Archive for: post-traumatic stress disorder
Military Training for the Real World: Stress, Combat, PTSD
Every soldier, every war, has its own name for this.
“There’s a condition in combat, most people know about it. It’s when a fighting person’s nervous system has been stressed to its absolute peak and maximum, can’t take any more input, the nervous system has either snapped or is about to snap. In the First World War that condition was called Shell Shock. Simple, honest direct language…In the Second World War the same condition was called Battle Fatigue…Fatigue is a nicer word than shock…then in Korea it was called Operational Exhaustion…then Vietnam War the very same condition was called Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder… ” ~George Carlin
This is how the comedian George Carlin explained the evolution of language to describe a very real condition experienced by war-time soldiers. And…it’s becoming clear that PTSD can be triggered in even non-civilians who are overly stressed.
Some love George Carlin, some hate him, but when he says that the “pain is buried under the jargon” it does make you remember that real men and women are afflicted with this “disorder”.
CTE: Can Dietary Supplements Prevent or Slow the Effects of Brain Damage?
Playing a game you love or serving your country with pride can put you in danger of physical injury. You know that going in, right? We do our best to protect ourselves from preventable injuries by wearing armour and helmets. But what about the fall out to our brains from head traumas that cannot be totally avoided?
In sports it’s repeated blows to the head most often associated with football players and boxers; for soldiers it’s the unexpected IUD or other blasts from the field of combat. Sure the helmets will protect you from shrapnel, but what protects you from the initial shock wave and secondary “blast wind” of an IUD?
Military Traumatic Brain Injury: Can Nutritional Support Stop It Before it Happens?
When you decided to enter the military, you prepared, right? You started running to build cardiovascular health, you started paying attention to what you ate, you started taking dietary supplements to build lean muscle and strengthen your immune system, and you started studying so you could pass the required exams. All of this is good and definitely stacked things in your favor to get into the military.
But the end of military bootcamp is just the beginning of becoming a soldier.
When you’re a soldier you are given many opportunities. You are also exposed to many environmental and occupational threats that the normal population will never face. For this reason you need to take your nutritional health more seriously than the “average” population. You also need to fortify all systems of your body, including your brain, to meet the demands of combat.
