Mother's stress hormone levels may affect fetal growth and long term health of child

January 26, 2015

Science Daily/University of Cambridge

Increased levels of stress hormones can lead pregnant mice to overeat, but affect growth of the fetus and, potentially, the long term health of the offspring, according to a new study.

The foetuses of the mice with raised levels of the stress hormone tended to be smaller, despite the mother overeating, suggesting that a mother's stress levels may affect her child's growth.

In the Journal of Physiology, researchers at the Department of Physiology, Development and Neuroscience at the University of Cambridge examine whether levels of the stress hormones known as glucocorticoids can influence the supply of glucose from mother to foetus. Glucocorticoids are important in regulating metabolism in adults as well as in the foetus. Levels of the hormone are raised by stress related to the physical or social environment, disease or pregnancy.

Pregnant mice received the natural glucocorticoid corticosterone at different times during pregnancy via their drinking water, either from days 11 to 16, days 14-19, or not at all; pregnancy in mice lasts 21 days and the days on which corticosterone was given corresponds to different developmental phases of the placenta. This treatment was designed to produce glucocorticoid levels in the mother similar to those seen in stressful conditions. The animals were either allowed to eat freely or their food intake limited to that of normal, untreated mice. The researchers then measured the amount of glucose crossing the placenta, the organ that supplies all of the substances required for foetal growth, in a specific period of time.

The researchers found that when corticosterone was given later in pregnancy and the mice allowed to eat freely, the mother ate more but her placenta was less able to transport glucose to the foetus, leading to a decrease in the size of the foetus. This effect was not seen when the hormone was administered earlier in pregnancy or when the diet was restricted. They believe this may be because, under stress and with an unlimited diet, the activity of certain genes in the placenta was modified, including that of the gene Redd1. This gene is believed to signal availability of other substances, like oxygen, and to interact with intracellular pathways regulating growth and nutrient uptake in other tissues of the body. The team believe that future studies may prove this molecule is important in the placenta in linking environmental effects to the nutrition of the foetus.

Together with previous work, the findings show that maternal glucocorticoids regulate foetal nutrition by acting on the placenta. The researchers believe that glucocorticoid levels in pregnant women may therefore determine the specific combination of nutrients received by the foetus and influence the long term metabolic health of their children as a result.

Dr Owen Vaughan from the University of Cambridge says: "The foetuses of the mice with raised levels of the stress hormone tended to be smaller, despite the mother overeating, suggesting that a mother's stress levels may affect her child's growth. We showed that this is likely to be because the stress hormone reduced the ability of the placenta to pass essential nutrients to the foetus."

The researchers believe this study may have implications for women stressed during pregnancy or treated clinically with glucocorticoids, if the mechanisms are similar in humans, though it is unclear yet the extent to which changes in the ability of the placenta to transport nutrients to the foetus exacerbate or protect the child from the potential adverse effects of glucocorticoid overexposure during pregnancy. Nor is it clear whether maternal diet influences the outcome of glucocorticoid overexposure during human pregnancy.

Professor Abby Fowden, who led the research, adds: "It may be that by changing her diet, a mother can counter the effects of stress hormones on the human placenta. In other words, a mother's 'hormonal profile' may dictate the most appropriate diet for a successful outcome of pregnancy. We need more research in this area before we can start giving such advice, however."

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/01/150126095717.htm

Stress during pregnancy related to infant gut microbiota

January 26, 2015

Science Daily/Radboud University

Women who experience stress during pregnancy are likely to have babies with a poor mix of intestinal microbiota and with a higher incidence of intestinal problems and allergic reactions. This could be related to psychological and physical problems as the child develops.

Stress during pregnancy is often linked to physical and psychological problems in the child. But why is this? Could the infant's gut microbiota be an underlying mechanism? An initial study of the correlation in humans has shown that babies born to mothers who experience stress have a poorer mix of intestinal microbiota.

For the purposes of this study, the stress and anxiety levels of pregnant women were measured by means of questionnaires and testing the levels of the hormone cortisol in saliva. In addition, faeces samples from 56 babies were tested from 7 days until 4 months after birth. A correlation was found between the mothers who reported high stress levels and presented high cortisol levels and the variety of microbiota in the babies' guts, even when the analyses took breastfeeding and postnatal stress into account.

Different mix of bacteria

Mothers who reported high stress levels and presented high cortisol readings had babies with more Proteobacteria and fewer lactic acid bacteria and Actinobacteria in their microbiota. This represents a poor mix of microbiota, which was also reflected in the relationship between the presence of these microbiota and a higher incidence of intestinal problems and allergic reactions among the babies in this research group.

Mechanism

'We think that our results point towards a possible mechanism for health problems in children of mothers who experience stress during pregnancy. Giving other bacteria would probably benefit these children's development,' says Carolina de Weerth, professor of developmental psychology in the Behavioural Science Institute of Radboud University Nijmegen, and corresponding author of the article that is in press in Psychoneuroendocrinology.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/01/150126095425.htm

Black women working night shifts have an increased risk of developing diabetes

January 11, 2015

Science Daily/Diabetologia

Those who work night shifts are significantly more likely to develop diabetes than those who have never worked night shifts, with more years working the night shift resulting in a higher risk. These are the results from a large ongoing study into the health of African-American women. Furthermore, the increased risk of diabetes seen in shift workers was more pronounced in younger women than older women, researchers say.

Some previous studies have investigated the link between night shift work and diabetes, with the Nurses' Health Study (NHS) (of mostly white nurses in the USA), showing a link, and another study in Sweden showing a link. However, body-mass index (BMI) accounted for most of this association in the NHS, and all of that found in the Swedish study. However, given the increased prevalence of diabetes in black women in the USA (12.6%) versus white women (4.5%), the authors decided that this potential association should be further investigated in a population of black women.

n the Black Women's Health Study (BWHS), 28,041 participants free of diabetes provided information in 2005 about having worked the night shift. The women were followed for incident diabetes during the next 8 years. Thirty-seven percent of the women reported having worked the night shift, with 5% having worked that shift for at least 10 years. During the 8 years of follow-up, there were 1,786 incident diabetes cases.

