'Travel therapy': Could holidays help mental health and wellbeing?

June 23, 2022

Science Daily/Edith Cowan University

Many of us will have likely heard of music therapy and art therapy -- but what about 'travel therapy'?

A new cross-disciplinary paper from Edith Cowan University (ECU) proposes we change the way we view tourism, seeing it not just as a recreational experience but as an industry that can provide real health benefits.

The collaboration between ECU's Centre for Precision Health and School of Business and Law found many aspects of going on holiday could have a positive impact on those with mental health issues or conditions.

Lead researcher Dr Jun Wen said the diverse team of tourism, public health and marketing experts investigated how tourism could benefit those living with dementia.

"Medical experts can recommend dementia treatments such as music therapy, exercise, cognitive stimulation, reminiscence therapy, sensory stimulation and adaptations to a patient's mealtimes and environment," Dr Wen said.

"These are all also often found when on holidays.

"This research is among the first to conceptually discuss how these tourism experiences could potentially work as dementia-interventions."

Holiday fun… or treatment?

Dr Wen said the varied nature of tourism meant there were many opportunities to incorporate treatments for conditions such as dementia.

For example, being in new environments and having new experiences could provide cognitive and sensory stimulation.

"Exercise has been linked to mental wellbeing and travelling often involves enhanced physical activity, such as more walking," Dr Wen said.

"Mealtimes are often different on holiday: they're usually more social affairs with multiple people and family-style meals have been found to positively influence dementia patients' eating behaviour.

"And then there's the basics like fresh air and sunshine increasing vitamin D and serotonin levels.

"Everything that comes together to represent a holistic tourism experience, makes it easy to see how patients with dementia may benefit from tourism as an intervention."

A shift in thinking

Dr Wen said COVID-19's impact on travel in recent years had raised questions about tourism's value beyond lifestyle and economic factors.

"Tourism has been found to boost physical and psychological wellbeing," he said.

"So, after COVID, it's a good time to identify tourism's place in public health -- and not just for healthy tourists, but vulnerable groups."

Dr Wen said he hoped a new line of collaborative research could begin to examine how tourism can enhance the lives of people with various conditions.

"We're trying to do something new in bridging tourism and health science," he said.

"There will have to be more empirical research and evidence to see if tourism can become one of the medical interventions for different diseases like dementia or depression.

"So, tourism is not just about travelling and having fun; we need to rethink the role tourism plays in modern society."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/06/220623091229.htm

Vitamins, supplements are a 'waste of money' for most Americans

There's no 'magic set of pills to keep you healthy.' Diet and exercise are key

June 21, 2022

Science Daily/Northwestern University

Scientists say for non-pregnant, otherwise healthy Americans, vitamins are a waste of money because there isn't enough evidence they help prevent cardiovascular disease or cancer. They've written an editorial in support of new recommendations that state there was 'insufficient evidence' that taking multivitamins, paired supplements or single supplements can help prevent cardiovascular disease and cancer in otherwise healthy, non-pregnant adults.

Drawn to the allure of multivitamins and dietary supplements filling nutritional gaps in their diet, people in the U.S. in 2021 spent close to $50 billion on vitamins and dietary supplements.

But Northwestern Medicine scientists say for non-pregnant, otherwise healthy Americans, vitamins are a waste of money because there isn't enough evidence they help prevent cardiovascular disease or cancer.

"Patients ask all the time, 'What supplements should I be taking?' They're wasting money and focus thinking there has to be a magic set of pills that will keep them healthy when we should all be following the evidence-based practices of eating healthy and exercising," said Dr. Jeffrey Linder, chief of general internal medicine in the department of medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.

Linder and fellow Northwestern Medicine scientists wrote an editorial that will be published June 21 in JAMA that supports new recommendations from the United States Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF), an independent panel of national experts that frequently makes evidence-based recommendations about clinical preventive services.

Based on a systematic review of 84 studies, the USPSTF's new guidelines state there was "insufficient evidence" that taking multivitamins, paired supplements or single supplements can help prevent cardiovascular disease and cancer in otherwise healthy, non-pregnant adults.

"The task force is not saying 'don't take multivitamins,' but there's this idea that if these were really good for you, we'd know by now," Linder said.

The task force is specifically recommending against taking beta-carotene supplements because of a possible increased risk of lung cancer, and is recommending against taking vitamin E supplements because it has no net benefit in reducing mortality, cardiovascular disease or cancer.

"The harm is that talking with patients about supplements during the very limited time we get to see them, we're missing out on counseling about how to really reduce cardiovascular risks, like through exercise or smoking cessation," Linder said.

More than half of Americans take vitamins. Why?

More than half of U.S. adults take dietary supplements, and use of supplements is projected to increase, Linder and his colleagues wrote in the JAMA editorial.

Eating fruits and vegetables is associated with decreased cardiovascular disease and cancer risk, they said, so it is reasonable to think key vitamins and minerals could be extracted from fruits and vegetables, packaged into a pill, and save people the trouble and expense of maintaining a balanced diet. But, they explain, whole fruits and vegetables contain a mixture of vitamins, phytochemicals, fiber and other nutrients that probably act synergistically to deliver health benefits. Micronutrients in isolation may act differently in the body than when naturally packaged with a host of other dietary components.

Linder noted individuals who have a vitamin deficiency can still benefit from taking dietary supplements, such as calcium and vitamin D, which have been shown to prevent fractures and maybe falls in older adults.

New guidelines do not apply to pregnant people

The new USPSTF guidelines do not apply to people who are pregnant or trying to get pregnant, said JAMA editorial co-author Dr. Natalie Cameron, an instructor of general internal medicine at Feinberg.

"Pregnant individuals should keep in mind that these guidelines don't apply to them," said Cameron, who also is a Northwestern Medicine physician. "Certain vitamins, such as folic acid, are essential for pregnant women to support healthy fetal development. The most common way to meet these needs is to take a prenatal vitamin. More data is needed to understand how specific vitamin supplementation may modify risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes and cardiovascular complications during pregnancy."

Additionally, recent research from Northwestern has found most women in the U.S. have poor heart health prior to becoming pregnant. Cameron said that, in addition to discussing vitamin supplementation, working with patients to optimize cardiovascular health prior to pregnancy is an important component of prenatal care.

Eating healthy, exercising is 'easier said than done' 

Dr. Jenny Jia, a co-author of the JAMA editorial who studies the prevention of chronic diseases in low-income families through lifestyle interventions, said healthy eating can be a challenge when the U.S. industrialized food system does not prioritize health.

"To adopt a healthy diet and exercise more, that's easier said than done, especially among lower-income Americans," said Jia, an instructor of general internal medicine at Feinberg and a Northwestern Medicine physician. "Healthy food is expensive, and people don't always have the means to find environments to exercise -- maybe it's unsafe outdoors or they can't afford a facility. So, what can we do to try to make it easier and help support healthier decisions?"

Over the past few years, Jia has been working with charitable food pantries and banks that supply free groceries to people who are in need to try to help clients pick healthier choices from the food pantries as well as educate those who donate to provide healthier options or money.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/06/220621114707.htm

Age 40 is when busy Americans get the least sleep

June 14, 2022

Science Daily/Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University

A graph of how long Americans sleep forms a U-shaped pattern across our lives, with age 40 being the low point and hours of sleep starting to creep back up about age 50, Medical College of Georgia investigators report.

Our sleep efficiency, which basically means how much of the time we devote to sleeping that we actually sleep, tends to decrease across our lifetime, but investigators were surprised to find efficiency stabilized from ages 30 to 60, says Dr. Xiaoling Wang, genetic epidemiologist at MCG's Georgia Prevention Institute and corresponding author of the study in the journal Scientific Reports.

True sleep time is tough to measure in a large database of individuals who provide a representative sample of the country, particularly since most assessments are self-reports of sleep, says first author, Dr. Shaoyong Su, also a genetic epidemiologist at the Georgia Prevention Institute and the study's first author.

The main innovations in the study include its representative sampling technique, broadly inclusive age and the use of accelerometers to measure movement and get a more objective idea of how much participants slept.

