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“Mindfulness” practices may help parents of young children with autism manage their daily stressors, and it could benefit their kids in the process, a preliminary study suggests. Parenting is stressful, and studies show that parents of kids with autism often have particularly high stress levels. Autism is a developmental brain disorder that, to varying degrees, impairs communication and social skills. Some kids have milder difficulties, but others are profoundly affected — speaking little, if at all, and getting wrapped up in repetitive, obsessive behaviors. Some children have intellectual disabilities, while others have average or above-average IQs. There are various therapies and services to help improve daily functioning and quality of life for kids with autism. But they typically do not address parents’ stress and coping skills, said Rachel Fenning, the lead researcher on the new study. Traditionally, she noted, there’s been something of an assumption that services that benefit children with autism will also help ease parents’ stress. But that is not necessarily true, since parents can be dealing with all kinds of challenges, said Fenning, who directs the Claremont Autism Center at Claremont McKenna College, in Claremont, Calif. The stressors can range from problems accessing autism services or learning how to implement a child’s therapy strategies at home, to the bigger-picture issues of balancing work and home life, paying the bills and more. So… read on > read on >

Half of U.S. parents think social media is bad for their kids’ mental health, a new survey reveals. The finding highlights growing concerns about how these platforms affect children’s and adolescents’ well-being, according to the On Our Sleeves Movement for Children’s Mental Health, which had the Harris Poll conduct the survey. The program encourages parents to help their kids by talking regularly about how using social media makes their children feel. While in the past year some platforms like TikTok have introduced new safety measures and lawmakers have talked about limiting access, that’s not enough, the researchers said. “This is a positive step, but parents can’t trust that this is enough,” said Dr. Ariana Hoet, clinical director of On Our Sleeves and a pediatric psychologist at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Ohio. “Social media has the ability to increase anxiety and depression in children when used inappropriately, as well as potentially open them up to inappropriate sharing, hurtful language, bullying and more.” The survey questioned more than 2,000 U.S. adults, including more than 700 parents of children younger than 18, in late March and early April. The survey found that the number of adults who said social media has a positive impact on children’s mental health fell to just over one-third. It was 43% in 2022. “Be curious about what your child is doing on social… read on > read on >

In U.S. states that provide financial assistance for low-income families, the difference is evident in children’s brains, researchers report. Their study found disparities in brain structure between children from high-income households compared to low-income households. However, the disparity was more than a third lower in states offering greater cash assistance to low-income families, compared to states offering less help. In addition, the disparity in mental health symptoms was reduced by nearly a half. The study, which was funded by the U.S. National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), involved more than 10,000 children ages 9 to 11, using data from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study (ABCD) study. “The association between brain structure and a low-resource environment is not an inevitability,” said study author David Weissman, a postdoctoral fellow in the Stress and Development Lab at Harvard University. “Children’s brains are undergoing substantial development and have enhanced plasticity or capacity for further change based on their environment,” Weissman said in a NIDA news release. “These data suggest that policies and programs that work to reduce social and health inequities can directly reach children in disadvantaged environments and help support their mental health.” Emerging evidence has shown that children from families with lower income have smaller hippocampal volume than those in families with higher income, the researchers said. The hippocampus is involved in both memory and emotional… read on > read on >

U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy has declared war on what he calls a “loneliness epidemic” in the United States. Murthy announced a “National Strategy to Advance Social Connection” to address this “epidemic of loneliness and isolation.” “In recent years, about one-in-two adults in America reported experiencing loneliness,” Murthy said in an advisory released Monday about the strategy. “And that was before the COVID-19 pandemic cut off so many of us from friends, loved ones and support systems.” Social connection can make communities more resilient, he noted. “Loneliness I think of as a great masquerader. It can look like different things,” Murthy told CNN on Monday. “Some people, they become withdrawn. Others become irritable and angry. … I think the time you get concerned is when you start experiencing a feeling of loneliness for prolonged periods of time. If you feel lonely, you pick up the phone and call a friend, and then it goes away, or you get in the car and go see a family member, that’s OK. That’s loneliness acting like hunger or thirst, a signal our body sends us when we need something for survival. It’s when it persists that it becomes harmful.” The national strategy is part of the Biden administration’s mental health efforts, said White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, according to CNN. The Surgeon General’s framework for social… read on > read on >

Many common household products emit airborne toxins that can harm your health in ways up to and including cancer, a new study reports. Dozens of different types of consumer products contain toxic volatile organic compounds (VOCs), chemicals that escape as gases and accumulate in indoor air, researchers from the Silent Spring Institute and the University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley), reported. More than 100 types of products contain VOCs that can cause cancer, birth defects or other reproductive harm, according to their report published May 2 in the journal Environmental Science & Technology. More than 5,000 tons of VOCs were released from consumer products in California in 2020, the researchers estimated. The investigators identified 30 categories of products that deserve special scrutiny because they frequently contain harmful chemicals and may pose the greatest health risk. Formaldehyde, a known carcinogen, was the most common harmful VOC. It was found in nail polish, shampoo, makeup and many other types of personal care products. Other products that emit VOCs included cleaners, art supplies, laundry detergents, mothballs and adhesives. “This study is the first to reveal the extent to which toxic VOCs are used in everyday products of all types that could lead to serious health problems,” lead author Kristin Knox, a scientist at Silent Spring Institute, said in an institute news release. “Making this information public could incentivize… read on > read on >

