Mindfully Healing

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

A behaviour you’re probably doing right now has been consistently linked to anxiety. Sitting down all day has been linked to increased anxiety, a new study finds. Low energy activities like watching TV, working at a computer or playing electronic games may all be linked to anxiety. The link between sedentary behaviours and worse physical health is well-established. This study is the first to review the evidence on sedentary behaviours and the psychological impact on anxiety. Dr Megan Teychenne, who led the study, said: “Anecdotally — we are seeing an

Largest study to date builds evidence that vitamin deficiency is linked to chronic headaches. Low levels of vitamin D are linked to chronic headaches, finds the largest ever study on the subject to date. A Finnish study of 2,601 men found that 68% had deficient vitamin D levels. Those reporting chronic headaches had lower levels of vitamin D than those who did not. Men with the lowest levels of vitamin D had twice the risk of chronic headaches as those with high levels of vitamin D. Chronic headaches were also

Which spouse’s happiness is most important for marital satisfaction? When the wife is happy with a long-term partnership, the husband is happier, no matter how he feels about the marriage. For marital quality, it seems the wife’s happiness matters more than the husband’s. The conclusion comes from a new study published in the Journal of Marriage and Family, which looked at the marital satisfaction and happiness of older adults (Carr et al., 2014). Professor Deborah Carr, the study’s first author said: “I think it comes down to the fact that

How to promote the pleasure of uncertainty in romantic attraction. Women are more attracted to men when they are uncertain of his feelings, research finds. So, the old dating advice about ‘playing hard-to-get’ may have some scientific basis. It all comes down to how much we are thinking about the other person. The study’s authors explain: “If we want to know how much Sarah likes Bob, a good predictor is how much she thinks Bob likes her. But what if Sarah is not sure how much Bob likes her? They

Risks of spanking children confirmed by 50 years of research. The more children are spanked, the more aggressive and anti-social they are. What is termed ‘spanking’ has similar effects on children as physical abuse. The conclusions come from studies conducted over 50 years which included more than 160,000 children. The researchers also found that being spanked was linked to more mental health problems and cognitive difficulties later on. Dr Elizabeth Gershoff, the study’s first author, said: “Our analysis focuses on what most Americans would recognize as spanking and not on

Although few people know this depression symptom, it’s frequently reported by sufferers. People experiencing mood disorders like depression often say their thinking has become ‘fuzzy’. Now a large study has shown that the effect is real. Published in the journal Brain, the study tested the concentration of 612 women, two-thirds of whom had been clinically depressed or had bipolar disorder (Ryan et al., 2015). The results showed that women with mood disorders did worse on the test. Almost all those who performed in the bottom 5% had mood disorders. Brain

Psychopaths naturally excel in one dark skill. Psychopaths are much better at learning to lie than the rest of us, new research finds. It is a natural capacity just waiting to be tapped. The research compared people with high and low psychopathic traits. The results showed that psychopaths learned to lie quicker. Dr Tatia Lee, study co-author, said: “The stark contrast between individuals with high and low levels of psychopathic traits in lying performance following two training sessions is remarkable, given that there were no significant differences in lying performance