Could Eating More Whole Grains Help You Live Longer?

By Kathleen Doheny
HealthDay Reporter

MONDAY, June 13, 2016 (HealthDay News) — Health experts have long urged people to swap their processed white grains for the whole-grain variety, and new research suggests that advice might help you live longer.

Researchers found that people who ate three or more servings of whole grains a day had a 20 percent reduced risk of premature death during the study period, compared to those who ate fewer or no servings of whole grains.

“The higher the whole grain intake, the lower the death rate, especially deaths from cardiovascular disease,” said study author Dr. Qi Sun. He is an assistant professor of nutrition at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston.

Whole grains are so named because they contain the entire grain kernel, including bran (outer husk), germ (nutrient-rich core) and endosperm (middle layer). Whole-grain foods include whole-wheat flour, oatmeal, brown rice and whole cornmeal.

When grains are refined, they have been milled and that process removes the bran and the germ, as well as fiber, iron and many of the B vitamins. White breads, white rice and white flour are all refined grains, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).

Sun and his colleagues reviewed the findings of 12 published studies as well as data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (NHANES). The studies included nearly 800,000 men and women. The study populations were from the United States, the United Kingdom and Scandinavian countries. The studies covered 1971 to 2010. Over the study periods, there were almost 98,000 deaths recorded.

The study couldn’t show a direct cause-and-effect relationship. But the review suggests that the risk of dying prematurely from heart disease and stroke dropped approximately 25 percent when people had three servings of whole grains (48 grams total) daily, compared to those who ate fewer or no servings of whole grains. The risk of death from cancer appeared to decrease about 15 percent, the study authors said.

Sun said many possibilities can help explain why whole-grain consumption seemed to affect death risk. Whole grains are high in fiber, so they can help regulate blood sugar and improve blood cholesterol levels, which can lower the risk of heart disease and diabetes. Fiber also makes you feel full longer, so you may eat fewer calories, maintain a healthy weight, and lower heart disease risk, he added.

Based on the study findings, Sun said that low-carbohydrate diets that neglect the health benefits of whole grains “should be adopted with caution,” due to a possible higher risk of heart disease.

To get 48 grams of whole grains, Sun said, people could eat three slices of whole-grain bread, for instance.

One registered dietitian agreed with the findings.

“The outcomes of this study provide support to the dietary guidelines recommendation to include three servings of whole grains in our daily diet,” said Connie Diekman, director of university nutrition at Washington University in St. Louis. “Contrary to many popular diets, this study supports the health benefits of whole grains as opposed to a popular perception that grains are the cause of obesity.”

So how can you be sure the foods you’re eating actually are whole-grain? Foods that list “whole” before the first ingredient on the ingredient list are whole-grain foods, the USDA says.

Some foods are also naturally whole grains, such as oatmeal, quinoa, brown rice, rolled oats, bulgur, wild rice and popcorn. The USDA says you can’t judge whether a food is whole-grain from its color. And, the agency notes that certain claims, such as 100 percent wheat, on packaging don’t necessarily mean a product is made with whole grains. Check the ingredient list to be sure.

The study was published June 13 in Circulation.

More information

To learn more about whole grains, see ChooseMyPlate.gov.

---

from Health News / Tips & Trends / Celebrity Health http://ift.tt/1Uwa8d1

What You Should Know About the Anxiety That Kept Zayn Malik Offstage

Photo: Getty Images

Zayn Malik, member of the now-disbanded One Direction, cancelled his UK performance at the London Capital Summertime Ball on Saturday evening. The reason? His anxiety.

The British singer/songwriter took to Instagram and Twitter to explain why he couldn’t perform at the much-anticipated show. “My anxiety that has haunted me throughout the last few months around live performances has gotten the better of me … with the magnitude of the event, I have suffered the worst anxiety of my career,” he wrote in a statement to his fans.

http://pic.twitter.com/YmVQ2estd2

— zayn (@zaynmalik) June 11, 2016

RELATED: 19 Natural Remedies for Anxiety

Malik’s honest Tweet is a moving testament to just how crippling anxiety can be for those who suffer from it—and unfortunately millions do. According to the National Institutes of Mental Health, anxiety disorders affect about 18% of adults in the United States.

“Specifically performance anxiety is not unusual,” says Gail Saltz, MD, Health’s contributing psychology editor. “If left untreated, one may become physiologically incapacitated, and the anxiety can grow in severity. Shortness of breath, sweat, and nausea are all symptoms of panic that preclude being on stage and performing.”

