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<td><span style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size:20px;font-weight:bold;">PsyPost – Psychology News</span></td>
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<td><a href="https://www.psypost.org/romantic-and-platonic-relationships-might-be-more-similar-than-we-think/" style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; letter-spacing:-1px;margin:0;padding:0 0 2px;font-weight: bold;font-size: 19px;line-height: 20px;color:#222;">Romantic and platonic relationships might be more similar than we think</a>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align:left;color:#999;font-size:11px;font-weight:bold;line-height:15px;">Oct 22nd 2025, 10:00</div>
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<p><p>New research published in the <em><a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-025-03163-w" target="_blank">Archives of Sexual Behavior</a></em> provides evidence that the boundaries between romantic and non-romantic relationships are more fluid than commonly assumed, especially in the absence of sexual attraction or activity. Drawing on in-depth interviews with individuals in close, non-sexual relationships, the study suggests that people tend to rely heavily on cultural norms to define romantic connections, even when their personal experiences do not fully align with those standards.</p>
<p>Much of the existing research on romantic and platonic relationships assumes that sexual attraction is the main factor distinguishing one from the other. Romantic love is usually associated with sexual desire and behaviors, while platonic friendships are seen as emotionally supportive but non-erotic. But many real-world relationships do not follow this formula. </p>
<p>“Most of the research on romantic and non-romantic/platonic relationships assumes that sex is the key difference between these two: that romantic relationships are sexual, and even close platonic relationships are not. But, there are a lot of diverse relationship types that don’t follow this rule,” said study authors <a href="https://www.queensu.ca/psychology/van-anders-lab/" target="_blank">Sari van Anders</a>, a professor at Queen’s University, and Ana Carolina de Barros, a PhD candidate.</p>
<p>“For example, romantic relationships can be non-sexual for a wide variety of reasons; in our sample, we had participants who were (or whose partners were) asexual, who were religious and refraining from sex until after marriage, and who had been together for decades and were no longer interested in having sex, among others. We wanted to explore how people think about their relationships as romantic (or not), in relationships where sexual attraction and/or behaviour can’t be the key difference between what is and isn’t romantic.”</p>
<p>The research team interviewed 30 individuals who lived in Canada or the United States and were either currently or previously involved in romantic non-sexual relationships or in close, non-romantic relationships that they described as being more significant than typical friendships. Participants were asked to reflect on one or more relationships that lasted at least two years. The sample included a mix of experiences: some participants were in relationships they described as romantic but not sexual, while others described intense non-romantic partnerships with elements of commitment, shared lives, or deep emotional support.</p>
<p>Each participant took part in a 60-minute semi-structured interview conducted over Zoom. The interviews included questions about how they label their relationships, what emotions and behaviors they associate with each, and how they interpret the concept of romantic attraction. Some participants had experience with both romantic and non-romantic close relationships, allowing for direct comparison.</p>
<p>The researchers used a qualitative method known as template analysis to identify common themes across interviews. This approach allowed them to organize the data according to recurring ideas, such as intimacy, love, societal expectations, and commitment.</p>
<p>The analysis produced a set of themes that offer insight into how people distinguish between romantic and non-romantic relationships when sexual behavior is not a defining factor.</p>
<p>One of the most consistent findings was that romantic relationships were described as more emotionally and physically intimate. Participants tended to see romantic partners as people with whom they shared deeper vulnerability and more frequent affectionate behaviors, such as cuddling or hand-holding. However, some individuals reported that their non-romantic relationships were just as intimate, and in a few cases, even more so. This suggests that while intimacy is commonly associated with romance, it is not exclusive to it.</p>
<p>Another theme that emerged was the perception of romantic love as qualitatively different from platonic love. While participants often expressed deep affection for their non-romantic partners, they described romantic love as having a certain ineffable quality that felt distinct. Yet, many struggled to articulate exactly what made the romantic version of love feel different, and some questioned whether the difference was emotional or simply a result of societal expectations.</p>
<p>Interdependence also appeared to be more prominent in romantic relationships. Participants described romantic partners as individuals whose needs and well-being they prioritized equally to their own. They reported greater lifestyle integration, including living together, making joint plans for the future, and participating in each other’s family lives. However, there were exceptions. Some non-romantic relationships—particularly queerplatonic partnerships—also involved shared housing, long-term plans, and high levels of mutual reliance.</p>
<p>Participants frequently mentioned societal norms as shaping their understanding of what counts as romantic. Some expressed frustration that their deeply committed non-romantic relationships were not socially recognized or understood. Others described romantic partnerships that lacked sex but still carried all the emotional markers of romance. Sex, even though it was not a component of the relationships being studied, came up often in the interviews. </p>
<p>“Because we were interested in non-sexual relationships, we didn’t expect sex to be discussed very often,” van Anders and de Barros told PsyPost. “However, our participants brought up sex quite a bit, especially when talking about their romantic relationships. We believe this is because, even when sexual behaviour or attraction isn’t present in a relationship, Western societies and cultures still expect these relationships to be sexual, so people feel like they have to ‘justify’ or ‘explain’ why their romantic relationships aren’t sexual. This highlights how people in diverse relationships have to talk to their partners about what makes their relationship romantic (or not), even when their relationship doesn’t match social norms about what their relationships ‘should’ look like.”</p>
<p>The researchers also explored how people experience romantic attraction in ways that differ from platonic interest. Participants described romantic attraction as involving a kind of magnetic pull, a desire for closeness, and often a sense of emotional intensity or nervous excitement. Physical sensations such as “butterflies” or an increased heart rate were sometimes used to distinguish romantic feelings. </p>
<p>Yet, not all forms of attraction were described as sexual. Some participants described romantic interest as deeply tied to emotional or intellectual connection, suggesting that cognitive compatibility and emotional resonance can drive romantic feelings even in the absence of physical desire.</p>
<p>In terms of structure, both romantic and non-romantic relationships required effort, communication, and commitment. Many participants described intentional behaviors to maintain these relationships, such as regular check-ins and thoughtful gestures. </p>
<p>However, romantic relationships were more likely to involve formal commitment structures, such as marriage or shared parenting. Still, the language used to describe both types of relationships often overlapped. Some participants called their non-romantic partners “wives,” “girlfriends,” or “life partners,” sometimes humorously, other times quite seriously. Only one label—queerplatonic—was uniquely used to describe non-romantic relationships that were closer than typical friendships but not romantic.</p>
