Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Longer Looks: Interesting Reads You Might Have Missed
NPR: Children Need Quiet Environments To Help Early Brain Development
"Silence is kind of a peak achievement in a child's ability to control themselves," Mejía-Menendez says. "We create the conditions for children to concentrate." Unlike this classroom, the city outside is full of noise. And studies show that too much noise, particularly loud noise, can hurt a child's cognitive development, notably for language-based skills such as reading. That's because if noise is just, well, noise, it distracts developing brains and makes it more difficult for children to concentrate. But when their environment is quiet enough for them to pay attention to sounds that are important or particularly interesting to them, it is a powerful teaching tool. (Johnson, 5/24)
Bangor Daily News: Volunteer Cuddler Has Comforted Bangor Hospital’s Tiniest Patients For 25 Years
Anne Corliss loves babies — so much, that somehow, quietly and without her noticing, she spent 25 years cradling them in her arms at a Bangor hospital’s neonatal intensive care unit. She is considered a master cuddler. Corliss, 66, is one of 18 volunteers involved in the Carter’s Quiet Care Cuddlers program, which tends to the hospital’s tiniest patients when parents aren’t around. She began volunteering at Northern Light Eastern Maine Medical Center’s pediatric unit in 1990 and moved to the NICU when the cuddlers program began in 1998. (Royzman, 5/23)
The New York Times: How Art Can Improve Your Mental Health
There’s a “really robust body of evidence” that suggests that creating art, as well as activities like attending a concert or visiting a museum, can benefit mental health, said Jill Sonke, research director of the University of Florida Center for Arts in Medicine. Here are a few simple ways to elevate your mood with the arts. (Caron, 5/22)
The Atlantic: Eating Fast Is Bad for You—Right?
For as long as I have been feeding myself—which, for the record, is several decades now—I have been feeding myself fast. I bite big, in rapid succession; my chews are hasty and few. In the time it takes others to get through a third of their meal, mine is already gone. You could reasonably call my approach to eating pneumatic, reminiscent of a suction-feeding fish or a Roomba run amok. (Wu, 5/22)
The New York Times: A Movement To Make Workplaces ‘Menopause Friendly’
In the last few years, managers at Nvidia, the global computer graphics company, began hearing a new kind of complaint: Some of their female employees were struggling with hot flashes, fatigue and brain fog — common symptoms of the menopause transition — and their regular doctors weren’t offering guidance or relief. “They came to us and said, ‘Who do I go to?’” Denise Rosa, the company’s head of U.S. medical programs, said. “They were like, ‘We have fertility support, we have egg freezing, we have surrogacy and adoption. What about me?’” (Otterman, 5/22)
The Atlantic: Ozempic In Teens Is A Mess
The drug could reroute the trajectory of a kid's life—or throw it off course. (Tayag, 5/25)
The New York Times: Sought Out By Science, And Then Forgotten
Four decades ago, medical researchers reached out to ailing families in Colombia for insights into Huntington’s disease. Scientists are just now following up, hoping it’s not too late. (Smith, 5/23)
Stat: Science Figured Out How To Make RSV Vaccines. Will Seniors Care?
There’s a lack of appreciation of the impact RSV infections have on older adults, experts who research this virus acknowledge. (Branswell, 5/26)
