Mindfully Healing

The teenagers described a wide variety of sources of stress. Few young people use the word ‘depressed’ to describe what often looks like depression, new research reveals. Instead they refer to being ‘stressed’ or ‘down’. Dr Daniela DeFrino, study co-author, said: “Much of what a teen is feeling and experiencing is easy to attribute to the ups and downs of teen angst. But, sometimes, there is so much more under the surface that can lead to depression,” Three common depression symptoms the teenagers in the study reported were: Trouble falling

The drink activates the ‘feel-good’ dopamine receptors in the brain. A component found in beer, quite apart from alcohol, also stimulates the brain’s reward centre, new research finds. Hordenine, which is found in beer and malted barley, stimulates the brain’s dopamine receptors in the same way as dopamine. Dopamine is the neurotransmitter that gives us that feel-good effect. It makes us want to carry on consuming a food or beverage long after we are satiated. The conclusions come from research that went through a database of 13,000 chemicals to find

The type of sleep linked to feeling more positive emotions. More sleep isn’t always better for your mood. In fact, more sleep that’s disrupted reduces positive moods more than less sleep that’s uninterrupted, a new study finds. Uninterrupted sleep is particularly beneficial for the positive emotions of friendliness and sympathy for others. Dr Patrick Finan, who led the study, said: “When your sleep is disrupted throughout the night, you don’t have the opportunity to progress through the sleep stages to get the amount of slow-wave sleep that is key to

• Next article in this series: This Way of Socialising Cuts Depression Risk In Half• Previous article: Depression Caused By How People See The Future, New Study FindsThis small change to your diet could be enough to reduce the risk of depression. A Mediterranean diet including fruits, vegetables and legumes can prevent depression, a large new study finds. People only had to make relatively small changes to see the benefits. The scientist think that depression could be partly down to a lack of essential nutrients. The study included 15,093 people

Show popular with teenagers linked to increased internet searches for how to commit suicide. A Netflix drama called ’13 Reasons Why’ has been linked to internet searches for suicide, new research finds. The series, which is popular with teenagers, is about the suffering and eventual suicide of a teenage girl. The girl’s journey is experienced by her friend listening to a series of audio-cassette journals she has left behind. (If this sounds like just the sort of thing you don’t need on a Monday night after a long day at

People are least happy and at the highest risk of suicide during these years. Middle-aged people are at the highest risk of suicide, research shows. The risk is particularly high among middle-aged women. Middle-aged people — those in their 40s and 50s — are at twice the risk of suicide as those in their 30s or 60s. The results tie in with surveys of happiness which find that people are at their lowest point, on average, as they approach their 50s. Professor Andrew Oswald, the study’s first author, said: “Suicide

Even relatively small amounts of exercise can help reduce the risk of developing depression. Only one hour of exercise per week is enough to help prevent depression, new research finds. In the largest survey of its kind, the anxiety and depression levels of 33,908 Norwegians were monitored for more than 11 years. The researchers concluded that just one hour of exercise a week reduced the chances of developing depression by a massive 44%. Dr Samuel Harvey, the study’s lead author, said: “We’ve known for some time that exercise has a

Drug thought safe for teenagers linked to suicidal and self-harming behaviours. A common antidepressant thought safe for adolescents is actually ineffective, new research finds. Worse, it has been linked to serious side-effects. The drug is called paroxetine, which is marketed as Paxil, Seroxat and Aropax. The conclusions come from a re-evaluation of a study — known as ‘Study 329’ — carried out in 2001 . Study 329, which was funded by the pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline, originally claimed paroxetine was effective and safe. Not only were these conclusions wrong, the new

Not all depression symptoms are easy to spot. When depressed, people have a distorted view of the past, new research finds. When they look back, people experiencing depression feel that the bad things that happened to them were inevitable. Worse, they feel there was nothing they could do about them. Dr Hartmut Blank, one of the study’s authors, said: “Depression is not only associated with a negative view of the world, the self and the future, but we now know with a negative view of the past.” What people feeling

…and the 12 linked to the least satisfaction with life. The clergy are the happiest and most satisfied workers in America, a large US survey finds. 87% of them reported being very satisfied with their work. They are closely followed by physical therapists, 80% of whom were very satisfied with their work and firefighters, 78% of whom were very satisfied. Dr Tom W. Smith, the study’s author, explained the common thread in these different jobs: “The most satisfying jobs are mostly professions, especially those involving caring for, teaching, and protecting