Watching the worried pundits on the FOX Business Channel for the past few weeks, I’ve been wondering, medically speaking, what the solution is going to be for all the stress that is sure to result from our flailing economy. It has been well documented that stress, including the financial kind, can lead to heart attacks, strokes, depression, suicide, and certain kinds of cancer.     

But as often is the case with health, a complex problem may lead to a simple solution. Coincidentally, in the middle of all our worry, a new study was published that shows the positive effects of touch.

*  A new study from Utah researchers published in Psychosomatic Medicine shows that warm touch decreases stress hormones and lowers blood pressure. The study looked at married couples ages 20 to 39 in their own environment and found that massage, touch, hugging, kissing, had these effects and also increased the calming hormone oxytocin. A key positive feature of this study was the non-laboratory setting. Criticism of previous studies on stress and touch have included concerns about the artificial environment of the laboratory.

*  According to the American Hospital Association 37 percent of hospitals in the U.S. use complementary and alternative treatments including touch therapy. This policy is growing, and may help improve disease outcomes.

*  Previous studies from Miami (Touch Research Institute) show that massage and relaxation therapies enhance mood and immune function for women with breast cancer. The institute has also published data revealing faster growth in premature babies, a better tolerance of pain, lower glucose level in diabetic children who were frequently touched.

*  Another interesting study from Virginia showed a decrease in fear, danger, and threat responses in the centers of the brain when women touched the hands of their husbands while experiencing pain.

* Petting dogs has been shown to be calming, to lower stress, and to have a positive impact on immune function and the fight against disease.

I am advocating touch as a treatment for stress, but there is a downside. Of course touch increases the risk of spreading many bacteria and viruses. And with cold and flu season right around the corner, I am compelled to add that while you are hugging and stroking to compensate for your worry, make sure to wash your hands afterward.

Dr. Marc Siegel is an internist and associate professor of medicine at the NYU School of Medicine. He is a FOX News Medical Contributor and writes a health column for LA Times, where he examines TV and movies for medical accuracy. Dr. Siegel is the author of “False Alarm: the Truth About the Epidemic of Fear” and “Bird Flu: Everything You Need to Know About the Next Pandemic”. Read more at www.doctorsiegel.com

Tales of traders throwing themselves out of windows on Wall Street in the wake of 1929 were essentially myths, as John Kenneth Galbraith noted in his 1955 account of the crash.

Nevertheless, current economic woes are clearly impacting on our country’s mental and physical health. Stress is a well documented cause of depression, suicide, heart disease, stroke, predisposition to infection, and certain kinds of cancer.

Stress is often subliminal, it may overtake you before you realize it.  The last thing a person in financial trouble needs is to be simultaneously dealing with illness, yet stress-induced illness is common.
 
SOME WORRISOME EXAMPLES OF THE EFFECTS OF FINANCIAL TROUBLES:

* In New York, calls to the Hopeline network for people with depression or suicidal thoughts leaped 75 percent to 10,368 in the 11 months ending in July 2008.

* In Chicago, ComPsych Corp., the world’s largest provider of employee assistance programs, logged 21 percent more calls seeking help for stress from financial pressures in July than they received a year earlier.

* Hospital admissions for psychiatric services are up 10 percent this year over last year in claims submitted to UnitedHealth Group Inc., the largest U.S. health insurer.

* ValueOptions Inc., the fourth-largest U.S. provider of behavioral health and wellness services, reported that calls for assistance with home foreclosures, bankruptcy and other financial hardships have grown 89 percent this year over 2007.

* Research based on 17 years of Pennsylvania unemployment records concluded that employees affected by a mass layoff at a plant were 15 percent more likely to die of any cause over the next two decades.

* Harvey Brenner, professor emeritus at Johns Hopkins’s Bloomberg School of Public Health, projects that rising unemployment could cause as many as 47,000 more deaths than would have otherwise occurred, including 1,200 more suicides, as well as nearly 26,000 more heart attacks.

WHAT TO DO ABOUT IT:

* Seek emotional support, from loved ones and if needed, professionals.

* Try to continue to focus on business as usual, and to avoid obsessive negative thoughts.

* Emphasize regular exercise, try relaxation techniques such as yoga or meditation, eat regular meals, and as much as possible, observe regular sleep habits.

* Consult with your physician if your fear over your financial future is spiraling out of control. Anti-anxiety medication may be necessary to break the cycle of worry.

