Unlike a classic nail bed made famous by performers, the modern-day mats, sometimes called “acupressure mats,” are made with small disks of plastic spikes. There’s no set daily usage recommendation, though some companies suggest starting with lying down, usually face up with the spikes in contact with the back and neck, for 5 to 10 minutes, then gradually longer.

The fewer spikes, the more challenge to the body—and the more benefit, says Team Shakti AB of Sweden, which puts 6,000 spikes on its main mat but offers a more comfortable version, its Shakti Light mat, with 8,000 spikes. For the biggest benefit, lie naked on the mat, Shakti says. The cost of the mats ranges from $30 to $50 or more. Shakti sells its mats on its website for $69.

Source: WSJ.com

This is according the results of a study published recently in the International Journal of Obesity:

The study, led by Dr. Charles Elder of the Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research in Portland, Ore., involved 472 obese adults (with BMIs between 30 and 50) over age 30; 83% of the participants were women and a quarter were senior citizens over 65. The volunteers were enrolled in a weight-loss program that included attending weekly group counseling sessions, keeping a food diary, exercising at moderate intensity most days of the week (for at least three hours per week), reducing daily consumption by 500 calories and sticking to a low-fat, low-salt diet high in fruits, veggies, whole grains and lean proteins.

Source: TIME Healthland

A review of 36 previously published studies on stress and weight gain led by Jane Wardle, at University College London, found that the majority showed no association between people’s stress levels and their weight gain over several years.

When the study, which appeared in “Obesity,” combined the results of the research, there was only a modest association overall between stress and weight gain. “We assumed that there would be a substantial association between stress and obesity, since the popular view is that stress contributes to weight gain,” said Andrew Steptoe, who also took part in the study, in an email to Reuters Health.
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The study analyzed 32 international studies conducted mainly in the 1990s and 2000s.

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Gaining weight? Stress may not be main culprit

“In this study, 103 young adults were given a frustration task and then randomized to play no game, a non-violent game, a violent game with good versus evil theme, or a violent game in which they played ‘the bad guy.’ The results suggest that violent games reduce depression and hostile feelings in players through mood management,” Dr. Ferguson explained.

Ferguson said that the results of this study may help provide others with ways to come up with a mood-management activity that provides individuals with ways to tolerate or reduce stress.

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Video games help us to reduce stress levels study shows

These scientists are looking at how an ancient Tibetan Buddhist meditation practice called Lojong may help reduce stress itself, as well as improve the immune system’s response to stress, said Dr. Charles Raison, principal investigator of the study at Emory and CNNHealth mental health expert.

Raison planned to present preliminary results of the study to the Dalai Lama, who attended the Compassion Meditation Conference on Monday. The project is called the Compassion and Attention Longitudinal Meditation Study (CALM).

“Lojong” means “mind training,” and this specific practice is aimed at making a person more compassionate toward others, including friends and enemies. This is the type of meditation that the Dalai Lama primarily practices, Raison said.

“It tries to train people to rethink and reimagine their relationships with other people,” Raison said. “It’s a series of visualizations and mental challenges where you use meditation to challenge why you feel the way you do about people.”

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Meditation reduces stress, instills compassion

A variety of factors were used to determine the rankings including local unemployment rates, personal financial data, environmental factors, health risks, crime rates and living standards. These data points were collected from government agencies and private firms as part of Portfolio.com’s analysis.

“It’s no secret that living in a big city can add some serious stress to your life. But that doesn’t you have to be truly stressed out just by being in one of the nation’s population hubs. This study shows that a healthy and relatively low stress life can be achieved in at least a few urban areas,” said J. Jennings Moss, editor of Portfolio.com.

Rounding out the top five, in descending (stress-wise) order: Detroit (#1), Los Angeles (#2), Cleveland (#3), Riverside, CA (#4), and St. Louis (#5).

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AAAAAAHHHHHH! Summer is Over, Let the Stress Begin! Portfolio.com Unveils America’s Most Stressful Cities

Yahoo! Health looks at nine “tells” that your body sends when it’s staring at a hand full of stress (to use poker-speak), and what you can do about each one. Such as confusion:

You can’t decide what to make for dinner, what to wear to work or which exit to take off the freeway. Stress causes distraction and lack of focus, says Mandel. “Stress hormones lodge longest in the brain,” she says. To restore focus, take a walk, she says. “Move the stress out of your body by exercising large muscle groups like the legs. You will gain clarity. Walk out in the light and you’ll reset your natural rhythm while you move out the stress. Sunlight helps the body release serotonin to improve mood, and vitamin D helps you improve your immune system-a great perk.”

Other signs include nausea, sleepiness, the always interesting eye-twitching, and cavities, oddly enough. Check them all out at the link below.

Source: Yahoo! Health

They studied the link between four features of Type A behavior (leadership, aggression, being “hard-driving” and eagerness-energy) in 752 workers. High scores for aggression, hard-driving and eagerness-energy were all associated with high levels of job stress. The researchers also found a relation between these three traits and “effort-reward imbalance,” a major contributor to work stress.

In contrast, high scores on leadership were associated with lower levels of work stress, the University of Helsinki team found. A high leadership score was linked to high work effort, but also to high work rewards. In addition, a high leadership score was connected with high job control, which can help lower work stress.

Source: MSN

Seed giant Burpee will be offering a variety of Resolution Gardens on its Website this year. The Gardens (OK, seed pack collections) will target some of the most popular New Year’s resolutions:

Among the resolutions the garden addresses is a Lose Weight garden offering vegetable varieties with high water content to fill you up with very few calories. This is consistent, according to Mr. Ball, with the volumetrics system developed by Dr. Barbara Rolls.

Other resolutions covered by the variations of its garden include stress reduction, better nutrition, more exercise, eco-friendly living, saving money and spending quality time with family. They are all included in the flagship pack for the collection, called Burpee’s New Year’s Resolution Garden. It is specially priced at $10.

Source: Forbes.com