Relative to never having worked the night shift, the increased risk of developing diabetes was 17% for 1-2 years night shift work; 23% for 3-9 years, and 42% for 10 or more years. After adjustment for BMI and lifestyle factors such as diet and smoking status, the association between increasing years of night shift work and increasing diabetes risk remained statistically significant, with a 23% increase in those who had worked night shifts for 10 years or more versus those who never had worked the night shift.

When black women having ever worked the night shift (any duration) were compared to those who had never worked it, they were found to be at a 22% increased risk of developing diabetes. After adjustment for BMI and lifestyle factors, this increased risk became 12%.

The authors also found that the association was stronger in younger women than in older women. Working night shifts for 10 or more years relative to never working the night shift was associated with a 39% higher risk of diabetes among women aged less than 50 years compared with 17% higher risk in women aged 50 years or over.

The authors explain: "Even though lifestyle factors and BMI explained a major part of the association of shift work with incident diabetes, women with a long duration of shift work had an increased risk of diabetes after control for those factors, suggesting the presence of additional causal pathways. Shift work is associated with disrupted circadian rhythms and reduced total duration of sleep. Similar to the effects of jet lag, which are short term, shift workers experience fatigue, sleepiness during scheduled awake periods and poor sleep during scheduled sleep periods. These alterations in the normal sleep-wake cycle have profound effects on metabolism... Even after many years of night-shift work, circadian rhythms do not fully adjust to the shifted sleep-wake cycle. The metabolic effects of long-term shift work likely underlie a part of the association with diabetes that we and others describe and that strengthens with years of exposure to sleep disruption."

They add: "The precise mechanisms by which these changes occur are still unclear. In animal models, circadian disruption in susceptible rats led to more rapid loss of beta cell function and increased beta cell death, resulting in decreased beta cell mass, decreased glucose-stimulated insulin secretion and accelerated development of diabetes."

They conclude: "In summary, we found that African-American women undergoing long-duration night-shift work had a higher risk of incident diabetes. The fact that the association remained, though reduced, after adjustment for lifestyle factors and BMI suggests that additional pathways such as disruption of the circadian system may be playing a role. In view of the high prevalence of shift work among workers in the USA -- 35% among non-Hispanic blacks and 28% in non-Hispanic whites -- an increased diabetes risk among this group has important public health implications. There is a need for continued research into facilitating circadian adaptation to shift work and consideration of avoiding shift work in favour of other work arrangements when possible."

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/01/150111195429.htm

PTSD doubles diabetes risk in women

January 7, 2015

Science Daily/Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health

Women with post-traumatic stress disorder are nearly twice as likely to develop type 2 diabetes compared with women who don't have PTSD, according to new research. The longitudinal cohort study provides the strongest evidence to date of a causal relationship between PTSD and type 2 diabetes.

The longitudinal cohort study provides the strongest evidence to date of a causal relationship between PTSD and type 2 diabetes. Results are published online in the journal JAMA Psychiatry.

The researchers analyzed survey data collected between 1989 and 2011 from 49,739 women enrolled in the Nurses Health Study II and found a dose-response relationship: the greater the number and severity of PTSD symptoms, the greater a woman's risk of type 2 diabetes. Four percent of the nurses reported the highest number of PTSD symptoms. By age 60, nearly 12 percent of women with the highest number of PTSD symptoms had developed type 2 diabetes, whereas fewer than 7 percent of women with no trauma exposure had diabetes.

Antidepressant use and elevated body mass index accounted for nearly half of the increased risk of type 2 diabetes, or 34 and 14 percent, respectively. On the other hand, smoking, diet quality, alcohol intake, and physical activity did not explain the association.

One in nine women will have PTSD at sometime over the course of her lifetime--twice the rate of men. Women are also more likely to experience extreme traumatic events like rape that carry a high risk for the disorder.

"Not only is PTSD devastating to mental health, but it affects physical health too, raising risk for cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and obesity," said senior author Karestan C. Koenen, PhD, professor in the Department of Epidemiology at the Mailman School.

"Women with PTSD and the health professionals who care for them should be aware that these women are at greater risk for diabetes," said first author Andrea L. Roberts, PhD, research associate in the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences at Harvard School of Public Health. "As fewer than half of Americans with PTSD receive treatment, our study adds urgency to the effort to improve access to mental health care to address factors that contribute to diabetes and other chronic diseases."

To assess type 2 diabetes, the researchers used a validated survey method that first asked women whether they had been diagnosed by a doctor, then confirmed diagnosis with information about test results, symptoms, and medications. PTSD was assessed using the Short Screening Scale. The nurses reported a range of trauma, including sexual assault, domestic violence, car accidents, and unexpected death of a loved one.

The study builds on past findings by the researchers, including a 2013 study that reported a link between PTSD and obesity. Other research has shown a link between mental health issues like anxiety, social phobia, and agoraphobia and type 2 diabetes.

Further research is needed to identify the biochemical and possible additional behavioral changes, such as sleep disturbance, that mediate the relationship between PTSD and type 2 diabetes.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/01/150107122906.htm

Early exposure to antidepressants affects adult anxiety, serotonin transmission

December 19, 2014

Science Daily/University of California - Los Angeles Health Sciences

http://images.sciencedaily.com/2014/12/141219160606-large.jpg

Early developmental exposure to two different antidepressants, Prozac and Lexapro, has been studied by researchers in a mouse model that mimics human third trimester medication exposure. They found that, although these serotonin-selective reuptake inhibiting antidepressants were thought to work the same way, they did not produce the same long-term changes in anxiety behavior in the adult mice.

About 15 percent of women in the United States suffer from anxiety disorders and depression during their pregnancies, and many are prescribed antidepressants. However little is known about how early exposure to these medications might affect their offspring as they mature into adults.

