The holiday season is a stressful time of year, and this year many families are feeling the crunch, making it even harder for those who are limited in their resources for giving gifts to their loved ones. In an attempt to help ease the stress, many writers and bloggers have published articles aimed at helping people by giving them suggestions on everything from books to make-it-yourself holiday baskets.

Yes, I know that gifts are optional. But let’s be real, it doesn’t matter who you are, Christmas means presents — especially for kids. Now most families will try to make sure that they have something for their little ones, but parents will also feel the guilt of not being able to give something to each other.

Now, I thought about this scenario for a while and then told my wife I did not want any presents. Not because of the money, but because I am so sad about some of the current problems we are all facing.

I sat there and reflected on the sad state of affairs this holiday season, when just like in the movie, Moonstruck, she hit me on the side of my head and said, “Snap out of it!”

So then I began to think about the perfect gift for me this Christmas. And that’s when it came to me…the perfect gift for me would be something that would bring me joy, make me feel young, and last for a long, long time. Now I know what you’re thinking — but that’s not exactly what I had in mind. My perfect gift this year would be to reconnect with a long lost friend.

I told my wife that if she wanted to give me a great gift this year, it would be to find my best friend from high school. Now this guy was my buddy, who for all four years was always at my side, and with whom many of my fondest high school memories were shared. But somehow college, medical school, residencies and life in general had separated Joe and me for almost 30 years. Let’s face it — I had forgotten about Joe. But this Christmas season, while thinking about my perfect gift, I remembered him.

Three days later, my wife called me up and said, “I found him and it only cost me $9.95.” She had gone on the Internet and tracked him down through one of the many Web sites, that for a small fee, offer a lifetime of priceless memories. So she got his number and left a message, and for the next few hours, all of my kids waited around with me to see when Joe would call.

Later that evening, Joe called me back and for those 15 minutes of conversation with my old friend, I felt like I was in high school again.

Memories are good, but when you can make those memories a reality, they make you feel the way all holidays should make us feel: Great.

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

This morning as I was leaving the house to come to work at FOX, my 12-year-old son asked me a question that stopped me dead in my tracks.

“Hey dad, is America in a depression?” he said.

And I said “No, why do you ask?”

“Because I hear everybody talking about the economy and all this trouble that I don’t understand,” he said.

“What do you know about the Great Depression of the 1920s,” I asked.

“Well,” he said, “I know there was no money and I think people were jumping out of buildings in New York.”

I tried to reassure him that things were okay and that nobody was jumping out of windows…yet.

But as I left, I started thinking about our conversation, and I asked myself: Why do innocent people suffer? How is all this anxiety and stress over the current economic crisis going to be remembered by the next generation in America?

Yes, every mental health professional will tell us that there are multiple studies that correlate severe financial debt and depression – even suicide.

I remember reading a recent report of two college student that killed themselves after being overwhelmed by credit card debt.

In India, an estimated 150,000 debt-ridden farmers have committed suicide since 1997.

Yes, we all know that suicide is not the solution, but again I asked myself, why do innocent people suffer?

And as I stopped to ponder the answer to my burning question, I began to evaluate some of the things that many of us have forgotten – the things that are truly important.

Love and respect for ourselves and others – that’s what’s important. You can’t buy happiness. The integrity of our lives and the way we love and respect the people we are so fortunate to have in them is far more important than any economic indicator on Wall Street.

So I thought long and hard, and I decided to tell my son the biblical story of Job – a story I think many people should read in these times of financial crisis.

Job was a happy man, a wealthy man who lived a prosperous life filled with family and good fortune. But one day, Job was tested by God. He was stripped of his fortune, his family and his health. Job began to complain of God’s indifference, he wondered why God did not punish the wicked instead of him. But after all of his analysis, he understood that what was important to God was the love that should never be questioned — the love that he has for his children. And, in the end, Job’s prosperity was restored.

Why do innocent people suffer? Because perhaps they forget that love, compassion and respect settles all debt.

With the recent announcement that vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin’s 17-year-old daughter, Bristol is five months pregnant, there has been a lot of media attention and speculation about her condition.

Politics aside, I am deeply concerned about the potential effects that this unwarranted publicity will have on this young girl. We must remember that there are many high-risk aspects associated with teen pregnancy. Statistically, we know that pregnant teens have high rates of low-birth weight infants, as well as premature deliveries.

One factor that concerns me particularly is the level of unnecessary stress that this young woman is facing due to her mother’s campaign for vice president. It has been clearly documented that stress has been linked to fatigue in pregnant women, as well as anxiety, loss of appetite and sleeplessness.

Another factor that has been identified as a result of stress during pregnancy is the potential for an increased amount of corticotropin-releasing hormone, or CRH, which has been directly linked with premature labor and increased blood pressure.

It is important for all of us to remember that pregnancy is a special time for a mother-to-be — no matter what her age or circumstances may be — and it involves the lives of two people, one of whom is in the most vulnerable stage of life and deserves our respect and support.

Stress may actually play a role in whether or not your allergies will be tolerable or very bad! Researchers from Ohio State University Medical Center reported “stress and anxiety make a big difference” in terms of how we respond when allergies attack. 

