How pregnancy turns the stress response on its head

Researchers seek elusive link between prenatal stress and offspring mental health

March 16, 2021

Science Daily/Ohio State University

The link between psychological stress and physical health problems generally relates to a stress-induced immune response gone wild, with inflammation then causing damage to other systems in the body. It's a predictable cascade -- except in pregnancy, research suggests.

Scientists exploring the negative effects of prenatal stress on offspring mental health set out to find the immune cells and microbes in stressed pregnant mice most likely to trigger inflammation in the fetal brain -- the source for anxiety and other psychological problems identified in previous research.

Instead, the researchers found two simultaneous conditions in response to stress that made them realize just how complex the cross-talk between mom and baby is during gestation: Immune cells in the placenta and uterus were not activated, but significant inflammation was detected in the fetal brain.

They also found that prenatal stress in the mice led to reductions in gut microbial strains and functions, especially those linked to inflammation.

"I thought it was going to be a fairly straightforward tale of maternal inflammation, changes in microbes and fetal inflammation. And while the changes in microbes are there, the inflammation part is more complex than I had anticipated," said Tamar Gur, senior author of the study and assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral health, neuroscience, and obstetrics and gynecology at The Ohio State University.

"The complex interplay between the stress response and the immune system is dysregulated by stress, which is problematic for the developing fetus. There are key changes during this critical window that can help shape the developing brain, so we want to figure out how we could potentially intervene to help regulate these systems."

The study was published recently in Scientific Reports.

Most attention paid to the negative effects of prenatal stress on offspring mental health focus on disruptive major life events or exposure to disaster, but evidence also suggests that up to 84% of pregnant women experience some sort of stress.

In a previous study, Gur's lab found that prenatal stress's contributions to life-long anxiety and cognitive problems in mouse offspring could be traced to changes in microbial communities in both mom and baby.

Gur focuses on the intrauterine environment in her search for factors that increase the risk for prenatal stress's damaging effects, and this newer study opened her eyes to how complicated that environment is.

"The dogma would be that we're going to see an influx of immune cells to the placenta. The fact that it's suppressed speaks to the powerful anti-inflammatory response of the mom. And that makes sense -- a fetus is basically a foreign object, so in order to maintain pregnancy we need to have some level of immunosuppression," said Gur, also an investigator in Ohio State's Institute for Behavioral Medicine Research and a maternal-fetal psychiatrist at Ohio State Wexner Medical Center.

"We want to figure out what is at the interface between mom and baby that is mediating the immunosuppressive effect on the maternal side and the inflammation on the fetal side. If we can get at that, we'll get really important keys to understanding how best to prevent the negative impact of prenatal stress."

Prevention could come in the form of prebiotics or probiotics designed to boost the presence of beneficial microbes in the GI tract of pregnant women. Maternal microbes affect the brains and immune systems of developing offspring by producing a variety of chemicals the body uses to manage physiological processes.

"I think microbes hold really important clues and keys, making them a tantalizing target for intervention. We can do things about individuals' microbes to benefit both mom and baby," Gur said.

To mimic prenatal stress during the second and early third trimesters, pregnant mice in her lab are subjected to two hours of restraint for seven days to induce stress. Control mice are left undisturbed during gestation.

In this recent study, the researchers found stress in mice activated steroid hormones throughout the body -- the sign of a suppressed immune system -- and resulted in lower-than-expected populations of immune cells in reproductive tissue, suggesting that the uterus was effectively resisting the effects of the stress.

An examination of colon contents showed differences in microbial communities between stressed and non-stressed mice, with one family of microbes that influences immune function markedly decreased in stressed mice. The researchers found that stress showed few signs of gene-level changes in the colon that could let bacteria escape to the bloodstream -- one way that microbes interfere with body processes.

"There are absolutely changes in microbes that might help explain key pathways that are important for health and the immune system, especially when it comes to the placenta and the mom's immune system," Gur said.

In future studies, her lab will examine immune cells in the fetal brain and monitor how gene expression changes in cells in the placenta in response to stress. She is also leading an ongoing observational study in women, tracking microbes, inflammation and stress levels during and after pregnancy.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/03/210316112316.htm

Study reveals process to explain how maternal stress triggers idiopathic preterm birth

March 9, 2021

Science Daily/University of South Florida (USF Health)

Preterm birth is a leading cause of infant deaths and illness in the U.S. -- yet its underlying molecular causes remain largely unclear. About 40 to 50% of preterm births, defined as births before 37 weeks of pregnancy, are estimated to be "idiopathic," meaning they arise from unexplained or spontaneous labor. And, maternal stress linked to depression and post-traumatic stress disorders as well as fetal stress have been strongly implicated in preterm births with no known cause.

Now, for the first time, a University of South Florida Health (USF Health) preclinical study has uncovered a mechanism to help explain how psychological and/or physiological stress in pregnant women triggers idiopathic preterm birth. A research team at the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology shows how cortisol -- the "fight-or-flight" hormone critical for regulating the body's response to stress -- acts through stress-responsive protein FKBP51 binding to progesterone receptors to inhibit progesterone receptor function in the uterus. This reduced progesterone receptor activity stimulates labor.

The findings were reported online first March 8 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

"This new study fills in some longstanding mechanistic gaps in our understanding of how normal labor begins and how stress causes preterm birth," said the paper's senior author Charles J. Lockwood, MD, senior vice president of USF Health, dean of the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine, and a professor of obstetrics and gynecology specializing in maternal-fetal medicine.

Dr. Lockwood was a co-principal investigator for the study along with the paper's lead author Ozlem Guzeloglu-Kayisli, PhD, a USF Health associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology. Nihan Semerci, MSc, a senior biological scientist, shares the lead authorship with Dr. Guzeloglu-Kayisli.

Progesterone reduces contractions of the uterus and sustained levels are essential to prevent a baby from being born too early. Reduced uterine progesterone receptor expression and signaling stimulates labor. In the brain, elevated FKBP51 expression has been strongly associated with increased risk for stress-related disorders.

Previous work by the USF Health team showed that normal human labor starting at term (between 37 and 42 weeks of pregnancy) was associated with reduced expression of progesterone receptors and increased expression of FKBP51, specifically in maternal decidual cells (specialized cells lining the uterus).

For the current study focused on maternal stress-induced idiopathic preterm birth, the researchers combined experiments in human maternal decidual cells and a mouse model in which FKBP5, the gene that makes FKBP51, had been removed, or "knocked out." Altogether, their results revealed a novel functional progesterone withdrawal mechanism, mediated by maternal stress-induced uterine FKBP51 overexpression and enhanced FKPB51-progesterone receptor binding, that decreased progestational effects and triggered preterm birth. The researchers found that Fkbp5 knockout mice (with depletion of the gene encoding for FKBP51) exhibit prolonged gestation and are completely resistant to maternal stress-induced preterm birth.

Among the USF Health team's key findings:

- FKPB51 levels were greater and FKPB51 binding to progesterone receptors was significantly increased in the decidual cells of women with idiopathic preterm birth, compared to decidual cells of gestational age-matched controls. 

- The study reports for the first time that Fkbp5-deficient (knockout) mice are completely resistant to maternal stress-induced preterm birth and exhibit prolonged pregnancies accompanied by slower decline in systemic progesterone levels. This indicates that FKBP51 plays a crucial role in the length of pregnancy and initiation of labor and delivery.

- In contrast, mice with the FKPB5 gene intact and normal levels of FKPB51 protein (wild type mice) delivered earlier when exposed to maternal stress than either non-stressed wild type mice or FKPB5 knockout mice under nonstressed or stressed conditions.

"Collectively, these results suggest that FKBP51 plays a pivotal role both in term labor and stress-associated preterm parturition (birth) and that inhibition of FKBP51 may prove to be a novel therapy to prevent idiopathic preterm birth," the study authors conclude.

Currently, injectable progesterone is the only drug approved to help prevent preterm birth in high-risk women who have had a previous preterm birth. However, its effectiveness was not confirmed by a recent large clinical trial, sparking debate in the health care community. The authors finding that progesterone receptor activity was reduced in idiopathic preterm birth may explain the apparent lack of effectiveness of supplemental progesterone.

