Published: November 30, 2011
New research suggests that surges in a brain protein after exercise may play a particular role in improving memory and recall.
As I ready myself to partake in my daily exercise this piece in the The New York Times why exercise benefits the brain caught my attention:
For some time, scientists have believed that BDNF helps explain why mental functioning appears to improve with exercise. However, they haven’t fully understood which parts of the brain are affected or how those effects influence thinking. The Irish study suggests that the increases in BDNF prompted by exercise may play a particular role in improving memory and recall. link to read more
Source: New York Times
Published: November 28, 2011
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On Nov. 11, a 10-year-old girl called a “slut” by her classmates in Illinois, committed suicide.
By eighth grade, girls have already started to monitor the sexual conduct of other girls, according to researchers, and 70 percent of students have experienced some kind of non-physical sexual harassment, including sexual rumor spreading, also known as “slut bashing.”
However, girls and women who are labeled sluts may not even be sexually active, according to Dr. Maureen McHugh, professor of psychology at Indiana University of Pennsylvania.
McHugh has been researching “slut bashing” in relation to the double standard of sexuality. [continue reading…]
Published: November 28, 2011
Women are far more likely than men to develop thyroid problems, especially past age 50, and abnormal levels of thyroid hormones can cause depression, anxiety, or other psychiatric symptoms, according to a report in the November 21 New York Times. The menopausal transition can also put middle-aged women at risk of major depression, a 10-year prospective study has found, and the cause may well be changes in reproductive hormones.
Clinicians should view the menopausal transition and the early postmenopausal period as times in which women are at increased risk for development of major depression. You can read more about this study here
Source: American Psychiatric Association
Published: November 25, 2011
Stressed people fall into habits and their behaviour is not goal-directed. That the neurotransmitter norepinephrine plays a decisive role here is now reported in the Journal of Neuroscience by scientists from Bochum led by Dr. Lars Schwabe (RUB Faculty of Psychology). If the effect of norepinephrine is stopped by beta blockers, the stress effect does not occur. “The results may be important for addictive behaviours, where stress is a key risk factor” said Schwabe. “They are characterised by ingrained routines and habits.”
Stress experienced with and without beta blockers
In a previous study, the Bochum researchers had already found that stress affects goal-directed behaviour during a learning task. Now they explored how these negative effects can be prevented. Schwabe and his colleagues subjected half of the participants to a stressful situation. Beforehand, the researchers administered the drug propranolol, a beta blocker, to part of the stressed group. This occupies certain receptors and thus prevents norepinephrine from working. The remaining subjects took a placebo pill. [continue reading…]
