Author: dispatchtimes news

A Bangladeshi study of university students has found associations between symptoms of caffeine use disorder and sleep problems, with depressive symptoms partially mediating the relationship. The findings appear in Addictive Behaviors Reports. Caffeine is one of the most widely consumed psychoactive substances, commonly used to boost alertness and fight fatigue. Among university students, caffeine consumption is particularly common due to demanding academic schedules, long study hours and insufficient sleep. While moderate caffeine use can temporarily improve wakefulness, excessive or poorly timed consumption may disrupt sleep quality. Sleep disturbances themselves are linked with impaired daily functioning, poorer mood and a higher…

A new study into women diagnosed with ADHD in midlife reveals years of hidden emotional struggle and misdiagnoses, but also shows that a late diagnosis can reframing certain traits, such as hyperfocus, as personal strengths. The research, published in the Journal of Attention Disorders, is based on in-depth interviews with women who received formal ADHD diagnoses as adults. ADHD is a neurodevelopmental condition marked by ongoing patterns of inattention, hyperactivity and impulsivity. The researchers note that differences in cognitive control—how prior knowledge and goals guide attention and behaviour—can leave people with ADHD struggling to sustain focus and regulate emotions when…

A new study published in the Journal of Affective Disorders reports a sex-divergent relationship between testosterone and suicide risk in late-life depression, with higher testosterone appearing to shield older men from suicidality, while being linked to greater risk among older women. Researchers from Beijing Anding Hospital and Capital Medical University in China led the investigation. Depression in later life is a pressing global public health concern. Among those aged 60 to 89 experiencing major depressive episodes, suicidal thoughts tend to persist and the risk of suicide is higher than in younger groups. Social isolation, chronic illnesses and declining cognitive function…

A Finnish eight-year study has found that higher self-reported screen time and lower amounts of unsupervised physical activity in childhood and adolescence are linked to slightly better cognitive performance in the teenage years, though researchers emphasise the effects are small and not causal. The PANIC study followed 260 children who were aged between six and nine at recruitment in Finland, tracking them through adolescence to around 15 to 17 years old. The researchers say the long duration helps illuminate how daily movement patterns may influence brain development over time. To capture physical activity and sedentary behaviour, the team used two…

A new study suggests that while a happy marriage is generally linked with longer life, the health benefits hinge on the daily habits couples share. The research, published in Brain, Behavior, and Immunity, found that when partners bond over poor diets and bad sleep, their relationship satisfaction might actually accelerate biological aging. Researchers sought to understand why the health benefits of marital satisfaction vary so much from couple to couple. Stephanie J. Wilson, a psychology researcher at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, led a team to examine a concept called symptom-system fit theory. This idea suggests that indulging in…

A new study from researchers at Stetson University casts doubt on the impact of so‑called harmful language guides, suggesting that everyday readers generally do not find the targeted terms offensive and that reading them in fiction does not harm psychological wellbeing. The two experiments, conducted with American adults and published in the Journal of Open Inquiry in the Behavioral Sciences, question whether restricting commonplace phrases actually delivers measurable benefits. Harmful language guides are policy documents produced by institutions, universities or businesses that urge people to avoid certain everyday words and to favour alternatives they deem safer. Examples cited in the…

A large genetic study has found that activating the GLP-1 receptor—the target of widely used weight-loss and diabetes medicines—appears linked to better mental health and a lower risk of conditions such as depression and bipolar disorder, with hints of protection against substance use disorders. The research, conducted by Guoyi Yang and colleagues, was published in Translational Psychiatry. GLP-1 receptor activation and mental health The GLP-1 receptor is a protein present on the surface of cells throughout the body, including the pancreas and the brain. When activated, it helps regulate blood sugar and signals fullness to the brain, reducing appetite. GLP-1…

A new study exploring art portraits suggests that beauty and attractiveness, while closely linked, are driven by different factors. Researchers found a strong association between the two judgments, yet beauty also hinges on specific image properties such as self-similarity and symmetry. The work, published in i-Perception, analysed a database of 192 digital portrait images against responses from 300 adults. Portraiture is a long-standing subject of artistic endeavour, with faces often recognisable even when artists adopt distinctive styles. This makes portraits peculiar aesthetic objects: prized both for the beauty of the artwork and for the perceived attractiveness of the person depicted.…

A new study suggests the shape of a world leader’s face could correlate with their likelihood of starting international conflict, with wider-faced rulers appearing more prone to war, particularly in the early days of their tenure. The research, published in Politics and the Life Sciences, analysed 1,761 leaders across 174 countries over a 63-year period from 1947 to 2010 and found that those with wider facial proportions were more likely to initiate militarised disputes abroad. The metric at the heart of the study is the facial width-to-height ratio, defined as the distance between the outer cheekbones divided by the distance…

A new study suggests that older adults who lived in socialist East Germany before the 1989 reunification show better cognitive health in later life and slower mental decline than their West German peers. The researchers point to the former East German educational system, with its longer compulsory schooling and universal early childcare, as a possible reason. Researchers Ariane Bertogg of the University of Konstanz and gerontologist Jeffrey E. Stokes of the University of Massachusetts Boston conducted the analysis, framing the long-standing division of Germany as a natural experiment to examine how different political systems shape cognitive development across a lifetime.…