For this study, investigators used what is considered a representative sample of 200 million Americans: 11,279 participants age 6 and older from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, or NHANES, which focuses on different populations or health topics. Data on these participants was collected from 2011-14 but released in late 2020, and this is the first time that 24-hour accelerometer data was available in a nationally representative sample.

Participants wore accelerometers on their nondominant wrist 24-hours a day for seven consecutive days. While the device does not directly measure sleep time, the premise is that measuring movement gives you some indication of whether you are asleep or not, says coauthor Dr. Vaughn McCall, chair of the MCG Department of Psychiatry and Health Behavior and an expert in the trifecta of insomnia, depression and suicide.

"We confirmed previous findings based on subjective measurement," Su says. "People think children and adolescents sleep later and we found this. And, during middle age people sleep less and our findings support that objectively." Additionally, sleep duration is increased for those age 60 and older, he says.

In this more objective assessment of sleep parameters based on movement, investigators found again that generally nighttime sleep decreases as our age increases, although they saw the U shape emerge as sleep duration dropped significantly from about age 10 into the 50s and get a little longer after that. Studies of a large population of Japanese and French residents have shown a similar pattern. The increased sleep time later in life may reflect the reality that most Americans still retire in their 60s and simply don't need to get up as early. Health problems and not feeling well may be another reason older American sleep longer, the investigators write, and more study is needed to look at those potential associations.

Sleep efficiency -- basically the time you actually sleep versus the time you have dedicated to sleep, with 85% considered good -- also tends to decrease with age, although the investigators found it stabilized from ages 30 to 60, indicating that adults maintain sleep efficiency for a long period, but may get the least sleep in their busy middle age.

"Traditionally people think sleep efficiency goes straight down with age, but we did find there is a stable period, from ages 30 to 60 years old, that you have quite stable sleep efficiency," Wang says.

They found females generally sleep longer than males across their lives but tend to go to sleep later, particularly as they get older, and get interrupted more, particularly in taking care of children, but still net about four minutes more sleep than males.

The investigators were surprised to find that males and females were equally sleep efficient since females are more likely to report worse sleep quality and more sleep disturbances. While more study is needed to understand sex differences in sleep, sex differences should already be considered in studies and treatment of sleep health, the investigators write. Females' sleep onset time tended to be about five minutes later than males, but before age 20 males went to bed later.

Young American adults about age 20 had the latest CTSO, or clock time for sleep onset, which is considered the time participants actually went to sleep, and high school students had the biggest weekday/weekend differences between the time they went to sleep and awakened. Those weekday/weeknight differentials only happened in school- and work-age individuals with children ages 14-17 showing the biggest differences.

For school-age children the CTSO was 9:30 pm, which was not surprising, but that time got later though high school and hit the peak around age 21 when the average time was closer to 11:30 pm, McCall says, adding he thought it would actually be even later. The investigators note that 25% of children ages 6 to 13 had a CTSO close to 11 pm.

While there may be societal reasons, like social demands and use of electronic media right before bedtime, these patterns also may reflect biological changes that occur during adolescence, they write. But the collective impact may be fatigue, behavioral problems and less academic success, they write.

As they move into their 20s, a lot of people transition to work life and the CTSO begins to reverse, he says. ''You hit the years where you are raising children and you are working and then what happens around the time of retirement? Your whole schedule begins to change," McCall notes, and the CTSO gets later again.

Black Americans tended to have some of the most troublesome sleep parameters, generally going to sleep later, sleeping less hours and less efficiently, than other races including Mexican Americans, the investigators found.

In the apparent first report of its kind, Mexican Americans had the earliest sleep onset and longest sleep time but were not necessarily efficient sleepers. The findings point to the need for more research on racial disparities in sleep that take into account social and cultural factors as well as biological and genetic factors, the investigators say.

A recent editorial in the Sleep Research Society journal Sleep Advances on cardiovascular health disparities, reports that sleep disorders and insufficient sleep are emerging as contributing factors to disparities in cardiovascular outcomes in Black patients. For example, obstructive sleep apnea, which affects about 26% of adults age 30-70 and tends to be more severe in Blacks, has been linked to an increased risk of hypertension, coronary artery disease, stroke, heart failure and other maladies. The investigators, including first author MCG pulmonologist Dr. William J. Healy, hypothesize that innovative approaches to addressing disparities in sleep care delivery will reduce both sleep health disparities and potentially cardiovascular health disparities.

"One thing we cannot overestimate is the impact of sleep," notes Wang. Without sufficient sleep, "you overuse your body," she says, and your ability to adjust to less sleep decreases with age.

While insufficient sleep itself is a risk factor for a myriad of health problems from obesity to diabetes to cardiovascular disease, it may also be an indicator of disease, says McCall who says how we sleep is like a "canary in a coal mine" and that sleep complaints may be an indication of mental or physical health problems.

"I think what these sleep parameters mean in terms of people's health is that if you are a physician or other provider and patients comes in with some kind of complaint about their sleep, you need to interpret what they tell you in light of their stage in life and what their likely sleep patterns are going to be," McCall says.

For example, with a 22-year-old complaining of insomnia, some of his first questions would be what time do you go to bed and how long did it take to fall asleep.

"I don't look at our findings necessarily as a benchmark of perfect health," McCall says. "I look at this as a benchmark of what is happening in America."

Our more natural instincts across our lifetime likely are to go to sleep when it gets dark and wake up with the light, but life and obligations interfere with following the more natural 24-hour cycle of our internal circadian clocks, the investigators say.

Babies' sleep patterns tend to follow these more natural circadian rhythms, Su notes. The frontier days, before television, the internet and mobile phones, likely had more of us sleeping like babies, McCall says.

"Is it in the biology of a 20-year-old to always go to bed late or is it due to the fact that they have friends that they are engaged with and they have parties and college keg night? I think there is a lot of societal influence here," McCall says. "Life gets in the way."

The Georgia Prevention Institute, which has a longstanding focus on cardiovascular disease prevention, also has been using NHANES to look at how circadian misalignment, that can result from sleeping poorly, plays a role in human disease.

The National Sleep Foundation says healthy adults need seven to nine hours of sleep, those over 65 need seven to eight hours and babies, young children and teens need more sleep than healthy adults to enable growth and development. Newborns, who rarely sleep through the night, need 14 to 17 hours including naps.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/06/220614095607.htm

Stress accelerates immune aging

Traumatic life events, discrimination prematurely weaken body's mix of immune cells

June 13, 2022

Science Daily/University of Southern California

Stress -- in the form of traumatic events, job strain, everyday stressors and discrimination -- accelerates aging of the immune system, potentially increasing a person's risk of cancer, cardiovascular disease and illness from infections such as COVID-19, according to a new USC study.

The research, published June 13 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), could help explain disparities in age-related health, including the unequal toll of the pandemic, and identify possible points for intervention.

"As the world's population of older adults increases, understanding disparities in age-related health is essential. Age-related changes in the immune system play a critical role in declining health," said lead study author Eric Klopack, a postdoctoral scholar in the USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology. "This study helps clarify mechanisms involved in accelerated immune aging."

As people age, the immune system naturally begins a dramatic downgrade, a condition called immunosenescence. With advanced age, a person's immune profile weakens, and includes too many worn-out white blood cells circulating and too few fresh, "naive" white blood cells ready to take on new invaders.

Immune aging is associated not only with cancer, but with cardiovascular disease, increased risk of pneumonia, reduced efficacy of vaccines and organ system aging.

But what accounts for drastic health differences in same-age adults? USC researchers decided to see if they could tease out a connection between lifetime exposure to stress -- a known contributor to poor health -- and declining vigor in the immune system.

They queried and cross-referenced enormous data sets from University of Michigan's Health and Retirement Study, a national longitudinal study of the economic, health, marital, family status, and public and private support systems of older Americans.

To calculate exposure to various forms of social stress, the researchers analyzed responses from a national sample of 5,744 adults over the age of 50. They answered a questionnaire designed to assess respondents' experiences with social stress, including stressful life events, chronic stress, everyday discrimination and lifetime discrimination.

Blood samples from the participants were then analyzed through flow cytometry, a lab technique that counts and classifies blood cells as they pass one-by-one in a narrow stream in front of a laser.

