Small increases in sleep improve grades
April 5, 2016
Science Daily/McGill University
Elementary school-age children who improved their sleep habits also improved in their academic performance, according to a new study.
Using a collaborative approach, called Community-based Participatory Research (CBPR), the team developed a program in conjunction with educators using experiential learning to provide students with competencies needed for real-world success by addressing real-world problems and situations through teacher directed and facilitated learning. "We found that cumulative average extension of five nights × 18.2 min = 91 min in total had a significant impact on report card grades," says McGill professor and lead researcher Reut Gruber.
The method
Six interactive classes, two hour sessions, given over a six-week period, were offered during school time by the students' homeroom teachers.
Gruber's research team, in collaboration with Gail Somerville from Riverside School Board in Saint-Hubert, Quebec, studied 74 healthy children between 7 and 11 years of age.
Materials were tailored to the child's level, for example, here is a video for the Cycle 1 (Grades 1 and 2) group: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v7mII_5IBmY&feature=youtu.be
Parents attached the actiwatch to the child's non-dominant wrist at bedtime for four weeknights and provided their child's most recent report card. They kept a diary of their child's daily bedtime and wake time (sleep log) during the same period.
Worth the effort
Participation in the program yielded improvements in sleep and report card grades. Specifically, participation in the intervention was associated with improved grades in English and mathematics.
The takeaway for parents
+ Small cumulative sleep extension may lead to improved academic performance
+ Parents are advised to ensure their children get sufficient amount of healthy sleep every night.
The takeaway for schools
+Re-evaluate how to encourage integration of sleep education programs to the health curriculum
Science Daily/SOURCE :https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/04/160405114756.htm
Late Bedtimes and Less Sleep May Lead to Weight Gain in Healthy Adults
June 28, 2013
Science Daily/American Academy of Sleep Medicine
A new study suggests that healthy adults with late bedtimes and chronic sleep restriction may be more susceptible to weight gain due to the increased consumption of calories during late-night hours.
In the largest, most diverse healthy sample studied to date under controlled laboratory conditions, results show that sleep-restricted subjects who spent only four hours in bed from 4 a.m. to 8 a.m. for five consecutive nights gained more weight than control subjects who were in bed for 10 hours each night from 10 p.m. to 8 a.m.
The study found an overall increase in caloric intake during sleep restriction, which was due to an increase in the number of meals consumed during the late-night period of additional wakefulness. Furthermore, the proportion of calories consumed from fat was higher during late-night hours than at other times of day.
"Although previous epidemiological studies have suggested an association between short sleep duration and weight gain/obesity, we were surprised to observe significant weight gain during an in-laboratory study," said lead author Andrea Spaeth, a doctoral candidate in the psychology department at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, Pa.
"Among sleep-restricted subjects, there were also significant gender and race differences in weight gain," said Spaeth. "African Americans, who are at greater risk for obesity and more likely to be habitual short sleepers, may be more susceptible to weight gain in response to sleep restriction. Future studies should focus on identifying the behavioral and physiological mechanisms underlying this increased vulnerability."
Science Daily/SOURCE :http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/06/130628160840.htm
Stress early in life leads to adulthood anxiety and preference for 'comfort foods'
July 30, 2013
Science Daily/Society for the Study of Ingestive Behavior
New research finds that adult rats reared in a stressful neonatal environment demonstrate more anxiety and stress, and they prefer to eat more foods rich in fat and sugar.
Early-Life Stress increased adulthood anxiety, increased the hormonal response to stress (corticosterone) and increased the preference for comfort foods, even after a period of chronic exposure to this type of food.
"Comfort foods" have been defined as the foods eaten in response to emotional stress, and are suggested to contribute to the obesity epidemic. Hormonal responses to chronic stress in adulthood seem to play a role in the increased preference for this type of food, especially in women.
Early-Life Stress increased adulthood anxiety, increased the hormonal response to stress (corticosterone) and increased the preference for comfort foods, even after a period of chronic exposure to this type of food.
"To our knowledge, this is the first study to demonstrate that comfort food preference could be enhanced by such an early stress exposure," says lead researcher Tania Machado. The anxiety and altered food preferences seen in these rats exposed to neonatal adversity can be related to the described changes in the hormonal response to stress. Therefore, in neonatally stressed rats, a greater consumption of "comfort foods" is possibly used as a way to alleviate anxiety symptoms (self-medication).
Future studies in this area may have implications for primary care on childhood nutrition in vulnerable populations (e.g. low birth weight or children with a history of neonatal adversities).
Science Daily/SOURCE :http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/07/130730091401.htm
Mediterranean diet is good for the mind, research confirms
September 3, 2013
http://images.sciencedaily.com/2013/09/130903101951-large.jpg
Science Daily/University of Exeter
Many pieces of research have identified a link between adherence to a Mediterranean diet and a lower risk of age-related disease such as dementia. Scientists have carried out the first systematic review and their findings.
