The coronavirus quarantine of 2020 changed the fabric of our lives, and forced us all to become homeschooling families, reluctant or not. And it also changed the perspectives we might have had about home education. Parents who once said, “I could never homeschool my kids” are now opting to keep kids home. With the exponential growth of online resources home education has never been more available, appropriate, and applicable.
Findings were recently published in Cognitive Neuroscience regarding the strategic enhancement of memory skills by stimulating theta brain waves. Research participants performed better on memory tasks after being exposed to a rhythmic audiovisual oscillation device.
New medical, psychological, technical, and scientific advancements are paving the way for increased vitality as we age, and exponentially growing our access to knowledge. With so much life-giving wisdom at our fingertips, it’s high time to apply some of the changes that will fortify our Mom-brains for now and years to come.
SAGE Journals publication of Perception offers insight into a simple way to achieve improved eye contact and interpersonal connection in the new year!
We’ve all heard the dangers of stress and anxiety, such as high-blood pressure, depression, and heart disease. Stress can increase levels of cortisol, and while this hormone provides benefit to the body, we weren’t created to be constantly flooded with it. Even small, consistent doses of stress hormones can cause changes in the brain, as confirmed through functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI).
Research now offers scientific evidence for accuracy of the age-old-adage, “it is better to give than to receive.” In a delightfully Christmas-themed post from Science Daily, authors shared the good news of research results published by the Association for Psychological Science. Researchers evaluated several possibilities of alternate explanations, yet statistically maintained the outcome of enduring happiness as a result of giving.
A meta-analysis from Neuroscience & Behavioral Reviews revealed three important highlights about sugar:
1) Carbohydrates do not have a beneficial effect on any aspect of mood.
2) Carbohydrate consumption lowers alertness within 60 min after consumption.
3) Carbohydrates increase fatigue within 30 min post-consumption.
While most of us dearly appreciate the convenience and accessibility of smart phones, tablets, and laptops, we also recognize the way these devices have negatively impacted our culture in many ways. In a fascinating article published in the Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, scientists describe experimental research to evaluate the connection between social media use and overall contentment. Unsurprisingly the research group with limited social media use reported marked decreases in depression and loneliness.
There’s a reason why we “feel” stressed. Chronic stress actually increases the part of your brain responsible for your emotions, the amygdala. It becomes larger and the larger it gets, the more emotional you feel. Over time, the amygdala can become hypervigilant and extra sensitive which leads to making mountains out of molehills. Chronic stress, therefore, is associated with increases in fear, anxiety, depression, and anger.
Research results indicate that participants who reported higher resilience also reported higher levels of gratitude and that cognitive empathy strengthened this relationship indirectly. Furthermore, it turned out that age is a demographic characteristic that directly impacts gratitude level. More specifically, the older a person becomes, the more grateful they are.
