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Skin-picking and other compulsive behaviors - Individuals who get easily bored, frustrated or impatient are more inclined to develop skin-picking and other body-focused repetitive behaviors. "Chronic hair-pulling, skin-picking disorder and nail-biting and various other habits are known as body-focused repetitive behaviors. Although these behaviours can induce important distress, they also seem to satisfy an urge and deliver some form of reward'', says Kieron O'Connor. Chronic hair-pulling is also known as trichotillomania. "We believe that individuals with these repetitive behaviours maybe perfectionistic, meaning that they are unable to relax and to perform task at a 'normal' pace. They are therefore prone to frustration, impatience, and dissatisfaction when they do not reach their goals. They also experience greater levels of boredom." "The findings suggest that individuals suffering from body-focussed repetitive behaviours could benefit from treatments designed to reduce frustration and boredom and to modify perfectionist beliefs," said Sarah Roberts. Institut universitaire en santé mentale de Montréal and the University of Montreal. J Behav Ther Exp Psychiatry

Treating, Preventing Seasonal Affective Disorder - The lack of sunlight during winter months can actually cause a subtype of depression called Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD). "If you're experiencing significant functional impairment associated with the changes in season, it's time to get some help," says Dago, who is also an assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. Symptoms include: Feeling depressed, fatigued and lethargic; Difficulty waking up in the morning and a tendency to sleep more; Interference in work, school and personal relationships; Increased appetite, leading to weight gain; Loss of interest or enjoyment in activities; Trouble concentrating. Traditional treatments for SAD include psychotherapy, medication and therapeutic light therapy. Northwestern Medicine

Work-family conflict linked to verbal abuse - People whose family life regularly interferes with their job are more likely to become emotionally exhausted and, in turn, verbally abusive to co-workers and loved ones. The good news: Having a supportive boss can curtail this harmful spiral, said Chu-Hsiang Chang, associate professor of psychology. While past research has explored positive attitudes and behaviors related to work-family issues - such as satisfaction and performance - this study investigated the effects of work-family conflict on negative interpersonal behaviors at work and home. Because supportive supervisors had a positive effect, Chang recommends companies make it a higher priority to select and train managers who can provide family support for employees. "Supportive managers should model the right behavior -- in other words, don't send your employees emails at 11 p.m. and expect them to respond, for example." Employees can also engage in emotional and physical "recovery" activities. Michigan State University. Journal of Applied Psychology

Can intensive mindfulness training improve depression? Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) - Depression affects about 350 million people worldwide and is the leading cause of disability. Mindfulness training is a promising approach to decreasing depressive symptoms. The researchers report that overall, depressive symptoms decreased substantially for nearly all of the subgroups of participants, and they suggest that MBSR can be helpful whether its use is intended by the individual as a secular or spiritual practice.
Jeffrey Greeson, PhD, Duke University Medical Center (Durham, NC) and University of Pennsylvania, Perelman School of Medicine (Philadelphia), and coauthors, also from McMaster University (Hamilton, Ontario, Canada), Broadleaf Health (Guelph, Ontario, Canada), and University of Southampton (UK). The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine

High-fat diet alters behavior and produces signs of brain inflammation -  Can the consumption of fatty foods change your behavior and your brain? High-fat diets have long been known to increase the risk for medical problems, including heart disease and stroke, but there is growing concern that diets high in fat might also increase the risk for depression and other psychiatric disorders. A study raises the possibility that a high-fat diet produces changes in health and behavior, in part, by changing the mix of bacteria in the gut, also known as the gut microbiome. These findings provide evidence that diet-induced changes to the gut microbiome are sufficient to alter brain function even in the absence of obesity. Louisiana State University. Biological Psychiatry

How mindfulness training helps health - Over the past decade, there have been many encouraging findings suggesting that mindfulness training can improve a broad range of mental and physical health problems. Researchers have shown how mindfulness meditation influences health via stress reduction pathways. Excessive activation of the biological stress response increases the risk of diseases impacted by. By reducing individuals' experiences of stress, mindfulness may help regulate the physical stress response and ultimately reduce the risk and severity of stress-related diseases. Current Directions in Psychological Science.

Garlic extract could help fight infection - A chemical found in garlic can kill bacteria that cause life-threatening lung infections in people with cystic fibrosis. The study shows that the chemical - known as allicin - could be an effective treatment against a group of infectious bacteria that is highly resistant to most antibiotics.

