Sadness, brain fog, pain during sexual intercourse, loss of memory, bone mass and libido, incontinence, migraines, hot flushes, the risk of heart attack and insomnia. 

These aren’t the potential side effects of an aggressive treatment but rather the symptoms of menopause: a stage that all women go through (and many will spend a third of their lives in) but about which we know very little, both medically and socially. 

According to a review published in the journal Cell, 85% of women going through menopause are not receiving any effective, regulator-approved treatment. Fortunately, this gap, in both resources and care, is beginning to be filled.

Sometimes, all we need to do is change our angle of perspective to realise that what had previously appeared to be splashes of colour, spontaneous shapes and lines that lead nowhere are, in fact, a message.

And that’s the case of this latest CaixaResearch Snapshot. It could be a contemporary work of art with an artificial, abstract, almost random texture. But what you can see here goes beyond art. It’s a scientific image that contains an important discovery, namely confirmation that our brain and gut communicate directly and in both directions. 

To analyse this image from two different but complementary perspectives, we asked Marc Claret,

In 2015, the British National Health Service (NHS) surprised the entire population with the Heart Age Test, a free online calculator that estimates the user’s ‘heart age‘ with just five basic pieces of information: weight, height, blood pressure, cholesterol and family history.

However, for many people the result was a reality check: 80% discovered that their heart was older than their actual age.

Behind this anecdote lies a disturbing trend: a growing number of heart attacks are being detected in young people, even those under 40. What’s happening? Why is the heart starting to fail earlier? And, most importantly, can we prevent it?

To mark World Heart Day,

Science has long been able to diagnose Alzheimer’s and even predict its onset at very early stages. However, until now this was only possible by means of invasive techniques, such as lumbar punctures to examine the cerebrospinal fluid or expensive tests such as positron emission tomography (PET).

Now, researchers from the Sant Pau Research Institute (IR Sant Pau) in Barcelona and the BBRC have made significant progress: they’ve demonstrated that the detection of biomarker p-tau217 in plasma, obtained by a simple blood test, can predict not only the presence of Alzheimer’s but also its clinical progression, even before any symptoms have become evident.

This finding comes at a key moment: last April the European Medicines Agency (EMA) authorised the sale of lecanemab (Leqembi),

Okinawa, Japan. Sardinia, Italy. Nicoya, Costa Rica. Three points on the map that are far from each other but which, nevertheless, have a surprising feature in common: the life expectancy of their inhabitants is very high, over 100 years.

These are three of the so-called Blue Zones: places where people not only live longer but in better health. So what’s their secret? 

Beyond diet or physical activity, researchers agree on one key factor they all share: their inhabitants live in environments that favour relaxation and social relationships and promote a strong sense of purpose in life, as well as experiencing low levels of stress. 

And this is no minor detail.