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Drugs crush a woman’s maternal instinct according to brain scans. Considering America’s opioid epidemic, this is huge. Mothers who use drugs have a weak emotional response to their babies’ smiling faces. Baby smiles, mother’s brain dumps dopamine which is the reward and satisfaction chemical, and the love match begins. This reward is the basis for and promotes the mother-infant attachment motivating mother to care for her infant even when she’s exhausted. When this system is shut down, the risk for abuse and neglect increases. Unintentionally, this risk may start in mothers who’ve had Cesarean deliveries because they’re typically overprescribed the number of opioid painkillers they need. More than 20 pills can set mother up for drug abuse and addiction. Be aware of this danger and provide support for the new mother in your life. Claudia Join me on Facebook at Dr. Claudia McCulloch. At DrClaudia.net, click on the "Ask Me" button and send me a question. Sign up for the Sunday newsletter. Don't miss a thing!  Image by Michael Tavrionov from Pixabay Many containers and products including children’s toys, food packaging and medications have chemicals in them that affect men.
In a study of 1500 men, 99% percent of them had a specific chemical, phthalate, in their urine. High levels of phthalate are associated with chronic conditions such as heart disease, type-2 diabetes and high blood pressure. Years ago, I read about a town in the US where the men were becoming infertile and developing female traits. As it turned out, they were eating vegetables from cans that were lined with a material containing chemicals that mimicked estrogen. Their blood had high levels of female hormones. It’s not just about the foods we actually eat, but how they’re packaged as well as the products we use to clean our homes that slowly erode our health. Educate yourselves about the products you’re using and how your food is packaged. Claudia Join me on Facebook at Dr. Claudia McCulloch. At DrClaudia.net, click on the "Ask Me" button and send me a question. Sign up for the Sunday newsletter. Don't miss a thing!  Image by Виктория Бородинова from Pixabay Understanding how video games impact our brains just can’t keep up with the explosion of new technology. Every week, there’s a new study about babies, kids, teens, adults and the geriatric set using computers and the ways they’re changing our lives. Now, there’s a study suggesting that playing video games not only increases the efficiency of your brain, but actually makes it larger! They also have a positive impact on your ability to sustain your attention span. They improve your selective attention meaning that you actively focus on what you want to pay attention to. People who play video games for pleasure or competition show growth in the parts of the brain associated with visual spatial skills. While there are continuing concerns about the addictive quality of video games, we’re learning more about their benefits. Claudia Join me on Facebook at Dr. Claudia McCulloch. At DrClaudia.net, click on the "Ask Me" button and send me a question. Sign up for the Sunday newsletter. Don't miss a thing!  Image by Randhir Kumar from Pixabay In our family, my Dad was famous for quoting his mother. One of her sayings has stayed with me. She said, “What your eyes don’t see, your heart can’t grieve after”. I think this is the best reason not to watch television news. Research has shown over and over again that seeing those images, especially of the carnage of terrorist acts, create anxiety and post-traumatic stress symptoms in both children and adults. The adults need to be in charge. Turn off the television. If you want to learn about terrorist activity, search the internet or watch the news later at night. You cannot unsee disturbing events. You cannot unhear the screams of pain and fear. Children are fantastic observers but they are lousy at interpreting what they see. They don’t have the experience or judgment to understand the world. Who does? But, I know how to protect those little eyes from seeing the scariest stuff. Claudia Join me on Facebook at Dr. Claudia McCulloch. At DrClaudia.net, click on the "Ask Me" button and send me a question. Sign up for the Sunday newsletter. Don't miss a thing! |
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