Yoga during pregnancy: Many things are safer than we thought

Yoga during pregnancy: Many things are safer than we thought - Prenatal Yoga is usually mild, with certain modified poses or avoided depending on the stage of pregnancy. 

But a new study recently published in the journal Obstetrics & Gynecology, offers encouraging results of many yoga postures can be safe, even during the late stages of pregnancy.

Safety testing of various yoga poses 

For the study, researchers asked 25 women between 35 and 38 weeks of pregnancy to participate in a yoga session. Women with previous yoga experience is included as well as those new to the practice. All the women were generally healthy and free from problems related to pregnancy or other health problems like high blood pressure or gestational diabetes.

The yoga session consists of 26 stations, some of which (such as posture of happy baby corpse pose) that are often avoided during pregnancy. Various poses including balancing poses such as Half Moon, Warrior III, and the tree is modified using blocks, chairs, or wall.

During the session, the researchers were monitoring blood pressure of every woman, heart rate, temperature, oxygen levels, and uterine contractions and fetal heart rate - a measure of the welfare of a child . All the vital signs of the mother and baby were normal during the poses and after the session. There were no knockdowns, injuries or safety issues. 

The researchers also followed up with each participant by email 24 hours after the session. All women reported feeling safe during yoga postures. None had any problems later with contractions, vaginal bleeding, or reduces the movement of the baby.

All the women, except three that describe muscle pain, only expressed positive experiences with yoga session. The researchers concluded that 26 different yoga postures - including those that were previously avoided - were safe for the mother-to-be and their babies. 

Here is a list of the 26 positions of the study. The poses marked with an asterisk (*) was believed to be cons-indicated during pregnancy. 

This study suggests that yoga can be safe in late pregnancy and the scientific evidence increasingly that yoga is a useful and safe tool for reducing stress, anxiety and depression during pregnancy adds.

More than half of all women experience anxiety at some point during pregnancy, and about 13% of pregnant women suffer from clinical depression. Yoga has been shown to relieve stress and anxiety during pregnancy and reduce the levels of cortisol, the stress hormone.

Several studies yoga during pregnancy is also found effective in reducing depression, especially when started early in pregnancy and can be combined with standard treatment of depression. Yoga can also reduce pain and discomfort, as well as improve the quality of life in general during pregnancy. 

Prenatal Yoga is particularly effective as part of an integrated approach that includes breathing exercises, meditation and deep relaxation.

Getting the most out of yoga during pregnancy

Mothers-to-be should focus more on the stability and strength rather than endurance and flexibility. Use changes, carriers, or wall installation for each well supported. Pregnancy hormones loosen the muscles and ligaments, increasing the risk of injury if you push too far in terms of flexibility. 

This is true even in the first quarter. Another hormone called relaxin, which is at its highest level in the first quarter and relaxes the muscles, tendons and ligaments, also culminates in the first quarter. This laxity means you can accidentally over-stretch joints and muscles.

Finally, some forms of yoga done in extreme heat, such as Bikram yoga, where the room can be up to 105 degrees Fahrenheit, are not recommended during pregnancy. 

Currently, there are no studies that can tell us whether the heated yoga is safe for pregnant women. But we know hot yoga tends to raise body temperature, which can pose significant risks to mother and baby. Heat relaxes ligaments and also increases the risk of overheating and dehydration.

Yoga offers many benefits during pregnancy. But if you are pregnant and want to try yoga, not talking to your doctor.
By: Marlynn Wei,MD, JD    

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The Alexander Technique can help (literally) to relax

The Alexander Technique can help (literally) to relax - In the 1890s a Shakespearean actor named F. Matthias Alexander started to discover why his voice is often lost when he performed. (Imagine yourself as a Shakespearean actor, totally dependent on his voice to pay your bills, find you, speechless when necessary to complete!) Needless to say, Alexander had to find out why this was happening.

He began by observing himself in multiple mirrors, while preparing to perform. In fact, it was discovered that something has changed before his speech: He contracted the muscles of the upper part of your body, especially the neck so hard that his whole attitude has changed. He theorized that the loss of voice may be the result of his interrupted position.

