Postpartum Depression : Symptoms

Most of the symptoms are the same as in major depression. In addition to depressed mood, you may have the following symptoms nearly every day: Agitation and irritability; Decreased appetite; Difficulty concentrating or thinking; Feelings of worthl...

As of 2001, experts cannot say what causes postpartum depression. Most likely, it is caused by many factors that vary from individual to individual. Mothers commonly experience some degree of depression during the first weeks after birth. Pregnanc...

As of 2001, experts are not positive about the causes of PPD. It may be caused by factors that vary from person to person. Pregnancy and birth are accompanied by sudden hormonal shifts that can cause a range of emotions. Additionally, the 24-hour ...

The symptoms can range from mild depression to a severe depression with thoughts of ending one's life ( suicide ). The disorder should be suspected during its peak (four to six weeks after delivery) in a patient who demonstrates signs and symptoms...

Depression may be described as feeling sad, blue, unhappy, miserable, or down in the dumps. Most of us feel this way at one time or another for short periods. True clinical depression is a mood disorder in which feelings of sadness, loss, anger, or frustration interfere with everyday life for an extended period of time. See also: Adolescent depression; Depression in the elderly.

Depression, also known as depressive disorders or unipolar depression, is a mental illness characterized by a profound and persistent feeling of sadness or despair and/or a loss of interest in things that once were pleasurable. Disturbance in sleep, appetite, and mental processes are a common accompaniment.

This report offers in-depth information on the causes of depression and the treatments and medications that can lift your mood.

It's important not to underestimate the dangers associated with depression, especially if you've had multiple episodes or lingering symptoms. For example, people who don't get treated for their depression have a higher risk for suicide.

People who are depressed have a cluster of symptoms characterized by sadness and a profound lack of energy and well-being.

Depression is a complicated and common mental health condition that affects about 10 to 15 percent of Americans. The following questions and answers can help you recognize and get effective treatment for depression.

The analysis of more than 15,000 young people in the United States found about a third of the cases of depression and obesity among those teens could be attributed to being from families with low incomes.

Men suffer from depression in smaller numbers than women do, but their treatment needs differ due to responses to medication, especially in older men. Additional medication may be necessary to treat the sexual side effects.

In general, only about three percent of the elderly living independently in the community will experience depression. That figure increases to around 20 to 30 percent of persons in nursing homes or with chronic illnesses like emphysema, heart disease or diabetes.

Learning more about this illness will allow you to understand what your symptoms may mean and make it easier for you to seek help.

Too often, parents miss the signs of depression. Or, they believe their teen will “snap out of it” eventually.

A woman’s unique biological, social, and cultural factors may increase her risk for depression.

In elderly patients, symptoms of depression can be mistaken for symptoms of another medical problem, so it is important for clinicians to consider all physical problems and medications of elderly patients before making a diagnosis.

Many people with depression do not receive adequate medical treatment, and even if they are treated, doctors may not be paying enough attention to their patients' needs.

Depression is not "all in your head." It is a real illness that saps your energy. It can leave you feeling sad, hopeless, lonely and guilty. It is related to a chemical imbalance in the brain and to certain traits such as low self-esteem and pessimism. Some kinds of depression may be inherited.

Everyone feels down at times, but diabetics are especially prone to depression. An unhappy period that’s intense or lasts for more than a couple of weeks can be a sign of depression. Depression is a serious illness.

The mind and the body are intimately connected, and our overall health depends on both working well. This is most evident in depression: Research shows that people who suffer from clinical depression face a higher risk of contracting one of the stress-linked illnesses than the rest of the population.

Depression can often develop as a result of a heart attack or cardiac surgery, and has more serious effects on heart health and overall health than depression that was present before a heart attack.

Seasonal affective disorder is thought to be caused by decreased exposure to sunlight during the winter months. Light therapy helps some people, and the FDA has approved the antidepressant bupropion for treatment as well.

Studies suggest mental health care following a heart attack can improve patient health and mortality.

Studies of a link between depression and osteoporosis suggest the bone deterioration could be a result of the depression, or may be caused by taking antidepressant medications for a long period of time.

Depressed patients are more likely to respond to medical treatment if their doctors practice empathy and effective communication skills.

Discussing the definition and treatment of a contested psychological diagnosis???atypical depression.

Two studies examine the correlation between depression in adults and its prevalence in their children, and the effect of adults' treatment on the children's mental health.

A roundup of studies exploring the beneficial effects of exercise on depression, anxiety, and insomnia. Is it a case of the chicken and the egg?

Exposure to the right kind of light may go a long way toward reducing seasonal affective disorder symptoms.

People who suffer from depression are more likely to have a sleep-related breathing problem such as apnea. Treating the sleep problem may help alleviate the depression in some people.

Discusses options for treatment of seasonal affective disorder.The treatment of seasonal affective disorder throws light on dark moods.

An explanation of the two-way relationship between depression and stroke. Depressed people are at higher risk for a stroke, but depression often precedes as well as follows a stroke.

Hypotheses explaining how depression manifests itself. The American Psychiatric Association requires any five of nine symptoms for a diagnosis of major depression. As the definition implies, these symptoms do not all appear in everyone who is depressed. Two studies explore the consequences for the understanding of depression and come to contrasting conclusions. One study suggests that an individual patient's symptoms are not consistent, but change more or less unpredictably from one episode of depression to the next. The other study suggests that there are several sets of depressive symptoms that are distinguishable genetically and therefore likely to persist in a given individual.

Concern about antidepressants increasing the risk of suicide in children could have the unintended effect that children suffering from depression may not receive needed treatment.

A study claims that obese people are more likely to suffer from anxiety and depression, but the findings do not prove that the conditions are causally related to each other.

During the dark days of winter, many people develop signs of depression that are tied to the changing amount of daylight.

My mother has advanced lung cancer and is receiving chemo. I live with her and am also her caregiver. We have been very close all of our lives, and I am having a hard time adjusting well. Sometimes I even get angry with her and then I feel guilty. The next step is I get depressed and have thought about a way out, but have not attempted anything. Can you suggest anything to help me cope?

Are children with ADD more likely to be depressed? Claire McCarthy, M.D., is a senior medical editor for Harvard Health Publications. She is an instructor in pediatrics at Harvard Medical School, an attending physician at Children's Hospital of Boston, and co-director of the pediatrics department at Martha Eliot Health Center, a neighborhood health service of Children's Hospital. The author of two books, "Learning How the Heart Beats" and "Everyone's Children", Dr. McCarthy was a regular columnist for "Sesame Street Parents Magazine" from 1995 to 1998 and is currently a contributing editor for "Parenting Magazine".

