Mindfully Healing

The right amount of worrying can be beneficial to mind and body. Worry can be good for both mind and body, new research concludes. Worry can help to motivate us and work to protect the emotions. Psychologists find that people who worry more tend to: recover better from traumatic events, prepare and adapt to stressful events better, and do things to improve their health. For example, worriers are more likely to get mammograms, self-check their breasts and seek help for any problems. Professor Kate Sweeny, the study’s first author, said:

Around one million people around the world take their own lives each year. Hopelessness and emotional pain are the two main reasons why people attempt suicide, research finds. Common beliefs about suicide were not strongly supported by the study. People were less likely to mention the following reasons: Financial problems, as a cry for help, or to solve some kind of practical problem. Instead, it was more because the emotional pain they were in was unbearable and they felt that it would never go away. Professor David Klonsky, study co-author,

For the research 166 people carried out cognitive tasks while the blood flow in their brains was measured. Higher omega-3 fatty acids levels are linked to greater blood flow in memory and learning areas of the brain, new research finds. Omega-3 fatty acids have been shown to fight changes in the brain linked to dementia. Dr Daniel G. Amen, the study’s first author, said: “This is very important research because it shows a correlation between lower omega-3 fatty acid levels and reduced brain blood flow to regions important for learning,

Afterwards people reported greater motivation to work and more energy. Walking up the stairs for 10 minutes beats a cup of coffee for increasing energy and motivation, new research finds. Researchers compared the effects of 10 minutes low-to-moderate intensity exercise with a 50mg of caffeine (around a cup of coffee or can of cola) and a placebo condition. Professor Patrick J. O’Connor, study co-author, said: “We found, in both the caffeine and the placebo conditions, that there was not much change in how they felt. But with exercise they did

It can feel really good but it is reducing productivity by up to 40%. Multitasking can reduce productivity by up to 40%, research finds. And now brain scans show why. Changing from one activity to another interferes with brain activity. This makes the end result much worse than if we focus on one thing at a time. Dr Iiro Jääskeläinen, a neuroscientist and one of the study’s authors, said: “We used functional magnetic resonance imaging to measure different brain areas of our research subjects while they watched short segments of

The three dietary supplements that are most effective for treating anxiety. Dietary supplements which contain passionflower, kava or combinations of L-lysine and L-arginine can help reduce anxiety, according to a review published in the Nutrition Journal. The supplements generally had mild to moderate effects without producing any serious side-effects. The review included results from 24 separate studies with over 2,000 participants. The researchers also concluded that St John’s Wort and magnesium were not effective in treating anxiety (Lakhan & Vieira, 2010). Dr Shaheen Lakhan, the study’s first author, said: “Our

If pushed to choose, would you say this image contains a circle or not? People who tend towards saying the shape above is a circle are generally more liberal, a new study finds. People in the study who tended to say this was a circle were also: for the legalisation of cannabis, for gay marriage, for a government-funded welfare state. Those who said the shape above was not a circle tended to be more politically conservative. Naturally, they were also more likely to be for strengthening drug laws and ‘small’