Lifestyle « Weekly Gravy

Older women who don’t stick to a set sleep and wake schedule may be more likely to struggle with feelings of depression and anxiety — even if they get a normal amount of zzzs. What’s more, a postmenopausal woman who goes to bed very early and wakes up very early (an “early bird”) or goes to bed late and wakes up later (a “night owl”) is 70% more likely to experience significant depressive symptoms — even with a normal amount of sleep, a new study suggests. The study wasn’t designed to say whether sleep is the chicken, the egg, or both when it comes to mood. “It could definitely be the case that the women in our study who had depressive symptoms had a different type of sleep schedule because they were depressed, or that their depression was causing them to have more irregular sleep-wake patterns,” said study co-author Leslie Swanson. She is an associate professor of psychiatry at the University of Michigan, in Ann Arbor. More research is needed to tease out the cause and effect between sleep and mood, particularly in postmenopausal women, Swanson said. “Women might be more prone to more irregular sleep patterns as they get older due to factors such as retirement from work or aging of the parts of the brain that control the timing of sleep,” she suggested.… read on > read on >

A leading pediatricians’ group has issued new guidelines on treating obesity in children and teens that, for the first time, call for early, aggressive intervention that can include weight-loss drugs and surgery. “There is no evidence that ‘watchful waiting’ or delayed treatment is appropriate for children with obesity,” Dr. Sandra Hassink, an author of the new American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) guidelines and vice chair of the Clinical Practice Guideline Subcommittee on Obesity, said in a statement. About 20% of U.S. children now live with obesity, about 15 million children altogether, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The new guidelines recommend against watching and waiting, instead suggesting families of children aged 6 and up should work with their pediatricians on behavior and lifestyle changes. In some cases, families of children aged 2 to 5 should, too, the guidelines recommend. This should include at least 26 hours of counseling over about a year. The new guidelines also suggest that pediatricians should offer obese children aged 12 and up new weight-loss drugs that include Orlistat, Saxenda, Qsymia and Wegovy. Phentermine is approved for kids over 16 years of age, the guidelines said. “The breakthrough that happened in the last few years was people started realizing that there are hormones made in the gut that have multiple roles related to obesity. By targeting these,… read on > read on >

Military service members who conceal their suicidal thoughts are also more likely to store their guns unsafely, a new study reveals. “These findings highlight a real problem with our suicide prevention system,” said Michael Anestis, lead author of the study and executive director of the New Jersey Gun Violence Research Center at Rutgers University in New Jersey. “We know that firearms account for the large majority of suicide deaths within the military and that unsecured firearms at home dramatically increase the risk for suicide,” Anestis said in a Rutgers news release. “Here, we found that suicidal service members less likely to be seen as high risk — those that hide their thoughts from others and avoid behavioral health care — tend to be the service members with the most ready access to their firearms,” he added. For the study, the researchers surveyed more than 700 gun-owning service members. These included active-duty service members throughout all military branches and those in the National Guard and Reserves. The investigators focused on 180 service members who had experienced suicidal thoughts within the past year and another group of 85 service members who had experienced suicidal thoughts in the past month. Surveys asked whether they had ever told anyone about their suicidal thoughts, if they had attended any behavioral health sessions within the past three months and the specific… read on > read on >

For the first time in a decade, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has proposed strengthening standards on fine soot in the air, a known contributor to serious health issues. Under the new proposal, standards for fine particulate pollution, known as PM 2.5, would change from a level of 12 micrograms per cubic meter to a level between nine and 10 micrograms per cubic meter. The standards haven’t been altered since 2012. The EPA estimates that with a standard of 9 micrograms per cubic meter, there would be up to 4,200 fewer premature deaths a year, 270,000 fewer lost workdays and as much as $43 billion in net health benefits in 2032. The agency will take comment on the full range of recommendations on soot standards included in the latest report from the Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee, which is between eight and 11 micrograms per cubic meter. These fine pollution particles can penetrate deep into the lungs, triggering asthma attacks, heart attacks and premature death. Children, older adults, those with heart and lung conditions, and minority communities are most affected, the EPA said. “Our work to deliver clean, breathable air for everyone is a top priority at EPA, and this proposal will help ensure that all communities, especially the most vulnerable among us, are protected from exposure to harmful pollution,” EPA Administrator Michael Regan said… read on > read on >

A new way of allocating donor lungs that eliminates geographical restrictions could save more lives, new research suggests. In early 2023, the current U.S. system, which looks for compatible candidates within a fixed radius, will be replaced by the Composite Allocation Score. The new score will prioritize a candidate’s medical needs. “The importance of removing the geographical barrier can’t be overstated here,” said study author Dr. Maryam Valapour, senior investigator for lung transplantation at the U.S. Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients (SRTR). “The Composite Allocation Score system’s goal of making access to lung transplant more equitable for all candidates in the United States will help reduce waitlist [death rates] and we hope will even improve post-transplant survival over time.” The current system gauges donor and recipient compatibility, geographical restrictions and prioritizes calculated survival after transplant, according to a study led by Valapour and colleagues at the SRTR and the Cleveland Clinic, where she is director of lung transplant outcomes. That system first looks at compatibility within a 250-mile radius. But someone who needs the lungs more quickly may live just outside that boundary. The new system is meant to improve equity in organ allocation by prioritizing a patient’s medical needs and eliminating geographical boundaries. To investigate the potential impact of the change, Valapour’s team tested six alternate scenarios in 10 simulations. They used data from… read on > read on >

