Mind & Mood Archive

As another school year in the shadow of COVID-19 begins and the Delta variant surges, once again parents are concerned about how their children will be affected. National, state, and local guidelines continue to evolve, but the overarching goal is to return to full-time, in-person learning for students wherever possible.

Though recently discovered, the endocannabinoid system regulates and controls many of our critical bodily functions. Researchers are investigating the ECS's role in learning and memory and in hunger, hoping that these avenues of research may lead to new drug discoveries.

A study published online April 20, 2021, by the journal Nature Communications suggests thatgetting too little sleep in midlife increases the risk for dementia later in life. Researchers analyzed the sleep data of 8,000 middle-aged adults who were followed for 25 years. People who slept six hours per night at age 50 were 22% more likely to develop dementia, compared with people who slept seven hours. People who slept six hours per night at age 60 were 37% more likely to develop dementia, compared with people who slept seven hours. The study was observational and can't prove causation.

It's not unusual for women to feel down or depressed after giving birth, but if the feelings persist or become debilitating, it's cause for concern. Many of the symptoms overlap between postpartum depression and postpartum anxiety, but some women do not respond as well to some treatments for depression, so it's important to establish the correct diagnosis.

It's common for doctors to prescribe opioid pain medications for their patients after surgery; however, prescribing large numbers of pills increases the possibility of dependence and overdose. Writing prescriptions for smaller quantities of pills while still monitoring people's pain is one way to reduce the likelihood that a person develops a problem.

Addiction is now understood to be a neurological disorder that results from changes to the brain's reward center caused by addictive substances. Ideally, treatment for nicotine addiction combines medication to suppress cravings with counseling to help patients reprogram their behavior.