Mental Health Archive

It takes a one-two punch to lower these risks for heart disease, heart attack, and stroke.

High cholesterol has long been known as a bad actor in heart health. Too much LDL (bad) cholesterol in your blood can lead to fatty deposits in your arteries and the formation of artery-narrowing plaque (atherosclerosis), heart attacks, and strokes.

But LDL doesn't act alone. Chronic inflammation — a persistent activation of the immune system — also fuels heart attack and stroke risks. That means you must address both high LDL levels and chronic inflammation to protect your health.

Try stress reduction to improve your quality of life and potentially relieve allergy symptoms.

Spring allergies are a stressful business. Coping with watery eyes, a runny nose, sneezing, coughing, or a sore throat affects how you get through each day. "The primary consequence is a reduced quality of life. This naturally can lead to stress on patients and their families," says Dr. Ahmad Sedaghat, an ear, nose, and throat specialist at Harvard-affiliated Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary.

The influence goes both ways: not only can allergies cause stress, but stress can make allergies worse.

In addition to everything else associated with stress, it can have negative effects on the skin, and can also aggravate certain skin conditions. But skin and hair also produce stress-inducing signals that can travel back to the brain, adding to psychological stress and perpetuating a stress cycle.

Peer support groups in mental health allow people with similar lived experiences to listen, share, and encourage one another. A Black peer support group created around race and culture as well as mental health may offer a safe space that allows people to address aspects of shared identity and experiences around racism with others who understand their daily reality.

Research we're watching

While opioid use disorders have gotten a lot of attention in recent years, the number of people dying as a result of methamphetamine use is on the rise. A study published Jan. 14, 2021, in The New England Journal of Medicine found that a combination drug therapy may provide some hope in helping people with this difficult-to-treat disorder.

In the trial, half of the 403 adult volunteers were given a combination of two drugs: naltrexone, which is used to treat both opioid and alcohol use disorders, and bupropion, an antidepressant. The other half of the group received a placebo. The treatment period began in 2017 and ended in 2019. During that time people were given periodic urine tests to gauge whether they used methamphetamines. Those who had at least three of four drug-free tests were defined as having responded to treatment. Researchers found that by weeks five and six, 16.5% of the treatment group had responded to treatment, compared with 3.4% of the control group. By weeks 11 and 12, 11.4% of the treatment group met the urine test criteria for successful treatment, compared with less than 2% of the control group. Most people who received the drug treatment didn't have any serious side effects.

News briefs

We already know that mindfulness meditation and a mentally active life are boons to healthy aging. But do these practices also help older people struggling with mild cognitive impairment (MCI)? To find out, Harvard researchers reviewed more than a dozen recent studies that looked at the effects of either mindfulness or cognitive training (including computerized programs) on older adults with MCI. In findings published online Dec. 29, 2020, by The American Journal of Medicine, researchers concluded that both strategies have potential benefits for cognition and mood. For people with MCI, practicing mindfulness over several weeks to months seemed to sharpen attention, memory, and other mental skills, and ease anxiety and depression. Similarly, cognitive training was associated with better memory, executive function, and mood. Most of the studies included in the review were relatively small and short-term, so they don't provide strong evidence of benefit, nor could they determine how long any benefit might last. But researchers say both strategies are feasible and low-risk, with the potential to benefit thinking skills and mood in people with MCI. Now we need more research to find out how the benefits might translate into everyday life and endure over time.

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Mindfulness can help soothe short-term and chronic pain.

Your mind is a powerful pain remedy when given the chance. Science continues to show how mindfulness can manage pain — and it doesn't take years to master.

"Using mindfulness is a way for older adults to treat ongoing chronic pain and the occasional flare-up without having to always rely on medication," says Ellen Slawsby, director of pain services at Harvard-affiliated Benson-Henry Institute for Mind Body Medicine.

Rapidly becoming a racquet sport favorite, pickleball serves up various physical, mental, and social benefits.

You keep hearing that older adults need to stay active physically, mentally, and socially. But what if you could do all three at once? You can if you play the racquet sport pickleball, one of the country's fastest-growing forms of recreation.

"In many ways, pickleball is the ideal activity for older adults," says Timothy Rivotto, a physical therapist and tennis coach with Harvard-affiliated Spaulding Rehabilitation Network. "It can accommodate people with different fitness levels and still offer a good aerobic workout. Pickleball also requires using key brain skills and is an exciting way to interact with others."