Mindfully Healing

Two personality traits are most strongly linked to walking quickly. Fast walkers are more likely to be extraverted, conscientious and open to new experiences. Naturally, though, with age, people tend to walk more slowly. However, those high in extraversion, conscientiousness and openness to new experience did not slow down as much as they got older. The study’s authors conclude: “This study provides robust evidence that walking speed in adulthood reflects, in part, the individual’s personality.” The results come from over 15,000 people between 25 and 100 years old. They were

30 years worth of research reveals that 50% of people benefit from this simple treatment. Sleep deprivation can rapidly reduce the symptoms of depression, 30 years of research suggests. Around half of people with depression who are sleep deprived under controlled, inpatient conditions feel better quickly. Many see improvements in just 24 hours, in comparison to the weeks it can take for antidepressants to start working. ‘Wake therapy’, as it is sometimes called, involves staying awake all night and the next day. Around 50% of people find their depression improves

Many colouring in books advertise themselves as ‘art therapy’, but do they make people feel better? Colouring in books do help to improve people’s mood, new research finds. However, ‘real’ art therapy has other advantages on top, the authors argue. Dr Girija Kaimal, who led the study, said: “The main takeaway is that coloring has some limited benefits like reducing stress and negative mental states. But it does not shift anything else of substance, develop relationships, nor result in any personal development.” Art therapists argue that therapy is about more

Better emotional control is linked to lower levels of depression and anxiety. The key to healthy emotional control is to be flexible, new research finds. People with lower levels of depression and anxiety tend to vary their emotional control strategy successfully depending on whether the situation can be explained. Dr Peter Koval, one of the study’s authors, said: “Our results caution against a ‘one strategy fits all’ approach, which may be tempting to recommend based on many previous findings regarding reappraisal as a strategy for regulating emotion. Simply using any