Healthbriefs
THESE VITAMINS PROTECT OUR EYES 
By taking a combination of vitamins B6, B12 and folic acid, women over 40 decreased their risk of developing age-related macular degeneration, a leading cause of blindness, by 34 percent. Before this, the only known prevention method was avoiding smoking. The research comes from Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School.
Source: JAMA/Archives of Internal Medicine, 2009
Music Harmonizes the
Brain and Heals the Heart
When two guitarists play together, more than their instruments play in time; their brainwaves match up, too, according to new research from Germany. When the German scientists analyzed electrical activity in the brains of eight pairs of guitarists as they played a short jazz-fusion melody together up to 60 times, they discovered that brain wave similarities within and between the musicians’ brains increased as they listened to the beat of a metronome while preparing to play.
The brains’ synchronization then continued when they began making music.
Another U.S. study monitored the steady pulse of a recovering heart surgery patient as it charted the progress of his mending heart, while a quiet symphony filled the room. For nine days, the patient soaked up the tranquil, wordless strumming of a Brazilian guitarist.
Music became his medicine, as his heart literally fell into rhythm with the tunes. Increasingly, doctors are studying and employing music as a healing tool; in measuring the brain’s response to musical notes, they are discovering music’s harmonizing route from head to heart.
Sources: msnbc.msn.com, BBC News, 2009
Meditation and Yoga Change Genes’ Response to Stress
Research now suggests that mind-body techniques like yoga and meditation, which can put the body into a state of deep rest known as the relaxation response, are capable of changing how human genes behave in response to stress.
Many experts see the relaxation response, which is characterized by reduced oxygen intake, increased exhalation of nitric oxide and lowered psychological distress, as the counterpart to the flight-or-fight stress response.
The authors say their study showed that the relaxation response further acted to change the expression of genes involved with inflammation, programmed cell death and the handling of free radicals. They noted that such deep relaxation practices have been used across cultures for millennia to help prevent and treat disease.
Dr. Jeffery Dusek, co-lead author of the study at the Benson-Henry Institute, and now with Abbott Northwestern Hospital in Minneapolis, remarks that, “The relaxation-response-associated changes were the opposite of stress-associated changes,” and were “much more pronounced” in long-term practitioners.
The researchers at Benson-Henry Institute for Mind/Body Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital and the Genomics Center at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center published their results in PLoS One.
Source: MedicalNewsToday.com
LESS SALT MEANS
LONGER LIVES
University of California, San Francisco computer simulation research projects that a 3-gram-a-day reduction in Americans’ salt intake (about 1,200 milligrams of sodium) would result in 6 percent fewer cases of new heart disease, 8 percent fewer heart attacks and 3 percent fewer deaths.
Most of us now eat 9-12 grams of salt a day. Both salt intake and blood pressure levels are up about 50 percent since the 1970s; researchers identify commercially processed foods as the culprit.
Source: American Heart Association, 2009
Doodling Aids Memory
Doodling might imply a wandering mind, but according to a study published in the journal Applied Cognitive Psychology, the contrary is true; doodling can actually help people remember details.
Study participants who were directed to doodle while listening to a dull phone message demonstrated a 29 percent improved recall compared with their non-doodling counterparts. “If someone is doing a boring task, they may start to daydream.
Daydreaming distracts them from the task, resulting in poorer performance,” explains study co-author Jackie Andrade, Ph.D., a psychology professor at the University of Plymouth, in England. “A simple task, like doodling, may be sufficient to stop daydreaming without affecting performance on the main task.”
It turns out that in everyday life, doodling may be something we do because it helps us stay on track.
Source: Wiley-Blackwell, 2009
YOGA HELPS BREAST CANCER PATIENTS FEEL BETTER
Women undertaking a 10-week program of restorative yoga classes experienced a 50 percent reduction in depression and a 12 percent increase in feelings of peace and meaning after the yoga sessions, according to a recent study published in the journal Psycho-Oncology.
Source: PhysOrg.com
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