Fortunately, his hypothesis proved correct. When he was able to release the tension in your muscles with a variety of movements, not only did their loss of voice of determination, but was able to change the habit he had developed to obtain neck.  

While continuing to refine and improve its methods, Alexander realized they could help others improve their health and wellbeing. Their findings, which have already been codified in the Alexander Technique (AT), are still in use today.

What is the Alexander Technique used today?
 
Today, AT is considered a mental discipline that teaches people to let go of the tension in the body and how to allow the body to move with ease and minimal effort. AT is used to treat a variety of conditions, musculoskeletal pain and repetitive strain injury to breathing problems, loss of voice, and sleep disorders.  

Many artists, musicians, dancers, singers and actors use AT to help improve their performance. The purpose of the AT, ultimately, is to allow people who systematically unlearn maladaptive habits (negative) - which can occur in the way we sit, eat, walk or talk - and instead learn to return the body to a steady state relaxed alignment and balance. 

AT is for you?

But you need not be a musician or dancer for the benefit of AT. This is just an example: You, like most of us live in the world today, spend much of their time on a computer or check their e-mails and texts smartphones. This means that you spend much of their time looking down instead of forward, the way they were designed to support the head vertebrae. 

Keep your head tilted for long periods puts continuous pressure on the large muscles of the neck, which are normally intended to be lax. Conversely, small neck muscles (which are designed to keep the neck vertebrae) are not used and therefore are loose. The result is that the vertebrae lose their support if you find yourself not only with neck stiffness or pain, but perhaps some degeneration of the cervical spine, too.

AT can address this habitual contraction of the neck and teach you to keep your phone, how to position the head, and finally, how to restore a better posture and ease in your body.

Is there science to support?

A recent randomized controlled study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine found that Alexander Technique lessons led to significant reductions in long neck pain 12 months, compared to usual care. (Interestingly, the study also found that acupuncture reduces pain and compared with usual care.)

Another interesting study published in the medical journal BMJ in 2008 tried a variety of treatments for back pain. A total of 579 patients with chronic or recurrent low back pain were randomly divided into four groups. 

The first group received "usual care" of them (for example, they were the control group). The second group received massage. The third was six Alexander Technique lessons. The fourth group took 24 Alexander Technique lessons.  

Half of each group also received a prescription for exercise (especially walking) of a doctor, in addition to a nurse behavioral counseling. The results showed that patients who had lessons with an exercise plan improved more. In addition, the combined response was also the most cost-effective (in particular by taking six lessons combined with an exercise plan).

What does this mean for you?

Supporters of Alexander Technique would say start paying attention. Pay attention to your posture - the way you walk, talk, sit, stand, or generally anything, even lifting a piece of food in his mouth. If you are like most people, your body is probably trapped in tense muscular habits that can cause many problems, headaches back pain, perhaps even anxiety. It may behoove you to unlearn these blocked patterns that can pass through your life easier - and a lot less pain,.

If you are interested in the Alexander Technique, the American Society for the Alexander Technique can help you find an instructor.  
By: Eva Selhub,MD  

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Healing through Music

Healing through Music - The last time I had a mammogram, I have a big surprise - and it was good.  

A string quartet played just outside the gates of breast imaging center, and immediately changed my thoughts "What will they find mammography?" A "Do Schubert or Beethoven?" For when my name was called, he had almost forgotten why I'm here.

The concert was an unexpected work Chartrand and Holly Lorrie Kubicek, therapists and co-coordinator of the Environmental Music in Massachusetts General Hospital. But bring music into hospital rooms is a complementary activity for music therapists. Most of his time is devoted to the use of music to help patients to achieve specific objectives, such as the recovery of their speech after a stroke and reduce the stress of chemotherapy.

Chartrand is a singer and a graduate of the Berklee College of Music. He decided to become a therapist to music when he realized he could use music to help others as he had supported all his life. "The favorite part of my job is to see how big an impact music can have on someone who is not feeling well," she said.

What is music therapy?

