Study links depression to late-night social media use

SYDNEY - A groundbreaking study by Australian and Chinese researchers has found a link between depression sufferers and the late night use of social media tools.

The joint study by the Australia National University (ANU) and China's Harbin Institute of Technology (HIT) analyzed data from Chinese social media site Weibo to predict potential depression among users.

The results, released Wednesday, suggest the lure of social media in the silence of night is a magnet for people who suffer from depression, betraying a far higher level of activity on social media between 11 p.m. and 3 a.m. compared to other social media users.

"We found that in comparison to the control group, individuals with predicted Major Depression Disorder were more active on social media between 11 p.m. and 3 a.m.," said co-researcher Jin Han, a PhD student with the ANU National Institute for Mental Health Research.

Use of negative words

"Secondly, these people have a specific linguistic pattern. They are more likely to use negative words, such as death, depression, life, pain, and suicide."

Han said she hoped the study could be used to help organizations which work with people suffering depression.

"The information could be provided to organizations such as Lifeline who support people with depression," she said.

"It could also be used to identify people who may be showing signs of depression but are less likely to reach out for help."

Charmaine Yabsley, a social media and health expert writing for national health insurer BUPA, said that there are growing concerns for Australians online.

"Social media can be a wonderful tool, helping us source information and communicate with friends around the world. But what happens when we use social networking sites to be, well, less social and physically active in real life? For many of us, social media has become part of our everyday lives. We tweet, blog, update, and upload regularly -- for work and personal reasons," he said.

Around 80 percent of the Australian population is online, ranking the nation as having one of the highest Internet penetration rates in the world.

According to a recent Nielsen survey of 5,000 Australians aged 16 years and over, close to half of all online Australians participate in social media sites on an almost weekly basis, spending around 22 hours on it every week.

Almost 70 percent of Australians log on many times a day.

The upshot for youth in a technological world is that it is easy to feel non-existent without being online.

Positive effects of social media 


Han presented the findings of the study during the two-day Studying the Chinese Internet workshop jointly organized by the ANU College of Arts and Social Sciences and the ANU College of Asia and Pacific.

The other researchers are Pengyu Li, Dr. Guang Yu, and Xianyun Tian from HIT.

However, Chris Tanti, chief executive officer of Headspace (Australia's National Youth Mental Health Foundation), believes social media can also play an effective supporting role in human mental health.

"The strong sense of community and belonging fostered by social networking services has the potential to promote resilience among young people," he said, "While there are concerns (about social media), the good news is that young people are developing the skills to cope."

Whatever the outcome, the collaboration between Harbin and Canberra is an excellent example of how higher learning centers of excellence can reach out across cultures to forward the discussion and provide further knowledge and protection for the complexities of youth across the social media-scape.

ANU's Associate Professor Robert Ackland, who oversaw the workshop, said the event had been enormously successful in bringing together people who also work at the intersection of computer science and China studies.

"One of the things the ANU is known for is its focus on Asian Studies, and I think we are very well positioned to be a leader in this field of study," he said.

Andrea Myles, founder of the China Australia Millennial Project, said Australia needs to make more of such cross-cultural research.

"Be it health, social media or the myriad challenges facing youth from China and Australia, if we co-create new solutions to issues facing both of our nations then we will fulfill our obligations to all young people looking to take us ahead in the ' Asian century,’" Myles said.

source: interaksyon.com

Quitting smoking makes you happier, says UK study

PARIS - Moderate or heavy smokers who quit tobacco get a boost in mental wellbeing that, for people who are anxious or stressed, is equivalent to taking anti-depressants, a study said Thursday.

British researchers examined 26 published investigations into the mental health of smokers.

They looked at standardized scorecards for symptoms of anxiety, depression, stress and quality of life, derived from questionnaires completed by volunteers.

The smokers were 44 years old on average and smoked between 10 and 40 cigarettes a day. They were questioned before they tried to give up smoking and again after their attempt -- an average of six months later.

Those who succeeded in quitting reported reduced depression, anxiety and stress and had a more positive outlook on life compared with those who continued smoking.

"The effect sizes are equal or larger than those of anti-depressant treatment for mood and anxiety disorders," said the study, published by the British Medical Journal (BMJ).

Quitters who had been diagnosed with psychiatric disorders enjoyed a similar improvement.

