The latest news from the world of health

A HEAVY HEART

The word ‘died of a broken heart’ could be truer than we realize. A report in the journal Psychoneuroendocrinology took bloodstream samples from in 100 people whose spouses had recently died just. Those that were experiencing “elevated grief” - such as for example feeling like lifestyle had lost its meaning - acquired inflammation levels 17 percent greater than those who didn’t experience this way. Those in the very best one-third of the grieving group noticed inflammation levels which were the bottom one-third also. As contributes to a bunch of health good period to check in together with your circle who are grieving, touch base if you’re grieving self.

GO WITH THE FLOW

There’s a specific satisfaction up the tiny blocks in Tetris (officially known as ‘tetriminos’, by the way), into perfect rows. And American experts, say it could ease us through intervals of anxiety when looking forward to potentially life-altering news especially. In this case, a lot more than 300 university learners were informed that their peers will be evaluating how attractive these were - “it’s an extremely effective method to get people consumed with stress,” says lead writer Kate Sweeny - and performed Tetris while looking forward to their scores. Compared to those that played challenging or easy variations, those that played the classic edition - which got them right into a ‘state of stream’ - reported slightly higher degrees of positive feelings and slightly lower degrees of negative feelings. And it doesn’t need to be video games - if dancing, working or chess gets you right into a continuing state of flow, you’re more likely to reap the same benefits.

GUT REACTION

Antibiotics may do a genuine number on our gut bacterias, but new research says our gut does an excellent job of recovering fairly. The study, published in Character Microbiology, saw three various types of antibiotics directed at 12 healthy teenagers over four days, which depleted the gut of virtually all beneficial bacteria unsurprisingly. They were followed over another six months then, and researchers found that the majority of the beneficial bacterias acquired recovered by this time around - although nine helpful species were still lacking and some new harmful strains were detected too. Therefore if you’ve taken antibiotics lately, it could be value adding probiotics and pre into your daily diet to greatly help your gut health.

MUM’S THE WORD

Everybody knows that mums are skilled at rousing sleepy kids - and one researcher says that skill could be particularly good in emergencies. A randomized trial released in the Journal of Pediatrics noticed 176 five- to 12-year-olds trained a simulated fire escape method - escape bed at the alarm, walk to the hinged door and keep the room - prior to going to sleep. Researchers set off a typical fire alarm or then among three versions of the mom’s recorded tone of a voice shouting their guidelines and name. The alarm woke kids around half of the proper time, and they took an average of five minutes to get out of the room nearly. But the mother’s tone of voice had children up 90 percent of the proper time and from the room in an average of fewer than 30 seconds.

DISH UP

Previous research has discovered that when portion sizes dual, people eat typically 35 percent more. Today a fresh study suggests that this can be beneficial with regards to healthy foods. Experts from Deakin University gave 135 university students large or little portions of apple potato or chips. As expected, those that had larger portions ate even more, for those with a wholesome snack even. Researchers say that could come in helpful when trying to motivate healthier eating behaviors, such as beginning a food with a sizable part of healthy meals before serving a smaller part of less healthy food.

UNDER THE WEATHER

Grey times don’t affect our disposition just, we’re more likely to truly have a heart attack also! Swedish researchers looked at a lot more than 274,000 coronary attack patients, along with an increase of than 3.5 million data factors on weather at each site from 1998-2013. They discovered temperature played a sizable role - a drop from 20°C to -1°C was connected with 14 percent increased risk - as was less sunshine. When the hours of sunshine without clouds decreased from 10 hours a day to none, the risk went up by 11 percent. Researchers say seasonal lifestyle changes, depression and even flu season could be behind the rise.

THE WAITING GAME

With many mums choosing to wait until they’re older to start a family, there’s a lot to think about when choosing to add a sibling to the team - not least weighing medical risk against infertility risk. But researchers say waiting at least a year between births may result in better outcomes for mum’s health. The study, published in JAMA Internal Medicine, followed more than 120,000 women with at least two consecutive single pregnancies in a 10-12 months period. When there were only six months between the birth of one child and the conception of the next, 6.2 per thousand women aged 35 and over experienced serious illness or injury, including death, which dropped to 2.6 per thousand when mums waited 18 months.

