ReportWire

Tag: healthscienceclimate

  • Teen Smoking Rates Hit a Record Low

    Teen Smoking Rates Hit a Record Low

    [ad_1]

    NEW YORK — Teen smoking hit an all-time low in the U.S. this year, part of a big drop in the youth use of tobacco overall, the government reported Thursday.

    There was a 20% drop in the estimated number of middle and high school students who recently used at least one tobacco product, including cigarettes, electronic cigarettes, nicotine pouches, and hookahs. The number went from 2.8 million last year to 2.25 million this year—the lowest since the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s key survey began in 1999.

    “Reaching a 25-year low for youth tobacco product use is an extraordinary milestone for public health,” said Deirdre Lawrence Kittner, director of CDC’s Office on Smoking and Health, in a statement. However, “our mission is far from complete.”

    A previously reported drop in vaping largely explains the overall decline in tobacco use from 10% to about 8% of students, health officials said.

    The youth e-cigarette rate fell to under 6% this year, down from 7.7% last year—the lowest at any point in the last decade. E-cigarettes are the most commonly used tobacco products among teens, followed by nicotine pouches.

    Use of other products has been dropping, too.

    Twenty-five years ago, nearly 30% of high school students smoked. This year, it was just 1.7%, down from the 1.9%. That one-year decline is so small it is not considered statistically significant, but marks the lowest since the survey began 25 years ago. The middle school rate also is at its lowest mark.

    Recent use of hookahs also dropped, from 1.1% to 0.7%.

    The results come from an annual CDC survey, which included nearly 30,000 middle and high school students at 283 schools. The response rate this year was about 33%.

    Officials attribute the declines to a number of measures, ranging from price increases and public health education campaigns to age restrictions and more aggressive enforcement against retailers and manufacturers selling products to kids.

    Among high school students, use of any tobacco product dropped to 10%, from nearly 13% and e-cigarette use dipped under 8%, from 10%. But there was no change reported for middle school students, who less commonly vape or smoke or use other products,

    Current use of tobacco fell among girls and Hispanic students, but rose among American Indian or Alaska Native students. And current use of nicotine pouches increased among white kids.

    [ad_2]

    Time

    Source link

  • Whooping Cough Is at a Decade-High Level in U.S.

    Whooping Cough Is at a Decade-High Level in U.S.

    [ad_1]

    MILWAUKEE — Whooping cough is at its highest level in a decade for this time of year, U.S. health officials reported Thursday.

    There have been 18,506 cases of whooping cough reported so far, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. That’s the most at this point in the year since 2014, when cases topped 21,800.

    The increase is not unexpected—whooping cough peaks every three to five years, health experts said. And the numbers indicate a return to levels before the coronavirus pandemic, when whooping cough and other contagious illnesses plummeted.

    Still, the tally has some state health officials concerned, including those in Wisconsin, where there have been about 1,000 cases so far this year, compared to a total of 51 last year.

    Nationwide, CDC has reported that kindergarten vaccination rates dipped last year and vaccine exemptions are at an all-time high. Thursday, it released state figures, showing that about 86% of kindergartners in Wisconsin got the whooping cough vaccine, compared to more than 92% nationally.

    Whooping cough, also called pertussis, usually starts out like a cold, with a runny nose and other common symptoms, before turning into a prolonged cough. It is treated with antibiotics. Whooping cough used to be very common until a vaccine was introduced in the 1950s, which is now part of routine childhood vaccinations. It is in a shot along with tetanus and diphtheria vaccines. The combo shot is recommended for adults every 10 years.

    “They used to call it the 100-day cough because it literally lasts for 100 days,” said Joyce Knestrick, a family nurse practitioner in Wheeling, West Virginia.

    READ MORE: When Is the Best Time to Get a Flu Shot?

    Whooping cough is usually seen mostly in infants and young children, who can develop serious complications. That’s why the vaccine is recommended during pregnancy, to pass along protection to the newborn, and for those who spend a lot of time with infants.

    But public health workers say outbreaks this year are hitting older kids and teens. In Pennsylvania, most outbreaks have been in middle school, high school and college settings, an official said. Nearly all the cases in Douglas County, Nebraska, are schoolkids and teens, said Justin Frederick, deputy director of the health department.

    That includes his own teenage daughter.

    “It’s a horrible disease. She still wakes up—after being treated with her antibiotics—in a panic because she’s coughing so much she can’t breathe,” he said.

    It’s important to get tested and treated with antibiotics early, said Dr. Kris Bryant, who specializes in pediatric infectious diseases at Norton Children’s in Louisville, Kentucky. People exposed to the bacteria can also take antibiotics to stop the spread.

    “Pertussis is worth preventing,” Bryant said. “The good news is that we have safe and effective vaccines.”

    ___

    AP data journalist Kasturi Pananjady contributed to this report.

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • What Vaccine Side Effects Really Mean

    What Vaccine Side Effects Really Mean

    [ad_1]

    Vaccine side effects like soreness, fever, and fatigue scare some people out of getting their shots. Ask a doctor, though, and they’ll tell you these unpleasant symptoms have a silver lining: they’re a signal that your immune system is firing up in response to the shot, doing exactly what it’s supposed to do.

    “If you feel bad after the vaccine, at least feel good about feeling bad,” says Dr. Kevin Dieckhaus, chief of infectious diseases at UConn Health and co-author of a 2023 study on COVID-19 vaccine side effects.

    But is it a bad sign if you don’t get side effects after a shot? Does a pain-free next day mean the vaccine didn’t work? 

    Probably not. Here’s why.

    Why do vaccines cause side effects?

    Vaccines work by mimicking an infection. They introduce your body to a weakened or broken-down form of a particular pathogen so it can practice defending itself against the real thing. This involves creating antibodies, proteins that attack foreign invaders.

    When the immune system fires up in response to the shot, it results in inflammation that can leave you feeling lousy the next day. A flu shot won’t give you the flu—you’re not actually getting infected—but you may temporarily experience some of the same symptoms.

    However, side effects vary. Some shots produce more than others. And even two people who get the exact same vaccine may have totally different reactions, for a range of reasons including age, sex, health and immunization history, and other factors that scientists don’t fully understand. “The human body is an amazingly varied machine,” Dieckhaus says.

    Do stronger side effects mean stronger immune protection?

    Multiple studies on COVID-19 shots have found at least a modest link between the number and severity of side effects someone experiences after vaccination and the strength or durability of their immune response. A 2022 study pointed to a similar effect for flu shots.

    Read More: 9 Things You Should Do for Your Brain Health Every Day, According to Neurologists

    But not all studies have reached that conclusion. “The literature is pretty mixed,” says Florian Krammer, a professor of vaccinology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. “It’s highly variable.”

    Even some studies that have found a correlation have concluded that, when it comes to protection, the difference between people who get side effects and those who don’t is so minimal as to barely matter, Krammer adds.

    So is it bad not to get side effects after a shot?

    Don’t worry if you feel fine the day after an immunization. While side effects can be a sign of the immune system working, they are not necessary, Krammer says. In fact, vaccine developers usually strive to create a product that works as well as possible while triggering as few side effects as possible.

    Almost “everybody gets an immune response” after being vaccinated, Dieckhaus agrees. “If you have symptoms, we just know that your immune response is probably a little bit more robust.” Side effects may be the cherry on top of the sundae, but you still have the sundae no matter what.

    In the original clinical trials for Pfizer-BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine, for example, less than half of study participants reported side effects, but the shot worked well for the vast majority of people. People who don’t respond well to vaccines typically have a medical reason, such as taking an immune-suppressing drug. “If you’re a somewhat healthy adult and you don’t have side effects, good,” Krammer says.

    Read More: Why Vinegar Is So Good for You

    Plus, trends reported in studies don’t always translate to individual experiences, says Dr. Ethan Dutcher, a postdoctoral scholar at the University of California, San Francisco, and co-author of a recent study on the side effects of COVID-19 vaccines. Overall, his team found that people who experienced lots of side effects after their initial COVID-19 vaccines tended to mount stronger antibody responses. But as with any trend, there were plenty of exceptions. “We had a lot of people who didn’t experience tiredness who had higher antibody levels than people who did experience tiredness,” Dutcher says.

    And, Dieckhaus says, the immune system is complex. His team’s study, which also found an association between side effects and durability of immune response, measured only one aspect of it: how long it took antibodies to wane after COVID-19 shots. But that’s “just one piece of the puzzle,” he says. There are lots of other variables that influence whether someone gets infected and how sick they’ll be if they do.

    The bottom line: make sure you get your vaccines, and don’t worry too much about how you feel afterward. If you have side effects, “you can feel your immune system working,” Krammer says. “But if you don’t feel that, that’s fine too. It’s probably still working.”

    [ad_2]

    Jamie Ducharme

    Source link

  • 9 Things You Should Do for Your Brain Health Every Day, According to Neurologists

    9 Things You Should Do for Your Brain Health Every Day, According to Neurologists

    [ad_1]

    Taking care of your cognitive health ought to be—well, a no-brainer. According to a survey published in March, 87% of Americans are concerned about age-related memory loss and a decline in brain function as they grow older, yet only 32% believe they can take action to help control that trajectory.

    “All of us want to be cognitively intact for as long as possible,” says Dr. Seemant Chaturvedi, a neurologist and stroke specialist at the University of Maryland Medical Center. The good news, he adds, is that “there are definitely risk factors that can be modified.” Prioritizing healthy behaviors can increase the likelihood that, when we reach our 70s and 80s, we’re still able to summon important memories, drive a car, and engage in a wide variety of activities, Chaturvedi says. And there’s no such thing as “too young” to start taking these steps.

    With that in mind, we asked four neurologists what we should all do every day for better brain health.

    Manage your chronic illnesses

    If you have high blood pressure, high cholesterol, or diabetes, it’s essential to make sure it’s under control. Each condition can “damage the blood vessels in the brain and increase the risk of stroke and dementia,” while diminishing cognitive function, Chaturvedi says. In one study, for example, people who had hypertension in their 40s to early 60s had a 6.5% steeper decline in cognitive skills—including mental processing speed and executive function—in their 70s, 80s, and 90s, compared to those with normal blood pressure. Other research has found that people with higher levels of LDL cholesterol and lower levels of HDL cholesterol tend to have more amyloid plaque in their brain, which is linked with Alzheimer’s disease. 

    That’s why it’s important to get your numbers checked regularly, and to work with your doctor to establish a treatment regimen, Chaturvedi says. The sooner you do that, the better: “If you’re 35 or 40 and have high cholesterol, the current belief is that it’s better to start treatment early,” rather than waiting until you’re 65 or 70 and have a heart attack, he says. “If you get started early, maybe you could either postpone or never even have the heart attack,” which would be doing your brain a big favor.

    Read More: 7 Metrics Everyone Should Know About Their Own Health

    Exercise for 30 minutes

    Your entire body will benefit if you work out at least a few days a week—and that includes your brain. Research suggests that exercising improves cognitive processes and memory, while increasing the thickness of your cerebral cortex, which is responsible for tasks like language, thinking, and emotions. “We’re learning more and more about the benefits of regular exercise for brain health,” Chaturvedi says. “Even in patients who have mild dementia, it’s recommended they engage in exercise three to five times a week.”

    Whatever activity you choose—walking, biking, swimming—make sure you’re operating at a moderate intensity, or about 50% to 80% of your maximum heart rate. “A rule of thumb I give my patients is that if you and I were going for a walk, we’d want to be walking at a pace where we’d be pretty out of breath, but we’d still be able to have a conversation,” says Dr. Carolyn Fredericks, an assistant professor of neurology at Yale School of Medicine. One type of cardiovascular exercise doesn’t appear to be better than any other, she adds: “It’s just getting your heart into that range and keeping it there for a while.”

    Rest up

    Not getting enough sleep is a key risk factor for dementia, says Dr. Augusto Miravalle, a neurologist and multiple sclerosis specialist at Rush University Medical Center. Research suggests that people in their 50s and 60s who get six hours of sleep or less per night are 30% more likely to be diagnosed with dementia than those who log at least seven hours of Z’s. Another study found that sleep-initiation insomnia, or trouble falling asleep, is associated with a 51% increased dementia risk. 

    So what should you do if you lie awake at night counting sheep? Invest time in improving your sleep hygiene, which means taking steps like avoiding caffeine and alcohol in the evening, limiting naps, and putting away electronics before bed, Miravalle advises. If that doesn’t work, schedule an appointment with a sleep specialist to figure out if you need a more aggressive approach. Options like cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia can help some people achieve more restful slumber.

    Read More: The Best Way to Treat Insomnia

    Eat like you’re vacationing on the Italian coast

    Fredericks always recommends her patients follow a Mediterranean diet, which emphasizes fruits, veggies, whole grains, fish, nuts, seeds, and healthy fats. “We’ve tried over the years to find the secret ingredient that makes the Mediterranean diet work,” she says. “Like, could it be the omega-3’s in the fish, or the vitamin E in the nuts? But every time we try to study an individual ingredient, we don’t actually see that big of a difference at a large group level.” What appears to be most impactful, she adds, is the style of eating and emphasis on whole foods.

    In addition to prioritizing certain ingredients, Miravaelle recommends avoiding those that negatively impact brain health, like trans fats and too much salt. In one study, young and middle-aged men who followed a diet heavy in trans fat remembered 11 fewer words out of 104 than those who didn’t consume as much. And excessive salt intake is linked with stroke, cognitive impairment, and cerebrovascular disease, which affects the brain’s blood vessels and circulation.

    Challenge your mind

    People often ask Dr. Roy Hamilton what kind of intellectual stimulation is best: Should they put together puzzles or play Sudoku every day? What about video games? He tries not to be overly prescriptive, but offers a few guidelines. Brain-boosting activities should be “mildly challenging,” says Hamilton, who’s a professor of neurology, psychiatry, and physical medicine and rehabilitation at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine. If they’re too easy, your return-on-investment will shrink; too hard, and you might give up before benefitting. “It’s got to be somewhere in the sweet zone, and it has to be something that you want to do,” he says. 

    Rather than focusing on one pursuit—playing games, learning a new language, reading classic literature—Hamilton recommends curating a “diet of intellectual activities.” “You’re probably not going to get optimal effects just by picking Wordle and being like, ‘I do Wordle every day, and that’s how I maintain my cognition,’” he says. “The brain’s a lot more complicated than that.” He compares it to asking a nutritionist what you should eat for a healthy diet: The answer wouldn’t be carrots, more carrots, and only carrots. Make it a point to exercise your brain in a variety of ways, he encourages, just like you feast on lots of different snacks and meals every day.