Malik’s supermodel girlfriend, Gigi Hadid, supported the artist’s decision, tweeting at him: “You made the best of the situation and have given your fans an opportunity to understand you better as a performer.”

@zaynmalik ❤️ http://pic.twitter.com/Jg2GLgrAPe

— Gigi Hadid (@GiGiHadid) June 12, 2016

What’s more, Malik is helping others with anxiety disorders understand that they are not alone.

from Health News / Tips & Trends / Celebrity Health http://ift.tt/1UvZHpD

Spikes in Blood Pressure Don’t Always Need ER Care

MONDAY, June 13, 2016 (HealthDay News) — If your blood pressure reading at a routine doctor’s office visit is alarmingly high, in most cases that doesn’t mean a trip to the emergency room, a new study suggests.

In the Cleveland Clinic study of office visits by almost 60,000 patients with “hypertensive urgency” (very high blood pressure), less than 1 percent needed a referral to a hospital ER.

The rest were treated and then sent home with no added risk in terms of patient outcomes, the researchers said.

“Hypertensive urgency is common in the outpatient setting,” noted the team led by the clinic’s Dr. Krishna Patel. However, the researchers believe that “most patients probably can be safely treated in the outpatient setting, because cardiovascular complications are rare in the short term.”

Dr. Suzanne Steinbaum, who directs Women’s Heart Health at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City, called the finding “reassuring.”

“For those patients with hypertension, an episode of elevated blood pressure can be alarming,” she said.

However, the Cleveland study suggests that “hypertensive urgency — defined as a blood pressure of at least 180/110 [millimeters of mercury, or mm Hg] — without symptoms or evidence of end organ damage can be managed safely as an outpatient,” Steinbaum said.

The findings are published online June 13 in JAMA Internal Medicine.

As the researchers explained, high blood pressure can result in organ damage over time. So, doctors may be concerned about the threat of organ damage in people with severely elevated blood pressure — even for a brief period.

But it’s been unclear whether the best course of action is to send such patients to the ER.

The new study found it was only necessary in a small minority (0.7 percent) of patients. And overall, patients referred to the ER and those sent home had similar rates of major heart problems within the next week, month and year, the research team said.

Patients who were sent home had lower odds of needing admission to a hospital over the next week, compared to those who’d been sent to the ER, the study found.

And while patients who were sent home were more likely to have uncontrolled blood pressure one month later, this difference faded away by the six-month mark, Patel’s team said.

Treating people outside of the ER could be cost-effective, too.

Sending people to the hospital “was associated with increased use of health care resources but not better outcomes,” the Cleveland Clinic researchers reported.

All of this doesn’t mean that most patients’ hypertension disappeared, however: Most still had uncontrolled high blood pressure months later, the study found.

That was a concern for Steinbaum.

“The real issue becomes addressing the reality that two-thirds of [study] patients who were either hospitalized or outpatient had uncontrolled blood pressures at six months,” she said.

Dr. Howard Selinger is chair of family medicine at the Frank H. Netter M.D. School of Medicine at Quinnipiac University, in North Haven, Conn. He believes doctors must still treat hypertensive patients on a case-by-case basis.

Frailty is a key factor, Selinger said.

“If this patient is a frail elderly who perhaps sustained an earlier stroke, that changes the potential for an adverse outcome,” he explained.

Other factors — including the speed at which treatment is available in an outpatient setting, or transport or communication issues — should also factor into the decisions physicians make, Selinger said.

And, of course, a spike in blood pressure becomes more urgent when other symptoms of heart trouble are present, he added.

“Not to be confused as a hypertensive urgency is a hypertensive crisis — in which symptoms are already present, such as severe headache, visual changes, chest pains,” Selinger stressed. In those cases, ER care may be warranted, he said.

More information

The American Academy of Family Physicians has more about high blood pressure.

---

from Health News / Tips & Trends / Celebrity Health http://ift.tt/235rnIc

Patients Often Prescribed Extra Painkillers, Many Share Them

By Alan Mozes
HealthDay Reporter

MONDAY, June 13, 2016 (HealthDay News) — More than half the patients prescribed opioid painkillers in a recent U.S. study received more than they needed. And many shared the drugs or failed to store them securely, a new survey indicates.

