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Rewire Your Brain for Health and Happiness
Mind-Body-Mood Advisor: Rewire Your Brain for Health and Happiness
Research shows that meditating not only stills your mind, it changes your brain and improves your well-being.
By Jeffrey Rossman, PhD
Learn simple meditation techniques that you can use every day.
RODALE NEWS, EMMAUS, PA—When I first started meditating 34 years ago, I was more than a little bit skeptical. How could sitting with your eyes closed for 20 minutes change your brain function, strengthen your immune system, increase your intelligence, and make you dramatically happier? I was wary of devoting 40 minutes (20 minutes twice a day) to practice a technique that was apparently developed by a little man from India in a white robe with a long beard and a strange laugh. So I read everything I could about the science behind transcendental meditation, and finally was convinced that it was a technique worth learning.
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New theory links depression to chronic brain inflammation
New theory links depression to chronic brain inflammation
Athina Markou, PhD, and Karen Wager-Smith
Chronic depression is an adaptive, reparative neurobiological process gone wrong, say two University of California, San Diego School of Medicine researchers, positing in a new theory that the debilitating mental state originates from more ancient mechanisms used by the body to deal with physical injury, such as pain, tissue repair and convalescent behavior.
In a paper published in the September 2011 online edition of Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Review, Athina Markou, PhD, professor of psychiatry, and Karen Wager-Smith, a post-doctoral researcher, integrate evidence from diverse clinical, biological and behavioral studies to create a novel theory they hope will lead to a shift in thinking about depression.
Study: Alcohol more lethal than heroin, cocaine
Alcohol is more dangerous than illegal drugs like heroin and crack cocaine, according to a new study.
British experts evaluated substances including alcohol, cocaine, heroin, ecstasy and marijuana, ranking them based on how destructive they are to the individual who takes them and to society as a whole.
Taking in the Good
Much as your body is built from the foods you eat, your mind is built from the experiences you have. The flow of experience gradually sculpts your brain, thus shaping your mind.
Psychologist Rick Hansonexplains how we can make good feelings last.
Suggestions for Teens following Trauma
Trauma can change the way you view your world. You may feel unsafe and insecure about situations and places you normally would enjoy. Your reactions to trauma will depend upon how closely you were involved with the people involved in the trauma, your personality makeup, your normal way of handling situations, and the type and amount of support you have in your life.
Mind-Body-Mood Advisor: Rewire Your Brain for Health and Happiness
Research shows that meditating not only stills your mind, it changes your brain and improves your well-being.
RODALE NEWS, EMMAUS, PA—When I first started meditating 34 years ago, I was more than a little bit skeptical. How could sitting with your eyes closed for 20 minutes change your brain function, strengthen your immune system, increase your intelligence, and make you dramatically happier? I was wary of devoting 40 minutes (20 minutes twice a day) to practice a technique that was apparently developed by a little man from India in a white robe with a long beard and a strange laugh. So I read everything I could about the science behind transcendental meditation, and finally was convinced that it was a technique worth learning.
Stress Hormone Key to Alcohol Dependence Discovered
ScienceDaily (Jan. 26, 2010) — A team of scientists from The Scripps Research Institute has found that a specific stress hormone, the corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF), is key to the development and maintenance of alcohol dependence in animal models. Chemically blocking the stress factor also blocked the signs and symptoms of addiction, suggesting a potentially promising area for future drug development.
Home Drug Testing
A recent article covered by Jointogether.org (3.30.06) reports that home drug testing kits’ sales are on the rise. Citing parental concerns about their teenager’s drug use as well as increased student drug testing in schools, the manufacturers of drug testing kits report that sales quadrupled in the last five years. What could cause this sudden interest in detecting teen drug use?