Researchers in China found that Chinese citizens were more likely to express symptoms of depression as having a physical component as well as an emotional one, due to the way their culture interprets such feelings.

Teen depression is a serious illness. The benefits of getting help, including taking medications if needed, far outweigh the potential risks.

Folate, a B vitamin, breaks down homocysteine, which may be associated with depression. Because of this it has been tested as a possible treatment, but the results have been mixed and more research is needed.

Behavioral activation therapy is a variation of cognitive therapy that encourages patients to fight depression by examining their feelings and experiences and focusing on their positive accomplishments.

A Harvard Medical School physician answers your question about whether Accutane, a powerful acne medication, has been linked to depression or suicide.

Instead of asking for help, men who are depressed are likely to drink alcohol to excess, take drugs, or become frustrated, discouraged, and irritable.

Although sadness touches all our lives, true depression is different in its intensity and persistence.

What's the difference between a bad case of the blues and the painful mental disorder known as depression? According to the experts, impaired functioning is usually a clear-cut indication of clinical depression.

Primary care physicians should be asking their patients questions about five "warning flag" symptoms to determine whether they should be screened for depression or other mood disorders, researchers say.

Having a chronic condition such as COPD can lead to depression. You can get help. Talk with your doctor about your symptoms.

Living with diabetes may increase the likelihood of depression. The connection may be go both ways: information from a diabetes trial suggests the possibility of a link between antidepressant use and diabetes.

A recent study offers evidence that selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors may help those who develop depression after a heart attack.

Most people, most of the time, overestimate themselves. It is pervasive and powerful, but is not the same in all people or in all circumstances.

A discussion of the social impact of depression in the elderly and the benefits of treatment.

According to two studies, women going through menopause are much more likely to develop symptoms of depression, due in part to changes in hormone production. Hormone replacement may provide temporary relief from severe depression.

Reports of risky side effects may have dampened enthusiasm for selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, which are among the world's most widely prescribed medications. A review of concerns and benefits associated with SSRIs.

Mental health among Americans may have declined during the 1990s. Revealing information on the mental health of Americans appears in data from three random telephone surveys of the adult population by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System.

While there is a very small risk of suicide in adolescents who take antidepressants, they are also beneficial to many teenagers with depression. All factors should be weighed in treatment decisions, and patients should be monitored carefully.

Discussion of whether the new antidepressant Cymbalta (duloxetine) has any advantage over other antidepressants on the market.

DHEA may not be an anti-aging panacea, as some suggest, but a new study suggests that it may be able to temporarily lift mood.

Older people with macular degeneration are more likely to experience depression, but those who received problem-solving therapy to help them adapt to and cope with their condition were less likely to develop depression.

A study shows that interaction with animals can be a path to recovery from depression.

Age-related macular degeneration is the most common cause of severe vision loss in people over 55. A recent trial shows that education may help relieve disability and depression in those with the condition.

Is there a link between depression and migraines? Michael Craig Miller, M.D., is editor-in-chief of the Harvard Mental Health Letter and an assistant professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Miller has an active clinical practice and has been on staff at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center for more than 25 years.

Everyone gets down in the dumps from time to time. But you may have clinical depression if a feeling of sadness or loss of interest in life and friends lingers for two weeks or more.

Because depression isn't a normal part of growing older, it's important to learn the signs of this condition and seek help if you or a loved one could be suffering from it.

Although anyone can suffer from depression, it is particularly common among older adults. Depression affects 15 out of every 100 adults older than 65.

The medical community once thought depression affected only adults. The risk for the condition begins in the early teens, however, and increases steadily through the mid-20s.

The unrealistic expectations of the season, time and financial pressures, missing loved ones and reflecting on past events as the year comes to an end all contribute to the blues.

Take action if you suspect a friend and/or family member suffers from depression. It's a condition that can cloud thinking and make people believe they aren't worth helping, so they often can't help themselves.

When recommending treatment for clinical depression, physicians typically prescribe a tried-and-true regimen: anti-depressant medication and "talk" therapy. In the future, however, health professionals may be advocating a healthy dose of exercise.

Chances are you know the difference between occasional sadness and depression. But here's a fact you may not know: Hypothyroidism, a common thyroid disorder, can cause depression.

A combination of factors causes depression. Some cases are triggered by a stressful experience, such as the death of a spouse or loss of a job. Some illnesses, such as cancer, also can cause depression, as can alcohol and drug abuse.

Stress can come from any situation or thought that makes you feel frustrated, angry, or anxious. What is stressful to one person is not necessarily stressful to another. Anxiety is a feeling of apprehension or fear. The source of this uneasiness is not always known or recognized, which can add to the distress you feel.

Anxiety is a bodily response to a perceived threat or danger. It is triggered by a combination of biochemical changes in the body, the patient's personal history and memory, and the social situation. It is important to distinguish between anxiety as a feeling or experience and an anxiety disorder as a psychiatric diagnosis. A person may feel anxious without having an anxiety disorder. Also, a person facing a clear and present danger or a realistic fear is not usually considered to be in a state of anxiety. In addition, anxiety frequently occurs as a symptom in other categories of psychiatric disturbance.

Systematic desensitization is a technique used to treat phobias and other extreme or erroneous fears based on principles of behavior modification .

Anxiety is familiar to everyone due to the many stresses and complexities of modern life.

This report features up-to-date information on the signs, causes, and treatments of many common phobias and anxiety disorders.

Anxiety is a multisystem response to a perceived threat or danger. It reflects a combination of biochemical changes in the body, the patient's personal history and memory, and the social situation. As far as we know, anxiety is a uniquely human experience. Other animals clearly know fear, but human anxiety involves an ability, to use memory and imagination to move backward and forward in time, that animals do not appear to have. The anxiety that occurs in post-traumatic syndromes indicates that human memory is a much more complicated mental function than animal memory. Moreover, a large portion of human anxiety is produced by anticipation of future events. Without a sense of personal continuity over time, people would not have the "raw materials" of anxiety. It is important to distinguish between anxiety as a feeling or experience, and an anxiety disorder as a psychiatric diagnosis. A person may feel anxious without having an anxiety disorder. Also a person facing a clear and present danger or a realistic fear is not usually considered to be in a state of anxiety. In addition, anxiety frequently occurs as a symptom in other categories of psychiatric disturbance.

