Through the process of applying to the Integrative Arts program here at Penn State I have found someone who has used this program to become an art therapist. I was curious as to if this type of therapy and what exactly it does. There are actually quite a few schools that come up with this specific major when I looked for it so I feel as though there must be some good studies which show this process as being effective.

An article on arttherapyworks.ca states that this process works “by giving a person a different way to express their thoughts and feelings – both through the image they create and the physical aspect of making the art”. It makes sense how expressing oneself through art can lead to helping them overcome their problems. What comes to mind also is Freud and how he studied the unconsciousness and determined people problems from their dreams, even though he is discredited today there might be some merit to this type of thinking.

This Wikipedia article lists several uses for art therapy outside of just psychological therapies, such as helping aid in the recovery from general illness. One particularly interesting use I found was that it was used to help people who were diagnosed with cancer to cope with this condition. I found this interesting because art is something that anyone can do and it helped people who were likely very upset and distraught.

In the Wikipedia article a review of studies is discussed in which states “When given five individual sessions of art therapy once per week, art therapy was shown to be useful for personal empowerment by helping the cancer patients understand their own boundaries in relation to the needs of other people.” I feel that these types of things are somewhat hard to test because they are based on feelings which can be hard to measure. In this specific study it is possible that there is a third variable involved such as the support system each patient had. However, I would be interested to see a large scale study done on how effect this therapy is compared to no therapy or other types of therapies.

I have been a vegetarian for about a year and a half now and my boyfriend has been one for about 6 months. Many people have very strong opinions about this way of life, especially in a state where meat is viewed as absolutely necessary for every breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snack. However, studies have found that those of us who do not eat meat may actually have lower risks of disease and overall better health.

There are several types of vegetarians, however the majority of vegetarians, including myself, are lacto-ovovegetarians, meaning we do not eat any meat but do eat eggs and dairy products.  Many people confuse vegetarians with vegans, who do not eat any animal products including eggs, dairy, and sometimes honey. There are also variations of vegetarians who eat fish but no other meat (pescatarian) or only chicken (pollotarian). The studies say, however, that as long as someone is eating little to no meat they will at least receive some of the health benefits.

The first benefit I noticed when I became a vegetarian was weight loss, which is a reason why many people become a vegetarian. The reasons for this weight loss are stated in an article on atasteofhealth.org, which are that vegetable diets are typically lower in fats and sugars than the average meat diet. With this being said it is understandable why there are so many other health benefits to becoming a vegetarian.

In a study on health.harvard.edu it is stated that vegetarians are 25% less likely than meat eaters to die of heart disease. This was found in a combination of studies involving 76,000 people and a later study of 65,000 people by Oxford cohort of the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC-Oxford) found that vegetarians are 19% less likely to die of heart disease. One of the health benefits for being a vegetarian listed on brown.edu for becoming a vegetarian is a lower risk of developing heart disease (they also list a lower risk for developing “Colorectal, ovarian, and breast cancers, Diabetes, Obesity, and Hypertension (high blood pressure)”). Many of these are also echoed in the Harvard article with studies to accompany them.

With all of this being said it is somewhat suspicious that two studies found different findings when looking at heart disease and vegetarianism. Is there a chance that there was an error in one of these studies or possibly a third variable such as a high fat vegetarian diet vs. what most would think of as an average vegetarian diet? Could the file drawer problem be at work here and there are other studies which were not published showing negative or potentially negative results?

With all of this being said it seems pretty likely that there at least a few benefits to becoming a vegetarian if not many. As a science student if I were not already a vegetarian I would seriously consider it and look at what I have to give up and if it outweighed the health benefits which I have found. If the benefits outweigh what you have to give up and you are interested in this lifestyle, more information on becoming a vegetarian can be found on eatright.org.

As we approach finals week many of us are probably going to double the amount of stress we are already under by worrying about how we’re going to do on our finals and if we can narrowly escape our classes with C’s. I have always worried about anything and everything and I was always told that I would worry myself sick. Is this actually true? Can someone actually stress themselves out to the point where they become physically sick?

While researching for this topic I came upon two articles that suggested that this was true in two different ways. The first article from mentalhealthy.co.uk suggests that people can worry to the point where they develop Generalized Anxiety Disorder. This disorder is described by the National Institute for Mental Health as “[worrying] excessively about a variety of everyday problems for at least 6 months.” This disorder affects 3.1% of American Adults and the average age of onset is 31 years old.

