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Generous parental leave policies at work can do wonders for a new mom’s mental health. This is among the key messages from a new review of 45 studies examining how parental leave policies affect mom and dad’s mental health and well-being. Mothers working for companies with generous parental leave policies were less likely to experience symptoms of depression, poor mental health, psychological distress, burnout, or to require mental health care. The more generous the policy, the greater and more long-lasting the benefits, the new Swedish study showed. “Parental leave was protective against poorer maternal mental health including depressive symptoms, general mental health, psychological distress and burnout; however, improved mental health among mothers was associated with more generous parental leave policies [such as] those with longer length of leave or paid leave,” said study author Amy Heshmati. She is a doctoral student in the department of global public health at Karolinska Institute in Stockholm. The findings on dads were less conclusive, but there haven’t been as many studies done on the benefits of father’s paid leave and mental health yet, she noted. Almost all countries in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) — except the United States — provide new mothers with at least 14 weeks of paid leave around childbirth. New mothers can take up to nine months of paid maternity leave in… read on > read on >

Lecanemab: It’s an experimental medication that’s been shown in trials to slow cognitive decline in people with Alzheimer’s disease. It’s also up for accelerated approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, with a decision expected by Jan. 6. However, the drug has also been linked to two deaths from brain bleeds among people who’ve used it in trials, so safety concerns could threaten any approval. If approved, the drug — made by Japanese pharmaceutical company Eisai — would follow the controversial drug Aduhelm to become only the second medication ever approved to slow Alzheimer’s disease. Not every patient would stand to benefit from lecanemab, stressed the Cleveland Clinic’s Dr. Babak Tousi. He led the portion of the clinical trial that was conducted at the Cleveland Clinic, in Ohio. “The trial was designed for patients in the earlier stage of Alzheimer’s disease, people with mild cognitive impairment or early stage of dementia,” Tousi noted. “If this medication gets approval, it will probably be for people who have early stage of disease, with no to minimal assistance needed for activities of daily living.” The results of the 18-month trial, which involved about 1,800 patients, gained wide attention when they were published Dec. 1 in the New England Journal of Medicine, Tousi noted. In the trial, early-stage Alzheimer’s patients who took lecanemab showed a 27% reduction in… read on > read on >

Cigars are linked with victory, new babies and Winston Churchill, not nicotine addiction, but are they any better for your health than cigarettes? No, say experts who point out the many dangers of cigar smoking. Over the past few decades, through clever marketing, cigar smoking has taken on a rarified aura, with cigar bars and magazines like Cigar Aficionado devoted to a cigar-smoking lifestyle that appeals to male fantasies of power and class. It’s also a way to relax because it is a more leisurely smoke than the frenetic rush of a cigarette. What are cigars made of? Unlike cigarettes, they are all tobacco from the inside to the tobacco leaf wrapper. Do cigars have nicotine? Like cigarettes, they contain nicotine and the same cancer-causing compounds found in cigarettes and are not a safe alternative for smokers. Do you inhale cigars? Some people may think that cigar smoking is less harmful than cigarettes because you don’t inhale. But even if you don’t inhale, large amounts of nicotine can be absorbed through the lining of your mouth. Cigars can be as addictive as cigarettes because it’s the nicotine in tobacco that the body craves. ”While the production, look and consumption of cigars and cigarettes are different, they both pose serious health risks,” Dr. Edwin Lin, a hematology oncology physician at PIH Health Whittier Hospital in California,… read on > read on >