Dr Dominic Campopiano, of the University of Edinburgh's School of Chemistry, said: "The medicinal power of garlic has a rich history that dates back thousands of years but the chemical structure of allicin was only revealed in the 1940s. Our work suggests that modern methods should be used to further expand our knowledge of this enigmatic molecule and rejuvenate its potential applications." University of Edinburgh and the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council. PLoS One

Violations in pharmaceutical industry self-regulation of medicines promotion - A discrepancy exists between the ethical standard codified in the pharmaceutical industry Codes of Practice and the actual conduct of the pharmaceutical industry in the UK and Sweden. Researchers found that between 2004 and 2012 the Swedish and UK bodies ruled that 536 and 597 cases, respectively, were in breach of the country's rules on medicines promotion, and that many of the violations in both countries concerned misleading claims about a drug's effects. PLOS Medicine

Eczema woes - Eczema wreaks havoc on its sufferers' lives with health problems that are more than skin deep. Adults who have eczema -- a chronic itchy skin disease that often starts in childhood -- have higher rates of smoking, drinking alcoholic beverages and obesity and are less likely to exercise than adults who don't have the disease. These behaviours give them a higher risk of cardiovascular disease, including high blood pressure and high cholesterol as well as diabetes. They also have higher rates of insomnia. Northwestern Medicine®. Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology.

A healthy lifestyle may prevent heart disease in nearly 3 out of 4 - A study concluded that three-quarters of heart attacks in young women could be prevented if women closely followed six healthy lifestyle practices.
Healthy habits were defined as not smoking, a normal body mass index, physical activity of at least 2.5 hours per week, watching seven or fewer hours of television a week, consumption of a maximum of one alcoholic drink per day on average, and a diet in the top 40 percent of a measure of diet quality based on the Harvard School of Public Health healthy eating plate. Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

Daily exercise associated with lower blood pressure, glucose readings - Self-reported moderate to vigorous exercise was associated with lower blood pressure and blood glucose levels. "Although this study was cross-sectional and we cannot presume causality between the level of physical activity and health status based on these data, combining our findings with results from intervention studies suggest that exercise can play an integral part in moderating/lowering blood sugar and blood pressure, and ultimately a patient's cardiometabolic health," said Deborah Rohm Young, PhD, of the Kaiser Permanente Department of Research & Evaluation in Pasadena, California. Preventing Chronic Disease.

Smoking still causes large proportion of cancer deaths - Despite significant drops in smoking rates, cigarettes continue to cause about three in ten cancer deaths in the USA. More than 30 years ago, a groundbreaking analysis by famed British researchers, Richard Doll and Richard Peto, calculated that 30 percent of all cancer deaths in the United States were caused by smoking. Since that time, no new estimate of this percentage has been published in the scientific literature. During that same time, smoking rates have dropped, but new cancers have been added to the list of those established as caused by smoking and lung cancer death rates among female smokers have increased. These estimates do not include additional potential cancer deaths from environmental tobacco smoke or other type of tobacco use such as cigars, pipes, or smokeless tobacco.

Researchers conclude: "Our results indicate that cigarette smoking causes about three in 10 cancer deaths in the contemporary United States. Reducing smoking prevalence as rapidly as possible should be a top priority for US public health efforts to prevent future cancer deaths." American Cancer Society. Annals of Epidemiology.

Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy - which combines mindfulness practice with more traditional cognitive therapy - has been shown to be effective at preventing recurrent episodes of depression in the general population. But few studies of any kind have looked at the effect of non-drug therapies and interventions among pregnant women. Pregnant women with histories of major depression are about 40 percent less likely to relapse into depression if they practice mindfulness techniques - such as meditation, breathing exercises and yoga - along with cognitive therapy. 

"It's important for pregnant women who are at high risk of depression to have options for treatment and prevention," said Sona Dimidjian, an associate professor in CU-Boulder's Department of Psychology and Neuroscience. "For some women, anti-depressant medication is truly a lifesaver, but for others, concerns about side effects and possible impacts to fetal development may cause them to prefer a non-pharmacological intervention." University of Colorado at Boulder. Archives of Women's Mental Health.

