Lifestyle « Weekly Gravy

California psychiatrist Dr. Carolyn Rodriguez once had a patient with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) who washed his hands so often that he had to wear gloves to cover his cracked and swollen skin. “People with intrusive thoughts of contamination can do this for hours on end with scalding hot water,” said Rodriguez, who is also associate dean for academic affairs at Stanford University School of Medicine. Though OCD is fairly common, with around 2 in every 100 adults in the United States affected, according to the Stanford Center for Health Education, its causes have not been well understood. Until now. Psychologists from the University of Cambridge in the U.K. report they have found widespread chemical imbalances in the regions of OCD patients’ brains responsible for decision-making, specifically involving the major neurotransmitter chemicals cortical glutamate and GABA. The findings could lead to more targeted treatments for the condition, they added. OCD is a mental health condition that “involves both obsessions and compulsions that take up a lot of time and get in the way of important activities, such as school, family life, extracurricular activities, developing friendships, and self-care,” according to the International OCD Foundation. OCD doesn’t look the same in each individual. People with the condition can have intrusive thoughts of harm toward themselves or others, intrusive thoughts of contamination, symmetry obsessions or checking compulsions. “Some people… read on > read on >

(HealthDay News) – For the second time this month, massive plumes of smoke from hundreds of out-of-control Canadian wildfires are polluting much of America’s air. Among the major U.S. cities now experiencing poor air quality are St. Louis, Milwaukee, Cincinnati and Chicago, while entire states have also issued air quality alerts, according to the National Weather Service. These are Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Maryland, Michigan, New York and Wisconsin. Parts of Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia also have alerts. In the cities of Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, Indianapolis, Milwaukee, Pittsburgh and Davenport, Iowa, air quality was in the “very unhealthy” range, according to airnow.gov. The air quality is cause for concern because of tiny particulate matter, also called PM2.5, which is a dangerous pollutant. It can travel deep into the lung tissue and enter the bloodstream, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. PM2.5 is associated with a variety of health issues, including asthma and heart disease. Between 80 million and 120 million people are affected by this poor air quality, according to an analysis by the National Weather Service and CNN. In some locations, residents have been asked to stay inside and run their air conditioning or to wear N95 masks if they need to go outside, CNN reported. Smoke concentration may increase over New York City on… read on > read on >

After a focus on her own mental health and that of other athletes, U.S. gymnast Simone Biles will return to elite competition. Biles will begin with the Aug. 5 U.S. Classic outside of Chicago, the Associated Press reported. She has not competed since the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, held in 2021, where she removed herself from several events because of a mental health struggle. Biles, 26, is a seven-time Olympic medalist and the 2016 Olympic champion. She has taken most of the past two years off while advocating for athletes to be able to protect their mental health, the AP reported. In the interim, she also got married to NFL player Jonathan Owens, a defensive back for the Green Bay Packers, this spring. In Tokyo, after withdrawing from events, Biles cheered for her American teammates before returning for the balance beam final. At the time, Biles explained her withdrawal by saying she had “the twisties,” a term used in gymnastics to indicate that the athlete has lost spatial awareness in the air. The U.S. Classic typically is considered a warmup for the national championships, which will be held in late August, the AP reported. Biles previously returned to the Classic in 2018 after a two-year hiatus following her wildly successful 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. While she was the center of attention prior to Tokyo,… read on > read on >

Obesity is a known contributor to a host of health risks ranging from diabetes to cancer, but new research suggests it may also delay recovery from a mild traumatic brain injury. Why? The systemic inflammation that being obese can cause in the body may be a driving factor, according to researchers. “This is a very understudied population related to obesity impacting outcomes,” said lead study author Shawn Eagle, a research assistant professor in University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine’s Department of Neurological Surgery. “But knowing that a person with excess body fat may have a worse time can serve as a starting point for finding certain targeted treatments that may be useful to help that individual person get better.” It’s well known that severe obesity impairs thinking abilities, Eagle noted. And Eagle had observed that patients who were carrying excess body fat were having a more difficult time recovering from mild traumatic brain injuries (mTBI) while he was working in a concussion specialty clinic. “The more I thought about it, the more it made sense. It’s very well known that higher inflammation after a TBI is related to worse outcomes, and obesity is essentially an inflammatory condition,” Eagle said. Though they are called “mild,” these head injuries can cause serious symptoms. Some patients even have functional limitations a full year later. Cognitive behavioral and physical… read on > read on >

(HealthDay News) – New research has found that people who are transgender are far more prone to suicide than their peers. The new study, using Denmark’s centralized data repository, found that transgender people had 7.7 times the rate of suicide attempts compared to others, the study found. They also had 3.5 times the rate of suicide deaths. Suicide rates in all groups did decrease over time, the study noted. Still, transgender people died at younger ages than others, whether by suicide or from other causes, researchers said. “This is beyond doubt a huge problem that needs to be looked at,” study co-author Dr. Morten Frisch, a sexual health epidemiologist at Statens Serum Institute in Copenhagen, told the New York Times. To study the issue, his team identified nearly 3,800 transgender people in Denmark through hospital records and applications for legal gender changes. The study found 92 suicide attempts and 12 suicide deaths in the transgender group between 1980 and 2021. The U.S. and Denmark have similar suicide rates, so the findings may also apply in America, the researchers noted. Yet it’s also possible the data don’t capture all suicides among transgender people or contain information on all transgender people, the Times noted. “These surveys tend to include much broader spectrums of trans individuals, and we cannot be as certain that our results are as problematic… read on > read on >

