Meditation and music may help reverse early memory loss in adults at risk for Alzheimer’s Disease

January 21, 2017

Science Daily/IOS Press
In a recent study of adults with early memory loss, scientists found that practice of a simple meditation or music listening program may have multiple benefits for older adults with preclinical memory loss.

In this randomized controlled trial, 60 older adults with subjective cognitive decline (SCD), a condition that may represent a preclinical stage of Alzheimer's disease, were assigned to either a beginner meditation (Kirtan Kriya) or music listening program and asked to practice 12 minutes/day for 12 weeks. As detailed in a paper recently published by the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, both the meditation and music groups showed marked and significant improvements in subjective memory function and objective cognitive performance at 3 months. These included domains of cognitive functioning most likely to be affected in preclinical and early stages of dementia (e.g., attention, executive function, processing speed, and subjective memory function). The substantial gains observed in memory and cognition were maintained or further increased at 6 months (3 months post-intervention).

As explained in the research team's previous paper (J Alzheimer's Dis. 52 (4): 1277-1298), both intervention groups also showed improvements in sleep, mood, stress, well-being and quality of life, with gains that were that were particularly pronounced in the meditation group; again, all benefits were sustained or further enhanced at 3 months post-intervention.

The findings of this trial suggest that two simple mind-body practices, Kirtan Kriya meditation and music listening, may not only improve mood, sleep, and quality of life, but also boost cognition and help reverse perceived memory loss in older adults with SCD.

Science Daily/SOURCE :https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/01/170121190807.htm

Mindfulness meditation training lowers biomarkers of stress response in anxiety disorder

Hormonal, inflammatory reactions to stress were reduced after meditation training, in rigorous NIH-sponsored trial

January 24, 2017

Science Daily/Georgetown University Medical Center
Mindfulness meditation is an increasingly popular treatment for anxiety, but testing its effectiveness in a convincing way has been difficult. Now a rigorously designed, clinical trial has found objective physiological evidence that mindfulness meditation combats anxiety.
"Mindfulness meditation training is a relatively inexpensive and low-stigma treatment approach, and these findings strengthen the case that it can improve resilience to stress," said lead author Elizabeth A. Hoge, MD, associate professor in Georgetown University Medical Center's Department of Psychiatry.

The study, published January 24 in Psychiatry Research, included 89 patients with generalized anxiety disorder, a condition of chronic and excessive worrying. The disorder is estimated to affect nearly 7 million Americans during any one year.

Hoge and her colleagues randomly divided the patients into two groups: One took an eight-week mindfulness based stress reduction course, the other -- the control group -- took an eight-week Stress Management Education course, which included general tips on the importance of good nutrition, sleep habits and other wellness topics. Both courses had similar formats but only the former included training in meditative techniques.

Many prior tests of meditation-based therapies have compared a meditation group to an untreated control group. Because participants in such studies are not "blinded" -- they know if they are getting treatment or not -- they are likely to be influenced by the placebo effect and other forms of expectancy bias. "The FDA would never approve a drug based on such a clinical trial design," said Hoge.

In this study, she added, participants would have had little or no expectancy bias, because they were all assigned to a treatment, and were not told which was the treatment of interest to the researchers.

Before and after the training course, participants underwent the Trier Social Stress Test, a standard experimental technique for inducing a stress response, in which the participants are asked at short notice to give a speech before an audience, and are given other anxiety-inducing instructions.

"We were testing the patients' resilience," Hoge said, "because that's really the ultimate question -- can we make people handle stress better?"

For the stress test, the team monitored blood-based markers of subjects' stress responses, namely levels of the stress hormone ACTH and the inflammatory proteins IL-6 and TNF-α. The control group showed modest rises on the second test compared to the first, suggesting a worsening of their anxiety from having to endure the test again. By contrast, the meditation group showed big drops in these markers on the second test, suggesting that the meditation training had helped them cope.

Hoge and colleagues also found -- as they reported in an earlier paper on this study -- that the meditation group patients, compared to controls, experienced significantly greater reductions in self-reported measures of stress after their course. The study adds to evidence for the effectiveness of mindfulness meditation in treating anxiety, Hoge said. She noted too that with its rigorous "active control" design, it provides a good paradigm for the future study of interventions such as meditation, to which patients cannot be blinded.

Hoge hopes ultimately to expand the study of mindfulness-related treatments to other psychiatric conditions, and to compare such treatments to standard psychiatric drug therapies.

Science Daily/SOURCE :https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/01/170124111354.htm

Mindfulness motivates people to make healthier choices

January 30, 2017

Science Daily/University of Pennsylvania
People who are more mindful -- aware of the present moment -- are less likely to feel shame when confronted with health advice and are thus more motivated to make positive behavior changes, according to new research.

"Smoking causes wrinkles that age you prematurely. What are cigarettes costing you?"

"150 minutes of exercise a week reduces the risk of cancer."

"2,000 calories a day is all most adults should eat."

We hear so many well-meaning and well-researched messages about how to be healthier, and for many, they prompt real change, like quitting smoking, exercising more and eating better. But for some people, these messages prompt only a defensive and resentful reaction: "Stop nagging and leave me alone."

Why do some people hear these messages so differently, and how can researchers help them be more effective? In looking at this problem, a new study by researchers at the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania found that people who are more mindful are more receptive to health messaging and more likely to be motivated to change.

The study, "Dispositional Mindfulness Predicts Adaptive Affective Responses to Health Messages and Increased Exercise Motivation," which will be published in the journal Mindfulness, examines the role of mindfulness in health communication.

According to lead author Yoona Kang, a postdoctoral fellow at the Annenberg School, "mindfulness is usually defined as having awareness of the present moment" and has been shown in previous studies to reduce negative reactions to emotionally charged situations.

"Health messaging often causes people to react emotionally in negative ways, so we investigated factors, including mindfulness, that could potentially influence people to be more receptive to health messages and more motivated to change their behavior," said senior author Emily Falk, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Communication at the Annenberg School.

The study assembled a group of people who achieve only low levels of weekly exercise and exposed them to a variety of health messages. The researchers observed the reactions of the participants to the health messages, recorded their motivation (or lack thereof) to change their behavior, and later inquired as to whether the participants had actually changed their behavior.

To gauge how mindful each person was in day-to-day life, the researchers asked each participant to complete the Mindful Attention Awareness Scale (MAAS). The MAAS is composed of 15 scenarios, including "I forget a person's name almost as soon as I've been told it for the first time" and "I tend to walk quickly to get where I'm going without paying attention to what I experience along the way," that are answered on a scale of 1 to 6, ranging from "almost always" to "almost never." The higher a person's total score, the more mindful that person is considered to be.