Until now there has been no systematic review of such research, where a number of studies regarding a Mediterranean diet and cognitive function are reviewed for consistencies, common trends and inconsistencies.
A Mediterranean diet typically consists of higher levels of olive oil, vegetables, fruit and fish. A higher adherence to the diet means higher daily intakes of fruit and vegetables and fish, and reduced intakes of meat and dairy products.
The study was led by researcher Iliana Lourida. She said: "Mediterranean food is both delicious and nutritious, and our systematic review shows it may help to protect the ageing brain by reducing the risk of dementia. While the link between adherence to a Mediterranean diet and dementia risk is not new, ours is the first study to systematically analyse all existing evidence."
Science Daily/SOURCE :http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/09/130903101951.htm
Five regular meals a day reduce obesity risk among adolescents
October 3, 2013
Science Daily/University of Eastern Finland
A regular eating pattern may protect adolescents from obesity, according to a population-based study with more than 4,000 participants. When eating five meals - breakfast, lunch, dinner and two snacks - a day, even those with a genetic predisposition to obesity had no higher body mass index (BMI) than their controls.
The collection of the data on the study population began prenatally, and the participants were followed up until the age of 16. The aim was to identify early-life risk factors associated with obesity, to investigate the association between meal frequencies, obesity and metabolic syndrome, and to examine whether meal frequency could modulate the effect of common genetic variants linked to obesity. The genetic data comprised eight single nucleotide polymorphisms at or near eight obesity-susceptibility loci.
According to the results, a regular five-meal pattern was associated with a reduced risk of overweight and obesity in both sexes and with a reduced risk of abdominal obesity in boys. Moreover, the regular five-meal pattern attenuated the BMI-increasing effect of the common genetic variants. Conversely, skipping breakfast was associated with greater BMI and waist circumference.
Obese parents increase the risk
Maternal weight gain of more than seven kilograms during the first 20 weeks of pregnancy increased the risk of obesity in the offspring. However, maternal obesity before pregnancy was a more important risk factor than weight gain during pregnancy.
Paternal obesity before pregnancy was nearly as important as maternal pregravid obesity as a risk factor for the offspring obesity during adolescence. The risk of obesity was strikingly high in adolescents whose both parents had a BMI of 25 or over throughout the 16-year follow-up period.
"These findings emphasise the importance of taking an early whole-family approach to childhood obesity prevention. Furthermore, it is important to be aware that the effects of predisposing genotypes can be modified by lifestyle habits such as regular meal frequency," says Ms Anne Jääskeläinen, MHSc.
Science Daily/SOURCE :http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/10/131003095450.htm
Healthy Lifestyle Choices Mean Fewer Memory Complaints
May 30, 2013
Science Daily/University of California - Los Angeles
Research has shown that healthy behaviors are associated with a lower risk of Alzheimer's disease and dementia, but less is known about the potential link between positive lifestyle choices and milder memory complaints, especially those that occur earlier in life and could be the first indicators of later problems.
In particular, the study found that respondents across all age groups who engaged in just one healthy behavior were 21 percent less likely to report memory problems than those who didn't engage in any healthy behaviors. Those with two positive behaviors were 45 percent less likely to report problems, those with three were 75 percent less likely, and those with more than three were 111 percent less likely.
Interestingly, the poll found that healthy behaviors were more common among older adults than the other two age groups. Seventy percent of older adults engaged in at least one healthy behavior, compared with 61 percent of middle-aged individuals and 58 percent of younger respondents.
While 26 percent of older adults and 22 percent of middle-aged respondents reported memory issues, it was surprising to find that 14 percent of the younger group complained about their memory too, the researchers said.
"Memory issues were to be expected in the middle-aged and older groups, but not in younger people," Small said. "A better understanding and recognition of mild memory symptoms earlier in life may have the potential to help all ages."
Science Daily/SOURCE :http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/05/130530170050.htm
Ability to balance on one leg may reflect brain health, stroke risk
December 18, 2014
Science Daily/American Heart Association
Struggling to stand on one leg for less than 20 seconds was linked to an increased risk for stroke, small blood vessel damage in the brain, and reduced cognitive function in otherwise healthy people, a study has shown. One-legged standing time may be a simple test used to measure early signs of abnormalities in the brain associated with cognitive decline, cerebral small vessel disease and stroke.
"Our study found that the ability to balance on one leg is an important test for brain health," said Yasuharu Tabara, Ph.D., lead study author and associate professor at the Center for Genomic Medicine at Kyoto University Graduate School of Medicine in Kyoto, Japan. "Individuals showing poor balance on one leg should receive increased attention, as this may indicate an increased risk for brain disease and cognitive decline."
