Most Americans are doing one nightly activity that's wrecking their sleep, expert says

If you’re not sleeping well, there could be a variety of reasons — but one habit stands out as the biggest culprit.

Dr. Wendy Troxel, a licensed clinical psychologist and senior behavioral scientist at RAND based in Utah, revealed that phone use at night is the activity that is most likely to have a negative effect on slumber.

"Most people are aware of this, but probably the No. 1 habit that's contributing to interrupted sleep, and poor-quality sleep, in Americans is the use of phones at night, particularly in bed," she said in an interview with Fox News Digital.

"About 90% of Americans are using their phones in bed, and as much as I would like to tell everybody to remove the phone entirely from the bedroom, I realize that ship has probably sailed by now."

This disruption is driven by both blue light exposure and the stimulating content on phones, according to Troxel.

"There is blue light emitted from our devices, and blue light can suppress the hormone melatonin, which is the hormone of darkness."

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"But it's not just the blue light that is causing sleep disruptions from our phones. It's really the stimulating content that we're consuming … social media, which is designed to be addictive, so that you can't put that phone down," she added.

This content is also "very emotionally activating," Troxel noted, which is "antithetical to the state we want to be in as we approach sleep."

To counteract attachment to phones, the sleep expert recommends setting a boundary with one simple rule.

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"I recommend that you try to keep your phone more than arms' distance away from you while in bed," she advised. "And set a rule for yourself — if you're going to use the phone, don't do it in bed. In fact, make your feet be on the floor if you're going to use that phone."

Setting this boundary creates "behavioral friction," according to Troxel.

"As a clinical psychologist, I work with people to help them … break habits that aren't serving them," she said. "Having that little bit of behavioral friction makes the habit of immediately grabbing for the phone and scrolling while in bed a little more difficult."

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"And when that automatic behavior is a little more difficult, it's less likely to occur."

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Giant golden spiders could spread this summer; experts downplay health risk

Large, palm-sized spiders are spinning massive golden webs across porches and power lines, and, according to experts, they’re here to stay.

The Joro spider, which has a leg span up to 4 inches and markings of neon yellow, blue-black and red, was first recorded in Georgia in 2013.

Since its arrival — likely as a hitchhiker on a shipping container or an airplane from Asia, experts say — the arachnid has been steadily marching north. 

DOZENS SICKENED AS POTENTIALLY DEADLY FUNGUS SPREADS IN SOUTHERN STATE

The spiders have so far been spotted in Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee. 

They are expected to spread throughout eastern North America, at least as far north as Pennsylvania and possibly further in warmer, coastal areas, according to Penn State.

To travel, the spider uses a technique called "ballooning," in which hatchlings release fine silk threads that catch air currents and carry them over long distances.

Ian Williams, an entomologist with Orkin, said he counted 200 adult spiders by September of last year on his one-acre property near Atlanta.

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"They're quite intimidating looking spiders, and they make very large webs," he told Fox News Digital. "The webbing itself, if it catches the sunlight, has a golden hue to it. And it's very strong."

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Despite the arachnid's striking appearance, experts agree that people shouldn't panic. Research shows the Joro is among the "shyest" spiders ever documented. When disturbed, they often sits motionless for over an hour rather than attacking.

"While they're large spiders, they don't have large fangs. And, so, it's difficult for them to bite humans," Williams noted.

Even in the rare event of a nip, the expert said the venom is weak, comparable to a localized bee sting, and carries "no medical importance."

As an invasive species, the Joro’s impact is still being weighed by scientists.

"One of the big concerns is that they potentially out-compete native species of spiders," Williams said. 

A prolific hunter, the Joro spider catches everything from mosquitoes to large, meaty insects like cicadas. It is unclear whether it steals food from native garden spiders.

To prevent Joro spiders from nesting on your porch or property, experts recommend using a broom or long pole to knock the web down.

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"Spiders may get the message, 'Hey, I'm not going to keep remaking my same web in the same area,'" Williams said.

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Physical removal is more effective than pesticides, which often miss the spiders in their high, open-air webs.

For those who spot a Joro spider in a new area, experts suggest logging the sighting on apps like iNaturalist to help researchers track their northern migration.