The study showed that less mindful people were also less likely to make a positive change in behavior as a response to health messaging.

"Some people, when confronted with health messages, felt really bad about themselves," said Falk, "and that didn't help them change their behavior. And in the long run, it doesn't help us have a healthier, happier population."

People who are more mindful, however, reacted less negatively to health messages and were less likely to feel ashamed by them. These people, in turn, were also more likely to change their behavior to be healthier.

The researchers' findings add to the growing literature on the health benefits of mindfulness, and they believe this has important implications. "Individuals may benefit from cultivating mindful attention when processing potentially threatening yet beneficial health information," said Kang. "It's possible that incorporating mindfulness cultivation into existing intervention strategies can promote more widespread positive health behavior."

Science Daily/SOURCE :https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/01/170130111020.htm

Twice weekly yoga classes plus home practice effective in reducing symptoms of depression

March 3, 2017

Science Daily/Boston University Medical Center
People who suffer from depression should participate in yoga and deep (coherent) breathing classes at least twice weekly plus practice at home to receive a significant reduction in their symptoms.

The findings, which appear in the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, provide preliminary support for the use of yoga-based interventions as an alternative or supplement to pharmacologic treatments for depression.

Major depressive disorder (MDD) is common, recurrent, chronic and disabling. Due in part to its prevalence, depression is globally responsible for more years lost to disability than any other disease. Up to 40 percent of individuals treated with antidepressant medications for MDD do not achieve full remission. This study used lyengar yoga that has an emphasis on detail, precision and alignment in the performance of posture and breath control.

Individuals with MDD were randomized to the high dose group, three 90-minute classes a week along with home practice, or the low dose group, two 90-minute classes a week, plus home practice. Both groups had significant decreases in their depressive symptoms and no significant differences in compliance. Although a greater number of subjects in the high dose group had less depressive symptoms, the researchers believe attending twice weekly classes (plus home practice) may constitute a less burdensome but still effective way to gain the mood benefits from the intervention.

"This study supports the use of a yoga and coherent breathing intervention in major depressive disorder in people who are not on antidepressants and in those who have been on a stable dose of antidepressants and have not achieved a resolution of their symptoms," explained corresponding author Chris Streeter, MD, associate professor of psychiatry and neurology at Boston University School of Medicine and a psychiatrist at Boston Medical Center.

According to Streeter compared with mood altering medications, this intervention has the advantages of avoiding additional drug side effects and drug interactions. "While most pharmacologic treatment for depression target monoamine systems, such as serotonin, dopamine and norepinephrine, this intervention targets the parasympathetic and gamma aminobutyric acid system and provides a new avenue for treatment."

Science Daily/SOURCE :https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/03/170303131017.htm

Mindfulness just as effective as CBT for a broad range of psychiatric symptoms

April 14, 2017

Science Daily/Lund University
Mindfulness group therapy has an equally positive effect as individual CBT (cognitive behavioral therapy) for the treatment of a wide range of psychiatric symptoms in patients with depression, anxiety and stress-related disorders.

The need for psychotherapy in primary healthcare is on the increase for patients who are suffering with a variety of mental health problems. However, individual therapy is costly and the supply does not meet the demand. Group therapy with mindfulness can be a viable alternative treatment, which at the same will free up resources in healthcare to be used more efficiently.

"Our new research shows that mindfulness group therapy has the equivalent effect as individual CBT for a wide range of psychiatric symptoms that are common among this patient group," says Professor Jan Sundquist, who led the research group in the study which has been published in European Psychiatry.

He adds, "We have shown in a previous study that mindfulness group therapy is just as effective as individual CBT for the treatment of typical depression and anxiety symptoms; something we also observed in the new study."

The study group included 215 patients with depression, anxiety and stress-related disorders. Patients were recruited from 16 different healthcare centres across Scania in southern Sweden for the eight-week randomised controlled trial. Researchers studied a broad range of psychiatric symptoms (measured by several types of questionnaires, e.g. Symptom Checklist-90, SCL-90) and how these symptoms changed during the treatment, either with mindfulness in group therapy or individual CBT.

The results showed that the average score for all 15 different subscales/indexes in the various questionnaires decreased significantly in both scales. The various scales measured, among others, symptoms of depression, general anxiety, stress and somatization, obsessive-compulsive disorder, interpersonal sensitivity, aggression, phobic anxiety, paranoid ideation and psychoticism. There was no difference in treatment effect between the two groups.

"As mental illnesses are increasing at a very fast rate it is absolutely essential to expand the treatment alternatives for this patient group in primary healthcare. Our view is that the scarce resources should be partly reallocated to mindfulness group therapy so that the limited availability of individual psychotherapy can be utilised in an optimal fashion," concludes Professor Sundquist.

Science Daily/SOURCE :https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/04/170414105801.htm

Mindfulness class helped women, but not men, overcome 'negative affect'

April 20, 2017

Science Daily/Brown University
Few studies have looked at whether mindfulness meditation is equally effective among men and women in addressing mood, but a new study in a college setting found a substantial difference.

In a new study of a Brown University scholarly course on mindfulness that also included meditation labs, researchers found that the practice on average significantly helped women overcome "negative affect" -- a downcast mood -- but did not help men. The finding, the authors said, should call more attention to considering gender as a potential factor in assessing mindfulness efficacy.

More women than men engage in mindfulness meditation, the practice of intentionally and non-judgmentally directing one's attention to present sensations and feelings, said Willoughby Britton, assistant professor of psychiatry and human behavior and of behavioral and social sciences at Brown. There hasn't been a prevailing notion in the research literature that the practice affects men and women differently. Yet the data Britton and her co-authors present in a new paper in Frontiers in Psychology shows a clear gender difference in outcomes for mood.

"That was the surprising part," Britton said. Since this study, though, she has found the same pattern in two other studies under review for future publication. "I wouldn't be surprised if this is a widespread phenomenon that researchers hadn't bothered to investigate."

On the other hand, Britton added, it was encouraging to see a clear benefit for women, who are generally more vulnerable to negative affect and depression, she noted.

"Emotional disorders like depression in early adulthood are linked to a litany of negative trajectories that further disadvantage women, such as poor academic performance, school drop-out, early pregnancy and substance abuse," she said. "The fact that a college course could teach women skills to better manage negative affect at this early age could have potentially far-reaching effects on women's lives."

Co-lead author Rahil Rojiani, a Brown graduate and now a medical student at Yale, said he hopes the study will narrow disparities in mental health care.