The study evaluated the link between the severity of allergy symptoms and how much stress a person has.  Those allergy sufferers, who were much stressed, were four times more likely to test positive for allergies!
Remember, greater amounts of anxiety are physically linked to an increased production of “stress hormones.”

 Dr. Ronald Glaser, a researcher from Ohio State University, thought these chemicals released when stressed may be to blame for delayed allergic reactions.

As we approach the height of the summer and early fall allergy season, the message is to try and reduce excess stress. You can also learn anti-anxiety and coping strategies to improve your emotional well-being - and your allergies!

Dr. Clifford W. Bassett is an assistant clinical professor of medicine at the Long Island College Hospital and on the faculty of NYU School of Medicine.  He is the current vice chair for public education committee of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology.  No information in this blog is intended as medical advice to any reader or intended to diagnose or treat any medical condition.

First, I have a confession: I used to never care about what I ate. Not only that, I also loved take-out foods—mostly because of my crazy work schedule. And oh, I wasn’t the most athletic guy. In fact, I didn’t start exercising until I was in my thirties, when suddenly I realized that I had to do something to keep my body healthy.

Does this sound familiar? Honestly, it seems like we’ve all got some pounds we could shed—and we’re in big company (yes, pun intended). But seriously, this is no joking matter: the statistics about obesity in this country are far from funny. Can you believe that by 2010, three-quarters of the U.S. population will be overweight? And if that didn’t shock you, check this out: statistics show that 80% of our kids are suffering from weight-related afflictions, like arthritis? The consequences of extra weight are devastating. So here’s my question: how did we get here?

FAST FOOD: Just walk through a supermarket or down Main Street will explain part of the weight gain: our diets. Fast-food meals are usually brimming with artery-clogging, heart-attack-causing amounts of calories, fat, and sodium. And while most fast-food chains have added healthy or light items to their menus over the past couple of years, you need to check out the whole package and ask yourself these questions: Is it fresh? Does the dressing have a ton of sugar and chemicals in it? Am I really getting the nutrition I need? The answers are probably no, yes, and no.

MONEY: The other excuse I often hear for falling into poor eating habits is the one that includes the bottom line: money. Wee, my friend, I’d be the first to tell you that eating healthy ain’t always cheap. I don’t have to tell you that budgets are much tighter than waistlines: trying to justify buying healthier choices, versus what your pocketbook allows, can be real tough.

TIME: In addition to money, the other commodity many of us are short on is time. I know how it is: you’ve got a big 20 minutes (or less!) for lunch. Sure, you try to make your lunch from time to time. But it’s not easy—and there’s a place on the corner that offers you a super quick and cheap lunch.

STRESS: The fact of the matter is that because people are so busy running around like maniacs, they’re not eating as they should. Especially moms! Having one or more kids to care for, getting them off to school in the morning, getting involved in their after-school activities and sports, not to mention their own work, and being part of the sandwich generation (caring for elderly parents as well) all adds up to crazy schedules, unhealthy eating, and in many cases a seeking of foods that immediately satisfy (chips, brownies, candy, cookies, soda, ice cream) but don’t promise benefits in return.

LACK OF EXERCISE OR PHYSICAL ACTIVITY: It’s a logical equation really. Ask anyone who’s not sleeping what they want to do and I guarantee that working out is going to be at the bottom of the list. The thing about exercise is that it needs to be done, but it has to be something that fits your schedule. If you can swing getting up early to go to yoga or take a jog before work, do it! If a lunch hour workout is what you can fit in, then you should! (Just don’t skip lunch!) This doesn’t mean that it will be easy, but it will help and you will see and feel the results physically and mentally—almost immediately.

HORMONES: Ask any woman and you’ll hear the same thing: appetites grow and fade depending on the time of month. Most women I know feel incredibly peckish that week before their period, and snacking often leads to the avalanche effect…

SNACKING—THE WRONG WAY: Most of us parents know that we’ve got to have the snacks on hand, right? Any trip, whether it’s a walk to the park or a drive to the supermarket, requires keeping a few treats nearby—for the kids, that is. Here’s the problem: we grown-ups like to snack, too!

LACK OF SLEEP: Sleep deprivation can also affect appetites—not to mention everything else. It’s true; the less we sleep, the weaker we are in terms of being able to fend off not only increased emotional sensitivity, but crazy cravings for comfort foods. Also, did you know that sleep patterns can be disturbed by many things that you consume—including food additives and caffeine?

Women who suffer stress during their pregnancies are more likely to give birth to children who will suffer from asthma and allergies, according to new research.

Stressed moms-to-be may pass that stress on to their babies in the form of a “social pollutant,” according researchers from Harvard Medical School who presented their findings Sunday at the American Thoracic Society’s 2008 International Conference in Toronto.

It’s a legitimate medical problem - many women are silently suffering from Persistent Sexual Arousal Syndrome.

But Jeannie Allen, 56, and Heather Dearmon, 34, refuse to be silent any longer. They want other women who have this disorder to know they aren’t alone.

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Working long hours or worried about losing your job? No problem.

Stressed about the conflicts between your boss and co-workers? That’s more likely to make adults lose sleep, according to a study.

Even those working the graveyard shift are sleeping better than those who are stressing over interpersonal relationships at work, the study said.

What do you think?