Babies born before 37 weeks, particularly those born before 34 weeks, have more health problems and may face long-term health complications, including childhood lung or heart disease and neurodevelopmental delays, Dr. Guzeloglu-Kayisli said. The likelihood of poor outcomes decreases as gestational age (length of the pregnancy) increases.

"Prevention of idiopathic preterm birth by extending gestation even two or three weeks can benefit the newborn, because it provides critical time needed for the fetus's lungs and brain to mature," Dr. Guzeloglu-Kayisli said. "Our research indicates the importance of investigating the potential use of FKBP51 inhibitors as a targeted therapy to reduce the risk of stress-related preterm birth."

The USF Health study was supported in part by The March of Dimes Prematurity Research Center Ohio Collaborative grant.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/03/210309105140.htm

Masculine traits linked to better parenting for some dads

Key is for men to also believe they should nurture, study finds

April 9, 2021

Science Daily/Ohio State University

In some men, having traditional masculine characteristics such as competitiveness and adventurousness was linked to being better fathers to infants, a new study found.

But the men in this study -- highly educated and from dual-earner couples -- combined those stereotypically masculine traits with the belief that they should be nurturing, highly involved fathers.

The researchers were surprised that traits often seen as old-fashioned male stereotypes were linked to more positive parenting behaviors, said study lead author Sarah Schoppe-Sullivan, professor of psychology at The Ohio State University.

It suggests that some men are looking for new ways to be fathers, Schoppe-Sullivan said.

"These men are combining traditional aspects of masculinity with new nurturing ideals to create new fathering identities. They may be in the midst of transforming fatherhood."

The study was published this week in the journal Psychology of Men and Masculinities.

The seven stereotypical masculine characteristics linked to positive parenting in this study -- competitive, daring, adventurous, dominant, aggressive, courageous and stands up to pressure -- are generally seen as positive traits, Schoppe-Sullivan noted.

But a negative masculine attitude that the researchers also measured in this study -- hostile sexism -- was not linked to positive parenting. In addition, the quality of fathers' parenting of their infants was unrelated to the belief that men should be primary economic providers in the family.

The men in the study were participating in the New Parents Project, a long-term study led by Schoppe-Sullivan that is investigating how dual-earner couples adjust to becoming parents for the first time.

In the third trimester of their partners' pregnancy, the expectant fathers completed a variety of questionnaires. They were asked to rate themselves on a four-point scale (not at all like me to very much like me) on the seven stereotypically masculine characteristics.

Hostile sexism was rated by asking male participants how much they agreed with 11 statements like "Feminists are making unreasonable demands of men." Participants were also asked whether men or women should provide the majority of income for the family.

Their nurturing father role beliefs were measured by asking men to rate how much they agreed with nine statements like "Men should share with child care such as bathing, feeding and dressing the child."

Nine months after the child was born, the researchers watched the fathers interact with their infants by themselves and with the mother. The researchers rated the fathers on their positive parenting behavior and on how well they co-parented together with mothers.

Results showed, as the researchers had predicted, that men who believed they should have a nurturing father role had higher-quality interactions with their child and were better at co-parenting with their partner.

But the researchers were surprised to find that the more men said they fit the stereotypical definition of "real men," the more they were also rated as showing good parenting behavior.

"The fathers who see themselves as competitive and adventurous and the other masculine traits tended to be really engaged with their kids. They were not checked out," Schoppe-Sullivan said.

It may be that men who used these traditionally masculine characteristics to succeed in their careers are trying to find ways to apply them to their jobs as parents.

"These dads may be saying that being a father is an important job, too, and I'm going to use the same traits that help me succeed at work to make me a successful father," she said.

Schoppe-Sullivan emphasized that the fathers in this sample were highly educated and had partners who also worked. The findings here may not apply to all fathers.

But the results are encouraging, she said.

"If fathers can preserve the best of these stereotypically masculine characteristics, without the negatives like hostile sexism, that would be good for families."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/04/210409104501.htm

Childhood diet and exercise creates healthier, less anxious adults

Study in mice shows lasting effects of early-life habits

April 9, 2021

Science Daily/University of California - Riverside

Exercise and a healthy diet in childhood leads to adults with bigger brains and lower levels of anxiety, according to new UC Riverside research in mice.

Though diet and exercise are consistently recommended as ways to promote health, this study is the first to examine the long-lasting, combined effects of both factors when they are experienced early in life.

"Any time you go to the doctor with concerns about your weight, almost without fail, they recommend you exercise and eat less," said study lead and UCR physiology doctoral student Marcell Cadney. "That's why it's surprising most studies only look at diet or exercise separately. In this study, we wanted to include both."

The researchers determined that early-life exercise generally reduced anxious behaviors in adults. It also led to an increase in adult muscle and brain mass. When fed "Western" style diets high in fat and sugar, the mice not only became fatter, but also grew into adults that preferred unhealthy foods.

These findings have recently been published in the journal Physiology and Behavior. To obtain them, the researchers divided the young mice into four groups -- those with access to exercise, those without access, those fed a standard, healthy diet and those who ate a Western diet.

Mice started on their diets immediately after weaning, and continued on them for three weeks, until they reached sexual maturity. After an additional eight weeks of "washout," during which all mice were housed without wheels and on the healthy diet, the researchers did behavioral analysis, measured aerobic capacity, and levels of several different hormones.

One of those they measured, leptin, is produced by fat cells. It helps control body weight by increasing energy expenditure and signaling that less food is required. Early-life exercise increased adult leptin levels as well as fat mass in adult mice, regardless of the diet they ate.

Previously, the research team found that eating too much fat and sugar as a child can alter the microbiome for life, even if they later eat healthier. Going forward, the team plans to investigate whether fat or sugar is more responsible for the negative effects they measured in Western-diet-fed mice.

Together, both studies offer critical opportunities for health interventions in childhood habits.

"Our findings may be relevant for understanding the potential effects of activity reductions and dietary changes associated with obesity," said UCR evolutionary physiologist Theodore Garland.

In other words, getting a jump start on health in the early years of life is extremely important, and interventions may be even more critical in the wake of the pandemic.

"During the COVID-19 lockdowns, particularly in the early months, kids got very little exercise. For many without access to a park or a backyard, school was their only source of physical activity," Cadney said. "It is important we find solutions for these kids, possibly including extra attention as they grow into adults."

Given that exercise was also shown to reduce adult anxiety, Cadney believes children who face these challenges may face unique physical and mental health issues as they become adults in the coming decade.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/04/210409093604.htm

Sugar not so nice for your child's brain development

New research shows how high consumption affects learning, memory

March 31, 2021

Science Daily/University of Georgia

Sugar practically screams from the shelves of your grocery store, especially those products marketed to kids.

Children are the highest consumers of added sugar, even as high-sugar diets have been linked to health effects like obesity and heart disease and even impaired memory function.

However, less is known about how high sugar consumption during childhood affects the development of the brain, specifically a region known to be critically important for learning and memory called the hippocampus.

New research led by a University of Georgia faculty member in collaboration with a University of Southern California research group has shown in a rodent model that daily consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages during adolescence impairs performance on a learning and memory task during adulthood. The group further showed that changes in the bacteria in the gut may be the key to the sugar-induced memory impairment.

Supporting this possibility, they found that similar memory deficits were observed even when the bacteria, called Parabacteroides, were experimentally enriched in the guts of animals that had never consumed sugar.

"Early life sugar increased Parabacteroides levels, and the higher the levels of Parabacteroides, the worse the animals did in the task," said Emily Noble, assistant professor in the UGA College of Family and Consumer Sciences who served as first author on the paper. "We found that the bacteria alone was sufficient to impair memory in the same way as sugar, but it also impaired other types of memory functions as well."

Guidelines recommend limiting sugar

The Dietary Guidelines for Americans, a joint publication of the U.S. Departments of Agriculture and of Health and Human Services, recommends limiting added sugars to less than 10 percent of calories per day.

Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show Americans between the ages 9-18 exceed that recommendation, the bulk of the calories coming from sugar-sweetened beverages.

Considering the role the hippocampus plays in a variety of cognitive functions and the fact the area is still developing into late adolescence, researchers sought to understand more about its vulnerability to a high-sugar diet via gut microbiota.