"The gender gap in mental health has been inadequately targeted and often only within the standard medical arsenal of pharmacological treatment," Rojiani said. "Our study is one of the first to explore the effects of mindfulness across gender."

Studying a class

The study measured changes in affect, mindfulness and self-compassion among 41 male and 36 female students over the course of a full, 12-week academic class on mindfulness traditions with papers, tests and presentations that also included an experiential component of three hour-long meditation labs a week. Co-author Harold Roth, professor of religious studies, taught the labs, which included about 30 minutes per session of specific contemplative practice from Buddhist or Daoist traditions.

Mindfulness has become popular on college campuses, Britton said, as students and administrators look to it as a potential way of helping students manage stress or depression. For this study, students filled out questionnaires at the beginning and the end of the class. Over that time the average student had engaged in more than 41 hours of meditation in class and outside. There was no statistically significant difference in the amount of meditation practice by gender. Men and women also entered the class with no difference in their degree of negative affect.

As a group, the 77 students also did not leave the class showing a significant difference in negative affect. That's because while women showed a significant 11.6 percent decline on the survey's standardized score (which is a positive psychological outcome), men showed a non-significant 3.7 percent increase in their scores.

Alongside those changes in affect, each gender showed progress in skills taught as part of meditation. Both genders gained in several specific mindfulness and self-compassion skills and their overall scores increased significantly. That finding shows that the classes were effective in teaching the techniques, though women made greater gains than men on four of five areas of mindfulness.

When the researchers dug further into the data, they saw that in women several of the gains they made in specific skills correlated with improvements in negative affect.

"Improved affect in women was related to improved mindfulness and self-compassion skills, which involved specific subscales for approaching experience and emotions with non-reactivity, being less self-critical and more kind with themselves, and over-identifying less with emotions," the authors wrote.

Meanwhile, among men, only one of the specific skills was associated with better affect.

"To the extent that affect improved, changes were correlated with an improved dimension of mindfulness involving the ability to identify, describe and differentiate one's emotions," they wrote.

Does mindfulness work better for women?

Britton said the results suggest a new hypothesis, which is that mindfulness regimens, at least as they are often structured, may be better attuned to addressing the ways that women typically process emotions than the ways that men often do. Mindfulness guides practitioners to focus on and acknowledge feelings but to do so in a non-judgmental and non-self-critical way.

"The mechanisms are highly speculative at this point, but stereotypically, women ruminate and men distract," Britton said. "So for people that tend to be willing to confront or expose themselves or turn toward the difficult, mindfulness is made for [improving] that. For people who have been largely turning their attention away from the difficult, to suddenly bring all their attention to their difficulties can be somewhat counterproductive. While facing one's difficulties and feeling one's emotions may seem to be universally beneficial, it does not take into account that there may be different cultural expectations for men and women around emotionality."

If that hypothesis is supported in further research, the findings may yield an important strategy for the designers of mindfulness curricula. For women, the message may be to stay the course, but for men the best idea may be to tailor mindfulness differently.

"Mindfulness is a little bit like a drug cocktail -- there are a lot of ingredients and we're not sure which ingredients are doing what," Britton said. "But I think a strategy of isolating potential 'active ingredients' and using slightly more innovative designs to tailor to the needs of different populations is what's called for."

For fellow mindfulness researchers, Britton said, the study emphasizes a benefit to accounting for gender. Had she not done so in this study, she would have reported a null effect on affect when in fact women benefitted significantly. At the same time, if the study population had been heavily skewed toward women rather than more balanced, she might have measured a stronger benefit that would have been improperly extrapolated to men.

Science Daily/SOURCE :https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/04/170420113801.htm

Just 10 minutes of meditation helps anxious people have better focus

May 1, 2017

Science Daily/University of Waterloo
Just 10 minutes of daily mindful mediation can help prevent your mind from wandering and is particularly effective if you tend to have repetitive, anxious thoughts, according to a study.

The study, which assessed the impact of meditation with 82 participants who experience anxiety, found that developing an awareness of the present moment reduced incidents of repetitive, off-task thinking, a hallmark of anxiety.

"Our results indicate that mindfulness training may have protective effects on mind wandering for anxious individuals," said Mengran Xu, a researcher and PhD candidate at Waterloo. "We also found that meditation practice appears to help anxious people to shift their attention from their own internal worries to the present-moment external world, which enables better focus on a task at hand."

The term mindfulness is commonly defined as paying attention on purpose, in the present moment, and without judgement.

As part of the study, participants were asked to perform a task on a computer while experiencing interruptions to gauge their ability to stay focused on the task. Researchers then put the participants into two groups at random, with the control group given an audio story to listen to and the other group asked to engage in a short meditation exercise prior to being reassessed.

"Mind wandering accounts for nearly half of any person's daily stream of consciousness," said Xu. "For people with anxiety, repetitive off-task thoughts can negatively affect their ability to learn, to complete tasks, or even function safely.

"It would be interesting to see what the impacts would be if mindful meditation was practiced by anxious populations more widely."

Science Daily/SOURCE :https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/05/170501094325.htm

Effectiveness of yoga in treating major depression evaluated

May 8, 2017

Science Daily/Care New England
New research indicates that the benefits of hatha yoga in treating depression are less pronounced in early treatment, but may accumulate over time.

When treating depression, the goal is to help individuals achieve full recovery and normal functioning. While traditional treatment such as medication or psychotherapy is effective for many patients, some may not fully recover even with these treatments. Researchers sought to determine if the addition of hatha yoga would improve treatment outcomes for these patients. They found that the benefits of yoga were less pronounced early in treatment, but may accumulate over time.

The research, entitled "Adjunctive yoga v. health education for persistent major depression: a randomized controlled trial," has been published in Psychological Medicine. The research was led by Lisa Uebelacker, PhD, a research psychologist in the Psychosocial Research Department at Butler Hospital, a Care New England hospital, and an associate professor of psychiatry and human behavior at The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University. The team also included Gary Epstein-Lubow, MD; Ana M. Abrantes, PhD; Audrey Tyrka, MD, PhD; Brandon A. Gaudiano, PhD; and Ivan W. Miller III, PhD, of Butler Hospital and the Warren Alpert Medical School; Geoffrey Tremont, PhD and Tanya Tran of Rhode Island Hospital and the Warren Alpert Medical School; Tom Gillette of Eyes of the World Yoga; and David Strong of the University of California, San Diego.

