Mid-life stress ‘precedes dementia’: A new study suggests that stressful events in mid-life, including divorce, unemployment and bereavement, may up women’s risk of Alzheimer’s later in life. The study followed 800 women in their 30s, 40s and 50s over the course of several decades and found that “the more stressful events there were, the higher the dementia risk became.” Researchers suggested that “stress hormones may be to blame, triggering harmful alterations in the brain.” (

The immune system benefits from life in the countryside: Moving to the countryside may help dampen allergies and hypersensitivities, a new study shows. Researchers found that being frequently exposed to the bacteria, fungi, pollen and other irritants more common in rural areas actually may “serve to prevent or dampen hypersensitivity to the most widespread plant allergens: grass and birch pollen.” Surprisingly, this effect was seen both in people who grew up in rural areas and in adults who moved from urban areas later in life.