Juvenile rats were given their normal chow and an 11% sugar solution, which is comparable to commercially available sugar-sweetened beverages.

Researchers then had the rats perform a hippocampus-dependent memory task designed to measure episodic contextual memory, or remembering the context where they had seen a familiar object before.

"We found that rats that consumed sugar in early life had an impaired capacity to discriminate that an object was novel to a specific context, a task the rats that were not given sugar were able to do," Noble said.

A second memory task measured basic recognition memory, a hippocampal-independent memory function that involves the animals' ability to recognize something they had seen previously.

In this task, sugar had no effect on the animals' recognition memory.

"Early life sugar consumption seems to selectively impair their hippocampal learning and memory," Noble said.

Additional analyses determined that high sugar consumption led to elevated levels of Parabacteroides in the gut microbiome, the more than 100 trillion microorganisms in the gastrointestinal tract that play a role in human health and disease.

To better identify the mechanism by which the bacteria impacted memory and learning, researchers experimentally increased levels of Parabacteroides in the microbiome of rats that had never consumed sugar. Those animals showed impairments in both hippocampal dependent and hippocampal-independent memory tasks.

"(The bacteria) induced some cognitive deficits on its own," Noble said.

Noble said future research is needed to better identify specific pathways by which this gut-brain signaling operates.

"The question now is how do these populations of bacteria in the gut alter the development of the brain?" Noble said. "Identifying how the bacteria in the gut are impacting brain development will tell us about what sort of internal environment the brain needs in order to grow in a healthy way."

The article, "Gut microbial taxa elevated by dietary sugar disrupt memory function," appears in Translational Psychiatry. Scott Kanoski, associate professor in USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Science, is corresponding author on the paper.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/03/210331130910.htm

COVID-19 pandemic severely impacts mental health of young people

March 22, 2021

Science Daily/University of Surrey

The Covid-19 pandemic severely impacted the mental health of young people, with increased levels of clinical depression being identified, a new study published in the journal Psychiatry Research reports. A decrease in alcohol consumption was also identified amongst young people during the pandemic.

During this unique study researchers from the University of Surrey surveyed 259 young people pre- pandemic (autumn 2019) and in the midst of initial lockdown measures (May/June 2020) on their levels of depression, anxiety, wellbeing, alcohol use and sleep quality.

Researchers found evidence of a substantial impact on the mental health of these young adults due to the Covid-19 pandemic, with a significant rise in depression symptoms and a reduction in overall wellbeing during lockdown compared to the previous autumn. Levels of clinical depression in those surveyed were found to have more than doubled, rising from 14.9 per cent in autumn 2019 to 34.7 per cent in May/June 2020.

Sleep quality was not seen to decline in the overall sample but, importantly, a correlation was seen between the rise in depression and lower sleep quality under lockdown. Also of concern, researchers identified a significant shift towards 'eveningness' (a preference to go to sleep and wake later), which has previously been associated with higher levels of anxiety and a greater prevalence of minor psychiatric disorders.

Interestingly, despite reports of rising worldwide sales of alcohol during the first lockdown, researchers identified a significant decrease in alcohol consumption amongst the group that could be attributed to social restrictions in place during this period. Researchers were encouraged by this finding as it suggests that young people were not using alcohol as a coping strategy during that time.

Findings from this study highlight the substantial impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on young people's mental health. The link to sleep quality could help inform strategies to support their wellbeing as the Covid-19 situation continues to evolve.

Dr Simon Evans, Lecturer in Neuroscience at the University of Surrey, said: "For many years there has been a rise in the number of young people experiencing problems with their mental health, and it is concerning to find that this has been significantly exacerbated due to Covid-19. Supporting the mental health of young people and ensuring they can access the support they need is vital to ensure their overall wellbeing. As social restrictions continue in response to the pandemic, it is crucial that we take steps to protect their mental health."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/03/210322112907.htm

Does 'harsh parenting' lead to smaller brains?

March 22, 2021

Science Daily/University of Montreal

A study shows that harsh parenting practices in childhood have long-term repercussions for children's brain development.

Repeatedly getting angry, hitting, shaking or yelling at children is linked with smaller brain structures in adolescence, according to a new study published in Development and Psychology. It was conducted by Sabrina Suffren, PhD, at Université de Montréal and the CHU Sainte Justine Research Centre in partnership with researchers from Stanford University.

The harsh parenting practices covered by the study are common and even considered socially acceptable by most people in Canada and around the world.

"The implications go beyond changes in the brain. I think what's important is for parents and society to understand that the frequent use of harsh parenting practices can harm a child's development," said Suffren, the study's lead author. "We're talking about their social and emotional development, as well as their brain development."

Emotions and brain anatomy

Serious child abuse (such as sexual, physical and emotional abuse), neglect and even institutionalization have been linked to anxiety and depression later in life.

Previous studies have already shown that children who have experienced severe abuse have smaller prefrontal cortexes and amygdala, two structures that play a key role in emotional regulation and the emergence of anxiety and depression.

In this study, researchers observed that the same brain regions were smaller in adolescents who had repeatedly been subjected to harsh parenting practices in childhood, even though the children did not experience more serious acts of abuse.

"These findings are both significant and new. It's the first time that harsh parenting practices that fall short of serious abuse have been linked to decreased brain structure size, similar to what we see in victims of serious acts of abuse," said Suffren, who completed the work as part of her doctoral thesis at UdeM's Department of Psychology, under the supervision of Professors Françoise Maheu and Franco Lepore.

She added that a study published in 2019 "showed that harsh parenting practices could cause changes in brain function among children, but now we know that they also affect the very structure of children's brains."

Children monitored since birth at CHU Sainte-Justine

One of this study's strengths is that it used data from children who had been monitored since birth at CHU Saint-Justine in the early 2000s by Université de Montréal's Research Unit on Children's Psychosocial Maladjustment (GRIP) and the Quebec Statistical Institute. The monitoring was organized and carried out by GRIP members Dr. Jean Séguin, Dr. Michel Boivin and Dr. Richard Tremblay.

As part of this monitoring, parenting practices and child anxiety levels were evaluated annually while the children were between the ages of 2 and 9. This data was then used to divide the children into groups based on their exposure (low or high) to persistently harsh parenting practices.

"Keep in mind that these children were constantly subjected to harsh parenting practices between the ages of 2 and 9. This means that differences in their brains are linked to repetitive exposure to harsh parenting practices during childhood," said Suffren who worked with her colleagues to assess the children's anxiety levels and perform anatomical MRIs on them between the ages of 12 and 16.

This study is the first to try to identify the links between harsh parenting practices, children's anxiety and the anatomy of their brains.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/03/210322085502.htm

Health declining in Gen X and Gen Y

March 19, 2021

Science Daily/Ohio State University

Recent generations show a worrying decline in health compared to their parents and grandparents when they were the same age, a new national study reveals.

Researchers found that, compared to previous generations, members of Generation X and Generation Y showed poorer physical health, higher levels of unhealthy behaviors such as alcohol use and smoking, and more depression and anxiety.

The results suggest the likelihood of higher levels of diseases and more deaths in younger generations than we have seen in the past, said Hui Zheng, lead author of the study and professor of sociology at The Ohio State University.

"The worsening health profiles we found in Gen X and Gen Y is alarming," Zheng said.

"If we don't find a way to slow this trend, we are potentially going to see an expansion of morbidity and mortality rates in the United States as these generations get older."

Zheng conducted the study with Paola Echave, a graduate student in sociology at Ohio State. The results were published yesterday (March 18, 2021) in the American Journal of Epidemiology.

The researchers used data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 1988-2016 (62,833 respondents) and the National Health Interview Survey 1997-2018 (625,221 respondents), both conducted by the National Center for Health Statistics.

To measure physical health, the researchers used eight markers of a condition called metabolic syndrome, a constellation of risk factors for heart disease, stroke, kidney disease and diabetes. Some of the markers include waist circumference, blood pressure, cholesterol level and body mass index (BMI). They also used one marker of chronic inflammation, low urinary albumin, and one additional marker of renal function, creatinine clearance.

The researchers found that the measures of physical health have worsened from the Baby Boomer generation through Gen X (born 1965-80) and Gen Y (born 1981-99). For whites, increases in metabolic syndrome were the main culprit, while increases in chronic inflammation were seen most in Black Americans, particularly men.