    Chat with a friend (or two)

    There’s no single metric for how much time we should spend around other people. Yet research is clear that social engagement strengthens the neural networks involved with attention and memory. In one study, adults ages 70 to 90 who said they had pleasant social interactions on a given day had better cognitive performance on that day and the following two, compared to when they didn’t have any such encounters. “Our brains aren’t meant to exist in isolation,” Fredericks says. “I think COVID drove home to all of us that we’re not meant to be alone in our apartments or houses—it just doesn’t feel good.” To boost your social life, consider reaching out to old friends, joining a birdwatching club or another group, volunteering, or video-chatting with a long-distance family member.

    Read More: How to Make Friends as an Adult—at Every Life Stage

    Skip the beer and cigarettes

    Drinking excessively isn’t good for brain health. Research suggests it can damage the parts of the brain involved in important functions like memory, decision-making, impulse control, and attention. “The more you drink, and the longer period of time over which you’re doing that volume of drinking, the worse it is for your brain,” says Hamilton, who’s on the board of trustees of the McKnight Brain Research Foundation. Think about it: When you overimbibe, you lose your inhibitions because the circuits that control your behavior go offline. “You’re literally causing temporary brain dysfunction,” Hamilton says, and over the long term, that damage takes a toll.

    Smoking is similarly perilous: It can lead to cognitive decline and dementia, while increasing the risk of stroke. If you’ve already tried to quit and failed, don’t let that dissuade future attempts. “Just keep going, because there’s no healthy amount of smoking,” Hamilton says. “It’s terrible for your cardiovascular health and, therefore, your brain vascular health, too.”

    Wear a mask on bad air-quality days

    You already know air pollution can make your eyes sting and trigger a coughing attack. Perhaps more surprising: It’s linked to an increased likelihood of developing dementia. “Dementia in this country is pretty much following the map of air pollution,” Miravalle says. One way to protect yourself: Check daily air quality reports for your town, and if pollution is particularly high, wear a reusable face mask outside, like an N95 or KN95. As Miravalle puts it, “Anything you can do to decrease exposure to certain environmental toxins is a good, common-sense strategy.”

    Lower your stress 

    Minimizing stress can be an effective way to protect your brain health—but Hamilton acknowledges it’s no easy feat. “In my opinion, in the 21st century, maybe this is the hardest thing to do,” he says. “But there’s evidence that chronic stress is not great for cognition.” In one study, for example, people with elevated stress levels had a 37% higher risk of experiencing cognitive issues, including trouble with memory and thinking.

    Some people find that meditation or mindfulness help tame stress; others like doing yoga or booking a massage. Hamilton gets up at 5 a.m. every day to squeeze in a trip to the gym before his work day. “It’s not about my body so much as it is about my stress,” he says. Spend some time brainstorming what relaxes you, and after putting those strategies into action, you’ll likely benefit from head to toe.

    [ad_2]

    Angela Haupt

    Source link

  • Should You Use Retinol and Retinoids?

    Should You Use Retinol and Retinoids?

    [ad_1]

    It’s no surprise that the skin care industry is having a moment. Instagram influencers are hawking expensive products left and right, and young TikTok users are continuously sharing their latest “must-have” products from Sephora.

    Two terms that consistently get mentioned when people talk about their skin care routines online are “retinoids” and “retinol.” These products are touted for their ability to reduce fine lines and wrinkles and stimulate collagen production for younger looking skin. But are they as effective as everyone says? 

    Below, we cover everything you need to know about retinoids and retinol so you can figure out if they’re a good addition to your skin care routine. 

    What are retinoids and retinol?

    Retinoids are a class of prescription medications that are derived from vitamin A, says Dr. Alexis Livingston Young, a dermatologist at Hackensack University Medical Center. Retinol is a type of retinoid that is available over the counter. 

    The main difference between the two is that prescription retinoids are already active, whereas over-the-counter retinol has to be converted by the body into the active form. Because prescription retinoids are already in their active form, they likely work faster and better, Young says. She notes that the actual effectiveness of retinol is hard to assess since it isn’t regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

    Read More: Do At-Home Red Light Masks Really Work?

    Retinoids are the gold standard product for anti-aging, Young says. There is decades of academic research supporting its ability to stimulate collagen production, reduce fine lines and wrinkles, diminish hyperpigmentation, and unclog pores. “Of all the anti-aging products that have ever been talked about, we have the most data for retinoids—really solid, decades-long data to back up the claims,” Young says.

    After sunscreen use, many dermatologists actually recommend retinoids as the best thing adults can use every day for their skin health. “I think of sunscreen as brushing your teeth, and retinoid use as flossing your teeth,” says Dr. Heather Goff, director of cosmetic dermatology and associate professor of dermatology at UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. 

    Beware of side effects

    Retinoids can be very effective, but they can also come with side effects like irritation, redness, peeling, and dry, flaky skin. “The stronger the retinoid is, the more likely it is to cause that sort of initial irritation,” says Dr. Shayan Cheraghlou, a dermatologist at Zitelli and Brodland Skin Cancer Center in Pittsburgh. This means that, for example, the prescription retinoid tretinoin could lead to more intense side effects than an over-the-counter retinol product. These side effects are typically temporary, Young says, and tend to improve after about three months of use.

    Read More: Why Do Some People Need More Sleep Than Others?

    People with darker skin tones might also experience a temporary increase in pigmentation with retinoid use, says Dr. Asmi Sanghvi, a dermatologist at Bethany Medical Clinic in New York City and a clinical instructor of dermatology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. Eventually, she says, this side effect will go away and the skin will improve.

    Irritation from retinoids happens because the skin is changing on a cellular level, Goff says. Retinoids thin out the stratum corneum, which is the outermost layer of the skin that’s composed of dead skin cells. This can cause a lot of exfoliation in the early stages of use, Goff says. 

    If the side effects you experience are mild, you don’t have to give up: it can take up to 12 weeks to see an improvement in hyperpigmentation, fine lines, and wrinkles with retinoid use, Cheraghlou says. “You don’t necessarily need to stop when that happens,” he says. “Obviously if it’s too much then you should, but you can usually get over that hump.”

    Young adds that although patients with rosacea, eczema, and atopic dermatitis can use retinoids, they might not be able to break through the initial irritation phase. “It might just be too much for them,” she says. 

    You should exercise caution if you use chemical exfoliants, like AHAs and BHAs, in your skin care routine. “Those are peeling agents so they can make the irritation even worse,” Cheraghlou says. And if you’re pregnant or trying to conceive, you should stay away from using both prescription retinoids and over-the-counter retinol, Sanghvi says. 

    Age matters

    Experts are concerned about a recent uptick in teenagers and children having elaborate skin care routines that include products with retinol. In fact, there was a proposed California bill that would have prevented the sale of products with retinol to children under 13, though it failed to advance as of June 2024.

    There is no reason for children and teenagers to use over-the-counter products with retinol, Cheraghlou says. Retinoids protect our collagen and stimulate new collagen production, he says, but “teenagers don’t need to use it cosmetically for the collagen effects because we don’t start losing collagen in our skin until our mid- to late 20s.”

    Read More: What’s the Best Skin-Care Routine?

    Although kids should not use over-the-counter beauty products with retinol for cosmetic purposes, prescription retinoids are used in teenagers and pre-teens with acne, Sanghvi says. (The well-known medication Accutane is a retinoid.) But children and teenagers should only be using retinoids if they’re prescribed by a dermatologist to treat acne. 

    Most people can begin using a retinoid or retinol around age 25 or 30, Young says. Goff adds that it’s safe to use retinoids consistently over the course of one’s life. 

    Keep these best practices in mind

    If you plan on adding a retinoid or retinol to your skin care routine, here are a few things you should keep in mind. 

    • Consider your skin type. If you have sensitive skin or conditions like eczema or rosacea, Young recommends beginning with a topical retinol product. If your skin tolerates it well, then you can switch to a prescription retinoid down the road. If you don’t have particularly sensitive skin, she recommends beginning with a prescription retinoid since they’re typically more effective. 
    • Ease in. Because of the side effects of retinoids, start slowly. Sanghvi recommends using a product twice a week for a couple of weeks to start, then increasing to three times a week and gradually using it more as your skin tolerates the medication. 
    • Apply products at night. The stratum corneum (the outermost layer of the skin) helps protect our skin from the sun’s UV rays. “But when you thin that out [with retinoid use], the skin is more sensitive to UV light,” Goff says. Because of this, you should always apply retinoids and retinol at night. 
    • Wear sunscreen daily. When you wake up in the morning, you should always wash your face to get rid of any product that’s still on the skin and then moisturize and apply sunscreen, Sanghvi says.  
    • Apply using the sandwich method. Moisturizing is a key component of retinoid use. Cheraghlou recommends the sandwich method: apply a layer of moisturizer, then the retinoid or retinol product, and then another layer of moisturizer. “This can help with some of that retinoid irritation,” he says. 
    • Use caution in cold climates. It’s not unusual for retinoid irritation to improve in the summertime and then worsen in the wintertime, even after the initial three-month adjustment period. If you develop sudden irritation, Young recommends taking a break from the retinoid or retinol and using a gentle moisturizer and cleanser. “Give it a few days to calm down, and then slowly reintroduce the product,” she says. “I’m in the northeast, and some patients in the winter can only [use retinoids] twice a week, and that’s fine. It’s better than nothing.”

    [ad_2]

    Jamie Friedlander Serrano

    Source link

  • Why Vinegar Is So Good for You

    Why Vinegar Is So Good for You

    [ad_1]

    You may have noticed your supermarket offering more types of vinegar lately. Sure, balsamic and apple cider vinegars are veterans of the condiments aisle, but new shelf neighbors, like coconut, champagne, pomegranate, and raspberry are moving in.

    That’s probably at least in part due to recent research showing that small amounts of vinegar, consumed daily, could support your health in important ways. But which vinegars are evidence-backed to promote health, in addition to lending some zing to your cooking? 

    Here’s what research says about vinegar’s effects on blood sugar, obesity, and fighting colds—and which kind to reach for.

    A long-standing tonic

    Since the Babylonians first made vinegar about 7,000 years ago, cultures around the world have used it for medicinal purposes. Hippocrates mixed apple cider vinegar with honey to treat ancient Greeks’ respiratory troubles. Europeans in the Middle Ages believed it protected against the plague, while the Chinese used rice vinegar to treat pain. 

    Several scientific studies later, dietitians such as New Jersey-based Erin Palinski-Wade are increasingly recommending vinegar to their clients. “What I love about using vinegar is that it may offer a variety of benefits with little to no downside,” she says.

    What makes vinegar special

    One defining ingredient could explain vinegar’s health benefits: acetic acid. After it’s swallowed, acetic acid turns into acetate, a fatty acid that’s good for digestion, metabolism, and energy production.

    Every type of vinegar starts out as some form of sugar, aka carbohydrate—like apples, used to make apple cider vinegar, or grapes, which make red wine vinegar. The carb is pressed into liquid-form and fermented by yeast into alcohol, which is then fermented into acetic acid. This process endows vinegar with significantly more acetic acid than any other food, says Carol Johnston, a professor of nutrition at Arizona State who studies vinegar.

    Read More: Why Your Diet Needs More Fermented Pickles

    The FDA requires all vinegars sold in the U.S. to contain at least 4% acetic acid, although different bottles have a range. Some vinegars, especially balsamic, tend to also be high in polyphenols: compounds in plants that protect us from cellular damage, inflammation, and infection. 

    Apple cider vinegar

    The most researched type is apple cider vinegar, or ACV. Studies show that a bit of ACV before or during meals can drive down blood sugar, or glucose, measured right after eating and, with consistent use, it may contribute to improved blood sugar control over several months. These effects are pronounced with high-carb foods, which could otherwise spike blood sugar. “It’s clear that drinking vinegar with a starchy meal will reduce the amount of glucose in the bloodstream,” Johnston says. 

    She and others have found that the acetic acid in ACV affects certain hormones that slow the rate at which the stomach sends food to the intestines. Because the glucose enters the bloodstream more gradually, regular intake of ACV could, over time, reduce the risk of developing Type 2 diabetes.

    Small studies also point to healthier weight, perhaps due to vinegar’s slowing effect on the stomach. And recent research found lower blood fat levels in overweight adults who consumed ACV, suggesting better heart health, in addition to lower glucose. 

    Most of these benefits have been researched at 2-4 tablespoons per day. But larger studies are needed, says Sapha Shibeeb, a senior lecturer in laboratory medicine at RMIT University in Australia who published a research review on ACV. “There is an effect, but we have to be careful in saying what kind of effect and the magnitude.”

    The mother of all benefits

    Some brands of ACV are unfiltered and unpasteurized, with a distinctly visible result: a cloudy substance floating in its liquid. This hazy residue, called “the mother,” contains bits of proteins and healthful enzymes and bacteria from fermentation. Companies claim the mother contributes to ACV’s benefits—and charge more for these raw ACVs.

    Read More: Why You Should Eat a Dense Bean Salad Today

    Some scientists think it’s worth it. In her lab, Darsha Yagnik, an immunologist at Middlesex University, has found that ACV with the mother is uniquely potent in helping immune cells kill off pathogenic microbes in the lab. “When I looked at other vinegars, they weren’t as effective,” she says, such as stronger acids you wouldn’t eat, like sulphuric. “The mother includes microbiome-friendly bacteria which support digestive immunity and nutrient absorption,” Yagnik says.

    Based on this research, Yagnik thinks that ACV, in addition to improving blood sugar, can help stave off illness—just as the ancients believed. Yagnik always packs small bottles of ACV, diluted with water, when traveling on the tube in London. “If someone nearby has a cold, I’ll have a little,” she says. “I think it absolutely helps.”

    “Because the mother contains bacteria, it could be beneficial as part of a healthy microbiome in the gut,” Shibeeb adds. He notes that even the more expensive vinegars with the mother are still fairly cheap.

    Others aren’t buying it. Robert Hutkins, a microbiologist at the University of Nebraska, says that, although the mother’s microbes may do wonders in the lab, they can’t compete or thrive in our microbiomes because they need air to survive. “They won’t make much of a living in the gut” for killing pathogens, he explains. 

    Johnston says the mother has only “trace amounts” of healthy substances, yielding nothing beyond the benefits of acetic acid. “It doesn’t pay to get the ones with the mother,” she says. “Right now, the science is with the acetic acid,” which is in all vinegars regardless of type, for benefits like reducing blood sugar.

    Vinegar’s fermentation may have advantages 

    Vinegar’s fermentation process differs from fermented vegetables like cucumbers and cabbage, which may translate into some unique benefits.  

    Vegetables are fermented using healthy microbes. When eaten, the microbes go through the gut microbiome, where they slowly produce several fatty acids that fight infections and inflammation.  

    Read More: 6 Things to Eat to Reduce Your Cancer Risk

    One of these fatty acids is acetate. But when making vinegar, fruit fermentation may work more directly. The fruit fermentation yields acetic acid, which gets turned into acetate well before reaching your gut—so it’s more rapidly absorbed, potentially making it a valuable source of energy for the cells. “Basically, what you’re doing is bypassing the need for the microbiome to do the work,” Johnston says.

