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The world’s largest study on light exposure and its impact on mental health, with almost 87,000 participants, has found that increased exposure to light at night increases a person’s risk for psychiatric disorders such as anxiety, bipolar and PTSD severity as well as self-harm. Importantly, the study also found that increasing exposure to daytime light can act like a non-pharmacological means for reducing psychosis risk.
In those exposed to high amounts of light at night, the risk of depression increased by 30%—while those who were exposed to high amounts of light during the day reduced their risk of depression by 20%. Similar patterns of results were seen for self-harm behavior, psychosis, bipolar disorder, Generalized Anxiety Disorder, and PTSD. These findings indicate that the simple practice of avoiding light at night and seeking brighter light during the day could be an effective, non-pharmacological means of reducing serious mental health issues.
The study, led by Associate Professor Sean Cain, from the Monash School of Psychological Sciences and the Turner Institute for Brain and Mental Health in Melbourne, Australia, is published today in the journal, Nature Mental Health.
The number of kids being diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) has risen sharply in recent decades, and a new study points to the common plastic additive bisphenol A (BPA) as a potential reason why.
BPA is used in a lot of plastics and plastic production processes, and can also be found inside food and drink cans. However, previous research has also linked it to health issues involving hormone disruption, including breast cancer and infertility.
In this new study, researchers from Rowan University and Rutgers University in the US looked at three groups of children: 66 with autism, 46 with ADHD, and 37 neurotypical kids. In particular, they analyzed the process of glucuronidation, a chemical process the body uses to clear out toxins within the blood through urine.
Researchers say they have linked shorter telomeres on white blood cells to higher dementia risk, although outside experts say there are limitations to this study.
A breakthrough technique developed by University of Oxford researchers could one day provide tailored repairs for those who suffer brain injuries. The researchers have demonstrated for the first time that neural cells can be 3D-printed to mimic the architecture of the cerebral cortex. The results have been published in the journal Nature Communications.
Brain injuries, including those caused by trauma, stroke, and surgery for brain tumors, typically result in significant damage to the cerebral cortex (the outer layer of the human brain), leading to difficulties in cognition, movement and communication. For example, each year, around 70 million people globally suffer from traumatic brain injury (TBI), with 5 million of these cases being severe or fatal. Currently, there are no effective treatments for severe brain injuries, leading to serious impacts on quality of life.
Tissue regenerative therapies, especially those in which patients are given implants derived from their own stem cells, could be a promising route to treat brain injuries in the future. Up to now, however, there has been no method to ensure that implanted stem cells mimic the architecture of the brain.
W/ Dr. Joseph T. Lizier of U Sydney. Amalytic relationship of relative synchronizability to network structure & motifs.
“As I was racking my brains for a way to make keyboards more portable and fashionable, I had an aha moment. Carrying around a keyboard was a closed-minded idea.”
In yet another episode of “Cool stuff the Japanese come up with”, Google Japan has once again taken a playful detour from the mundane with its latest creation: the Gboard CAPS.
While this head-mounted keyboard integrated into a baseball hat may sound like the stuff of sci-fi or the whimsical fantasies of keyboard enthusiasts, the Gboard CAPS project is real, and designed with a delightful touch of humor.
It turns out there is a correlation between odors and colors that is quite commonplace.
An example of synesthesia, a perceptual phenomena when activation of one sensory or cognitive pathway results in involuntary experiences in another, is the idea of “smell color” or connecting odors with colors. In this situation, those who experience “smell-color synesthesia,” a particular form of synesthesia, may think that odors have corresponding colors.
Design Cells/iStock.
A study finds that the brains of people who score higher in loneliness react in unique ways when viewing video content.
