Some College Kids Spend a Fifth of Class Time on Digital Devices

By Alan Mozes
HealthDay Reporter

TUESDAY, Jan. 26, 2016 (HealthDay News) — College students spend one-fifth of their time in class using digital devices — such as smartphones — for non-educational purposes, new research reveals.

The main culprit is texting. Almost nine out of 10 reported that texting was their main digital diversion while in class. About three-quarters said they emailed or checked the time on their devices. Seventy percent reported checking in on social media (for example, Facebook), while 40 percent surfed the web. One in 10 spent time in class playing games on their devices.

“Most of us love technology,” said study author Barney McCoy, an associate professor in the College of Journalism and Mass Communications at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. “And we want it to benefit us. But technology also affords a view that can be distracting.

“So the question now is, how do we balance this out?” he added. “How can we take in all the constructive dynamic benefits that this technology enables us to have, and then also be disciplined enough to recognize that there is a time and place to put it aside, and pay attention and stay focused?”

McCoy and his colleagues reported their findings in the January issue of the Journal of Media Education.

The researchers polled 675 students attending colleges and universities across 26 states during 2015. They polled undergraduate and graduate students majoring in mass communications, marketing, business, law, education and agriculture. About one-third were male and two-thirds were female. They ranged in age from 18 to 22.

Many (41 percent) said non-class-related digital use ate up between 1 percent and 10 percent of class time. One in five students said their digital devices consumed between 11 and 20 percent of class time, the survey found.

Most students — between 80 and 90 percent — acknowledged that such behavior might distract from studying. More than one-quarter said it threatened to diminish academic performance.

Yet, a majority argued against penalties for non-academic use in class, the survey found. Nearly one in three students said the practice had no negative impact on their studies.

Nearly three-quarters said their instructors already had some form of restrictive digital policy in place, but more than one-quarter said they should be able to use their devices at will. About one in 10 said they wouldn’t be able to stop even if they wanted to, the survey found.

Compared with a 2013 survey, the new poll shows a slight uptick in the regularity with which students are using their devices in class. For example, while just 30 percent said they checked their device a minimum of 10 times a day back in 2013, that figure rose to 33 percent by 2015, the study authors said.

In 2013, about 8 percent of students said they never used their devices for non-educational purposes in class. By 2015, that figure dropped to just 3 percent, according to the researchers.

Scott Campbell, an associate professor of communication studies at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, expressed little surprise at the findings.

“Young people turn to digital media as an immediate way to relieve boredom and, sadly, the classroom is one of the environments in which they most commonly experience boredom,” he said. “Also, young people feel naked when they are cut off from their peer networks.

“Expectations for being accessible to others, and for having access to digital content, are very high these days. We may not always be thinking about it consciously, but it’s there underneath the surface. The need to stay connected,” Campbell added.

As a result, he said, many people are “glued to their mobile and portable devices without even being fully aware of it. This helps explain why people use their digital media in problematic ways, such as during class or while driving, when they know it’s harmful,” he pointed out.

Still, Campbell cautioned that the study relied on self-reported recollection of digital use, which is not always reliable. And, the ultimate impact on academic performance is not entirely clear.

“I have seen studies that show lower grades as a result of digital distraction, and other studies where there is no significant effect on grades,” he said. The bottom-line will likely depend on a number of overlapping factors, such as the size and nature of the class, individual student differences, and exactly how the technology is used, he suggested.

More information

Read about how some teachers are using smartphones as tools from the National Education Association.

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Prenatal Vitamin D Supplements May Not Lower Baby’s Asthma Risk: Study

TUESDAY, Jan. 26, 2016 (HealthDay News) — There’s been speculation that a daily vitamin D supplement taken in pregnancy might lower the odds for asthma in children. However, two new studies find no evidence for such an effect.

One study “did not show a statistically significant effect on the primary end point of persistent wheeze,” concluded a team led by Dr. Hans Bisgaard of the University of Copenhagen in Denmark.

However, experts stressed that a longer, larger trial might be needed to see a benefit for babies when mothers take a vitamin D supplement in pregnancy.