As expected, people with higher stress scores had older-seeming immune profiles, with lower percentages of fresh disease fighters and higher percentages of worn-out white blood cells. The association between stressful life events and fewer ready to respond, or naive, T cells remained strong even after controlling for education, smoking, drinking, BMI and race or ethnicity.

Some sources of stress may be impossible to control, but the researchers say there may be a workaround.

T-cells -- a critical component of immunity -- mature in a gland called the thymus, which sits just in front of and above the heart. As people age, the tissue in their thymus shrinks and is replaced by fatty tissue, resulting in reduced production of immune cells. Past research suggests that this process is accelerated by lifestyle factors like poor diet and low exercise, which are both associated with social stress.

"In this study, after statistically controlling for poor diet and low exercise, the connection between stress and accelerated immune aging wasn't as strong," said Klopack. "What this means is people who experience more stress tend to have poorer diet and exercise habits, partly explaining why they have more accelerated immune aging."

Improving diet and exercise behaviors in older adults may help offset the immune aging associated with stress.

Additionally, cytomegalovirus (CMV) may be a target for intervention. CMV is a common, usually asymptomatic virus in humans and is known to have a strong effect accelerating immune aging. Like shingles or cold sores, CMV is dormant most of the time but can flare up, especially when a person is experiencing high stress.

In this study, statistically controlling for CMV positivity also reduced the connection between stress and accelerated immune aging. Therefore, widespread CMV vaccination could be a relatively simple and potentially powerful intervention that could reduce the immune aging effects of stress, the researchers said.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/06/220613150648.htm

Good' bacteria to tackle depression

June 9, 2022

Science Daily/University of Basel

Intestinal flora plays an important role in health -- including mental health. Researchers from the University of Basel and the University Psychiatric Clinics Basel (UPK) have shown that probiotics can support the effect of antidepressants and help to alleviate depression.

When he was visited by what he called "the black dog," Winston Churchill could barely get out of bed. He had no energy, no interests and no appetite. Although the British prime minister didn't invent this metaphor for depression, he was the one who popularized it.

Experts use medication and psychotherapy to try to help patients escape from the "black dog," but it persists in some individuals. Researchers are therefore searching for ways to improve existing therapies and develop new ones.

One promising approach is the microbiome-gut-brain axis. The microbiome is generally understood to mean all the microorganisms that live in or on the human body, such as the intestinal flora. Intestinal bacteria can influence the nervous system for instance via metabolic products.

In a recent study, a research team from the University of Basel and the University Psychiatric Clinics Basel (UPK) has shown that probiotics can support treatment with antidepressants. They have reported their findings in the journal Translational Psychiatry.

Intestinal flora influences the psyche

It is known from previous studies that patients with depression show an above-average prevalence of intestinal and digestive problems. If the intestinal flora of people with depression is implanted in mice raised in sterile conditions -- that is, with no intestinal flora -- then the animals also develop depressive-like behavior. For example, they are less energetic and show decreased interest in their surroundings than their peers. Researchers therefore suspect that the composition of the bacterial community in the gut plays an important role in depressive symptoms.

In their new study, the researchers led by Dr. André Schmidt and Professor Undine Lang systematically investigated the effects of probiotics on patients with depression. All participants were inpatients at the University Psychiatric Clinics Basel (UPK) and were given a probiotic (21 subjects) or a placebo (26 subjects) for 31 days, in addition to antidepressants. Neither the participants nor the study staff knew which preparation the subjects were taking throughout the study period. The researchers carried out a series of tests on the participants immediately before treatment, at the end of the 31 days and again four weeks later.

The subsequent analysis showed that although depressive symptoms decreased in all participants thanks to the general antidepressant treatment, there was a greater improvement in the subjects in the probiotic group than in the placebo group.

In addition, the composition of their intestinal flora changed, at least temporarily: in the probiotic group, an analysis of stool samples revealed an increase in lactic acid bacteria at the end of treatment -- an effect that was accompanied by a reduction in depressive symptoms. However, the level of these health-promoting gut bacteria decreased again over the following four weeks. "It may be that four weeks of treatment is not long enough and that it takes longer for the new composition of the intestinal flora to stabilize," explains Anna-Chiara Schaub, one of the lead authors of the study.

Change in the processing of emotional stimuli

Another interesting effect of taking probiotics was seen in relation to brain activity when viewing neutral or fearful faces. The researchers investigated this effect using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). In patients with depression, certain brain regions for emotional processing behave differently than in individuals with good mental health. After four weeks of probiotics, this brain activity normalized in the probiotic group but not in the placebo group.

"Although the microbiome-gut-brain axis has been the subject of research for a number of years, the exact mechanisms are yet to be fully clarified," says Schaub. This was another reason why the researchers believed it was important to use a wide range of bacteria in the form of probiotics, such as formulations already available on the market. "With additional knowledge of the specific effect of certain bacteria, it may be possible to optimize the selection of bacteria and to use the best mix in order to support treatment for depression," says the researcher -- although she is keen to emphasize that probiotics are not suitable as a sole treatment for depression.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/06/220609155718.htm

Lessons on how to sleep: What we can learn from worms

June 8, 2022

Science Daily/University of Tsukuba

Caenorhabditis elegans is a worm that has been used for decades as a model organism. Researchers have found that a specific neuron, called ALA, and the amount of calcium it contains are essential for the homeostatic regulation of sleep in C. elegans. ALA was found to contain more calcium ions when the worms were awake for a long time, and less when they slept. Considering that the molecules involved in sleep regulation are widely conserved, these results may translate to other animals, including humans.

Sleep regulation in a worm is not as different from sleep regulation in mammals, including humans, as you may think. Therefore, knowing how worms switch between being asleep and being awake can tell us a lot of useful information about sleep patterns in humans and what cells regulate them.

In a paper published in iScience in May 2022, researchers from the University of Tsukuba used the model organism Caenorhabditis elegans, a transparent worm, to reveal how "sleepiness" is encoded in the nervous system. C. elegans is one of the simplest organisms with a nervous system.

"Our sleep is homeostatically regulated. In other words, the more we stay awake, the more we subsequently sleep. How the preceding amount of wakefulness affects the subsequent amount of sleep still remains a great mystery. C. elegans also exhibits alternating cycles of wake and sleep that are homeostatically regulated," explains Professor Yu Hayashi, lead author of the study. Thus, we expected that studies using C. elegans might give us hints regarding the molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying the homeostatic regulation of sleep."

The researchers suspected that a single interneuron called ALA is a key player in the process. Intracellular calcium ion currents are essential in neurons; they act as little messengers telling the cell what to do depending on the external circumstances. The research team used a special imaging technique that allowed the visualization of calcium ions in the ALA neuron while the worms were asleep and while they were awake. "This study revealed that the interneuron ALA is crucial for homeostatic regulation of sleep," explains Professor Hayashi, confirming their initial hypothesis. "We observed that intracellular calcium gradually increased in the ALA neuron during wakefulness and rapidly decayed upon transitions to sleep bouts. In addition, we also found that artificial activation of ALA can cause an immediate transition to sleep. Thus, ALA seems to act as a timer that measures the amount of time spent awake, and when it reaches a certain level it will force the animal to fall asleep. We also found that this function of ALA requires a protein called CEH-17, which is highly conserved in mammals."

These findings shine light on the mechanisms in charge of the switch between sleep and wakefulness in worms. The next steps could involve studying similar mechanisms in mammals, such as mice and also humans. In addition, the knowledge that CEH-17 plays such a vital role in sleep is highly relevant to sleep dysregulation, and may contribute to the design of new treatments for insomnia and other sleep disturbances.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/06/220608112448.htm

Intriguing connection between diet, eye health and lifespan uncovered

June 7, 2022

Science Daily/Buck Institute for Research on Aging

Researchers from the Buck Institute have demonstrated for the first time a link between diet, circadian rhythms, eye health and lifespan in Drosophila. Publishing in the June 7, 2022 issue of Nature Communications, they additionally and unexpectedly found that processes in the fly eye are actually driving the aging process.

Previous studies have shown in humans that there is an association between eye disorders and poor health. "Our study argues that it is more than correlation: dysfunction of the eye can actually drive problems in other tissues," said senior author and Buck Institute Professor Pankaj Kapahi, PhD, whose lab has demonstrated for years that fasting and caloric restriction can improve many functions of the body. "We are now showing that not only does fasting improve eyesight, but the eye actually plays a role in influencing lifespan."

