The heart may be the “love muscle,” but a new study finds the feeling of love is all in the head. Aalto University researchers have identified where in the body people feel various types of love and the intensity with which they experience this emotion. They found that love forms a spectrum, with some types felt more intensely than others, and that the sensation of love tends to center in a person’s head.
“It was noteworthy, though not very surprising, that the types of love associated with close relationships are similar and are the most strongly experienced,” says Pärttyli Rinne, a philosopher who coordinated the study.
The research was a joint initiative between Rinne and Professor Emeritus Mikko Sams. Furthermore, doctoral researcher Mikke Tavast took charge of analyzing the data, while Enrico Glerean developed the research methods.
The researchers surveyed participants on their experiences of 27 distinct types of love, ranging from romantic and parental love to feelings for strangers, nature, God, and even oneself. Participants had to indicate on a body silhouette where they felt each type of love and how intensely they experienced it both physically and mentally.
To clarify, their findings, published in Philosophical Psychology, illustrated that all the love types were most intensely felt in the head. However, the intensity and spread varied in other body areas. Some types of love were felt only in the chest, while others radiated throughout the entire body. The more intense the love, the more widespread the feeling was in the body.
“‘Love between persons is divided into sexual and non-sexual. The types of love that are particularly close to each other are those that have a sexual or romantic dimension,” Rinne explains in a university release.
The types of love form a gradient in intensity and in how widely they’re felt throughout the body.
“It was also interesting to find a strong correlation between the physical and mental intensity of the emotion and its pleasantness. The more strongly a type of love is felt in the body, the more strongly it’s felt in the mind and the more pleasant it is,” Rinne adds.
“When we move from more strongly experienced types of love to less strongly experienced types, the sensations in the chest area become weaker. It may be that, for example, love for strangers or wisdom is associated with a cognitive process. It may also be that there are pleasant sensations in the head area. This is something that should be investigated further.”
Rinne also touched upon the cultural nuances in love experiences. For instance, if the study were conducted in a deeply religious community, love for God might be the most dominant feeling. Similarly, for parents in relationships, love for children could be the most potent emotion.
These findings suggest that better managing negative emotions may help reduce neurodegeneration.
A team from the University of Geneva (UNIGE) has uncovered the ways in which negative emotions have a lasting impact on brain activity in older adults.
The onset of neurodegenerative diseases and dementia is believed to be promoted by negative emotions, anxiety, and depression. However, the impact of these emotions on the brain and the possibility of limiting their harmful effects are still a matter of investigation. To shed light on this subject, neuroscientists from the University of Geneva (UNIGE) studied the brain activation patterns of both young and older adults when they were exposed to the psychological distress of others.
The neuronal connections of older adults exhibit significant emotional rigidity: negative emotions excessively and persistently alter these connections, particularly in the posterior cingulate cortex and the amygdala – two brain regions that play crucial roles in emotion regulation and autobiographical memory.
These results, to be published in Nature Aging, indicate that better management of these emotions – through meditation for example – could help limit neurodegeneration.
For the past 20 years, neuroscientists have been looking at how the brain reacts to emotions.
‘‘We are beginning to understand what happens at the moment of perception of an emotional stimulus,’’ explains Dr. Olga Klimecki, a researcher at the UNIGE’s Swiss Centre for Affective Sciences and at the Deutsches Zentrum für Neurodegenerative Erkrankungen, who is last author of this study carried out as part of a European research project co-directed by the UNIGE.
‘‘However, what happens afterward remains a mystery. How does the brain switch from one emotion to another? How does it return to its initial state? Does emotional variability change with age? What are the consequences for the brain of mismanagement of emotions?’’
Previous studies in psychology have shown that an ability to change emotions quickly is beneficial for mental health. Conversely, people who are unable to regulate their emotions and remain in the same emotional state for a long time are at higher risk of depression.
‘‘Our aim was to determine what cerebral trace remains after the viewing of emotional scenes, in order to evaluate the brain’s reaction, and, above all, its recovery mechanisms. We focused on the older adults, in order to identify possible differences between normal and pathological aging,’’ says Patrik Vuilleumier, professor in the Department of Basic Neurosciences at the Faculty of Medicine and at the Swiss Centre for Affective Sciences at the UNIGE, who co-directed this work.
