Yoga, meditation, pets, nature, and 15 other mood helpers.
Meditation Can Improve Brain Function (PsychCentral)
15 Ways to Help Treat Depression Naturally (WebMD)
New study finds new connection between yoga and mood (ScienceDaily)
Do Pets Help with Depression and Stress? (WebMD)
The Psychology of Nature (Wired)
What is it About 20-Somethings? asks the NYT.
We’re in the thick of what one sociologist calls “the changing timetable for adulthood.” Sociologists traditionally define the “transition to adulthood” as marked by five milestones: completing school, leaving home, becoming financially independent, marrying and having a child. In 1960, 77 percent of women and 65 percent of men had, by the time they reached 30, passed all five milestones. Among 30-year-olds in 2000, according to data from the United States Census Bureau, fewer than half of the women and one-third of the men had done so…
An essay from the Wilson Quarterly (via aldaily.com):
[W]e live now in a climate in which friends appear dispensable. While most of us wouldn’t last long outside the intricate web of interdependence that supplies all our physical needs—imagine no electricity, money, or sewers—we’ve come to demand of ourselves truly radical levels of emotional self-sufficiency…
ScienceDaily: Integrative body-mind training (IBMT) meditation found to boost brain connectivity
Just 11 hours of learning a meditation technique induces positive structural changes in brain connectivity by boosting efficiency in a part of the brain that helps a person regulate behavior in accordance with their goals, researchers report…
NYT’s Unplugged Challenge–series of articles and video from participants. The latest article profiles research into how plugged-in life affects attention:
Echoing other researchers, Mr. Strayer says that understanding how attention works could help in the treatment of a host of maladies, like attention deficit disorder, schizophrenia and depression. And he says that on a day-to-day basis, too much digital stimulation can “take people who would be functioning O.K. and put them in a range where they’re not psychologically healthy.”
Set aside some time if you want to take in this massive Slate article. Lots of embedded video, including this, the Skinner Box at work:
Jonah Lehrer looks at the “paradox of power” in the WSJ.
Contrary to the Machiavellian cliché, nice people are more likely to rise to power. Then something strange happens: Authority atrophies the very talents that got them there.
PsychCentral: More College Students with Depression, Anxiety
More college students are grappling with depression and anxiety disorders than they did a decade ago, according to research presented at the annual conference of the American Psychological Association. And with greater diagnoses of depression and anxiety has come a related rise in the number of college students on psychiatric medications.
ScienceDaily: Trusting people make better lie detectors
Trusting others may not make you necessarily a fool or a Pollyanna, according to a study in the current Social Psychological and Personality Science. Instead it can be a sign that you’re smart…
Does venting anger help? YANSS looks at the research.
The Misconception: Venting your anger is an effective way to reduce stress and prevent lashing out at friends and family.
The Truth: Venting increases aggressive behavior over time.
Related: Angry People Want To Be Rewarded (PsychCentral).