    Fermented foods like vegetables with live microbes provide equally important—or perhaps greater—benefits. “I’m a big advocate of including these fermented foods in one’s diet,” Hutkins says. Aim for a mix, including types of vinegar. “ACV isn’t a superfood because there’s no such thing. Each of these foods is just part of an overall healthy diet.”

    Red wine and balsamic vinegars

    The benefits of ACV probably apply to some other vinegars. ACV is commonly sold in the U.S. simply because apples are popular here, not because they’re especially healthy or flavorful. “It’s marketing,” Johnston says. “In the Mediterranean, they have lots of grapes, so they have more balsamic vinegar and red wine vinegar.”

    Johnston has found that a few tablespoons of red wine vinegar, consumed daily, improve glucose control and, in just four weeks, people’s rates of depression go down. Again, vinegar’s acetic acid could be the benefactor; acetate plays a role in improving brain inflammation, plasticity, and overall cognition.

    Polyphenols may contribute as well. Red wine vinegar has more polyphenols than other fruit vinegars, with antioxidant effects that may counter depression, wrote the study’s authors.

    Another vinegar high in polyphenols is balsamic, especially versions made in parts of Italy. “The polyphenols are concentrated,” Johnston says, resulting in a thicker, darker vinegar. Look for bottles, albeit pricier ones, with designations of production in the Modena and Reggio Emilia regions. Balsamic vinegar, combined with food, may slow down stomach enzymes for better digestion.

    The rest of the pack

    Some findings suggest rice vinegar offers similar benefits. Fewer studies have looked at other vinegars, such as coconut, pomegranate, or sugarcane. Limited research suggests that sugarcane vinegar, for instance, lowers blood fats. 

    These less-studied vinegars have lower acetic acid and polyphenols than apple cider, red wine, and balsamic. But they still offer more acetic acid than non-vinegar foods; Palinksi-Wade recommends letting your flavor preferences guide you. They also may contain at least some of the nutrients from their original food sources, compared to standard white vinegars, which are produced through a simpler fermentation process that strips away most of the potentially beneficial compounds, Hutkins adds.

    Read More: Do At-Home Red Light Masks Really Work?

    Last year, Hutkins and colleagues at Georgetown University Medical Center found that drinking kombucha—containing vinegar, live microbes, and other beneficial ingredients like ginger—affects blood glucose positively. 

    How to drink vinegar

    While vinegar may be good for you, “it’s not a drug,” Johnston notes. As part of an overall healthy diet, “it’s going to have a more gradual effect on measures like blood sugar” than pharmaceuticals.

    Precautions should be taken with vinegar due to its acetic acid; in concentrated forms, it can damage the teeth, mouth, and throat. Avoid straight-up vinegar shots. Mix it with water, juice, or food. “Let’s not overdo this,” Johnston says. “You’re dealing with an acid.”

    People who have chronic kidney disease should be particularly careful with their vinegar consumption, since their kidneys are challenged to process the excess acid from vinegar.

    Dilute one tablespoon into 8 ounces of fluid, Palinski-Wade says, and consider drinking through a straw. “Maybe gargle with water afterward, just to make sure your tooth enamel is protected,” Yagnik suggests.

    Read More: Is Adrenal Fatigue Real?

    Avoid having more than four tablespoons per day. “The highest you’d go is two tablespoons with one meal, and two tablespoons with a second meal that day,” Johnston says. If you’re new to vinegar, start slowly with one daily tablespoon. “Build up gradually to avoid any digestive issues,” Palinski-Wade says.

    For blood sugar benefits, have vinegar before your heaviest meals, Shibeeb says. Yagnik takes it 5-10 minutes after eating in hopes of helping her immunity.

    If you’re cooking vinegar to make a sauce, like a balsamic reduction, you’re probably losing some of the acetic acid, along with some benefits, Hutkins says.

    Pending further research, we don’t yet know the long-term benefits of regular vinegar intake, nor its side effects. Studies as long as 12 weeks don’t reveal any notable downsides, at least. Based on what we know today, “experimenting with vinegar in the diet is a great option for most individuals,” Palinski-Wade says, “with little risk.”

    [ad_2]

    Matt Fuchs

    Source link

  • ‘American Malaria’ Is on the Rise

    ‘American Malaria’ Is on the Rise

    [ad_1]

    Few things will leave you feeling quite so grossed out as returning from a jaunt outside and finding a tick clinging to your skin. Not only is the unwelcome parasite sucking the blood from your body, but it may also be leaving something behind: bacteria, viruses, or parasites that can cause at least 15 different diseases, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Lyme disease, Powassan virus, Rocky Mountain spotted fever, and Heartland virus are just a few of them.

    [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”]

    Another, babesiosis, is causing particular concern. The disease is colloquially known as “American malaria,” partly because of its ever-widening spread and partly because of its clinical profile. Like malaria, the disease is caused by a parasite (carried by ticks instead of mosquitoes) that infects red blood cells. And like malaria, it can lead to headache, fever, chills, nausea, vomiting, altered mental state, anemia, low blood pressure, respiratory distress, and more. 

    Now, a new paper published in the journal Open Forum Infectious Diseases found that more Americans are getting babesiosis—often alongside other tick-related infections.

    Paddy Ssentongo, an infection disease fellow at Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, and his colleagues studied more than 3,500 Americans with babesiosis from 2015 to 2022. Their first striking finding is how fast the disease is exploding across the U.S. population. In the seven-year span of the survey, cases of babesiosis increased an average of 9% per year—due, the researchers concluded, to a warming world which is expanding the range of the black-legged tick, the principal babesiosis vector. In the Northeast, the spread has been astronomical: babesiosis grew by 1,422% in Maine from 2011 to 2019, and 1,602% in Vermont during the same period, for example.

    Read More: We Used to Have a Lyme Disease Vaccine. Are We Ready to Bring One Back?

    The ticks are not making their way to new habitats on their own, but rather are hitching rides aboard one of their principal hosts—the white-tailed deer, who are expanding their own range, drawn by warmer temperatures and reduced snowpack.

    Geography isn’t the only problem. Ticks are also carrying more pathogens. The ticks may travel on deer, but they pick up disease by feeding on mice and other small mammals; if those hosts are carrying Lyme disease or babesiosis or other infectious agents, the parasite will pick them up too—and pass them on to a human it bites. That’s a big problem, as the researchers found.

    Of the people in the sample group who were found to be carrying babesiosis, 42% were also infected with one or more tick-borne diseases. Of those, 41% also had Lyme disease; 3.7% had ehrlichiosis; and 0.3% had anaplasmosis.

    On its face, that seems like bad news. The wide-ranging symptoms of babesiosis can be especially dangerous in people with compromised immune systems or those who have had their spleen removed during treatment for some cancers, blood diseases, or cirrhosis of the liver. Ehrlichiosis also leads to fever, chills, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and confusion, and in later stages can cause brain damage, uncontrolled bleeding, respiratory failure, and death. Anaplasmosis can lead to similar symptoms and potentially fatal breakdowns, including respiratory failure and bleeding problems.

    Paradoxically, however, the researchers found that infection with more than one of these pathogens at the same time may actually have something of a protective effect. The risk of death from babesiosis turned out to be higher among the people who were infected with that disease alone, as opposed to those who had coinfections.

    Read More: Here’s Exactly What to Do If You Find a Tick on You

    “Having both babesiosis and Lyme disease seemed not to be associated with worse mortality,” Ssentongo said in a statement accompanying the release of the study. “It’s speculated that the concurrent presence of other tick-borne infections in the blood could alter the immune response by possibly ‘boosting’ it to effectively fight infections.”

    That’s not the only reason people with co-infections may do better than those with babesiosis alone. The typical treatment for babesiosis is a combination dose of the antibiotics azithromycin and atovaquone. The front-line treatment for Lyme disease, anaplasmosis, and ehrlichiosis is a different antibiotic, doxycycline. People who are co-infected with one or more of those diseases along with babesiosis are more likely to be treated with doxycycline as well. That, says Ssentongo, raises the question as to whether that antibiotic is effective against the babesia parasite—a question that requires more research.

    Of course, the best way to deal with any of these tick-borne diseases is not to get infected with them in the first place. Wearing long-sleeved shirts and full-length pants, tucking pant cuffs into socks, wearing insect repellant, showering after coming inside, and running a full-body check for ticks are all proven infection preventives. 

    [ad_2]

    Jeffrey Kluger

    Source link

  • Why You Should Eat a Dense Bean Salad Today

    Why You Should Eat a Dense Bean Salad Today

    [ad_1]

    Beans are finally having their main-character moment—promoted from taco or chili accouterments to the starring role in salad bowls.

    TikTok creator Violet Witchel, 24, popularized the “dense bean salad” earlier this year, and the concept has gone viral, embraced by meal-preppers and dietitians alike for its simplicity, cost-effectiveness, and nutritional punch. To make one, mix up the bean(s) of your choice, along with veggies, cheese, and a tasty dressing—no lettuce necessary. Witchel remembers thinking, “Oh, it’s dense” after filling up a bowl, which led to the catchy if curious name. “They have a little bit of everything you need,” she says. “You pretty much immediately feel full—and stay full.”

    These days, Witchel answers to “dense bean girl” and fields messages from dozens of internet strangers a day telling her the salad changed their life. She was recently recognized while out at a bar, and the woman she met referred to Witchel’s fiance as “Mr. Dense Bean Salad.” That captures how thoroughly the salads have overtaken her life—and kitchen. She estimates there are 20 different kinds in her fridge right now, and she’s constantly sending her friends home with bean-filled containers. Many of her followers tell her they had long ago written off beans, only to discover they’re actually—pretty good? “It’s great to have people, as an adult, refind their love for a food they used to hate,” she says.

    We asked experts what they like about the trendy salads—and how to make a really good one.

    The many health benefits of dense bean salads

    The dense bean salad—or DBS, as it’s affectionately called—is a hearty, nutrient-packed entree, thanks in large part to its fiber and protein. A cup of pinto beans, for example, has 18 grams of fiber and 14 grams of protein. “Beans are about 60% to 70% carbohydrate, 20% to 30% protein, and very, very low in fat,” says Erica Baty, a registered dietitian nutritionist in Spokane, Wash. Dietary fiber is a complex carb that can’t be fully broken down by the body, which makes it different from the simple carbs in, for example, white bread, pastries, and crackers. “It’s a very beneficial carbohydrate, while also providing that plant-based protein.”

    Only 5% of American adults get enough fiber—20 to 35 grams a day for women and 25 to 35 grams a day for men—and having a daily dense bean salad is a great way to meet that goal. “You could potentially be eating up to a cup of beans, and then you throw in all the veggies you’ve got in there, and maybe some healthy quinoa or brown rice,” Baty says. “You very well could meet 30 grams with just a dense bean salad, but being cognizant of fiber intake throughout the day is a great idea.”

    Read More: Why Your Diet Needs More Fermented Pickles

    Why all the commotion over fiber? For one thing, it will help you feel full for longer on fewer calories, and research suggests it can lead to a decrease in overall daily consumption, making it an effective weight-management strategy. It can also protect against at least three chronic diseases: Type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and colorectal cancer. In addition to helping control hemoglobin A1c and blood glucose levels, fiber decreases inflammation, which helps lower the risk of heart attack and stroke. One study found that it can lead to a 5% to 10% reduction in total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol levels, while increasing HDL cholesterol. Meanwhile, researchers say that fiber interferes with colon carcinogenesis—which is just one way that it cuts the risk of cancer.

    As anyone who’s ever suddenly increased their fiber intake knows, there are also digestive-health benefits, though they may not feel like a good thing at first. Fiber keeps waste moving through your system, reducing the risk of constipation. Plus, “It helps feed the good bacteria in your gut and creates a biodiverse microbiome that can really improve your overall health,” Baty says. If you’re new to it, however, you might experience temporary gastrointestinal distress, like bloating and gas. “Start small—you don’t want to go from eating zero beans ever to 2 cups a day,” Baty advises. Ease in by having half a cup a day most days of the week, and make sure you drink plenty of water—it helps move fiber through your system, she says.

    Growing pains aside, it’s hard to go wrong with beans. In addition to their protein and fiber content, they’re full of important nutrients and antioxidants, including iron, magnesium, and folate. Plus, as Baty points out, they’re economical: You can get a can for around $1, which is much cheaper than animal protein. “My dietitian heart is so happy about the dense bean salad,” she says. “If anything is going to go viral, this is great.”

    Bean preparation 101

    You can either buy canned beans or dried beans—and while which one you go with is mostly a matter of personal preference, there are some considerations to keep in mind. If you’re using canned beans, opt for an unsalted or low-salt variety, and make sure to drain and rinse them well, says Dana Hunnes, a senior clinical dietitian at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center. “They’ll be a little mushier, but you hardly have to do anything except add the dressing,” she says.

    If you’re using dried beans, meanwhile, preparation will be more involved. As the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) points out, raw and undercooked beans can contain toxic levels of lectin, which is a protein that binds to carbs. If you consume too much, you could have nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea. The FDA recommends soaking beans for a minimum of five hours, and then boiling them for at least 30 minutes.

    Read More: 6 Things to Eat to Reduce Your Cancer Risk

    The decision doesn’t end at canned vs. dried—most bean aisles feature tons of different varieties. Here’s what to know about some of the most popular kinds.

    • Chickpeas: These legumes, also known as garbanzo beans, are commonly used to make hummus and falafel. They’re sturdier than other varieties, says Susan Greeley, a registered dietitian nutritionist who’s an instructor of plant-based culinary arts at the Institute of Culinary Education in New York. They work well in Mediterranean and Greek-style recipes, she says.
    • Black beans: Black beans “go nicely in anything,” Greeley notes, including Mexican and Brazilian dishes. They’re smooth and creamy, with a moderate flavor that doesn’t overpower other ingredients.
    • Cannellini beans: These white beans are mild and soft. Greeley likes pairing them with fresh basil and tomatoes, red onion, and lemon juice.
    • Great Northern beans: These creamy, slightly nutty legumes are among Witchel’s favorites. “They’re really small, and kind of like a starchier bean,” she says. “They soak up the flavor really well.”
    • Fava beans: These are “big and dense,” Greeley says, with a sweet, nutty flavor. Enjoy them with tomatoes, roasted carrots, and grilled chicken, she suggests.
    • Kidney beans: Expect these kidney-shaped legumes to taste slightly sweet, with a soft texture. They’re a great introductory bean for newbies, Greeley says.
    • Butter beans: These beige beans—also known as limas—are shaped like the moon, and, as their name suggests, taste buttery. “There’s a lot of surface area,” Witchel says, which helps the beans take on the flavor of the dressing.

