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August 8, 2011  In This Issue... - Core Fitness -- the Key to a Strong, More Flexible Body
- Can Antidepressants Help with Stroke Recovery?
- Drug-Free Treatment Reverses Even Bone-on-Bone Arthritis...
- Are You Destined For Happiness? How to Tell
Core Fitness -- the Key to a Strong, More Flexible Body Want to bring more power to your athletic activities like golf or tennis? Ward off or ease lower back pain? Tighten your abs? Or simply improve flexibility and balance? Strengthening your core muscles is the secret to improving your fitness level and performance. Discover 6 key workouts that that should be the core of your exercise program. In no time, you’ll notice gains you can see and feel every day. Click here to learn more.
Can Antidepressants Help With Stroke Recovery? I have a close friend who experienced a very mild stroke. His speech and general mobility were left as they had always been, as were his cognitive skills, but his balance was significantly thrown off. It is four years later, and he’s still working to do things that most of us take for granted -- such as walk with a normal gait and achieve the dexterity necessary to avoid tripping over everyday obstacles. My friend was clearly one of the very lucky ones, but still his life is affected each day by the reality of that "minor" stroke. Luckily for all of us, scientists keep working to try to make further improvements in stroke prevention and rehabilitation. Most recently, they have come up with a novel new way to speed recovery, and extend progress. Would you believe it’s as simple as taking a short course of antidepressants? Encouraging New Brain Cells to Grow I wanted to hear much more about this, so I phoned Robert G. Robinson, MD, head of psychiatry at The University of Iowa. He has been studying the relationship between stroke and depression over the past 35 years. He told me that early in his research he made the interesting discovery that poststroke depression slowed recovery and made patients more likely to die. The much better news is that recently he has come to find that antidepressants improve recovery both in stroke patients who are depressed -- and also in those who are not. In his latest study, Dr. Robinson randomly assigned 83 patients who had had strokes within the past six months, some of whom were depressed and some who were not, to take either an antidepressant -- fluoxetine (Prozac) or nortriptyline (Aventyl) -- or a placebo each day for three months. Then he and his team carefully followed the participants over the course of the next year, assessing their physical, cognitive and psychiatric symptoms every three months. They found that the antidepressant group significantly reduced their physical disability compared with those who took placebos... - The Modified Rankin Scale, a measure of physical and motor disability, is used to evaluate stroke and brain injuries. Those participants who took an antidepressant improved 1 to 1.5 categories, on average, over the placebo group when measured on the scale. For example, in some instances, people who initially could not manage daily activities such as dressing or feeding themselves were once again able to do so without help. Other patients who were unable to walk without assistance or were bedridden were able to walk independently or with assistance.
- The placebo group also improved for several months, but their progress then leveled off. The antidepressant group continued to make progress for at least nine additional months after they had stopped taking the medication. It’s possible that improvements lasted even longer, but the study ended at one year.
Other research demonstrates that antidepressants encourage cognitive recovery and, perhaps most impressively, nearly double your chances of survival six to nine years poststroke, according to Dr. Robinson. Although scientists don’t know exactly how antidepressants work this particular magic, it’s likely that they block inflammation. When you have a stroke, your body releases inflammatory proteins that block cellular growth. By inhibiting the release of these proteins, antidepressants encourage the growth of new cells and allow your brain to recover more rapidly from its injury. These results were published online in the February 24, 2011 issue of the American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry. Healing Continues After Medication Stops "The idea that antidepressants might benefit early recovery from stroke has been around for a number of years," notes Dr. Robinson. "But one major question left unanswered by previous studies was, 'Does the effect last after the medication stops?’ What our study demonstrates is that not only does the beneficial effect last, but the improvement in physical recovery continues to increase even after the patients stop taking the medication." Dr. Robinson and his colleagues plan a larger study to confirm the valuable role that antidepressants can play in stroke recovery. Meanwhile, if you or a loved one suffers a stroke, it seems logical to ask your doctor whether a short course (at least) of an antidepressant makes sense. Source(s):
Robert Robinson, MD, Penningroth professor and head of psychiatry, Carver College of Medicine, The University of Iowa, Iowa City. Dr. Robinson is internationally recognized as an expert in the study of poststroke depression. 
