Why Drinking Coffee Can Give You Jet Lag – and Help You Get Over ItPublished by The GuardianMany people with ADHD have trouble getting to bed on time. This can happen for a variety of reasons including difficulty disengaging from something enjoyable (video games, "binge watching" TV shows and movies, reading, etc.), a lack of awareness of the passage of time, a coexisting condition such as "Delayed Sleep Phase Disorder," to name a few. But people will often self-medicate with caffeine, compounding the above problems.While it's obvious that caffeine before bed isn't a good idea, a recent study helps us understand exactly why that is. The article explains, "Caffeine resets the clock by delaying a rise in the level of melatonin, the body’s chief sleep hormone. Fluctuating levels of melatonin help determine the natural time to go to sleep and wake up."In addition to issues like oversleeping the next day or getting inadequate sleep, "Disruption of the body clock, for instance by working shifts or jet lag, is known to increase the risk of various cancers, heart disease, Type 2 diabetes and neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer’s."Click here to read more.
How do I deal with seasonal affective disorder?
"How do I … deal with seasonal affective disorder?"By Phil MaynardFrom TheGuardian.comGiven the upcoming end of daylight savings time this Sunday in the United States, I thought this article would be useful and timely. The article mentions a few tips for coping and also links to another article (http://www.theguardian.com/society/2005/nov/17/health.lifeandhealth3) that provides a more complete list of treatment options, including CBT.As with any disorder, the earlier you intervene, the better off you will be. The symptoms can affect your motivation so as they become more severe it becomes progressively more difficult to apply many of the treatment recommendations.Adults with ADHD also tend to have difficulty maintaining a regular sleep schedule, so when the clock "falls back" Sunday, it's extra important to use good sleep hygiene to stay on track.
Fast-Paced Cartoons May Hurt Kids' Attention, Memory
Fast-Paced Cartoons May Hurt Kids' Attention, MemoryBy Kathleen DohenyWebMD Health NewsFrom the article:"The fast-paced shows may have a negative impact, Lillard says, because of the rapid presentation of the events. These engage the senses rather than the brain areas engaged in memory, controlling inhibition, and problem solving, she says.When a child sees a cartoon character that jumps from one activity to another, much faster than in real life, she says, 'they become neurologically exhausted and it inhibits the ability to concentrate.'"
All in the ADHD family: Diagnosis in kids can spotlight parents' own condition
“All in the ADHD family: Diagnosis in Kids can Spotlight Parents' own Condition”
NBC News, Rock Center
This article profiles two people who were not diagnosed with ADHD until adulthood. It is not uncommon for someone to first consider that they may have ADHD after one of their children has been diagnosed. NBC's Kate Snow also talks to a woman who conducted a study where she examined a cohort of children diagnosed with ADHD and then followed up with them 33 years later.In addition, she speaks with a researcher about the differences that have been found between ADHD and non-ADHD adults in brain neuroimaging studies.
Oliver Sacks dies in New York aged 82
RIP Oliver Sacks. "The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat" is one of my favorite books from graduate school. It brings the complexity and fragility of the way our brains function to life in a fascinating and sometimes unsettling way.http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-34102119
And the Secret to Happiness Is…
CNN: “And the Secret to Happiness Is…”by Sanjay Gupta, MD2 min, 0 secDr. Gupta makes a number of interesting points in this video.
- Happiness can help you live a longer and happier life.*
- Much of our happiness is related to our social connections. So having no social connections is correlated with less happiness and a shorter lifespan.
- Telomeres are the caps on our DNA chromosomes that measure our cellular age. The older we get, the shorter the telomeres. Someone without any close social ties will have shorter telomeres than someone of the same age with at least one close friend.
- People who tend to have a lot of negative thoughts are three times as likely to develop health problems as they age. But research indicates that even just pretending to be an optimist can help reverse this trend. In addition, changing the habitual way we think is one of the core skills that you develop in cognitive behavior therapy.
* Those of you familiar with Acceptance and Commitment Therapy will understand that happiness is not as straightforward of a concept as it may seem and being fixated on being happy actually make you miserable. But that's a whole other discussion. But a very interesting topic. If you'd like to read more you can check out Russ Harris's book "The Happiness Trap."
A Little Meditation Goes a Long Way
"A Little Meditation Goes a Long Way: A new study offers the strongest evidence to date that meditation can change the structure of your brain"By Jason Marsh, February 9, 2011, as published online in the "Greater Good" newsletter through the University of California, Berkeley.This article describes the results of a neuroimaging study that looked at participants of the 8 week Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program. Participants reported meditating for 30 min. per day on average. Neuroimaging found that the amount of gray matter thickened after 8 weeks of meditating in a number of regions including the hippocampus (involved in memory, learning, and emotion regulation), the temporo-parietal junction and posterior cingulate cortex (involved in empathy), and the cerebellum (which also plays a role in emotion regulation).The article also points out that exercise can also increase the volume of the hippocampus. They reference a study that was done that compared two groups of 60-somethings. One group walked around the track three times per week for a year and the other group was less physically active. In the walking group the hippocampus increased in volume and in the non-walking group it became smaller.Walking mediation anyone?
CNN: How Your Smart Phone Affects Your Sleep
CNN: “How Your Smart Phone Affects Your Sleep”By Sanjay Gupta, MD1 min, 31 secDr. Gupta explains in this video how using our smart phones before bed can hurt our chances of a good night’s sleep. He says that looking at emails or other content on our phones can "take our brains from 0 to 60" (in terms of arousal) very quickly. In addition, the light from the phone (and other electronics) can disrupt our circadian rhythms. The light can inhibit the production of melatonin, a chemical in the body that's involved in helping us fall asleep. The vast majority of the ADHD clients I work with have problems with regulating sleep and oversleeping or insomnia also is frequently a symptom of depression or anxiety.
Your Brain on Multitasking
CNN: "Your Brain on Multitasking"By Sanjay Gupta, MD2 min, 1 sec.Dr. Gupta explains in this video why effective multitasking is a myth for the vast majority of us. When you are working on activity A and then begin to work on activity B, attention is diverted away from activity A to activity B (so you are not doing both at once), slowing down your speed and quality on both tasks. Even though you can switch very quickly from one to the other, your bandwidth decreases so you're doing the two tasks less effectively than if you were only focusing on one at a time. He references a study that shows that when you look at the brain activity of someone who is driving, adding paying attention to something you are listing to will decrease the bandwidth for driving by 37%.He acknowledges that 2% of the population are genetically gifted and able to multitask. But if you think you're one of them, you're probably wrong. Because he also points out that people who think they're the best at multitasking actually are usually the worst.
ADHD Diagnosis Can Double Risk of Premature Death, Researchers Say
While the statistic in the headline and in the article itself are certainly alarming, I think the most important thing to take away from it is that ADHD is a real condition with very real consequences, especially when left untreated. However, proper treatment can make a big difference with what happens on an individual level.As the article goes on to say, "Although talk of premature death will worry parents and patients, they can seek solace in knowing the absolute risk of premature death at an individual level is low and can be greatly reduced with treatment."It’s also worth noting that more than more than half of adults with ADHD also have a second co-occurring condition, such as anxiety, depression, or substance abuse. These carry their own risk factors and are important to treat as well. For many, an integrative approach including medication, cognitive behavior therapy, exercise, nutrition, etc, works best.