    How to make a really good dense bean salad

    There are lots of different ways to prepare a dense bean salad—and home cooks are getting creative. Here are some ideas for inspiration.

    Sun-dried tomato dense bean salad

    Witchel’s favorite recipe includes ingredients like bell peppers, cherry tomatoes, basil and parsley, artichoke hearts, and mozzarella balls—plus, of course, white beans and chickpeas. Two cans of beans yield about five servings that keep in the fridge for four days, she says.

    Buffalo chicken dense bean salad

    Whip up a bowl of chickpeas, carrots, celery, and buffalo sauce or ranch dressing. “It’s like Buffalo Wild Wings, but a dense bean salad,” Baty says. “The opportunities are endless.”

    Late-summer dense bean salad

    Combine corn, grilled chicken, white beans, avocado, and tomatoes. You can prepare this any time of year, but as Baty points out, it has “late-summer vibes.”.

    Green goddess dense bean salad

    Witchel recently sung this recipe’s praises after having one for breakfast. “It was a blended herb dressing with crunchy vegetables, white beans, and chickpeas,” she says. “It’s really good, and you can eat it on the side of stuff, too.”

    Tex-Mex dense bean salad

    Load up a bowl with black beans, avocado, corn, and bell peppers for this Southern-inspired dish. Consider topping it with a creamy chipotle dressing or zesty vinaigrette, and scooping some up with tortilla chips. “You can’t go wrong,” Greeley says. “You’re full, you’re happy, you’re satisfied—and it’s flavorful and doesn’t break the bank.”

    [ad_2]

    Angela Haupt

    Source link

  • Is Adrenal Fatigue Real?

    Is Adrenal Fatigue Real?

    [ad_1]

    If there are two words Dr. James Findling, an endocrinologist at the Medical College of Wisconsin, dreads hearing, they’re probably “adrenal fatigue.”

    Some of his patients recite claims they’ve read on social media: that adrenal fatigue happens when the adrenal glands, which produce the stress hormone cortisol, can’t keep up with the amount of stress they’re facing and underperform, leading to a long list of symptoms. But the mainstream medical community disagrees. “Adrenal fatigue is an illogical and illegitimate diagnosis that has no scientific basis,” Findling says, and endocrinologists are “fed up” that the idea hasn’t gone away.

    The Endocrine Society, of which Findling is a member, agrees that adrenal fatigue is not a legitimate medical diagnosis, and researchers have debunked the concept in studies. But the term persists on social media and among some alternative-medicine practitioners, so people continue to think they have it. “It takes a lot of time and a lot of explanation…to prove their adrenals are fine,” says Dr. Anat Ben-Shlomo, an endocrinologist at Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles.

    How the adrenal glands work

    It’s hard to blame patients for thinking they have adrenal fatigue, as the symptoms attributed to the condition are extremely common. They include struggling to wake in the morning and then feeling tired for much of the day, relying on caffeine for energy, craving salt or sugar, experiencing brain fog, feeling hopeless or in despair, and reporting a low sex drive. And that’s the short list. “It’s pretty much every symptom,” says Dr. Rashmi Mullur, an endocrinologist and integrative-medicine specialist at UCLA Health.

    These symptoms are real, Mullur says, and they may indeed be linked to chronic stress—but they aren’t happening because your adrenal glands are giving out. “While you may emotionally and mentally feel burned out, your adrenals can’t actually burn out,” she says. “They will continue to function even in chronic stress.”

    Read More: Why Zero Stress Shouldn’t Be Your Goal

    The adrenal glands, which sit atop the kidneys, produce and release multiple hormones, including cortisol and adrenaline. During stressful situations, a domino effect beginning in the brain eventually signals to the adrenals that it’s time to start pumping out these hormones, which trigger a range of physiological effects meant to help the body respond to the stressor. When there’s enough cortisol in the bloodstream, the brain gets the message and regulates production accordingly.

    The adrenals’ ability to carry out that process “appears to be limitless,” Ben-Shlomo says, unless someone has true adrenal dysfunction. There are rare conditions that lead the adrenal glands to either under- or over-produce hormones—Addison’s disease and Cushing’s syndrome, respectively—but they’re usually caused by autoimmune conditions, tumors, infections, prolonged medication usage, or other medical problems, not routine stress. (Damage to the pituitary gland, which is located at the base of the brain, may also disrupt the hormone-production process.) And, unlike for adrenal fatigue, there are validated tests that doctors use to diagnose Addison’s disease and Cushing’s syndrome, Ben-Shlomo says.

    The myth of adrenal fatigue

    If it’s not an accepted diagnosis, where did the idea of adrenal fatigue come from, anyway? It’s often attributed to James Wilson, a chiropractor and naturopath who in 2001 published the book Adrenal Fatigue: The 21st Century Stress Syndrome. In an interview with TIME, Wilson says he coined the term in the late 1990s after seeing many clients who had the same energy and mood problems, which he attributed to problems with their adrenal glands.

    Though he says it’s “doubtful” that mainstream medicine will accept adrenal fatigue, Wilson maintains that there is a state between adrenal failure and regular functioning, and that physicians are missing it because they’re not using the right diagnostic tests. For one, Wilson thinks saliva tests are more precise than blood tests for measuring cortisol levels. The U.S. National Institutes of Health says blood tests are the gold standard for diagnosing adrenal insufficiency, but a 2023 study from researchers in the U.K. found that saliva tests are not drastically less accurate.

    The medical system isn’t motivated to take adrenal fatigue seriously, Wilson says, because “there’s no money in it” without drugs that can be prescribed to treat it. (Wilson sells a range of supplements that claim to improve adrenal health.)

    Read More: You Don’t Need to Balance Your Hormones

    The problem with people believing they have adrenal fatigue, Ben-Shlomo says, is they may self-diagnose themselves and seek out unproven and potentially dangerous treatments. She once saw a patient who took so many supplements containing steroids that they actually damaged his adrenal glands—the exact opposite of what they promised to do.

    Plus, people who think they have adrenal fatigue may in fact have another medical issue that’s causing their symptoms, which could also be missed if patients diagnose themselves.

    Treating stress, not symptoms

    Where does that leave people who are experiencing all the symptoms attributed to adrenal fatigue, but are testing normal in the doctor’s office? Mullur can empathize. As the parent of a child with disabilities, she has faced extreme stress and experienced many of the alleged symptoms of adrenal fatigue herself, which inspired her to do more for patients in the same boat. “I knew my adrenals were functioning, but I had all the symptoms: can’t sleep, eating too much, fatigued all day, weight gain, hair loss, irritability, all of it,” she says.

    For other people dealing with these issues, she says the solution often comes down to managing chronic stress—because, although it won’t fry the adrenal glands, chronic stress can have a profound impact on overall health, Mullur says.

    Read More: Can Food Really Change Your Hormones?

    In the short-term, the body’s stress response can be lifesaving and health-boosting. But when people live with unrelenting stress, they can experience a cascade of effects that contribute to health problems ranging from cardiovascular issues to immune- and nervous-system dysfunction. Research also suggests chronic stress can disrupt circadian rhythms, which may have trickle-down effects on everything from sleep to digestion.

    Mullur says people should focus on managing their stress through “back to basics” approaches like movement, nutrition, mindfulness practices, and social connection. Seeing a mental-health clinician or other health care practitioner may also help, if possible.

    Over time, Mullur says, these practices should improve the symptoms people are experiencing, which are legitimate and worthy of treatment—even if they’re not linked to an adrenal problem. “We need a different name,” Mullur says. “It’s about treating the chronic stress. That’s the main issue.”

    [ad_2]

    Jamie Ducharme

    Source link

  • What to Do If You Wake Up Tired Every Day

    What to Do If You Wake Up Tired Every Day

    [ad_1]

    Have you ever slept a full eight hours but awakened feeling as tired as if you had pulled an all-nighter? If so, you may have experienced what’s known as unrefreshing sleep.

    Unrefreshing sleep, also known as non-restorative sleep, is exactly what it sounds like: sleep that doesn’t recharge the body and brain enough to help you feel well-rested. People who experience it “feel just as tired as they were before they went to sleep,” says Thomas Roth, founder of the Sleep Disorders and Research Center at Henry Ford Health in Michigan.

    Here’s what to know about unrefreshing sleep, and what to do if you experience it.

    What is unrefreshing sleep, exactly?

    People with insomnia struggle to fall or stay asleep and are often painfully aware of how long they’ve spent lying in bed wide awake. That’s not necessarily the case with unrefreshing sleep. Sufferers may wake up feeling fatigued even if they fell asleep quickly and didn’t get up at all during the night—in other words, they may be sleeping long enough, but the sleep isn’t doing its job.

    “A lot of times people feel like, ‘It doesn’t matter how long I sleep. I wake up and feel like a truck ran over me,’” says Dr. Sonja Schuetz, a neurologist specializing in sleep medicine at University of Michigan Health.

    What causes unrefreshing sleep?

    Unrefreshing sleep can be a symptom of a larger medical problem, such as restless leg syndrome, fibromyalgia, myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), or Long COVID. Some treatable sleep disorders, such as hypersomnia, sleep apnea, and narcolepsy, also result in excessive daytime fatigue, even if someone slept plenty the night before.

    Read More: Why Waking Up Earlier Isn’t Necessarily Better

    “If sleep is [chronically] unrefreshing, you need a medical workup” to rule out these and other conditions, says Dr. Lucinda Bateman, founder of the Bateman Horne Center in Utah, which is dedicated to improving care for people with ME/CFS, Long COVID, and fibromyalgia.

    But some people experience unrefreshing sleep without a clear underlying medical cause. Researchers aren’t entirely sure why that happens—but at its core, the problem seems linked to inadequate deep, restorative rest, Schuetz says.

    During an average night, someone will go through four to six sleep cycles, each one comprising four different stages of sleep. The deep sleep that helps the body and brain recover happens toward the end of each sleep cycle. “There’s a certain amount of deep sleep that is required for good sleep quality,” Schuetz says. People who experience unrefreshing sleep may, for whatever reason, not get enough, leaving them fatigued during the day even after hours of shut-eye.

    Read More: Why Do Some People Need More Sleep Than Others?

    Why? One possibility is that some people experience “micro-arousals” throughout the night, waking numerous times but so briefly that they don’t remember it by morning, says Roth, who has studied non-restorative sleep. (That’s well-known to happen in patients with sleep apnea, who may wake dozens of times per hour.) And sometimes, Roth says, brain waves typically seen while awake “intrude” upon deep sleep, potentially harming overall sleep quality.

    Chronic stress, anxiety, pain, or nervous-system dysfunction can also degrade sleep quality, Bateman says. Lifestyle and environmental factors can make a big difference, too. Background noise and ambient light can lead to poorer sleep, Schuetz says, as can drinking even small amounts of caffeine and alcohol. 

    What to do about unrefreshing sleep

    Everyone has the occasional night of poor sleep, leading to a drowsy next day. But if you’re constantly struggling with non-restorative sleep, it’s worth taking a hard look at your habits and sleep hygiene.

    First, make sure you’re actually getting enough sleep, Schuetz says. Some people think they need less than the recommended seven to nine hours per night, but are in reality walking around chronically sleep-deprived. “A lot of times, insufficient sleep feels like unrefreshing sleep,” Schuetz says. To test whether you’re well-rested, she suggests, skip setting your alarm on your day off and see how late you wake up without it. If you sleep in late, that’s a signal that your body needs to catch up on rest because you’re not getting enough shut-eye normally.

    Read More: Are Mushroom Edibles Safe and Legal?

    Next, take a look at any medications you’re using. Sleeping pills and other types of prescription drugs, as well as over-the-counter remedies like melatonin, can have “hangover” effects that lead to morning grogginess, which can create or worsen the feeling of unrefreshing sleep, Bateman says. (Weed edibles, which some people use as sleep aids, can also result in morning grogginess—and potentially throw off sleep cycles in ways that make slumber less restorative, research suggests.) If you’re on a necessary medication that makes you feel fuzzy in the morning, ask your doctor if there’s a way to minimize side effects.

    And, of course, it’s worth trying to implement the classic sleep advice you’ve probably heard a million times, but likely still don’t follow to a tee. Limit caffeine and alcohol consumption; stay off your phone close to bedtime; create a soothing bedtime routine and aim for consistent sleep and wake times; and try to sleep in a cool, dark, quiet room. Mindfulness and relaxation practices that minimize stress and anxiety also go a long way toward better sleep, Bateman adds.

    If you’ve done all these things and still feel like your sleep isn’t restorative, to the point that it’s disrupting your daily life, it’s worth seeing a doctor. A physician can look for underlying medical causes—and, hopefully, help you land on a regimen that leaves you feeling rejuvenated in the morning.

    [ad_2]

    Jamie Ducharme

    Source link

  • 6 Things to Eat to Reduce Your Cancer Risk

    6 Things to Eat to Reduce Your Cancer Risk

    [ad_1]

    Growing up in Scotland, Nigel Brockton envisioned one day becoming a marine biologist. But after battling a rare and deadly cancer twice before finishing college, he turned to cancer research, determined to help others reduce their risk.

    He was ahead of his time. Back then in the early 1990s, despite the American Cancer Society focusing on cancer prevention, many people thought that people got cancer mainly because of inherited genes and bad luck, like being struck like lightning, Brockton says. Non-scientists may still think that way, but research is painting a different picture: about 40% of all cancers could be thwarted by mitigating certain risk factors, especially through a healthier lifestyle.

    Nutrition plays a big role in this lifestyle. Brockton, a cancer epidemiologist for the nonprofit American Institute for Cancer Research, and other scientists have studied links between unhealthy eating and increased cancer risk, and nutritious substitutes to reduce this risk. Meanwhile, cancer is on the rise among Americans under age 50. “By eating more of the good stuff, we have less of the bad,” Brockton says, “and we can start to turn the tide.” 

    Choose the right patterns

    When Brockton’s career began, researchers were seeking a “magic bullet”—one or two foods that, eaten consistently, could protect cells from turning cancerous. However, “we now know the full dietary package is what matters,” Brockton says. “It’s much more important than individual foods.”

    The right dietary patterns help the body suppress mechanisms that lead to cancer: obesity, chronic inflammation, high blood sugar, a poorly functioning immune system, and an unhealthy microbiome—the tiny organisms in the gut.

    The best patterns include Mediterranean, vegetarian, and pescovegetarian diets, loaded with plant-based proteins and fibers. They differ radically from the Standard American Diet, or SAD, dominated by red meat and refined sugars that fuel rather than foil cancer’s mechanisms.

    Read More: Why Do Some People Need More Sleep Than Others?

    Yet “nearly the entire U.S. population” eats a SAD, according to the National Cancer Institute. 

