Beer can lift your spirits due to malted barley ingredient

September 27, 2017

Science Daily/Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg

Visitors to the Oktoberfest have always known it and now it has been scientifically -- beer can lift your spirits. Scientists examined 13,000 food components to find out whether they stimulate the reward center in the brain and make people feel good. Hordenine which is found in malted barley and beer seems to do the job quite well.

Some foods make us happy. Well, maybe not happy but they make us feel good. That is why we cannot stop eating when we have had enough. Scientists call this hedonic hunger -- the drive to eat for pleasure rather than to satisfy an actual biological need. This feel-good effect is caused by the neurotransmitter dopamine -- tempting foods stimulate the reward centre in the brain where the dopamine D2 receptor is located. Researchers of the Chair of Food Chemistry at FAU investigated whether there are special substances in foods that activate the dopamine D2 receptor in the same way as dopamine.

The team worked with FAU's Computer Chemistry Centre using a virtual screening approach which is often used in pharmaceutical research. This process analyses food components in a computer simulation rather than in the laboratory. Using computer simulations means that all types of known substance can be investigated. In the laboratory, it is only feasible to test a small selection of foodstuff extracts using standard screening techniques.

13,000 molecules, 17 hits

Initially, the scientists set up a database of 13,000 molecules which are present in foodstuffs. Using this database, the objective was to find those molecules that fit the dopamine D2 receptor -- rather like finding the right key for a lock. The system was then used to identify which molecules could interact with the dopamine D2 receptor; these might be present in synthetic substances already known to interact with the receptor, such as medicines for treating Parkinson's and schizophrenia, or which might be candidates for interaction due to the three-dimensional structure of the receptor. In the end, 17 of the original 13,000 options were selected and these were analysed in the laboratory in cooperation with the Division of Medicinal Chemistry at FAU.

Beer -- a surprise finding

The most promising results were obtained for hordenine, a substance present in malted barley and beer. 'It came as a bit of surprise that a substance in beer activates the dopamine D2 receptor, especially as we were not specifically looking at stimulant foodstuffs,' explains Prof. Dr. Monika Pischetsrieder.

Just like dopamine, hordenine stimulates the dopamine D2 receptor, however it uses a different signalling pathway. In contrast with dopamine, hordenine activates the receptor solely through G proteins, potentially leading to a more prolonged effect on the reward centre of the brain. The team is now investigating whether hordenine levels in beer are sufficient to have a significant effect on the reward centre. All things considered, the results indicate that hordenine may well contribute to the mood-boosting effect of beer.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/09/170927152838.htm

Sleep deprivation is an effective anti-depressant for nearly half of depressed patients

September 19, 2017

Science Daily/University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine

Sleep deprivation -- typically administered in controlled, inpatient settings -- rapidly reduces symptoms of depression in roughly half of depression patients, according the first meta-analysis on the subject in nearly 30 years, from researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. Partial sleep deprivation (sleep for three to four hours followed by forced wakefulness for 20-21 hours) was equally as effective as total sleep deprivation (being deprived of sleep for 36 hours), and medication did not appear to significantly influence these results. The results are published today in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry.

Although total sleep deprivation or partial sleep deprivation can produce clinical improvement in depression symptoms within 24 hours, antidepressants are the most common treatment for depression. Such drugs typically take weeks or longer to experience results, yet 16.7 percent of 242 million U.S. adults filled one or more prescriptions for psychiatric drugs in 2013. The findings of this meta-analysis hope to provide relief for the estimated 16.1 million adults who experienced a major depressive episode in 2014.

Previous studies have shown rapid antidepressant effects from sleep deprivation for roughly 40-60 percent of individuals, yet this response rate has not been analyzed to obtain a more precise percentage since 1990 despite more than 75 studies since then on the subject.

"More than 30 years since the discovery of the antidepressant effects of sleep deprivation, we still do not have an effective grasp on precisely how effective the treatment is and how to achieve the best clinical results," said study senior author Philip Gehrman, PhD, an associate professor of Psychiatry and member of the Penn Sleep Center, who also treats patients at the Cpl. Michael J. Crescenz VA Medical Center. "Our analysis precisely reports how effective sleep deprivation is and in which populations it should be administered."

Reviewing more than 2,000 studies, the team pulled data from a final group of 66 studies executed over a 36 year period to determine how response may be affected by the type and timing of sleep deprivation performed (total vs early or late partial sleep deprivation), the clinical sample (having depressive or manic episodes, or a combination of both), medication status, and age and gender of the sample. They also explored how response to sleep deprivation may differ across studies according to how "response" is defined in each study.

"These studies in our analysis show that sleep deprivation is effective for many populations," said lead author Elaine Boland, PhD, a clinical associate and research psychologist at the Cpl. Michael J. Crescenz VA Medical Center. "Regardless of how the response was quantified, how the sleep deprivation was delivered, or the type of depression the subject was experiencing, we found a nearly equivalent response rate."

The authors note that further research is needed to identify precisely how sleep deprivation causes rapid and significant reductions in depression severity. Also, future studies are needed to include a more comprehensive assessment of potential predictors of treatment outcome to identify those patients most likely to benefit from sleep deprivation.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/09/170919140416.htm

The wrong first step to revive athletes in cardiac arrest

September 19, 2017

Science Daily/Elsevier

New research suggests that the main obstacle to an appropriate bystander response during athletes' cardiac arrest could be an apparently widespread myth: that 'tongue swallowing' is a common complication of sudden loss of consciousness that must be avoided or relieved at all costs to prevent death from asphyxia.