On the other hand, an article on Huffington Post suggests that these health problems may be more than just mental. This article suggests that toxic stress hormones can accumulate in the blood stream “which can affect the glands, nervous system, and the heart, and can lead to stomach ulcers, heart disease, and an increased risk of heart attack and stroke”. It seems from the information here that stressing too much can quite possibly kill you, which is a very scary thought.

Now to look at these articles one by one, first of all neither of the articles had any type of experiments or data to back up their claims. So these claims could be true but they could also be somewhat untrue or just plain false. The connections between the stress hormones and the number of health problems mentioned in the Huffington Post article could be caused by a third variable. Also, if this was actually studied there is a chance that these people were already at an increased risk for these health problems to begin with. With both of these articles it is possible that correlation which may have been found in a study which neither of them have may not equal causation.

When it comes to finals week the stress levels go through the roof, but don’t let them go too high. While these articles have no scientific proof that stress causes health problems I believe that the severity of the outcomes is enough for me to try to reduce my stress levels.

Many of us have grown up with bad habits, for some it is nail biting, for me it is cracking my knuckles. When I was younger I was always told that doing this would cause me to have arthritis when I was older. However according to an article on oregon.providence.org this may be just an old wives tale.

First to explain where the cracking noise comes from as stated by Dr. Peter Bonafede, medical director of the Providence Arthritis Center, the cracking noise is caused by a change in the fluid that surrounds the joints, called synovial fluid. This change is caused by the spreading of the joints that occurs when the fingers are bent to crack them allowing an air bubble to get into this fluid and then burst, thus creating the cracking sound. Now the definition of arthritis according to Mayoclynic.org is “inflammation of one or more of your joints”. With all of this considered it makes sense that there could be a connection between these two things, however studies suggest otherwise.

Dr. Bonafede mentions a study in the oregon.providence article in which the hand function of 200 adults was studied, 74 of these adults were habitual knuckle crackers. The study concluded that these adults were not more likely to develop arthritis; however they were more likely to have swollen hands and reduced hand strength. Another study mentioned in an article on bidmc.org published in the Annals of Rheumatic Disease conducted with 300 adults also reached the same conclusion.

Assuming these studies were well constructed the question arises, is 500 people total enough? If these studies involved thousands of people would they have different findings? Also, another point to consider is the age group; the first study mentioned was conducted with adults age 45 and older. In the bidmc.org it states that arthritis is very common in adults 65 and over, so adults in both of these studies could have just developed arthritis because they were older. What if a study was conducted on college aged adults who have been cracking their knuckles? Would it conclude something different about this age group? Both of these studies were also only conducted with subjects that cracked their knuckles, what about other parts of the body, such as the toes? Would these parts produce a different result?

Multiple studies have concluded that cracking your knuckles does not cause arthritis. This, however, does not mean that everyone should go out and pick up a knuckle cracking hobby. In this situation it is pretty likely that those who habitually crack their knuckles will have some type of damage later in life which will make it hard to use their knuckles and subsequently fingers. When the risks and benefits of this habit are weighed there are many risks and virtually no benefits, maybe it’s time to pick up a new hobby.

Depression, an unfortunate disease that many people in today’s society fight silently. It is becoming more and more common in today’s fast-paced technological society, in fact, according to Wikipedia, in the United States the lifetime prevalence of depression is 17%. This number doesn’t seem like a lot but when the actual population of the United States is looked at that is over 100,000 people. The worst thing about these statistics is that they rise each year and are especially high among young, college-age people such as ourselves. However recent articles suggest that perhaps a little bit of exercise in this situation can go a long way.

In a paper from Science Direct the suggested cause for this rise is effort-based rewards or “the level of physical activity necessary to provide life’s basic resources”. This means that we don’t feel rewarded for our efforts to get that burger at McDonald’s (because someone else is doing all the work for us) like our ancestors once did from hunting for their food. In essence our service driven society and our lack of physical activity has driven us to have alarming rates of depression. This seems to me as if all someone with depression needs to do is to start exercising more and cook their own meals and it is obviously not this easy at all.

In an article on Mayo Clinic, there are several benefits that exercise has on depression including releasing feel-good brain chemicals and helping people gain confidence. It makes sense that these types of benefits would be helpful for people who have depression. However exercise is not by any means the cure-all of depression for all of the 17% of Americans who have it. For example, third variables, such as genetics come into play with this disease and for these people it is coded into their genes to have depression and exercise may have a very little effect on them. Also, this article didn’t have any types of studies attached to it, maybe two groups could be taken, one with several types depression represented in it and another without depression and observe the effects of exercise on each group and see if the amount of exercise plays a role in this situation.

Exercise may not completely cure depression, but it can definitely help. Obviously before deciding to take depression into your own hands you should consult a professional, but adding more exercise in your life is almost never harmful.

