Generally, environmental events of a challenging sort as well as the body’s response to such events. Of particular interest has been the relationship between stress and the body’s adaptation to it on the one hand and the body’s susceptibility to disease on the other. Both outcomes involve behavioral and brain changes as well as psychosomatic events, that is, changes in body function arising from the ability of the brain to control such function through neural output as well as hormones.
Babies born to women with anxiety or depression are more likely to sleep poorly – Babies are more likely to have night wakings at both 6 months and 12 months of age if they are born to women who suffered from anxiety or depression prior to the pregnancy.
Feeling down and out could break your heart, literally. Research links depression to cardiac death in women without known heart disease. – Relatively healthy women with severe depression are at increased risk of cardiac events, including sudden cardiac death (SCD) and fatal coronary heart disease (CHD).
Large-scale study finds higher temperatures, lower barometric pressures associated with severe headaches and migraines. – Higher temperatures, and to a lesser degree, lower barometric pressure, contribute to severe headaches, revealed by researchers in issue of the journal Neurology.
Vitamin D deficiency may increase risk of colds, flu. Large-scale study supports potential role in boosting immune system. – Vitamin D may be an important way to arm the immune system against disorders like the common cold, report investigators from the University of Colorado Denver (UC Denver) School of Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and Children’s Hospital Boston.
Forget the antioxidants? McGill researchers cast doubt on role of free radicals in aging. Some organisms live longer when their ability to rid themselves of free radicals is partially disabled. – For more than 40 years, the prevailing explanation of why we get old has been tied to what is called oxidative stress. This theory postulates that when molecules like free radicals, oxygen ions and peroxides build up in cells, they overwhelm the cells’ ability to repair the damage they cause, and the cells age.
Common gene variants increase risk of hypertension, may lead to new therapies – A new study has identified the first common gene variants associated with an increased incidence of hypertension ? a significant risk factor for heart attack, stroke and kidney failure.
New study evaluates role of clinic environment in health-care disparities – A study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine may shed new light on why minority Americans have poorer health outcomes from chronic conditions such as hypertension, heart disease and diabetes.
Long-term multivitamin use has no impact on the risk of common cancers, cardiovascular disease or overall mortality in postmenopausal women. – The largest study ever conducted on postmenopausal women shows that multivitamins may offer no benefit in reducing the risk of common cancers, cardiovascular disease or overall mortality.
No convincing association is found between use of fertility drugs and risk of ovarian cancer, according to a new study. – The use of fertility drugs does not increase a woman’s risk of developing ovarian cancer, finds a large study from Danish researchers published on bmj.com.
Stress may hasten the growth of melanoma tumors but common beta-blocker medications might slow that progress. – For patients with a particularly aggressive form of skin cancer malignant melanoma stress, including that which comes from simply hearing that diagnosis, might amplify the progression of their disease.
Hormone level during pregnancy may identify women at risk for postpartum depression. – Women who have higher levels of a hormone produced by the placenta midway through pregnancy appear more likely to develop postpartum depression, a study authored by a UC Irvine researcher finds.
Non-dieting approach reaps health and well-being benefits in obese to improve overweight. – University of Otago researchers have found that non-dieting interventions to improve overweight and obese women’s health and well-being have a longer-lasting effect if they include relaxation training.