The answer to that question is vital, as 5 percent of all babies born in the U.S. -- more than 200,000 a year -- are exposed to antidepressants during gestation via transmission from their mothers.

Now, a UCLA team has studied early developmental exposure to two different antidepressants, Prozac and Lexapro, in a mouse model that mimics human third trimester medication exposure. They found that, although these serotonin-selective reuptake inhibiting antidepressants (SSRIs) were thought to work the same way, they did not produce the same long-term changes in anxiety behavior in the adult mice.

"This was quite surprising, since these medications belong to the same drug class and are believed to work by the same mechanism. The implications of these findings are that with additional investigation, it may be possible to identify specific antidepressants that are safer for pregnant women," Andrews said. "It's important to recognize that major depressive disorders and anxiety disorders are serious medical conditions that often require therapeutic intervention. Prescribing the safest medication for mother and child is paramount."

Genetic reductions in serotonin transporters are thought to be a risk factor, particularly when combined with stressful life experiences, for developing anxiety and mood disorders. And in fact, the genetically engineered mice Andrews studied showed more anxiety as adults.

"It might be possible that when mothers are treated for depression or anxiety during pregnancy that certain SSRIs may promote resilience to developing these disorders in children later in life," Andrews said. "However, it will take much more research for us to understand whether this is true and whether certain SSRIs may be better at promoting these effects."

Going forward, Andrews and her team plan to investigate the effects of early exposure to antidepressants on the architectures of serotonin neurons. Based on the current findings, they suspect that early exposure to Lexapro may alter the way serotonin neurons innervate brain regions involved in mood and anxiety behavior. They also plan to investigate other SSRIs such as Paxil and Zoloft.

"Current antidepressant therapies are ineffective in treating anxiety and depression in large numbers of patients, and advances in predicting individual responses are hindered by difficulties associated with characterizing complex influences of genetic and environmental factors on serotonergic transmission in humans," the study states. "Highly controlled animal models, such as those studied here, represent avenues by which to identify factors potentially influencing behavioral domains associated with emotion-related disorders."

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/12/141219160606.htm

Helping parents understand infant sleep patterns

December 19, 2014

Science Daily/Penn State

Most parents are not surprised by the irregularity of a newborn infant's sleep patterns, but by six months or so many parents wonder if something is wrong with their baby or their sleeping arrangements if the baby is not sleeping through the night. Health-care providers, specifically nurse practitioners, can help parents understand what 'normal' sleep patterns are for their child, according to researchers.

"Nurse practitioners are at the frontline of healthcare," said Robin Yaure, senior instructor of human development and family studies, Penn State Mont Alto. "They are in an ideal position to help parents understand infant sleep pattern norms. Thus, nurse practitioners can help parents understand that 'sleeping through the night' is not entirely likely in young infants and that infants' sleep patterns change during the first few years of life."

According to the researchers, there are four common areas of concern for both parents and practitioners: what constitutes "normal" infant sleep and waking patterns, whether nightwakings are a problem or not, is a parent's presence disruptive when an infant is falling asleep, and whether sleep training is safe and healthy for infants. Sleep training is one way to establish a sleep routine for a child, although the methods used may not be appealing to parents or in the best interests of the child, the researchers said.

Yaure and colleagues reviewed current research on infant sleep, focusing on the above four areas of concern, and specifically infant safety and the well being of both infant and mother during nighttime care. The researchers suggest how to best integrate parents' preferences for care and best practice information, and include conversation points for nurse practitioners recently online in the Journal of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners.

Infants' sleep patterns vary for at least the first three years of life. There are many reasons for this, including changes in infant health and mobility and the development of separation anxiety.

"Sharing this basic information with parents is one way of assuring parents that infants' waking does not necessarily mean that the parents are doing something wrong," the researchers wrote.

Parent presence at bedtime, sleep training and infant self-settling are frequently debated topics about which parents might look to healthcare professionals for advice. Yaure and colleagues again point to sharing information with parents -- for example, recent research suggests that the presence of parents at bedtime, specifically during the transition to sleep, may not trigger nightwakings as previously thought.

The researchers also point out that recent research on the nonresponsiveness of mothers during nighttime care can raise stress for both mom and baby. Elevated stress increases cortisol in the body, which may hurt the baby in the long run. Increased cortisol levels are associated with depression, aggression and attention problems, among other issues, in children and adults.

"I worry about parents who feel like they can't trust their own instincts," said Yaure. "Different parents have different goals and ideas for parenting, and we want parents to figure out how to incorporate best practices into their belief system. We have to be culturally aware and sensitive to different families and beliefs."

By encouraging nurse practitioners to talk about current knowledge on infant nightwakings and parental presence, among other things, Yaure hopes that parents will become more comfortable and confident with their nighttime care choices.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/12/141219104146.htm

Fine particulate air pollution linked with increased autism risk

December 18, 2014

Science Daily/Harvard School of Public Health

Women exposed to high levels of fine particulate matter specifically during pregnancy -- particularly during the third trimester -- may face up to twice the risk of having a child with autism than mothers living in areas with low particulate matter, according to a study. The greater the exposure, the greater the risk, researchers found. It was the first US-wide study exploring the link between airborne particulate matter and autism.

"Our data add additional important support to the hypothesis that maternal exposure to air pollution contributes to the risk of autism spectrum disorders," said Marc Weisskopf, associate professor of environmental and occupational epidemiology and senior author of the study. "The specificity of our findings for the pregnancy period, and third trimester in particular, rules out many other possible explanations for these findings."

The researchers explored the association between autism and exposure to PM2.5 before, during, and after pregnancy. They also calculated exposure to PM2.5 during each pregnancy trimester.

Exposure to PM2.5 was significantly associated with autism during pregnancy, but not before or after, the study found. And during the pregnancy, the third trimester specifically was significantly associated with an increased risk. Little association was found between air pollution from larger-sized particles (PM10-2.5) and autism.