About three million people have viewed the YouTube video of the death of American collegiate basketball player Frank Gathers from cardiac arrest during a game in 1990. The sequence of the events clearly shows the that for two entire minutes following his collapse, he received no form of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). New research presented in HeartRhythm, suggests that the main obstacle to an appropriate bystander response during athletes' cardiac arrest could be an apparently widespread myth: that "tongue swallowing" is a common complication of sudden loss of consciousness that must be avoided or relieved at all costs to prevent death from asphyxia.

"As of February 2017, the 'Hands-Only CPR Demo Video' by the American Heart Association (AHA) and the 'Learn Hands-Only CPR' from the American Red Cross had 337,104 and 227,032 views, respectively. These figures shrivel next to the staggering number of views of the videos showing Frank Gathers, who died of cardiac arrest while an entire jam-packed basketball stadium crowd watched in disbelief, without anybody providing any form of appropriate CPR," comments lead investigator Dana Viskin, MD, from the Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center and Sackler School of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Israel.

To determine whether inadequate responses by fellow team members may well be an unappreciated serious obstacle to successful resuscitation of athletes collapsing with cardiac arrest during competition, investigators reviewed 29 available videos from 1990-2017 of sudden circulatory arrest (SCA), or loss of consciousness. The rescue process of each collapsed player was analyzed with careful attention paid to the first action performed by the first to arrive on the scene. In videos in which the initial intervention was visible, 65% showed actions to prevent tongue swallowing, which included placing the player on his side or tilting his head sideways, and forcefully opening the athlete's mouth placing the rescuer's fingers in the victim's mouth, sometimes with a visible pull at the tongue. Only 38% show chest compressions. Further, a defibrillator was brought to the scene in only two cases, and in one of those, the first shock was not delivered until 10 minutes later. Of the players presenting with cardiac arrest, 36% survived.

According to Dr. Viskin, "The cardiac arrest events of athletes caught on video and available on the internet portray a very disturbing picture of fellow teammates responding to cardiac arrest incorrectly. Prevention and/or 'relief' of tongue swallowing' appears to take priority over chest compression in the majority of video-documented events."

This misplaced priority has also been encouraged by inaccurate reporting by various media, such as a BBC Sports internet article commending inappropriate resuscitation attempts by teammates and medical staff to prevent the athlete from swallowing his tongue as he lost consciousness.

In an accompanying editorial, Peter J. Kudenchuk, MD, of the Division of Cardiology/Arrhythmia Services, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, emphasizes that the initial moments following collapse are arguably the most critical, since all successive emergency actions depend on SCA first being quickly recognized and properly treated. "It is during this time period when the battle for survival can all too easily be lost, particularly if SCA is mistaken for something less immediately life-threatening, therapies are misdirected, or not given at all."

In the past, the traditional approach to resuscitation relied on ABC, or Airway, Breathing and Chest compressions. Although this guideline was revised by the AHA in 2010 to CAB (Chest Compressions, Airway, Breathing), the old technique may still be holding sway. Dr. Kudenchuk notes that the newer guidelines assume that all collapses are due to SCA, and require only two questions to be answered: "Is the patient conscious?" and "Are they breathing normally?" Two "No" answers trigger immediate chest compressions. This "No, No, GO!" algorithm is proving to increase survival where it is being used.

This lag in understanding is of great concern. Dr. Viskin adds, "Since we began our research regarding this topic, at least three more cases had been added to our statistics, including a very recent one, not included in this present study, involving a soccer player in The Netherlands. It is interesting since the world seems to be moving forward in regard to technology, medical equipment, and research, but in a field with media exposure to millions of people worldwide, we seem to be over a decade behind."

While this study focuses on how tragic cardiac arrest might be when it strikes an athlete, Dr. Kudenchuk emphasizes that it also typifies the bystander inaction that occurs in hundreds of thousands of instances of others who fall victim to out-of-hospital cardiac arrest each year across the globe.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/09/170919090958.htm

Why bad sleep doesn't always lead to depression

Brain's reward center activity may protect against negative mental health effects

September 18, 2017

Science Daily/Duke University

Poor sleep is both a risk factor, and a common symptom, of depression. But not everyone who tosses and turns at night becomes depressed. Individuals whose brains are more attuned to rewards may be protected from the negative mental health effects of poor sleep, says a new study.

Individuals whose brains are more attuned to rewards may be protected from the negative mental health effects of poor sleep, says a new study by Duke University neuroscientists.

The researchers found that college students with poor quality sleep were less likely to have symptoms of depression if they also had higher activity in a reward-sensitive region of the brain.

"This helps us begin to understand why some people are more likely to experience depression when they have problems with sleep," said Ahmad Hariri, a professor of psychology and neuroscience at Duke University. "This finding may one day help us identify individuals for whom sleep hygiene may be more effective or more important."

The paper appeared online Sept. 18 in The Journal of Neuroscience.

The researchers examined a region deep within the brain called the ventral striatum (VS), which helps us regulate behavior in response to external feedback. The VS helps reinforce behaviors that are rewarded, while reducing behaviors that are not.

Electrical stimulation of the VS has been shown to reduce symptoms of depression in patients who are resistant to other forms of treatment, and earlier studies by Hariri's team show that people with higher reward-related VS activity are more resilient to stress.

"We've shown that reward-related VS activity may act as a buffer against the negative effects of stress on depressive symptoms," said Reut Avinun, a postdoctoral researcher in Hariri's group at Duke and the lead author of the study. "I was interested in examining whether the same moderating effect would also be seen if we look at sleep disturbances."