In honor of National Cat Day I have decided to investigate the question many pet owners often ask, how does my cat understand me? As a cat owner myself, I have always been curious as to how my cat, named Oreo (pictured below), responds to so many nicknames and words but yet won’t respond to her own name. Does she understand what we are saying or is she just responding to tones in our voices in the hopes of getting fed again?

Through investigating this question I came across two articles which I found interesting one such article found on dailymail.co.uk discusses a Japanese study which recorded responses of cats to several different voices, one of which being their owner’s. This study found that the cats displayed pupil dilation as well as ear and body movements when hearing their owner’s voices but not the other voices. This article also goes on to talk about a doctor who is using artificial intelligence software to translate the sounds of other animals into English. These are both very interesting findings which could mean that our cats understand or at least have an idea of what we are saying. The other article I found on the National Geographic website is an interview with John Bradshaw, a cat behavior expert. In this interview Bradshaw explains that cats, unlike dogs, treat humans as just any other cat and act accordingly. This may suggest that cats don’t actually understand anything we are saying and are just acting according to a set of instinctual guidelines.

So do cats actually understand us or not? Both of these articles have somewhat differing viewpoints on this subject but it is important to look at the validity of the evidence when making a decision. First up is the Japanese study, for which there are no names or organizations associated which immediately makes me question if this is an actual study and if these nameless people are average joes or actual specialists. The next problem with this is there aren’t a number of subjects provided, this means that there could have been only two cats studied, certainly not enough to draw a valid conclusion. Then there is the actual study itself, there is a chance that the results found were caused by a third variable such as the unfamiliar situation and surroundings. Then there is the other article with John Bradshaw, for this article the reader is not exactly sure how many studies were conducted and with how many cats they were conducted. With all this being said, I still have my hopes that cats can understand us and for now that will have to do.

Does an apple a day really keep the doctor away? This Victorian era proverb has been said for years and there may actually be truth to it. According to an article on NPR this habit can improve cardiovascular health.

           According to calculations by the University of Oxford, mentioned in the article, for people over the age of 50 eating an apple a day would have a similar effect to that of statins, drugs which are used to lower cholesterol. By their calculations, if they put 70% of people over the age of 50 on an apple a day regiment it would save about 8,500 lives. While apples are more expensive than statins and are not covered by medical insurance they also come without the risk of side effects unlike statins. However, before starting the apple a day regimen there are some things to consider.

While this article sounds good in theory it may not prove to actually be as good as it seems. This article is based on calculations, not a study or experiment, so the only thing to back this up is the numbers which may or may not be real considering there is no evidence to go along with them. A better version of this is a healthy diet will keep the doctor away, defined by Health Guide as mostly vegetables and fruits (see graph below). An apple a day is a healthy way to live your life, however it may not necessarily keep the doctor away.

Works Cited

“Healthy Eating.” : Easy Tips for Planning a Healthy Diet & Sticking to It. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Sept. 2014.

Shute, Nancy. “An Apple A Day Keeps The Doctor Away, And Statins Do, Too.” NPR. NPR, n.d. Web. 18 Sept. 2014.

              Many of us have heard of the so called Penn State Plague and if you haven’t all you have to do is walk into the Forum and listen to the constant coughing and sniffling. Many people on campus are already sick and if you aren’t there is a good chance you will be very soon. So what are the best ways to treat this if you are sick and how do you avoid it if you aren’t?

If you are trying to get rid of cold bug there are some dos and some don’ts. According to an article on Mayo Clinic if you are trying to self-medicate with antibiotics and zinc you should stop now because these things won’t work. Antibiotics are meant for infections which are caused by bacteria, whereas the common cold is caused by a different microorganism, a virus, so unless you have more than just a cold antibiotics won’t work. Zinc, on the other hand, while it has the reputation of fighting colds it actually isn’t that effective according to this article. Many of the studies conducted to see if this mineral is actually effective were flawed so it is hard to find any reliable information as far as its cold fighting power. In addition, of the few studies that aren’t as flawed show that zinc only works if taken in the first few hours after the onset of a cold. There are also FDA warnings against taking nasal medicines containing zinc because it may cause a loss of smell along with its other side effects including nausea.

