Certain cleaning products with pleasant smells may leave you with more than a spotless home—they may also leave you with a squeaky-clean conscience. Pleasant smells may actually promote honesty, based on two experiments from Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah.

Former studies have shown that using cleaning products with citrus scents can help motivate cleaning-related tasks as well as keeping a cleaner dining environment. In much the same way, cleanliness is associated with physical purity and moral purity.

“By demonstrating that the association between morality and cleanliness is bidirectional, the current research identifies an unobtrusive way—a clean scent—to curb exploitation and promote altruism,” authors wrote.

The first experiment was a trust game designed to test integrity. Twenty-eight participants were assigned to either a scented (with citrus Windex) or an unscented room. For the game, participants acted as receivers. The senders, who they believed to be other study participants in another room, invested $4.

Research assistants told the receivers that the investment had tripled, and it was up to the receiver to decide how the money should be split. They could decide to say the investment was unsuccessful and keep a portion or the entire amount, or they could choose not to exploit the sender and split the money fairly.

Individuals from the scented rooms acted more honestly than those from unscented rooms. They returned almost twice the amount of cash, an average of $5.33 versus $2.81 for individuals from unscented rooms.

In a second experiment with 99 undergraduate students, participants were again assigned randomly to scented or unscented rooms. This time participants were given a packet of unrelated tasks to work on, one of which was for Habitat for Humanity. Participants indicated interest in volunteering as well as donating money to the charitable organization.

To control for variations in mood, participants took a version of the PANAS (Positive Affect Negative Affect Schedule) test. In addition to showing more interest in volunteering, the experimental group was also 16 percent more willing to donate than baseline counterparts.

“The link from cleanliness to virtuous behavior appears to be a nonconscious one,” authors write. “In neither experiment did participants recognize an influence of scent on their behavior, and in Experiment 2, perceived cleanliness did not differ by condition nor correlate with the effects."

Much of the effect depends on whether or not the smell is pleasing to the individual. Researchers want to further investigate the different effects scents have on a person's moral behavior.

Looking for more information about general well-being? Visit Healia's Health and Wellness Community.

Certain types of antipsychotic medication can cause children to put on weight—as much as 18 pounds—according to research appearing in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Dr. Chrostoph Correll, MD, and associates observed 272 children aged 4 to 19 taking atypical antipsychotic medication for the first time. Drugs/Medications included olanzapine (Zyprexa), quetiapine (Seroquel), risperidone (Risperadol) and aripiprazole (Abilify)—drugs sometimes used to treat children with autism, schizophrenia or bipolar disorder.

Children’s weights were monitored over a 12-week period. During the last two weeks of the study, nearly all experienced significant weight gain. Average gain was as follows: 18.7 pounds with onanzapine, 13.7 pounds with quetiapine, 11.7 pounds with risperidone, and 9.7 pounds with aripiprazole. Children in the control group gained less than half a pound (.44 pounds) on average.

“(E)ffects such as age-inappropriate weight gain, obesity, hypertension, and lipid and glucose abnormalities are particularly problematic during development because they predict adult obesity, metabolic syndrome, cardiovascular morbidity, and malignancy,” authors of the study write.

Doctors were so concerned over weight gain in children taking onanzapine that they stopped treatment before the study was completed. “Each antipsychotic was associated with significantly increased fat mass and waist circumference,” authors write. “Altogether, 10 percent to 36 percent of patients transitioned to overweight or obese status within 11 weeks.”

As more children—some younger than 5-years-old—are diagnosed with bipolar and “disruptive behavior” disorders (such as ADHD), there is also a rise in atypical antipsychotic prescriptions. These medications are generally effective for children with autism and schizophrenia, but they may not be the best treatment for other conditions.

The authors suggest seeking alternative treatments. They write that, in view of the negative health outcomes, the benefits of using these medications “must be balanced against their cardiometabolic risks”, and say the results suggest including in prescription guidelines closer monitoring during the early months of treatment.

They also plan on researching whether or not diet restrictions and additional medications for weight and glucose control will help balance the potential negative effects of the drugs.

Current unemployment rates stand at nearly 10 percent, and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics expects this number to continue to rise. While this has been the cause of serious worry among the labor force, there may also be a reason to celebrate. A poor economy appears to add years to a person’s life expectancy, according to research from the University of Michigan.

Today marks the last day of Mental Illness Awareness Week, first recognized by Congress in 1990. The first week of October has since been used to raise awareness about mental health issues. As fall approaches, seasonal affective disorder may be one issue to look out for.

