New Information on Stretching and Injury Prevention

Most of my posts on this blog have to do with health, recovery, or social justice.  Here's a link to an article purely for those of you who are interested in exercise.  A new study suggests that, "Stretching Doesn’t Prevent or Cause Injury, but Switching Routines Might."

http://www.m.webmd.com/fitness-exercise/news/20110217/stretch-before-running-new-twist-on-old-debate

Substance Abuse: Beyond the Disease Model

A friend recently shared this article with me and although I'm still new to the substance abuse counseling profession it really resonated with me.  It seems problematic to try to solve a behavioral condition of any kind as you would a disease or physical condition.  But that's where this gets tricky, doesn't it?  Drugs and alcohol, as addictions, can be physiological as well as psychological.  Anyway, please read the article and see what you think!

Addiction's Underlying  Needs, by Gary Reiss, LCSW
http://innerself.com/content/health/diseases-&-conditions/addiction/3873-addictions-underlying-needs.html

New World Alcohol Data Released

A new report from the World Health Organization shows alcohol consumption levels from around the world, and notes that, "2.5m deaths a year, more than AIDS or tuberculosis." Source: http://www.economist.com/blogs/dailychart/2011/02/daily_chart_global_alcohol_consumption

For the full WHO report, visit this link:  http://www.who.int/substance_abuse/publications/global_alcohol_report/en/index.html

Oprah Magazine Article on MDMA and PTSD

The controversial drug Ecstacy, or MDMA, was recently featured in Oprah's magazine, O, in an article about possible therapeutic uses for the drug in the treatment of trauma survivors.

Link:  http://www.oprah.com/health/PTSD-and-MDMA-Therapy-Medical-Uses-of-Ecstasy/

Alcohol at Bedtime May Not Help Your Sleep

Alcohol at Bedtime May Not Help Your Sleep: "One of the largest studies to date on alcohol’s effects on sleep shows that drinking alcohol before bed may disrupt sleep and increase wakefulness in healthy adults -- affecting women more than men -- regardless of family history of alcoholism."

A Safe Place to Shoot Up

In response to the U.S. House of Representatives' recent vote to remove needle exchange opportunities for residents of Washington, D.C., I thought I'd post a link to an article discussing this complex issue and how out of line with accepted best practices relating to drug policy. Click on the link below to read more.

A Safe Place to Shoot Up: "Drug policy is not often seen as a public health issue, and the war on drugs is usually a public safety issue. While supervised injection sites are unheard of in most places, needle exchange is much more common. You can find needle exchange programs in such American cities as San Francisco and New York City. In addition, California voters approved Proposition 36 (also known as Substance Abuse and Crime Prevention Act) in 2000, treatment instead of jail legislation. The legislation treats drug addiction as a health problem instead of solely a public safety issue."

Great Audio Link on Humanist Approaches to Addiction and Recovery

A Humanist's Path to Alcohol Addiction Recovery
David Roberts, speaking
27:37 minutes in length

Source: http://www.uufresno.org/audio/audio.html


http://www.uufresno.org/audio/1-30-2011.mp3 


(Click this link to save the MP3 file to your computer or audio player)

The Real Vegan Challenge [Video]

A 12-minute video called Farm to Fridge was released by the Chicago-based group Mercy for Animals this week to challenge people who heard best-selling author Michael Pollan tell millions of viewers on the show Oprah that if they could not watch where there food came from they probably should not be eating it.

I got about 3 seconds into it before I had to stop.  You can read about the video and watch the video at the Huffington Post.

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ari-solomon/the-real-vegan-challenge-_b_820528.html

President Quits Smoking!

Good work, Mr. Obama!  http://www.thedailybeast.com/cheat-sheet/item/michelle-obamas-quit-smoking/kicked-habit/

Oprah's Show on Veganism [YouTube]

Here's part one of the Oprah's episode on veganism from yesterday.  I haven't seen it all myself, but the one-hour show featured a visit to a slaughterhouse and interviews with Michael Pollan (author of The Omnivore's Dilemma) and Kelly Freston (Freston's book, Veganist: Lose Weight, Get Healthy, and Change the World, is the top selling book on Amazon.com).

Check it out, see what you think, and if you are still curious about veganism for health, environmental, social, or ethical reasons, visit www.vegan.com or http://www.vegan.org/about_veganism/index.html.