Reading

Take a Nap

Sara Mednick, PhD wants you to take a nap.  She wrote a book about it (Take a Nap, Change Your Life). No, you don’t have to stop at 20 minutes: Research shows longer naps help boost memory and enhance creativity. Slow-wave sleep — napping for approximately 30 to 60 minutes — is good for decision-making skills,

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RAINing Mindfulness

 The Irish Times Tara Brach spells out RAIN (the mindfulness acronym): R is for Recognise. Just recognise that you have the emotion, that you’re very anxious for instance. A is for Allow. Allow the anxiety to be present, accept that it’s there. No need to get into a fight with yourself over it. I is for Investigate.

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“For Better”

A review and excerpt of Tara Parker-Pope’s For Better: The Science of a Good Marriage, which surveys the research about what makes marriages work. From the book: Is the story of your early courtship filled with nostalgia and optimism? Or is it tinged with negativity and regret? Do you remember getting lost in the rain together

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On Placebos

Olivia Judson looks at the placebo effect.  Regarding the testing of an ulcer drug versus a placebo: Intriguingly, the results varied from country to country, with Brazilians showing no placebo effect and Germans having a strong one. Why? No one knows, but it doesn’t appear to be because of anything inherently German: trials of drugs

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Parental Estrangement

Tara Parker-Pope looks at a “silent epidemic“–children who refuse all contact with their parents. “It’s possible for a parent to feel like they were doing something out of love,” he said, “but it didn’t feel like love to that child.”  Friends, other family members and therapists can often help a parent cope with the loss

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