Lifestyle « Weekly Gravy

Money may not buy happiness, but it can help make life more satisfying, a new U.S. government survey shows. In 2021, just under 5% of U.S. adults said they were “dissatisfied” with their lives. And researchers found those feelings were more common in households making less than 200% of the federal poverty level — or about $55,000 a year for a family of four. Among those relatively lower-income Americans, 8% were dissatisfied with their lives — more than double the rate (3.6%) among people with higher incomes. That dividing line is not surprising, as past studies have found clear relationships between income and life satisfaction. But lead researcher Amanda Ng said another finding was intriguing: There were some disparities in life satisfaction, based on factors like age and race — but only among lower-income Americans. Within that group, white and Black Americans were less happy than Hispanic and Asian Americans. Meanwhile, middle-aged adults (aged 45 to 64) reported more dissatisfaction than either younger or older adults. And people born in the United States were less happy than their counterparts born elsewhere. None of those disparities existed, however, among Americans with relatively higher incomes. “It was pretty striking that we saw none of those differences,” said Ng, a researcher with the National Center for Health Statistics, which is part of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control… read on > read on >

More than a year after its launch, public awareness of the national 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline remains moderate, a new survey found. However, awareness is highest among people who need it most — those in serious psychological distress. Survey participants with serious distress were 45% more likely to have heard of 988 than those with no distress. Further, those in moderate psychological distress were 27% more likely to have heard of 988 than those with no distress. “When we looked across these different psychological distress categories, as you would expect to see and hope to see, the percentage of people using the lifeline was way higher among those with serious psychological distress,” said lead researcher Jonathan Purtle. He is director of policy research at New York University’s Global Center for Implementation Science. The 988 line launched in July 2022, transitioning from the 10-digit 1-800 number of the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline into a simpler three-digit number with a broader focus on crisis counseling. To assess awareness of the line, researchers surveyed more than 5,000 U.S. adults in June 2023. “The key innovation of what we did here is we assessed people’s psychological distress,” Purtle said. “We were able to compare folks by their levels of distress and awareness of the lifeline.” Overall, about 42% of poll respondents had heard of the 988 lifeline, a… read on > read on >

Playing professional football, especially if you are a lineman, may shorten your life, a new study suggests. The University of Minnesota researchers thought that perhaps professional football players are unlike “American men in general” in ways that determine their future health. “When we started digging into the literature on later life health outcomes for professional American football players, we were initially surprised to find a relatively large number of studies that found football players lived longer than American men in general,” said study co-author Gina Rumore. She is program development director of the university’s Institute for Social Research and Data Innovation. “We believe a better strategy for understanding the association between playing football and mortality is to compare football players to men who are like them in every respect — except they never played professional football,” Rumore added in a university news release. So, the researchers compared men drafted to play professional football in the 1950s, some of whom played and some of whom never played in any professional league. The investigators then compared professional football players who began their careers in the late 1980s through the mid-1990s to a nationally representative group of men who were employed, not disabled, not poor and who had completed at least three years of college. The first analysis showed that linemen die earlier than otherwise similar men. In… read on > read on >

Cellphone use might be blunting a fellow’s chances of becoming a father, a major new study reports. Young men who frequently use mobile phones have lower sperm concentrations and sperm counts than guys who rarely dial on the go, Swiss researchers found using more than a decade’s worth of data. However, the data also showed that the move to improved cell technologies like 4G could have the happy side effect of protecting male fertility, the study authors noted. The association between cellphone use and lower semen quality gradually decreased between 2005 and 2018, the researchers found. “We think that this trend corresponds to the transition from 2G to 3G, and then from 3G to 4G, which has led to a reduction in the transmitting power of phones,” said lead researcher Rita Rahban. She’s a senior researcher and teaching assistant in the University of Geneva’s department of genetic medicine and development. “4G is much more efficient than 2G in data transmission, which reduces exposure time,” Rahban explained. “In general, newer generations of mobile technology, like 4G and 5G, aim to reduce radiation exposure while offering improved data speeds and capabilities.” Overall, the investigators found that men who used their cellphones more than 20 times a day were 30% more likely to have a sperm concentration lower than the value set by the World Health Organization (WHO)… read on > read on >

Adding warning labels to meat about its impact on climate and health could lower its consumption, a new study suggests. British researchers investigated what adding cigarette-style graphic warning labels to meat in a cafeteria setting might do. “Reaching net zero is a priority for the nation and the planet. As warning labels have already been shown to reduce smoking as well as drinking of sugary drinks and alcohol, using a warning label on meat-containing products could help us achieve this if introduced as national policy,” said study author Jack Hughes. Hughes conducted the research with his supervisors as part of his PhD program in the department of psychology at Durham University, in the United Kingdom. The study included a representative sample of just over 1,000 meat-eating adults who were split into four groups. They were shown pictures of hot meals a person might get at a cafeteria that contained a health warning label, climate warning label, pandemic warning label, or no label. An example set of meals could be a meat pasta bake, fish pasta bake, vegetarian pasta bake and a vegan pasta bake, the study authors noted. Participants were asked to make 20 separate decisions on different meal choices. They were also asked how anxiety provoking and believable they found the labels. The researchers measured future intentions to buy and eat the meal options,… read on > read on >