BETWEEN FRIENDS

Talking to your partner about your sex life brings many benefits, but talking to your friends may also help. A study in the International Journal of Sexual Health surveyed more than 600 women on how often they talked to their female friends about sex and what these conversations involved - topics such as general support, and guidance about specific activities, STIs and birth control. Those who were more open with their friends tended to have more sexual self-esteem - feeling more confident about how they expressed themselves in bed - and more self-efficacy - being confident about protecting their sexual health and asking for what they needed to feel safe.

WASH AWAY

Here’s an useful tip to keep in mind while cooking. After you’ve chopped up onions or garlic, get rid of the smell on your hands by first rinsing your hands, then applying a liberal amount of salt. Rub it around a bit, then rinse off in cold water. Easy!

FINDING CALM

Lavender’s ability to soothe our senses may be more than just folklore. A study published in the journal Frontiers in Behavioural Neuroscience found that when mice sniffed linalool - an alcohol component of lavender odor - it had comparable effects on the brain as Valium, minus the side effects. And, contrary to what was previously thought, it didn’t target the brain through the bloodstream - inhaling the scent through a healthy nose was enough to offer relief from anxiety. More research is needed on humans, but it’s good news for lavender’s therapeutic benefits.

PULL THE PLUG

The blue-sky days of summer make for a perfect excuse to get kids off screens and out of doors, and a new study gives extra incentive. Research published in Preventative Medicine Reports analyzed 40,300 surveys from caregivers of kids aged two to 17. They found that even after just an hour of screen time a day, children and teens began to have less curiosity, lower self-control, less emotional stability and a greater inability to finish tasks.

HAPPY DAYS

If greater happiness is one of your goals for the year ahead, you’ll want to get your mitts on Rachel Kelly’s workbook, Singing in the Rain. There are inventive and accessible activities for every week of the year - think puzzles and guides like writing letters to a loved one - all based on Rachel’s philosophy “small and do-able” with these little actions building to make a big difference for our mental health.

SHAPES AND SIZES

Unconscious bias comes in many forms, even down to the products were sold. Research from the Society for Consumer Psychology had a trained actress pose as a customer in two different scenarios - one as her natural body size (around 46kg) and the other in a professionally constructed prosthesis that made her look obese. When shopping for wristwatches and perfume, salespeople recommended narrower, rectangular products at her natural size, but in the prosthesis, she was given rounder products to try. Researchers also put their theory to the test for online shoppers: when shown an image of a customer, digitally manipulated to look thin, obese or a moderate excess weight, rounded products were chosen more consistently for obese customers.

Did you know?

Round products were likely to be recommended for obese, friendly people, and angular ones for unfriendly thin shoppers

IN THE MOMENT

Author Peter Sagal notes the perks of being mindful while running, in his book The Incomplete Book of Running “I think about my motion, and my breathing, my muscle tissue, and their state of agitation or stress or relaxation. I note my surroundings - the downward slope I would never notice driving this street, the hawk’s nest I would never see for lack of looking up, the figure in a window caught in a solitary instance of their own. I think about the true meaning of distance - about the learning that comes from running a mile in your own shoes. I think about blisters and bliss, and the voices silent.” It’s enough to make you would like to lace up your running shoes.

TIP

If you want to be fully mindful while running, leave your headphones behind and just listen to the
sounds of your surroundings.

ALL EARS

As we age, our hearing isn’t as good as it used to be - and this could be affecting our brain. A study published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society followed around 2000 older adults in the US, from 1996 to 2014, before and after they started using hearing aids. They found the rate of cognitive decline was slowed by about 75 percent after getting hearing aids, and researchers say that may be because hearing loss contributes to social isolation - a risk factor for cognitive decline.

IN THE FAMILY

More than a quarter of women are the breadwinners in their families these days, but expectations for what their home life will be like may be holding some back. A study in the Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin of 645 straight women saw some primed with information on how the division of housework was becoming more equal, while others heard that men weren’t taking on involved roles at home. They were then asked their expectations for their future income, the likelihood of being the primary provider or main caregiver, and how much time they expected to spend on work- and home-related tasks. Rather depressingly, when women heard their future partners were likely to be uninvolved at home, their personal career expectations plummeted.