Mindfully Healing

Our environment may change the brain’s structure and function in a positive way. Living near a forest keeps the brain healthier, new research finds. Even city dwellers who lived closer to a forest had a healthier amygdala, an area of the brain where emotion and stress are processed. This suggests a link between living near trees and being able to cope with stress. Ms Simone Kühn, the study’s first author, said: “Research on brain plasticity supports the assumption that the environment can shape brain structure and function. That is why

The talk therapy that is quicker (and cheaper) than cognitive-behavioural therapy. Depression can be more simply treated by behavioural activation therapy, a new study concludes. Behavioural activation therapy is a more straightforward alternative to cognitive-behavioural therapy — the gold standard of depression treatment. Clinical depression affects around 350 million people around the world, but only a fraction receive the best care. Behavioural activation therapy could be a good alternative that provides access to therapy for more people. The therapy itself focuses on encouraging people to take part in meaningful activities

…or try the supplement that contains the same critical pigment. Yellow and red skin pigments are perceived as 50% more attractive in Caucasian people, new research finds. Although these pigments in the skin are supposed to be signals of good health, they can be faked. Taking beta-carotene supplement, for example, will have the same effect. Beta-carotene is the pigment that gives carrots — and other fruits and vegetables — a strong red/yellow colour. For this research 43 Caucasian men were given a beta-carotene supplements for 12 weeks. Below you can

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

It benefits women but surprisingly had a slightly negative effect on men’s attractiveness. Being nice makes women more attractive to men, research finds. Men who think that women are more ‘responsive’ find them more feminine. Femininity is linked to greater sexual arousal and so to increased attraction for most men. However, for men, being nice did not make them more attractive to women. If anything, being nice had a slightly negative effect on the attractiveness of a man to a woman. Professor Gurit Birnbaum, the study’s first author, explained that:

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