The study published in Child Development found that singing to infants can significantly boost their mood. This is according to researchers at Yale University’s Child Study Center, who conducted an experiment where parents were encouraged to sing more frequently to their babies. The results showed a measurable improvement in infants’ moods overall, compared to those in the control group.

The study included 110 parents and their babies, most of whom were under four months old. Parents were randomly assigned into two groups: one group received encouragement to sing more frequently by teaching them new songs, providing karaoke-style instructional videos, and sending weekly newsletters with ideas for incorporating music into daily routines. For four weeks, these parents received surveys on their smartphones at random times throughout the day.

The researchers found that parents were successfully able to increase the amount of time they spent singing to their babies. Not only did the parents sing more frequently, but they also chose to use music especially in one context: calming their infants when they were fussy.

“This simple practice can lead to real health benefits for babies,” said Eun Cho, postdoctoral researcher at the Yale Child Study Center and co-first author of the study. “We show that singing is something that anyone can do, and most families are already doing.”

The researchers believe that the benefits of singing may be even stronger than the current study shows, especially in a family that does not already rely on music as a way of soothing their infants.

A follow-up study, “Together We Grow,” will investigate the impact of infant-directed singing over an eight-month period. The Child Study Center researchers are currently enrolling parents and babies under four months old in this study to further explore the benefits of singing.

The findings have implications for alleviating stress or conditions such as postpartum depression in the long term, and may also show benefits beyond mood in infants, such as improved sleep.

As Samuel Mehr, an adjunct associate professor at the Child Study Center and director of The Music Lab, said, “Our understanding of the evolutionary functions of music points to a role of music in communication. Parents send babies a clear signal in their lullabies: I’m close by, I hear you, I’m looking out for you — so things can’t be all that bad.”

The article you provided raises critical concerns about the potential consequences of early teenage obesity on future generations. A recent study published in Communications Biology has shed light on the biological mechanism behind this issue, revealing that boys who become overweight in their early teens may pass on harmful epigenetic traits to their children.

Researchers from the University of Southampton and the University of Bergen in Norway investigated the epigenetic profiles of 339 people, aged 7 to 51. They found that fathers who gained weight during adolescence were more likely to have epigenetic changes in over 2,000 sites in 1,962 genes linked with adipogenesis (formation of fat cells) and lipid metabolism in their children.

These epigenetic changes can regulate gene expression and are associated with asthma, obesity, and low lung function. The study found that the effect was more pronounced in female children than male children, with different genes involved.

The findings have significant implications for public health and may be a game-changer in public health intervention strategies. As Professor Cecilie Svanes from the University of Bergen noted, “A failure to address obesity in young teenagers today could damage the health of future generations, further entrenching health inequalities for decades to come.”

The research was funded by the Norwegian Research Council and highlights the importance of addressing childhood obesity globally. As Prof John Holloway from the University of Southampton and the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Southampton Biomedical Research Centre added, “Childhood obesity is increasing globally, and the results of this study demonstrate that this is a concern not only for the health of the population now but also for generations to come.”

A recent study has shed light on the increased risk of psychopathology in children whose parents have schizophrenia or bipolar disorder. Researchers from the University of Barcelona and the Gregorio Marañón University Hospital in Madrid followed 238 children (aged 6-17) for four years, comparing them with a control group of parents without these conditions.

The study found that children of parents with schizophrenia had a higher risk of developing attention deficit disorder, disruptive disorders, and subclinical psychotic symptoms. In contrast, children of parents with bipolar disorder were more likely to experience mood disorders, attention deficit disorder, and subclinical bipolar symptoms.

This research highlights the importance of family and social interventions in mitigating this risk. Better parental psychosocial functioning and higher socioeconomic status were associated with a lower presence of mental health problems in children.

The study’s findings are part of the BASYS (Bipolar and Schizophrenia Young Offspring Study) project, which aims to improve our understanding of the mechanisms underlying the intergenerational transmission of vulnerability to mental disorders in childhood and adolescence.

While more research is needed, this study underscores the need for preventive strategies in high-risk populations. It also emphasizes the importance of long-term follow-up of children of parents with severe mental illness.

This rewritten article aims to provide a clear and concise overview of the study’s findings, making it accessible to a general audience while maintaining the core ideas and scientific rigor of the original text.