Mindfully Healing

The herb is central to the traditional home medicine of India called Ayurveda. Ashwagandha is a herb central to the traditional home medicine of India called Ayurveda. Its Latin name is W. somnifera, meaning sleep-inducing, and it has been used for that purpose for centuries. It is sometimes known as “Indian ginseng”. Modern scientific studies have shown that crude powder of Ashwagandha helps to promote sleep. Now, new research has revealed the active ingredient. The Ashwagandha leaf is rich in triethylene glycol (TEG), which scientists have now found helps improve

Nine years before memory changes, this can signal problems. Changes in sense of humour could be an early sign of dementia, a new study finds. A shift to preferring slapstick humour — like Mr Bean — over satirical or absurdist comedy, such as Monty Python, could be an early sign of Alzheimer’s. Friends and relatives of those with dementia reported seeing changes around nine years before the more typical memory problems. Dr Camilla Clark, who led the study, said: “As sense of humour defines us and is used to build

Could these be 8 of the most obvious findings about attraction ever? Women wearing high-heels are more attractive to men than those wearing flats, a recent study has found. Also, the higher the heels, the greater men’s helping behaviour and the more women are hit on. The French research is the first ever to look at the vexed question of how a woman’s high-heels affect the behaviour of men (Guéguen, 2014). The research had a woman wearing either flat shoes, 5cm heels or 9cm heels while asking both men and

Sleeping at the right time is linked to lower levels of anxiety. People who go to sleep later tend to experience more repetitive negative thinking, research finds. Those who go to bed later also get more overwhelmed with negative thoughts than those who keep more regular sleeping hours. People who experience repetitive negative thinking typically feel they have little control over it. They worry too much about both the future and the past, and the thoughts tend to intrude into everyday life. These intrusive thoughts are linked to depression, anxiety

Neurotransmitter levels are boosted by consuming a spread popular in the UK and Australia. Eating marmite increases certain neurotransmitter levels, new research finds. Marmite is a yeast-based spread popular in the UK, that many say is disgusting. It makes use of the sludgy leftovers from the beer-making process. Along with being popular in the UK, its Australian cousin ‘Vegemite’ is popular there too, despite an equally horrible taste. The key seems to be that Marmite (and Vegemite) are fortified with vitamin B12. Ms Anika Smith, the study’s first author, said:

Autism research finds link between this vitamin and serotonin production. Many scientists have speculated that the problematic social behaviour of people with autism is related to low vitamin D and serotonin levels. Now a new study has found a causal link between vitamin D and three hormones which are important in social behaviour: serotonin, oxytocin and vasopressin. Genetic research has shown that vitamin D hormone activates a gene which produces an enzyme leading to higher levels of serotonin (Patrick & Ames, 2014). In the brain, serotonin acts as a neurotransmitter,