Anxiety and depression after heart attack - Women are more likely to develop anxiety and depression after a heart attack (myocardial infarction; MI) than men. Professor Pranas Serpytis said: "The World Health Organization predicts that by 2020 depression will be the second leading cause of disability and mortality in the world, surpassed only by ischaemic heart disease. Major depression follows MI in approximately 18% of cases and is an important predictor of disability and poor quality of life in the year post-MI." He continued: "Patients with depression are nearly 6 times more likely to die within 6 months after an MI than those without depression. The increased risk of death in patients with depression persists up to 18 months after the MI. But despite the fact that post-MI depression is common and burdensome, the condition remains under-recognised and undertreated." European Society of Cardiology.

Clear new evidence for mind-body connection - Researchers have shown that practising mindfulness meditation or being involved in a support group has a positive physical impact at the cellular level in breast cancer survivors. Researchers demonstrated that telomeres – protein complexes at the end of chromosomes – maintain their length in breast cancer survivors who practise meditation or are involved in support groups, while they shorten in a comparison group without any intervention.
"We already know that psychosocial interventions like mindfulness meditation will help you feel better mentally, but now for the first time we have evidence that they can also influence key aspects of your biology," says Dr. Linda E. Carlson, PhD. Alberta Health Services Tom Baker Cancer Centre and the University of Calgary Department of Oncology. Cancer.

Mindfulness-based depression therapy reduces health care visits - A mindfulness-based therapy for depression has the added benefit of reducing health-care visits among patients who often see their family doctors. The research showed that frequent health service users who received mindfulness-based cognitive therapy showed a significant reduction in non-mental health care visits over a one-year period. "We speculate that mindfulness-based cognitive therapy has elements that could help people who are high health-care utilizers manage their distress without needing to go to a doctor," says Dr. Paul Kurdyak, lead author and Director of Health Systems Research at CAMH and Lead of the Mental Health and Addictions Research Program at ICES.

Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy is a structured form of psychotherapy that combines elements of cognitive-behaviour therapy with mindfulness meditation. "Primary care physicians play a large role in managing patients with distress, and they often report feeling overwhelmed and unable to effectively deal with cases of medically unexplained symptoms," says Dr. Kurdyak. "This study shows the potential of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy to help both patients and their doctors." Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences. Journal of Psychosomatic Research.

Nearly 10 percent of patients with cancer still smoke - Even after diagnosis, 9.3 percent of U.S. cancer survivors were current smokers and 83 percent of these individuals were daily smokers who averaged 14.7 cigarettes per day. "We need to follow up with cancer survivors long after their diagnoses to see whether they are still smoking and offer appropriate counseling, interventions, and possible medications to help them quit," said Lee Westmaas, PhD, director of tobacco research at the American Cancer Society (ACS) and lead author of the study.

"Smoking can cause new mutations among cancer survivors that can lead to secondary and additional primary cancers. It can also affect physical function and interfere with the efficacy of therapies," said Roy Herbst, MD, PhD, chief of medical oncology at Yale University. "We need to take note of this and target this population for intervention." About 40 percent of smokers said they planned to quit within the next month. Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers &Prevention.

New study throws into question long-held belief about depression - New evidence puts into doubt the long-standing belief that a deficiency in serotonin — a chemical messenger in the brain — plays a central role in depression. More than 350 million people suffer from it and it is the leading cause of disability across the globe. In the late 1980s, the now well-known antidepressant Prozac was introduced. The drug works mainly by increasing the amounts of one substance in the brain — serotonin. So scientists came to believe that boosting levels of the signaling molecule was the key to solving depression. Based on this idea, many other drugs to treat the condition entered the picture. But now researchers know that 60 to 70 percent of these patients continue to feel depressed, even while taking thedrugs. These findings further suggest that serotonin is not a major player in the condition, and different factors must be involved. Chemical Neuroscience.

Running reduces risk of death regardless of duration, speed - Running for only a few minutes a day or at slow speeds may significantly reduce a person's risk of death from cardiovascular disease compared to someone who does not run. Exercise is well-established as way to prevent heart disease and it is component of an overall healthy life. DC (Duck-chul) Lee, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Iowa State University Kinesiology Department. American College of Cardiology. Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

Combining benefits of neuroscience and psychology treatments - Mental health disorders — such as depression, schizophrenia, post-traumatic stress disorder, obsessive–compulsive disorder and eating disorders — affect 1 in 4 people worldwide. Psychological treatments "hold the strongest evidence base for addressing many such conditions," but they need improvement, according to a study by Craske, Cambridge University professor Emily Holmes and MIT professor Ann Graybiel. The researchers suggest combining benefits of neuroscience and psychology treatments. "Psychological treatments are a lifeline to so many — and could be to so many more," researchers conclude. UCLA psychology professor Michelle Craske. Cambridge University professor Emily Holmes and MIT professor Ann Graybiel. Nature.

