The IAA One Minute Blog

Working out may help dry, itchy eyes, a new study suggests.

New Study on Dry Eye

Every time you blink, your eyes get covered in tear film, a protective coating that’s crucial for maintaining healthy eye function. Healthy tear film is made of three layers—oil, water and proteins that work together to hydrate the eye surface and protect against irritants like dust and dirt.

When any part of the tear film becomes unstable, the eye surface can develop dry spots causing symptoms like itching or stinging and burning sensation.  

The small study divided 52 participants into two groups—athletes and non-athletes. The athletes exercised on a treadmill at least five times a week, while non-athletes did so no more than once a week.

The researchers assessed the moisture level of participant’s eyes before and five minutes after each workout.

While the athletes had the greatest increase in tear quality and tear film stability after their workouts, the non-athletes also saw significant increase, the findings showed.

The report was published in the journal “Experimental Eye Research.”

Signs and Symptoms of Dry Eye

With so many people spending a lot of time looking at screens, dry eye symptoms are on the rise. Symptoms usually affect both eyes and may include:

• A sensation of having something in your eyes
• A stinging, burning or scratching sensation in your eyes
• Blurred vision or eye fatigue
• Difficulty wearing contact lenses
• Difficulty with nighttime driving
• Eye redness
• Sensitivity to light
• Stringy mucus in or around your eyes
• Watery eyes, which is the body’s response to the irritation of dry eyes

How can you prevent dry eye?

• Add moisture to the air: In winter a humidifier can add moisture to the air.
• Avoid air blowing in your eyes: Don’t direct hair dryers, car heaters, air conditioners, or fans toward your eyes.
• Consider wearing wraparound sunglasses or protective eyewear
• Position your computer screen below eye level: If your computer screen is above eye level, you’ll open your eyes wider to view the screen. Position your computer screen below eye level so that you won’t open your eyes as wide. This may help slow the evaporation of your tears between eye blinks.
• Take eye breaks during long tasks: If you’re reading or doing another task that requires visual concentration, take periodic eye breaks. Close your eyes for a few minutes or blink repeatedly for a few seconds to help spread your tears evenly over your eyes.

You can also talk to your doctor about using artificial tears to help keep your eyes lubricated.

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It is important to keep preschoolers away from screens and other sources of light in the hour before bedtime if you want them to get a good night’s sleep, researchers say.

Turn off Light Sources One Hour Before Bed

According to new research even a little bit of light exposure can trigger a sharp drop in the sleep-promoting hormone melatonin.

The study had 36 healthy children ages three to five, wear a wrist monitor that tracked their sleep and light exposure for nine days. For the first seven days parents kept the children on a stable sleep schedule to normalize their body clocks. On the eighth day the researchers placed plastic bags on the windows and kept the lights dimmed in the children’s homes to create an environment with minimal light. On the last day of the study, the children were asked to play games on an illuminated table in the hour before bedtime. The table’s light intensity varied between children, ranging from five lux to 5,000 lux (one lux is defined as the light from a candle that is about three feet away).

Saliva samples revealed that melatonin was 70 percent to 99 percent lower on the night when children were exposed to the light table than the previous nights with minimal light, the study authors said.

There was little to no association between how bright the light was in the last night and the decline in melatonin levels.

The findings showed that melatonin fell an average of 78 percent in response to light at five to 40 lux, which is much dimmer than typical room light. Even 50 minutes after the light was turned off melatonin did not rebound in most children.

The study was published in the “Journal of Pineal Research.”   

Why are children so sensitive to light? It is because children’s eyes have larger pupils and more transparent lenses than adults, which means light streams into them more freely, researchers noted.

