What does visibility seem like? Growing up in Ethiopia, SheaMoisture Grant– Filmmaker and artist Herrana Addisu’s work is devoted to shedding light on women in conflict and wonder standards in her home country. This can also be the case in her latest film, supported by Tina Knowles. “[River is] “It’s a story that I’ve been writing in my head my whole life because it’s the foundation of my life and my livelihood as a child,” Addisu tells ESSENCE.

After winning the Blueprint Grant last August, SheaMoisture has taken on the role of a creative agency Chucha Studio to produce a movie that might bring to life a narrative that the black community could relate to. Focusing on culturally and politically sensitive topics—from access to water and education to ancestral lessons, forced marriages, and wonder standards—Adisu took the funds back to Ethiopia (to work with an area production house Dog Movies) tell her story.

“I wanted the film to have these complicated conversations that we don’t always have in this day and age,” she says. For example, Ethiopian stick-and-poke tattooing (often known as “Niksat”) is a typical tradition that runs through each of her pieces. “Growing up, I always thought it was beautiful,” she says. “But there’s a certain reluctance to do it, because a lot of women don’t feel like they’re consenting to have a permanent tattoo.”

Referencing cultural and traditional views of beauty, she cites spiritual icons of black hair within the church as a central theme. “Our old Bibles and paintings that I grew up seeing are of black angels and they have mini afros,” says Addisu, who placed them on the actors alongside cornrows, scarves and hairdos. “My blackness was so obvious to me that I wanted to show that in the film as well.”

But as an artist, she also embodies the sweetness she captures. After shooting in Ethiopia, Adisu returned to New York to take part in the series alongside .[Photographer] Kendall Bessant I had the concept to test my limits in doing this cone on my head,” she says. “It’s very easy to push those limits to a certain extent once you’re behind the lens after which in front of it.”

In one photo, she props her chin on a jewellery stand, her hair bouffant, and in one other, her curls are in front of a riverscape, alluding to the source of life within the film. “Water flows in the global South, especially in the rivers of Utopia, are very important not only in rural communities but also in urban ones,” she says.

But the river can also be a source of vulnerability for ladies, who’re exposed to violence, kidnapping and trafficking as they carry water. “I thought that was a powerful catalyst that brought the whole aspect of the film together.”

One of essentially the most common feelings related to chronic pain is fatigue, which may grow to be overwhelming. People with chronic pain may report feeling lacking in energy and motivation to interact with others or the world around them.

In fact, a UK study of individuals with chronic health problems found that pain and fatigue were the 2 biggest barriers for an energetic and meaningful life.

But why is long-term pain so debilitating? One clue lies in the character of pain and its powerful influence on our thoughts and behaviors.

Short-term pain can protect you

Contemporary ways of fascinated by pain emphasize its protective properties—the way in which it grabs our attention and forces us to alter our behavior to be able to protect an element of our body.

Try this. Slowly pinch the skin. As you increase the pressure, you’ll notice that the feeling changes until it becomes painful. The pain is what keeps you from squeezing harder, right? It’s how pain protects us.

When we’re injured, tissue damage or inflammation makes our pain system more sensitive. This pain stops us from mechanically stressing the injured tissue while it heals. For example, the pain of a broken leg or a cut under the foot means we avoid walking on it.

The concept that “pain protects us and promotes healing” is one of the crucial vital things that folks with chronic pain tell us. they learned what helped them recuperate.

However, long-term pain can overprotect you

In the short term, pain serves an especially effective protective function, and the longer our pain system is energetic, the more protection it provides.

But persistent pain may also help us prevent recovery. People affected by pain call it “hypersensitivity of the pain system”. Think of your pain system as being on alert. And that is where exhaustion is available in.

When pain becomes an on a regular basis experience, triggered or reinforced by an ever-widening range of activities, contexts, and cues, it becomes a relentless drain on resources. Living with pain requires significant and sustained effort, and this makes us drained.

About 80% of us are lucky enough to not know what it’s wish to be in pain, day in and day trip, for months or years. But take a moment to assume what it’s like.

Imagine having to pay attention hard, gather energy, and use distraction techniques to finish on a regular basis activities, let alone work, caregiving, or other responsibilities.

Whenever you’re feeling pain, you’re faced with a selection of whether and tips on how to act. Continually making that selection requires thought, effort, and strategy.

Mentioning your pain or explaining its impact on every moment, task, or activity is also tiring and difficult to speak when nobody else sees or feels your pain. For those listening, it could grow to be tedious, exhausting, or distressing.

No wonder the pain is exhausting

In chronic pain, it’s not only the pain system that’s on alert. Increased inflammation throughout the body (immune system on alert), impaired production of the hormone cortisol (endocrine system on alert), and stiff and cautious movements (motor system on alert) are also hand in hand with chronic pain.

Each of those contributes to fatigue and exhaustion. So learning to administer and resolve chronic pain often involves learning tips on how to best manage the overactivation of those systems.

Losing sleep is also factor each in fatigue and pain. Pain causes sleep disruption, and sleep loss contributes to pain.

In other words, chronic pain is rarely “just” pain. It’s no wonder that long-term pain can grow to be overwhelming and debilitating.

What actually works?

People who are suffering from chronic pain include: stigmatized, rejected AND misunderstoodwhich may result in them not getting the care they need. Ongoing pain can prevent people from working, limit their social contacts and affect their relationships. This can result in a downward spiral of social, personal and economic drawback.