Unlike the relatively mild, brief anxiety caused by a stressful event such as a business presentation or a first date, anxiety disorders are chronic, relentless, and can grow progressively worse if not treated.

Fears, Phobias, and AnxietyEverybody experiences fear at some time or another. Fear is a powerful emotion that arises in situations that are interpreted as dangerous.

Anxiety is a multisystem response to a perceived threat or danger. It reflects a combination of biochemical changes in the body, the patient's personal history and memory , and the social situation at hand. Human anxiety involves an ability to use memory and imagination and to move backward and forward in time; a large portion of human anxiety is produced by anticipation of future events. Without a sense of personal continuity over time, people would not have the "raw materials" of anxiety. It is important to distinguish between anxiety as a feeling or experience, and an anxiety disorder as a psychiatric diagnosis. A person may feel anxious without having an anxiety disorder. Short-term anxiety can be considered within the range of normal human experience. It is only when anxiety presents with great intensity or long duration that it is classified as a pathological state. Particular manifestations of anxiety, such as a flashback experience, the development of a phobia, or the sudden onset of a panic attack, are suggestive of a serious anxiety problem.

Anxiety disorders are a group of disorders that can affect adults, adolescents and children. They overwhelm people with chronic feelings of anxiety and fear.

This guide is designed to help you learn about anxiety disorders. Knowing more, you may feel more comfortable talking with a health professional about your experience and your symptoms.

Anxiety is a condition of persistent and uncontrollable nervousness, stress, and worry that is triggered by anticipation of future events, memories of past events, or ruminations over day-to-day events, both trivial and major, with disproportionate fears of catastrophic consequences.

A condition of persistent nervousness, stress, and worry that is triggered by anticipation of future events, memories of past events, or ruminations about the self Stimulated by real or imagined dangers, anxiety affects people of all ages and social backgrounds. When it occurs in unrealistic situations or with unusual intensity, it can disrupt everyday life. Some researchers believe anxiety is synonymous with fear, occurring in varying degrees and in situations in which people feel threatened by some danger. Others describe anxiety as an unpleasant emotion caused by unidentifiable dangers or dangers that, in reality, pose no threat. Unlike fear, which is caused by realistic, known dangers, anxiety can be more difficult to identify and alleviate. A small amount of anxiety is normal in the developing child, especially in adolescents and teens. Anxiety is often a realistic response to new roles and responsibilities, as well as to sexual and identity development. When symptoms become extreme, disabling, and/or when a child or adolescent experiences several symptoms over a period of a month or more, they may be a sign of an anxiety disorder and professional intervention may be necessary. The two forms of childhood anxiety are overanxious disorder and separation anxiety, although many physicians and psychologists also include panic disorder and obsessive-compulsive disorder, which tend to occur more frequently in adults. Anxiety that is the result of experiencing a violent event, disaster, or physical abuse is identified as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Most adult anxiety disorders begin in adolescence or young adulthood, and are more common among women than men.

You may suffer from generalized anxiety disorder if you go through the day worried, tense or anxious about your family, health or work, even when you know there are no signs of trouble.

Treating AnxietyAnxiety—feeling frightened, tense, uneasy—is a normal response to a threat. Anxiety can disrupt your life, but it’s nothing to be ashamed of.

Discussion of the effect of anxiety disorders on children and how they can be treated.

Despite their age, benzodiazepines still provide unique benefits and are unlikely to be entirely superseded by newer medications. Includes a comparison chart of newer and older drugs for insomnia, anxiety, and depression.

When I get nervous, I get a tic that affects the left side of my face, including my eye. What can I do about this? Is there anything I can take for it?

There is evidence that certain herbs and supplements may be effective in treating certain types of anxiety disorders.

Research suggests that for patients who are starting treatment for depression, their type of attachment anxiety should be taken into consideration as a factor in determining the best course of treatment.

Separation anxiety is common in children, but most grow out of it. However, in a small percentage of children (and more rarely, in adults) it becomes a disorder. Typical treatment methods include cognitive and behavioral therapy.

Anxiety:  Progressive Muscle Relaxation and Guided ImagerySymptom and DescriptionIt is common to feel stress or anxiety when you have cancer. Anxiety can be a vague or uneasy feeling of distress.

Understanding Social Phobia (Social Anxiety Disorder)You have to give a presentation next week. Just thinking about it makes your heart race.

Question: Why does it get harder to lose weight with age? Answer: One must burn more calories than one takes in to lose weight at any age. This can be done either with caloric restriction or with exercise. Although metabolism slows down somewhat as we age, increasing weight with age is usually due to a drop-off in activity while dietary habits stay the same or get worse. See also: Intentional weight loss; Physical activity.

Weight loss is a reduction in body mass characterized by a loss of adipose tissue (body fat) and skeletal muscle.

Weigh Less, Live Longer helps you determine the cause of your excess weight and tailor a plan to your particular needs. Even a modest reduction of 7%-10% of your starting weight can lead to significant improvements in health.

The not-so-secret secret to weight loss is to burn more calories than you eat. This can be done safely and effectively by eating a healthy diet and exercising regularly.

Out of the millions Americans who are overweight and go on a diet each year, many regain all or a part of the weight they lose within five years.

The latest studies conclude that a successful weight-loss plan is a mind/body undertaking that not only involves monitoring calorie intake and expenditure, but dealing with the psychological side of weight loss and habit change.

The balance of diet studies shows it's not carbohydrates specifically that count, but the total calories and fat consumed.

Moderately intense activities, such as walking briskly from your parked car to the mall entrance and taking your dog for a quick jog after dinner, won't help you train for a sport. But they can help you achieve and maintain a healthful weight and improve your overall fitness level.

Most people want to lose weight in a hurry, so they go on a fad diet, lose some weight, go off the diet and go back to eating as they always have.

Some diet advice is just plain wrong—and some can be dangerous to your health.You don't have to look far to find diet advice. It's as close as your Web browser, your local bookstore, or that pop culture magazine you leafed through. But how accurate is the information? Some diet advice is just plain wrong—and some can be dangerous to your health.

If you’re starving most of the time or can’t imagine staying on a particular diet past a perceived deadline, you’re on the wrong track.

Walking is a great form of exercise that can be done just about anywhere. If you're trying to lose weight, though, you'll need to do more than a leisurely stroll.

