Frontline: Heart Disease and Stroke; Replace Social Media Time; Glaucoma Risk
Improve Your Sleep and Lower Your Odds of Heart Disease, Stroke
The more positive sleep characteristics you have, the less likely you are to develop coronary heart disease (CHD) or suffer a stroke, researchers report. They analyzed data on 7,200 people, ages 50 to 75, who were scored on five positive sleep habits: sleeping seven to eight hours a night, never/rarely having insomnia, being a morning person, and having no sleep apnea or frequent excessive daytime sleepiness. During a median follow-up period of eight years, 274 of the study participants developed CHD or stroke. After adjusting for several factors, the investigators found that each positive sleep habit was associated with a 22 percent lower risk of CHD or stroke when the study began; having all five correlated with a 75 percent reduced risk, compared with having zero or one. Moreover, with each positive sleep habit added over time, the risk of CHD and stroke fell by 7 percent, the study found. The research was presented at the European Society of Cardiology Congress, August 2022.
Replace Social Media Time with Exercise to Boost Your Mental Health
To improve your mood and feel happier, cut your social media time by 30 minutes a day and take part in physical activity instead. That’s the suggestion from a study involving 642 people who took part in a two-week experiment aimed at curbing the mental-health effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. The participants were assigned to four groups: One reduced their daily social media use by 30 minutes; another continued their usual social media habits but increased their physical activity by 30 minutes a day; a third group reduced their social media use and increased their physical activity (the combination group); and the rest made no changes. Participants’ surveys showed both cutting social media time and increasing physical activity were associated with improvements in depression, pandemic-related stress, life satisfaction, and overall happiness, the study found, and these effects were greatest in the combination group. The study was published Sept. 2, 2022, in the Journal of Public Health.
Glaucoma Risk Higher with Early-Onset Diabetes, Hypertension
Developing type 2 diabetes or high blood pressure earlier in life may portend a greater likelihood of early-onset glaucoma, a leading cause of blindness, according to research published June 10, 2022, in Clinical Ophthalmology. Researchers reviewed data on 389 people (mean age about 71) with primary open-angle glaucoma to examine the influence of type 2 diabetes, hypertension, migraine, and sleep apnea on the onset of glaucoma. They found no association between the latter two conditions and glaucoma risk. However, a link was found between the age at which the participants were diagnosed with hypertension and/or type 2 diabetes and the age at which they were diagnosed with glaucoma. The findings suggest that people with early-onset hypertension and/or type 2 diabetes may benefit from earlier glaucoma screening, especially if they have other risk factors, such as a family history of glaucoma, higher intraocular pressure, and African-American race.
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