Lifestyle « Weekly Gravy

The holiday season can give you real headaches, but you can take action to prevent them, an expert says. To reduce stress, make plans well in advance and know your limits, advised Dr. Bing Liao, a neurologist at Houston Methodist. “The nature of the holiday season already increases stress levels, so finding small ways to reduce schedule stress can help ward off a headache,” Liao said in a hospital news release. “This can mean planning well in advance to avoid the hassle of making last minute travel plans, or deciding not to attend a party at the end of a long day.” Be sure you have an adequate supply or a refill of your prescription medications before the holidays, she advised. Missing doses or cutting back could trigger a headache or even serious side effects. “Don’t binge anything during the holidays — food, alcohol, or television,” Liao said. “We all know how a hangover can affect the brain, but most don’t realize that overeating can also trigger a headache. And having the next day off from work doesn’t mean you should stay up late watching holiday movies. The brain needs the same amount of sleep during the holidays as it does the rest of the year, so stick with your usual bedtime.” Running holiday errands can lead to skipped meals and dehydration, which can trigger… read on >

Romance was absolutely the last thing Gloria Duncan and Al Cappiello had on their minds when they became nursing home residents. “When I got here, I felt almost like my life was over. I was a very active, social person. I was almost devastated,” Gloria said. But then she met Al, who asked Gloria to be his date at the “Seniors’ Senior Prom.” Al said he had noticed Gloria in an exercise class, but was a bit too nervous to ask her out then. He said his nerves don’t usually get the best of him. “It only happens when someone is very nice and very pretty,” he said. Al finally worked up the nerve to ask Gloria to the prom. “She gave me a little hard way to go, but then said yes, and we had a pretty good time,” he said. “This was the last thing I expected. I didn’t expect to meet anyone. I came here figuring, ‘It’s the last stop.’ But I feel so lucky now. Gloria is beautiful inside and out,” Al said. Gloria added, “We found out we had a lot in common. Now we see each other every day. It gives us something to look forward to.” Fortunately for the couple, they were staying in a nursing home that pioneered a sexual expression policy for seniors. The Hebrew Home… read on >

A small, preliminary study suggests that a brain area called the hypothalamus appears to be about 6% smaller in women who use birth control pills. But exactly what that means isn’t yet clear. In this study, women on the pill had statistically significant increases in anger. Researchers also found a possible link with depression symptoms. The good news: They didn’t see any difference in women’s mental performance. And women who use the Pill shouldn’t search for other forms of birth control based on these findings, researchers said. “There isn’t enough data here for anyone to worry,” said study author Dr. Michael Lipton. “There’s more than a 50-year history of birth control pills. We’re not advising any changes (in your contraception) based on this preliminary finding.” Still, he added, there may be clinical consequences that this study was too small to find. Lipton is associate director of the Gruss Magnetic Resonance Research Center at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, in New York City. Located at the base of the brain, the hypothalamus produces hormones. It also helps regulate essential body functions like temperature, sleep and heart rate, the researchers said. “There’s a lot of stuff packed in there,” Lipton said. “The hypothalamus covers a lot of basic body functions, like sleep regulation, reproductive regulation, ovulation, the menstrual cycle, sex drive, appetite, mood, reward-related behavior and water… read on >

(HealthDay News) — Breathing exercises can help you relax and manage stress, says the Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine. The center suggests using the 4-7-8 breath exercise: Exhale completely through your mouth. Close your mouth and inhale through your nose to a mental count of 4. Hold your breath for a count of 7. Exhale through your mouth to a count of 8. Repeat the cycle three more times for a total of four breaths.

