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Lifting weights regularly builds strength and muscle — and it doesn’t matter if those weights are heavy or light. It’s the act itself, and being consistent, that pays off, according to a new study. All forms of resistance training are beneficial, including body-weight exercises such as planks, lunges and push-ups, according to kinesiologists at McMaster University in Ontario, Canada, who looked at weight, frequency and consistency. “There are a dizzying number of factors and combinations to consider when creating a weightlifting program to maximize strength and muscle growth,” said kinesiology professor Stuart Phillips, who did the study with graduate students Bradley Currier and Jonathan Mcleod. “This is an age-old debate among athletes and strength and conditioning coaches: what combination leads to the best gains?” For the study, the researchers reviewed 192 studies that included more than 5,000 people in all. The work capped years of focus on three resistance-training variables: how much you lift; how often; and how many times, including one, two, three or more training sessions per week. The researchers collected and analyzed massive amounts of data. Many fitness experts say lifting the heaviest weights three to five times is the best way to build strength and that using weights a person can lift eight to 10 times is best for building muscle size, the study authors noted. McMaster researchers have spent the… read on > read on >

Racial discrimination may drive health inequities from an early age, according to researchers who found that it puts kids at risk for obesity. “Exposure to racial discrimination must be acknowledged as both a social determinant of obesity and a significant contributor to obesity disparities among children and adolescents,” said lead researcher Adolfo Cuevas. He is an assistant professor of social and behavioral sciences at the NYU School of Global Public Health in New York City. Specifically, the new study found that children who experience racial discrimination were more likely to develop a larger waistline and higher body mass index (BMI). BMI is an estimate of body fat based on height and weight. Black and Hispanic youth have higher rates of obesity, a problem that is a major health issue overall in children and teens in the United States, the study authors noted. A growing body of research underscores the negative effects of racial discrimination. Among those: It puts people at risk for sleep problems, high levels of the stress hormone cortisol and poor mental health. And it has previously been linked to higher BMI in adults. For this study, the researchers used data for nearly 6,500 kids aged 9 to 11 years who were participants in a study of adolescent brain development from 2017 to 2019. These young people were asked whether they were treated… read on > read on >

Ticks may be responsible for the spread of chronic wasting disease (CWD) in Wisconsin’s deer population, according to a new study. Researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have found that ticks can harbor transmissible amounts of the protein particle that causes CWD, a fatal neurological disease seen in deer, elk and moose. The pathogen, prion, can pass through soil or through bodily fluids, including feces. Prion can prompt certain proteins to fold abnormally, particularly in the brain. That can prevent these proteins from carrying out their normal functions. Over time, the CWD prion can cause severe brain damage and eventually death in deer, the study explained. While a lot of CWD studies focus on the role of soil in the disease’s spread, researcher Heather Inzalaco was curious about other means of transmission. She’s a researcher in the Wisconsin Cooperative Wildlife Research Unit, housed in the UW–Madison department of forest and wildlife ecology. “Deer live these secret lives; we don’t see everything that they do,” Inzalaco said in a university news release. Inzalaco wondered if one possibility might be ticks. The arachnids acquire blood from CWD-infected deer, but she wondered if they could also host the prions. “Deer will groom one another to get places that they can’t reach on their own through self-grooming,” Inzalaco said. “If they’re grooming each other and they’re doing that to… read on > read on >

Treatment can control the symptoms of the most common type of glaucoma and save someone’s vision. The catch is that a person can’t feel the changes in eye pressure that can damage vision, so they often won’t know they even have it before it’s too late. That is, unless they’ve been seeing an eye doctor regularly. One vision expert encourages people to not wait for that pressure to damage the optic nerve, but rather to preserve vision with regular health care. “Some people say they don’t need glasses, so they don’t need to see an eye doctor,” said Dr. Tara O’Rourke, an optometrist at Penn State Health Eye Center. “It’s important for everyone to have yearly eye exams to monitor the health of the eye, especially for patients over the age of 50.” About 3 million Americans have glaucoma, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The condition is the second leading cause of blindness in the world. Half of those who have the most common type, open-angle glaucoma, don’t know they have it. In open angle glaucoma, the tiny canals that naturally drain away eye fluid become clogged. “The exact cause or mechanism of open angle glaucoma is unknown at this time. We can manage the eye pressure, but do not have a cure for the disease,” O’Rourke said in a… read on > read on >