Start Good Sleep Habits

Create good sleep habits for your children from the start:

1. Keep a regular daily routine: The same waking time, meal times, nap times, and play times will help your child feel secure and comfortable, and help with a smooth bedtime.
2. Be active during the day: Make sure your kids have interesting and varied activities during the day, including physical activity and fresh air.
3. Monitor screen time: The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends keeping alls screens out of children’s bedrooms, especially at night. To prevent sleep disruption, turn off all screens at least one hour before bedtime.
4.  Create a sleep supportive environment: Dim the lights prior to bedtime and control the temperature in the home.
5. Don’t start giving solids before about six months of age: Starting solid food sooner will not help your baby sleep through the night.
6. Avoid over scheduling: In addition to homework, many children today have scheduled evening activities that pose challenges to getting a good night’s sleep. 
7. Learn to recognize sleep problems: The most common sleep problems in children include difficulty falling asleep, nighttime awakenings, snoring, stalling and resisting going to bed, sleep apnea, and loud or heavy breathing while sleeping.
8. Talk to your child’s teacher or childcare provider: Talk to them about your child’s alertness during the day. Sleep problems may manifest in the daytime too. A child with not enough or poor quality sleep may have difficulty paying attention or “zoning out” in school.
9. Talk to your child’s pediatrician about sleep: Discuss your child’s sleep habits and problems with your pediatrician, as most sleep problems are easily treated.   

Making sleep a priority shows your children that it’s part of living a healthy lifestyle.

What IAA has to Say

Insurance Administrator of America knows that sleep plays an important role in good health.Keep all of your family in good “sleep” health. IAA wants you to sleep tight and turn off all the lights!

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People who sit and watch TV at least four hours daily have a 35 percent higher chance of getting potentially fatal blood clots than people who watch TV for 2.5 hours or less per day, a new study says.

New Study

The study looked at the health information from three previously published studies of 131,421 adults aged 40 and older with no history of venous thromboembolism, or VTE. The participants self-reported the amount of TV they watched and were labeled as prolonged viewers (watching at least four hours daily) and never seldom viewers (less than 2.5 hours daily).

Over a period of five to 20 years, 964 participants got VTE. The condition includes pulmonary embolism, a blood clot in the lungs, as well as deep vein thrombosis, a blood clot in the legs that can cause pulmonary embolism.

Those who said they watched TV four or more hours a day were 1.35 times more likely to have VTE than those who watched TV an average of 2.5 hours per day, the study said.  

The study was published in the “European Journal of Preventative Cardiology.”

While the study found a link between TV watching and blood clots, that doesn’t prove TV watching causes the blood clots, the researchers stressed. But the link occurred despite age, sex, body mass index, and physical activity.

What is VTE?

VTE refers to a blood clot that starts in a vein. It is the third leading vascular diagnosis after heart attack and stroke, affecting between 300,000 to 600,000 Americans each year. There are two types:

• Deep vein thrombosis (DVT): Deep vein thrombosis is a clot in a deep vein, usually in the leg. DVT sometimes affects the arms or other veins.
• Pulmonary embolism (PE): A pulmonary embolism occurs when a DVT clot breaks free from a vein wall, travels to the lungs and then blocks some or all of the blood supply. Blood clots originating in the thigh are more likely to break off and travel to the lungs than blood clots in the lower legs or other parts of the body.

The most common triggers for VTE are surgery, cancer, immobilization, and hospitalization.  

What IAA has to Say

Insurance Administrator of America knows that binge watching television is a fun way to past the time. But it is important for your health to get and up and moving too. IAA encourages you to find a balance!

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Adding less than a tablespoon of olive oil to their diet lowers a person’s risk of death from heart disease or lung disease, as well as brain disorders and cancer, a new study found.

Choosing Olive Oil

Compared to the participants who rarely or never consumed olive oil, those who added one-half tablespoon or more to their diet daily had a 19 percent lower risk of death from heart disease data showed. They were also 17 percent less likely to die from cancer and 18 percent less likely to die from lung disease, the researchers said. It was also associated with a 29 percent lower risk of death from neurological diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.

In addition, substituting 10 grams or just under one tablespoon per day of olive oil for the same amount of margarine, butter, mayonnaise, and dairy, lowered a person’s risk for early death from all causes by up to 34 percent, they said.

However, this was not the case when substituting olive oil for other vegetable oils, the researchers said.