Having a couple of drinks a day won’t protect you from obesity or diabetes, a new study suggests. Everybody knows that heavy drinking isn’t good for your health, but whether moderate alcohol consumption is protective or harmful is still open for debate, researchers say. “Some research has indicated that moderate drinkers may be less likely to develop obesity or diabetes compared to non-drinkers and heavy drinkers. However, our study shows that even light-to-moderate alcohol consumption (no more than one standard drink per day) does not protect against obesity and type 2 diabetes in the general population,” said lead researcher Tianyuan Lu, of McGill University in Montreal, Canada. “We confirmed that heavy drinking could lead to increased measures of obesity (body mass index, waist-to-hip ratio, fat mass, etc.) as well as increased risk of type 2 diabetes,” Lu added in a news release from the Endocrine Society. For the study, Lu’s team collected data on alcohol use from nearly 409,000 men and women in the UK Biobank (a large-scale biomedical database and research resource). The researchers found that people who had more than 14 drinks per week had higher fat mass and a higher risk of obesity and type 2 diabetes. The links were greater among women than men, the researchers noted. They found no association between moderate drinking and better health in people consuming up… read on > read on >

Growing up in poverty may harm the structural wiring of a child’s brain, a new study claims. Researchers from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis found a link between both neighborhood and household poverty and the brain’s white matter tracts. These let the brain communicate between its regions and are important for processing information. “White matter integrity is very important in brain development,” said first study author Zhaolong (Adrian) Li, a neuro-imaging research technician in the university’s department of psychiatry. “For example, weaknesses in white matter are linked to visuospatial and mental health challenges in children. If we can capture how socioeconomic status affects white matter early on in a child’s life, the hope is we can, one day, translate these findings to preventive measures.” Some of these white matter differences can be attributed to childhood obesity and lower thinking function, both of which are higher risks in children who grow up in poverty. The lower thinking function may be due partly to limited access to enriching sensory, social and cognitive (mental) stimulation. “Our finding that obesity and cognitive enrichment may be relevant mediators, if confirmed, would provide strong support for managing healthy weight and encouraging cognitively stimulating activities to support brain health in disadvantaged children,” co-corresponding author Tamara Hershey said in a university news release. She is a professor of cognitive neuroscience,… read on > read on >

Clouds of smoke continue to drift over the Eastern United States and Europe from wildfires in Canada, and experts are predicting a longer and more destructive wildfire season due to rising temperatures and drier conditions. Now, new research puts a number on just how dangerous wildfire smoke can be. Smoke particulates from wildfires could cause 4,000 to 9,200 premature deaths and may cost between $36 billion and $82 billion each year in the United States, according to the new study. Wildfires release fine particulate matter, or PM2.5, into the air, and these very tiny particles can travel deep into the lungs and bloodstream and trigger an asthma attack, heart attack or strokes, among other risks. Symptoms may include coughing, wheezing and feeling short of breath. Wildfire smoke can also make conditions like asthma and bronchitis worse, said study author Yunsoo Choi, an associate professor of atmospheric chemistry at the University of Houston. “PM2.5 from wildfires can also have effects on the heart and blood vessels, increasing the chances of heart attacks and strokes, and making existing heart conditions worse,” he said. “It can cause general inflammation in the body and trigger allergies.” Certain groups, such as children, older adults, pregnant women and individuals with existing respiratory or heart problems, are more vulnerable to PM2.5 from wildfires, Choi said. For the study the researchers, led by… read on > read on >

A trendy form of intermittent fasting does seem to help people lose some weight — though it may be no better than old-fashioned calorie counting, a new clinical trial suggests. Researchers found that the tactic — called time-restricted eating — helped people with obesity drop around 8 pounds, on average, over one year. That was right on par with a second study group who went the traditional route of calorie counting and portion control. Time-restricted eating is a form of intermittent fasting where people limit themselves to eating within a certain time window each day. Outside that window, they swear off everything other than calorie-free drinks. The main selling point of time-restricted eating is its simplicity: Instead of laboriously counting calories, people only have to watch the clock. And small studies have shown that limited eating windows — 6 hours being a popular one — can help people eat less and shed some pounds. The new trial adds to the story because it aimed to be as real-world as possible, said senior researcher Krista Varady, a professor of nutrition at the University of Illinois Chicago. Participants were allowed to eat across an 8-hour time span, from noon to 8 p.m., which let them have dinner with family or go out to a restaurant with friends. And they merely stuck with that time window, without having… read on > read on >

Having even a mild COVID-19 infection could trigger a months-long drop in sperm, a new study finds. Researchers found both lower sperm concentrations and fewer sperm that were able to swim when studying men an average of 100 days after COVID-19 infection, which is enough time for new sperm to be produced. “There have been previous studies that show semen quality is affected in the short term following a COVID infection but, as far as we are aware, none that have followed men for a longer period of time,” said researcher Rocio Núñez-Calonge, scientific advisor at UR International Group at the Scientific Reproduction Unit in Madrid, Spain. “We assumed that semen quality would improve once new sperm were being generated, but this was not the case. We do not know how long it might take for semen quality to be restored and it may be the case that COVID has caused permanent damage, even in men who suffered only a mild infection,” Núñez-Calonge added. Núñez-Calonge and her colleagues decided to study this after observing that in some men attending clinics in Spain for assisted reproduction treatment, semen quality was worse after COVID-19 infection than before the infection, even though they had recovered and the infection was mild. “Since it takes approximately 78 days to create new sperm, it seemed appropriate to evaluate semen quality at… read on > read on >