Prevalence of spiritual and religious experiences in the general population: A Brazilian nationwide study.

Spiritual and religious experiences (SREs) are common subjective phenomena related to the awareness of transcendence, which transforms one's perception of life, death and suffering. Despite the high prevalence of SREs worldwide, not enough studies have been conducted beyond Europe and North America. To fill this gap, this study investigates the prevalence of SREs in Brazil and their association with socio-demographic variables. This online cross-sectional study includes participants from all regions of Brazil. Sixteen SREs were investigated, being categorized into 4 groups: mystical, mediumistic, psi-related and past life/near-death experiences. Prevalence was calculated as percentages and multinomial logistic regression models were used. A total of 1,053 Brazilians were included; 92% reported one SRE in their lifetime and 47.5% experienced at least one SRE frequently. Participants reported having had at least one mystical experience (35%), one psi-related experience (27.7%), and one mediumistic experience (11%). Half the sample had "felt the presence of a dead person" and 70% experienced precognitive dreams at least once. In a multivariate analysis, SREs were associated with the female gender but showed no associations with income, education, employment status and ethnicity. Mystical experiences were associated with age 55 and older. In summary, SREs are very prevalent across different strata of the population, and deserve more attention from researchers and clinicians in order to clarify their nature and implications for mental health care and research in Brazil.

Restless legs syndrome and pain disorders: what's in common?

Between 10 % and 30 % of the population report chronic pain. More than half of these also have sleep complaints. From considering these data, it can be inferred there is a significant overlapping between these conditions. Restless Legs Syndrome/Willis-Ekbom Disease (RLS/WED) is characterized by complaints of an "urge to move" frequently associated with dysesthesias. From that perspective, these sensations can also have painful characteristics. By the same token, the presence of comorbid diseases as predicted by a higher prevalence RLS/WED, have many of them with pain as an important complaint. Pain is a multidimensional response involving several levels of expression ranging from somatosensory to emotional. The potential shared mechanisms between RLS/WED and pain may involve sleep deprivation/fragmentation effect, inducing an increase in markers of inflammation and reduction in pain thresholds. These are modulated by several different settings of neurotransmitters with a huge participation of monoaminergic dysfunctional circuits. A thorough comprehension of these mechanisms is of utmost importance for the correct approach and treatment choices.

Nocturnal enuresis antecedent is common in adolescents with migraine.

BACKGROUND: Migraine and nocturnal enuresis are highly prevalent disorders with striking similarities. Both have unknown pathophysiology and are considered multifactorial, with neurobiological, genetic, and behavioral aspects involved. Interestingly, the same neurological structures thought to be involved in the pathogenesis of migraine are also thought to be involved in nocturnal enuresis. Few studies, however, have addressed these conditions as related. The aim of this study was to evaluate the antecedent of nocturnal enuresis in a large consecutive series of adolescents with migraine as compared to controls. METHODS: A total of 151 subjects were evaluated; 50 had episodic migraine, 50 had chronic migraine, and 51 were control subjects. All patients were submitted to a detailed questionnaire addressing epidemiological and clinical aspects. RESULTS: There was a strong correlation between the clinical history of nocturnal enuresis and the diagnosis of migraine. CONCLUSION: Our study showed that nocturnal enuresis is a precursor of migraine and a migraine comorbid condition. These results support a pathophysiological linkage between the two conditions.

Headache endocrinological aspects.

In this chapter we review the current understanding of how hormones, neurohormones, and neurotransmitters participate in the pain modulation of primary headaches. Stressful conditions and hormones intimately implicated in headache neurobiology are also discussed. With the recent progress in neuroimaging techniques and the development of animal models to study headache mechanisms, the physiopathology of several of the primary headaches is starting to be better understood. Various clinical characteristics of the primary headaches, such as pain, autonomic disturbances, and behavioral changes, are linked to hypothalamic brainstem activation and hormonal influence. Headache is greatly influenced by the circadian circle. Over the millennia the nervous system has evolved to meet changing environmental conditions, including the light-dark cycle, in order to ensure survival and reproduction. The main elements for synchronization between internal biological events and the external environment are the pineal gland and its main secretory product, melatonin. Melatonin is believed to be a significant element in migraine and in other headache disorders, which has implications for treatment. A potential therapeutic use of melatonin has been considered in several headache syndromes. In short, primary headaches are strongly influenced by physiological hormonal fluctuations, when nociceptive and non-nociceptive pathways are differentially activated to modulate the perception of pain.