For old timers with a relaxed, laid back attitude towards life, this news will come as a fresh breeze of air. Researchers have finally revealed that face-to-face socialising with friends or family members is more powerful than making phone calls or sending e-mails in guarding against depression.
A team of researchers from Oregon Health and Science University found that participants who regularly met in person with family and friends were less likely to report symptoms of depression, compared with others who e-mailed or spoke on the phone. The gains people derived from face-to-face socialising endured even years later.
“This is the first look at the role that the type of communication with loved ones and friends plays in safeguarding people from depression,” said Alan Teo, assistant professor of psychiatry. The team found that all forms of socialisation are not equal.
“Phone calls and digital communication, with friends or family members, do not have the same power as face-to-face social interactions in helping to stave off depression,” Teo noted.
Teo and colleagues assessed more than 11,000 adults aged 50 and older who participated in the longitudinal Health and Retirement Study at the University of Michigan. Researchers examined the frequency of in-person, telephone and written social contact, including e-mail.
Then they looked at the risk of depression symptoms two years later.
The team found that having little face-to-face social contact nearly doubles the risk of having depression two years later. Participants who met up with family and friends at least three times a week had the lowest level of depressive symptoms two years later than those who had less frequent contact.
Individuals who met up just once every few months or less frequently had an increased chance of depressive symptoms. Among adults aged 50 to 69, frequent in-person contact with friends reduced subsequent depression.
In contrast, adults aged 70 and older benefited from in-person contact with children and other family members. The findings were published online in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society. — IANS
High-fructose diet hampers recovery from brain injury
A diet high in processed foods which are often sweetened with high-fructose corn syrup may impair the brains’ ability to heal after serious head injury, warn researchers.
“We found that processed fructose inflicts surprisingly harmful effects on the brain’s ability to repair itself after a head trauma,” said Fernando Gomez-Pinilla, professor at David Geffen School of Medicine at University of California, Los Angeles, US.
Fructose also occurs naturally in fruit, which contains antioxidants, fibre and other nutrients that prevent the same damage. In the study, laboratory rats were fed standard rat chow and trained for five days to solve a maze.
Then they were randomly assigned to a group that was fed plain water or a group that was fed fructose-infused water for six weeks. The fructose was crystallised from corn in a dose simulating a human diet high in foods and drinks sweetened with high-fructose corn syrup.
A week later, the rats were anesthetised and underwent a brief pulse of fluid to the head to reproduce aspects of human traumatic brain injury (TBI).
After an additional six weeks, the researchers retested all the rats’ ability to recall the route and escape the maze. The scientists discovered that the animals on the fructose diet took 30% longer to find the exit compared to those who drank plain water.
The team also found that fructose altered a wealth of biological processes in the animals’ brains after trauma. The sweetener interfered with the ability of neurons to communicate with each other, rewire connections after injury, record memories and produce enough energy to fuel basic functions.
Sources of fructose in diet include honey, cane sugar (sucrose) and high-fructose corn syrup, an inexpensive liquid sweetener. Made from cornstarch, the liquid syrup is widely added as a sweetener and preservative to processed foods, including soft drinks, condiments, applesauce and baby food. The study was published in the Journal of Cerebral Blood Flow and Metabolism. — IANS
Believe it! Washing dishes reduces stress
If a look at the piling dishes in the kitchen sink after a long day gives you a headache, just take a deep breath and plunge into action! New research has found that washing dishes with full concentration may calm the mind and reduce your stress.
The study looked at whether washing dishes could be used as an informal contemplative practice that promotes a positive state of mindfulness — a meditative method of focusing attention on the emotions and thoughts of the present moment.
“I was particularly interested in how the mundane activities in life could be used to promote a mindful state and, thus, increase overall sense of well-being,” said one of the study’s authors Adam Hanley from Florida State University in the US.
“We hypothesised that, relative to a control condition, participants receiving mindful dishwashing instruction would evidence greater state mindfulness, attentional awareness, and positive affect, as well as reduce negative affect and lead to overestimations of time spent dishwashing,” the researchers said.
After conducting a study with 51 students, the researchers found that mindful dishwashers — those who focused on the smell of the soap, the warmth of the water, the feel of the dishes — reported a decrease in nervousness by 27% and an increase in mental inspiration by 25%.
The control group, on the other hand, did not experience any benefits.
Implications for these findings are diverse and suggest that mindfulness as well as positive affect could be cultivated through intentionally engaging in a broad range of activities, said the study was published in the journal Mindfulness. — IANS
