Dr. Howard Smith Reports

Vidcast:  https://youtu.be/srussDWNdZU

Playing sports enhances your brain’s ability to process environmental sounds and eliminate background noise.  Neuroscientists at Northwestern University report this finding after studying nearly 500 student-athletes and matched controls.

Delivering speech through earbuds and recording participants’ brain waves, researchers discovered playing collegiate sports enhances a player’s ability to extract meaningful speech from their environment by effectively suppressing background noise.  In contrast, other research shows that the brains of musicians and multi-lingual individuals amplify meaningful sounds rather than suppressing background noise.

Hearing better is yet another reason to be physically active.  The trick is to play non-contact sports like tennis, volleyball, and track that pose no risk to your brain’s overall physical health.

Jennifer Krizman, Tory Lindley, Silvia Bonacina, Danielle Colegrove, Travis White-Schwoch, Nina Kraus. Play Sports for a Quieter Brain: Evidence From Division I Collegiate Athletes. Sports Health: A Multidisciplinary Approach, 2019; 194173811989227 DOI: 10.1177/1941738119892275

#Sports #hearing #backgroundnoise

Vidcast:  https://youtu.be/srussDWNdZU

Playing sports enhances your brain’s ability to process environmental sounds and eliminate background noise.  Neuroscientists at Northwestern University report this finding after studying nearly 500 student-athletes and matched controls.

Delivering speech through earbuds and recording participants’ brain waves, researchers discovered playing collegiate sports enhances a player’s ability to extract meaningful speech from their environment by effectively suppressing background noise.  In contrast, other research shows that the brains of musicians and multi-lingual individuals amplify meaningful sounds rather than suppressing background noise.

Hearing better is yet another reason to be physically active.  The trick is to play non-contact sports like tennis, volleyball, and track that pose no risk to your brain’s overall physical health.

Jennifer Krizman, Tory Lindley, Silvia Bonacina, Danielle Colegrove, Travis White-Schwoch, Nina Kraus. Play Sports for a Quieter Brain: Evidence From Division I Collegiate Athletes. Sports Health: A Multidisciplinary Approach, 2019; 194173811989227 DOI: 10.1177/1941738119892275

#Sports #hearing #backgroundnoise

Vidcast:  https://youtu.be/LbrAqKFbud8

A huge Harvard study definitively associates symptoms of gastrointestinal reflux disease with the ingestion of caffeinated beverages and soda.  Participating were more than 48,000 women in the Nurses’ Health Study who had no diagnosed gastrointestinal reflux disease.

Analyzing data from nearly 263,000 person-years of follow up, regular coffee drinkers were 34% more likely to experience reflux symptoms, regular tea drinkers 26% more likely, and regular soda drinkers 29% more likely.  Milk, water, and juice produced no such discomfort.

This is the first study to categorically prove an association between some of our favorite drinks and heartburn.  If you do develop reflux symptoms, don’t ignore them as chronic irritation of the esophagus breeds cancer.

Mehta, Raaj S. et al.  Association Between Beverage Intake and Incidence of Gastroesophageal Reflux Symptoms.  Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology: http://bit.ly/2Pt5Bie

#Gerd #reflux #coffee #tea #soda

Vidcast:  https://youtu.be/LbrAqKFbud8

A huge Harvard study definitively associates symptoms of gastrointestinal reflux disease with the ingestion of caffeinated beverages and soda.  Participating were more than 48,000 women in the Nurses’ Health Study who had no diagnosed gastrointestinal reflux disease.

Analyzing data from nearly 263,000 person-years of follow up, regular coffee drinkers were 34% more likely to experience reflux symptoms, regular tea drinkers 26% more likely, and regular soda drinkers 29% more likely.  Milk, water, and juice produced no such discomfort.

This is the first study to categorically prove an association between some of our favorite drinks and heartburn.  If you do develop reflux symptoms, don’t ignore them as chronic irritation of the esophagus breeds cancer.

Mehta, Raaj S. et al.  Association Between Beverage Intake and Incidence of Gastroesophageal Reflux Symptoms.  Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology: http://bit.ly/2Pt5Bie

#Gerd #reflux #coffee #tea #soda

Vidcast:  https://youtu.be/gYEb98stl-8

More pregnant women turn to their own mothers than their doctors or self-help books for advice during pregnancy and child-rearing pointers later.  This from a University of Cincinnati study of  64 pregnant women and 23 almost grandmothers.

Though self-help guidebooks provide solid, factual information, they also tend to create a generational disconnect by dismissing the value of practical information from a woman’s mother.  Both generations of women endorsd the value of professional medical advice for matters pertaining to testing, diet, medications, and vaccinations, but many women comment that their professionals need to listen to them more and talk less.

Navigating pregnancy and parenthood successfully requires many resources.  Use them all….selectively and critically.

Danielle Bessett. Complicating the Generational Disconnect: Pregnant Women, Grandmothers-to-be, and Medicalization. Reproduction, Health, and Medicine, 2019 DOI: 10.1108/S1057-629020190000020013

#Pregnancy #infancy #parenting

Vidcast:  https://youtu.be/WCVwKnueXMg

Women sleeping 5 hours a night or less were 94% more likely to have whole body osteoporosis compared with those sleeping at least 7 hours.  A study of more than 11,000 postmenopausal women participating in the Women’s Health Initiative was just published in the Journal of Bone and Mineral Research.