Low doses of the eyedrops ophthalmologists use to dilate your pupils during an eye exam are not able to slow the progression of nearsightedness (myopia) in children, a new clinical trial has found. Atropine eyedrops at a concentration of 0.01% did not outperform placebo drops in slowing either myopia progression or elongation of the eye among children after two years of treatment, the study results show. The results contradict findings from other recent trials that showed a benefit from using low-dose atropine drops to arrest myopia, the researchers said. Stronger concentrations of atropine — 0.5% to 1% — have long been used by pediatric eye doctors to slow the progression of nearsightedness, the study authors said in background notes. However, such doses cause light sensitivity and blurry near vision when kids receive the drops nightly, the researchers said. Lower concentrations have fewer side effects, and so it was hoped that low-dose atropine would be effective. By 2030, it’s predicted that 39 million people in the United States will have myopia. By 2050, that number is expected to grow to 44 million in the United States and to 50% of the global population. The study enrolled 187 U.S. children between 5 to 12 years of age with low or moderate myopia. Low-dose atropine was randomly prescribed to 125 of the children, while 62 received placebo drops.… read on > read on >

Depression, suicidal thoughts and other mental health problems sent record numbers of American kids, especially girls, to emergency rooms during the COVID-19 pandemic. Once there, many waited days or even weeks to be admitted to the hospital, a new study reports. “The system was already stretched to begin with and then the pandemic hit and more people were seeking care,” said senior researcher Haiden Huskamp, a professor of health care policy at Harvard Medical School in Boston. “There are just not enough providers, clinicians, facilities or inpatient beds.” For the study, Huskamp and her colleagues looked at data on more than 4 million health insurance claims for U.S. children ages 5 to 17. They discovered nearly 89,000 ER visits for mental health problems in this age group. Compared with 2020, the first year of the pandemic, ER visits rose 6.7% between March 2021 and February 2022, the researchers found. Visits by teen girls jumped 22%. During that period, hospital admissions for mental health issues rose 8.4% and the length of hospital stays increased by nearly 3.8%. Moreover, the wait for a hospital bed was 76% longer than during the year before COVID, researchers found. To ease the problem, Huskamp said several steps are needed. No. 1: The shortage of mental health providers and burnout among them must be addressed. “We need to help support primary… read on > read on >

Older adults who regularly spend time with family and friends may have bigger brains to show for it, a new study suggests. Healthy brain aging is a complex matter, and researchers are still trying to understand which factors keep the mind sharp and which ones feed declines in memory and thinking. But a number of studies have suggested that social life matters. Social stimulation is thought to help support mental acuity; on the other hand, social isolation in the golden years has been linked to an increased risk of dementia. Exactly why, though, is unclear. So for the new study, researchers led by Dr. Toshiharu Ninomiya, of Kyushu University in Japan, asked a different question: Is social isolation connected to older adults’ brain volume? The brain naturally “shrinks” to a degree as people age, reflecting the loss of nerve cells and their connections. But that tissue loss is accelerated during the dementia process. If older people who are isolated tend to have smaller brains, the researchers reasoned, that might help explain the link with dementia. It turned out there was indeed a relationship, although not a causal one, according to findings published July 12 in the journal Neurology. Among nearly 9,000 Japanese adults aged 65 and older, more than 600 said they “seldom” saw or spoke with friends or relatives outside their household. And those… read on > read on >

