Great Recession Linked to Weight Gain in Kids

FRIDAY, June 10, 2016 (HealthDay News) — A new study links unemployment during the recent Great Recession with weight gain in children.

“This study tells a dramatic story about the negative and lasting health effects of an economic shock like the Great Recession, effects that have not been fully understood,” said study leader Vanessa Oddo. She is a doctoral candidate in human nutrition at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore.

“Childhood obesity is one of the biggest public health concerns of our time. And since it’s not easy to lose weight once it is gained, this period of economic hardship could have consequences that last long into adulthood,” Oddo said in a Hopkins news release.

Oddo and her colleagues analyzed data on 1.7 million public school children, aged 7 to 18, in California. They also examined unemployment statistics from counties across the state.

For every 1 percent increase in county-level unemployment between 2008 and 2012, there was a 4 percent higher risk that school children would become overweight.

The average rise in unemployment during that time was 5.4 percent, meaning children’s risk of becoming overweight rose roughly 21 percent, according to the researchers.

In 2008, when the recession began, 28 percent of the state’s public school children were considered overweight. By 2009, the percentage of overweight kids peaked at 40 percent and was still at 37 percent in 2012, the study found.

Previous studies have shown that even small changes in weight — 5 percent to 10 percent in children and teens — can increase their risk of developing chronic diseases later in life, the researchers noted.

However, the new study didn’t prove a cause-and-effect relationship between economic hard times and childhood weight gain.

Still, one possible reason for the apparent link may be changes in families’ food-buying habits.

“We think they likely gained weight because with decreased economic resources, families may be trading more expensive healthy food like fresh fruits and vegetables for cheaper, higher calorie alternatives such as highly processed convenience food,” said study senior author Jessica Jones-Smith. She is an assistant professor in the department of international health at the Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Also, “the stuff that is convenient and tasty is also high in calories and may be the kind of food people turn to in these economically constrained times,” she added.

The researchers further noted that during economic downturns, school districts may cut back on sports programs and after-school activities that promote physical activity.

The study was published online June 1 in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.

More information

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has more on childhood overweight and obesity.

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Vitamin Deficiencies Common in Young Migraine Sufferers

FRIDAY, June 10, 2016 (HealthDay News) — Many young people who suffer from migraines have vitamin deficiencies, new research finds.

“Further studies are needed to elucidate whether vitamin supplementation is effective in migraine patients in general, and whether patients with mild deficiency are more likely to benefit from supplementation,” said lead study author Dr. Suzanne Hagler in a Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center news release. She is a headache medicine fellow in the hospital’s division of neurology.

The study included children, teens and young adult migraine patients who were treated at Cincinnati Children’s Headache Center.

A high percentage of them had mild deficiencies in vitamin D, riboflavin and coenzyme Q10 — a vitamin-like substance used to produce energy for cell growth and maintenance, the researchers said.

Many of the patients were prescribed preventive migraine medications and received vitamin supplementation if their levels were low. But because too few patients received vitamins alone, it wasn’t possible to determine if vitamin supplementation could help prevent migraines, the researchers noted.

The study also found that girls and young women were more likely than boys and young men to have coenzyme Q10 deficiencies. Boys and young men were more likely to have vitamin D deficiency.

Patients with chronic migraines were more likely to have coenzyme Q10 and riboflavin deficiencies than patients with episodic migraines, the study found.

Previous research has suggested that certain vitamins and vitamin deficiencies may be important in migraine, but studies using vitamins to prevent migraines have yielded mixed results, the researchers said.

The study was to be presented Friday at the American Headache Society’s annual meeting, in San Diego. Research presented at meetings is considered preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal.

More information

The American Academy of Family Physicians has more about migraines.

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Dangerous Urinary Tract Infections Common in Nursing Homes

By E.J. Mundell
HealthDay Reporter

FRIDAY, June 10, 2016 (HealthDay News) — Urinary tract infections (UTIs) in nursing home residents can often have serious effects, including delirium, debilitating falls and even fatal blood infections.

Now, new research finds the infections are common in nursing homes, often due to a lack of proper prevention.

