Dec 28th, 2011
by Lynn Benjamin.
by Tara Parker-Pope, NY Times, December 28, 2011
In the battle to lose weight, and keep it off, our bodies are fighting against us.
While researchers have known for decades that the body undergoes various metabolic and hormonal changes while it’s losing weight, the Australian team [of researchers] detected something new. A full year after significant weight loss, these men and women [in the study] remained in what could be described as a biologically altered state. Their still-plump bodies were acting as if they were starving and were working overtime to regain the pounds they lost. For instance, a gastric hormone called ghrelin, often dubbed the “hunger hormone,” was about 20 percent higher than at the start of the study. Another hormone associated with suppressing hunger, peptide YY, was also abnormally low. Levels of leptin, a hormone that suppresses hunger and increases metabolism, also remained lower than expected. A cocktail of other hormones associated with hunger and metabolism all remained significantly changed compared to pre-dieting levels. It was almost as if weight loss had put their bodies into a unique metabolic state, a sort of post-dieting syndrome that set them apart from people who hadn’t tried to lose weight in the first place….
Posted in: Weight.
Dec 27th, 2011
by Lynn Benjamin.
The Hormone Surge of Middle Childhood
By Natalie Angier, NY Times, December 26, 2011
Around 5 or 6, children experience an endocrinological event (andrenarche) that propels them toward the ability to control impulses, to reason, to focus, to plan for the future.
Posted in: Brain, Children, Developmental Psychology, Human Development, Life Span Processes.
Dec 9th, 2011
by Lynn Benjamin.
by Tara Parker-Pope, December 8, 2011 and December 11, 2011 in The New York Times Magazine
From tribesmen to billionaire philanthropists, the social value of generosity is already well known. But new research suggests it also matters much more intimately than we imagined, even down to our most personal relationships….
Men and women with the highest scores on the generosity scale were far more likely to report that they were “very happy” in their marriages.
Posted in: Couples, Marriage.
Dec 6th, 2011
by Lynn Benjamin.
by Gretchen Reynolds NY Times 11/30/2011
New research suggests that surges in a brain protein (brain-derived neurotrophic factor, or BDNF, which promotes the health of nerve cells) after exercise may play a particular role in improving memory and recall.
Posted in: Brain, Exercise, Memory.
Nov 15th, 2011
by Lynn Benjamin.
by Anahad O’Connor New York Times November 14, 2011
Many migraine sufferers are reluctant to hit the gym, fearful that pushing themselves too hard may bring on an attack. But for some, exercise may have the opposite effect.
Exercise may help prevent migraines in some people.
Posted in: Exercise, Headache, Migraine.
Sep 24th, 2011
by Lynn Benjamin.
by Joan Arehart-Treichel in Psychiatric News September 16, 2011
Volume 46 Number 18 Page 2
If an irresistible urge to eat is a form of addiction, then medications or behavioral techniques that help people with substance abuse disorders may also help people with eating disorders.
Posted in: Addiction, Food, Weight.
Sep 21st, 2011
by Lynn Benjamin.
By PERRI KLASS, M.D. New York Times September 12, 2011
What makes a child nap? Most parents cherish toddlers’ naps as moments of respite and recharging, for parent and child alike; we are all familiar with the increased crankiness that comes when a nap is unduly delayed or evaded. But napping behavior has been somewhat taken for granted, even by sleep scientists, and napping problems have often been treated by pediatricians as parents’ “limit-setting” problems.
Now, researchers are learning that it is not so simple: napping in children actually is a complex behavior, a mix of individual biology, including neurologic and hormonal development, cultural expectations and family dynamics.
Posted in: Children, Developmental Psychology, Parenting, Sleep.
Sep 21st, 2011
by Lynn Benjamin.
Exercise Spurs Teenage Boys to Stop Smoking
By By ANAHAD O’CONNOR
Published: September 20, 2011 in New York Times
Teenage boys who took part in a smoking cessation program and combined it with exercise were several times less likely to continue smoking than those who received only traditional anti-smoking advice.
Posted in: Addiction, Exercise, Tobacco.
Sep 21st, 2011
by Lynn Benjamin.
The Anxious Bipolar Patient
By Kavital Lohano, MD and Rif S. El-Mallakh, MD | September 6, 2011
in Psychiatric Times. Vol. 28 No. 9
Bipolar disorder is a clinically challenging condition. In addition to the multiple
mood states that patients can experience, the illness is frequently associated with
multiple comorbid medical and psychiatric conditions. Bipolar disorder can best
be understood as a family of related disorders that share core features of mood or
affective variation, impulsivity, propensity toward substance abuse, and
predisposition to other psychiatric conditions.1 Most patients who have bipolar
disorder have a coexisting anxiety disorder.2 These include generalized anxiety
disorder (GAD), social phobia, panic disorder, and PTSD.2 Anxiety disorders, by
themselves or in combination with a mood disorder, are associated with an
increased risk of suicide and psychosocial dysfunction.
Posted in: Anxiety, Bipolar.
Sep 6th, 2011
by Lynn Benjamin.
by Tara Parker-Pope, New York Times, September 5, 2011
Many child development experts worry that … the ever-growing emphasis on academic performance and test scores means many children aren’t developing life skills like self-control, motivation, focus and resilience, which are far better predictors of long-term success than high grades. And it may be distorting their and their parents’ values.
Posted in: Children, Learning, School Issues.
