Fight Depression With Exercise

For good health and prevention of disease exercise is a habit that can cure a variety of physical ills. Now, there is growing evidence that exercise can also help people who suffer from depression. Just getting up and moving around seems to have a positive impact on mental health as well as physical health.

The symptoms of depression include loss of appetite, trouble sleeping and just an all around lack of interest in doing things that used to make you feel happy. The good news for people suffering from depression is that studies show that physical exercise can cause an uptick in feelings of well being and the alleviation of feelings of depression. Exercise will help increase your appetite because you're burning more calories and it can help you sleep better because you're burning off some excess energy.

In a 2000 study performed at Duke University Medical Center, 156 people with major depressive disorder (MDD) volunteered to participate in an experiment to test the effect of exercise on depression. After four months, all of the patients reported significant reductions in their depressive symptoms. Also, the results were the same regardless of what kind of exercise they did. Researchers demonstrated in this study that there is an inverse relation between exercise and depression. In plain English, that means that as exercise goes up feelings of depression go down.

Taken together with treatment by a mental health professional, medication is often prescribed to treat depression. To see how exercise compares with taking medication, one of the groups of volunteers did no exercise but instead took Zoloft during the study. The result was that the groups that exercised reported 22% fewer feelings of depression than the group that took medication alone. In addition, the groups that exercised avoided the unpleasant side effects like nausea and insomnia that are sometimes reported by people who take Zoloft.

There are so many benefits of regular exercise. Reductions in heart disease, diabetes, cancer, osteoporosis and stress are just a few. Now, we also know that feelings of depression can be significantly helped by getting up and getting moving. Try adding some exercise to your daily routine and you'll be healthier both physically and mentally.

What is Mantle Cell Lymphoma?

Mantle cell lymphoma is a subtype of B-cell or B-Lymphocyte lymphoma categorized under Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. This type of lymphoma is due to a malignant transformation of the B-cells. These B-cells are part of the immune system and responsible for destroying microorganisms that invade the body. The disease got its name for the malignant B-cells are often found in the mantle zone of the lymph node. Under morphological studies, this would present as a non-aggressive type of lymphoma. However, mantle cell lymphoma is an aggressive type of B-cell lymphoma and the malignancy can spread quickly in the body.

Mantle cell lymphoma is a rare-type of Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Comprising about 7% of the patients belonging in this category, it is commonly found in age groups above 60 years old. This type of lymphoma is manifested by swollen, non-tender lymph nodes located in the throat, and can involve other nodes such as the ones located near the collar bone, the armpits, chests, and groin. The malignant cells can also metastasize in the spleen and liver, giving the sensation of a full, distended abdomen. Fatigue in this condition is due to anemia because of spleen and bone marrow involvement may also be observed, as well as unexplained fever and weight loss. Gastric symptoms such as nausea and vomiting can also be observed.

Treatment for mantle cell lymphoma is given depending on the current stage of malignancy and metastasis. Rituximab is used to help the immune system look for the malignant cells and destroy them, with the help of Interferon given as an immune system booster. R-CHOP in combination with Rituximab and a steroid is commonly given as a form of chemotherapy that aims in destroying the cancer cells. In Stage I and Stage II phase it is treated with a local radiation therapy with or without the aid of chemotherapeutic agents. To help the body recover, stem cell therapy such as bone marrow transplant is done as an aggressive form of treatment when the disease is at the later stage.

Research is still being conducted on ways to treat mantle cell lymphoma without suffering from too much side effects. The MCL Consortium is a group of physicians dedicated to battling this disease. Their website has mantle cell lymphoma resources for researchers and patients designed to help people understand this malignancy as well as group together patients and survivors to form a support group.

Need to learn more about Lymphoma? Be sure to check out Lymphoma Symptoms which contains in-depth information on Mantle Cell Lymphoma symptoms, causes, treatment and much more.

The Mind-Body Connection and Your Health

Scientific research has shown that if you are feeling down or depressed this will have a negative impact up on your health. When you are feeling low mentally you are inevitably left more vulnerable to physical illness.
Needless to say the majority of research into these areas concentrates upon the more "major" diseases such as susceptibility to heart disease or cancer. We less often think about the mind-body collection in relation to minor illnesses such as the common cold or food poisoning or viruses. This fact was brought home to me in the last week as I succumbed to a rather nasty episode of food poisoning.
Unusually for me I was feeling rather low about something on the Saturday and even kept saying things like "I just can't lift my spirits about this". You know those days don't you? Something happens which is outside of your control, or keeps on happening until eventually you feel like you have been mentally run over by a bus. In reality, when you hit one of these events, you are probably being told something to the effect that you are trying to do something the wrong way or you at the very least need to step back and rethink.
Never the less, on Sunday morning I woke up feeling rather uncomfortable, and by afternoon it was clear that I had food poisoning. My boyfriend, a bio-chemist, immediately pointed out that my mood the day before was what had paved the way to making my physical body more vulnerable. The mind-body connection was abundantly clear to both he and I.
As he pointed out to me, theres bacteria in your intestines and stomach all of the time. Problems occur when they are allowed to accumulate in too large a quantity. I had been very aware that everything about my physical body had been slow and sluggish during the previous day - I had walked more slowly without any bounce in my step, my back wasn't held straight and so on. My body language was displaying a sinking, lowering, turning down tendency. Goodness only knows what the impact was beneath the surface of my skin!
The mind-body connection is totally amazing when you begin to contemplate it. Every thought which you have has the potential to impact greatly upon your health and well being. It pays to learn how to only allow uplifting and positive thoughts to hold your primary focus in life. I'm usually pretty good at this, although like everyone else I have a few weak spots!