How obesity makes memory go bad

January 26, 2016
Science Daily/University of Alabama at Birmingham
Obesity is associated with epigenetic changes that dysregulate memory-associated genes, and a particular enzyme in brain neurons of the hippocampus appears to be a link between chronic obesity and cognitive decline.

They have found that epigenetic changes dysregulate memory-associated genes, and a particular enzyme in brain neurons of the hippocampus appears to be a link between chronic obesity and cognitive decline. Their work is published in the Jan. 27 issue of Journal of Neuroscience.

Obesity plagues developed nations, and among the numerous negative health outcomes associated with obesity is a memory impairment that is seen in middle-aged and older obese people. The cause of this decline? Experiments with obese rodents have given a clue: altered gene expression in the hippocampus area of the brain. Until now, the reasons gene expression was changed, as well as the mechanism by which obesity leads to pathogenic memory impairment, have not been known.

There was one suspect: epigenetic dysregulation in neurons of the hippocampus. Foundational experiments over the past decade have linked the creation of long-term memories to changes in DNA methylation and hydroxymethylation -- changes caused by epigenetic mechanisms that sit above the level of the genes.

Such lasting molecular changes to DNA appear to play an important role in promoting or suppressing memory formation through their ability to increase or reduce the expression of genes that help brain neurons create new synaptic connections.

UAB researchers have now shown that epigenetic changes are indeed associated with changes in the expression of memory-associated genes within the hippocampus of obese mice, and these epigenetic changes correlate with diminished object location spatial memory in the obese mice. The UAB researchers have also implicated reduced amounts of one particular memory-associated gene product -- SIRT1 -- as the principal pathogenic cause of obesity-induced memory impairment. The hippocampus subregion of the brain is important for consolidation of long-term memory.

Corresponding author J. David Sweatt, Ph.D., first author Frankie D. Heyward, Ph.D., and colleagues in the UAB Department of Neurobiology, Evelyn F. McKnight Brain Institute, write that these data "provide the first evidence that high-fat-diet-induced obesity leads to the time-dependent development of aberrant epigenetic modifications within the hippocampus, as well as corresponding reduction in the expression of various memory-related genes."

Sweatt noted, "We feel this is a very exciting finding that identifies a new linkage between diet, epigenetics and cognitive function, especially in light of the burgeoning obesity epidemic in the U.S. and elsewhere."

This work, they write, "offers a novel working model that may serve as a conceptual basis for the development of therapeutic interventions for obesity-induced memory impairment."

In details about the cause of altered gene expression, the UAB researchers found that:

• Mice with diet-induced obesity at 20 weeks had impaired performance in object location memory tests, and their hippocampus had impaired synaptic plasticity, as measured by long-term potentiation.

• Four memory-associated genes -- Ppargc1a, Ppp1cb, Reln and Sirt1 -- showed significantly decreased gene expression at 23 weeks of diet-induced obesity, as has been seen before, and the latter three had significantly increased DNA methylation in their gene promoter regions. Increased methylation is known to decrease gene expression. Furthermore, the Sirt1 promoter region also had significantly decreased DNA hydroxymethylation. Gene expression increases or decreases as DNA hydroxymethylation increases or decreases.

• Obesity-induced memory impairment develops over time. At just 13 weeks of diet-induced obesity, seven weeks earlier than the experiments above, mice did not have significant object location memory impairment, and at 16 weeks of diet-induced obesity, also seven weeks earlier than above, none of the genes showed significant increases in DNA methylation. Only one gene at 16 weeks -- Ppargc1a -- showed significant decreases in gene expression and DNA hydroxymethylation.

To probe the mechanism by which obesity leads to pathogenic memory impairment, the UAB researchers focused on the gene Sirt1, which makes an enzyme that is active in the neuron during energy expenditure and fat mobilization. This enzyme appears to be depleted and dysfunctional in obesity, and the deletion of the Sirt1 gene in the brain shortly after birth is known to impair memory and the ability to form new neural synapses. These roles for the SIRT1 gene product -- in both high-fat-diet-induced molecular pathology and in memory impairment -- suggest that it might be a link between chronic obesity and cognitive decline.

Heyward, Sweatt and colleagues found that the hippocampus of obese mice had significantly diminished protein expression of SIRT1, and a substrate of the enzyme, acetlylated-p53, was significantly increased, suggesting reduced enzymatic activity. Also, a targeted deletion of Sirt1 in the forebrain region that includes the hippocampus at age 8-12 weeks showed decreased Sirt1 mRNA and protein in the hippocampus, and these mice showed impaired object-location memory when tested two weeks later.

Furthermore, chemical activation of SIRT1 in diet-induced obese mice by feeding them resveratrol showed decreased levels of acetylated-p53, suggesting increased SIRT1 enzymatic activity, and the resveratrol-fed obese mice had a normal object-location memory, as compared with the control obese mice. The resveratrol-fed obese mice did not show an enhanced memory compared with normal mice. This suggests that resveratrol preserved their hippocampus-dependent spatial memory and SIRT1 function in the hippocampus.

Besides Heyward and Sweatt, co-authors of the paper, "Obesity weighs down memory through a mechanism involving the neuroepigenetic dysregulation of Sirt1," are Daniel Gilliam, Mark Coleman, Cristin Gavin, Ph.D., Jing Wang, Ph.D., Garrett Kaas, Ph.D., Richard Trieu, John Lewis and Jerome Moulden, all of the UAB Department of Neurobiology.

Heyward is now a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard Medical School, the Broad Institute and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. While at UAB, Heyward was supported by a UNCF/Merck Graduate Science Research Dissertation Fellowship that helps train and develop African-American biomedical scientists.

