Friends Help Us Through Stressful Times

by Dr Alex Jimenez DC, APRN, FNP-BC, CFMP, IFMCP | Natural Health, Wellness

A new UK study has highlighted the importance of friendships in helping people get through the more stressful periods of life.

Carried out by Dr Rebecca Graber from the University of Brighton during her time at the University of Leeds, the preliminary study is the first to provide long-term statistical evidence on the huge benefit of friends, and in particular best friends, on coping with and developing resilience to stress.

The study included 185 adults, with 75 completing the study’s questionnaires and assessments on psychological resilience, best friendship quality, coping behaviors and self-esteem.

Participants then completed the same assessments again one year later, to see how the quality of best friend relationships had affected resilience to stress during this period.

The results showed that best friendships had a protective effect against stress, helping to develop psychological resilience in adults, although how still remains unclear.

The findings also support research published last year by Dr Graber, which found that best friendships can help develop resilience to stress in socioeconomically vulnerable children.

Want More Energy? Skip the Coffee, Opt for the Stairs

by Dr Alex Jimenez DC, APRN, FNP-BC, CFMP, IFMCP | Natural Health, Wellness

Need an energy boost during the afternoon at the office? A jolt of caffeine isn’t as effective as walking up and down some stairs, says a new study from the University of Georgia.

The study, which was published in the journal Physiology and Behavior found that walking up and down stairs for 10 minutes gave volunteers more energy than ingesting 50 milligrams of caffeine — about the amount in a can of soda.

When giving volunteers either caffeine or a placebo, “there was not much change in how they felt,” said Patrick J. O’Connor, a professor in the department of kinesiology. “But with exercise they did feel more energetic and vigorous.”

The study wanted to duplicate the problems office workers, who spend hours staring at a computer screen, faced when trying to boost their energy to avoid mid-afternoon slumps when long bouts of exercise weren’t possible.

For the study, women college students on separate days either ingested capsules containing caffeine or a placebo, or spent 10 minutes walking up and down stairs — about 30 floors total — at a low-intensity pace.

“Office workers can go outside and walk, but weather can be less than ideal. It has never rained on me while walking the stairs,” said O’Connor. “And a lot of people working in office buildings have access to stairs, so it’s an option to keep some fitness while taking a short break from work.”

To test the effects of caffeine versus the exercise, each group took some verbal and computer-based tests to gauge how they felt and how well they performed certain cognitive tasks.

While neither caffeine nor exercise caused large improvements in attention or memory, walking up and down stairs was associated with a small increase in motivation for work.

The study found that even a brief amount of time walking up and down stairs can boost energy without reducing cognitive function. “You may not have time to go for a swim, but you might have 10 minutes to walk up and down the stairs,” O’Connor said.

Another way to boost your energy in the afternoon is to eat dark chocolate.

Volunteers at the University of Northern Arizona University ate dark chocolate containing at least 60 percent cacao beans or a placebo product, then did thinking and memory activities while undergoing EKGs of their brains. Those who ate the chocolate were more alert.

“A lot of us in the afternoon get a little fuzzy and can’t pay attention, so we could have a higher cacao content chocolate bar and it would increase attention,” said Larry Stevens, a professor of psychological sciences at NAU. “Chocolate is indeed a stimulant and it activates the brain in a really special way.”

White Wine Raises Women’s Risk for Rosacea

by Dr Alex Jimenez DC, APRN, FNP-BC, CFMP, IFMCP | Natural Health, Wellness

Could that glass of Chardonnay affect the condition of your skin?

Maybe, according to new research that found women with certain drinking patterns had a higher risk of developing rosacea, an inflammatory skin condition.

“We found white wine and liquor were significantly associated with a higher risk of rosacea,” said study senior author Wen-Qing Li. He’s an assistant professor of dermatology and epidemiology at Brown University.

Rosacea causes redness and flushing on the face and the neck. In some forms, acnelike outbreaks can form, and visible blood vessels can appear.

Genetics can play a role in the development of rosacea. In those with acnelike rosacea, their immune system may be reacting to a single bacterium, according to the American Academy of Dermatology.

While red wine is often pinpointed as the beverage that can trigger rosacea flushing, Li said that that information tends to come from reports by patients who already have the disorder.

The new research focused on alcohol’s role in the development of rosacea. Li’s team evaluated nearly 83,000 women enrolled in the Nurses’ Health Study II from 1991 to 2005.

The researchers collected information on alcohol intake every four years during a follow-up of 14 years. Over that time, nearly 5,000 new cases of rosacea occurred.

“For white wine, compared to never drinkers, [those who drank] one to three drinks per month had a 14 percent increased risk of rosacea. For five or more white wines a week, risk increased by 49 percent,” Li said.

For liquor, five or more drinks a week raised the risk of developing rosacea by 28 percent, the study found.

Li could not say if the link would hold true for men, as the study included only women. And, he points out that “it is just an association, it is not a causal relationship.”

Li isn’t sure exactly why white wine and liquor seem to increase the risk of rosacea. However, the researchers speculated that the white wine and liquor may weaken the immune system and contribute to the dilation of blood vessels.

For now, Li said, the message is to make physicians and consumers aware of the link.

The researchers also suspect that there are different biological reasons why white wine and liquor seem to increase the development of rosacea and why red wine seems to exacerbate the condition. But they don’t yet know what those differences are, the study authors said.

Dr. Carolyn Goh, a dermatologist at UCLA Medical Center, said the new findings add to knowledge about rosacea.

“It’s interesting that they found a difference between different types of alcohol,” she said.

One of the strengths of the research is the large number of women in the study, Goh said.

Meanwhile, she said, it’s known that drinking alcohol can make rosacea flare up in those already diagnosed. “In the past, people thought red wine would cause more flushing than white wine,” she said.

Besides alcohol, other common triggers in those who already have rosacea include sunlight, caffeine, hot and spicy foods, Goh said. People with the condition report different triggers, she said, so that list may not apply to all patients.

Treatments include topical creams and ointments, Goh said. Laser treatment can help the blood vessels that stay visible after periods of flushing. For patients who have pimples associated with rosacea, oral antibiotics can help, she said.

The study is published online April 20 in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology.