Health Conditions

ADHD

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) affects children and teens and can continue into adulthood. ADHD is the most commonly diagnosed mental disorder of children. Children with ADHD may be hyperactive and unable to control their impulses. Or they may have trouble paying attention. These behaviors interfere with school and home life. It’s more common in boys than in girls. It’s usually discovered during the early school years when a child begins to have problems paying attention. Adults with ADHD may have trouble managing time, being organized, setting goals, and holding down a job. They may also have problems with relationships, self-esteem, and addiction.

 

Anxiety

Experiencing occasional anxiety is a normal part of life. However, people with anxiety disorders frequently have intense, excessive, and persistent worry and fear about everyday situations. Often, anxiety disorders involve repeated episodes of sudden feelings of intense anxiety and fear or terror that reach a peak within minutes (panic attacks). These feelings of anxiety and panic interfere with daily activities, are difficult to control, are out of proportion to the actual danger, and can last a long time. You may avoid places or situations to prevent these feelings. Symptoms may start during childhood or the teen years and continue into adulthood. Examples of anxiety disorders include generalized anxiety disorder, social anxiety disorder (social phobia), specific phobias, and separation anxiety disorder. You can have more than one anxiety disorder. Sometimes anxiety results from a medical condition that needs treatment. Whatever form of anxiety you have, treatment can help.

 

Brain Function

Every brain changes with age, and mental function changes along with it. Mental decline is common, and it's one of the most feared consequences of aging. But cognitive impairment is not inevitable. Brain aging and memory loss were once thought to happen because neurons died or stopped functioning. New research shows that the neurotransmitter dopamine can trigger the formation of new neurons in adult brains. In fact, these dopamine neurons move directly to the brain associated with higher brain function and improved memory.

 

Depression

Depression is the state in which the individual feels sad, helpless, and disinterested in life. Clinical depression affects mood, mind, body, and behavior. Depression is the most frequently seen psychiatric disorder among both hospitalized inpatients and those in outpatient psychiatric care. Research has shown that in the United States about 19 million people-one in ten adults-experience depression each year, and nearly two-thirds do not get the help they need. There are many kinds of depression, several with deep underlying psychiatric causes. Short of biochemical analysis, however, they are usually difficult to differentiate. Psychological testing can rate depressive states according to intensity but cannot differentiate causative factors. Despite the variations in the etiology of depressive states, however, treatments are very similar.

 

Focus and Attention

Symptoms such as trouble sustaining attention, being easily distracted by internal or external stimuli, trouble staying on task, jumping from one task to another without completion, procrastination, problems with organization, difficulty focusing and executing on tasks particularly when they are boring, fidgeting, frequently being in motion, and interrupting others while they are speaking, are among the hallmarks of lack focus and attention. 

 

Hypertension

High blood pressure (hypertension) is a common condition in which the long-term force of the blood against your artery walls is high enough that it may eventually cause health problems, such as heart disease. Blood pressure is determined both by the amount of blood your heart pumps and the amount of resistance to blood flow in your arteries. The more blood your heart pumps and the narrower your arteries, the higher your blood pressure. You can have hypertension for years without any symptoms. Even without symptoms, damage to blood vessels, and your heart continues and can be detected. Uncontrolled high blood pressure increases your risk of serious health problems, including heart attack and stroke. High blood pressure generally develops over many years, and it affects nearly everyone eventually. Fortunately, high blood pressure can be easily detected. And once you know you have high blood pressure, you can work with your doctor to control it.

 

Joint Pain

Joint pain can be discomfort, pain, or inflammation arising from any part of a joint — including cartilage, bone, ligaments, tendons, or muscles. Most commonly, however, joint pain refers to arthritis or arthralgia, which is inflammation or pain from within the joint itself. Joint pain can be mild, causing soreness only after certain activities, or it can be severe, making even limited movement, particularly bearing weight, extremely painful.

 

Migraine Headaches

A migraine is a powerful headache that often happens with nausea, vomiting, and sensitivity to light. Migraines can last from 4 hours to 3 days, and sometimes longer. Migraine headaches are a symptom of an overall condition known as migraine. Doctors don’t know the exact cause of migraine headaches, although they seem to be related to changes in the brain as well as to genes that run in families. You can even inherit the triggers that give you migraine headaches, like fatigue, bright lights, weather changes, and others. A migraine starts when overactive nerve cells send out signals that activate the trigeminal nerve, the nerve that supplies sensation to your head and face. Activation of the nerve causes the release of certain chemicals like serotonin and calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP). CGRP causes blood vessels in the lining of the brain to swell. This releases neurotransmitters that create inflammation and pain.