Lead investigator Gemma Taylor of the University of Birmingham's School of Health and Population Sciences said she hoped the findings would dispel a widespread misconception about smoking.

"It's a common myth that smoking actually is good for your mental health -- 'smoking relieves stress,' 'smoking helps you relax,' 'smoking helps you enjoy things' -- and that common myth is really hard to overcome," Taylor told AFP in a phone interview.

But actually, the study showed that "when you stop smoking and you break the nicotine withdrawal cycle, your mental health improves."

Taylor pointed to a mainstream theory in tobacco addiction research: that a smoker's psychological state fluctuates throughout the day as a result of exposure to nicotine.

The sense of calm or wellbeing from a cigarette is followed immediately afterwards by classic withdrawal signs of a depressed mood, anxiety or agitation.

Smokers, though, tend to misattribute these symptoms and blame them on stress or other factors.

And because nicotine has a calming effect, they perceive that cigarettes improve their mental health.

Smoking is already blamed for a wide range of physical diseases and disorders, ranging from cancer, blindness and cardiac problems to diabetes, gum disease and impotence.

The UN's World Health Organization (WHO) estimated last July that tobacco kills almost six million people each year, a toll that will rise to eight million annually in 2030.

About four out of every five deaths will occur in low- and middle-income nations, it said.

Despite a decline in smoking prevalence in some nations, in overall terms the number of people smoking today is greater than in 1980, due to population growth, according to a paper published last month in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

source: interaksyon.com

Study ties thicker brain sections to spirituality

NEW YORK -- For people at high risk of depression because of a family history, spirituality may offer some protection for the brain, a new study hints.

Parts of the brain's outer layer, the cortex, were thicker in high-risk study participants who said religion or spirituality was "important" to them versus those who cared less about religion.

"Our beliefs and our moods are reflected in our brain and with new imaging techniques we can begin to see this," Myrna Weissman told Reuters Health. "The brain is an extraordinary organ. It not only controls, but is controlled by our moods."

Weissman, who worked on the new study, is a professor of psychiatry and epidemiology at Columbia University and chief of the Clinical-Genetic Epidemiology department at New York State Psychiatric institute.

While the new study suggests a link between brain thickness and religiosity or spirituality, it cannot say that thicker brain regions cause people to be religious or spiritual, Weissman and her colleagues note in JAMA Psychiatry.

It might hint, however, that religiosity can enhance the brain's resilience against depression in a very physical way, they write.

Previously, the researchers had found that people who said they were religious or spiritual were at lower risk of depression. They also found that people at higher risk for depression had thinning cortices, compared to those with lower depression risk.

The cerebral cortex is the brain's outermost layer made of gray matter that forms the organ's characteristic folds. Certain areas of the cortex are important hubs of neural activity for processes such as sensory perception, language and emotion.

For the new study, the researchers twice asked 103 adults between the ages of 18 and 54 how important religion or spirituality was to them and how often they attended religious services over a five-year period.

In addition to being asked about spirituality, the participants' brains were imaged once to see how thick their cortices were.

All the participants were the children or grandchildren of people who participated in an earlier study about depression. Some had a family history of depression, so they were considered to be at high risk for the disorder. Others with no history served as a comparison group.

Overall, the researchers found that the importance of religion or spirituality to an individual - but not church attendance - was tied to having a thicker cortex. The link was strongest among those at high risk of depression.

"What we're doing now is looking at the stability of it," Weissman said.

Her team is taking more images of the participants' brains to see whether the size of the cortex changes with their religiosity or spirituality.

"This is a way of replicating and validating the findings," she said. "That work is in process now."

Dr. Dan Blazer, the J.P. Gibbons Professor of Psychiatry at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina, said the study is very interesting but is still exploratory.

"I think this tells us it's an area to look at," Blazer, who was not involved in the new study, said. "It's an area of interest but we have to be careful."

For example, he said there could be other areas of the brain linked to religion and spirituality. Also, spirituality may be a marker of something else, such as socioeconomic status.

Blazer added that it's an exciting time, because researchers are actively looking at links between the brain, religion and risk of depression.

"We've seen this field move from a time when there were virtually no studies done at all," he said.

Weissman said the mind and body are intimately connected.

"What this means therapeutically is hard to say," she added.