The study of more than 1,000 adults prescribed painkillers like OxyContin or Vicodin shows how some Americans gain illicit access to addictive pain medications. These patterns are contributing to the nation’s epidemic of prescription painkiller abuse and overdose deaths, the researchers said.

More than one in five patients admitted “they have shared an opioid medication with another person, primarily to help that other person manage pain,” said study lead author Alene Kennedy-Hendricks. She is an assistant scientist in the department of health policy and management at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, in Baltimore.

Moreover, more than 60 percent of those with leftover opioids said they hung on to their drugs for “future use.”

And nearly half who had recently been prescribed opioids said they didn’t remember being told about safe opioid storage to keep them out of someone else’s hands.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has warned doctors about the dangers of overprescribing painkillers because of the risk of addiction. Reliance on painkillers also raises the odds for heroin use, a cheaper drug with similar opioid effects, the agency says. According to the CDC, deaths from prescription opioids more than tripled in the United States between 1999 and 2014.

For the study, researchers in 2015 surveyed 1,055 adults who had been prescribed opioids in the previous year. Nearly 47 percent were taking opioids at the time of the survey. All were asked about their own opioid use, their opioid storage habits, and whether they gave their medication to others.

Nearly six in 10 said they either had excess pain medication or expected to have leftovers, the researchers found.

Of those who recalled receiving storage information, only one-third said those instructions came directly from their doctor or nurse. Drug packaging or a pharmacist were the source of this advice in roughly 45 percent of cases.

In turn, fewer than one in 10 patients said they kept their opioids under lock and key, while only about 20 percent said they even stored their drugs in a “latched” location.

Not many knew how to safely dispose of excess medication, either.

“We need to make it easier and more convenient for people to dispose of their leftover opioid medication,” said Kennedy-Hendricks. “There have been efforts in recent years to expand drop-off sites and approved collectors, but perhaps it has not been enough.”

Clearly, health care professionals need to develop more effective ways of providing information about safe storage and disposal of these risky painkillers, she added.

Of patients who shared their medication, about 8 percent said they gave them to a friend and 14 percent said they gave them to a relative. Nearly three-quarters said they gave their spare meds to someone they knew who also struggled with pain, the study found.

The findings appear in a letter published in the June 13 online issue of JAMA Internal Medicine.

Dr. Anupam Jena, an associate professor of health care policy and medicine at Harvard Medical School, said opioid abuse is fueled in many different ways — legitimate or otherwise.

“There is,” he said, “a wealth of evidence that opioids are obtained from physicians in the outpatient setting, sometimes multiple physicians, from friends and family, family members, from the internet, and from illicit sources.”

Often, a long-term attachment to opioids begins with short-term hospitalization, Jena and his colleagues report in another new study. It, too, is published in the current issue of JAMA Internal Medicine.

Their study, which focused on more than 600,000 Medicare recipients, found that on average, 15 percent of hospital patients get a new opioid prescription at discharge. Of those patients, almost 43 percent were found to still be taking opioids more than three months later.

“Our findings,” said Jena, “corroborate prior work that suggests that short-term exposure to opioids can lead to long-term use and, at worse, dependence.”

More information

There’s more information on the U.S. opioid epidemic at U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

---

from Health News / Tips & Trends / Celebrity Health http://ift.tt/235ryTY

Olympic Gymnast Gabby Douglas Just Launched Her Very Own Emojis

Excited to announce #gabbymoji!!You'll love it!Available for iPhones and Androids.Go get it! https://t.co/GQWPstkXT5 http://pic.twitter.com/y8d8JWbwHW

— Gabrielle Douglas (@gabrielledoug) June 9, 2016

It seems like the true mark of celebrity is having your own emojis—Kim Kardashian, Blac Chyna, Justin Bieber, and now gymnast Gabby Douglas have all received the emoji treatment.

This morning, Olympic gold medalist Gabrielle Douglas announced the launch of her new emoji app, Gabbymoji, via her Twitter.

Gabbymoji is exactly what you’d expect from someone as accomplished, young, and inspiring as Gabby Douglas. The emojis range from Gabby in mid-gymnastics move to personalized memes you can add messages to.

RELATED: Jessica Alba Just Gave Her Hair a Total Summer Makeover

The app will also get you amped up for the 2016 Rio Summer Olympics (they’re coming waaaay sooner than you think, so start catching up on your sports trivia). While we can’t all be gymnasts, we can definitely live vicariously through Gabby’s acrobatic emojis.