Music therapy is a growing field. These certificates are therapists are accomplished musicians who have a deep understanding of how music can evoke emotional responses to relax or stimulate people, or help them heal. Combine this knowledge with his familiarity with a wide variety of musical styles to find the specific type that you can get through a difficult physical rehabilitation session or will guide you in meditation. And they can find their favorite music style, or electro pop and grand opera.

Music therapists know few limits. They can play music for you or with you, or even teach you how to play an instrument. On any given day, the tank can Chartrand carrying a drum, a ukulele or iPad and speakers in the room of a patient. "Technology gives us both access to all types of music that can find and read almost any type of music you like," she said.

Proof of music therapy

A growing body of research shows that music therapy is most appreciated. It can improve the performance and quality of life health in a variety of ways. Here is an example:

Improved invasive procedures. In controlled clinical trials of people with colonoscopies, cardiac angiography and knee surgery, listening to music before your procedure had reduced anxiety and a reduced need for sedatives. Those who listened to music in the operating room reported less discomfort during the procedure. Listening to music in the recovery room under the use of opioid analgesics.

Restore lost his speech. Music therapy can help people who are recovering from a stroke or head trauma that damaged the left area of ​​the brain responsible for speech. Because singing ability comes from the right side of the brain, people can avoid the injury on the left side of his brain thought of singing first and then gradually release the melody.  

Former Congresswoman Gabby Giffords uses this technique so that you can testify before a congressional committee two years after a gunshot wound in his brain destroyed his ability to speak.

Reducing side effects of cancer therapy. Music reduces anxiety associated with chemotherapy and radiotherapy. You can also relieve nausea and vomiting in patients receiving chemotherapy.

AIDS pain relief. Music therapy has been tested on patients from those suffering from severe acute pain in people with chronic pain of arthritis. In general, music therapy reduces the perception of pain, reduces the amount of necessary drugs against pain, helps relieve depression, and gives people a greater sense of control over their pain. 

Improving the quality of life for dementia patients. Because of the ability to interact with the music it remains intact until the disease process, music therapy can help you remember the memories, reduce agitation, communication aid, and improve physical coordination.
 
How to find a music therapist

If you face a procedure or disease, or just want relief from stress of everyday life and helps to stick to an exercise program of a music therapist may be able to help. You can find one on the website of the American Music Therapy Association. 
By: Beverly Merz 
 

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If you think you are depressed, do not wait - know

October 8, 2015 is the national screening depression. The first day was in October 1990, when my colleague Douglas Jacobs, MD followed by his belief that the detection of mental disorders should not be different from the detection of other physical illnesses.  

Since this inaugural event 25 years ago, the program has significantly expanded, and similar awareness workshops for a variety of mental disorders, such as disorders and problems with alcohol eat, now held throughout the year . These events are organized detection in the community, in schools, at work and in the army.

Sadness affects all our lives at different times, but depression can have a tremendous depth and power to stay. It is more than a passing sadness and melancholy fight, or feeling "down". It can make you feel overwhelmed and can harm the joy of previously enjoyable activities. It has physical and emotional symptoms,. You may find that you can not sleep or eat, you are tired, or headaches or other pains that appear to have arisen without cause.

If you have had depression or been near someone who has, you know that this disease can be raised or ignored at will. A man in the grip of depression can not solve their problems by showing a little spine. Can make a depressed woman who is simply getting rid of the blues.

There are too many people struggling silently with depression. Do not be among them. Talk to your doctor, attend a screening for depression event, or using an online tool. There are medications and treatments that can help. Effective treatment can lighten your mood, strengthen their relationships with their relatives, let you rediscover the satisfaction of their interests and hobbies, and you will feel more like yourself again.

Research continues to pave the way for better treatment of mood disorders. Genetic discoveries and brain imaging help physicians better understand the biology of depression, what you can do, the more accurate personalized treatment possible.

At that time, to find real and lasting relief, you may need patience and perseverance - it can be a difficult task when you feel depressed. Some people find a drug or therapy is working for them immediately. But for many others, so the treatment lasts several turns and an occasional visit. You may need to try several drugs, altering a dose, or try a new therapist. Side effects, health insurance coverage and stigma associated with having a mood problem can be obstacles, but you can overcome them. There are even self-management strategies (including exercise, diet and meditation) and alternative therapies that help heal.