About 10 years ago, Sweatt's lab made the seminal discovery that everyday experiences tap into epigenetic mechanisms in subregions of the brain, and the resulting epigenetic changes in DNA are critically important for long-term memory formation and the stable storage of long-term memory. The 2007 Neuron paper "Covalent modification of DNA regulates memory formation," by Courtney Miller, Ph.D., and Sweatt, was the first to show that active regulation of the chemical structure of DNA is involved in learning and experience-driven changes in the brain.

Obesity and cognitive decline

Evidence that suggests a link between the two includes:

• People ages 40-45 who were obese had a 74 percent increased risk of dementia 21 years later, and those who were overweight had a 35 percent greater risk. This study cohort had 10,276 men and women. Whitmer, RA, et al., BMJ 2005.

• A study of 2,223 healthy workers found that a higher body-mass index was associated with lower cognitive scores, after adjustment for age, sex, educational level, blood pressure, diabetes and other co-variables. Also, a higher BMI at baseline was associated with higher cognitive decline at a follow-up five years later. Cournot, M., et al., Neurology 2006.

• Metabolic syndrome in 73 people with an average age of 60 was associated with significant reductions in recall and overall intellectual functioning, compared with age- and education-matched controls. Hassenstab, J.J., et al., Dementia and Geriatric Cognitive Disorders 2010.

• A study of 8,534 twin individuals who were 65 or older showed that being overweight or obese at mid-life, with an average age of 43, was related to later dementia at the older age. Xu, W.L., et al., Neurology 2011.
Science Daily/SOURCE :http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/01/160126175513.htm

Being overweight linked to poorer memory

February 26, 2016
Science Daily/University of Cambridge
Overweight young adults may have poorer episodic memory -- the ability to recall past events -- than their peers, suggests new research, adding to increasing evidence of a link between memory and overeating. Researchers found an association between high body mass index and poorer performance on a test of episodic memory.

In a preliminary study published in The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, researchers from the Department of Psychology at Cambridge found an association between high body mass index (BMI) and poorer performance on a test of episodic memory.

Although only a small study, its results support existing findings that excess bodyweight may be associated with changes to the structure and function of the brain and its ability to perform certain cognitive tasks optimally. In particular, obesity has been linked with dysfunction of the hippocampus, an area of the brain involved in memory and learning, and of the frontal lobe, the part of the brain involved in decision making, problem solving and emotions, suggesting that it might also affect memory; however, evidence for memory impairment in obesity is currently limited.

Around 60% of UK adults are overweight or obese: this number is predicted to rise to approximately 70% by 2034. Obesity increases the risk of physical health problems, such as diabetes and heart disease, as well as psychological health problems, such as depression and anxiety.

"Understanding what drives our consumption and how we instinctively regulate our eating behaviour is becoming more and more important given the rise of obesity in society," says Dr Lucy Cheke. "We know that to some extent hunger and satiety are driven by the balance of hormones in our bodies and brains, but psychological factors also play an important role -- we tend to eat more when distracted by television or working, and perhaps to 'comfort eat' when we are sad, for example.

"Increasingly, we're beginning to see that memory -- especially episodic memory, the kind where you mentally relive a past event -- is also important. How vividly we remember a recent meal, for example today's lunch, can make a difference to how hungry we feel and how much we are likely to reach out for that tasty chocolate bar later on."

The researchers tested 50 participants aged 18-35, with body mass indexes (BMIs) ranging from 18 through to 51 -- a BMI of 18-25 is considered healthy, 25-30 overweight, and over 30 obese. The participants took part in a memory test known as the 'Treasure-Hunt Task', where they were asked to hide items around complex scenes (for example, a desert with palm trees) across two 'days'. They were then asked to remember which items they had hidden, where they had hidden them, and when they were hidden. Overall, the team found an association between higher BMI and poorer performance on the tasks.

The researchers say that the results could suggest that the structural and functional changes in the brain previously found in those with higher BMI may be accompanied by a reduced ability to form and/or retrieve episodic memories. As the effect was shown in young adults, it adds to growing evidence that the cognitive impairments that accompany obesity may be present early in adult life.

This was a small, preliminary study and so the researchers caution that further research will be necessary to establish whether the results of this study can be generalised to overweight individuals in general, and to episodic memory in everyday life rather than in experimental conditions.

"We're not saying that overweight people are necessarily more forgetful," cautions Dr Cheke, "but if these results are generalizable to memory in everyday life, then it could be that overweight people are less able to vividly relive details of past events -- such as their past meals. Research on the role of memory in eating suggests that this might impair their ability to use memory to help regulate consumption.

"In other words, it is possible that becoming overweight may make it harder to keep track of what and how much you have eaten, potentially making you more likely to overeat."

Dr Cheke believes that this work is an important step in understanding the role of psychological factors in obesity. "The possibility that there may be episodic memory deficits in overweight individuals is of concern, especially given the growing evidence that episodic memory may have a considerable influence on feeding behaviour and appetite regulation," she says.

Co-author Dr Jon Simons adds: "By recognising and addressing these psychological factors head-on, not only can we come to understand obesity better, but we may enable the creation of interventions that can make a real difference to health and wellbeing."
Science Daily/SOURCE :https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/02/160226133801.htm

Sleep loss boosts hunger, unhealthy food choices

February 29, 2016
Science Daily/University of Chicago Medical Center
Cutting back on sleep boosts levels of a chemical signal that can enhance the pleasure of eating snack foods and increase caloric intake, report investigators. It may be part of a mechanism that encourages overeating, leading to weight gain, they say.

Skimping on sleep has long been associated with overeating, poor food choices and weight gain. Now a new study shows how sleep loss initiates this process, amplifying and extending blood levels of a chemical signal that enhances the joy of eating, particularly the guilty pleasures gained from sweet or salty, high-fat snack foods.

The findings were published Feb. 29, 2016, in the journal SLEEP.