"The finding that the eye itself, at least in the fruit fly, can directly regulate lifespan was a surprise to us," said lead author, Brian Hodge, PhD, who did his postdoctoral studies in Kapahi's lab.

The explanation for this connection, Hodge said, lies in circadian "clocks," the molecular machinery within every cell of every organism, which have evolved to adapt to daily stresses, such as changes in light and temperature caused by the rising and setting of the sun. These 24-hour oscillations -- circadian rhythms -- affect complex animal behaviors, such as predator-prey interactions and sleep/wake cycles, down to fine-tuning the temporal regulation of molecular functions of gene transcription and protein translation.

In 2016 Kapahi's lab published a study in Cell Metabolism showing that fruit flies on a restricted diet had significant changes in their circadian rhythms in addition to extending lifespan. When Hodge joined the lab later that year, he wanted to dig deeper to figure out which processes that enhance circadian functions were altered by the diet change, and whether circadian processes were required for the longer lifespan seen with dietary restriction.

"The fruit fly has such a short lifespan, making it a really beautiful model that allows us to screen a lot of things at once," said Hodge, who is currently a scientist at Fountain Therapeutics in South San Francisco. The study began with a broad survey to see what genes oscillate in a circadian fashion when flies on an unrestricted diet were compared with those fed just 10 percent of the protein of the unrestricted diet.

Immediately, Hodge noticed numerous genes that were both diet-responsive and also exhibiting ups and downs at different time points, or "rhythmic." He then discovered that the rhythmic genes that were activated the most with dietary restriction all seemed to be coming from the eye, specifically from photoreceptors, the specialized neurons in the retina of the eye that respond to light.

This finding led to a series of experiments designed to understand how eye function fit into the story of how dietary restriction can extend lifespan. For example, they set up experiments showing that keeping flies in constant darkness extended their lifespan. "That seemed very strange to us," said Hodge. "We had thought flies needed the lighting cues to be rhythmic, or circadian."

They then used bioinformatics to ask: Do the genes in the eye that are also rhythmic and responsive to dietary restriction influence lifespan? The answer was yes they do.

"We always think of the eye as something that serves us, to provide vision. We don't think of it as something that must be protected to protect the whole organism," said Kapahi, who is also an associate adjunct professor of urology at UCSF.

Since the eyes are exposed to the outside world, he explained, the immune defenses there are critically active, which can lead to inflammation, which, when present for long periods of time, can cause or worsen a variety of common chronic diseases. Additionally, light in itself can cause photoreceptor degeneration which can cause inflammation.

"Staring at computer and phone screens, and being exposed to light pollution well into the night are conditions very disturbing for circadian clocks," Kapahi said. "It messes up protection for the eye and that could have consequences beyond just the vision, damaging the rest of the body and the brain."

There is much to be understood about the role the eye plays in the overall health and lifespan of an organism, including: how does the eye regulate lifespan, and does the same effect apply to other organisms?

The biggest question raised by this work as it might apply to humans is, simply, do photoreceptors in mammals affect longevity? Probably not as much as in fruit flies, said Hodge, noting that the majority of energy in a fruit fly is devoted to the eye. But since photoreceptors are just specialized neurons, he said, "the stronger link I would argue is the role that circadian function plays in neurons in general, especially with dietary restrictions, and how these can be harnessed to maintain neuronal function throughout aging."

Once researchers understand how these processes are working, they can begin to target the molecular clock to decelerate aging, said Hodge, adding that it may be that humans could help maintain vision by activating the clocks within our eyes. "It might be through diet, drugs, lifestyle changes… A lot of really interesting research lies ahead," he said.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/06/220607120954.htm

Adults sleep better together than they do alone

June 6, 2022

Science Daily/American Academy of Sleep Medicine

Adults who share a bed with a partner or spouse sleep better than those who sleep alone, according to a new study from researchers at the University of Arizona.

Results show that those who shared a bed with a partner most nights reported less severe insomnia, less fatigue, and more time asleep than those who said they never share a bed with a partner. Those sleeping with a partner also fell asleep faster, stayed asleep longer after falling asleep, and had less risk of sleep apnea. However, those who slept with their child most nights reported greater insomnia severity, greater sleep apnea risk, and less control over their sleep.

Researchers also found that sleeping with a partner was associated with lower depression, anxiety, and stress scores, and greater social support and satisfaction with life and relationships. Sleeping with children was associated with more stress. Sleeping alone was associated with higher depression scores, lower social support, and worse life and relationship satisfaction.

"Sleeping with a romantic partner or spouse shows to have great benefits on sleep health including reduced sleep apnea risk, sleep insomnia severity, and overall improvement in sleep quality," said lead author Brandon Fuentes, undergraduate researcher in the department of psychiatry at the University of Arizona.

The study involved an analysis of data collected in the Sleep and Health Activity, Diet, Environment, and Socialization (SHADES) study of 1,007 working-age adults from southeastern Pennsylvania. Bed sharing was evaluated with surveys, and sleep health factors were assessed with common tools such as the Epworth Sleepiness Scale, Insomnia Severity Index, and STOP-BANG apnea score.

"Very few research studies explore this, but our findings suggest that whether we sleep alone or with a partner, family member, or pet may impact our sleep health," said senior study author Dr. Michael Grandner, director of the Sleep and Health Research Program at the University of Arizona. "We were very surprised to find out just how important this could be."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/06/220606181217.htm

Gut bacteria can make blood pressure medication less effective

May 26, 2022

Science Daily/University of Toledo

Hypertension, or high blood pressure, is a major risk factor for heart disease and stroke, two of the leading causes of death in America. It's also one of the most common chronic conditions in the United States, with nearly half of U.S. adults considered hypertensive under current guidelines. Among those with high blood pressure, an estimated 20% have what's known as resistant hypertension, meaning their blood pressure remains high despite aggressive treatment. New research has shown gut bacteria can reduce the effectiveness of certain blood pressure drugs, potentially providing a pathway to developing new ways of overcoming treatment-resistant hypertension.

A new study from The University of Toledo College of Medicine and Life Sciences has shown gut bacteria can reduce the effectiveness of certain blood pressure drugs.

The research, published this month in the journal Hypertension,offers the first clues to what has been an elusive mystery -- why do some people not respond well to medication?

"High blood pressure is often called a silent killer because it doesn't usually cause symptoms. However, there is a big population of individuals who know they have hypertension but still cannot get it under control, even though they're taking blood pressure drugs," said Dr. Tao Yang, an assistant professor in the Department of Physiology and Pharmacology and the study's first and lead author. "Addressing this is of huge clinical importance."

Hypertension, or high blood pressure, is a major risk factor for heart disease and stroke, two of the leading causes of death in America. It's also one of the most common chronic conditions in the United States, with nearly half of U.S. adults considered hypertensive under current guidelines.

Among those with high blood pressure, an estimated 20% have what's known as resistant hypertension, meaning their blood pressure remains high despite aggressive treatment.

"The only thing doctors can really do in these patients is adding or switching medications and increasing the dose with the hope they can find something that works," Yang said. "Until now, we haven't had any clear indication what the mechanism is for resistant hypertension. Our research could provide a first step toward identifying new ways to effectively overcome treatment-resistant hypertension."

In recent years researchers have more intently examined the link between an individual's blood pressure readings and the unique collection of bacteria that lives in their gut.

That work -- significant portions of which has been done at UToledo -- has helped to unravel potential causes of hypertension that extend beyond diet and exercise. However, Yang's research is the first to examine the impact of gut bacteria on blood pressure medication itself.

Dr. Bina Joe, Distinguished University Professor and chair of the UToledo Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, and the study's senior author, said the research is a significant extension of UToledo's work to better understand the causes of hypertension and find new ways to treat it.

"Yang pioneered this important, highly translational idea during his training as a postdoctoral fellow in my laboratory," she said. "This is now a major research theme in his own laboratory at The University of Toledo."

In the study, UToledo scientists compared the effectiveness of the antihypertensive drug quinapril in rats with normal gut bacteria against those whose gut microbiota had been depleted by high doses of antibiotics.

