Zoomer Report

Here’s some great news about one of our favourite foods. Research out of St. Michael’s Hospital says eating chocolate may have a positive impact on stroke.

The analysis involved a review of three prior studies, and it suggests eating about a bar of chocolate a week can help cut the risk of stroke and lower the risk of death after a stroke.

One study found that people who ate one serving of chocolate per week were 22 percent less likely to have a stroke than people who ate no chocolate. Another study found that those who ate 50 grams of chocolate once a week were 46 percent less likely to die following a stroke than people who didn’t eat chocolate.

The study authors caution that the evidence is still limited, and future work is needed to address which component in chocolate, which amount, and what kind—white, milk or dark—makes a difference.

Other research has found that flavonoids which are found in cocoa, have anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer properties.

Do you live near a nice patch of green? There is more evidence that being close to parks, woods, or other natural settings may improve your mental and physical health.

A study out of the Netherlands finds that proximity to green spaces is associated with less depression, anxiety, and other health problems. The relationship was strongest for children and people with low incomes.

Investigators in the Netherlands examined health records from 350,000 patients in medical practices throughout the country. Using postal codes, they were also able to determine the percentage of green space existing within about 2 miles of each patient's home.

The impact was greatest for mental health conditions. Compared to people living in areas with the least green spaces, those living in areas with the most were a third less likely to have anxiety disorders that required treatment and roughly one-fifth less likely to receive treatment for depression.

When it came to physical health conditions, the protective benefits of living in greener areas appeared strongest for respiratory diseases such as asthma, COPD, and upper respiratory infections.

There was a much weaker association for other common health conditions, including cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and cancer.

It’s our most basic function and we have to do it to live. But according to Health.com you can use the way you breathe to fight anxiety, sleep better, and focus your attention. For instance, you may not notice, but in a stressful situation, the natural reaction is to take quick and shallow breaths, which actually increases your body's stress response.

Experts say the fastest way to relieve anxiety is to slow your breathing down to about five breaths per minute and breathe gently and naturally without overfilling your lungs and without forcing the air out. For those times that you need to concentrate, they recommend taking a few short, forceful breaths. Breathe in sharply and breathe out forcefully while shouting 'ha'. They advise about 20 breaths per minute, for no more than 3 to 5 minutes.

There is a big caveat here. If you have high blood pressure, avoid this type of breathing. Finally if you have trouble drifting off,sleep specialists recommend deep breathing before falling asleep. Put one hand on your chest and the other on your belly. Breathe through your nose for about 2 seconds, with your belly moving outward more than your chest. As you breathe out, gently press your belly. That will slow your heart rate and help you get to sleep.

It’s often a wrenching decision for Zoomers and their loved ones. When should an older driver stop getting behind the wheel? Now a study out of Columbia university finds that when that happens, people are more likely to feel depressed and to develop other health problems than their peers who remain on the road.

The work analyzed 16 different studies and found giving up the car keys was linked to an almost doubled risk of depression, which the researchers believe might be at least partly due to the social isolation or lack of independence that can ensue when elderly people can no longer get around by car. One of these studies, for example, found ex-drivers had a 51 percent reduction in their social network of friends and relatives over 13 years.

Two studies concluded driving cessation had an impact on life expectancy. One found ex-drivers four to six times more likely to die over three years than continuing drivers, while the other found the five-year mortality risk 68 percent higher for non-drivers.

The studies were not able to show whether giving up driving caused the problems, or vice versa.

The bottom line - The findings highlight the need for more research to pinpoint how taking car keys away from elderly adults may influence both physical and mental health.

Here’s some work that underscores the importance of the grandparent/grandchild relationship. A study published in the American Journal of Orthopsychiatry finds teens who form close, loving relationships with a grandparent have fewer behavioural and emotional problems than less-attached teens. The benefits to the young people were even greater when they were also close to the parent who was the grandparent’s child.

The study, at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, surveyed 1,400 teens, age 12 to 18 about hyperactivity, emotional symptoms such as excessive worrying, social skills, and fighting and bullying. They also rated their relationships to grandparents and parents.

For those with average emotional closeness to their parents, contact with their closest grandparent was linked with reduced adjustment difficulties. For teens who had very close parental relationships, the closest grandparent played an even stronger role in reducing those problems.

Most of the grandparents identified as closest to teens were maternal grandmothers aged 70 or older.