"The purpose of this study was to examine whether hatha yoga is effective for treating depression when used in addition to antidepressant medication," explained Dr. Uebelacker. "We did not see statistically significant differences between hatha yoga and a control group (health education) at 10 weeks, however, when we examined outcomes over a period of time including the three and six months after yoga classes ended, we found yoga was superior to health education in alleviating depression symptoms."

According to Dr. Uebelacker, this is the largest study of yoga for depression to date. The team enrolled individuals with current or recent major depression who were receiving antidepressant medication and continued to have clinically significant depression symptoms. Participants were randomized into two groups -- those who participated in a hatha yoga class and a control group who took part in a health education class. The intervention phase lasted 10 weeks and participants were followed for six months afterward.

"We hypothesized that yoga participants would show lower depression severity over time as assessed by the Quick Inventory of Depression Symptomatology (QIDS), as well as better social and role functioning, better general health perceptions and physical functioning, and less physical pain relative to the control group," said Dr. Uebelacker. "We found that yoga did indeed have an impact on depression symptoms."

Science Daily/SOURCE :https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/05/170508130918.htm

Tai chi relieves insomnia in breast cancer survivors

May 10, 2017

Science Daily/University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), Health Sciences
Slow-moving meditation practice works just as well as talk therapy, and better than medication in treating sleep loss in breast cancer survivors, investigators report.

If you've ever had insomnia, you know worrying about sleep makes it even harder to fall asleep. For the 30 percent of breast cancer survivors who have insomnia, sleepless nights can lead to depression, fatigue and a heightened risk of disease.

Now, new UCLA research shows that tai chi, a form of slow-moving meditation, is just as effective as cognitive behavioral therapy, which has been considered the "gold standard" treatment, with both showing enduring benefits over one year.

The results, published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, show that tai chi promotes robust improvements in sleep health in breast cancer survivors with insomnia, with additional benefits of improving depressive symptoms and fatigue. Furthermore, both tai chi and cognitive behavioral therapy, which is a form of talk therapy, showed similar rates of clinically significant improvements in symptoms or remission of insomnia.

The American Academy of Sleep Medicine considers cognitive behavioral therapy the treatment of choice for insomnia. This approach involves identifying and changing negative thoughts and behaviors that are affecting the ability to fall asleep and stay asleep.

While cognitive behavioral therapy treats insomnia, it's too expensive for some people and there is a shortage of trained professionals in the field, said Dr. Michael Irwin, the study's lead author and a UCLA professor of psychiatry and director of the Cousins Center for Psychoneuroimmunology at the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior.

"Because of those limitations, we need community-based interventions like tai chi," Irwin said. Free or low-cost tai chi classes are often offered at libraries, community centers or outdoors in parks. Do-it-yourselfers can find instructional videos on YouTube and smartphone apps.

In previous research, Irwin and colleagues found that tai chi, which relaxes the body and slows breathing, reduced inflammation in breast cancer survivors with the potential to lower risk for disease including cancer recurrence.

To test tai chi's effect on insomnia, researchers recruited 90 breast cancer survivors, who had trouble sleeping three or more times per week and who also reported feeling depressed and fatigue during the daytime. The participants ranged in age from 42 to 83 and were randomly assigned to weekly cognitive behavioral therapy sessions or weekly tai chi instruction for three months. The tai chi group learned a Westernized form of the practice called tai chi chih.

The researchers evaluated the participants at intervals for the next 12 months to determine if they were having insomnia symptoms, as well as symptoms of fatigue and depression, and determined whether they showed improvement.

At 15 months, nearly half of the participants in both groups (46.7 percent in the tai chi group; 43.7 percent in the behavioral therapy group) continued to show robust, clinically significant improvement in their insomnia symptoms.

"Breast cancer survivors often don't just come to physicians with insomnia. They have insomnia, fatigue and depression," said Irwin, who is also a member of the UCLA Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center. "And this intervention, tai chi, impacted all those outcomes in a similar way, with benefits that were as robust as the gold standard treatment for insomnia."

Many of the tai chi participants continued to practice on their own after the study concluded, reflecting the motivation he's observed among breast cancer survivor, Irwin said. "They often are seeking health-promoting activities because they recognize that the mindfulness approach, or health-based lifestyle interventions, may actually protect them," he said.

Science Daily/SOURCE :https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/05/170510175136.htm

Mindfulness takes practice

May 23, 2017

Science Daily/Aarhus University
Mindfulness meditation practice is set at 45 minutes a day at home, as well as weekly group sessions with the teacher. And the 45 minutes is every day, six days a week as long as the course lasts. These are the guidelines for students taking part in the standard Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy or Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction courses, but an average course student practices only 30 minutes. Nevertheless, this practice is related to positive benefit.

The typical student on a standard mindfulness course says they practice for 30 minutes at home every day, and it actually makes a difference, a new study from Aarhus University in Denmark, finds. This is the case, even though teachers ask for more. But can we rely on what people say?

Mindfulness meditation practice is set at 45 minutes a day at home, as well as weekly group sessions with the teacher. And the 45 minutes is every day, six days a week for the eight weeks that the course lasts.

These are the guidelines for students taking part in the standard Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) or Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) courses. Not all students practice for 45 minutes a day. An average course student practices 30 minutes daily at home, but the good news is that nevertheless, this practice is related to positive benefit. This can be measured as reduced stress, pain, better well-being and so on.

These are the main findings of the study "Home practice in Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy and Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction: a systematic review and meta-analysis of participants' mindfulness practice and its associations with outcomes," an international collaboration between the Universities of Aarhus, Oxford and Bristol. The study has recently been published in the journal Behavior Research and Therapy, and according to associate professor Christine Parsons from the Interacting Mind Center at the Department of Clinical Medicine at Aarhus University, it is new and important knowledge:

"This is the clearest evidence we have that mindfulness-home practice can make a difference. This is a big source of debate because there are many components at play in a MBSR or MBCT course. The support of a teacher might bring about benefit, practicing mindfulness on the actual course, or being in a group with similar other people," Christine Parsons says.

According to the study, the effect of doing home practice is small, but statistically significant in the 28 scientific studies included in the analysis. In all studies, the MBCT or MBSR courses were eight weeks long, and the participants kept diaries of their practice at home. The diaries were used by researchers to examine the benefits of practice. Unfortunately, there is always uncertainty linked to a self-report diary, which Christine Parsons is trying to minimize.

Can we rely on students to tell their own teacher about their home practice? Do student fill in their diaries faithfully? We know that people have difficulty reporting on their food or alcohol consumption or even physical activity. Should mindfulness practice be any different?