Researchers found a clear difference between the two, with animals that were given antibiotics first responding much better to quinapril.

Analysis of the gut bacteria composition in the animals identified the bacteria Coprococcus as the culprit. Laboratory experiments proved that Coprococcus comes, a dominant bacteria species in this genus, can break down quinapril and ramipril, resulting in the compromised blood pressure-lowering effects.

While the UToledo study was limited to animal models and lab experiments, researchers identified at least one intriguing case study that seems to bolster the argument that this finding could be applicable to humans.

That 2015 report, published in the International Journal of Cardiology, described a woman with a long history of treatment-resistant hypertension whose blood pressure was controlled without any antihypertensive medication for the two weeks she was taking antibiotics for a post-surgical infection. Her blood pressure was able to be controlled with only one medication for six months after stopping antibiotics before again becoming treatment-resistant.

"This is just one report and more research is needed. However, this suggests that gut bacteria can play a very real and very important role in regulating the efficacy of blood pressure medication," Yang said.

The research group plans to continue its work by studying the interaction between additional blood pressure medications and other common types of gut bacteria.

Though long-term use of antibiotics isn't a realistic strategy for addressing treatment-resistant hypertension, Yang said it should be possible for someone to alter their microbiota through probiotics, prebiotics and changes in diet.

"The ultimate goal of my research is to identify ways we can specifically target the bacteria in an individual's gut to improve drug efficacy," he said. "This has the potential to benefit a lot of people."

Dr. Young Oh, a program officer with the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, agrees that this study represents an important piece of the puzzle in understanding resistant hypertension. The study was supported in part by the NHLBI, part of the National Institutes of Health.

"The gut microbiome has been understudied as it relates to hypertension," said Oh, who was not a member of the study team. "While this study fills an important knowledge gap, more studies are needed, particularly in humans, to confirm the findings."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/05/220526095603.htm

New research shows no evidence of structural brain change with short-term mindfulness training

May 20, 2022

Science Daily/University of Wisconsin-Madison

In the mid-20th century, new evidence showed that the brain could be "plastic," and that experience could create changes in the brain. Plasticity has been linked to learning new skills, including spatial navigation, aerobic exercise and balance training.

Yet it has remained an open question whether mindfulness interventions, like meditation, can alter the brain's structure. Some research using the well-known eight-week Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction course suggested so. However, that study was limited in scope and technology, and perhaps skewed by elective participant pools.

In new research, a team from the Center for Healthy Minds at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, led by Richard J. Davidson, found no evidence of structural brain changes with short-term mindfulness training.

Published May 20 in Science Advances, the team's study is the largest and most rigorously controlled to date. In two novel trials, over 200 healthy participants with no meditation experience or mental health concerns were given MRI exams to measure their brains prior to being randomly assigned to one of three study groups: the eight-week MBSR course, a non-mindfulness-based well-being intervention called the Health Enhancement Program, or a control group that didn't receive any type of training.

The MBSR course was taught by certified instructors and included mindfulness practices such as yoga, meditation and body awareness. The HEP course was developed as an activity that is similar to MBSR but without mindfulness training. Instead, HEP engaged participants in exercise, music therapy and nutrition practices. Both groups spent additional time in practice at home.

Following each eight-week trial, all participants were given a final MRI exam to measure changes in brain structure. Data from the two trials were pooled to create a large sample size. No significant differences in structural brain changes were detected between MBSR and either control group.

Participants were also asked to self-report on mindfulness following the study. Those in both the MBSR and HEP groups reported increased mindfulness compared with the control group, providing evidence that improvements in self-reported mindfulness may be related to benefits of any type of wellness intervention more broadly, rather than being specific to mindfulness meditation practice.

So, what about the prior study that found evidence of structural changes? Since participants in that study had sought out a course for stress reduction, they may have had more room for improvement than the healthy population studied here. In other words, according to the lead author of the new study, behavioral scientist and first author Tammi Kral, "the simple act of choosing to enroll in MBSR may be associated with increased benefit." The current study also had a much larger sample size, increasing confidence in the findings.

However, as the team writes in the new paper, "it may be that only with much longer duration of training, or training explicitly focused on a single form of practice, that structural alterations will be identified." Whereas structural brain changes are found with physical and spatial training, mindfulness training spans a variety of psychological areas like attention, compassion and emotion. This training engages a complex network of brain regions, each of which may be changing to different degrees in different people -- making overall changes at the group level difficult to observe.

These surprising results ultimately underscore the importance of scrutiny for positive findings and the need for verification through replication. In addition, studies of longer-term interventions as well as ones singularly focused on meditation practices may lead to different results. "We are still in the early stages of research on the effects of meditation training on the brain and there is much to be discovered," says Davidson.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/05/220520144651.htm

Insomnia in midlife may manifest as cognitive problems in retirement age

May 20, 2022

Science Daily/University of Helsinki

The Helsinki Health Study at the University of Helsinki investigated the development of insomnia symptoms in midlife and their effects on memory, learning ability and concentration after retirement. The follow-up period was 15-17 years.

According to the study, long-term insomnia symptoms and later poorer cognitive functioning have a clear connection.

"The findings indicate that severe insomnia symptoms were associated with worse cognitive function among those who were on statutory pension," says Doctoral Researcher Antti Etholén, describing the results of the study.

The study also found that the memory problems, and problems in learning ability and concentration increased as the insomnia symptoms were prolonged.

Sleeping well already in middle age

Prior research has shown that there are a number of mechanisms that can explain how sleep can affect cognitive functioning. What makes the recently published study exceptional is the long follow-up period for insomnia symptoms.

Among other things, the study demonstrated that if insomnia symptoms eased over the years, cognitive functioning was also found to be better at retirement age compared to the problems persisting.

According to the researchers, long-lasting insomnia symptoms should be considered as risk factors for poor cognitive functioning.

"Based on our findings, early intervention tackling insomnia symptoms, or measures aimed at improving the quality of sleep would be justified," says Professor Tea Lallukka.

There are many ways to improve the quality of sleep, including the regularity of the sleep rhythm, the appropriate temperature and brightness of the sleeping environment, and the optimal timing of physical exercise, coffee consumption and eating.

However, Lallukka believes that intervention studies are still needed to ascertain the effects of measures in support of good sleep.

"In subsequent studies, it would be interesting to shed further light on, for example, whether the treatment of insomnia can also slow down the development of memory disorders," Lallukka says. She points outs that only self-reported memory symptoms could be taken into consideration in the present study.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/05/220520101346.htm

Children who play adventurously have better mental health

May 20, 2022

Science Daily/University of Exeter

Children who spend more time playing adventurously have lower symptoms of anxiety and depression, and were happier over the first Covid-19 lockdown, according to new research.

A study led by the University of Exeter asked parents how often their children engaged in play that was "thrilling and exciting," where they might experience some fear and uncertainty.

The study, published in Child Psychiatry and Human Development, comes at a time when today's children have fewer opportunities for adventurous play out of sight of adults, such as climbing trees, riding bikes, jumping from high surfaces or playing somewhere where they are out of adult sight. The study sought to test theories that adventurous play offers learning opportunities that help build resilience in children, thereby helping to prevent mental health problems.

With funding from a UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship, the research team surveyed nearly 2,500 parents of children aged 5-11 years. Parents completed questions about their child's play, their general mental health (pre-Covid) and their mood during the first Covid-19 lockdown.

The research was carried out with two groups of parents: a group of 427 parents living in Northern Ireland and a nationally representative group of 1919 parents living in Great Britain (England, Wales and Scotland).

Researchers found that children who spend more time playing outside had fewer "internalising problems" -- characterised as anxiety and depression. Those children were also more positive during the first lockdown.

The effects were relatively small, as would be expected given the range of factors that affect children's mental health. However, results were consistent even after researchers factored in a wide range of demographic variables including child sex, age, parent employment status etc. and parent mental health. The study in the Great Britain group also found that the effect was more pronounced in children from lower income families than those growing up in higher income households.