Using participants from the Nurses’ Health Study and the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study (two ongoing assessments of adults in the United States) the team analyzed data for 60,582 women and 31,801 men over a 28 year period.

Participants’ diets were assessed by a questionnaire every four years, and they were asked how often on average they consumed specific foods and types of fats and oils, as well as what brand or types of oils they used for cooking and eating.

Consumption of other vegetable oils was calculated based on the participants reported oil brand and type of fat used for cooking at home. The intake of dairy and other fats and nutrients was also measured they said.

Olive oil consumption increased from an average of 1.6 grams per day at the start of the study period in 1990, to about four grams per day, or about one-third of a tablespoon in 2010, the data showed. Over the same period margarine consumption dropped to about four grams per day from about 12 grams per day, or nearly one tablespoon while the intake of other fats remained stable, the researchers said.        

Those with higher olive oil consumption tended to be more physically active, were less likely to smoke and had a greater consumption of fruits and vegetables compared to those with lower intake, the data showed.

All participants were free of cardiovascular disease or cancer at the beginning of the study.

This is the first long-term observational study on olive oil consumption and mortality in the U.S. 

The study was published by the “Journal of The American College of Cardiology.”

Health Benefits of Olive Oil

Incorporating more olive oil into your dishes can potentially help your health:

• Brain health: Olive oil appears to prevent mild cognitive impairment.
• Cancer prevention: Several studies have shown a reduced risk of cancer for those eating a diet high in olive oil. The best evidence was for the prevention of breast cancer and for cancers of the digestive system. Olive oil contains antioxidants that could be protective against some cancers.
• Diabetes prevention
• Heart health: Olive oil is a monounsaturated fatty acid (MUFA). Researchers have found that MUFAs lower total cholesterol and LDL, the “bad” cholesterol. The polyphenols in olive oil could be responsible for this effect.  
• Vascular health: One study found that olive oil has a positive effect on the vascular system, which includes the blood vessels that carry blood through the body.
• Who says food can’t be tasty and healthy?

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A blood test may help spot pregnant women who are at risk for developing preeclampsia—dangerously high blood pressure during pregnancy—before it becomes a threat to both the mother and child.

New Study on Preeclampsia

Preeclampsia occurs in about one in 25 pregnancies in the United States and according to the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, rates appear to be on the rise.

When researchers used machine learning to analyze genetic material known as cell-free RNA in the blood of mothers, babies and placentas, they identified 75 percent of women who would go onto develop preeclampsia about three months before any symptoms appeared.

The first step for researchers was to decipher the patterns of gene expression in normal pregnancy. Once they knew the patterns of normal genes throughout pregnancy, it became possible to determine which patients deviated from normal. There are seven genes when activated that indicate an increased risk of developing preeclampsia.

The study involved RNA in more than 2,500 blood samples from 1,840 women in the U.S., Europe and Africa. Factors such as age, race and maternal body mass did not affect how well the test worked.

The findings were published in the journal “Nature.”

Currently, diagnosing preeclampsia involves testing urine for protein, measuring blood pressure and doing other tests if it is suspected. Treatment can involve bed rest, medication, monitoring at the hospital, or inducing labor near the end of pregnancy.

The study’s senior author, Dr. Thomas McElrath hopes that the test could also be used for the detection of other pregnancy complications.

What is Preeclampsia?

Preeclampsia is a pregnancy complication characterized by high blood pressure and signs of damage to another organ system. Preeclampsia usually begins after 20 weeks of pregnancy in women whose blood pressure has been normal.

Preeclampsia sometimes develops without any symptoms. Signs and symptoms of preeclampsia may include:

• Changes in vision, including temporary loss of vision, blurred vision or light sensitivity
• Decreased levels of platelets in your blood
• Decreased urine output 
• Excess protein in your urine or additional signs of kidney problems
• Impaired liver function
• Nausea or vomiting
• Severe headaches
• Shortness of breath caused by fluid in your lungs
• Upper abdominal pain, usually under your ribs or right side

Sudden weight gain or swelling particularly in your face and hands—may occur with preeclampsia. However, these can also be typical of pregnancy.

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