HeadacheIJ
It’s time to make love
A team of neurologists found that sexual activity can lead to “partial or complete relief” of head pain in some migraines. The study, from the University of Munster, Germany, suggests that instead of using a sore head as an excuse to refuse sex, making love can be more effective than taking painkillers. The research, reported in Cephalalgia, the journal of the International Headache Society, found that more than half of migraine sufferers who had sex during an episode experienced an improvement in symptoms. Researchers suggested that sex triggered the release of endorphins, the body’s natural painkillers, which can in turn reduce, or even eliminate, a headache.
Have goals
to reduce stroke risk
People who feel that they have a purpose in life are less likely to suffer from a stroke. A study of over-50s found that those who had defined goals for the future were at a much lower risk of suffering a clot on the brain than people with few objectives. It remains unclear whether setting aims later in life makes people more likely to keep up a healthy lifestyle, or whether thinking positively about one’s life somehow protects against a stroke. Researchers from the University of Michigan studied 6,739 men and women, all of whom were aged over 50, and used questionnaires to assess to what extent each person had a purpose in life. People with high scores for “directedness”, who felt that their life had meaning and had clear goals for the future, were 22 per cent less likely to have a stroke than those who lacked a sense of purpose.
Women
have efficient brains
Scientists have been long puzzled over why women can show just as much intelligence as men, although their brains are eight per cent smaller. Now a study by universities in los Angeles and Madrid have shown that for women, brain size does not matter because they are more efficient. The study, published in the journal Intelligence, carried out a series of intelligence tests on men and women.
Despite the fact the women had smaller brains they performed better in inductive reasoning, some numerical skills and were better at keeping track of a changing situation — although men did better on spatial intelligence. The researchers concluded that women’s brains are able to complete and even excel at complicated tasks with less energy and fewer neurons.