Mindfully Healing

Both happiness and general well-being were boosted in the study of 395 people. Taking a few moments to stop and look at something in the natural environment is enough to make people happier, research finds. LIterally, ‘stopping and smelling the roses’, or in this case noticing anything in the natural world really does work. Both happiness and well-being were boosted by noticing things like a bird, a house plant, a dandelion in the sidewalk, or just the sun shining through the window. In the research, people took a photo of

The simple belief about old age that halves your dementia risk. Having a positive attitude towards ageing can half the risk of developing dementia, new research finds. People with the strongest genetic risk factor for depression — the ε4 variant of the APOE gene — were 49.8% less likely to develop the disease compared to those with a negative view of ageing. For those without the genetic risk factor, those with positive beliefs about ageing had a 43.6% lower chance of developing dementia. Professor Becca Levy, the study’s first author,

A particular part of the brain is one of the first to be affected by dementia. Losing your sense of smell is an early sign of dementia, new research finds. Almost all the people in the research who could not identify any of five common smells went on to develop dementia within five years. Those who could not name four out of five common smells, had twice the risk of developing dementia in the next five years. Professor Jayant M. Pinto, who led the research, said: “These results show that

Many colouring in books advertise themselves as ‘art therapy’, but do they make people feel better? Colouring in books do help to improve people’s mood, new research finds. However, ‘real’ art therapy has other advantages on top, the authors argue. Dr Girija Kaimal, who led the study, said: “The main takeaway is that coloring has some limited benefits like reducing stress and negative mental states. But it does not shift anything else of substance, develop relationships, nor result in any personal development.” Art therapists argue that therapy is about more

The talk therapy that is quicker (and cheaper) than cognitive-behavioural therapy. Depression can be more simply treated by behavioural activation therapy, a new study concludes. Behavioural activation therapy is a more straightforward alternative to cognitive-behavioural therapy — the gold standard of depression treatment. Clinical depression affects around 350 million people around the world, but only a fraction receive the best care. Behavioural activation therapy could be a good alternative that provides access to therapy for more people. The therapy itself focuses on encouraging people to take part in meaningful activities

Around 40% of US adults say they have trouble falling asleep. Writing a to-do list for the next day before bedtime helps people fall asleep faster, new research finds. The more specific the list, the faster people fall asleep. Dr Michael K. Scullin, who led the study, said: “We live in a 24/7 culture in which our to-do lists seem to be constantly growing and causing us to worry about unfinished tasks at bedtime. Most people just cycle through their to-do lists in their heads, and so we wanted to

The first study to show higher brain-signal diversity than normal when people are awake. Neuroscientists have found that the brain enters a ‘higher state of consciousness’ under the influence of psychedelic drugs. People given psilocybin, ketamine and LSD under controlled conditions displayed more diverse neural signalling — a measure of the complexity of brain activity. This is the first study to show higher brain-signal diversity than normal when people are awake. Professor Anil Seth, one of the study’s authors, said: “This finding shows that the brain-on-psychedelics behaves very differently from

The sign comes 10 years before memory and thinking problems are obvious. A worsening of anxiety symptoms could be an early sign of Alzheimer’s in older people, new research finds. The symptom could help to diagnose the disease 10 years before problems with memory and thinking are obvious. In this ‘preclinical’ phase, up to 10 years before disease onset, deposits of amyloid and tau proteins build up in the brain. The study found that the greater these build-ups, the higher the symptoms of anxiety people experienced. Dr Nancy Donovan, the

Up to 1 in 3 people in the US report having been bullied during childhood — most often at middle school. Bullying is linked to mental health problems in later years, new research finds. However, these tend to fade over the years, showing the remarkable resilience of many children. The study followed 11,108 twins who were followed until they were 16-years-old. Dr Jean-Baptiste Pingault, one of the study’s authors, said: “Previous studies have shown that bullied children are more likely to suffer mental health issues, but give little evidence of

In 30 years this trait has increased by up to one-third. Perfectionism in mind, body and career is on the rise in the young, new research finds. The current crop of college students is more obsessed with being perfect than they were 30 years ago. Making comparisons on social media could be one important driver for the rise in perfectionist tendencies. The change could be having a dramatic negative effect on their mental health. Dr Thomas Curran, the study’s first author, said: “Meritocracy places a strong need for young people