"The declining health trends in recent generations is a shocking finding," Zheng said. "It suggests we may have a challenging health prospect in the United State in coming years."

Zheng said it is beyond the scope of the study to comprehensively explain the reasons behind the health decline. But the researchers did check two factors. They found smoking couldn't explain the decline. Obesity could help explain the increase in metabolic syndrome, but not the increases seen in chronic inflammation.

It wasn't just the overall health markers that were concerning for some members of the younger generations, Zheng said.

Results showed that levels of anxiety and depression have increased for each generation of whites from the War Babies generation (born 1943-45) through Gen Y.

While levels of these two mental health indicators did increase for Blacks up through the early Baby Boomers, the rate has been generally flat since then.

Health behaviors also show worrying trends.

The probability of heavy drinking has continuously increased across generations for whites and Black males, especially after late-Gen X (born 1973-80).

For whites and Blacks, the probability of using street drugs peaked at late-Boomers (born 1956-64), decreased afterward, then rose again for late-Gen X. For Hispanics, it has continuously increased since early-Baby Boomers.

Surprisingly, results suggest the probability of having ever smoked has continuously increased across generations for all groups.

How can this be true with other research showing a decline in overall cigarette consumption since the 1970s?

"One possibility is that people in older generations are quitting smoking in larger numbers while younger generations are more likely to start smoking," Zheng said. "But we need further research to see if that is correct."

Zheng said these results may be just an early warning of what is to come.

"People in Gen X and Gen Y are still relatively young, so we may be underestimating their health problems," he said. "When they get older and chronic diseases become more prevalent, we'll have a better view of their health status."

Zheng noted that the United States has already seen recent decreases in life expectancy and increases in disability and morbidity.

"Our results suggest that without effective policy interventions, these disturbing trends won't be temporary, but a battle we'll have to continue to fight."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/03/210319125436.htm

Exercise during pregnancy may save kids from health problems as adults

Parental obesity predisposes children to develop diabetes, metabolic issues

March 15, 2021

Science Daily/University of Virginia Health System

Exercise during pregnancy may let mothers significantly reduce their children's chances of developing diabetes and other metabolic diseases later in life, new research suggests.

A study in lab mice has found that maternal exercise during pregnancy prevented the transmission of metabolic diseases from an obese parent -- either mother or father -- to child. If the finding holds true in humans, it will have "huge implications" for helping pregnant women ensure their children live the healthiest lives possible, the researchers report in a new scientific paper.

This means that one day soon, a woman's first trip to the doctor after conceiving might include a prescription for an exercise program.

"Most of the chronic diseases that we talk about today are known to have a fetal origin. This is to say that the parents' poor health conditions prior to and during pregnancy have negative consequences to the child, potentially through chemical modification of the genes," said researcher Zhen Yan, PhD, a top exercise expert at the University of Virginia School of Medicine. "We were inspired by our previous mouse research implicating that regular aerobic exercise for an obese mother before and during pregnancy can protect the child from early onset of diabetes. In this study, we asked the questions, what if an obese mother exercises only during pregnancy, and what if the father is obese?"

Exercise and Pregnancy

Scientists have known that exercise during pregnancy helps lead to healthy babies, reducing the risk of pregnancy complications and premature delivery. But Yan, the director of the Center for Skeletal Muscle Research at UVA's Robert M. Berne Cardiovascular Research Center, wanted to see if the benefits continued throughout the children's lives. And his work, both previous and new, suggests it does.

To determine that, Yan and his collaborators studied lab mice and their offspring. Some of the adult mice were fed typical mouse chow before and during pregnancy, while other were fed a high-fat, high-calorie diet to simulate obesity. Some receiving the high-fat diet before mating had access to a voluntary running wheel only during pregnancy, where they could run all they liked, while others did not, meaning they remained sedentary.

The results were striking: Both mothers and fathers in the high-fat group could predispose their offspring to metabolic disorders. In particular, male offspring of the sedentary mothers on high-fat diets were much more likely to develop high blood sugar and other metabolic problems in adulthood.

To better understand what was happening, the researchers looked at the adult offspring's metabolism and chemical (epigenetic) modification of DNA. They found there were significant differences in metabolic health and how active certain genes were among the different groups of offspring, suggesting that the negative effects of parental obesity, although different between the father and the mother, last throughout the life of the offspring.

The good news is that maternal exercise only during pregnancy prevented a host of "epigenetic" changes that affect the workings of the offspring's genes, the researchers found. Maternal exercise, they determined, completely blocked the negative effects of either mother's or father's obesity on the offspring.

The results, they say, provide the first evidence that maternal exercise only during pregnancy can prevent the transmission of metabolic diseases from parent to child.

"The take-home message is that it is not too late to start to exercise if a mother finds herself pregnant. Regular exercise will not only benefit the pregnancy and labor but also the health of the baby for the long run," Yan said. "This is more exciting evidence that regular exercise is probably the most promising intervention that will help us deter the pandemic of chronic diseases in the aging world, as it can disrupt the vicious cycle of parents-to-child transmission of diseases."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/03/210315160706.htm

Problematic internet use and teen depression are closely linked

March 9, 2021

Science Daily/Concordia University

Most teenagers don't remember life before the internet. They have grown up in a connected world, and being online has become one of their main sources of learning, entertaining and socializing.

As many previous studies have pointed out, and as many parents worry, this reality does not come risk-free. Whereas time on the internet can be informative, instructive and even pleasant, there is already significant literature on the potential harm caused by young children's problematic internet use (PIU).

However, a new study led by István Tóth-Király, a Horizon Postdoctoral Fellow at the Substantive-Methodological Synergy Research Laboratory in Concordia's Department of Psychology, is one of only a few that examines PIU's effects on older adolescents. The paper was co-written by professor of psychology Alexandre Morin and Lauri Hietajärvi and Katariina Salmela-Aro of the University of Helsinki.

The paper, published in the journal Child Development, looks at data gathered by a longitudinal study of 1,750 high school students in Helsinki over three years.

It begins by asking three big questions: what were some of the predictors or determinants of PIU? How did PIU change over the course of late adolescence, in this case, ages 16-19? And what are the consequences of PIU among the age group?

At-risk signals

The researchers identified three principal determinants of PIU among adolescents. The first was loneliness, defined as a lack of satisfying interpersonal relationships or the perceived inadequacy of social networks. Other studies on PIU also identified loneliness as a predictor.

Parenting practices, as perceived by the teen, also predicted PIU. The researchers looked at both parental caring, such as the expressions of warmth, empathy, interest and closeness towards the child, and parental neglect, defined as the uneven availability or unresponsiveness to the child's needs.

Not surprisingly, better parenting is linked to lower PIU, while neglectful parenting is linked to higher PIU. The researchers noted the differences in how maternal and paternal behaviour affected usage.

Maternal caring especially was associated with lower PIU, suggesting that high-quality mother-child relationships might have led to a decrease in the need to use the internet excessively. Paternal neglect, on the other hand, had a stronger relationship with higher PIU, as a lack of guidance and limits hindered a teen's ability to set personal boundaries.

Finally, the researchers considered gender. They found boys more likely to engage in PIU than girls, as they tend to be prone to more addictive-like behaviour, are more impulsive and, as suggested by other studies, may have more online options such as gaming or watching YouTube videos or pornography. Girls may be more likely to be online for socializing purposes.

Circular and harmful effects

The researchers then looked at outcomes associated with PIU, again identifying three broad categories.

The first is depressive symptoms. If left unchecked, PIU appears to come with higher levels of depression. The two have been linked in previous studies, but Tóth-Király says their findings suggest a new interpretation.

"Our study tries to understand this relationship in a bi-directional or reciprocal way," he says. "We think that PIU and depressive symptoms are likely to be co-occurring instead of one determining the other. They likely reinforce one another over time."

The other outcomes linked to PIU are higher levels of substance abuse and lower levels of academic achievement. These were to be expected, and were also believed to be co-occurring.

Tóth-Király says some teens go through a phase of heavy internet use, usually around mid-adolescence. Time spent online tends to decrease as the children mature, develop their own goals and boundaries and form their first romantic relationships. He adds that being online for hours is not necessarily damaging, even if it does seem excessive to parents.

