BEING WOKE IS GOOD FOR YOU

Study reveals exposure to wildlife and forest walks helps ease symptoms of PTSD in US war veterans

A new study published in the journal Human-Animal Interactions has revealed that exposure to wildlife and forest walks can help ease the symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) in US war veterans.

CABI

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A new study published in the journal Human-Animal Interactions has revealed that exposure to wildlife and forest walks can help ease the symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) in US war veterans.

Researchers from UMass Chan Medical School studied 19 veterans with PTSD or PTSD symptoms and found that walking in the forest, assisting with wildlife care in a rehabilitation centre, seeing wildlife in a sanctuary, and bird watching improved psychological symptoms, especially reducing anxiety.

Those that took part in the near four-month study in Massachusetts were also given bird feeders to help provide a sustainable connection to wildlife once the research – which included observing animals at the Maine Wildlife Park and walking through Harvard Forest – was over. All the settings included education such as learning about bird identification at the Mass Audubon Broad Meadow Brook Conservation Center and Wildlife Sanctuary.

Veterans benefited more from their immersion in wildlife settings

Finding of the study suggest that the veterans benefited more from their immersion in wildlife settings – including coming up close with a Sulcata tortoise at the New England Wildlife Center – than a forest walk.

Dr Donna Perry, UMass Chan Medical School, said, “While many studies involving interactions between humans and other species aimed at improving psychological or physical health have involved domestic animals, few have focused on wildlife.

“We found that the response of veterans with PTSD to wildlife immersion suggests improved psychological symptoms as well as connection to nature/wildlife and increased understanding and concern for animal welfare and conservation-related issues.

“Nature-based interventions are dynamic and require a flexible design, which may be addressed through immersion experiences.”

Especially meaningful when animals chose to engage with humans

Dr Perry said the participants in the study reflected that interactions with wildlife were especially meaningful when animals chose to engage with humans.

One participant said, “Because animals are just- There's no control . . . They have their own free will. Got their own way of thinking and doing things, so if they like you . . . there's a feeling of feeling connected with nature.”

Another individual described a similar spontaneous encounter in her post study journal. “I sat on the patio and I saw a red squirrel running by. He stopped and looked at me, I thought he was so cute. I really felt connected to him.”

In some cases, participants seemed to identify with animals, such as an individual who was assisting to feed a baby grey squirrel through a syringe. In this case, a technician held the squirrel for the participant as it was reported to be “a biter.”  As she fed the squirrel the participant said, “He’s the black sheep. He’s probably related to me. He’s beautiful.”

Mutual benefits for humans and wildlife

Dr Perry said, “The findings also suggest that improvements in depression and wellbeing may be mediated through transcendent feelings in response to the human-wildlife interactions.

“The study supports that placing veterans in an environment where they can connect with animals that have also undergone loss, and suffering may foster healing in the veterans themselves.

“Being exposed to and assisting with care of injured wildlife also raises awareness of the effects of humans on the environment and may enhance conservation attitudes. This suggests that settings providing wildlife care and public education may be mutually beneficial for both human and beyond-human animals.”

The scientists say that future research with larger numbers of participants would be helpful to more deeply explore mutual benefits for humans and animals within specific realms of interaction, such as physical contact through animal care or reminiscing through the extended realm.

They add that additional studies would be also helpful to explore animal-assisted therapies in which formal therapeutic interventions are included with the wildlife immersion.

 

Full paper reference

Perry, Donna J.; Crawford, Sybil L.; Averka, Jesse J.; Mackin, Jill M.; Granger, Douglas A.; Smelson, David A, ‘Wildlife and Wellbeing: Wildlife Immersion Experiences in Veterans with PTSD,’ Human-Animal Interactions, 6 March (2025). DOI: 10.1079/hai.2025.0006

https://www.cabidigitallibrary.org/doi/10.1079/hai.2025.0006

Media enquiries

For more information and an advance copy of the paper contact:

Dr Donna Perry, UMass Chan Medical School; Tan Chingfen Graduate School of Nursing – email: DonnaJ.Perry@umassmed.edu

Wayne Coles, Senior PR Manager, CABI – email: w.coles@cabi.org

About Human—Animal Interactions

Human—Animal Interactions is an open access interdisciplinary journal devoted to the dissemination of research in all fields related to interactions between non-human animals and their human counterparts.