Sleep-deprived participants in this study -- all young, healthy volunteers -- were unable to resist what the researchers called "highly palatable, rewarding snacks," meaning cookies, candy and chips, even though they had consumed a meal that supplied 90 percent of their daily caloric needs two hours before. The effects of sleep loss on appetite were most powerful in the late afternoon and early evening, times when snacking has been linked to weight gain.

"We found that sleep restriction boosts a signal that may increase the hedonic aspect of food intake, the pleasure and satisfaction gained from eating," said Erin Hanlon, PhD, a research associate in endocrinology, diabetes and metabolism at the University of Chicago. "Sleep restriction seems to augment the endocannabinoid system, the same system targeted by the active ingredient of marijuana, to enhance the desire for food intake."

This chemical signal is the endocannabinoid 2-arachidonoylglycerol (2-AG). Blood levels of 2-AG are typically low overnight. They slowly rise during the day, peaking in the early afternoon.

When the study subjects were sleep-deprived, however, endocannabinoid levels rose higher and remained elevated through the evening, beyond the typical 12:30 p.m. peak. During that period, sleep-restricted study subjects reported higher scores for hunger and stronger desire to eat. When given access to snacks, they ate nearly twice as much fat as when they had slept for eight hours.

This increase in circulating endocannabinoid levels, the authors note, "could be a mechanism by which recurrent sleep restriction results in excessive food intake, particularly in the form of snacks, despite minimal increases in energy need."

"The energy costs of staying awake a few extra hours seem to be modest," explained Hanlon. "One study has reported that each added hour of wakefulness uses about 17 extra calories. That adds up to about 70 calories for the four hours of lost sleep. But, given the opportunity, the subjects in this study more than made up for it by bingeing on snacks, taking in more than 300 extra calories. Over time, that can cause significant weight gain."

Obesity and sleep restriction have become extremely common. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about a third of Americans get less than seven hours of sleep a night and more than a third of adults in the United States are obese. A 2013 Gallup poll found that U.S. adults sleep an average of 6.8 hours per night. Forty percent of adults report sleeping six hours or less.

Hanlon and colleagues designed the study to help understand how the endocannabinoid system connected short sleep with weight gain. Her team recruited 14 healthy men and women in their 20s as volunteers. The researchers monitored the subjects' hunger and eating habits in two situations: one four-day stay in the University's Clinical Research Center during which they spent 8.5 hours in bed each night (averaging 7.5 hours of sleep), and another four-day stay when they spent only 4.5 hours in bed (4.2 hours asleep).

The participants ate identical meals three times a day, at 9 a.m., 2 p.m., and 7 p.m. Researchers measured levels of the hormone ghrelin, which boosts appetite, and leptin, which signals fullness, in their blood. Previous studies have linked high ghrelin and low leptin levels to reduced sleep time and increased appetite.

For the first time, however, they also measured blood levels of endocannabinoids. After a normal night's sleep, 2-AG levels were low in the morning. They peaked in the early afternoon, soon after lunchtime, then decreased.

After restricted sleep, however, 2-AG levels rose to levels about 33 percent higher than those seen after normal sleep. They also peaked about 90 minutes later, at 2 p.m., and remained elevated until about 9 p.m.

After the period of restricted sleep, study subjects reported a significant increase in hunger levels. This was prominent soon after their second meal of the day, the time when 2-AG levels were highest. Sleep deprived study subjects expressed greater desire to eat. When asked, they estimated that they could eat much more than they predicted the day after a full night's sleep.

After the fourth night of restricted sleep, subjects were offered an array of snack foods. Despite having eaten a large meal less than two hours before being offered snacks, subjects in the restricted sleep phase of the study had trouble limiting their snack consumption. They chose foods that provided 50 percent more calories, including twice the amount of fat, as when they were completing the normal sleep phase.

These results support "the novel insight that sleep restriction leads not only to increased caloric intake," but also to "changes in the hedonic aspects of food consumption," wrote Frank Scheer, PhD, of the Medical Chronobiology Program at Harvard University's Brigham and Women's Hospital, in a commentary. The increase in 2-AG following sleep restriction, he added, "may be part of the mechanism by which people overeat."

Despite the study's limitations -- small size, short duration, limited sampling frequency -- the findings are clearly significant and consistent with the epidemiologic evidence, the authors note. They are also "relevant to normal life conditions."

This tells us that "if you have a Snickers bar, and you've had enough sleep, you can control your natural response," Hanlon explained. "But if you're sleep deprived, your hedonic drive for certain foods gets stronger, and your ability to resist them may be impaired. So you are more likely to eat it. Do that again and again, and you pack on the pounds."
Science Daily/SOURCE :https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/02/160229221045.htm

Can mindful eating help lower risk of type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease?

New research suggests mindfulness could improve glucose levels, heart health

March 9, 2016
Science Daily/Wiley
Given the high stress levels, extended periods of screen time and regular social outings many Americans experience day-to-day in environments where high-calorie foods are readily available, it can be easy to fall into the habit of mindless eating -- where we're too distracted to pay attention to how much, what and why we're eating.

Given the high stress levels, extended periods of screen time and regular social outings many Americans experience day-to-day in environments where high-calorie foods are readily available, it can be easy to fall into the habit of mindless eating -- where we're too distracted to pay attention to how much, what and why we're eating. Research suggests that practicing mindfulness -- or taking the time to bring awareness to present-moment experiences with an open attitude of curiosity and non-judgment -- can be effective in allowing us to make more thoughtful food choices and recognize when we are hungry, satisfied or full. The latest research in this area led by Jennifer Daubenmier, PhD, Assistant Professor at the Osher Center for Integrative Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, suggests that the impact of mindful eating could be even greater.