Avinun examined the brain activity of 1,129 college students participating in the Duke Neurogenetics Study. Each participant completed a series of questionnaires to evaluate sleep quality and depressive symptoms, and also completed an fMRI scan while engaging in a task that activates the VS.

In the task, students were shown the back of a computer-generated card and asked to guess whether the value of the card was greater than or less than five. After they guessed, they received feedback on whether they were right or wrong. But the game was rigged, so that during different trials the students were either right 80 percent of the time or wrong 80 percent of the time.

To tease out whether general feedback, or specifically reward-related feedback, buffers against depression, the researchers compared VS brain activity during trials when the students were mostly right to those when they were mostly wrong but still received feedback.

They found that those who were less susceptible to the effects of poor sleep showed significantly higher VS activity in response to positive feedback or reward compared to negative feedback.

"Rather than being more or less responsive to the consequences of any actions, we are able to more confidently say it is really the response to positive feedback, to doing something right, that seems to be part of this pattern," Hariri said.

"It is almost like this reward system gives you a deeper reserve," Hariri said. "Poor sleep is not good, but you may have other experiences during your life that are positive. And the more responsive you are to those positive experiences, the less vulnerable you may be to the depressive effects of poor sleep."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/09/170918132735.htm

Meditation reduces the emotional impact of pain

June 2, 2010

Science Daily/University of Manchester

People who meditate regularly find pain less unpleasant because their brains anticipate the pain less, a new study has found.

Scientists from The University of Manchester recruited individuals into the study who had a diverse range of experience with meditation, spanning anything from months to decades. It was only the more advanced meditators whose anticipation and experience of pain differed from non-meditators.

The type of meditation practised also varied across individuals, but all included 'mindfulness meditation' practices, such as those that form the basis of Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT), recommended for recurrent depression by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) in 2004.

"Meditation is becoming increasingly popular as a way to treat chronic illness such as the pain caused by arthritis," said Dr Christopher Brown, who conducted the research. "Recently, a mental health charity called for meditation to be routinely available on the NHS to treat depression, which occurs in up to 50% of people with chronic pain. However, scientists have only just started to look into how meditation might reduce the emotional impact of pain."

The study, to be published in the journal Pain, found that particular areas of the brain were less active as meditators anticipated pain, as induced by a laser device. Those with longer meditation experience (up to 35 years) showed the least anticipation of the laser pain.

He said: "The results of the study confirm how we suspected meditation might affect the brain. Meditation trains the brain to be more present-focused and therefore to spend less time anticipating future negative events. This may be why meditation is effective at reducing the recurrence of depression, which makes chronic pain considerably worse."

Dr Brown said the findings should encourage further research into how the brain is changed by meditation practice. He said: "Although we found that meditators anticipate pain less and find pain less unpleasant, it's not clear precisely how meditation changes brain function over time to produce these effects.

"However, the importance of developing new treatments for chronic pain is clear: 40% of people who suffer from chronic pain report inadequate management of their pain problem."

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/06/100602091315.htm

Mindfulness meditation effective in marriage and family therapy curriculum

April 7, 2010

Science Daily/Virginia Tech

Mindfulness meditation helps students improve their ability to be emotionally present in therapy sessions with clients. It helps beginners, who can sometimes feel overwhelmed, stop focusing on themselves and think more about others.

Although most extensively described in the Buddhist tradition, McCollum teaches mindfulness as a secular practice, compatible with all religious beliefs. Mindfulness meditation involves deliberately focusing one's attention on present experience -- thoughts, physical sensations, emotions -- and doing one's best to stay present with those experiences without judging them or avoiding the difficult aspects.

Extensive research on mindfulness in health care points to benefits to be gained from the practice. For novice therapists, another advantage is that mindfulness meditation helps them to switch out of problem solving into being more present, more empathetic, and more compassionate, all important aspects of the therapeutic process, said McCollum. He has practiced mindfulness for over 20 years and began to introduce the practice into the Virginia Tech MFT curriculum about five years ago after seeing students struggle to be emotionally available to clients.

Among the study's findings:

Mindfulness helped students be present in their sessions. They were able to attend to their inner experience during what was happening with the clients in front of them, and further bring these two domains together in the therapist-client interaction. However, the students also made clear that this was not a process of becoming absorbed. They described instances where they were able to remain present with intense or difficult material in sessions without becoming "infected" with it; that is, in contact but not overwhelmed, a theme referred to as "centered."

The students credited several "effects" of their mindfulness practice with their ability to be present as therapists. They felt they were calmer in general and specifically in their therapy sessions; were more aware of their inner chatter and could either decrease or disconnect from it, and were able to slow down their perceived inner pace or sense of hurry. Finally, some of them used brief periods of formal practice to allow themselves to set aside thoughts and feelings associated with the previous session or with their lives outside of the clinic and focus their attention on what was happening in the current client session.

The students' experience of presence seems to have formed a foundation for them to shift their mode of being in the session. Being did not become their sole mode in therapy sessions but they appeared to reach more balance between the two modes. What helped them make this shift was seeing the positive effects on the clients of their changed presence. For most students, this came through interaction with clients in the session; some actually meditated with their clients and were encouraged when clients found this a useful experience.

The students reported explicitly experiencing a sense of compassion and acceptance. As they came to accept themselves in the therapist role, they were better able to accept their clients. Some students came to a stance of compassion that was consistent with the traditional meditation literature -- seeing commonality between their own struggles and their clients' struggles and recognizing their shared humanity.

"Our findings suggest that mindfulness meditation may be a useful addition to clinical training," said McCollum.

