Mind & Mood Archive

Berries are healthful and delicious, even if some of the health claims may be a little bit exaggerated.

Summer is berry season. The prime time for strawberries is winding down here in the Northeast, but July is the month for raspberries and blueberries, and blackberries will be ready for picking in August.

Changes in the brain are detectable years before devastating memory loss.

In April 2011, the National Institute on Aging and the Alzheimer's Association released revised guidelines for the diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease (AD), including criteria for spotting the disease before it develops into full-blown dementia. The guidelines also address the experimental use of biomarkers that may help diagnose AD earlier. (A biomarker is a measurable substance or condition in the body that can indicate the presence or absence of a disease.) The revised guidelines and criteria appeared online April 19, 2011, in the journal Alzheimer's & Dementia (www.alzheimersanddementia.org/content/ncg).

In the largest randomized trial comparing treatments for chronic fatigue syndrome, British researchers have found that graded exercise therapy and cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) — when added to medical care from chronic fatigue specialists — are each better than specialist medical care alone at reducing fatigue and improving physical function. In the trial, called PACE, these strategies also worked better than specialist medical care combined with adaptive pacing therapy (APT), in which patients are taught how to reduce fatigue by adjusting their lifestyle and activity levels.

Chronic fatigue syndrome is characterized by otherwise unexplained debilitating fatigue that lasts for six months or more and isn't relieved by bed rest. Other symptoms are poor sleep, problems concentrating, and muscle or joint pain. There are no diagnostic tests for the disorder, and its cause is unknown, although laboratory and other studies have suggested that a virus or other infectious agent may be involved.

Pain, anxiety, and depression often coincide because the parts of the brain and nervous system that handle sensations and touch interact with those that regulate emotions and stress.

Besides hot flashes and extra-heavy periods, what else might the menopausal transition have in store for you? Possibly major depression, according to findings from the Study of Women's Health Across the Nation (SWAN), a multi-ethnic study of women's health at midlife. Perimenopause begins several years before menopause (the end of menstruation) and ends a year after the last menstrual period. During this transition, ovarian hormones are in flux, resulting in irregular periods and sometimes vasomotor symptoms (hot flashes and night sweats). Many women also report depressive symptoms, but it's unclear whether women are at increased risk for major depression at this time — and if so, whether hormones play a role. The SWAN findings suggest that perimenopause and early postmenopause are a high-risk time for major depression — and the risk is independent of hormone levels and hot flashes. Results were published online in Psychological Medicine (Feb. 9, 2011).

The study. Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh tracked the development of major depression through menopause in 221 women (144 white and 77 black) who were premenopausal when the study began. At the start of the study and annually for the next 10 years, the women provided extensive health data and blood samples (for measuring levels of estrogen, follicle-stimulating hormone, and testosterone). They were interviewed about past depression and evaluated regularly for major depressive symptoms. The researchers also collected information on vasomotor symptoms, negative life events, and menopausal status.

Everyone has the occasional "senior moment." Maybe you've gone into the kitchen and can't remember why, or can't recall a familiar name during a conversation. Memory lapses can occur at any age, but aging alone is generally not a cause of cognitive decline. When significant memory loss occurs among older people, it is generally not due to aging but to organic disorders, brain injury, or neurological illness.

Studies have shown that you can help prevent cognitive decline and reduce the risk of dementia with some basic good health habits:

Q. Is it true that we use only 10% of our brains?

A. Many parts of the body have some extra capacity built in. You can have an entire lung or kidney removed and get along fine with the one that remains. There's skin, small and large intestine, and bone marrow to spare. If the appendix, thymus, and spleen need to go, so be it. We can do without them if necessary.

Mindfulness meditation alters regions of the brain associated with memory, awareness of self, and compassion, according to a brain imaging study by researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston and the University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester. Other studies have found differences in the brains of experienced meditators compared with non-meditators, but this is the first investigation to document brain changes occurring over time in people learning how to meditate mindfully. Results were published in Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging (Jan. 30, 2011).

Mindfulness meditation is the practice of paying attention to what you're experiencing from moment to moment without drifting into thoughts about the past or concerns about the future and without analyzing (or making judgments about) what is going on around you. It's not a new idea. Religious texts have extolled mindfulness for centuries, and it's central to Buddhism and other contemplative traditions.

The effect of tears and three other tales of woe.

We expect babies and children to cry, but House Speaker John Boehner's well-chronicled weepiness is a reminder that adults (including menfolk) shed plenty of tears, too. Grief, personal conflict, and feelings of inadequacy are among the main reasons, but grown-ups also fill buckets at weddings, graduations, and reunions because they are so happy. Having a good cry every now and then may not be a bad idea. But crying too easily — or for no apparent reason — can be a symptom of brain damage from a neurological condition like amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (Lou Gehrig's disease) or multiple strokes.

When terminal illness lasts a long time, so does saying goodbye.

The death of someone you love is never easy to experience, whether it comes suddenly or after a long illness. And the way we grieve depends on the circumstances. Over the years, experts have proposed many models of grief to help people understand what they're going through. Elisabeth K�bler-Ross introduced the idea of "five stages of grief" (denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance) in 1969 in her landmark book, On Death and Dying. In those days, sudden and unexpected death was more common than it is now. Thanks to advances in diagnosis and treatment, people are living longer with life-threatening illnesses, such as cancers and heart disease. One book argues that this changing reality has changed the grieving process as well.