Experts say the long-term success at weight loss requires a balance between diet and physical activity.

Experts say the long-term success at weight loss requires a balance between diet and physical activity.

Here are strategies that can help you troubleshoot and personalize your weight-loss plan to manage common workplace weight-loss roadblocks.

The majority of dieters regain the weight they lose within five years. But they could avoid doing so by gradually changing their eating and exercise habits. Your approach to weight loss should be to make changes you can keep up for the rest of your life.

New types of weight-loss medications may help those who struggle with obesity, but there are some potentially serious side effects. Also, use of such a drug requires a significant adjustment in one's diet and level of physical activity.

Out of the 90 million Americans who are overweight, 50 million go on a diet each year, according to the National Women's Health Resource Center.

Fatigue is a feeling of weariness, tiredness, or lack of energy.

Fatigue is physical and/or mental exhaustion that can be triggered by stress , medication, overwork, or mental and physical illness or disease.

Boosting Your Energy provides information on the causes and treatments of persistent fatigue. Includes information on aging and energy, eating for energy, and boosting your energy.

Fatigue may be defined as a subjective state in which one feels tired or exhausted, and in which the capacity for normal work or activity is reduced. There is, however, no commonly accepted definition of fatigue when it is considered in the context of health and illness. This lack of definition results from the fact that a person's experience of fatigue depends on a variety of factors. These factors include culture, personality, the physical environment (light, noise, vibration), availability of social support through networks of family members and friends, the nature of a particular fatiguing disease or disorder, and the type and duration of work or exercise . The experience of fatigue associated with disease will be different for someone who is clinically depressed, is socially isolated, and is out of shape, as compared to another person who is not depressed, has many friends, and is aerobically fit.

If you regularly feel weary after waking from a good night’s sleep or for no apparent reason, it’s time to find out why.

Fatigue: TreatmentIf the fatigue is related to a decrease in hemoglobin, or oxygen-carrying capacity of the blood, then replacing the red blood cells by transfusion or taking erythropoietin can help reduce fatigue. If the fatigue is not related to...

Fatigue may be defined as a subjective state in which one feels tired or exhausted, and in which the capacity for normal work or activity is reduced. There is, however, no commonly accepted definition of fatigue when it is considered in the context of health and illness. This lack of definition results from the fact that a person's experience of fatigue depends on a variety of factors. These factors include culture; personality; the physical environment (light, noise, vibration); availability of social support through networks of family members and friends; the nature of a particular fatiguing disease or disorder; and the type and duration of work or exercise. For example, the experience of fatigue associated with disease will be different for someone who is clinically depressed, is socially isolated, and is out of shape, as compared to another person who is not depressed, has many friends, and is aerobically fit. Fatigue is sometimes characterized as normal or abnormal. For example, the feeling of tiredness or even exhaustion after exercising is a normal response and is relieved by resting; many people report that the experience of ordinary tiredness after exercise is pleasant. Moreover, this type of fatigue is called acute since the onset is sudden and the desired activity level returns after resting. On the other hand, there is a kind of fatigue that is not perceived as ordinary; that may develop insidiously over time; is unpleasant or seriously distressing; and is not resolved by rest. This kind of fatigue is abnormal and is called chronic . Some researchers regard fatigue as a defense mechanism that promotes the effective regulation of energy expenditures. According to this theory, when people feel tired they take steps to avoid further stress (physical or emotional) by resting or by avoiding the stressor. They are then conserving energy. Since chronic fatigue is not normal, however, it is an important symptom of some mental disorders; of a variety of physical diseases with known etiologies (causes); and of medical conditions that have no biological markers although they have recognizable syndromes (patterns of symptoms and signs). Fatigue is sometimes described as being primary or secondary. Primary fatigue is a symptom of a disease or mental disorder, and may be part of a cluster of such symptoms as pain, fever, or nausea. As the disease or disorder progresses, however, the fatigue may be intensified by the patient's worsening condition, by the other disease symptoms, or by the surgical or medical treatment given to the patient. This subsequent fatigue is called secondary.

Fatigue is physical and/or mental exhaustion that can be triggered by stress , medication, overwork, or mental and physical illness or disease.

Fatigue is a feeling of exhaustion or loss of strength. The duration of fatigue for a patient with cancer has been found to last from one to two times the length of time between diagnosis and completion of treatment, so it is common for fatigue to persist beyond a patient's treatment regimen.

Fatigue: ManagementIf the person on chemotherapy has decreased hemoglobin, or oxygen-carrying capacity of the blood, and it seems like the low hemoglobin level will last for a while, then a medicine called PROCRIT® (Epoetin alfa) may be prescribed...

Fatigue: CausesWe currently understand some of the causes of fatigue but not all of them. Fatigue may be related to physical changes caused by cancer or its treatment (chemotherapy, biotherapy, radiotherapy, or surgery).

Fatigue: DefinitionFatigue is a vague feeling of being tired, weak, or exhausted. It is often a symptom of cancer, when cancer is first diagnosed, or when cancer progresses (Ferrell et al, 1996).

Many people experience late-in-the-day energy lags, but you can take steps to prevent them.

Oncology: Managing FatigueFatigue is a common side effect of chemotherapy and radiation therapy. It can be caused by worry, lack of sleep, and poor appetite.

Insomnia is difficulty falling or staying asleep. In many cases, it can be relieved with a few simple behavioral changes or medication. Talk with your health care provider if you have any of the following symptoms: Difficulty falling asleep; Excessive sleepiness during the day; History of falling asleep during the day at inappropriate times; Nightmares or disturbing thoughts that keep you awake; Pain, frequent urination, or unusual sensations that keep you awake; Significant trouble getting out of bed in the morning; Sleep that does not refresh you; Waking up several times throughout the night; Waking up early in the morning. Here are some simple tips to get a better night's sleep: If possible, go to bed and wake up at the same time each day. Avoid performing activities such as eating and working in your bed. Avoid strenuous activity 2 hours before going to bed. Avoid caffeinated and alcoholic beverages in the evening. Avoid eating heavy meals at least 2 hours before going to sleep. Develop a bedtime routine that includes calming, relaxing activities. Make sure your sleep environment is quiet, dark, and is at a comfortable temperature. Do something relaxing just before bedtime (such as reading or taking a bath) so that you don't dwell on worrisome issues. Watching TV or using a computer may be stimulating to some people and disturb their ability to fall asleep. If you can't fall asleep within 30 minutes, get up and move to another room and engage in a quiet activity until you feel sleepy. One method of preventing worries from keeping you awake is to keep a journal before going to bed. List all issues that worry you. By this method you transfer your worries from your thoughts to paper, leaving your mind quieter and more ready to fall asleep. See also: Sleep disorders HOW MUCH SLEEP IS ENOUGH? While 7 - 8 hours a night is recommended for most people, children and teenagers need more. Older people tend to do fine with less sleep at night, but still require approximately 8 hours of sleep over a 24-hour period. The quality of sleep is as important as how much sleep you get. See also: Sleep disorders; Sleep disorders in the elderly.

