A new study from Northwestern University found that sleeping in even the dimmest light for one night (such as leaving the TV on or exposure to streetlights through a window) significantly impaired cardiometabolic function: increasing nighttime heart rate and next-morning insulin resistance. The researchers concluded that even when your eyes are closed, your brain knows that lights are on, with dim light activating the sympathetic…
A recent metareview of studies from the Salk Institute found that eating your daily calories within a consistent window of 8-10 hours is a powerful strategy to prevent and manage chronic diseases such as diabetes and heart disease. The study found that eating at random times messes with the synchrony of our internal circadian rhythms which makes us prone to a host of diseases—and that time-restricted…
A new University of Florida study found that meditation done at an intense level caused diverse positive changes in participants’ immune systems. The meditation experience studied was certainly intense: an 8-day retreat with 10-hour daily meditation sessions all conducted in silence. Those retreat participants saw robust activation of their immune systems, with positive changes in 220 immune-related genes–but without activating inflammatory signals. Access this study
A new study in JAMA revealed that for people with less-than-healthy hearts, mental stress beat out physical stress as a predictor of fatal and non-fatal heart attacks and deaths from cardiovascular disease. Patients underwent tests to see how their heart reacted to both physical and mental stress, and those who experienced ischemia (reduced blood flow to the heart muscles) as a reaction to mental stress were much…
A new metareview of 1,000 scientific studies published over the last three decades by the John W. Brick Mental Health Foundation provides conclusive proof of the link between exercise and mental wellness. Overall, roughly 90% of all peer-reviewed published research reports a significant relationship between physical activity and mental health. The 80-page report is filled with findings, from how there is strong evidence for cardiovascular/aerobic exercise in reducing depression (especially high-intensity versions) to…
The largest randomized, controlled, double-blind trial of psilocybin ever (from Compass Pathways) found that a single higher dose led to a rapid and long-lasting decrease in depression symptoms; patients given the highest dose (25 mg) had a significant decline in depression compared to those receiving a microdose of 1 mg. 29% of patients in the highest-dose group were free from depression three weeks after treatment (compared to 7.6% in the control group), and…
