Suchergebnisse

The purpose of this article is to explore a model of the mind generally known as "the five aggregates" described in Buddhist teachings that relates to understanding subjective conscious experience from a first-person perspective. This model is explored as a potential theoretical resource that could guide meditation/mindfulness interventions. According to the five-aggregate model of the mind, all our experience involves material form, feelings, perception, volition, and sensory consciousness. The mind stream that is constantly changing from moment to moment is extensively analyzed in this tradition. This article explains that methodologies in neuroscience increase our understanding of neurophysiological underpinnings of mental phenomena and also provide important evidence on the practical utility of meditation. When considering moment-by-moment changes that happen in the mind, however, these investigations represent sensory consciousness followed by perception that happens within the mind stream itself. Practical applications of the model are also presented.

OBJECTIVES: The primary objective of this study was to examine whether physical activity, diet, and smoking behaviours are associated with health resource utilization and costs in the Canadian context. A secondary objective was to evaluate demographic and health behavioural characteristics of the participants of the study to assess the degree of respondent bias. METHODS: Self-reported physical activity, diet and smoking status were obtained from a large population-based sample of adults with diabetes (N=2311). Resource utilization and cost information was obtained by linking these data to the provincial government's administrative database. Multiple regression models examined predictors of resource utilization and costs for individuals with type 1 (T1D) and type 2 (T2D) diabetes separately. To assess the degree of responder bias, characteristics of individuals who consented to link data were compared with those who did not consent. RESULTS: Various measures of health care utilization and costs were negatively associated with physical activity behaviour in both T1D and T2D groups. Ever having smoked cigarettes was associated with higher resource utilization in individuals with T2D when controlling for demographic and health variables. Significant differences in demographic and health behavioural characteristics of the participants who provided consent for data linkage and those who did not were also found. CONCLUSION: These findings are of interest considering that PA is a critical but understudied component of individuals with diabetes, and this appears to be one of the first studies to directly examine the relationship between health-related behaviours and health care utilization and costs. The findings may be useful in guiding targeted health promotion programs for individuals with diabetes. The results also indicate that studies involving linkage of administrative and survey data could be over-represented by healthy individuals.