You are probably wondering at this point what you should take for that pesky cold. According to an article from the American Academy of Otolaryngology you should be taking either antihistamines, decongestants, or a combination of the two. Antihistamines block the chemical, called a histamine, which causes many cold and allergy symptoms such as sneezing and a runny nose. Decongestants relieve congestion which occurs when the blood vesicles swell up causing the pressure you feel under your eyes and on your forehead. It is recommended that you take one or both of these depending on your symptoms. In addition to this the Mayo Clinic article says that drinking liquids, with the exception of alcohol, coffee, and soda, humidity, and saline nasal sprays are also good at ameliorating a cold. The most important thing for those who are sick is to stay home so they’re don’t get others sick.

Works Cited

“Antihistamines, Decongestants, and Cold Remedies.” American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Sept. 2014.

“Common Cold.” Cold Remedies: What Works, What Doesn’t, What Can’t Hurt. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Sept. 2014.

            Most of us have seen the movies where there are little green creatures that come to earth in their UFOs. We haven’t actually seen this yet but recent articles are saying that we could see other life forms places other than earth, however they may not be the green men you might be envisioning. In fact, these life forms could be closer than we thing, they could be right here in our solar system.

Up until a few years ago, the favorite planet for having life was mars because of its frozen ice caps containing water, however according to an article titled Europa & Titan: Moons With Life? There are a few other options besides our red neighbor, one such option is Jupiter’s smallest moon, Europa. While it is very cold and covered in ice, 3 miles to be exact, scientists suspect that there is liquid water under this thick crust. Now there probably aren’t any green men living here but it is suspected that there are microorganisms, similar to those found on the ocean floor here on Earth. The finding of life here could completely change life as we know it on earth.

While this is exciting and potentially life changing, don’t get too excited just yet. There is a slight (maybe a little larger than slight) problem that no one has actually visited this moon yet, seeing as it is uninhabitable by humans and is millions of light years away. It is for this reason that all of the suspicions of life on Europa are just theories backed up by scientific knowledge and understanding. This is most likely a question that we may not answer in our lifetimes unless we come up with the technology to send a rover here as we have done with Mars. For now, there aren’t going to be any little green people landing on Earth any time in the near future, however, we could potentially discover life on other planets, and moons.

If you are interested in more information on Europa and why it could potentially sustain life here is a video from Big Think by Bill Nye.

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upRqAaCEEhw

Works Cited

“Bill Nye: We May Discover Life on Europa.” YouTube. YouTube, 30 July 2014. Web. 17 Sept. 2014.

“Life on Other Planets?” Life on Other Planets? N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Sept. 2014.

As a potential art major I have frequently heard from my not-so-artistic family and friends that I am a right-brained person, so I decided to do some research on the subject of being right or left brained. Many of us are aware of the long held belief that people are either right or left brained, the right being more creative and visually oriented while the left is more logical and process oriented. Many tests can be found online that will tell you which side of the brain you use the most, all of which at the least are entertaining, however, according to a study by the University of Utah these test and this theory of thinking is completely false.

In this study 1,011 people ranging from age 7 to 29 were selected at random to have their brains scanned while at rest. It was following this study that researchers found that none of these people used either side of their brain more than the other, as was previously thought. As explained in another article from NPR by Kara D. Federmeier, a cognitive neuroscientist and a psychology professor at the University of Illinois, the diversity among humans and how they use their brains makes it very unlikely that people use one side of the brain more than the other consistently. It is true, however, that depending on the task one side of the brain may be used over the other, an example of this is speech, which is controlled by the left brain. However the long held belief is that people consistently use one side of the brain more than the other.

These studies seem to point to the left and right brained theory being false, but is it? There are many things that are still unknown about the brain and exactly how it functions for each different person, it is for this reason that there is no definitive answer to this question. These studies seem to prove this theory wrong but they are not perfect in and of themselves. The University of Utah study, for example, only the resting brain was tested, what would happen if an active brain was tested? Could the outcome of this study differ if 1,011 different people were selected? Does age play a factor, what if older people were selected instead of young people? These are all valid questions that may affect the outcome of the study. For the time being, our personalities could determine the side of the brain that we use the most or they could not.

Here are some of brain quizzes that I found online:

http://braintest.sommer-sommer.com/en/

http://www.web-us.com/brain/braindominance.htm

Works Cited

Lombrozo, Tania. “The Truth About The Left Brain / Right Brain Relationship.” NPR. NPR, n.d. Web. 15 Sept. 2014.

“Researchers Debunk Myth of “Right-brain” and “Left-brain”Personality Traits.” Researchers Debunk Myth of “Right-brain” and “Left-brain”Personality Traits. University of Utah Health Care, n.d. Web. 15 Sept. 2014

Hi everyone! My name is Nikki. I am taking this course because I hate science and I need to fill my gen ed requirement. I am not planning to be a science major because, as I said, I hate science and because it does not interest me. I also love cats.