Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Who’s Minding the Mind?
New studies have found that people tidy up more thoroughly when there’s a faint tang of cleaning liquid in the air; they become more competitive if there’s a briefcase in sight, or more cooperative if they glimpse words like “dependable” and “support” — all without being aware of the change, or what prompted it. Psychologists say that “priming” people in this way is not some form of hypnotism, or even subliminal seduction; rather, it’s a demonstration of how everyday sights, smells and sounds can selectively activate goals or motives that people already have.
Brain • Productivity/Performance • Psychology • (0) Comments • Permalink
Charting new body-mind links
The link between mind and the body tends to be more the subject of New Age books or yoga workshops than respectable research. Not that this link hasn’t been subjected to scientific scrutiny. One person who is moving us closer to such an understanding is a McGill scientist named Moshe Szyf. Szyf, 52, is a pioneer in the emerging field of epigenetics. Epigenetics is the study of the epigenome—the chemical switching system that turns genes on and off, and it is radically changing how we understand the relationship between our genetics and our environment. “
Aging • Brain • Genetics • Stress • (0) Comments • Permalink
Monday, July 30, 2007
Old Memory is Key Source of Chronic Pain
Why do so many people continue to suffer from life-altering, chronic pain long after their injuries have actually healed? The definitive answer—and an effective treatment—has long eluded scientists. Traditional analgesic drugs, such as aspirin and morphine derivatives, haven’t worked very well. A Northwestern University researcher has found a key source of chronic pain appears to be an old memory trace that essentially gets stuck in the prefrontal cortex, the site of emotion and learning. The brain seems to remember the injury as if it were fresh and can’t forget it.
Prenatal Stress Keeps Infants, Toddlers Up At Night, Study Says
Anxious or depressed mothers-to-be are at increased risk of having children who will experience sleep problems in infancy and toddlerhood, finds a study that published this month in Early Human Development.
American Institute of Stress Honors HeartMath’s emWave Personal Stress Reliever
HeartMath® is honored to have their handheld emWave Personal Stress Reliever® technology be the first recipient of the American Institute of Stress Award for Distinction and Innovation. This award is granted to products and services that have been formally evaluated and validated by the American Institute of Stress.
Emotions • Happiness • Heart Rate Variability • HeartMath • Productivity/Performance • Psychology • Stress • Technology • (0) Comments • Permalink
A Mind for Sociability
Humans are highly social, but we don’t get pally with just anybody. Before forming relationships with other people, we normally size them up to see how trustworthy they are. A new study suggests that this behavior stems from an evolutionary reorganization in a part of the brain responsible for detecting other people’s emotions.
Brain • Emotions • Relationships • (0) Comments • Permalink
Emotional recall is in your genes
Your ability to recall emotional events – such as meeting the love of your life, or the trauma of a painful car crash – is governed by a common variation in a single gene, according to a new study. We recall emotionally charged events far more than mundane ones because they tend to be advantageous in evolutionary terms. Remembering favourable or dangerous events helps our survival far more than recalling the daily commute to work, for example.
As boomers age, products like hearing aids are getting a style and marketing makeover
As the 78-million-member baby boom generation confronts the physical challenges of aging, the boomers, long accustomed to throwing their economic and cultural weight around, are doing so more than ever. Companies are racing to “boomerize” products and services, adding a flashier edge to stodgy devices like hearing aids or subtly tailoring their marketing pitch to a generation that never believed it would get old—and still doesn’t.
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Joseph LeDoux’s heavy mental
The neuroscientist explains how music, emotion and memory shape our identities—and why he has donned a Stratocaster to keep the brain rollin’ all night long.
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Army to Train Soldiers About Brain Injuries, Other Mental Health Concerns
The Army plans to begin a program today to educate every soldier about traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress disorder. The rare effort to break the perceived stigma within the military on mental health problems comes as increasingly more troops return from battle with serious but undiagnosed conditions.
Girl talk linked to depression, anxiety
Constant venting over crushes, popularity or other personal problems may lead to anxiety and depression in girls — but not in boys, according to new research. A study of 813 students ages 8 to 15 found that excessive discussions and rumination about problems strengthened friendships for both sexes, but those tighter bonds came at a cost for girls.
Anxiety • Depression • Relationships • Stress • Teenagers • (0) Comments • Permalink
Study Indicates Physicians Experience Stress Following Medical Errors
Many physicians experience significant emotional distress and job-related stress following near misses and medical errors, according to a new study published in the August 2007 issue of The Joint Commission Journal on Quality and Patient Safety. The findings point out the need to improve organizational resources for all health care professionals to receive the support they need following an error.
Sunday, July 15, 2007
Why so angry? How rage can make you ill
According to a 2006 Harvard study, 10 million adult men in the United States are so angry, they’re sick. In fact, their disease has a name: intermittent explosive disorder, or IED. The condition has been on the books since 1980, but the Harvard study claims it’s far more common than anyone believed. Few people see psychiatrists because they can’t control their tempers. If the Harvard researchers are correct, almost 1 in 10 adult men routinely display wildly disproportionate aggression, and are so angry that they’re likely to damage property, or threaten or injure others. (The researchers estimate that only half as many women suffer from IED.)
Take vacation advice to heart
Research about the benefits of vacations shows that people who take them regularly are generally healthier than people who don’t. They’re less likely to have heart attacks, they report lower levels of stress and depression and they may even be happier in their marriages. And, of course, when vacationers return to work, they’re usually less burned out than they were before they left.
Cardiovascular Health • Productivity/Performance • Stress • (0) Comments • Permalink
Thursday, July 12, 2007
Shy guys ‘could face heart risk’
Being the life and soul of the party may cut your chances of a fatal heart or stroke, research suggests. A 30-year study by Chicago Northwestern University suggested shy or antisocial men were 50% more likely to die this way, compared with outgoing men. The Annals of Epidemiology study supports other work suggesting a link between personality and health.
Aging • Cardiovascular Health • Relationships • (0) Comments • Permalink