SOURCE: bit.ly/1jYo6ro JAMA Psychiatry, online December 25, 2013.

source: interaksyon.com

The healthy, healing benefits of forgiving

The well-received feature on Greg Anderson’s inspiring story of how faith, forgiveness, and prayers allowed him to outlive a 30-day-to-live prediction 30 years ago when he was battling lung cancer was indeed a good prelude to how I enjoyed the big screen version of Les Miserables.

Here is a great story written 150 years ago about the French Revolution — 30 years before that — and the misery, evil, darkness, suffering and hopelessness that engulfed many. How many really recognized the emancipated Hugh Jackman as prisoner 24601 (Jean Valjean) whose petty crime was stealing bread for a dying niece? He was said to have refrained from drinking water for three days as well as undergone an extreme diet to lose so much weight for the initial scenes.

He even admitted in his acceptance speech that he almost gave up on the role and the movie. It was his wife who admonished him to persevere. His hard work earned him his very first Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture — Musical or Comedy. 

Of the movie’s many themes, the most poignant is that of forgiveness and transformation. While under parole, Jean Valjean crossed paths with a generous bishop who fed him and allowed him to stay for the night. Hardened perhaps by his life in prison, Valjean tried to ran away with the bishop’s silver. The police apprehended him and brought him to the bishop with the loot.

Valjean told the police that the bishop gave him the silver. The bishop confirmed that he indeed gave the silver, and added that Valjean left a few more pieces. Valjean was confused

by the bishop’s goodness. When the police left, the bishop claimed that with the silver, he had purchased the convict’s soul. The bishop said he had given it to God, and from that day, Valjean must be a good man.








This forgiveness transformed Valjean into a compassionate person who put others before himself. He showed forgiveness to his nemesis, police officer Javert, who in his relentless pursuit of Valjean, was captured by revolutionaries. As a reward for saving the lives of a few of these revolutionaries, Valjean asked permission to take Javert outside to kill him. Outside, Valjean released Javert.

Victor Hugo surely used Les Miserables to make people aware of the need for social reform, but it certainly speaks of virtues that remain timeless to this day. Central to the story was how Jean Valjean had a change of heart and evolved from a hardened ex-convict to a Christ-like benefactor when he allowed Jesus into his life. Reformed, Valjean tried to lessen the misery of others by putting their needs before his own.

The American Medical Student Association (AMSA) quoted Frederic Luskin, a Stanford researcher who studied the effects of forgiveness: “… the moment-to-moment experience of peace and understanding that occurs when an injured party’s suffering is reduced by the process of transforming a grievance they have held against an offending party.”

AMSA said that a 2001 study revealed a correlation between reviewing hurtful memories and measures of the stress response (EMG, heart rate, blood pressure). “When subjects were encouraged to think forgiving thoughts, the stress response was diminished. Similar findings were seen in an October 2003 study of 108 college students,” they added.

They claimed that several small studies have shown a number of potential health benefits conferred by forgiveness such as decreased anger and negative thoughts, decreased anxiety, reduced depression and grief, and decreased vulnerability to substance use.

Greg Anderson, the Cancer Conqueror, gives these healing prescriptions to one desperate patient:

Step 1:  Ask in prayer.  Declare what it is you want.  “I desire perfect health.”  Or, “I want to be pain-free.” 

Step 2:  Believe. Believe that what you seek is already yours.  Possess it by what Anderson calls the faith factor. Know that what you seek is on its way to you the moment you ask.  

When you first ask and then follow that with the deep belief that you now possess health and healing, joy and peace — or whatever it is that you seek — the entire Universe shifts to bring it into reality.  This is the Life Force in action.

Step 3:  Receive. Next, believe you have received.  Then feel happy and grateful. Live in those emotions. When you stir up those emotions, you are on the frequency of receiving.

source: philstar.com

Are pets good for your finances?

According to Dr James Griffin, a scientist at the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development in the United States, having a canine companion or a feline friend provides us with a “source of comfort and developing empathy”.

Previous studies have suggested that owning a pet helps to reduce stress, lower blood pressure and fight depression.

But are pets good for you in a financial sense?




Well, it seems the answer is both yes and no.

Pets can be expensive. On top of providing them with food and the odd play item such a bone or squeaky toy, you also have to consider the cost of veterinary care if something goes wrong

Vet bills have risen incredibly in recent years and the cost of something quite routine for Rover or Rusty could tip you off the edge of a financial cliff.