Both studies are published in the Jan. 26 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

As stated in a journal news release, rates of childhood asthma and vitamin D deficiency are rising in Western nations. And there’s been speculation that vitamin D deficiency during pregnancy may affect immune system development in the fetus, leading to an increased risk of asthma in childhood.

Vitamin D is often called the “sunshine vitamin,” because the body typically makes the nutrient as sunlight contacts the skin. Vitamin D is also found in certain foods.

“Since we spend more time indoors with limited sun exposure, especially during the winter, we often require oral supplementation of vitamin D to maintain adequate levels,” said one expert, Dr. Alan Mensch. He is chief of pulmonary medicine at Northwell Health’s Plainview Hospital in Plainview, N.Y.

“Recent observations have also suggested an association between low umbilical cord levels of vitamin D at birth and subsequent childhood asthma,” Mensch said.

To try the clarify any link, Bisgaard’s team tracked outcomes for more than 600 pregnant women and their children. The children were followed until they were 3 years old.

Taking vitamin D supplements during pregnancy did not reduce the children’s risk of asthma, chronic wheezing, upper and lower respiratory tract infections, or the autoimmune skin disorder eczema, Bisgaard and colleagues said.

However, the researchers believe that further studies may be required to reach a final conclusion on the issue. Those studies would ideally have more participants, involve a higher vitamin D dose, and begin supplementation earlier in pregnancy, the team said.

The second study included nearly 900 pregnant women deemed to already be at high risk of having children with asthma. Beginning at 10 to 18 weeks of pregnancy, the women started taking either 4,000 IU of vitamin D plus a prenatal vitamin containing 400 IU of vitamin D each day, or a placebo plus a prenatal vitamin containing 400 IU of vitamin D.

By age 3 years, 24 percent of the children in the 4,400-IU group and 30 percent of those in the 400-IU group developed asthma or chronic wheezing, the researchers reported. But, this 6 percent difference was not deemed to be statistically significant, according to a team led by Dr. Augusto Litonjua of Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston.

However, Litonjua agreed that longer follow-up of the children in this study, as well as larger studies, are needed to answer whether vitamin D supplementation during pregnancy can reduce the risk of childhood asthma.

“So what should our current recommendations be?” Mensch said. He believes that “larger and modified studies are required before firm recommendations can be made for pregnant women.”

However, since there doesn’t seem to be any harm in taking a vitamin D supplement in pregnancy, certainly women can choose to do so, Mensch said.

Another expert agreed.

“While there is no proven benefit of vitamin D supplementation for reductions of asthma in the offspring of pregnant women, this vitamin deficiency nevertheless is widespread in the population,” said Dr. Len Horovitz, a pulmonary specialist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City.

“Certainly the benefit of vitamin D to bone growth in the fetus is understood, and we know that vitamin D helps the immune system and wound healing,” Horovitz added.

More information

The American Academy of Pediatrics has more about asthma.

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No Clear Winner Seen Among Stop-Smoking Aids in Study

By Steven Reinberg
HealthDay Reporter

TUESDAY, Jan. 26, 2016 (HealthDay News) — If you’re trying to quit smoking, using the nicotine patch, the drug Chantix, or a combination of the patch and lozenges all appear to work equally well, researchers report.

“To our surprise, all three treatments were essentially identical,” said lead author Dr. Michael Fiore, director of the University of Wisconsin Center for Tobacco Research and Intervention in Madison.

Results of the three approaches did not differ significantly at either six months or a year, the investigators found. At six months, the quit rate was 23 percent for the patch, 24 percent for Chantix, and 27 percent for the combination of patch and lozenges. At a year, the quit rate was 21 percent, 19 percent and 20 percent, respectively, the findings showed.

In the past, Chantix (varenicline) or the combination of the nicotine patch and nicotine lozenges were shown in studies to be more effective than the patch alone, he said. “But no one had compared them,” Fiore explained.

Although the reasons why the treatments worked equally well aren’t known, wanting to quit smoking has a strong effect, Fiore suggested.

