Have we got it all wrong about what it takes to live a long life?
J Ideas Market points to an interesting interview over at APA with Howard Friedman, author of The Longevity Project: Surprising Discoveries for Health and Long Life from the Landmark Eight-Decade Study. Here are some highlights: On stress: There is a terrible misunderstanding about stress. Chronic physiological disturbance is not at all the same thing as hard work, social challenges or demanding careers. People are being given rotten advice to slow down, take it easy, stop worrying and retire to Florida.…
2 minutes
Sex Might Improve Your Ability To Deal With Stress
ybe: Penile-vaginal intercourse (PVI) but not other sexual behavior is associated with better psychological and physiological function. I examined the relationship of sexual behavior patterns to blood pressure (BP) and its reactivity to stress (public speaking and verbal arithmetic). For a fortnight, 24 women and 22 men used daily diaries to record PVI, masturbation, and partnered sexual behavior in the absence of PVI. Persons who reported PVI (but no other sexual activities) had better stress response (less reactivity and/or lower…
1 min read
How You Can Quickly And Easily Increase Confidence And Reduce Anxiety
lk to yourself: Objectives The present study examined the effects of motivational self-talk on self-confidence, anxiety, and task performance in young athletes. Methods Participants were 72 tennis players. The experiment was conducted in five sessions: baseline assessment, three training sessions, and final assessment. After the baseline assessment participants were divided and assigned randomly into experimental and control groups. The two groups followed the same training program with the experimental group practicing the use of self-talk. In the last session, the…
1 min read
Do you underestimate the power of touching?
a the New York Times: Studies show touching has the power to encourage, reduce pain and communicate: Students who received a supportive touch on the back or arm from a teacher were nearly twice as likely to volunteer in class as those who did not, studies have found. A sympathetic touch from a doctor leaves people with the impression that the visit lasted twice as long, compared with estimates from people who were untouched. Research by Tiffany Field of the…
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Here’s What Science Says Is The Secret To A Merry Christmas
ke sure to spend time with family, go to church, and don't focus on spending money or getting gifts. Being environmentally conscious can help and, if possible, be old and male: Despite the importance of Christmas within many cultures, research has not examined the types of experiences and activities that are associated with holiday well-being. Thus, we asked 117 individuals, ranging in age from 18 to 80, to answer questions about their satisfaction, stress, and emotional state during the Christmas…
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Is there a common feeling that might lead to heart attack, stroke and diabetes?
s. Loneliness. Objective: This study evaluated the association between loneliness and the metabolic syndrome, which refers to a clustering of factors that have been shown to increase risk for cardiovascular disease, diabetes, stroke, and mortality. A secondary purpose was to evaluate whether age moderated the association between loneliness and the metabolic syndrome. Design: Participants were 52 to 79 years old, and they were drawn from a population-based survey of people 50 years of age and older living in England (N…
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Is there a way to increase your attention span?
ditation. And it can show results in as little as five days. The ability to focus one’s attention underlies success in many everyday tasks, but voluntary attention cannot be sustained for extended periods of time. In the laboratory, sustained-attention failure is manifest as a decline in perceptual sensitivity with increasing time on task, known as the vigilance decrement. We investigated improvements in sustained attention with training (~5 hr/day for 3 months), which consisted of meditation practice that involved sustained selective…
1 min read
How can you increase your sense of meaning in life?
more nostalgic: The present research tested the proposition that nostalgia serves an existential function by bolstering a sense of meaning in life. Study 1 found that nostalgia was positively associated with a sense of meaning in life. Study 2 experimentally demonstrated that nostalgia increases a sense of meaning in life. In both studies, the link between nostalgia and increased meaning in life was mediated by feelings of social connectedness. Study 3 evidenced that threatened meaning increases nostalgia. Study 4…
1 min read