    Swapping a better dietary pattern drops the average person’s cancer risk by 8-9%, research shows. A lean body weight reduces it by another 7-8%. Recent research using a scoring system developed by NCI and Brockton’s organization, AICR, shows how adopting an overall healthy lifestyle that includes eating more nutritious foods has the biggest effect on bringing down cancer risk, compared to any one specific healthy behavior.

    Here are some of the most impactful substitutions. 

    EAT LESS: Ultra-processed carbs 

    EAT MORE: Healthier carbs

    Whole foods with plenty of fiber can help reduce cancer risk. “Fiber is my favorite nutrient for cancer prevention,” says Carrie Daniel-MacDougall, a cancer epidemiologist at MD Anderson Cancer Center. 

    Plucked directly from nature, many plant foods provide carbs with a healthy dose of fiber, but frequently the fiber is diminished through ultra-processing en route to your plate. Low-fiber foods, processed with dozens of ingredients, are a sadly common feature of SAD. Examples include instant oatmeal packets, pita bread, white rice, and pasta made from refined flour. If your carbs come mostly from packages with long ingredient lists, you’re likely not getting sufficient fiber to reduce cancer risk.

    Trade these carbs for whole plant foods like beans, lentils, and other legumes with high ratios of fiber to carbs. Lentils, for example, can offer 11 grams of fiber per serving. Daniel-MacDougall and her colleagues found links between high-fiber intake and longer survival for cancer patients—and, in animals, fiber increased anti-cancer immune cells. This suggests fiber impedes cancer growth, at least in part, by strengthening the immune system.

    Read More: Why Your Diet Needs More Fermented Pickles

    If you think of cancer as a trap with several blades, each representing a different mechanism by which the disease grows, fiber seems to have a dulling effect on each sharp point. One blade is immune dysfunction. Another is obesity, which promotes the spread of cancer cells by causing chronic inflammation, among other problems. People who are overweight have higher rates of 13 kinds of cancer. 

    Studies suggest that diets with ample fiber support a healthier weight—partly because fiber promotes feelings of fullness and less overeating. “It’s important to keep weight within your normal BMI range throughout life,” says Dr. Kala Visvanathan, a Johns Hopkins medical oncologist and cancer epidemiologist. “Data show that even 10 pounds less can help bring down cancer risk.”

    Daniel-MacDougall notes that fiber can parry another of cancer’s blades: an unhealthy microbiome. Fiber nourishes the beneficial bacteria in the gut. This supports a thriving microbiome, which lowers inflammation, according to Daniel-MacDougall’s research. 

    You don’t have to shun your favorite low-fiber carbs; try having smaller portions. Daniel-MacDougall has researched ways of combining them with higher-fiber options. One intriguing combination: whip white beans or chickpeas into lower-fiber mashed potatoes, while using only half the potato. Some of Daniel-MacDougall’s research participants “wouldn’t touch beans with a 10-foot pole” before they started the trial, she says. That changed with the hidden beans trick. “Now you’re having a dish that’s higher in fiber as well as protein.”

    LESS: Lots of red or fake meat

    MORE: True plant-based proteins

    The classic American dinner plate stars a 10-ounce slab of red meat. Its supporting cast members are buttered mashed potatoes and starchy vegetables like peas. Viewed through the prism of cancer risk, this home-style favorite raises multiple red flags. 

    “We see a very consistent association between higher red meat consumption and higher cancer risk,” Brockton says. Steak contains a form of iron that, if eaten frequently over many years, may cause chronic inflammation and damage in the digestive system, raising the risk of colorectal cancer, the third most common type.

    You don’t need to avoid red meat (such as beef, lamb, and pork) entirely. Brockton sometimes enjoys steak as his protein source. But he and AICR suggest 12-18 ounces of red meat per week, considerably less than many Americans consume. “Only once in a while,” Visvanathan says. 

    Read More: Why Your Breakfast Should Start with a Vegetable

    Processed meats, such as deli meat, are worse, Brockton says. “They’re more carcinogenic than red meat.” AICR recommends cutting out the cold cuts if possible.

    And beware of some meat substitutes, like soy deli meats and veggie hot dogs, with lots  of processed ingredients, Daniel-MacDougall says. “They add all kinds of creepy stuff that may affect gut health and inflammation.” Several of these ingredients may also stimulate the appetite, resulting in bigger meals and weight gain, she adds. 

    Try to replace red and processed meats with plant proteins such as tofu, tempeh, and legumes. They’re higher in cancer-protective fiber, without additive chemicals.  

    Chicken and fish are smart protein choices, too. Salmon and other fatty fish are high in vitamin D; Visvanathan has researched this vitamin’s role in protecting against breast cancer. Opt for lower-heat cooking methods like steaming or poaching. High heat, such as broiling, can produce carcinogenic compounds, Visvanathan says. 

    The New American Plate, a template for the ideal meal developed by AICR, is light on animal meat altogether, calling for only about three ounces, even for chicken and fish. “Meat should be like the condiment,” Brockton says. It’s not the headliner of your plate, just an exciting cameo. 

    LESS: Mounds of just one vegetable

    MORE: Diverse veggies and fruits

    Your plate should feature multiple colorful veggies and whole grains like red lentils or barley. Cruciferous vegetables like broccoli and Brussels sprouts may be particularly beneficial. Have mixed berries for dessert. Regularly eating these plants, with their fiber and anti-inflammatory properties, works to gradually stunt cancerous growth over the years. 

    Aim for quantity and diversity beyond “an apple a day” to keep your cancer doctor away. It’s likely that different compounds from various vegetables and fruits, eaten daily, counter cancer synergistically. “Eat more fruits and vegetables of all kinds,” Daniel-MacDougall says. 

    LESS: Ultra-processed “plant-based” snacks

    MORE: Nuts and unsweetened dried fruit

    Some ultra-processed snacks, like chickpea chips and vegan protein bars, are advertised as “plant-based.” Don’t be fooled. “They sit on the shelf and taste delightful but provide almost no nutritional value,” Daniel-MacDougall says.

    The refined flour and sugar in these snacks do nothing to reduce disease risk. Technically, even a cookie—Brockton’s personal weakness—is a “plant-based” snack, and “the amount of sugar in some yogurts is crazy,” he notes. Routinely eating foods with these added sugars will spike blood sugar and related hormones, which may cause cancer cells to proliferate over time.

    Read More: 6 Health Myths About Oils

    Easing off of your favorite snack is challenging. Approach it gradually. Instead of yogurt with added sugars, drop fresh fruit into plain yogurt; eating this kind of dairy food, in moderation, is linked to a lower risk of colorectal cancer. Brockton also snacks on granola bars. Though processed, they’re healthier than his preferred cookies. Like trail mix with candy? Try a version with just the nuts and dried fruit.

    Almonds and walnuts, in particular, have cancer-fighting powers. “Nuts increase your fiber intake, and they have vitamin E and antioxidants that may help with cancer prevention,” says Bradley Bolling, an associate professor of food science at the University of Wisconsin. Bolling found that eating 28 grams of nuts per day—about a handful of almonds or walnuts—is linked to a lower risk of getting and dying from cancer. Dried fruit without added sugars may have a similar effect, though data are limited, Bolling adds. 

    LESS: Alcohol and soda

    MORE: Coffee and tea

    Avoiding alcohol and soda will take you far in cancer-proofing your diet. “There’s basically no safe threshold for alcohol,” says Teresa Fung, a nutrition researcher at Simmons University. “It increases the risk of cancer in the entire digestive system, from the mouth to the colon, and breast and liver cancer as well.”

    Meanwhile, “if you have soda in your everyday life, that is the first one to eliminate,” Brockton says. “It’s the easiest win, with a big impact” on cancer risk.

    Read More: What’s the Least Amount of Exercise I Can Get Away With?

    Substitute tea or coffee. Some research suggests both have anti-cancer effects, though more studies are needed, Fung says.

    LESS: Processed condiments

    MORE: Healthier, more natural sauces and seasonings

    Don’t discount the role of condiments and sauces in your anti-cancer strategy. Cancer risk goes up with regular intake of ultra-processed ingredients, like those found in some sauces. “Try a smear of hummus instead of mayonnaise on your sandwich,” Daniel-MacDougall says. Other flavor-boosting sauces and seasonings with cancer-fighting nutrients: tomato sauce, salsa, olive oil, vinegar, citrus zests, shallots, garlic, and flaxseed.  

    Be mindful of these principles when dining out. Some fast-casual places offer a reasonably healthy bowl, before suggesting you drench it in multiple ultra-processed sauces, Brockton notes.

    Cancer remains unpredictable in many ways. Healthy dietary patterns seem particularly effective for lowering the risks of colorectal, breast, and prostate cancers, but findings about other cancers are less clear. Other lifestyle factors, such as exercise, may be just as important as diet. Living a “perfect life” doesn’t guarantee perfect health, Brockton says, but you can reduce risk substantially—and improve the odds that you’ll  “delay cancer until your 80s or 90s instead of your 40s or 50s,” he says. “That’s a totally different proposition.” 

    And while these nutritional patterns relate specifically to cancer risk, they overlap with strategies to prevent other diseases like heart disease and diabetes. “It’s two for the price of one,” Visvanathan says. “You’ll get multiple benefits.”

    [ad_2]

    Matt Fuchs

    Source link

  • How to Travel When You Have COPD

    How to Travel When You Have COPD

    [ad_1]

    For the 16 million Americans with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), travel can be as anxiety-provoking as it is life-affirming. 

    The fatigue, chest tightness, congestion, and difficulty breathing that come with the chronic bronchitis or emphysema behind COPD can make the thought of travel seem overwhelming. There are so many questions: How would I handle a long flight? What do I need to bring? And how would I make my overall itinerary manageable?

    COPD may require a lot more planning, pulmonologists say, but for the majority of patients without the most severe lung disease—even those on oxygen—it’s certainly doable. 

    Here are the considerations doctors and COPD patients say you’ll need to keep in mind before you hit the road and while you’re away.

    Check-in with your doctor

    The first step is making an appointment with your pulmonologist to discuss the conditions at your destination, including altitude, air quality, and weather, as well as what you plan to do there. 

    “Our biggest concern is always the altitude,” says Dr. Roberto Swazo, a pulmonologist with Orlando Health Medical Group. “If you struggle at baseline, you are going to have a harder time at altitude than anywhere else.” 

    Traveling by plane will also mean a lower concentration of oxygen when you reach altitude, which could be challenging for those who struggle with blood oxygen levels.

    If you’re on oxygen already, your doctor can perform a high-altitude simulation test to determine if you’re fit to fly, and how much oxygen you will need to take with you. The procedure involves breathing a mix of oxygen and nitrogen that mimics the reduced oxygen environment of an airplane cabin, while monitoring your blood oxygen saturation and heart rate. If your doctor is unsure if you’ll need a prescription to travel with oxygen to make it through the flight, they can order a test to justify the prescription. 

    From there, you can determine what kind of oxygen concentrator you need for your flight and how many battery packs you require. You’ll have to procure any airline, train, or cruise documentation needed, as well as prescriptions for equipment or meds you need take with you. And plan for when you reach your destination.“We want to make sure you know where the nearest pharmacy is, and that you know where to go in an emergency,” Swazo adds. 

    Read More: The Most Exciting New Advances in Managing COPD

    It’s also important that you make these plans well in advance of your trip, Swazo says, so you have plenty of time to rent any equipment you need and notify your airline, cruise line, or hotel.

    Remember to get an updated COVID-19 booster a month before your flight, and make sure you have your RSV inoculation. If it’s a fall or winter trip, get a flu shot before you go. Your doctor can lay out an action plan for the steps to take in case you don’t feel well, with zones of green, yellow, and red, outlining what to do for each level of symptom severity. In this plan, you’ll take actions and use the medications and therapies specific to each zone, with red being emergency medical treatment.

    What to take with you 

    You’ll need to have your equipment and meds always within reach, including in your carry-on baggage on the plane. For those not prescribed oxygen, that might be as simple as making sure you have your rescue inhaler and all prescription and over-the-counter meds in your bag to control any symptoms. Those with more compromised lung function will need to bring supplemental oxygen along with medications. Swazo says that for his patients who have flare-ups at least a couple of times a year, he also prescribes steroids and antibiotics to take on their trips as a precaution. But be judicious with the drugs.

    “The instructions are clear: Don’t take it unless you need to,” he says. If there is a flare-up, he wants his patients to call him to make sure he can adjust dosing as needed. These medications should be brought in their original container with the prescription label on it, even if you usually use a weekly pill box.

    Keep a list of these medications with you in a travel folder, along with your oxygen prescription, and any letters from your healthcare provider, including your fit-to-fly report, your emergency contacts, and contact information for the airline, train, or cruise line on which you are traveling, advises the COPD Foundation. While this information might be on your smartphone on the MyChart app, you want to have it handy if there’s no cell service or WiFi, or if your battery dies.

    If you’re traveling out of state or out of the country, review your health plan’s coverage and buy additional temporary medical coverage or trip cancellation insurance you think you might need. If you can, consider having a friend, family member, or spouse travel with you—someone who understands your needs and can provide help when required.

    “I automatically know when I’m starting to get sick,” says Lisa Hall, 55, of Minnesota, who struggled with asthma for decades, before being diagnosed with COPD in 2005. “It feels stuffy, I get warm, and I have to sit there and take in deeper breaths and blow out longer.” 

    While she doesn’t travel with oxygen, Hall says her mom knows when she needs help and will say, “‘Lisa, take a deep breath.’ She notices when my breathing is getting shallower.”

    Traveling with oxygen

    Start your trip planning by working with a local oxygen supplier to ensure you not only have enough supplies to bring with you, but will have what you need at your destination. Most oxygen suppliers are part of a network and can make arrangements for you to have oxygen delivered to your hotel or other accommodation. Plan on doing this at least two weeks in advance of your trip. It’s also a good idea to ask for the contact information of the person your local supplier spoke to, so you can call and confirm a day or two before you travel that your equipment will be there when you arrive. 

    Read More: How Climate Change Is Punishing Asthma Sufferers

    If you’re staying in a hotel, make sure they know about any equipment that is to be delivered, and let them know to allow an employee to sign for it, and not to forget to have it brought to your room by the time you check-in.

    “That is not a surprise you want, when you roll into your hotel room at 10 p.m.,” says Dr. Steven Davis, associate professor at the Burnett School of Medicine at Texas Christian University. 

    Planes, trains, automobiles, and boats

    If you are taking to the skies, remember that airlines do not allow oxygen tanks on flights and do not routinely supply oxygen, although they have it for emergencies, Davis adds.

    You’ll need to take a portable oxygen concentrator (POC) that is aviation-approved as well as back-up batteries and an airline form that your health care provider filled out. Make sure you call the airline no later than 72 hours in advance of your flight to notify them of your condition. The general rule for battery life is to make sure you have enough to last from the time you take off until the time you land, plus an additional 50%. You will need more still to accommodate any layovers or delays.  

