Mindfully Healing

Prescription drugs taken by millions of people around the world can affect memory. Memory loss is not always a result of ageing. Here are five types of drugs that can affect memory. 1. Antidepressants (tricyclic) The older type of antidepressants — known as tricyclics — have been linked to memory loss. Some of the drug names include: desipramine (Norpramin), imipramine (Tofranil), clomipramine (Anafranil), and doxepin (Sinequan). Around half of people taking them report problems concentrating and one-third say they have memory loss. 2. Anxiety drugs Benzodiazepines include drugs marketed under

People frequently give those with insomnia the worst advice with the best of intentions. Many people give incorrect advice about insomnia to their partners with the best of intentions, new research reveals. Psychologists studied 31 bed partners of people with insomnia. They wanted to see how they tried to support their insomniac partners. What they found was worrying… 74% of people encouraged an earlier bedtime or a later bedtime – Wrong! In fact, treatments for insomnia advise people to keep the same sleep and wake times. It is critical to

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