Dr. Marc Siegel is an internist and associate professor of medicine at the NYU School of Medicine. He is a FOX News Medical Contributor and writes a health column for LA Times, where he examines TV and movies for medical accuracy. Dr. Siegel is the author of “False Alarm: the Truth About the Epidemic of Fear” and “Bird Flu: Everything You Need to Know About the Next Pandemic”. Read more at www.doctorsiegel.com

Last week, Dr. Ronald Herberman, director of the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute issued an advisory to his faculty and staff about the potential health risk of cell phones. He cautioned limiting the length of conversations, keeping the phones away from the head by text messaging and using headphones or speaker phones. Why is Dr. Herberman, a reputable cancer expert, concerned, when several large epidemiological studies in Europe and the United States have shown no association between cell phones and brain tumors?

Some reasons to be concerned:

     - A recent Danish study looking at women who used cell phones in the 1980s, when cell phones were much bigger and emitted more radiation, were more likely to have children with neurological or psychiatric problems than non-cell phone users.

     - Since cell phones have only been in common use for a decade, long term safety has not been established despite the fact that there are now more than 200 million cell phone users in the U.S. alone.

     - An ongoing multi-center trial in 13 European countries examining the cell phone use of more than 5,000 people with brain tumors appears to show an increased incidence in brain tumors in those who used cell phones. Further, the side of the brain affected appears to correlate with the side the cell phone was used.

Some reasons not to be concerned:

     - Cell phones emit radiofrequency waves, which lie on the scale of intensity somewhere between the radio waves emitted by your car radio and your microwave. RF waves have been well studied in animals and have NOT been found to damage cells or cellular DNA, generally considered a necessary precursor for cancer.

     - The overall body of evidence is still far on the side of no correlation between cell phone use and health problems including cancer. The epidemiological studies are relatively weak, and firm conclusions cannot yet be drawn.  NO study has shown a cause and effect, meaning that cell phones have NOT been shown to actually cause health problems in any specific cases. In the Danish study described above, for example, the increase in children who are developmentally delayed among women who used cell phones may have had more to do with the lifestyle choices of the cell phone using group, rather than the cell phones themselves (they may have been more anxious, slept and ate more poorly, drank more coffee, etc.)

What to do?

     - Long term studies need to be done, especially the most powerful kind – double blinded randomized trials which can really try to establish a cause and effect between frequent cell phone use and possible health risks.

     - In the meantime, overblown fear of cell phone use will do far more harm than good by creating an unnecessary distraction. People who talk while driving are already at greater risk of having an accident, and worrying about your cell phone will only increase that risk.

     - Cell phones are a key part of an unhealthy lifestyle. Americans these days are far too sedentary; we spend thousands of hours a month at our computers, or on our cell phones and BlackBerries, talking and texting. Even if the small amounts of radiation won’t kill us, the inactivity certainly might.

Marc Siegel MD is an internist and associate professor of medicine at the NYU School of Medicine. He is a Fox News Medical Contributor and writes a health column for LA Times, where he examines TV and movies for medical accuracy. Dr. Siegel is the author of False Alarm: the Truth About the Epidemic of Fear (Wiley 2005) and Bird Flu: Everything You Need to Know About the Next Pandemic (Wiley 2006). Read more at www.doctorsiegel.com

SPICE IS LIFE: One of the things that makes this diet so healthful is its use of herbs (fresh whenever possible) and spices that complement the ingredients and add depth without the fat. This trick–the less fat and more flavor trick–has been traditionally practiced in Latin America for centuries. It’s the technique of using sprinkles of cumin, oregano, and cilantro, which add not only taste but also health benefits. In fact, cumin, which is a great replacement for salt in many dishes, has been found to have ten times the antioxidant power of vitamin C. And it could also help protect against cancer.

Which brings me to my next powerfood on the list…CINNAMON!

A half teaspoon a day of cinnamon can lower sugar levels in your blood, and studies show that cinnamon can aid in the prevention of diabetes. Cinnamon is also high in antioxidants, not to mention flavor. You can sprinkle cinnamon on fruits or whole grains instead of sugar for a delicious treat. You will also benefit from its sensually warming and cholesterol-lowering qualities. First used medicinally in Egypt and India and in parts of Europe since about 500 BC, this spice is now part of many Latin American and Caribbean cuisines.

A man suffering from fatal melanoma was cured using an immune-priming experiment, which basically revved up his own immune system to fight off the tumors.

