NYT (again): Exploring the Links Between Depression and Weight Gain. In a society enamored with thinness, many assume that being fat is depressing — that if there is a cause and effect relationship, it’s obesity that makes people feel down. But “there is an alternative explanation,” said Belinda L. Needham, an assistant professor of sociology at […]
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Study at ScienceDaily: Babies Grasp Number, Space and Time Concepts. “We’ve shown that 9-month-olds are sensitive to ‘more than’ or ‘less than’ relations across the number, size and duration of objects. And what’s really remarkable is they only need experience with one of these quantitative concepts in order to guess what the other quantities should
NYT: She doesn’t trust you? Blame the testosterone. Researchers…gave young women a dose of the hormone in the form of a drop of liquid placed under the tongue, then asked them to judge the trustworthiness of a series of men’s faces shown in photographs. The women were significantly less inclined to trust a face when
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Another study showing that depression declines with Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. This one with longer-term treatment–35 sessions. “On completion of therapy, patients reported significantly fewer symptoms than on commencement,” Schindler summarizes the results of a before/after comparison. Whether patients were also concomitantly taking psychotropic drugs or not evidently had no effect on the outcome.
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PsychCentral: Money Impedes Our Ability to Enjoy the Little Pleasures in Life, says study. Simply seeing a picture of money — which appears to prime our brains, increasing the concept of money at a level below awareness — seems to impede our ability to enjoy life’s little pleasures.
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NYT: No Sex, Please: You’re Sleeping Some people sleepwalk; others talk in their sleep. Now a study finds that 1 in 12 patients with sleep disorders reported having had sex while they were asleep. Yes, there’s a website on the subject: sleepsex.org.
Oprah’s been on the march against distracted driving for a while. Now, reports ScienceDaily, MDs are weighing in in the New England Journal of Medicine. One study showed talking and driving posed a four time greater risk than undistracted driving. A second study suggested texting raised the risk of collision by a factor of 23.
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NYT: What Brain Scans Can Tell Us About Marriage. Looking at older couples: “They have the feelings of euphoria, but also the feelings of calm and security that we feel when we’re attached to somebody,” Dr. Acevedo said. “I think it’s wonderful news.”
From PsychCentral: Stop Smoking, Reduce Risk of Depression? “Our findings are consistent with the conclusion that there is a cause and effect relationship between smoking and depression, in which cigarette smoking increases the risk of developing symptoms of depression…”
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ScienceDaily: Potential Genetic Factor in Eating Disorders Identified. For the first time, scientists have discovered a possible biological culprit in the development of eating disorders during puberty: a type of estrogen called estradiol…
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