    The good news is that your medical supplies, such as nebulizers, concentrators, and batteries do not count against your carry-on limit so you can take what you need on board, stashing it either under the seat or in an overhead bin. 

    Tom Krueger, a 70-year-old traveler from Wisconsin who uses oxygen tanks at home to deal with his emphysema, said he was pleased with how well his portable oxygen concentrator worked on his flight, after testing it first on the ground.“It actually worked out better for me than using my tanks on the trip,” he says. 

    Krueger also requests wheelchair assistance to eliminate the long walk to his gate, and ease him through security, so he is not stressed and out of breath before the plane takes off. It also allows him to board first so he can get his luggage stowed and equipment in the right place before other people get on.

    “A lot of this is swallowing that big chunk of pride and recognizing your limitations,” Krueger says. “Don’t be shy to ask for help.” 

    Keep in mind that not every mode of travel is equal. Traina are easier than trains, for example. You can bring oxygen tanks and concentrators on Amtrak, as long as you call to reserve a spot for your equipment. You must have enough oxygen or battery life for your concentrator to go at least four hours without a charge, and the total weight of tanks may not exceed 120 pounds.

    Read More: Severe Asthma Patients on Ways Their Doctors Could Improve Treatment

    Car trips won’t require as much planning, but you will need to have enough tanks to last throughout your trip, and know where you can have empty tanks exchanged for new ones at your destination. Take your stationary concentrator to use at night, and any additional tubing, electrical outlet extenders or other supplies. Also remember to keep your phone charged up for emergencies.

    Cruises are a great way for travelers with COPD to see the world. Most large cruise lines allow passengers to travel with oxygen, as long as your medical documentation is approved and you call special services a month or more before the cruise to get oxygen delivered to the ship.

    Managing expectations 

    Once you’re at your destination, don’t push yourself too hard. Take an Uber or rent a scooter, so you can enjoy yourself without getting short of breath. And don’t feel like you need to keep up with travelers without lung disease. If you’re sightseeing and feel unwell, arrange a time and place to meet and just enjoy the street scene from a local café. 

    Krueger took in the stunning glacier views from the deck of his Alaska cruise and saw the ship’s stage shows, while his wife and her friends did the more taxing excursions. The trip was such a success he and his wife are considering a future trip to Florida in the winter.

    “I think there is a lot of benefit both physically and mentally to travel,” unless your COPD is really severe, Davis says. It’s such a confidence booster, he believes, knowing you can make it to family events, or cross off a bucket-list trip that you’ll always remember. “We do whatever we can to facilitate getting people to where they need to go.”

    [ad_2]

    Melinda Fulmer

    Source link

  • 9 Ways to Respond to Political Misinformation

    9 Ways to Respond to Political Misinformation

    [ad_1]

    It’s been an intense election season, from a candidate’s momentous dropout to meme-generating debates to assassination attempts. And that’s just accounting for the things that did happen—not the ones that were made up but generated extensive attention, like fake celebrity endorsements, false claims about Haitian immigrants eating pets, and conspiracy theories about the government’s hurricane-response efforts.

    It’s anyone’s guess what else will transpire in the lead-up to Nov. 5. Yet misinformation will inevitably continue to spread—and you may encounter it in conversations with friends or family members. It can be helpful to have a plan for how to respond. “Most people who are passing along misinformation are doing it inadvertently—they heard something somewhere that they believed,” says Dan Pfeiffer, co-host of the podcast Pod Save America. “If you believe they actually want to know the truth, then you want to at least give them the opportunity to [understand] the correct information and to stop passing along the incorrect information or spreading a conspiracy theory.”

    Of course, not everyone is open to rethinking their perspectives. Pfeiffer speaks from personal experience: He was an advisor to Barack Obama when misinformation about the former president’s birth certificate reached a fever pitch. Many people are too attached to their ideology to care about the facts, he says, allowing their personal beliefs to eclipse evidence to the contrary. “They’re motivated to believe what they believe, and they’ll recreate the world to fit into that,” he says. Others, though—“your skeptical cousin who is not as ideological”—are more open to reasoning.

    With that in mind, we asked experts exactly what to say the next time you encounter misinformation.

    “Do you mind telling me where you heard that?”

    Your first move when someone tells you something false or misleading should be asking where they heard it—which reveals a lot about what types of sources they rely on. “Is it something they read somewhere? Is it something someone else told them?” Pfeiffer asks. Depending on what they say, it might be helpful to then explain that it’s important to check additional sources to get a full picture—or to ask them how they concluded the claim is true, which promotes critical thinking without directly challenging their beliefs.

    Read More: How to Survive Election Season Without Losing Your Mind

    Keep in mind that tone and delivery are key, Pfeiffer adds. “Approach it from a perspective of grace,” he stresses. “One of the mistakes a lot of folks make is that they talk down to the people passing along misinformation. If you treat them as being naive or foolish, or look down your nose at them,” you’re not going to get anywhere.

    “I heard the football coach say ____. Do you think their perspective is worth considering?”

    If you want to provide someone with counter-information, it has to come from a source they trust, Pfeiffer says. Keep in mind that’s likely different from your go-to sources; not everyone, for example, gravitates toward traditional media outlets. In these cases, it’s often more effective to point them toward people in their community or network who are “very influential, like a teacher, coach, or the fire chief,” Pfeiffer says. Slamming their preferred source will only backfire. “People are very, very skeptical of information, so if they’ve put their trust in something, they’ve already crossed a pretty big chasm,” he adds. “Simply saying, ‘Well, that news outlet is filled with lies’ or ‘That person is full of it’ is insulting their judgment.”

    “I noticed that different media sources are focusing on different information. Mine seem to be focusing on ___. What draws you to your sources?”

    There are many narratives about the 2024 presidential election—and the ones you hear most loudly depend on who and what you’re paying attention to. Asking your friend what appeals to them about the sources they trust can open up a deeper conversation about the ways that different outlets approach coverage. “You can acknowledge that your sources are always giving you a certain angle on things, too,” says Tania Israel, a professor of counseling psychology at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and author of Beyond Your Bubble: How to Connect Across the Political Divide. “It’s not calling out the media as being biased—it’s acknowledging that they’re going to take an angle, and it helps us be more informed consumers when we can recognize that angle.”

    “What worries you the most about that?”

    If someone tells you something you know isn’t true, respond by saying you’re curious what meaning that information has for them, Israel suggests. Maybe, for example, they’ve heard that immigrant children are being separated from their parents at the border and then sold into slavery. If you know that’s what concerns them, you can tailor your follow-ups accordingly: “I also care a lot about children, and I think it’s really important we keep them safe.” It’s an effective way to find common ground, build trust, and learn more about their thought process, Israel points out. “We’re not saying it’s true, and we’re not saying it’s not true,” she says. “We’re inquiring more about that person—it’s about the meaning and the concerns that underlie the grip that misinformation has on them.”

    Read More: How to Stop Checking Your Phone Every 10 Seconds

    “Let’s not forget, these stories involve real people with real lives.”

    Employ this response if a conversation turns toward dehumanizing political rhetoric, like about immigration, social justice, or another polarizing issue, suggests Sophia Fifner, president and CEO of the Columbus Metropolitan Club in Ohio, a civic engagement group that hosts weekly town hall-style forums. “This phrase shifts the focus back to our shared humanity,” she says. “It’s a reminder that behind every news story, there are individuals who are impacted.” Speak from the heart, Fifner urges: “This isn’t just about the facts. It’s about connecting with the person you’re talking to on an emotional level—and fostering empathy.”

    “Before we get too deep, can we take a step back and think about who benefits from this narrative?”

    Fifner has found this is an effective approach when someone shares misinformation that’s particularly divisive or inflammatory—in other words, intended to provoke rather than inform. “You’re encouraging them to consider the motive behind the information,” she says. “It’s a subtle way of inviting them to question the intention of the sources they trust, leading to a more critical understanding.” Keep things casual and conversational, she advises; the goal is to spark curiosity, not accuse or create defensiveness. “It’s about planting a seed of doubt that encourages deeper thinking,” she says.

    “Would it be OK if I looked into this and shared what I find? Maybe we can compare notes.”

    Try this response with close friends and family members, suggests Justin Jones-Fosu, author of I Respectfully Disagree: How to Have Difficult Conversations in a Divided World. It tends to work better than straight-up telling them they’re wrong, which inevitably triggers defensiveness. Plus, it encourages more research, which could help them reconsider the source of their information. “By framing it as a team effort,” he says, “you create a safer environment for dialogue.”

    Read More: Why Gut Health Issues Are More Common in Women

    “With so many fake videos and images circulating online, I’ve started asking more questions before I accept anything as real. Do you happen to know where this came from?”

    Digital deception has been a theme of the 2024 election season. It’s hard to tell what’s a real image, and what’s AI-generated—and this is a way to highlight the prevalence of deepfakes without accusing the other person of naivety or bad intentions, Jones-Fosu says: “It introduces a small degree of doubt, prompting the person to think more critically without feeling embarrassed.” By asking about the source, he adds, you initiate a shift from passive consumption to active evaluation.

    “I’ve definitely been in situations where I believed something that turned out to be untrue, so I totally understand.”

    No matter which precise words you use, keep in mind that, most of the time, people aren’t spreading misinformation maliciously—which is why a compassionate approach is so essential. Jones-Fosu sometimes opens conversations like this: “I know you probably didn’t intend to spread misinformation, but I did some research, and here’s what I found.” That phrasing assumes good intent, he says, and focuses on the facts rather than casting blame. Sharing a personal story, like the time you were fooled by a fake image as you scrolled through Facebook, can also help reduce tension. “Vulnerability shows empathy,” he says, “and makes it more likely that the other person will listen to what you have to say.”

    [ad_2]

    Angela Haupt

    Source link

  • Tons of Viruses Live in Your Toothbrush and Showerhead

    Tons of Viruses Live in Your Toothbrush and Showerhead

    [ad_1]

    Forget about public restrooms: It turns out your own bathroom is teeming with viruses.

    Researchers at Northwestern University studied two things that most people use everyday—their toothbrush and showerhead—to see what was living in each.

    What they found was “quite surprising,” says Erica Hartmann, an associate professor of civil and environmental engineering at Northwestern who led the study that focused on identifying virus species lurking in the bathroom. Most unexpected, she adds, was “how little we could identify that looked like something we had seen before. We found an incredible amount of diversity, which highlights how little we know and how much more we have to explore and discover.”

    But before you throw out your toothbrush or take apart your shower, keep in mind that the vast majority of viruses Hartmann and her team found were specific species known as bacteriophages, or viruses that almost exclusively infect bacterial cells and not human ones. Scientists have known about phages for nearly a century, but only recently developed the tools needed to identify and study them in more detail.

    “We know so little about phages,” says Hartmann, who published her findings Oct. 9 in the journal Frontiers in Microbiomes. “But understanding them and expanding our horizons in microbiology could have profound implications elsewhere.”

    Read More: How Much Do You Actually Need to Shower?

    Researchers, scientists, and drug developers already exploit phages and their ability to infect bacteria to better understand and deliver compounds that might kill certain bacteria. Those efforts could lead to more effective antimicrobial options that don’t involve antibiotics, against which bacteria can develop resistance quickly. “Phages are super fascinating and represent what I call the next frontier in biology or microbiology,” says Hartmann.

    The study was inspired by a previous one in which she and her team catalogued the bacteria found in bathrooms after people expressed concerns about whether bacteria spewed into the air every time they flushed their toilet, potentially contaminating their toothbrushes. In that study, Hartmann’s team concluded the fear was unfounded, since most of the bacteria they identified were strains that originated in people’s mouths. This time, they turned their attention to viruses—and found the universe of phages.

    The good news is that since phages don’t infect human cells, “I don’t think anything in our results gives reason to be concerned,” says Hartmann. “There is absolutely nothing to worry about, so there is no reason to throw out your toothbrush because of this.”

    What the findings do reveal, however, is that there is a world of phages ripe for exploration. “Even identifying the ones on toothbrushes and showerheads expands what we know about phage biology and can help us explain why phage therapies do or don’t work in different contexts,” she says. “And the more we learn, the better that will inform things in phage-based therapeutics.”

    Read More: Reading This Will Make You Want to Floss

    The diversity of what the researchers found—no two toothbrushes or two showerheads harbored the same population of phages—bodes well for the vast catalogue of phages that might become the foundation for new treatments. The findings also broaden our understanding of the range of effects that microbes can have on humans, both good and bad. “We don’t know exactly which microbes we are exposed to and when, or how they promote health or well-being,” says Hartmann. “But in general, it’s important to look at the microbes around us with an air of wonder and curiosity rather than fear. If we can figure out what all of the microbes are doing, and how they are doing it, we can be more intentional about how we care for things like toothbrushes—and in turn, care for ourselves and our environments better.”

    [ad_2]

    Alice Park

    Source link

  • Do At-Home Red Light Masks Really Work?

    Do At-Home Red Light Masks Really Work?

    [ad_1]

    If you’re always on the lookout for the latest skincare gadget, you may have already tried facial rollers, sculpting wands, and dermaplaning devices. And you may be curious about the red-glowing masks that you’ve seen making the rounds on social media.

    Red-light masks use low levels of light-emitting diode, or LED, to stimulate skin cells, says Dr. Jennifer Sawaya, a dermatologist at U.S. Dermatology Partners Scottsdale in Arizona. “Red light is a type of visible light that has been clinically shown to rejuvenate the skin.” 

    Instagrammers and TikTokkers claim the masks—which, face it, do make you look like a character from a sci-fi film—can minimize wrinkles, smooth your complexion, and even improve acne. But these masks can be pricey, costing anywhere from $100 to thousands of dollars, and similar but stronger treatments are available at spas and dermatologists’ offices.

    So, do at-home red light masks actually work? Sawaya says studies have shown red-light therapy can benefit the skin, but seeing results depends on using the devices regularly. Here’s what you should know about red-light masks. 

    What can red-light masks do for your skin? 

    Red-light therapy has been used for decades in a variety of treatments. NASA first began using it to boost plant growth in space in the 1990s and then to speed up wound healing. The light’s ability to penetrate the skin was shown to help promote collagen and tissue growth. 

    It’s also used in photodynamic therapy, which utilizes low-power red laser light to drive a cell-destroying chemical reaction that can treat conditions like skin and other types of cancer, psoriasis, acne, and warts, according to the Cleveland Clinic. 

    As an anti-aging treatment, low-level light therapy with red and infrared wavelengths can improve how skin cells work, explains Dr. Heather Rogers, a dermatologist at Modern Dermatology in Seattle. Cells absorb energy from the light, which makes them more efficient in using oxygen and producing the compounds cells use for fuel. 