"If adolescents spend a lot of time on the internet but it doesn't really impact their mental health or their grades or doesn't seem to have any substantial negative consequences, then we cannot really say this is problematic behaviour," he says.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/03/210309153855.htm

Physics camp has proven benefits for high school girls

Hands-on engineering experiences help teachers engage students

March 6, 2021

Science Daily/Rice University

Even a small effort up front can boost the abilities and confidence of girls as they anticipate taking challenging science courses.

A long-running summer program at Rice University and elsewhere that trains high school girls in basic physics concepts has proven successful in helping them thrive when they take on full courses the next year.

When leaders of Rice's two-week day camp looked at similar programs beyond Houston, they found participants scored 3% better in high school physics than their counterparts who did not have the equivalent summer experience.

"That doesn't seem like a lot, but it's really hard to move the needle on student outcomes, so 3% is significant," said Carolyn Nichol, an assistant research professor in the Department of Chemistry and director of the Rice Office of STEM Engagement (R-STEM).

The results are detailed in an open-access study by Nichol, lead author Ericka Lawton, and co-authors Carrie Obenland and Matthew Cushing of R-STEM and Christopher Barr of the Rice Office of Research in the American Physics Society journal Physical Review Physics Education Research.

The study is one of two led and recently released by Nichol. The other analyzes the effect of long-term professional development for teachers in engineering education. That study by Nichol, lead author Christina Crawford of R-STEM and co-author Obenland appears in the Journal of STEM Outreach.

The high school study collected years' worth of generalized data from participating districts for students who studied chemistry but did not participate in a camp, and the same data for those who did. That gave researchers a baseline to compare results for the same set of students after they all took high school physics.

"There wasn't a self-selection bias where people could say, 'Oh, girls who go to a physics camp in June already like physics,'" she said, noting Rice and its counterparts typically recruit students from underserved schools. "The girls who were part of the study were matched so their chemistry scores were the same. We didn't base this on girls who were already accelerating in science."

The study was based on a philanthropic effort by Rice alumna and trustee Wanda Gass '78, an engineer who helped develop the first commercially viable digital signal processor during her career at Texas Instruments. She subsequently founded the nonprofit Design Connect Create to encourage girls to pursue STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) studies.

Design Connect Create runs summer camps for multiple school districts across Texas. Nichol said the study is great validation for the physics program that will ideally lead to similar courses in other science-oriented topics.

"When I talk to these girls at Rice, and often they really don't want to be here," she said. "They're very quiet at the start because for the most part, they are being forced to come by their parents. But by the end, they form really wonderful bonds with the other girls. Within two weeks, they are sharing skills and become trusting of each other.

"I think that's the real reason they go back and are successful in physics," Nichol said. "They just get this confidence that they can do it."

The second study sought to show the value of professional development for teachers whose coursework touches on engineering topics but who are not, themselves, engineers. The researchers followed up with teachers who took the 45-hour graduate level course at Rice in 2018 and 2019 to see how they incorporated engineering into their classrooms.

The study found that, based on a set of attributes for adult self-motivation, teachers showed significant improvement in overall self-efficacy -- the belief in their own ability to succeed -- in engineering instruction.

"I'm an engineer because my dad was an engineer," said Nichol, who has a doctorate in chemical engineering. "We want engineering in K-12 classrooms because a lot of kids don't have role models, and we want them to understand that an engineer is somebody who designs and creates new things."

She said the program that best exemplifies what Rice offers is the NanoEnvironmental Engineering for Teachers course, which gives participants rigorous hands-on experience working on water sustainability projects. The course, a collaboration with the Rice-based and National Science Foundation-backed Nanotechnology Enabled Water Treatment Center, is also offered at Arizona State and the University of Texas at El Paso.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/03/210306113157.htm

Research identifies impact of teenage screen use

March 5, 2021

Science Daily/University of Leicester

Two thirds of children use more than one screen at the same time after school, in the evenings and at weekends as part of increasingly sedentary lifestyles, according to new research at the University of Leicester.

An NIHR study of more than 800 adolescent girls between the ages of 11 and 14 identified worrying trends between screen use and lower physical activity -- including higher BMI -- as well as less sleep.

The use of concurrent screens (termed 'screen stacking') grew over the course of the week -- with 59% of adolescents using two or more screens after school, 65% in the evenings, and 68% at weekends.

Some teens reporting using as many as four screens at one time.

But further analysis showed the use of any screen was still detrimental to the indicators of health and wellbeing. More than 90% owned or had access to a smart phone and using this after school had a knock on effect on their sleep.

Researchers from the Leicester Diabetes Centre at the University measured physical activity and sleep using accelerometers worn on participants' wrists, while those involved in the study self-reported the number of screens they were using at the same time -- such as scrolling on a mobile phone while also watching TV -- as well as perceptions of self-esteem and physical self-worth.

Dr Deirdre Harrington, Lecturer in Physical Activity for Health led the study during her time at Leicester and now works in the School of Psychological Sciences and Health at the University of Strathclyde. She said:

"Intuitively, we believe there must be negative effects on teenagers of using too many screens at the same time. Our data show it isn't as simple as that.

"This research was done before the COVID-19 lockdown, where much more of our day is spent in front of a screen. More than ever the effects of this on adolescents need to be known -- there are positives too, no doubt.

"These adolescents wore an accelerometer 24 hours a day for a week allowing us to capture their daily routines and even estimate their sleep. Uniquely, they also reported how many screens they used at the same time which is not well known."

Melanie Davies, Professor of Diabetes Medicine at the University of Leicester and Co-Director of the Leicester Diabetes Centre based at Leicester General Hospital, said:

"Sadly, this study reminds us that we are in danger of creating a new generation of sedentary children. Increased sedentary time is closely linked to type 2 diabetes, which is increasing in younger age groups.

"The number of young people with type 2 diabetes has gone up by 50% in just five years."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/03/210305113449.htm

Can drinking cocoa protect your heart when you're stressed?

March 31, 2021

Science Daily/University of Birmingham

Increased consumption of flavanols -- a group of molecules occurring naturally in fruit and vegetables -- could protect people from mental stress-induced cardiovascular events such as stroke, heart disease and thrombosis, according to new research.

Researchers have discovered that blood vessels were able to function better during mental stress when people were given a cocoa drink containing high levels of flavanols than when drinking a non-flavanol enriched drink.

A thin membrane of cells lining the heart and blood vessels, when functioning efficiently the endothelium helps to reduce the risk of peripheral vascular disease, stroke, heart disease, diabetes, kidney failure, tumour growth, thrombosis, and severe viral infectious diseases. We know that mental stress can have a negative effect on blood vessel function.

A UK research team from the University of Birmingham examined the effects of cocoa flavanols on stress-induced changes on vascular function -- publishing their findings in Nutrients.

Lead author, Dr. Catarina Rendeiro, of the University of Birmingham's School of Sport, Exercise and Rehabilitation Sciences, explains: "We found that drinking flavanol-rich cocoa can be an effective dietary strategy to reduce temporary impairments in endothelial function following mental stress and also improve blood flow during stressful episodes."

"Flavanols are extremely common in a wide range of fruit and vegetables. By utilizing the known cardiovascular benefits of these compounds during periods of acute vascular vulnerability (such as stress) we can offer improved guidance to people about how to make the most of their dietary choices during stressful periods."

In a randomized study, conducted by postgraduate student Rosalind Baynham, a group of healthy men drank a high-flavanol cocoa beverage 90 minutes before completing an eight-minute mental stress task.

The researchers measured forearm blood flow and cardiovascular activity at rest and during stress and assessed functioning of the blood vessels up to 90 min post stress -- discovering that blood vessel function was less impaired when the participants drank high-flavanol cocoa. The researchers also discovered that flavanols improve blood flow during stress.

Stress is highly prevalent in today's society and has been linked with both psychological and physical health. Mental stress induces immediate increases in heart rate and blood pressure (BP) in healthy adults and also results in temporary impairments in the function of arteries even after the episode of stress has ceased.