"The evidence base for a role for maternal exposure to air pollution increasing the risk of autism spectrum disorders is becoming quite strong," said Weisskopf. "This not only gives us important insight as we continue to pursue the origins of autism spectrum disorders, but as a modifiable exposure, opens the door to thinking about possible preventative measures."

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/12/141218081334.htm

Women's age at first menstrual cycle linked to heart disease risk

December 15, 2014

Science Daily/American Heart Association

The risk of heart disease, stroke and high blood pressure was significantly higher when menstruation began at age 10 or younger, or age 17 or older. First menstrual cycle at the age of 13 posed the lowest risk of heart disease, stroke and high blood pressure.

Researchers analyzed data collected from 1.3 million women aged 50 to 64 years old, who were mostly white. After over a decade of observation, those women who had their first menstrual cycle at the age of 13 had the least risk of developing heart disease, stroke, and high blood pressure.

Compared to women who had their first menstrual cycle at age 13, women with their first menstrual cycle at age 10 or younger, or age 17 or older, had up to:

• ·      27 percent more hospitalizations or deaths due to heart disease;
• ·      16 percent more hospitalizations or deaths from stroke; and
• ·      20 percent more hospitalizations with high blood pressure, or deaths due to its complications.

"The size of our study, the wide range of ages considered, and the vascular diseases being examined made it unique and informative," said Dexter Canoy, M.D, Ph.D., study lead author and cardiovascular epidemiologist at the Cancer Epidemiology Unit, Nuffield Department of Population Health at the University of Oxford in the U.K.

"Childhood obesity, widespread in many industrialized countries, is linked particularly to early age at which the first menstrual cycle occurs. Public health strategies to tackle childhood obesity may possibly prevent the lowering of the average age of first menstrual cycle, which may in turn reduce their risk of developing heart disease over the long term."

The effect of age of the first occurrence of menstruation on heart disease was consistently found among lean, over-weight, and obese women, among never, past or current smokers, and among women in lower, middle, or higher socioeconomic groups.

For the majority of these women, however, their additional risk of developing a vascular disease was small. Of the million women, only four percent of them had their first menstrual cycle occurring at age 10 or younger, and only one percent at age 17 or older.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/12/141215185203.htm

Prenatal exposure to common household chemicals linked with substantial drop in child IQ

December 10, 2014

Science Daily/Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health

Children exposed during pregnancy to elevated levels of two common chemicals found in the home -- di-n-butyl phthalate and di-isobutyl phthalate -- had an IQ score, on average, more than six points lower than children exposed at lower levels, according to researchers.

The study is the first to report a link between prenatal exposure to phthalates and IQ in school-age children. While avoiding all phthalates in the United States is for now impossible, the researchers recommend that pregnant women take steps to limit exposure by not microwaving food in plastics, avoiding scented products as much as possible, including air fresheners, and dryer sheets, and not using recyclable plastics labeled as 3, 6, or 7.

DnBP and DiBP are found in a wide variety of consumer products, from dryer sheets to vinyl fabrics to personal care products like lipstick, hairspray, and nail polish, even some soaps.

Since 2009, several phthalates have been banned from children's toys and other childcare articles in the United States. However, no steps have been taken to protect the developing fetus by alerting pregnant women to potential exposures. In the U.S., phthalates are rarely listed as ingredients on products in which they are used.

The range of phthalate metabolite exposures measured in the mothers was not unusual: it was within what the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention observed in a national sample.

"Pregnant women across the United States are exposed to phthalates almost daily, many at levels similar to those that we found were associated with substantial reductions in the IQ of children," says lead author Pam Factor-Litvak, PhD, associate professor of Epidemiology at the Mailman School.

"The magnitude of these IQ differences is troubling," says senior author Robin Whyatt, DrPH, Professor of Environmental Health Sciences and deputy director of the Columbia Center for Children's Environmental Health at the Mailman School. "A six- or seven-point decline in IQ may have substantial consequences for academic achievement and occupational potential."

"While there has been some regulation to ban phthalates from toys of young children," adds Dr. Factor-Litvak, "there is no legislation governing exposure during pregnancy, which is likely the most sensitive period for brain development. Indeed, phthalates are not required to be on product labeling."

While avoiding all phthalates in the United States is for now impossible, the researchers recommend that pregnant women take steps to limit exposure by not microwaving food in plastics, avoiding scented products as much as possible, including air fresheners, and dryer sheets, and not using recyclable plastics labeled as 3, 6, or 7.

The findings build on earlier, similar observations by the researchers of associations between prenatal exposure to DnBP and DiBP and children's cognitive and motor development and behavior at age 3. This September, they reported a link between prenatal exposure to phthalates and risk for childhood asthma.

It's not known how phthalates affect child health. However, numerous studies show that they disrupt the actions of hormones, including testosterone and thyroid hormone. Inflammation and oxidative stress may also play a role.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/12/141210140823.htm

Mindfulness techniques can help protect pregnant women against depression

November 19, 2014

Science Daily/University of Colorado at Boulder

Pregnant women with histories of major depression are about 40 percent less likely to relapse into depression if they practice mindfulness techniques -- such as meditation, breathing exercises and yoga -- along with cognitive therapy, according to a new study.

About 30 percent of women who have struggled with depression in the past relapse during pregnancy, according to past research. In the new study, published in the journal Archives of Women's Mental Health, the research team found that pregnant women with histories of depression who participated in Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy had a relapse rate of just 18 percent.

"It's important for pregnant women who are at high risk of depression to have options for treatment and prevention," said Sona Dimidjian, an associate professor in CU-Boulder's Department of Psychology and Neuroscience and lead author of the study. "For some women, antidepressant medication is truly a lifesaver, but others want a non-pharmacological intervention. This program focuses on teaching women skills and practices that are designed to help them stay well and care for themselves and their babies during this important time of life."

Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy--which combines mindfulness practice with more traditional cognitive behavioral therapy--has been shown to be effective at preventing recurrent episodes of depression in the general population. But few studies of any kind have looked at the effect of mindfulness or cognitive behavioral therapies among pregnant women.

