The Malaysian Insider :: Features
The Malaysian Insider :: Features |
| Yoga-loving men now have their own mat Posted: 06 Apr 2013 07:04 AM PDT  Yoga Jack now has yoga mats for men. NEW YORK, April 6 — A new yoga brand catering exclusively to men offers "bigger, longer, better" yoga mats. As more men are turned on to yoga, thanks in part to nudging from their girlfriends and the yoga-inspired moves in programs like P90X, retailers are rolling out new mats and gear tailored just for them. Plus celebrities are helping to lead the pack -- such as Matthew McConaughey, who regularly strikes a pose on the beach, and Russell Brand, who is often seen toting his yoga mat. Even David Beckham has reportedly credited Bikram yoga with helping him recover from an Achilles tendon injury. Also, blog Well + Good NYC reports that "no-girls-allowed" yoga classes are popping up in New York City. To meet the demand, Yoga Jack recently launched its line of extra-thick black and olive green mats in longer sizes — 72 inches (182 cm) rather than the standard 68 (173 cm). Plus for sweaty dudes, the mat features a "proprietary non-slip surface," plus all that extra thickness means larger feet won't rip the mat to pieces in a few months. Price is US$69 (RM211), available online internationally. For US$19, you can take along a more "masculine" yoga bag, in black. Based in San Francisco and Boston, the company was founded by 32-year-old father of two Jahoan Jamili, who told New York Daily News that he was persuaded to try yoga by his wife. "I gotta be honest — yoga is a little intimidating for guys at first," Jamali said. "I went out to buy a cheap mat and I couldn't find anything for me. I'm not a New Age guy; I'm a standard average Joe. Guess what, I don't want a floral print mat." — AFP-Relaxnews |
| Brain stimulation may treat cocaine addiction, says study Posted: 06 Apr 2013 04:07 AM PDT  A study claims cocaine addiction could be treated by stimulating the brain. — shutterstock.com picPARIS, April 6 — Studies in rats have shown that stimulating a sleepy brain region in cocaine addicts can diminish craving for the drug, a technique that should also work in humans, scientists said Wednesday. A team in the United States trained rats to "self-administer"cocaine by pressing two levers. After several weeks of training, the rats were given a mild foot shock whenever self-administering, causing 70 percent of them to give up the drug, the researchers wrote in the journal Nature. But a "compulsive" minority kept coming back, just like human addicts. The team measured brain activity in the prelimbic cortex, a part of the prefrontal cortex involved in impulse control, in both sets of rats. They found that the activity was decreased in both groups, but markedly more so in the compulsive group. When the researchers "turned on" the inactive neurons using optogenetic stimulation, the compulsive cocaine-seeking behaviour stopped, author Antonello Bonci of the National Institute on Drug Abuse in Maryland told AFP. Conversely, they could also turn the non-compulsive rats into coke fiends by inhibiting the neurons. "This new research ... shows that stimulation to that part of the brain decreases addictive behaviours such as cocaine seeking," Bonci said by email. He said the findings held promise for humans, noting previous studies that have shown reduced activity in the prefrontal cortex of cocaine users. In humans, however, a non-invasive type of stimulation would be used such as transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), in which magnetic pulses stimulate a small area on the surface of the brain. By contrast, the optogenetic stimulation used with rats involves implanting fibre optics in an animal's brain to excite or inhibit brain cells in response to light stimuli. Non-invasive brain stimulation techniques such as TMS are already used to treat a variety of conditions in humans, including depression. "Our results can be immediately translated to clinical research settings with humans," Bonci said. "In fact, we are planning clinical trials to use non-invasive brain stimulation methodologies such as TMS." The same brain region may not be involved in addiction to all drugs, or in all people, Bonci noted. "My speculation and hope is that we might have cases where a simple increase of activity in a brain region such as the prelimbic region can decrease symptoms, but we are far from a therapy for all drugs of abuse." — AFP-Relaxnews |
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