About CABI

CABI is an international not-for-profit organization that improves people’s lives by providing information and applying scientific expertise to solve problems in agriculture and the environment.

Through knowledge sharing and science, CABI helps address issues of global concern such as improving global food security and safeguarding the environment. We do this by helping farmers grow more and lose less of what they produce, combating threats to agriculture and the environment from pests and diseases, protecting biodiversity from invasive species, and improving access to agricultural and environmental scientific knowledge. Our 49-member countries guide and influence our core areas of work, which include development and research projects, scientific publishing, and microbial services.

We gratefully acknowledge the core financial support from our member countries (and lead agencies) including the United Kingdom (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office), China (Chinese Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs), Australia (Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research), Canada (Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada), Netherlands (Directorate-General for International Cooperation, and Switzerland (Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation). Other sources of funding include programme/project funding from development agencies, the fees paid by our member countries and profits from our publishing activities which enable CABI to support rural development and scientific research around the world.

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Journal

Human-Animal Interactions

DOI

10.1079/hai.2025.0006 

Method of Research

Experimental study

Subject of Research

People

Article Title

Wildlife and Wellbeing: Wildlife Immersion Experiences in Veterans with PTSD

Article Publication Date

6-Mar-2025

 

How footballers’ fingers and height can predict their exercise performance

New research examines the role physical characteristics play in levels of lactate produced by female professional footballers during exercise

Swansea University

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With the 2025 Euros just a few months away, attention continues to grow around women’s football. Now new research involving Swansea University is focusing on female professional footballers and the levels of lactate they produce during exercise.

Regarded as the preferred fuel for nerve and muscle cells, vigorous exercise results in the release of lactate into the blood stream but high levels may indicate that the body is in a state of stress.

Scientists are trying to find out if it is possible to predict just how much lactate a person will produce based on the physical attributes of finger length and height.

The relationship between the length of a person’s index and ring fingers, known as the 2D:4D ratio, has already been correlated with their performance in distance running, age at heart attack and severity of Covid-19.

Now Professor John Manning, of Swansea’s Applied Sports, Technology, Exercise and Medicine (A-STEM) research team, has been working with colleagues in Cyprus, Poland and Spain to monitor the performance of male and female professional footballers.

Two recent studies have shown a rapid accumulation of lactate in both male and female players during treadmill tests with running speeds up to 16 Km/h.

The team’s latest findings highlighting the females’ results have just been published by journal Early Human Development and follow on from last year’s paper examining male players.

Some footballers showed very small increases in lactate while others registered a rapid increase. In males, digit ratio or 2D:4D - the relative length of the index (or second finger) and ring finger (4th) - was the strongest predictor of lactate.

Professor Manning said: “Men with a long ring finger relative to their index finger produced little in the way of lactate. For women, there were two predictors, height and 2D:4D. Lactate levels were low for tall women and women with a long ring finger relative to their index finger. The link here is thought to be testosterone-oestrogen balance in the womb and at puberty.”

A long ring finger is a marker of higher levels of prenatal testosterone, and a long index finger is a marker of higher levels of prenatal oestrogen. Generally, in comparison to women, men have longer ring fingers, whereas in comparison to men, women have longer index fingers.

He said: “Men who have experienced high testosterone and low oestrogen (long ring fingers) before birth and women who have experienced high testosterone and low oestrogen before birth (long ring fingers) and at puberty (tall women) produced low levels of lactate in an incremental treadmill test.

“These results have implications beyond football - in sports including distance running as well as in clinical settings in which high lactate is found in serious medical conditions such as following heart attack.”