 

Muscle Pain

The most common causes of muscle pain are tension, stress, overuse, and minor injuries. This type of pain is usually localized, affecting just a few muscles or a small part of your body. Systemic muscle pain — pain throughout your whole body — is more often the result of an infection, an illness, or a side effect of a medication.

 

Overall Wellness

Wellness is much more than merely physical health, exercise, or nutrition. It is the full integration of states of physical, mental, and spiritual well-being. Wellness is an active process of becoming aware of and making choices toward a healthy and fulfilling life. Wellness is more than being free from illness, it is a dynamic process of change and growth. Maintaining an optimal level of wellness is absolutely crucial to live a higher quality of life. Wellness matters because everything we do and every emotion we feel relates to our well-being. In turn, our well-being directly affects our actions and emotions. It’s an ongoing circle. Therefore, it is important for everyone to achieve optimal wellness in order to subdue stress, reduce the risk of illness, and ensure positive interactions.

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Memory Loss and Cognitive Impairment

Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) causes a slight but noticeable and measurable decline in cognitive abilities, including memory and thinking skills. A person with MCI is at an increased risk of developing Alzheimer's or another dementia.

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Peak Performance

Peak performance is a state that is also known as a peak experience, the zone of optimal functioning, and flow. It refers to a moment when an individual puts it all together, when they are in the zone, when everything flows, and when they achieve exceptional performance. Peak performance is a state in which the person performs to the maximum of their ability, characterized by subjective feelings of confidence, effortlessness, and total concentration on the task.

 

PTSD

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a psychiatric disorder that can occur in people who have experienced or witnessed a traumatic event such as a natural disaster, a serious accident, a terrorist act, war/combat, rape, or other violent personal assault. PTSD has been known by many names in the past, such as “shell shock” during the years of World War I and “combat fatigue” after World War II. But PTSD does not just happen to combat veterans. PTSD can occur in all people, in people of any ethnicity, nationality or culture, and any age. People with PTSD have intense, disturbing thoughts and feelings related to their experiences that last long after the traumatic event has ended. They may relive the event through flashbacks or nightmares; they may feel sadness, fear, or anger; and they may feel detached or estranged from other people. People with PTSD may avoid situations or people that remind them of the traumatic event, and they may have strong negative reactions to something as ordinary as a loud noise or an accidental touch. A diagnosis of PTSD requires exposure to an upsetting traumatic event. However, exposure could be indirect rather than first hand. For example, PTSD could occur in an individual learning about the violent death of a close family. It can also occur as a result of repeated exposure to horrible details of trauma such as police officers exposed to details of child abuse cases.

 

Respiratory Problems

Respiratory disease, or respiratory tract disease, is a medical term that encompasses pathological conditions affecting the organs and tissues that make gas exchange difficult in air-breathing animals. They include conditions of the respiratory tract including the trachea, bronchi, bronchioles, alveoli, pleurae, pleural cavity, and the nerves and muscles of respiration. Respiratory diseases range from mild and self-limiting, such as the common cold, to life-threatening diseases such as bacterial pneumonia, pulmonary embolism, acute asthma, and lung cancer. Respiratory diseases can be classified in many different ways, including by the organ or tissue involved, by the type and pattern of associated signs and symptoms, or by the cause of the disease.

 

Stress

In a medical or biological context stress is a physical, mental, or emotional factor that causes bodily or mental tension. Stresses can be external (from the environment, psychological, or social situations) or internal (illness, or from a medical procedure). Stress can initiate the "fight or flight" response, a complex reaction of neurologic and endocrinologic systems. Stress can cause or influence the course of many medical conditions including psychological conditions such as depression and anxiety. Medical problems can include poor healing, irritable bowel syndrome, high blood pressure, poorly controlled diabetes, and many other conditions. Stress management is recognized as an effective treatment modality to include pharmacologic and non-pharmacologic components. 

 

Trouble sleeping / Insomnia

Insomnia is a sleep disorder that is characterized by difficulty falling and/or staying asleep. People with insomnia have one or more of the following symptoms: difficulty falling asleep, waking up often during the night and having trouble going back to sleep, waking up too early in the morning or feeling tired upon waking. Insomnia also varies in how long it lasts and how often it occurs. It can be short-term (acute insomnia) or can last a long time (chronic insomnia). It can also come and go, with periods of time when a person has no sleep problems. Acute insomnia can last from one night to a few weeks. There are two types of insomnia: primary insomnia and secondary insomnia.

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Primary insomnia means that a person is having sleep problems that are not directly associated with any other health condition or problem. Secondary insomnia means that a person is having sleep problems because of something else, such as a health condition (like asthma, depression, arthritis, cancer, or heartburn); pain; medication they are taking; or a substance they are using (like alcohol).