ScienceDaily: Living Well News

Simple intervention can make your brain more receptive to health advice Posted: 02 Feb 2015 01:06 PM PST A new discovery shows how a simple intervention -- self-affirmation -- can open our brains to accept advice that is hard to hear. Psychologists have used self-affirmation as a technique to improve outcomes ranging from health behaviors in high risk patients to increasing academic performance in at risk youth, suggesting that the findings may be applicable across a wide range of interventions.

More evidence that musical training protects the brain Posted: 02 Feb 2015 10:26 AM PST Scientists have found some of the strongest evidence yet that musical training in younger years can prevent the decay in speech listening skills in later life. "Musical activities are an engaging form of cognitive brain training and we are now seeing robust evidence of brain plasticity from musical training not just in younger brains, but in older brains too," said the study's leader.

Expert panel recommends new sleep durations Posted: 02 Feb 2015 09:37 AM PST The National Sleep Foundation, along with a multi-disciplinary expert panel, issued its new recommendations for appropriate sleep durations. The NSF convened experts from sleep, anatomy and physiology, as well as pediatrics, neurology, gerontology and gynecology to reach a consensus from the broadest range of scientific disciplines. The report recommends wider appropriate sleep ranges for most age groups.

Interval between first and second pregnancy strongly impacts preterm birth risk Posted: 02 Feb 2015 09:36 AM PST The variation of interval from delivery time to conception of the next pregnancy has a strong impact on the risk of preterm birth and low birth weight.

Potential health risks of hookah smoking are being overlooked by users, concerning toxicologists Posted: 02 Feb 2015 07:53 AM PST Toxicologists are concerned about the public perception that hookah smoking is a safer alternative to other forms of tobacco use. Hookah smoking can produce carcinogens and other chemicals associated with ill health at levels similar to or higher than cigarette smoking.

Babies can follow complex social situations Posted: 02 Feb 2015 05:19 AM PST Infants can make sense of complex social situations, taking into account who knows what about whom, according to new research.

Possible cause of IVF failure in some women identified Posted: 02 Feb 2015 05:06 AM PST A previously unexplored biological process, which can lead to the failure of embryos to attach to the uterine wall during in vitro fertilisation (IVF), has been identified by researchers. IVF only has around a 25% success rate, researchers report.

Baby's genes, not mom's, may trigger some preterm births Posted: 02 Feb 2015 05:04 AM PST Changes in genetic regions in infants linked with an increased risk of premature birth -- and the data change the preterm paradigm.

Reduce the risk of coronary heart disease Posted: 29 Jan 2015 01:07 PM PST During Heart Month, experts are promoting the importance of controlling high blood pressure, also called hypertension, in order to reduce the risk of coronary heart disease and other related chronic disorders in adults.

Food safety fumble: Research finds 90 percent of home chefs contaminate food Posted: 29 Jan 2015 07:40 AM PST Despite receiving food safety messaging, a majority of home chefs still contaminate their food because of poor food-handling techniques, research shows. "A lot of studies in the past have been surveys asking consumers how they do things in the kitchen, but we have found that those are rather unreliable," a researcher said. "When you actually videotape it and observe it, most consumers are doing a really bad job in terms of preventing food contamination."

'Nudge' psychology not based on robust evidence; conscious decision-making is more effective, research suggests Posted: 29 Jan 2015 06:41 AM PST The kind of instinctive decision-making advocated in best-selling popular psychology books like ‘Nudge’, ‘Thinking Fast and Slow’ and ‘Blink’ is not backed up by reliable evidence, a study concludes. The research found that, contrary to the position taken by high-profile authors that the most effective decision-making takes place on an unconscious level, reliable evidence suggests that we usually make decisions consciously and people should be taking the time to think things through.