Millions of Americans struggle to fall or stay asleep, a new survey finds. Some struggle more mightily than others: Roughly 12% of Americans polled said they have been diagnosed with chronic insomnia, the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) survey revealed. Who was the most likely to miss out on good sleep? Men (13%) were slightly more likely than women (11%) to have been diagnosed with chronic insomnia. Meanwhile, millennials reported the highest rate of chronic insomnia diagnosis (15%). How debilitating can insomnia be? Symptoms associated with insomnia include daytime fatigue or sleepiness; feeling dissatisfied with sleep; having trouble concentrating; feeling depressed, anxious or irritable; and having low motivation or low energy. “Chronic insomnia impacts not just how a person sleeps at night, but also how they feel and function during the daytime,” said AASM President Dr. Eric Olson. “Fortunately, there are effective treatment options for those who are living with chronic insomnia, and these treatments can significantly improve both health and quality of life.” Chronic insomnia can impair physical, mental and emotional health, and it can lead to increased risks for depression, anxiety, substance abuse, motor vehicle accidents, Alzheimer’s disease and type 2 diabetes, experts say. The most effective treatment for chronic insomnia is cognitive behavioral therapy, which combines behavioral strategies such as setting a consistent sleep schedule and getting out of bed when…  read on >  read on >

It may sound far-fetched, but new research suggests that living in dangerous neighborhoods could trigger an unintended health harm: higher smoking rates among residents. “High levels of neighborhood threat shape perceptions of powerlessness among residents, amplifying a general sense of mistrust, that can promote maladaptive coping behavior like smoking,” said researcher Michael Zvolensky, a professor of psychology at the University of Houston. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the neighborhoods people live in can determine their health and well-being. While such factors are now understood as important factors in the onset, maintenance and relapse of substance use behavior, little research has evaluated what the researchers called “neighborhood vigilance” in terms of smoking rates, the researchers noted. Zvolensky’s team examined the role of neighborhood vigilance in terms of smoking and the severity of problems smokers thought they might face if they try to quit. Living in less secure neighborhoods was tied to smokers thinking it would be tough to quit, expecting “negative mood and harmful consequences,” Zvolensky said in a university news release. These types of neighborhoods were “also associated with more severe problems when trying to quit smoking,” he added. The findings support the notion that dangerous neighborhoods exacerbate “certain negative beliefs about abstinence and challenges in quitting,” Zvolensky said. Participants in the study included 93 adult smokers who were seeking…  read on >  read on >

People who are grateful for what they have tend to live longer, a new study reports. Older women who scored highest on a questionnaire measuring gratitude had a 9% lower risk of premature death from any cause, compared to those with the least gratitude, according to findings published July 3 in the journal JAMA Psychiatry. The results suggest that feelings of gratitude “may increase longevity among older adults,” lead author Ying Chen, a research scientist at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, said in a news release. For the study, researchers analyzed data gathered from the long-term Nurse’s Health Study. In 2016, more than 49,000 women in the study with an average age of 79 completed a six-question gratitude test. They had to agree or disagree with statements like “I have so much in life to be thankful for” and “If I had to list everything that I felt grateful for, it would be a very long list.” Three years later, researchers followed up to identify deaths among those women. They found that more than 4,600 participants had died, most commonly of heart disease. Those with the highest levels of gratitude had a lower risk of death from any cause, compared to those with the lowest, results show. Gratitude appeared to protect against every specific cause of death included in the study, and…  read on >  read on >

Benzodiazepines do not appear to increase dementia risk, but could have subtle long-term effects on brain structure, a new study reports. Researchers found no link between use of the sedative drug and a higher risk of dementia in a group of more than 5,400 adults in the Netherlands, according to findings published July 2 in the journal BMC Medicine. That runs counter to two previous meta-analyses reporting increased dementia risk with benzodiazepine use, researchers noted. However, brain MRI scans taken of more than 4,800 participants revealed that benzodiazepine use is associated with accelerated shrinking of some brain regions, results show. The findings “support current guidelines cautioning against long-term benzodiazepine prescription,” concluded the research team led by Dr. Frank Wolters, a senior scientist of epidemiology and radiology and nuclear medicine at Erasmus Medical Center in the Netherlands. “Further research is needed to investigate the potential effects of benzodiazepine use on brain health,” the team adds. Benzodiazepines promote the release of a neurotransmitter that makes the nervous system less active, the Cleveland Clinic says. Different types are used as sedatives or to treat anxiety, insomnia and seizures. Analysis of medical records between 2005 and 2020 and pharmacy records between 1991 and 2008 revealed no association between benzodiazepines and increased risk of dementia, regardless of the total quantity of sedatives people took over time. The team also found…  read on >  read on >

