Binge Drinking in Teenage May Raise Anxiety Later

Are you a heavy drinker? Take note. Alcohol exposure early has lasting effects on the brain and increases the risk of anxiety in adulthood, say researchers.

A study showed adolescent binge drinking, even if discontinued, increases the risk for anxiety later in life due to abnormal epigenetic programming.

"Epigenetics" refers to chemical changes to DNA, RNA or specific proteins associated with chromosomes that change the activity of genes without changing the genes themselves.

"Binge drinking early in life modifies the brain and changes connectivity in the brain, especially in the amygdala, which is involved in emotional regulation and anxiety, in ways we don't totally understand yet," said a Prof.

"But what we do know is that epigenetic changes are lasting and increase susceptibility to psychological issues later in life, even if drinking that took place early in life is stopped," said the Prof.

For the study, adolescent rats that underwent an assessment for anxiety were exposed to ethyl alcohol for two days on and two days off or to the same protocol using saline for 14 days.

The rats were allowed to mature to adulthood without any further exposure to alcohol.

The rats exhibited anxious behaviour later in life, even after the binge drinking regimen stopped in late adolescence. They also had lower levels of a protein called Arc in the amygdala.

Arc is important for the normal development of synaptic connections in the brain.

Rats with less Arc also had about 40 per cent fewer neuronal connections in the amygdala compared with rats that weren't exposed to alcohol.

The decrease in Arc levels is caused by epigenetic changes that alter the expression of Arc, and an enhancer RNA, which modifies the expression of Arc. These changes are caused by adolescent alcohol exposure, said the Prof. 

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Neuroscientists have identified how exactly a deep breath changes your mind

Breathing is traditionally thought of as an automatic process driven by the brainstem—the part of the brain controlling such life-sustaining functions as heartbeat and sleeping patterns. But new and unique research, involving recordings made directly from within the brains of humans undergoing neurosurgery, shows that breathing can also change your brain.

Simply put, changes in breathing—for example, breathing at different paces or paying careful attention to the breaths—were shown to engage different parts of the brain.

Humans’ ability to control and regulate their brain is unique: e.g., controlling emotions, deciding to stay awake despite being tired, or suppressing thoughts. These abilities are not trivial, nor do humans share them with many animals. Breathing is similar: animals do not alter their breathing speed volitionally; their breathing normally only changes in response to running, resting, etc. Questions that have baffled scientists in this context are: why are humans capable of volitionally regulating their breathing, and how do we gain access to parts of our brain that are not normally under our conscious control. Additionally, is there any benefit in our ability to access and control parts of our brain that are typically inaccessible? Given that many therapies—Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, trauma therapy, or various types of spiritual exercises—involve focusing and regulating breathing, does controlling inhaling and exhaling have any profound effect on behavior?

 This recent study finally answers these questions by showing that volitionally controlling our respirational, even merely focusing on one’s breathing, yield additional access and synchrony between brain areas. This understanding may lead to greater control, focus, calmness, and emotional control.

 The study,  began by observing brain activity when patients were breathing normally. Next, the patients were given a simple task to distract them: clicking a button when circles appeared on the computer screen. This allowed the Dr. to observe what was happening when people breath naturally and do not focus on their breathing. After this, the patients were told to consciously increase the pace of breathing and to count their breaths. When breathing changed with the exercises, the brain changed as well. Essentially, the breathing manipulation activated different parts of the brain, with some overlap in the sites involved in automatic and intentional breathing.

 The findings provide neural support for advice individuals have been given for millennia: during times of stress, or when heightened concentration is needed, focusing on one’s breathing or doing breathing exercises can indeed change the brain. This has potential application to individuals in a variety of professions that require extreme focus and agility. Athletes, for example, have long been known to utilize breathing to improve their performance. Now, this research puts science behind that practice.

