RIVERSIDE, Calif. – Researchers at the University of California, Riverside have made a discovery in the lab that could help drug manufacturers develop new antiepileptic drugs and explore novel strategies for treating seizures associated with epilepsy – a disease affecting about two million Americans.

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BOSTON—Does this sound familiar? You’re at your computer, facing a wall of e-mails. Before you know it, you’ve finished lunch without even noticing it. A small yet growing body of research suggests that a slower, more thoughtful way of eating could help with weight problems and maybe steer some people away from less-healthful choices, reports the February 2011 issue of the Harvard Health Letter.

Applied to eating, mindfulness includes noticing the colors, smells, flavors, and textures of your food; chewing slowly; and getting rid of distractions like watching TV or reading. If you eat too quickly, your body’s signals of satiety (fullness) may occur after you have overeaten instead of providing a signal to stop eating.

Several studies have shown that mindful eating strategies might help treat eating disorders and possibly help with weight loss. One study included 150 binge eaters and compared a mindfulness-based therapy to a standard psycho-educational treatment. Both active treatments produced declines in binging and depression, but the mindfulness-based therapy seemed to help people enjoy their food more and have less sense of struggle about controlling their eating.

Mindfulness helps people learn the difference between emotional and physical hunger by introducing a “moment of choice” between the urge to eat and eating. It also helps people learn to recognize the signs of satiety. Experts suggest starting gradually, eating one meal a day or week in a more mindful manner. The Harvard Health Letter offers some tips that may help you get started:

• Set your timer to 20 minutes, and take that time to eat a meal.
• Eat silently for five minutes, thinking about what it took to produce that meal, from the sun’s rays to the cook.
• Take small bites and chew well.
• Before opening the fridge or cabinet, ask yourself, “Am I really hungry?”

Read the full-length article: “Mindful eating”

The Harvard Health Letter is available from Harvard Health Publications (www.health.harvard.edu), the publishing division of Harvard Medical School, for $29 per year. Subscribe at www.health.harvard.edu/health or by calling 877-649-9457 (toll-free).

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Media: Contact Raquel Schott at Raquel_Schott@hms.harvard.edu for a complimentary copy of the newsletter, or to receive our press releases directly.

From the Wall Street Journal By KEVIN HELLIKER

A nationwide survey of college freshmen found that their emotional health had fallen to the lowest level since the poll was introduced a quarter century ago.

Some 52% of first-year college students rated their emotional health as above average or in the highest 10% in the survey taken last fall. That’s down from 55.3% in the year-earlier survey, and well below the nearly 64% of respondents who gave themselves high ratings in 1985, the first year students were asked about their emotional health.

The “Freshman Survey,” administered by UCLA’s Higher Education Research Institute, encompasses responses from more than 200,000 first-year, full-time students at nearly 280 U.S. colleges and universities. The survey, which also asks a host of other questions, is well regarded among college administrators, partly because the response rate usually exceeds 90%.

College administrators said the survey is likely to add force to an ongoing effort to bolster mental-health services on campus. “The trend has been more students coming to college who either have been diagnosed with mental health issues or who are proactive at seeking out help,” says Anne Dueweke, director of institutional research at Kalamazoo College in Michigan.

College counselors expressed little surprise at the finding in this year’s survey that female students face emotional challenges at a higher rate than males.

“We’ve known for some time that first-year college women are coming to college with more distress and at a much greater risk for depression than college men,” says Karl Laves, a director of counseling at Western Kentucky University.

College administrators urge freshmen to complete the survey because it produces demographic data that the admissions process often fails to collect, such as religious affiliation, parental-career information and whether students are the first in their families to attend college. The survey also enables individual colleges to compare freshmen to those at peer institutions.

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