Predatory Lenders Lead to Financial Hardship/Stress for Latinos


Salud America

Stress is a leading cause for health concern for many Americans, including large numbers of Latinos. One of the greatest stressors plaguing Latino families has to do with finances. In an effort to alleviate financial issues, more and more people – including Latinos – are turning to payday loans, the Center for American Progress reports. According to the Pew Charitable Trust, nearly 12 million people each year turn to payday loans. These quick fix infusions of money regularly lead to the person receiving the loan going into hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars of additional debt furthering stress. According to the National Council of La Raza (NCLR), Latinos are more likely than the general population to use a payday loan. In order to reduce health disparities, it is ...

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How Stress Can Hurt Healthy Eating Efforts



Can stress negate the benefits of a healthy diet? Our lifestyle can influence our health and the power of stress can hurt change our bodies in a myriad of ways. According to recent research, stress can ultra metabolism, making the body become inflamed no matter if you are eating healthy foods or unhealthy foods. Janice Kiecolt-Glaser, researcher, and director of the Institute for Behavioral Medicine Research at the Ohio State University told NPR  the more healthful meal was no better in terms of its impact on inflammation. The stress that was causing the inflammation in the bodies of the women studied was not life-threatening, but more about feeling in control. Inflammation in the body over long periods of time are linked to higher risks of cardiovascular disease, some ...

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New Poll Shows Work Can Be Hazardous to Your Health


construction worker

A new poll by NPR, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF), and Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health found that many employers do not do enough to reduce the stress of their employees. Of the working adults who say they’ve experienced a great deal of stress in the past 12 months, the vast majority (85%) report that efforts to reduce stress in the workplace are fair or poor. Compared to the general population, Latinos are more likely to engage in healthy behaviors, such as exercising and spending time with friends and family, to manage stress. Unfortunately, stress is still a major health concern for Latinos, as more than half report they are worried about stress in their daily lives. Overall, 43% of working adults reported that their job negatively affects their stress ...

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Pokemon Go and Mental Health



By now you’re most likely aware of Pokémon Go, an app that was more popular than Twitter for a time. Pokémon Go is a GPS-based augmented reality gaming app that forces players to go out and explore the outdoors in order to "catch 'em all" (Pokemon creatures). According to mental health experts, this gaming app can help individuals with depression by forcing them to go out of their home and do physical activity and interact with other individuals and friends. "The developers behind Pokémon Go didn't mean to create a mental health gaming app," psychologist John M. Grobol wrote for his site, PsychCentral. "But they've done so, and the effects seem to be largely positive." A 2018 study found that 33% of Pokémon Go players reported changes in social behavior since they ...

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Physical Activity Releases Brain-Healthy Protein


brain health physical activity

A growing body of research suggests that physical activity is associated with maintaining a strong and healthy mind, boosting memory and learning, and possibly delaying age-related cognitive decline. A new study supported by the National Institute for Health (NIH) and published in Cell Metabolism found a specific protein secreted by skeletal muscle cells during physical activity that enters the bloodstream and can cross the blood-brain barrier, which is noteworthy because not all proteins cross it. In mice, this protein is thought to be neuro-protective and associated with the production of new neurons in part of the brain associated with memory, thus physical activity induced secretion of this protein may prevent or delay Alzheimer's disease.. Adults who exercise more ...

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1 de cada 3 personas no duerme los suficiente


Sad elderly woman with insomnia trying to sleep while lying in bed duerme sleep

En promedio, los estadounidenses no están durmiendo lo suficiente de acuerdo con un reciente estudio realizado por los Centros para el Control y la Prevención de Enfermedades (CDC). El estudio encontró que, en promedio, más del 60% de los latinos de entre 18 y 60 obtiene las horas recomendadas de sueño en comparación con los blancos (67%) y afroamericanos (54%). "Como nación, no estamos durmiendo lo suficiente," dijo el Dr. Wayne Giles, de la CDC. Según la CDC, dormir menos de 7 horas al día está asociado con un mayor riesgo de desarrollar presión arterial alta, enfermedades del corazón, y  angustia mental. "Cambios en estilo de vida tales como ir a la cama a la misma hora todas las noches; despertarse a la misma hora cada mañana; y apagar o retirar televisores, ...

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Why Junk Food Cravings Increase After a Sleepless Night


Sleepless Night junk food

Not getting enough sleep at nights may be causing your junk food cravings, according to a  study. After scanning 23 young adults after a normal night’s sleep and after a sleepless night researchers at UC Berkeley found “impaired activity in the sleep-deprived brain’s frontal lobe, which governs complex decision-making, but increased activity in deeper brain centers that respond to rewards. Moreover, the participants favored unhealthy snack and junk foods when they were sleep deprived.” “What we have discovered is that high-level brain regions required for complex judgments and decisions become blunted by a lack of sleep, while more primal brain structures that control motivation and desire are amplified,” said Matthew Walker, a UC Berkeley professor of psychology and ...

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New Study: Stressed Parents More Likely to Have Obese Children


Stressed Parents

Stress has long been a risk factor associated with obesity in adults, and now a new study from researchers at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York found that stressed Latino adults were more likely to have children with obesity as well. The data from the Study of Latino Youth (SOL Youth) showed a relationship between child weight status in the Latino population and parental stress. "Obesity and chronic stress were both prevalent among this Latino population, with more than one-quarter (28%) of children ages 8-16 with obesity, and nearly one-third (29%) of their parents reporting high levels of stress," said Dr. Isasi in a report from News Medical. The study looked at Latinos living in the Bronx, Chicago, Miami and San Diego areas, and followed guidelines from the ...

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Tweet with #SaludTues 10/28/14: What You Need to Know about Health


Psychologist taking notes during therapy session.

Many people experience mental health issues. Let’s tweet about the education and access people have to mental health and wellness, as well as what challenges people face with addressing mental health issues: WHAT: #SaludTues Tweetchat: “Mental Health” DATE: Tuesday, October 28, 2014 TIME: Noon CT (1:00 PM ET) WHERE: On Twitter with hashtag #SaludTues HOST: @SaludAmerica CO-HOSTS: @APApsychiatric @SAMHSAgov Be sure to use the hashtag #SaludTues to follow the conversation on Twitter/X and share your stories and resources. #SaludTues is a Tweetchat on Twitter/X that focuses on a variety of different health issues. From September 2014 to March 2021, #SaludTues occurred weekly at noon CST every Tuesday. From April 2021 to November 2023, #SaludTues occurred ...

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