DOWNLOAD THE ENTIRE MARCH 2018 NEWSLETTER including this month’s Freebie. There are advantages to being smart. People who do well on standardised tests of intelligence—IQ tests—tend to be more successful in the classroom and the workplace. Although the reasons are not fully understood, they also tend to live longer, healthier lives, and are less likely […]
DOWNLOAD THE ENTIRE FEBRUARY 2018 NEWSLETTER including this month’s Freebie. Despite its importance for health and well-being, many adults find it difficult to consistently get enough sleep. Sleep disturbances are particularly common in older adults and involve a variety of problems including difficulties falling or staying asleep, interrupted breathing and restless leg syndrome. A person’s racial […]
DOWNLOAD THE ENTIRE JANUARY 2018 NEWSLETTER including this month’s Freebie. There is a growing body of research that suggests that for some people, even slight changes in the acid balance in their brain may be linked with panic disorder and other psychiatric conditions. Recent findings provide further evidence that such links are real – and […]
DOWNLOAD THE ENTIRE NOVEMBER 2017 NEWSLETTER including this month’s Freebie. You may be thinking: Yes, living under crowded conditions surely drives people crazy. And the reason may be traced back to some unfortunate rats. In the mid-20th century ethologist John Calhoun wanted to see how overcrowding would influence social behaviour in rats. He placed rats […]
DOWNLOAD THE ENTIRE OCTOBER 2017 NEWSLETTER including this month’s Freebie. In the 1960s, a surgical technique to reduce stomach size (called bariatric surgery) was introduced to help obese patients lose weight. Doctors considered this primarily a mechanical fix. A smaller stomach, the reasoning went, simply cannot hold and process as much food. Patients get full […]
DOWNLOAD THE ENTIRE SEPTEMBER 2017 NEWSLETTER including this month’s Freebie. The United States is in the grip of an unprecedented public health crisis – and unfortunately one in which well-meaning doctors have played a part. Due to chronic pain health issues the sales of opioid drug painkillers on prescription has quadrupled between 1999 and 2014. […]
DOWNLOAD THE ENTIRE JULY 2017 NEWSLETTER including this month’s Freebie. Laughter is universal. It is a hardwired response that comes online early— in the first four months of life— regardless of culture or native language. Whether a child is raised in The Netherlands or Nigeria, Peru or Pakistan, his or her first laugh will delight […]
DOWNLOAD THE ENTIRE JUNE 2017 NEWSLETTER including this month’s Freebie. Laughter comes in many flavours: the giddy giggle, the mild chuckle, the lusty guffaw, the sarcastic “ha!” Its meaning is just as varied, signalling everything from amusement to discomfort to disdain. For researchers, understanding how our brain interprets this complex behaviour is serious business. […]
DOWNLOAD THE ENTIRE MAY 2017 NEWSLETTER including this month’s Freebie. Self-compassion, at its most basic level, means treating yourself with the same kindness and understanding that you would a friend. People who struggle with this concept, research shows, do not necessarily lack compassion toward others. Rather they hold themselves to higher standards than they would […]
DOWNLOAD THE ENTIRE APRIL 2017 NEWSLETTER including this month’s Freebie. Carolyn feels great these days. She exercises. She’s socially active. She spends as much time with her four grandchildren as possible. But it wasn’t always that way. A retired radiology film librarian from Pittsburgh, she began feeling apathetic and isolated seven years ago. She’d just […]
DOWNLOAD THE ENTIRE FEBRUARY 2017 NEWSLETTER including this month’s Freebie. Although few of us spend time contemplating the molecular messengers at work in our brain, we owe a tremendous amount to them—and to dopamine in particular. It plays a part in movement, motivation, mood and memory. But it also has a dark side. The neurotransmitter […]
DOWNLOAD THE ENTIRE JANUARY 2017 NEWSLETTER including this month’s Freebie. The fact that exercise improves physical health is so well known as to be a platitude. Decades of research demonstrate that regular exercise lowers the risk of many illnesses—heart disease, obesity, diabetes, cancer—and extends the average life span. In contrast, the benefits of exercise for […]