Researchers found that the inability to balance on one leg for longer than 20 seconds was associated with cerebral small vessel disease, namely small infarctions without symptoms such as lacunar infarction and microbleeds. They noted that:
• 34.5 percent of those with more than two lacunar infarction lesions had trouble balancing.
• 16 percent of those with one lacunar infarction lesion had trouble balancing.
• 30 percent of those with more than two microbleed lesions had trouble balancing.
• 15.3 percent one microbleed lesion had trouble balancing.
Overall, those with cerebral diseases were older, had high blood pressure and had thicker carotid arteries than those who did not have cerebral small vessel disease. However, after adjustment for these covariates, people with more microbleeds and lacunar infarctions in the brain had shorter one-legged standing times. Short one-legged standing times were also independently linked with lower cognitive scores.
Although previous studies have examined the connection between gait and physical abilities and the risk of stroke, this is among the first study to closely examine how long a person can stand on one leg as an indication of their overall brain health.
"One-leg standing time is a simple measure of postural instability and might be a consequence of the presence of brain abnormalities," said Tabara.
Small vessel disease occurs due to microangiopathy of arterioles in the brain, making these arteries less flexible, which can interfere with blood flow. Small vessel disease typically increases with age. Loss of motor coordination, including balance, as well as cognitive impairment has been suggested to represent subclinical brain damage. Tabara and colleagues also found a strong link between struggling to stand on one leg and increased age, with marked shorter one-leg standing time in patients age 60 and over.
Although the study did not assess participants' histories of falling or physical fitness issues, such as how fast they could walk or any gait abnormalities, Tabara said the one-leg standing test is an easy way to determine if there are early signs of being at risk for a stroke and cognitive impairment and whether these patients need additional evaluation.
Science Daily/SOURCE :http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/12/141218210013.htm
Compound found in grapes, red wine may help prevent memory loss
February 4, 2015
Science Daily/Texas A&M University
A compound found in common foods such as red grapes and peanuts may help prevent age-related decline in memory, according to new research published by a faculty member in the Texas A&M Health Science Center College of Medicine.
Ashok K. Shetty, Ph.D., a professor in the Department of Molecular and Cellular Medicine and Director of Neurosciences at the Institute for Regenerative Medicine, has been studying the potential benefit of resveratrol, an antioxidant that is found in the skin of red grapes, as well as in red wine, peanuts and some berries.
Resveratrol has been widely touted for its potential to prevent heart disease, but Shetty and a team that includes other researchers from the health science center believe it also has positive effects on the hippocampus, an area of the brain that is critical to functions such as memory, learning and mood.
Because both humans and animals show a decline in cognitive capacity after middle age, the findings may have implications for treating memory loss in the elderly. Resveratrol may even be able to help people afflicted with severe neurodegenerative conditions such as Alzheimer's disease.
In a study published online Jan. 28 in Scientific Reports, Shetty and his research team members reported that treatment with resveratrol had apparent benefits in terms of learning, memory and mood function in aged rats.
"The results of the study were striking," Shetty said. "They indicated that for the control rats who did not receive resveratrol, spatial learning ability was largely maintained but ability to make new spatial memories significantly declined between 22 and 25 months. By contrast, both spatial learning and memory improved in the resveratrol-treated rats."
Shetty said neurogenesis (the growth and development of neurons) approximately doubled in the rats given resveratrol compared to the control rats. The resveratrol-treated rats also had significantly improved microvasculature, indicating improved blood flow, and had a lower level of chronic inflammation in the hippocampus.
"The study provides novel evidence that resveratrol treatment in late middle age can help improve memory and mood function in old age," Shetty said.
This study was funded primarily by the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) at the National Institutes of Health. Shetty's lab is now examining the molecular mechanisms that underlie the improved cognitive function following resveratrol treatment. He also plans to conduct studies to see whether lower doses of resveratrol in the diet for prolonged periods would offer similar benefits to the aged brain.
Science Daily/SOURCE :http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/02/150204184230.htm
Researchers Find Women Have Better Memory Recall Than Men
June 4, 2013
Science Daily/McMaster University
http://images.sciencedaily.com/2013/06/130604113957-large.jpg
New research from McMaster University suggests women can remember faces better than men, in part because they spend more time studying features without even knowing it, and a technique researchers say can help improve anyone's memories.
The findings help to answer long-standing questions about why some people can remember faces easily while others quickly forget someone they've just met. "The way we move our eyes across a new individual's face affects our ability to recognize that individual later," explains Jennifer Heisz, a research fellow at the Rotman Institute at Baycrest and newly appointed assistant professor in the Department of Kinesiology at McMaster University.
"We found that women fixated on the features far more than men, but this strategy operates completely outside of our awareness. Individuals don't usually notice where their eyes fixate, so it's all subconscious."