Major issues are even more on the pocket as well as the heart.

A study conducted by the RSPCA last year found that an emergency operation on dog can cost more than £4,000, while care for a cat injured in a car accident can weigh in around £1,500 without aftercare and future surgeries.

According to the study, 26 per cent of uninsured pet owners put off taking their pet to the vet because they fear the costs involved. This move could lead to the animal’s health problems worsening and it is likely to lead to further costs down the line or even a loss of the pet.

A solution to this problem is to take out an insurance policy. Yes that’s another expense, but it will provide with piece of mind and will more than pay for itself if god forbid something does happen to your furry friend.

An average pet policy will set you back somewhere the region of £100 a year, a sum which is less than most people spend buying newspapers.

Getting one set up is also quick and easy as it can be done either over the phone (or should be called the dog and bone in this case?) or via the internet.

Now, after reading about all these expenses which come with owning a pet, you’ll probably wondering where the financial benefits lay.

Well, they come in the form of things you possibly haven’t given much consideration to.

For example, owning a dog can often mean that you can get away with spending less on your home security. Dogs are very loyal and territorial animals and will defend their owner’s property with all their might.

This doesn’t mean you need to have a big and vicious dog either, as even the most soft and loving pooch can be enough to scare off anyone who might consider breaking into your property.

Indeed, studies have found that burglars stay away from homes where they can hear a dog barking.

Another financial benefit comes from the physical exercise pets can provide you with. Yes, you won’t get much exercise out of owning a gerbil or even a cat for that matter, but dogs are fantastic companions for people looking to get themselves in shape.

Each day your dog will need to be taken out for a walk and while this may seem a like a chore, it is also doing you some good. On top of that, if you can get your dog to enjoy a light run with you it could mean that you no longer need to pay for that expensive gym membership.

This article was produced by Debt Free Direct who provides help with debt management, consolidation and bankruptcy. If you are having problems with debt then don’t hesitate to get touch or visit us online.

source: everythingfinanceblog.com

350 million people worldwide suffer from depression - WHO

GENEVA - More than 350 million people suffer from depression globally, the World Health Organization said, ahead of World Mental Health Day on Wednesday.

"It is not a disease of developed countries, it is a global phenomenon. It's present in both genders and in rich and poor populations," Dr Shekhar Saxena, head of the WHO's mental health and substance abuse department, told reporters in Geneva.

No region is free from the disorder and around five percent of the world's population suffers depression in the course of a year, the health expert said.

Fifty percent more women suffer symptoms than men, said Saxena, who added that post-natal depression affected one in five mothers and one in 10 of all young mothers in the developed world.

According to the UN's global health arm, depression is more than just a bout of the blues, rather a "sustained feeling of sadness for two weeks or more" which interferes with "work, school or home".

At its worst, depression can lead to suicide, the WHO expert said, citing a "very clear correlation".

Nearly one million people take their lives every year and more than half of them have depression, Saxena said, although he noted that it was not the sole cause.

"Depression has existed for centuries, the news is, we're not doing anything about it," said Saxena, noting that the shame associated with having the illness meant that fewer than half of those with depression received the care they need.

The figure dropped to less than 10 percent in many countries, he added.

Effective treatment was available, Saxena said, but health workers needed to do more to spot the signs of depression in people who complained of other symptoms, particularly in children as young as 12 and young adults who they did not expect to have the illness.

One of the best ways to treat depression was to talk openly about it, the WHO said, adding that medicine was not the only solution.

"It should not be taken for granted that depression means taking pills," Saxena said.

source: interaksyon.com

Late night TV/computer sessions linked to depression

Sitting in front of a computer or TV screen late into the night or leaving it on when you fall asleep could increase your chances of becoming depressed, according to a study by U.S. scientists.

The study, by a team of neuroscientists at Ohio State University Medical Center partly funded by the U.S. Department of Defense, will give screen-addicted night owls pause for thought.





The researchers - who exposed hamsters to dim light at night and picked up changes in behavior and the brain that bore striking similarities to symptoms in depressed people - said a surge in exposure to artificial light at night in the last 50 years had coincided with rising rates of depression, particularly among women, who are twice as prone as men.

"The results we found in hamsters are consistent with what we know about depression in humans," said Tracy Bedrosian, who led the study, published in the journal Molecular Psychiatry.