 Beyond studying the ability of humans to control and regulate their neural activity volitionally, the study was also unique in that it utilized a rare method of neural research: directly looking inside the brains of awake and alert humans. Typical neuroscience studies involving humans use imaging techniques (i.e. fMRI or EEG) to infer the neural activity in people’s brain from outside the skull. But studies involving electrodes implanted in humans’ brains are rare. The ability to look inside the humans’ brains allows us to study thinking, deciding and even imagining or dreaming by directly observing the brain. The study subjects in our work were patients who had electrodes implanted in their brain as part of a clinical treatment for epilepsy. These patients were experiencing seizures that could not be controlled by medication and therefore required surgical interventions to detect the seizure focus for future resection.

Given that detection requires the patient to have a spontaneous seizure in order to identify the exact seizure onset location, which can take days, the patients are kept in the hospital with electrodes continuously monitoring their brain activity.

The research findings show that the advice to “take a deep breath” may not just be a cliché. Exercises involving volitional breathing appear to alter the connectivity between parts of the brain and allow access to internal sites that normally are inaccessible to us. Further investigation will now gradually monitor what such access to parts of our psyche that are normally hidden can reveal.

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Pets Great For Mental Health, Provide Security And Connectivity

If you're on the fence about welcoming a four-legged friend into your life, news that pets are good for your mental health just might be the push you need to make the commitment. A recent study found that pets helped people better manage their feelings and provided much-needed distractions from upsetting experiences. "The people we spoke to through the course of this study felt their pet played a range of positive roles such as helping them to manage stigma associated with their mental health by providing acceptance without judgement," the lead author of the study, explained in a press release .

If you have an animal companion, then you know that your pet will never judge you for struggling with anxiety, depression, PTSD, or any other mental health condition. Plus, they can also help you calm down when it feels like you're spiraling out. "Pets were also considered particularly useful during times of crisis," the Dr. noted. "In this way, pets provided a unique form of validation through unconditional support, which [people] were often not receiving from other family or social relationships."
 
Personally, my dogs have saved me from myself on a number of occasions, and some days I feel like I owe them everything. Caring for them has forced me to get out of bed when I want to do anything but. It's motivated me to go for walks or to the beach when I just want to hide in my room, and it's helped me take the focus off of myself when I feel like I'm falling into a black hole of depression.
 
While pet parents already know the value their four-leggers add to their lives, the medical community is still catching up. But, that might be changing. In  the study concluded that "Pets should be considered a main rather than a marginal source of support in the management of long-term mental health problems." Because, no matter what you're going through, when you have a pet you are never alone. Pets provide a friendly ear, a warm body, and a window into pure joy because pets are almost always happy.

In the study, participants, all of whom had been diagnosed with mental-health conditions, were asked to rank the importance of their pets in their social circle. More than 60 percent of people ranked their pet in the first, or most central, circle citing that their pets distracted them from sorrow and upsetting thoughts, including suicidal ideation.

While a lot of people have emotional support dogs, any type of pet can improve your mental health. Whether you have a lizard, a bird, a turtle, a dog, cat, or even a fish, pets can make life worth living when everything feels like one big dumpster fire, and they just might be considered therapy option for mental health practitioners. If you already have a pet, think about how often you  talk to them like they are a person. And, talking to a non-judgmental being almost always makes you feel just a little bit better.

"Taking more creative approaches to care planning, such as incorporating discussions about pets, may be one way of helping to better involve participants because of the value, meaning and engagement that individuals have with their companion animals," the Dr. reported. Seriously, it's about time pets got the props they deserve. Aside from making you feel better, your pets will keep your secrets for life, and they'll never talk behind your back. They're actually a great model for how humans should behave.

If you absolutely can't have a pet, plants can also be beneficial to your mental health, according to a study published in the Journal . The study found that "active interaction with indoor plants can reduce physiological and psychological stress compared with mental work. This is accomplished through suppression of sympathetic nervous system activity and diastolic blood pressure and promotion of comfortable, soothed, and natural feelings." While a plant won't lick your face, plenty of people talk to their plants. And, just like pets, plants will keep all of your secrets.

THIS IS ONLY FOR INFORMATION, ALWAYS CONSULT YOU PHYSICIAN BEFORE HAVING ANY PARTICULAR FOOD/ MEDICATION/EXERCISE/OTHER REMEDIES.    

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