Obesity impairs academic attainment in adolescence: findings from ALSPAC, a UK cohort.

OBJECTIVE: While being overweight or obese in adolescence may have detrimental effects on academic attainment, the evidence base is limited by reliance on cross-sectional studies with small sample sizes, failure to take account of confounders and lack of consideration of potential mediators. The present study aimed to address these limitations and examine longitudinal associations between obesity in adolescence and academic attainment. DESIGN: Associations between weight status at 11 years old and academic attainment assessed by national tests at 11, 13 and 16 years were examined in the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children. Healthy weight was defined as body mass index (BMI) Z-score <1.04; overweight as BMI Z-score 1.04-1.63; obesity as BMI Z-score ⩾1.64. PARTICIPANTS: Data from 5966 participants with objectively measured weight status were examined: 71.4% were healthy weight (1935 males; 2325 females), 13.3% overweight (372 males; 420 females) and 15.3% obese (448 males; 466 females). RESULTS: Girls obese at 11 years had lower academic attainment at 11, 13 and 16 years compared with those of a healthy weight, even after controlling for a wide range of confounders. Associations between obesity and academic attainment were less clear in boys. The potential mediating effects of depressive symptoms, intelligence quotient (IQ) and age of menarche in girls were explored, but when confounders were included, there was no strong evidence for mediation. CONCLUSIONS: For girls, obesity in adolescence has a detrimental impact on academic attainment 5 years later. Mental health, IQ and age of menarche did not mediate this relationship, suggesting that further work is required to understand the underlying mechanisms. Parents, education and public health policy makers should consider the wide reaching detrimental impact of obesity on educational outcomes in this age group.

Associations between objectively measured physical activity and academic attainment in adolescents from a UK cohort.

BACKGROUND: To test for cross-sectional (at age 11) and longitudinal associations between objectively measured free-living physical activity (PA) and academic attainment in adolescents.Method Data from 4755 participants (45% male) with valid measurement of PA (total volume and intensity) by accelerometry at age 11 from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC) was examined. Data linkage was performed with nationally administered school assessments in English, Maths and Science at ages 11, 13 and 16. RESULTS: In unadjusted models, total volume of PA predicted decreased academic attainment. After controlling for total volume of PA, percentage of time spent in moderate-vigorous intensity PA (MVPA) predicted increased performance in English assessments in both sexes, taking into account confounding variables. In Maths at 16 years, percentage of time in MVPA predicted increased performance for males (standardised ß=0.11, 95% CI 0.00 to 0.22) and females (ß=0.08, 95% CI 0.00 to 0.16). For females the percentage of time spent in MVPA at 11 years predicted increased Science scores at 11 and 16 years (ß=0.14 (95% CI 0.03 to 0.25) and 0.14 (0.07 to 0.21), respectively). The correction for regression dilution approximately doubled the standardised ß coefficients. CONCLUSIONS: Findings suggest a long-term positive impact of MVPA on academic attainment in adolescence.

Suboptimal sleep and incident cardiovascular disease among African Americans in the Jackson Heart Study (JHS).

BACKGROUND: Suboptimal sleep, including insufficient/long sleep duration and poor sleep quality, is a risk factor for cardiovascular disease (CVD) common but there is little information among African Americans, a group with a disproportionate CVD burden. The current study examined the association between suboptimal sleep and incident CVD among African Americans. METHODS: This study included 4,522 African Americans without CVD at baseline (2000-2004) of the Jackson Heart Study (JHS). Self-reported sleep duration was defined as very short (<6 h/night), short (6 h/night), recommended (7-8 h/night), and long (≥9 h/night). Participants' self-reported sleep quality was defined as "high" and "low" quality. Suboptimal sleep was defined by low quality sleep and/or insufficient/long sleep duration. Incident CVD was a composite of incident coronary heart disease and stroke. Associations between suboptimal sleep and incident CVD were examined using Cox proportional hazards models over 15 follow-up years with adjustment for predictors of CVD risk and obstructive sleep apnea. RESULTS: Sample mean age was 54 years (SD = 13), 64% female and 66% reported suboptimal sleep. Suboptimal sleep was not associated with incident CVD after covariate adjustment [HR(95% CI) = 1.18(0.97-1.46)]. Long [HR(95%CI) = 1.32(1.02-1.70)] and very short [HR(95% CI) = 1.56(1.06-2.30)] sleep duration were associated with incident CVD relative to recommended sleep duration. Low quality sleep was not associated with incident CVD (p = 0.413). CONCLUSIONS: Long and very short self-reported sleep duration but not self-reported sleep quality were associated with increased hazard of incident CVD.

Increased theta activity in quantitative electroencephalographic (QEEG) measurements during exposure to complex weak magnetic fields.