Helen Dodd, Professor of Child Psychology at the of the University of Exeter, who led the study, said: "We're more concerned than ever about children's mental health, and our findings highlight that we might be able to help protect children's mental health by ensuring they have plentiful opportunities for adventurous play. This is really positive because play is free, instinctive and rewarding for children, available to everyone, and doesn't require special skills. We now urgently need to invest in and protect natural spaces, well-designed parks and adventure playgrounds, to support the mental health of our children."

Dan Paskins, Director of UK Impact at Save the Children, said: "Every child needs and deserves opportunities to play. This important research shows that this is even more vital to help children thrive after all they have missed out on during the Covid-19 restrictions. More play means more happiness and less anxiety and depression. That's why Save the Children is supporting the Summer of Play campaign which brings together organisations from around the country to pledge their support to enable children to have fun, spend time with friends and enjoy freedom."

Welcoming the findings, Jacqueline O'Loughlin, Chief Executive of PlayBoard NI said: "This research emphasises the importance of adventurous play. Children and young people need freedom and opportunities to encounter challenge and risk in their everyday playful adventures. It is clear from the research findings that playing, taking risks and experiencing excitement outdoors makes a positive contribution to children's mental health and emotional well-being. The rewards of allowing children to self-regulate and manage challenge in their play are widespread and far-reaching. Adventurous play helps children to build the resilience needed to cope with, and manage stress in challenging circumstances."

Examples of adventurous activities that don't cost anything are:

• Going for a torch walk in the dark

• Exploring woods alone or with a friend

• Camping out overnight

• Swimming or paddling in a river or lake

• Jumping from a swing

• Trying out new skills on a skateboard, rollerskates or cycling

• Creating obstacle courses inside or outside

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/05/220520144659.htm

Children with same-sex parents are socially well-adjusted

May 20, 2022

Science Daily/University of Cologne

Difficult social and legal conditions are stress factors for same-sex families, but do not affect the behavior of children and young people with same-sex parents, new research suggests.

A study by Dr Mirjam Fischer and colleagues at the University of Cologne's Institute of Sociology and Social Psychology (ISS) shows that children and adolescents with same-sex parents are just as well adjusted as those with different-sex parents. In this study, 62 six-to-sixteen-year-olds with same-sex parents were compared with 72 peers with different-sex parents regarding prosocial behaviour, hyperactivity, peer problems, emotional adjustment, and general behavioural problems. The results of the study 'Behavioral Outcomes of Children with Same-Sex Parents in The Netherlands' were published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health.

Previous studies have shown that same-sex parents face significant stress factors reated to their sexual orientation, such as experiences of prejudice and unsupportive legal contexts. On average, this added stress leads to decreased physical and mental health for same-sex parents, which in turn could lead to adjustment problems in their children.

'The new findings clearly show that same-sex families have strong resilience strategies to protect their children from prevailing legal hurdles and societal rejection. For example, parents create an environment in which their children receive appreciation and recognition from others and where other same-sex families provide positive role models. However, it should not be necessary in the first place that parents to have to develop these strategies,' said Fischer.

The study is based on unique survey data from the Dutch civil registers and thus provides representative results for families with parents between the ages of 30 and 65 years. The findings are in line with the large number of non-representative research results.

The researchers therefore recommend that research and policy makers move away from deficit-driven comparisons between same-sex and different-sex families. Instead, support services for same-sex families should build on their existing resilience structures and strengthen them further.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/05/220520132901.htm

Reducing TV viewing to less than one hour a day could help prevent more than one in ten cases of coronary heart disease

May 24, 2022

Science Daily/University of Cambridge

Watching too much TV is associated with increased risk of coronary heart disease regardless of an individual's genetic makeup, say a team of scientists at the Medical Research Council (MRC) Epidemiology Unit, University of Cambridge and the University of Hong Kong.

In a study published today in BMC Medicine, the researchers show that -- assuming a causal link -- 11% of cases of coronary heart disease could be prevented if people watched less than an hour of TV each day.

According to the British Heart Foundation, coronary heart disease is one of the UK's leading causes of death, responsible for around 64,000 deaths each year. In the UK, one in eight men and one in 15 women die from the disease. People with coronary heart disease are twice as likely to have a stroke.

One of the major risk factors for coronary heart disease is sedentary behaviour -- in other words, sitting for long periods of time rather than being physically active. To examine the link between time spent in screen-based sedentary behaviours such as TV viewing and leisure-time computer use, an individual's DNA, and their risk of coronary heart disease, researchers examined data from the UK Biobank, a study that includes over 500,000 adults who have been followed up prospectively for about 12 years.

The team created polygenic risk scores for each individual -- that is, their genetic risk of developing coronary heart disease based on 300 genetic variants known to influence their chances of developing the condition. As expected, individuals with higher polygenic risk scores were at greatest risk of developing the condition.

People who watched more than four hours of TV per day were at greatest risk of the disease, regardless of their polygenic risk score. Compared to these individuals, people who watched two to three hours of TV a day had a relative 6% lower rate of developing the condition, while those who watched less than an hour of TV had a relative 16% lower rate. These associations were independent of genetic susceptibility and other known risk factors.

Leisure time spent using a computer did not appear to influence disease risk.

"Our study provides unique insights into the potential role that limiting TV viewing might have in preventing coronary heart disease," said Dr Youngwon Kim, assistant professor at the University of Hong Kong, and visiting researcher at the MRC Epidemiology Unit, the study's corresponding author. "Individuals who watch TV for less than one hour a day were less likely to develop the condition, independent of their genetic risk.

"Limiting the amount of time sat watching TV could be a useful, and relatively light touch, lifestyle change that could help individuals with a high genetic predisposition to coronary heart disease in particular to manage their risk."

Dr Katrien Wijndaele from the MRC Epidemiology Unit, last author of the study, said: "Coronary heart disease is one of the most prominent causes of premature death, so finding ways to help people manage their risk through lifestyle modification is important.

"The World Health Organization recommends reducing the amount of sedentary behaviour and replacing it with physical activity of any intensity as a way of keeping healthier. While it isn't possible to say for certain that sitting watching TV increases your risk of coronary heart disease, because of various potential confounding factors and measurement error, our work supports the WHO's guidelines. It suggests a straightforward, measurable way of achieving this goal for the general population as well as individuals at high genetic risk of coronary heart disease."

There are several potential reasons that might explain the link between TV viewing and coronary heart disease risk, say the team -- and in particular, why no link was found with computer use. TV viewing tends to occur in the evening following dinner, usually our most calorific meal, leading to higher levels of glucose and lipids, such as cholesterol, in the blood. People also often snack more when watching TV compared to when surfing the web, for example. Lastly, TV viewing tends to be prolonged, whereas individuals using their computer may be more likely to break up their activity.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/05/220524100600.htm

Climate change likely to reduce the amount of sleep that people get per year

May 20, 2022

Science Daily/Cell Press

Most research looking at the impact of climate change on human life has focused on how extreme weather events affect economic and societal health outcomes on a broad scale. Yet climate change may also have a strong influence on fundamental daily human activities -- including a host of behavioral, psychological, and physiological outcomes that are essential to wellbeing. In a study published May 20th in the journal One Earth, investigators report that increasing ambient temperatures negatively impact human sleep around the globe.

The team says their findings suggest that by the year 2099, suboptimal temperatures may erode 50 to 58 hours of sleep per person per year. In addition, they found that the temperature effect on sleep loss is substantially larger for residents from lower income countries as well as in older adults and females.

"Our results indicate that sleep -- an essential restorative process integral for human health and productivity -- may be degraded by warmer temperatures," says first author Kelton Minor of the University of Copenhagen. "In order to make informed climate policy decisions moving forward, we need to better account for the full spectrum of plausible future climate impacts extending from today's societal greenhouse gas emissions choices."

It's long been known that hot days increase deaths and hospitalizations and worsen human performance, yet the biological and behavioral mechanisms underlying these impacts have not been well understood. Recent self-reported data from the United States have suggested that subjective sleep quality decreases during periods of hot weather, but how temperature fluctuations may impact changes in objective sleep outcomes in people living across a variety of global climates has remained unclear.

"In this study, we provide the first planetary-scale evidence that warmer-than-average temperatures erode human sleep," Minor says. "We show that this erosion occurs primarily by delaying when people fall asleep and by advancing when they wake up during hot weather."