Insomnia is the inability to obtain an adequate amount or quality of sleep. The difficulty can be in falling asleep, remaining asleep, or both. People with insomnia do not feel refreshed when they wake up. Insomnia is a common symptom affecting millions of people that may be caused by many conditions, diseases, or circumstances.

Some nights, sleep comes easily, and you sail through the night in a satisfying slumber. Waking up after a night of good sleep feels wonderful — you're refreshed, energized, and ready to take on the world. Other nights, sleep comes slowly or not until the wee hours. Or you may fall asleep, only to awaken throughout the night.

Detailed information on insomnia, its causes, and ways to help reduce sleep problems

Insomnia is a condition that occurs when a person in unable to get long enough or refreshing enough sleep at night. Insomnia can result from an inability to fall asleep, an inability to stay asleep, or waking too early before having gotten enough sleep.

Insomnia is the inability to obtain an adequate amount or quality of sleep. The difficulty can be in falling asleep, remaining asleep, or both. People with insomnia do not feel refreshed when they wake up. Insomnia is a common symptom affecting millions of people that may be caused by many conditions, diseases, or circumstances. According to a 1999 American Medical Association (AMA) report, approximately 30% of adults in the United States suffer occasionally from insomnia and 10% experience chronic insomnia.

Treating InsomniaGood sleeping habits are a key part of treatment. If needed, some medications may help you sleep better at first.

InsomniaSymptom and DescriptionSeven to eight hours of sleep a night is important for your functioning and well-being. Cancer and cancer treatment can lead to a lack of sleep.Insomnia is a problem in either falling asleep or staying asleep.

Detailed information on insomnia, its causes, and ways to help reduce sleep problems

Anxiety and stress are the most common causes of insomnia. But sleeplessness can also be caused by a variety of medical conditions, medications and environmental factors.

A Harvard Medical School physician answers your question about whether Lunesta, a new sleeping pill, is safe for long-term use.

If you have occasional or chronic insomnia, you may be able to get to sleep by making lifestyle changes.

Research tests the effect of providing objective sleep information directly to the insomniacs themselves.

Persistent insomnia can arise from a variety of causes, including some serious medical conditions. If you have insomnia that persists for longer than a few weeks, insomnia that is accompanied by physical symptoms during the night, or insomnia that interferes with your daytime wakefulness and function, you should be evaluated by a doctor.

More than half of adults over 65 have some sort of sleep problem. Medications are of questionable benefit and can be addictive. Behavior modification is often a more efffective treatment, especially in older patients.

The term overweight is used to describe an excess amount of total body weight including all tissues (fat, bone, muscle, etc.) and water. Obesity , in contrast, is an excess amount of body fat. An adult woman or man who has a body-fat percentage exceeding 35 percent (for women) or 25 percent (for men) is considered obese . A person can be overweight without being obese, as many professional football players and bodybuilders are, for such individuals have large amounts of muscle but not much fat. Likewise, a person can be obese without being overweight, such as some elderly individuals or lazy "couch potatoes," who may not weigh a lot but have too much body fat. However, almost all obese people are also overweight. Because body fat is very difficult to measure accurately, height and weight are used to estimate overweight and obesity. Body mass index (BMI) is a formula that combines both height and weight. It is computed as weight in kilograms divided by height in meters squared, or as weight in pounds times 703 divided by height in inches squared. Normal weight for adults is represented by a BMI of 18.5 to 24.9; overweight by a BMI of 25 to 29.9; and obesity by a BMI of 30 or greater. SEE ALSO O BESITY ; W EIGHT L OSS D IETS ; W EIGHT M ANAGEMENT . John P. Foreyt

Whether you’ve already gained a few extra pounds or have yet to reach perimenopause, here are strategies to help you maintain a healthy weight in midlife and beyond.

Between the late 30s and late 40s, it's not uncommon for both men and women to gain 10 pounds.

When weight gain occurs suddenly or can't be explained by your eating and exercise habits, it's worth taking a closer look.

In experiments on mice, suppressing a chemical linked to stress and appetite prevented the formation of abdominal fat cells, which could lead to new possibilities for weight loss drugs.

The most common prescription medications to cause weight gain include drugs that treat depression, heartburn, bipolar disorder, high blood pressure, and diabetes.

Does insulin cause weight gain? I started taking insulin in July and gained 15 to 20 pounds in three months.

Being tired is the familiar aftermath of physical exertion, prolonged labor or lack of sleep. When does being tired become a symptom of a condition? Fatigue, malaise, lassitude, exhaustion are all subtle variations of the same subjective feelings of not having enough energy to meet the demands of one's life.

Irritability is an excessive response to stimuli.

Children can become cranky, fussy or irritable for many reasons. Often it's because they're hungry or just tired. But sometimes irritability can be a sign of illness in children.

Don't Catch a Bad MoodLike the common cold, human emotions are highly contagious."It's easy to get swept up in somebody else's emotions," says James Page, M.D., a psychiatrist in Greenville, SC.

Mood disorders are mental disorders characterized by periods of depression, sometimes alternating with periods of elevated mood.

Detailed information on the most common types of mood disorders, including major depression, manic depression (bipolar disorder), dysthymia, seasonal affective disorder, and suicide

Research on the connection between a person's mood and the food he or she eats has reveled what many people have long believed, that eating a certain food can influence a person's mood—at least temporarily. Research by Judith Wurtman, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), has focused on how certain foods alter one's mood by influencing the level of certain brain chemicals called neurotransmitters . While many other factors influence the level of these chemicals, such as hormones , heredity, drugs , and alcohol, three neurotransmitters—dopamine, norepinephrine, and serotonin —have been studied in relation to food, and this research has shown that neurotransmitters are produced in the brain from components of certain foods.

Understanding Affective (Mood) DisordersMost people have mood changes now and then. One day they may feel cranky and the next day, they feel great.