Seasonal affective disorder (SAD) is a common mood disorder that occurs in autumn and winter. The reduced sunlight during these months causes the body to fall out of its natural rhythm. People with the disorder may feel drained, depressed, or lack interest in normal activity, among other symptoms.

Not to worry, though. These five tips may help you lose those winter blues:

• Exercise regularly. Just 30 minutes of exercise is enough to flood the brain with endorphins, the body’s natural feel-good hormones.

• Eat a balanced diet. Cutting out excess carbohydrates and saturated fats and replacing them with healthier foods can boost your metabolism and give you more energy.

• Get plenty of sunlight. Most physicians recommend getting at least 30 minutes of sunlight to boost brain chemistry. If sunlight is scarce, you might consider a form of light therapy.

• Consult your physician. There are lots of health conditions with similar symptoms as sad. SAD can be mistaken as hypothyroidism, mononucleosis, or another mental disorder.

• Consider medication. For more severe cases of SAD, medication may be needed to balance the brain’s chemical levels. Talk to your doctor about different medications and other treatment options.

According to the National Alliance of Mental Illness (NAMI), as many as 26 percent of adults and 10 percent of children living in the U.S. are directly affected by a mental health disorder every year. Mental illness affects everyone, but it doesn’t have to wreak havoc on your life. Taking extra steps toward positive mental health can keep a smile on your face this season.

Get more information about symptoms of seasonal affective disorder (SAD), or find resources on how to make Mental Illness Awareness Week recognized in your community.

Hopelessness may increase your risk of stroke, according to new information from the University of Minnesota. Researchers found that higher levels of hopelessness are linked with accelerated development of early atherosclerosis in middle-aged women.

Atherosclerosis causes plaque to build up on the insides of arteries, reducing the flow of oxygen-rich blood to organs and other parts of the body. Arteries in the neck can thicken, a condition called carotid artery intimal-medial thickening (IMT). Atherosclerosis increases risk of heart attack and can block blood flow to the brain and lead to stroke.

Science has explored the connection between hopelessness and IMT in men and women with cardiovascular disease, but little was known about the link in healthy women. “This is the first study to suggest that hopelessness may be related to subclinical cardiovascular disease in women without clinical symptoms of heart disease,” said Susan A. Everson-Rose, Ph.D., M.P.H., associate professor of medicine at the University of Minnesota and co-author of the study.

Data for the study was collected from two sites in Chicago and Pittsburgh, using the Study of Women’s Health Across the Nation (SWAN). Five hundred and fifty-nine women (average age 50) living in the city participated in the study. Participants appeared to be in good health, showing no signs of cardiovascular disease.

SWAN used questionnaires to measure the association between IMT and hopelessness frequency using an eight-point scale, asking participants about personal goals and future life expectations. Scores of five and above were considered “high.” Ultrasounds were then used to measure the thickness of arteries in the neck.

Participants with the highest hopelessness scores showed an average of .06 mm greater thickening than their hopeful counterparts (.02 mm is equal to roughly one year’s thickening). Researchers discovered that hopelessness triggered a hormonal release in response to mood change that can amplify the effects of atherosclerosis and the thickening of neck arteries.

Researchers plan to continue exploring the unique relationship between hopelessness and cardiovascular disease in future studies. “These findings suggest that women who experience feelings of hopelessness may have greater risk for future heart disease and stroke,” Everson-Rose said. "We look forward to examining the longitudinal relations between hopelessness and heart disease risk in women."

Stressing about losing your job may cause more harm than actual job loss. More than 1,700 participants in the American’s Changing Lives (ACL) and the Midlife in the United States (MIDUS) studies were asked: How likely is it that during the next couple of years you will involuntarily lose your job? Researchers from the University of Michigan and the University of California wanted to find the effects of job insecurity on employee health.

"It may seem surprising that chronically high job-insecurity is more strongly linked with health declines than actual job loss or unemployment," says Sarah Burgard, lead author of the study and research assistant professor in the University of Michigan’s Department of Sociology and School of Public Health, "but there are a number of reasons why this is the case.”

More teens are calling for help with ADHD prescription drug abuse, according to information obtained from the American Association of Poison Control Center. Calls to the center from 13-19 year-old victims regarding prescription ADHD medication abuse rose 76% between 1998 and 2005.