The implications are exciting, she says, because it means anyone can be taught to scan more and potentially have better memory.
"The results open the possibility that changing our eye movement pattern may lead to better memory," says Shore. "Increased scanning may prove to be a simple strategy to improve face memory in the general population, especially for individuals with memory impairment like older adults."
Science Daily/SOURCE :http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/06/130604113957.htm
Sleep Mechanism Identified That Plays Role in Emotional Memory
June 12, 2013
Science Daily/University of California, Riverside
http://images.sciencedaily.com/2013/06/130612224140-large.jpg
Sleep researchers from University of California campuses in Riverside and San Diego have identified the sleep mechanism that enables the brain to consolidate emotional memory and found that a popular prescription sleep aid heightens the recollection of and response to negative memories.
Their findings have implications for individuals suffering from insomnia related to posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other anxiety disorders who are prescribed zolpidem (Ambien) to help them sleep.
Mednick and UC San Diego psychologists Erik J. Kaestner and John T. Wixted determined that a sleep feature known as sleep spindles -- bursts of brain activity that last for a second or less during a specific stage of sleep -- are important for emotional memory.
"I was surprised by the specificity of the results, that the emotional memory improvement was specifically for the negative and high-arousal memories, and the ramifications of these results for people with anxiety disorders and PTSD," Mednick said. "These are people who already have heightened memory for negative and high-arousal memories. Sleep drugs might be improving their memories for things they don't want to remember."
Science Daily/SOURCE :http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/06/130612224140.htm
How Depression Blurs Memories
October 3, 2013
Science Daily/Brigham Young University
To pinpoint why depression messes with memory, researchers took a page from Sesame Street's book.
A new Brigham Young University study concludes that this same skill fades in adults in proportion to the severity of their symptoms of depression. The more depressed someone feels, the harder it is for them to distinguish similar experiences they've had.
"There are two areas in your brain where you grow new brain cells," Kirwan said. "One is the hippocampus, which is involved in memory. It turns out that this growth is decreased in cases of depression."
Because of this study, we know a little more about what these new brain cells are for: helping us see and remember new experiences. The study appears in the journal Behavioral Brain Research.
Science Daily/SOURCE :http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/10/131003132237.htm
'Brain training' may boost working memory, but not intelligence
October 8, 2013
Science Daily/Association for Psychological Science
http://images.sciencedaily.com/2013/10/131008091720-large.jpg
Brain training games, apps, and websites are popular and it's not hard to see why -- who wouldn't want to give their mental abilities a boost? New research suggests that brain training programs might strengthen your ability to hold information in mind, but they won't bring any benefits to the kind of intelligence that helps you reason and solve problems.
The researchers administered a battery of tests before and after training to gauge improvement and transfer of learning, including a variety of WMC measures and three measures of fluid intelligence.
The results were clear: Only students who trained on complex span tasks showed transfer to other WMC tasks. None of the groups showed any training benefit on measures of fluid intelligence.
"For over 100 years, psychologists have argued that general memory ability cannot be improved, that there is little or no generalization of 'trained' tasks to 'untrained' tasks," says Tyler Harrison, graduate student and lead author of the paper. "So we were surprised to see evidence that new and untrained measures of working memory capacity may be improved with training on complex span tasks."
The results suggest that the students improved in their ability to update and maintain information on multiple tasks as they switched between them, which could have important implications for real-world multitasking:
"This work affects nearly everyone living in the complex modern world," says Harrison, "but it particularly affects individuals that find themselves trying to do multiple tasks or rapidly switching between complex tasks, such as driving and talking on a cell phone, alternating between conversations with two different people, or cooking dinner and dealing with a crying child."
Despite the potential boost for multitasking, the benefits of training didn't transfer to fluid intelligence. Engle points out that just because WMC and fluid intelligence are highly correlated doesn't mean that they are the same:
"Height and weight in human beings are also strongly correlated but few reasonable people would assume that height and weight are the same variable," explains Engle. "If they were, gaining weight would make you taller and losing weight would make you shorter -- those of us who gain and lose weight periodically can attest to the fact that that is not true."
Science Daily/SOURCE :http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/10/131008091720.htm
Stress Makes Snails Forgetful
November 6, 2013
Science Daily/University of Exeter
http://images.sciencedaily.com/2013/11/131106202239-large.jpg
New research on pond snails has revealed that high levels of stress can block memory processes. Researchers from the University of Exeter and the University of Calgary trained snails and found that when they were exposed to multiple stressful events they were unable remember what they had learned.
Previous research has shown that stress also affects human ability to remember. This study, published in the journal PLOS ONE, found that experiencing multiple stressful events simultaneously has a cumulative detrimental effect on memory.