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Thursday approved the nation’s first over-the-counter birth control pill, a move that will likely pave the way for far greater access to contraception for Americans. Women will be able to buy the progestin-only oral contraceptive at drug stores, convenience stores and grocery stores, the FDA said. There is no age limit. Opill, which is made by Perrigo, should be available in stores starting in January or February, the Washington Post reported. The suggested retail price is expected to be announced this fall. Opill was first approved by the FDA in 1973. Other types of birth control pills will remain prescription only. “Today’s approval marks the first time a nonprescription daily oral contraceptive will be an available option for millions of people in the United States,” Dr. Patrizia Cavazzoni, director of the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, said in an agency news release announcing the approval. “When used as directed, daily oral contraception is safe and is expected to be more effective than currently available nonprescription contraceptive methods in preventing unintended pregnancy.” The American Medical Association, the American Academy of Family Physicians, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), and other medical organizations already support over-the-counter access to hormonal contraception without age restrictions. The Free the Pill coalition also has been advocating for over-the-counter status for… read on > read on >

About one-fifth of American workers say their workplace is toxic, and many say their mental health is harmed as a result. The American Psychological Association (APA) questioned 2,515 employed adults in April for its annual Work in America Survey. Nineteen percent stated that their workplace is very or somewhat toxic. “The number of individuals who report experiencing a toxic workplace without protection from harm is troubling,” said Arthur Evans Jr., APA’s chief executive officer. “No one should feel fear at work. It is clear there is much work to be done to foster a positive work environment for all workers in this nation,” he said in an association news release. “Toxic workplace” is described as a place where infighting, intimidation and other affronts harm productivity. Such places of employment usually see high absenteeism, low productivity and soaring turnover, the report noted. Mental health is also likely to suffer. More than half (about 52%) of those who reported a toxic workplace felt work had harmed their mental health, compared to 15% of those who reported a healthy workplace. Some of the other findings: About 22% of workers overall said they experienced harm to their mental health at work. 22% said they experienced harassment at work in the previous 12 months, up from 14% in 2022. 22% said they had witnessed discrimination and 15% experienced it. More… read on > read on >

More than one-third of coupled Americans who want better sleep are opting for a “sleep divorce.” They’re not actually divorcing, but sleeping in another room so that they each sleep better. “We know that poor sleep can worsen your mood, and those who are sleep deprived are more likely to argue with their partners. There may be some resentment toward the person causing the sleep disruption, which can negatively impact relationships,” said Dr. Seema Khosla, a pulmonologist in North Dakota and spokesperson for the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM). “Getting a good night’s sleep is important for both health and happiness, so it’s no surprise that some couples choose to sleep apart for their overall well-being,” Khosla said in an academy news release. In a recent survey by the AASM, 20% of people said they occasionally slept in another room to accommodate a bed partner; 15% said they did so consistently. About 45% of men reported sleeping in another room occasionally or consistently. About 25% of women did this. Generational differences emerged, too. For example, 43% of millennials occasionally or consistently sleep in another room to appease a bed partner. About 33% of those in Generation X did this, 28% in Generation Z and 22% of baby boomers. “Although the term ‘sleep divorce’ seems harsh, it really just means that people are prioritizing sleep… read on > read on >

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All Sauce from Weekly Gravy:

Don’t Sweat It: Any Kind of Weightlifting Helps Build Muscle

Racial Discrimination Raises Risk for Childhood Obesity

Ticks May Be Spreading ‘Wasting Disease’ Among Wisconsin Deer

Glaucoma: Spotting It Early Is Crucial

Low-Dose Eyedrops No Better Than Placebo for Nearsightedness Among Kids

Study Delivers More Evidence of a Mental Health Crisis Among Teens, Particularly Girls

Being Isolated May Shrink the Aging Brain

FDA Approves First Over-the-Counter Birth Control Pill

Nearly 1 in 5 Say Their Workplace Can Be Toxic, Poll Finds

In the Name of Better Slumber, a Third of American Couples Choose ‘Sleep Divorce’