When people are breathing cleaner air, their health generally improves — rapidly, in some cases, a new review shows. The report, from the Environmental Committee of the Forum of International Respiratory Societies (FIRS), details some of the evidence on air quality and human health. Overall, it concludes, people can reap a range of benefits when air pollution is cut — from fewer asthma attacks, to lower risks of heart attack and stroke, to a longer life expectancy. Some of the effects are “quite striking,” said Dr. Dean Schraufnagel, the report’s lead author and executive director of FIRS. He pointed to the example of changes made in cities hosting the Olympics — which, for a time, resulted in cleaner air and healthier residents. For the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, officials bumped up public transportation and closed downtown streets to private vehicles. As a result, peak daily ozone levels dropped by 28%, and over the next four weeks, the number of city children needing medical care for asthma attacks fell by more than 40%. Similarly, when Beijing hosted the 2008 Olympics, the Chinese national government put three-month restrictions on traffic, as well as factory emissions. Air pollution plummeted, and within two months, there were declines in doctor visits for asthma and in deaths from heart disease and stroke. “If you stop the pollution at its source,… read on >

(HealthDay News) — Arguing with a partner or feeling anxious about meeting the in-laws can induce stress. When these strains are intense or prolonged, your heart can suffer, says Johns Hopkins Medicine. The school mentions these healthier ways to deal with relationship stress: Discuss life stresses with your doctor. Check if your coping strategies are healthy. Find stress outlets that make you feel better quickly, and in the long term. Make taking care of yourself a top priority. Pay attention to newer symptoms, such as pain or nausea.

Fear of deportation doubles the risk of high blood pressure in Mexican-born women in farmworker families who live in California’s Salinas Valley, a new study claims. It included 572 women, average age 39, who in 2012-2014 were asked to rate their level of worry about deportation for themselves or others as low (28%); moderate (24%); or high (48%). Researchers linked worry to larger increases in systolic pressure. (Systolic pressure, the top number in a blood pressure reading, measures the force of blood against the arteries when heart beats.) But rates of high blood pressure were not significantly different among women with different levels of worry. In follow-ups conducted in 2014-2016 and 2016-2018, women who were more worried about deportation had a larger initial increase in systolic blood pressure and average arterial pressure, the study found. Among the 408 women without high blood pressure at the outset, those with moderate or high levels of worry were twice as likely as others to be diagnosed with high blood pressure. The study was published Nov. 27 in the Journal of the American Heart Association. “Our findings suggest that concerns around immigration policies and enforcement may have potentially negative impacts on the long-term cardiovascular health of immigrants and their families and community,” lead author Jacqueline Torres said in a journal news release. She’s an assistant professor of epidemiology and… read on >

Obese teenagers can have certain brain differences from their thinner peers — changes that might signal damage from inflammation, a new, preliminary study suggests. Using advanced MRI techniques, researchers found that obese teenagers tended to have signs of decreased “integrity” in the brain’s white matter. White matter contains the fibers that connect different areas of the brain. In this case, lower white-matter integrity was seen in a brain region related to emotional control and “reward” seeking. The findings, based on 120 teenagers, are considered preliminary. Experts said it’s not clear what they might mean. But the findings add to evidence linking obesity to certain brain structure differences. Recent studies of middle-aged adults, for example, have found evidence of brain tissue “shrinkage” among those with high levels of body fat — particularly around the belly. One possibility is that excess amounts of body fat directly harm the brain through inflammation, the researchers suggested. In the new study, there was a correlation between decreases in white matter integrity and higher levels of certain inflammatory substances in the blood. Teens with those brain changes also tended to have higher levels of the hormones leptin and insulin. Leptin is involved in appetite control, while insulin regulates blood sugar levels. Dr. Harold Bays is a fellow of the Obesity Medicine Association and medical director of the Louisville Metabolic and Atherosclerosis… read on >

(HealthDay News) — Writing about stressful or traumatic experiences can be good for your health, says the American Psychological Association. Studies have shown that writing your deepest thoughts and feelings about difficult situations can improve mood, reduce your likelihood of illness and increase productivity. The APA recommends that people keep a diary or a journal to log their innermost thoughts and feelings.