Neuroscience

© Martin Gommel

Not only does mindfulness improve mental health, researchers at UCSF say it may also improve cellular health by protecting chromosomes from damage and decay… So at the end of the day – paying more attention might lengthen your lifespan.

• Self-Control: Weight Control: Forget Willpower!
• Teen Mental Health: Compassion Training Improves Mental Health
• Depression: Meditation as Good as Medication for Depression

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In an animal model study, researchers found that rats given a THC-like substance in adolescence gave birth to offspring who were more predisposed to enjoy and abuse opiates than rats born to mothers that had not used THC-like drugs.

• Alcoholism: Sober Time Reverses Alcoholic Brain Damage
• Marijuana Legalization: APA Says Marijuana 'Bad for Teen Brains'
• Marijuana and Motivation: Marijuana Use Tied To Low Work Motivation

© House Committee on Education

Wondering what’s causing your depression? Have any concussions or other forms of brain injury in your past? Well, if you do it might explain the way you’re feeling, because having a brain injury, even a minor one, greatly increases your risks of depression – even years after the fact.

• Social Contagion: Study: Depression Risk Is Contagious
• Stress and Mental Illness: Teen Stress Ups Adult Mental Illness Risk
• Depression Research: Diet Soda Drinkers More Prone to Depression

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Male fruit flies that couldn't get any sex drink far more alcohol than sexually satisfied male fruit flies. Researchers say that variations in levels of a chemical called neuropeptide F explain the difference and that humans also make use of a very similar brain chemical.

• Relapse: Study: MRI Scans Can Identify Relapse Risk
• Alcohol and Sleep: How Alcohol Disrupts Sleep Quality
• Alcoholic Brain Damage: Abstinence: Substantial Brain Healing after 2 Weeks

© JD Hancock

Looking for a way to control your pain without resorting to addictive opiates? Well, researchers say you might as well start by putting on some of your favorite music, because in one recent study, listening to music actually reduced sensations of pain.

© Kayintveen

Research suggests that music therapy reduces cancer related anxiety and some pain.

• Breast Cancer: Critics Question Alcohol Company's Sponsorship of Breast Cancer Research
• Breast Cancer: Girls Who Drink Alcohol Increase Their Risk of Breast Cancer
• Canadian Tobacco Company Destroyed Decades of Study Evidence that Linked Cigarettes to Cancer

© USACE Europe District

Researchers at The Scripps Institute say they’ve got an experimental heroin vaccine in the works, and based on the results of animal testing experiments, it looks like it just might work.

• Research Breakthrough: Scientists Produce Non-Addictive Opiates
• Heroin : The Addiction Treatment Lessons of Vietnam
• Patient Admissions: Alcoholism Treatment Rates Down, Drug Treatment Up

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Researchers in Ohio say it’s not only our lungs that suffer as urban skies grow hazier – Intelligence and happiness are also at risk.

• Acts of Kindness: Acts of Kindness Reduce Anxiety
• Social Anxiety: Teens: Blogging to Beat Social Anxiety
• Depression: How Gender Influences Mental Illness

© Brandon Christopher Warren

Researchers at Florida State University say that animals which form long term adult pair relationships get much less reward from amphetamine than unpaired (single) animals.

• Legal Highs: Designer Drugs Sold Legally as ‘Bath Salts’
• Poll: Do you consider substance abuse to be your biggest problem?

© Mariela M.

Researchers have long known that a healthy diet, exercise and mental stimulation into older age all protect the brain from dementia and Alzheimer’s, and now based on the results of some research coming out of Newcastle University in the UK – they may have to add the regular consumption of green tea to that list of protective factors.

• Dementia: Quit Smoking Now to Beat Dementia Later?

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Italian researchers say that chronic heavy drinking shortens telomeres, a part of our DNA that serves as a ‘biological clock’ for aging.

• Benefits of Quitting Alcohol: 20 Things People Realize When They Quit Drinking
• Minimum Alcohol Pricing: Raising Minimum Alcohol Prices Cuts Death Rate
• Bariatric Surgery and Alcohol Abuse: Gastric Bypass Surgery Ups Alcohol Abuse Risk

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Children who can’t sleep well suffer from overtiredness and impulse control problems. These children tend to start experimenting with drugs and alcohol at an earlier age and are at greater risk of substance abuse problems in early adulthood.

• Addiction: Native Canadians Offered Addiction Treatment or Eviction!
• Indoor Tanning: Indoor Tanning Proved Addictive
• Addicts Fear Job Loss: Employees Fear Job Loss If They Get Help for Addiction

© Tobyotter

Researchers say that eating too much junk food can lead to changes in the brain similar to what is seen in drug addicts. They say this helps to explain compulsive and unhealthy eating at the neurochemical level.

• Weight Loss: Women Who Read Food Labels Weigh Less
• Obesity: Weight Control: Tiny Pieces of Food Fill You Up Faster
• Obesity and Depression: Fatty Diet Linked to Depression

© Massdistraction

Researchers discover that not only does Ritalin improve focus – it also quickens learning.

• Addiction Risks: With ADHD It's Defiance That Ups Addiction Risk
• ADHD: ADHD Most Likely to Cause School Drop Out
• Teens with ADHD More Likely to Get Addicted to the Internet

© Photo: Kyle May

Neuroscientists working to unlock the mysteries of the mind may provide military strategists with fertile material for new weapons development, says a report by leading scientists for the DIA

• Methadone: Military OKs Methadone Maintenance
• Suicide: Low Omega 3 Levels Linked to Military Suicides
• Suicide: Army Suicides Spike in July