You can learn more about the National Day by organizing Depression Screening Screening for Mental Health (SMH). SMH helps organize depression screening events around the country - you can find a list of participants in the state here. For more information on depression, take our survey. You can also find information myriad of mental health problems in www.helpguide.org. 
By: Michael Craig Miller, M,D.

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What is Yoga: Definition of yoga and six branches of yoga

What comes to mind when you hear the word Yoga?

Well, if you think of women in poses that seem impossible, then you can get an idea of ​​what yoga is. But it is just that - an idea. You have a long way to go before we fully understand Yoga.

Yoga is an ancient Indian body of knowledge that goes back more than 500 "class =" related_products_container "0 years. The word" yoga "comes from the Sanskrit word" Yuj "which means" to unite or integrate. "Yoga is then the union of his own consciousness of a person and the universal consciousness.

Ancient yogis were convinced that this man is in harmony with itself and its environment, must integrate the body, mind and spirit. For these three to be integrated, emotion, action, and intelligence must be in balance. Yogis formulated a way to achieve and maintain this balance and that is done through exercise, breathing and meditation - the three main Yoga structures.

In yoga, the body is treated with care and respect because it is the maininstrument for work and human growth. Yoga exercises improve circulation, stimulates the abdominal organs, and put pressure on the glandular system of the body, which can usually lead to better health.

Breathing techniques based on the concept that breath is the source of life developed. In Yoga, students gain breathing control as they slowly increase their breathing. By focusing on your breathing, they prepare minds for the next step - meditation.

There is a general misconception that in meditation, the mind has to go blank. It should not be so. In meditation, students bring the activities of the mind to the point resulting in a 'quiet' mind. By designing physical poses and breathing techniques that consciousness of our body, Yoga helps us focus and relieves us from our everyday stress develop.

Six branches of yoga

Yoga Hatha or Yoga postures
Hatha Yoga is perhaps the path of yoga that is most familiar as this is the most popular branch of yoga in the West. This branch of Yoga uses physical postures or asanas, breathing techniques or pranayama and meditation to achieve better health and spirituality. There are many styles within the route - Iyengar, Integral, Ashtanga, Kripalu and Jiva Mukti to name a few.

If you want a peaceful mind and good health to go with the body, Hatha Yoga may just be the way for you.

Bhakti Yoga or yoga of devotion
Bhakti Yoga is the path followed in India. Such is the way of the heart and dedication. Yogis who practice this branch sees the "One" or the Divine in everyone and everything. Bhakti Yoga teaches a person to have devotion to the "One" or Brahma, love and acceptance to develop one person for everything.

Raja Yoga or Yoga of Self-Control
Raja means "royal". This road is considered the king of yoga and this may be due to the fact that most of its practitioners are members of religious and spiritual orders. Raja Yoga is based on the teachings of the Eight Limbs of Yoga found in the Yoga Sutras. 

A Raja Yogi sees the self as central, and as such, respect for oneself and for all creation are essential for this route. Achieving self-respect by learning first to be masters of themselves. If you want to learn discipline, then Raja Yoga would perfectly suit that need.

Jnana Yoga or Yoga of the mind
Jnana Yoga is the path of Yoga that deals mainly with the mind, and as such, focuses on human intelligence. Jnana Yogis consider wisdom and intelligence as important, and they aim to unify the two to surpass limitations. Wishing to gain knowledge, they are open to other philosophies and religions because they believe that the open and rational mind is crucial to know the mind.

Karma Yoga or Yoga of Service
Karma yoga is the path of service in this way, it is estimated that the current situation is based on its past actions. So by doing selfless service now, you choose a future that is free from negativity and selfishness. Karma Yogis change their attitude towards the benefit and in the process, change their souls, which leads to a change in their fate.  

