Vilma Aho et al from the University of Helsinki conducted 2 studies looking into the effects of sleep deprivation. The first study was experimental and consisted of partial sleep restriction to a small group of subjects. The second was an epidemiological study with over 2700 individuals. Blood samples were analysed in both cases. The analyses…
There are a couple of shoulder conditions that can be extremely painful. One is adhesive capsulitis, better known as frozen shoulder, and the other is calcific tendinitis. Calcific tendinitis is characterised by the formation of calcium deposits in the rotator cuff tendons of the shoulder. A few months ago Hackett et al from the University…
“When touched with a feeling of pain, the uninstructed run-of-the-mill person sorrows, grieves, and laments, beats his breast, becomes distraught. So he feels two pains, physical and mental. Just as if they were to shoot a man with an arrow and, right afterward, were to shoot him with another one, so that he would feel…
Renaud Massart et al from McGill University have recently published an article in Scientific Reports on the effects of chronic pain on the body. “Chronic pain” is pain that has lasted for 6 months or more. The study was performed on rats with induced nerve injuries. The results showed epigenetic changes in the DNA of the…
Would you like to live longer? Of course! I can remember as a child having what could initially appear as a morbid fascination for cemeteries. I used to drag my parents into each and every cemetery we walked or drove by…just so I could calculate how long people had lived! Perhaps my curiosity in longevity…
The use of bright light therapy to treat seasonal affective disorder (SAD) is well documented and evidence based but I had never heard of using light therapy to treat nonseasonal major depressive disorder (MDD). Raymond Lam et al, from the Department of Psychiatry at the University of British Columbia, designed an elegant study comparing the effects…
Poor sleep has been linked to increased inflammation. Inflammation is known to cause or exacerbate musculoskeletal disorders as well as more serious diseases such as heart disease, stroke and cancer. Irwin and his colleagues conducted a randomised controlled trial looking into the effects of cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) and Tai Chi on the inflammatory markers…
A group of Australian researchers have conducted a systematic review of literature to find articles that looked at the relationship between fat levels in blood and tendon pathology and/or pain. Their results were published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine. They found that people with altered tendon structure or tendon pain had significantly higher…
Positive psychological states have been linked to better health and longevity. It’s believed to be partly due to the effect of positive emotions and moods on behaviour. Nancy Sin and her colleagues from the university of Penn State evaluated 5-year associations between positive affect and health behaviours in patients with coronary heart disease. At baseline, they…
A group of researchers from Berkeley and Columbia University looked at the relationship between bedtime and weight gain in young people. Their findings have been published in the journal Sleep. They followed over 3000 adolescents between 1994 and 2009. They found that a later bedtime during the workweek was associated with an increase in body…