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is once again warning consumers to avoid muscle-building “supplements” that are anything but a safe alternative to steroids. In an advisory sent out last week, the agency said it continues to receive reports of serious side effects linked to selective androgen receptor modulators (SARMs). The compounds mimic some of the effects of testosterone, and have long been under study for treating muscle-wasting and bone loss caused by certain medical conditions. None have been approved by the FDA, however, and the agency stresses that SARMs are drugs, not dietary supplements. Still, online companies are marketing SARM-containing products, with the help of social media. “Online vendors and social media influencers are using social media to make SARMs seem safe and effective,” the FDA said in its warning. Based on the reports the agency is receiving, that is far from the case: SARM-containing products are linked to sometimes life-threatening effects such as heart attacks, strokes and liver failure. Other side effects include testicular shrinkage, sexual dysfunction, fertility problems and even psychosis. The FDA has been warning consumers about the risks for years, and taken action against some companies that illegally market the products. But, experts said, because people are getting SARMs online from overseas companies, the problem is hard to tackle from the supply side. And from the consumer side, it may… read on > read on >

Teens who are abused by a romantic partner may suffer long-lasting repercussions, and this is especially true for girls, a new analysis finds. Investigators who reviewed 38 studies concluded that teenage dating violence was linked to a higher risk for additional relationship violence in the teen years and even into adulthood. These unhealthy relationships were also associated with higher long-term risk for substance abuse (drugs and alcohol) and mental health struggles. “Teen dating violence has been defined as a variety of harmful partner-directed behaviors — including physical, sexual, psychological, cyber violence — that occur within adolescent romantic relationships,” said study lead author Antonio Piolanti. Research has shown that dating violence is “very common” in the teen years, said Piolanti, a post-doctoral assistant at the Universität Klagenfurt’s Institute of Psychology, in Austria. Among U.S. high school students who reported dating in the previous year, a 2019 survey found about 1 in 12 experienced physical dating violence. About 1 in 12 experienced sexual dating violence. But “psychological teen dating violence has been estimated to be the most common form of dating violence among adolescents,” Piolanti noted, affecting somewhere between 17% to 88% of adolescents. This can take the form of very controlling behavior or emotional abuse. Sexual violence can include forcing a partner to engage in unwanted sexual activities, while cyber violence might include aggressive online behaviors.… read on > read on >

Growing numbers of American kids and teens are cutting or burning themselves, banging their heads against walls, pulling out their hair and even trying to die by suicide. But figuring out who is at highest risk for harming themselves has been a daunting challenge. Until now. Researchers report they have developed risk profiles that can help doctors pinpoint which kids or teens are in the most danger. “The U.S. is in the midst of a mental health crisis, with mental health diagnoses and hospitalizations surging over the past few years, and many of these hospitalizations are for self-harm events or concern for future self-harm,” said study author Dr. James Antoon, an assistant professor of pediatrics and hospital medicine at Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn. “Self-harm is a big bucket of events from mild things like cutting on the arms or thighs to taking so much Tylenol that you die on purpose or jumping out of a window, and we wanted to find out which kids require hospitalization and more intensive treatment and monitoring,” he said. There’s a pronounced shortage of in-patient hospital beds for kids with mental health issue in the United States, which makes the situation even more dire. Knowing which kids are at the highest risk can help make better use of these limited resources, Antoon noted.… read on > read on >

Suicides among the youngest U.S. teenagers were rising for years before the pandemic — with school stress, social media and guns standing as potential factors, according to a new study. Researchers found that between 2008 and 2018, the suicide rate among 13- and 14-year-olds nationwide more than doubled — from roughly two deaths per 100,000 teens in 2008, to five per 100,000 a decade later. It was a stark reversal of a decline that began in the late-1990s. And, in fact, suicide is now the leading cause of death for 13- and 14-year-olds in the United States, said senior researcher Dr. Sarah Wood, a professor of pediatrics at Florida Atlantic University’s Schmidt College of Medicine. The study — published online recently in the Annals of Pediatrics and Child Health — comes amid growing concerns about U.S. kids’ mental well-being. For years, studies have been charting rising rates of depression, anxiety, and suicidal thoughts and behavior. And the latest government surveys of U.S. high school students continue to paint a bleak picture. “In my mind, this study is another warning bell,” Wood said. “Things are not improving. They’re getting worse.” Much has been said about the pandemic’s effects on kids’ mental health. And while that’s true, the pandemic added to problems that have long existed, said Joseph Feinglass, a research professor at Northwestern University Feinberg School… read on > read on >

Scientists report that brain scans of long COVID patients show abnormal activity in areas related to memory. The scan results validate the concerns of these patients, who feel like they’re experiencing fatigue, trouble concentrating and memory issues, even though their scores on thinking tests don’t show it. “We were able to show that even though they were able to do the task — they did everything correctly — the brain was functioning in a way that shows that it’s compensating,” said lead researcher Dr. Linda Chang, a neurologist at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. “The brain actually is using different parts of the brain to do the work. That means the normal brain network is not functioning as well.” Chang and her research team studied this in 29 people who had been infected with COVID about seven months earlier, nine of them hospitalized for their illness. Each patient had at least one ongoing neuropsychiatric symptom. The study group was matched with a control group of 21 people with no known history of COVID infection. In addition to the functional MRI scans, each participant performed tests to evaluate thinking and memory skills, emotional health, movement, pain, fatigue, depression and anxiety. “It takes them so much more effort to do it. We are showing that the brain has to work harder in order to perform… read on > read on >