That's Fit

"Hi. My name is Maggie and I have insomnia." There's got to be a support group for insomniacs somewhere, right? My guess is they meet at 3 a.m.

I just recently had a bad bout of insomnia where I was only getting an hour or two of sleep a night. My sleep troubles tend to come in fits and starts, however, so the bad stretch has ended and I'm back to sleeping more normally. I do notice that when I'm sleep deprived, my son's behavior changes. I'm less energetic and perhaps a bit shorter-tempered and he starts to react to that. According to a recent study, adolescents can be greatly affected by a parent's insomnia. Not only are the adolescents more prone to insomnia themselves, they're more likely to feel depressed and suicidal.

In the study, nearly 800 adolescents completed a questionnaire. Some of the children had parents with insomnia, others did not. Those who had a parent with a sleep disorder were more than three times as likely to have a sleep disorder themselves. More alarmingly, 17% of children who had a parent with insomnia reported suicidal ideations -- 11.7% more than children who didn't have a parent with insomnia.

To learn more about insomnia, hop over to AOL Body.

Anyone who's contemplating suicide needs help. They need someone to help them realize that whatever difficulties they're facing, they aren't trapped. They can get through their problems with someone by their side. Most teens who have attempted suicide state that they didn't really want to die, they were just trying to escape from a situation that seemed unresolvable at the time.

But if someone turns to the Internet for help, researchers from the UK's University Bristol, Oxford and Manchester have discovered that they're likely to get the wrong kind of help. The researchers entered a dozen suicide-related search terms into four Internet search engines to see what results they would get. They used the first 10 sites from each search for a total of 480 web sites. Out of those sites, only 13% were geared toward suicide prevention. Only 59 sites strongly discouraged suicide. The remaining sites offered information on suicide methods -- not the type of information that someone who is contemplating suicide needs to read.

If you or someone you know is considering suicide, please seek help immediately. See a counselor, talk to a trusted adult, visit your religious leader, or call a suicide crisis line (1-800-442-HOPE) or your local emergency number (911).

Popular asthma drug Singulair has come under scrutiny recently after reports of suicidal behavior, suicide, and mood changes among patients who are using the drug. Merck says that none of the patients in clinical trials reported these types of problems, but because it's such a serious issue, the FDA is investigating. Singulair's labels will be updated to inform patients of new side effects, including tremors, anxiousness, depression, and suicide.

Singulair contains the active ingredient montelukast. This drug blocks the action of leukotrienes, which are released as part of an allergic or inflammatory reaction and create swelling of the respiratory tract. It's prescribed to people whose asthma does not stay under good control with other medications, and sometimes to people who suffer nasal allergies.

Considering that suicides by way of depression claim so many lives each year, it's encouraging to hear about a new therapy that may have some benefits in the future. Music speaks to the soul, so it is no surprise to find a group of researchers trying to find a way to implement "music therapy" for patients with depression.

Four small studies were uncovered that give insight to how this potential treatment could help. They showed that the symptoms and signs of depression were reduced among patients undergoing music therapy. These results were greater than those reductions found among people in other therapy groups which had no music.

Even though the studies were small, it gives hope that larger trials may be on the horizon. If an institute were able to conduct bigger studies regarding musical treatment for depression, therapists may have another (perhaps more effective) weapon to fight suicides.

Depression, unfortunately, is no stranger in our society these days. It can take many forms, from a brief period of passing sadness to an unshakable chronic state of the blues. In the worst of cases suicide becomes a real threat, and recognizing the symptoms can mean the difference between saving somebody's life or letting them die from a treatable illness.

The symptoms of suicide, courtesy of WebMD:

• Talking about suicide/killing oneself
• Frequently talking or thinking about death in general
• Making self-depreciating and negative comments about being worthless, helpless, or hopeless
• Making statements like "it would be better if i wasn't here " or "I want out"
• Losing interest in things they used to care about

It never hurts to do a little review on a topic that affects so many women, and some men too. The topic: Anorexia.

Anorexia Nervosa, a type of eating disorder characterized by an intense fear of gaining weight and leading to a restriction of food and dangerous weight loss, is one serious disease -- between one and two of every 10 cases of anorexia leads to death from starvation, cardiac arrest, medical complications, or suicide.

