Healthy Eating, Physical Activity, and Sleep Hygiene (HEPAS) as the Winning Triad for Sustaining Physical and Mental Health in Patients at Risk for or with Neuropsychiatric Disorders: Considerations for Clinical Practice

Neuropsychiatric disorders stem from gene-environment interaction and their development can be, at least in some cases, prevented by the adoption of healthy and protective lifestyles. Once full blown, neuropsychiatric disorders are prevalent conditions that patients live with a great burden of disability. Indeed, the determinants that increase the affliction of neuropsychiatric disorders are various, with unhealthy lifestyles providing a significant contribution in the interplay between genetic, epigenetic, and environmental factors that ultimately represent the pathophysiological basis of these impairing conditions. On one hand, the adoption of Healthy Eating education, Physical Activity programs, and Sleep hygiene promotion (HEPAS) has the potential to become one of the most suitable interventions to reduce the risk to develop neuropsychiatric disorders, while, on the other hand, its integration with pharmacological and psychological therapies seems to be essential in the overall management of neuropsychiatric disorders in order to reduce the disability and improve the quality of life of affected patients. We present an overview of the current evidence in relation to HEPAS components in the prevention and management of neuropsychiatric disorders and provide suggestions for clinical practice

Specific Activation of Estrogen Receptor Alpha and Beta Enhances Male Sexual Behavior and Neuroplasticity in Male Japanese Quail

Two subtypes of estrogen receptors (ER), ERα and ERβ, have been identified in humans and numerous vertebrates, including the Japanese quail. We investigated in this species the specific role(s) of each receptor in the activation of male sexual behavior and the underlying estrogen-dependent neural plasticity. Castrated male Japanese quail received empty (CX) or testosterone-filled (T) implants or were daily injected with the ER general agonist diethylstilbestrol (DES), the ERα-specific agonist PPT, the ERβ-specific agonist DPN or the vehicle, propylene glycol. Three days after receiving the first treatment, subjects were alternatively tested for appetitive (rhythmic cloacal sphincter movements, RCSM) and consummatory aspects (copulatory behavior) of male sexual behavior. 24 hours after the last behavioral testing, brains were collected and analyzed for aromatase expression and vasotocinergic innervation in the medial preoptic nucleus. The expression of RCSM was activated by T and to a lesser extent by DES and PPT but not by the ERβagonist DPN. In parallel, T fully restored the complete sequence of copulation, DES was partially active and the specific activation of ERα or ERβ only resulted in a very low frequency of mount attempts in few subjects. T increased the volume of the medial preoptic nucleus as measured by the dense cluster of aromatase-immunoreactive cells and the density of the vasotocinergic innervation within this nucleus. DES had only a weak action on vasotocinergic fibers and the two specific ER agonists did not affect these neural responses. Simultaneous activation of both receptors or treatments with higher doses may be required to fully activate sexual behavior and the associated neurochemical events