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NEWS:
Why Climate Change Might Be Affecting Your Headaches
Recurring headaches are one of the most common nervous system disorders, with an estimated 45 million, or one in six, Americans complaining of headaches each year. People who experience headaches or migraines regularly are probably familiar with different triggers for their headaches—such as consuming alcohol, increased stress, or changes in sleep quality. But what people suffering from headaches might not realize is that climate change can have effects on headaches.
How Can Climate Change Cause Headaches?
According to the Environmental Protection Agency, rising global average temperature continue to impact widespread changes in weather patterns, and extreme weather events—such as heat waves and hurricanes—are likely to become more frequent or more intense. Experts suggest that the stress of these events can trigger headaches.
“Not only can experiencing an extreme storm itself be stres
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A Little Of This Goes A Long Way
Feeling guilty about taking that afternoon nap? Don’t be. Napping may be good for the brain, according to a new report.
The study, from researchers at University College London and the University of the Republic in Uruguay, found that regular napping may slow the rate at which the brain shrinks as we age. A larger brain volume is associated with better memory and thinking skills and a lower risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease.
For the study, published in the journal Sleep Health, researchers analyzed medical data from 378,932 men and women who were part of the UK Biobank, a large and ongoing health study of people in Britain. They ranged in age from 40 to 69.
The researchers used a technique called Mendelian randomization that helps to pinpoint the cause of a specific health outcome, in this case the effects of napping on the brain. They identified 97 snippets of DNA that predispos
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Poll Shows Increases in Hearing, Speech, and Language Referrals,More Communication Challenges in Young Children
A new national poll of audiologists and speech-language pathologists who work with children ages birth to 5 years reveals that most respondents have experienced an increase in referrals for concerns about hearing, speech, and language delays or disorders over the past 2 years—a time marked by pandemic-related transformations in the lives of many young children. The poll was conducted by the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA), which is releasing its results today as Better Hearing and Speech Month begins.
“In addition to more requests for evaluations, our members have seen an increasing number of children with behavioral, social, and language difficulties—as well as more children with hearing loss that has gone undetected,” said 2023 ASHA President Robert Augustine, PhD, CCC-SLP. “However, we want to assure families that if they have concerns about their child’s communic
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The Shape of Your Heart Matters
Curious to know if you’re at risk for two common heart conditions? Your doctor may want to check the shape of your heart.
Investigators from the Smidt Heart Institute at Cedars-Sinai have discovered that patients who have round hearts shaped like baseballs are more likely to develop future heart failure and atrial fibrillation than patients who have longer hearts shaped like the traditional Valentine heart.
Their findings, published in Med-Cell Press’ new peer-reviewed medical journal-used deep learning and advanced imaging analysis to study the genetics of heart structure. Their results were telling.
"We found that individuals with spherical hearts were 31% more likely to develop atrial fibrillation and 24% more likely to develop cardiomyopathy, a type of heart muscle disease," said David Ouyang, MD, a cardiologist in the Smidt Heart Institute and a researcher in the Division of