"Whether eating snacks while watching the game or grazing by the dessert tray at the office event, we often find ourselves overeating not because we're hungry, but because the food looks delicious, we're distracted, or we wish to soothe away unpleasant feelings," explains Dr. Daubenmier. "Our study suggests that mindful eating can go further than making healthy food choices and recognizing when we're full; it could improve glucose levels and heart health to a greater extent than behavioral weight-loss programs that do not teach mindful eating."

Dr. Daubenmier and her colleagues evaluated the effects of a mindfulness-based weight-loss intervention on adults with obesity, and although no statistically significant differences in weight loss were found compared to the control group, the mindfulness intervention showed greater improvements in certain cardiometabolic outcomes tied to Type 2 Diabetes and cardiovascular disease up to one year after the intervention ended. The research is published in the March issue of Obesity, the scientific journal of The Obesity Society.

To conduct the study, the researchers randomized nearly 200 adults with obesity to a mindfulness intervention or an active attention control group over a five-and-a-half month period, with a subsequent one-year follow up. Both groups were given identical diet and exercise guidelines. Participants in the mindfulness intervention received added training on mindfulness meditation and how to practice awareness of their thoughts, feelings, and bodily sensations during eating and exercise. At 18 months after the start of the intervention, participants in the mindfulness program lost an estimated 4.3% of body weight on average, which was 3.7 pounds more than those in the control group but not enough to reach statistical significance. Nevertheless, the authors found that the mindfulness program had more positive effects on fasting blood glucose at 18 months and a ratio of triglycerides to HDL-cholesterol levels at 12 months (a difference of -4.1 mg/dL and -0.57, respectively), both of which are linked to Type 2 Diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

"Most behavioral weight-loss interventions do not place as much emphasis on managing mindless eating, and previous studies on the topic have not included attention controls or long term follow-up to better study the contribution of mindfulness components over time," said Deborah Tate, PhD, spokesperson for The Obesity Society. "This research points to some of the potential benefits of enhancing the mindfulness components of behavioral weight loss."
Science Daily/SOURCE :https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/03/160309082810.htm

Losing weight with a high-protein diet can help adults sleep better

March 24, 2016
Science Daily/Purdue University
Overweight and obese adults who are losing weight with a high-protein diet are more likely to sleep better, according to new research. The study also has studied how dietary protein quantity, sources and patterns affect appetite, body weight and body composition.

"Most research looks at the effects of sleep on diet and weight control, and our research flipped that question to ask what are the effects of weight loss and diet -- specifically the amount of protein -- on sleep," said Wayne Campbell, a professor of nutrition science. "We found that while consuming a lower calorie diet with a higher amount of protein, sleep quality improves for middle-age adults. This sleep quality is better compared to those who lost the same amount of weight while consuming a normal amount of protein."

These findings are published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, which is affiliated with the American Society for Nutrition. The research was funded by Beef Checkoff, National Pork Board, National Dairy Council, Purdue Ingestive Behavior Research Center and National Institutes of Health.

A pilot study found that in 14 participants, consuming more dietary protein resulted in better sleep after four weeks of weight loss. Then, in the main study, 44 overweight or obese participants were included to consume either a normal-protein or a higher-protein weight loss diet. After three weeks of adapting to the diet, the groups consumed either 0.8 or 1.5 grams of protein for each kg of body weight daily for 16 weeks. The participants completed a survey to rate the quality of their sleep every month throughout the study. Those who consumed more protein while losing weight reported an improvement in sleep quality after three and four months of dietary intervention.

A dietitian designed a diet that met each study participant's daily energy need and 750 calories in fats and carbohydrates were trimmed per day while maintaining the protein amount based on whether they were in the higher- or normal-protein group. The sources of protein used in the two studies varied from beef, pork, soy, legumes and milk protein.

"Short sleep duration and compromised sleep quality frequently lead to metabolic and cardiovascular diseases and premature death," said Jing Zhou, a doctoral student in nutrition science and the study's first author. "Given the high prevalence of sleep problems it's important to know how changes to diet and lifestyle can help improve sleep."

Campbell's lab also has studied how dietary protein quantity, sources and patterns affect appetite, body weight and body composition.

"This research adds sleep quality to the growing list of positive outcomes of higher-protein intake while losing weight, and those other outcomes include promoting body fat loss, retention of lean body mass and improvements in blood pressure," Campbell said. "Sleep is recognized as a very important modifier of a person's health, and our research is the first to address the question of how a sustained dietary pattern influences sleep. We've showed an improvement in subjective sleep quality after higher dietary protein intake during weight loss, which is intriguing and also emphasizes the need for more research with objective measurements of sleep to confirm our results."

The other co-authors are Jung Eun Kim, a postdoctoral research associate in nutrition science; Cheryl Armstrong, a research associate in nutrition science; and Ningning Chen, a graduate student in statistics.

Campbell, whose expertise and research focuses on understanding how protein nutrition and exercise influence adults' health as they age, served as a member of the 2015 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee, which helped provide the scientific foundation for the nation's 2015-2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans.
Science Daily/SOURCE :https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/03/160324133028.htm

In Addiction, Meditation Is Helpful When Coupled With Drug, Cognitive Therapies

Dec. 19, 2013 — 
Science Daily/University of Massachusetts at Amherst
Using a computational model of addiction, a literature review and an in silico experiment, theoretical computer scientist Yariv Levy and colleagues suggest in a new paper this week that rehabilitation strategies coupling meditation-like practices with drug and behavior therapies are more helpful than drug-plus-talk therapy alone when helping people overcome addiction.

Levy says, “Our higher-level conclusion is that a treatment based on meditation-like techniques can be helpful as a supplement to help someone get out of addiction. We give scientific and mathematical arguments for this.”

His theoretical research approach using virtual subjects is rather unusual, Levy acknowledges, but it’s now gaining significant trust because it offers some strengths. In particular, because it relies on the increasing amount of available data and knowledge, in silico research offers quick preliminary tests of “rationally supported speculations,” he says, before full-scale experiments are launched with human patients or animals.