"When I first thought back about the mindfulness experience, I wasn't sure how much it still applied. I thought, 'I don't practice daily, and I don't use it as often as I should.' Then I realized that I was wrong. I do practice daily and I do use the experience often. However, it's no longer a conscience practice. It's something I've incorporated into who I am and how I deal with the struggles and frustrations I face every day. When I look back and who I was before the mindfulness experience, I realize how I 'became' the stress I experience. I would think about how stress had affected me in the past and how it would affect my future. I would get more frustrated and more irritated… Now, while I experience as much stress as I did before, I am more aware of my present experience and the stress seems outside of who I am. I worry less about how I have experienced it in the past and how it will impact my future. I am also not negative about the experience. I'm aware of it, I notice it, and for the most part, I'm able to let it go."

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/04/100407144705.htm

Building fit minds under stress

February 17, 2010

Science Daily/University of Pennsylvania

A new study in which training was provided to a high-stress U.S. military group preparing for deployment to Iraq has demonstrated a positive link between mindfulness training, or MT, and improvements in mood and working memory.

The study found that the more time participants spent engaging in daily mindfulness exercises the better their mood and working memory, the cognitive term for complex thought, problem solving and cognitive control of emotions. The study also suggests that sufficient MT practice may protect against functional impairments associated with high-stress challenges that require a tremendous amount of cognitive control, self-awareness, situational awareness and emotional regulation.

To study the protective effects of mindfulness training on psychological health in individuals about to experience extreme stress, cognitive neuroscientist Amishi Jha of the Department of Psychology and Center for Cognitive Neuroscience at Penn and Elizabeth A. Stanley of Georgetown University provided mindfulness training for the first time to U.S. Marines before deployment. Jha and her research team investigated working memory capacity and affective experience in individuals participating in a training program developed and delivered by Stanley, a former U.S. Army officer and security-studies professor with extensive experience in mindfulness techniques.

The program, called Mindfulness-based Mind Fitness Training (MMFT™), aims to cultivate greater psychological resilience or "mental armor" by bolstering mindfulness.

The program emphasized integrating mindfulness exercises, like focused attention on the breath and mindful movement, into pre-deployment training. These mindfulness skills were to regulate symptoms in the body and mind following an experience of extreme stress. The importance of regularly engaging in mindfulness exercises was also emphasized.

"Our findings suggest that, just as daily physical exercise leads to physical fitness, engaging in mindfulness exercises on a regular basis may improve mind-fitness," Jha said. "Working memory is an important feature of mind-fitness. Not only does it safeguard against distraction and emotional reactivity, but it also provides a mental workspace to ensure quick-and-considered decisions and action plans. Building mind-fitness with mindfulness training may help anyone who must maintain peak performance in the face of extremely stressful circumstances, from first responders, relief workers and trauma surgeons, to professional and Olympic athletes."

The study findings are in line with prior research on Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction, or MBSR, programs and suggest that MMFT may provide "psychological prophylaxis," or protection from cognitive and emotional disturbances, even among high-stress cohorts such as members of the military preparing for deployment. Given the high rate of post-traumatic stress disorder and other mental-health disturbances suffered by those returning from war, providing such training prior to deployment may buffer against potential lifelong psychological illness by bolstering working memory capacity.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/02/100216101153.htm

New mental treatment improves anxiety and depression in secondary education teachers

December 7, 2009

Science Daily/University of Granada

Research in Spain supports the effectiveness of mindfulness, an emotional self-regulating tool that consists in focusing on what we are doing, thinking about or feeling at every moment. This psychological technique, more and more popular in the U.S., contributed to fight against psychological diseases such as anxiety, depression, concern or complaints about health, and improves emotional regulation.

Besides, as a consequence of the mental training, both the girls with chronic concern and the teachers improved their subjective rates of anxiety, depression, concern, complaints about health and emotional regulation, together with certain con psycho-physiological such as, for example, cardiac, muscular and respiratory variables. Delgado Pastor says that, in the light of the results obtained, they have proved the "effectiveness of training mindfulness abilities and human values in the teaching sector as an emotional self-regulating tool, stress prevention for teachers and students, as well as to facilitate the teaching-learning process."

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/12/091203091906.htm

Brief Training in Meditation May Help Manage Pain

November 10, 2009

Science Daily/University of North Carolina at Charlotte

An experimental study examining the perception of pain and the effects of various mental training techniques has found that a relatively short and simple meditation method can have a significant positive effect on pain management.

Though pain research during the past decade has shown that extensive meditation training can have a positive effect in reducing a person's awareness and sensitivity to pain, the effort, time commitment, and financial obligations required has made the treatment not practical for many patients. Now, a new study by researchers at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte shows that a single hour of training spread out over a three day period can produce the same kind of analgesic effect.

"This study is the first study to demonstrate the efficacy of such a brief intervention on the perception of pain," noted Fadel Zeidan, a doctoral candidate in psychology at UNC Charlotte and the paper's lead author. "Not only did the meditation subjects feel less pain than the control group while meditating but they also experienced less pain sensitivity while not meditating."

Over the course of three experiments employing harmless electrical shocks administered in gradual increments, the researchers measured the effect of brief sessions of mindfulness meditation training on pain awareness measuring responses that were carefully calibrated to insure reporting accuracy. Subjects who received the meditation training were compared to controls and to groups using relaxation and distraction techniques. The researchers measured changes in the subjects' rating of pain at "low" and "high" levels during the different activities, and also changes in their general sensitivity to pain through the process of calibrating responses before the activities.

Zeidan stresses that the effect the researchers measured in the meditation subjects was a lessening of pain but not a lessening of sensation. The calibration results showed little change in the meditation subjects' sensitivity to the sensation of electricity, but a significant change in what level of shock was perceived to be painful.

