Stress Archive

ARCHIVED CONTENT: As a service to our readers, Harvard Health Publishing provides access to our library of archived content. Please note the date each article was posted or last reviewed. No content on this site, regardless of date, should ever be used as a substitute for direct medical advice from your doctor or other qualified clinician. 

Q. Does the acne drug, isotretinoin (Accutane), cause depression and suicide, or are psychiatric risks from the Accutane side effects exaggerated?

News briefs

We often tell you about using aerobic exercise and a healthy diet to try to stave off dementia. But will those approaches help if you already have the slight but noticeable change in memory and thinking known as mild cognitive impairment (MCI)? A small randomized trial (the gold standard type of study) published online Dec. 19, 2018, by Neurology suggests the combination of diet and exercise may indeed help. Researchers studied 160 sedentary older adults who had MCI as well as one or more cardiovascular disease risk factors, such as high cholesterol. Participants were randomly assigned to do aerobic exercise, to follow a heart-healthy diet (the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension, or DASH, diet), to do a combination of aerobic exercise and the DASH diet, or to just get weekly heart health education. After six months, people who just exercised several times a week got a little bump in executive function (thinking skills that help us plan and organize), but the biggest change was seen in people who both followed the DASH diet and did aerobic training three times a week. Their improved planning skills were equivalent to reversing nearly 10 years of brain aging, compared with study participants who didn't exercise or improve their diets. The findings demonstrate that it's never too late to start exercising and eating right.

Image: © adamkaz/Getty Images

In addition to boosting fitness and easing stress, yoga may also help you embrace a healthier lifestyle.

Many people think of yoga mainly as an activity that promotes flexibility and balance. But this ancient tradition also includes breathing exercises, relaxation, and meditation. Together, these practices can lead to measurable improvements in factors connected with cardiovascular health, such as lower blood pressure, better sleep, and less artery-damaging inflammation.

"There are four distinct but interconnected areas in which yoga has specific benefits, not just for heart disease but any disease," says yoga researcher and neuroscientist Dr. Sat Bir Singh Khalsa, assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School. Following are summaries of the four areas.

Dealing with the emotional effects from a physical setback can be a challenge. These three strategies can help.

The physical repercussions of a major health issue, like surgery, an injury, or a heart attack, are tough enough without having to also confront the stress, anxiety, and depression that often accompanies it. Yet managing your mental health is just as important as your physical health when it comes to making a full recovery.

"There is no question that your state of mind can dictate how quickly you can return from a physical setback," says Dr. Jeff Huffman, director of the cardiac psychiatry research program at Harvard-affiliated Massachusetts General Hospital.

But these remedies aren't the best choice if you have frequent heartburn.

You feel the familiar sensation in your chest: heartburn. Again, you find yourself reaching for the bottle of antacids in the medicine cabinet. It's something you've done a few times a week for the past six months. Is it okay to keep popping over-the-counter acid reducers, or is it time to see a doctor?

We asked two experts, Dr. Jennifer Nayor and Dr. Molly Linn Perencevich, both instructors in medicine at Harvard Medical School, for their thoughts on heartburn, including when it's okay to use over-the-counter antacids and when you should seek other treatments. Below are their responses.

The benefits of meditation go beyond stress reduction.

 Image: © FatCamera/Getty Images

Most of us sense instinctively that clutter is unhealthy. Sure, we may joke about a disorganized desk or a teenager's messy room, but we feel that a clean, organized space is a healthier, more soothing environment. What about a cluttered mind — a mind constantly presented with different simultaneous challenges and distractions? Is that unhealthy, and is there a fix?

Uncluttering — or, as is usually said, "emptying" — your mind through meditation has a host of health-related benefits, and maybe that's why more people are taking up the practice. Data from a national survey conducted by the CDC's National Center for Health Statistics, published online by the CDC in November 2018, found that 14% of American adults reported meditating in 2017, compared with just 4% in 2012.