wellness

Showing 210 posts tagged wellness

Sad Music Can Help Mend Broken Heart New research suggest an aesthetic experience that reflects a person’s mood can help calm emotional turmoil. Thus, sad music or books may help someone get through heartbreak. “Emotional experiences of aesthetic products are important to our happiness and well-being. Music, movies, paintings, or novels that are compatible with our current mood and feelings, akin to an empathic friend, are more appreciated when we experience broken or failing relationships,” write the study authors. image via flickr:CC | shainelee High-res

Sad Music Can Help Mend Broken Heart

New research suggest an aesthetic experience that reflects a person’s mood can help calm emotional turmoil. Thus, sad music or books may help someone get through heartbreak.

“Emotional experiences of aesthetic products are important to our happiness and well-being. Music, movies, paintings, or novels that are compatible with our current mood and feelings, akin to an empathic friend, are more appreciated when we experience broken or failing relationships,” write the study authors.

image via flickr:CC | shainelee

What is the most important problem facing American children today? According to the Academic Pediatric Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics, it is the effects of poverty on the health and well being of young people. The role of poverty on student achievement has been one of the flashpoints between supporters and critics of modern school reform. Supporters insist that citing poverty as a reason for lack of student achievement is “an excuse” made by people who want to support the status quo. Critics of reform say that the major reform efforts ignore the effects that living in poverty have on children and their ability to do schoolwork and perform on standardized tests.

What is the most important problem facing American children today? According to the Academic Pediatric Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics, it is the effects of poverty on the health and well being of young people.

The role of poverty on student achievement has been one of the flashpoints between supporters and critics of modern school reform. Supporters insist that citing poverty as a reason for lack of student achievement is “an excuse” made by people who want to support the status quo. Critics of reform say that the major reform efforts ignore the effects that living in poverty have on children and their ability to do schoolwork and perform on standardized tests.

Self-Affirmation Can Improve Problem-Solving Under Stress

According to researchers at Carnegie Mellon University, self-affirmation is the process of identifying and focusing on your most important values. Doing this can boost problem-solving abilities, the researchers claim.

“An emerging set of published studies suggest that a brief self-affirmation activity at the beginning of a school term can boost academic grade-point averages in underperforming kids at the end of the semester.

Teen Mentors Best Adults in Steering Kids Toward Healthy Lifestyle Elementary school kids who learned about obesity from teen mentors lost weight, lowered their blood pressure and took on healthy lifestyle changes, according to a new study by Ohio State University. In contrast, children who received the same instruction from adults in a traditional classroom experienced no changes in their health. The findings suggest that school systems consider using teen mentors to instruct younger children in select health-related programs. photo via flickr:CC | familymwr High-res

Teen Mentors Best Adults in Steering Kids Toward Healthy Lifestyle

Elementary school kids who learned about obesity from teen mentors lost weight, lowered their blood pressure and took on healthy lifestyle changes, according to a new study by Ohio State University.

In contrast, children who received the same instruction from adults in a traditional classroom experienced no changes in their health. The findings suggest that school systems consider using teen mentors to instruct younger children in select health-related programs.

photo via flickr:CC | familymwr

Even Brief Meditation Can Improve Student Performance New research, published in the journal Mindfulness, suggests practicing meditation before class can help students focus and lead to better grades. Researchers randomly selected students for basic meditation instructions before a lecture and discovered that the students who meditated before the lecture scored better on a subsequent quiz than students who did not meditate. photo via flickr:CC | nikoschwarz High-res

Even Brief Meditation Can Improve Student Performance

New research, published in the journal Mindfulness, suggests practicing meditation before class can help students focus and lead to better grades.

Researchers randomly selected students for basic meditation instructions before a lecture and discovered that the students who meditated before the lecture scored better on a subsequent quiz than students who did not meditate.

photo via flickr:CC | nikoschwarz

Why Competition Can Be Healthy For Kids Po Bronson presented a very different picture of competition when he spoke with Michael Krasny on KQED’s Forum about Top Dog: The Science of Winning and Losing, his latest book written with co-author Ashley Merryman. The book examines competition from all angles – physiological, psychological, historical. Their main point: competition, if done right, is a good thing. In fact, competition and team activities can drive learning and performance better than solo endeavors. “In finite games, you compete and then you let it go, and you have rest and recuperation – that’s actually really important for kids,” said Bronson. “It’s the continuous sense of pressure that is unhealthy for them.” photo via flickr:CC | The Bearmaiden High-res

Why Competition Can Be Healthy For Kids

Po Bronson presented a very different picture of competition when he spoke with Michael Krasny on KQED’s Forum about Top Dog: The Science of Winning and Losing, his latest book written with co-author Ashley Merryman.

The book examines competition from all angles – physiological, psychological, historical. Their main point: competition, if done right, is a good thing. In fact, competition and team activities can drive learning and performance better than solo endeavors.