“I am a theoretician, so I use other peoples’ studies and try to see how they work together and how experiments fit in,” Levy points out. “This work follows a knowledge repository (KR) model, where the knowledge comes from other peoples’ theories and experiments. By consolidating them, we propose some hypotheses that we hope will subsequently be tested by experts in the field.” The KR model used in his current work incorporates pharmacokinetic, pharmacodynamic, neuropsychological, cognitive and behavioral components, the researcher notes.

Among other outcomes, Levy says, “We try to describe what could be the cognitive effect of using a nicotine patch. What does it imply at the cognitive level, when people are willing to use one? Others have showed changes in prefrontal cortex where decisions are made, in executive function, as drug use progresses. Also, we did a small simulation of a couple of weeks with a patch, then tried to simulate the cognitive effect of using meditation for a few weeks.”
Science Daily/SOURCE :http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/12/131219154547.htm

Meditation for Anxiety, Depression?

Jan. 6, 2014 — 
Science Daily/Johns Hopkins Medicine
Some 30 minutes of meditation daily may improve symptoms of anxiety and depression, a new Johns Hopkins analysis of previously published research suggests.

"A lot of people use meditation, but it's not a practice considered part of mainstream medical therapy for anything," says Madhav Goyal, M.D., M.P.H., an assistant professor in the Division of General Internal Medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and leader of a study published online Jan. 6 in JAMA Internal Medicine. "But in our study, meditation appeared to provide as much relief from some anxiety and depression symptoms as what other studies have found from antidepressants." These patients did not typically have full-blown anxiety or depression.

"A lot of people have this idea that meditation means sitting down and doing nothing," Goyal says. "But that's not true. Meditation is an active training of the mind to increase awareness, and different meditation programs approach this in different ways."

Mindfulness meditation, the type that showed the most promise, is typically practiced for 30 to 40 minutes a day. It emphasizes acceptance of feelings and thoughts without judgment and relaxation of body and mind.
Science Daily/SOURCE :http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/01/140106190050.htm

Two behavioral interventions help cancer patients struggling with sleep issues

January 10, 2014
Science Daily/Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania
Cancer patients who are struggling with sleep troubles, due in part to pain or side effects of treatment, can count on two behavioral interventions for relief – cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) and mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR), researchers report in a new study published. While CBT-I is the gold standard of care, MBSR is an additional treatment approach that can also help improve sleep for cancer patients, the study found.

"Insomnia and disturbed sleep are significant problems that can affect approximately half of all cancer patients," said lead study author Sheila Garland, PhD, a Clinical Psychology Post-Doctoral Fellow at Penn's Abramson Cancer Center in Integrative Oncology and Behavioral Sleep Medicine. "If not properly addressed, sleep disturbances can negatively influence therapeutic and supportive care measures for these patients, so it's critical that clinicians can offer patients reliable, effective, and tailored interventions."

When assessed three months after completing an eight-week treatment protocol, the researchers found that both CBT-I and MBSR reduced insomnia severity across each group. However, the effects in the CBT-I group occurred more rapidly whereas the MBSR group tended to show more gradual improvement over time. Both groups significantly increased their total sleep time and reduced the amount of time it took them to fall asleep or return to sleep during the night. Both groups also experienced improvements in mood and stress-related symptoms following the interventions.

"That MBSR can produce similar improvements to CBT-I and that both groups can effectively reduce stress and mood disturbance expands the available treatment options for insomnia in cancer patients," said Dr. Garland. "This study suggests that we should not apply a 'one size fits all model' to the treatment of insomnia and emphasizes the need to individualize treatment based on patient characteristics and preferences."
Science Daily/SOURCE :http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/01/140110130952.htm

Mindfulness helps undergraduates stay on track

January 14, 2014
Science Daily/University of Miami
A form of mental training called mindfulness training, specifically designed for undergraduate students, shows promise as a tool to train attention and improve learning during the academic semester, according to a new study.

The study is the first to examine the incidence of mind wandering and the impact of mindfulness training, at different time points in the academic calendar. The findings are published in the journal Frontiers in Human Neuroscience.

"This work was the first to integrate mindfulness training into the academic semester by embedding training in students' course schedules, hosting training in the academic building to best accommodate their schedules, and providing a supervised space for mindfulness exercises," says Amishi Jha, associate professor in the Department of Psychology in the College of Arts and Sciences, and principal investigator of the study.

The results indicate that the groups did not differ at the start of the semester. However, by the end of the training interval, the control group showed diminished attention and reported increased mind wandering, while those who participated in the program showed significant improvements in attention and no increase in reported mind wandering.

The study is titled "Taming a Wandering Attention: Short-form Mindfulness Training in Student Cohorts." Co-authors are Alexandra B. Morrison, postdoctoral associate in psychology; Merissa Goolsarran, research associate in psychology; and Scott L. Rogers, director of the Mindfulness in Law Program at UM School of Law.
Science Daily/SOURCE :http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/01/140114103042.htm

Beating pain and painkillers: New mental intervention treatment

February 4, 2014
Science Daily/University of Utah
With nearly one-third of Americans suffering from chronic pain, prescription opioid painkillers have become the leading form of treatment for this debilitating condition. Unfortunately, misuse of prescription opioids can lead to serious side effects -- including death by overdose. A new treatment has shown to not only lower pain but also decrease prescription opioid misuse among chronic pain patients.

Results of a study by Garland published online Feb. 3 in the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, showed that the new treatment led to a 63 percent reduction in opioid misuse, compared to a 32 percent reduction among participants of a conventional support group. Additionally, participants in the new treatment group experienced a 22 percent reduction in pain-related impairment, which lasted for three months after the end of treatment.

