CP v2

Tag: Mental health

  • Study finds long COVID brain fog is reported far more in the U.S., raising questions about care and stigma

    Study finds long COVID brain fog is reported far more in the U.S., raising questions about care and stigma

    An international study comparing long COVID patients across four countries found that people treated in the United States reported markedly higher rates of brain fog and mental health symptoms than patients in India, Nigeria, or Colombia.

    Researchers say the gap is unlikely to be explained by biology alone and may instead reflect differences in culture, stigma, and access to diagnosis and follow-up care.

    The analysis tracked more than 3 100 adults with persistent neurological symptoms after COVID-19 who were evaluated at academic medical centers in Chicago, Medellín, Lagos, and Jaipur.

    Most participants were not hospitalized during their initial infection, allowing researchers to focus on long-term symptoms among people who experienced milder acute illness.

    Brain fog reports varied sharply

    Among non-hospitalized participants, 86% of U.S. patients reported brain fog, compared with 63% in Nigeria, 62% in Colombia, and 15% in India.

    Patterns for depression and anxiety were similarly uneven, with nearly three-quarters of non-hospitalized U.S. patients reporting these symptoms, far above rates reported at other sites.

    Investigators cautioned that higher reported symptom rates do not necessarily mean Americans have more severe disease.

    They argue that patients in some settings may be less likely to label cognitive problems as a medical issue or may have fewer opportunities to be screened and treated.

    Culture and healthcare access may matter

    Senior author Dr. Igor Koralnik of Northwestern University said it is more culturally accepted in the U.S. and Colombia to discuss mental health and cognitive changes.

    He added that stigma, health literacy, and limited availability of mental health providers could reduce reporting in other countries, masking the true burden.

    Across all regions, commonly reported neurological complaints included fatigue, headache, dizziness, muscle pain, sleep problems, and sensory disturbances such as numbness or tingling.

    The team said the findings underscore the need for culturally sensitive screening tools and more consistent long COVID follow-up, especially where care is harder to access.

    The study was published in Frontiers in Human Neuroscience and adds to growing evidence that long COVID can disrupt daily function and work capacity long after infection.

    Researchers involved in the project are also testing cognitive rehabilitation approaches for long COVID brain fog in partner sites, using shared protocols to compare outcomes.

  • Warm hugs and the brain: New thermoception research reveals how temperature shapes body awareness and mood

    Warm hugs and the brain: New thermoception research reveals how temperature shapes body awareness and mood

    New neuroscience research is sharpening the picture of why a warm hug can feel uniquely calming, suggesting that temperature signals from the skin help the brain maintain a stable sense of the body. A recent review argues that thermoception, the ability to sense warmth and cold, plays a larger role in emotion and self-awareness than previously assumed.

    Published in Trends in Cognitive Sciences, the review brings together evidence from psychology, neuroscience and clinical studies to show that temperature is not just about comfort or survival. Instead, thermal cues appear to influence how strongly people experience their body as their own, a process often described as body ownership.

    Temperature as a body-brain signal

    Researchers highlight that thermoception works alongside touch and internal bodily signals to shape moment-to-moment awareness of the self. Warmth in particular is framed as a biologically meaningful cue of safety and care, learned early in life and reinforced through social contact.

    Laboratory work has linked warm, gentle contact to neural pathways that feed into brain regions involved in interoception, including the insular cortex. These circuits help integrate what the body feels from the outside with internal state, supporting emotional regulation during close social interactions.

    Links to mental health conditions

    The review points to clinical observations in which disrupted body awareness is common, including depression, anxiety, trauma-related disorders and eating disorders. In these settings, people may describe feeling detached from their body or less certain about bodily sensations.

    Studies in conditions such as stroke, anorexia nervosa and body integrity dysphoria suggest that altered thermal perception can occur alongside disturbances in body ownership. The authors argue this overlap makes temperature-sensing a promising, if underused, lens for understanding symptoms that involve disconnection from the body.

    From therapy to prosthetics

    Beyond explaining everyday comfort, the authors suggest thermoception research could inform sensory-based approaches in rehabilitation and mental health care. Better mapping of skin-to-brain temperature pathways may help clinicians identify vulnerabilities and tailor interventions that work through controlled sensory input.

    Engineers could also apply these insights to prosthetics, where adding realistic thermal feedback may improve how naturally an artificial limb is experienced. The review further notes that more frequent exposure to extreme heat and cold could affect mood and stress, making temperature an emerging topic in public health research.

    In practical terms, the science helps explain why warm social touch can be grounding: thermal and tactile signals arrive together, reinforcing the brain’s model of the body in a context associated with safety. That combination may be one reason a brief, warm hug can feel like both physical comfort and emotional reassurance.

  • Why Old Buildings Can Feel Unsettling: Researchers Point to Infrasound and Rising Stress Hormones

    Why Old Buildings Can Feel Unsettling: Researchers Point to Infrasound and Rising Stress Hormones

    That uneasy feeling many people report in older buildings may have a measurable physical trigger, according to new research into infrasound, a type of low-frequency vibration that sits below the threshold of human hearing.

    Scientists say these vibrations can be produced by everyday sources such as ventilation systems, traffic, and industrial machinery, and may be especially common in basements where aging pipes and mechanical equipment can generate persistent low-frequency motion.

    In a controlled experiment published in Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience, researchers tested whether people could detect infrasound and whether it affected mood. The team focused on 18 Hz, a frequency below 20 Hz that most people cannot consciously hear.

    The study involved 36 participants who sat alone in a room while listening to either calming or unsettling music. For half of the group, hidden subwoofers also generated infrasound during the session.

    Afterward, participants rated how they felt and whether they believed infrasound had been present, and researchers collected saliva samples to measure cortisol, a hormone associated with the body’s stress response. The key question was whether the body would react even when the sound could not be consciously identified.

    Participants exposed to infrasound showed higher salivary cortisol levels and reported feeling more irritable and less engaged, the researchers found. They were also more likely to describe the music as sad, despite being unable to reliably tell whether infrasound had been playing.

    A hidden factor behind haunted vibes

    Researchers argue the results help explain why some spaces feel disturbing without an obvious cause. In an old building, low-frequency vibrations from ventilation or plumbing may subtly influence mood, increasing tension without providing a clear sensory signal to blame.

    The team noted that expectations can shape how people interpret discomfort, such as attributing agitation to paranormal activity after being told a building is haunted. In that context, infrasound offers a non-supernatural mechanism that still produces real, measurable effects.

    What the study does not prove

    The researchers cautioned that the study was relatively small and tested a single frequency over a short exposure, leaving open questions about how different frequencies, combinations, and longer durations might affect people. Real-world infrasound is rarely a clean tone, and its intensity can vary widely by environment.

    They also emphasized that the biological pathway is not yet clear, even though the hormonal and mood shifts were detectable. Future work is expected to examine a broader range of conditions and to track responses during exposure, not only afterward.

    Why long-term exposure matters

    Cortisol plays a normal role in helping the body respond to challenges, but sustained elevation has been linked in broader medical research to health risks, including effects on sleep, mood, and cardiovascular function. The study adds to concerns that chronic, unnoticed low-frequency noise could contribute to ongoing stress in some settings.

    Researchers say clearer evidence could eventually inform building design choices and noise guidelines, particularly around mechanical systems that generate low-frequency vibrations. For now, they suggest that if a room feels inexplicably tense, the cause may be structural and mechanical rather than mysterious.