“A person’s desire to quit is really powerful,” Fiore said. “The treatments are important and boost quit rates, but that in no way discounts the incredibly powerful influence of a person’s commitment to change their behavior — particularly a behavior so dangerous as smoking is,” he said.

The report was published Jan. 26 in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Patricia Folan is director of the Center for Tobacco Control at Northwell Health, in Great Neck, N.Y. She said, “When a smoker tries to quit, there are many factors that influence their decision to try to quit, and their ability to stay quit.”

Reasons people quit include doctor’s advice, family pressure, the impact of smoking bans, the cost of smoking, and anti-tobacco ads. In addition, not smoking again depends on motivation, support, level of comfort and use of cessation medications, she said.

“While studies have demonstrated that cessation medications are an important factor in quitting, a comprehensive approach to quitting is often necessary for success,” Folan added.

In their head-to-head comparison, Fiore and his colleagues randomly assigned smokers to one of three 12-week programs: the nicotine patch only; Chantix only; or the nicotine patch plus nicotine lozenges. In addition, participants were offered six counseling sessions.

According to Fiore, all the medications were well-tolerated. However, people taking Chantix had more frequent side events, including vivid dreams, insomnia, nausea, constipation, sleepiness and indigestion.

Pfizer Inc., the maker of Chantix, said in a statement that the results of this study are inconsistent with findings from previous research that reported “superior efficacy of varenicline [Chantix] and combination therapy, compared with nicotine-replacement therapy alone.”

Moreover, the best type of trial is one in which people randomly receive Chantix, or nicotine-replacement therapy or a placebo, but not know which. However, such a trial has not been done, the company said.

Folan said that the latest findings may have been skewed by the type of people who were studied. Specifically, most smoked less than a pack a day and most had tried to quit before.

“Prior experiences with quitting, the fact that they were not heavy smokers, their motivation to quit and the provision of counseling sessions most likely had an impact on their quit success, regardless of the medication used,” she said.

Dr. Len Horovitz, a pulmonary specialist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City, said that “most of the people who quit are those who want to quit.”

He also said that it’s not surprising that replacing nicotine by any means results in the same outcome. In addition, Horovitz said many of his patients are unwilling to take Chantix because of its side effects.

Horovitz added that for many smokers, several tries are needed before they can quit for good.

“Just because you have gone around the turnstile once or twice and have not quit does not mean that you are doomed to fail. In fact, the more times you try, the more likely it is that you will finally succeed,” he said.

More information

Visit the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for more on quitting smoking.

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Depression Screening Should Include All Pregnant, Postpartum Women: Panel

By Dennis Thompson
HealthDay Reporter

TUESDAY, Jan. 26, 2016 (HealthDay News) — All U.S. adults, including pregnant and postpartum women, should be screened for depression by their family doctor, the nation’s leading preventive medicine panel recommends.

Further, doctors need to follow through and get treatment for anyone who tests positive for depression, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force concluded in an update of its depression screening guidelines.

This is the first time the panel has specifically advocated depression screening in pregnancy and shortly after giving birth. It cited a U.S. study that found that 9 percent of pregnant women and more than 10 percent of postpartum women exhibited signs of major depression.

Depression can harm both the child and mother, interfering with their interactions and affecting social relationships and school performance, the panel noted. Risk factors during pregnancy and after delivery include poor self-esteem, child-care
stress, prenatal anxiety and decreased social support, the report said.

The new report — published Jan. 26 in the Journal of the American Medical Association — updates a similar recommendation the panel issued in 2009 that called for routine screening of adults.

In general, primary care physicians should be able to treat most cases of uncomplicated depression, and refer more complex cases to a psychiatrist, said Dr. Michael Pignone, a member of the task force and director of the University of North Carolina’s Institute for Healthcare Quality Improvement.

“That’s part of our job,” Pignone said.

Options for treatment include therapy with a psychologist or licensed clinical social worker or antidepressant medications.

The task force is an independent, volunteer panel of national experts in preventive medicine. It issues recommendations, and revisits them on a regular basis to make sure that medical evidence still supports the guidelines.

