Health News Round Up

How Depression Dulls the World—Literally

A sad person who says that the world looks dull and gray and that flowers no longer smell so sweet may not just be speaking figuratively. Two recent studies from Germany provide evidence that sensory perception is diminished in depressed individuals.

To determine if depression has an effect on vision, neuropsychiatrist Ludger Tebartz van Elst of the University of Freiburg hooked up depressed patients and control subjects to a pattern electroretinograph, a device that measures electrical signals in the retina. When viewing black-and-white checkerboard images, people with depression showed markedly reduced electrical responses.

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Forget the cot, sleep with your baby according to SIDS researcher Doctor James McKenna

NEWBORN babies who share a bed with their parents are safer than those in cots, says a leading baby sleep expert.

Sudden Infant Death Syndrome researcher Doctor James McKenna said that as long as co-sleeping is carried out in a responsible manner - not on a waterbed or couch and not by parents affected by drugs or alcohol - then babies up to 12 months old will reap the long-term benefits.

If parents are not able to sleep in the same bed as their baby then they should at least be in the same room, Dr McKenna said. "Co-sleeping is humankind's oldest and most successful method of mother and baby sleeping," he said.

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I totally suppose co-sleeping.  My eldest daughter, now 28 years old, died several times in her first week of life.  The red tape on getting a monitor for her meant none was available until she was 2 months old.  Fortunately my instincts told me to let her sleep on my stomach, which it turns out stimulates them to breath, and she survived. 

For mental health, bad job worse than no job

With unemployment still high, job seekers who have been discouraged by a lack of work might be inclined to take the first opportunity they're offered. That will help pay the bills, but it could cause other problems: A new study suggests that some jobs are so demoralizing they're actually worse for mental health than not working at all.

The findings add a new wrinkle to the large body of research showing that being out of work is associated with a greater risk of mental health problems. In the study, which followed more than 7,000 Australians over a seven-year period, unemployed people generally reported feeling calmer, happier, less depressed, and less anxious after finding work, but only if their new jobs were rewarding and manageable.


U.S. Has Highest Bipolar Rate in 11-Nation Study

About 2.4% of people around the world have been diagnosed with bipolar disorder at some point in their lifetime, according to the first comprehensive international figures on the topic.

The United States has the highest lifetime rate of bipolar disorder at 4.4%, and India the lowest, with 0.1%.

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