Today’s beautiful crochet mandala for the Mandalas for Marinke project comes to us from Patty Simpson. It was made using the Summer Hearts crochet mandala pattern by Wink.
Patty shares:
“I had visited Wink’s blog a couple times but had not done any of her patterns until now. I was sad to hear of her lost battle with depression as my cousin’s wife also lost her battle last fall, and I know how he was affected. I made my contribution for Wink’s family and also for my cousin and all others affected.”
For today’s depression awareness portion of this project, I wanted to point your attention to a recent study that found that consuming aspartame (the artificial sweetener in products like Equal) may increase depression. The study actually had to be halted because the people with depression who were exposed to aspartame experienced such severe reactions to it that it wasn’t ethical to continue!
It should be noted that the tests and studies are inconclusive and there is no agreement in the scientific community about the specific impact on the brain. That said, if you struggle with depression then it is best to examine all possible impacts on your health and aspartame may be something that you want to look at if it’s a regular part of your diet.
Awareness and information is POWER! Thanks for sharing.