UTIs “can have a devastating impact on frail, debilitated individuals,” said Donna Armellino, a nurse and vice president of infection prevention at Northwell Health, in Lake Success, N.Y. She reviewed the new findings.

“It is obvious, based on this random survey of nursing homes, that there is a lack of education and inconsistent practices that can raise the risk for infection,” she said.

In younger people, UTIs can be a painful nuisance that is usually treated with an antibiotic. But in the infirm elderly, the risk to health can be much greater, another expert explained.

“UTIs in the elderly can have a significant health impact by leading to a confused delirious state or — if undiagnosed — leading to dehydration or infection in the bloodstream,” explained Dr. Paula Lester, a geriatrician at Winthrop-University Hospital, in Mineola, N.Y.

Since so many nursing home residents suffer from dementia, or have conditions that rob them of their ability to communicate, identifying a UTI can be difficult, she said.

“Nonverbal patients, or those with cognitive impairment, usually cannot report traditional UTI symptoms of painful urination, foul odor of urine or increased frequency of urination,” Lester noted.

So, how good a job are U.S. nursing homes doing in preventing these infections?

To find out, a team from New York City’s Columbia University School of Nursing surveyed 955 nursing homes in 2014. The researchers also analyzed data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

They found that in any given month, for over 88,000 nursing home residents in the study, an average of 5.4 percent of them — more than 4,700 people — had suffered a UTI.

As Armellino noted, catheters used in nursing home care can be a prime source of the infections.

UTIs often occur “when bacteria enters the urinary tract through the urethra and move up the tract to infect the bladder or kidneys,” she explained. “This infection is often related to an inserted device referred to as an indwelling urinary catheter.”

In fact, in the Columbia study, nursing home residents with catheters were four times more likely to get a UTI than those without catheters.

However, UTIs were more often linked to causes other than catheter use, according to the study.

The findings were presented this month at the annual meeting of the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC), in Charlotte, N.C.

“What was particularly interesting about this study was that there were more UTIs that were not associated with catheterization than those that were,” said study lead author Carolyn Herzig, project director at Columbia’s School of Nursing.

“This means that a larger focus should be placed on identifying practices to prevent UTIs — regardless of catheter placement,” she said in an APIC news release.

Nursing homes typically have four main ways of lowering UTI rates, Herzig’s team noted. However, facilities rarely implemented such measures.

For example, nursing homes that used portable bladder ultrasound scanners to confirm that a patient had voided all urine were 10 percent less likely to have high rates of UTIs not associated with catheter use.

Unfortunately, only about one in every five facilities surveyed had this policy, the researchers found.

Another helpful policy: regularly cleaning the urine collection bag attached to the resident’s leg. That step cut catheter-linked UTI rates by 20 percent.

However, only 44 percent of facilities had this policy in place, Herzig’s team found.

Nursing homes with “infection preventionists” on staff — who also took a national course through APIC — were also 20 percent less likely to have high rates of UTIs, the study found.

But again, only 9 percent of the nursing homes in the study had such staff.

APIC President Susan Dolan said the issue is only going to get more pressing with time.

“Infection prevention in long-term care is going to become an increasingly important issue because of the aging of the U.S. population,” she said in the news release. “Every day, 8,000 baby boomers reach the age of 65, and by 2020 the number of older adults will outnumber the number of children younger than 5.

“Recognizing the severity of UTIs for older adults, and implementing policies in nursing homes and long-term care facilities to prevent and effectively treat these infections, is critical,” she concluded.

Armellino agreed.

“A UTI can also go beyond infection of the urinary tract and the bacterium can go into the bloodstream and potentially result in death,” she said. “Standards of care to minimize a UTI exist in acute care facilities and are imbedded into bedside practice, but it appears to be lacking in long-term care facilities.”

She said that quality nursing homes can help prevent UTIs by make sure the patient is mobile when possible, has “regular toileting” and is kept clean and dry.

According to Armellino, other things to look for if you visit an infirm loved one in a nursing home include:

• Making sure that urinary catheters are inserted “only when clinically needed,” assessed daily and removed when no longer necessary.
• Urine collection bags are kept below the bladder.
• Urine flows freely in the drainage tube.
• The device is “secured to the leg to minimize movement.”
• Patients are washed frequently with soap and water.
• Staff members use proper hand hygiene before and after touching the catheter device.