Stressful ... how stress impacts your life - More than half of those who experienced a great deal of stress in the past month say too many overall responsibilities and financial problems were contributors (54% and 53% respectively). More than a third of those with a great deal of stress say the contributors include their own health problems (38%) and health problems of family members (37%).

Bad effects on emotional well-being (63%) are the most common health effect reported by those with a great deal of stress in the last month, followed by problems with sleep (56%) and difficulty in thinking, concentrating, or making decisions (50%). About half of those with a great deal of stress as well as a chronic illness or disability say stress made the symptoms worse (53%) or made it harder for them to manage their chronic illness or disability (52%).

"It is not widely recognized how many have a major stressful event over the course of a year, or how often health problems are the cause," says Robert J. Blendon, Richard L. Menschel Professor of Health Policy and Political Analysis.

"Stress touches everyone. Unfortunately, many of those feeling the most stress get trapped in cycles that can be very unhealthy. If we are going to build a culture of health, one big step we can take is recognizing the causes and effects not just of our own stress and the stress of those closest to us, but of others we encounter in our day-to-day lives. That recognition can go a long way in helping us create healthier environments in our homes, workplaces and communities," says Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, RWJF president and CEO. Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Harvard School of Public Health.

Brisk walking may improve symptoms of Parkinson's - People with mild to moderate Parkinson's disease who regularly walk for exercise may improve their motor function, mood, tiredness, fitness and some aspects of thinking abilities. The study found that brisk walking improved motor function and mood by 15 percent, attention/response control scores by 14 percent, reduced tiredness by 11 percent, and increased aerobic fitness and gait speed by seven percent. On the test of motor function, participants improved by an average of 2.8 points, which is considered a clinically important difference. Ergun Y. Uc, MD, with the University of Iowa in Iowa City. Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

Hazardous drinking linked with alcohol industry sponsorship - The study examines alcohol sponsorship of athletes and comes at a time when there are calls in the UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa for greater restriction or bans of alcohol sponsorship and advertising in sport. Alcohol consumption was found to be high in athletes overall. However, 50% of those sponsored by an alcohol-related industry had scores on the World Health Organisation's Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test that indicated the need for brief counselling and further monitoring of drinking. University of Manchester (UK) and Monash University (Australia). Addiction.

Little or poor sleep? - Sleep problems are associated with worse memory and executive function in older people. Dr Michelle A Miller says "6-8 hours of sleep per night is particularly important for optimum brain function, in younger adults". These results are consistent with our previous research, which showed that 6-8 hours of sleep per night was optimal for physical health, including lowest risk of developing obesity, hypertension, diabetes, heart disease and stroke". Dr Miller concludes that "if poor sleep is causative of future cognitive decline, non-pharmacological improvements in sleep may provide an alternative low-cost and more accessible Public Health intervention, to delay or slow the rate of cognitive decline".

"Sleep is important for good health and mental wellbeing" says Professor Francesco Cappuccio, "Optimising sleep at an older age may help to delay the decline in brain function seen with age, or indeed may slow or prevent the rapid decline that leads to dementia". University of Warwick. PLOS ONE.

Motivational interviewing helps  - Motivational interviewing, a counseling strategy that gained popularity in the treatment of alcoholics, uses a patient-centered counseling approach to help motivate people to change behaviors. Experts say it stands in contrast to externally driven tactics, instead favoring to work with patients by acknowledging how difficult change is and by helping people devise and implement practical plans for change when they are ready. Johns Hopkins Medicine. American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.

Synchronized brain waves enable rapid learning - The human mind can rapidly absorb and analyze new information as it flits from thought to thought. These quickly changing brain states may be encoded by synchronization of brain waves across different brain regions. There are millions of neurons in the brain, each producing its own electrical signals. These combined signals generate oscillations known as brain waves, which can be measured by electroencephalography (EEG). Neuron.

