health briefs

enter social media. In 2011, a group of researchers decided to look at the tweets of some 2.4 million people from all over the world, for a period that ranged from February 2008 to January 2010, selecting 400 tweets at random for each individual. They wanted to see if emotional content varied as a function of the time of day, the day of the week, and the amount of actual daylight (i.e., the season). They found meaningful differences on all fronts—but most significantly for this discussion, they discovered that what mattered most when it came to the time of the year was not the absolute amount of daylight but the relative change in that daylight. That is, was the day, relatively speaking, longer or shorter than the day that came before? When the change in daylight was positive (i.e., in the approach to the summer solstice), people expressed significantly higher positive affect than they did when that change was negative (i.e., approaching the winter solstice).

By the time the solstice rolls around, then, we’ve been on a happiness up-slope for half the year—a build up of positivity if ever there were. No wonder the urge to celebrate runs high.”

Excerpted from "Why we celebrate the summer solstice" by Maria Konnikova on June 21, 2013 published on https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/ literally-psyched/why-we-celebratethe-summer-solstice/

Improve Sleep with a Weighted Blanket

Weighted blankets that provide a cozy, swaddled feeling have been big sellers during the trying days of the pandemic, and a new study verifies that they do provide mental health benefits. Researchers from Sweden’s Karolinska University tested 120 patients with depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety disorder or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder for four weeks. They found that a weighted blanket led to better sleep and reduced fatigue, depression and anxiety, and increased levels of daytime activity. Weighted blankets are comforters with tiny pellets or metal chains woven throughout so that weight is distributed across the body; researchers recommend using a blanket that is about 10 percent of a person’s body weight.

Nix Sweeteners to Avoid Spreading Antibiotic Resistance

Four widely used artificial sweeteners—saccharine, sucralose, aspartame and acesulfame potassium— promote the transfer of antibiotic resistance genes in both environmental and clinical settings, report researchers at the University of Queensland, Australia, in The ISME Journal. They found that these four nonnutritive sweeteners promote horizontal transfer of the genes between bacteria, furthering the spread of antibiotic-resistant genes in the intestine. The researchers say the findings provide insight into the spread of antimicrobial resistance and point to a potential risk associated with ingesting the artificial sweeteners.

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