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health briefs
Natural Vitamin E Lowers Heart Risks
Tocotrienols are a natural form of vitamin E found in a number of foods, including wheat, barley, corn, rice and palm fruit. A recent meta-review of clinical research finds that tocotrienols can decrease heart- related health risks in seniors such as diabetes, high cholesterol and high blood pressure.
Knitting Releases the Blues
Knitting can alleviate the blues, slow the onset of dementia and distract from chronic pain, according to a survey published in The British Journal of Occupational Therapy. Eighty-one percent of respondents described feeling happier after a session of needlework. In another study, researchers at the Benson-Henry Institute for Mind-Body Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital found that the act of knitting lowers heart rates by an average of 11 beats per minute, eliciting a state of relaxation similar to that of yoga.
A Mayo Clinic study found that crafts like knitting and crocheting also reduce the chance of developing mild cognitive impairment by 28 percent. In a University of British Columbia study, 74 percent of 38 women with the eating disorder anorexia reported that it lessened the intensity of their fears and thoughts and cleared their minds of eating disorder preoccupations. In a survey of 1,000 members of the British group Knit for Peace, one in five respondents reported that knitting reduced their arthritic pain.
Music Lessons Make
Kids Smarter Structured music lessons significantly enhance children’s cognitive abilities, including language-based reasoning, short-term memory and planning, while reducing inhibition, leading to improved academic performance, report researchers from Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam.
In the study, 147 Dutch 6-year-olds were divided into music, visual arts and control groups, and monitored for two-and-a-half years. The children in the music group sang, listened to music and played an instrument of their choice one to two hours a week during regular classroom time. Compared to the control group, they demonstrated improved verbal IQ and reasoning skills, and a greater ability to plan, organize and complete tasks, as well as improved academic achievement. Children given structured visual arts lessons showed improvements in visual and spatial memory compared to the control group.
Music Reduces Need for
Post-Surgery Opioids Researchers from the University of California, Los Angeles, have found that receiving music therapy can significantly lessen a patient’s need for opioids and other painkillers after invasive surgery. The researchers tested 161 patients; 49 in the music group and 112 in a control group. After their surgery, both groups were offered painkillers intravenously at doses requested by the patient. Of those engaged in music therapy, 86 percent avoided the painkillers, compared to only 26 percent of the control group.
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Central Florida
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