Single episodes of stress have been shown to increase the risk of acute cardiovascular events and the impact of stress on the blood vessels has been suggested to contribute to these stress-induced cardiovascular events. Indeed, previous research by Dr Jet Veldhuijzen van Zanten, co-investigator on this study, has shown that people at risk for cardiovascular disease show poorer vascular responses to acute stress.

"Our findings are significant for everyday diet, given that the daily dosage administered could be achieved by consuming a variety of foods rich in flavanols -- particularly apples, black grapes, blackberries, cherries, raspberries, pears, pulses, green tea and unprocessed cocoa. This has important implications for measures to protect the blood vessels of those individuals who are more vulnerable to the effects of mental stress," commented Dr. Rendeiro.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/03/210331114734.htm

Wisdom, loneliness and your intestinal multitude

March 25, 2021

Science Daily/University of California - San Diego

The evolving science of wisdom rests on the idea that wisdom's defined traits correspond to distinct regions of the brain, and that greater wisdom translates into greater happiness and life satisfaction while being less wise results in opposite, negative consequences.

Scientists have found in multiple studies that persons deemed to be wiser are less prone to feel lonely while those who are lonelier also tend to be less wise. In a new study, published in the March 25, 2021 issue of the journal Frontiers in Psychiatry, researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine take the connection between wisdom, loneliness and biology further, reporting that wisdom and loneliness appear to influence -- and/or be influenced by -- microbial diversity of the gut.

The human gut microbiota is comprised of trillions of microbes -- bacteria, viruses, fungi -- that reside within the digestive tract. Researchers have known for a while about the "gut-brain axis," which is a complex network that links intestinal function to the emotional and cognitive centers of the brain.

This two-way communication system is regulated by neural activity, hormones and the immune system; alterations can result in disruptions to stress response and behaviors, said the authors, from emotional arousal to higher-order cognitive abilities, such as decision-making.

Past studies have associated gut microbiota with mental health disorders including depression, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia, as well as personality and psychological traits regarded as key, biologically based components of wisdom. Recent research has connected the gut microbiome to social behavior, including findings that people with larger social networks tend to have more diverse gut microbiotas.

The new Frontiers in Psychiatry study involved 187 participants, ages 28 to 97, who completed validated self-report-based measures of loneliness, wisdom, compassion, social support and social engagement. The gut microbiota was analyzed using fecal samples. Microbial gut diversity was measured in two ways: alpha-diversity, referring to the ecological richness of microbial species within each individual and beta-diversity, referring to the differences in the microbial community composition between individuals.

"We found that lower levels of loneliness and higher levels of wisdom, compassion, social support and engagement were associated with greater phylogenetic richness and diversity of the gut microbiome," said first author Tanya T. Nguyen, PhD, assistant professor of psychiatry at UC San Diego School of Medicine.

The authors said that the mechanisms that may link loneliness, compassion and wisdom with gut microbial diversity are not known, but observed that reduced microbial diversity typically represents worse physical and mental health, and is associated with a variety of diseases, including obesity, inflammatory bowel disease and major depressive disorder.

A more diverse gut microbiota may be less susceptible to invasion by outside pathogens, which could contribute to and help promote better resilience and stability of the community.

"It is possible that loneliness may result in decreased stability of the gut microbiome and, consequently, reduced resistance and resilience to stress-related disruptions, leading to downstream physiological effects, such as systemic inflammation," the authors wrote.

"Bacterial communities with low alpha-diversity may not manifest overt disease, but they may be less than optimal for preventing disease. Thus, lonely people may be more susceptible to developing different diseases."

The relationship between loneliness and microbial diversity was particularly strong in older adults, suggesting that older adults may be especially vulnerable to health-related consequences of loneliness, which is consistent with prior research.

Conversely, the researchers said that social support, compassion and wisdom might confer protection against loneliness-related instability of the gut microbiome. Healthy, diverse gut microflora may buffer the negative effects of chronic stress or help shape social behaviors that promote either wisdom or loneliness. They noted that animal studies suggest that gut microbiota may influence social behaviors and interactions, though the hypothesis has not been tested in humans.

The complexity of the topic and study limitations, such as the absence of data about individuals' social networks, diet and degree of objective social isolation versus subjective reports of loneliness, argue for larger, longer studies, wrote the authors.

"Loneliness may lead to changes in the gut microbiome or, reciprocally, alterations of the gut milieu may predispose an individual to become lonely," said Dilip V. Jeste, MD, Distinguished Professor of Psychiatry and Neurosciences at UC San Diego School of Medicine and senior author of the paper. "We need to investigate much more thoroughly to better understand the phenomenon of the gut-brain axis."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/03/210325150024.htm

Frequent consumption of meals prepared away from home linked to increased risk of early death

March 25, 2021

Science Daily/Elsevier

Dining out is a popular activity worldwide, but there has been little research into its association with health outcomes. Investigators looked at the association between eating out and risk of death and concluded that eating out very frequently is significantly associated with an increased risk of all-cause death, which warrants further investigation. Their results appear in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, published by Elsevier.

Eating out is a popular activity. The US Department of Agriculture recently estimated that Americans' daily energy intake from food away from home increased from 17 percent in 1977-1978 to 34 percent in 2011-2012. At the same time, the number of restaurants has grown steadily, and restaurant-industry sales are forecasted to increase significantly.

Although some restaurants provide high-quality foods, the dietary quality for meals away from home, especially from fast-food chains, is usually lower compared with meals cooked at home. Evidence has shown that meals away from home tend to be higher in energy density, fat, and sodium, but lower in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and protective nutrients such as dietary fiber and antioxidants.

"Emerging, although still limited, evidence suggests that eating out frequently is associated with increased risk of chronic diseases, such as obesity and diabetes and biomarkers of other chronic diseases," explained lead investigator Wei Bao, MD, PhD, assistant professor, Department of Epidemiology, College of Public Health, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, USA. "However, little is known about the association between eating meals away from home and risk of mortality.

Investigators analyzed data from responses to questionnaires administered during face-to-face household interviews from 35,084 adults aged 20 years or older who participated in the National Health and Nutritional Examination Survey 1999-2014. Respondents reported their dietary habits including frequency of eating meals prepared away from home. "We linked these records to death records through December 31, 2015, looking especially at all-cause mortality, cardiovascular mortality, and cancer mortality," noted first author Yang Du, MD, PhD candidate, Department of Epidemiology, College of Public Health, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, USA.

During 291,475 person-years of follow-up, 2,781 deaths occurred, including 511 deaths from cardiovascular disease and 638 deaths from cancer. After adjustment for age, sex, race/ethnicity, socioeconomic status, dietary and lifestyle factors, and body mass index, the hazard ratio of mortality among participants who ate meals prepared away from home very frequently (two meals or more per day) compared with those who seldom ate meals prepared away from home (fewer than one meal per week) was 1.49 (95% CI 1.05 to 2.13) for all-cause mortality, 1.18 (95% CI 0.55 to 2.55) for cardiovascular mortality, and 1.67 (95% CI 0.87 to 3.21) for cancer mortality.

"Our findings from this large nationally representative sample of US adults show that frequent consumption of meals prepared away from home is significantly associated with increased risk of all-cause mortality," commented Dr. Du.

"This is one of the first studies to quantify the association between eating out and mortality," concluded Dr. Bao. "Our findings, in line with previous studies, support that eating out frequently is associated with adverse health consequences and may inform future dietary guidelines to recommend reducing consumption of meals prepared away from home."

"The take-home message is that frequent consumption of meals prepared away from home may not be a healthy habit. Instead, people should be encouraged to consider preparing more meals at home," concluded the investigators.

Future studies are still needed to look more closely at the association of eating out with death from cardiovascular disease, cancer, dementia, and other chronic diseases.

"It is important to note that the study design for this research examines associations between frequency of eating meals prepared away from home and mortality. While encouraging clients to consider preparing healthy meals at home, registered dietitian nutritionists might also focus on how selections from restaurant menus can be healthy. Tailoring strategies to each client by reviewing menus from restaurants they frequent can help them make healthy food choices," added co-investigator Linda G. Snetselaar, PhD, RDN, LD, FAND, professor and chair, Preventive Nutrition Education, Department of Epidemiology, College of Public Health, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, USA, and Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/03/210325084824.htm

Want a longer, healthier life? Resolve your arguments by day's end

March 25, 2021

Science Daily/Oregon State University

A recent Oregon State University study found that when people feel they have resolved an argument, the emotional response associated with that disagreement is significantly reduced and, in some situations, almost entirely erased.