Armellino stressed that since a UTI is always a possibility when catheters are in place, “residents with an indwelling urinary catheter require continuous assessment for symptoms related to infection.”

If a UTI is detected, “prompt and appropriate treatment to minimize progression of the infection into the bloodstream and potentially avoiding hospitalization,” she said.

Because this research was presented at a medical meeting, the findings should be considered preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal.

More information

The U.S. National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases has more on urinary tract infections in older adults.

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Believe It: Watermelon Hair Looks Just as Awesome as It Sounds

Hair dye fatigue and indecision is a real, real thing. But if you’re feeling like literally zero hair trends seem new, innovative, or exciting, we may have found the solution. Presenting, fruit-themed hair dye. Instagram users are sharing pictures of themselves hair dye creations inspired by watermelon, which, in addition to making a delish snack, surprisingly makes for one gorgeous beauty look.

RELATED: Here’s Why We’re Obsessed with Pantene’s Newest Spokesperson

With everyone lightening their hair for the summer, this is the perfect way to celebrate the season in its all glory. Watermelon hair looks exactly like how it sounds, as it’s inspired by the colors of your favorite melon.

Below, we’ve got a bunch of photos to get you inspired from subtle (if you can call pink hair subtle) to the more adventurous.

This article originally appeared on InStyle.com/MIMI.

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3 Popular Diet Plans May Help Ease Type 2 Diabetes, Too

FRIDAY, June 10, 2016 (HealthDay News) — People with type 2 diabetes may get some help with blood sugar control from a few commercial weight-loss programs, but conclusive evidence on most plans is lacking, a new review finds.

Researchers reviewed 18 published studies. The studies looked at 10 popular, commercial weight-loss programs that involved a total of 764 people with type 2 diabetes.

Three programs — Jenny Craig, Nutrisystem and Optifast — seemed to reduce blood sugar levels more than when people received weight-loss counseling alone, the review found.

“A few of these programs may be a viable option for improving blood sugar control in patients with type 2 diabetes and those at risk for the disease, but we need more gold-standard studies to make that claim,” said review leader Dr. Zoobia Chaudhry.

Chaudhry is an assistant professor of medicine at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

The researchers said it’s possible that other commercial weight-loss programs may help lower blood sugar levels, but there’s currently not enough evidence to say so.

Chaudhry noted that there is a link between being overweight or obese and developing type 2 diabetes. She said that previous research has shown that losing even a small amount of body weight — 5 to 10 percent — can help lead to long-term blood sugar reductions in people with type 2 diabetes.

However, that research was mostly based on intensive lifestyle change programs that include carefully controlled diets and guided exercise. Such programs aren’t readily available to most of the estimated 29 million people in the United States with type 2 diabetes, Chaudhry said in a university news release.

The review also looked at information from more than 2,400 people who didn’t have type 2 diabetes. None of the commercial weight-loss programs in the review led to lower blood sugar in people without diabetes, the study authors said.

The findings were published in the June issue of Obesity Reviews Journal.

More information

The American Diabetes Association has more on type 2 diabetes.

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Couples Living in Zika Areas Should Delay Pregnancy, WHO Advises

By Steven Reinberg
HealthDay Reporter

FRIDAY, June 10, 2016 (HealthDay News) — Couples who are trying to have children and live in Zika-affected areas should consider delaying pregnancy to avoid having babies born with birth defects, U.N. health officials now recommend.

The new guideline replaces an earlier one that suggested women planning to become pregnant should wait at least eight weeks before trying to conceive if they or their partner live in — or are returning from Zika-affected regions.

Mosquito bites remain the most common source of infection of the virus that causes the severe birth defect microcephaly, which results in babies with abnormally small heads and brains. But transmission of the virus through sex is more common than previously thought, World Health Organization officials have said.

In the United States, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has refrained from recommending that couples delay pregnancy in Zika-affected areas, although Puerto Rico’s Health Secretary has issued advice that is similar to the new WHO guideline, The New York Times reported.

Although the new WHO recommendation doesn’t specify how long couples should delay pregnancy, the recommendation “means delaying until we have more answers, more evidence, more science,” WHO spokeswoman Nyka Alexander told the Times.