"The short course of meditation was very effective on pain perception," Zeidan said. "We got a very high effect size for the periods when they were meditating.

"In fact, it was kind of freaky for me. I was ramping at 400-500 milliamps and their arms would be jolting back and forth because the current was stimulating a motor nerve. Yet they would still be asking, 'A 2?' ('2' being the level of electrical shock that designates low pain) It was really surprising," he said.

Zeidan suspects that the mindfulness training lessens the awareness of and sensitivity to pain because it trains subjects' brains to pay attention to sensations at the present moment rather than anticipating future pain or dwelling on the emotions caused by pain, and thus reduces anxiety.

"The mindfulness training taught them that distractions, feelings, emotions are momentary, don't require a label or judgment because the moment is already over," Zeidan noted. "With the meditation training they would acknowledge the pain, they realize what it is, but just let it go. They learn to bring their attention back to the present."

Though the results are in line with past findings regarding mindfulness practitioners, Zeidan says that the findings are important because they show that meditation is much easier to use for pain management than it was previously believed to be because a very short, simple course of training is all that is required in order to achieve a significant effect. Even self-administered training might be effective, according to Zeidan.

"What's neat here is that this is the briefest known way to promote a meditation state and yet it has an effect in pain management. People who want to make use of the technique might not need a meditation facilitator -- they might be able to get the necessary training off the internet, " Zeidan said. "All you have to do is use your mind, change the way you look at the perception of pain and that, ultimately, might help alleviate the feeling of that pain."

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091110065909.htm

Regular Yoga Practice Is Associated with Mindful Eating

August 16, 2009

Science Daily/Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center

Regular yoga practice is associated with mindful eating, and people who eat mindfully are less likely to be obese, according to a new study

The study was prompted by initial findings reported four years ago by Alan Kristal, Dr.P.H., and colleagues, who found that regular yoga practice may help prevent middle-age spread in normal-weight people and may promote weight loss in those who are overweight. At the time, the researchers suspected that the weight-loss effect had more to do with increased body awareness, specifically a sensitivity to hunger and satiety than the physical activity of yoga practice itself.

"In our earlier study, we found that middle-age people who practice yoga gained less weight over a 10-year period than those who did not. This was independent of physical activity and dietary patterns. We hypothesized that mindfulness – a skill learned either directly or indirectly through yoga – could affect eating behavior," said Kristal, associate head of the Cancer Prevention Program in the Public Health Sciences Division at the Hutchinson Center.

The researchers found that people who ate mindfully – those were aware of why they ate and stopped eating when full – weighed less than those who ate mindlessly, who ate when not hungry or in response to anxiety or depression. The researchers also found a strong association between yoga practice and mindful eating but found no association between other types of physical activity, such as walking or running, and mindful eating.

"These findings fit with our hypothesis that yoga increases mindfulness in eating and leads to less weight gain over time, independent of the physical activity aspect of yoga practice," said Kristal, who is also a professor of epidemiology at the University of Washington School of Public Health.

"Beyond calories and diets, mindful eating takes a more holistic approach that can empower individuals to build positive relationships with food and eating, said first author Celia Framson, M.P.H., R.D., C.D., a former graduate student of Kristal's – and former yoga teacher – who now works with adolescents with eating disorders at Seattle Children's Hospital. "The Mindful Eating Questionnaire offers a new and relevant dimension for masuring the effectiveness of dietary behavior interventions. It also encourages nutrition and medical practitioners to consider the broad scope of behavior involved in healthy eating," she said.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/08/090803185712.htm

Mindful Meditation, Shared Dialogues Reduce Physician Burnout

September 23, 2009

Science Daily/University of Rochester Medical Center

Training in mindfulness meditation and communication can alleviate the psychological distress and burnout experienced by many physicians and can improve their well-being, researchers report.

The training also can expand a physician's capacity to relate to patients and enhance patient-centered care, according to the researchers, who were led by Michael S. Krasner, M.D., associate professor of Clinical Medicine.

"From the patient's perspective, we hear all too often of dissatisfaction in the quality of presence from their physician. From the practitioner's perspective, the opportunity for deeper connection is all too often missed in the stressful, complex, and chaotic reality of medical practice," Krasner said. "Enhancing the already inherent capacity of the physician to experience fully the clinical encounter—not only its pleasant but also its most unpleasant aspects—without judgment but with a sense of curiosity and adventure seems to have had a profound effect on the experience of stress and burnout. It also seems to enhance the physician's ability to connect with the patient as a unique human being and to center care around that uniqueness.

"Cultivating these qualities of mindful communication with colleagues, anectodotally, had an unexpected benefit of combating the practitioners' sense of isolation and brought forth the very experiences that are such a rich source of meaning in the life of the clinician," he said.

"The most salient element was the collegial effect of weathered physicians reflecting on mutual experience using a theme-based approach in a safe environment," Chamberlain said. "It is a unique opportunity to return to our roots as physicians, exploring in a workshop format abstract yet key emotionally charged or difficult issues that many of us had not visited so academically since medical school. Perception of the impact and approach to those issues is quite different once tempered by experience, particularly in a program that emphasizes awareness of the moment. It is a singular opportunity to do-over some of our medical school experience, and get much more out of it than the first time, as one reflects on how others in the group have grappled with and addressed the complex experiences of being a physician whose life touches and is touched by others constantly. The program is all about the experience of being a physician. Not what to do, or how to do it, but what it feels like. That is unique, and quite refreshing."