Gabbymoji is available as of today on both iPhones and Androids for $1.99. Happy texting!

This article originally appeared on InStyle.com/MIMI.

from Health News / Tips & Trends / Celebrity Health http://ift.tt/1UqyZ60

The Childhood Incidents That Increase Later Suicide Risk

MONDAY, June 13, 2016 (HealthDay News) — Adults who witnessed parental domestic violence in childhood are at increased risk for suicide attempts, a new study finds.

“When domestic violence is chronic in a home, there is a risk of long-term negative outcomes for the children, even when the children themselves are not abused,” said study lead author Esme Fuller-Thomson. She is a professor with the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Social Work.

The researchers examined data from more than 22,500 Canadian adults. They found that about 17 percent of those exposed to chronic parental domestic violence (more than 10 times before age 16) had attempted suicide, compared with roughly 2 percent of those not exposed to parental domestic violence.

“We had expected that the association between chronic parental domestic violence and later suicide attempts would be explained by childhood sexual or physical abuse, or by mental illness and substance abuse,” Fuller-Thomson said in a university news release. “However, even when we took these factors into account, those exposed to chronic parental domestic violence still had more than twice the odds of having attempted suicide.”

These chaotic home environments cast a long shadow, she added.

“Social workers and health professionals must continue to work vigilantly to prevent domestic violence and to support survivors of this abuse and their children,” Fuller-Thomson said.

The study also found that adults who were maltreated during their childhood were more likely to have attempted suicide. Almost 17 percent of those who’d been sexually abused and more than 12 percent of physically abused children were later found to have made at least one suicide attempt, said study co-author Reshma Dhrodia, a recent Master of Social Work graduate.

The researchers also found that a history of major depressive disorder, anxiety disorders, substance abuse and/or chronic pain was associated with significantly higher odds of a suicide attempt.

The study was published online June 9 in the journal Child: Care, Health and Development.

More information

The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry outlines how to help children exposed to domestic violence.

---

from Health News / Tips & Trends / Celebrity Health http://ift.tt/1S2CQAp

Antibiotics May Blunt Breast-Feeding’s Benefits

By Steven Reinberg
HealthDay Reporter

MONDAY, June 13, 2016 (HealthDay News) — Early use of antibiotics may dampen some of the benefits of breast-feeding, a new study suggests.

Researchers found that babies who were prescribed antibiotics while they were breast-feeding or shortly afterward were prone to infections and obesity.

“In breast milk, unlike in formula milk, the infant receives bacteria from the mother and specific sugar components that promote the growth of certain [gut] bacteria,” explained lead researcher Katri Korpela, from the immunobiology research program at the University of Helsinki in Finland.

The finding indicates that the health benefits of breast-feeding are largely due to how it helps a baby develop intestinal bacteria (microbiota), and that antibiotics disturb that development, she said.

However, the study could not prove a cause-and-effect relationship between early antibiotic use and infections and obesity, Korpela said.

“But by breast-feeding, the mother guides the development of the infant’s microbiota,” she said. “Antibiotic use disrupts the natural microbiota development, which appears important for the development of the infant’s metabolism and immune system.”

Another expert agreed.

“Early use of antibiotics unfavorably modifies intestinal microflora [gut bacteria], and this may have lifetime consequences, even in those babies who receive a long duration breast-feeding,” said Dr. Pietro Vajro, a professor of pediatric gastroenterology at the University of Salerno in Italy. He co-authored an editorial that accompanied the study.

Intestinal bacteria may affect the development of obesity because they regulate the production of fatty acids that influence the secretion of molecules that determine the way the gut handles food and feelings of fullness, Vajro said.

“Such dysfunction may cause a chronic inflammation in the bloodstream that is characteristic not only of obesity, but also of a number of obesity-related conditions, such as fatty liver disease and metabolic syndrome,” Vajro said.

In the study, Korpela and her colleagues collected data on 226 Finnish children who had taken part in a probiotic trial from 2009 to 2010. The children’s mothers answered questions about breast-feeding, and antibiotic use was gleaned from purchase records.

Nearly 97 percent of the babies were breast-fed for at least a month, and the overall average breast-feeding period was eight months.

The researchers found that among the 113 babies who weren’t given antibiotics before weaning, breast-feeding was linked to fewer infections after weaning and lower weights as kids. In fact, for each month of breast-feeding, the use of antibiotics was cut by 5 percent.