A high percentage of the women who began the courses--86 percent--completed the study, a sign that the women found the sessions valuable, Dimidjian said. The researchers also were struck by the number of pregnant women who expressed interest in participating in a mindfulness program, even though they didn't meet the criteria to participate in this study.

"I was surprised by the level of interest, even among women who didn't have a history of depression," Dimidjian said. "Pregnant women know that the experience of having a child is going to change their lives, and they want to be ready."

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/11/141119125430.htm

Mentally stressed young women with heart disease have reduced blood flow to heart

November 16, 2014

Science Daily/American Heart Association

Young women with stable coronary heart disease are more likely than men of the same age to develop reduced blood flow to the heart if they're under emotional stress. Women 55 years and younger under mental stress had three times greater reduction in blood flow to the heart than men.

Compared to men of the same age, when subjected to a mental stress test, women:

·      age 55 and younger had three times greater reduction in blood flow to the heart;

·      age 56-64 had double the reduction in blood flow to the heart; and

·      age 65 and older had no difference in blood flow to the heart.

"Women who develop heart disease at a younger age make up a special high-risk group because they are disproportionally vulnerable to emotional stress," said Viola Vaccarino, M.D., Ph.D., study author and chairwoman of Cardiovascular Research and Epidemiology at Emory University's Rollins School of Public Health in Atlanta, Georgia.

Women generally develop heart disease later in life than men. However, younger women who have premature heart attacks are more likely to die than men of similar age. Risk factors, such as diabetes or high blood pressure, don't explain these mortality differences.

Young and middle-age women may be more vulnerable to emotional stress because they face considerable burden of stressors in everyday life such as managing kids, marriage, jobs and caring for parents, Vaccarino said. Biology may also play a role -- for example, a greater propensity towards abnormal blood vessel function during emotional stress, such as exaggerated constriction of coronary or peripheral blood vessels.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/11/141116094330.htm

Older women with breathing problems during sleep experience decline in ability to perform daily tasks

November 12, 2014

Science Daily/Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

Older women with disordered breathing during sleep were found to be at greater risk of decline in the ability to perform daily activities, such as grocery shopping and meal preparation, according to a new study.

The findings are notable given the aging of the population -- an estimated 3.7 million Americans will turn 65 in 2015, and by 2030, 19 percent of the U.S. population will be 65 or older -- and the fact that sleep-disordered breathing is treatable. Older adults are as much as four times as likely as middle-aged individuals to have problems with breathing during sleep.

Sleep-disordered breathing involves repeated interruptions or decreases in breathing during sleep, which often leads to fragmented sleep and hypoxemia, or low blood oxygen levels.

Doctors rate the severity of sleep-disordered breathing with the apnea-hypopnea index (AHI), which reflects the number of breathing interruptions (apneas) and the number of significant decreases in breathing (hypopneas) per hour of sleep.

The researchers say they believe it is the low blood-oxygen levels caused by sleep-disordered breathing that cause the trouble with daily tasks, and not sleep fragmentation, which is also increased by sleep-disordered breathing.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/11/141112134748.htm

Cycling fast: Vigorous daily exercise recommended for a longer life

September 18, 2011

Science Daily/European Society of Cardiology (ESC)

A study conducted among cyclists in Copenhagen, Denmark showed that it is the relative intensity and not the duration of cycling which is of most importance in relation to all-cause mortality and even more pronounced for coronary heart disease mortality.

The study, presented at the ESC Congress 2011, concluded that men with fast intensity cycling survived 5.3 years longer, and men with average intensity 2.9 years longer than men with slow cycling intensity. For women the figures were 3.9 and 2.2 years longer, respectively (see Figures below). The groups were adjusted for differences in age and conventional risk factor levels.

Current recommendations prescribe that every adult should accumulate 30 minutes or more of moderate physical activity in leisure time, preferably every day of the week. The optimal intensity, duration and frequency still have to be established.

According to Prof Schnor, "this study suggests that a greater part of the daily physical activity in leisure time should be vigorous, based on the individuals own perception of intensity. "Our group has already published similar results for all-cause mortality in relation to walking."

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/08/110829070507.htm

Aerobic Exercise Relieves Insomnia

Sep. 15, 2010 —

Science Daily/Northwestern University

The millions of middle-aged and older adults who suffer from insomnia have a new drug-free prescription for a more restful night's sleep. Regular aerobic exercise improves the quality of sleep, mood and vitality, according to a small but significant new study from Northwestern Medicine.

The study is the first to examine the effect of aerobic exercise on middle-aged and older adults with a diagnosis of insomnia. About 50 percent of people in these age groups complain of chronic insomnia symptoms.

"Insomnia increases with age," Zee said. "Around middle age, sleep begins to change dramatically. It is essential that we identify behavioral ways to improve sleep. Now we have promising results showing aerobic exercise is a simple strategy to help people sleep better and feel more vigorous."

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/09/100915140336.htm

Extra Sleep Improves Athletic Performance

June 10, 2008 —

Science Daily/American Academy of Sleep Medicine

Getting extra sleep over an extended period of time improves athletic performance, mood and alertness, according to a research abstract that will be presented on June 9 at the SLEEP 2008 22nd Annual Meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies (APSS) in Baltimore, Md.

“These results begin to elucidate the importance of sleep on athletic performance and, more specifically, how sleep is a significant factor in achieving peak athletic performance,” said lead author Cheri Mah of the Stanford Sleep Disorders Clinic and Research Laboratory. “While this study focuses specifically on collegiate swimmers, it agrees with data from my other studies of different sports and suggests that athletes across all sports can greatly benefit from extra sleep and gain the additional competitive edge to perform at their highest level.”
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/06/080609071106.htm

Sleep Preference Can Predict Performance of Major League Baseball Pitchers

June 11, 2010 —

Science Daily/American Academy of Sleep Medicine

A Major League Baseball pitcher's natural sleep preference might affect how he performs in day and night games, according to a research abstract presented June 9, 2010, in San Antonio, Texas, at SLEEP 2010, the 24th annual meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies LLC.

"These results are important as they are potentially giving insight into an entirely new way to grade or classify an athlete, in this specific case a pitcher," said Winter. "This study may provide insight as to which pitchers would be best in a given situation based upon when the game is being played. For example, a critical game being played in the evening might be a better situation to pitch an evening-type pitcher versus a day-type pitcher."
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/06/100609083223.htm

Sleep Extension Improves Athletic Performance And Mood

June 10, 2009 —

Science Daily/American Academy of Sleep Medicine

Athletes who extended their nightly sleep and reduced accumulated sleep debt reported improvements in various drills conducted after every regular practice, according to a research abstract that will be presented on June 8, at Sleep 2009, the 23rd Annual Meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies.

Results of the study indicated that sleep extension in athletes was associated with a faster sprinting drill (approximately 19.12 seconds at baseline versus 17.56 seconds at end of sleep extension), increased hitting accuracy including valid serves (12.6 serves compared to 15.61 serves), and hitting depth drill (10.85 hits versus 15.45 hits).
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090608071939.htm

Extra Sleep Improves the Athletic Performance of Collegiate Football Players

June 9, 2010 —

Science Daily/American Academy of Sleep Medicine

Getting extra sleep over an extended period of time improves athletic performance, alertness and mood, according to a research abstract presented June 8, 2010, in San Antonio, Texas, at SLEEP 2010, the 24th annual meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies LLC.

Results indicate that football players' sprint times improved significantly after seven to eight weeks of sleep extension. Average sprint time in the 20-yard shuttle improved from 4.71 seconds to 4.61 seconds, and the average 40-yard dash time decreased from 4.99 seconds to 4.89 seconds. Daytime sleepiness and fatigue also decreased significantly, while vigor scores significantly improved.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/06/100608091858.htm

Regular Daily Exercise Does Not Increase Total Sleep Time

June 8, 2009 —

Science Daily/American Academy of Sleep Medicine

According to a research abstract that will be presented on June 8 at Sleep 2009, the 23rd Annual Meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies, days with increased activity were followed by nights with lower total sleep time (TST), while nights with lower TST were followed by increased activities during the next day.

"It has long been recommended, even championed, that getting exercise is part of the recipe for improved sleep. Our data do not support that notion," said Eliasson. "The longest sleep and best sleep efficiency occurred after days with low non-exercise exertion. Similarly, we expected that better-rested subjects would be more inclined to get exercise or have busier days; however, better-rested subjects got less exercise and had less calorie expenditure. After relatively more sleep (more than six hours), all measures of exertion decreased."
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090608071937.htm

Moderate Exercise Can Improve Sleep Quality of Insomnia Patients

June 12, 2008 —

Science Daily/American Academy of Sleep Medicine

An acute session of moderate aerobic exercise, but not heavy aerobic or moderate strength exercises, can reduce the anxiety state and improve the sleep quality of insomnia patients, according to a research abstract that will be presented on June 11 at SLEEP 2008, the 22nd Annual Meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies (APSS).

"These findings indicate that there is a way to diminish the symptoms of insomnia without using medication," said Passos. "This study is the first to look at the importance of using physical exercise to treat insomnia, and may contribute to increased quality of life in people with one of the most important kind of sleep disorders around the world."
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/06/080611071129.htm

Prebiotics may help to cope with stress

Prebiotic fibers can help to protect beneficial gut bacteria and restore healthy sleep patterns after a stressful event

February 10, 2017

Science Daily/Frontiers

Probiotics are well known to benefit digestive health, but prebiotics are less well understood. Recent study in rats shows that prebiotic fibers may help to protect beneficial gut bacteria and restore healthy sleep patterns after a stressful event.

Probiotics are well known to benefit digestive health, but prebiotics are less well understood. Prebiotics are certain types of non-digestible fibers that probiotic bacteria feed on, such as the fibers found in many plant sources like asparagus, oatmeal, and legumes. Certain bacteria also feed on non-fibers such as the protein lactoferrin, which also acts like a prebiotic and is found in breast milk.

According to a new study published in the online journal, Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience by Professor Monika Fleshner, PhD, and her team from the University of Colorado, Boulder, regular intake of prebiotics may promote beneficial gut bacteria and recovery of normal sleep patterns after a stressful episode.

"Acute stress can disrupt the gut microbiome," explained Dr. Agnieszka Mika, a postdoctoral fellow and one of the authors of the study, "and we wanted to test if a diet rich in prebiotics would increase beneficial bacteria as well as protect gut microbes from stress-induced disruptions. We also wanted to look at the effects of prebiotics on the recovery of normal sleep patterns, since they tend to be disrupted after stressful events."

In this experiment, test rats received prebiotic diets for several weeks prior to a stressful test condition and compared with control rats that did not receive the prebiotic-enriched diet. Interestingly, rats that ate prebiotics prior to the stressful event did not experience stress-induced disruption in their gut microbiota, and also recovered healthier sleep patterns sooner than controls.

Given that these experiments were done in rats, are these results relevant for humans? "The stressor the rats received was the equivalent of a single intense acute stressful episode for humans, such as a car accident or the death of a loved one," said Dr. Robert S. Thompson, the lead author of the study. "A next set of studies will be looking exactly at that question -- can prebiotics help humans to protect and restore their gut microflora and recover normal sleep patterns after a traumatic event?"

In the mean time, should we start including prebiotics in our diets to help cope with stress? "So far no adverse effects from prebiotics have been reported," said Dr. Mika, "and they are found widely in many plants, even present in breast milk, and are already commercially available." Healthy gut bacteria and restful sleep could be your benefits.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/02/170210130951.htm

Contact in sports may lead to differences in the brains of young, healthy athletes

August 22, 2017

Science Daily/St. Michael's Hospital

People who play contact sports show changes to their brain structure and function, with sports that have greater risk of body contact showing greater effects on the brain, a new study has found.