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Another state bans 'gas station heroin' as officials warn of deadly risks

→ 'Gas station heroin' banned in another state amid nationwide crackdowns

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→ Cannabis benefits called into question in major study

→ 'Call a Boomer' payphones help cure loneliness across generations

→ Eating meat tied to lower dementia risk, study suggests

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Common medical condition seen years before dementia develops, study reveals

New research has identified an association between late-onset dementia and certain infections.

The study, published in the journal PLOS Medicine, investigated the link between the two, exploring whether the connection could stem from other health issues stemming from severe infections.

Researchers at the University of Helsinki, Finland, considered 170 common hospital-treated diseases that occurred one to 21 years before diagnosis in more than 65,000 patients with dementia aged 65 and older.

LOWER DEMENTIA RISK LINKED TO ROUTINE VACCINATION IN MAJOR NEW ANALYSIS

After narrowing the list down to 29 diseases showing the strongest link to dementia, two were infections – cystitis (a bacterial/urinary tract infection) and general bacterial infection.

The other diseases were non-infectious, including mental disorders as well as digestive, endocrine, cardiovascular and neurological diseases, as well as injuries.

Nearly half (47%) of dementia cases came after one of the 29 identified diseases. 

Even after adjusting for these diseases, the link between dementia and infection remained intact, the researchers found. These infections typically occurred about five to 6-½ years before dementia diagnosis.

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Those with hospital-treated cystitis and bacterial infection, for example, had about a 19% higher rate of late-onset dementia.

Overall, the findings "support the possibility that severe infections increase dementia risk," the researchers concluded.

As the development of dementia often takes "years or even decades," the findings suggest that severe infections "might accelerate underlying cognitive decline," the study authors commented in a press release.

The lack of baseline cognitive assessment and clinical examination data before dementia diagnoses posed some limitations to the study. Infection treatment data was also not available.

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Study co-author Pyry N. Sipila, MD, PhD, a public health lecturer at the University of Helsinki, pointed out that the study was observational.

"Thus, we cannot prove whether there really is cause and effect between severe infections and dementia," he told Fox News Digital. "Ideally, there would be intervention trials in the future that would test whether the prevention of infections will help reduce or delay the onset of dementia."

Sipila recommends that adults stay up to date on vaccinations.

"Although our study does not prove that vaccinations would help prevent dementia, I think it certainly doesn’t hurt to have that one extra benefit of potentially reducing the risk," he said.

Dr. Joel Salinas, a Harvard-trained behavioral neurologist and chief medical officer at Isaac Health, said the study's size suggests it could be applied to other populations.

"We often assume infections are just a marker of someone being generally at risk of illness, but here, severe infections specifically appear to play an independent role," the New York-based expert, who was not involved in the study, told Fox News Digital. 

"That suggests there may be something biologically meaningful happening, like inflammation or immune responses that affect the brain."

Salinas added that it's important to keep this increased risk "in perspective," as having an infection doesn't guarantee the development of dementia, but should be considered "one piece of a much larger puzzle."

Some of the strongest risk factors for dementia, according to Salinas, include fundamentals like heart disease, hypertension, diabetes, depression and head injuries.

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"What this study adds is a reminder that severe infections, especially those requiring hospitalization, may also be part of that risk profile, particularly in older adults," he told Fox News Digital.

"We’re moving away from thinking about dementia as a single disease with a single cause, and toward understanding it as the result of multiple interacting factors over time."

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Popular diet tied to lower dementia risk for some groups, study reveals

Eating more meat may help your memory, a new study suggests.

While some experts suggest adopting plant-focused diets for better health, recent research indicates that a higher intake of unprocessed meat may protect against dementia in older people who have a variant of the APOE gene, which is linked to increasing Alzheimer's risk.

Researchers tracked over 2,100 older participants – all of whom were dementia-free at the start of the study – for up to 15 years as part of the Swedish National Study on Aging and Care.

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Participants self-reported their diets, while researchers periodically evaluated their cognitive performance through extensive testing and a structured dementia diagnostic process.

