The findings of a multi-decade study involving over 800 Swedish women suggest that being more physically and mentally active in middle age is associated with a reduced risk for dementia in old age. Neurology, February 2019

The Veterans Health Administration (VHA) reports that veterans under treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) often have one or more accompanying psychiatric conditions. According to a review of records from 2012, 70.2% of VHA patients with PTSD had at least one co-existing psychiatric condition, while a third of all PTSD patients had two or more…

Mindfulness is described as the ability to be fully present, aware of where you are, and calm about what’s going on around you. A review of data from twenty published studies involving over 2,000 patients with chronic pain found that engaging in a yoga or meditation training program that involved mindfulness is an effective method…

Examinations of 400 patients who survived either a mild or moderate stroke or a transient ischemia attack found that those who felt as though they could protect themselves from a second stroke were less likely to have high blood pressure (a risk factor for stroke) a year later. Senior author Dr. Bernadette Boden-Albala writes, “You…

An analysis of the brain scans of nearly 700 teens found that those who had been victimized by bullies had reduced brain volume in two key regions of the brain associated with regulating motivation, attention, and emotional processing. Molecular Psychiatry, December 2018

The results of a twelve-year study suggest that for seniors with a history of depression, loss of visual function (especially near sight) is associated with an elevated risk for dementia over the following four years. European Journal of Epidemiology, January 2019

The Alzheimer’s Foundation suggests the following to help people cope with the grief and loss commonly experienced when a loved one is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease: face your feelings and accept them; prepare to have feelings of loss as dementia progresses; understand that no two people grieve in exactly the same way; talk with someone…

An analysis of health data concerning 5,239 men and women over age 50 revealed that those with mild hearing loss were almost twice as likely to have significant symptoms of depression. Furthermore, the researchers observed that elderly individuals with severe hearing loss were over four times more at risk for depression. The findings suggest that…

In this study, researchers evaluated nearly 400 teens with epilepsy and found that 22% had depressive symptoms, 8% had moderate or severe depression, and another 5% had thought about or attempted suicide. American Epilepsy Society, November 2018

In this study, researchers monitored 1,055 older Japanese adults for 24 years and found that participants who experienced a reduction in handgrip strength over time were up to 51% more likely to be diagnosed with dementia in their later years. Journal of Epidemiology, December 2018