Similarly, Christine Parsons is concerned about the difference between quantity of mindfulness practice and the of practice. Anyone who has tried to meditate knows that practice can be difficult. For example, it is easy to spend time thinking about a conflict at work or writing a long mental shopping list. Mindfulness practice is about cultivating awareness of the present moment, without judging or evaluating, not just spending time on a yoga mat.

"We need to understand how people truly engage with their home practice. There are many problems with self-report as our only assessment method. I have therefore received money from Trygfonden to develop and test a number of other measurement methods that will clarify how mindfulness students behave outside the classroom. How they practice and what works -- and how it works," Christine Parsons says.

She worked at Oxford University for the past six years, but she has moved her research to the Interacting Minds Center at Aarhus, where she will remain as long as the grant of 2.3 millioner kroner pays for her stay.

Christine Parsons in collaboration with engineers from Aarhus University, led by associate professor Kasper Løvborg Jensen and the Danish Center for Mindfulness, is developing an app that records how long participants listen to the guided meditations, which are part of the home practice in MBCT or MBSR.

The information will be sent via the mobile phone app to a server that registers and compares the incoming data with information from a 'fitness' wristband. This enables the research team to see what happens to, for example, the student's heartbeat when he or she is practicing mindfulness.

"It's all little pieces of the big jigsaw puzzle -- how students actually behave outside the classroom. How they practice, what it means, and what actually works," says Christine Parsons, without wanting to undermine the importance of the recently published result.

"This study forms the basis of our new work, and now we know, that practicing at home has an impact. The question is whether we can use new technology to measure and support participants doing their home practice. And can we support behavior changes in the long run? For example, if you receive a smartphone reminder to practice," Christine Parsons says before she -- again -- praises the unique opportunities for interdisciplinary research at the Interacting Minds Center.

"It's invaluable to sit down with an engineer who poses completely different questions than I can imagine with my psychology background. It opens for a lot of new opportunities. Bringing together mindfulness teachers, engineers and designers allows us to really think about what we can do to best support our students," says Christine Parsons.

Science Daily/SOURCE :https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/05/170523081904.htm

Mindfulness-focused childbirth education leads to less depression

May 24, 2017

Science Daily/University of Wisconsin-Madison
A new study shows mindfulness training that addresses fear and pain during childbirth can improve women's childbirth experiences and reduce their depression symptoms during pregnancy and the early postpartum period.

"Fear of the unknown affects us all, and perhaps none more so than pregnant women," says lead author Larissa Duncan, UW-Madison professor of human development and family studies. "With mindfulness skills, women in our study reported feeling better able to cope with childbirth and they experienced improved mental well-being critical for healthy mother-infant adjustment in the first year of life."

The study also suggests that pregnant women who practice mindfulness may use less medication for pain during labor. Many women and their healthcare providers are concerned about the use of medications during pregnancy, labor and while breastfeeding because of the potential risks to infants. Yet, left untreated, maternal mental health problems also pose a significant risk to infants.

"A mindfulness approach offers the possibility of decreasing the need for these medications and can reach women who may not know they are at risk for perinatal depression or can't access mental health services," Duncan says.

The new study, published in the journal BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth, is a randomized, controlled trial called Prenatal Education About Reducing Labor Stress (PEARLS), compares mainstream childbirth education with childbirth education that includes mindfulness skills focused on reducing fear among first-time mothers. Fear of childbirth has been shown in previous studies to be linked to poorer labor-and-delivery outcomes and to depression.

While many consider childbirth education classes a primary resource for pregnant women and their partners to learn information and strategies for the birthing process and remedies for coping with labor pain, there is limited data that demonstrates they achieve these goals for the more than 2 million pregnant women who attend them each year in the United States.

In fact, Duncan says, "sometimes women report that the information in childbirth education actually increases their fear of childbirth."

For the study, considered a pilot because funding limited participation to 30 women and their partners, first-time mothers late in their third trimester of pregnancy were offered either a standard childbirth preparation course lacking a mind-body focus or an intensive weekend workshop called Mind in Labor: Working with Pain in Childbirth.

The workshop was based on the Mindfulness-Based Childbirth and Parenting education course developed by study co-author, Nancy Bardacke, a certified nurse-midwife and senior mindfulness teacher at UCSF. It focused on practices like mindful movement, walking meditation, and pain coping strategies. Previous research shows that mindfulness training can be an effective way to manage both chronic and acute pain.

Participants represented a diversity of ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds. They completed self-reported assessments before and after taking part in a childbirth education course and after giving birth. The mindfulness group also received handouts and guided audio materials so they could practice mindfulness on their own. The study team collected medical record data from each woman.

The researchers found a reduction in depression symptoms in the mindfulness group, which continued through their post-birth follow up at approximately six weeks. In contrast, depression symptoms worsened among women who participated in the standard childbirth education courses.

While mothers in the mindfulness group sought epidurals at similar rates to those in the control group and retrospectively reported similar levels of perceived pain during labor, the study did see a trend toward lower use of opioid-based pain medication during labor. While these results were not statistically significant, the rate of narcotic use during labor was around 62 percent in the control group and just 31 percent in the mindfulness group. A larger study is needed to better understand this effect.

"The encouraging results of this small study point to the possibility that mindfulness skills can transform the way expectant parents prepare for this profound life change," says Bardacke. "In addition to supporting moms and babies, we may also be benefiting fathers, who are themselves experiencing the birth of their child and becoming parents. While more research is clearly needed, the larger public health implications of this work are motivating."

Science Daily/SOURCE :https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/05/170524131122.htm

Meditation could be a cheaper alternative to traditional pain medication

June 12, 2017

Science Daily/Leeds Beckett University
Just ten minutes of mindfulness meditation could be used as an alternative to painkillers, according to new research.

Results of the study suggest that a single ten-minute mindfulness meditation session administered by a novice therapist can improve pain tolerance, pain threshold and decrease anxiety towards pain.

The research was carried out by the School of Clinical and Applied Sciences at Leeds Beckett and used a group of 24 healthy university-aged students (12 men and 12 women). They were randomly split into a control group and a meditation group.

A cold-pressor task was used to cause pain to the participants; they put their hand in warm water for two minutes before removing it and placing it immediately into ice water for as long as they could manage and only removed it when the pain became too much and could no longer be tolerated. They then either sat quietly for ten minutes (control group) or meditated for ten minutes before repeating the cold-pressor task.

Five groups of data were then collected; anxiety towards pain, pain threshold, pain tolerance, pain intensity and pain unpleasantness. Pre-intervention the figures didn't differ greatly between the control and meditation groups but following the ten-minute meditation session, the participants from the meditation group saw a significant decrease in anxiety towards pain and a significant increase in pain threshold and pain tolerance.

