Sunday, October 28, 2018

Get Sweaty | Brain Surprise | Antipsychotic Drugs In ICU

Exercise To Elevate Mood And Lower Anxiety
Maria Fabrizio for NPR
 

Prescription For Depression: Join A Team And Get Sweaty

Research shows exercise can ease panic attacks, improve mood and help with sleep disorders. A recent study in Lancet Psychiatry found that team sports may have a slight edge over other kinds of workouts.

"If you just run on a treadmill for example, it's clear that you're getting that biological stimulation,” says Yale University’s Adam Chekroud, one of the study's authors. “But perhaps there are other elements of depression that you're not going to be tapping into."

Shots contributor Sasa Woodruff has some tips for getting started.

Find a friend who can connect you with a group sport or activity. Make a match that fits your skill level. Try putting some money on the line with a trainer or membership to make it count.
 

The Rodney Dangerfield Of The Brain Gets Some Respect

An ancient part of the brain long ignored by the scientific world appears to play a critical role in everything from language and emotions to daily planning.

It's the cerebellum, which is found in fish and lizards as well as people, NPR's Jon Hamilton reports.

"We think that the cerebellum is acting as the brain's ultimate quality control unit," says Scott Marek, a postdoctoral research scholar at Washington University in St. Louis and first author of new research on the brain structure.

The cerebellum doesn't directly carry out tasks like thinking, just as it doesn't directly control movement. Instead, the structure appears to monitor the brain areas that are doing the work and make them do it better.
 
Nehru Sulejmanovski/Getty Images
 

Antipsychotic Drugs Don't Ease ICU Delirium

Powerful drugs that have been used to treat delirium are ineffective, according to a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Antipsychotic medications, such as haloperidol (brand name Haldol), are widely used in intensive care units, emergency rooms, hospital wards and nursing homes.

"In some surveys up to 70 percent of patients [in the ICU] get these antipsychotics," says Dr. E. Wesley "Wes" Ely, an intensive care specialist at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. They're prescribed by "very good doctors at extremely good medical centers," he says. "Millions of people worldwide are getting these drugs to treat their delirium."

This is the latest story from NPR's Richard Harris on the phenomenon of ICU delirium and how to prevent it

Find more of NPR's health journalism on Shots and follow us for up-to-the-minute updates at @NPRHealth

Your Shots editor, Scott Hensley
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