Professor Manning has pioneered work investigating relationships of 2D:4D with various measures of fertility, health, and behaviour. His most recent research has examined the connection between digit ratio and footballers’ oxygen consumption and also looked at the link between finger length and a person’s drinking habits.

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Journal

Early Human Development

DOI

10.1016/j.earlhumdev.2025.106224 

Method of Research

Randomized controlled/clinical trial

Subject of Research

People

Article Title

Is digit ratio (2D:4D) a biomarker for lactate in women? Evidence from a cardiopulmonary test on professional female footballers

 

Study highlights how population density and location shape litter levels facing UK communities

University of Plymouth

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Almost 60% more litter can be found in the UK’s coastal communities than in inland locations, according to new research.

A study, published in the journal Marine Pollution Bulletin, is the first UK-based research to investigate the effects of population density and community on the accumulation of litter in the environment.

It recruited a network of citizen scientists, comprising 97 volunteers based everywhere from the coasts of Cornwall, Cumbria and Kent to urban locations including London, Leeds and Leicester.

They were asked to carry out monthly litter picks at set locations over the space of five months, cataloguing the quantities and types of litter they found using a smartphone application.

This allowed researchers to observe trends in the litter’s accumulation and abundance, while also enabling them to explore any connections between quantities of litter and population density.

Overall, between May and September 2021, the volunteers collected just under 28,000 items including more than 9,200 pieces of hard plastic and other fragments, 9,150 items of food wrappers and other packaging, and 6,300 pieces of cigarette-related debris, including butts and lighters.

The litter density was almost 60% higher in coastal areas compared to inland regions (0.053 items per m² compared to 0.03 items m²), with urban areas consistently exhibiting more litter than rural areas in both coastal and inland locations.

However, over the course of the five-month study, coastal areas experienced a significant influx of new litter whereas levels in inland regions were either stable or decreasing.

Writing in the study, the researchers say this could be down to a combination of litter being transported to the coast from inland via rivers and storm overflows, as well as more items being dropped by holidaymakers during the summer months.

Also, while there was no significant difference in levels of litter in coastal urban and coastal rural communities, but inland urban areas had significantly more litter than their rural counterparts.

The study was carried out by scientists from the International Marine Litter Research Unit at the University of Plymouth, ZSL, Nantes Université, and the campaign group Surfers Against Sewage.

They say it highlights the importance of developing tailored waste management strategies that take different regions and communities into account.

Dr Imogen Napper, Visiting Research Fellow at the University of Plymouth, led the study with funding from the National Geographical Society. She said: “Litter pollution is a pressing environmental challenge, yet we still lack a full understanding of where it originates, how it spreads, and which solutions are most effective. To build a clearer picture, our research worked with almost 100 volunteers who tracked waste in their local areas, a demonstration of how communities can provide crucial evidence to drive change. The data revealed how geography and community type shape litter patterns, highlighting the urgent need for tailored waste strategies to be designed and delivered in different areas.”

Professor Heather Koldewey, ZSL’s Head of Ocean and FAIRER Conservation, said: "From microplastics in our drinking water to dead whale stomachs filled with discarded plastic bags, the growing amount of litter abandoned in the environment is having a global impact. At the local level, understanding the types of litter in our towns, villages and coasts helps us ramp up efforts to remove this pollution from our ocean and rivers, while also highlighting the importance of investing in means to stop it entering the environment in the first place."

Rachel Yates, Senior Communities Manager (Plastic Free Communities) at Surfers Against Sewage and one of the study’s co-authors, said: “Surfers Against Sewage has around 700 Plastic Free Communities across the UK, all working on upstream solutions to the plastic pollution crisis. To see nearly 100 ocean activists come together in this huge citizen science project – while cleaning up polluting items from our coastline, green spaces, streets and mountains – is testament to the power of community action and its critical role in research. The project results call for a need for policy change and urgent action to tackle the plastic problem. Decision-makers must implement targeted strategies that consider the differences in location highlighted by this research, and measures that tackle the worst pollutants. Now more than ever, we must see a reduction in plastic production and a concerted effort to create circular systems in the UK, and beyond. With increasing evidence to the presence of micro and nano plastics in the ocean, water, air, soil and even the human body, it's time to turn up the dial and end plastic pollution and its devastating impact.”

