While others are decking the halls, many people find the holidays trigger anxiety and depression. Stress can arise from financial strain, dealing with difficult relatives or trying to create the perfect holiday, said Michelle Martel, an associate professor of psychology at the University of Kentucky. Also, the holidays can bring up sad memories for people who have lost loved ones, she noted in a university news release. But there are things you can do to reduce the risk of stress and mood problems during the holidays, Martel said. For starters, she suggested the following: Get as much sunlight as possible. Reduced exposure to light and less vitamin D from sunlight have been linked with depression. If you can’t get outside, consider using a sun therapy light. Be sure you get enough vitamin D in your diet or take a multivitamin. Get plenty of exercise. If you can’t get outdoors, try a gym or walk the halls at work or at a mall. Exercise benefits both mind and body. Plan stress-free family time. For example, get dinner delivered and don’t feel obliged to go to every holiday get-together put on by family and friends. If family time is stressful or you don’t have family to spend time with, make plans with friends or try to get away for the holidays, Martel suggested. If you’re struggling with…  read on >

Movies, the theater and other cultural events can help you fight the blues as you age. And the more you go, the less depressed you’ll be, new research suggests. The British study showed that older folks can cut their depression risk by 32 percent simply by going to cultural activities every few months. And if they go at least once a month, their risk appears to drop by a whopping 48 percent. The results are based on a decade-long tracking analysis that stacked cultural engagement — plays, movies, concerts and museum exhibits — against depression risk among approximately 2,000 men and women over the age of 50. They were all participants in the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA) and none had depression at the start of the 10-year study. The study’s lead author, Daisy Fancourt of University College London, suggested that there are probably many positive “side effects” generated by cultural participation, all of which seem to help tamp down depression risk. “For example, going to concerts or the theater gets people out of the house,” she said, “which reduces sedentary behaviors and encourages gentle physical activity, which is protective against depression.” Fancourt added, “It also provides social engagement, reducing social isolation and loneliness. Engaging with the arts is stress-reducing, associated with lower stress hormones such as cortisol, and also lower inflammation, which is…  read on >

New research shows that marijuana causes genetic changes in sperm, though it’s not clear what effect those changes have, or if they’re passed on to a man’s children. But the scientists said their findings suggest that men trying to have children should consider avoiding marijuana. In experiments with rats and a study involving 24 men, the Duke University team found that tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) — the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana — affects genes in two major cellular pathways and alters DNA methylation, a process essential to normal development. “What we have found is that the effects of cannabis use on males and their reproductive health are not completely null, in that there’s something about cannabis use that affects the genetic profile in sperm,” said senior study author Scott Kollins. He is a professor in psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Duke. “We don’t yet know what that means, but the fact that more and more young males of child-bearing age have legal access to cannabis is something we should be thinking about,” Kollins said in a university news release. For the study, the researchers compared men who were regular marijuana users (at least weekly for the previous six months) with men who had not used marijuana in the past six months and not more than 10 times in their life. The higher the concentration of THC in…  read on >

The hangover is bad enough. But for binge-drinking young people, embarrassing social media posts can be another headache. College students often show signs of social media “addiction” and can suffer significant consequences, according to the authors of a new study. “During these times when young students are feeling disinhibited by alcohol, they may be even more likely than usual to post inappropriate material without considering the future impact,” said lead researcher Natalie Ceballos. “In some cases, these sorts of mistakes have even influenced college admission and later job applications,” said Ceballos, an associate psychology professor at Texas State University. The study included 425 undergraduate students, ages 18 to 25. Compared with students who’d never gone on a drinking binge, binge drinkers were more likely to have made social media posts while drinking or drunk. Binge drinking was defined as having five or more drinks at one time for men and four or more for women. Binge drinkers were also more likely to use more social media platforms, to feel that social media was part of their identity, and to have experienced negative fallout from their social media use, something the researchers referred to as social media addiction. The study is published recently in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs. “These findings suggest that in terms of common brain reward mechanisms, perhaps when students…  read on >