Researchers at St. Michael's Hospital performed preseason brain scans of 65 varsity athletes -- 23 from collision sports (with routine, purposeful body-to-body contact), 22 from contact sports (where contact is allowed, but is not an integral part of the game) and 20 from non-contact sports.

They found that the athletes in collision and contact sports had differences in brain structure, function and chemical markers typically associated with brain injury, compared to athletes in non-contact sports.

Their findings were published online today in the journal Frontiers of Neurology.

Lead author Dr. Nathan Churchill, a post-doctoral fellow in St. Michael's Neuroscience Research Program, said there was growing concern about how participation in contact sports may affect the brain.

Most of the research in this area has focused on the long-term effects for athletes in collision sports, such as football and ice hockey, where players may be exposed to hundreds of impacts in a single season. Less is known about the consequences of participating in contact sports where body-to-body contact is permitted, but is not purposeful, such as soccer, basketball and field hockey.

This study looked at both men and women from a variety of sports, and found progressive differences between the brains of athletes in non-contact, contact and collision sports.

This included differences in the structure of the brain's white matter -- the fibre tracts that connect different parts of the brain and allow them to communicate with one another. Athletes in sports with higher levels of contact also showed signs of reduced communication between brain areas and decreased activity, particularly within areas involved in vision and motor function, compared to those in non-contact sports, such as volleyball.

However, these differences do not reflect significantly impaired day-to-day functioning, said Dr. Tom Schweizer, head of the Neuroscience Research Program and a co-author of the paper, noting that the athletes in this study did not report significant health problems and were all active varsity athletes.

He said this study fills an important gap in understanding how contact affects healthy brains, as a step toward better understanding why a small number of athletes in contact sports show negative long-term health consequences.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/08/170822092215.htm

Being in a sports club is good for mental health

August 16, 2017

Science Daily/Medical University of Vienna

While so-called social networks are booming and Facebook, Twitter and Whatsapp have millions of users in Austria, "real" social contacts are perceptibly declining. Researchers have now investigated the effect that being an active member of a sports club has on our health. Apart from the beneficial effect of regular exercise, the main finding of the meta-study is: active membership has a positive effect upon mental health.

Hans-Peter Hutter will present the study this coming Tuesday (22 August, 16-17:30 hrs, Flora Hall) as part of a partner session at the European Forum Alpbach under the title "The sports club as a health driver."

The main health impacts from the 1,685 reviewed papers on the subject of "Sports Clubs and Health" are as follows:

·      Being an active member of a sports club during adolescence helps to integrate a person into society "and helps to stop young people from going down the wrong path," says Hutter.

·      Active membership of a sports club increases a young person's self-confidence -- "especially in the case of girls."

·      Active membership of a sports club has a beneficial effect upon well-being and mental health (e.g. vitality). Says Hutter: "These effects are much greater than those resulting from individually organised sporting activities."

·      Members of sports clubs are generally (more) content with their lives.

·      Being an active member of a sports club is fun and also provides socialisation. This in turn leads to more regular sporting activities.

·      The beneficial health impacts of the social aspect of sports clubs were observed in all age groups and in both genders.

According to the authors (Hans-Peter Hutter and Peter Wallner from MedUni Vienna, Anna Wanka from Vienna University; Christian Gormász, Anna-Maria Wiesner and Rainer Rößlhuber from BSO), medicine often underestimates social aspects and rarely mentions their positive impact upon health -- and this equally applies to sport.

Finally, recent studies have also indicated that an active social life is beneficial in the prevention of dementia. Says Hutter: "Social contacts keep you vital, because you have to respond to your opposite number. This improves your cognitive abilities. Playing sport in a club has general psychosocial benefits -- that is also a unique feature of a group activity."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/08/170816085251.htm

New mindfulness method helps coaches, athletes score

August 4, 2017

Science Daily/American Psychological Association

When it comes to success in sports, coaches and athletes understand that there's a mental component, but many don't have an understanding of how to prepare psychologically. That's where the concept of mindfulness can be beneficial, via a program to help athletes and coaches at all levels develop that mental edge and improve their performance.

"It's been suggested that many coaches regard sport as at least 50 percent mental when competing against opponents of similar ability. In some sports, that percentage can be as high as 80 to 90 percent mental," said Keith Kaufman, PhD, a Washington, DC-area sport psychology practitioner and research associate at The Catholic University of America presenting at the 125th Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association. His six-session program, developed in collaboration with Carol Glass, PhD, also of The Catholic University of America, and clinical psychologist Timothy Pineau, PhD, is outlined in the book "Mindful Sport Performance Enhancement," to be published by APA later this month.

A number of psychological studies support the importance of mental preparation, according to Kaufman. One involved more than 200 Canadian athletes from the 1984 Olympics who were assessed for three major readiness factors: mental, physical and technical. Of the three, only mental readiness was significantly associated with how successful they were at the Olympics.

"With popular belief and scientific evidence being in such harmony, one might expect that mental training would be a top priority within the athletic community. However, curiously, this is not the case," said Kaufman. "We have met so many athletes and coaches who know that mental factors, such as concentrating, relaxing and letting go of thoughts and feelings, can aid performance, but have no idea how to actually do those things under the pressures of training and competition."

Kaufman outlined a multi-step program he and his co-authors developed based on the practice of mindfulness, by which coaches and athletes at all levels can increase their mental readiness.

Mindfulness entails being aware of the present moment and accepting things as they are without judgment. When people are able simply to watch experiences come and go, rather than latch onto and overthink them, they are better able to intentionally shift their focus to their performance rather than distracting negative experiences such as anxiety, Kaufman said.

"For example, an athlete could identify that 'right now, I'm having the thought that I can't finish this race,' so rather than reflecting an objective truth, it's seen as just a thought," said Kaufman.

