Mindfully Healing

Some good can come of this emotion — not so much its close cousin, shame. People who are more prone to feeling guilt are better at reading other people’s emotions, a new study finds. The guilt-prone were able to read all types of facial emotions better, tests revealed. They were particularly good on relatively low-intensity emotions. Subtle facial expressions are (obviously) the most difficult to detect. This is not the first time guilt has been linked to empathy, as the study’s authors explain: “[there is] a large body of prior

Escape from worries about past and future and find it easier to focus on the present moment. Just ten minutes of mindfulness each day is effective against repetitive anxious thoughts, new research reveals. The practice can also help stop your mind from wandering. People in the study who meditated for only a short period found it easier to focus on their present-moment external experience rather than their internal thoughts. Mr Mengran Xu, the study’s first author, said: “Our results indicate that mindfulness training may have protective effects on mind wandering

Researchers tested how the mere presence of a smartphone affected cognitive capacity. The mere presence of your smartphone makes you more dumb, even when it is on silent, new research finds. It doesn’t even matter if it is turned off! So, leaving your smartphone in another room actually makes you smarter. The study found that when people had their smartphones with them, their cognitive capacity was reduced. Cognitive capacity is the ability to hold and process information in the mind. Dr Adrian Ward, the study’s first author, said: “We see

The most well-known effect of this drink confirmed by research. Alcohol produces the neural and molecular changes of a rapid antidepressant, new research concludes. The drug lifts depression for up to 24 hours due to its effect on the brain’s chemistry. Naturally, the study’s authors were quick to warn against self-medication. Dr Kimberly Raab-Graham, the study’s first author, said: “Because of the high comorbidity between major depressive disorder and alcoholism there is the widely recognized self-medication hypothesis, suggesting that depressed individuals may turn to drinking as a means to treat

Sleep pattern lowered levels of an antioxidant that helps fight cellular damage, such as that caused by Alzheimer’s. Sleep disruptions similar to jet lag could cause memory problems linked to Alzheimer’s disease, new research finds. It’s well-known by scientists that there’s a link between Alzheimer’s and sleep, but not what causes what. Professor Gregory Brewer, who led the research, said: “The issue is whether poor sleep accelerates the development of Alzheimer’s disease or vice versa. It’s a chicken-or-egg dilemma, but our research points to disruption of sleep as the accelerator

Brain scans of four different types of depression could aid in the diagnosis and treatment of the condition. Four types of depression have been newly identified by researchers using brain scans. The brain scans revealed distinctly different types of brain activity in each sub-type. The finding may eventually lead to treatments targeted to the particular sub-type of depression. Dr. Conor Liston, who led the research, said: “The four subtypes of depression that we discovered vary in terms of their clinical symptoms but, more importantly, they differ in their responses to

“Where words leave off, music begins.” ― Heinrich Heine Beautiful but sad music can help improve mood when people are feeling blue, research finds. For the study 220 people recalled something depressing that had happened to them. They then recalled what type of music they had listened to afterwards. Choosing beautiful but sad music emerged as the only strategy that people thought had cheered them up. Dr Annemieke van den Tol, the study’s first author, explained the results: ”We found in our research that people’s music choice is linked to

If you want to run more, use social comparison as motivation. Running is socially contagious, new research finds. Data from 1 million runners collected over five years suggests that the running bug spreads from person to person. Just knowing other people who run is enough to boost your motivation, it seems. Professor Sinan Aral, a study author, said: “Knowing the running behaviors of your friends as shared on social networks can cause you to run farther, faster, and longer.” The study’s authors write: “On the same day, on average, an

Only one personality trait is changed when people drink. Alcohol has much less effect on people’s personalities than they imagine, new research finds. Only extraversion — how outgoing you are — changes when you are drunk. People become more assertive, gregarious and move around more when drinking. However, people think that all their personality traits change when they are drunk compared with when they are sober. Dr Rachel Winograd, the study’s first author, said: “We were surprised to find such a discrepancy between drinkers’ perceptions of their own alcohol-induced personalities