Is depression an early sign of dementia? Is it an emotional response to losing cognitive abilities? Or is depression a risk factor for dementia? In a new study, researchers sought to discern the timing and the underpinnings of the link between depression and dementia. They looked at 13,535 individuals who participated in a voluntary health exam from…
Sadness and wisdom often go hand-in-hand according to research. A number of studies support the idea that depressed people have a more accurate perception of reality than those who are happy and optimistic. This idea was initially called the sadder-but-wiser effect, and it’s now known as depressive realism. Researchers Lauren Alloy and Lyn Abramson coined…
If you had to choose between staying home with your kids or leaving them at a daycare while you worked, which would you choose? What if your happiness depended on it? According to a Gallup poll, you’re better off punching in than staying in. The Gallup analysis looked at 60,000 U.S. women between the ages of 18…
“A large income is the best recipe for happiness I ever heard of.” ~Jane Austen, Mansfield Park A wealth of research exists on the connection between income and happiness. A key concept in this research is the Easterlin paradox, a term coined by Richard Easterlin from his well-known 1974 study. This is the idea that within a…
People devote over 30-40% of every day speech to describing their private experiences or personal relationships. Social media sites like Facebook and Twitter capitalize on this desire humans have to talk about themselves. Posting statuses and tweets about pretty personal information like relationships and emotions is commonplace. People let others know where they are by…
Everyone has regrets. Now, researchers can tell us what types of things people regret the most. Researchers from Germany set out to examine the ways in which regret affects emotional health. They conducted a study that involved three groups of participants: healthy young people who averaged 25 years of age; healthy seniors; and depressed seniors (both groups…
Eating right, exercising, getting enough sleep, and drinking plenty of water are often heralded as the hallmarks of health. We tend to see a healthy body as a sign of good physical health. Yet, a multitude of scientific studies show that our physical health is impacted by our minds just as much as by our…
People use Facebook to stay in touch with far-off friends, to look at photo albums of a recent family wedding or vacation, or (let’s be honest) to just procrastinate. We associate Facebook more with the word “downtime” than with the word “productivity.” In fact, half of the world’s CEOs completely prohibit the use of social…
People tend to think of depression as a mental illness, but new research shows that depression and other psychological disorders affect the body as much as the mind. Researchers are starting to view depression as a whole-body, rather than strictly brain-based illness. Research has established that young people who suffer from long-term psychological stress, depression,…
Ever sit down to the table, devour your meal, and run off to the next activity? Amidst our busy lives full of rides to school, team carpools, and getting homework done, sometimes mealtime becomes just another necessary task on the list of to-dos. However, many parents have begun to re-think the importance of family mealtime…