Category Archives: Lifestyle

Study Shows Link Between Mental and Physical Health

A new study published in BMJ Mental Health has found that individuals with severe mental illness are almost twice as likely to report physical multimorbidity, emphasizing the critical importance of addressing the intersection between mental and physical health. Multimorbidity is when a person is affected by any combination of chronic disease with at least one […]

Vigorous Exercise Could Make a Person More Vulnerable to Respiratory Infection

Scientists from the Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) analyzed more than 4,700 molecules — proteins, lipids, and metabolites — from 11 young firefighters who went through a rigorous training exercise, looking to understand what happens when the body undergoes intense physical exercise. For this study, the intent was to increase safety for […]

Stress Could Change More Genes in the Brain Than a Head Injury

It’s already known that head injuries are common in young kids, especially from falling, and can be linked to mood disorders and social difficulties that emerge later in life. Adverse childhood experiences are also very common, and can raise risk for disease, mental illness and substance misuse in adulthood. “We wanted to understand whether experiencing […]

According to New Research, Doing Yoga May Help Reduce Seizure Frequency

“People with epilepsy often face stigma that can cause them to feel different than others due to their own health condition and that can have a significant impact on their quality of life,” said study author Manjari Tripathi, MD, DM. “This stigma can affect a person’s life in many ways including treatment, emergency department visits […]

Smoking Increases Chances of Mid-Life Memory Loss, Confusion

Middle-aged smokers are far more likely to report having memory loss and confusion than nonsmokers, and the likelihood of cognitive decline is lower for those who have quit, even recently, a new study has found. The research from The Ohio State University is the first to examine the relationship between smoking and cognitive decline using […]

Exercise May Reduce Depression Symptoms

In a randomized controlled clinical trial of adults with moderate-to-severe depression, those who participated in heated yoga sessions experienced significantly greater reductions in depressive symptoms compared with a control group. In the eight-week trial, 80 participants were randomized into two groups: one that received 90-minute sessions of Bikram yoga practiced in a 105°F room and […]

Not Getting Enough Sleep? This May Heighten the Risk of Developing Heart Disease

Lots of Americans are in the same situation and habitually get only five to six hours of sleep instead of the recommended seven to eight hours. But even a mild chronic sleep deficit may heighten the risk of developing heart disease later in life: Surveys of thousands of people have found that people who report […]

Stress Activates the Same Receptors as THC

When you are under stress, your brain may release its own cannabinoid molecules to calm you down, activating the same brain receptors as THC derived from cannabis plants. A new Northwestern Medicine study in mice has discovered that a key emotional brain center, the amygdala, releases the body’s own cannabinoid molecules under stress, and these […]

Obesity Could Lead to Inflammation

Researchers are attempting to uncover the basics of how fat tissue is structured and, specifically, inflammation associated with obesity, in the hopes of unlocking the connection between the accumulation of fat and poor health outcomes. A new study from Lindsey Muir, Ph.DPh.D. and their colleagues uses single cell analysis of gene expression combined with spatial […]