That’s why we want higher access to evidence-based care and high-quality education for individuals with chronic pain.

There is excellent news, nevertheless. Modern chronic pain care, which is based on first gaining a contemporary understanding of the biology underlying chronic pain, it helps.

The key appears to be recognizing and accepting that a hypersensitive pain system plays a key role in chronic pain. This makes a fast fix highly unlikely, but a program of gradual change—perhaps over months and even years—holds promise.

Understanding how pain works, how chronic pain becomes overprotective, how our brain and body adapt to training, after which learning recent skills and techniques to steadily rewire each the brain and body offers hope based on science; there is a powerful supporting evidence With clinical trials.

Any support is helpful

The best treatments for chronic pain require effort, patience, persistence, courage, and infrequently a very good coach. All of this is a fairly overwhelming proposition for somebody who is already exhausted.

So in the event you are among the many 80% of the population that doesn’t suffer from chronic pain, take into consideration what is needed and support your colleague, friend, partner, child or parent on this journey.

Each 12 months, the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre on the University of New South Wales in Sydney surveys a whole bunch of regular drug users in Australia to seek out out understand trends within the use of psychoactive substances throughout the country.

Today we published Report 2024during which 740 people from Australian capital cities who usually use ecstasy or other illegal stimulants were surveyed.

While the first focus of our research is illicit drugs and markets, we also monitor trends within the over-the-counter use of pharmaceutical stimulants, resembling ADHD medications.

This 12 months, 54% of people we spoke to had used pharmaceutical stimulants previously six months after they weren’t prescribed them, the best percentage now we have seen since we began asking people about this kind of drug use in 2007.

What are pharmaceutical stimulants?

Pharmaceutical stimulants include the drug methylphenidate (trade names Concerta and Ritalin), in addition to dexamfetamine and lisdexamfetamine (Vyvanse).

These medications are commonly prescribed for the treatment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and narcolepsya chronic neurological disorder that causes excessive sleepiness and sudden sleep attacks through the day.

These drugs work in other ways depending on the kind. However, they treat ADHD by increasing levels of necessary chemicals (neurotransmitters) within the brain, including dopamine and norepinephrine.

However, as with many pharmaceutical substances, people also use these stimulants after they should not prescribed. There is range of reasons someone may select to make use of these medications without a prescription.

Tests University students have shown that these substances are sometimes used to extend alertness, concentration and memory. Studies conducted amongst wider populations have shown that they may also be used experimentor to get high.

All over the world, including in Australiawere significant increases within the prescription of ADHD medications lately, likely on account of increased identification and diagnosis of ADHD. As prescriptions increase, the danger of these substances being diverted to illegal drug markets increases.

What we found

The percentage of people using stimulants without a prescription has tripled since monitoring began – from 17% of respondents in 2007 to 54% in 2024. It has remained at a similar level lately (52% in 2022 and 47% in 2023).

Frequency of use remained relatively low. Respondents typically reported using non-prescribed pharmaceutical stimulants monthly or less continuously.

In this study, participants most continuously reported using dexamfetamine, followed by methylphenidate and lisdexamfetamine. Most (79%) said it was “easy” or “very easy” to acquire these substances, just like 2022 and 2023.

Of course, provided that our study focused on regular drug users, the over-the-counter use of pharmaceutical stimulants doesn’t reflect their use in the final population.

In 2022–2023 National Household Drug Strategy Surveygeneral population survey of Australians aged 14 years and over, 2.1% of the population (comparable to about 400,000 people) reported using pharmaceutical stimulants for non-medical purposes within the previous 12 months. This was just like the proportion of people reporting using ecstasy.

What are the risks?

Pharmaceutical stimulants are considered to have a relatively secure toxicity profile. However, like all stimulants, these substances increase activity sympathetic nervous systemwhich controls various functions within the body during times of stress. This in turn increases heart rate, blood pressure and respiration rate.

These changes may cause acute cardiac events (resembling arrhythmias or irregular heartbeats) and, with repeated use of high doses, chronic changes in heart work.

Recent Australian research has documented increase in poisoning involving these substances, although a significant proportion of these seem like intentional poisonings. In the poisonings that involved only pharmaceutical stimulants, the drugs were mostly taken orally, with the median dose being more than ten times the everyday prescribed dose. The commonest symptoms were hypertension (hypertension), tachycardia (fast heart rate), and agitation.

In our study, individuals who took pharmaceutical stimulants most frequently took them in pill form, taking a dose barely higher than that typically prescribed.

However, about one in 4 people reported snorting as a route of administration. This can lead to physical harm, resembling damage to the sinuses, and will increase the potential risks of the drug because it will possibly come into effect faster within the body.

Some pharmaceutical stimulants are “long-acting,” released into the body throughout the day. So there may additionally be a risk of premature re-dosing if people unknowingly use these preparations more than once a day. That is, if people don’t experience desired effects They may take one other dose on the expected time, which can increase the danger of uncomfortable side effects.

Finally, non-prescribed stimulants can have negative effects when taken with other medications. This can include a “masking effect” (for instance, a stimulant may mask the symptoms alcohol poisoning).

So what should we do?

Pharmaceutical stimulants are necessary medications within the treatment of ADHD and narcolepsy, and when used as directed, they’re relatively secure. However, there are additional risks when people use these substances without a prescription.

Harm reduction campaigns that highlight these risks, including differences between formulations, will be useful. Ongoing monitoring, alongside more in-depth investigation of associated harms, can also be key.