Studies show a connection between obesity and dementia, reports Olivia Judson in the NYT: In the United States today, around one-third of adults are obese. At the same time, dementia is already one of the most costly and devastating health problems of old age. The possibility that obesity today will lead to higher rates of […]
Obesity and Dementia Linked Read More »
A study shows couples therapy edging out individual therapy for women working to recover from alcoholism: A new research effort assessed the benefit of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for alcohol-dependent women. The innovative research design also investigated if CBT was more effective if delivered as couples therapy rather than individual therapy [and found] that both treatment
Couples Therapy v. Alcoholism Read More »
“Fast meditation”? A study posted at PsychCentral shows near-instant results from just a little mindfulness practice: Psychologists studying the effects of a meditation technique known as “mindfulness” found that meditation-trained participants showed a significant improvement in their critical cognitive skills (and performed significantly higher in cognitive tests than a control group) after only four days
A study finds a genetic link between stress, obesity, and diabetes. ‘We showed that the actions of single gene in just one part of the brain can have profound effects on the metabolism of the whole body,’ says Chen. This mechanism, which appears to be a ‘smoking gun’ tying stress levels to metabolic disease, might,
Stress Strikes Again Read More »
From PsyBlog: Six Psychological Reasons Consumer Culture is Unsatisfying re why stuff doesn’t make you happy. Unless… [T]hinking of material purchases in experiential terms helps banish dissatisfaction. Try thinking of jeans in terms of where you wore them or how they feel, the mp3 player in terms of how the music changes your mood or outlook,
Happiness and Stuff Read More »
From the NYT: Diet May Be Linked to Lower Alzheimer’s Risk in Older People. Starts this way: Older adults appear to be at lower risk for Alzheimer’s disease if they eat a diet rich in fish, poultry, fruit, nuts, dark leafy greens, vegetables like broccoli and cauliflower, and oil-and-vinegar dressing, a new study has found.
Diet and Alzheimer’s Read More »
Research gathered for an NYT article, Weighing the Evidence on Exercise. The newest science suggests that exercise alone will not make you thin, but it may determine whether you stay thin, if you can achieve that state.
Too many choices, at the grocery store or in dating, can lead to hasty decision-making–or so says a study reported at PsychCentral: In this environment, researchers found that people respond by paying attention to different types of characteristics – discarding attributes such as education, smoking status, and occupation in favor of physical characteristics such as
Speed Dating Overwhelm Read More »
A doctoral thesis out of Stockholm gives a boost to the growing practice of online therapy.
Online CBT for Panic and Depression Read More »
Reported in the Los Angeles Times, a study showing 43% of smokers over twenty are depressed. A chicken-egg study–which came first? Depressed people were more likely to smoke within five minutes of awakening and to smoke more than one pack of cigarettes a day. Twenty-eight percent of adult smokers with depression smoked more than a pack