Experts have long wondered whether diagnoses for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in the youngest children in a class would hold. A new study suggests that being the youngest, and possibly most immature, did not appear to make a difference. “We know the youngest children in their year group are more likely to be diagnosed with ADHD — but many believe this is because they lag behind their older classmates,” explained senior study author Dr. Samuele Cortese, a child and adolescent psychiatrist at the University of Southampton in the United Kingdom. “However, no one has ever explored if these younger children who are diagnosed with ADHD retain the diagnosis later on — until now,” Cortese said in a university news release. “Our study shows for the first time that these youngsters are no more likely to lose the diagnosis over time than older children.” More than 360 million people worldwide have been diagnosed with ADHD, according to the World Health Organization. About one-third are children and adolescents. Symptoms include impulsiveness, disorganization, poor time management skills, difficulty focusing and restlessness. This new study was led by researchers from University of Southampton and Paris Nanterre University, who collaborated with 161 scientists from around the world. They used data from more than 6,500 patients who had ADHD, who were followed for a period between the ages of 4… read on > read on >

Time-restricted dieting may be a better way for people with type 2 diabetes to lose weight than counting calories, a new study suggests. Researchers found that people who only ate between noon and 8 p.m. each day lost more weight than those who reduced their calories by 25%. Both groups, however, had similar reductions in long-term blood sugar levels based on a test of hemoglobin A1C. The test shows blood sugar levels over the past three months. “It’s important to give people with type 2 diabetes more than one strategy to lose weight and decrease their HbA1C,” said lead researcher Krista Varady, a professor of nutrition at the University of Illinois, Chicago. “Some people find it difficult to count calories. Others don’t have weekly or monthly support and they need a dietary pattern that is simple to follow, such as watching the clock,” Varady added. In the United States, about 1 in 10 U.S. residents has diabetes, and that number is rising, the researchers said. It’s crucial to find more ways to control weight and blood sugar levels for these patients. While the study represents a “proof of concept” showing that time-restricted eating is safe for those with type 2 diabetes, Varady said people with diabetes should consult their doctor before starting this sort of diet. Also, “some medications for type 2 diabetes will lower… read on > read on >

As sweltering summer days become more common, the number of Americans who die of heat-related heart problems or strokes could soar over the next few decades, a new study projects. The study — published Oct. 30 in the journal Circulation — estimates that by mid-century the United States will see those preventable deaths more than triple if greenhouse gas emissions are allowed to rise unchecked. Older adults and Black Americans are expected to be hardest-hit — a prospect that would widen the racial disparities in heart disease that already exist. That’s the bad news. The more hopeful finding is that some of those heat-related deaths could be avoided by implementing current proposals on cutting emissions. “Our study suggests there could be a benefit from reducing emissions, and within a short time frame,” said lead researcher Dr. Sameed Khatana, a cardiologist and assistant professor of medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. Experts have long known that heat waves often trigger a spike in strokes, heart attacks and other cardiovascular complications — typically among people with preexisting risk factors. That’s because the heart and blood vessels (cardiovascular system) are central players in regulating body temperature, Khatana said. When the body overheats, the heart works harder, pumping blood to the periphery of the body to release heat through sweat. And for vulnerable people, that stress can be too… read on > read on >

MONDAY, Oct. 30, 2023 (HealthDay News) – Matthew Perry, one of the stars of the beloved television sitcom “Friends,” died on Saturday. Perry, 54, was best known for his portrayal of Chandler Bing in the long-running show, but he also starred in many other roles. Capt. Scot Williams, of the Los Angeles Police Department’s Robbery-Homicide division, confirmed Perry’s death, the New York Times reported. Investigators saw no sign of foul play, but the cause of death has not been determined. The actor had spoken openly about his history of addiction in interviews and in the memoir he released in 2022, called “Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing.” In 1997, he went to rehab for an addiction to pain medication, according to news reports at the time. He was hospitalized for pancreatitis in 2000, an inflammation that can be caused by alcohol and drug abuse, the Times reported. Then in 2018, he developed pneumonia, suffered an exploded colon, spent time on life support, was in a coma for two weeks, had a colostomy bag for nine months and went through several stomach surgeries, all of which were tied to his addiction, the Times reported. He was newly sober two years ago. Perry had said he had spent more than half his life in treatment centers or sober living facilities. “I was a guy who wanted… read on > read on >

Federal regulators have sent warning letters to two companies for illegally selling probiotic products for use in preterm infants. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration also sent a letter to health care providers warning of the risks. Probiotic products contain live organisms such as bacteria or yeast. They are commonly found in dietary supplements. These products may be dangerous for preterm infants and are being illegally sold to treat or prevent diseases in preemies in hospitals, such as necrotizing enterocolitis. Those young babies who are given a probiotic product are at risk of invasive, potentially fatal disease, or infection, caused by the bacteria or yeast in the probiotics, the FDA said. Certain products have contributed to invasive disease in hospitalized babies, including one death this year. They have been linked to more than two dozen other reported adverse events nationwide since 2018, according to the FDA. “Adverse events in any infant following the use of a probiotic are a concern to the FDA. We especially want to make clear that products containing live microorganisms may present serious risks to preterm infants in hospital settings,” Dr. Peter Marks, director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, said in an agency news release. “With today’s message, we want to warn parents, caregivers and health care providers that if these products are used for the prevention… read on > read on >