Habits - People affected by binge eating, substance abuse and obsessive compulsive disorder all share a common pattern of decision making and similarities in brain structure. Dr Valerie Voon, principal investigator of the study, says: "Seemingly diverse choices – drug taking, eating quickly despite weight gain, and compulsive cleaning or checking – have an underlying common thread: rather that a person making a choice based on what they think will happen, their choice is automatic or habitual.

"Compulsive disorders can have a profoundly disabling effect of individuals. Now that we know what is going wrong with their decision making, we can look at developing treatments, for example using psychotherapy focused on forward planning or interventions such as medication which target the shift towards habitual choices." University of Cambridge. Molecular Psychiatry.

Disruption of circadian rhythms may contribute to inflammatory disease - A disruption of circadian rhythms, when combined with a high-fat, high-sugar diet, may contribute to inflammatory bowel disease and other harmful conditions. While circadian rhythm disruption may be common among some, the research suggests that it may be contributing to a host of diseases that may be prevented by regulating things such as sleep/wake patterns and times of eating to help prevent circadian rhythm disruption.

"We believe that chronic circadian rhythm disruption promotes/exacerbates inflammatory-mediated diseases, at least in part, due to changes in the intestinal microbiota," said Robin M. Voigt, PhD, assistant professor. Inflammation is associated with a number of diseases, including cardiovascular disease and cancer, and can cause organ damage and is associated with increased morbidity and mortality. Rush University Medical Center.

Chronic pain - Chronic pain affects approximately 100 million Americans, costing up to $635 billion in medical treatment and lost productivity, and producing immeasurable suffering for people of every age. Yet, pain treatment is not taught extensively in many health professional schools. National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). 052014

Watching stressful movies - Watching films with stressful scenes can trigger changes to the heart's beating pattern, reports a new study. University College London. Circulation: Arrhythmia & Electrophysiology. 052015


How your brain works during meditation  - Your brain processes more thoughts and feelings during meditation than when you are simply relaxing.There are countless ways of meditating, but the purpose behind them all remains basically the same: more peace, less stress, better concentration, greater self-awareness and better processing of thoughts and feelings. Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), the University of Oslo and the University of Sydney. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience.

Meditation training may help reduce stress disorders - Mindfulness training – a combination of meditation and body awareness exercises – can help prepare for and recover from stressful situations. Meditative practices might be a way to help reduce rising rates of stress-related health conditions, including PTSD, depression and anxiety. Heart and breathing rates of those who had received mindfulness training returned to their normal, baseline levels faster than those who had not received the mindfulness training. Blood levels of a tell-tale neuropeptide suggested that the mindfulness-trained Marines experienced improved immune function, as well. Martin Paulus, MD, professor of psychiatry. University of California, San Diego School of Medicine. American Journal of Psychiatry.

Early menopause ups heart failure risk, especially for smokers - Women who go through menopause early have a higher rate of heart failure. Smoking, current or past, raises the rate even more. Smokers are known to go through menopause an average of one year earlier than nonsmokers. "Menopause, early or late, is always a good time to take more steps to reduce heart disease risk through exercise, a healthy diet, weight loss, and quitting smoking, says NAMS Executive Director Margery Gass, MD. Menopause, the journal of The North American Menopause Society.

From age 30 onwards, inactivity has greatest heart disease risk - From the age of 30 onwards, physical inactivity exerts a greater impact on a woman's lifetime risk of developing heart disease than the other well-known risk factors. There are four known risk factors: excess weight (high BMI); smoking; high blood pressure; and physicalinactivity. The researchers estimate that if every woman between the ages of 30 and 90 were able to reach the recommended weekly exercise quota — 150 minutes of at least moderate intensity physical activity — then thousands of lives could be saved. British Journal of Sports Medicine.

Change Unhealthy Ways - A study found that the majority of college students are engaging in unhealthy behaviors that could increase their risk of cancer later on. A shocking 95 percent of college students fail to eat the recommended amount of fruit and vegetables (five or more servings a day), and more than 60 percent report not getting enough physical activity (three or more days of vigorous exercise for at least 20 minutes or five or more days of moderate exercise for at least 30 minutes a week). 

“Changing unhealthy behaviors in college students now could be a way to reduce the risk of cancer as well as other diseases later in life,� said Brian Hitsman, assistant professor in preventive medicine-behavioral medicine and psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and a member of the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University. Northwestern Medicine® and Northeastern Illinois University. Preventive Medicine.