Speaking about the results of the study, Dr Osama Tashani, Senior Research Fellow in Pain Studies, said: "While further research is needed to explore this in a more clinical setting on chronic pain patients, these results do show that a brief mindfulness meditation intervention can be of benefit in pain relief. The ease of application and cost effectiveness of the mindfulness meditation may also make it a viable addition to the arsenal of therapies for pain management.

"The mindfulness mediation was led by a researcher who was a novice; so in theory clinicians could administer this with little training needed. It's based on traditional Buddhist teachings which focuses attention and awareness on your breathing."

Science Daily/SOURCE :https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/06/170612094633.htm

Attitude makes a champion

Attitude distinguishes champions on the bumpy road to success

April 25, 2016

Science Daily/Frontiers
In their search for the optimal path to greatness, some athletes believe that the path should be clear of all obstacles, while others say that such challenges are instrumental to talent development. Now, a recent study suggests that what really distinguishes champions is how they face and overcome such obstacles.

https://images.sciencedaily.com/2016/04/160425112257_1_540x360.jpg
Elite performers expressed an internal drive and commitment to their sports.
Credit: Courtesy of Dave Collins

"We've found that there are universal psychological characteristics amongst those who are aspiring to get to the top," says Professor Dave Collins, lead author of the study, as well as Chair and Director of the Institute of Coaching and Performance at the University of Central Lancashire. "We have a good idea of what makes people excellent and how we can help them reach peak performance."

By interviewing athletes from varied sports such as soccer, rowing, skiing, and combat sports, Collins and his collaborators sought to find distinguishing characteristics between the best of the best, the good, and those that didn't quite make the cut. For each participant, they collected information about career trajectory, perceived challenges and the participant's reactions to such obstacles. Interview questions also explored participants' commitment to their sports and their interactions with coaches and families.

The results showed that elite performers expressed an internal drive and commitment to their sports that their "almost" great colleagues lacked. The elite approached training with a "never satisfied" attitude, whereas "almosts" might avoid challenging training exercises. Following an injury or a failure to perform, high performers were determined to get back to their sports, stronger than ever. Low achievers, on the other hand, often expressed surprise at their failures, telling how they lost enthusiasm after such incidents.

Despite these differences in the athletes' attitudes, there was surprisingly little variation in the nature or number of the challenges themselves. All had roughly comparable traumatic incidents during their careers. More than the challenges themselves, the differences came down to how the athletes reacted to these obstacles and the champions' positive, "learn from it" attitudes.

"From our research, we're assembling a set of rules to guide what a coach should be doing and what skills an athlete should end up with," says Collins. "Furthermore, these characteristics hold true for other fields as well, from sports to music to any environment."

While challenge may be integral on the path to success, this research suggests that challenge is not sufficient in itself. An aspiring athlete's attitude towards challenge is what most distinguishes the champions from the rest.

Science Daily/SOURCE :https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/04/160425112257.htm

Exercise genes? Study suggests certain people with depression may benefit from exercise

April 27, 2016

Science Daily/University of Florida
Call it personalized medicine for depression -- but the prescription in this case is exercise, which researchers have found helps people with certain genetic traits.

A UF study has found that specific genetic markers that put people at risk for depression also predict who might benefit from exercise, according to a study published recently in The Journal of Frailty & Aging. The researchers found that men who were carriers of two specific genes had the most significant response to exercise. The results suggest physical activity as part of a treatment plan -- exercise as moderate as walking -- could help the carriers of these genes.

"I want to better understand who could benefit most from physical activity. I'd like to take the same approach to exercise that we take to medication, which is to have a personalized medicine approach," said Vonetta Dotson, Ph.D., the study's first author and an assistant professor in the College of Public Health and Health Profession's department of clinical and health psychology. "If we show through systematic research that exercise has a good chance of helping a patient because of their particular characteristics, I think that might help with patients' motivation to exercise."

The results came from a small pilot study, so more research needs to be done before this work can be translated into clinical practice. But in the future, it's possible that blood or saliva could be tested to determine if a person could benefit from physical activity to lower depressive symptoms.

The study used data gathered in the Lifestyle Interventions and Independence for Elders, or LIFE, pilot study. During the LIFE pilot study, 396 sedentary older adults were separated into two groups: those who received health education classes and those who were given moderate physical activity classes for 12 months.

A subsequent paper published from the LIFE pilot study found that exercise did not significantly affect depression symptoms across the whole group, but that changed when the research team tunneled down into the data.

"When we looked at subgroups, we ended up finding significant response to exercise in men who were carriers of a specific gene." Dotson said.

To assess the participants' response to exercise, they took a test called the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale, a screening test for depression and depressive disorders, at the beginning of the LIFE study's intervention. They took the test again after the interventions ended, at 12 months. The scale assesses four factors, including symptoms of sadness and fearfulness, symptoms such as loss of appetite and concentration difficulties, and a diminished capacity to experience pleasure or perceived difficulties in social relationships.

The participants also underwent genetic testing before the intervention, and the researchers tested three genes: the brain-derived neurotrophic, or BDNF, gene, a serotonin transporter gene and a gene called apolipoprotein E. The researchers found the greatest decrease in symptoms such as loss of appetite and concentration difficulties in men who carried the BDNF genetic variation that predisposed them to depression. They also saw an increase in the capacity to experience pleasure in men who exercised regularly who carried specific variations of the serotonin transporter gene.

Co-author Taimour Langaee, Ph.D., MSPH, a research associate professor in the UF College of Pharmacy's department of pharmacotherapy and translational research and Center for Pharmacogenomics, is interested in research studies on the effect of antipsychotic drugs on depression. When patients are treated with antidepressants, the level of BDNF expression normalizes, helping them overcome depression, Langaee said. This study was different because it was designed to investigate the effect of physical activity in relation to genetic variations in these genes on changes in depressive symptoms.

"We already know that physical activity increases neurotransmitters and endorphins level," he said. "So, we speculated that physical activity increased the expression of BDNF, leading to a decrease in somatic symptoms."

Langaee said the study's results were significant, but a larger sample size and more genetic testing is needed to better determine the effect of physical activity on these genes.

Dotson said the study provides evidence that physical activity could be explored as an intervention for depression, but warns that this study was not done in people whose symptoms were severe enough to be formally diagnosed with clinical depression. She said it's also important to understand the benefits of exercise because of the impact medications may have on the brains of older adults.

"I'm trying to understand how exercise versus antidepressants affect the brain," Dotson said. "The next step for me is to understand from a brain standpoint who is going to benefit and how exercise is going to be beneficial in addition to or as an alternative to medication."

