Positive feelings are good for your heart
We all know that stress and anxiety have been clinically shown to be detrimental to one’s physical health, but what about the opposite? Can holding positive thoughts be an elixir for good health?
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Meditation found to decrease depression and anxiety and increase compassion
Participants of a University of California, San Francisco-led study that blended ancient meditation practices with the most current scientific methods for regulating emotions showed less depression, anxiety, and stress, and increased feelings of compassion and awareness of others’ feelings.
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Are the eyes the window to the soul?
Yale psychologists, wondering if our souls really are located within our eyes, set out to test if the long-held belief was a universally shared intuition.
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Music’s positive influence on the immune system
Over the past decade, the use of music as medicine has been evolving into an accepted part of recovery programs at hospitals and clinics nationwide. As an adjunct to standard medical treatment, it is used primarily to reduce stress, ease pain, and reduce nausea. Now, researchers are linking certain types of music with enhancing the immune system.
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More evidence that meditation strengthens the brain
UCLA researchers point to new evidence that shows people who meditate for years experience positive changes to the brain, specifically more folding of the cortex, which may allow the brain to process information faster. It is believed the more folding that occurs, the better the brain is at processing information, making decisions, forming memories and so forth.
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Naturally boosting the power of pain relief, without drugs
Two natural forms of pain relief – the placebo effect and redirecting one’s attention, usually by a high-level cognitive function – were previously thought to rely on the same brain mechanism since both activities originate in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. But a recent study counters that belief and actually shows that adding the two together greatly increases the pain-relieving effect from both applications.
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Learning from Shakespeare’s deep understanding of mind-body connection
Kenneth Heaton, a medical doctor and researcher, gathered information from all of Shakespeare’s works to demonstrate that he “was an exceptionally body-conscious writer,” and posited that Shakespeare had a deep understanding of how physical symptoms can have psychological causes.
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