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/09/090922162259.htm

Workplace Yoga and Meditation Can Lower Feelings of Stress

August 5, 2009

Science Daily/Ohio State University

Twenty minutes per day of guided workplace meditation and yoga combined with six weekly group sessions can lower feelings of stress by more than 10 percent and improve sleep quality in sedentary office employees, a pilot study suggests.

The study offered participants a modified version of what is known as mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR), a program established in 1979 to help hospital patients in Massachusetts assist in their own healing that is now in wide use around the world.

In this context, mindfulness refers in part to one’s heightened awareness of an external stressor as the first step toward relaxing in a way that can minimize the effects of that stress on the body.

While the traditional MBSR program practice takes up an hour per day for eight weeks supplemented by lengthy weekly sessions and a full-day retreat, the modified version developed at Ohio State University for this study was designed for office-based workers wearing professional attire.

Mindful attention awareness increased significantly and perceived stress decreased significantly among the intervention group when compared to the control group’s responses. Overall sleep quality increased in both groups, but three of seven components of sleep were more affected in the intervention group.

On average, mindfulness increased by about 9.7 percent and perceived stress decreased by about 11 percent among the group that experienced the intervention. These participants also reported that it took them less time to fall asleep, they had fewer sleep disturbances and they experienced less daytime dysfunction than did members of the non-intervention group.

The researchers also took saliva samples to test for the presence of cortisol, a stress hormone, but found no significant changes in average daily levels of the hormone over time for participants in both groups. Klatt said the design of this part of the pilot study could have affected the result, and the sample collection technique will be changed in subsequent studies.

Klatt said mindfulness-based stress reduction, developed by Jon Kabat-Zinn at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center, has been studied widely and determined to be useful in lowering symptoms ranging from depression and anxiety to chronic pain. But the time commitment required in the program makes it impractical for busy working professionals, and adding a stress-reduction class outside of work could add stress to these people, she said.

So Klatt set out to develop what she calls a “low dose” of the program that is suitable for the workplace and still offers stress-reduction benefits. She specifically scheduled weekly sessions during lunch to avoid interfering with work time or home time, and combined movement with verbal prompts and music that are cues for participants to relax.

“As I’ve been working on the program, I heard so many of the participants say they wish they had learned this earlier,” Klatt said.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/08/090804114102.htm

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is an Effective Treatment for Chronic Insomnia

June 16, 2009

Science Daily/American Academy of Sleep Medicine

A majority of people experiencing chronic insomnia can experience a normalization of sleep parameters through the use of cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia, according to new research.

Results indicate that 50 percent to 60 percent of participants with chronic sleep onset insomnia, sleep maintenance insomnia or both experienced remission of their primary sleep difficulty. Among the 64 participants who completed five or more treatment sessions, there were significant improvements on presenting complaints, as well as all other measures, including sleep efficiency, average nightly awakenings, total sleep time and average nights of sleep medication use per week.

The multi-component, CBT-I program included comprehensive evaluations of patients' habits, attitudes and knowledge concerning sleep. The program was designed to involve six to seven treatment sessions. Specific strategies included education on sleep regulating systems, sleep scheduling recommendations, sleep hygiene education, sleep consolidation therapy, stimulus control therapy, relaxation training, cognitive therapy and mindfulness training.

According to Wetzler, a related study found that of participants who completed at least four treatment sessions of CBT-I, 78 percent of those using sleep medication for three or more nights per week were able to completely discontinue use of sleep medications. Findings from this study indicate that those who discontinued use of sleep medications not only stopped using drugs to sleep but also slept better than when they were taking sleep medications.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090609072709.htm

Meditation May be an Effective Treatment for Insomnia

June 15, 2009 —

Science Daily/American Academy of Sleep Medicine

Meditation may be an effective behavioral intervention in the treatment of insomnia, according to a research abstract that will be presented on June 9, at Sleep 2009, the 23rd Annual Meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies.

Results indicate that patients saw improvements in subjective sleep quality and sleep diary parameters while practicing meditation. Sleep latency, total sleep time, total wake time, wake after sleep onset, sleep efficiency, sleep quality and depression improved in patients who used meditation.

According to principal investigator Ramadevi Gourineni, MD, director of the insomnia program at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Evanston, Ill., insomnia is believed to be a 24-hour problem of hyperarousal, and elevated measures of arousals are seen throughout the day.

"Results of the study show that teaching deep relaxation techniques during the daytime can help improve sleep at night," said Gourineni.

The study gathered data from 11 healthy subjects between the ages of 25 and 45 years with chronic primary insomnia. Participants were divided into two intervention groups for two months: Kriya Yoga (a form of meditation that is used to focus internalized attention and has been shown to reduce measures of arousal) and health education. Subjective measures of sleep and depression were collected at baseline and after the two-month period.

Both groups received sleep hygiene education; members of the health education group also received information about health-related topics and how to improve health through exercise, nutrition, weight loss and stress management.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090609072719.htm

Meditation Provides Hope for People with Depression

April 27, 2009

Science Daily/University of Oxford

People with severe and recurrent depression could benefit from a new form of therapy that combines ancient forms of meditation with modern cognitive behavior therapy, early-stage research by psychologists suggests.

The results of a small-scale randomised trial of the approach, called mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT), in currently depressed patients are published in the journal Behaviour Research and Therapy.

28 people currently suffering from depression, having also had previous episodes of depression and thoughts of suicide, were randomly assigned into two groups. One received MBCT in addition to treatment as usual, while the other just received treatment as usual. Treatment with MBCT reduced the number of patients with major depression, while it remained the same in the other group.

