Mindfully Healing

How to strengthen brainwaves related to cognition, learning, memory and even healing. Eating nuts regularly strengthens brainwaves related to cognition, learning, memory and even healing, new research finds. Pistachios were particularly good at boosting the brain’s gamma wave response. Gamma waves are critical for faster cognitive process, learning, memory and even sleep. Peanuts, meanwhile, enhanced the brain’s delta response. The delta response is important for deep sleep, healing and healthy immunity. Because of their antioxidant content, nuts have already been shown to benefit the heart, reduce inflammation and slow the

Poor parenting still resonating with people now in their 60s as much as the death of a loved one. Children of parents who are warmer and less controlling grow up happier, a new study finds. In contrast, parents who are overly controlling tend to bring up children with worse mental well-being. Dr Mai Stafford, one of the study’s authors, said: “We found that people whose parents showed warmth and responsiveness had higher life satisfaction and better mental wellbeing throughout early, middle and late adulthood.” The study tracked 5,362 people from

Why sleep deprivation feels like being drunk without drinking anything. Sleep deprivation disrupts communication between brain cells, new research finds. These disruptions can lead to temporary lapses in memory and even hallucinations. This helps to explain why sleep deprivation leaves people feeling so spaced out. Professor Itzhak Fried, who led the study, said: “We discovered that starving the body of sleep also robs neurons of the ability to function properly. This paves the way for cognitive lapses in how we perceive and react to the world around us.” The study

The longer people follow this diet, the more depressed they are. Vegetarians are twice as likely to experience depression as those eating a regular balanced diet, a new study finds. The longer people followed a vegetarian diet, the higher their depression scores, the researchers found. It is possible that the link is down to poor nutrition. Vegetarians typically have low levels of vitamin B12 in their diet. Indeed, around 50% of vegans have a vitamin B12 deficiency, while 7% of vegetarians have the deficiency. Vitamin B12 is found in red

Both creativity and intelligence could be linked to this relaxing activity. Being a daydreamer is a sign that you are intelligent and creative, new research concludes. The result comes from a study in which over 100 people had their brains scanned while they stared at a fixed point for five minutes. The researchers wanted to see how their brains worked in unison when they were given nothing in particular to do. People whose brains worked more efficiently had greater intellectual abilities and also reported more daydreaming in their everyday lives.

Study tests if western diet contributes to the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease. Poor diet and inactivity probably account for around one-quarter of cases of Alzheimer’s disease, recent research finds. Now, a new study suggests that a ‘western diet’ may well be a contributing factor to Alzheimer’s. The study’s authors describe the typical western diet: “A western diet tends to include highly processed, less expensive fast food, that has a high fat content and simple carbohydrates while lacking essential nutrients from complex grains, fruits and vegetables.” Scientists at Tufts University

The research found this technique improved people’s ability to remember new names. The secret to better learning could be very brief exercise directly afterwards, new research finds. People who did just 5 minutes of step aerobics after learning remembered more than those who did not exercise. It is thought that immediate exercise helps the process of memory consolidation. Consolidation is how the brain locks in and strengthens the memory after it has been acquired. Memory consolidation was first written about two thousand years ago by the Roman scholar Quintilian, but

Psychopaths are likely to be selfish, callous, remorseless and anti-social. Psychopaths are more likely to major in business and economics, a study finds. This supports the view of business people as tending towards the callous and self-interested. At the other end of the scale, people intending to study psychology were the least likely to have psychopathic traits. The results come from a survey of over 400 Danish students. They took a personality test along with providing information about their future academic choices. All the information was collected before they started

Smarter people are also healthier, finds 10 year study of over half a million Britons. People born with larger heads are more intelligent, according to research from a large study. Large heads — along with greater brain volume — are also linked to having a more successful future. Those with larger heads are more likely to go on to higher education. This is probably because children with larger heads also have higher scores on tests of verbal and numerical reasoning. The findings come from the UK Biobank study, which is