WEDNESDAY, July 2 (HealthDay News) -- Researchers say they've taken a significant stride forward in understanding how relaxation techniques such as meditation, prayer and yoga improve health: by changing patterns of gene activity that affect how the body responds to stress.

The changes were seen both in long-term practitioners and in newer recruits, the scientists said.

This takes me back to college and my Psych 101 days. More than 50 years after the fact, many psychologists, philosophers and the like are still debating the tests of Stanley Milgram.

In a series of about 20 experiments, hundreds of decent, well-intentioned people agreed to deliver what appeared to be increasingly painful electric shocks to another person, as part of what they thought was a learning experiment. The “learner” was in fact an actor, usually seated out of sight in an adjacent room, pretending to be zapped.

NEW YORK - In 2002, at a Johns Hopkins University
laboratory, a business consultant named Dede Osborn took a psychedelic drug as part of a research project.

She felt like she was taking off. She saw colors. Then it felt like her heart was ripping open.

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TUESDAY, July 1 (HealthDay News) -- The United States has one of the highest lifetime rates of tobacco and alcohol use and the highest percentage of people who reported using marijuana or cocaine at least once in their lives, a new survey shows.

Researchers from the World Health Organization analyzed alcohol, tobacco and illegal drug use in 17 countries in the Americas, Europe, Asia, the Middle East, Africa and Oceania.

Among the major findings:

You have gotten ready for work, fed the dog, turned off the stove, turned off the lights, locked the doors and locked your garage. You even double checked that you did everything before finally going to work that morning. Now, you are sitting at your desk at work in a calm environment, but you can’t focus on your work. You are feeling a little worried, perhaps even perspiring a little, chewing on your pen and constantly looking at the clock wondering if you should risk a brief trip back home. What is your worry?

Great piece written by a breast cancer survivor that discusses how stress can manifest itself physically especially in women. (Source: New York Times) The article was apparently inspired by a sign she saw that read "Stress is related to 99 percent of all illness."