The treatment is new and has had mixed results. But doctors are encouraged by this man’s success.

The Food and Drug Administration is cracking down on teas, supplements, creams and other products that falsely claim to cure, treat or prevent cancer even though they are not agency-approved drugs. All are available for sale on the Internet.

The agency has sent 25 warning letters to companies and individuals marketing these products, FDA officials said Tuesday. Twenty-three of the letters went to domestic companies and two to foreign individuals.

A Dutch woman who was the oldest person in the world when she died at age 115 in 2005 appeared sharp right up to the end, joking that pickled herring was the secret to her longevity.

Scientists say that Henrikje van Andel-Schipper’s mind was probably as good as it seemed: a post-mortem analysis of her brain revealed few signs of Alzheimer’s or other diseases commonly associated with a decline in mental ability in old age.

That came as something of a surprise, said Gert Holstege, a professor at Groningen University, whose findings will be published in the August edition of Neurobiology of Aging.

CHICAGO — One look at Eileen Mulligan lying soberly on the exam table and Dr. John Marshall knew the time for the Big Talk had arrived.

He began gently. The chemotherapy is not helping. The cancer is advanced. There are no good options left to try. It would be good to look into hospice care.

“At first I was really shocked. But after, I thought it was a really good way of handling a situation like that,” said Mulligan, who now is making a “bucket list” - things to do before she dies. Top priority: getting her busy sons to come for a weekend at her Washington, D.C., home.

Many people do not get such straight talk from doctors, who often think they are doing patients a favor by keeping hope alive.

New research shows they are wrong.

When Suzanne Penney was diagnosed with leukemia after she battled breast cancer, she decided to undergo an injection of umbilical stem cells – and the procedure saved her life, KNSD-TV reported Thursday.

Penney, who lives in Carlsbad, Calif., contracted leukemia as a result of the aggressive chemotherapy she received for her breast cancer.

“When information about stem cells first came out I was against it,” Penney told KNSD-TV. “I always thought, ‘don’t mess with Mother Nature, and there’s going to be a bunch of cloned people walking around.’”

But, today, as Penney recovers in the hospital, doctors tell her that her leukemia is in remission.  

Researchers at the Harbor-UCLA Medical Center and other academic medical centers scattered around the country are now testing psychedelic drugs like psilocybin, the active ingredient in “mushrooms,” to send terminal cancer patients on acid-like “trips.”  

Some of the patients report the drugs open their minds to great insights that help them overcome the desperation and depression they had felt facing their own mortality.  These insights, they say, are lasting ones that sustain an increased sense of well-being and self-possession for months or even years.

That sounds great.  Why not break free from the reality of your unfortunate circumstances and see the vastness of the universe around you?  Why not feel a connectedness with your fellow man so powerful and so far-reaching that it might reach even beyond death?  Who would keep the doors of perception locked to those with so little time left on the planet?  What harm could come from extending the medical use of marijuana in cancer victims to other illicit drugs?

The devil, however, is (as usual) in the details.  The clinical trials of psilocybin and (in other medical centers) Ecstasy to treat psychological distress have at their core the theory that hallucinogens or other illicit substances have demonstrable and defensible benefits to users that outweigh the benefits to society of blanket criminalizing of such substances. 

Certainly those battling cancer and facing death have unique needs and challenges.  But what about those who are grieving the death of a child, or those experiencing severe stress from terrible accidents, or those with post traumatic stress disorder, or those with chronic depression?  Don’t they deserve the same chance to shake off the shackles of their psyches and see what a “trip” might do for them?  Why can’t they have some mushrooms or Ecstasy or LSD?

You can see the slippery slope ahead.  It’s hard to tell young people, for example, that these drugs are paths away from the truth, not toward it, when doctors are touting their mind-expanding and healing properties.  It’s hard to argue that they or anyone else should see their problems, including their anxiety and depression, as wake-up calls to understand and take charge and change their lives, when they could just take a pill—just once—and trip right out of their troubles.

Cancer is big trouble.  Our mortality is something hard to “get our heads around.”  It brings up significant and even tortuous questions about whether we have lived our lives as we might have wished to, whether we have expressed our love for those who deserved it, whether we’ve ever gotten the love we deserved ourselves. 

I, for one, believe that the search for answers to such questions, even when painful, even when undertaken from a hospital bed, is a worthy and human one.   And I worry about short-circuiting that process by taking a trip anywhere other than deeper into one’s heart, clear mind and relationship to the universe and God.