Does lack of sleep cause depression? Part 1

There has been a dramatic rise in childhood depression in the past 2 decades and no one knows why. A recent study by US researchers indicates that perhaps going to bed early may protect teenagers against depression and suicidal ideations. The latest study in 12-18 year olds showed that those teenagers who went to bed after midnight were 24% more likely to have depression than who went to bed at 10 pm. Moreover individuals who slept less than 5 hours a night had a nearly 71% higher risk of depression than who slept at least 7 hours.

The latest work from Columbia university medical center in NY looked at data gathered from over 15,000 teenagers collected in the 90s. The study revealed that at least one in fifteen teenagers was found to have depression.

All the data indicated that going to bed after midnight was a risk factor for depression and these individuals were more likely to develop suicidal thoughts when compared to children who went to bed at 10 pm. Besides the sleep factor, depression was found to be more likely in girls, older teenagers and in those teenagers who felt that their parents cared little about them.

Lead researcher Dr James Gangwisch does admit that perhaps it is the depression that could be causing the poor sleep patterns. However, it was observed that some of these teenagers only developed symptoms of depression after developing poor sleep habits. Lack of adequate sleep has been linked to aberrant mood changes including loss of concentration, impulsivity and anxiety.

Gingko does Zilch for the brain! Part 2

Says Dr DeKosky, vice dean School of Medicine, "For me, this kind of closes the book on whether or not, if you start taking ginkgo later in life, you are going to have cognitive benefit. We don't have good evidence that it maintains good brain health."
He goes on to add, "Quite frankly, one of the things that surprised us was that for an extract that has been around for this long, there ought to be a signal of some sort, or we ought to see some effect for it to have maintained its reputation for so long. And we didn't."

And what do alternative health care workers say about the study?

Says Douglas Mackay, vice president of scientific and regulatory affairs for the Council for Responsible Nutrition, a principal trade association of dietary-supplement makers, "What we would really like to see is additional research. What we would not like to see is this study closing the door on answering other questions or subsets of questions on ginkgo."

So what does all this mean for the consumer?

There are always some die hard alternative health care fans who will continue to believe in the mythological properties of gingko. For those who are undecided and have common sense- save your hard earned money on gingko. If you want to have a healthy brain- eat well, exercise regularly and stop believing everything that you read on cyberspace!

Dec. 29, 2009 Journal of the American Medical Association

Gingko does Zilch for the brain! Part 1

For decades, alternative health care practitioners have been hyping the long term benefits of ginkgo for maintaining good mental function and cognition. There are thousands of anecdotal reports from vendors of this herbal supplement that it has “magical” brain stimulating properties. Now there is a study that finds that all the hype about gingko is false- the herb really does not slow down mental decline.

Led by Dr Steven DeKosky from the University of Virginia, six major US institutions looked at Gingko supplements and showed no discernible differences in the herb versus a sugar pill. The researchers looked at the effects of gingko on several brain tasks including attention, memory, concentration, language and cognition. The results revealed that gingko did not make one iota of difference compared to the sugar pill in improving any single brain function. This is the largest and longest study spanning over a mean of 6 years which has looked at effects of gingko on the brain. An earlier study led by the same team showed that ginkgo did zilch in preventing or delaying Alzheimer’s dementia. In the present study, more than 3,000 elderly volunteers between the ages 72-96 participated.

Mother’s depression worsens asthma in children! Part 2

"Intuitively, it may seem that we're dealing with a chicken-egg situation, but our study suggests otherwise. The fact that mom's depression was not affected by how often her child had symptoms really caught us off guard, but it also suggested which factor comes first," Riekert said.

Since depression can profoundly affect mental health concentration, cause fatigue and diminish concentration, it may weaken the mother’s ability to manage her child’s asthma. Asthma is a common respiratory ailment which often gets worse in winter and some children require daily treatments and multiple doctor visits.