Although exposure to night-time light has been linked to an increased risk of breast cancer and obesity, the relationship with mood disorders is poorly understood.

The hamsters involved in the experiment were exposed for four weeks to dim light at night - equivalent to a television screen in a darkened room - and the results compared to a control group exposed to a normal light-dark cycle.

The experimental group was then moved back onto a normal cycle for one, two or four weeks before they were tested.

The results showed they were less active and had a lower than usual interest in drinking sugar water - both symptoms are comparable to signs of depression in people.

The similarity extended to their biological make-up. The researchers found changes in the hippocampus - a part of the brain - that were consistent with people suffering depression.

The hamsters exposed to dim light at night were also shown to produce more of a protein called tumor necrosis factor (TNF), a chemical messenger that is mobilized when the body is injured or infected and causes inflammation in its efforts to repair the damage.

"Researchers have found a strong association in people between chronic inflammation and depression," said Randy Nelson, who also worked on the study. "That's why it is very significant that we found this relationship between dim light at night and increased expression of TNF."

The scientists found that blocking the effects of TNF with a drug prevented signs of depression in the hamsters, though some other indicators in the structure of the brain were unaffected.

For instance, hamsters that were exposed to dim light at night still showed a much reduced density of dendritic spines - hairlike growths on brain cells that are used to send chemical messages from one cell to another.

The overall symptoms of depression were reversible, the researchers said. Those hamsters returned to a normal light-dark cycle saw both their TNF levels and the density of their dendritic spines return to normal after about two weeks.

"The good news is that people who stay up late in front of the television and computer may be able to undo some of the harmful effects just by going back to a regular light-dark cycle and minimizing their exposure to artificial light at night," Bedrosian said.

source: interaksyon.com

NFL: Seau death puts spotlight on concussions and depression

The death of former San Diego Chargers linebacker Junior Seau has again put the spotlight on the possibility of a link between concussions and depression so severe it drives professional athletes to take their lives.

Seau's death on Wednesday (Thursday, PHL time) from a gunshot wound to the chest in an apparent suicide will sound all too familiar to shaken fans of the NFL.

Last month, former Atlanta defensive back Ray Easterling, a plaintiff in concussion-related lawsuits against the NFL, died of an apparent suicide as did Chicago safety Dave Duerson, who shot himself in the chest last year and left a note asking his family to donate his brain to the NFL brain bank for study.

Even the NHL and their fans have wrestled with similar tragedies as tough guys Rick Rypien, Derek Boogaard and Wade Belak all died last offseason.

On the surface, their three deaths appear eerily similar as they all made a living on the unforgiving fringes of the sport, NHL enforcers who earned pay checks by dispensing punishment on opposing players.

The three deaths in four months brought uncomfortable questions as to whether the events were a tragic coincidence or a sign of a deadly problem.

Now the NFL, the players and their lawyers are asking the same tough questions.

Alarm bells have been ringing in the NFL for several years as battered players stepped forward with tales of dementia and memory loss they believe to be the result of repeated blows to their heads during long careers.

According to NFLConcussionLitigation.com, 61 concussion-related lawsuits have been filed against the league by dozens of players, who allege the league negligently misled them about the dangers of concussions and other head injuries.

Brain disease

A report by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that as many as 3.8 million athletes suffer a concussion each year in the United States.

"Depression & suicide are serious matters and we as current and former NFL players should demand better treatment. Lack of info ... no more!!!," former Dallas Cowboys Hall of Fame running back Emmitt Smith said on his Twitter account.

"And for you current players who think this issue doesn't effect u. Get your head out of your but. Where u r 2day was his [Seau's] yesterday."

Seau spent 20 seasons in the NFL terrorizing running backs and receivers but there is, so far, no proof that his death can be linked to chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a degenerative brain disease caused by repeated blows to the head which can only be diagnosed after death.

There is, however, mounting evidence that many professional football and hockey players suffered from CTE in their careers.

Duerson's brain, examined by Boston University's Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy found "indisputable" evidence of CTE in the tissue.

"NFL players often experience post-concussion syndrome," said James Johnston Jr., M.D., assistant professor of Neurosurgery at the University of Alabama at Birmingham in a statement. "They have a higher rate of depression, substance abuse, and dementia compared to the general population - it's thought this is connected to head impacts." - Reuters

source: gmanetwork.com