The First Three Years and Aggression. Children who witnessed domestic violence before age three were more likely to show aggression when they reached grade school, even if they were removed from their home and witnessed no domestic violence in the interim. According to Dr. Megan Holmes, the study’s lead author, “[This] gives social workers a…

Ease Anxiety. Volunteers with normal levels of anxiety and no previous meditation experience or anxiety disorders participated in four 20-minute classes to learn “mindfulness” meditation. In this form of meditation, people were taught to focus on breath and body sensations and to non-judgmentally evaluate distracting thoughts and emotions. Anxiety ratings fell as much as 39%.…

Depression and Stroke Risk in Middle-Aged Women. A 12-year study of over 10,000 middle-aged Australian women found that those who suffered from depression had nearly double the risk of stroke compared to non-depressed women in their same age group. The American Heart Association encourages everyone to learn how to recognize a stroke. Think F.A.S.T: F-Face…

Stress and Problem Solving. People under high levels of chronic stress appear to have impaired problem-solving skills. In a study setting, they solved 50% fewer problems than their non-stressed peers. PLOS ONE, May 2013

Depression and Dementia. Those with late-life depression are 1.85 times more likely to develop all-cause dementia, 1.65 times more likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease, and 2.52 times more likely develop vascular dementia. The phrase “all-cause dementia” refers to all dementia syndromes, the most common of which is Alzheimer’s disease. Alzheimer’s disease accounts for 60-80% of…

Suicide Rates Rise! Suicide rates among middle-aged (35-65) Americans have risen 28% in the past 10 years with the largest increase among people in their 50s at nearly 50%. Suicide deaths have become more common than deaths from car crashes. In 2010, there were 33,687 deaths from car crashes  and 38,364 suicides in the United…

Happily Married? A recent study concludes that young and happily married newlyweds are more likely to gain weight than their young and unhappily married counterparts. For each unit increase in satisfaction, on average, males and females both gained one tenth of a BMI unit every 6 months- or about one pound a year. According to…

Dementia Cost! Caring for people with dementia costs $157 billion a year in the United States (US) — higher than the costs of treating heart disease ($102 billion) and cancer ($77 billion). 75-84% of dementia costs are for nursing home care and care at home. 14.7% of people in the US aged 71+ years are…

A Later Life Crisis? 32% of males and 33% of females ages 60-69 have experienced a so-called “later life crisis”. The most common stimuli for these episodes were bereavement, sickness, injury to themselves or to others, and caring for a sick or disabled loved one. The stressful life event can make the individual aware of…

Teenaged Smoking, Depression, and Osteoporosis. Osteoporosis is a costly health problem. Although it is primarily evident in postmenopausal women, its roots can be traced to periods of growth, including adolescence. A recent study showed that smoking and depressive symptoms in adolescent girls had a negative impact on adolescent bone growth and may lead to future…