Could COVID trigger ‘face blindness’? Plus, the most common anxiety orders, explained, and more health news

The list of symptoms that can strike long COVID sufferers has just gotten a little longer, and a little more mysterious: Researchers are reporting a case of “face blindness” related to the syndrome.

The condition, known medically as prosopagnosia, causes a very specific impairment: trouble discerning one face from another. Even the once-familiar face of a loved one might as well be a stranger’s.

Typically, face blindness arises from damage to the brain’s face-processing network, after a head injury or stroke, for example, said Marie-Luise Kieseler, a researcher at the Dartmouth College Social Perception Lab in Hanover, N.H.

Now she and colleague Brad Duchaine have identified the first case of face blindness linked to long-haul COVID.

Your eyes close and your mind shuts down the second your head hits the pillow, but you wake up 10 hours later still feeling tired.

Many people complain about sleeping too little, but some struggle with the opposite problem: oversleeping.

Oversleeping, or hypersomnia, is a sleep disorder characterized by complaints of excessive daytime sleepiness occurring regularly or often, even after sleeping 10 or more hours a night.

“Healthy sleep encompasses three major things,” Marishka Brown, a sleep expert at the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH), said recently. “One is how much sleep you get. Another is sleep quality — that you get uninterrupted and refreshing sleep. The last is a consistent sleep schedule.

Do you ever wonder why you typically feel hungry when it’s time for dinner?

Researchers say that’s not just a habit, but a physiological drive, with the human body able to predict the timing of regular meals.

“We often get hungry around the same time every day, but the extent to which our biology can anticipate mealtimes is unknown. It is possible that metabolic rhythms align to meal patterns and that regularity of meals will ensure that we eat at the time when our bodies are best adapted to deal with them,” said study author Jonathan Johnston. He is a professor of chronobiology and integrative physiology at the University of Surrey in the United Kingdom.

It might seem like a move to rural living could bring calm and even happiness, but new research suggests that isn’t always so.

A study from the University of Houston found that those living in the country were not more satisfied with their lives than people who lived in urban areas. Rural U.S. residents didn’t feel like their lives were more meaningful, and they also tended to be more anxious, depressed and neurotic.

Among the reasons for this are a shortage of mental health professionals, and the researchers noted a surge in rural hospital closures since 2010.

Almost 85% of all rural counties have a mental health professional shortage, even though rural residents appear to need more psychological services, according to the study.

Practicing yoga might help older adults become a little surer on their feet, a new research review suggests.

The review, of 33 small clinical trials, found that older adults who participated in yoga programs typically gained some lower-body strength and boosted their walking speed.

Experts said the findings suggest that yoga might help older adults manage some of the strength and movement limitations that can come with age.

At the same time, it’s hard to give specific advice based on the research that’s been done, according to lead researcher Dr. Julia Loewenthal, a geriatrician at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston.

Sometimes an anxiety disorder feels like worry and ruminating about lots of little and big things.

Other times it’s focused on a specific phobia, such as a fear of flying or being in social situations. It can also be expressed as intense feelings about separation from loved ones.

What’s clear is that someone experiencing anxiety disorder symptoms isn’t alone. About 40 million American adults have one or more types of anxiety disorders, according to the Anxiety and Depression Association of America (ADAA).

If you think you may be among those dealing with these issues, it is possible to get help. There are a range of treatment options for anxiety disorders.