Treating Affective (Mood) DisordersAffective disorders are disorders of your mood. They includedepressionandbipolar disorder(also calledmanic-depression).

Colds and the flu can be passed from one person to another, but did you realize that emotions can be passed just as easily?

For many women, the "baby blues" pass quickly. For others, the feelings of sadness don't ease and may become worse.

Agitation is an unpleasant state of extreme arousal, increased tension, and irritability.

Suicide is the act of deliberately taking one's own life. Suicidal behavior is any deliberate action with potentially life-threatening consequences, such as taking a drug overdose or deliberately crashing a car.

Suicide is the act of ending one's own life. Suicidal behavior are thoughts or tendencies that put a person at risk for committing suicide.

Warning Signs of Suicide and What You Can DoIf you think a person could be suicidal, ask, "Have you thought about suicide?" If they say "yes," they may already have a plan for how and when they will attempt it.

It is normal to have periods of low energy when one needs to rest and recuperate. However, if low energy persists and a person continually feels sluggish, disinterested in life, and has low energy, the situation should be investigated by a physician.

Anorexia is characterized by a loss of appetite or lack of desire to eat.

Detailed information on anorexia, including causes, characteristics, types, diagnosis, treatment, complications, and prevention

Appetite StimulationSymptom and Description Loss of appetite is a loss of the desire to eat. Not eating can lead to weight loss.

Your loss of appetite may be because of anxiety or depression, aging, medications or a health concern.

A harvard Medical school physician answers your question about the prevalence of anorexia in men, and discusses the biological and environmental factors that influence the disorder in both sexes.

Women suffering from anorexia nervosa may benefit more from general support than in-depth therapy, according to a recent study.

The ability to concentrate is a function of mental status and cognition. Impairment of the ability to concentrate can be a problem of neurologic or psychiatric origin or a combination of behavior and mentation.

With today's world filled with flashing images of MTV, quick news reports, and fast-food restaurants on every corner, are we capable of concentrating as well as we used to?

Most customers get mad because they didn't get what they expected, but some are upset for unrelated reasons.

Learning how to express anger assertively and constructively can improve your personal interaction and your health.

Anger is as legitimate an emotion as joy or sadness, and it's the most common way children express feelings of frustration.

Long-term studies show a probable link between anger in young men and increased risk of heart disease in middle age and beyond, but excessive anger at any age is bad for the heart.

A routine isn't necessarily bad; it can be comforting because it adds structure to your life and it isn't stressful. But dissatisfaction may start to gnaw at you and erode your self-esteem if you believe you want something more in your life.

What is anhedonia? Michael Craig Miller, M.D., is editor-in-chief of the Harvard Mental Health Letter and an assistant professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Miller has an active clinical practice and has been on staff at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center for more than 25 years.

Apathy can be defined as an absence or suppression of emotion, feeling, concern or passion. Further, apathy is an indifference to things generally found to be exciting or moving.

An emotional state produced by thoughts that we have not lived up to our ideal self and could have done otherwise. Guilt is both a cognitive and an emotional experience that occurs when the child realizes that he or she has violated a moral standard and is responsible for that violation. Typically, among American children, the violations include hurting another person, disobedience, or seizing of someone else's property. A guilty conscience results from thoughts that we have not lived up to our ideal self. Guilt feelings may also inhibit us from falling short of our ideal again in the future. Individual guilt is an inner reflection on personal wrongdoing, while collective guilt is a shared state resulting from group—such as corporate, national, or community—wrongdoing. Guilt serves as both an indicator and inhibitor of wrongdoing. Healthy guilt is an appropriate response to harming another and is resolved through atonement, such as making amends, apologizing, or accepting punishment. Unhealthy guilt, sometimes called neurotic or debilitating guilt, is a pervasive sense of responsibility for others' pain that is not resolved, despite efforts to atone. Healthy guilt inspires a person to behave in the best interests of him- or herself and others and make amends when any wrong is done. Unhealthy guilt stifles a person's natural expression of self and prohibits intimacy with others. Unhealthy guilt can be instilled when a child is continually barraged with shaming statements that criticize the child's self, rather than focusing on the specific harmful behavior. A statement such as, "It is wrong to take someone else's things without permission—please return my book," creates an appropriate awareness in the child of healthy guilt for doing wrong. Saying, "Give me my book back! I can't trust you with anything!" shames the child, declaring that he or she is by nature untrustworthy and will never be better than a thief, regardless of future behavior. Consequently, the child sees his or her identity as defective, and may feel powerless to atone for any wrongdoings. This identity can be carried into adulthood, creating a sense of debilitating guilt. An important difference between shame and guilt is that in the former, the child does not feel he could hae aoided the action; in guilt, he feels responsible. Guilt can be used to manipulate someone into behaving in a certain way. This is known as a "guilt trip." Provoking another's sense of guilt in order to obtain something that he or she might not otherwise have offered is a manipulation of internal motivations. If a teenager asks permission to go out for the evening and the single parent responds, "Go ahead and go to the movie, dear ... don't worry about me ... I'll be fine here all by myself in this big old house all evening with nothing to do ..., " the teenager will be made to feel guilty for the parent's loneliness. If the guilt trip is heavy, the teenager may decide to stay home with the parent, even though he or she really wants to go to the movie. It is appropriate to let people know when they have unnecessarily or intentionally hurt others, or have ignored their responsibilities to others. This will instill fair guilt that will help a person be less hurtful in the future. Although conclusive studies have yet to be conducted, it is likely that the sense of guilt changes along with a person's cognitive and social development. These stages have yet to be thoroughly documented and are still open to critique, particularly the early stages. Some people believe that infants and young children feel a great deal of empathy for others and could conceivably experience guilt over causing them harm. Guilt can be deactivated, the conscience "turned off." Some people never seem to develop a healthy sense of guilt in the first place, through a failure to develop empathy or a lack of appropriate limits, while others choose to turn theirs off. Guilt can be deactivated in two differ