<p>Participants also reflected on how their relationships evolved over time. Romantic relationships often began as friendships, and non-romantic partnerships sometimes started with one-sided romantic interest. Some relationships changed from sexual to non-sexual or shifted labels entirely. These evolving dynamics suggest that relationship categories may be less fixed than commonly thought.</p>
<p>“One key takeaway of our study is that romantic relationships and close platonic relationships are similar in a lot of ways!” van Anders and de Barros explained. “There was a lot of overlap in how our participants described their romantic and platonic relationships. This highlights how diverse relationships challenge what we typically assume to be the differences between “romantic” and “platonic” relationships, and how important it is to further explore these relationships and include them in our understandings, theories, and research about relationships.” </p>
<p>“However, when we explicitly asked participants how they defined ‘romantic,’ their definitions tended to fit social norms or ideas about what romantic relationships ‘should’ look like – even when that meant their own relationships didn’t match their definition. This suggests that people use social norms to create general definitions about relationship types, and their actual lived experiences may not have as large of an impact on these definitions as we’d expect.” </p>
<p>The researchers acknowledge that their definitions of romantic and non-romantic relationships were intentionally broad, which allowed for a diverse range of experiences but made direct comparisons more difficult. The category of non-romantic relationships included everything from traditional best friendships to queerplatonic partnerships, which may vary greatly in structure and meaning. The romantic relationships, by contrast, tended to be more similar to each other in terms of expectations and commitment.</p>
<p>Future studies could examine more specific subtypes of non-romantic relationships to better understand how they compare to romantic ones. Additional research might also explore how people in different cultures or with different identities interpret these categories, as cultural norms around relationships can vary widely.</p>
<p>“This project is part of the first author’s dissertation, which broadly explores how people in diverse forms of relationships define and navigate their relationships, within the context of the social norms their relationships challenge,” the researchers explained. “The other studies in this dissertation expand on these findings, to explore how other forms of diverse relationships (e.g., non-monogamous, queer, kinky) relate to social norms.”</p>
<p>The study, “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-025-03163-w" target="_blank">Sex, Attraction, and Social Norms: Distinguishing Romantic and Non‑Romantic Relationships in Non‑Sexual Contexts</a>,” was authored by Ana Carolina de Barros, Emily R. L. Lackie, and Sari and M. van Anders.</p></p>
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<td><a href="https://www.psypost.org/new-research-finds-a-two-way-link-between-adversity-and-psychosocial-problems-from-childhood-to-adolescence/" style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; letter-spacing:-1px;margin:0;padding:0 0 2px;font-weight: bold;font-size: 19px;line-height: 20px;color:#222;">New research finds a two-way link between adversity and psychosocial problems from childhood to adolescence</a>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align:left;color:#999;font-size:11px;font-weight:bold;line-height:15px;">Oct 22nd 2025, 08:00</div>
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<p><p>A new study published in the journal <em><a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/S0954579424001470" target="_blank">Development and Psychopathology</a></em> provides evidence that different types of adversity in childhood may shape a young person’s mental and behavioral development in distinct ways. By following children over several years, the research indicates that experiences within and outside of the home do not have uniform effects, and the influence of these experiences tends to shift as children grow into adolescence.</p>
<p>The researchers aimed to address two major questions. First, they wanted to understand whether all forms of childhood adversity affect psychosocial outcomes in the same way, or whether certain types—such as family conflict or bullying—might have different impacts. Second, they sought to examine whether these effects change during development and whether there is a two-way relationship, in which adversity and psychosocial problems reinforce each other over time.</p>
<p>“Adversities and stresses in childhood are a huge problem and have been established as linked to a vast array of outcomes from mental and physical health to criminal perpetration,” said study author <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/george-hales-a6b9a8123/?originalSubdomain=uk" target="_blank">George Hales</a>, an early-career fellow at the University of Leicester. “However, so little research has been able to establish the reverse relationship—whether mental health and criminal perpetration leave young people vulnerable to adversities. We set out to investigate both whether childhood adversities lead to worse mental health, well-being, and delinquency, and whether mental health, well-being, and delinquency in adolescence lead to increased childhood adversities.”</p>
<p>The researchers used data from the UK Household Longitudinal Study, a large, nationally representative dataset. They followed 646 participants across three key periods: late childhood (ages 10–11), early adolescence (12–13), and mid-adolescence (14–15). At each stage, children reported on various forms of adversity and their own psychosocial functioning. The researchers divided adversity into two broad categories.</p>
<p>Household adversity included sibling conflict, arguments with parents, financial strain, and maternal psychological distress. Non-household adversity included bullying and perceptions of neighborhood safety. Psychosocial outcomes were measured using standardized assessments of internalizing problems (such as anxiety and depression), externalizing problems (such as aggression), self-reported delinquency, and life satisfaction.</p>
<p>The researchers used a statistical technique called cross-lagged panel modeling, which is suited to uncovering bidirectional relationships over time. This allowed them to estimate whether adversity predicted changes in psychosocial functioning, whether psychosocial difficulties predicted changes in adversity, or whether both directions occurred simultaneously.</p>
<p>One of the most consistent findings was that cumulative adversity, regardless of type, predicted worse psychosocial outcomes across the board. Children who experienced higher levels of adversity at age 10 were more likely to show behavioral problems, lower life satisfaction, and more delinquent behavior at ages 12 and 14.</p>
<p>These associations remained even after accounting for earlier levels of these same outcomes, suggesting a genuine influence of adversity over time. The only exception was internalizing problems such as anxiety and sadness, which were predicted by adversity experienced during early adolescence but not by adversity in childhood.</p>
<p>The study also provided insights into how household and non-household adversities differ in their effects. Household adversities appeared to have a more consistent and long-lasting impact. These experiences were linked to greater externalizing problems and lower life satisfaction throughout adolescence.</p>
<p>In contrast, non-household adversities, such as bullying and unsafe neighborhoods, tended to predict psychosocial difficulties only during adolescence. This suggests that external stressors may become more salient as children move toward independence and spend more time outside the home.</p>
<p>Delinquent behavior was influenced by both types of adversity. Children who experienced either household or non-household adversity in childhood were more likely to engage in delinquent acts during adolescence. The link between household adversity and delinquency was slightly stronger, suggesting that difficulties at home may create an environment where behavioral problems are more likely to emerge.</p>