Among the 113 infants given antibiotics during breast-feeding and within four months after weaning, there were more infections and the children were more likely to be overweight.

The report was published online June 13 in the journal JAMA Pediatrics.

“It’s well known that breast-fed babies will always do better in fighting infection because of the immunity offered in mother’s milk,” said Dr. William Muinos, a pediatric gastroenterologist at Nicklaus Children’s Hospital in Miami.

Antibiotics kill the bacteria in the gut, he said. “If you are not breast-fed, you are not introducing the healthy [probiotic] bacteria,” Muinos said.

He cautioned that antibiotics should not be given to infants for every fever or infection. “You should not use antibiotics on viral infections, where they are useless,” he said.

Muinos said he wasn’t convinced the connection between breast-feeding and the prevention of obesity is due to healthy gut bacteria. Instead, he thinks breast-feeding may delay the introduction of foods that are linked to obesity.

“Breast-feeding prevents the early introduction of highly rich carbohydrate meals, like cereals and fruit compotes, that can make a toddler obese,” he said.

More information

Visit the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services for more on breast-feeding.

---

from Health News / Tips & Trends / Celebrity Health http://ift.tt/1Ym9GmV

Kids Gain From More ‘Dad Time’

By Amy Norton
HealthDay Reporter

MONDAY, June 13, 2016 (HealthDay News) — Fathers play a unique and important role in their children’s development, a new report shows.

Just in time for Father’s Day, the American Academy of Pediatrics report says U.S. dads are more involved in child care than ever before. At the same time, studies show that those involved fathers have important effects on kids’ health and well-being.

“From everyone’s standpoint, the more we can do to encourage fathers’ involvement, the better,” said Dr. Michael Yogman, a co-author of the report.

“It’s beneficial for kids. Fathers aren’t just ‘redundant,’ doing the same things as mothers do,” added Yogman, who chairs the academy’s committee on psychosocial aspects of child and family health.

Studies have found that older kids with involved fathers tend to have fewer depression symptoms and behavioral problems, and lower rates of teen pregnancy.

When it comes to young children, fathers can have effects on language development and mental health, according to the academy. Research has shown that dads are more likely to use new words when they talk to their babies and preschoolers, for example.

And fathers’ typical ways of playing are different, too, Yogman said.

“It’s a stereotype, but it’s true that fathers do more of the rough-and-tumble style of play,” Yogman said. “They often encourage their children to explore and take risks, while mothers offer stability and safety. There’s room for both.”

Research suggests that preschoolers tend to have fewer mental health symptoms — like anxiety or aggression — when their fathers are regularly involved in playtime, the academy says.

None of that is to suggest that children of single moms do not fare well, Yogman stressed. And, he said, the new report defines “father” in a broad sense — not only the biological father who lives with a child.

It includes fathers who don’t live with their children, grandfathers and any male figure who’s invested in a child’s well-being.

The report was published online June 13 in the journal Pediatrics.

The fact that dads matter is not new, but the report pulls together the growing body of research on fathers’ impact, said Eric Lewandowski, a psychologist at NYU Langone’s Child Study Center in New York City.

The report also encourages fathers to be involved as primary caregivers, and not just as “auxiliary” support, Lewandowski said.

He also stressed that children without an involved father can and do “thrive.” What’s key, Lewandowski said, is that kids have their needs met, consistently and reliably.

There are signs that U.S. fathers are becoming more involved in child care, Yogman said. That’s, in part, because the ranks of stay-at-home and single dads have grown.

In 2012, there were nearly 2 million single fathers in the United States — up 60 percent from 10 years earlier, based on Census Bureau figures. The number of stay-at-home dads stood at 189,000 versus 98,000 a decade before.

Compared with decades ago, some social shifts have encouraged dads to be more involved, Yogman said. “It used to be, we didn’t even let fathers into the delivery room,” he noted.

But, he added, it’s still difficult for fathers to balance work and family time. For one, few employers offer paid family leave for new dads or moms, Yogman pointed out.

“I think it’s really sad that the U.S. is one of the few countries without paid family leave,” he said.

Getting fathers involved in child care right away is important, Yogman said. “That sends the message that they matter,” he said.

Even when fathers do not live with their children, Yogman said, they still have an important role to play beyond financial support.