Emotions such as guilt, pride, shame, and hubris. Succeeding or failing to meet the standards, rules, and goals of one's group or society determines how well an individual forms relationships with other members of the group. Living up to one's own internalized set of standards—or failing to live up to them—is the basis of complex emotions. The so-called self-conscious emotions, such as guilt, pride, shame, and hubris, require a fairly sophisticated level of intellectual development. To feel them, individuals must have a sense of self as well as a set of standards. They must also have notions of what constitutes success and failure, and the capacity to evaluate their own behavior. Because these emotions are complex, they have generally been thought of as adult emotions. But very little research had, until recently, been done to confirm this. Research has now shown that children start to develop self-conscious emotions surprisingly early in life. Before a child reaches the third birthday, he or she has started to manifest these emotions in some form. Self-conscious emotions are difficult to study. For one thing, there are no clear elicitors of these emotions. Joy registers predictably on a baby's face at the approach of a parent, and fear appears at the approach of a stranger. But what situation is guaranteed to elicit pride or shame, guilt or embarrassment? These emotions are so dependent on a person's own experience, expectations, and culture, that it is difficult to design uniform experiments. Some psychoanalysts, notably Sigmund Freud and Erik Erikson, argued that there must be some universal elicitors of shame, such as failure at toilet training or exposure of the backside. But the idea of an automatic noncognitive elicitor does not make much sense. Cognitive processes are likely to be the elicitors of these complex emotions. It is the way people think or what they think about that becomes the elicitor of pride, shame, guilt, or embarrassment. There may be a one-to-one correspondence between certain thoughts and certain emotions; however, in the case of self-conscious emotions, the elicitor is a cognitive event. This does not mean that the earlier primary emotions are elicited by noncognitive events. Cognitive factors may play a role in eliciting any emotion, but the nature of the cognitive events is much less articulated and differentiated in the primary than in the self-conscious emotions. Those who study self-conscious emotions have begun to determine the role of the self in such emotions, and in particular the age at which the notion of self emerges in childhood. Recently, models of these emotions are beginning to emerge. These models provide testable distinctions between often confused emotions, such as guilt and shame. Moreover, nonverbal tools for studying these emotions in children are being developed. As a result, models exist to explain when and how self-conscious emotions develop. The self-conscious emotions depend on the development of a number of cognitive skills. First, individuals must absorb a set of standards, rules, and goals. Second, they must have a sense of self. And finally, they must be able to evaluate the self with regard to those standards, rules, and goals and then make a determination of success or failure. As a first step in self-evaluation, a person has to decide whether a particular event is the result of his or her own action. If, for example, an object breaks while you are using it, you might blame yourself for breaking it, or you might decide the object was faulty. If you place the blame on yourself, you are making an internal attribution. If you decide the object was defective, then you are making an external attribution. If you don't blame yourself, chances are you will give the matter no more thought. But if you do blame yourself, you are likely to go on to the next step of evaluation. Whether a person is inclined to make an internal or an external attribution depends on the

Aggressive behavior is reactionary and impulsive behavior that often results in breaking household rules or the law; aggressive behavior is violent and unpredictable.

Weakness is a reduction in the strength of one or more muscles.

Detailed information on depression and depression in women, including types, symptoms, diagnosis, and treatment

Everybody feels sad sometimes, but to be clinically depressed is not just a matter of feeling sad. A patient with cancer is diagnosed as having major depression only if certain symptoms, such as loss of pleasure or thoughts of death, are present for at least two weeks. Only a healthcare professional can accurately determine whether a patient is depressed or is simply upset because of the disease.

An emotional state or mood characterized by one or more of these symptoms: sad mood, low energy, poor concentration, sleep or appetite changes, feelings of worthlessness or hopelessness, and thoughts of suicide. Until recently, it was thought that children and adolescents could not suffer from clinical depression. It was assumed that children were not physically or psychologically mature enough to develop symptoms of depression and that adolescents with mood difficulties were simply going through "growing pains." However, several investigations have shown that if appropriately evaluated, children and adolescents do suffer from depression. We will refer to clinical depression that presents with severe symptoms as major depressive disorder (MDD) and depression that has moderate, chronic symptoms as dysthymic disorder (see below for specific criteria). Depression is relatively common; the prevalence (number of cases in one year) of MDD and dysthymic disorder combined is approximately 2% for children and 6% for adolescents.

Depression is the general name for a family of illnesses known as depressive disorders. Depression is an illness that affects not only the mood and thoughts, but also the physical functions of affected individuals. Depressive disorders usually result from a combination of genetic, environmental, and psychological factors.

Depression and depressive disorders (unipolar depression) are mental illnesses characterized by a profound and persistent feeling of sadness or despair and/or a loss of interest in things that once were pleasurable. Disturbance in sleep , appetite, and mental processes are common symptoms of depression.

Depression is the general name for a family of illnesses known as depressive disorders. Depression is an illness that affects not only the mood and thoughts, but also the physical functions of affected individuals. Depressive disorders usually result from a combination of genetic, environmental, and psychological factors.

Depression or depressive disorders (unipolar depression) are mental illnesses characterized by a profound and persistent feeling of sadness or despair and/or a loss of interest in things that were once pleasurable. Disturbance in sleep, appetite, and mental processes are a common accompaniment.

Depression or depressive disorders (unipolar depression) are mental illnesses characterized by a profound and persistent feeling of sadness or despair and/or a loss of interest in things that were once pleasurable. Disturbance in sleep, appetite, and mental processes are a common accompaniment.

