who have received gut microbiota transplants from young mice show improved brain function and behavior.

This mouse model offers powerful insight into how diet and what populates our stomachs affect what our brains look like in old age.  READ MORE

WHAT’S NEW — Researchers have found that when they transplant microbiota of young mice into the intestines of older mice, the older mice display improved cognitive function. This is the first study that shows the correlation between transplantation of a gut microbiome from a younger mouse into an older one with improved brain abilities in the older mice.