Mindfully Healing

Why early life stress causes depression. Early life stress decreases the adult ability to feel enthusiasm and experience pleasure. This is one of the reasons that experiencing stress early in life is a major risk factor for depression. Studies show that neglected or abused children are almost twice as likely to experience depression later in life. One of the causes is thought to be how neglect and abuse affects the way the brain processes reward. Dr. Jamie Hanson, the study’s first author, explained: “Our analyses revealed that over a two-year

Massive study of 100,000 people finds evidence for long-suspected danger of anxiety and sleeping drugs. Like many drugs, those prescribed for anxiety disorders, like diazepam and temazepam, have a number of known side-effects like daytime sleepiness, falls, an increased risk of dementia — and they are also addictive. Now, though, a new study has found evidence for a long-suspected danger of these drugs as well as common sleeping pills: an increased risk of death. The large study, published in the British Medical Journal, looked at data from over 100,000 patients

Surprising signs of intelligence include a tendency towards mental illness, being prone to worry, sleeping late and more… 1. Mental illness Disorders of mood could be the price some people pay for high intelligence, recent research finds. Psychologists have found that higher childhood IQ is linked to features of bipolar disorder in young adulthood. The research adds fuel to the debate over the connection between intelligence, creativity and mental health issues. Other studies now suggest a link between intelligence and mental illness that may go back into our evolutionary past.

The most genuine and pleasant type of smile might surprise you. When it comes to a successful smile, less is more, new research finds. The most effective, successful and pleasant smile doesn’t show too much of the teeth. It is a medium or low wattage smile. Certainly, it is not true that the bigger the smile, the better it is, as the study’s authors explain: “…the optimal window (or sweet spot) of smile extent contradicts the principle that “more is always better” with respect to smile extent.” The image below