Not all brains are created equal
The scientists showed volunteers short television clips showing people in a state of emotional suffering – during a natural disaster or distress situation for example – as well as videos with neutral emotional content, in order to observe their brain activity using functional MRI. First, the team compared a group of 27 people over 65 years of age with a group of 29 people aged around 25 years. The same experiment was then repeated with 127 older adults.
‘‘Older people generally show a different pattern of brain activity and connectivity from younger people,’’ says Sebastian Baez Lugo, a researcher in Patrik Vuilleumier’s laboratory and the first author of this work.
‘‘This is particularly noticeable in the level of activation of the default mode network, a brain network that is highly activated in a resting state. Its activity is frequently disrupted by depression or anxiety, suggesting that it is involved in the regulation of emotions. In the older adults, part of this network, the posterior cingulate cortex, which processes autobiographical memory, shows an increase in its connections with the amygdala, which processes important emotional stimuli. These connections are stronger in subjects with high anxiety scores, with rumination, or with negative thoughts.’’
Empathy and aging
However, older people tend to regulate their emotions better than younger people, and focus more easily on positive details, even during a negative event. But changes in connectivity between the posterior cingulate cortex and the amygdala could indicate a deviation from the normal aging phenomenon, accentuated in people who show more anxiety, rumination, and negative emotions. The posterior cingulate cortex is one of the regions most affected by dementia, suggesting that the presence of these symptoms could increase the risk of neurodegenerative disease.
‘‘Is it poor emotional regulation and anxiety that increases the risk of dementia or the other way around? We still don’t know,’’ says Sebastian Baez Lugo. ‘‘Our hypothesis is that more anxious people would have no or less capacity for emotional distancing. The mechanism of emotional inertia in the context of aging would then be explained by the fact that the brain of these people remains ‘frozen’ in a negative state by relating the suffering of others to their own emotional memories.”
Could meditation be a solution?
Could it be possible to prevent dementia by acting on the mechanism of emotional inertia? The research team is currently conducting an 18-month interventional study to evaluate the effects of foreign language learning on the one hand, and meditation practice on the other.
‘‘In order to further refine our results, we will also compare the effects of two types of meditation: mindfulness, which consists of anchoring oneself in the present in order to concentrate on one’s own feelings, and what is known as ‘compassionate’ meditation, which aims to actively increase positive emotions towards others,’’ the authors add.
Summary: Better management of negative emotions in older adults may help to limit neurodegeneration.
Source: University of Geneva
Negative emotions, anxiety and depression are thought to promote the onset of neurodegenerative diseases and dementia. But what is their impact on the brain and can their deleterious effects be limited?
Neuroscientists at the University of Geneva (UNIGE) observed the activation of the brains of young and older adults when confronted with the psychological suffering of others.
The neuronal connections of the older adults show significant emotional inertia: negative emotions modify them excessively and over a long period of time, particularly in the posterior cingulate cortex and the amygdala, two brain regions strongly involved in the management of emotions and autobiographical memory.
These results, published in Nature Aging, indicate that a better management of these emotions—through meditation for example—could help limit neurodegeneration.
For the past 20 years, neuroscientists have been looking at how the brain reacts to emotions. “We are beginning to understand what happens at the moment of perception of an emotional stimulus,” explains Dr. Olga Klimecki, a researcher at the UNIGE’s Swiss Centre for Affective Sciences and at the Deutsches Zentrum für Neurodegenerative Erkrankungen, who is last author of this study carried out as part of a European research project co-directed by the UNIGE.
“However, what happens afterwards remains a mystery. How does the brain switch from one emotion to another? How does it return to its initial state? Does emotional variability change with age? What are the consequences for the brain of mismanagement of emotions?”
Previous studies in psychology have shown that an ability to change emotions quickly is beneficial for mental health. Conversely, people who are unable to regulate their emotions and remain in the same emotional state for a long time are at higher risks of depression.
“Our aim was to determine what cerebral trace remains after the viewing of emotional scenes, in order to evaluate the brain’s reaction, and, above all, its recovery mechanisms. We focused on the older adults, in order to identify possible differences between normal and pathological aging,” says Patrik Vuilleumier, professor in the Department of Basic Neurosciences at the Faculty of Medicine and at the Swiss Centre for Affective Sciences at the UNIGE, who co-directed this work.