Collaboration between a primary care clinician and a psychologist or other mental health professional - "At the heart of the new primary care team is a partnership between a primary care clinician and a psychologist or other mental health professional. The team works together to produce a comprehensive, integrated personal care plan for each patient that includes attention to mental and medical disorders, addresses substance abuse issues and incorporates health behavior change," wrote Susan H. McDaniel, PhD, of the University of Rochester Medical Center, and Frank V. deGruy III, MD, of the University of Colorado Denver School of Medicine.

"Research clearly shows that psychological, behavioral and social factors are key drivers of health problems seen in the primary care settings," said Norman B. Anderson, PhD, APA chief executive officer and American Psychologist editor. Primary Care and Psychology. American Psychologist.

Motivational interviewing helps  - Motivational interviewing techniques to counsel families about their young child's weight were successful in reducing children's body mass index (BMI). Motivational interviewing is a patient-centered communication style that uses techniques such as reflective listening and shared decision-making to elicit how and why patients might change their health behaviors. American Academy of Pediatrics.

Light Activity Every Day Keeps Disability at Bay - Pushing a shopping cart or a vacuum doesn’t take a lot of effort, but enough of this sort of light physical activity every day can help people with or at risk of knee arthritis avoid developing disabilities as they age. 

“Our findings provide encouragement for adults who may not be candidates to increase physical activity intensity due to health limitations,� said Dorothy Dunlop, professor of medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and lead author of the study. “Even among those who did almost no moderate activity, the more light activity they did, the less likely they were to develop disability.� Northwestern University.

More creativity  - When the task at hand requires some imagination, taking a walk may lead to more creative thinking than sitting. "Incorporating physical activity into our lives is not only beneficial for our hearts but our brains as well. This research suggests an easy and productive way to weave it into certain work activities," said Marily Oppezzo, PhD, of Santa Clara University. American Psychological Association. "Give Your Ideas Some Legs: The Positive Effect of Walking on Creative Thinking," Marily Oppezzo, PhD, Santa Clara University, and Daniel L. Schwartz, PhD, Stanford University, Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory and Cognition.

We teach this, and more, in our Walking Meditation.

Important opportunities for health education - A study suggests health communicators have a critical window of opportunity after a public figure dies to disseminate information about disease prevention and detection.

"In the medical community, there has been a big push to try to educate the public about the nuances of cancer," assistant professor Gall Myrick said. "It's not just one disease; it's a lot of different diseases that happen to share the same label. Celebrity announcements or deaths related to cancer are a rare opportunity for public health advocates to explain the differences between cancers, and how to prevent or detect them, to a public that is otherwise not paying much attention to these details." Indiana University. Journal of Health Communication.

Obesity can amplify bone and muscle loss - Researchers have identified a new syndrome called "osteosarcopenic obesity" that links the deterioration of bone density and muscle mass with obesity.

"It used to be the thinking that the heavier you were the better your bones would be because the bones were supporting more weight," said Jasminka Ilich-Ernst, the Hazel Stiebeling Professor of Nutrition at Florida State. "But, that's only true to a certain extent." People do tend to gain weight and lose both muscle mass and bone density with age, Ilich-Ernst acknowledged. But substantial gain in body fat can make the muscle and bone problems even worse. Florida State University. Ageing Research Reviews.

Vitamin D deficiency contributes to poor mobility among severely obese people - Among severely obese people, vitamin D may make the difference between an active and a more sedentary lifestyle. "People with severe obesity already are eight times more likely to have poor physical function than people with a healthy BMI," said one of the study's authors, Tomás Ahern, MB, BCh, BAO, of St. Columcille's Hospital and St. Vincent's University Hospital in Dublin, Ireland. "Poor vitamin D status contributes to the deterioration of physical function in this population. Among those with severe obesity, 43 percent are at risk of vitamin D deficiency." The Endocrine Society. Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.

Diabetes: Good Self-Management Helps to Reduce Mortality  - People with type 2 diabetes who report good self-management behavior (e.g., regular monitoring of blood glucose levels, having a diet plan or performing physical exercise) have a reduced mortality risk. Helmholtz Zentrum München. Diabetes Care.