Dr Sarah Dalesman, a Leverhulme Trust Early Career Fellow, from the University of Exeter, formally at the University of Calgary, said: "It's really important to study how different forms of stress interact as this is what animals, including people, frequently experience in real life. By training snails, and then observing their behaviour and brain activity following exposure to stressful situations, we found that a single stressful event resulted in some impairment of memory but multiple stressful events prevented any memories from being formed."
The pond snail, Lymnaea stagnalis, has easily observable behaviours linked to memory and large neurons in the brain, both useful benefits when studying memory processes. They also respond to stressful events in a similar way to mammals, making them a useful model species to study learning and memory.
In the study, the pond snails were trained to reduce how often they breathed outside water. Usually pond snails breathe underwater and absorb oxygen through their skin. In water with low oxygen levels the snails emerge and inhale air using a basic lung opened to the air via a breathing hole.
To train the snails not to breathe air they were placed in poorly oxygenated water and their breathing holes were gently poked every time they emerged to breathe. Snail memory was tested by observing how many times the snails attempted to breathe air after they had received their training. Memory was considered to be present if there was a reduction in the number of times they opened their breathing holes. The researchers also assessed memory by monitoring neural activity in the brain.
Immediately before training, the snails were exposed to two different stressful experiences, low calcium -- which is stressful as calcium is necessary for healthy shells -- and overcrowding by other pond snails.
When faced with the stressors individually, the pond snails had reduced ability to form long term memory, but were still able to learn and form short and intermediate term memory lasting from a few minutes to hours. However, when both stressors were experienced at the same time, results showed that they had additive effects on the snails' ability to form memory and all learning and memory processes were blocked.
Science Daily/SOURCE :http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/11/131106202239.htm
Can Certain Herbs Stave Off Alzheimer's Disease?
November 15, 2013
Science Daily/Saint Louis University
Enhanced extracts made from special antioxidants in spearmint and rosemary improve learning and memory, a study in an animal model at Saint Louis University found.
We found that these proprietary compounds reduce deficits caused by mild cognitive impairment, which can be a precursor to Alzheimer's disease," said Susan Farr, Ph.D., research professor geriatrics at Saint Louis University School of Medicine.
Farr added, "This probably means eating spearmint and rosemary is good for you. However, our experiments were in an animal model and I don't know how much -- or if any amount -- of these herbs people would have to consume for learning and memory to improve. In other words, I'm not suggesting that people chew more gum at this point."
She found that the higher dose rosemary extract compound was the most powerful in improving memory and learning in three tested behaviors. The lower dose rosemary extract improved memory in two of the behavioral tests, as did the compound made from spearmint extract.
Further, there were signs of reduced oxidative stress, which is considered a hallmark of age-related decline, in the part of the brain that controls learning and memory.
"Our research suggests these extracts made from herbs might have beneficial effects on altering the course of age-associated cognitive decline," Farr said. "It's worth additional study."
Science Daily/SOURCE :http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/11/131115111524.htm
People With Highly Superior Powers of Recall Also Vulnerable to False Memories
November 19, 2013
Science Daily/University of California - Irvine
http://images.sciencedaily.com/2013/11/131119131438-large.jpg
People who can accurately remember details of their daily lives going back decades are as susceptible as everyone else to forming fake memories, UC Irvine psychologists and neurobiologists have found.
"Finding susceptibility to false memories even in people with very strong memory could be important for dissemination to people who are not memory experts. For example, it could help communicate how widespread our basic susceptibility to memory distortions is," said Lawrence Patihis, a graduate student in psychology & social behavior at UC Irvine. "This dissemination could help prevent false memories in the legal and clinical psychology fields, where contamination of memory has had particularly important consequences in the past."
"What I love about the study is how it communicates something that memory distortion researchers have suspected for some time: that perhaps no one is immune to memory distortion," Patihis said. "It will probably make some nonexperts realize, finally, that if even memory prodigies are susceptible, then they probably are too. This teachable moment is almost as important as the scientific merit of the study. It could help educate people -- including those who deal with memory evidence, such as clinical psychologists and legal professionals -- about false memories."
Science Daily/SOURCE :http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/11/131119131438.htm
Age-Related Cognitive Decline Linked to Synapses in Prefrontal Cortex
December 2, 2013
Science Daily/Mount Sinai Medical Center
Age-related cognitive decline and changes in the nervous system are closely linked, but up until recently, they were thought to result from the loss of neurons in areas such as the prefrontal cortex, the part of the brain important in working memory. A series of papers have shown that the "loss of neurons" concept is simply not true.
Now, Mount Sinai scientists have begun to look elsewhere, focusing instead on synaptic health in the prefrontal cortex. Their work, published online in the December 2 issue of the peer-reviewed journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, shows that synaptic health in the brain is closely linked to cognitive decline. Further, the scientists show that estrogen restores synaptic health and also improves working memory.
