Showing posts with label stress. Show all posts
Showing posts with label stress. Show all posts
Monday, April 29, 2013
Friday, April 5, 2013
Pregnant women who have stressful experiences in the year before giving birth are more likely to deliver stillborn babies, a new study reports.
The study, by the National Institutes of Health, asked 2,000 women in five states about specific events, like losing a job, moving or losing a close friend or relative. Stillbirth risk increased with each event. Non-Hispanic black women were most affected. Experiences most correlated with stillbirth included being in a fight, going to jail and hearing a partner express opposition to the pregnancy.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/28/health/link-is-found-between-stressfull-events-and-stillbirths.html?ref=health
The study, by the National Institutes of Health, asked 2,000 women in five states about specific events, like losing a job, moving or losing a close friend or relative. Stillbirth risk increased with each event. Non-Hispanic black women were most affected. Experiences most correlated with stillbirth included being in a fight, going to jail and hearing a partner express opposition to the pregnancy.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/28/health/link-is-found-between-stressfull-events-and-stillbirths.html?ref=health
More green space is linked to less stress in deprived communities: Evidence from salivary cortisol patterns
Abstract
Green space has been associated with a wide range of health benefits, including stress reduction, but much pertinent evidence has relied on self-reported health indicators or experiments in artificially controlled environmental conditions. Little research has been reported using ecologically valid objective measures with participants in their everyday, residential settings. This paper describes the results of an exploratory study (n = 25) to establish whether salivary cortisol can act as a biomarker for variation in stress levels which may be associated with varying levels of exposure to green spaces, and whether recruitment and adherence to the required, unsupervised, salivary cortisol sampling protocol within the domestic setting could be achieved in a highly deprived urban population. Self-reported measures of stress and general wellbeing were also captured, allowing exploration of relationships between cortisol, wellbeing and exposure to green space close to home. Results indicate significant relationships between self-reported stress (P < 0.01), diurnal patterns of cortisol secretion (P < 0.05), and quantity of green space in the living environment. Regression analysis indicates percentage of green space in the living environment is a significant (P < 0.05) and independent predictor of the circadian cortisol cycle, in addition to self-reported physical activity (P < 0.02). Results also show that compliance with the study protocol was good. We conclude that salivary cortisol measurement offers considerable potential for exploring relationships between wellbeing and green space and discuss how this ecologically valid methodology can be developed to confirm and extend findings in deprived city areas to illuminate why provision of green space close to home might enhance health. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0169204611003665
Green space has been associated with a wide range of health benefits, including stress reduction, but much pertinent evidence has relied on self-reported health indicators or experiments in artificially controlled environmental conditions. Little research has been reported using ecologically valid objective measures with participants in their everyday, residential settings. This paper describes the results of an exploratory study (n = 25) to establish whether salivary cortisol can act as a biomarker for variation in stress levels which may be associated with varying levels of exposure to green spaces, and whether recruitment and adherence to the required, unsupervised, salivary cortisol sampling protocol within the domestic setting could be achieved in a highly deprived urban population. Self-reported measures of stress and general wellbeing were also captured, allowing exploration of relationships between cortisol, wellbeing and exposure to green space close to home. Results indicate significant relationships between self-reported stress (P < 0.01), diurnal patterns of cortisol secretion (P < 0.05), and quantity of green space in the living environment. Regression analysis indicates percentage of green space in the living environment is a significant (P < 0.05) and independent predictor of the circadian cortisol cycle, in addition to self-reported physical activity (P < 0.02). Results also show that compliance with the study protocol was good. We conclude that salivary cortisol measurement offers considerable potential for exploring relationships between wellbeing and green space and discuss how this ecologically valid methodology can be developed to confirm and extend findings in deprived city areas to illuminate why provision of green space close to home might enhance health. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0169204611003665
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