The trauma and unhappy family dynamics of childhood may follow kids into old age, affecting both their mind and body, according to new research. “We looked at self-reported disability, as well as objectively measured physical and cognitive impairment, and learned that early-life stressful experiences can have ramifications all the way into older age,” said senior author Dr. Alison Huang, a University of California, San Francisco professor of medicine. “This can mean a higher likelihood of difficulty walking, or carrying out activities of daily living, or problems with memory when people are in their 60s, 70s, 80s or older,” she said in a university news release. Exposure to physical violence or abuse, severe illness, family financial stress or separation from parents are considered major childhood stressors. The study found that those who experienced violence in childhood were 40% more likely to have mobility impairment and 80% more likely to have difficulty with daily activities. Those who came from unhappy families were 40% more likely to have mild cognitive impairment. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, almost 60% of adults in the United States have experienced one or more types of adverse childhood experiences. These can undermine a child’s sense of safety or stability, and are tied to later heart disease, diabetes, autoimmune disease and depression. California was the first state to mandate…  read on >  read on >

J.D. Butler was planning a future with his girlfriend at his favorite New York City restaurant when that future came to a sudden, crushing halt. “They were planning on when she was moving in and arranging floor plans on the table, with where the furniture was going to go,” said his mother, Karen Butler, a lifelong New York resident. “And he had a grand mal seizure, and then his heart stopped.” A subsequent autopsy revealed that J.D.’s fatal seizure was brought on by mitragynine toxicity, caused by long-term ingestion of the widely used herbal supplement kratom, Butler said. “She said there was evidence in his organ tissue that it had been in his body consistently for a while,” Butler said. “It’s one of those drugs to which you develop a tolerance, so you have to keep taking more and more and more.” Kratom is coming under fire in the United States, targeted by a series of lawsuits following wrongful deaths associated with its use. A Florida jury awarded $11 million last week to the family of a woman who died after taking kratom, in a lawsuit against the company that sold her the supplement, according to NBC News. The woman, a 39-year-old mother of four, collapsed in her kitchen while making breakfast for her family in June 2021. A coroner said Krystal Talavera died from…  read on >  read on >

So, your high schooler has been complaining of headaches. Should you worry? Maybe, claims new research that finds bullying and suicidal thoughts are both linked to more frequent headaches in teens. “Headaches are a common problem for teenagers, but our study looked beyond the biological factors to also consider the psychological and social factors that are associated with headaches,” said study author Dr. Serena Orr, of the University of Calgary, in Canada. “Our findings suggest that bullying and attempting or considering suicide may be linked to frequent headaches in teenagers, independent of mood and anxiety disorders.” This isn’t proof that bullying causes headaches, but shows an association between the two. A study limitation is that headaches were self-reported. The research included more than 2.2 million teens who were an average age of 14. About 0.5% of all the participants self-reported being gender-diverse, including transgender or nonbinary. The participants answered questions about their headaches, including if they had them in the past six months and how often. The teens also answered questions regarding mental health, including whether they had diagnosed mood or anxiety disorders or both; about bullying in the past year and about suicidal thoughts and attempts. About 11% of participants reported having frequent, recurring headaches, defined as headaches occurring more than once a week. About 25% of the participants reported being victims of frequent…  read on >  read on >