Depression is among the leading causes of disability in persons 15 years and older, the panel noted.

Millions of adults suffer from depression and don’t know it, said Dr. Michael Thase, a professor of psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine.

At any given time, between 5 percent and 10 percent of U.S. adults suffer from a depressive disorder, but half receive no treatment for their depression, Thase said.

The task force’s depression guidelines are aimed at detecting and helping those adults who unknowingly have depression, Pignone said.

“This is about screening, not about diagnosing people who come to a doctor’s office saying, ‘I feel depressed.’ The potential value of screening is in those people who would not be found as part of regular clinical care,” he said.

Some people may not want to acknowledge they are depressed because there is a stigma around mental illness, Pignone said. Others might just think they are feeling blue, and will get over it.

“In some people, their symptoms may seem more physical to them,” he added. For example, depression might cause stomach pain, headaches or sleeping problems.

The task force did not recommend any particular questionnaire for depression screening, because “there are many good tools and there’s no single tool that should be recommended above others,” Pignone said.

The most common screening tool, the Patient Health Questionnaire, consists of 10 simple questions that can be answered in minutes, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

The task force also could not recommend how regularly people should be screened, because not enough research has been done in that area, Pignone said.

“The task force recommendation is that people should be screened at least once,” he said. “For the meantime, clinicians should use their judgment about the risk of depression in their patients, in deciding how often to screen.”

However, the task force did emphasize the need to follow up a positive screening with treatment.

Dr. Michelle Riba, a former president of the American Psychiatric Association, agreed that primary care doctors should be able to treat most patients with depression.

However, Riba added that doctors should develop a relationship with a psychiatrist they can consult on cases of depression. The psychiatrist could talk with the practitioner on the phone, review patient charts, and help decide the best course of action.

Doctors also should be open to other forms of treatment for depression, such as cognitive-behavioral therapy or light therapy, said Elizabeth Saenger, a psychologist in private practice in New York City.

Light therapy affects the body’s production of the hormone serotonin, and studies have shown it can help alleviate depression symptoms, Saenger said.

It makes sense for primary care doctors to lead the way on depression screening because they see patients most often, said Dr. Alan Manevitz, a psychiatrist with Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City.

Treating depression can help patients face other health problems with which they are struggling. “As depression gets worse, so many other chronic illnesses also get worse,” Manevitz said. “People don’t take care of their health as well when they are depressed.”

More information

For more on depression, visit the U.S. National Institutes of Health.

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5 Protein-Rich Breakfasts For People Who Hate Eggs

Photo: Travis Rathbone

Protein: it’s the secret weapon that gives your breakfast staying power, and helps keep you energized all morning long. For most people, eggs are their go-to source. But what if you don’t like eggs, or you’re allergic? Or you just can’t stare another kale omelet in the face? Fortunately, there are plenty of other easy, tasty ways to get your protein fix in the A.M. Here, a few ideas that don’t involve any yolks or whites.

RELATED: 8 Easy Ways to Kick-Start Your Metabolism

Quinoa

Replace your morning oats with quinoa in a bowl. One cup cooked is loaded with 8 grams of filling protein (compared to about 6 grams in an egg) and 5 grams of belly-slimming fiber. We love this recipe for maple-syrup sweetened quinoa, made with slivered almonds, dried apricots, ricotta, orange zest, and cinnamon.

Chia

Pudding for breakfast? Why not, when it has 11 grams of protein (and 19 grams of fiber), and tastes like a cold version of a chai latte? Watch the video below to learn how to make our simple, no-cook recipe.

 

Yogurt parfait

Combine protein-rich yogurt with fruit and either nuts or low-sugar granola (packaged, or DIY), and you’ve got one satisfying breakfast. (We recommend this recipe, which was 12 grams of protein and is loaded with super foods—including dark chocolate!)

