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Intermittent Fasting – Good for Body AND soul?
Have you ever heard somebody say: “S/he’s feeling depressed. Give him a chicken leg?” Probably not, neither have I. On the other hand, I have often heard people say: “S/he’s feeling in need of comfort, perhaps a piece of cake might help. Or a bar of chocolate.” Chicken, of course, is a protein and does…
The Surprising Pleasure of Ageing
Who would have thought that one of the benefits of getting older is actually enjoying life more? Why is it we get happier as we age? We live in a society apparently programmed to appreciate youth, we use the term: “The optimism of youth” and, in youth, the future seems to stretch out eternally, with…
Church makes you happy
In this age of war, pestilence and the many other scourges we are seeing come to pass, it’s good to know there’s a means by which ‘sustained happiness’ can be achieved. Researchers from the London School of Economics (LSE) and Erasmus MC studied data from over 900 Europeans over the age of 50 whose results…
Size really does (grey) matter
It’s the size of the matter that matters, according to the results of a new study in Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, snappily entitled ‘Significant grey matter changes in a region of the orbitofrontal cortex in healthy participants predicts emotional dysregulation.’ Effective regulation of the emotions seems to be an increasingly prized commodity, with soaring…
The value of humility
How much do you think you know? And would you be right in your assessment? A new piece of research places into question the seemingly straightforward task of judging one’s own knowledge on a particular subject, and suggests that those who think they ‘know it all’ are more prone to lies and deception. Psychological scientist…
Surveillance – a new treatment for depression
In case you hadn’t noticed, there’s a revolution going on. The rise of the machines, you might call it, or perhaps technology on steroids. Nowhere is this more evident than in the brave new world of healthcare, where technology-enabled clothing and accessories can monitor your heart rate, contact lenses can detect blood sugar for diabetics…
How to spot a psychopath
Most people, if you ask them, will tell you that a psychopath is someone at the extreme end of the mental health spectrum. Which is true, but we tend to assume they are easily identifiable by the crimes they commit (most notoriously, murder). Many who commit murder are indeed psychopathic, but the number of…
Sniffing around for answers to autism
Some time in the last ten years, it seems that autism has made its way into the public mind. A bit like ‘bipolar’, it is now not uncommon to meet people (that is, children) who suffer from the condition. According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC) in America, one in every 68 children is…
