Mindfully Healing

Women applied for 400 real jobs to test the effect of clothing in their profile picture. Women whose resumes include a picture of themselves in low-cut or revealing tops are five times more likely to be interviewed, new research finds. The five-year study had two women send out resumes for real accountancy and sales positions. Each applied for 200 roles using almost identical resumes. The only difference was that half the resumes included a picture of themselves conservatively dressed. For the other half they were wearing more revealing clothing. Here

Sleep disturbance is common in dementia, but the reason is unclear. Getting less REM sleep — the phase in which we dream — is linked to dementia, a study finds. During sleep the brain cycles between periods of deep sleep and then up towards shallower periods of sleep in which we tend to dream, whether we remember those dreams or not. During REM sleep the eyes move rapidly from side-to-side (hence Rapid Eye Movement Sleep). Brain activity also increases and our pulses quicken. Dr Matthew P. Pase, the study’s first

Brain scans reveal that just a little of this personality trait boosts happiness. Even a small amount of generosity towards others makes people happier, psychological research finds. In fact, merely promising to be more generous is enough to trigger changes in our brain that lead to greater happiness. People in the study did not need to be extremely generous to see the benefits to happiness levels. Dr Philippe Tobler, one of the study’s authors, said: “You don’t need to become a self-sacrificing martyr to feel happier. Just being a little

Simply remembering everything that happens to us is not the point of memory. Forgetting is the key to having a useful memory, a new psychology paper argues. Simply remembering everything that happens to us is not the point of memory. Our memories should help to guide us in making intelligent decisions in the situations we find ourselves. Dr Blake Richards, one of the study’s authors, said: “It’s important that the brain forgets irrelevant details and instead focuses on the stuff that’s going to help make decisions in the real world.”