Smoothies

In general, you can protein-up your morning smoothie by tossing in nut butter (or try tahini for something different), hemp and other seeds, or yogurt. If you like to use protein powder, Health’s resident RD, Cynthia Sass, recommends unsweetened pea protein powder. Check out our foolproof formula for whipping up delicious, good-for-you blends. Or try one of our favorite recipes from Joy the Baker: With peanut butter, flax seeds, and almond milk, it’s a delicious glassful of I’m-good-til-lunch.

RELATED: The 20 Best Foods to Eat for Breakfast

Leftovers

There’s no rule that breakfast can’t be fish, chicken or steak (or any other protein) left over from dinner the night before. Warm it up and enjoy it with some vegetables, or fold it into a whole-grain wrap and take it on the go.

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Weight May Influence Outcomes After Lung Cancer Surgery

TUESDAY, Jan. 26, 2016 (HealthDay News) — Lung cancer surgery patients are most likely to have complications and to die if they’re either too thin or fat, a new study suggests.

The study included more than 41,000 people who had lung cancer surgery between 2009 and 2014. Patients were categorized according to their body mass index (BMI) — an estimate of body fat based on weight and height.

While the study couldn’t prove cause-and-effect, people who were either underweight or severely obese had the highest rates of complications and death following surgery, according to the study. The findings were to be presented Tuesday at the annual meeting of the Society of Thoracic Surgeons in Phoenix.

Weight “is associated with a patient’s overall physiology and health, but overweight people need to have more muscle to carry the extra weight around,” study co-leader Dr. Trevor Williams of the University of Chicago, explained in a society news release.

As for underweight people, Williams believes they are more likely to be frail, “which is associated with impaired strength, reduced activity and being easily fatigued. There also may be an association with immune system impairment. All of these factors adversely affect outcomes after lung surgery.”

There was one silver lining, however: The study found that overweight and slightly obese patients had a lower risk of complications than normal weight patients.

This means that “patients who are overweight or [slightly] obese should not be fearful of lung [surgery] because they have the best outcomes after surgery,” study co-lead author Dr. Mark Ferguson, also of the University of Chicago, said in the news release.

“However, though not specifically included in our study, any increase in exercise capacity prior to surgery can only be beneficial — so keep walking!”, he said.

Two experts agreed that weight can have an impact on surgical outcomes.

“Both very thin and [very] obese patients have higher rates of complications following removal of part of the lung,” said Dr. Len Horovitz, a pulmonary specialist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City. The obese [in the study] “had the highest risk for complications,” he noted, “likely a result of associated conditions like diabetes, hypertension [high blood pressure] and heart disease.”

Dr. Colin Brathwaite is chairman of the department of surgery at Winthrop-University Hospital in Mineola, N.Y. He said doctors have long known that weight influences surgical outcomes, and he believes the new data “is important in defining preoperative risk” for patients.

Experts note that findings presented at medical meetings are considered preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal.

More information

The U.S. National Cancer Institute has more about lung cancer.

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After Heart Surgery, House Calls by Physician’s Assistants Help

TUESDAY, Jan. 26, 2016 (HealthDay News) — Heart surgery patients who receive home visits from physician’s assistants are less likely to be readmitted to the hospital, a new study finds.

They also have lower overall health care costs, the researchers said.

The study followed nearly 1,200 people after heart surgery. In the week after leaving the hospital, some patients received two home visits from cardiac surgery physician’s assistants involved in their care, while those in a “control” group received no visits.

Patients who received physician’s assistant visits on the second and fifth day after leaving the hospital were 41 percent less likely than those in the control group to be readmitted to the hospital within 30 days — 10 percent versus 17 percent, the study found.

House calls to 540 patients cost $23,500, but saved $977,500 in hospital readmission costs, researchers said. That means $39 was saved for every $1 spent, according to the study.

The findings were scheduled for presentation Tuesday at the annual meeting of the Society of Thoracic Surgeons in Phoenix.

“Adult cardiac surgery has one of the highest readmission rates for all hospitalized patients,” study leader Dr. John Nabagiez, of Staten Island University Hospital in New York City, said in a society news release.

“The physician’s assistants who made the house calls in our study were fully trained cardiac surgery PAs who were actively involved in the preoperative, intra-operative, and postoperative care of our patients,” he explained.