"Mom is the one who must implement the doctor's recommendations for treatment and follow-up, and if she is depressed she can't do it well, so the child will suffer," said chief scientist Michiko Otsuki said in news press release.

This simple observational study may be true but there are many other factors in African Americans that have not been looked at. The economy, finances, physical health, obesity or lack of transport- all these can lead to worsening of not only asthma but many other medical disorders.

The study can be viewed online on the Journal of Pediatric Psychology Nov 2009.

Mother’s depression worsens asthma in children! Part 1

US researchers say that a mother’s depression can worsen her child’s asthma symptoms. The 6 month study done by researchers at John Hopkins university looked at 262 black mothers and their children. What they observed was that mothers who had severe depression also often had children with frequent asthma attacks. On the other hand, women who had less depression had children with fewer asthmatic symptoms.

The John Hopkins Children's Center team looked at black mothers and children because black children are excessively affected by asthma and are seen more often in the Emergency room than other ethnic groups. Says lead investigator Kristin Riekert, a pediatric psychologist and co director of the John Hopkins Adherence Research Center, "Even though our research was not set up to measure just how much a mom's depression increased the frequency of her child's symptoms, a clear pattern emerged in which the latter followed the earlier.“

On the other hand, children who had less asthma did not necessarily have mothers with less depression. Based on these observations the researchers say that depression may be an independent risk factor that can forecast the severity of asthma in a child.

Can some diets improve cognitive performance? part 2

So what should the average individual eat?

The above study has important implications for not only airline pilots, truck drivers, military personnel but also for patients with dementia. Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and other related dementias carry a high morbidity, and have a significant impact on families and care givers. As of today, no drug has made any impact on either prevention or treatment of the various dementias.

The question that remains to be answered is whether such diets can help improve cognition in patients with AD. Even though the study was done in pilots, preliminary results indicate that such a diet may also be applicable in individuals with dementia. At the moment, the data are preliminary and one does not have to eat a high carb diet or a high fat diet all the time. It is well known that the brain’s primary source of energy is glucose and a high carbohydrate diet does supply adequate sugar. However, with the obesity epidemic in society, one certainly cannot over indulge on a high carbohydrate diet.

The role of diet and its role in improvement of cognition and mental function has only now been appreciated. To improve long-term mental cognition, the answer may be more in the diet than consuming pills with unknown chemicals. However, a few more studies are needed to understand the complete role of nutrition and its impact on the brain. The take home message is that all individuals should eat at a well-balanced diet that has a lot of carbohydrates and a reasonable amount of fat. Moreover, one should not forget to exercise and stop smoking at the same time.

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/708241

Can some diets improve cognitive performance? Part 1

For many years, clinicians have been wondering if certain diets can help improve cognitive performance, concentration, and mental aptitude. Over the past few decades, there has been a strong belief that diets high in protein are supposed to be better than high carb or high fat diets for good mental health. However, recently, there have been many isolated reports suggesting that diets high in carbohydrates or fat can lead to better concentration and attention span.

In the last two decades, evidence has accumulated that human error is a major cause of accidents in the airline industry. Further, long working hours, flying along several time zones and lack of proper nutrition have also been other factors associated with pilot errors. There is currently little data on the potential association between dietary intake and cognitive performance.

In the present study investigators sought to compare diets high in carbohydrates, fat, or protein to test their effects on cognition, flight performance, and pattern of sleep. Forty-five pilots were registered in this 14-week study during which individuals were randomized to be given a diet high in fats, diet high in carbs, a diet high in protein or a controlled diet.

The results showed that a diet high in carbohydrates or fat could lead to markedly enhanced cognitive performance and awareness testing score in pilots than a diet high in protein. Further, the study revealed that a high-carbohydrate diet helped pilots sleep better and longer, and a high-fat diet seemed to lead to a significantly quicker recollection of short-term memory. Finally, the results showed that by and large, flight-performance scores for pilots consuming a high-protein diet were considerably inferior than for those consuming a high-carbohydrate or a high-fat diet.