An antidote to teenage depression might be found in school gymnasiums and on sports fields, a major new review argues. Supervised exercise programs are associated with significant reductions in symptoms of depression among children and teenagers, according to the analysis of data from 21 studies involving more than 2,400 kids. “This is the first time that we’ve been able to put enough studies together so that we can make a pretty good conclusion to answer the question, ‘Is physical activity and exercise good for children with depressive symptoms?’” said co-study author Walter Thompson, a retired professor of exercise physiology with Georgia State University in Atlanta. “The answer is overwhelmingly yes.” Further, the data indicate a specific dose of exercise that will produce the biggest benefit in children: Around an hour of physical activity three days a week provided the best relief for symptoms of depression. “And you know, that’s pretty close to what the federal government has recommended as regular exercise for both children and adults, somewhere between 75 and 150 minutes a week,” Thompson said. The study also found that exercise programs shorter than 12 weeks produced greater benefits — possibly because such a tightly defined program allows participants a positive sense of achievement and accomplishment, according to an editorial co-authored by Eduardo Bustamante, an assistant professor of kinesiology and nutrition at the University… read on > read on >

For teens who are obese, weight-loss surgery can be life-changing — but not always in a good way. A new study finds a troubling downside to weight-loss surgery among 13- to 19-year-olds: They’re at increased risk of alcohol use disorders. And their risk stays higher for up to eight years after their surgery. “We have to be honest about both the risks and benefits of these procedures,” said study co-author Dr. Thomas Inge, director of adolescent bariatric surgery at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago. About 200,000 weight-loss (or “bariatric”) surgeries were performed in the United States in 2020, according to the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery (ASMBS). And while these procedures have benefited many teens, some have gone on to develop heart problems or had trouble getting adequate nutrition after their surgery. Now, Inge and other researchers report that teens who have had weight-loss surgery are also more likely to develop alcohol use disorder. That’s based on tracking 217 teens for eight years and comparing their alcohol use before and after their surgery. The study found they had eight times the odds for hazardous drinking, a pattern of alcohol use with a risk for harmful consequences; and five times the odds of showing symptoms of alcohol-related harm. They were also 13 times more likely to have alcohol-related legal, domestic,… read on > read on >

People should test for the naturally occurring radioactive gas radon in their homes to help prevent ill health, the American Lung Association urges. In some areas, like the state of Connecticut, radon was found to be present at high levels in a quarter (26%) of all homes. Radon is emitted from the ground and can enter a house through floor cracks, basement walls and foundations. Exposure to radon is the second-leading cause of lung cancer in the United States and it is the leading cause in people who’ve never smoked. It’s responsible for an estimated 21,000 U.S. lung cancer deaths each year, the ALA said. “Since radon is odorless, tasteless and colorless, the only way to detect radon in your home is to test the air,” said Ruth Canovi, director of advocacy for the lung association. “Radon Action Month is the perfect time to learn more about this dangerous gas and take action to protect yourself and your loved ones,” Canovi said in an association news release. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) sets an action level of 4 picoCuries per liter or pCi/L for radon. Anyone with a radon level that high should have a professional install a mitigation system in their home, according to the EPA. Both the EPA and the lung association recommend doing so if levels are greater than 2 pCi/L.… read on > read on >

Air pollution may trigger more asthma attacks in urban children and teens, a new study reports. Even moderate levels of ozone and fine airborne particulates — two ingredients of smog — appear to increase kids’ risk of asthma attacks, according to findings published online Jan. 4 in The Lancet Planetary Health journal. “The strong association this study demonstrates between specific air pollutants among children in impoverished urban communities and non-viral asthma attacks further augments the evidence that reducing air pollution would improve human health,” said Dr. Hugh Auchincloss, acting director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID). The U.S. National Institutes of Health, of which NIAID is a part, funded the new study. The study also tied the two pollutants to distinct changes in children’s airways that could trigger an asthma attack, according to study leader Dr. Matthew Altman, an associate professor in the department of medicine at the University of Washington School of Medicine, in Seattle, and colleagues. It’s one of the first times elevated levels of distinctive air pollutants in specific urban locations have been tied to the risk of asthma attacks. During an asthma attack, inflammation causes the lining of airways to swell as muscles around the airways contract and mucus floods the passages — all substantially narrowing the space through which air passes in and out of… read on > read on >

A short but intensive approach to “talk therapy” can help many combat veterans overcome post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), a new clinical trial has found. The study tested “compressed” formats of a standard PTSD treatment called prolonged exposure therapy, in which patients learn to gradually face the trauma-related memories they normally avoid. Traditionally, that has meant therapy once a week, over the course of a few months. But while prolonged exposure therapy is often effective for PTSD, there is room for improvement, according to Alan Peterson, a professor of psychiatry at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio. In general, he said, prolonged exposure (PE) therapy does not work as well for combat veterans as it does for civilians with PTSD. In an earlier trial, Peterson and his colleagues found that about 60% of combat vets still met the criteria for PTSD six months after therapy. So for the new trial, his team tested the effects of two compressed PE formats, where vets attended therapy every weekday for three weeks. It’s a concept that some PTSD programs have been offering in recent years. The general idea, Peterson explained, is that the short time window will help more patients stick with therapy. And the intensity of daily sessions, with patients devoting their time and energy toward getting better, might also boost effectiveness, he suggested.… read on > read on >