Depression is sometimes referred to as the common cold of mental illness. It is a debilitating disease with significant societal costs. It is, however, one of the most clearly defined and treatable of mental illnesses. Technically, the term "depression" is used to cover a variety of symptomatic conditions, all characterized by negative mood and a loss of pleasure. Together these conditions comprise a spectrum ranging from major depression to dysthymia to adjustment reactions to normal grief and sadness. At one extreme of this continuum lies major depressive disorder, a syndrome characterized by severe episodes of depressed mood accompanied by loss of sleep, appetite, concentration, energy, and hope. The depressed mood must persist for greater than two weeks in order to warrant this diagnosis. At the other end of the continuum lies the diagnosis of dysthymia, which is characterized by a lower level of mood disturbance that persists chronically; that is, involving more days than not for a period of two years or greater. Many patients complain of depressed mood but do not fit neatly into either of these two categories. These patients' symptoms are frequently best accounted for as a reaction to an acute life stressor. These reactions are typically nonpathological and resolve with time, but they may constitute an adjustment reaction if normal functioning is sufficiently disturbed. Depression is both common and costly. It has a lifetime prevalence of 5 to 10 percent of women and 2 to 5 percent of men. It is an expensive disorder in both direct and indirect terms, as depression causes a higher degree of functional disability than many medical illnesses including diabetes, chronic lung disease, and arthritis. Additional costs to society result from the effect of untreated depression on the treatment of medical illnesses, where it contributes to longer hospital stays and morbidity. This has been particularly well demonstrated in the treatment of myocardial infarction (heart attack), where the presence of major depression has consistently been found to increase mortality. Depressive illness is thought to result from a combination of biological and psychological factors. The biological component is strongly suggested by the high genetic concordance of depressive disorders. In the twenty-first century, there are various competing theories about the nature of this genetic/biological contribution, but the available data do not yet indicate the specific nature of the illness. The psychological component is similarly suggested by the correlation of onset of major depression with negative life events and with the increased risk of depression in individuals who experienced abuse in childhood. A variety of psychological theories exist and are linked to models of psychotherapeutic treatment. Interpersonal psychotherapists, for example, emphasize the role of grieving due to the loss of an important relationship or a transition in social roles (e.g., transition from working to retirement, marriage to divorce). Cognitive therapists emphasize a mind-set of construing life events in a way that leads to depression. Alternately, psychodynamic therapists search for the ways that unconscious coping processes and repetitive relational patterns result in negative effects. A commonly postulated mechanism would include the turning of anger in on the self. For example, a depressed woman may feel critical of herself rather than direct her anger toward an abusive spouse. Treatment of depression parallels theories of etiology in that both biological and psychological treatments exist and have been efficacious. A number of different antidepressant medications have been developed, including monoamine oxidase (MAO) inhibitors, tricyclic antidepressants, and selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI). These medicines have demonstrated efficacy in both the treatment of acute depressive episodes and in the prevention of relapses. A variety of psychological therapie

A depressive disorder is defined by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) as an illness that involves the body, mood and thoughts. It encompasses feelings of overwhelming sadness and despair that persist or intensify over time.

Increased appetite means you have an excess desire for food.

America has a weight problem. More than half of us are classified as overweight, say officials at the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Fidgeting is usually used to describe someone who is seen as not being able to sit still. Fidgety people move in their seats constantly, move their hands and feet and appear to be in perpetual motion.

Hypersomnia refers to a set of related disorders that involve excessive daytime sleepiness.

HypersomniaSymptom and DescriptionA good night's sleep is important for your functioning and well-being. Too much sleep can be a problem.

Hypersomnia refers to a set of related disorders that involve excessive daytime sleepiness.

Considered an important component of emotional health, self-esteem encompasses both self-confidence and self-acceptance. Experiences at home, at school, and with peers can all build or diminish a child's self-esteem. Psychologists and child-care authorities who write about self-esteem generally discuss it in terms of two key components: the feeling of being loved and accepted by others and a sense of competence and mastery in performing tasks and solving problems independently. The value placed on self-esteem by the mental health profession over the past 30 years has been critiqued by psychologist Martin Seligman. Seligman claims in order for children to feel good about themselves, they must feel that they are able to do things well. He claims that trying to shield children from feelings of sadness, frustration, and anxiety when they fail robs them of the motivation to persist in difficult tasks until they succeed. It is precisely such success in the face of difficulties that can truly make them feel good about themselves. Seligman believes that this attempt to cushion children against unpleasant emotions is in large part responsible for an increase in the prevalence of depression since the 1950s, an increase that he associates with a conditioned sense of helplessness. Like Seligman, pediatrician and child-care expert T. Berry Brazelton emphasizes that children develop self-esteem through the sense of competence and mastery that comes from tackling and triumphing over challenges, even modest ones. He believes that parents can boost children's self-esteem even in infancy by giving them an active and autonomous role in casual play. As infants and toddlers advance to self-care activities, such as beginning to feed themselves, Brazelton encourages parents to let children complete tasks for themselves, however imperfectly, rather than jumping in and providing help. For example, he suggests allowing children to pick up small bits of food at the age of eight months even if they drop some, and letting them hold their own bottles at 12 months. Like Seligman, Brazelton emphasizes the value of leaving a child to work through a problem for herself, trying out different approaches to a task until she succeeds. For a child accustomed to learning by trial and error, frustration can serve as a source of motivation and energy rather than an obstacle. Brazelton also emphasizes the importance of encouraging the child in her endeavors and providing positive reinforcement when a goal is achieved. In spite of his emphasis on the development of competence, Brazelton does advise parents to address their children in a positive way to reinforce feelings of love and acceptance. Among the harmful negative examples he points out are belittling comparisons with siblings ("Why can't you be more like your brother?") and threats of abandonment ("If you don't stop that right now, I'm leaving you here!"). Various experts have noted that when parental communication is consistently delivered in a negative style it becomes internalized, and children start to practice negative "self-talk," generating their own negative messages. In addition to their verbal communication style, parents also express acceptance and affirmation by showing physical affection and being good listeners, which makes children feel important and cared about. Social critics have pointed out that it can be more difficult for children in the United States and other modern industrialized nations to achieve a sense of competence than it was for their counterparts in earlier historical periods. Children in the past, or in modern developing countries, participated actively in the economic life of the community, helping their families by doing some of the same jobs performed by adults. Today's children, especially in urban areas, perform little "useful" work and thus have few opportunities to master tasks that contribute to the welfare of their families and the community as a whole. In addition, thei

Considered an important component of emotional health, self-esteem encompasses both self-confidence and self-acceptance. It is the way individuals perceive themselves and their self-value.

Research shows that adolescents who grow up with high self-esteem are far less likely to abuse drugs or drink, compared with children who grow up without much sense of self-worth.

Unintentional weight loss is a decrease in body weight that is not voluntary. In other words, you did not try to loss the weight by dieting or exercising. See: Intentional weight loss

What is the most effective method for weight loss/management while taking prednisone?

Doctors become most concerned about unintentional weight loss if it reaches more than five percent of the usual body weight (about ten pounds), especially if your weight has not stabilized and continues to go down.

Unintentional weight gain is an increase in body weight that occurs when a person takes in more calories than the body needs or uses.

Most people who gain weight are taking in more calories per day than they are using. If you are gaining weight despite eating fewer calories and maintaining your usual amount of physical activity, this guide is for you.

The average American gains several pounds in the six weeks between Thanksgiving and New Year's Day. This seemingly inevitable weight gain is avoidable; you can fend off added pounds during the holidays without becoming a dietary Scrooge.

A Harvard Medical School physician discusses how to avoid holiday weight gain.

Emotional content floods the brain in response to our experiences, physiological and psychological states. Most of us learn how to prevent emotions from interfering with functioning as we mature.