"We are increasingly convinced that maintenance of synaptic health as we age, rather than rescuing cognition later, is critically important in preventing age-related cognitive decline and Alzheimer's disease," said the study's senior author, John Morrison, PhD, and Dean of Basic Sciences and Professor of the Fishberg Department of Neuroscience and the Friedman Brain Institute, at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.
Science Daily/SOURCE :http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/12/131202152031.htm
Deep sleep may act as fountain of youth in old age
This image shows neural activity during sleep differs between older and younger adults. Credit: Courtesy of Matthew Walker and Bryce Mander
Restorative, sedative-free slumber can ward off mental and physical ailments, suggests research
April 5, 2017
Science Daily/University of California - Berkeley
As we grow old, our nights are frequently plagued by bouts of wakefulness, bathroom trips and other nuisances as we lose our ability to generate the deep, restorative slumber we enjoyed in youth. But that does not mean the elderly need less sleep, according to neuroscientists.
But does that mean older people just need less sleep?
Not according to UC Berkeley researchers, who argue in an article published April 5 in the journal Neuron that the unmet sleep needs of the elderly elevate their risk of memory loss and a wide range of mental and physical disorders.
"Nearly every disease killing us in later life has a causal link to lack of sleep," said the article's senior author, Matthew Walker, a UC Berkeley professor of psychology and neuroscience. "We've done a good job of extending life span, but a poor job of extending our health span. We now see sleep, and improving sleep, as a new pathway for helping remedy that."
Unlike more cosmetic markers of aging, such as wrinkles and gray hair, sleep deterioration has been linked to such conditions as Alzheimer's disease, heart disease, obesity, diabetes and stroke, he said.
Though older people are less likely than younger cohorts to notice and/or report mental fogginess and other symptoms of sleep deprivation, numerous brain studies reveal how poor sleep leaves them cognitively worse off.
Moreover, the shift from deep, consolidated sleep in youth to fitful, dissatisfying sleep can start as early as one's 30s, paving the way for sleep-related cognitive and physical ailments in middle age.
And, while the pharmaceutical industry is raking in billions by catering to insomniacs, Walker warns that the pills designed to help us doze off are a poor substitute for the natural sleep cycles that the brain needs in order to function well.
"Don't be fooled into thinking sedation is real sleep. It's not," he said.
For their review of sleep research, Walker and fellow researchers Bryce Mander and Joseph Winer cite studies, including some of their own, that show the aging brain has trouble generating the kind of slow brain waves that promote deep curative sleep, as well as the neurochemicals that help us switch stably from sleep to wakefulness.
"The parts of the brain deteriorating earliest are the same regions that give us deep sleep," said article lead author Mander, a postdoctoral researcher in Walker's Sleep and Neuroimaging Laboratory at UC Berkeley.
Aging typically brings on a decline in deep non-rapid eye movement (NREM) or "slow wave sleep," and the characteristic brain waves associated with it, including both slow waves and faster bursts of brain waves known as "sleep spindles."
Youthful, healthy slow waves and spindles help transfer memories and information from the hippocampus, which provides the brain's short-term storage, to the prefrontal cortex, which consolidates the information, acting as the brain's long-term storage.
"Sadly, both these types of sleep brain waves diminish markedly as we grow old, and we are now discovering that this sleep decline is related to memory decline in later life," said Winer, a doctoral student in Walker's lab.
Another deficiency in later life is the inability to regulate neurochemicals that stabilize our sleep and help us transition from sleep to waking states. These neurochemicals include galanin, which promotes sleep, and orexin, which promotes wakefulness. A disruption to the sleep-wake rhythm commonly leaves older adults fatigued during the day but frustratingly restless at night, Mander said.
Of course, not everyone is vulnerable to sleep changes in later life: "Just as some people age more successfully than others, some people sleep better than others as they get older, and that's another line of research we'll be exploring," Mander said.
Meanwhile, non-pharmaceutical interventions are being explored to boost the quality of sleep, such as electrical stimulation to amplify brain waves during sleep and acoustic tones that act like a metronome to slow brain rhythms.
However, promoting alternatives to prescription and over-the-counter sleep aids is sure to be challenging.
"The American College of Physicians has acknowledged that sleeping pills should not be the first-line kneejerk response to sleep problems," Walker said. "Sleeping pills sedate the brain, rather than help it sleep naturally. We must find better treatments for restoring healthy sleep in older adults, and that is now one of our dedicated research missions."
Also important to consider in changing the culture of sleep is the question of quantity versus quality.
"Previously, the conversation has focused on how many hours you need to sleep," Mander said. "However, you can sleep for a sufficient number of hours, but not obtain the right quality of sleep. We also need to appreciate the importance of sleep quality.
"Indeed, we need both quantity and quality," Walker said.