Science Daily/SOURCE :https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/04/160427150916.htm

Using exercise to reduce glutamate build-up in the brain

Exercise could reduce symptoms of neurodegenerative diseases such as Huntington's disease

May 17, 2016

Science Daily/Canadian Science Publishing (NRC Research Press)
Exercise has the potential to decrease toxic build-up in the brain, reducing the severity of brain disorders such as Huntington's disease, report scientists.

In a new study published in Applied Physiology, Nutrition, and Metabolism, scientists from the University of Guelph have found that exercise has the potential to decrease toxic build-up in the brain, reducing the severity of brain disorders such as Huntington's disease.

Glutamate, an amino acid that is one of the twenty amino acids used to construct proteins, is used by the brain to transmit signals, but too much glutamate blocks future signals and can lead to toxicity in the brain. Since the majority of the brain relies on glutamate as the main neurotransmitter for communication between neural cells, it is essential that glutamate is reabsorbed and disposed of to prevent blockage. While glutamate reuptake is a normal process for healthy brains, several diseases such as Huntington's disease, ALS, and epilepsy result in either failed reuptake of glutamate or high levels of glutamate in the brain. This can lead to unwanted and in some cases excessive stimulation of neighbouring cells which can worsen the disease.

The findings of this study show that exercise has the potential to increase the use of glutamate in the brain and may help reduce the toxicity caused by glutamate build-up in these diseases. "As we all know, exercise is healthy for the rest of the body and our study suggests that exercise may present an excellent option for reducing the severity of brain disorders" says Dr. Eric Herbst, lead author of the study. "Taking into account that there are no cures for neurodegenerative diseases where glutamate is implicated, this study offers another example of the benefits of exercise for our brains" continued Dr. Herbst. "In short, these findings offer another reason to exercise with the aim of either preventing or slowing the neurodegeneration caused by these disorders."

The findings of this study are of particular importance to other researchers exploring different approaches to treating brain disorders. The main approaches to treating neurodegenerative diseases are hindered by the need to produce drugs that both have the intended effect for treating the disease and are also able to pass the blood brain barrier. Through the use of exercise, the brain can direct glutamate to be used as an energy source to dispose of excess amounts of the neurotransmitter, without relying on the difficult development of pharmaceuticals. Identifying and targeting the mechanisms that increase glutamate metabolism in the brain may also provide the medical field with additional ways of treating problems within the brain. How the findings of this study translates to people affected by neurodegenerative diseases still needs exploring and is an important next step.
Science Daily/SOURCE :https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/05/160517083040.htm

Sleep disorders common in athletes, but easily fixable

May 19, 2016

Science Daily/University of Eastern Finland
Professional athletes suffer from sleep disorders more frequently than generally thought, however, systematic examination, counseling and individual treatment planning can improve the quality of their sleep. A new Finnish study clearly shows for the first time that systematic measures can improve the sleep of professional athletes.
The study carried out by the University of Eastern Finland and Oivauni Sleep Clinic analysed the sleep of 107 professional athletes through a survey. All athletes were provided with general guidance on how to sleep better. In addition, those athletes who on the basis of the survey suffered from significant sleeping disorders were referred to a sleep specialist for examination and an individualised treatment plan.

The study found that one in four athletes suffered from significant sleeping disorders such as trouble falling asleep, snoring or sleep-disordered breathing. In addition, most athletes slept too little and one in six used sleeping pills that helped them to fall asleep or stay asleep on a regular basis during the playing season. All athletes regarded a good night's sleep as an important factor for their health, and one in four reported that the sleeping-related guidance had also enhanced their athletic performance. The study showed that general sleeping-related guidance, further examinations when necessary and a personalised treatment plan significantly improved athletes' sleep.

"Sleep to succeed," says Docent Henri Tuomilehto, a sleep specialist and the leader of the study.

He says that in order to reach the top, one needs to be talented, to train hard and to recover. "Good recovery calls for a good night's sleep." Restorative sleep may be regarded as a cornerstone for athletes' successful recovery and performance.

Only a little scientific research has been conducted on athletes' sleep; however, earlier studies, too, have reported sleeping disorders.

Over the past four years, Tuomilehto has been in charge of the sleep of more than 500 Finnish professional athletes, most recently working with Finland's leading football team HJK and ice-hockey team Jokerit, athletes aiming at the Rio 2016 Olympics, and cross-country skiers aiming at the Lahti 2017 World Championships.

Sleeping disorders are so widespread, not only in athletes but also in the general population, that they are nowadays considered a common chronic disease.

"Solid research evidence of the adverse effects of sleeping disorders on our health and our ability to function exists, and this calls for action," Tuomilehto says. He is one of the few sleep specialists focusing exclusively on patients suffering from sleeping disorders in Finland.

An earlier study led by Tuomilehto was the first in the world to demonstrate the benefits of healthy lifestyle habits in the treatment of sleep apnoea.. The findings resulted in the updating of treatment recommendations worldwide.
Science Daily/SOURCE :https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/05/160519082056.htm

Chronic sleep restriction negatively affects athletic performance

Findings suggest sleep loss results in decreased peak power and endurance performance, as well as decreased response speed

June 13, 2016

Science Daily/American Academy of Sleep Medicine
A new study found that chronic sleep restriction negatively affects athletic performance. Results show that following sleep restriction, energy expenditure during submaximal exercise decreased 3.9 percent; maximal aerobic power decreased 2.9 percent and time to exhaustion decreased by 10.7 percent (37 seconds). Submaximal heart rate decreased after sleep restriction, as well as peak heart rate and Psychomotor Vigilance Test response speed.

Results show that following sleep restriction, energy expenditure during submaximal exercise decreased 3.9 percent; maximal aerobic power decreased 2.9 percent and time to exhaustion decreased by 10.7 percent (37 seconds). Submaximal heart rate decreased after sleep restriction, as well as peak heart rate and Psychomotor Vigilance Test response speed.

"Our study is unique since we examined the relationship between sleep, physical performance, cognitive functioning, and physiology simultaneously," said lead investigator, Cheri Mah, MS, Clinical and Translational Research Fellow with the University of California, San Francisco Human Performance Center. "Future studies are needed to better understand the physiologic responses to sleep restriction, and conversely sleep extension, to understand the dose response of sleep interventions on performance and health."

The late-breaking research abstract will be presented Monday, June 13, in Denver at SLEEP 2016, the 30th Anniversary Meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies LLC (APSS).