It’s something I worried about every time I had surgery. What if the doctor was on call the night before and was fatigued by the time I had my operation? Now research that followed the outcomes in nearly 39,000 cases here in Ontario found that patients having elective surgery during the day fare no better or worse if the doctor operating has worked the night before. The work tracked similar patients who had the same procedure conducted by the same physician, with and without a night off to rest. It found the risk of adverse outcomes from the daytime surgery was similar, even if the doctor had treated patients between midnight and 7 a.m. the night before.

The study in the New England Journal of Medicine is the latest chapter in a long debate about the effect of round-the-clock shifts on patient safety.

Nancy Baxter, the chief of general surgery at St. Michael’s Hospital and a senior researcher on the study, said the findings show that physicians are finding ways – either through scheduling or monitoring their performance – to respond to the need for emergency care without negatively affecting patients.

Critics say the study is flawed because it only shows whether the doctors worked the night before and not whether they managed to get some sleep.

Do you ever complain that your job is killing you? Turns out, it could be. According to a study from researchers at Harvard and Stanford, workplace stress could shorten your life by up to three years depending on your race, gender and educational level.

The data show that people with less education are much more likely to end up in jobs with more unhealthy workplace practices that cut life span, and people with the highest educational attainment are less affected by workplace stress.

Some of the categories that the researchers studied took a bigger toll than others. Across all groups, some of the biggest factors were unemployment and layoffs, low job control, as well as job insecurity for men and shift work for women. Overall women generally fared better than their male counterparts. The study was done in the U.S. and found that a lack of health insurance exerted the biggest influence, but that would not apply here in Canada.

The study is published in Health Affairs.

It’s practically an epidemic and it can really interfere with your life! Insomnia is notoriously difficult to deal with. But after reviewing a total of 20 studies, researchers say Non-drug talk therapy can help adults who lie awake in bed most nights.

They came to the conclusion that instead of taking pills, insomniacs could benefit from techniques associated with cognitive behavior therapy.

The essential elements are aimed at reducing anxiety and negative thoughts about sleeplessness, as well as relaxation techniques to minimize muscle tension and mental distractions.

Before the treatment, the average time to get to sleep was just under an hour. The researchers found that after engaging in the sleep-enhancing practice, people fell asleep 20 minutes sooner, on average, and slept 30 minutes more each night.

Up to 15 percent of adults worldwide regularly have sleep difficulties, which can lead to anxiety, depression and even type 2 diabetes.The study is published in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

Do you want to get that healthy glow? The latest research finds that instead of going for a beach vacation, you should just eat more carrots, sweet potatoes and mangoes. A study in the journal Evolution and Human Behaviour showed that eating a diet rich in fruit and vegetables gives you a more healthy golden glow than the sun. It’s thanks to substances called carotenoids – the antioxidants responsible for the red colouring in fruit and vegetables like carrots and tomatoes,

Participants were asked to manipulate the colours of 51 faces on a computer screen to make them look healthier. Consistently, they picked skin tones calibrated to reflect the intake of carotenoids, rather than tones simulating suntans.

The researchers also found that just one or two more portions of fruits and vegetables a day resulted in a subtle shift toward the more healthy yellowish tone of carotenoid consumption. And taking a 15 mg daily supplement of beta carotene for eight weeks had the same result.

The researchers say the benefit comes from consuming a variety of fruits and vegetables, which contain different types of carotenoids. The more colourful your diet — the better.

But you can eat too much. Excessive consumption of carrots can produce carotenemia, a too yellowed skin tone that looks jaundiced.

Do you love listening to sad music, or do you hate it?

Eminent music professor David Huron has a theory. And he’s using Samuel Barber’s Adagio for Strings to test it.

He says people who enjoy sorrowful music are experiencing the consoling effects of prolactin, a hormone that is usually associated with pregnancy and lactation but that the body also releases when we’re sad or weeping. He figures people who can’t bear listening to sad music don’t get that prolactin rush.

The study involves taking blood samples from subjects as they listen to sad music, to no music, and then to happy music - to measure how much of the hormone is normally in their systems and how much, if any, is released when they hear the sad songs. He says the effect of prolactin is “a bit like Mother Nature wrapping her arms around you, consoling you, and saying, ‘There, there; it’s okay.’ And since people listening to the sad music don’t have any actual psychic pain, the exercise can leave them feeling very good indeed.