Herbal cigarettes: They carry a certain “coolness factor” and sound like they might be a healthier alternative to tobacco, but are they really safer to smoke? Not really, experts say. “Even herbal cigarettes with no tobacco give off tar, particulates and carbon monoxide, and are dangerous to your health,” according to the American Cancer Society (ACS). The ACS outlines the dangers of a few of these herbal alternatives — from clove cigarettes known as kreteks to flavored cigarettes known as bidis and water pipes called hookahs. “Hookah is not a safe alternative to smoking cigarettes,” Dr. Ellen Rome from Cleveland Clinic in Ohio said in a post about the dangers of sharing these pipes that heat tobacco with charcoal and filter it through cool water. “A typical one-hour session involves inhaling 100 to 200 times the volume of smoke inhaled from a single cigarette,” Rome noted. What are herbal cigarettes? The U.S. National Cancer Institute (NCI) defines herbal cigarettes as containing a mixture of flowers, herbs and other natural ingredients. What is not in herbal cigarettes? No tobacco or nicotine. Despite these natural ingredients, they still emit many of the same harmful chemicals that cigarettes have, such as tar and carbon monoxide, according to the NCI. While certain herbal cigarettes are well known, others are more obscure. A study published recently in the American Chemical… read on > read on >

Damar Hamlin, the Buffalo Bills player who collapsed Monday after suffering cardiac arrest during a game, is showing “signs of improvement,” his team said Wednesday. Still, the 24-year-old “is expected to remain under intensive care as his health care team continues to monitor and treat him,” the Buffalo Bills tweeted. Meanwhile, Hamlin’s uncle, Dorian Glenn, said Tuesday night that his nephew’s heart stopped both on the field and again at the hospital, where “they had to hit him with the defibrillator.” The player has lung damage and can’t breathe on his own, Glenn said. He is receiving 50% oxygen, down from 100%, CBS News reported. CBS News medical contributor Dr. David Agus suggested that Hamlin may have experienced “commotio cordis,” a heart arrhythmia that happens with a direct blow to the chest, though that has not been confirmed. It’s the type of injury that causes a “confusion of the heart,” and is experienced by about 30 people in the United States each year, including Little League players who get hit in the chest with a ball, CBS News reported. Getting hit can interfere with the heart’s electrical signals, causing an erratic heartbeat that doesn’t send blood to the brain. “That’s why there are defibrillators on the sidelines of games, is to be able to use them to shock the best heart back into a regular… read on > read on >

College students who routinely cram at the last minute may not only see their grades suffer, but their health, too, a new study suggests. Researchers found that of more than 3,500 college students they followed, those who scored high on a procrastination scale were more likely to report certain health issues nine months later. The list included body aches, poor sleep, and depression and anxiety symptoms. Experts said the findings do not prove that procrastination, per se, directly caused those problems — by, for example, delaying a medical visit and allowing a niggling health issue to worsen. But they do reinforce the fact that procrastination, when chronic, is a red flag. “Everyone procrastinates, but not everyone is a procrastinator,” said Joseph Ferrari, a psychology professor at DePaul University in Chicago, who has been studying the subject since the 1980s. Dragging your feet on doing your taxes, or something equally unpleasant, is normal. Chronic procrastination is different, and it’s not just a benign personality quirk, said Ferrari, who was not involved in the new study. When procrastination is a way of life — rearing its head at work, home and in relationships — that’s a problem, Ferrari said. It’s also common: In his own research, Ferrari has found that about 20% of adults qualify as chronic procrastinators — making it more prevalent than mental health disorders… read on > read on >

Sometimes it really does “take a village” to help you meet life’s challenges, and quitting smoking can be one of the toughest challenges out there. That’s why specially designed smoking-cessation programs can make all the difference, experts say. Many programs employ a combination approach, one that treats the physical and the psychological addictions you’re trying to break. Dr. Amit Mahajan, a volunteer medical spokesperson for the American Lung Association (ALA), says proven ways to help people quit often include professional counseling — including psychotherapies such as cognitive behavioral therapy. Such therapies are typically given alongside nicotine replacement patches and gums (to help ease cravings), and/or addiction-countering drugs, such as Chantix and bupropion (Wellbutrin). Programs that offer up these combo strategies have a higher likelihood of success, Mahajan said. “At the end of the day, the data is pretty clear that if there’s behavioral therapy combined with pharmacotherapy medications, that is the best option for smokers who want to quit and people who’ve already tried and were unable to quit,” he said. Breaking free The ALA offers up its own program, called Freedom From Smoking. First begun in 1975 and then updated and refined ever since, the program helps overcome the physical, mental and social aspects of addiction. It even offers up an online quiz that folks can take to confirm that they’re mentally ready to… read on > read on >

