The study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, found that people who used their smartphones for more than two hours a day were 10% more likely to develop attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). .

Although the disorder primarily concerns young children, smartphone-induced distractions such as social media, text messages, music, movies, and television cause ADHD among adults.

Researchers believe that social media bombards people with constant information and causes them to frequently take time off from work to check their phones.

People who spend their free time using technology are unable to rest their minds and focus on a single task, and common distractions shorten adults’ attention spans and make them easily distracted. It can be said that there is a possibility.

“In today’s society, people are forced to constantly multitask, and widespread use of technology may lead to screen addiction and shortened attention spans,” said John Ratey, assistant professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. “There is,” he said.

Approximately 366 million adults worldwide currently have ADHD, said Russell Ramsey, co-founder of the Penn Adult ADHD Treatment Research Program at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.

The study shows that technology affects brain function and behavior, leading to decreased emotional and social intelligence, technology addiction, social isolation, poor brain development, and increased symptoms of ADHD, including sleep problems. There is evidence to suggest that.

How can fasting prevent infections and chronic diseases?

Scientists have discovered a new way that fasting can help reduce inflammation, a potentially harmful side effect of the body’s immune system that underlies many chronic diseases.

In a paper published in the journal Cell Reports, a team of scientists from the University of Cambridge explain how fasting increases levels of a chemical called arachidonic acid in the blood, which protects against inflammation.

Scientists say this may also help explain some of the beneficial effects of drugs such as aspirin.

Scientists have long known that our diets, especially high-calorie Western diets, can increase the risk of diseases associated with chronic inflammation in the body, such as obesity, type 2 diabetes, and heart disease. I did.

Inflammation is the body’s natural response to injury or infection, but this process is stimulated through other mechanisms, including something called an “inflammasome,” which acts as an alarm within the body’s cells and fires when it senses damage. It causes inflammation to protect the body. . However, inflammasomes can unintentionally cause inflammation. One of its functions is to destroy unwanted cells, which can release cellular contents into the body and cause inflammation.

Professor Claire Bryant, from the University of Cambridge’s medical school, said: “We are very interested in trying to understand the causes of chronic inflammation, and in particular the role of inflammasomes, in the context of many human diseases. Masosomes, especially ‘NLRP3’, are of great importance in many major diseases such as obesity and atherosclerosis, but also in diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and many other chronic diseases. . This is especially true for older people in Western countries. ”

Fasting can help reduce inflammation, but it’s not clear why.

To get a clear answer, a team led by Professor Bryant and colleagues from the University of Cambridge and the National Institute for Health Research in the US studied blood samples from a group of 21 volunteers. They ate a meal containing 500 calories, then fasted for 24 hours, then ate a second meal. This also contains 500 calories.

The research team found that restricting calorie intake increases levels of a fat known as arachidonic acid. Fat is a molecule that plays important roles in our bodies, such as storing energy and transmitting information between cells. When a person eats again, arachidonic acid levels decrease.

When researchers studied the effects of arachidonic acid on immune cells grown in the lab, they found that arachidonic acid reduced the activity of the NLRP3 inflammasome.

This surprised the researchers, as it was previously thought that arachidonic acid was associated with increased levels of inflammation, rather than decreased levels.

Professor Bryant added: “This is about how changing our diet, particularly through fasting, protects us from inflammation, a harmful form that underlies many diseases associated with high-calorie Western diets. “This provides a possible explanation for this,” he added.

He added: “Since the effects of arachidonic acid are short-term, it is too early to tell whether fasting will prevent diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease, but our research shows that A growing body of scientific research shows the benefits of calorie restriction. This suggests that fasting “when used regularly over a long period of time may help reduce the chronic inflammation associated with these conditions, which is certainly an attractive idea.”

The findings also point to one mechanism by which a high-calorie diet increases the risk of these diseases.

Studies have shown that some patients on a high-fat diet have increased levels of inflammasome activity.

Scientists say the discovery could provide evidence that so-called nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, such as aspirin, work in unexpected ways. Normally, arachidonic acid is broken down rapidly in the body, but aspirin stops this process, leading to increased levels of arachidonic acid, which may reduce inflammasome activity and reduce inflammation. there is.

Professor Bryant said: ‘To reduce the risk of long-term illness, it is important to emphasize that aspirin should not be taken without medical guidance as it can have side effects such as stomach bleeding when taken for long periods of time. It’s important,” he emphasized.