The term ‘dark chocolate’ has become increasingly popular in recent years. Dark chocolate is not necessarily cocoa-based, but can contain other ingredients such as coconut, dried fruits, or hazelnut butter.
Some say that it helps reduce weight due to its high content of antioxidants. These include flavonoids like catechins and procyanidines which have been linked to improved cardiovascular health and antioxidant activity.
Dark chocolate also contains theobromine, a compound which stimulates the release of dopamine, a feel good chemical. Dopamine enhances mood and motivation so it may help improve appetite and increase metabolism.
However, although there are some studies suggesting that dark chocolate may be helpful for weight loss, many others show no effect at all! Therefore, you should probably stick with eating enough regular chocolate (not just dark) to make sure you eat enough healthy nutrients anyway.
This article will discuss the reasons why research shows that chocolate does not aid weight loss and what might actually be harming your body and waistline.
Examples of evidence-based practices
School counseling is an increasingly popular career field that demands a solid understanding of psychology, educational theory, and the school system. Professionals in this area spend most of their time helping students develop in areas such as motivation, self-esteem, social skills, and academic achievement.
School counselors are trained to use systematic strategies to help children and teens cope with issues they may be experiencing, including depression, anger management problems, or difficulties at home. They also work with parents to resolve conflicts and strengthen parent–child relationships, which can be very difficult when kids of young ages belong to different cultures and have differing needs.
Many schools now require that high school graduates become licensed professionals so that others can refer to them for professional help if needed. This is one more reason to consider becoming certified!
Experts agree that early intervention is key to promoting positive development in youth. A counselor who works in the education system is a great source of information about how to do just that.
Steps to conduct and perform a scientific research
The easiest way to do systematic reviews is using an online tool that allows you to create a account. There are many free tools available, such as Google Docs or Microsoft Office Online. Once your account is created, you can pick any topic you like and search for others’ studies on it!
The important thing to remember when doing this type of review is that not every study should be included. You must determine if a study is relevant enough to contribute to your conclusion. If there is no control group or the results are mixed, then the study may not be needed in your summary.
By having proper exclusion criteria, you will be able to focus only on high quality studies that really add value to the paper.
Types of scientific research
There are several different types of studies that play an important role in shaping our understanding of health and disease. They all have their place, and you should know what each one is used for!
A clinical trial is an observational study conducted under controlled conditions to determine if a particular intervention or treatment works better than placebo (or no intervention at all).
A randomized control trial (RCT) is a type of clinical trial where participants are randomly assigned to either the intervention or the control group. By randomizing individuals, we can be certain that like two apples of one color, there will be more of one kind after the test than there is of the other.
Examples of interventions that have been tested through RCTs include diet changes, exercise, medications, and surgery. Because comparisons are made with a sham (no action) arm, it is very hard to claim that the inactive arm benefited from the intervention. However, this is how most proven treatments became standard practices.
Pre-and-post designs look at whether an intervention has lasting effects by studying the same population over time. These are not typically randomized due to ethical reasons, but they do allow us to see whether there was a short term effect of the intervention.
Case reports tell about an individual who had the intervention under investigation and were completely healed per the researchers’ observations. This is extremely rare because only 1%–2% of people recover fully from some diseases.
Sample research protocols
There are many different ways to manage stress and find relief, including practicing mindfulness or meditation, engaging in hobbies and activities you love, and seeking out supportive relationships.
Running down all of these is not easy, but it can help!
Practicing mindfulness has been shown to reduce symptoms of anxiety and depression as well as improve quality of life. Some forms of yoga have been linked with improved mood and sleep.
Hobbies that make you feel good may be a way to focus your mind and body away from worries. Having meaningful conversations related to beliefs and values can strengthen your sense of self-confidence and connection to others.
Relationships that are strong and built on honesty and trust can also aid in feeling happier.
Given how much stress we’re exposed to today due to technology, limiting screen time (especially at night) can decrease tension. Avoiding sources of harmful media like newspapers and TV shows can diminish perceptions of threat and fear.
Evidence-based treatments
There are many different types of therapies that have been shown to be effective in helping people manage their pain. These include exercise, relaxation techniques, cognitive strategies, weight loss, nutritional supplements, and more.
All of these interventions work by altering your perception of pain or changing how your body responds to painful stimuli. And while some may not work for you, there is enough evidence to show that most can help you find relief from your pain.
For this reason, our next step is going to focus on identifying potential benefits of mindfulness practice.
Mindfulness practices were first identified as a possible intervention for chronic pain back in 2000. Since then, they’ve gone through several rebrandings and comebacks due to concerns about whether they would actually work.
But recent research suggests that perhaps we should give them another try. A growing number of studies indicate that mindfulness may indeed reduce pain in the short term, and possibly in the long run as well.
Given that it costs no money nor does it require any special equipment, giving it a try seems like a reasonable option. So what makes mindfulness particularly appealing? Let us look at some reasons why it might be able to help you.
Evidence-based methods of parenting
The term “evidence-based” is typically used to describe practices or strategies that have been scientifically tested and found to be effective in helping children grow into healthy adults. These treatments are usually first tried as alternatives to traditional approaches, but are always chosen as the best course of action because they work!
Parenting interventions that have this label include using time outs, teaching your child skills like how to read, giving them rewards for good behavior, and supporting their self esteem.
These therapies are not enough, however. They should be combined with other evidence-based parent training programs so that you can test out what works for you as a team. You may find different approaches working at different times for different situations, but overall, it all adds up to help your kid.
Avoid shaming, threats, or violence towards kids — these only make things worse.
Evidence-based strategies for students
One of the biggest issues that educators face is how to effectively teach our students. There are so many different ways to teach, with so many different curricula and teaching styles, it can be hard to know what works best!
That’s why we have evidence-based education. This means using studies and research to determine if an intervention or method actually works. If it does, then educators should use those tools to make lessons more effective.
If you ever feel like someone is trying to push their own agenda in the classroom, chances are they aren’t far off base.
Educators spend a lot of time looking at the results of other classes’ experiments and incorporating things they see working into their own classrooms. It is very common to come across teachers who don’t like this idea because it looks like people are being paid to learn about ideas that work well.
However, there are plenty of opportunities available to your child beyond school too, such as afterschool programs, community groups, and even online courses. Finding one or several that seem to help them will depend on whether anyone else has tried them before and found success.
Evidence-based methods of management
What is evidence-based medicine (EBM)? This is defined as “the use of systematic, research-informed approaches to determine the best course of action for a condition or disease”.
When used in this way, EBM can be very powerful. It can save you money by identifying effective treatments that work well enough to be worth your health care budget, and it may help prevent harm from ineffective treatments.
By applying the same rigorous standards to all interventions, regardless of who offers them, we get better results more often than not.
However, there are some situations where seeking out an intervention that has little scientific support could actually do more harm than good. These are referred to as placebo effects.
A placebo is defined as an inactive treatment with no known active ingredient. Because they have no active component, patients perceive them to be genuine therapies for underlying conditions.
This can lead to changes in how their body responds to the real thing, and even contribute to worsening symptoms. For this reason, the effectiveness of placebos should be questioned.
It is important to note that although offering a placebo arm is unethical when working with active drugs, engaging in debates about whether a particular diet or exercise program works or not is acceptable.
