September 2021

In many cases, sugar addiction (just like other forms of addiction) can be linked to ACEs. When adverse childhood experiences go unresolved, sugar is easily accessible and can provide a temporary pressure relief valve from toxic stress. Sometimes, this way of coping is unconscious because the sugar-eating habits are reinforced by the brain’s altered hardwiring that craves that next dopamine hit. Then, there's the weight gain...

By Kavita Vinekar, The New England Journal of Medicine, September 23, 2021 "We see such advanced pathology here,” our guide boasted as she glided through the resident Ob/Gyn clinic. It was 2013, and I was among a nervous gaggle of fourth-year medical students, following the resident on a whirlwind residency interview tour. “We see all the Medicaid and uninsured patients, so it’s, like, really great learning,” she continued. I looked at her in awe, with excitement and near disbelief that I,...

By Coral Davenport, The New York Times, September 20, 2021 The Biden administration is opening an effort across federal agencies to address the health impacts from heat, including the first ever labor standard aimed at protecting workers from extreme heat, as part of a growing recognition of the dangers posed by warming temperatures caused by climate change. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration, part of the Labor Department, will draft its first rule governing heat exposure...

By Beth Warren, Yahoo! News, September 23, 2021 A bashful Native American who thwarted death twice summoned his inner warrior during a summer powwow, dressed in purple regalia and long feathers. Jasten "Jazz" Bears Tail, 36, immersed himself in the movement, a style called fancy dancing, at the event in the North Dakota town of Parshall on the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation. He stomped and twirled in sync with the pounding of the drums, symbolizing the heartbeat of his ancestors. On the...

By Guest Author Kay Johnson, 9/23/21, positiveexperience.org/blog This week’s blog features a contribution from our friend and colleague, Kay Johnson. She has been involved in policy-making for children for most of her career, and has contributed to important policy changes for children and families. With budget debates ongoing in Washington and around the country, we thought this would be a great time to hear from her about ensuring health equity. Medicaid is, by far, the biggest health...

Resiliency, to summarize, is the ability to bounce back from difficult circumstances. People living with mental health challenges often have high resilience to the opposition because they have grown resilient through trial by fire. This piece will focus on what is going on in the brain with resiliency and perhaps a few suggestions on how we can help our brains form it. The Different Aspects of Building Resiliency First, let us discuss what scientists believe are the building blocks of...

By Alia E. Dastagir, USA TODAY, September 21, 2021 Gabby Petito's father posted a photo of his daughter on Twitter Sunday night with the caption, “She touched the world." It was not an overstatement. Petito's disappearance and death captivated a public consumed by anguish for her family and anxious for answers in the highly publicized case. The 22-year-old vanished while on a cross-country expedition with her fiancé, Brian Laundrie, 23. Her family last heard from her on Aug. 30, two days...

By Radheyan Simonpillari, The Guardian, September 21, 2021 I n On These Grounds, an expansive, insightful and infuriating documentary about police brutality in the public education system, former school resource officer Ben Fields makes his case. Fields, a hulking and defensive white cop, meekly looks at the camera, clinically explaining away his actions when confronting a 16-year-old Black student identified as Shakara at Spring Valley high in South Carolina. The violent incident caught on...

By Paul Krugman, The New York Times, September 21, 2021 Americans love rags-to-riches stories, tales of people who transcended childhood poverty to achieve adult success. Unless you’re totally oblivious to reality, however, you surely realize that such stories are the exceptions, not the rule. The disadvantages of growing up in poverty — poor nutrition, poor health care, an impoverished environment, the cognitive burden that goes along with never having enough money — can and often do hobble...

By Rahil D. Briggs, Psychology Today, September 21, 2021 There are many ways to think about baby, toddler, and child well-being. Perhaps you relate to the phrase “early relational health” or maybe you read the recent journal article in Pediatrics that called out the importance of ensuring that young children have safe, stable, and nurturing relationships (SSNRs). There are conversations happening about buffering toxic stress , increasing resilience , and promoting infant and early childhood...

Acompañanos para este tiempo de aprendizaje. https://www.eventbrite.com/e/heridas-del-trauma-racial-la-esperanza-y-sanando-en-conexion-relacional-registration-172513822487

By Elizabeth Torbe, UCLA Fielding School of Public Health, September 22, 2021 Nationwide, various reports on COVID-19 cases and deaths, racial injustice, and a presidential election flooded the media circuit throughout 2020. As the U.S. continues to grapple with the pandemic’s toll on countless lives, findings from the California Health Interview Survey , or CHIS, are taking a closer look at statewide impacts among 39.5 million Californians. The just-released data from the survey, which is...