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Journal

Marine Pollution Bulletin

DOI

10.1016/j.marpolbul.2025.117634 

Method of Research

Experimental study

Subject of Research

Not applicable

Article Title

Citizen Science Reveals Litter Trends in the UK: Population Density Effects on Coastal and Inland Regions

Article Publication Date

6-Mar-2025

 

High temperatures could affect brain function in preadolescents

A study with more than 2,000 children has determined the short-term effects of ambient temperature on key brain networks

WE ALSO KNOW THIS FROM THE IMPACT OF CLASSROOM TEMP ON TEST RESULTS

Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal)

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Exposure to high ambient temperatures is associated with lower connectivity in three brain networks in preadolescents, suggesting that heat may impact brain function. This is the conclusion of a study led by the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal), a center supported by the ”la Caixa” Foundation, and IDIBELL, in collaboration with Erasmus University Medical Center Rotterdam (ERASMUS MC) and the Networked Biomedical Research Center (CIBER): areas of Epidemiology and Public Health (CIBERESP), and Mental Health (CIBERSAM). The results have been published in the Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry. 

The study involved 2,229 children aged 9 to 12 from the “Generation R” cohort in Rotterdam, Netherlands. Functional connectivity data from brain networks, i.e., how different regions of the brain communicate and collaborate, were assessed using resting-state magnetic resonance imaging, when the children were not performing any active tasks. Daily mean temperature estimates were obtained from the UrbClim urban climate model, developed by the Flemish Institute for Technological Research. Temperature values were calculated for the period from 2013 to 2015, assigning daily averages to each participant based on their home address.

Higher ambient temperatures during the week preceding the MRI assessment were associated with lower functional connectivity within the medial parietal, salience, and hippocampal networks, which are essential for proper brain functioning. This implies that brain areas may work less synchronously, affecting processes such as attention, memory, and decision-making. The medial parietal network is related to introspection and self-perception; the salience network detects environmental stimuli and prioritizes what deserves our attention; and the hippocampal network is critical for memory and learning.

The research shows that the association between high temperatures and lower functional connectivity was strongest on the day before the brain scan and progressively decreased on subsequent days. In contrast, low average daily temperatures were not associated with functional connectivity.

“We hypothesise that dehydration could explain our findings, as children are particularly vulnerable to fluid loss when exposed to heat, which can affect the functional connectivity of brain networks,” says Laura Granés, researcher at IDIBELL and ISGlobal and the study's lead author.

“In the current climate emergency, public health policies aimed at protecting children and adolescents from high temperatures could help mitigate potential effects on brain function,” says Mònica Guxens, ICREA researcher at ISGlobal and senior author of the study.

Implications for mental health

Although brain function alterations have been suggested as a possible mechanism linking temperature and mental health, no study to date has examined the effects of ambient temperature on functional brain networks.  In another recent study, the same research team found that exposure to cold and heat can affect psychiatric symptoms such as anxiety, depression and attention problems. In addition, other studies have linked lower connectivity within the brain’s salience network to suicidal ideation and self-harming behaviors in adolescents with depression, as well as to anxiety disorders.

“Given the role of the salience network in suicidal ideation, our findings raise a new hypothesis: high temperatures could decrease the functional connectivity of this network, indirectly contributing to a higher risk of suicide in individuals with pre-existing mental health conditions,” explains Carles Soriano-Mas, researcher at IDIBELL and the University of Barcelona and one of the study's authors. “While we do not propose that these connectivity changes, triggered by heat exposure, directly induce suicidal behaviors, they could act as a trigger in vulnerable individuals,” adds the researcher. 

