- With Mayo Clinic oncologist
Edward T. Creagan, M.D.
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Edward T. Creagan, M.D.
Edward T. Creagan, M.D.
"The magic of the electronic village is transforming health information. The mouse and keyboard have extended the stethoscope to the 500 million people now online." - Dr. Edward Creagan
The power of the medium inspires Dr. Edward Creagan as he searches for ways to share Mayo Clinic's vast resources with the general public.
Dr. Creagan, a Newark, N.J., native, is board certified in internal medicine, medical oncology, and hospice medicine and palliative care. He has been with Mayo Clinic since 1973 and in 1999 was president of the staff of Mayo Clinic. Dr. Creagan, a professor of medical oncology at Mayo Clinic College of Medicine, was honored in 1995 with the John and Roma Rouse Professor of Humanism in Medicine Award and in 1992 with the Distinguished Mayo Clinician Award, Mayo's highest recognition. He has been recognized with the American Cancer Society Professorship of Clinical Oncology.
He describes his areas of special interest as "wellness as a bio-psycho-social-spiritual-financial model" and fitness, mind-body connection, aging and burnout.
Dr. Creagan has been an associate medical editor with Mayo Clinic's Web sites and has edited publications and CD-ROMs and reviewed articles.
"We the team of (the Web site) provide reliable, easy-to-understand health and wellness information so that each of us can have productive, meaningful lives," he says.
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Stress blog
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Aug. 12, 2008
When food becomes the comforting reaction to stress
By Edward T. Creagan, M.D.
Our society is struggling with weight-related medical problems. I have read that for the first time in history more individuals are dying from the effects of overeating rather than from the effects of starvation. For many individuals, eating is a reaction to stress. Food becomes comfort and security in times of adversity and the health consequences of blood pressure, stroke, heart attack, and even cancers are well known to all of us. So, what are some simple things we can do to tackle this problem?
A recent article about one of our employees who was successful in tackling this problem provided some practical guidelines.
- Identify the source of the stress. Is it a person; is it a relationship; is it work related? By writing it down, we can better get our arms around the source of the stress.
- Create a stress and a food log or diary. Carefully document what times of the day are we most stressed out and what times during the day are we most likely to indulge in binge eating.
- Eliminate from our environment "junk food" and other sources of our temptations. I am often astounded about how easy it is to access the cookies, the cakes, the pastries, and the candy bars which are within arms reach. If these items are not within our grasp, the chances are we will not be tempted.
- We can learn much from our friends in recovery programs such as alcoholics anonymous. A "buddy system," a friend or confidant, that we can call during times of crises can be an enormous source of comfort.
As with most things in life, there is no "silver bullet" but these tips may help us on our personal road to recovery.
What other tactics have some members of our blog community learned to deal with an issue of profound importance and to each of us and our families?!
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