Remember your sweet-hearted grandmother, who never seemed out of sorts no matter what nonsense landed in her lap? That’s a skill, and it improves during a person’s lifespan, a new study says. Women get better at managing their anger as they age, starting in middle-age, researchers reported today in the journal Menopause. That doesn’t mean they’re less angry. Researchers found that as women got older, they were more prone to anger and their anger became more intense, results show. But women also became less likely to express their anger or act with hostility, researchers found. “These findings are consistent with research on emotion regulation efforts during aging, such that efforts to control anger increase along with experiences of anger,” concluded the research team led by Nancy Fugate Woods of the University of Washington School of Nursing in Seattle. For the study, researchers analyzed data from 271 women taking part in the Seattle Midlife Women’s Health Study, a long-term research project that started in the early 1990s. As part of the project, participants filled out a questionnaire related to their anger and hostility levels up to four or five times over the years. Results showed that as women aged, they became more adept at managing anger even though they felt it more acutely. Researchers said this might be because women feel more generativity — a sense…  read on >  read on >

Remember your sweet-hearted grandmother, who never seemed out of sorts no matter what nonsense landed in her lap? That’s a skill, and it improves during a person’s lifespan, a new study says. Women get better at managing their anger as they age, starting in middle-age, researchers reported today in the journal Menopause. That doesn’t mean they’re less angry. Researchers found that as women got older, they were more prone to anger and their anger became more intense, results show. But women also became less likely to express their anger or act with hostility, researchers found. “These findings are consistent with research on emotion regulation efforts during aging, such that efforts to control anger increase along with experiences of anger,” concluded the research team led by Nancy Fugate Woods of the University of Washington School of Nursing in Seattle. For the study, researchers analyzed data from 271 women taking part in the Seattle Midlife Women’s Health Study, a long-term research project that started in the early 1990s. As part of the project, participants filled out a questionnaire related to their anger and hostility levels up to four or five times over the years. Results showed that as women aged, they became more adept at managing anger even though they felt it more acutely. Researchers said this might be because women feel more generativity — a sense…  read on >  read on >

(HealthDay News) —Exposure to wildfire smoke might make some people more likely to fall ill by altering their immune systems, a new study says. Fire smoke appears to affect the immune system on a cellular level, researchers report in the journal Nature Medicine. People exposed to smoke showed an increase in memory immune cells that provide long-term immunity and biomarkers of increased inflammation and immune activity, results show. They also showed changes in dozens of genes related to allergies and asthma, researchers said. “We’ve known that smoke exposure causes poor respiratory, cardiac, neurological and pregnancy outcomes, but we haven’t understood how,” senior researcher Dr. Kari Nadeau, chair of environmental health at the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health, said in a news release. “Our study fills in this knowledge gap, so that clinicians and public health leaders are better equipped to respond to the growing threat of difficult-to-contain toxic wildfires,” she added. Fire smoke is filled with all sorts of matter that can affect the body – fine particle pollution, “forever” PFAS chemicals, toxic metals and gases, and even cancer-causing compounds, researchers said in a news release. To test smoke’s effect on the body, researchers collected blood samples from 31 firefighters and civilians and compared them to those from 29 people not exposed to smoke. Results show that smoke-exposed people had more immune cells…  read on >  read on >

(HealthDay News) —Exposure to wildfire smoke might make some people more likely to fall ill by altering their immune systems, a new study says. Fire smoke appears to affect the immune system on a cellular level, researchers report in the journal Nature Medicine. People exposed to smoke showed an increase in memory immune cells that provide long-term immunity and biomarkers of increased inflammation and immune activity, results show. They also showed changes in dozens of genes related to allergies and asthma, researchers said. “We’ve known that smoke exposure causes poor respiratory, cardiac, neurological and pregnancy outcomes, but we haven’t understood how,” senior researcher Dr. Kari Nadeau, chair of environmental health at the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health, said in a news release. “Our study fills in this knowledge gap, so that clinicians and public health leaders are better equipped to respond to the growing threat of difficult-to-contain toxic wildfires,” she added. Fire smoke is filled with all sorts of matter that can affect the body – fine particle pollution, “forever” PFAS chemicals, toxic metals and gases, and even cancer-causing compounds, researchers said in a news release. To test smoke’s effect on the body, researchers collected blood samples from 31 firefighters and civilians and compared them to those from 29 people not exposed to smoke. Results show that smoke-exposed people had more immune cells…  read on >  read on >

Regular exercise can ease mood disorders in children and teens, offering an alternative to medications like antidepressants, a new evidence review has concluded. Both anxiety and depression decrease when kids take part in structured exercise programs, researchers reported June 26 in Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry. Further, the review found that anxiety and depression symptoms are relieved by different types of workout regimens. “Exercise is a low-cost, widely accessible strategy that could make a real difference to children’s mental health,” lead investigator Ben Singh, a research fellow with the University of South Australia, said in a news release. Importantly, exercise could help improve kids’ moods without resorting to drugs like antidepressants, researchers added. More than three-quarters of children and teens experience depression or anxiety, leaving parents desperate for effective solutions, researchers said in background notes. For the new review, researchers pooled data from 375 prior clinical trials involving more than 38,000 kids 5 to 18. Results showed that: Anxiety improved through low-intensity resistance exercise, such as lifting light weights or gentle training using circuit weight machines. Depression improved most through moderate-intensity exercise in training that combines aerobic and strength programs. The biggest improvements in depression symptoms occurred in programs lasting fewer than three months, suggesting that benefits of exercise can emerge relatively quickly, researchers said. Children with depression and ADHD…  read on >  read on >