That reduction in stress may have a major impact on overall health, researchers say.

"Everyone experiences stress in their daily lives. You aren't going to stop stressful things from happening. But the extent to which you can tie them off, bring them to an end and resolve them is definitely going to pay dividends in terms of your well-being," said Robert Stawski, senior author on the study and an associate professor in the College of Public Health and Human Sciences. "Resolving your arguments is quite important for maintaining well-being in daily life."

Researchers have long been aware of how chronic stress can affect health, from mental health problems such as depression and anxiety to physical problems including heart disease, a weakened immune system, reproductive difficulties and gastrointestinal issues.

But it's not just major chronic stressors like poverty or violence that can inflict damage.

"Daily stressors -- specifically the minor, small inconveniences that we have throughout the day -- even those have lasting impacts on mortality and things like inflammation and cognitive function," said Dakota Witzel, lead author and a doctoral student in human development and family studies at OSU.

For the study, Stawski and Witzel used data from the National Study of Daily Experiences, an in-depth survey of more than 2,000 people who were interviewed about their feelings and experiences for eight days in a row.

The researchers looked at reports of both arguments and avoided arguments, defined as instances where the person could have argued about something but chose to let it slide so as not to have a disagreement. They then measured how the incident affected the person's reported change in negative and positive emotions, both for the day of the encounter and the day after it occurred.

The measure of how an experience affects someone emotionally, an increase in negative emotions or a decrease in positive emotions, on the day it occurs is known as "reactivity," while "residue" is the prolonged emotional toll the day after the experience occurs. Negative and positive affect refer to the degree of negative and positive emotions a person feels on a given day.

Results showed that on the day of an argument or avoided argument, people who felt their encounter was resolved reported roughly half the reactivity of those whose encounters were not resolved.

On the day following an argument or avoided argument, the results were even starker: People who felt the matter was resolved showed no prolonged elevation of their negative affect the next day.

The study also looked at age-related differences in response to arguments and avoided arguments and found that adults ages 68 and older were more than 40% more likely than people 45 and younger to report their conflicts as resolved. But the impact of resolution status on people's negative and positive affect remained the same regardless of age.

The researchers had several explanations for older adults' higher rate of resolution: Older adults may be more motivated to minimize negative and maximize positive emotions as they have fewer years remaining, which is consistent with existing theories of aging and emotion. They may also have more experience navigating arguments and thus be more effective at defusing or avoiding conflict.

"If older adults are really motivated to maximize their emotional well-being, they're going do a better job, or at least a faster job, at resolving stressors in a more timely fashion," Stawski said.

While people cannot always control what stressors come into their lives -- and lack of control is itself a stressor in many cases -- they can work on their own emotional response to those stressors, he said.

"Some people are more reactive than other people," he said. "But the extent to which you can tie off the stress so it's not having this gnawing impact at you over the course of the day or a few days will help minimize the potential long-term impact."

In future research projects, Stawski and Witzel hope to further unpack the nature of people's disagreements to measure which contexts and relationships provoke the most stressful arguments.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/03/210325084833.htm

Domestication and industrialization lead to similar changes in gut microbiota

March 23, 2021

Science Daily/eLife

Domestication has a consistent effect on the gut microbiota of animals and is similar to the effects of industrialisation in human populations, with ecological differences such as diet having a strong influence.

These findings, published today in eLife, highlight how the flexibility of the gut microbiota can help animals respond to ecological change and could help identify ways of manipulating gut microbial communities in the service of health.

Animals typically have complex communities of microbes living in their gut that can strongly influence functions such as immunity and metabolism. These communities can be extremely diverse and differ greatly between species and even individuals. We know, for instance, that domesticated animals, such as lab mice, have different gut microbial communities than their wild relatives. We have even seen large changes in the gut microbiota of industrialised human populations, some of which have been linked to the rise of certain diseases.

During domestication, animals experienced profound ecological changes that likely shaped their gut microbiota. "Domesticated animals and industrialised human populations potentially experienced similar ecological changes such as less diverse, more easily digestible diets, higher population densities, and more medical interventions," explains first author Aspen Reese, who was a postdoctoral Junior Fellow in the Society of Fellows, Harvard University, US, at the time the study was carried out, and is now Assistant Professor at the University of California, San Diego, US. "We wanted to find out if domestication had consistent effects on the gut microbiota of animals and if the effects were indeed similar to those of industrialisation in humans."

To assess the effects of domestication, the team sequenced and compared microbial DNA extracted from fecal samples of 18 species of wild and domesticated mammals. They found that domestication did have a clear global effect on gut microbiota, although the specific differences depended on the species.

Domestication involves strong selection pressure on animals, leading to important genetic and physiological changes that may also affect gut microbial communities. To unpack the relative roles of ecology and genetics, the team then swapped the diets of wild and domesticated animals. They found that the gut microbial communities of related animals, such as wolves and dogs, became much more similar to one another, supporting the idea that altered diets explain at least some of the changes in the gut microbiota seen with domestication.

To understand whether such differences also occur in humans, they then compared the gut microbial communities of humans to those of chimpanzees, one of our closest living relatives, and between humans living in industrialised versus non-industrialised populations. They found that differences between the gut microbiota of humans and chimpanzees were similar to those seen between domesticated and wild animals, with the largest changes evident in industrialised populations. Because all humans are equally related to chimpanzees, these results showed that ecological factors rather than genetics drive aspects of the gut microbiota shared between domesticated animals and humans living in industrialised populations.

"Our research highlights that the flexibility of the gut microbiota likely helps animals and humans respond to rapid ecological change," concludes senior author Rachel Carmody, Assistant Professor in the Department of Human Evolutionary Biology at Harvard University. "But, at the same time, this flexibility can create opportunities for mismatch between the gut microbiota we have and the one our bodies have evolved to expect. As we increasingly appreciate the central role of the gut microbiota in biology, understanding the factors that shape it in animals and humans may help us identify new ways to improve experimental animal models, the wellbeing of animals we depend on, and ultimately, human health."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/03/210323150739.htm

Insomnia, disrupted sleep, and burnout linked to higher odds of severe COVID-19

Each 1-hour increase in sleep associated with 12% lower odds of infection among clinicians

March 22, 2021

Science Daily/BMJ

Insomnia, disrupted sleep, and daily burnout are linked to a heightened risk of not only becoming infected with coronavirus, but also having more severe disease and a longer recovery period, suggests an international study of healthcare workers, published in the online journal BMJ Nutrition Prevention & Health.

Every 1-hour increase in the amount of time spent asleep at night was associated with 12% lower odds of becoming infected with COVID-19, the findings indicate.

Disrupted/insufficient sleep and work burnout have been linked to a heightened risk of viral and bacterial infections, but it's not clear if these are also risk factors for COVID-19, say the researchers.

To explore this further, they drew on the responses to an online survey for healthcare workers repeatedly exposed to patients with COVID-19 infection, such as those working in emergency or intensive care, and so at heightened risk of becoming infected themselves.

The survey ran from 17 July to 25 September 2020, and was open to healthcare workers in France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the UK, and the USA.

Respondents provided personal details on lifestyle, health, and use of prescription meds and dietary supplements plus information on the amount of sleep they got at night and in daytime naps over the preceding year; any sleep problems; burnout from work; and workplace exposure to COVID-19 infection.

Some 2884 healthcare workers responded, 568 of whom had COVID-19, ascertained either by self-reported diagnostic symptoms and/or a positive swab test result.

Infection severity was defined as: very mild -- no or hardly any symptoms; mild -- fever with or without cough, requiring no treatment; moderate -- fever, respiratory symptoms and/or pneumonia; severe -- breathing difficulties and low oxygen saturation; and critical -- respiratory failure requiring mechanical assistance and intensive care.

The amount of reported nightly sleep averaged under 7 hours, but more than 6. After accounting for potentially influential factors, every extra hour of sleep at night was associated with 12% lower odds of COVID-19 infection.

But an extra hour acquired in daytime napping was associated with 6% higher odds, although this association varied by country.