To conduct this research, the investigators used anonymized global sleep data collected from accelerometer-based sleep-tracking wristbands. The data included 7 million nightly sleep records from more than 47,000 adults across 68 countries spanning all continents except for Antarctica. Measures from the type of wristbands used in this study had previously been shown to align with independent measures of wakefulness and sleep.

The study suggested that on very warm nights (greater than 30 degrees Celsius, or 86 degrees Fahrenheit), sleep declines an average of just over 14 minutes. The likelihood of getting less than seven hours of sleep also increases as temperatures rise.

"Our bodies are highly adapted to maintain a stable core body temperature, something that our lives depend on," Minor says. "Yet every night they do something remarkable without most of us consciously knowing -- they shed heat from our core into the surrounding environment by dilating our blood vessels and increasing blood flow to our hands and feet." He adds that in order for our bodies to transfer heat, the surrounding environment needs to be cooler than we are.

Early controlled studies in sleep labs found that both humans and animals sleep worse when the room temperature is too hot or too cold. But this research was limited by how people act in the real world: they modify the temperature of their sleeping environment to be more comfortable.

In the current research, the investigators found that under normal living routines, people appear far better at adapting to colder outside temperatures than hotter conditions. "Across seasons, demographics, and different climate contexts, warmer outside temperatures consistently erode sleep, with the amount of sleep loss progressively increasing as temperatures become hotter," Minor says.

One important observation was that people in developing countries seem to be more affected by these changes. It's possible that the greater prevalence of air conditioning in developed countries could play a role, but the researchers could not definitively identify the reason because they did not have data on air conditioning access among subjects. The researchers also note that because they uncovered compelling evidence that the impact of warming temperatures on sleep loss is unequal globally, new research should especially consider more vulnerable populations, particularly those residing in the world's hottest -- and historically poorest -- regions.

In future work, the team would like to collaborate with global climate scientists, sleep researchers, and technology providers to extend the scope of global sleep and behavioral analyses to other populations and contexts. Additionally, they are interested in studying the impact of rising outdoor temperatures on the sleep outcomes of incarcerated populations situated in hot climates, who may have particularly limited access to air conditioning.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/05/220520132837.htm

Music alleviates collective grief

May 19, 2022

Science Daily/Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona

In February 2020, a group of musicians from around the world living in China recorded their cover of a song by Michael Jackson on video to express their support to the families affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and to those working in the frontline. The video went viral. Now, in a study conducted by the Department of Psychiatry and Forensic Medicine and by the Institut de Neurociències (INc-UAB) at the UAB, researchers analyse why the video and song had such a profound effect.

At the start of 2020, the SARS-CoV-2 virus seemed to be a distant problem for most countries. Nevertheless, the virus was becoming epidemic in China and its population was going through very difficult times. It was then that a group of musicians working for the company Shenzhen Meifeiya Culture Communication Co. Ltd. in Shenzhen, China, used a profile of the Shenzhen Daily newspaper on WeChat, a social network with 1.2 billion monthly active users, to upload a video with their cover of "You Are Not Alone" by Michael Jackson. The video focused on isolation and overcoming great obstacles, and at the same time aimed to offer encouragement the people of their second home, China, by sending out a message of positivity and hope.

Now, in a study published in the journal Behavioral Sciences, Lydia Giménez-Llort, professor of the Department of Psychiatry and Forensic Medicine and researcher at the INC-UAB, analyses how the music, lyrics and images in the video combine to show empathy and transmit a message of support to the citizens of Wuhan in a way that moves viewers. "When I saw the video I felt profoundly moved. I connected with the suffering of the people in China and of the musicians, because of their expressions and the striking images of the hospitals, ambulances and empty streets," says Dr Giménez-Llort.

Collective mourning is an expression of the maturity, cohesion and respect existing within a society. The objective of this study was to identify the specific traits that allow empathising so well with those experiencing personal and collective grief, feel the comprehension of others, and evaluate individual and social resilience tools. In short, to understand how the elements deployed in the video recording of the song served to alleviate a collective traumatic experience.

Positive psychology, music and songwriting are non-pharmacological strategies which can be of great value in regulating emotions and thoughts, particularly in moments of sorrow and difficulties. "They made a cover of a ballad, a type of romantic song asking a question in one verse and answering it in the next. And of all the ballads, they chose "You Are Not Alone," which describes the incomprehension of someone who has lost their loved one and who, as the days go by, feels the unbearable weight of solitude, despite being surrounded by people. Therefore, there is a great similarity between the original song and the situation in Wuhan, a city which stood alone as it faced the explosion of the epidemic, while the rest of the world closed off its borders and could do little more from a distance. But its main value lies in the fact that the version for China redimensions this emotional suffering at a social level and accompanies it with answers that point to several elements of social strength and resilience. And it is done through the voice of foreigners who feel that China is their adoptive country, and includes the participation of Chinese children as an element of purity and hope for the future. Thus, the person listening to the song feels the comprehension of others and realises that not only do they have external support, but they are also innerly and collectively very strong, they are not alone," says Dr Giménez-Llort. At the same time, the video plays with changes in rhythm (different angles, length of shots, etc.) and non-verbal communication in order to strengthen the empathy with which the situation is described and the message of support that is transmitted.

With regard to the lyrics, the researcher was able to identify elements of typical mourning processes, such as the five stages described by Kübler-Ross (denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance), the dual process model by Stroebe and Schut (switching back and forth between loss and restoration), Bronfenbrenner's bioecological model of human development (redimensioning individual experiences into social ones), and Taylor's tend-to-befriend model (which describes how women within a social structure face problems or moments of stress by seeking short and long-term social support and attention).

Finally, the study also analyses other musical events occuring around the world and memorable songs reformulated during the pandemic which played an important role in creating social cohesion during moments of self-isolation and bereavement. This study showcases the role of music and other art forms, which through our emotional and social brains can help us cope individually and collectively with sudden and dramatic situations, thereby alliviating physical distance and human suffering, and reaching beyond any cultural barriers.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/05/220519115338.htm

Taste buds can adapt to low salt diet

May 23, 2022

Science Daily/European Society of Cardiology

A taste adaptation intervention lowers salt intake and increases enjoyment of a sodium restricted diet in patients with hypertension, according to a small study presented at ACNAP-EuroHeartCare Congress 2022, a scientific congress of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC).1

"One of the major barriers to sticking to a low salt diet is that people do not like the taste, but few studies have addressed this issue," said study author Professor Misook Chung of the University of Kentucky, Lexington, US. "Our pilot study in patients with high blood pressure shows that it is possible to change taste perception and learn to like food with less salt."

Hypertension affects more than one billion people worldwide and is the leading global cause of premature death.2 A healthy lifestyle, including salt restriction, is recommended to delay the need for blood pressure lowering drugs or complement their effects. However, the benefits of reduced sodium intake on blood pressure tend to diminish with time, partly due to poor adherence.

The researchers developed the Sodium Watchers Programme -- Hypertension (SWaP-HTN) for gradual taste adaptation to low salt food. This study examined its short-term effects on sodium intake, blood pressure, preference for salty food, and enjoyment of a sodium restricted diet. A total of 29 adults with hypertension were randomly assigned to the intervention or usual care in a 2:1 ratio. Participants in the usual care group received routine medical and nursing care for hypertension including advice to follow a sodium restricted diet and take prescribed medications.

The intervention group received 16 weeks of education and follow-up with a study nurse via video call on a tablet. Sessions were held weekly for six weeks, then every two weeks for 10 weeks. The programme was individualised to each patient's barriers and weekly goals and included salt added at the table, salt used during cooking, grocery shopping, and eating in restaurants. Participants received an electronic device that detects salt content to enable them to identify and avoid high salt food.

Professor Chung explained: "One of the first steps was for patients to realise how much salt they were eating. Using the electronic device they could test the salt content of restaurant meals and ask the chef to reduce or eliminate salt on their next visit. They also used it at home to lower the salt content in their own cooking. Some people automatically added salt at the table before tasting the food so we asked participants to count the number of 'shakes' and set goals for reducing it. Most participants removed the salt shaker from the table within three weeks."

At baseline and 16 weeks, all participants provided a 24-hour urine sample to assess sodium intake and had their blood pressure measured. In addition, preference for salty food and enjoyment of a salt restricted diet were assessed on a 10-point scale.