Specific types of gut bacteria appear to be linked to compulsive eating, a new study reports. Researchers found that one type of gut bacteria — the Proteobacteria family — is abundant in people and mice with an addiction to food. Other types of gut bacteria are decreased in food-addicted people and mice, including Blautia bacteria and bacteria belonging to the Actinobacteria family, researchers say. What’s more, food addiction decreased in mice when they were fed prebiotics that caused Blautia levels in the gut to rise, said researcher Elena Martin-Garcia, a professor of medicine and life sciences at the Universitat Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona. These results suggest the “potential protective effects of increasing the abundance of Actinobacterial and Bacillota against the development of food addiction,” Martin-Garcia said. Blautia belongs to the Bacillota family. For the study, researchers used a food addiction scale to diagnose the condition in mice and humans. The scale measures persistent food-seeking, motivation to obtain food and compulsive behavior. They found that mice with food addiction had higher levels of Proteobacteria and lower levels of Actinobacteria and Blautia. Those same trends were seen in 88 humans, researchers said. “The findings in both mice and humans suggested that specific microbiota could be protective in preventing food addiction,” Martin-Garcia said. “In particular, the strong similarities in the amount of Blautia underlined the potential beneficial effects…  read on >  read on >

As psilocybin mushrooms become the most popular psychedelic in the United States, some states have started to ease regulations on its recreational use. Now, a new report warns that the federal government will have to decide whether to follow suit. RAND, a nonprofit research group, stresses in the report that if efforts to expand the recreational supply of psychedelics don’t go well, the fallout could put a damper on potential medical uses. “Based on what happened with clinical research on psychedelics after the 1960s, this is not an idle concern,” lead author Beau Kilmer, a senior policy researcher, said in a RAND news release. Indigenous groups that consider psychedelics spiritual medicines could also be affected, study co-author Michelle Priest, an assistant policy researcher at RAND, warned. The popularity of psychdelic mushrooms now far outpaces that of other mind-altering drugs such as ecstasy (MDMA), the new report reveals. It includes results of a December 2023 survey of almost 3,800 U.S. adults who were asked about their use of various substances, including psychedelics. Twelve percent said they had used psilocybin at some point, and 3.1% had done so in the past year. The report estimated that 8 million U.S. adults used psilocybin last year. Still, use is typically infrequent, the survey found — 0.9% of respondents said they had used psilocybin in the past month, compared to…  read on >  read on >

Even though plant-based meat alternatives are ultra-processed, they still may be healthier for your heart than traditional meat is, a new review finds. Risk factors for heart disease, including total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol and body weight, all improved when meats were replaced with a plant-based substitute, according to the analysis published Tuesday in the Canadian Journal of Cardiology.  In one clinical trial reviewed, people consuming plant-based alternatives saw a 13% reduction in total cholesterol, a 9% reduction in LDL cholesterol, a 53% reduction in triglycerides and an 11% rise in “good” HDL cholesterol. “Plant-based meat is a healthy alternative that is clearly associated with reduced cardiovascular risk factors,” senior study author Dr. Ehud Ur, a professor of medicine at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, told NBC News. Still, the researchers did find a wide variation in the nutritional value of meat substitutes, such as in the amount of sodium and saturated fat they contained. For example, Ur’s team focused on two burger brands: an older one and a newer one that tasted more like beef. The older burger had 6% of the recommended daily allowance for saturated fat, compared to 30% in the newer burger. Meanwhile, the older brand had 0% cholesterol, compared with 27% in the newer brand.  Most meat substitutes are highly processed, and such foods tend to be low in fiber and…  read on >  read on >