Tantra Yoga or Yoga of Rituals 
Perhaps the most misunderstood of all the paths, Tantra Yoga is about using rituals to experience what is sacred. Although sex is a part of it, sex is not the same thing as this road it is to find what is sacred in everything we do. Tantra Yogis must possess certain qualities like purity, humility, devotion, dedication to his Guru, cosmic love, and truth, among other things.

There are still many misconceptions about yoga, for example, yoga is a religion. Yoga is not a religion. It is rather a set of techniques for us to find spirituality. In fact, yoga is practiced by many people of different religions like Christians, Jews, Buddhists and Muslims.

Another misconception is that yoga is an exercise, a way to keep fit. It is partly true, but if you think that yoga is only then you are mistaken. Yoga develops from a weak body is an obstacle to spiritual growth. It is not just to focus on the physical, but the mental and spiritual aspects. 

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On a stretch: the benefits of yoga can be heard heart

As an avid yoga long, I'm always happy to know recently attributed to this ancient practice benefits. Yoga for a few hours each week helps to feel calmer and more balanced, both physically and mentally. Now new research suggests that my habit can also help my heart.

A recent study of yoga and cardiovascular disease, published in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology suggests that yoga may help lower risk than a conventional exercise, such as heart disease fast walk.

As I wrote in the April issue of the Harvard Heart Letter, reviewed studies examining different types of yoga, including softer and stronger forms. Participants were young and healthy elderly individuals with special health problems. In general, people who took yoga classes reported improvements on a number of factors that affect the risk of heart disease. They lost an average of 5 pounds, shaved five points off your blood pressure and reduced their levels of bad LDL cholesterol by 12 points.

The results did not surprise Dr. Gloria Yeh, Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and co-author of the study. "Yoga is unique because it incorporates exercise, breathing and meditation," says Dr. Yeh. As she explains, each of these elements positively affects cardiovascular risk factors, so that the combination of them was necessary to make a profit. In addition, two other ancient practices that link, slow, fluid movements with deep breathing - tai chi and qigong - seem to offer similar benefits.

Performing a variety of postures and stretching exercises yoga smooth muscles. This allows them to be more sensitive to insulin, it is important to control blood sugar. Deep breathing can help lower blood pressure. Notice the calming meditation, yoga another key, calm the nervous system and relieves stress. These improvements can help prevent heart disease, and can certainly help people with cardiovascular problems.Most yoga classes end with a few minutes of meditation, he often does when he's lying on his back, eyes closed is. This position is called savasana. Some teachers say that yoga stretches and postures release energy, which makes it easier to relax into a meditative state. Certainly I think that's true. When I meditate, I still remember that one of my favorite teachers used to say at the beginning of savasana "Nowhere to go nothing to do Relax ..."

Because yoga is more interesting than many other types of exercise and is easily modified, is perfect for people who would otherwise be wary of exercise, says Dr. Yeh. It can be a good addition to cardiac rehabilitation can help people recover from a heart attack or heart surgery. Christie Kuo, Harvard nurse affiliated with the Massachusetts General Hospital, integrates yoga cardiac rehabilitation and prevention of heart disease he teaches.

Muscle stretch encouraged by yoga postures is a good way to cool off after walking, cycling, or other aerobic conditioning, Kuo says, while deep breathing and meditation help. "Paying attention to your breathing is important for part of the rehabilitation of strength training. And attention and awareness of meditation can help deal with the stress of their disease, to eat healthier and sleep more soundly, everything that helps your recovery, "she said.  

If you are new to yoga, consider starting a beginner or a kind of "soft", especially if you are over 65 or have a medical condition. Two of the most popular forms of yoga taught in the United States, Hatha and Iyengar, are good choices for beginners. Hatha yoga is gentle, slow movement, smooth, with a focus on integrating breathing with movement. Iyengar is similar, but focuses more on body alignment and balance, and use accessories like belts, blankets and blocks.

The National Center for Complementary and Holistic Health offers advice on choosing a yoga teacher or alternative therapy. I think a good teacher always asks, "Are there injuries or conditions that you must know before you start?" Best interview with each student personally when people roll their mats and configure. If possible, try a few different classes with different teachers to find the best option for you. 

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