Stress Archive

People who ate healthy plant-based foods had a 10% reduction in stroke risk, compared with people who ate unhealthy plant-based foods, according to a Harvard study published online March 10, 2021, by the journal Neurology.

Although it has been known for some time that individuals with dementia frequently have poor, fragmented sleep, two new studies suggest that if you don't get enough sleep in midlife, you are at increased risk for dementia later in life.

Childhood trauma may raise the risk of cardiovascular disease, but making lifestyle changes can help you stay healthy.

Traumatic childhood experiences may have a lasting effect on your heart health.

A review published online Dec. 2, 2020, by JAMA Cardiology found that adults who had multiple adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) — like being neglected; suffering physical, sexual, or emotional abuse; or witnessing violence at home — had double the risk of cardiovascular disease and an early death compared with people who didn't face any ACEs at all.

New experiences stimulate pathways that improve memory.

Our brains have the capacity to improve as we age. "The mechanisms in place may slow over time, but the brain's ability to change doesn't wane," says Dr. Alvaro Pascual-Leone, medical director of the Deanna and Sidney Wolk Center for Memory Health at Harvard-affiliated Hebrew SeniorLife.

Just as when you work to strengthen aging muscles, though, you need to put in extra effort to keep the "muscle" inside your head in top condition. Among the best ways to do this is to learn new things that continuously challenge your mind.

Negative traits such as anger and insecurity have been linked to heart-related problems. Taking steps to temper these tendencies may help.

Remember the Type A personality? First coined back in the 1950s, the term refers to people who are aggressive, ambitious, competitive, and time-conscious. But the notion that Type As were more likely to have heart attacks than their more laid-back counterparts turned out to be untrue, as numerous studies in the 1980s and 1990s revealed.

But in the early 2000s, another personality type — Type D for distressed — began getting more attention. Type D people are anxious, irritable, and angry; they also tend to feel ill at ease in social situations and are uncomfortable opening up to others. According to a 2018 review in Current Cardiology Reports, having a Type D personality is a risk factor for cardiovascular disease. The lead author, psychologist Johan Denollet, first described Type D and created a test for it (see "Type D personality test").