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Short Bursts of Exercise Lower Disease Risk
As it turns out, you don't need long workouts to improve your health. Just a few minutes of more intense activity each day may help lower your risk of serious diseases. That's according to a study published March 29 in the European Heart Journal, which looked at data from...
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The Differences Between Normal Aging and Dementia
Dementia - a decline in memory and thinking that interferes with daily life - is not a normal part of aging. Yet it is becoming increasingly common. Research suggests that Americans age 55 and older have about a 42% lifetime risk of developing dementia. Experts say early...
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Walking Patterns Help Diagnose Deadly Brain Diseases
A new study suggests that the way a person walks may help doctors distinguish between two serious neurological conditions - Parkinson's disease and dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) - potentially leading to earlier and more accurate diagnoses. Researchers from the University...
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High Antioxidant Intake May Harm Offspring
Antioxidants are often seen as a good, simple way to boost health, but taking too many may come with some risks, new research suggests. A study from Texas A&M University found that high doses of certain antioxidants may affect sperm and lead to developmental changes in...
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Best Practices for Your Child's Social Media Use
In a pivotal moment that underscored how powerful and immersive social platforms can be for children and teens, a jury in California this week found both Meta and YouTube liable for mental health harms to kids using their services. jury's decision in the...
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Schizophrenia Biomarker Could Improve Treatments
Researchers have identified a biomarker linked to schizophrenia that could lead to new treatments to tackle symptoms of the debilitating mental disorder not addressed by current medicines. Currently available antipsychotic drugs can help to control a patient's hallucinations...
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What You Do While Sitting May Predict Dementia Risk
Most health advice says to stand up more, but a groundbreaking study suggests that what you do while sitting down might be just as important for your long-term memory. Researchers in Sweden, Australia and Brazil found that passive sitting - like zoning out in front of the...
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The Mental Health Benefits of Spring Cleaning
If you're planning to tackle spring cleaning soon, you're not alone. Surveys show that more than 80% of Americans give their homes a deep clean at least once a year. According to the American Cleaning Institute, 91% of Americans say a thorough spring cleaning improves their...
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Frequent Phone Checks Cause Mental Overload
Spending too much time on screens is often blamed for information overload, but new research suggests it's not just how long you're on your device - it's how often you check it. A study from Aalto University in Finland found that people who repeatedly return to their phones...
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Massive Study Finds Stress, Grief Don't Cause Cancer
For years, a belief has circulated in wellness communities and doctors' offices alike - that intense psychological stress, grief or a negative personality could bring on cancer. But a massive international study has put that theory to rest, finding that a person's state of...
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Ritalin May Protect Kids' Long-Term Mental Health
Ritalin prescribed to children with ADHD might provide mental health benefits that extend far into adulthood, a new study suggests. Children given methylphenidate - the most-prescribed ADHD med - appear to have a lower risk of serious psychotic disorders as adults, including...
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Scientists Discover How Exercise Protects the Brain
Lunges and squats may do more for the brain than previously thought, including helping protect it from damage tied to aging and dementia, a new study suggests. In research published this month in the journal Cell, scientists found that physical activity may help repair the...
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Biomarker Discovery Improves Dementia Diagnosis
Researchers have discovered a biomarker in cerebrospinal fluid that should help improve diagnosis of Parkinson's disease and dementia with Lewy bodies and distinguish that from other forms of dementia. An enzyme called DOPA decarboxylase, which plays a crucial role in the...
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Spending Time Outdoors May Help You Eat Better
Most people visit a local park to clear their heads or get some exercise, but a new study suggests that green space might be a secret weapon for a better diet. Drexel University researchers found there is a powerful link between the time we spend in nature and the quality...
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Report: Nursing Homes Give False Diagnoses, Meds
A new report says some U.S. nursing homes may be falsely diagnosing patients with schizophrenia in order to justify using powerful antipsychotic drugs to manage them. The findings come from the Office of Inspector General (OIG) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human...
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Online Tool Guides Parkinson's Brain Implant Decision
Brain implants are proven to help Parkinson's disease patients control their symptoms, but deciding whether to go through with such an invasive surgery can be overwhelming. Now, researchers have developed an online decision-making tool to help patients understand the...
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Everyday Habits Proven to Help You Stress Less
You probably know someone who never loses their cool - even in a situation that would send most folks into a panic. How come they don't freak out under pressure Chalk it up to something called "psychological flexibility." "They're able to change the way they think about the...
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Researchers Testing Nasal Swab to Detect Alzheimer's
Detecting the first signs of Alzheimer's disease may one day be as easy as swabbing the inside of your nose. An experimental swab, patented by Duke Health, picked up early changes in nerve and immune cells even before thinking and memory problems had emerged."If we can...
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Type 1 and 2 Diabetes Increase Dementia Risk
Both types of diabetes dramatically increase a person's risk of dementia, a new study says. People with Type 1 diabetes are nearly three times more likely than those without diabetes to develop dementia, and folks with Type 2 diabetes are twice as likely to do so,...
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Review: Little Evidence Cannabis Helps Mental Health
Cannabis-based medications are often used to treat mental health problems, but a new review suggests they may not work as well as many people hope. Researchers looked at decades of studies and found little evidence that cannabis helps with most mental health or substance-use...
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Smartphone Use Linked to Disordered Eating in Teens
For many teenagers, a smartphone is essentially an extra limb. But new research suggests that spending too much time peering into that digital world might be altering how young people view their bodies and their relationship with food. A comprehensive review from King's...
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24 Minutes of Specially Designed Music Eases Anxiety
A short music session may help ease anxiety and researchers say there's a "sweet spot" for how long to listen. A clinical trial found that listening to specially designed music for 24 minutes can significantly reduce anxiety symptoms. The music was paired with auditory beat...
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VR Education Eases Anxiety About Medical Procedures
Imagine a doctor offering you a virtual reality headset to help explain an upcoming procedure. It turns out such an explanation might go farther to easing your worries than the usual handout leaflet, researchers reported Friday at a meeting in London of the European...
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People's Pain Perceptions Can Shape Yours
You're waiting for a vaccination. The person ahead of you stumbles out, groaning about how painful the shot was.Could hearing that make your own injection hurt worseYes, a new study says.What others say about an experience - be it a vaccination, or a job interview, or a...
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Exercise Promotes Release of Brain-Boosting Protein
It's long been known that exercise improves a person's brain health - and researchers now think they better understand at least one of the factors at play. Just one 15-minute session of aerobic exercise floods the brain with brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), a...