Don’t get too mad at that new puppy who piddled on the rug or chewed up your favorite slippers. In the long run, that scamp is going to help you live a longer and healthier life. A pair of new reports found that dog owners have a lower risk of early death than people without canine companionship, particularly when it comes to dying from a heart attack or stroke. Dog ownership decreases a person’s overall risk of premature death by 24%, according to researchers who conducted a review of the available medical evidence. The benefit is most pronounced in people with existing heart problems. Dog owners had a 65% reduced risk of death following a heart attack and a 31% reduced risk of death from heart disease, the researchers said. “People who had a heart attack prior to getting a dog had even more reduction in mortality,” said lead author Dr. Caroline Kramer, an assistant professor of medicine at the University of Toronto, Canada. That analysis was backed up by a separate Swedish study, which found that heart attack and stroke victims who own dogs have a lower risk of dying, particularly if they live alone. Owning a dog reduced a heart attack patient’s risk of death by 33% if they live alone, and 15% if they live with a partner or child, according to…  read on >

Feel bad about feeling bad? Don’t. Studies done at the University of California, Berkeley, have found that acknowledging a blue mood — and not berating yourself for it — can help you work through it more easily. It turns out that accepting negative emotions is better for your long-term mental health than constantly passing judgment on yourself, which can cause your feelings of negativity to snowball. Putting pressure on yourself to feel upbeat can make you feel even more downbeat, according to the research. It turns out that the people who let feelings like sadness, disappointment and even resentment run their course had fewer mood disorder symptoms than people who judged themselves for having them or who tried to bury them. Accepting negative emotions seems to help you better cope with your stressors. There’s one important caveat, however. While it helps to acknowledge the normalness of negative emotions and not think you can — or need — to feel happy 24/7, it’s also important not to ignore a persistent and deep blue mood, and other signs that could signal depression. Symptoms of depression include a loss of interest in things that you used to enjoy, and deep feelings of worthlessness and hopelessness that last for three or more months. Unlike a blue mood, depression needs treatment, such as counseling, medication or both. Other Key Signs…  read on >

Brexit has thrown the United Kingdom into political and economic uncertainty, but it might have actually triggered a psychotic break in one man, a new report suggests. The 2016 Brexit referendum started the process of the U.K. leaving the European Union. Three weeks after the referendum, a middle-aged man was taken by paramedics to the hospital in an acute psychotic state. He was confused, agitated and had disordered thoughts and speech. He was hearing voices and was delusional and paranoid, believing people were spying on him and planning to kill him, and radio/TV discussions were targeting him. Since the referendum, his wife said, the man had found it difficult to cope with the politics around him and became increasingly worried and had difficulty sleeping. Although he took drugs to deal with his anxiety and agitation, he got worse. After two weeks in the hospital, he was sent home on tranquilizers and antipsychotic drugs. He made a full recovery and has had no further episodes as of his last checkup in June. There was no history of mental illness in his family. But before the referendum, he had experienced work and family pressures, the report noted. It was published Oct. 1 in the journal BMJ Case Reports. And the man had experienced a psychotic episode 13 years earlier, following work stress. That episode had been much…  read on >

TUESDAY, Oct. 1, 2019 (HealthDay News) — Treating depression during pregnancy can be vital to the health of both mother and child, but new research suggests that taking antidepressants may make a woman more vulnerable to gestational diabetes. Specifically, the drugs venlafaxine (Effexor) and amitriptyline (Endep) were associated with the highest risk, especially when taken for a long time. Still, “depression needs to be treated during pregnancy,” said study author Anick Berard, research chair of medications, pregnancy and lactation at the University of Montreal. “If a woman is pregnant and is taking antidepressants, she should not stop by herself, but should have a discussion with her physician to assess the best way forward,” she said. There are many types of treatments for depression — antidepressants are only one option, Berard noted. And because this study looked back at data over time, it can’t prove that antidepressants cause gestational diabetes, only that the two appear linked. But the connection might be that antidepressants affect sugar metabolism. Also, a side effect of antidepressants is weight gain, which is a risk factor for diabetes, Berard and her university colleagues pointed out. Venlafaxine is in a class of drugs called serotonin and norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs), and amitriptyline is an older type of drug called a tricyclic antidepressant. Gestational diabetes can result in overweight babies and longer bouts of…  read on >

Could living near the coast be an inexpensive balm for mental troubles? “Our research suggests, for the first time, that people in poorer households living close to the coast experience fewer symptoms of mental health disorders,” said researcher Dr. Jo Garrett, from the University of Exeter, in England. “When it comes to mental health, this ‘protective’ zone could play a useful role in helping to level the playing field between those on a high and low income,” Garrett said in a university news release. For the study, her team analyzed survey responses from nearly 26,000 people who took part in the Health Survey for England. The investigators compared people’s health to their proximity to the coast and found that people living in towns and cities near the coastline reported having better mental health, even the poorest folks. About one in six adults in England suffers from mental anxiety and depression, and they are more likely from poorer families, the study authors noted. Research into what the investigators call “blue health” should boost efforts by governments “to protect, create and encourage the use of coastal spaces,” said Dr. Mathew White, an environmental psychologist at the university. “We need to help policy makers understand how to maximise the wellbeing benefits of ‘blue’ spaces in towns and cities and ensure that access is fair and inclusive for everyone.”…  read on >