The study then compared the cognitive health of participants who had a higher genetic risk for Alzheimer’s disease (those with the variant genotypes APOE 3/4 and 4/4) with those who did not have the genotypes.

Previous studies have shown that individuals with the APOE 3/4 genotype face a three- to four-time higher risk of developing Alzheimer’s compared to the general population, while those with the 4/4 genotype have an eight- to 12-time higher risk, according to Mayo Clinic.

Everyone has the APOE gene — one copy from each parent — but about one in four Americans carries a version (like APOE 3/4) that can raise their risk of Alzheimer’s, according to the National Institutes of Health.

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The participants with a higher genetic risk who consumed less meat had more than twice the risk of dementia than those without the gene variants, the researchers found.

Those with the gene variants who ate the largest amount of meat had significantly slower cognitive decline and a lower risk of dementia.

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The study also found that eating less processed meat was associated with a lower risk of dementia, regardless of APOE genotype.

"When standardized to a 2,000 calorie-per-day diet, median weekly consumption ranged from approximately 250 grams in the lowest quintile to 870 grams in the highest," first author Jakob Norgren, a researcher at the Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society at the Karolinska Institutet, told Fox News Digital.

The researchers did not investigate a "carnivore diet," as the participants who consumed the most meat still ate moderate amounts of cereal and dairy, Norgren added.

The study findings were published in JAMA Network Open.

Su-Nui Escobar, a registered dietitian based in Miami, urged caution when interpreting the results, as the study reports grams of meat, not grams of protein.

"When you translate that, it comes out to about 30 grams of protein per day from meat, something many people already eat," Escobar, who was not involved in the study, told Fox News Digital.

The 2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines recommend including lean meats and poultry as part of a healthy protein intake, limiting red meat, and minimizing processed meats.

As the study is observational, it doesn’t prove that eating more meat directly leads to a decrease in Alzheimer’s disease and slower cognitive decline – only that there’s an association between the two, the researchers noted.

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"While this study suggests a specific benefit for certain genotypes, a larger body of evidence points to the MIND diet for long-term brain health," Jamie Mok, registered dietitian nutritionist and national media spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, told Fox News Digital.

The Los Angeles-based expert recommends a diet consisting of nutrient-dense foods as one of the most promising and practical strategies for delaying cognitive decline and supporting overall healthy aging.

"By emphasizing leafy greens, berries, nuts, legumes and lean proteins, this eating pattern has been shown to reduce Alzheimer's risk by half and slow brain aging by several years," Mok added.

Approximately one in 10 Americans over 65 is living with dementia, while another 22% have cognitive impairment, according to a recent national study.

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The number of new Alzheimer's cases is expected to double in the coming decades as the population ages – from about 514,000 in 2020 to over one million by 2060.

Last year, dementia cost the U.S. an estimated $781 billion and led to more than 100,000 deaths, per the NIH.

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Dementia risk signals could lie in simple blood pressure readings, researchers say

Simple measurements taken during routine blood pressure checks could predict dementia risk years before symptoms appear.

That's according to new research presented this week at the American College of Cardiology’s Annual Scientific Session in Louisiana.

The findings draw on two studies led by researchers at Georgetown University, which suggest that monitoring how blood vessels age and stiffen over time can provide a window into future cognitive health.

LURKING DEMENTIA RISK EXPOSED BY BREAKTHROUGH TEST 25 YEARS BEFORE SYMPTOMS

Data shows rates of dementia and aging-related cognitive decline are expected to increase as populations age, and half of U.S. adults have high blood pressure (hypertension).

Scientists believe that efforts to better address hypertension, a key contributor to heart disease and a risk factor for dementia, could affect both cardiac and brain health.

"Blood pressure management isn’t just about preventing heart attacks and strokes; it may also be one of the most actionable strategies for preserving cognitive health," Dr. Newton Nyirenda, the study's lead author and an epidemiologist at Georgetown University in Washington, said in a press release.

The research focused on two metrics, the pulse pressure-heart rate index and estimated pulse wave velocity. Both were calculated using data collected during standard doctor visits, such as heart rate, age and blood pressure.

