EXPRESSIVE WRITING TO BEAT STRESS
Do you get worried, stressed and anxious when your boss entrusts a task to youIJ There is, however, a way to handle the task efficiently without placing yourself under undue stress. Expressing your feelings on a sheet of paper can cool your brain and help you perform the stress-inducing task more efficiently, finds a study. According to researchers, worrying takes up cognitive resources. Due to the worrying, you are constantly multi-tasking because you are doing one task and trying to monitor and suppress your worries at the same time. “Our findings show that if you get these worries out of your head through expressive writing, those cognitive resources are freed up to work toward the task you’re completing and you become more efficient,” said lead author Hans Schroder, a doctoral student at Michigan State University (MSU). Previous research has shown that expressive writing can help individuals process past traumas or stressful events.
WHY YOU lIKE DRINKING AT NIGHT
According to a latest study, your brain’s immunity could have a possible link in motivating you to pick up a glass of alcohol at night. If you have the habit of downing a drink every evening before you hit the bed, it may be due to the impulsiveness of the brain’s immune system, suggests the study. The findings revealed that the habit may stem out of our body’s circadian rhythm which affects the ‘reward’ signals that one receives in the brain from drug-related behaviour and the peak time for this reward signal typically occurs during the evening or around night time, says lead author Jon Jacobsen, PhD student at the University of Adelaide, Australia.
GUT BACTERIA AND WEIGHT STRUGGlES
A new study finds that apart from diets or random regimes to keep us fit and healthy, there are other things at play when it comes to losing weight. The research points towards gut bacteria. According to research, the proportion of some gut bacteria may be connected to how much weight a person is able to lose under certain circumstances. Scientists got groups to follow either the New Nordic Diet (featuring plenty of dark greens, berries and whole grains) or the Average Danish Diet (lean meat, eggs, lettuce, coffee but no grains). The participants were then grouped according to how much of two different bacteria, called Prevotella and Bacteroides, they had in their bodies. Those who had a higher ratio of Prevotella to Bacteroides and followed the New Nordic Diet lost more body fat than the others.