http://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on Health and Medicine. (Medical Xpress)—Overworked and stressed out? Look on the bright side. Some stress is good for you. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-stress-good-acute-primes-brain.html Neuroscience Tue, 16 Apr 2013 16:43:16 EST news285349356 Researchers at the University of Calgary's Hotchkiss Brain Institute have discovered that stress circuits in the brain undergo profound learning early in life. Using a number of cutting edge approaches, including optogenetics, Jaideep Bains, PhD, and colleagues have shown stress circuits are capable of self-tuning following a single stress. These findings demonstrate that the brain uses stress experience during early life to prepare and optimize for subsequent challenges. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-stress-circuits.html Neuroscience Sun, 07 Apr 2013 13:00:02 EST news284557977 For chronic pain sufferers, such as people who develop back pain after a car accident, avoiding the harmful effects of stress may be key to managing their condition. This is particularly important for people with a smaller-than-average hippocampus, as these individuals seem to be particularly vulnerable to stress. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-02-chronic-pain-stress.html Neuroscience Mon, 25 Feb 2013 04:08:10 EST news280987682 A five-year study by researchers at three universities has established that providing tangible assistance to others protects our health and lengthens our lives. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-02-healthier.html Psychology & Psychiatry Mon, 04 Feb 2013 17:35:41 EST news279221733 Poor mental health leads to unhealthy behaviors in low-income adults – not the other way around, according to a new study¹ by Dr. Jennifer Walsh and colleagues from the Centers for Behavioral and Preventive Medicine at The Miriam Hospital in the US. In this study, stress and anxiety predicted subsequent health-compromising behaviors, such as smoking, binge drinking, illegal drug use, unprotected sex and unhealthy diets. One possible explanation for these findings is that health compromising behaviors may be used as coping mechanisms to manage the effects of stress and anxiety. The study is published online in the Springer journal, Translational Behavioral Medicine², and is part of an issue focusing on multiple health behavior change. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-02-poor-mental-health-unhealthy-behaviors.html Psychology & Psychiatry Mon, 04 Feb 2013 01:00:01 EST news279118526 (Medical Xpress)—Family members may play a unique and influential role in buffering Mexican youth against the negative effects of stress as they transition into adulthood, suggests a new study by an interdisciplinary group of researchers at universities in Mexico and the U.S. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-family-thought-stress-young-mexicans.html Psychology & Psychiatry Wed, 09 Jan 2013 08:40:01 EST news276942477 (HealthDay)—Money may not buy you happiness, but it can help you avoid the ill effects of unhappiness and stress. That's the upshot of a new British study that finds stressed-out rich people live longer than the stressed-out poor. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-12-similar-stress-rich-longer-poor.html Psychology & Psychiatry Mon, 03 Dec 2012 16:57:26 EST news273776237 A simple form of mindful meditation can help breast cancer survivors stave off the symptoms of depression, new research suggests. But the potential benefits don't stop there. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-10-simple-meditation-shown-decrease-symptoms.html Psychology & Psychiatry Sun, 07 Oct 2012 18:50:01 EST news268839761 A study in mice conducted by researchers at Tufts University School of Medicine (TUSM) suggests that a woman's risk of anxiety and dysfunctional social behavior may depend on the experiences of her parents, particularly fathers, when they were young. The study, published online in Biological Psychiatry, suggests that stress caused by chronic social instability during youth contributes to epigenetic changes in sperm cells that can lead to psychiatric disorders in female offspring across multiple generations. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-08-male-mice-exposed-chronic-social.html Psychology & Psychiatry Wed, 22 Aug 2012 11:12:50 EST news264852763 Investigators at Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) and Veterans Affairs (VA) Boston Healthcare System have identified a new gene linked to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The findings, published online in Molecular Psychiatry, indicate that a gene known to play a role in protecting brain cells from the damaging effects of stress may also be involved in the development of PTSD. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-08-scientists-gene-linked-ptsd.html Psychology & Psychiatry Tue, 07 Aug 2012 13:04:19 EST news263563450 A new report involving mice suggests that a relationship exists between maternal metabolic or psychological stress and the development of obesity, type 2 diabetes, and metabolic syndrome in her offspring. What's more, the report shows that if the stress cannot be reduced or eliminated, manipulating the neuropeptide Y (NPY) system in visceral fat may prevent maternal stress-induced obesity from occurring in the next generation. This discovery is reported in the August 2012 issue of The FASEB Journal. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-stress-pregnancy-abdominal-obesity-mice.html Obstetrics & gynaecology Tue, 31 Jul 2012 10:52:19 EST news262950696 Expectant mothers who dealt with the strain of a hurricane or major tropical storm passing nearby during their pregnancy had children who were at elevated risk for abnormal health conditions at birth, according to a study led by a Princeton University researcher that offers new insights into the effects of stress on pregnancy. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-06-insights-effects-stress-pregnancy.html Health Thu, 28 Jun 2012 14:14:52 EST news260111683 (HealthDay) -- Driven to sleeplessness by the effects of stress and the demands of their own biology, women are more likely than men to have serious sleep problems, experts say. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-struggles-women-urged-routines.html Health Fri, 02 Mar 2012 16:01:52 EST news249926503 In the best of circumstances, raising a toddler is a daunting undertaking. But parents under long-term stress often find it particularly challenging to tap into the patience, responsiveness, and energy required for effective child rearing. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-10-chronic-stress-short-circuits-parenting.html Psychology & Psychiatry Wed, 05 Oct 2011 12:35:26 EST news237036912 Researchers studying mice are getting closer to understanding how stress affects mood and motivation for drugs. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-08-therapeutic-depression-addiction.html Addiction Wed, 10 Aug 2011 13:34:55 EST news232201838