    “With more fuel, the cells become more active and better at doing their jobs, including DNA repair, collagen synthesis, and calming inflammation,” she says. 

    Read More: How Much Do You Actually Need to Shower?

    As you age, you start to lose collagen, a protein that gives your skin structure and elasticity. Sun damage can also deplete it. So boosting collagen production can make wrinkles and fine lines less apparent. 

    A 2019 company-sponsored study published in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology suggested that low-level red and infrared light stimulate biomarkers that are linked to anti-aging skin benefits, and daily at-home treatments could improve the signs of early aging and sun damage. 

    In other words, red light can help “rejuvenate” your complexion, Sawaya says. “Specifically, studies have shown that red-light therapy can reduce the appearance of wrinkles, pigmentation, broken blood vessels, and improve the skin’s elasticity and hydration.” 

    Red light isn’t the only color of visible light that can benefit the skin. 

    Another company-sponsored study published in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology in 2018 found that red- and blue-light therapy could help treat mild to moderate acne. The research suggested that blue light may reduce acne-causing bacteria on the skin, while red light minimized inflammation. Sawaya says blue light may also decrease the activity of oil glands, which encourages acne.

    Blue light may also help treat mild psoriasis, according to the American Academy of Dermatology. 

    How to get the best results from an at-home red light mask

    It can take time to see results from red-light therapy, and it may not work for everyone, says Dr. David Kim, a dermatologist at Idriss Dermatology in New York City. He recommends consistently using a red-light mask three to five times a week for at least a couple of months if you’re interested in minimizing the signs of acne, treating acne, or smoothing your complexion. 

    “Figure out your habit and stick to it,” suggests Rogers, who wears a red-light mask before her morning skincare routine and before bedtime.

    Read More: What’s the Best Skin-Care Routine?

    The masks are most effective when used on clean, dry skin so the light can be well absorbed by the skin, Sawaya says. Sometimes, the masks can dry out your skin, so Rogers suggests moisturizing afterward. 

    When purchasing a red-light mask, make sure the product has been cleared by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which classifies medical devices, including light therapy masks, into different categories, and follow the manufacturer’s directions, Sawaya adds. Most products state whether they’re FDA-cleared. You should use the mask for only the time recommended; most brands suggest using products for about 10 minutes at a time. 

    For skin improvements, the ideal wavelength for red light is about 640 nanometers and about 830 nanometers for infrared light, Rogers says. 

    How at-home masks differ from in-office versions

    At-home red light masks can be beneficial, but Kim says they’re not as “robust” as the LED therapy offered in dermatologists’ offices or spas.

    “At-home red and blue light LED masks use much lower energy levels than what you would expect in an in-office treatment,” Sawaya explains, so you likely need to use them daily to see results.

    Still, at-home versions can complement in-office light treatments, Rogers says, adding that if you use your mask at home—while also taking good care of your skin by moisturizing and diligently wearing sunscreen—you may need fewer in-office treatments.

    There are several red-light masks available. Rogers says her favorites are by Celluma and Omnilux, and she suggests choosing a full-face mask or ones with larger panels instead of handheld wands for more uniform treatment. 

    “For best outcomes, the device needs to be touching or nearly touching your skin to ensure the energy is being absorbed into your skin,” she explains. 

    Are red light masks safe? 

    At-home LED masks are generally safe for most people, as they use relatively low levels of energy, Sawaya says. 

    However, if you have sensitive skin or are sensitive to light, you should avoid the masks unless your doctor gives you the OK, she notes. 

    Read More: 5 Dermatologists on the 1 Thing You Should Do Every Day

    Light therapy can also worsen melasma, a condition that causes blotches to form on the skin, Rogers says. Visible light, including red and blue, might also worsen hyperpigmentation or melasma for people with darker skin tones, Kim adds. 

    If you’re using a red-light mask daily and not getting the anti-aging results you’re hoping for, or you’ve noticed dryness, pigmentation shifts, or other skin changes, Kim suggests seeing a dermatologist. Doctors can recommend the best treatments based on your skin type and individual needs. 

    [ad_2]

    Erica Sweeney

    Source link

  • Don’t Expect to Live Significantly Longer, At Least Not in This Century

    Don’t Expect to Live Significantly Longer, At Least Not in This Century

    [ad_1]

    Despite all the recent hype from anti-aging evangelists and companies touting ways to extend life, human life expectancy is actually slowing down after accelerating in the previous century.

    In a paper published in Nature Aging, researchers led by S. Jay Olshansky, professor of public health at the University of Illinois in Chicago, report that factors that have contributed to remarkable extensions of life expectancy in the 20th century are reaching the point of diminishing returns. Public-health interventions such as clean water and better sanitation and hygiene, as well as medical innovations like vaccines and advances in drug and surgical treatments, are approaching their optimal impact. For human life expectancy to extend much further beyond where it exists today, says Olshansky, entirely new strategies that focus on manipulating the biological processes of aging need to occur. And we aren’t there yet.

    A brief history of human life extension

    At the beginning of the 20th century, humans began living longer primarily thanks to factors that reduced deaths among children and those who were middle-aged—what Olshansky refers to as phase 1 of human life extension. These included basic sanitation practices and better understanding of disease and ways to prevent spread of infectious agents like bacteria and viruses. Governments also shouldered greater responsibility for protecting public health. Following the 1918 influenza pandemic, for example, the federal government took a more hands-on approach at slowing contagious diseases by advocating hygiene practices as well as isolation and containment.

    Phase 2 continued in the middle of the century with medical advances against specific diseases such as heart problems and cancer. Vaccines against childhood diseases like measles and pertussis helped more children survive into adulthood. And advances in treating most illnesses have further extended life expectancy. In 1900, babies in the U.S. lived to about age 32—but by 2021, the average person lived to 71.

    Read More: What to Know Before Buying a Hearing Aid

    “We need to be grateful for what public health and medicine gave us and is still giving us, which is added survival time in the middle and now older ages,” says Olshansky. “The vast majority of people living beyond 60 are living on manufactured time—time created in phases 1 and 2 that enable us to live longer lives and enjoy life extension that our ancestors rarely had the opportunity to experience.”

    Anti-aging headwinds

    But those interventions can only add so many years. That’s because they’re occurring alongside opposing forces that are driving down life expectancy and increasing mortality, which include the rise of chronic diseases like obesity and lifestyle practices such as smoking. Then there’s the immutable fact of biological aging itself. Despite all the gains in improving health, the body—our brains, bones, and muscles—and all of our systems continue to age; with chronic disease, they might even age more quickly. Back in 1990, “we predicted that this phenomenon of the limited lifespan hypothesis would play itself out at the beginning of the 21st century, and that the rise of life expectancy would start to slow down as the ability to manufacture time begins to wane,” Olshansky says.

    Read More: The Man Who Thinks He Can Live Forever

    And that’s where we find ourselves in 2024. Researchers continue to study the benefits of a healthy diet and exercise in not just extending life, but adding healthy years, as well as new ways to preserve or even reverse aging processes. But, says Olshansky, “We need to accept the new reality that there is a limit to how long we can live. We are getting medical Band-Aids in phase 2 that are yielding smaller and smaller gains in longevity.”

    The new research

    Olshansky and his team analyzed data spanning 1990 to 2019 from the eight countries with the highest life expectancy, as well as Hong Kong and the U.S. (The U.S. is not among the longest-lived populations.) They documented a slowing in the increase in life expectancy during that period—and the U.S. was among several countries whose life expectancy was actually lower at the end of any given decade than it was at the beginning of that decade. Olshansky attributes that decline to higher deaths among middle-aged groups, perhaps due to substance abuse, suicide, and, more recently, COVID-19. Disparities in access to health care also mean that “some are doing so poorly that they are pulling down the average [life expectancy] for the population,” he says.

    In order to achieve the dramatic longevity that anti-aging proselytizers currently promise without evidence—like living to 100 and beyond by fasting or taking certain supplements—life expectancy would need to increase by about three years per decade. But even in most of the longest-lived populations, the rate of improvement has slowed to under 2.5 years annually, making the claims unrealistic and unattainable under current disease models. And in order for life expectancy for newborns to reach 110 years, about 70% of females would need to survive long enough to become centenarians; currently, only about 5% of women in the longest-lived countries are expected to reach that milestone.

    That doesn’t mean humans won’t at some point be routinely living into their 100s, says Olshansky. But given current trends, and without substantially improved methods for manipulating the biological processes of aging, that won’t happen in this century. Despite the hype, no methods have proven to address and reverse aging. And those will be key to not only extending survival but ensuring that the added years are healthy ones and not plagued by frailty and disease.

    “We got what we wanted—we got much longer lives,” Olshansky says. “But we are starting to see a rise in dementia, sensory impairment, and things that we are not able to manipulate quite as effective as we would like.”

    The nest step is to “deal with the consequences of our success,” he says. “Phase 3 should be focused on extending health span by going after aging itself and not just the diseases associated with it.”

    [ad_2]

    Alice Park

    Source link

  • Not Everyone Needs the Same Amount of Sleep. Here’s Why

    Not Everyone Needs the Same Amount of Sleep. Here’s Why

    [ad_1]

    My bed and I spend less time together than the experts say we should. Most nights, my head hits the pillow around 11:00 pm, and I’m up—without an alarm—at 5:30 am. That six and a half hours of shuteye puts me behind the seven to nine hours the American Academy of Sleep Medicine and Sleep Research Society recommend for adults. Does it hurt me? Not so I can tell.

    I may be a bit of an outlier as far as the guidelines are concerned, but I am by no means alone. Our sleep needs change over the course of our lifetimes—from 17 hours a day as a newborn, to up to 12 hours as a schoolkid, to the seven- to nine-hour benchmark for adults. But those figures are just averages. Plenty of people, like me, get by on significantly less for their age, while others require a good bit more. What is it that makes some folks short sleepers, some folks long sleepers, and others smack-in-the-middle sleepers? A lot of things, as it turns out.

    Your sex matters—a little

    When it comes to the differing sleep needs of men and women, one of the most commonly cited statistics is that women require more—but only by a tiny bit, about 11 extra minutes a night. The finding comes from a 2013 study in the American Sociological Review that surveyed nearly 73,000 participants in the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ American Time Use Survey. The sample group included only people in the 18 to 64 age range—eliminating the youngest and oldest respondents, whose sleep needs often fall on the highest and lowest end of the scale—to arrive at the small but statistically significant difference.

    The researchers cited a range of factors that might explain the small gap—including the round-the-clock responsibilities of unpaid housework, which women still perform more commonly than men—and few opportunities for catch-up naps during the day.

    The American Sleep Foundation reports additional possible explanations, including menstruation, menopause, and pregnancy, all of which can interrupt sleep and lead to women staying in bed a little bit longer to make up for the periodic awakenings. Other findings suggest that women fall asleep a bit faster than men, meaning that they enter their sleep cycle with an edge of a few minutes. And then, of course, there’s the burden of caring for children—especially small children—which falls more heavily on mothers than fathers.

    “When you have kids, you’re always dealing with them,” says Dan Gartenberg, an adjunct professor in biobehavioral health at Penn State University and CEO of Sleepspace, a sleep-assistance app. “Women may report having to get more sleep simply because they’re being woken up all the time.” Still, while more studies have been conducted on male-female sleep differences since the one in 2013, they have not turned up anything dramatic. “Honestly, the effect for gender is small,” says Gartenberg.

    The wages of insomnia

    About one in three adults worldwide experiences insomnia—or the inability to fall asleep or stay asleep—at any given time, according to the Cleveland Clinic. About one in 10 suffer from the chronic form of the condition. known as insomnia disorder, which is defined as three or more nights of sleep problems per week lasting three or more months. Insomnia can occur at different phases of the sleep cycle. So-called initial insomnia involves difficulty falling asleep; maintenance insomnia occurs when you wake up in the middle of the night but are able to go back to sleep; and late insomnia is waking up too early and being unable to go back to sleep. A lot of things can cause insomnia, including anxiety, depression, chronic pain, acid reflux, a family history of sleep problems, and stressful life circumstances that make it difficult to unwind. 

    By definition, people with insomnia get less rest, which increases their need to stay in bed longer fighting to sleep or finding the time to nap during the day. “If your sleep is very broken up, you’re going to need more of it,” says Gartenberg.

    There are several treatments for insomnia. Benzodiazepines and sedative-hypnotics are options, but also dangerous ones, as they can lead to dependency and addiction. What’s more, they lead to poor quality of sleep. “Ambien, for example, is not meant to be used every day because it’s going to reduce your deep sleep,” says Gartenberg.

    Other, safer options include such sleep-hygiene strategies as going to bed and getting up at the same time every day; avoiding over-the-counter stimulants like certain cold medicines; limiting TV time or other stimulating activities before bed; and taking a bath, listening to soothing music or meditating in the evening. The goal, says Gartenberg, is to achieve sleep that is “regenerative and consolidated”—restful without medications and, if possible, without interruption. The closer you get to those twin goals, the more your sleep needs will fall back into the recommendations for your age.

    The role of sleep apnea

    Next to insomnia, apnea—or the periodic cessation of breathing during sleep, leading to micro-awakenings or full awakenings throughout the night—is the most common sleep disorder. “About 20% of the U.S. population has sleep apnea, which is technically defined as literally choking five times an hour or more,” says Gartenberg. “If you have a severe case, you’re choking 100 times per hour.” In addition, he adds, about half of the population who do not meet the technical definition of sleep apnea have suboptimal breathing during sleep, choking two to four times per hour.

    There are two types of sleep apnea, each with its own cause. Obstructive sleep apnea occurs when the muscles in the back of the throat relax and collapse during sleep, cutting off breathing. Central sleep apnea occurs when the brain fails to send signals to the central nervous system instructing respiration to take place. Overall, men are two to three times more likely to suffer from apnea than women. About 4% of women have a related condition known as upper airway resistance, that can also disrupt breathing and sleep, according to Gartenberg. That condition occurs in only 1.5% of men.

    As with insomnia, apnea can cause people to require more hours of sleep, as they try to make up for the disruptions and awakenings that occur over the course of the night. The worse the apnea is, the more catch-up time may be required. There are multiple treatments for apnea, including weight loss, CPAP sleep masks, implantable devices, and surgery.

    Screwy circadian rhythms

    Your body is a walking clock, built to respond to the cycles of the day. We awaken as the sun rises, sleep after it sets, and go through peaks and valleys of high and low energy in between—with the greatest highs occurring two to four hours after we wake up and again before the dinner hour, according to Gartenberg. But as technology takes us further and further from the state of nature, our circadian clock is coming unsprung.

    “Since the invention of the light bulb, we’re getting the wrong signals based on our circadian rhythms, which is hindering our sleep quality and our ability to have a regenerative night’s sleep,” says Gartenberg.

