Dr. Deb

Party like a Rock Star to ring in the New Year usually means lots of alcohol but many more are adding caffeine to the mix to “party stronger-party longer.” Rum and coke has always been around but new friends like red bull and vodka and even premixed alcoholic energy drinks are the rage. A new study in the journal Behavioral Neuroscience shows that mixing the two may be much more dangerous than you think.

Alcohol is a depressant so people usually stop drinking when they feel too drunk or too tired. Caffeine added takes away the perception of being drunk so one may continue to drink. You really don’t sober up with a cup of coffee, you just may feel more alert so you take on more risks and still perform poorly as tested by University of Kentucky researcher, Mark Fillmore

In a recent study in the Journal of Behavioral Neuroscience, scientists gave groups of young adult mice alcohol alone to cause intoxication, caffeine alone in the equivalent of one up to six or eight cups of coffee for humans and a combination of both.

They looked at 3 functions:

Learning, Anxiety and Locomotion

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Holiday Stress Remedies

This is the year that I have finally accepted, despite my best-laid plans; things are going to go wrong. I will not have all my shopping done early. I will eat too much of the wrong thing. I will feel a bit melancholy or blue for no reason at all. You know what, that’s OK. It happens every year… but the difference is that this year, I am not going to beat myself up about! I am going to keep moving, move on and savor all of the imperfections of this holiday season.

Here is my 2009, Dr. Deb prescription for a healthier, happier less stressed holiday.

5 Holiday Stress Remedies

1.Make your List and check it twice.

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Alright, everyone in the car!” This is my daily battle cry. Unfortunately, many days there are too many battles (“No, I don’t know where your soccer ball is!  Did you forget your saxophone? What is that car funk smell? What do you mean, you don’t have shoes on?”) and way too much crying before we ever get out the driveway. Many of us feel stress, but how much of our stress is felt by our children?

A recent American Psychological Association survey of

1,568 adults aged 18+  and for the first time included 1,206 young people aged 8-17 years,

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