Reference:

Granés L., Kusters M. S. W., Ballester J., Essers E., Petricola S., López-Vicente M., Iñiguez C., Tiemeier H., Muetzel R. L., Soriano-Mas C., Guxens M. Exposure to Ambient Temperature and Functional Connectivity of Brain Resting-State Networks in Preadolescents. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaac.2024.11.023

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Journal

Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry

DOI

10.1016/j.jaac.2024.11.023 

Method of Research

Imaging analysis

Subject of Research

People

Article Title

Exposure to Ambient Temperature and Functional Connectivity of Brain Resting-State Networks in Preadolescents

 

New WSU study shows how scarcity pricing helps 'cult wineries' drive demand

Washington State University

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PULLMAN, Wash. — When a product is hard to buy, more people want it. A new Washington State University study reveals that wineries producing “cult wines” can boost long-term profits by keeping their prices low, creating excess demand that fuels their brand’s prestige and future revenue.

Economists in WSU’s School of Economic Sciences (SES) analyzed data on cult wines: rare, luxury bottles only available to consumers who secure a spot on a winery’s allocation list or purchase the product via the secondary market. The study, published in the Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, focused solely on Washington, Oregon and California wineries with full allocation lists. 

“The high-cost cult wine market is very intriguing,” said study co-author Jill McCluskey, WSU Regents Professor and SES director. “As an economist, I wondered why these wineries didn’t eliminate their allocation lists by raising the prices of their high-quality products. I knew there was a reason, and that it had to be profit-maximizing over time.”

The researchers found that when the wineries offered their cult wines below market equilibrium price — the point where market supply equals demand — more people wanted to buy them. This caused demand to outweigh supply, resulting in perceived scarcity among consumers.

While this “scarcity-pricing” strategy was not profit-maximizing for wineries in the short term, the study demonstrated that it increased demand for cult wines in the long run, meaning more people would be willing to buy the product even at a higher price. That combination of excess demand and higher prices led to increased revenue for winemakers.

“It’s important for consumers, producers, and policymakers to understand how markets work, especially when they are somewhat nonstandard,” said Ron Mittelhammer, study co-author and SES Regents Professor. “Our research provides a defensible economic rationale for the pricing behavior that is used by some cult wine producers. This behavior might otherwise appear unusual and potentially in need of investigation by market regulators.”

Scarcity pricing is applicable to other markets like limited-edition whiskeys, tickets for a winning sports team, or a popular restaurant where it’s challenging to secure a reservation, according to McCluskey. In each scenario, consumers desire a high-value product or experience that is limited in supply.

“What’s important is that the product is high quality,” she said. “While cult wine producers can use this research to inform their pricing strategies, not everyone would benefit from scarcity pricing.”

The study also examined the role of the secondary market, where cult wines are often resold for a significantly higher prices than their release prices. While the secondary market sellers receive the short-term profits, the wineries still reap the long-term benefits as demand increases over time.

“We looked at the price wedge, which is the difference between the secondary market price and the release price paid by those on the allocation list,” McCluskey said. “We wanted to see how the price wedge shifted the price of the wines during the next period. We also found that the bigger that price difference is, the more the demand shifts out over time.”

The researchers discovered that the greater the difference between the secondary market price and the release price, the higher the wine’s secondary market price will be the next year. As secondary market prices increased, wineries were also prompted to increase the release prices of their cult wines in future periods. However, for the scarcity-pricing strategy to work, winemakers had to be mindful of maintaining excess demand through appropriate pricing.

“The price of the allocation list wines must stay below the equilibrium level,” McCluskey said. “The secondary market price is really the equilibrium price because that’s what the market is paying.”

Wine industry economics have long interested McCluskey. In addition to researching cult wines, she has studied sustainability labels and their impact on consumer demand and willingness to pay a premium for wines. Going forward, she plans to take a closer look at other consumer behaviors and their implications for the industry.

“I’ve always been interested in wine because it’s connected to place and it’s a differentiated product,” McCluskey said. “The industry is currently facing some challenges. I hope to research how health preferences, environmental factors, and even cannabis legalization are influencing consumer demand for wine.”

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Journal

Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization

DOI

10.1016/j.jebo.2024.106873