“Unlike standard visiting nurses, our PAs knew each patient personally and understood all of the pertinent issues of the patient’s medical history. They also knew the patient’s individual postoperative course prior to discharge, so they entered the patient’s home already knowing the concerns, if any, of the surgeon and the patient,” Nabagiez added.

But for this strategy to succeed, it’s essential for patients to comply with all prescribed medications and physical rehabilitation after heart surgery, he said.

Noting that complications can arise in the first week after surgery, Nabagiez said these initial home visits can help diagnose problems earlier, which can keep patients out of the emergency department.

“We found that making these two visits is cost effective and keeps patients on the road to recovery, while also reducing hospital readmissions,” Nabagiez said.

Research presented at meetings is usually considered preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed medical journal.

More information

The U.S. National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute has more about heart surgery.

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Daily Caffeine Doesn’t Seem to Jolt the Heart: Study

TUESDAY, Jan. 26, 2016 (HealthDay News) — There may be good news for coffee, tea and chocolate lovers: Regular caffeine consumption may not cause dangerous racing of the heart, a new study finds.

The finding challenges current medical thinking, the study authors said.

However, the health risks of heavy caffeine consumption requires additional research, the researchers added.

“Clinical recommendations advising against the regular consumption of caffeinated products to prevent disturbances of the heart’s cardiac rhythm should be reconsidered, as we may unnecessarily be discouraging consumption of items like chocolate, coffee and tea that might actually have cardiovascular benefits,” said study senior author Dr. Gregory Marcus. He is director of clinical research in the division of cardiology at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF).

“Given our recent work demonstrating that extra heartbeats can be dangerous, this finding is especially relevant,” Marcus added. In rare cases, extra heartbeats can lead to heart problems and stroke, the researchers said in a university news release.

The 12-month study included nearly 1,400 healthy people whose coffee, tea and chocolate consumption was assessed. They also wore a portable device that continuously monitored their heart rhythm for 24 hours.

Sixty-one percent of the participants consumed more than one of the caffeinated products a day. Those who consumed higher amounts of the products didn’t have extra heartbeats, the study found.

“This was the first community-based sample to look at the impact of caffeine on extra heartbeats, as previous studies looked at people with known [heart rhythm disorders],” study lead author Shalini Dixit, a fourth-year medical student at UCSF, said in the news release.

“Whether acute consumption of these caffeinated products affects extra heartbeats requires further study,” Dixit added.

The study was published in the January issue of the Journal of the American Heart Association.

More information

The American Heart Association has more about caffeine and heart health.

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College Kids Spend a Fifth of Class Time on Digital Devices: Survey

By Alan Mozes
HealthDay Reporter

TUESDAY, Jan. 26, 2016 (HealthDay News) — College students spend one-fifth of their time in class using digital devices — such as smartphones — for non-educational purposes, new research reveals.

The main culprit is texting. Almost nine out of 10 reported that texting was their main digital diversion while in class. About three-quarters said they emailed or checked the time on their devices. Seventy percent reported checking in on social media (for example, Facebook), while 40 percent surfed the web. One in 10 spent time in class playing games on their devices.

“Most of us love technology,” said study author Barney McCoy, an associate professor in the College of Journalism and Mass Communications at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. “And we want it to benefit us. But technology also affords a view that can be distracting.

“So the question now is, how do we balance this out?” he added. “How can we take in all the constructive dynamic benefits that this technology enables us to have, and then also be disciplined enough to recognize that there is a time and place to put it aside, and pay attention and stay focused?”

McCoy and his colleagues reported their findings in the January issue of the Journal of Media Education.

The researchers polled 675 students attending colleges and universities across 26 states during 2015. They polled undergraduate and graduate students majoring in mass communications, marketing, business, law, education and agriculture. About one-third were male and two-thirds were female. They ranged in age from 18 to 22.

Many (41 percent) said non-class-related digital use ate up between 1 percent and 10 percent of class time. One in five students said their digital devices consumed between 11 and 20 percent of class time, the survey found.

