Study: Irritable Bowel Syndrome felled by song. Previous studies have demonstrated the beneficial psychological and biological effects of singing, with associated feelings of relaxation, energy and joy. An inter-university Swedish study has set out to test whether there were any additional stress-related benefits from choir singing in comparison with other group activities… (Via GoodTherapy.org.)
A massive anthropological study of American family life is complete. Cameras on 32 families; 1,540 hours of video. “This is the richest, most detailed, most complete database of middle-class family living in the world…What it does is hold up a mirror to people. They laugh. They cringe. It shows us life as it is actually
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From the L.A. Times: Postpartum depression affects fathers too [link now inactive[. “We are expecting dads to be more involved in parenting than we ever have before…Most dads are welcoming of that, but they don’t have any models about what a dad is supposed to do. That creates uncertainty, and that uncertainty can lead to anxiety
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Science Daily: Tai Chi Gets Cautious Thumbs Up for Psychological Health. [A study] found that practicing Tai Chi was associated with reduced stress, anxiety, depression and mood disturbance, and increased self-esteem. What’s Tai Chi? Wikipedia’s answer is here.
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From the Los Angeles Times: Behavioral therapy effective in treating Tourette syndrome: The therapy, called comprehensive behavioral intervention for tics, has several elements. The key component, habit reversal training, helps patients become more aware of the urge to tic, then teaches them to engage in a voluntary behavior — rhythmic breathing, perhaps — that competes
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A European twin study finds the desire to exercise runs in the family–deep: Using complicated statistical formulas, the scientists concluded that differences in exercise behavior were about 60 percent attributable to genes. In other words, your parents influence your decision about whether to be active, not just by signing you up for soccer camp when you’re
From PsychCentral: Food Cravings, Explained: Results of one study showed that the strength of participants’ cravings was linked to how vividly they imagined the food. […] Studies have shown that when subjects are imagining something, they have a hard time completing various cognitive tasks. In one experiment, volunteers who were craving chocolate recalled fewer words
Enemies can be good for a child’s growth, say researchers. Almost everyone picks up a tormentor or two while growing up, and until lately psychological researchers have ignored such relationships — assuming them to be little more than the opposite of friendship. Yet new research suggests that as threatening as they may feel, antagonistic relationships
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From ScienceDaily: Could Dwindling Testosterone Levels Decrease Sleep? In young men, deep sleep represents 10 to 20 percent of total sleep. By age 50, it decreases to five to seven percent. For men over 60, it can disappear altogether. Sound familiar…?
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Guess you don’t know for absolutely sure until you study it: Mother’s Voice Calms Stress. Once stressed, one third of the girls were comforted in person by their mothers – specifically with hugs, an arm around the shoulders and the like. One third were left to watch an emotionally neutral 75-minute video. The rest were