Posts Tagged ‘physiology’
The Mindful Body argues against mindlessly accepting age-related decline in cognition and health as inevitable
In 1979, Harvard researcher Ellen Langer invited elderly men to spend a week at a retreat designed to remind them of their younger days, surrounded by the art, music, food, games, décor, and more from the late 1950s. Afterward, the men were tested and found to have made significant gains in hearing, memory, dexterity, posture,…
Read MoreHigher body mass index (BMI) linked to lower blood supply to the brain in large neuroimaging study
Body weight has surprising, alarming impact on brain function (Science Daily): As a person’s weight goes up, all regions of the brain go down in activity and blood flow, according to a new brain imaging study in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease … scientists analyzed over 35,000 functional neuroimaging scans using single-photon emission computerized tomography (SPECT) from…
Read More“I am excited”: Making Stress Work for You, Instead of Against You
— How much stress is good for you? In 1908, Robert Mearns Yerkes and John Dillingham Dodson designed an experiment that would begin to tackle the question, “How much stress is good for you?” The researchers tracked mice to see how stress would affect their ability to learn. Simple—yet painful, because how do you stress out mice?
Read MoreStudy: Mastering a new language can promote neural flexibility and increase learning speed
EEG recordings prove learning foreign languages can sharpen our minds (Science Daily): “Scientists from the Higher School of Economics (HSE) together with colleagues from the University of Helsinki have discovered that learning foreign languages enhances the our brain’s elasticity and its ability to code information
Read MoreNext phase in the brain health revolution: Objective, physiological, and widespread measures of brain function
Brainwaves could be the next health vital sign (ScienceDaily): “Simon Fraser University researchers hope that a brain vital-sign test becomes as routine during a doctor’s check-up as taking a blood pressure or heart rate measurement
Read MoreFirst Book Review is in…Two Stethoscopes Up!
The San Francisco Chronicle brings two great pieces today — including an excellent review of our new Book! Is Your Brain A Couch Potato? (online book review) “At 165 pages, we’re talking a short, sweet, entertaining read of a complex topic, with timely (written in 1/09) reviews of 21 top technology products, as well as…
Read More