Around 1 in 4 (137;24%) of those with COVID-19 reported difficulties sleeping at night compared with around 1 in 5 (21%;495) of those without the infection.

And 1 in 20 (5%;28) of those with COVID-19 said they had 3 or more sleep problems, including difficulties falling asleep, staying asleep, or needing to use sleeping pills on 3 or more nights of the week, compared with 65 (3%) of those without the infection.

Compared with those who had no sleep problems, those with three had 88% greater odds of COVID-19 infection.

Proportionally more of those with COVID-19 reported daily burnout than did those without the infection: 31 (5.5%) compared with 71 (3%).

Compared with those who didn't report any burnout, those for whom this was a daily occurrence were more than twice as likely to have COVID-19. Similarly, these respondents were also around 3 times as likely to say that their infection was severe and that they needed a longer recovery period.

These findings held true, irrespective of the frequency of COVID-19 workplace exposure.

This is an observational study, and as such, can't establish cause. And the researchers acknowledge several limitations to their study.

These include subjective assessment of exposure levels, sleep issues, and infection severity, all of which may have been incorrectly remembered. And the sample included only cases of very mild to moderately severe COVID-19.

By way of an explanation for their findings, the researchers note: "The mechanism underlying these associations remains unclear, but it has been hypothesized that lack of sleep and sleep disorders may adversely influence the immune system by increasing proinflammatory cytokines and histamines."

And they point to studies linking burnout to a heightened risk of colds and flu as well as long term conditions, such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, musculoskeletal disease and death from all causes.

"These studies have suggested that burnout may directly or indirectly predict illnesses by occupational stress impairing the immune system and changing cortisol levels," they write.

And they conclude:"We found that lack of sleep at night, severe sleep problems and high level of burnout may be risk factors for COVID-19 in frontline [healthcare workers]. Our results highlight the importance of healthcare professionals' well-being during the pandemic."

"This study spotlights an often neglected area of wellbeing: the need for quality sleep and re-charge time to prevent burnout and its consequences. From an occupational and lifestyle medicine perspective, a better understanding of the effects of shift work and sleep is essential for the wellbeing of healthcare staff and other key workers," comments Dr Minha Rajput-Ray, Medical Director of NNEdPro Global Centre for Nutrition & Health, which co-owns the journal with BMJ.

"Disruptions to the sleep-wake cycle can affect metabolic, immune and even psychological health," she adds. "And sleep deprivation can make calorie dense foods, higher in fat, sugar and salt, more appealing, particularly during times of stress and/or difficult shift patterns, all of which takes a toll on overall health and wellbeing."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/03/210322195837.htm

Move your body for five minutes every hour to counteract lockdown inactivity

March 22, 2021

Science Daily/King's College London

A study which looked at activity levels before and during the COVID-19 pandemic has found lockdown restrictions significantly reduced light activity associated with socialising and work.

The study, published recently in BMJ Neurology and led by King's College London, examined how activity levels changed in study participants with muscular dystrophy and other inheritable myopathies. The sample included people with a range of physical abilities, from highly independent to assisted mobility, including 41 wheelchair users, who are often underrepresented in research. However, the authors say the findings are likely to be relevant to adults of various abilities and backgrounds because many people have lost their usual daily routine during lockdown.

The study is unique because it used accelerometers to measure physical activity before and during lockdown as part of an ongoing longitudinal physical activity study from 2019 to 2020. The accelerometers measured activity intensity, frequency and time in vigorous, moderate, light and inactive categories.

Researchers found there was a significant reduction in daily activity intensity during lockdown. Before lockdown, participants did a mean of 84.5 minutes per day of light activity and had a relatively low frequency of hourly movement. During lockdown, light activity reduced by a mean of 25 minutes per day and frequency of hourly movement reduced by a median of 11%. Moderate and vigorous activity did not change significantly during lockdown, but this might be explained by low baseline levels in this group.

In lockdown, the reduction in light activity time and frequency of movement was explained by restrictions on going to work, leisure pursuits and socialising. This light activity within daily routine is not exercise-focused so it can be difficult for individuals to detect these subtle light activity losses. However, light activity and regular movement throughout the day are associated with improved health outcomes for everyone, regardless of health conditions.

Sarah Roberts-Lewis, the study lead and a Neurological Physiotherapist at King's College London, said: "Even people who don't do much exercise have been impacted by lockdown inactivity. During COVID-19 lockdown, our study detected an extra hour per day of inactivity in disabled and independent adults with neuromuscular diseases. Moving less is detrimental to health. Reduced activity can be especially harmful for those with neuromuscular conditions, disabilities or advanced age."

"The reduction in light activity measured in this study is likely to be similar for anybody whose daily routine has been restricted by lockdown. Based on our findings, we suggest people move their bodies for 5 minutes each hour during the day. Additionally, spend 30 minutes each day doing some extra light activity, like yoga or chair exercises. The World Health Organisation activity guidelines state 'every move counts'; they provide suggestions about light activites suitable for all abilities. Simple changes can help with reconditioning during and after lockdown."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/03/210322112904.htm

Try These Realistic Habits for a Healthier and More Fulfilling Life

Guest Post by Kelli Brewer

If you’re like most people, adopting a healthier lifestyle is at the top of your list of changes you want to make this year. However, don’t fall into the trap of establishing lofty goals that will prove difficult — or even impossible — to achieve. Instead, take small, significant steps toward health and wellness each day. That way, you’re more likely to succeed and develop an all-around healthy lifestyle over time. From using MindSpa for personal development to limiting your screen time, here are some healthy daily habits to try out in 2021.

 Create a fitness routine. 

 You already know that regular exercise can benefit your health and well-being; less stress and anxiety, stronger immunity, and better cardiovascular health being a few of the many benefits. Now, you just have to figure out how to create a routine that sticks. Start by finding a physical activity that you enjoy doing and that fits in your daily schedule. It can be 30 minutes of walking, running, cycling, HIIT, or any other activity that gets your blood pumping and endorphins flowing. 

Whatever kind of exercise you choose to do, make sure you have the right gear and apparel on hand so you’re always ready to get moving. You can find plenty of deals on activewear, water bottles, weights, fitness trackers and more through retailers like Amazon or Target. You can even save more by hunting down Target coupons and Amazon promo codes. 

 Of course, if your fitness routine has plateaued a bit and you're looking for more of a performance boost, consider adding the MindSpa personal development system to your daily routine. By using this system on a regular basis, you can boost your focus and maintain peak performance. 

 Tweak your diet.

 Your daily diet also plays a critical role in your health and well-being. But it’s important not to make unrealistic goals here. Rather than setting out to complete an overhaul of your current eating habits, start by making healthy decisions on a day-to-day basis. For example, make sure you are eating leafy greens each day, and try to limit the number of processed foods you consume. Before long, you’re likely to catch the health bug and adopt more strenuous clean-eating habits.

 Wake up earlier. 

 Starting your day early not only leaves you more time to get things done, but it can also give you more energy for the day, make you more productive, and benefit your mental health. It’s not a coincidence that the vast majority of successful people maintain an early wake time. 

 Plan a day to wake up earlier, and ignore the snooze — no matter what. Then, do it for the next day and the day after that. It might be painful at first, but you’ll naturally begin to go to bed earlier and settle into a better overall routine for your life. If getting quality sleep is an issue, boost your bedtime routine by incorporating the MindSpa personal development system. 

 Go outside.

 Sunlight provides us with much-needed vitamin D, among many other benefits. Lack of sunlight, particularly during colder months when the days are shorter, can lead to heightened anxiety, stress, and depression. Make sure you are getting outdoors at least a little bit each day. Even taking a 15-minute walk or sitting at the park for a few minutes can make a difference for your mental health. 

Reduce screen time.

 So many aspects of everyday life involve an electronic screen, be it a phone, tablet, or other devices. While you may not be able to cut out screens completely, it’s wise to limit your screen time. Designate certain times of the day when you don’t look at an electronic screen (including TV), and you’ll put less strain on your eyes, get better sleep, and significantly benefit your mental health. 

 Lasting change most often comes in the form of taking small, significant steps. Start adopting habits like the ones listed here. Once you begin to realize the benefits of living healthier, you’ll want more, and it will lead to stronger and stronger changes each day.