Most students — between 80 and 90 percent — acknowledged that such behavior might distract from studying. More than one-quarter said it threatened to diminish academic performance.

Yet, a majority argued against penalties for non-academic use in class, the survey found. Nearly one in three students said the practice had no negative impact on their studies.

Nearly three-quarters said their instructors already had some form of restrictive digital policy in place, but more than one-quarter said they should be able to use their devices at will. About one in 10 said they wouldn’t be able to stop even if they wanted to, the survey found.

Compared with a 2013 survey, the new poll shows a slight uptick in the regularity with which students are using their devices in class. For example, while just 30 percent said they checked their device a minimum of 10 times a day back in 2013, that figure rose to 33 percent by 2015, the study authors said.

In 2013, about 8 percent of students said they never used their devices for non-educational purposes in class. By 2015, that figure dropped to just 3 percent, according to the researchers.

Scott Campbell, an associate professor of communication studies at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, expressed little surprise at the findings.

“Young people turn to digital media as an immediate way to relieve boredom and, sadly, the classroom is one of the environments in which they most commonly experience boredom,” he said. “Also, young people feel naked when they are cut off from their peer networks.

“Expectations for being accessible to others, and for having access to digital content, are very high these days. We may not always be thinking about it consciously, but it’s there underneath the surface. The need to stay connected,” Campbell added.

As a result, he said, many people are “glued to their mobile and portable devices without even being fully aware of it. This helps explain why people use their digital media in problematic ways, such as during class or while driving, when they know it’s harmful,” he pointed out.

Still, Campbell cautioned that the study relied on self-reported recollection of digital use, which is not always reliable. And, the ultimate impact on academic performance is not entirely clear.

“I have seen studies that show lower grades as a result of digital distraction, and other studies where there is no significant effect on grades,” he said. The bottom-line will likely depend on a number of overlapping factors, such as the size and nature of the class, individual student differences, and exactly how the technology is used, he suggested.

More information

Read about how some teachers are using smartphones as tools from the National Education Association.

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Schools Must Do More to Combat Obesity Among Hispanic Kids: Report

MONDAY, Jan. 25, 2016 (HealthDay News) — Exercise and healthy nutrition can be hard to come by at U.S. schools that serve mainly Hispanic students, according to a new report.

This increases kids’ risk of obesity, researchers say.

“Healthy school environments are paramount for the proper development of Latino kids, given the rising percentage of Latino students enrolled in public schools and their high rates of obesity,” said Amelie Ramirez, of the Institute for Health Promotion Research at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio.

Ramirez is also director of Salud America! — a national Hispanic child obesity prevention network.

For the study, Ramirez and her colleagues reviewed research published since 2008 and found that schools with a majority of Hispanic students tend to offer fewer physical activity programs or facilities than schools where white students are in the majority.

Also, Hispanic children are less likely than other kids to take part in organized sports or after-school programs, and are more likely to be inactive, the researchers found.

In addition, compared to white-majority schools, Hispanic-majority schools tend to have weaker rules on school snacks and drinks, are less likely to implement nutritional guidelines, and are more likely to be surrounded by fast-food restaurants and stores that sell snacks, the study found.

This matters because the closer schools are to fast-food restaurants, the greater the rates of overweight and obesity among Hispanic students, according to the report.

Nearly 40 percent of Hispanic children aged 2 to 19 are overweight or obese, compared with 28.5 percent of white children in that age group, the researchers pointed out.

“Supporting nutrition and physical activity in schools builds a culture of health where everyone is empowered to live the healthiest lives they can,” Ramirez said in a university news release.

A number of school policies can improve nutrition and increase physical activity among Hispanic students, the report suggested. These include: reducing access to unhealthy snacks and drinks; stricter nutrition standards for school snacks; removing sugary drinks; offering structured physical activity programs during and after school; and making it safer for students to walk and cycle to school.

The percentage of Hispanic students enrolled in U.S. public schools is growing and expected to reach an estimated 30 percent by 2023, according to background notes with the report.

More information

The American Heart Association outlines how to prevent childhood obesity.

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