Researchers examined five years of data patterns for more than 8,500 people in the SPRINT trial, a large study of adults 50 years and older with hypertension. In the follow-up, 323 of the participants developed probable dementia.

HIDDEN BRAIN CONDITION MAY QUADRUPLE DEMENTIA RISK IN OLDER ADULTS, STUDY SUGGESTS

In one study, the team found the pulse pressure-heart rate index was a strong independent predictor of dementia risk in adults over 50. For participants under 65, every one-unit increase was associated with a 76% higher risk of developing dementia.

The second study found that adults with consistently elevated or rapidly increasing pulse wave velocity were more likely to develop dementia than those with stable velocity, even after accounting for factors like smoking, gender and cardiovascular history.

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"Our findings suggest that vascular aging patterns may provide meaningful insight into future dementia risk," said Nyirenda. "This reinforces the idea that managing vascular health earlier in life may influence long-term brain health."

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The team emphasized that clinicians should tailor risk assessments and treatment strategies to the individual.

"You don’t want to wait until a patient starts manifesting cognitive decline before you act," said senior study author Sula Mazimba, an associate professor at the University of Virginia.

Researchers noted the study could not establish causation. Other limitations included the fact that participants already had hypertension and elevated cardiovascular risk, meaning the findings may not apply to people without those conditions.

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Further studies are needed to confirm these findings and to determine whether improving blood vessel health over time could reduce dementia risk.

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'Gas station heroin' banned in another state amid nationwide crackdowns

A dangerous substance dubbed "gas station heroin" continues to alarm medical professionals, with more states making moves to restrict or ban tianeptine.

Fourteen states have officially classified the tricyclic antidepressant as a Schedule I controlled substance.

Connecticut is the latest state to crack down, officially banning the sale and use of the substance starting on Wednesday.

HEALTH OFFICIALS WARN OF DANGEROUS SUBSTANCE AVAILABLE IN STORES ACROSS THE NATION

Tianeptine, which can produce euphoria in higher doses, can be more potent than morphine and addictive opioids, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

Some countries have taken steps to restrict how tianeptine is prescribed or dispensed, and have even revised the labels to warn people of its potential addictive qualities.

Misuse of tianeptine can cause severe adverse health effects, including respiratory depression, severe sedation and death, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration.

Some companies market the drug as an aid for pain, anxiety and depression, or as a means of improving mental alertness in a pill, powder, salt or liquid form.

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The products are typically sold at convenience stores, gas stations, vape shops and online retailers, and go by names like Tianaa, ZaZa, Neptune’s Fix, Pegasus and TD Red.

Connecticut Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewicz said in a press release that the schedule change is a necessary step to combat addiction.

"With false marketing that led consumers to believe these are safe products, and with candy-like flavor options, these substances posed a clear threat to those battling substance-use disorder and our youngest residents," she added.

The Nutmeg State also added Mitragyna speciosa (kratom), 7-hydroxymitragynine, Bromazolam, Flubromazolam, Nitazenes and Phenibut to the schedule classification.

Earlier this month, FDA Commissioner Martin Makary penned a letter sounding the alarm on what he called a "dangerous and growing health trend."

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"I am very concerned," Makary wrote. "I want the public to be especially aware of this dangerous product and the serious and continuing risk it poses to America’s youth."

New York-based Robert Schwaner, M.D., vice chair of system clinical affairs at Stony Brook Emergency Medicine, told Fox News Digital that the FDA has never approved tianeptine as a dietary supplement.

"The euphoria at low doses is primarily due to increased serotonergic activity from its serotonin reuptake effects. With increasing doses, the mu-opioid receptor stimulation may become lethal," said Schwaner. "As with heroin and other opioids, significant mu-opioid receptor stimulation ultimately results in a loss of respiratory drive and subsequent cardiac arrest."

Schwaner said he believes the substance requires national regulation due to its addictive qualities. 

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"Acting at the same receptor as opioids, tianeptine has the potential for an individual to develop tolerance, subsequent dependence and withdrawal from its use," he cautioned.

Fox News Digital reached out to the FDA for comment. 

Fox News Digital’s Greg Wehner and Melissa Rudy contributed to this report.

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