The new intervention, called Mindfulness-Oriented Recovery Enhancement, or MORE, is designed to train people to respond differently to pain, stress and opioid-related cues.

MORE targets the underlying processes involved in chronic pain and opioid misuse by combining three therapeutic components: mindfulness training, reappraisal and savoring.

•    Mindfulness involves training the mind to increase awareness, gain control over one's attention and regulate automatic habits.

•    Reappraisal is the process of reframing the meaning of a stressful or adverse event in such a way as to see it as purposeful or growth promoting.

•    Savoring is the process of learning to focus attention on positive events to increase one's sensitivity to naturally rewarding experiences, such as enjoying a beautiful nature scene or experiencing a sense of connection with a loved one.

"People who are in chronic pain need relief, and opioids are medically appropriate for many individuals," Garland said. "However, a new option is needed because existing treatments may not adequately alleviate pain while avoiding the problems that stem from chronic opioid use."

MORE is currently being tested in a pilot brain imaging trial as a smoking cessation treatment, and there are plans to test the intervention with people suffering from mental health problems who also have alcohol addiction. Further testing on active-duty soldiers with chronic pain and a larger trial among civilians is planned. If studies continue to demonstrate positive outcomes, MORE could be prescribed by doctors as an adjunct to traditional pain management services.
Science Daily/SOURCE :http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/02/140204123450.htm

Mindfulness meditation may improve decision-making

February 12, 2014
Science Daily/Association for Psychological Science
New findings suggest that mindfulness meditation, which cultivates awareness of the present moment and clears the mind of other thoughts, may help people make smarter choices.

People have trouble cutting their losses: They hold on to losing stocks too long, they stay in bad relationships, and they continue to eat large restaurant meals even when they're full. This behavior, often described as "throwing good money after bad," is driven by what behavioral scientists call the "sunk-cost bias."

"Most people have trouble admitting they were wrong when their initial decisions lead to undesirable outcomes," says researcher Andrew Hafenbrack, lead author on the new research and doctoral candidate at INSEAD. "They don't want to feel wasteful or that their initial investment was a loss. Ironically, this kind of thinking often causes people to waste or lose more resources in an attempt to regain their initial investment or try to 'break even.'"

Across a series of studies, Hafenbrack and co-authors found that mindfulness meditation, which cultivates awareness of the present moment and clears the mind of other thoughts, may help to counteract this deep-rooted bias.

"We found that a brief period of mindfulness meditation can encourage people to make more rational decisions by considering the information available in the present moment, while ignoring some of the other concerns that typically exacerbate the 'sunk cost bias,'" explains Hafenbrack.
Science Daily/SOURCE :http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/02/140212112745.htm

Positive health technique for stressed nurses found

March 3, 2014
Science Daily/Taylor & Francis
Within the health care industry and beyond, daily exposure to stress can lead to negative consequences for employees both on and off the job – from apathy and burnout to physical illness or mental impairments. New research suggests the implementation of a Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program can reduce employee stress and burnout. In the study, a sample of 41 female nurses from a large healthcare company participated in an 8 week scheduled course of guided instruction in mindfulness meditation practices, facilitated group discussion, stretching and yoga, work and home assignments, and individually tailored instruction and support. Results showed statistical improvement in both overall health and wellness of the nurses at each point of intervention.

"Mindfulness is defined as a self-directed practice for relaxing the body and calming the mind through focusing on present-moment awareness."

"This is a universal practice and can be utilized by a variety of clinical and non-clinical populations as well as by a variety of professions," according to lead researcher Dawn Bazarko, Senior Vice President of the Center for Nursing Advancement at UnitedHealth Group. "Health care workers present as a primary target audience due to the nature of their work and the impact that mindfulness can have on patient care and the creation of safer, higher-quality care environments. However, the practice is ideal for anyone from front line call center agents to busy executives."
Science Daily/SOURCE :http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/03/140303103746.htm

Integrating meditation with science

April 2, 2014
Science Daily/Brown University
Mindfulness meditation produces personal experiences that are not readily interpretable by scientists who want to study its psychiatric benefits in the brain. Researchers have now been able to integrate mindfulness experience with hard neuroscience data to advance more rigorous study.

Mindfulness is always personal and often spiritual, but the meditation experience does not have to be subjective. Advances in methodology are allowing researchers to integrate mindfulness experiences with brain imaging and neural signal data to form testable hypotheses about the science -- and the reported mental health benefits -- of the practice.

"In the neuroscience of mindfulness and meditation, one of the problems that we've had is not understanding the practices from the inside out," said co-presenter Catherine Kerr, assistant professor (research) of family medicine and director of translational neuroscience in Brown's Contemplative Studies Initiative. "What we've really needed are better mechanisms for generating testable hypotheses -- clinically relevant and experience-relevant hypotheses."

Carefully coded data on experience -- "grounded theory methodology" -- supports the formulation and testing of hypotheses and a scientific investigation of mindfulness. Now researchers are gaining the tools to trace experiences described by meditators to specific activity in the brain.

"We're going to [discuss] how this is applicable as a general tool for the development of targeted mental health treatments," Santoyo said. "We can explore how certain experiences line up with certain patterns of brain activity. We know certain patterns of brain activity are associated with certain psychiatric disorders."