Science Daily/SOURCE :
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/04/170405144431.htm
Want to stay mentally healthy in older age? Stimulate your brain in early life
Stimulating the brain by taking on leadership roles at work or staying on in education help people stay mentally healthy in later life, according to new research.
April 20, 2017
Science Daily/University of Exeter
Stimulating the brain by taking on leadership roles at work or staying on in education help people stay mentally healthy in later life, according to new research.
The large-scale investigation published in the journal PLOS Medicine and led by the University of Exeter, used data from more than 2,000 mentally fit people over the age of 65, examined the theory that experiences in early or mid life which challenge the brain make people more resilient to changes resulting from age or illness -- they have higher "cognitive reserve."
The analysis, funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) found that people with higher levels of reserve are more likely to stay mentally fit for longer, making the brain more resilient to illnesses such as dementia.
The research team included collaborators from the universities of Bangor, Newcastle and Cambridge.
Linda Clare, Professor of Clinical Psychology of Ageing and Dementia at the University of Exeter, said: "Losing mental ability is not inevitable in later life. We know that we can all take action to increase our chances of maintaining our own mental health, through healthy living and engaging in stimulating activities. It's important that we understand how and why this occurs, so we can give people meaningful and effective measures to take control of living full and active lives into older age.
"People who engage in stimulating activity which stretches the brain, challenging it to use different strategies that exercise a variety of networks, have higher 'Cognitive reserve'. This builds a buffer in the brain, making it more resilient. It means signs of decline only become evident at a higher threshold of illness or decay than when this buffer is absent."
The research team analysed data from 2,315 mentally fit participants aged over 65 years who took part in the first wave of interviews for the Cognitive Function and Ageing Study Wales (CFAS-Wales).
They analysed whether a healthy lifestyle was associated with better performance on a mental ability test. They found that a healthy diet, more physical activity, more social and mentally stimulating activity and moderate alcohol consumption all seemed to boost cognitive performance.
Professor Bob Woods of Bangor University, who leads the CFAS Wales study, said: "We found that people with a healthier lifestyle had better scores on tests of mental ability, and this was partly accounted for by their level of cognitive reserve.
"Our results highlight the important of policies and measures that encourage older people to make changes in their diet, exercise more, and engage in more socially oriented and mentally stimulating activities."
Professor Fiona Matthews of Newcastle University, who is principal statistician on the CFAS studies, said "Many of the factors found here to be important are not only healthy for our brain, but also help at younger age avoiding heart disease."
Professor Clare is supported by the National Institute for Health Research Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care South West Peninsula (NIHR PenCLAHRC).
Testing our the efficacy of brain stimulation is part one aspect of the PROTECT (Platform for Research Online to investigate Genetics and Cognition in Ageing) trial, which involves Professor Clare. It has already recruited 20,000 people over the age of 50. They are taking part in Exeter-led research to establish which lifestyle measures can make a meaningful difference to keep people stay physically and mentally active in older age.
Science Daily/SOURCE :https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/04/170420113809.htm
What should concerned parents do?
If a child's negative behavior lasts for months and is adversely affecting her or his social relationships and school performance, then it's worth having your child evaluated by a psychologist or psychiatrist for ADHD and other mental disorders.
Parents of girls with ADHD should carefully monitor signs of disruptive behavior, anxiety and depression, Tung said. "Early management of ADHD and related symptoms will be critical in helping young girls function successfully at school and socially, and feel confident," she said.
"People tend to think of girls as having higher risk for depression and anxiety disorders, and boys as being more likely to exhibit conduct disorders, but we found that ADHD for girls substantially increases their risk for these conduct disorders," Tung said. "In many cases, the school can provide support, including an evaluation by a school psychologist."
Approximately five to seven percent of elementary school students have oppositional defiant disorder and approximately one to two percent of elementary school students have conduct disorder, Lee said. Fewer girls than boys have these disorders.
The good news, the psychologists said, is that there are effective treatments -- some involving pharmaceuticals, and others that involve seeing a therapist, as well as effective parenting strategies to manage the behavior.
"Kids with ADHD need structure and consistency, more than the average child; they need to know the rules and the rules need to be applied consistently," Lee said.
Lee and Tung recommend that parents provide positive reinforcement for good behavior; this does not have to be monetary.
"For some of these kids, getting negative attention may be their only way of getting attention," Tung said.
"Catch your child being good, and reward that," Lee said. Children will sometimes react negatively to rewards in the beginning, and parents at that point will often stop, but should continue, he added. "The child's behavior will often get worse before it gets better."
Children with ADHD are two to three times more likely than children without the disorder to develop serious substance abuse problems in adolescence and adulthood, Lee and colleagues reported in 2011.
To receive a diagnosis of ADHD by a child psychologist or psychiatrist, a child must have at least six of nine symptoms of either hyperactivity or inattention, the child's behavior must be causing problems in his or her life, and the symptoms must not be explainable by any medical condition or any other mental disorder.