The average age of participants was 63 years and 55% were men. Three patients withdrew from the study and the final analysis included 17 and 9 participants in the intervention and usual care groups, respectively. The researchers compared changes from baseline to study completion between groups. The intervention led to a significant reduction in sodium intake and increased enjoyment of a salt restricted diet. There was a trend of decreasing mean systolic blood pressure in the intervention group, from 143.4 to 133.9 mmHg, but it did not reach statistical significance. The intervention did not change preference for salty food.

Professor Chung said: "In the intervention group, sodium intake dropped by 1,158 mg per day, which was a 30% reduction from baseline, while the control group increased daily intake by 500 mg. Enjoyment of a low salt diet increased in the intervention group, from 4.8 to 6.5 on a 10-point scale, although patients still preferred salty food. It is likely that the intervention did not translate to a statistically significant fall in blood pressure because of the small sample size."

She concluded: "Our study indicates that we can retrain our taste buds to enjoy low sodium food and gradually reduce the amount of salt we eat. The gradual taste adaptation programme has the potential to control blood pressure but needs to be tested in a larger trial with longer follow up."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/05/220523150647.htm

How is it possible to remember selfless experiences?

May 17, 2022

Science Daily/Ruhr-University Bochum

People who practice intensive meditation report memories of states in which their sense of self dissolves. Is this at all possible?

Psychoactive substances or meditation can trigger an experience that the self dissolves and is no longer present. The philosophers Dr. Raphael Millière from Columbia University New York and Professor Albert Newen from Ruhr-Universität Bochum have analysed whether accounts of memories of such experiences should be taken seriously. They conclude that selfless memories are possible. Their reasoning is outlined in the journal Erkenntnis, published online on 12 May 2022.

"Without such experiences, we can't imagine what it means when the self dissolves," says Albert Newen. The question he asked together with Raphael Millière was: "Aren't memories better interpreted as a reconstruction in retrospect, which misjudges the the original experience?" In our everyday consciousness, the self is always present. When you reach for a car key, you implicitly feel that you are the agent and that it is your own arm that makes the movement. When you look at something, you experience yourself at the centre of the visual perspective.

Indications of the existence of selfless experiences

Individuals with neurological impairments, for example as a result of strokes, are known to have impaired facets of this self-perception. "Also, neural processing is known to change considerably during meditation," say Newen and Millière. "Accordingly, we should acknowledge that experiences do exist that lack any facet of the self." But even so, it remains doubtful whether people can remember them, as Newen explains: "If a person describes a memory of a selfless experience, they are in a state of self-consciousness while remembering -- and how can they remember an episode if they weren't aware of themselves during the original experience?"

Explanation based on the Bochum model of memory

The Bochum model of memory, which is being developed in research group 2812, is based on the assumption that people construct a scenario when they remember. The process starts with the activation of a memory trace in which core parts of the experience are stored. The memory trace is then enriched with background knowledge, resulting in the construction of a vivid memory of an experienced event. Moreover, people usually add two self-facets in the construction: They register that it is themselves who are involved in the scene and that the memory is their own. Researchers speak of self-involvement and mineness of memory.

Newen and Millière argue that self-involvement and mineness must, however, be separate aspects. This is because some patients describe having been involved in an episode ("I remember the scene where I did something") without feeling the memory as belonging to themselves -- the mineness of the memory is lacking. The two self-facets added in the construction can be missing from the original memory and only emerge during the construction process. Even if the original experience didn't contain any facets of the self and is deposited in the memory trace without any such facets, facets of the self can still be included in the construction. Consequently, a memory of selfless experiences and the accounts of such experiences should be taken seriously.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/05/220517112236.htm

How cranberries could improve memory and ward off dementia

May 19, 2022

Science Daily/University of East Anglia

Adding cranberries to your diet could help improve memory and brain function, and lower 'bad' cholesterol -- according to new research from the University of East Anglia (UK).

A new study published today highlights the neuroprotective potential of cranberries.

The research team studied the benefits of consuming the equivalent of a cup of cranberries a day among 50 to 80-year-olds.

They hope that their findings could have implications for the prevention of neurodegenerative diseases such as dementia.

Lead researcher Dr David Vauzour, from UEA's Norwich Medical School, said: "Dementia is expected to affect around 152 million people by 2050. There is no known cure, so it is crucial that we seek modifiable lifestyle interventions, such as diet, that could help lessen disease risk and burden.

"Past studies have shown that higher dietary flavonoid intake is associated with slower rates of cognitive decline and dementia. And foods rich in anthocyanins and proanthocyanidins, which give berries their red, blue, or purple colour, have been found to improve cognition.

"Cranberries are rich in these micronutrients and have been recognized for their antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties.

"We wanted to find out more about how cranberries could help reduce age-related neurodegeneration."

The research team investigated the impact of eating cranberries for 12 weeks on brain function and cholesterol among 60 cognitively healthy participants.

Half of the participants consumed freeze-dried cranberry powder, equivalent to a cup or 100g of fresh cranberries, daily. The other half consumed a placebo.

The study is one of the first to examine cranberries and their long-term impact on cognition and brain health in humans.

The results showed that consuming cranberries significantly improved the participants' memory of everyday events (visual episodic memory), neural functioning and delivery of blood to the brain (brain perfusion).

Dr Vauzour said: "We found that the participants who consumed the cranberry powder showed significantly improved episodic memory performance in combination with improved circulation of essential nutrients such as oxygen and glucose to important parts of the brain that support cognition -- specifically memory consolidation and retrieval.

"The cranberry group also exhibited a significant decrease in LDL or 'bad' cholesterol levels, known to contribute to atherosclerosis -- the thickening or hardening of the arteries caused by a build-up of plaque in the inner lining of an artery. This supports the idea that cranberries can improve vascular health and may in part contribute to the improvement in brain perfusion and cognition.

"Demonstrating in humans that cranberry supplementation can improve cognitive performance and identifying some of the mechanisms responsible is an important step for this research field.

"The findings of this study are very encouraging, especially considering that a relatively short 12-week cranberry intervention was able to produce significant improvements in memory and neural function," he added.

"This establishes an important foundation for future research in the area of cranberries and neurological health."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/05/220519081109.htm

Women who embraced their partner subsequently had lower stress-induced cortisol response

Romantic partner embrace did not buffer the response to stress for men

May 18, 2022

Science Daily/PLOS

Women instructed to embrace their romantic partner prior to undergoing a stressful experience had a lower biological stress response -- as indicated by levels of the stress hormone cortisol in saliva -- compared to women who did not embrace their partner. This effect was not seen for men. Gesa Berretz of Ruhr University Bochum, Germany, and colleagues present these findings in the open-access journal PLOS ONE on May 18.

In some settings, social touch may buffer against stress. Previous research has shown that massages, embraces combined with hand-holding, and embraces combined with affectionate communication can all reduce signs of stress in women. However, few studies have investigated these effects in men, nor have they explored the effects of brief embraces on their own.

To explore potential stress-reducing effects of embracing, Berretz and colleagues conducted an analysis of 76 people in romantic relationships. All participants underwent a stress-inducing test in which they were asked to keep one hand in an ice-water bath for three minutes while being observed and maintaining eye contact with a camera. Prior to this test, half of the couples were instructed to embrace, and the others did not embrace. The researchers measured various indicators of stress, including participants' salivary cortisol levels, before and after the experiment.

Statistical analysis revealed that women who embraced their partner had a lower cortisol response to the stress test than women who did not embrace their partner. However, for men, no associations were observed between embrace and stress-induced cortisol response. Other measures of stress including changes in blood pressure and emotional state did not show any associations with partner embrace.

These results suggest that a brief embrace with a romantic partner might subsequently reduce the cortisol response for women facing stressful social situations, such as school exams, job interviews, or presentations. Further research could investigate whether this benefit extends to embraces with platonic friends.

The authors also call for research into related effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Such investigations could explore whether social restrictions that reduced social touch may be associated with observed increases in stress and depression during the pandemic.

The authors add: "As a woman, hugging your romantic partner can prevent the acute stress response of your body."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/05/220518140723.htm