Life Lines

Therapeutic benefits of going outside in nature

A new study finds that spending 10 minutes in nature can benefit adults with mental illness. The meta-analysis reviewed 30 years of research on the social, mental and physical health effects of nature exposure. Spending time in nature reduces stress, improves cognitive function and boosts mood. The analysis found that spaces like rivers and oceans, as well as camping, farming and gardening, had the greatest effects. Urban nature, mountains and forests also offer benefits. These findings underscore the importance of green spaces in natural and urban environments. Ten minutes in urban nature is less intimidating, costly and time-consuming for those without the time and resources for extended wilderness trips. The authors noted that while taking a walk or a camping trip shouldn’t replace therapeutic interventions, spending time in nature should be seen as an inexpensive resource that can support adults’ mental health and wellbeing.
Source: Ecopsychology

Improve sleep with evening exercises

While rigorous exercise before bed has long been discouraged, researchers have found that short bursts of light activity can improve sleep. In a world-first study, participants completed two four-hour evening sessions, one of prolonged sitting and another with three-minute activity breaks every half hour. The study found that participants who took the activity breaks slept 30 minutes longer. Lead author Jennifer Gale notes that prolonged sitting is linked to a higher risk of diabetes, cardiovascular disease and death. The exercise intervention involved three exercises, chair squats, calf raises and standing knee raises with straight-leg hip extensions. These simple bodyweight exercises were chosen because they don’t require any equipment or much space and can be done without interrupting the TV show you’re watching. The fact that these exercises lead to longer sleep is important because insufficient sleep can affect diet and is associated with heart disease and type 2 diabetes.
Source: BMJ Open Sport & Exercise Medicine

Honeybees capable of sensing lung cancer

Scientists have discovered that honeybees can detect the subtle scents of lung cancer in the lab and even the faint odour of the disease from a patient’s breath. In the study, bees’ brains were connected to electrodes and exposed to different scents. It’s clear whether a bee responds to a chemical or not, with different odours triggering distinct brain activity patterns. A device delivered puffs of air containing mixed odours to the insects’ antennae, including scents from healthy people and the distinct odours of lung cancer patients. Scientists used electrical signals from the bees’ brains to distinguish between the two breath types with at least 93 per cent accuracy. The bees could also accurately distinguish between air samples from healthy cells and those from small-cell lung cancer and non-small-cell
lung cancer cells. Honeybees could one day be used in cancer clinics as living sensors for disease detection.
Source: Biosensors and Bioelectronics