5 resets to manage toxic stress

Plus: Hearing aids and longevity

View this email online January 7, 2024 by Andrea Muraskin, Health Newsletter Writer Happy new year! Firstly, if you gave during NPR’s year end fund drive, thank you so much for supporting our science journalism.❤️ This week: If only we’d left our stress behind in 2023! 😂 Find new ways to manage yours with these 5 resets. Plus: Academics forge an unlikely alliance with mental health ‘influencers’ on TikTok. And: A new study finds a surprisingly strong connection between hearing aid use and longer life.  Want to stress less in 2024? A new book offers '5 resets' to tame toxic stress Meredith Rizzo for NPR For many years Dr. Aditi Nerurkar counseled patients in her clinical practice for stress-related health issues. She saw that stress and burnout — a syndrome of chronic workplace stress — are both at "unprecedented levels" today.  Most modern-day stressors are chronic, explains Nerurkar. "So that fight-or-flight response is always on, at a low hum in the background," she explains, keeping the brain’s amygdala in overdrive. Did your amygdala just seize up reading this? If so Nerurkar’s new book is for you. She lays out five key resets to help you shift out of chronic stress. Take a breather (one of her resets!) and chew on this advice for a less stressed new year. Plus: How your muscles affect your mood subscriberid%%--> Newsletter continues after sponsor message Researchers team up with mental health influencers to reach young people online Kate Speer Scientists have been researching the negative effects of social media use for a while, and mental health content has ballooned on social media in the past few years. Some of it's accurate, some not so much. Still, Amanda Yarnell, director of the Center for Health Communication at Harvard's T.H. Chan School of Public Health – and parent of young adults –  sees value in social media as a tool for spreading science-backed information.   "Mental health is one of the biggest public health crises of our time. People want to feel seen, they want to feel like people understand them. And that rawness, that authenticity that is driving social right now, I think is the right match,” Yarnell says.  She wondered if providing education to so-called mental health influencers would prompt them to share research-based mental health information. In other words, perhaps Harvard could influence the influencers. To test this idea, Yarnell's research team recruited 62 mental health creators active on TikTok. Participants received basic educational toolkits on popular mental health topics, based on research from Harvard and Harvard-affiliated institutions. About half of the group also had access to a series of Zoom trainings with professors behind some of the research. Yarnell’s team then analyzed creators’ subsequent videos and saw an increase in content related to the toolkits they provided, on topics like intergenerational trauma and the mind-body connection.  The study and training sessions also gave rise to a one-on-one collaboration between an influencer and a Harvard researcher, who are working together to bring attention to the harmful effects of weight loss supplements for kids and teens.  Learn why working with influencers may be key to the future of public health. Plus: Teens say social media is stressing them out. Here's how to help them   Start your year feeling fresh, curious, and informed with NPR's newly updated app. It's your one-stop destination for the best of public radio, with live listening and top headlines from NPR's network of 300+ Member stations, plus hundreds of podcasts and a personalized experience that saves you time while exploring the content you love. Personalize your news routine today, download the app! Get the NPR app Hear me now: Hearing aids may boost longevity if used regularly Pekic/Getty Images If you or a loved one have been holding off using hearing aids, here's a reason to start. A new study finds that restoring hearing loss with hearing aids may lengthen people's lives.  Researchers tracked the status of nearly 1,900 adults who had been shown to have hearing loss during screenings.  "The group of patients who were using hearing aids regularly had a 24% lower risk of mortality compared to the group who never use hearing aids," says Dr. Janet Choi, the studies lead author.  Regular use is key, researchers found. The people in the study who had hearing aids, but didn't use them regularly, were as likely to die prematurely as those who never used them.  Fortunately, hearing aids have become better and more affordable in the past few years.  Find out why hearing loss is linked to poorer health, and how hearing aids can help. Also: Hearing loss can lead to deadly falls, but hearing aids may cut the risk   Before you go: Pavlina Popovska/Getty Images 50 ideas to help you move forward in 2024 ​​​​​​​ Listen: How medications like Ozempic are revolutionizing the weight loss industry ​​​​​​​ What to know about keeping children safe — and warm — in the car during the winter Respiratory illnesses are on the rise after the holidays ICYMI: A popular asthma inhaler is leaving pharmacy shelves. Here's what you need to know ​​​​​​​ We hope you enjoyed these stories. Find more of NPR's health journalism online. All the best, Andrea Muraskin and your NPR Health editors Listen to your local NPR station. Visit NPR.org to hear live radio from WUFT 89.1 (edit station). What do you think of today's email? We'd love to hear your thoughts, questions and feedback: shots@npr.org Enjoying this newsletter? Forward to a friend! They can sign up here. Looking for more great content? 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