A 6,000-person study published in the journal Occupational & Environmental Medicine suggests that going outside and being physically active could reduce an individual's need for some asthma, insomnia, anxiety, depression and high blood pressure medications. Green spaces included forests, gardens, parks, cemeteries, moors, natural grasslands, wetlands and zoos. Blue spaces included lakes, rivers and the sea.
Getting out in nature three to four times per week was linked to 36% lower odds of using blood pressure drugs, 33% lower odds of using medications for mental health conditions and 26% lower odds of using drugs for asthma.
“Physical activity is thought to be the key mediating factor in the health benefits of green spaces when availability or active use of green space are considered,” said study coauthor Anu Turunen, a senior researcher at the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare in Helsinki, in an email.
Full text: CNN Health
A study involving 11,088 American adults found those whose diet included 15.8 mg or more of zinc daily had a lower risk of migraines, compared with those who consumed 5.9 mg or less each day.
The data used in the analysis was collected between 1999 and 2004, and contained information on foods and drinks consumed by participants in a 24-hour period, along with additional health information.
The findings, publishedin the journal Headache, suggest that "zinc is an important nutrient that influences migraine," researchers wrote.
Full text: Medscape
There is growing evidence that air pollution is linked to neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's, possibly because fine particulates called PM2.5 can enter the brain and cause neuronal cell death, says neurologist Dr. Ray Dorsey.
Scientists have known for decades that air pollution has effects far beyond blurred skylines and burning lungs. The fine particles and gases in polluted air have been connected to asthma, heart disease, inflammation and a variety of other health impacts. But demonstrating that this pollutant soup can have neurodegenerative effects has proved trickier. Only recently has new research begun to paint a picture of air pollution as dangerous not only for the heart and lungs but potentially for the brain, as well.
A challenge with this line of research is identifying patients with these diseases, as many countries don't indicate it in their registries, while also establishing the amount of pollution someone has been exposed to in their lifetime.
Full text: STAT News
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