Not all brains are created equal
The scientists showed volunteers short television clips showing people in a state of emotional suffering—during a natural disaster or distress situation for example—as well as videos with neutral emotional content, in order to observe their brain activity using functional MRI. First, the team compared a group of 27 people over 65 years of age with a group of 29 people aged around 25 years. The same experiment was then repeated with 127 older adults.
“Older people generally show a different pattern of brain activity and connectivity from younger people,” says Sebastian Baez Lugo, a researcher in Patrik Vuilleumier’s laboratory and the first author of this work.
“This is particularly noticeable in the level of activation of the default mode network, a brain network that is highly activated in resting state. Its activity is frequently disrupted by depression or anxiety, suggesting that it is involved in the regulation of emotions. In the older adults, part of this network, the posterior cingulate cortex, which processes autobiographical memory, shows an increase in its connections with the amygdala, which processes important emotional stimuli.
“These connections are stronger in subjects with high anxiety scores, with rumination, or with negative thoughts.”
Empathy and aging
However, older people tend to regulate their emotions better than younger people, and focus more easily on positive details, even during a negative event. But changes in connectivity between the posterior cingulate cortex and the amygdala could indicate a deviation from the normal aging phenomenon, accentuated in people who show more anxiety, rumination and negative emotions.
However, older people tend to regulate their emotions better than younger people, and focus more easily on positive details, even during a negative event.
The posterior cingulate cortex is one of the regions most affected by dementia, suggesting that the presence of these symptoms could increase the risk of neurodegenerative disease.
“Is it poor emotional regulation and anxiety that increases the risk of dementia or the other way around? We still don’t know,” says Sebastian Baez Lugo.
“Our hypothesis is that more anxious people would have no or less capacity for emotional distancing. The mechanism of emotional inertia in the context of aging would then be explained by the fact that the brain of these people remains ‘frozen’ in a negative state by relating the suffering of others to their own emotional memories.”
Could meditation be a solution?
Could it be possible to prevent dementia by acting on the mechanism of emotional inertia? The research team is currently conducting an 18-month interventional study to evaluate the effects of foreign language learning on the one hand, and meditation practice on the other.
“In order to further refine our results, we will also compare the effects of two types of meditation: mindfulness, which consists of anchoring oneself in the present in order to concentrate on one’s own feelings, and what is known as ‘compassionate’ meditation, which aims to actively increase positive emotions towards others,” the authors add.
Abstract
Exposure to negative socio-emotional events induces sustained alteration of resting-state brain networks in older adults
Basic emotional functions seem well preserved in older adults. However, their reactivity to and recovery from socially negative events remain poorly characterized. To address this, we designed a ‘task–rest’ paradigm in which 182 participants from two independent experiments underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging while exposed to socio-emotional videos.
Experiment 1 (N = 55) validated the task in young and older participants and unveiled age-dependent effects on brain activity and connectivity that predominated in resting periods after (rather than during) negative social scenes. Crucially, emotional elicitation potentiated subsequent resting-state connectivity between default mode network and amygdala exclusively in older adults.
Experiment 2 replicated these results in a large older adult cohort (N = 127) and additionally showed that emotion-driven changes in posterior default mode network–amygdala connectivity were associated with anxiety, rumination and negative thoughts.
These findings uncover the neural dynamics of empathy-related functions in older adults and help understand its relationship to poor social stress recovery.
“If there ever was a good time to have diabetes in history, now is that time,” said an optimistic, caring, and very knowledgeable endocrinologist at a quarterly appointment with a patient, “…plus, the cure is probably 5 years out, so there’s that.”
Oh, how I loathe that last sentence. It seems as though the cure is always 5 years out. It was 5 years out when I was diagnosed at 12 and thought we’d have a cure before I finished high school. It was 5 years out on my 21st birthday and I thought I would be cured before I walked down the aisle at my wedding. It was 5 years out when I first started seriously considering if I should ever really try to have kids with a chronic disease and experience a difficult, high-risk pregnancy. The magical “5 years out” is a myth, and hurtful to people, especially children, when they are first diagnosed.
