Mindfully Healing

Do antidepressants work? What are the real side-effects? And more… 1.Antidepressants are very hit-and-miss Unfortunately, for around half of depressed patients, the first antidepressants prescribed do not work. On top of that, around one-third of patients do not respond to any types of drugs (although psychological therapies may be useful). At the moment, the only way to know is to try them and see what happens. This means that many depressed people have to wait around three months to see if the drugs will work. (From: Depression Breakthrough: Blood Test

Study suggests way to achieve a more sophisticated understanding of any subject. Arguing with yourself can be a highly productive exercise, a new study finds. Imagining both sides of the argument helps people reach a deeper, more sophisticated understanding of the subject, the researchers found. Ms Julia Zavala, the study’s first author, said: “Envisioning opposing views leads to a more comprehensive examination of the issue. Moreover, it impacts how people understand knowledge — constructing opposing views leads them to regard knowledge less as fact and more as information that can

Just one cup a day is enough to reduce the risk. Drinking tea is linked to a dramatic reduction in the risk of cognitive impairment in older people, new research suggests. A single daily cup of tea reduces cognitive decline in those over 55 by 50%, the Chinese study found. Among those with a genetic susceptibility to Alzheimer’s, though, this risk reduction increased to 86%. It did not matter which type of tea people consumed: green, black or oolong. The only thing that mattered was that the tea was brewed

Six months later, 80% had recovered from depression, researchers found. Rumination — thinking about the causes and consequences of depressing events — is common in depression. However, simply realising that you don’t have to ruminate can be liberating, new research suggests. When people learned to reduce how much they ruminated, 80% had recovered after six months (including 10 weeks of therapy). Professor Roger Hagen, who led the research, said: “Anxiety and depression give rise to difficult and painful negative thoughts. Many patients have thoughts of mistakes, past failures or other

Common drugs can give you a 5% better chance of winning at chess. Caffeine, modafinil and Ritalin can all make you better at chess, new research finds. The study shows that cognitive enhancers like these can boost performance even when someone is not tired. For the study 39 male chess players were given either caffeine, modafinil, Ritalin or a placebo. They then played time-limited games of chess against a powerful programme. Professor Klaus Lieb, who led the study, said: “We were surprised to see that players on the drugs played

People in the study slept better and their memory was boosted. Special sounds during sleep can improve sleep and boost memory, new research finds. The gentle sounds were timed to coincide with natural ‘brain waves’: the waves of electrical activity in the brain. People in the study were able to recall 26% more words they had learned after being exposed to the sounds during sleep. Dr Phyllis Zee, a study author, said: “This is an innovative, simple and safe non-medication approach that may help improve brain health. This is a

Make others empathise more with this really strange method. Having people touch rough sandpaper makes them more empathetic, a new study finds. Being in a small amount of discomfort helps people empathise with others in pain. Other ways of putting people in a small amount of discomfort may also work in a similar way. The study was looking at ways to increase donations to charity. Dr Chen Wang, the study’s first author, said: “We found that when people were experiencing mild discomfort as a result of touching a rough surface,

The probiotic buffered the body against the damaging effects of stress. Depression has been reversed in mice by feeding them probiotic bacteria, new research reports. Lactobacillus is a type of ‘good’ bacteria found in yogurt, among other foods. The role of the gut microbiome — the bacteria which live in our gut — has become a focus of research interest recently. Dr Alban Gaultier, who led the study, said: “The big hope for this kind of research is that we won’t need to bother with complex drugs and side effects