For the better part of a year in 2017, I could barely will myself to leave my house. I was experiencing a prolonged depressive episode with daily, sometimes hourly, panic attacks, and I couldn’t see the point in continuing on.
Many things helped me survive. Talking it through in therapy several times a week was like opening a pressure valve in my brain — it kept me functioning just enough to get by. Medication had mixed results — I felt less panicky, but also less joy, excitement, and other essential emotions. Crying to friends provided temporary catharsis. But it wasn’t until I discovered Muay Thai, a form of kickboxing, that it felt as if day-to-day life might provide something other than hopelessness.
Every other form of healing I’d tried had focused my mind — its disordered thoughts and supposed chemical imbalances. What I hadn’t tried was getting out of it altogether. When firm but well-meaning coaches yelled at me to fix my form, do five more pushups, and kick the bag until my shins were red and nearly bleeding, it jump-started my nervous system. It made me feel human again.
It’s a trope to say you should not tell a depressed person to go outside, take a walk, or go for a run. Doing so would dismiss the severity and reality of their illness, like telling someone with a broken arm to go play catch. To some extent, this is true: It’s probably not the best idea to tell someone struggling deeply with mental illness to simply suck it up and walk it off. But it’s also true that when someone encouraged me to get out there and use my body, it was precisely what I needed at my lowest moment. I ended up at the gym only because my friends repeatedly encouraged me to come with them to a class until one day I finally did. It wasn’t a cure-all, but it made me believe that a solution might exist.
www.msn.com/en-us/health/other/ar-BB1nwRvG
Cancer cases are rising more quickly in the young than the old because of an obesity epidemic, experts have warned.
The proportion of cases among adults aged 25 to 50 has surged by a quarter in two decades, according to figures, faster than any other age group.
Experts fear the “disturbing” growth in early-onset cancer has been driven by the nation’s unhealthy relationship with food, with obesity rates doubling over the same period.
The number of new cancer cases among Britons aged 25 to 50 has risen to 35,000 each year and the incidence rate, which takes account of population growth, is up by 24 per cent, rising from 132.9 per 100,000 people to 164.6 in 2019, according to the latest data.
The second sharpest rise in cancer rates were seen among the under-25s, where the rate of cancer increased by 16 per cent, from 16.6 cases per 100,000 in 1995 to 19.2 cases.
Among all ages combined the cancer rate grew by 13 per cent, from 539 per 100,000 people to 611.5, which is almost half the rate of the 25-50s.
The slowest rise was among the over-75s, which grew by 10 per cent, from 2,259.7 cases per 100,000 people to 2,482.7 cases, while in those aged 50 to 74, it was up 14 per cent from 955.1 to 1,092.
The analysis by Cancer Research UK (CRUK) comes amid concern that a global epidemic of the disease among the young may be emerging.
Discussing the findings at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) conference, scientists said unhealthy diets, a lack of exercise and obesity were likely to be factors behind the surge.
www.yahoo.com/news/obesity-blamed-cancer-cases-rise-200000651.html
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