“Have meals with your kids, take them to the park,” he said. “Read to them, talk to them, listen to them. You’ll find out your kids cherish that time.”

Some fathers need extra support, Yogman added. He pointed to a Boston program focused on fathers who’ve spent time in prison: Dads and their kids come to the Boston Children’s Museum to play in a “welcoming, child-centered learning environment.”

Lewandowski said he hopes the new report encourages more efforts to get dads involved, including wider support for family leave.

“This report helps demonstrate that for children of all ages, fathers also make unique contributions with their own involvement, according to their own instincts,” Lewandowski said.

More information

The American Academy of Pediatrics has more on good parenting.

---

from Health News / Tips & Trends / Celebrity Health http://ift.tt/1PoBW17

HIV Infection Seems to Affect Nervous System

MONDAY, June 13, 2016 (HealthDay News) — Many newly infected HIV patients experience neurological problems, but they tend to be mild and they subside after antiretroviral drugs are given, a new study finds.

“We were surprised that neurologic findings were so pervasive in participants diagnosed with very recent HIV infection,” said study author Dr. Joanna Hellmuth. She is a clinical fellow in the department of neurology at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF).

“While the findings were mild, it is clear that HIV affects the nervous system within days of infection,” she said in a university news release.

“Since the majority of these neurologic issues were resolved with treatment, our study reinforces recommendations that people at risk for HIV test often and start antiretroviral treatment immediately if they are infected,” Hellmuth added.

Among 139 people in Thailand infected with HIV three to 56 days before entering the study, tests revealed that 53 percent had neurological problems.

One in three had thinking problems, one-quarter had motor control difficulties, and nearly 20 percent had nerve damage, the investigators found. Many had more than one symptom. One participant had Guillain-Barre syndrome, the only severe condition in the group, according to the report.

All the patients were offered and began antiretroviral treatment when they were diagnosed with HIV infection. Ninety percent of the neurological symptoms were gone after one month of treatment, but 9 percent still had symptoms six months later, the findings showed.

The researchers also found that neurological symptoms were associated with higher levels of HIV in the blood, although the study did not prove that HIV caused the symptoms.

According to study co-author Dr. Victor Valcour, “This is one of the first comprehensive studies scrutinizing the involvement of the nervous system in early [HIV] infection.” Valcour is a professor of neurology at UCSF.

“Additionally, the ubiquity of symptoms in early infection found in this study reinforces the need for the brain to be considered as a compartment containing latent HIV as we design cure studies,” he concluded in the news release.

The study was published June 10 in the journal Neurology.

More information

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has more on HIV/AIDS.

---

from Health News / Tips & Trends / Celebrity Health http://ift.tt/1PoBm3I

Childhood Sleep Guidelines Vary by Age

MONDAY, June 13, 2016 (HealthDay News) — A good night’s sleep makes for perkier, better-behaved children. But how much sleep is enough?

The following age-based recommendations can help answer that question.

The guidelines from the American Academy of Sleep Medicine are supported by the American Academy of Pediatrics. They suggest the following amounts of sleep for good health:

• Infants 4 months to 12 months: 12 to 16 hours per 24 hours, including naps.
• Children 1 to 2 years: 11 to 14 hours per 24 hours, including naps.
• Children 3 to 5 years: 10 to 13 hours per 24 hours, including naps.
• Children 6 to 12 years: 9 to 12 hours per 24 hours.
• Teens 13 to 18 years: 8 to 10 hours per 24 hours.

“Adequate sleep duration for age on a regular basis leads to improved attention, behavior, learning, memory, emotional regulation, quality of life, and mental and physical health,” the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) said.

“Not getting enough sleep each night is associated with an increase in injuries, hypertension, obesity and depression, especially for teens who may experience increased risk of self-harm or suicidal thoughts,” the guideline authors added in an academy news release.

The guidelines were published June 13 in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine.

“The AAP endorses the guidelines and encourages pediatricians to discuss these recommendations and healthy sleep habits with parents and teens during clinical visits,” the pediatricians’ group said.

These experts also recommend that all electronic screens be turned off 30 minutes before bedtime and that TVs, computers and other screens not be allowed in children’s bedrooms.

“For infants and young children, establishing a bedtime routine is important to ensuring children get adequate sleep each night,” the group noted.

More information

The National Sleep Foundation has more on children and sleep.

---

from Health News / Tips & Trends / Celebrity Health http://ift.tt/1XiVcF5