The Line Between Fantasy And Reality Is Surprisingly Thin (M)
Our imaginations are so strong that it can be hard to tell what is real in certain situations.
Category: Neuroscience
Pulsating Arteries Wash Away Alzheimer’s Toxins During Sleep (M)
Pulsating arteries wash away harmful waste products that are linked to Alzheimer’s disease and other neurodegenerative diseases at night.
How Fat And Sugar Warp Your Food Preferences (M)
A ‘sweet tooth’ is something we acquire, rather than being born with it.
What Happens In Your Brain When You Look At Art (M)
This process of constructing values from the components of a sensation or experience may be how we make many different aesthetic decisions.
Cold Water Immersion Rewires The Brain’s Emotion Centres (M)
Neuroscientists find that cold water immersion changes connectivity in the medial prefrontal cortex and the parietal cortex.
The Surprising Effects Of Stress On Your Brain
“When we are afraid, when we are threatened in any way, our cortisol levels go up.”
“When we are afraid, when we are threatened in any way, our cortisol levels go up.”
Stress can literally shrink your brain, research suggests.
Middle-aged people with high levels of the ‘stress hormone’ cortisol also perform worse on memory tests than those with average levels of the hormone.
Common approaches such as mindfulness, moderate exercise and better sleep can all help reduce stress.
Professor Sudha Seshadri, who led the study, said:
“In our quest to understand cognitive aging, one of the factors attracting significant interest and concern is the increasing stress of modern life.
One of the things we know in animals is that stress can lead to cognitive decline.
In this study, higher morning cortisol levels in a large sample of people were associated with worse brain structure and cognition.”
The study involved brain scans of 2,231 people who also had their cortisol levels tested.
Cortisol is a hormone that rises in the body with stress levels.
The tests revealed that those with higher levels of cortisol had smaller brain volumes and worse memory.
However, no one in the study had signs of dementia.
Dr Justin B. Echouffo-Tcheugui, the study’s lead author, said:
“Cortisol affects many different functions, so it is important to fully investigate how high levels of the hormone may affect the brain.
While other studies have examined cortisol and memory, we believe our large, community-based study is the first to explore, in middle-aged people, fasting blood cortisol levels and brain volume, as well as memory and thinking skills.”
Professor Seshadri said:
“The faster pace of life today probably means more stress, and when we are stressed, cortisol levels increase because that is our fight-or-flight response.
When we are afraid, when we are threatened in any way, our cortisol levels go up.
This study adds to the prevailing wisdom that it’s never too early to be mindful of reducing stress.”
The study was published in the journal Neurology (Echouffo-Tcheugui et al., 2018).
What Zoom, Skype & FaceTime Are Doing To Your Social Brain (M)
‘Zoom fatigue’ is the phenomenon where people complain that online communication is more effortful and less natural, leaving them tired and despondent.
How Brain Waves Resonate Together To Create A Coherent Whole (M)
The standing waves revealed in the brain are akin to those produced in musical instruments.
Why In Winter It Feels Like You’re Running On Empty (M)
Sleep adapts to the seasons and human physiology is ‘down-regulated’ in the winter.
What Your Brain Is Doing When You Think It’s Doing Nothing (M)
Trying to solve a long-standing mystery about what the brain is doing when it’s doing nothing.