<p>Another key finding was the presence of bidirectional relationships. In some cases, psychological or behavioral difficulties predicted future adversity. For example, children with externalizing problems in early adolescence tended to experience more household adversity by mid-adolescence. Similarly, children with internalizing problems were more likely to encounter non-household adversities, such as bullying, at later stages. These patterns suggest that adversity and psychosocial problems can form a cycle that reinforces itself over time.</p>
<p>“We found that childhood adversities led to worse internalizing problems (e.g., anxiety, depression), externalizing problems (e.g., hyperactivity, poor conduct), life satisfaction, and delinquency (e.g., law-breaking behavior),” Hales told PsyPost. “So broadly, adversities worsened mental health and well-being, and increased law-breaking behaviors. However, externalizing problems also increased the risk of childhood adversities. Specifically, these externalizing problems were more impactful on adversities outside of the household earlier in adolescence, and within the household in middle-adolescence.”</p>
<p>“This is a pretty surprising finding, as we conventionally only see mental health issues as an outcome of adversities rather than the other way around. It really shows how as these problems develop over time, they can leak into creating more problems in different aspects of the young person’s life (e.g., home, school, neighborhood). It really emphasizes the need to take a holistic approach to addressing adversities and the development of mental health problems and delinquency.”</p>
<p>The researchers interpret these findings as evidence that adversity is not just a static risk factor but part of a dynamic process that interacts with children’s own behavior and emotional well-being. In some cases, the effects of adversity may take time to emerge, while in others, children’s difficulties may shape the environments they live in. For instance, a child who struggles with aggression or impulsivity might provoke more conflict at home, or a child who appears withdrawn or anxious may be more vulnerable to peer victimization.</p>
<p>“These are potentially really meaningful effects, and demonstrate that in addition to addressing potential mental health issues by reducing exposure to adversities, we can also help to reduce exposure to future adversities by addressing these ‘externalizing’ problems in middle childhood and early adolescence,” Hales explained.</p>
<p>While the study offers a nuanced view of how adversity affects development, it also has some limitations. The data only began at age 10, so the researchers could not examine how earlier childhood experiences might contribute to these patterns. The study also focused on a relatively narrow set of adversities and did not include protective factors such as strong friendships or supportive teachers. As the researchers note, positive influences can play an important role in helping children cope with adversity, and these factors were not included in the present analysis.</p>
<p>Looking ahead, the authors plan to explore how individual characteristics might interact with adversity to shape outcomes. The researchers emphasize the need for studies that integrate biological, psychological, and environmental data to provide a fuller picture of development.</p>
<p>“I am really interested in how these complex interactions may play out, and how children’s predispositions, experiences of, or responses to stress and adversity could lead to this array of outcomes,” Hales said. “For instance, how socioeconomic status, social mobility, epigenetics, and how young people’s thinking patterns might change as a result of these adversities. This study was part of my PhD, so only a ‘formative’ step into this important field of research.”</p>
<p>The study, “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/S0954579424001470" target="_blank">Bidirectional relationships between childhood adversities and psychosocial outcomes: A cross-lagged panel study from childhood to adolescence</a>,” was authored by George K. Hales, Agata Debowska, Richard Rowe, Daniel Boduszek, and Liat Levita.</p></p>
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<td><a href="https://www.psypost.org/birth-control-pills-do-not-alter-womens-preferences-for-masculine-faces/" style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; letter-spacing:-1px;margin:0;padding:0 0 2px;font-weight: bold;font-size: 19px;line-height: 20px;color:#222;">Birth control pills do not alter women’s preferences for masculine faces</a>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align:left;color:#999;font-size:11px;font-weight:bold;line-height:15px;">Oct 22nd 2025, 06:00</div>
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<p><p>A new study published in <em><a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2025.106713" target="_blank">Evolution and Human Behavior</a></em> provides evidence against the idea that hormonal contraceptives significantly alter women’s preferences for masculine or symmetric male faces. The researchers found no meaningful difference in facial preferences between women taking oral contraceptives and those on a placebo. The findings suggest that hormonal fluctuations may not drive the kind of shifts in attraction that many earlier studies have proposed.</p>
<p>For decades, researchers have examined whether heterosexual women’s attraction to physical traits in men varies across the menstrual cycle. Early studies suggested that women prefer more masculine features when they are most fertile and that this effect disappears when women use hormonal contraceptives. This body of work supported a popular idea in evolutionary psychology known as the “dual mating strategy” hypothesis. </p>
<p>According to this hypothesis, women may have evolved to prefer genetic quality cues, such as facial masculinity and symmetry, during fertile phases to increase the chance of producing healthy offspring. The same theory suggests that during non-fertile phases, preferences might shift toward traits that signal long-term investment, such as warmth or dependability.</p>
<p>This perspective built on research from the 1990s that reported cyclic variations in women’s responses to male body odors and facial features. Early findings indicated that women preferred the scent of more symmetrical men when conception was most likely. Later studies extended this idea to facial traits, claiming that women were more drawn to masculine facial features near ovulation. These findings were influential because they suggested a hormonal mechanism that could shape mate preferences and, by extension, mating strategies.</p>
<p>“This project actually began many years ago. I was a PhD student in anthropology at Harvard when Anna Dreber, then a visiting PhD student from the Stockholm School of Economics, told me about an experiment she planned to run to test whether birth control might affect economic preferences,” said study author <a href="https://corenapicella.com/" target="_blank">Coren Apicella</a>, who is now a professor of psychology at the University of Pennsylvania.</p>
<p>“Anna has always been drawn to big, methodologically ambitious projects. I remember thinking, Wow—a placebo-controlled oral contraceptive trial? That’s the gold standard, and pretty much unheard of in my field. Around that time, there was an active debate in evolutionary psychology about whether hormonal contraceptives—and hormonal fluctuations more broadly—shape women’s attraction to men. I told Anna about it, and that’s how the idea was born.”</p>
<p>“For over two decades, the evidence has been mixed — all over the map — and we wanted to contribute to the literature in a meaningful way. And here we are with this paper, over a decade after our first conversations.”</p>
<p>The double-blind randomized controlled trial involved 340 heterosexual women between the ages of 18 and 35. Participants were randomly assigned to either a combined oral contraceptive or an identical-looking placebo. Neither the participants nor the researchers knew who was in which group. The study lasted three months. Facial preferences were measured at the start and at the end of the study.</p>