These types of calls rose more quickly than those for general substance abuse by teens (up 55%). ADHD medication prescriptions were up 80% over the same time period, a figure researchers suspect is no coincidence. Girls called more frequently than boys, representing 40% of all victims, but boys suffered more severe effects than girls, who accounted for just over 19% of major effects or death.

Researchers can only speculate why the imbalance is so drastic: “We don’t know for sure whether the increased calls for help are the result of simply more abuse or the escalating severity of consequences,” explains G. Randall Bond, MD, director of the Poison and Information Center at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital.

“The findings suggest that more teens are abusing and misusing stimulant ADHD medications because they have access to those medications, not because a higher percentage of those treated have turned to abusing their medication,” explains lead author Jennifer Setlik, MD, also of Cincinnati Children’s Hospital.

Attention deficit hyperactive disorder (ADHD) is a common childhood disorder that can continue through adulthood. Individuals with ADHD may be extremely talkative or fidgety, and often have difficulties with impulsiveness, patience, following instructions, hyperactivity, attentiveness, and behavioral control.

Most of the medications used to treat ADHD are amphetamines, stimulants intended to boost concentration; drugs such as Adderall, Dexedrine, or Ritalin are typically prescribed. Teens abuse these stimulants to increase focus, to reduce pain and anxiety, or to get high without knowing the side effects.

Side effects may include insomnia or tiredness, cottonmouth, dizziness, and headaches. In more extreme cases, however, they may cause vomiting, seizure, or psychiatric problems, including hallucinations. Strattera, a non-stimulant antomoxetine, can cause users to have an increased likelihood of suicidal thoughts.

"Clearly," says Setlik, "we are seeing a rising problem with the abuse of these medications." As the drug abuse problem progresses, education continues to be stressed as a means of prevention.

Click here for more information on how to talk to your child about drug abuse.

There may be added benefits to that diet you’re on—following a Mediterranean-style diet may put you at a lower risk of Alzheimer’s disease. Researchers from the Taub Institute for Research on Alzheimer’s Disease and the Aging Brain at Columbia University Medical Center found that individuals who adhered to a Mediterranean-type diet in addition to exercise were 60% less likely to develop Alzheimer’s.

Alzheimer’s disease is an irreversible degenerative disease affecting the brain, often causing severe memory loss (a result of damage to the hippocampus) and destroyed cognitive ability. Alzheimer’s, which typically begins around age 60, is the leading cause of dementia among the elderly.

Damage to the brain may begin as early as 20 years before any complications are detected. Alzheimer’s begins when neural tangles form in the entorhinal cortex. This causes the neurons to function less efficiently, and the neurons eventually die, causing these areas of the brain to shrink.

“We know that some part of Alzheimer’s is related to genetic changes and as time goes on we discover more and more of these changes,” explains lead author Nikos Scarmeas, M.D., and associate professor of clinical neurology at Columbia. “But it is also possible that non-genetic changes, including lifestyle and behavior, may also be affecting our brain health and our risk of developing brain diseases like Alzheimer’s.”

The study examined 1,880 multi-ethnic individuals, average age 77, from Northern Manhattan in New York City. The group was divided into two smaller groups, for which information on both physical activity and mental status was available. Participants did not show signs of dementia at the beginning of the study, and were followed from 1996 to 2006, measured every 18 months for neurological changes.

Participants were measured for physical activity level (no physical activity, light activity such as golfing, moderate activity like biking, or vigorous activity such as jogging) and how well they stuck to the diet (on a scale of 0-9). Diet scores were higher for individuals who consumed more fruits, vegetables, legumes and fish, and less meat, dairy and saturated fats.

“Often times people who exercise also follow a healthy diet and vice versa,” Scarmeas says. “We wanted to tease out which of these two behaviors may be associated with lower risk for AD, or if the combination of the two is associated with decreased risk even further.”

Individuals who had low physical activity had a 29-41% lower risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease than those who  were physically inactive, while individuals with “much” physical activity further decreased their risk by 37-50%. Strongly following a Mediterranean diet was associated with a 40% risk reduction for Alzheimr’s. Individuals with high diet adherence and high activity individuals showed a much lower absolute risk than those with low diet adherence and activity status, reduced from 21% to 9%.

According to Scarmeas, this study emphasizes the importance of a healthy lifestyle. "We need to understand and learn more about the exact biological mechanisms that may connect physical activity and diet with the biological changes of Alzheimer's disease," he says. "This study is important because it shows that people may be able to alter their risk of developing Alzheimer's by modifying their lifestyles through diet and exercise."

