ScienceDaily: Living Well News

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• Brain scans can predict weight gain and sexual activity, research shows
• Listening to your favorite music boosts performance
• Bring water into exams to improve your grade
• It doesn’t mean you’re crazy –- talking to yourself has cognitive benefits, study finds
• Positive feelings may help protect cardiovascular health
• Scarcity of college men leads women to choose briefcase over baby
• Feelings of immaturity accompany alcohol misuse into adulthood
• Babies flick 'anti-risk switch' in women but not men
• Depression may lead mothers to wake babies
• Lack of sleep is linked to obesity, new evidence shows
• Preschoolers' reading skills benefit from one modest change by teachers

Brain scans can predict weight gain and sexual activity, research shows Posted: 17 Apr 2012 07:19 PM PDT At a time when obesity has become epidemic in American society, scientists have found that functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) brain scans may be able to predict weight gain. In a new study, the researchers demonstrated a connection between fMRI brain responses to appetite-driven cues and future behavior.

Listening to your favorite music boosts performance Posted: 17 Apr 2012 07:17 PM PDT Whether you like classical, death metal or skiffle, listening to your own choice of music could improve your enjoyment of taking part in competitive sports and improve performance, a study has found.

Bring water into exams to improve your grade Posted: 17 Apr 2012 07:16 PM PDT Students who bring water into exams may improve their grade by keeping hydrated, new research suggests.

It doesn’t mean you’re crazy –- talking to yourself has cognitive benefits, study finds Posted: 17 Apr 2012 07:16 PM PDT Most people talk to themselves at least every few days, and many report talking to themselves on an hourly basis. What purpose is served by this seemingly irrational behavior? Previous research has suggested that such self-directed speech in children can help guide their behavior. For example, children often talk themselves step-by-step through tying their shoelaces, as if reminding themselves to focus on the job in hand. Can talking to oneself also help adults?

Positive feelings may help protect cardiovascular health Posted: 17 Apr 2012 01:30 PM PDT Over the last few decades numerous studies have shown negative states, such as depression, anger, anxiety, and hostility, to be detrimental to cardiovascular health. Less is known about how positive psychological characteristics are related to heart health. In the first and largest systematic review on this topic to date, researchers found that positive psychological well-being appears to reduce the risk of heart attacks, strokes and other cardiovascular events.

Scarcity of college men leads women to choose briefcase over baby Posted: 17 Apr 2012 08:37 AM PDT American women today are more likely to earn college degrees than men with women receiving 57 percent of all bachelor's and 60 percent of all master's degrees. New research has found the ratio of men to women dramatically alters women's choices about career and family.

Feelings of immaturity accompany alcohol misuse into adulthood Posted: 17 Apr 2012 07:26 AM PDT Tipping back one too many cocktails during an individual's early 20s doesn't correlate to a personal sense of immaturity; however if this habit doesn't stop as they reach age 30, young adults can feel psychologically underdeveloped, according to a new study. Helping young adults acknowledge their mental impulse to "sober up" as they mature can improve substance abuse intervention programs.

Babies flick 'anti-risk switch' in women but not men Posted: 17 Apr 2012 07:19 AM PDT Unlike women, men don't curb certain risk-taking behaviors when a baby is present, a new psychology study suggests.

Depression may lead mothers to wake babies Posted: 17 Apr 2012 05:05 AM PDT Depressed mothers are more likely to needlessly wake up their infants at night than mothers who are not depressed, according to Penn State researchers.

Lack of sleep is linked to obesity, new evidence shows Posted: 17 Apr 2012 05:03 AM PDT Can lack of sleep make you fat? A new paper which reviews the evidence from sleep restriction studies reveals that inadequate sleep is linked to obesity. The research explores how lack of sleep can impact appetite regulation, impair glucose metabolism and increase blood pressure.

Preschoolers' reading skills benefit from one modest change by teachers Posted: 17 Apr 2012 05:01 AM PDT A small change in how teachers and parents read aloud to preschoolers may provide a big boost to their reading skills later on, a new study found.

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