However, she added that WHO is only suggesting, and not telling, couples in Zika-affected areas to delay pregnancy.

The vast majority of Zika infections have occurred in Latin America, with Brazil the hot zone with an estimated 5,000 cases of microcephaly. There have been no reports of Zika-induced microcephaly contracted in the United States, although Zika is now circulating in Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and American Samoa.

And U.S. health officials have said they expect to see Zika infections in Gulf Coast states such as Florida, Louisiana and Texas as mosquito season picks up.

Last month, U.S. health officials reported that the number of pregnant women in the United States infected with the Zika virus had tripled because cases were now being counted in a more comprehensive way.

So far, an estimated 280 infected women are being followed in the United States and its territories, according to two registries that have been created by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Previously, only cases of pregnant women who had Zika-related symptoms or pregnancy complications were being tallied, CDC officials said. But recently published reports have found that some pregnant women show no symptoms of Zika infection, yet still give birth to babies with microcephaly.

To limit any potential spread of Zika virus via mosquitoes, health officials on the federal, state and local level are deploying a three-pronged strategy: improving mosquito control; expanding their ability to test for Zika; and urging the public to protect themselves against mosquitoes.

Women of child-bearing age who live in an active Zika region should protect themselves from mosquito bites by wearing long-sleeved shirts and long pants, using mosquito repellent when outside, and staying indoors as much as possible, according to the CDC.

President Barack Obama has asked Congress to allocate $1.9 billion to combat the Zika threat, but lawmakers have yet to agree on a spending package.

More information

Visit the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for more on the Zika virus.

This Q&A will tell you what you need to know about Zika.

To see the CDC list of sites where Zika virus is active and may pose a threat to pregnant women, click here.

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‘Hidden’ Brain Injury a Challenge for Military Doctors

FRIDAY, June 10, 2016 (HealthDay News) — Soldiers who survive explosive blasts may suffer from a distinctive pattern of “hidden” brain injury, a small study finds.

“Blast-related brain injuries are the signature injury of modern military conflicts,” said study senior author Dr. Daniel Perl, of the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, in Bethesda, Md.

“Although routine imaging for blast-related traumatic brain injury often shows no brain abnormalities, soldiers frequently report debilitating neuropsychiatric symptoms such as headaches, sleep disturbance, memory problems, erratic behavior and depression, suggesting structural damage to the brain,” he explained.

“Because the underlying pathophysiology is unknown, we have difficulty diagnosing and treating these ‘invisible wounds,’ ” Perl said.

For the study, researchers analyzed the brain tissue of eight U.S. military personnel who survived blasts but died four to nine days later from their injuries or other causes.

The pattern of damage in their brains was different from that seen in civilians with head injuries caused by contact sports, traffic crashes or prescription painkiller abuse, the researchers said.

However, the study authors noted that they lacked information about the soldiers’ medical history. They said further research is needed to learn more about how high-explosive blasts from weapons such as grenades, mortars and improvised explosive devices affect the brain.

The study results were published June 9 in The Lancet Neurology.

More than 300,000 U.S. military personnel in the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts have suffered traumatic brain injury from explosive blasts. The long-term effects of hidden brain injuries in these patients is a growing concern, according to the researchers.

“As exposure to blast shockwaves increases among soldiers and civilians in war zones, we need to further study these patterns, and compare them with soldiers’ medical history in order to build a better understanding of the neuropathology of traumatic brain injury,” Perl said in a journal news release.

Further work is needed to confirm the results, but the study draws attention to the need for increased research into blast-associated brain injury, agreed Dr. William Stewart, of the University of Glasgow, Scotland, and Dr. Douglas Smith, of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. Both brain injury experts authored an editorial accompanying the study.

More information

The U.S. National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke has more about traumatic brain injury.

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Irregular Heartbeat May Be Deadly in Car Crash

FRIDAY, June 10, 2016 (HealthDay News) — Having the common heart rhythm disorder atrial fibrillation might be risky if you get into a car accident, a new study suggests.

Atrial fibrillation is a quivering or irregular heartbeat. Researchers report the condition is linked to higher chances of dying if you’re in a crash, although their study didn’t prove a cause-and-effect relationship.