Learn more about Alzheimer's disease by visiting Healia's Alzheimer's Community.

Sunshine actually may put pep in your step and improve your thinking skills. A study by the University of Alabama at Birmingham shows that the amount of sunlight you are exposed to may boost your cognitive ability.

The study examined the seasonal role and amount of sunlight exposure (referred to as insolation) on patients’ energy levels and cognitive ability. Researchers hypothesized that greater insolation would boost both energy and mental functioning.

This was found to be very true for patients with depression. Sunlight plays a huge role in the body’s circadian (daily) rhythm. Alzheimer’s, for example, has been associated with low blood flow to the cerebrum, yet another of sunlight’s effects.

Individuals who got less sun exposure were more likely to experience an irregular circadian rhythm, similar to Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), also known as seasonal depression. Several studies have been conducted in the past to examine the effect of sunlight and seasonal changes on mood in people with depression, but this was the first to study the effects of both on thought processes.

"We think some of the same physiological mechanisms that affect depression also affect cognitive function,” says Shia Kent, author of the study and doctoral candidate at the School of Public Health at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. “These same hormone systems have been implicated in a number of mental disorders and cognitive disorders.”

One key to this relationship lies in the suprachiasmatic nuclei (SCN), a region of the brain responsible for processing information from the eyes and stimulating hormones.One of the SCN’s roles is to prevent the pineal gland from converting serotonin into melatonin, a hormone that triggers sleepiness.

The retina sends light information to the SCN, slowing the brain’s production of melatonin and serotonin—both associated with cognitive functioning—during the day or in a well-lit room. Without this process, the body’s natural rhythm is disrupted. Similar disruptions have been associated with sleep disorders and memory problems in otherwise healthy individuals.

Participants in the study hailed from an area of the United States known as the “stroke belt”—Arkansas, Louisiana, Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina. Nearly 14,500 men and women over age 45 (44% African-American, 56% white) with no history of a stroke included in the final model were questioned using the Reasons for Geographic and Racial Differences in Stroke (REGARDS) Study.

Cognitive functioning was measured via telephone interviews, while weight, height and blood pressure were measured in-home prior to the study. Participants were then followed for the next two weeks, while researchers measured insolation (with the help of NASA satellite and ground data) and thinking ability (using questionnaires).

Solar radiation was measured eight times daily, at 3-hour intervals. Typical insolation values were 25,000-30,000 KJ/m² in late spring and early summer, and 8,000-10,000 KJ/ m² in the central U.S. Short-term and long-term memory were measured using a six-question test. Answering four or less correctly indicated impairment. 

Based on their findings, researchers reported that low sunlight exposure was a higher likelihood of cognitive impairment for subjects with depression, including those who were prone to SAD. Roughly 18% of participants with any form of depression were classified as having impaired thinking in response to lower insolation, regardless of the season.

“This is speculation,” says Kent, “but those who have cognitive impairment could be helped with sunlight."

 

Learn more about Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) in Healia Communities.

The nation’s mental health care system has been given a D grade by the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI). The report, released today, is entitled Grading the States and it assesses the nation’s public mental health care system and also grades the states individually. The grades were based on 65 specific criteria such as access to medicine, housing, family education, and support for National Guard members.

This is the second such report issued by the NAMI. The first, issued three years ago, also grades the national overall as a D. Since that report, 14 states have improved their grades while 12 states saw their grade fall. In all, no states earned an A, but there were six Bs, 18 Cs, 21 Ds and six Fs.

Since the first report, the greatest improvement occurred in Oklahoma, which rose from a D to a B, while South Carolina was a mirror image, dropping from B to D.

The report authors stress that during tough economic times such as these, it is easy to forget about vulnerable communities such as the mentally ill. This year, state budget cuts are threatening the state of mental health care, and for most states, it’s not as if the existing situation is good to begin with. States which have made great progress risk losing those gains, while states that already have a poor grade are likely to see it get even worse. Researchers point out that in tough times, the need for mental health programs is greater than ever, but ironically, those are also the times when mental health funding is most likely to be cut.

Some may ask why they should care about mental health funding if no one they know sufferers from serious mental illness. When mental health care is lacking, mentally ill individuals, unable to get the help they need often end up hospitalized, on the street, or in jail and taxpayers end up footing the bill.

Want to learn more about mental health issues or share your experiences with others? Join the Healia Support Group for Mental Illness.

_{Photo: flasporty, Flickr, Creative Commons}