I love all of the optimism and positive aspects of the diabetes online community (DOC) and the power behind people and our ability to connect across space and time (zones). When children are first diagnosed with type 1 diabetes (or type 2), there’s a lot more hope out there for people than there was even 10 or 20 years ago. But sometimes I think all of that optimism and hope sets kids up to think that diabetes isn’t difficult and that there won’t be struggles in their future at all and, when they face those struggles, they don’t have the coping mechanisms to deal with them.
According to the National Institutes of Health, the prevalence of major depression in patients with diabetes ranges from 8-18%, while milder types of depression are reported to be present in 15-35% of people with diabetes. That is huge. It’s important to look out for the symptoms of depression and to not misguide those that are newly diagnosed with the notion that everything will always be normal and easy.
Here’s some T1D real talk. Diabetes is hard. Diabetes is chronic. There is no cure, and it’s invisible. That’s really, really tough. It’s tough when you’re 400 mg/dL on a Tuesday morning, but still have to make that 8:00 a.m. meeting, because no one can see how awful you really feel. It’s tough when you’re trying to hike with friends, but you’ve gone low 23 times on the trail and want to give up.
It’s tough when job applications ask, “do you have a disability?” and you know the answer is a resounding yes, but in the back of your mind, you’re worried that you’ll be discriminated against and not get the job. It’s tough when people say, “Well, at least it’s not cancer.”
It’s tough when you’re a struggling college student and it’s just not fair that you have to buy insulin, and syringes, and test strips, and glucose tabs, and pay for specialists and pump supplies and lancets on top of being a college student and it makes you want to scream. It’s tough when you cry. And you’ll cry.
It’s tough when you have to know the vernacular of insurance companies and can translate the EOB (explanation of benefits) on bill statements for all of your family and friends. It’s tough when you have to introduce not only yourself, but your diabetes to every single significant person in your life, for the rest of your life. It’s tough that diabetes always seems to tag along.
It’s tough. Diabetes is painful. People who say it isn’t are under an illusion. A person with diabetes often feels like a pin-cushion and skin isn’t infallible. The number of bumps and bruises that diabetes causes is infinite. People will question everything you eat; people will question everything you don’t eat.
People will stare. People will ask if you’re carrying a pager (Hello, it’s 2017!), and most people won’t really understand the physical and emotional toll that diabetes takes on the body. (No, I don’t really want to answer the “So is your diabetes under control yet?” question again.)
People will always relate your diabetes to that of their grandma. People will ask if you can eat salt. People will regale you with stories of their second cousin’s girlfriend’s mom who had to have her foot amputated from diabetes (thanks). People will be scared, but the ones who stick around are worth their weight in gold.
But people will try. People will prove to you that they care. You will make real, deep connections with people that just get it. When you fall, you’ll fall hard, but when you stand, you’ll be taller (even by an inch). You’ll triumph. When we talk with kiddos and people that are recently diagnosed, let’s keep in mind to keep it real for them, so they’re not whiplashed with the reality of a chronic disease in a cruel, unforgiving world, leaving them ill-prepared for success.
Yes, diabetes is hard. Diabetes is tough. But diabetes makes people more persevering, more disciplined, more determined, and some of the hardest working people in the world. They’re tougher than diabetes. And so are you.
Fish are still widely regarded as ornamental and throwaway pets, but they are deserving of ethical treatment, veterinary care, enrichment and stimulation
There is a large gap between people’s perception of fish intelligence and the scientific reality, which is that fish have perception and cognitive abilities that rival, or exceed, that of other vertebrates
Common fish owner mistakes include overfeeding, overcrowding and mismatching fish species
Aquatic animals, including fish, are the most popular pets in the U.S. if you calculate popularity based on the number of owned pets.1 Sadly, many spend their days silently circling mundane fish bowls that are undersized or improperly prepared.
Many also start out unhealthy and disease-prone because of overbreeding and selective breeding to create a certain aesthetic feature like long fins, bubble eyes or a round belly.2
Despite advances in many areas of animal welfare, fish are still widely regarded as ornamental and throwaway pets. But these creatures are far more complex than many people realize and are deserving not only of basic ethical treatment but also far more, including veterinary care, enrichment and stimulation.
Would You Seek Veterinary Care for Your Fish?
A commentary published in Clinician’s Brief brought up some important points about the ramifications of viewing ornamental fish as just that — mere “decorations” for your office or child’s bedroom.3 For starters, many fish owners do not seek veterinary care for their fish because they don’t know it’s available — or that they should.