“Atrial fibrillation is the most common heart rhythm disorder, and incidence is rising. Many of these patients are on anticoagulants to lower their stroke risk, but these drugs increase the chance of bleeding,” said study author Dr. Abhishek Deshmukh, a cardiologist at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn.

However, “we should not jump the gun and advise patients with atrial fibrillation to stop driving. This was a retrospective observational study and needs to be confirmed by further research,” he said in an European Society of Cardiology news release.

In the study, Deshmukh and his colleagues analyzed data from nearly 3 million drivers, passengers and bystanders who were involved in a traffic crash and admitted to U.S. hospitals between 2003 and 2012. Of those patients, 2.6 percent had atrial fibrillation.

Death rates were 7.6 percent for those with atrial fibrillation and 2.6 percent for those without the condition. After adjusting for factors such as age, gender, injury severity and existing health problems, the researchers still found crash victims with atrial fibrillation had a 1.5 times higher risk of dying in the hospital than those without the disorder.

The researchers also found that the average hospital stay after a traffic crash was nine days for those with atrial fibrillation and only six days for those without the condition. The average cost of hospital stay was $28,217 for those with atrial fibrillation, and $19,615 for those without.

“There is limited information about the impact of atrial fibrillation on daily activities such as driving. This is the first study to investigate the effect of atrial fibrillation on death and length of hospital stay after a motor vehicle accident,” Deshmukh said.

“Atrial fibrillation is associated with higher mortality, length of stay and cost when patients are hospitalized for bypass surgery, hip replacement or heart failure. Our research shows that atrial fibrillation is also associated with worse outcomes in patients involved in motor vehicle accidents,” Deshmukh said.

The study was to be presented Friday at a cardiology meeting in Nice, France. Research presented at medical meetings is considered preliminary until it is published in a peer-reviewed journal.

More information

The U.S. National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute has more about atrial fibrillation.

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Parents Often Using TVs, Tablets as ‘Electronic Babysitters’

By Dennis Thompson
HealthDay Reporter

FRIDAY, June 10, 2016 (HealthDay News) — For some families, moments where parents spend time playing, reading or conversing with kids may be a thing of the past, new research suggests.

The small study — just 44 families — found preschoolers now often spend hours each day watching TV or playing video games — with little or no oversight or interaction from a parent.

Only a handful of kids aged 3 to 5 years old received active engagement from their moms as they sat glued to the “electronic babysitter,” according to the University of Michigan study.

One expert wasn’t surprised by the findings.

“Technology has become child care,” said Dr. Victor Fornari, who directs child and adolescent psychiatry at Zucker Hillside Hospital in Glen Oaks, N.Y.

“Parents are off doing the dishes or folding laundry while the kids are plugged into their technology, and the parents aren’t sitting with them and watching together,” he said.

In the study, researchers used enhanced audio equipment to track the home environment of preschoolers in 44 volunteer families during 2010 and 2011.

Special software allowed the researchers to sift through hours of recordings so they could listen in whenever audible electronic media signals were present in the home.

The researchers then coded the type of interactions that children had with their mothers at the time, as well as the sort of shows they were watching or games they were playing.

The result: preschoolers most often watched TV, which took up 80 percent of the recorded media use, the research showed. Video games accounted for another 10 percent of electronic media use, and the rest included computers, tablets, cellphones, audio books or educational products.

Parental interaction was rare during these times. About 58 percent of families had zero instances of parent-child conversation regarding the media the child was watching. In 35 percent of cases, parents engaged in dialogue in one-third or fewer of the recorded media segments, the study found.

“This included interactions where children attempted to get their parent’s attention to talk about the TV or the movie they were watching, and received no response,” said study co-author Sarah Domoff.

Only three families — 7 percent of the sample — communicated about whatever their child was watching for the majority of the time the TV was on in the house, the findings showed.

And with most parents’ attention focused elsewhere, 58 percent of the children wound up exposed to adult television or movies at some point during the study. Examples included “Sex and the City,” “Grey’s Anatomy” and “Scary Movie.”