<p>Each participant viewed pairs of male composite faces that differed in either facial masculinity or facial symmetry. For masculinity, the faces were created by digitally manipulating composite male faces to appear more or less masculine. For symmetry, the same faces were adjusted so that the features on either side of the face were more or less symmetrical. Participants were asked to choose which face in each pair they found more attractive. By comparing these choices at baseline and after three months, the researchers could see whether oral contraceptive use produced any shifts in preference.</p>
<p>The hormonal profiles of the two groups diverged as expected. Women taking oral contraceptives showed lower levels of several reproductive hormones, including luteinizing hormone, follicle-stimulating hormone, testosterone, and estradiol. This confirmed that the treatment was effective. Despite these changes, the study found no statistically significant differences in how much participants preferred masculine or symmetric faces after three months. The estimated effects were small and not distinguishable from zero.</p>
<p>The researchers also explored whether menstrual cycle phase in the placebo group affected facial preferences. Participants returned for the follow-up session at different points in their cycles, allowing the researchers to compare women in the follicular, ovulatory, and luteal phases. Hormone levels were used to verify each woman’s phase. </p>
<p>No significant differences in facial preferences were found between these groups. Similarly, when the team examined correlations between hormone levels and facial preferences, the results showed no consistent associations. Only two out of 132 statistical tests reached conventional significance levels, a number that is roughly what would be expected by chance alone.</p>
<p>The results suggest that previous findings linking menstrual cycle phase or hormonal contraceptive use to shifts in facial preferences may not reflect robust effects. Earlier studies often relied on smaller sample sizes, self-reported menstrual cycle data, and flexible analytic strategies. Those factors tend to increase the risk of false positives and inflated effect sizes. In contrast, this study followed a pre-registered analysis plan and used objective hormonal measurements, which increases confidence in the reliability of its findings.</p>
<p>The researchers also discussed why earlier findings might not replicate. Statistical power is a key factor. Many past studies had small sample sizes, making it easier to detect apparent effects by chance. Some earlier research also lacked pre-registration, allowing researchers to make analytical decisions after seeing the data. This flexibility can unintentionally increase the likelihood of finding spurious results. </p>
<p>Additionally, the assumption that facial masculinity and symmetry reliably signal genetic quality has come under increasing scrutiny. Recent meta-analyses suggest that these traits may not strongly predict reproductive or mating success, which weakens the theoretical basis for expecting hormonal influences on preferences for these specific features.</p>
<p>“We examined the question in every way possible and found nothing,” Apicella told PsyPost. “We compared women taking oral contraceptives to those on a placebo, looked across different points in the menstrual cycle, and examined variation in hormone levels. Preferences for masculinity and symmetry just don’t seem to shift with hormones the way people have claimed.” </p>
<p>“If there’s an effect, it’s likely small. In other words, taking the pill probably doesn’t change the kinds of faces women find attractive in men. These findings also challenge some influential evolutionary hypotheses—like the ‘good genes’ and ‘dual mating strategy’ accounts—which rely on the idea that women’s mate preferences systematically shift with fertility.”</p>
<p>There are, however, limits to what this study can say. The researchers acknowledge that their results apply only to facial masculinity and symmetry. Other traits, such as body shape, scent, or behavioral cues, might still be influenced by hormonal fluctuations. In addition, while the study was well powered to detect moderate effects, it cannot rule out very small effects that fall below its detection threshold.</p>
<p>“We can’t rule out very small effects—our study wasn’t powered to detect those,” Apicella noted. “But, we’re confident that neither oral contraceptives nor hormonal fluctuations produce the kind of bigger shifts in mate preferences that people often talk about. In some ways, it’s not that surprising. Attraction is messy. The heart wants what it wants– just maybe not because of your estradiol levels.”</p>
<p>“Our results only apply to facial masculinity and symmetry. It’s possible that other behaviors or preferences are more sensitive to hormonal shifts. Indeed, there is some evidence that more general mate-related behaviors — things like sexual desire and motivation — may change with a woman’s cycle, but we did not look at that.”</p>
<p>The study, “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2025.106713" target="_blank">Oral contraceptives and women’s preferences for facial masculinity and symmetry: Evidence from a double-blind randomized controlled trial</a>,” was authored by Eva Ranehill, Niklas Zethraeus, Coren L. Apicella, Liselott Blomberg, Bo von Schoultz, Angelica Lindén Hirschberg, Magnus Johannesson, and Anna Dreber.</p></p>
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<td><a href="https://www.psypost.org/scientists-observe-altered-brain-metabolism-and-connectivity-in-covid-19-patients/" style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; letter-spacing:-1px;margin:0;padding:0 0 2px;font-weight: bold;font-size: 19px;line-height: 20px;color:#222;">Scientists observe altered brain metabolism and connectivity in COVID-19 patients</a>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align:left;color:#999;font-size:11px;font-weight:bold;line-height:15px;">Oct 21st 2025, 19:00</div>
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<p><p>A new study published in the journal <em><a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroscience.2025.06.015" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Neuroscience</a></em> finds that individuals recovering from COVID-19 exhibit signs of a potential brain repair and recovery process. The research reveals that survivors have higher levels of specific brain chemicals associated with neuron health and plasticity, which are in turn linked to better brain structure and fewer cognitive complaints.</p>
<p>The persistence of neurological and psychiatric symptoms after a COVID-19 infection, often called long COVID, has become a significant public health concern. Many individuals report experiencing issues like brain fog, fatigue, and memory problems for months or even years. To understand the biological basis for these symptoms, scientists have been examining how the virus affects the brain. Previous imaging studies have identified changes in the brain’s white matter, the network of nerve fibers that connects different brain regions, but the underlying chemical and functional changes have been less clear.</p>
<p>A team of researchers led by Beatrice Bravi sought to explore the relationship between brain chemistry, brain structure, and cognitive function in people who had recovered from COVID-19. They were particularly interested in two brain chemicals, or metabolites: glutamate and N-acetyl-aspartate. Glutamate is the brain’s primary excitatory messenger, playing a key role in learning, memory, and brain plasticity. N-acetyl-aspartate is widely considered a marker of the health and integrity of nerve cells and is also involved in the production of myelin, the protective sheath that insulates nerve fibers. The researchers theorized that these metabolites might be linked to both the brain alterations and the cognitive symptoms reported by survivors.</p>
<p>The investigation involved 64 participants who had recovered from a COVID-19 infection and a comparison group of 33 healthy individuals. The COVID-19 survivors were recruited from a long-term study at the San Raffaele Hospital in Milan, Italy. Researchers conducted clinical interviews with the survivors to determine if they were experiencing subjective cognitive complaints, such as new difficulties with forgetfulness in daily life or problems with concentration. Based on their answers, participants were categorized as either having cognitive complaints or not.</p>