In fact, when asked about fish conditions, some veterinarians, lacking in appropriate treatment options or know-how, may refer clients to pet stores, who may in turn give out inaccurate information in response.
As a result, “concern for the welfare of pet fish may not extend past their perceived economic value.” As noted by Clinician’s Brief, more research is needed into ornamental fish and there should be more education available for retailers, hobbyists and even veterinarians in the realm of fish medicine. In addition:4
“Pharmaceutical companies have not kept pace with advances for fish as for other companion species, and a proliferation of inexpensive over-the-counter treatments, how-to articles and general misinformation leads to sick fish often being treated (or mistreated) with chemicals and even invasive home surgeries without a proper diagnosis.
Protracted and unnecessary suffering often results. Prejudices and misconceptions may suggest that fish-welfare issues are grossly underreported.”
Why It’s Important to Consider the Needs of Your Fish
Many are surprised to learn that fish have “needs” beyond water and daily food, and that’s precisely the point. The fact that fish can feel pain, show emotions and “talk” using a wide range of communicatory methods is not widely known, though it should be — especially by those who choose to have fish as pets.
As reported in the journal Animal Cognition, there is a large gap between people’s perception of fish intelligence and the scientific reality, which is that fish have perception and cognitive abilities that rival, or exceed, that of other vertebrates.5 Fish, for instance:6
Perform multiple complex tasks simultaneously (a trait that was once believed to exist only among humans)
Recall the location of objects using “feature cues” (which humans figure out how to do around age 6)
Have excellent long-term memories
“Cooperate with one another and show signs of Machiavellian intelligence such as cooperation and reconciliation”
Use tools
Culum Brown, Ph.D., associate professor at Macquarie University in Australia, who authored the Animal Cognition review, said in an interview with the Huffington Post:7
“The big issue here is that people don’t treat fish the same way as they do other animals. It’s complicated, but it boils down to the fact that most people just don’t understand them and can’t relate to them. If you don’t have that connection, you are less likely to feel any empathy …
Fish are similar to humans in so many ways. This is the message we need to get across … My mission in life is to make people think about fish as something other than food.”
10 Common Fish Owner Mistakes
Many fish owners do strive to take good care of their pets, but misinformation may lead to sick or stressed-out animals. Here are some top mistakes, compiled by PetMD, that many fish owners make:8
1.Overfeeding
This may lead to excess waste, which in turn can interfere with water quality. A general guide is to feed fish the amount of food they consume in three minutes. Remove any excess with a net.
Scavengers like crabs can also help to clean up uneaten food. Be aware that not all fish feed the same way; some fish do better with two smaller feedings a day while others like to nibble plants.
Some fish scavenge for their food while others hunt, for instance. Consider the use of puzzle feeders and sinking feeders, or live prey, if applicable to your fish species.
2.New Tank Syndrome
Before adding fish to a new tank, bacteria must build up to process the nitrogen compounds in fish waste. Certain additives can be found to assist in this process, as can adding sand or gravel from an established healthy tank.
You should have water samples tested by an aquarium store to be sure you’ve got the right balance.
3.Mismatching Fish Species
Fish have different personalities and not all get along well together. It’s very important to be aware of whether the fish species you choose are known for being aggressive.
Aggressive fish can bully or fight more passive fish, even to the point of death or starvation (in which a fish is too frightened to come out of hiding to eat).
4.Overcrowding
In general, fish need 1 gallon of water per inch of fish. Aggressive fish need double that amount, and be sure to take into account rocks and decorations, which, though important, take up valuable swimming space.
5.Vacation Care
If you leave for vacation, your fish need to be cared for while you’re away, just like other pets. In addition to carefully letting a pet sitter know how much food to feed, be sure to prepare the sitter for what to do in the event of tank issues and how to check water temperature.
6.Temperature Control
You’ll need to install a thermometer to monitor water temperature, which should generally be between 68 and 76 degrees F, depending on the species of fish. Be aware that drafts and sun can change the temperature of the tank, and smaller tanks are more vulnerable to rapid temperature shifts than larger tanks. Be vigilant in monitoring water temperature.
7.Overlooking Disease
If your fish is showing signs of disease, via appearance or changes in habits, transfer him to a quarantine tank and seek veterinary care.
