Health/Fitness « Weekly Gravy

It’s not easy to lose weight, especially when facing a world filled with the temptation of tasty treats and rich, delicious meals. But being kind to yourself can make the difference when it comes to sticking to a diet, a new study reports. Dieters who practice self-compassion — showing themselves the same care and kindness they’d show loved ones — are better able to get past an overeating setback and stick to their weight-loss goals, researchers reported recently in the journal Appetite. Study participants reported more self-control over their eating and exercise if they gave themselves a break regarding a recent diet lapse, researchers found. The findings suggest that self-compassion can prevent people from becoming demoralized by a setback, said Charlotte Hagerman, an assistant research professor with Drexel University’s Weight, Eating and Lifestyle Science (WELL) Center. “Many people worry that self-compassion will cause complacency and lead them to settle for inadequacy, but this study is a great example of how self-compassion can help people be more successful in meeting their goals,” Hagerman said in a Drexel news release. “The road to achieving difficult goals — especially weight loss — is paved with setbacks,” Hagerman added. “Practicing self-compassion helps people cope with self-defeating thoughts and feelings in response to setbacks, so that they are less debilitated by them. In turn, they can more quickly resume pursuing… read on > read on >

Stuart Douglas, 78, has played the accordion all his long life. “I learned to play the accordion as a boy living in a mining village in Fife and carried on throughout my career in the police force and beyond,” said Douglas, of Cornwall, England. “These days I still play regularly, and playing in the band also keeps my calendar full, as we often perform in public.” Douglas’ playing has done more than keep him busy. A new study suggests it also kept his mind sharp as he aged. Playing a musical instrument, particularly the piano, is linked to improved memory and the ability to solve complex tasks, according to a new report published Jan. 28 in the International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry. Researchers also found that continuing to play into later life provides even greater benefit. “Overall, we think that being musical could be a way of harnessing the brain’s agility and resilience, known as cognitive reserve,” said study co-author Anne Corbett, a professor of dementia research at the University of Exeter in the UK. For the study, researchers analyzed data on more than a thousand adults over the age of 40 participating in an ongoing study of brain health. Singing was also linked to better brain health, although researchers said this might be due to the social factors of being part of a choir… read on > read on >

‘Young folk don’t write in cursive anymore’ is a common complaint of older folks in this keyboard-obsessed age. Now, new research suggests that kids who ignore handwriting are, in fact, missing out: By the time they reach college, their brain “connectivity” may be weaker than folks who write regularly. In a study of 36 university students, “we show that when writing by hand, brain connectivity patterns are far more elaborate than when typewriting on a keyboard,” said study co-author Audrey van der Meer, a brain researcher and professor of psychology at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. Better neural connectivity has myriad brain benefits, she added. “Such widespread brain connectivity is known to be crucial for memory formation and for encoding new information and, therefore, is beneficial for learning,” van der Meer explained in a university news release. Her team published its findings Jan. 26 in the journal Frontiers in Psychology. In the study, the Norwegian team tracked electroencephalogram (EEG) data from the group of students who were repeatedly asked to write or type a word they saw on a screen. EEG records electrical activity in the brain. The study had the students use a digital pen to write the word in cursive on a touchscreen and a single finger to type out the word on a keyboard. EEGs recorded brain activity every five… read on > read on >

SATURDAY, Jan. 27, 2024 9HealthDay News) — When should you worry about a rash? Rashes may look alike, but while over-the-counter medications can treat some rashes, others can signal a more serious condition, the American Academy of Dermatology (AAD) says. “It is important to watch your symptoms closely at the onset of a new rash,” said Dr. Mallory Abate, a board-certified dermatologist in Baton Rouge, La. “Making note of any changes or new developments are instrumental to determining the severity of the medical condition and if immediate assistance is needed.” One key sign of bigger trouble is if you have a rash that is infected. Evidence of infection might include pus, yellow or golden crusts, pain, swelling, warmth or an unpleasant smell. The skin around an infection might look red, purple or brown, you might feel very hot or cold, have swollen lymph nodes, or a fever. “If you have a rash and your symptoms are not improving, make an appointment to see a board-certified dermatologist,” Abate said in an AAD news release. Abate and the AAD recommend people with rashes uses these clues to know when to seek medical attention: A rash over most of your body. A rash that blisters or turns into open sores or raw skin Fever or illness with a rash A rash that spreads rapidly A painful rash A… read on > read on >

It’s long been thought that it takes more time for a woman to recover from a concussion than a man. But a new national study of U.S. college athletes refutes that notion, finding that women and men recover from sports-related head injuries at about the same pace. Recovery patterns for both genders were similar on tests of brain function, concussion symptoms, mental health, and balance and reaction time, according to a report published recently in the journal Sports Medicine. There also was no significant difference in the time it took men and women to return to unrestricted participation in sports, researchers found. “I think a lot of people will be surprised in such a large sample that women and men recover along the same trajectory,” said senior researcher Jaclyn Caccese, an assistant professor with the Ohio State University School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences. “For many years, we’ve thought women took longer to recover, but evidence suggests that if women get the same access to care, they do recover similarly.” For the study, researchers analyzed medical data from more than 900 athletes competing in sports at NCAA colleges. About three in five athletes in the study were female. The analysis focused on 15 sex-comparable sports that included basketball, diving, ice hockey, soccer and volleyball. The research team specifically excluded all-male sports like football and wrestling,… read on > read on >