<p>All participants underwent a series of brain scans using a powerful 3.0 Tesla magnetic resonance imaging machine. The researchers used several specialized imaging techniques. One technique, magnetic resonance spectroscopy, allowed them to measure the concentration of glutamate and N-acetyl-aspartate in a specific brain region encompassing parts of the prefrontal and anterior cingulate cortex, areas involved in higher-order thinking and emotional regulation.</p>
<p>Another technique, known as diffusion tensor imaging, was used to examine the microstructure of the brain’s white matter. This method tracks the movement of water molecules through brain tissue. In well-organized, healthy white matter, water tends to flow in a single direction along the nerve fibers. Measures like fractional anisotropy reflect this directionality, while measures like radial and mean diffusivity reflect the degree of water movement in other directions. Finally, the researchers used resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging to assess how different brain regions coordinate their activity when a person is not engaged in a specific task, providing a map of the brain’s functional networks.</p>
<p>The first major finding was a significant difference in brain chemistry between the groups. The COVID-19 survivors had notably higher levels of both glutamate and N-acetyl-aspartate in the scanned brain region compared to the healthy control group. This result was consistent even when the analysis was restricted to a smaller subgroup of participants who were matched for age and sex, strengthening the reliability of the finding.</p>
<p>Next, the researchers examined how these brain chemicals related to the participants’ experiences. They found that among the COVID-19 survivors, higher levels of glutamate and N-acetyl-aspartate were associated with a lower likelihood of reporting cognitive complaints. In addition, the level of N-acetyl-aspartate was positively associated with the amount of time that had passed since the initial infection. This suggests a progressive process, where this marker of neuronal health may increase over time during recovery.</p>
<p>The analysis of white matter structure yielded further interesting results. The COVID-19 survivors, as a group, showed signs of more organized white matter compared to the healthy controls. They exhibited higher fractional anisotropy and lower radial and mean diffusivity. These patterns can indicate more compact and well-insulated nerve fibers, possibly as a result of remyelination, the process of repairing the protective myelin sheath.</p>
<p>Connecting these observations, the researchers found a direct link between brain chemistry and white matter structure specifically in the COVID-19 survivor group. Higher concentrations of both glutamate and N-acetyl-aspartate were associated with healthier white matter metrics, including higher fractional anisotropy and lower diffusivity. This association was absent in the healthy control group, suggesting that this relationship is a unique feature of the post-infection brain environment.</p>
<p>The study also uncovered a more complex interaction. The positive relationship between higher glutamate levels and a lower probability of cognitive deficits was most pronounced in individuals who also had highly organized white matter, as measured by high fractional anisotropy. This finding suggests that the brain’s structural integrity may moderate the beneficial effects of its chemical environment. In other words, the neuroprotective processes associated with glutamate may be most effective when the underlying “wiring” of the brain is also in good condition.</p>
<p>The functional connectivity analysis provided additional insights. In the COVID-19 survivors, higher levels of N-acetyl-aspartate were associated with stronger synchronized activity, or functional connectivity, between the scanned brain region and the posterior cingulate gyrus. The posterior cingulate is a central hub in the brain involved in regulating attention and internal thought. The researchers propose that this enhanced connectivity could be another manifestation of a restorative process, facilitated by improved neuronal health.</p>
<p>The study does have some limitations. The number of participants was relatively modest, and the cross-sectional design of the study means it captured only a single moment in time. This makes it impossible to determine cause and effect; for example, whether the chemical changes lead to structural repair or vice versa. The assessment of cognitive problems was also based on self-report rather than objective neuropsychological testing. Future research could address these points by following a larger group of individuals over time and incorporating standardized cognitive tests.</p>
<p>Despite these limitations, the study offers a new perspective on the neurological consequences of COVID-19. Instead of solely documenting damage, the findings suggest the brain may engage in active repair and neuroplasticity following the infection. The elevated levels of key metabolites, combined with signs of enhanced white matter integrity and functional connectivity, point to a potential compensatory or recovery mechanism that may help protect against cognitive symptoms. This research paves the way for future studies to further investigate these repair processes and explore potential interventions to support brain recovery in individuals with long COVID.</p>
<p>The study, “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroscience.2025.06.015" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Long term effect of COVID-19 on brain metabolism and connectivity</a>,” was was authored by Beatrice Bravi, Marco Paolini, Federica Colombo, Mariagrazia Palladini, Valentina Bettonagli, Mario Gennaro Mazza, Rebecca De Lorenzo, Patrizia Rovere-Querini, Francesco Benedetti, and Sara Poletti.</p></p>
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<td><a href="https://www.psypost.org/the-good-news-about-brain-aging-better-sleep-can-make-a-difference/" style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; letter-spacing:-1px;margin:0;padding:0 0 2px;font-weight: bold;font-size: 19px;line-height: 20px;color:#222;">The good news about brain aging: better sleep can make a difference</a>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align:left;color:#999;font-size:11px;font-weight:bold;line-height:15px;">Oct 21st 2025, 17:00</div>
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<p><p>We spend nearly a third of our lives asleep, yet sleep is anything but wasted time. Far from being passive downtime, it is an active and essential process that helps restore the body and protect the brain. When sleep is disrupted, the brain feels the consequences – sometimes in subtle ways that accumulate over years.</p>
<p>In a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ebiom.2025.105941">new study</a>, my colleagues and I examined sleep behaviour and detailed brain MRI scan data in more than 27,000 UK adults between the ages of 40 and 70. We found that people with poor sleep had brains that appeared significantly older than expected based on their actual age.</p>
<p>What does it mean for the brain to “look older”? While we all grow chronologically older at the same pace, some people’s biological clocks can tick faster or slower than others. New advances in brain imaging and artificial intelligence allow researchers to estimate a person’s brain age based on patterns in brain MRI scans, such as loss of brain tissue, thinning of the cortex and damage to blood vessels.</p>
<p>In our study, brain age was estimated using over 1,000 different imaging markers from MRI scans. We first trained a machine learning model on the scans of the healthiest participants – people with no major diseases, whose brains should closely match their chronological age. Once the model “learned” what normal ageing looks like, we applied it to the full study population.</p>
<p>Having a brain age higher than your actual age can be a signal of departure from healthy ageing. <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41380-018-0098-1">Previous research</a> has linked an older-appearing brain to faster cognitive decline, greater dementia risk and even higher risk of early death.</p>
<p>Sleep is complex, and no single measure can tell the whole story of a person’s sleep health. Our study, therefore, focused on five aspects of sleep self-reported by the study participants: their chronotype (“morning” or “evening” person), how many hours they typically sleep (seven to eight hours is considered optimal), whether they experience insomnia, whether they snore and whether they feel excessively sleepy during the day.</p>