 Drug-Free Treatment Reverses Even Bone-on-Bone Arthritis... "Bone-on-bone" is the term doctors use for the last agonizing stage of arthritis. Your cartilage is totally ground away. Steroids and supplements are pointless. Alice was told her only hope was total knee replacement. Yet thanks to a brilliant physician, she skipped the surgery and feels like new. That's right. Alice licked "bone-on-bone" arthritis without surgery or drugs. And she did so with astonishing speed. In fact, not long after seeing this doctor, she left on a three-week shopping vacation -- then returned to the doctor's office with gifts for the entire staff and pronounced herself pain-free! What's the secret? Learn more...
Are You Destined For Happiness? How to Tell "Don’t look back. Leave the past in the past. Just keep moving forward." How often have you heard that string of wisdom? Well, you’re about to hear the opposite. A new study published in the June 20011 issue of Personality and Individual Differences is telling us to reverse our thinking if we want to be truly happy. Intrigued, I placed a call to the Personality and Well-Being Lab at San Francisco State University (SFSU), where assistant professor of psychology Ryan T. Howell, PhD, focuses on learning all he can about the factors that affect human happiness. He told me that research has consistently found that personality has a strong influence on personal happiness and satisfaction. This is not only because it affects how you go about each day -- but also because it shapes how you think about past events in your life. Measure by Measure With the assistance of his coauthor, UC Berkeley PhD student Jia Wei Zhang, Dr. Howell assessed the 750 participants (all undergraduate students) in order to determine whether there was a predictable pattern linking positive memories of the past with optimism for the future and negative memories of the past with pessimism for the future. - Participants were asked to rate themselves on the "Big Five" personality traits -- extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism and openness. (You can see where you stand on "The Big Five" at http://test.personality-project.org.)
- They were asked questions about their view of past experiences -- for instance, did they enjoy thinking about the "good old days"? Did they savor happy memories? Did they tend to reframe painful experiences in a more positive light?
- They were asked to rate how satisfied they felt about their lives overall and were queried about whether they believed it was hard work or fate that shaped what happened in their lives or would shape their future outcomes.
Results: The study showed that the greatest influence on current life satisfaction was how the students viewed their pasts... and that the greatest differences in current life satisfaction were found between those who scored high on the "extroverted" scale and those who scored high on the "neurotic" scale. The remaining three of the "big five" traits were not associated with more or less happiness in life. Dr. Howell concluded... - Highly extroverted people -- energetic, talkative individuals who seek out the company of others -- tend to be happier with their lives because they embrace a positive and nostalgic view of the past, while also enjoying the everyday pleasures of life.
- People who score high on the neurotic scale (those who are moody, insecure, fretful, anxious and irritable) are more likely to remember the past with anguish and also have a greater tendency to be unhappy.
How to Get Happier It’s notoriously difficult to change one’s personality, but Dr. Howell says you may be able to alter your view of your past -- and boost your happiness -- by focusing on happy memories and/or trying to reframe sad recollections in a more positive and optimistic way, perhaps by figuring out how those experiences helped you develop strength or self-reliance. It also pays to be kind to yourself and have some self-compassion, adds coauthor Zhang -- meaning, try to accept that although what has happened in the past can’t be changed, you can learn from it to make the future better. At his SFSU lab, Dr. Howell is continuing to study how various factors affect happiness, from where you live to how much money you make to your religious beliefs and social involvement. We will update you regularly on new findings about how to have a happier life, but in the meantime, whenever you can, try to choose glasses that are rose-colored and half-full -- you’ll like your life better as a result! Source(s):
Ryan T. Howell, PhD, assistant professor and quantitative psychologist, department of psychology, San Francisco State University. Jia Wei Zhang, PhD student, department of psychology, University of California, Berkeley, California. Be well, 
Carole Jackson
Bottom Line's Daily Health News
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