Mindfully Healing

Men with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder were more likely to have a history of this infection. Candida yeast infections are linked to serious mental health problems, new research finds. Men with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder were more likely to have a history of infection. Women with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder who also had a Candida infection were more likely to have poorer memory. Dr Emily Severance, the study’s first author, said: “It’s far too early to single out Candida infection as a cause of mental illness or vice versa. However,

Are beards attractive? And if so, how much should men grow? Women judge fully bearded men to be a better bet for long-term relationships, new research finds. This might be because it makes men look more ‘formidable’. Certainly, beards make men look older and more aggressive. Beards are also often judged to make men look like they have higher social status. However, for short-term relationships, women judge stubble to be most attractive, the new research found. The study showed pictures of men with different levels of facial hair to over

50% improvement in learning from this sleep technique. Sleeping in between study sessions could be the key to better recall, new research finds. The technique aids recall up to six months later, psychologists have found. Dr Stephanie Mazza, the study’s first author, said: “Our results suggest that interleaving sleep between practice sessions leads to a twofold advantage, reducing the time spent relearning and ensuring a much better long-term retention than practice alone. Previous research suggested that sleeping after learning is definitely a good strategy, but now we show that sleeping

How to appear up to 40% more likeable and approachable. Nodding the head increases attractiveness to others by up to 40% research finds. Head nodders were rated as both more likeable and more approachable. It was primarily people’s personality that appeared more attractive when they nodded. Essentially, nodding makes people more likely to approach you in social interactions. Dr Jun-ichiro Kawahara, study co-author, said: “Our study also demonstrated that nodding primarily increased likability attributable to personality traits, rather than to physical appearance.” The research, carried out in Japan, compared nodding

Only a small change in posture is enough to increase attractiveness. A slight arching of a woman’s back — extending her buttocks outward — makes her more alluring, research finds. It might help to explain the mystery of why high-heeled shoes are so popular. They cause women to arch their backs slightly to help them balance. The study found that only relatively small changes in how much a woman’s back was arched made her look more appealing. Mr Farid Pazhoohi, who led the study, said: “Increased curvature increases the perception

The reason high intelligence and anxiety are correlated. Intelligence and anxiety may have evolved together as mutually beneficial traits, research finds. This may help to explain why people with high intelligence also tend to have higher levels of anxiety. The benefit may be that intelligence allows people to better imagine what might go wrong. Worriers tend to keep out of danger so that their genes are the ones carried forward into the next generation. Non-worries, meanwhile, starved to death because they didn’t prepare for winter or failed to anticipate an

Why people with the most severe personality disorder find it difficult to have romantic relationships and friendships. People with borderline personality disorder have deficits in brain regions related to empathy, new research finds. The finding helps explain why people with borderline personality disorder have unstable moods. They also often have trouble maintaining relationships with others. Dr Brian Haas, the study’s lead authors, said: “Our results showed that people with BPD traits had reduced activity in brain regions that support empathy. This reduced activation may suggest that people with more BPD

Superagers reveal how we can all age gracefully. Warm and trusting social relationships could be the key to having an extraordinary memory when you are 80. The conclusion comes from new research on so-called ‘superagers’ — people who have the cognitive abilities of those up to 30 years younger. The decline in superager’s memory and other cognitive skills is much slower than their peers. They also report having more high-quality and satisfying relationships with other people. Dr Emily Rogalski, a study author, said: “You don’t have the be the life

Posting this type of image online linked to depression. People who are depressed can be identified from their social media photos 70% of the time, new research finds. Depressed people have a tendency to post (literally) darker pictures. They are also more likely to use a filter to convert their images to black-and-white. Dr Christopher Danforth, who co-authored the study, explained the signs to look for: “Our analysis of user accounts from a popular social media app revealed that photos posted by people diagnosed with depression tended to be darker

“If you’re so smart, why aren’t you rich?” Being smart has almost no relationship to wealth, research reveals. Smart people are no more wealthy than those who are considerably less smart, on average, a study has found. Perversely, very clever people are actually at a slightly higher risk of financial problems. Dr Jay Zagorsky, the study’s author, said: “People don’t become rich just because they are smart. Your IQ has really no relationship to your wealth. And being very smart does not protect you from getting into financial difficulty.” The