They found that when meditators of several different traditions reported feelings of "effortless doing" and "undistracted awareness" during their meditation, their PCC showed little activity, but when they reported that they felt distracted and had to work at mindfulness, their PCC was significantly more active. Given the chance to observe real-time feedback on their PCC activity, some meditators were even able to control the levels of activity there.
Science Daily/SOURCE :http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/04/140402105742.htm

Mindfulness-based meditation helps teenagers with cancer

March 13, 2014
Science Daily/Universite de Montreal
Mindfulness-based meditation could lessen some symptoms associated with cancer in teens, according to the results of a clinical trial intervention. Mindfulness-based meditation focuses on the present moment and the connection between the mind and body. Adolescents living with cancer face not only the physical symptoms of their condition, but also the anxiety and uncertainty related to the progression of the disease, the anticipation of physical and emotional pain related to illness and treatment, the significant changes implied in living with cancer, as well as the fear of recurrence after remission

Differences between both groups were not large enough for the researchers to impute observed benefits solely to the mindfulness component of the sessions. "The social support provided to the adolescents in the mindfulness group could possibly explain observed benefits on mood and sleep," Malboeuf-Hurtubise said. "Nonetheless, mindfulness-based interventions for teenagers with cancer appear as a promising option to lighten psychological inconveniences of living with cancer." The researchers intend to offer members of the control group an opportunity to undertake the meditation sessions
Science Daily/SOURCE :http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/03/140313212633.htm

Mindfulness: Think before you eat and make healthier choices

Science Daily/May 7, 2014
British Psychological Society (BPS)
Making individuals more aware of their eating behaviour (mindfulness) can lead to healthier choices and help prevent emotional eating. The link between food consumption and psychological wellbeing seems more complex than the direct relationship of hunger and eating, one of the researchers said.

This is the finding of a study by Ioanna Koptsi, an MSc student from the University of East London, to be presented at a poster session the British Psychological Society annual conference today, Thursday 8 May 2014, at the Birmingham International Convention Centre.

Ioanna Koptsi said: "The link between food consumption and psychological wellbeing seems more complex than the direct relationship of hunger and eating. This study focused on understanding the role mindfulness plays in general eating behavior and in individual's Body Mass Index (BMI)"

The results showed that when individuals were more aware of their eating behaviour, they tended to respond less to emotional cues, and seem more mindful, regarding both food consumption and maintenance of healthier BMI.

Ioanna explained: "Eating behaviour undoubtedly represents a challenge in modern life and both current and previous studies acknowledge the complexity of research on this topic. Emotional cues such as aggression, depression and anxiety can cause people to be less mindful of their eating habits.
Science Daily/SOURCE :http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/05/140507211636.htm

Mindfulness training for military could help them deal with stress

May 16, 2014
Science Daily/University of California - San Diego
Mindfulness training -- a combination of meditation and body awareness exercises -- can help U.S. Marine Corps personnel prepare for and recover from stressful combat situations. The study suggests that incorporating meditative practices into pre-deployment training might be a way to help the U.S. military reduce rising rates of stress-related health conditions, including PTSD, depression and anxiety, within its ranks.

The study, published in the May 16, 2014 online issue of the American Journal of Psychiatry, suggests that incorporating meditative practices into pre-deployment training might be a way to help the U.S. military reduce rising rates of stress-related health conditions, including PTSD, depression and anxiety, within its ranks.

"Mindfulness training won't make combat easier," said Martin Paulus, MD, professor of psychiatry and senior author. "But we think it can help Marines recover from stress and return to baseline functioning more quickly."

Drawing on the teachings of Zen Buddhism, scientists describe mindfulnes as a mental state characterized by "full attention to the present moment without elaboration, judgment or emotional reactivity." Mindfulness training, traditionally practiced through sitting meditation, attempts to cultivate this mental state by quieting the mind of extraneous thoughts.

In the study, Marine infantrymen in four platoons at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton took an eight-week course in mindfulness, tailored for individuals operating in highly stressful environments.

The course included classroom instruction on meditation and homework exercises, as well as training on interoception -- the ability to help the body regulate its overall physical equilibrium (homeostasis) by becoming aware of bodily sensations, such as tightness in the stomach, heart rate and tingling of the skin. "If you become aware of tightness in your stomach, your brain will automatically work to correct that tightness," Paulus explained.

Participating Marines, along with others who had not undergone mindfulness training, then spent a day in mock immersive combat at a 32,000-square-foot training facility staged to resemble a rural Middle Eastern village. During the day's exercises, Marines patrolled the village, met village leadership and responded to a highly realistic ambush.

The scientists found that the heart and breathing rates of those who had received mindfulness training returned to their normal, baseline levels faster than those who had not received the mindfulness training. Blood levels of a tell-tale neuropeptide suggested that the mindfulness-trained Marines experienced improved immune function, as well.

Subsequent magnetic resonance imaging scans revealed that the mindfulness-trained Marines had reduced activity patterns in regions of the brain responsible for integrating emotional reactivity, cognition and interoception. Lori Haase, a postdoctoral fellow in Paulus' lab and a co-author of the study, said similar brain activity patterns had been observed in high performance athletes and Navy seals. High-activity levels in these areas of the brain, she noted, are associated with anxiety and mood disorders. The scientists hypothesize that reduced brain activity in the anterior insula and anterior cingulate may be characteristic of elite performers in general.

"That we can re-regulate the activity in these areas with so little training is this study's most significant finding," Paulus said. "Mindfulness helps the body optimize its response to stress by helping the body interpret stressful events as bodily sensations. The brain adds less emotional affect to experiences and this helps with stress recovery."
:http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/05/140516092519.htm

Mindfulness intervention for people with diabetes, coronary heart disease

May 29, 2014
Science Daily/Taylor & Francis
Researchers examine how meditation and mindfulness affect people with diabetes mellitus and coronary heart disease. Mindfulness-based interventions have been hailed as effective in targeting negative cognitions such as worry and thought suppression, but their ability to improve long-term conditions (LTCs) has remained unexamined. Mindfulness, as defined by the study, is a "heightened sense of present centered self-awareness that fosters non-judgmental observations of emotions, bodily states, and other sensations in the attentional field, leading to mental well being."