<p>These characteristics can interact in synergistic ways. For example, someone with frequent insomnia may also feel more daytime sleepiness, and having a late chronotype may lead to shorter sleep duration. By integrating all five characteristics into a “healthy sleep score”, we captured a fuller picture of overall sleep health.</p>
<p>People with four or five healthy traits had a “healthy” sleep profile, while those with two to three had an “intermediate” profile, and those with zero or one had a “poor” profile.</p>
<p>When we compared brain age across different sleep profiles, the differences were clear. The gap between brain age and chronological age widened by about six months for every one point decrease in healthy sleep score. On average, people with a poor sleep profile had brains that appeared nearly one year older than expected based on their chronological age, while those with a healthy sleep profile showed no such gap.</p>
<p>We also considered the five sleep characteristics individually: late chronotype and abnormal sleep duration stood out as the biggest contributors to faster brain ageing.</p>
<p>A year may not sound like much, but in terms of brain health, it matters. Even small accelerations in brain ageing can compound over time, potentially increasing the risk of cognitive impairment, dementia and other neurological conditions.</p>
<p>The good news is that sleep habits are modifiable. While not all sleep problems are easily fixed, <a href="https://newsinhealth.nih.gov/2021/04/good-sleep-good-health">simple strategies</a>: keeping a regular sleep schedule; limiting caffeine, alcohol and screen use before bedtime; and creating a dark and quiet sleep environment can improve sleep health and may protect brain health.</p>
<p>How exactly does the quality of a person’s sleep affect their brain health?</p>
<p><a href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/laneur/article/PIIS1474-4422(18)30450-2/abstract">One explanation</a> may be inflammation. Increasing evidence suggests that sleep disturbances raise the level of inflammation in the body. In turn, inflammation can harm the brain in several ways: damaging blood vessels, triggering the buildup of toxic proteins and speeding up brain cell death.</p>
<p>We were able to investigate the role of inflammation thanks to blood samples collected from participants at the beginning of the study. These samples contain a wealth of information about different inflammatory biomarkers circulating in the body. When we factored this into our analysis, we found that inflammation levels accounted for about 10% of the connection between sleep and brain ageing.</p>
<h2>Other processes may also play a role</h2>
<p>Another explanation centres on the <a href="https://www.science.org/content/article/sleep-ultimate-brainwasher">glymphatic system</a> – the brain’s built-in waste clearance network, which is mainly active during sleep. When sleep is disrupted or insufficient, this system may not function properly, allowing harmful substances to build up in the brain.</p>
<p>Yet another possibility is that poor sleep increases the risk of other health conditions that are themselves damaging for brain health, including <a href="https://alz-journals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/alz.12482">type 2 diabetes</a>, <a href="https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapsychiatry/fullarticle/2797529">obesity</a> and <a href="https://academic.oup.com/eurheartj/article/44/7/573/6964658">cardiovascular disease</a>.</p>
<p>Our study is one of the largest and most comprehensive of its kind, benefiting from a very large study population, a multidimensional measure of sleep health, and a detailed estimation of brain age through thousands of brain MRI features. Though <a href="https://academic.oup.com/sleep/article-abstract/40/1/zsw032/2661823?redirectedFrom=fulltext">previous research</a> connected poor sleep to cognitive decline and dementia, our study further demonstrated that poor sleep is tied to a measurably older-looking brain, and inflammation might explain this link.</p>
<p>Brain ageing cannot be avoided, but our behaviour and lifestyle choices can shape how it unfolds. The implications of our research are clear: to keep the brain healthier for longer, it is important to make sleep a priority.<!-- Below is The Conversation's page counter tag. Please DO NOT REMOVE. --><img decoding="async" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/265309/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1"><!-- End of code. If you don't see any code above, please get new code from the Advanced tab after you click the republish button. The page counter does not collect any personal data. More info: https://theconversation.com/republishing-guidelines --></p>
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<p><em>This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/poor-sleep-may-make-your-brain-age-faster-new-study-265309">original article</a>.</em></p></p>
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<td><a href="https://www.psypost.org/brainwave-analysis-reveals-the-restorative-power-of-music-on-a-mentally-fatigued-mind/" style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; letter-spacing:-1px;margin:0;padding:0 0 2px;font-weight: bold;font-size: 19px;line-height: 20px;color:#222;">Brainwave analysis reveals the restorative power of music on a mentally fatigued mind</a>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align:left;color:#999;font-size:11px;font-weight:bold;line-height:15px;">Oct 21st 2025, 15:00</div>
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<p><p>A new study has found that listening to relaxing music is an effective way to recover from mental fatigue. The research also identified specific, measurable changes in brainwave activity that reflect this recovery, providing a biological basis for music’s restorative power. The findings were published in the journal <em><a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10484-025-09691-4" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback</a></em>.</p>
<p>Mental fatigue is a common state of tiredness and low energy that occurs after prolonged or intense mental effort. It can negatively affect work, school, and daily life by impairing concentration and productivity. While many people anecdotally turn to music for relief, the specific brain mechanisms behind this effect are not fully understood. A research team led by Jin Liu wanted to investigate this phenomenon scientifically. The goal was to objectively measure whether listening to relaxing music could alleviate mental fatigue and to identify the corresponding changes in brain activity using a technique called electroencephalography.</p>
<p>To conduct the study, the researchers recruited 30 healthy university students. These participants were randomly assigned to one of two groups: a music group or a control group. The experiment was designed with three distinct phases of measurement to track changes over time. At the beginning, a baseline measurement was taken to assess each participant’s initial level of mental fatigue and their resting brainwave patterns.</p>
<p>Next, all participants were tasked with inducing mental fatigue. They performed a cognitively demanding exercise known as the Stroop task for 30 minutes. In this task, participants see the names of colors printed on a screen, but the ink color of the word often mismatches the word itself, for instance, the word “blue” printed in red ink. They were instructed to name the color of the ink, not read the word, which requires sustained concentration and mental effort. Immediately after this 30-minute period, a second round of measurements was taken to confirm that mental fatigue had set in.</p>
<p>For the final phase, the two groups received different interventions. The music group spent 20 minutes listening to a selection of relaxing, instrumental Chinese folk music. The control group, in contrast, sat in a quiet room for the same 20-minute duration. After this intervention period, a third and final set of measurements was collected from all participants to assess their level of recovery.</p>