In addition, the symptoms must have started before age 12, must be present in multiple settings -- at home and school, for example -- and must be adversely affecting functioning.
Many more children meet the criteria for ADHD than are being treated for it, and many children may benefit from treatment who are not receiving it, Lee said.
Science Daily/SOURCE :https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/10/161004150822.htm
Meditation and ballet associated with wisdom
March 7, 2016
Science Daily/University of Chicago
A new study confirms the age-old conception that meditation is associated with wisdom. Surprisingly, it also concludes that somatic (physical) practices such as classical ballet might lead to increased wisdom.
A new study, "The Relationship between Mental and Somatic Practices and Wisdom," published Feb. 18, 2016, in PLOS ONE, confirms the age-old conception that meditation is associated with wisdom. Surprisingly, it also concludes that somatic (physical) practices such as classical ballet might lead to increased wisdom.
"As far as I know this is the first study to be published that looks at the relationship between meditation or ballet and increased wisdom," said Monika Ardelt, associate professor of sociology at the University of Florida. Ardelt is a leading wisdom researcher who was not involved in the project. "That meditation is associated with wisdom is good to confirm, but the finding that the practice of ballet is associated with increased wisdom is fascinating. I'm not going to rush out and sign up for ballet, but I think this study will lead to more research on this question."
The researchers included ballet in the study, "not expecting to find that it was associated with wisdom, but rather for comparison purposes," said Patrick B. Williams, lead author and a postdoctoral researcher in the University of Chicago's Department of Psychology. Williams is a member of a research project on somatic wisdom headed by principal investigators Berthold Hoeckner, associate professor of music; and Howard Nusbaum, professor of psychology.
"The link between ballet and wisdom is mysterious to us and something that we're already investigating further," Williams said. This includes ongoing studies with adult practitioners of ballet, as well as among novices training at Chicago's Joffrey Ballet. Williams wants to track novices and seasoned practitioners of both meditation and ballet for months and years to see whether the association holds up over time.
The published research was groundbreaking because science has overlooked somatic practices as a possible path to wisdom, Williams said.
Unstudied topic
"No studies have examined whether physical practices are linked to the cultivation of personal wisdom, nor have they theorized that this association might exist," the study stated.
Understanding the kinds of experiences that are related to increases in wisdom is fundamental in two aspects of the UChicago research, Nusbaum said.
"As we learn more about the kinds of experiences that are related to wisdom, we can gain insight into ways of studying the mechanisms that mediate wisdom. This also lets us shift from thinking about wisdom as something like a talent to thinking about it as something more like a skill," he said. "And if we think about wisdom as a skill, it is something we can always get better at, if we know how to practice."
The researchers administered a self-reported survey to 298 participants using Survey Monkey, a popular Internet-based tool that is being used increasingly in scientific research. The survey asked about experience (both in number of years and hours of practice) as a teacher or student of four activities: meditation, the Alexander Technique (a method for improving posture, balance, coordination, and movement), the Feldenkrais Method (a form of somatic education that seeks to improve movement and physical function, reduce pain, and increase self-awareness), and classical ballet. It also included psychological questionnaires that asked about characteristics thought to be components of wisdom, such as empathy and anxiety.
The results showed that those who practice meditation -- vipassana (29 percent), mindfulness (23 percent), Buddhist (14 percent), and other types -- had more wisdom, on average, than those in the three other groups. More importantly, it established for the first time that the link between meditation and wisdom might be attributable to a lower level of anxiety.
"We are the first to show an association between wisdom, on the one hand, and mental and somatic practice, on the other," Williams said. "We're also the first to suggest that meditation's ability to reduce everyday anxiety might partially explain this relationship."
Participants who practiced ballet had the lowest levels of wisdom. Nevertheless, the more they practiced ballet, the higher they scored on measures of psychological traits that are associated with wisdom.
Causal relationship?
Williams said it's important to note that the research was not looking for and did not establish a causal relationship between wisdom and any of the four practices. But the results suggest that further study could identify such a causal relationship.
"We hope our exploratory research will encourage others to replicate our results and look for other experiences that are linked with wisdom, as well as the factors that might explain such links," Williams said.
"Although wisdom, as an intellectual pursuit, is one of the oldest subjects studied by human-kind, it is one of the youngest, as a scientific pursuit," he added.
Ardelt thinks this study will generate a lot of interest with the public and in the growing field of the study of wisdom, especially due to the current interest in meditation. "These findings indicate that meditation might have more benefits than as a stress-reduction or pain-reduction technique," she said.
If mental and somatic practices can lead to more wisdom, "their applications should be explored across settings such as in the classroom or workplace with the goal of creating not only wiser people but also a wiser society," researchers concluded.
Science Daily/SOURCE :https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/03/160307150401.htm