On the importance of mindfulness in improving the health of people with long term conditions, lead author Dr. Peter Coventry has said, "mindfulness based interventions appear to be an acceptable and effective way for some people with long term conditions to regain a sense of balance and self-determination in their lives by allowing them to accept their limitations and focus on what is achievable in the present rather than worrying about the past or what they might not be able to do in the future. In this sense it is a means to help people self-manage their illness and it has the potential to offer people long term benefits if practiced regularly and built into their daily routines."

Meditation and mindfulness skills led to improved sleep, greater relaxation, and more-accepting approaches to illness and illness experience. At the end of the six-week meditation course, worry and thought suppression were significantly reduced. Long term effects were not studied. Overall, however, the data suggest that meditation and mindfulness may have been particularly useful during the early phase of LTCs or immediately after an acute event, when participants' perceived that anxiety and worry were more potent health threats. There is scope to investigate optimal timing of meditation and mindfulness training for people with long term conditions.
Science Daily/SOURCE :http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/05/140529142313.htm

Just 25 minutes of mindfulness meditation alleviates stress

July 2, 2014
Science Daily/Carnegie Mellon University
Mindfulness meditation has become an increasingly popular way for people to improve their mental and physical health, yet most research supporting its benefits has focused on lengthy, weeks-long training programs. New research is the first to show that brief mindfulness meditation practice -- 25 minutes for three consecutive days -- alleviates psychological stress. The study investigates how mindfulness meditation affects people's ability to be resilient under stress.

The participants who received the brief mindfulness meditation training reported reduced stress perceptions to the speech and math tasks, indicating that the mindfulness meditation fostered psychological stress resilience. More interestingly, on the biological side, the mindfulness mediation participants showed greater cortisol reactivity.

"When you initially learn mindfulness mediation practices, you have to cognitively work at it -- especially during a stressful task," said Creswell. "And, these active cognitive efforts may result in the task feeling less stressful, but they may also have physiological costs with higher cortisol production."

Creswell's group is now testing the possibility that mindfulness can become more automatic and easy to use with long-term mindfulness meditation training, which may result in reduced cortisol reactivity.
Science Daily/SOURCE :http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/07/140702122535.htm

Non-diet approach to weight management more effective in worksite wellness programs

July 7, 2014
Science Daily/University of Missouri-Columbia
Researchers have found that 'Eat for Life,' a new wellness approach that focuses on mindfulness and intuitive eating as a lifestyle, is more effective than traditional weight-loss programs in improving individuals' views of their bodies and decreasing problematic eating behaviors

Problematic eating behaviors and dissatisfaction with one's body are familiar struggles among women. To combat those behaviors, which have led to higher healthcare premiums and medical trends, employers have offered worksite wellness programs to employees and their families. However, the vast majority of wellness programs limit their approach to promoting diets, which may result in participants regaining the majority of their weight once the programs end. 

Now, researchers at the University of Missouri have found that "Eat for Life," a new wellness approach that focuses on mindfulness and intuitive eating as a lifestyle, is more effective than traditional weight-loss programs in improving individuals' views of their bodies and decreasing problematic eating behaviors.

"Intuitive eating and mindfulness are two relatively new intervention approaches that have been effective in supporting healthy eating and body image," Rossy said. "Eat for Life encourages individuals to become more engaged with their internal body signals and not the numbers on the scales."

Rossy found that women who participated in Eat for Life reported higher levels of body appreciation and intuitive eating and lower levels of problematic eating behaviors such as binging, purging and fasting, as compared to women who did not participate in the program. Eat for Life participants' weights ranged from normal to morbidly obese, and some women displayed eating disorder behaviors. At the end of the program, participants in the Eat for Life program were significantly more likely not to exhibit disordered eating. Mindfulness was a major factor in all of the positive outcomes, Rossy said.

"Eat for Life is not just for individuals with eating disorders," said Rossy. "This type of intervention program is for a variety of individuals who want to have more knowledge on how to be healthy and how to appreciate their bodies' value."
Science Daily/SOURCE :http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/07/140707134331.htm

Mothers of children with autism benefit from peer-led intervention

July 21, 2014
Science Daily/Vanderbilt University Medical Center
Peer-led interventions that target parental well-being can significantly reduce stress, depression and anxiety in mothers of children with disabilities, according to new findings. In a first-of-its-kind study, researchers examined two treatment programs in a large number of primary caregivers of a child with a disability. Participants in both groups experienced improvements in mental health, sleep and overall life satisfaction and showed less dysfunctional parent-child interactions.

"The well-being of this population is critically important because, compared to parents of typically developing children, parents of children with developmental disabilities experience substantially higher levels of stress, anxiety and depression, and as they age, physical and medical problems," said lead author Elisabeth Dykens, Ph.D., Annette Schaffer Eskind Professor and director of the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center for Research on Human Development and professor of Psychology and Human Development, Pediatrics and Psychiatry. "Add to this the high prevalence of developmental disabilities -- about one in five children -- and the fact that most adult children with intellectual disabilities remain at home with aging parents, we have a looming public health problem on our hands."

Nearly 250 mothers of children with autism or other disabilities were randomized into one of two programs: Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) and Positive Adult Development (PAD). The MBSR approach is more physical, emphasizing breathing exercises, deep belly breathing, meditation and gentle movement. The PAD approach is more cognitive and uses exercises such as practicing gratitude

"Our research and findings from other labs indicate that many mothers of children with disabilities have a blunted cortisol response, indicative of chronic stress," Dykens said. "Compared to mothers in control groups, this population mounts a poorer antibody response to influenza vaccinations, suggesting a reduced ability to fight both bacterial and viral infections. They also have shorter telomeres, associated with an advanced cellular aging process, and have poorer sleep quality, which can have deleterious health effects. All of this results in parents who are less available to manage their child's special needs or challenging behaviors."
Science Daily/SOURCE :http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/07/140721123710.htm