Ransomware attacks on America’s health care systems have more than doubled in recent years, disrupting needed medical care and exposing the personal information of millions, a new study reports. These attacks — in which computer systems are locked down by hackers until the victim agrees to pay a ransom — hit all levels of health care, from your doctor’s or dentist’s office up to the largest hospitals and surgical centers, according to the new findings. The annual number of ransomware attacks against health care leapt to 91 reported cases in 2021 from 43 in 2016, the researchers found. These attacks exposed the personal health information of nearly 42 million patients, caused ambulances to be diverted in critical situations, and forced delays or cancellations of scheduled care. “It does seem like ransomware actors have recognized that health care is a sector that has a lot of money and they’re willing to pay up to try to resume health care delivery, so it seems to be an area that they’re targeting more and more,” said lead researcher Hannah Neprash, an assistant professor of health policy and management at the University of Minnesota School of Public Health. For this study, Neprash and her colleagues created a database that tracks health care ransomware events. The database combines information from federal regulators and a private cybersecurity threat intelligence company. “We… read on > read on >

Researchers studying dry eye disease in mice have found that the condition can alter how the cornea heals itself. They have also identified potential treatments. “We have drugs, but they only work well in about 10% to 15% of patients,” said senior researcher Dr. Rajendra Apte, a professor at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. “In this study involving genes that are key to eye health, we identified potential targets for treatment that appear different in dry eyes than in healthy eyes.” Tens of millions of people around the world, including 15 million in the United States, have eye pain and blurred vision as a result of complications and injury associated with dry eye disease, Apte said in a university news release. “By targeting these proteins, we may be able to more successfully treat or even prevent those injuries,” he said. In dry eye disease, the eye can’t provide adequate lubrication with natural tears. Various types of drops can help replace those, but when the eyes are dry, the cornea is more susceptible to injury. The researchers found that proteins made by stem cells that regenerate the cornea may be new targets for treating and preventing such injuries. To study this, the investigators analyzed genes expressed by the cornea in several mouse models. They looked at dry eye disease, diabetes and other conditions.… read on > read on >

A comprehensive eye exam could be the key to determining if you have glaucoma, a silent thief of sight. Glaucoma is a group of eye diseases that affect the optic nerve, and the leading cause of preventable blindness, according to The Glaucoma Foundation. But most people are unaware of their risk. Glaucoma affects about 80 million people worldwide, and that number is expected to reach almost 112 million by 2040. The condition can run in families. It disproportionately affects people of color. Most people are diagnosed after age 40, and at least half of glaucoma patients had no symptoms until their vision was already significantly damaged. As many as 1.5 million Americans are unaware that glaucoma is silently damaging their optic nerves right now, according to the foundation. High-risk factors for glaucoma include a family history of the disease and being over age 40. Having a family member with glaucoma doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll get the disease, however. The most important risk factor is having abnormally high intraocular pressure (IOP), the foundation explained in a news release. Being of African, Hispanic and Asian descent also increases the risk. People with African and Hispanic ancestry have a greater tendency for developing primary open-angle glaucoma. People of Asian ancestry are more apt to develop angle-closure glaucoma and normal-tension glaucoma. Other risk factors include diabetes, nearsightedness, previous eye… read on > read on >

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All Sauce from Weekly Gravy:

Good Parental Leave Gives Big Boost to Moms’ Mental Health

Patients, Doctors Await FDA Decision on Experimental Alzheimer’s Drug

How Unhealthy Are Cigars?

Herbal Cigarettes: Are They Really Any Healthier?

Damar Hamlin Showing ‘Signs of Improvement’ After Cardiac Arrest

Procrastinators May Delay All the Way to Worse Health

What Are Quit-Smoking Programs and How Can They Help You?

Ransomware Attacks on U.S. Hospitals Have Doubled Since 2016

New Insight Into How Dry Eyes Can Weaken Corneas

What Is Glaucoma, and How Can You Prevent It?