Health « The Mind Perspective

Archive for the ‘Health’ Category

Stanford Issues Findings from Cognitive and Brain Experts Urging Consumer Caution…

August 24, 2009

Stanford Issues Findings from Cognitive and Brain Experts Urging Consumer Caution on Memory Fitness Products.

“Fear of memory loss, mental impairment and Alzheimer’s disease lead many consumers to search for products — from supplements to software — that claim to ward off such ailments,” Laura L. Carstensen, founding director of the Stanford Center on Longevity, said. “Such products are becoming more prolific, but this burgeoning industry is completely unregulated and the claims can
range from reasonable though untested, to blatantly false. It is important for consumers to proceed with caution before buying into many of these product claims. There is no magic bullet solution for cognitive decline.”

By Stanford Center on Longevity (Reuters)

Antidepressants, Bipolar Disorder and the Chemical Enslavement

August 20, 2009

With antidepressants, deeply depressed adults were targeted first. When that market was saturated, drug companies began selling the idea that antidepressants were “happy pills,” suitable for use in not merely serious depression states, but even as “depression prevention!” (So-called “early intervention,” where you use antidepressant drugs in perfectly healthy people in order to “prevent” depression from appearing.)

By Mike Adams (Natural News)

Arms expert warns new mind drugs eyed by military

August 20, 2009

A leading expert on chemical and biological arms control called on Wednesday for urgent efforts to stop new mind-altering drugs developed for medical purposes from being adopted by the military for use in warfare.

In an article in the U.S. journal Nature, British academic Malcolm Dando said civilian researchers in many countries seemed largely unaware of the danger and urged quick action to adapt a key arms pact to head it off.

By Robert Evans (Alertnet: Reuters)

Psychopaths have faulty brain connections, scientists find

August 14, 2009

Suggested by Pocholo Peralta (Plato Online)

Psychopaths who kill and rape have faulty connections between the part of the brain dealing with emotions and that which handles impulses and decision-making, scientists have found.

In a study of psychopaths who had committed murder, manslaughter, multiple rape, strangulation and false imprisonment, the British scientists found that roads linking the two crucial brain areas had “potholes,” while those of non-psychopaths were in good shape.

By Kate Kelland (Reuters)

Brain radiotherapy affects mind

August 11, 2009

Radiotherapy used to treat brain tumours may lead to a decline in mental function many years down the line, say Dutch researchers.

A study of 65 patients, 12 years after they were treated, found those who had radiotherapy were more likely to have problems with memory and attention.

By BBC News

Training the mind changes the brain

August 10, 2009

Whenever we talk about positive interventions, we are assuming that people are malleable. William James wrote about intentional activity to change habits in ways that make life better. That’s the premise of books like The How of Happiness by Sonja Lyubomirsky: that research has shown that people can make lasting changes in their level of happiness, but it requires action, effort and persistence.

Richard DavidsonThat’s what psychologists have found. Neuroscientists are finding the same thing. Richard Davidson is a neuroscientist who uses brain imaging to study behavior and emotion. (See his site for a more technically correct description of what he does.) He claims, “Social and emotional learning changes the brain,” and “We can change the brain by training the mind.” Social and emotional learning is a process by which people become better at understanding and managing emotions and learn how emotions impact the choices they make, the relationships they have, and their outlook in life.

By Kathryn Britton (Positive Psychology News Daily)

Humans 2.0: Replacing the Mind and Body

August 3, 2009

When President Barack Obama said in his weekly radio address Saturday that innovation would be a key to the future of the nation, he probably was not thinking specifically of artificial brains or replacement eyeballs.

But other researchers already have such goals in mind and are well on their way to building Humans 2.0, the real-life Steve Austin of the “Six Million Dollar Man.”

Recent breakthroughs in bionics and lab-grown body parts — along with news last month that a Swiss research team aims to recreate the intricacies of the human brain within a decade — show science is rapidly creating many of the parts needed to build a fully functional human almost from scratch.

While the ultimate goal remains years if not decades away, and some aspects may be ethically questionable, the work is already helping people live more bearable and productive lives.

By Heather Whipps and Robert Roy Britt (Live Science)

Artificial brain ’10 years away’

August 3, 2009

Henry Markram, director of the Blue Brain Project, has already simulated elements of a rat brain.

He told the TED Global conference in Oxford that a synthetic human brain would be of particular use finding treatments for mental illnesses.

Around two billion people are thought to suffer some kind of brain impairment, he said.

