Mindfully Healing

How to identify autism before 18 months of age. Autism is not usually diagnosed before two-years-old. However, the subtle warning signs can be seen even earlier — perhaps before the age of 18 months. The earlier a child is diagnosed with autism, the quicker the treatments can begin. The five early warning signs of autism are: More limited and repetitive play, less name response, less social smiling, less babbling, limited gesture use. Before one-year-old it is difficult to spot any of these signs. But between 12 and 18-months, it is

Greater brain activity seen in the prefrontal cortex, an area vital for the brain’s higher functions. Making art activates the brain’s reward pathways, new research finds. Doodling in particular boosts the blood flow through the prefrontal cortex. The prefrontal cortex (above the eyes) is the area of the brain linked to regulating our higher functions like our thoughts, feelings and actions. The study had both artists and non-artists either doodling, free drawing or colouring between the lines. For artists, doodling was linked to slightly higher levels of brain activity. Dr

The emotion helped people make healthier choices. Curiosity is a powerful way to motivate people, research finds. It can even help people make healthier choices. Across four experiments, researchers found that people’s curiosity encouraged them to take the stairs and eat more healthily. Dr Evan Polman, the study’s first author, said: “Our research shows that piquing people’s curiosity can influence their choices by steering them away from tempting desires, like unhealthy foods or taking the elevator, and toward less tempting, but healthier options, such as buying more fresh produce or

Alcohol plus cannabis is one of the most frequently detected combinations of drugs in car accidents. Alcohol and cannabis taken together may increase the effect of the cannabis, a new study finds. This may be why, in car accidents, alcohol plus cannabis is one of the most frequently detected combinations of drugs. Taking both drugs together significantly increases the levels of cannabis’ main psychoactive ingredient, THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) in comparison to taking cannabis alone. For the research, 19 adults either took doses of cannabis or a placebo. Both were combined with

The obvious strategy for controlling emotions is not always the best, study finds. Sometimes it pays not to keep your emotions in check, research finds. While controlling your emotions is usually thought of as being healthy, it isn’t always. When there is something you can do about a situation, emotions help to motivate action. Because emotions encourage us to look for solutions, they can help us escape from difficult situations. If you reason the emotions away, then you are less likely to make the necessary changes. However, when there is

Two-thirds of people with major depression were no longer depressed after this treatment. A brisk walk three times a week can actually beat antidepressant medication in treating major depression, research finds. The results come from a study on three groups of elderly people with major depressive disorder. One group were given the exercise, another given antidepressant medication and the third both. The results showed that all three groups improved the same amount. Professor James Blumenthal, the study’s first author, said: “One of the conclusions we can draw from this is

New study on elderly mice suggests cannabis could be a good treatment for dementia. Cannabis reverses the brain ageing process, new research finds. The study on elderly mice showed that their brains could be regressed to the state of two-month-olds. They were given a low-dose treatment with a cannabis-active ingredient (THC). THC could prove to be a good treatment for dementia eventually, the researchers think. Professor Andreas Zimmer, who led the research, said: “With increasing age, the quantity of the cannabinoids naturally formed in the brain reduces. When the activity

Simple procedure enhances flexible thinking and shakes off old ideas. Simply washing your hands could be enough to help let go of old ideas, new research finds. A team of psychologists at the University of Toronto has found that cleaning your hands is enough to leave behind old goals and allow you to pursue new ones. For the study people were ‘primed’ with a goal. Priming involves unconsciously activating a goal in someone’s mind. The results showed that when people subsequently wiped their hands, they forgot about this unconscious goal.

“Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.” — Ernest Hemingway People with higher IQs are more likely to be happy, research finds. The finding goes against both Hemingway and the popular idea that being intelligent is somehow predisposes people to unhappiness. Dr Angela Hassiotis, who led the study, said: “We found that IQ is associated with self-reported happiness, as levels of happiness were lowest in the lower IQ groups and highest in the higher IQ groups. This is particularly relevant when considering the current political debates on

Certain words can reduce both social pain and physical pain. Swearing can help to relieve hurt feelings and an aching heart, new research has found. Swearing aloud helps to quickly reduce various types of ‘social distress’ such as being socially excluded. The experiment was carried out to test ‘Pain Overlap Theory’. This is the idea that physical pain is processed in a similar way by the brain as social pain, the kind you get from being rejected or embarrassed. Dr Michael Philipp, the study’s first author, explained the results: “The