The old saying “feed a cold, starve a fever” is baloney, doctors say. People fighting off a seasonal respiratory virus need adequate nutrition, regardless of their symptoms, according to advice from the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. Fever is just one of the many defense mechanisms the human body uses to stave off any infection, said Dr. Pedro Piedra, a professor of molecular virology, microbiology and pediatrics at Baylor. All the body’s immune responses require energy gained by eating a well-balanced diet, Piedra said. That’s why sick-friendly foods like chicken noodle soup are commonly recommended. Feeling awful from an infection might put a dent in a person’s appetite, but Piedra said folks should resist that malaise and pick up a spoon or fork. Cold weather tends to increase people’s risk of catching the flu, the common cold and COVID-19, Piedra said. That’s because people tend to huddle together indoors when it’s cold outside. “Colder temperatures also allow for viruses to survive on surfaces longer, and the humidity we experience here in Houston also contributes to these viruses being able to survive outside of a host,” Piedra added in a Baylor news release. “There is also a saying that if your hair is wet and you are in a cold environment, you will get sick. That is partly true,” Piedra added. “You won’t contract a… read on > read on >

If you ever find yourself losing weight, even though you’re not dieting or upping your exercise, go see a doctor. It can be a sign of cancer, researchers report. “Unexpected weight loss can come from cancer or many other conditions,” said study senior author Dr. Brian Wolpin. He directs the Gastrointestinal Cancer Center at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston. “Sometimes weight loss is due to more exercise or a healthier diet, and this can be beneficial to people’s health,” he said in a Dana-Farber news release. “However, when a patient experiences unintentional weight loss not due to healthier behaviors, seeing your primary care doctor is appropriate, so they can determine whether additional evaluation is necessary for other causes of weight loss, including cancer.” In the new study, Wolpin’s team tracked the health and health habits of over 157,000 participants in the ongoing Nurses’ Health Study and the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study. These studies began in the 1970s and 1980s and followed adult participants until 2016. Participants were asked a variety of questions, including their current weight and any intentional weight-loss behaviors such as dieting and exercise. “We wanted to differentiate healthy weight loss from unhealthy weight loss,” explained study first author Dr. Qiaoli Wang, a research fellow at Dana-Farber. “Healthy weight loss can come from dietary changes or increased exercise. But unhealthy weight loss… read on > read on >

THURSDAY, Jan . 25, 2024The maker of Robitussin has recalled eight lots of Robitussin Honey CF Max Day Adult and Robitussin Honey CF Max Nighttime Adult cough syrups. The products, which are made by Haleon, may be contaminated with a microbe, and “in immunocompromised individuals, the use of the affected product could potentially result in severe or life-threatening adverse events such as fungemia or disseminated fungal infection,” the recall notice said. Fungemia is a fungal infection of the blood. In people with healthy immune systems, infection is unlikely to lead to severe illness, “however, the occurrence of an infection that may necessitate medical intervention cannot be completely ruled out,” the company said. Haleon says that no illnesses in customers using the product have yet been reported. The recall only pertains to eight specific lots, which are listed in the full company announcement posted by the FDA. Customers who know they have purchased one of the recalled products should not use them, and they should reach out to Haleon at 1-800-245-1040 (Monday through Friday 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Eastern Time) or via email to mystory.us@haleon.com. SOURCE: Haleon, recall notice, Jan. 24, 2024 What This Means for You: The maker of Robitussin is recalling eight lots of Robitussin Honey CF products due to microbial contamination that could cause fungal disease read on >

Factors like sleep, energy levels and stress can predict the onset of a migraine headache, a new study finds. Those factors differed from the morning to the afternoon and evening, however. Poor perceived sleep quality, lower-than-usual quality of sleep and lower-than-usual energy levels are associated with a morning migraine, according to the report published online Jan. 24 in the journal Neurology. Conversely, afternoon and evening migraines are tied to increased stress levels or higher-than-usual energy levels the day before. “These different patterns of predictors of morning and later-day headaches highlight the role of the circadian rhythms in headache,” said study author Kathleen Merikangas, chief of the Genetic Epidemiology Research Branch of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). “The findings may give us insight into the processes underlying migraine and help us improve treatment and prevention.” For the study, researchers tracked potential predictors of a migraine among 477 people ages 7 through 84. Nearly half the participants had a history of migraines, and about three out of five had at least one morning migraine during the study. The participants rated their mood, energy, stress and headaches four times a day for two weeks, using a mobile app. They also rated their sleep quality once a day, and wore activity monitors to track their sleep and physical activity. Results showed that poor perceived sleep quality came… read on > read on >

Strange visual disturbances occur early in about 10% of Alzheimer’s cases, and when this happens it almost always signals the impending arrival of the disease, a new study finds. The condition is called posterior cortical atrophy (PCA). It involves a sudden difficulty in performing vision-related tasks — for example writing, judging whether an object is moving or stationary, or easily picking up a dropped item. Everyday tasks like these become difficult despite the fact that a person’s eye exam comes out fine. “We need more awareness of PCA, so that it can be flagged by clinicians,” said study co-lead author Marianne Chapleau, of the University of California, San Francisco’s department of neurology. “Most patients see their optometrist when they start experiencing visual symptoms and may be referred to an ophthalmologist who may also fail to recognize PCA,” she said in a UCSF news release. “We need better tools in clinical settings to identify these patients early on and get them treatment.” To determine just how predictive of dementia PCA might be, Chapleau’s team analyzed data on over 1,000 patients at 36 sites in 16 countries. PCA tended to emerge at a fairly young age — 59, on average. Patients with PCA often failed to accurately copy simple diagrams, had trouble gauging an object’s location or had difficulty visually perceiving more than one object at a… read on > read on >