“It is not impossible to build a human brain and we can do it in 10 years,” he said.

By Jonathan Fildes (BBC News)

Movement and force tax our brains to capacity

July 29, 2009

A new study suggests activities combining movement and force tax our brains to capacity, countering a long-held belief that difficulty with dexterous tasks results from the limits of the muscles themselves. The findings may help explain why minor damage to the neuromuscular system can at times profoundly affect one’s ability to complete everyday tasks.

The research, supported in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health, appears in the July 8, 2009, Journal of Neuroscience.

By National Science Foundation

Bitterness touted as sanctioned mental disorder

July 28, 2009

Bitterness should be classified an official brain illness, according to psychiatrists who say people who experience prolonged bitterness over a breakup or conflict at work are “ill” and need treatment.

They are proposing that “post traumatic embitterment disorder” be included in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, psychiatry’s official catalogue of mental dysfunction.

By Sharon Kirkey (Canada.com)

Is Compulsion to Amputate Healthy Limbs Mind or Matter?

July 27, 2009

One day, after years of agony, an Australian man took a large quantity of dry ice and intentionally damaged his left leg, so that a surgeon would have to amputate it.

The action was intentional and the man, Robert Vickers, described the feeling of waking up in the hospital without his leg as “absolute ecstasy.” He’s one of a small number of people who have what psychiatrists have come to call body integrity identity disorder in which patients report the desire to have one or more of their limbs amputated because the extremities don’t feel like they “belong” to their bodies.

The disorder is the subject of a debate between psychiatrists and neuroscientists about whether the brain physiology causes the psychiatric condition or whether the causality runs in the other direction. New research by both sides has yielded fresh ammunition for both interpretations, highlighting how difficult it is to separate biological from psychological phenomena.

By Alexis Madrigal (Wired)

Mind Over Matter: Effective Chronic Pain Control Techniques

July 27, 2009

Chronic pain is not a simple sensation, but rather chronic pain is strongly influenced by the ways in which the brain processes the pain signals. Importantly, chronic pain can provoke strong emotional reactions, such as fear, anxiety or even terror, depending on what the individual believes about the pain signals.

If there is any good news with chronic pain, it is that to a certain extent the brain can learn how to manage the sensation of pain. Ideally, use of chronic pain management techniques outlined here can help people dealing with chronic pain feel more in control of their situation and less dependent on pain medications.

By Andrew Block (Spine Health)

Stay Upbeat, Active to Keep the Mind Young

July 21, 2009

To stave off the mental decline associated with old age, engage in intellectually challenging activities, maintain a positive outlook and keep up your social life.

Those are the findings of what researchers say is the largest-ever review of studies on aging and the brain.

The review, which spanned three decades and covered more than 400 studies, found that remaining physically, mentally and socially active has a substantial impact on whether older adults experience declines in memory and cognition, which includes the ability to learn and solve problems.

By Jennifer Thomas (U.S.News)

102-year-old grandma is oldest person on Facebook

At a mere 102, she’s the oldest face on Facebook. Ivy Bean many have been born 46 years before the first computer, but that hasn’t stopped the savvy senior from tapping in to the online world of social networking.

After hearing her care workers discussing the Web site, the British great-grandmother decided to sign up too.

By Nicole Lyn Pesce (Daily News)

Playing computer games improves brain power of older adults, claim scientists.

July 20, 2009

Psychologists discovered that playing video games exercised the mind and improved memory and alertness.

It also reversed “cognitive” decline making the brain more agile, allowing it to carry out and switch between tasks more quickly.

Previous studies have shown that elderly brains improve during the playing of video games but this is the first to prove that the benefits remain for weeks afterwards and can transfer to everyday tasks.

By Richard Alleyne (Telegraph.co.uk)

Itching from stress and emotional experiences

July 14, 2009

Scientists once saw itching as a form of pain. They now believe it to be a different order of sensation.

Severe stress and other emotional experiences can also give rise to a physical symptom like itching—whether from the body’s release of endorphins (natural opioids, which, like morphine, can cause itching), increased skin temperature, nervous scratching, or increased sweating.

By Atul Gawande (The New Yorker)

Effects of homeopathy ‘are all in the mind’

July 13, 2009

Homeopathy offers no real health benefits and its perceived effects are “all in the mind”, according to new research.

A report in the respected medical journal The Lancet said that patients treated with homeopathy fared no better than those treated with a dummy, “placebo” therapy. The article will add to the debate over whether complementary therapies should be provided on the health service.