Previous research has shown that exposure to circumcerebral weak magnetic fields with different rates of acceleration applied in a counterclockwise rotation around the head was associated with increased estimations of subjective time and as much as a 30% increase in power within the theta range within quantitative electroencephalographic (QEEG) recordings. The largest effect was associated with magnetic fields applied with 20 ms rates of change through each of the successively stimulated, equally spaced, 8 circumcerebral solenoids. The purpose of the present study was to compare the intracerebral power spectra associated with the rotation of the same patterns in either the clockwise or counterclockwise direction. The results generally replicated previous reports and showed enhanced power over regions of the left hemisphere during clockwise rotations and over the right hemisphere during counterclockwise rotations. These results were considered congruent with the creation of "interference patterns" between the rostral-caudal generation of endogenous cerebral magnetic fields putatively associated with consciousness and the spatial direction of the applied rotating magnetic fields.

Ranking of stimuli that evoked memories in significant others after exposure to circumcerebral magnetic fields: correlations with ambient geomagnetic activity.

To identify means to enhance the laboratory production of alleged paranormal phenomena, 15 pairs of men and women involved emotionally were tested by male and female experimenters who were not familiar with the hypothesis that ambient (geomagnetic) activity could modulate this production. While the female of the pair was exposed to six different patterns of complex magnetic fields designed to affect states of consciousness, the male wrote his reminiscences about shared experiences evoked by a postcard randomly selected from a collection of five. Increased global geomagnetic activity (k values between 0 and 5) at the time of the experiments was significantly and moderately correlated with the more accurate ranking of the stimulus cards. These results were similar to those of a previous study. We suggest that alleged paranormal phenomena involve processes that might be produced by experimentally altering the electroencephalographic correlates of consciousness with circumcerebral applications of counterclockwise weak magnetic fields. However, these processes may be enhanced if global geomagnetic activity is increasing during the periods of exposure.

Increased proportions of sensed presences and occipital spikes with 1- and 10-msec. point duration of continuous 7-Hz transcerebral magnetic fields.

To test the hypothesis that the numbers of "sensed presences" induced by the application of weak (1 microTesla) magnetic fields over the right hemisphere was subject to an optimal time of presentation, digital-to-analogue computer generated 7-Hz sine-waves were applied with point ("pixel") durations of 1, 3, 5, 7, 10, or 20 msec. for 5 min. each in a sequential counterbalanced order for six subjects. The proportion of numbers of sensed presences reported along the subjects' left sides and the proportions of electroencephalographic spikes over the occipital regions were greatest when 1- or 10-msec. point durations were employed. These results indicate that the specific duration of each successive field strength composing a complex sequence should be considered when designing optimal configurations for intercalating with neurocognition.

Correlated cerebral events between physically and sensory isolated pairs of subjects exposed to yoked circumcerebral magnetic fields.

In three different experiments pairs of unrelated people sitting in two different rooms were exposed simultaneously to different rates of circumcerebral rotations of weak, complex magnetic fields in order to produce "dynamic similarity". Quantitative electroencephalographic (QEEG) measurements were taken for one member of each pair in one room while the other sat in a closed chamber in another room and intermittently observed 5Hz, 8Hz, 10Hz, or 15Hz flashing lights. Reliable increases in QEEG power within specific frequencies over the right parietal region were observed during the similar-frequency light flashes when the shared temporal-spatial complexity of the circumcerebral rotating fields was based on 100ms, the average duration of normal microstates. The development of this experimental procedure could facilitate rational understanding of this class of "coincidence" phenomena.

Increased feelings of the sensed presence and increased geomagnetic activity at the time of the experience during exposures to transcerebral weak complex magnetic fields.

In 2 separate experiments involving 39 subjects the incidence of sensing a presence or Sentient Being while being exposed to weak complex magnetic fields over the right hemisphere was moderately correlated with increased global geomagnetic activity during the 3-h periods of the experiences. Analyses of magnetometer values near the laboratory indicated the intensity of the east-west component of the geomagnetic field had been increasing consistently at about 1 pT/s for at least 10 min for a cumulative change of about 15 to 20 nT. The ratios of the durations of alpha rhythms over the temporal lobes compared to the occipital lobes were correlated significantly with both increased geomagnetic activity and the reports of a presence. Removal of the shared variance between the sensed presence and various psychometric inferences of temporal lobe sensitivity and the history of dissociation increased and decreased, respectively, the strength of the partial correlations between geomagnetic activity and the reports of a sensed presence. The results suggest the culturally and historically ubiquitous phenomena of sensed presences are generated by right hemispheric processes that once enhanced by a variety of stimuli, including weak complex magnetic fields, can be encouraged by increased global geomagnetic activity.