APA Blogs
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Raising Awareness about Music and Wellness Connections
Music is often associated with mood—making us feel sad, lifting our mood, boosting our energy, or helping us relax. Music can also be therapeutic. It can help ease chronic pain, reduce anxiety and stress, help people with autism or help calm the agitation in people with Alzheimer’s.The Sound Health program is working to explore and better understand the music and wellness connection and to bring that understanding to the public. Sound Health is a partnership launched in 2016 between the Kennedy Center and National Institutes of Health.
Are there Mental Health Benefits to Being a Morning Person?
Many of us identify ourselves as either a morning person or a night owl, and these preferences are at least partly the result of our genes. New research finds associations between the timing of your sleep/wake preferences and your mental health.The study from researchers at the University of Exeter and Massachusetts General Hospital suggests that being genetically programmed to rise early may lead to greater well-being and a lower risk of depression and schizophrenia.
What Happens When You Quit, or at Least Really Cut Back, Your Social Media Use?
For many people, checking social media regularly and spending a lot of time on it is a part of everyday life. But what is the impact on your well-being if you just quit for a while, or at least significantly cut back? You’ll probably be at least a little bit better off, according to a couple of recent studies. Substantial research over the past few years has linked social media use with reduced well-being, sleep problems and increased loneliness, depression and mental distress.
African Americans Face a Greater Risk of Alzheimer’s
Alzheimer’s is the most common cause of dementia and it affects about one-third of adults age 85 and older in the U.S., but some populations are disproportionally impacted. For instance, African Americans are about twice as likely as whites to have Alzheimer’s or other dementias.
Genetic Testing to Improve Psychiatric Medication Choice
Genetic testing is being marketed and used for a variety of different purposes, such as confirming or ruling out a suspected genetic condition or helping determine a person’s chance of developing or passing on a genetic disorder. It is also being marketed to improve the selection of medication for mental illness, such as depression. However, several recent expert reviews caution that while it holds much potential, the evidence does not yet show genetic testing is effective in improving psychiatric medication choices.