By Maxine Frith (The Independant)

Does smoking cause mental health problems?

July 2, 2009

We already know smoking has nothing to offer our physical health, but now there’s evidence that lighting up can deflate mental health, too.

In a study of more than 1000 women, the University of Melbourne has found that women who smoke are more likely to develop depression.

By Health and Wellbeing (ninemsn)

Smoking and mental health

Why people smoke

The biological factors involved in smoking relate to how the brain
responds to nicotine. When a person smokes, a dose of nicotine reaches the brain within about 10 seconds. At first, nicotine improves mood and concentration, decreases anger and stress, relaxes muscles and reduces appetite.

Smoking and anxiety

Research into smoking and stress has shown that instead of helping people to relax, smoking actually increases anxiety and tension. Nicotine creates an immediate sense of relaxation so people smoke in the belief that it reduces stress and anxiety. This feeling of relaxation is temporary and soon gives way to withdrawal symptoms and increased cravings.

Smoking and schizophrenia

People with schizophrenia are 3 times more likely to smoke than other people and they tend to smoke more heavily. One of the most common explanations of this is that people with schizophrenia use smoking to control or manage some of the symptoms associated with their illness and to reduce some of the side effects of their medication.

By the Mental Health Foundation

Shortcuts’ of the mind lead to miscalculations of weight and caloric intake

June 30, 2009

Psychologists at the University of Pennsylvania have identified a cognitive shortcut, or heuristic, they call ‘Unit Bias,’ which causes people to ignore vital, obvious information in their decision-making process, points to a fundamental flaw in the modern, evolved mind and may also play a role in the American population’s 30 years of weight gain.

By Science Centric

Positive Is Negative

June 25, 2009

Suggested by Pocholo Peralta (Plato On-line)

Despite what all those self-help books say, repeating positive statements apparently does not help people with low self-esteem feel better about themselves. In fact, it tends to make them feel worse, according to new research.

In one of their studies involving 32 male and 36 female psychology students, the researchers found that repeating the phrase did not improve the mood of those who had low self-esteem, as measured by a standard test. They actually ended up feeling worse, and the gap between those with high and low self-esteem widened.

By Shankar Vedantam (Science Digest:Washington Post)

Assessing the effects of television on young children

June 17, 2009

Christakis realized that the jumpy images on the screen were engaging the child’s ‘orienting response’, a basic attentional reflex that directs the senses towards a sudden change in the environment. He wondered about the long-term effect of this on a brain that was at such a sensitive developmental stage. Could it alter the brain to ‘expect’ overstimulation, so that ordinary reality would thereafter seem dull by comparison? And could such a mechanism help to explain the ongoing tsunami of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) diagnoses, whose rise had roughly coincided with the dramatic increase in media consumption in Western societies?

By Jim Schnabel (Nature News)

Future mind: are computers radically changing the way we think?

May 19, 2009

We live in a world mediated by flickering screens. But do ‘people of the screen’ think fundamentally differently to ‘people of the book’? What will the brain look like in generations to come? Eminent neuroscientist Baroness Susan Greenfield paints an apocalyptic picture of an identity lost, and cognition fundamentally compromised, forever stuck in the sensory chaos of early childhood.

Interview with Susan Greenfield (All in the mind: ABC Radio)

Read or listen to the show here

Posted in Awareness, consciousness, future, Health, perception, Science, Technology, The brain, The Mind | Tagged apocalyptic picture, brain, cognition, digital age, evolution, future, identity, identity lost, neuroscientist, people of the screen, Technology, warning of future | 2 Comments »

Scientists explore how Zen meditation reduces pain perception

May 13, 2009

The centuries-old practice of Zen meditation might help reduce sensitivity to pain, say researchers in Montreal who compared pain responses in people trained in the technique and those who are not.

In the journal Psychosomatic Medicine, Joshua Grant, a doctoral student in physiology at the University of Montreal and his colleague Prof. Pierre Rainville looked at how or why meditation might influence pain perception.

By CBC News

‘I was disabled by my mind’

May 11, 2009

Susan Dakin was convinced she was dying.

Over the space of a decade, the 49-year-old had lost her sight and mobility.

She was confined to a wheelchair, her bladder had packed in and she had difficulty swallowing.

Neurological problems such as multiple sclerosis and the movement disorder dystonia were suspected, but nothing ever pinpointed.

“At one point they only gave me a few months to live,” said Susan, from Coventry.

By Jane Elliott (BBC News)

Are anxiety disorders all in the mind?