The investigation compared self-reported sleep duration with x-ray determined bone mineral densities of the whole body, hip, and spine.  Those short on sleep were 63% more likely to have hip osteoporosis and 28% more likely to have spine osteoporosis.

In this largest study of its kind, sleep proves to be a critical factor for maintaining strong, healthy bones throughout life.  Make sure you get enough!

Ochs‐Balcom, H.M., Hovey, K.M., Andrews, C., Cauley, J.A., Hale, L., Li, W., Bea, J.W., Sarto, G.E., Stefanick, M.L., Stone, K.L., Watts, N.B., Zaslavsky, O. and Wactawski‐Wende, J. (2019), Short Sleep Is Associated With Low Bone Mineral Density and Osteoporosis in the Women's Health Initiative. J Bone Miner Res. doi:10.1002/jbmr.3879

#Sleep #bone density #osteoporosis

Vidcast:  https://youtu.be/pE42m2UaxVI

Feeling loved escalates your feelings of self-worth and optimism to the highest levels.  Penn State psychologists studied 212 participants by smartphone polling their self-assessments of being loved and feeling happy or sad.

Phone surveys appeared randomly 6 times a day over a 4 week period.  They explored love in the broadest sense not restricting it to romantic love but including general, positive connections with friends and family.  A sense of loving and being loved had a strong association with happiness, positivity, and overall well-being.

Since love and caring are reciprocal, use your own smartphone as well as in-person communications to give and receive both.  You and those you know will be glad.

Zita Oravecz, Jessica Dirsmith, Saeideh Heshmati, Joachim Vandekerckhove, Timothy R. Brick. Psychological well-being and personality traits are associated with experiencing love in everyday life. Personality and Individual Differences, 2020; 153: 109620 DOI: 10.1016/j.paid.2019.109620

#Love #wellbeing #optimism #selfworth

Vidcast:  https://youtu.be/gYEb98stl-8

More pregnant women turn to their own mothers than their doctors or self-help books for advice during pregnancy and child-rearing pointers later.  This from a University of Cincinnati study of  64 pregnant women and 23 almost grandmothers.

Though self-help guidebooks provide solid, factual information, they also tend to create a generational disconnect by dismissing the value of practical information from a woman’s mother.  Both generations of women endorsd the value of professional medical advice for matters pertaining to testing, diet, medications, and vaccinations, but many women comment that their professionals need to listen to them more and talk less.

Navigating pregnancy and parenthood successfully requires many resources.  Use them all….selectively and critically.

Danielle Bessett. Complicating the Generational Disconnect: Pregnant Women, Grandmothers-to-be, and Medicalization. Reproduction, Health, and Medicine, 2019 DOI: 10.1108/S1057-629020190000020013

#Pregnancy #infancy #parenting

Vidcast:  https://youtu.be/pE42m2UaxVI

Feeling loved escalates your feelings of self-worth and optimism to the highest levels.  Penn State psychologists studied 212 participants by smartphone polling their self-assessments of being loved and feeling happy or sad.

Phone surveys appeared randomly 6 times a day over a 4 week period.  They explored love in the broadest sense not restricting it to romantic love but including general, positive connections with friends and family.  A sense of loving and being loved had a strong association with happiness, positivity, and overall well-being.

Since love and caring are reciprocal, use your own smartphone as well as in-person communications to give and receive both.  You and those you know will be glad.

Zita Oravecz, Jessica Dirsmith, Saeideh Heshmati, Joachim Vandekerckhove, Timothy R. Brick. Psychological well-being and personality traits are associated with experiencing love in everyday life. Personality and Individual Differences, 2020; 153: 109620 DOI: 10.1016/j.paid.2019.109620

#Love #wellbeing #optimism #selfworth

Vidcast:  https://youtu.be/WCVwKnueXMg

Women sleeping 5 hours a night or less were 94% more likely to have whole body osteoporosis compared with those sleeping at least 7 hours.  A study of more than 11,000 postmenopausal women participating in the Women’s Health Initiative was just published in the Journal of Bone and Mineral Research.

The investigation compared self-reported sleep duration with x-ray determined bone mineral densities of the whole body, hip, and spine.  Those short on sleep were 63% more likely to have hip osteoporosis and 28% more likely to have spine osteoporosis.

In this largest study of its kind, sleep proves to be a critical factor for maintaining strong, healthy bones throughout life.  Make sure you get enough!

Ochs‐Balcom, H.M., Hovey, K.M., Andrews, C., Cauley, J.A., Hale, L., Li, W., Bea, J.W., Sarto, G.E., Stefanick, M.L., Stone, K.L., Watts, N.B., Zaslavsky, O. and Wactawski‐Wende, J. (2019), Short Sleep Is Associated With Low Bone Mineral Density and Osteoporosis in the Women's Health Initiative. J Bone Miner Res. doi:10.1002/jbmr.3879

#Sleep #bone density #osteoporosis