Professor Mark Williams and colleagues in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Oxford will follow up the promising preliminary evidence from this small-scale study. They hope to do follow up work with patients to reveal whether MBCT can also help reduce the risk of relapse. The Oxford team are currently carrying out a larger study that will compare MBCT with a group form of cognitive therapy to pinpoint which elements of meditation or talking therapies can help which people.

Professor Williams, who developed the treatment and led this study, said: ‘We are on the brink of discovering really important things about how people can learn to stay well after depression. Our aim is to help people to find long-term freedom from the daily battle with their moods.’

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/04/090423210055.htm

Depression Treatment: Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy as Effective as Anti-depressant Medication

December 2, 2008

Science Daily/University of Exeter

Research shows for the first time that a group-based psychological treatment, Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy, could be a viable alternative to prescription drugs for people suffering from long-term depression. In this study, MBCT proved as effective as maintenance anti-depressants in preventing a relapse and more effective in enhancing peoples' quality of life. The study also showed MBCT to be as cost-effective as prescription drugs in helping people with a history of depression stay well in the longer-term.

In a study, published December 1, 2008 in the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, MBCT proved as effective as maintenance anti-depressants in preventing a relapse and more effective in enhancing peoples' quality of life. The study also showed MBCT to be as cost-effective as prescription drugs in helping people with a history of depression stay well in the longer-term.

The randomised control trial involved 123 people from urban and rural locations who had suffered repeat depressions and were referred to the trial by their GPs. The participants were split randomly into two groups. Half continued their on-going anti-depressant drug treatment and the rest participated in an MBCT course and were given the option of coming off anti-depressants.

Professor Willem Kuyken of the University of Exeter said: "Anti-depressants are widely used by people who suffer from depression and that's because they tend to work. But, while they're very effective in helping reduce the symptoms of depression, when people come off them they are particularly vulnerable to relapse. MBCT takes a different approach – it teaches people skills for life. What we have shown is that when people work at it, these skills for life help keep people well."

Professor Kuyken continues: "Our results suggest MBCT may be a viable alternative for some of the 3.5 million people in the UK known to be suffering from this debilitating condition. People who suffer depression have long asked for psychological approaches to help them recover in the long-term and MBCT is a very promising approach. I think we have the basis for offering patients and GPs an alternative to long-term anti-depressant medication. We are planning to conduct a larger trial to put these results to the test and to examine how MBCT works."

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/11/081130201928.htm

Compassion Meditation May Improve Physical and Emotional Responses to Psychological Stress

October 7, 2008

Science Daily/Emory University

Data from a new study suggests that individuals who engage in compassion meditation may benefit by reductions in inflammatory and behavioral responses to stress that have been linked to depression and a number of medical illnesses.

"While much attention has been paid to meditation practices that emphasize calming the mind, improving focused attention or developing mindfulness, less is known about meditation practices designed to specifically foster compassion," says Geshe Lobsang Tenzin Negi, PhD, who designed and taught the meditation program used in the study. Negi is senior lecturer in the Department of Religion, the co-director of Emory Collaborative for Contemplative Studies and president and spiritual director of Drepung Loseling Monastery, Inc.

This study focused on the effect of compassion meditation on inflammatory, neuroendocrine and behavioral responses to psychosocial stress, and evaluated the degree to which engagement in meditation practice influenced stress reactivity.

"Our findings suggest that meditation practices designed to foster compassion may impact physiological pathways that are modulated by stress and are relevant to disease," explains Charles L. Raison, MD, clinical director of the Mind-Body Program, Emory University's Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Emory School of Medicine, and a lead author on the study.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/10/081007172902.htm

Eleven minutes of mindfulness training helps drinkers cut back

August 24, 2017

Science Daily/University College London

Brief training in mindfulness strategies could help heavy drinkers start to cut back on alcohol consumption, finds a new UCL study.

After an 11-minute training session and encouragement to continue practising mindfulness -- which involves focusing on what's happening in the present moment -- heavy drinkers drank less over the next week than people who were taught relaxation techniques, according to the study published in the International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology.

"We found that a very brief, simple exercise in mindfulness can help drinkers cut back, and the benefits can be seen quite quickly," said the study's lead author, Dr Sunjeev Kamboj (UCL Clinical Psychopharmacology Unit).

The researchers brought in 68 drinkers, who drink heavily but not to the point of having an alcohol use disorder.

Half of them were trained to practise mindfulness, which teaches a heightened awareness of one's feelings and bodily sensations, so that they pay attention to cravings instead of suppressing them. They were told that by noticing bodily sensations, they could tolerate them as temporary events without needing to act on them. The training was delivered through audio recordings, and only took 11 minutes. At the end of the training participants were encouraged to continue practising the techniques for the next week.

The other half were taught relaxation strategies, chosen as a control condition that appeared to be just as credible as the mindfulness exercise for reducing alcohol use. The study was double-blind, meaning neither experimenters nor participants knew which strategy was being delivered.

"We used a highly controlled experimental design, to ensure that any benefits of mindfulness training were not likely explained by people believing it was a better treatment," said co-author Dr Tom Freeman (Senior fellow of the Society for the Study of Addiction), who was part of the research team while based at UCL.

The mindfulness group drank 9.3 fewer units of alcohol (roughly equivalent to three pints of beer) in the following week compared to the week preceding the study, while there was no significant reduction in alcohol consumption among those who had learned relaxation techniques.

"Practising mindfulness can make a person more aware of their tendency to respond reflexively to urges. By being more aware of their cravings, we think the study participants were able to bring intention back into the equation, instead of automatically reaching for the drink when they feel a craving," Dr Kamboj said.