Excess weight increases risk - 'Watch out for weight gain within a year of giving birth to prevent new risk of diabetes and cardiovascular disease.' "This finding helps us advise women about the importance of losing their excess pregnancy weight in the first year after delivery," says Dr. Retnakaran. "With these results, we can say that failure to lose weight between three and 12 months postpartum will cause blood pressure, cholesterol, and insulin action in the body to move in an unhealthy direction."  Dr. Ravi Retnakaran is an endocrinologist at Leadership Sinai Centre for Diabetes at Mount Sinai Hospital, Toronto, Canada, a clinician-scientist at the hospital's Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute, and Associate Professor at University of Toronto. Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute. Diabetes Care.

Depression and obesity  - Depression and obesity have long been associated, but how they relate over time is less clear. New researchshows that adolescent females who experience one of the disorders are at a greater risk for the other as they get older.

“Adolescence is a key developmental period for both obesity and depression, so we thought it significant to look at the onset of these disorders at an early age,� says Naomi Marmorstein, an associate professor of psychology at Rutgers–Camden. Rutgers University.

Stress and pregnanancy - stress is associated with an increased risk of infertility - Courtney Denning-Johnson Lynch, director of reproductive epidemiology at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, and colleagues found that women with high levels of alpha-amylase – a biological indicator of stress measured in saliva – are 29 percent less likely to get pregnant each month and are more than twice as likely to meet the clinical definition of infertility compared to women with low levels of this protein enzyme. Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center. Other collaborators included Dr. Rajeshwari Sundaram and José Maisog of the NICHD and Dr. Anne Sweeney of the Texas A&M Health Science Center. Human Reproduction.

Stressed? - Stress, this enemy that haunts us every day, could be undermining not only our health but also our relationships with other people, especially if we are men. In fact, stressed women apparently become more "prosocial". International School of Advanced Studies (SISSA). Neuroscience Unit of the University of Vienna. University of Freiburg.

Obesity associated with lower academic attainment  - Obesity in adolescent girls is associated with lower academic attainment levels throughout their teenage years.

University of Strathclyde Professor of Physical Activity and Public Health Science, John Reilly – the Principal Investigator of the study – said: "Further work is needed to understand why obesity is negatively related to academic attainment, but it is clear that teenagers, parents, and policymakers in education and public health should be aware of the lifelong educational and economic impact of obesity."  Universities of Strathclyde, Dundee, Georgia and Bristol. International Journal of Obesity.

1 drink may be 1 too many - You may have only had one glass of wine with dinner, but if you're 55 or older, that single serving may hit you hard enough to make you a dangerous driver. University of Florida. Psychopharmacology.

Hungry for 'likes': Frequent Facebook use linked to eating disorder risk - Frequent Facebook users might be sharing more than party pictures, vacation videos and shameless selfies — they also share a greater risk of eating disorders.

"Facebook provides a fun way to stay connected with friends, but it also presents women with a new medium through which they are confronted by a thin ideal that impacts their risk for eating disorders," says Psychology Professor Pamela K. Keel. Her advice to young women? "Consider what it is you are pursuing when you post on Facebook," she said. "Try to remember that you are a whole person and not an object, so don't display yourself as a commodity that then can be approved or not approved." Florida State University. International Journal of Eating Disorders.

Fivefold increased risk for heart attack after angry outburst - "There has been a lot of research on anger; we already know it can be unhealthy, but we wanted to quantify the risk, not just for heart attack, but for other potentially lethal cardiovascular events as well," says lead author Elizabeth Mostofsky, MPH, ScD, a post-doctoral fellow in the cardiovascular epidemiological unit at BIDMC and an instructor at the Harvard School of Public Health.

The study results showed that the risk of heart attack or acute coronary syndrome – the symptoms like chest pain, shortness of breath or sweating related to a blocked artery – was 4.7 times higher in the two hours following an angry outburst than at any other time. And the risk for stroke caused by a blocked artery in the brain was 3.6 times higher than at other times. One of the studies included in the review indicated a 6.3 fold increased risk for brain aneurysm in the hour following an outburst of anger compared with other times. BIDMC. European Heart Journal.

Increase fruit, vegetable consumption ... Preventive Medicine - New federal standards launched in 2012 that require schools to offer healthier meals have led to increased fruit and vegetable consumption.

