Mindfully Healing

Simply remembering everything that happens to us is not the point of memory. Forgetting is the key to having a useful memory, a new psychology paper argues. Simply remembering everything that happens to us is not the point of memory. Our memories should help to guide us in making intelligent decisions in the situations we find ourselves. Dr Blake Richards, one of the study’s authors, said: “It’s important that the brain forgets irrelevant details and instead focuses on the stuff that’s going to help make decisions in the real world.”

How to tell the difference between a narcissist and someone with high self-esteem. Criticism makes narcissists aggressive, research finds. But people with high self-esteem are not particularly bothered by criticism. This is because, at heart, narcissists often have a strange relationship with their self-esteem, so they hate to be criticised. Any criticism will usually make them aggressive in response. Psychologists measured the self-esteem, narcissism and aggressive behaviour of 540 undergraduate students. They found that the more narcissistic students tended to verbally lash out more when they were criticised. The study’s

The supplement starts to take effect after only two weeks, the researchers found. Over-the-counter magnesium is a safe and effective way to treat mild to moderate depression, a new study suggests. The mineral magnesium has already been linked to lower inflammation and improvements in depression. Now a new randomized controlled trial has tested the effects of magnesium chloride supplements compared with no treatment. For the research, half of 126 people with mild to moderate depression were given 248mg of magnesium chloride per day for six weeks. After just two weeks,

Many people are attracted to a younger partner, but is it worth it in the long run? The best age gap for marital satisfaction is…none at all, research finds. In the long run couples who are mismatched in age tend to be less satisfied, even if they are better off at first. Both men and women are initially particularly satisfied when they get a younger husband or wife. Professor Terra McKinnish, who co-authored the study, said: “We find that men who are married to younger wives are the most satisfied,

It almost doubled the amount of times that people awoke during the night. The blue light emitted by screens damages the length and quality of sleep, new research finds. Screens that emit redder light, though, do not damage sleep in the same way. Professor Abraham Haim, one of the study’s authors, said: “The light emitted by most screens — computers, smartphones, and tablets — is blue light that damages the body’s cycles and our sleep. The solution must be the use of the existing filters that prevent the emission of

Adults who grew up with this childhood personality trait earn more money now. People labelled ‘stubborn, defiant rule-breakers’ as children grow up to earn a higher income, a new study finds. The findings come from research carried out on almost 3,000 children in Luxembourg. The study looked at the children’s intelligence, socioeconomic status and family background, among other variables. Forty years later, 745 of those children were followed up to find out their educational and occupational achievements. The researchers were surprised to find that a more rebellious childhood nature was

The most common anxiety disorder is social anxiety disorder. Cognitive therapy on its own is the best treatment for social anxiety disorder, new research finds. It is better than just taking drugs and better than taking drugs as well as having therapy. Cognitive therapy resulted in either a cure or significant improvement in 85% of patients. Professor Hans M. Nordahl, who led the study, said: “We’ve set a new world record in effectively treating social anxiety disorders. This is one of the best studies on social anxiety disorders ever. It’s

Brain scans reveal how men and women react differently to depression. Woman are much more susceptible to depression than men. At age 15, girls are twice as likely as boys to be experiencing depression. This could be down to hormonal fluctuations, body image issues, genetic factors or other causes. Men, though, are more likely to suffer persistent depression. And for women, depression tends to go in cycles. Brain scans of adolescents in a new study have found different responses at this young age. For the research, 106 adolescents with depression

How fashion helps us fit in with others as well as sets us apart. When women move to a new city they take note of the height of other women’s high heels. Then they tend to copy the heel-height worn by affluent women and ignore the heels of less affluent women. Professor Kurt Gray, author of new study analysing shoe purchases by women, said: “In other words, women want to look like the rich girls, and different from the poor girls.” The researchers call this ‘trickle down conformity’: the idea

Improve both your memory and intelligence with a popular supplement. Creatine — a popular dietary supplement — boosts IQ and working memory, research finds. Creatine is generally known as a supplement used by athletes for gaining muscle mass. But that is not its only effect. For the research vegetarians and vegans were given creatine supplementation. Dr Caroline Rae, who led the study, explained the choice: “Vegetarians or vegans were chosen for the study as carnivores and omnivores obtain a variable level of creatine depending on the amount and type of