Severe alcohol problems are often preceded by patterns of heavy drinking, so the researchers are hopeful that mindfulness could help to reduce drinking before more severe problems develop.

"Some might think that mindfulness is something that takes a long time to learn properly, so we found it encouraging that limited training and limited encouragement could have a significant effect to reduce alcohol consumption," said co-author Damla Irez (UCL Clinical, Educational and Health Psychology).

"We're hopeful that further studies will replicate our findings and provide more insight into how mindfulness training could be most effective in practice. Our team is also looking into how mindfulness might help people with other substance use problems," said co-author Shirley Serfaty (UCL Clinical, Educational and Health Psychology).

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/08/170824090303.htm

Self-esteem in kids: Lavish praise is not the answer, warmth is

September 28, 2017

Science Daily/University of Amsterdam

How do children construct views of themselves and their place in the world? Children's social relationships turn out to be critical. For example, children develop higher self-esteem when their parents treat them warmly. But they develop lower self-esteem when their parents lavish them with inflated praise.

Who am I and what is my place in the world? Children are born without an answer to these pressing questions. As they grow up, though, they start to formulate answers seemingly effortlessly. Within a few years, they recognise themselves in the mirror, refer to themselves by their own name, evaluate themselves through the eyes of others and understand their standing in a social group.

Research by Christina Starmans from the University of Toronto shows that even toddlers have an idea of what it means to have a 'self'. Young children see the self as something that is unique to a person, separate from the body, stable over time, and located within the head, behind the eyes. Research by Andrei Cimpian (New York University) and his colleagues shows that even toddlers have the cognitive ability to form self-worth (i.e., how satisfied they are with themselves as individuals).

Social relationships

Over time, pronounced individual differences arise in children's self-concept. Some children like themselves, whereas others feel negatively about themselves. Some children see themselves as superior and deserving special treatment, whereas others consider themselves to be on an equal plane with others. Some children believe they can grow and build their abilities, whereas others believe their abilities are fixed and unchangeable. Where do these individual differences come from? What leads children to see themselves the way they do? 'Surprisingly little is known about the origins of children's self-concept', says Brummelman. 'It is important that we shed more light on this important subject. With this collection of articles, our aim is to showcase emerging research on this subject.'

'What these articles reveal is that children form their self-concept, at least in part, based on their social relationships', Brummelman continues. For example, research by Michelle Harris (University of California) and her team shows that children develop higher self-esteem when they receive warmth from their parents. Warm parents show an interest in their children's activities and share joy with them, which makes children feel noticed and valued. Brummelman's own research shows that children may develop lower self-esteem and sometimes even narcissism when their parents give them lots of extremely positive, inflated praise, such as 'Wow, you did incredibly well! Such inflated praise may give children a sense of grandiosity but at the same time also make them worry about falling short of the standards set for them.

Encouragement

Previous research has shown the importance of having a growth mindset - the belief that you can develop your skills through effort and education. Children with a growth mindset are eager to take on challenges, persist when the going gets tough, and see failure as opportunities for growth. In a theoretical article, Kyla Haimovitz and Carol Dweck (Stanford University) describe how parents can foster a growth mindset by praising children for effort instead of ability (for example, 'You worked so hard!') and by teaching children that failure isn't harmful but actually benefits learning and growth. Parents can encourage children to ask themselves: why did I get such a low grade, and what can I do differently in future?

All 10 articles in the special section study various dimensions of children's self-concept, including self-esteem, self-compassion, mindsets and self-perceived ability. 'What these articles show is that children construct their self-concept based on the social relationships they have, the feedback they receive, the social comparisons they make, and the cultural values they endorse. This underlines the deeply social nature of children's self-concept', says Brummelman.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/09/170928085101.htm

Answer to young people's persistent sleep problems

September 28, 2017

Science Daily/James Cook University

A collaborative research project indicates high rates of sleep problems continuing through teenage years and into early adulthood -- but also suggests a natural remedy.

Dr. Yaqoot Fatima from JCU's Mount Isa Centre for Rural and Remote Health was associated with a study that tracked more than 3600 people from the age of 14 until they were 21.

"Just over a quarter of the 14-year-olds reported sleep problems, with more than 40 percent of those still having sleep problems at 21," said Dr. Fatima.

She said the causes of sleep problems were different at different ages.

"Maternal factors, such as drug abuse, smoking, depression and anxiety among mothers are the most significant predictors of adolescent sleep problems in their children, at 14-years-old. For all people studied, being female, having experienced early puberty, and being a smoker were the most significant predictors of sleep problems at 21 years."

She said adolescent depression or anxiety were linking factors for sleep problems between the two ages.

"It's a vicious circle. Depression and anxiety are well-established risk factors for sleep problems and people with sleep problems are often anxious or depressed," she said.

Dr. Fatima said that as well as the traditional factors, excessive use of electronic media is emerging as another significant risk.

"In children and adolescents, it's found to be strongly associated with later bedtime and shorter sleep duration, increasing the risk of developing sleep disturbances," she said.

Dr. Fatima said the study was worrying as it revealed a high incidence of persistent sleep problems and possible concurrent health problems among young people -- but it also strongly suggested an answer to the problem.

"Even allowing for Body Mass Index and other lifestyle factors, we found that an active lifestyle can decrease future incidence and progression of sleep problems in young subjects. So, early exercise intervention with adolescents might provide a good opportunity to prevent their sleep problems persisting into later life."

She said the next study being considered would look at what factors lead to young adults' sleep problems continuing as they grow older and how that might be prevented.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/09/170928094158.htm