<p>To gauge the subjective experience of fatigue, the researchers used a visual analogue scale. This is a simple tool where participants mark their current level of fatigue on a line that runs from “Not at all fatigued” to “Extremely fatigued.” The results showed that the 30-minute Stroop task was effective. Participants in both groups reported a significant increase in their feelings of mental fatigue after completing the task. However, the key difference emerged after the 20-minute intervention. The group that listened to music reported a substantially greater reduction in fatigue compared to the group that rested in silence.</p>
<p>The researchers also collected objective data by measuring the brain’s electrical activity through electroencephalography. This method involves placing electrodes on the scalp to detect and record different types of brainwaves, which are associated with different mental states. The analysis focused on several specific brainwave patterns. One important metric was the individual alpha peak frequency, which is considered a marker of alertness and cognitive efficiency. A lower frequency is typically associated with fatigue.</p>
<p>As expected, after the demanding Stroop task, the individual alpha peak frequency decreased for participants in both groups, indicating a drop in alertness. After the 20-minute intervention, the participants who listened to music showed a significant recovery, with their individual alpha peak frequency returning toward its baseline level. In contrast, the control group that sat in silence showed no such recovery; their individual alpha peak frequency remained low.</p>
<p>The study also examined the power, or intensity, of different brainwave bands. Following the fatiguing task, the researchers observed an increase in slower brainwaves, including delta, theta, and alpha waves, across various regions of the brain. This increase in slow-wave activity is a known indicator of mental tiredness and reduced attention.</p>
<p>The intervention phase revealed a clear distinction between the two groups. In the music group, the 20-minute listening session led to a significant decrease in the power of delta waves in the frontal region of the brain. Additionally, theta and alpha wave power decreased across multiple brain areas. These changes suggest a shift away from a fatigued state toward a more alert one. The control group did not experience these significant reductions in slow-wave activity. The power of their delta, theta, and alpha waves remained elevated, indicating that quiet rest alone was not as effective in reversing the brainwave patterns associated with fatigue. No significant changes were observed in faster beta brainwaves for either group throughout the experiment.</p>
<p>In summary, the subjective reports of fatigue and the objective brainwave measurements pointed to the same conclusion. Listening to relaxing music after a mentally draining task not only helps people feel less tired but also actively promotes the recovery of brain activity patterns associated with alertness. These findings suggest that the individual alpha peak frequency, along with theta and alpha wave power, could serve as reliable biological markers for tracking both the onset of mental fatigue and the effectiveness of restorative interventions like music.</p>
<p>The study’s authors acknowledged some limitations. The research only measured brainwave activity while participants were in a resting state with their eyes closed, not while they were actively engaged in a task. Examining brainwaves during a task could offer additional insights but might also make it difficult to separate the effects of the music from the effects of the task itself. The study also involved a relatively small number of participants, and future research with a larger sample size could help confirm the findings. Finally, the study did not explore how factors like sex might influence the brain’s response to music and fatigue, which could be a direction for future investigation.</p>
<p>The study, “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10484-025-09691-4" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Effect of Music on Resistance to Mental Fatigue: Evidence from the EEG Power Spectrum</a>,” was authored by Jin Liu, Tingting He, and Zhigang Hu.</p></p>
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<td><a href="https://www.psypost.org/study-suggests-l-theanine-caffeine-combo-improves-focus-after-sleep-loss/" style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; letter-spacing:-1px;margin:0;padding:0 0 2px;font-weight: bold;font-size: 19px;line-height: 20px;color:#222;">Study suggests L-theanine–caffeine combo improves focus after sleep loss</a>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align:left;color:#999;font-size:11px;font-weight:bold;line-height:15px;">Oct 21st 2025, 13:00</div>
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<p><p>A recent study published in the <em><a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/S0007114525104169" target="_blank" rel="noopener">British Journal of Nutrition</a></em> provides evidence that a high-dose combination of L-theanine and caffeine can improve attention and reaction time in people who are acutely sleep-deprived. The researchers found that participants who took this combination were better at identifying potential road traffic accidents in a computerized task and responded more quickly than when given a placebo. Brainwave data also indicated stronger and faster neural responses tied to attention.</p>
<p>L-theanine is a naturally occurring amino acid found in tea leaves, while caffeine is a stimulant found in coffee, tea, and cocoa. Both substances are commonly consumed worldwide and are available in purified form as supplements. There has been growing interest in their potential to support cognitive functions such as attention, especially when combined.</p>
<p>Researchers have studied L-theanine and caffeine separately and together in previous work. Caffeine is well known to improve alertness and reaction time, while L-theanine is thought to have calming effects and may support focus without causing drowsiness. When taken together, some studies suggest they might work in a complementary way, possibly enhancing attention more than either compound on its own.</p>
<p>People often consume caffeine and L-theanine during times of fatigue, such as after a poor night’s sleep. Despite this, earlier research has mostly focused on well-rested participants. The new study aimed to test whether a high dose of L-theanine and caffeine could improve attention in individuals who were deliberately kept awake to simulate real-world fatigue.</p>
<p>“Sleep deprivation is increasingly common among young adults due to academic, professional, and lifestyle demands, yet it impairs attention, a key function for safe driving and daily performance,” explained study author Gayani Nawarathna, a lecturer at the University of Peradeniya and MPhil candidate in cognitive neurophysiology at the University of Peradeniya.</p>
<p>“People often tend to use theanine or caffeine when they feel tired or sleep-deprived. While both compounds are known to improve alertness, their combined effects on attention and brain function under sleep-deprived conditions were not well understood. We aimed to determine whether this natural combination could effectively improve the attention of young adults who had experienced a short period of sleep loss (17 hours).”</p>
<p>The researchers conducted a double-blind, placebo-controlled trial with 37 healthy young adults between the ages of 22 and 30. All participants were kept awake for 17 hours before the experiment, ensuring they were in a state of acute sleep deprivation. On separate days, each person received either a capsule containing a combination of 200 milligrams of L-theanine and 160 milligrams of caffeine or a placebo.</p>
<p>First, they completed a traffic-related computerized task. Then the capsule was given. About 50 minutes after taking the capsule, participants completed the same task again. They had to press a button as quickly as possible whenever they saw an image that suggested an imminent traffic accident, while ignoring more frequent images of safe driving situations. Brain activity was measured at the same time using EEG, a technique that records electrical signals from the scalp.</p>
<p>The results showed that the L-theanine–caffeine combination significantly improved both accuracy and reaction time. Participants were better at correctly identifying imminent accidents and responded about 40 milliseconds faster, on average, compared to when they took the placebo. This difference in reaction time may seem small, but in real-world driving, even a brief improvement can make a difference in avoiding accidents.</p>
