#5ThoughtsFriday
Edition
02/22/2019
|
|
#5ThoughtsFriday is Powered By
:
|
|
Here are the 5 things we thought were
worth sharing with you this week:
|
|
Anyone who has ever put a small child to bed or drifted off in a gently swaying hammock will know that a rocking motion makes getting to sleep seem easier. Now, two new studies reported in Current Biology on January 24, one conducted in young adults and the other in mice, add to evidence for the broad benefits of a rocking motion during sleep. In fact, the studies in people show that rocking not only leads to better sleep, but it also boosts memory consolidation during sleep.
"Having a good night's sleep means falling asleep rapidly and then staying asleep during the whole night," says Laurence Bayer of the University of Geneva, Switzerland. "Our volunteers -- even if they were all good sleepers -- fell asleep more rapidly when rocked and had longer periods of deeper sleep associated with fewer arousals during the night. We thus show that rocking is good for sleep."
Bayer and their colleagues had earlier shown that continuous rocking during a 45-minute nap helped people to fall asleep faster and sleep more soundly. In the new study, led by Laurence Bayer and Sophie Schwartz, University of Geneva, Switzerland, they wanted to explore the effects of rocking on sleep and its associated brain waves throughout the night.
The researchers enlisted 18 healthy young adults to undergo sleep monitoring in the lab. The first night was intended to get them used to sleeping there. They then stayed two more nights -- one sleeping on a gently rocking bed and the other sleeping on an identical bed that wasn't moving.
|
|
|
|
"Making Your Best Move"
The 2019
Brain Injury Association of Maryland Annual Conference
Registration is now
LIVE!
|
|
Bob Costas, the longtime sportscaster and prime-time host on NBC, alleged in an interview that aired on Sunday that the network’s executives abruptly removed him from covering last year’s Super Bowl after he criticized the violence in football and how the “game destroys people’s brains.”
His nearly 40-year relationship with NBC Sports, first as its boyish announcer and later as elder statesman, came crashing down over five days in November 2017. At a symposium that month with fellow journalists, Mr. Costas remarked on what he saw as
the life-altering dangers of the sport
, devastating consequences for its players and existential questions confronting the National Football League.
“The reality is that this game destroys people’s brains — not everyone’s, but a substantial number,”
Mr. Costas told the crowd
at the University of Maryland. “It’s not a small number, it’s a considerable number. It destroys their brains.”
His highly critical remarks, while in line with his past public comments about the link between playing football and head trauma,
including an hourlong NBC special
about it in 2013, quickly grabbed headlines and cast an uncomfortable spotlight on NBC Sports just months before it would broadcast the N.F.L.’s biggest and most lucrative event, the Super Bowl.
|
|
Researchers have developed a test that objectively measures pain biomarkers in blood. The test could help physicians better treat patients with precision medicine, and help stem the tide of the opioid crisis.
|
|
A breakthrough test developed by Indiana University School of Medicine researchers to measure pain in patients could help stem the tide of the opioid crisis in Indiana, and throughout the rest of the nation.
A study led by psychiatry professor Alexander Niculescu, MD, PhD and published this week in the Nature journal
Molecular Psychiatry
tracked hundreds of participants at the Richard L. Roudebush VA Medical Center in Indianapolis to identify biomarkers in the blood that can help objectively determine how severe a patient's pain is. The blood test, the first of its kind, would allow physicians far more accuracy in treating pain -- as well as a better long-term look at the patient's medical future.
"We have developed a prototype for a blood test that can objectively tell doctors if the patient is in pain, and how severe that pain is. It's very important to have an objective measure of pain, as pain is a subjective sensation. Until now we have had to rely on patients self-reporting or the clinical impression the doctor has," said Niculescu, who worked with other Department of Psychiatry researchers on the study. "When we started this work it was a farfetched idea. But the idea was to find a way to treat and prescribe things more appropriately to people who are in pain."
|
|
2) What We Are Reading That You Might Enjoy
|
|
|
|
Named a Best Book of the Year by The Guardian
A leading neurologist recounts some of her most astonishing, challenging cases, which demonstrate how crucial the study of epilepsy has been to our understanding of the brain.
Brainstorm follows the stories of people whose medical diagnoses are so strange even their doctor struggles to know how to solve them. A man who sees cartoon characters running across the room; a girl whose world suddenly seems completely distorted, as though she were Alice in Wonderland; another who transforms into a ragdoll whenever she even thinks about moving.
The brain is the most complex structure in the universe. Neurologists must puzzle out life-changing diagnoses from the tiniest of clues, the ultimate medical detective work. In this riveting book, Suzanne O'Sullivan takes you with her as she tracks the clues of her patients' symptoms. It's a journey that will open your eyes to the unfathomable intricacies of our brains and the infinite variety of human experience.
|
|
5)
Quote We Are Contemplating...
"I can accept failure. Everyone fails at something. But I can’t accept not trying.”
|
|
Each year
The Heritage Players
, a non-profit community theater group performing on the grounds of Spring Grove Hospital Center, stage a concert of a famous musical or movie. And each year, the Heritage Players donate a portion of the proceeds of the concert to a local non-profit organization serving the community.
This year the Heritage Players are singing Stephen Sondheim's
and have selected
the Brain Injury Association of Maryland
to be the recipient of this year's donation.
to buy tickets and
find out more about this unique concert event.
BIAMD would wholeheartedly like to thank The Heritage Players for selecting the Brain Injury Association of Maryland to be this year's recipient of such a wonderful community reinvestment.
|
|
Stay Safe. Stay Warm.
HAVE A TERRIFIC WEEKEND.
|
|
Did you enjoy #5ThoughtsFriday? If so, please forward this email to a friend!
Want to find a story from a past #5ThoughtsFriday blog posts, visit the archive by clicking
HERE
.
Please let us know your requests and suggestions by emailing us at
info@biamd.org
or contacting us on Twitter.
Which bullet above is your favorite? What do you want more or less of? Let us know! Just send a tweet to
@biamd1
and put
#5ThoughtsFriday
in there so we can find it.
Thanks for reading! Have a wonderful weekend.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