“We’re not hearing what we call ‘active mediation,’ or parents mediating or processing the content and then emphasizing or challenging messages that the children are receiving,” said Domoff. She’s a research fellow at the university’s Center for Human Growth and Development.

Fornari agreed that many parents aren’t considering the impact unsupervised media exposure might have on a preschooler’s developing brain. He believes that kids’ ability to socialize and communicate might be harmed or altered.

“We don’t know the impact of this early and large dose of media exposure to young developing brains,” Fornari said. “Clearly, it’s something that may have a profound impact. These children are going to grow up in a generation that’s connected to their technology at a much earlier age.”

There are things parents can do to change all that, however. Aside from turning off the tube, parents can help by carefully guiding their children’s media use, Domoff said.

“Parents should be aware of what they’re watching, and step in if they hear a message that doesn’t resonate with their family values — or if they feel there’s a message that’s positive,” she said.

She said that if parents use TV to keep kids occupied, they should create a video library of selections they deem appropriate, or limit viewing to channels with programming and commercials that match the family’s values.

Domoff presented these findings at the recent Association for Psychological Science conference in Chicago. The findings should be viewed as preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal.

More information

For more on kids and media, visit the American Psychological Association.

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Are ‘Workaholics’ Prone to OCD, Anxiety?

By Randy Dotinga
HealthDay Reporter

FRIDAY, June 10, 2016 (HealthDay News) — Some workaholics may be prone to mental health disorders, compared to folks with greater work-life balance, new research suggests.

These disorders may include anxiety, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) and depression, the study authors said.

The findings, based on a review of more than 15,000 Norwegians, suggest that “taking work to the extreme may be a sign of deeper psychiatric issues,” said study lead author Cecilie Schou Andreassen.

“Physicians should not take for granted that a seemingly successful workaholic doesn’t have these disorders,” said Schou Andreassen, a clinical psychologist with the University of Bergen, in Norway.

The research doesn’t delve into cause and effect, so it’s not clear how mental health issues and overwork might be linked. Nor should hard workers be labeled as workaholics, although experts say the distinctions between the two can be confusing.

“It is arguable that the term workaholism is misused, and that in the majority of cases, it is only normal working behavior,” Schou Andreassen said.

For this study, researchers surveyed nearly 16,500 working adults, average age 37. About 6,000 were men and almost 10,500 were women.

The study found that 8 percent qualified as workaholics based on their answers to questions such as:

• You think of how you can free up more time to work.
• You become stressed if you are prohibited from working.
• You have been told by others to cut down on work without listening to them.
• You work so much that it has negatively influenced your health.

Of those overzealous workers, testing revealed that one-third appeared to have ADHD, compared to 13 percent among the non-workaholics. And, 26 percent showed signs of obsessive compulsive disorder versus 9 percent of those with better work-life balance.

Also, nearly three times as many workaholics were deemed to have an anxiety disorder — 34 percent versus 12 percent. And the researchers said they found that the rate of depression was tripled — 9 percent compared to 3 percent — in the workaholic group.

Genes may explain the link between workaholism and mental illness in some people, Schou Andreassen said. It’s also possible that workaholism may contribute to mental illness, or the other way around. The study doesn’t provide any answers on this front.

Steve Sussman is a professor of preventive medicine, psychology and social work at the University of Southern California. He said that “work as an addiction is not well-understood by many people.” Some specialists question whether workaholism actually exists as an addiction, he added.

He said “ambiguity” exists regarding workaholic habits that might be considered an addiction and mental illnesses such as obsessive compulsive disorder.

Previous research has linked workaholism to compulsive traits and anxiety, said Sussman.

Another expert agreed that the subject isn’t well-understood.

“Many mental health professionals may not know about workaholism or have treatment plans for it,” said Malissa Clark, an assistant professor of industrial/organizational psychology at the University of Georgia.

Still, therapists can help patients “manage their workaholic tendencies, like developing strategies to help them ‘turn off’ work while they are at home or deal with poor marital quality and strained relationships with children,” Clark said.

“Another thing workaholics can do to help themselves is to communicate with their supervisor about when they will — and when they won’t — be available when they are off the clock,” she added.

The study findings were published recently in the journal PLoS One.

More information

For more about workaholics, visit Workaholics Anonymous.

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