The program itself consists of six group-based sessions that contain educational, discussion and experiential components, as well as recommendations for daily home practice. The training begins with sedentary mindfulness practice, where participants are instructed to focus on experiences like eating and breathing, but gradually more and more movement is incorporated, culminating in a sport-specific meditation in which athletes or coaches apply a mindful style of attention to their actual sport performance. In addition to formal exercises, the program emphasizes informal mindfulness practice, which involves engaging in daily activities with mindful intention, helping participants to integrate mindfulness into their workouts, practices and competitions, as well as everyday life.

The training is easily adapted to accommodate any sport at any level, from amateur to professional, he said. It can also be adapted for use by a single performer or by those in other high-pressure domains such as the performing arts or business.

Recent research cited by Kaufman points to the significant potential for this approach. Two studies involving 81 university athletes found that athletes who completed the program showed significant increases in various dimensions of mindfulness and flow, which is the mental construct often associated with being "in the zone." They also rated their own performance higher and experienced less sport-related anxiety. At a follow-up months later, these gains were maintained and in one of the studies, involving two teams that had losing records the previous year, both had winning seasons following mindful sport performance enhancement.

"We wrote this book so that sport psychologists, athletes, coaches, psychotherapists with clients who are athletes or performing artists, researchers, educators and anyone else interested in applications of mindfulness for their own personal fitness or performance can have access to a complete guide to mindful sport performance enhancement exercises, materials and theory," he said. "No background in psychology, mindfulness or the sport sciences is required to benefit from the content."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/08/170804091350.htm

Brains evolved to need exercise

June 26, 2017

Science Daily/University of Arizona

Mounting scientific evidence shows that exercise is good not only for our bodies, but for our brains. Yet, exactly why physical activity benefits the brain is not well understood. Researchers suggest that the link between exercise and the brain is a product of our evolutionary history and our past as hunter-gatherers.

In a new article published in the journal Trends in Neurosciences, University of Arizona researchers suggest that the link between exercise and the brain is a product of our evolutionary history and our past as hunter-gatherers.

UA anthropologist David Raichlen and UA psychologist Gene Alexander, who together run a research program on exercise and the brain, propose an "adaptive capacity model" for understanding, from an evolutionary neuroscience perspective, how physical activity impacts brain structure and function.

Their argument: As humans transitioned from a relatively sedentary apelike existence to a more physically demanding hunter-gatherer lifestyle, starting around 2 million years ago, we began to engage in complex foraging tasks that were simultaneously physically and mentally demanding, and that may explain how physical activity and the brain came to be so connected.

"We think our physiology evolved to respond to those increases in physical activity levels, and those physiological adaptations go from your bones and your muscles, apparently all the way to your brain," said Raichlen, an associate professor in the UA School of Anthropology in the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences.

"It's very odd to think that moving your body should affect your brain in this way -- that exercise should have some beneficial impact on brain structure and function -- but if you start thinking about it from an evolutionary perspective, you can start to piece together why that system would adaptively respond to exercise challenges and stresses," he said.

Having this underlying understanding of the exercise-brain connection could help researchers come up with ways to enhance the benefits of exercise even further, and to develop effective interventions for age-related cognitive decline or even neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's.

Notably, the parts of the brain most taxed during a complex activity such as foraging -- areas that play a key role in memory and executive functions such as problem solving and planning -- are the same areas that seem to benefit from exercise in studies.

"Foraging is an incredibly complex cognitive behavior," Raichlen said. "You're moving on a landscape, you're using memory not only to know where to go but also to navigate your way back, you're paying attention to your surroundings. You're multitasking the entire time because you're making decisions while you're paying attention to the environment, while you are also monitoring your motor systems over complex terrain. Putting all that together creates a very complex multitasking effort."

The adaptive capacity model could help explain research findings such as those published by Raichlen and Alexander last year showing that runners' brains appear to be more connected than brains of non-runners.

The model also could help inform interventions for the cognitive decline that often accompanies aging -- in a period in life when physical activity levels tend to decline as well.

"What we're proposing is, if you're not sufficiently engaged in this kind of cognitively challenging aerobic activity, then this may be responsible for what we often see as healthy brain aging, where people start to show some diminished cognitive abilities," said Alexander, a UA professor of psychology, psychiatry, neuroscience and physiological sciences. "So the natural aging process might really be part of a reduced capacity in response to not being engaged enough."

Reduced capacity refers to what can happen in organ systems throughout the body when they are deprived of exercise.

"Our organ systems adapt to the stresses they undergo," said Raichlen, an avid runner and expert on running. "For example, if you engage in exercise, your cardiovascular system has to adapt to expand capacity, be it through enlarging your heart or increasing your vasculature, and that takes energy. So if you're not challenging it in that way -- if you're not engaging in aerobic exercise -- to save energy, your body simply reduces that capacity."

In the case of the brain, if it is not being stressed enough it may begin to atrophy. This may be especially concerning, considering how much more sedentary humans' lifestyles have become.

"Our evolutionary history suggests that we are, fundamentally, cognitively engaged endurance athletes, and that if we don't remain active we're going to have this loss of capacity in response to that," said Alexander, who studies brain aging and Alzheimer's disease as a member of the UA's Evelyn F. McKnight Brain Institute. "So there really may be a mismatch between our relatively sedentary lifestyles of today and how we evolved."

Alexander and Raichlen say future research should look at how different levels of exercise intensity, as well as different types of exercise, or exercise paired specifically with cognitive tasks, affect the brain.

For example, exercising in a novel environment that poses a new mental challenge, may prove to be especially beneficial, Raichlen said.

"Most of the research in this area puts people in a cognitively impoverished environment. They put people in a lab and have them run on a treadmill or exercise bike, and you don't really have to do as much, so it's possible that we're missing something by not increasing novelty," he said.

Alexander and Raichlen say they hope the adaptive capacity model will help advance research on exercise and the brain.

"This evolutionary neuroscience perspective is something that's been generally lacking in the field," Alexander said. "And we think this might be helpful to advance research and help develop some new specific hypotheses and ways to identify more universally effective interventions that could be helpful to everyone."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/06/170626155729.htm