    If the problem began in the late 19th century, it’s being turbocharged in the early 21st. We cocoon ourselves in brightly lighted cities, where 56% of the world’s population lives; work remotely at all hours—no need to follow a nine-to-five schedule if you can wake up, log on, and put in your time whenever you want; and spend our days and nights in front of screens, which bathe us in blue light, a wavelength that suppresses the production of the sleep hormone melatonin. All of this leads to poor-quality sleep and the need for more than the baseline for your age.

    It’s not necessary to move out of the city or ditch your electronics to recalibrate your internal clock. Instead, you can nudge it into alignment by imposing a regular structure on your day. Try to wake up at the same time every morning and go to bed at the same time every night, exercise during those morning or early evening peaks, have your meals at set hours, avoid eating dinner too close to bedtime, and power down your phone or tablet an hour or two before sleep. 

    The role of the genes

    It is the rare person who can get by on just four and a half hours of sleep—but those individuals exist. Not only do they need relatively little slumber, they also tend to score higher than average on tests of energy, optimism, and pain tolerance. Those people, known as short sleepers, have been found by researchers at the University of California, San Francisco to have a mutation in seven genes that play a role in regulating sleep and, the studies suggest, mood—though to date they have published papers only on four of them.

    “There are many people who think everyone needs eight to eight and a half hours of sleep per night and there will be health consequences if they don’t get it,” Dr. Louis Ptacek, a neurology professor at UCSF and the co-discoverer of the short sleeper genes, told TIME in 2020. “But that’s as crazy as saying everybody has to be 5 ft. 10 in. tall. It’s just not true.” 

    Still, no one suggests that it’s terribly common to have short sleep written in your DNA. So far, only about 50 families with the short-sleeper genes have been identified.

    A few sleep hacks

    • Go easy on alcohol and cannabis: Even a little bit of drinking can scramble your sleep—helping you drift off more easily, perhaps, but causing you to awaken more during the night. Additionally, when you have alcohol in your system before bed, you get less rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, the deepest sleep phase. “Alcohol totally wrecks sleep quality,” Gartenberg says. Cannabis, similarly, has sleep-inducing benefits in the early part of the night, but sleep-disturbing effects later.
    • Get some variety in your day: One of the reasons babies sleep so much is because they spend their waking hours vacuuming up information about the world. Consolidation of this information happens during sleep, so babies need to conk out early and often to preserve what they’ve learned. That doesn’t change in adulthood—meaning that the more novel experiences you have, the better you might sleep at night. “If you’re riding your bike and follow the same route again and again, maybe instead go a different route,” says Gartenberg. “When we learn and expose ourselves to more information, there’s actually an effect where you get more deep sleep.”
    • Figure out your natural sleep cycle. The next time you’re on vacation, take the time to learn about yourself. Rather than setting an alarm every day and dashing off to an activity, try going to bed at the same time for at least three nights running and not setting an alarm at all. Ideally, you will sleep until your body determines it has had enough. “This is a close estimation of what your unique sleep needs are,” says Gartenberg. If you’re sleeping, say, eight and a half hours, you can make sure you get to bed early enough when you get back home so that you can log that much time each night.

    [ad_2]

    Jeffrey Kluger

    Source link

  • What to Know About MicroRNA, the Nobel-Prizewinning Discovery

    What to Know About MicroRNA, the Nobel-Prizewinning Discovery

    [ad_1]

    Two scientists have been award the 2024 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their discovery of microRNA. Victor Ambros, professor of molecular medicine at the University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School, and Gary Ruvkun, professor of genetics at Harvard Medical School and an investigator at Massachusetts General Hospital, received the prize for revealing how microRNAs turn genes on and off.

    This isn’t the first time RNA has been honored recently. The molecule has been something of a scientific darling of late: last year, Katalin Kariko and Drew Weissman were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their fundamental discovery that made mRNA-based vaccines possible, a development that transformed the COVID-19 pandemic.

    Here’s what the discovery of microRNA means and how it may affect human health.

    What is microRNA, anyway?

    The discovery makes it possible to manipulate which genes are activated or suppressed in cells. Doing so is critical to controlling the production of proteins that in turn regulate nearly all of the body’s functions. It’s one more level of genetic control that is making the next generation of disease treatments possible.

    Read More: FDA Approves the First New Schizophrenia Drug in Decades

    Like many scientific breakthroughs, the discovery was serendipitous. “It was something so unexpected that we ignored it for a while as schmutz,” Ambros said during an Oct. 7 press conference. It started in 1993 when he and Ruvkun worked together as postdoctoral researchers in Massachusetts and published what they thought was an interesting finding in worms that failed to develop properly due to two mutations they identified. The duo each took one of the genes to investigate further, initially focusing on looking for aberrant proteins coded by the mutant genes. Normally, DNA codes that make up genes lead to RNA sequences that cells then turn into proteins. Each cell in the human body, for example, contains the exact same DNA sequences, or blueprint—but depending on which genes are turned on and which are suppressed, they take on different characteristics and functions.

    Ambros and Ruvkun uncovered one of the ways that cells orchestrate this complex signaling: with what are called microRNAs.

    To Ambrose’s surprise, the end product of the mutant gene he explored wasn’t a protein but a tiny snippet of RNA, or microRNA. Ruvkun’s work on the other mutant gene showed that microRNA attached to the RNA made by his mutant gene and acted as a monkey wrench in the protein-making process, essentially blocking its production and leading to the worm’s abnormal development.

    The finding remained an anomaly in the world of worm researchers and was “met with almost deafening silence from the scientific community,” the Nobel Committee noted in its announcement. That is, until Ruvkun discovered another microRNA in 2000: this time one that also appeared in mice, other animals and, importantly, humans.

    The future of microRNA

    About 1,000 microRNAs have been identified in people, and while knowledge about the field is still in its infancy, these small pieces of RNA appear to be involved in a multitude of important processes, from development to basic cellular functions. Some have been implicated in diseases like cancer. Understanding how they work, and how to manipulate them to turn genes on or off, could potentially lead to many new therapies for myriad human diseases. Already, researchers are testing mircoRNA-based strategies in animals and early human studies to treat cancer and infectious diseases.

    “We know from genetic research that cells and tissues do not develop normally without microRNAs. Abnormal regulation by microRNA can contribute to cancer, and mutations in genes coding for microRNAs have been found in humans, causing conditions such as congenital hearing loss, eye and skeletal disorders,” the Nobel committee said. “MicroRNAs are proving to be fundamentally important for how organisms develop and function.”

    [ad_2]

    Alice Park

    Source link

  • Having Trouble Quitting Vaping? You’re Not the Only One

    Having Trouble Quitting Vaping? You’re Not the Only One

    [ad_1]

    Years ago, Dr. Mark Eisenberg, a cardiologist at McGill University in Canada, recommended that one of his patients—a smoker who’d tried everything to quit but still couldn’t—try vaping instead. It worked; his patient kicked the smoking habit. But recently, the same patient came back to Eisenberg’s office with a new problem.

    “Now he’s addicted to e-cigarettes,” Eisenberg says. “He said, ‘I want to get off e-cigarettes. What do I do?’” 

    No one has a very good answer to that question. Almost 20 years after e-cigarettes were introduced in the U.S., going on to attract millions of users, there’s still not enough data on how to stop using them—which research suggests roughly 60% of vapers would like to do.

    E-cigarettes are often pitched as an answer to the bane of tobacco use, which claims an estimated 8 million lives around the world per year, says Amanda Graham, chief health officer at Truth Initiative. “So far, that has not come to fruition,” Graham says. “What we see is a lot of people saying, ‘I’m using way more nicotine now than I ever did with a cigarette.’”

    The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has not approved e-cigarettes as smoking cessation tools, but many people use them for that purpose. E-cigarettes, which heat and aerosolize liquid nicotine, offer smokers not only a replacement for the nicotine in their traditional cigarettes, but also a familiar action: the motion of holding something to the lips and inhaling. This can make vapes an effective—and seemingly less-dangerous, although not totally safe—replacement for cigarettes, some studies suggest. (Other research, however, finds that many smokers use both e-cigarettes and cigarettes rather than quitting smoking outright, which may compound their health risks.)

    Read More: Therapists Share the 1 Tip That’s Changed Their Lives

    Not all vapers are former smokers, though. Far from it: federal data suggest that, among U.S. adults, 18- to 24-year-olds report the highest vaping rates. Given plummeting cigarette use among teenagers and young adults, many of these people likely picked up vaping without ever having been regular smokers—hence the widespread concern that e-cigarettes would addict entire new generations to nicotine.

    E-cigarettes’ design can make them uniquely addictive, says Benjamin Toll, a professor at the Medical University of South Carolina who researches tobacco cessation.

    Cigarettes are highly addictive too, of course. But there’s a limited number in a pack and each one burns out fairly quickly, offering natural cutoff points. But “if you have a 2,000-puff vape” packed with high levels of nicotine, Toll says, “there’s [almost] no stopping point.” And because vapes don’t involve fire, it’s easier to use them in places where many people wouldn’t dream of smoking. Some people “hit their vape and put it under their pillow” so they can use it first thing in the morning, Toll says. This constant use and exposure to nicotine can lead to even higher levels of dependence than smokers experience, he says.

    “Many people go to vaping as a way to quit smoking, and then they can’t quit vaping,” Toll says. “That breaks my heart.”

    Breaking that addiction isn’t easy, but lots of people want to try. These days, about 60% of people who sign up for one of Truth Initiative’s nicotine-cessation programs say they primarily want help quitting e-cigarettes, Graham says.

    Read More: Why You Should Change Your Exercise Routine—and How to Do It

    There aren’t many tools to help. Truth Initiative offers digital resources, including a text-based vaping-cessation support program for adolescents and young adults, which the organization’s research suggests works significantly better than trying to stop without assistance. And there’s limited research, as Eisenberg laid out in a recent review article, to suggest some of the medications that cigarette smokers use to quit—including varenicline, which helps reduce nicotine cravings and withdrawal symptoms—could work for vapers, too. Already, doctors sometimes prescribe such medications, as well as products like nicotine patches and gums, off-label for adults who need help with vaping cessation.

    But there’s a need for more tools specific to vaping addiction, which is “a public-health crisis hidden in plain sight,” says Richard Stewart, CEO of Achieve Life Sciences, a pharmaceutical company working to secure FDA approval for the U.S.’ first dedicated vaping-cessation aid. The company’s medication, cytisinicline, is designed to not only reduce cravings but also make using nicotine less pleasurable when someone vapes while on the drug. In a small company-funded study published in May, people who took cytisinicline were more than twice as likely to stop vaping as people who took a placebo.

    The FDA recently granted the medication Breakthrough Therapy designation, which is meant to expedite the development and regulatory review process for novel and promising drug candidates. (Cytisinicline is already used for smoking cessation in parts of Europe, but not the U.S.) “We think we’ll be the first drug approved for vaping cessation,” possibly as soon as 2027 if all goes well, Stewart says.

    In the meantime, some people who want to quit vaping are using their own methods. Some anecdotal evidence suggests people are using nicotine pouches like Zyn—which users tuck into their lips for a slow release of nicotine—to wean off vaping, in an ironic parallel of how e-cigarettes have been used to transition off cigarettes. Pouches seem to be less dangerous than either cigarettes or e-cigarettes, since they don’t involve inhaling anything into the lungs. But switching to yet another new product could also keep people beholden to addictive nicotine even longer, Graham says.

    For people who are turning to Zyn and other nicotine products for help quitting vaping, Graham has one piece of advice: “plan to use it short-term, and then to quit using all forms of nicotine.” 

    But in a world where the popularity of e-cigarettes has far-outpaced research on how to quit them, that can be easier said than done.

    [ad_2]

    Jamie Ducharme

    Source link

  • Yet Another Study Links Acne Creams to Cancer

    Yet Another Study Links Acne Creams to Cancer

    [ad_1]

    A new analysis of acne creams and cleansers found dozens, including popular products like Proactiv and Clearasil, contain high levels of a chemical linked to cancer. The findings confirm some of an earlier study that received criticism for its methods, putting more pressure on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to take action on products widely used by American teenagers.

    Researchers tested more than 100 benzoyl peroxide acne products available at major retailers in six states. They found about a third were contaminated with high levels of benzene, a chemical that can cause cancer. 

    Proactiv contained 18 times the amount of the potent carcinogen allowed in U.S. drugs, the analysis published on Monday in the Journal of Investigative Dermatology found. A CVS-brand face wash had 13 times levels considered safe by the FDA.

    “The results presented here suggest that a substantial portion of the BPO [benzoyl peroxide] acne treatment market currently contains unacceptably high levels of benzene in products sitting on the shelf,” the study’s researchers wrote in their analysis. 

    Researchers included New Haven, Connecticut-based Valisure lab and professors from Yale and Long Island universities.

    In recent years, unhealthy levels of benzene have been found in all sorts of consumers products, raising questions about the FDA’s oversight. Researchers at Valisure initially uncovered the issue with acne creams and cleansers in another analysis earlier this year, and in March filed a petition with the FDA to recall those it had found with high levels of benzene.

    At the time, the agency said it would work to verify Valisure’s claims before acting. In July a spokesperson told Bloomberg the agency is still conducting that research. 

    Read More: Scientists Are Finding Out Just How Toxic Your Stuff Is

    The lab’s earlier study received pushback for testing products kept at high temperatures, around 122F (50C). In their follow up, researchers kept products at room temperature. Unlike the initial analysis, this study was peer-reviewed, giving it another level of rigor. 

    While some of the acne creams and cleansers were still found to contain high levels of the chemical, around 70, including Clean & Clear and Neutrogena products, didn’t contain benzene levels above the U.S. limit when they weren’t exposed to heat. A few, including some Clearasil offerings, contained the carcinogen in amounts just above the U.S. limit, which is 2 parts per million.

    The study published Monday day also found benzene levels in acne treatments could significantly rise when exposed to ultraviolet light at body temperature, indicating users could face increased risk while in the sun.

    A spokesperson for CVS Health Corp. said the company is committed to ensuring its products are safe. A spokesperson for Reckitt Benckiser Group Plc, maker of Clearasil, said it’s confident the product is safe. Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd., which bought Proactiv maker Taro Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. in June, didn’t respond to requests for comment.

    The FDA first told drugmakers in 2021 they should test certain products for benzene. This would include those that are made with hydrocarbons like benzoyl peroxide, an agency spokesperson said. None of the companies responded to questions about whether they have tested their products for benzene. 

    “I think we’re going to see a little more careful attention from the manufacturers,” said Christopher Bunick, a Yale University associate dermatology professor and a co-author on the study. “They have a duty to the consumer to check.” 

    [ad_2]

    Anna Edney/Bloomberg

    Source link