Playing fetch or grooming Fido isn’t just good for your precious pooch — it also benefits your brain. Such interactions appear to strengthen brain waves associated with rest and relaxation, South Korean researchers report in the March 13 issue of the journal PLOS One. Their small study compared people’s mood or hormone levels before and after spending quality time with a willing canine. For the study, Onyoo Yoo, a doctoral student at Konkuk University in Seoul, asked 30 volunteers to take part in a series of activities with his well-trained 4-year-old female poodle. After getting to know her, the volunteers fed, massaged, groomed, photographed, hugged, walked and played with the pup. During each activity, EEG tests measured their brain waves for three minutes. Participants also answered questions about their emotional states after each activity. The study revealed that different activities had varying effects on participants’ brain waves.  Playing with and walking the dog increased the strength of alpha waves, a general indication of stability and relaxation, CNN reported. The study noted that alpha wave activity is linked to lower mental stress and better memory. Meanwhile, grooming, playing and gently massaging the dog strengthened beta waves — evidence of heightened attention and concentration. Volunteers also reported feeling less stressed, fatigued and depressed after the poodle play. Many studies in this field have been anecdotal or subjective,…  read on >  read on >

There’s a toxic stew of chemicals in polluted air that can all trigger asthma attacks in kids, new research shows. Also, where a child lives — for example, near factories or highways — greatly influences how much they’re exposed to these toxins, reports a team from Washington State University in Spokane. “It’s not just one pollutant that can be linked to asthma outcomes. This study examined the variety and combinations of air toxics that may be associated with asthma symptoms,” said study lead author Solmaz Amiri, a researcher at the university’s college of medicine. Prior studies on the issue have tended to focus on just a few toxic elements of polluted air, but Amiri said her team harnessed the power of AI to look at a broad spectrum of toxins breathed in by kids in various Spokane neighborhoods. In total, the effects of 109 air pollutants on asthmatic children were analyzed. Samples were taken by the Environmental Protection Agency at neighborhoods surrounding 10 elementary schools in the Spokane area. Data from those samples was compared to health data from each of the schools on asthma symptoms such as coughing, wheezing, difficulty breathing and the need to use an inhaler. The data was taken in 2019 and 2020, before pandemic-era lockdowns began. Three pollutants appeared especially key to triggering asthma symptoms in children:  1,1,1 trichloroethane, 2-nitropropane…  read on >  read on >

Do you struggle to sleep during the week and play catch up on the weekend?  Do you toss and turn all night long and start the day in a fog? Are you a napper? Or are you among the lucky folks who have no problem getting enough shuteye? Researchers at Penn State University report that most Americans fit one of these four descriptions — and how people sleep is a good predictor of their long-term health. “Sleep is an everyday behavior. Sleep is also modifiable,” said lead researcher Soomi Lee, director of the Sleep, Stress, and Health (STEALTH) laboratory at Penn State. “Better sleeping habits can make many significant differences, from improving social relationships and work performance to promoting long-term healthy behaviors and healthy aging.” Her team looked at data from more than 3,600 participants in the Midlife in the United States study. Researchers looked at participants’ self-reported sleep habits. That included how long they sleep, whether they’re satisfied with their sleep, their daytime alertness and chronic health conditions. More than half of participants were identified as insomnia sleepers — struggling to doze off then sleeping only a little. Over a 10-year period, this sleep style was associated with a significantly higher likelihood of heart disease, diabetes, depression and other chronic health conditions. Researchers said the study primarily included healthy adults, so it may not…  read on >  read on >

Researchers are zeroing in on the reasons why women who battle depression may be more likely than men to develop heart disease. A study published March 12 in the journal JACC: Asia underscores the need to tailor prevention and management strategies according to sex-specific factors, researchers said. This “may help in the development of targeted prevention and treatment strategies” for the heart health risks faced by depressed patients, said corresponding author Dr. Hidehiro Kaneko, an assistant professor of medicine at the University of Tokyo in Japan.  Depression in the third-leading cause of disease worldwide. It has been linked to an increased risk of heart problems including heart attack, angina, stroke and death. Women who are depressed are at a greater risk of heart problems than their male peers with depression, but the reasons have not been understood. For this study, Kaneko’s team evaluated data from nearly 4.2 million people who were listed in a Japanese health claims database between 2005 and 2022. Of those, nearly 2.4 million were men. Researchers looked at participants’ weight, blood pressure and fasting laboratory test results at their initial exam. Those with depression had previously received that diagnosis. Researchers found that women with depression were more likely than men to have one of the heart problems investigated — heart attack, stroke, angina, heart failure and atrial fibrillation.  Researchers suspect women…  read on >  read on >