Anorexia can halt the physical and emotional growth of teenagers and can lead to premature osteoporosis, infertility, increased risk of miscarriage, and low-birth-weight babies. Anorexia may be especially deadly for women with insulin-dependent diabetes if they omit or under-use insulin to control their weight.

Whether you support the current Iraq war or not, it's hard not to adamantly support the soldiers that return from the battlefield. Are we not a country founded on freedom principles? We sure are, but when those soldiers take off the uniform and try to relax back into a civilian lifestyle, physical ailments sometimes are the least of their problems.

Thoughts of suicide, depression and other emotional maladies plague thousands of returning soldiers these days, and the apparently lack of care being shown to many of them are downright disturbing. Why is this?

Not only are some of these heroes physical casualties, but more and more are becoming economic casualties if they come back to attempt a normal life in the country they've served. Whereas some citizens poach on the system to pay for anything and everything, the welfare of soldiers stands on the line, says experts. To me, it's not a tough decision.

A new study was released this week that highlighted a scary disconnect in the doctor-patient relationship. Some physicians -- in fact, large numbers of them -- are failing to recognize suicide signs and symptoms in patients. These are often the neediest patients when it comes to requiring assistance, so it's distressing to hear that there is a lack of help in abundance here.

Although the study involved actresses who visited various various physicians to show signs of despair and hopelessness, many doctors failed to ask these study participants about their mental state as it related to potential suicide risk. Only 36 percent of doctors went there.

Are doctors not trained that well at probing for possible suicide risks, or are they so hurried with a flurry of patients that they just don't take the time? It's true that primary care physicians are not psychiatrists, although the study stated that 75 percent of people who commit suicide visited a primary-care provider in the 30 days prior.

Women with breast implants are three times more likely to commit suicide than those without, a new study shows. However, this increased risk does not appear to take affect until 10 years after implantation. Nonetheless, plastic surgeons are being urged to assess a patients risk of suicide before surgery. In addition, the study also found that women with breast implants also have a much greater risk of dying from alcohol or drug overdoses than those without.

This seems to say a lot about plastic surgery -- perhaps women who have issues with their body image or who are self-conscious about their looks are more likely to be depressed and/or be addicted to drugs or alcohol. But I am by no means an expert and perhaps there are other underlying factors here. What do you think?

An interesting piece of research has recently revealed that more body weight in men leads to the lowered possibility of suicide. Since obesity (and being overweight but not obese) has been linked to depression, this new study strikes back at that notion a bit.

The study revealed that in a group of 46,755 men, the 131 who died from suicide over the course of the study's follow-up period were lighter and had a lower body weight than those who chose not to end their lives.

The research team also found that mental health-related quality of life improved as BMI (body mass index) increased. This sounds rather odd, but the results are what they are. I'm quite convinced that obesity is not in any way healthy, but for a linkage to mental health, this study reveals otherwise.

We all know those younger years can be torturous -- peer pressures, bullying, low self-esteem and first loves can all be particularly trying situations to deal with -- all before age 14 in many cases.

It's a sad day, though, when a surprising increase in youth suicides is shown from government figures after an entire decade of decline.

But wait -- what changed? Some experts pin the blame on something that is intended to do the opposite (help alleviate depression) -- antidepressant drugs. I'm not a fan of any antidepressant drugs (except in extreme cases) , and these new pieces of data go a long way to selling that viewpoint to the American public -- many of whom are overmedicated already.

For most people, the holidays are a festive, joyful time of year. But for those with mental health problems, the stresses of the season can be too much to bare.

Increased depression and anxiety, arriving at a time of year when friends leave to be with families, and health clinics are less accessible due to holidays schedules, lead to increased January admissions at psychiatric hospitals and a higher suicide rate.

According to Dr Mike Isaac, a psychiatrist based in London, "I think that part of the problem with Christmas is that there is nothing they can do about it. Christmas is just there."

Those who need help this time of year can call 800-784-2433 in the US, and 08457 90 90 90 in the UK.