Scienceblogtwo

People frequently underestimate how much they would prefer to spend time alone with their thoughts and nothing to divert them, according to study from the American Psychological Association. According to research main author Aya Hatano, Ph.D., of Kyoto University in Japan, "humans have a surprising ability to immerse themselves in their own thinking." "Our research indicates that people have trouble understanding how entertaining thinking can be. That may help to explain why individuals would rather use gadgets and other forms of entertainment to keep themselves occupied than pause for thought and creativity on a regular basis. In a series of six studies involving a total of 259 people, the researchers compared people's estimates of how much they would enjoy simply sitting and thinking with their actual experiences of doing so. In the first experiment, participants were asked to evaluate how much they would enjoy having 20 uninterrupted minutes to themselves, free fr...

Through a comprehensive survey of people between the ages of 50 and 89, it was determined if cognitive decline might be detected by sagittal spinal balance assessment based on a radiological technique. Researchers from Shinshu University found associations between sagittal vertical axis (SVA) anteriorization, advanced age, and poor cognitive function. The sagittal vertical axis is defined as the distance between the posterior superior sacral end plate to a vertical plumbline dropped from the centroid of the C7 vertebral body. The greater the head and neck protrude in front of the pelvis when viewed from the side, the greater the likelihood that subjects may exhibit signs of mild cognitive deterioration (the greater the length). The SVA was associated with age-independent cognitive deterioration in men. Regardless of age, ladies with SVA equal to or greater than 70mm had a higher prevalence of cognitive deterioration. A person with mild cognitive impairment is one who experiences mild c...

According to a recent study, drinking seven or more alcoholic beverages per week is associated with brain alterations and cognitive deterioration. A recent PLOS Medicine study with over 21,000 participants discovered a link between higher levels of iron in the brain and weekly alcohol use of seven or more units. Iron accumulation in the brain has been linked to Alzheimer's and Parkinson's illnesses and may play a role in the cognitive deterioration brought on by alcohol consumption. There is growing evidence that even moderate alcohol consumption can harm the health of the brain. Alcohol consumption and brain iron levels were examined by Anya Topiwala and colleagues from the University of Oxford in the UK. They used magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to look at the brains of 20,965 volunteers from the UK Biobank who supplied information on their personal alcohol intake. A total of nearly 7,000 persons had their livers evaluated using MRI in order to detect the levels of systemic ...

According to a recent study, lifestyle factors may be more important in determining dementia risk than age. Adults without dementia risk factors like smoking, diabetes, or hearing loss exhibited brain health that was comparable to that of people who are 10 to 20 years younger than them, according to recent Baycrest research. The study found that only one dementia risk factor could cause a person's cognitive age to increase by up to three years. Our findings imply that for defining someone's degree of cognitive functioning, lifestyle factors may be more significant than age. The study's lead author, Dr. Annalise LaPlume, a postdoctoral fellow at Baycrest's Rotman Research Institute (RRI), says that this is fantastic news because there are many things you can do to change these factors, such as managing diabetes, taking care of hearing loss, and getting the help you need to stop smoking. One of the first studies to consider lifestyle risk factors for dementia across the l...

Executive functioning in young children—the higher order cognitive skills that regulate memory, attention, and emotional control—may be significantly damaged by inadequate nutrition combined with living in a chaotic home, according to study findings from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Children between the ages of 18 months and 2 were more likely to struggle with basic executive functioning skills including inhibition, working memory, and planning and organizing skills if they ingested more processed meals and sugary snacks, according to surveys completed by their caregivers. The roughly 300 families who participated in the study were a part of a birth cohort study that was continuing at the time data on the children's eating habits, weight changes, social-emotional growth, and family dynamics were first gathered at around 6 weeks of age. The birth cohort study is funded by the National Dairy Council, Gerber Foundation, National Institutes of Health, and United States ...