Psychotic energy drink warning...

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Psychotic energy drink warning;;;


Caffeinated energy drinks may trigger a psychotic episode in people with mental illness, a New Zealand expert has warned after documenting the case of a young man with schizophrenia.

The 27-year-old man had two separate psychotic events a week apart linked to his intake of the drink Demon Shot.

Auckland University Associate Professor Psychiatry Professor David Menkes said these events occurred at a time when the man, who was prone to persecutory thought and hallucinations, was otherwise responding well to anti-psychotic medication.

In the first instance, the man drank two 60ml bottles of Demon Shot and later reported experiencing recurrent thoughts, over several hours, of "people wanting to harm him".

"One week later, he drank three Demon Shots over 15 minutes," Prof Menkes said.

"He was observed to be emotionally labile (moving from one point to another) - initially laughing and talkative, later becoming restless, withdrawn and argumentative."

Other symptoms included a rapid pulse and insomnia, which took 24 hours to subside.

The man described again having had paranoid thoughts over several hours and an experience "consistent with a psychotic episode".

"The fact that our patient had the same reaction on two distinct occasions is important," Prof Menkes said.

There were known cases where a high intake of caffeine could exacerbate a psychotic condition, although this appeared to be the first linked to consuming energy drinks.

The man's case was "evidence that some patients with treated schizophrenia may be vulnerable to exacerbation of their illness by caffeine-containing energy drinks", he said.

Demon Shot drinks are widely available in Australia and New Zealand and they contain 200mg of caffeine plus taurine, B vitamins and guarana, which may have other stimulant properties.

According to its website, each Demon Shot provides a "massive energy hit that delivers up to six hours of concentrated mental and physical responsiveness".

The drinks also carry a warning which includes it should not be consumed by people sensitive to caffeine, and no more than two drinks a day.

The case is detailed in a letter published in the latest edition of the Medical Journal of Australia.

http://huttriver.blog.co.uk

Acknowledgements - NZPA

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Daily Bulletin: Short Breaks Boost Memory...

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Daily Health Bulletin:

Short Breaks Boost Memory:

When it comes to giving your brain an edge in digesting new information, and perhaps improving your memory, a study by researchers at New York University to be published in the January 28, 2010 issue of journal Neuron finds that resting while awake, as you might during a coffee break, a walk or as you meditate, helps consolidate memory and improves recall.

Earlier work has shown that processes that improve memory go on while we sleep, but this is the first study to look at what happens during times of so-called wakeful rest.

“Taking a coffee break after class can actually help you retain that information you just learned,” explains researcher Lila Davachi, PhD, assistant professor of psychology at the Center for Neural Science at New York University. “Your brain wants you to tune out other tasks so you can tune in to what you just learned.”

For the project, 16 adults, aged 22 to 34, were shown pairs of images (a human face and an object, or a human face and a scene) and told to associate the object with the person in the picture, but not told they’d be tested on this later on.

This learning period was followed by a time of wakeful rest (about 8 minutes) where the subjects were told only to relax and think about whatever they liked. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was used to measure the brain activity before, during and after the testing.

The researchers found that the activity between the hippocampus and neocortex – two areas of the brain known to be involved in memory and processing – increased as the subjects were shown the images and during the resting phase as well.

The subjects who had the greatest increases in activity between the two brain areas while resting and looking at the images did better on associative memory tests than those who had weaker reactions.

It seems the greater the activity in the two regions of the brain, the stronger the memory.

“Your brain is working for you when you’re resting, so rest is important for memory and cognitive function,” Davachi says. “This is something we don’t appreciate much, especially when today’s information technologies keep us working around the clock.”

So, could taking a short break and letting the brain relax when studying for an exam or getting ready for a business presentation be a better way to learn and memorize?

Study leader Dr. Davachi says, “People tend to think that if we want to remember something, you should do something active, like rehearse the material. And you can do that – we know it helps, but my suspicion is just letting your mind wander is going to be okay.”

For now researchers can’t say that one type of wakeful rest is better than another for enhancing memory. Your best bet might be to sit quietly and do nothing, just letting the information sink in.

The researchers involved in this work hope their findings will be of value to anyone trying to improve their memory, and help science further understand memory and how it works.

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