"There is a push from some organizations and lawmakers to weaken the new standards. We hope the findings, which show that students are consuming more fruits and vegetables, will discourage those efforts," said lead author Juliana Cohen, research fellow. Harvard School of Public Health. American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

Meat and cheese may be as bad for you as smoking - A high-protein diet during middle age makes you nearly twice as likely to die and four times more likely to die of cancer, but moderate protein intake is good for you after 65. Not only is excessive protein consumption linked to a dramatic rise in cancer mortality, but middle-aged people who eat lots of proteins from animal sources — including meat, milk and cheese — are also more susceptible to early death in general. University of Southern California. Cell Metabolism.

The pain of social exclusion - We would like to do without pain and yet without it we wouldn't be able to survive. Pain signals dangerous stimuli (internal or external) and guides our behaviour. Its ultimate goal is to prioritize escape, recovery and healing. That's why we feel it and why we're also good at detecting it in others. Pain in fact protects not only the individual but also his social bonds. The brain contains circuits related to the more physical aspects of pain and others related to affective aspects. Social pain activates some brain circuits of physical pain whether we feel it personally or when we experience it vicariously as an empathic response to other people's pain. Giorgia Silani, Giovanni Novembre and Marco Zanon of the International School for Advanced Studies of Trieste. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience.

Death of partner associated with increased risk of heart attack, stroke - "We have described a marked increase in cardiovascular risk in the month after spousal bereavement, which seems likely to be the result of adverse physiological responses associated with acute grief. A better understanding of psychosocial factors associated with acute cardiovascular events may provide opportunities for prevention and improved clinical care." Iain M. Carey, M.Sc., Ph.D., of St. George's University of London, and colleagues. JAMA Intern Med.

Psychological side-effects worse than thought - Research has shown that thoughts of suicide, sexual difficulties and emotional numbness as a result of anti-depressants may be more widespread than previously thought. Psychologist and lead researcher, Professor John Read from the University's Institute of Psychology, Health and Society, said: "The medicalisation of sadness and distress has reached bizarre levels. One in ten people in some countries are now prescribed antidepressants each year."

"While the biological side-effects of antidepressants, such as weight gain and nausea, are well documented, the psychological and interpersonal effects have been largely ignored or denied. They appear to be alarmingly common."  University of Liverpool. Psychiatry Research.

Iron deficiency may increase stroke risk through sticky blood

Scientists have discovered that iron deficiency may increase stroke risk by making the blood more sticky. The most common type, ischaemic stroke, occurs because the blood supply to the brain is interrupted by small clots. The findings could ultimately help with stroke prevention. Imperial College London. PLOS ONE.

Loneliness is a major health risk  - Feeling extreme loneliness can increase an older person's chances of premature death by 14 percent. The consequences to health are dramatic, as feeling isolated from others can disrupt sleep, elevate blood pressure, increase morning rises in the stress hormone cortisol, alter gene expression in immune cells, and increase depression and lower overall subjective well-being.

Research by Cacioppo and his colleagues has identified three core dimensions to healthy relationships - intimate connectedness, which comes from having someone in your life you feel affirms who you are; relational connectedness, which comes from having face-to-face contacts that are mutually rewarding; and collective connectedness, which comes from feeling that you're part of a group or collective beyond individual existence. John Cacioppo, professor of psychology. University of Chicago.

Daily walk of just 3km can reduce risk - Sufferers of Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) can reduce their risk of being hospitalized with severe attacks, by maintaining an exercise regime of walking between three to six kilometers a day. COPD, a term which includes chronic bronchitis and emphysema, results in breathing difficulties due to long-term lung damage. Severe symptoms (eCOPD), caused by a sudden loss of lung function, can be life threatening.

“COPD patients are less likely to engage in regular physical activity than healthy individuals. However, regular exercise has been associated with reduced risk of hospitalization for exacerbated COPD and mortality among patients with COPD,� said Dr. Cristóbal Esteban. “Indeed, even a low level of PA such as walking a minimum of 2 hours per week has been associated with decreased risk of hospitalization for exacerbated COPD.� Respirology.

Children living in areas surrounded by fast food outlets are more likely to be overweight or obese - University of East Anglia (UEA), the Centre for Diet and Activity Research (CEDAR), Cambridge University, Medical Research Council. ‘Understanding the relationship between food environments, deprivation and childhood overweight and obesity: evidence from a cross sectional England-wide study’ Health and Place.

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