The randomized crossover study involved 12 healthy elite male cyclists who restricted sleep to 4 hours for three days or extended sleep to 10 hours for two weeks. Cyclists completed a baseline week of habitual sleep and a 2-week washout period in between interventions. Outcome measures pre and post intervention included: a 20-minute submaximal test, a 1-minute incremental maximal exercise test, and a maximal time to exhaustion test on a bicycle ergometer and metabolic collection system as well as the Psychomotor Vigilance Test.

Science Daily/SOURCE :https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/06/160613130709.htm

Exercise can help adults better cope with ADHD symptoms

June 16, 2016

Science Daily/University of Georgia
Exercise, even a small amount, can help alleviate symptoms of ADHD in adults, according to a new study. About 6 percent of American adults report symptoms consistent with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD, which lead to anxiety, depression, low energy and motivation, poor performance at work or school and also increased traffic accidents.
https://images.sciencedaily.com/2016/06/160616141350_1_540x360.jpg
Patrick O'Connor (left) found that exercise, even a small amount, can help alleviate symptoms of ADHD in adults.
Credit: University of Georgia

The study, released this month in the journal Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, found a single bout of exercise has psychological benefits for adults with these elevated ADHD symptoms. About 6 percent of American adults report symptoms consistent with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD, which lead to anxiety, depression, low energy and motivation, poor performance at work or school and also increased traffic accidents.

"Exercise is already known as a stress reducer and mood booster, so it really has the potential to help those suffering with ADHD symptoms," said the study's senior author Patrick O'Connor, professor in the UGA College of Education's kinesiology department. "And while prescription drugs can be used to treat these symptoms, there's an increased risk of abuse or dependence and negative side effects. Those risks don't exist with exercise."

The study tested 32 young men with elevated ADHD symptoms who cycled at a moderate intensity for 20 minutes on one day, and on another day sat and rested for 20 minutes as a control condition. The participants were asked to perform a task requiring focus both before and after the different conditions, and researchers noted leg movement, mood, attention and self-reported motivation to perform the task.

As a result, researchers found that it was only after the exercise when the participants felt motivated to do the task; they also felt less confused and fatigued and instead felt more energetic. Interestingly, leg movements and performance on the task did not change after the exercise--rather, the exercise helped the young men feel better about doing the task.

These findings are consistent with prior research that shows a single bout of exercise helps people feel more energetic, said O'Connor, who is also co-director of the UGA Exercise Psychology Laboratory. The results suggest that young men who have symptoms of ADHD can benefit psychologically from the short workouts, similar to the benefits enjoyed by typical adults who work out.

"The reduced feelings of confusion and increased motivation to perform a cognitive task suggest that other types of acute exercise also may benefit cognitive performance," added study co-author Kathryn Fritz, a UGA doctoral student who completed the study as part of her master's thesis. "We speculate that a different mode or duration or intensity of exercise, other than a boring cycle ride in a sterile lab, may show larger cognitive effects for those suffering from ADHD symptoms."

Science Daily/SOURCE :https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/06/160616141350.htm

Need to remember something? Exercise four hours later!

June 16, 2016

Science Daily/Cell Press
A new study suggests an intriguing strategy to boost memory for what you've just learned: hit the gym four hours later. The findings show that physical exercise after learning improves memory and memory traces, but only if the exercise is done in a specific time window and not immediately after learning.
https://images.sciencedaily.com/2016/06/160616140717_1_540x360.jpg
Researchers found that people who exercised four hours after learning new material retained the information better two days later than those who exercised either immediately or not at all.
Credit: © UBER IMAGES / Fotolia
"It shows that we can improve memory consolidation by doing sports after learning," says Guillén Fernández of the Donders Institute at the Radboud University Medical Center in the Netherlands.

In the new study, Fernández, along with Eelco van Dongen and their colleagues, tested the effects of a single session of physical exercise after learning on memory consolidation and long-term memory. Seventy-two study participants learned 90 picture-location associations over a period of approximately 40 minutes before being randomly assigned to one of three groups: one group performed exercise immediately, the second performed exercise four hours later, and the third did not perform any exercise. The exercise consisted of 35 minutes of interval training on an exercise bike at an intensity of up to 80 percent of participants' maximum heart rates. Forty-eight hours later, participants returned for a test to show how much they remembered while their brains were imaged via magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).

The researchers found that those who exercised four hours after their learning session retained the information better two days later than those who exercised either immediately or not at all. The brain images also showed that exercise after a time delay was associated with more precise representations in the hippocampus, an area important to learning and memory, when an individual answered a question correctly.

"Our results suggest that appropriately timed physical exercise can improve long-term memory and highlight the potential of exercise as an intervention in educational and clinical settings," the researchers conclude.

It's not yet clear exactly how or why delayed exercise has this effect on memory. However, earlier studies of laboratory animals suggest that naturally occurring chemical compounds in the body known as catecholamines, including dopamine and norepinephrine, can improve memory consolidation, the researchers say. One way to boost catecholamines is through physical exercise.

Fernández says they will now use a similar experimental setup to study the timing and molecular underpinnings of exercise and its influence on learning and memory in more detail.
Science Daily/SOURCE :https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/06/160616140717.htm

English football performance impaired by mental fatigue

Professional footballers and their coaches often complain about the mental fatigue induced by the stress of frequent matches

June 16, 2016

Science Daily/University of Kent
Research has demonstrated for the first time that mental fatigue can have a negative impact on football performance by reducing running, passing, and shooting ability.

Now research from the University of Kent has demonstrated for the first time that mental fatigue can have a negative impact on football performance by reducing running, passing, and shooting ability.

Professor Samuele Marcora of Kent's School of Sport and Exercise Sciences worked with researchers from the University of Technology, Sydney, Australia, and Ghent University in Belgium on the study published in the journal Medicine & Science in Sport & Exercise.

This research consisted of two separate studies. In both studies, mental fatigue was induced experimentally by asking footballers to perform a mentally demanding computerised task for 30 minutes. In study 1, the physical performance of 12 footballers was assessed by measuring how far they run in a shuttle running test. In study 2, the technical performance of 14 footballers was measured using validated passing and shooting tests.

Footballers in study 1 perceived running to be harder when mentally fatigued despite similar heart rate, and ran significantly less compared to the control condition (no mental fatigue). In study 2, footballers made significantly more passing mistakes in the mental fatigue condition. Mental fatigue also impaired shot speed and shot accuracy.

The authors concluded that strategies to minimize mental fatigue should be developed and implemented in order to optimize the performance of football players during stressful competitions like EURO 2016.

Science Daily/SOURCE :https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/06/160616105920.htm