Mindfully Healing

Around 40% of US adults say they have trouble falling asleep. Writing a to-do list for the next day before bedtime helps people fall asleep faster, new research finds. The more specific the list, the faster people fall asleep. Dr Michael K. Scullin, who led the study, said: “We live in a 24/7 culture in which our to-do lists seem to be constantly growing and causing us to worry about unfinished tasks at bedtime. Most people just cycle through their to-do lists in their heads, and so we wanted to

The first study to show higher brain-signal diversity than normal when people are awake. Neuroscientists have found that the brain enters a ‘higher state of consciousness’ under the influence of psychedelic drugs. People given psilocybin, ketamine and LSD under controlled conditions displayed more diverse neural signalling — a measure of the complexity of brain activity. This is the first study to show higher brain-signal diversity than normal when people are awake. Professor Anil Seth, one of the study’s authors, said: “This finding shows that the brain-on-psychedelics behaves very differently from

The sign comes 10 years before memory and thinking problems are obvious. A worsening of anxiety symptoms could be an early sign of Alzheimer’s in older people, new research finds. The symptom could help to diagnose the disease 10 years before problems with memory and thinking are obvious. In this ‘preclinical’ phase, up to 10 years before disease onset, deposits of amyloid and tau proteins build up in the brain. The study found that the greater these build-ups, the higher the symptoms of anxiety people experienced. Dr Nancy Donovan, the

Up to 1 in 3 people in the US report having been bullied during childhood — most often at middle school. Bullying is linked to mental health problems in later years, new research finds. However, these tend to fade over the years, showing the remarkable resilience of many children. The study followed 11,108 twins who were followed until they were 16-years-old. Dr Jean-Baptiste Pingault, one of the study’s authors, said: “Previous studies have shown that bullied children are more likely to suffer mental health issues, but give little evidence of

In 30 years this trait has increased by up to one-third. Perfectionism in mind, body and career is on the rise in the young, new research finds. The current crop of college students is more obsessed with being perfect than they were 30 years ago. Making comparisons on social media could be one important driver for the rise in perfectionist tendencies. The change could be having a dramatic negative effect on their mental health. Dr Thomas Curran, the study’s first author, said: “Meritocracy places a strong need for young people

Half of Americans use a drink linked to depression on any given day. Drinking soda — especially diet drinks — is linked to an increased risk of depression, a study finds. However, drinks like coffee and tea — without artificial sweeteners — actually reduce the risk of depression slightly, the study also found. The conclusions come from an analysis of 263,925 people aged 50 to 71-years-old who were followed over a decade. Those who drank over four cans of soda per day were 30% more likely to be depressed than

Don’t just contradict them — try a more radical approach. Extreme agreeing could be the answer to getting people to change their minds, psychological research suggests. The natural reaction when arguing with someone is to contradict them. However, showing people a very extreme version of their own deeply held opinions can make them think again. It seems that the absurdity of extreme agreeing helps to foster a rethink. I agree with you The study recruited 150 Israelis who were shown a video about the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The video did

The largest household panel survey reveals how parents raise happy children. Children grow up happier when their mother is happy in her relationship. Fully 73% of people whose mothers were ‘perfectly happy’ in their relationship say they are ‘completely happy’ with their family situation. This is just one of the factors in a family that predicts which children grow up to be happier. The others are: avoiding regular arguments and eating at least three evening meals together a week. Arguing more than once a week with parents was linked to

It’s an anxiety and depression symptom that doctors frequently don’t recognise. Feeling physically sick is a little-known sign of anxiety and depression, research finds. Many people — patients and doctors included — assume the cause of nausea is a physical problem, not a mental issue. However, people who go to the hospital with nausea are quite frequently found to be suffering from anxiety and/or depression. This study found that 41% of people complaining of nausea actually had an anxiety disorder and 24% were clinically depressed. Dr Tone Tangen Haug, the

Few people with depression are given a comprehensive plan by their health provider. Over 80% of people experiencing depression say exercise improves their mood and anxiety most of the time. Yet only around one-third actually reach the recommended exercise levels of at least 150 minutes per week. Unfortunately, around half of people find that low mood makes it difficult to get motivated to exercise. Dr Carol Janney, who led the study, said: “Physical activity has been shown to be effective in alleviating mild to moderate depression and anxiety. Current physical