Cannabis users often say the drug helps them blunt stressful memories. A 2026 randomized trial of 36 healthy adults tested low-dose oral THC against placebo during retrieval of a standardized lab stressor, and on every subjective and physiological measure that mattered, THC did nothing.1 Research Highlights 36-adult, 3-arm RCT: participants got placebo, 5 mg oral …
A Wuhan cohort of 2,210 pregnant women found that mid-pregnancy sleep disturbance was common enough to screen for and associated with several birth-outcome signals. Depressive symptoms, pre-pregnancy alcohol use, and moderate-to-severe vomiting raised sleep-disturbance odds, while higher dietary variety was protective.1 Research Highlights 18.14% had sleep disturbance: Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) scores greater than …
A 7-day mind-body retreat study in 20 healthy adults found pre/post shifts across fMRI brain networks and plasma biology, with p values as low as 0.000003.1 Those numbers are striking, but the design was observational, so the honest reading is biological signal without causal isolation. Research Highlights Neural signal was broad: Meditation-state fMRI showed lower …
A 2026 randomized exploratory pilot found that a single 24-minute yoga session did not significantly lower salivary cortisol or salivary alpha-amylase compared with quiet sitting in 19 stressed adults.1 The acute yoga signal was physiological but not the simple stress-biomarker drop that wellness claims often imply. Research Highlights Biomarker claim failed: Yoga did not significantly …
A 2026 Communications Biology rat study found that enriched housing reversed early-life-stress visceral hypersensitivity and depression-like behavior by normalizing a CB1 receptor-linked prefrontal-limbic circuit connecting prelimbic cortex, anteroventral bed nucleus of the stria terminalis, and paraventricular hypothalamus.1 Huang et al. mapped a gut-pain and mood circuit in rats, but the experiment does not prove that …
A pilot randomized trial involving 71 refugees with posttraumatic stress disorder found large symptom improvement after narrative exposure therapy-based care, but adding refugee-adapted emotion-regulation training before narrative exposure therapy did not outperform supportive problem-solving before narrative exposure therapy in the full sample.1 Research Highlights 71 refugees were randomized: 35 received STAIR-R plus narrative exposure therapy, …
A 430-caregiver study in Kathmandu found caregiving burden in 65.3% of family caregivers of older adults with disability, with adjusted predictors clustering around low economic status, 8 or more daily care hours, and severe impairment in activities of daily living.1 Research Highlights Burden was the majority experience: 65.3% of 430 family caregivers reported caregiving burden …