“In finite games, you compete and then you let it go, and you have rest and recuperation – that’s actually really important for kids,” said Bronson. “It’s the continuous sense of pressure that is unhealthy for them.”

photo via flickr:CC | The Bearmaiden

Family Dinners Can Bolster Teens’ Mental Health Family dinners do more than just bring parents and kids up to date; a new study suggests the fellowship inherent in such gatherings contributes to good mental health in adolescents.Frank Elgar, Ph.D., a professor at McGill University in Montreal, Canada, discovered family meal times are a measurable signature of social exchanges in the home that benefit adolescents’ well-being – regardless of whether or not they feel they can easily talk to their parents.“More frequent family dinners related to fewer emotional and behavioral problems, greater emotional well-being, more trusting and helpful behaviors towards others and higher life satisfaction,” said Elgar, whose research centers on social inequalities in health and family influences on child mental health. photo via flickr:CC | sashamd

Family Dinners Can Bolster Teens’ Mental Health

Family dinners do more than just bring parents and kids up to date; a new study suggests the fellowship inherent in such gatherings contributes to good mental health in adolescents.

Frank Elgar, Ph.D., a professor at McGill University in Montreal, Canada, discovered family meal times are a measurable signature of social exchanges in the home that benefit adolescents’ well-being – regardless of whether or not they feel they can easily talk to their parents.

“More frequent family dinners related to fewer emotional and behavioral problems, greater emotional well-being, more trusting and helpful behaviors towards others and higher life satisfaction,” said Elgar, whose research centers on social inequalities in health and family influences on child mental health.

photo via flickr:CC | sashamd

Path Through College is Indirect and Stressful for Many Students

Switching majors, falling behind the academic schedule, and feeling disenfranchised by the conventional college system are becoming institutionalized student experiences, states the report from MyEdu, an Austin, Texas-based company that offers online tools to help college students manage their academic lives and career opportunities.

The study, which takes into account the randomly selected responses of 1,047 students from MyEdu’s 300,000 profiles, shows that:
  • more than half of students have switched or considered switching their major during their academic career
  • and that the overwhelming reason for this change was due to changing interests, and a lack of enjoyment in the first major selected.
  • What’s more, 37% of respondents classified themselves as “nontraditional students.”

So how to fix it?

Sleep Study Reveals How the Adolescent Brain Makes the Transition to Mature Thinking A new study conducted by monitoring the brain waves of sleeping adolescents has found that remarkable changes occur in the brain as it prunes away neuronal connections and makes the major transition from childhood to adulthood. “We’ve provided the first long-term, longitudinal description of developmental changes that take place in the brains of youngsters as they sleep,” said Irwin Feinberg, professor emeritus of psychiatry and behavioral sciences and director of the UC Davis Sleep Laboratory. “Our outcome confirms that the brain goes through a remarkable amount of reorganization during puberty that is necessary for complex thinking.” photo via flickr:CC | D Services

Sleep Study Reveals How the Adolescent Brain Makes the Transition to Mature Thinking

A new study conducted by monitoring the brain waves of sleeping adolescents has found that remarkable changes occur in the brain as it prunes away neuronal connections and makes the major transition from childhood to adulthood.

“We’ve provided the first long-term, longitudinal description of developmental changes that take place in the brains of youngsters as they sleep,” said Irwin Feinberg, professor emeritus of psychiatry and behavioral sciences and director of the UC Davis Sleep Laboratory. “Our outcome confirms that the brain goes through a remarkable amount of reorganization during puberty that is necessary for complex thinking.”

photo via flickr:CC | D Services

Anxiety Disorders More Common in Kids Who Avoid Scary Situations A new Mayo Clinic study discovers children who avoid situations they find scary are likely to have anxiety. Researchers followed more than 800 children ages 7 to 18 and posit that this may be a new method to measure avoidance behavior in young children. Children who participated in the study showed stable anxiety scores after a year had passed, but those who described avoidance behaviors at the onset tended to be more anxious a year later. “This new approach may enable us to identify kids who are at risk for an anxiety disorder,” said lead author Stephen Whiteside, Ph.D., a pediatric psychologist. photo via flickr:CC | Pink Sherbet Photography

Anxiety Disorders More Common in Kids Who Avoid Scary Situations

A new Mayo Clinic study discovers children who avoid situations they find scary are likely to have anxiety. Researchers followed more than 800 children ages 7 to 18 and posit that this may be a new method to measure avoidance behavior in young children.

Children who participated in the study showed stable anxiety scores after a year had passed, but those who described avoidance behaviors at the onset tended to be more anxious a year later. “This new approach may enable us to identify kids who are at risk for an anxiety disorder,” said lead author Stephen Whiteside, Ph.D., a pediatric psychologist.

photo via flickr:CC | Pink Sherbet Photography

Program to Reduce Teen Stress Researchers from the University of Montreal have developed a program to significantly reduce the stress associated with the transition from elementary school to middle school. The DeStress for Success Program is based on an earlier study that showed the transition from elementary to secondary school is associated with the production of stress hormones for many youth. “The educational program is based on the belief that intervention can decrease the level of stress hormones and depressive symptoms in teenagers and help facilitate this transition,” said Sonia Lupien, lead author of the study. photo via flickr:CC | Riley Alexandra

Program to Reduce Teen Stress

Researchers from the University of Montreal have developed a program to significantly reduce the stress associated with the transition from elementary school to middle school.

The DeStress for Success Program is based on an earlier study that showed the transition from elementary to secondary school is associated with the production of stress hormones for many youth.

“The educational program is based on the belief that intervention can decrease the level of stress hormones and depressive symptoms in teenagers and help facilitate this transition,” said Sonia Lupien, lead author of the study.

photo via flickr:CC | Riley Alexandra