<p>Importantly, brainwave data supported these behavioral improvements. The researchers focused on a specific brain signal known as the P3b component, which is linked to attention and decision-making. After participants took the active treatment, this brain signal was larger and occurred more quickly. These changes suggest that the brain was allocating more resources and processing information faster during the task.</p>
<p>“Our results suggest that a high dose of L-theanine (200 mg) combined with caffeine (160 mg) can enhance attention when a person is acutely sleep-deprived,” Nawarathna told PsyPost. “Participants who received the combination responded faster and more accurately to potential accident scenes in a computerized traffic-related task. On average, their reaction times improved by about 40 milliseconds more than with a placebo. The brain recordings showed stronger and faster attentional processing.”</p>
<p>While the findings point to a potential benefit of taking L-theanine and caffeine together during periods of sleep deprivation, there are some limitations to consider. The participants were tested in a controlled lab setting using a computer task. Whether these benefits would carry over to real driving situations remains to be seen.</p>
<p>“Our findings should be interpreted with some caution. Although we used a traffic-related task to simulate real-world settings, actual driving involves much more complex decision-making processes. Also, our study examined the effects of L-theanine-caffeine combination after just one night without sleep, not long-term sleep deprivation. People who are regularly sleep-deprived or who frequently consume large amounts of caffeine or L-theanine may not experience the same benefits, since the body can build up tolerance to these compounds over time.”</p>
<p>The researchers suggest that future studies could explore the effects of L-theanine and caffeine in driving simulators or on-the-road tests. It would also be useful to understand how different doses and long-term use might influence attention, especially in people who consume caffeine regularly.</p>
<p>The study, “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/S0007114525104169" target="_blank" rel="noopener">High-dose L-theanine–caffeine combination improves neurobehavioural and neurophysiological measures of selective attention in acutely sleep-deprived young adults: a double-blind, placebo-controlled crossover study</a>,” was authored by Gayani S. Nawarathna, Dewasmika I. Ariyasinghe, and Tharaka L. Dassanayake.</p></p>
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<td><a href="https://www.psypost.org/men-who-were-obese-as-children-tend-to-have-shorter-penises/" style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; letter-spacing:-1px;margin:0;padding:0 0 2px;font-weight: bold;font-size: 19px;line-height: 20px;color:#222;">Men who were obese as children tend to have shorter penises</a>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align:left;color:#999;font-size:11px;font-weight:bold;line-height:15px;">Oct 21st 2025, 11:00</div>
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<p><p>A study in Vietnam investigating men who came to Hanoi Medical University Hospital for reproductive health checks found that those who were obese as children tended to have shorter penises as adults. Penis size was not associated with participants’ current body mass index, but there were some weak associations with waist and hip circumference. The paper was published in the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/jsxmed/qdaf184"><em>Journal of Sexual Medicine</em></a>.</p>
<p>The size and appearance of the human penis has long been a topic of interest both in medical research and in everyday discussions. For many men, penis size is associated with self-esteem and feelings of masculinity. Media, and particularly social media, often discuss the significance of penis size, promoting the idea that there is an “ideal size” and making penis size a source of anxiety for some men. However, although there are rare medical conditions (such as micropenis) that involve extreme deviations from the average penis size, most men who worry about the size of their penis fall within the normal range.</p>
<p>In scientific research, penis size is typically assessed using several measurements, including length and diameter (or circumference), in flaccid, stretched, and erect states. For instance, length is often measured along the top of the penis from the pubic bone to the tip of the glans, while girth is measured around the mid-shaft. Studies show that average erect penis length is about 13 to 14 centimeters (5 to 5.5 inches), with natural variation among individuals and populations.</p>
<p>Study author Bac Hoai Nguyen and his colleagues note that penile development is a complex process influenced by genetics, hormones, and environmental factors. One such potential factor is obesity, particularly in childhood. Obesity is associated with declines in the male sex hormone testosterone during puberty, and testosterone is important for penile development. With this in mind, they conducted a study aiming to examine the association between prepubertal obesity and penis size in Vietnamese men.</p>
<p>Study participants were 290 heterosexual men who visited the Department of Andrology and Sexual Medicine of Hanoi Medical University Hospital for reproductive health check-ups between June 2023 and July 2024.</p>
<p>Study authors measured participants’ height, waist and hip circumference, length of the second and fourth digits on both hands, and penis dimensions: pubic-to-tip flaccid length, skin-to-tip flaccid length, and pubic-to-tip stretched length. Study authors also measured the diameter of the glans and the mid-shaft in the flaccid state. They also had participants estimate their body mass index when they were 10 years old by adjusting the characteristics of 3-dimensional models. The age of 10 was selected because that is a time just before the start of puberty for most children.</p>
<p>Results showed that 63% of participants had a normal body mass index when they were 10 years old. Of these, 26% became overweight, 31% became obese, and 4% became underweight as adults. Of the participants who were overweight as children, 30% had a normal body mass index as adults, while 46% became obese. Of the individuals who were obese as children, 27% became normal-weight, 24% became overweight, and none became underweight.</p>
<p>On average, participants’ penises had a pubic-to-tip flaccid length of 8.9 cm, which increased to 14.4 cm when stretched. The average diameter of the penis was 2.93 cm at the glans and 2.83 cm at the middle. The study found that obese men had slightly wider mid-shaft diameters than overweight men, but not necessarily compared to normal-weight men.</p>
<p>Participants who were obese as children tended to have shorter penises as adults. This was the case for stretched penis length and both measures of flaccid length. Higher waist circumference as an adult was associated with shorter skin-to-tip flaccid penis length. Higher hip circumference was associated with slightly longer pubic-to-tip stretched length. Penis dimensions were not associated with participants’ body mass index in adulthood.</p>
<p>“Childhood obesity is associated with penile growth, while adulthood obesity relates to the appearance of the penis rather than the actual size. Thus, there is a need for early interventions to mitigate the potentially long-term effects of childhood obesity on penile development,” the study authors concluded.</p>
<p>The study sheds light on the links between obesity and penile development. However, it should be noted that the study was conducted on a group of men seeking medical help for reproductive issues and may not be representative of the general population.</p>
<p>The paper, “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/jsxmed/qdaf184">Associations between obesity across the lifespan and adult penis dimensions: a retrospective observational study of Vietnamese men using 3D-modeled prepubertal BMI,</a>” was authored by Bac Hoai Nguyen, Quan Minh Pham, Anh Bui Quoc Nguyen, Anh Phuong Nguyen, Vu Bui Duy Nguyen, Andrea Sansone, and Emmanuele A. Jannini.</p></p>
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<p><strong>Forwarded by:<br />
Michael Reeder LCPC<br />
Baltimore, MD</strong></p>
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