Oftentimes, a new fish added to the tank may be a source of disease. Before new animals are added to an existing tank, a quarantine period of 21 to 28 days is recommended. To help relieve stress during the quarantine, a hiding spot (such as PVC pipe or stacked rocks) should be provided and water quality and temperature should be maintained.
8.Neglect
Successfully caring for an aquarium takes daily care and regular maintenance. Make a point to mark maintenance needs on your calendar or use tools like automatic feeders or water-quality probes to help you stay on track. You can even track the water quality of your aquarium right on your computer via wireless monitoring devices.
9.Being Impatient
Building a healthy and beautiful aquarium doesn’t happen overnight. It takes time to research and build the correct mix of fish, plants and ornamental objects, as well as learn how to monitor water quality and conduct maintenance. Acting impulsively may lead to choices that could harm your fish.
10.Using Tap Water
The water from your tap is treated with chlorine that can harm fish. Water for your tank must be treated with chlorine-removing tablets. Also be sure to avoid using soap in your aquarium. Most cleansing can be done with hot water and a small amount of bleach that’s thoroughly rinsed off.
Finally, provide non-toxic items for your fish to explore — plants, rocks, structures, ceramic objects and more — and change them regularly to provide new stimulation. Then, enjoy getting to know each of your fish. Many enjoy interacting with their owners and can learn to recognize you and even perform tricks.
If you decide ornamental fish sound like pets you may be interested in keeping make sure to only purchase captive-bred fish; leave wild fish in the ocean, where they belong.
A team of researchers at MIT’s CSAIL have developed a device that can detect basic human emotions using wireless technology. Dubbed EQ-Radio, it analyzes small variations in heartbeat intervals to determine whether a person is happy, sad, excited, or angry.
BUT HOW DO YOU REALLY FEEL?
Determining a person’s emotions based solely on their facial expressions isn’t always easy, nor are the conclusions drawn always accurate. However, new technology coming from MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab (CSAIL) can measure even the subtlest changes in breathing and heart rhythm, allowing the researchers to detect whether a person is happy, sad, excited, or angry.
CSAIL’s new device, dubbed the EQ-Radio, extracts its data from wireless signals, making it more convenient and efficient than existing methods within the global emotion-detection space, which rely on on-body sensors or facial-recognition technology.
“[EQ-Radio] sends wireless signals that reflect off of a person’s body and back to the device. Its beat-extraction algorithms break the reflections into individual heartbeats and analyze the small variations in heartbeat intervals to determine their levels of arousal and positive affect,” says MIT professor and project lead Dina Katabi, who co-wrote a paper on the topic with PhD students Mingmin Zhao and Fadel Adib.
These measurements are used to determine the emotion. When the signals show low arousal and negative affect, the device registers the emotion as sad. Conversely, high arousal and positive affect is interpreted as excited.
Correlations will, of course, vary depending on the subject, but by understanding how the human heartbeat reacts across various emotional states, EQ-Radio is able to detect primary emotions with 87 percent accuracy.
“By recovering measurements of the heart valves actually opening and closing at a millisecond time-scale, this system can literally detect if someone’s heart skips a beat,” says Adib.
READING BETWEEN THE LINES
EQ-Radio reveals how wireless signals can reliably gather information on human behavior that is not immediately apparent, which could have useful applications within the entertainment and consumer-behavior industries, as well as immense potential for use within healthcare and diagnostics.
“Our work shows that wireless signals can capture information about human behavior that is not always visible to the naked eye,” says Katabi. “We believe that our results could pave the way for future technologies that could help monitor and diagnose conditions like depression and anxiety.”
Researcher Lars Chittka says the findings are a reminder that scientists “should respect their needs when testing them in experiments, and do more for their conservation.”
Bees are in a good mood after getting a drink of sweet nectar. New research suggests certain bee behaviors meet the criteria for emotional states. In a recent study, biologists at Queen Mary University of London found bees exhibited signs of a positive emotional state after drinking an especially sweet droplet of sugar water.
The new findings open the door for further exploration into the expression of emotions through relatively simple nervous systems.
“Investigating and understanding the basic features of emotion states will help us determine the brain mechanisms underlying emotion across all animals,” lead researcher Clint J. Perry said in a news release.
Through a series of tests, researchers trained bees to recognize blue flowers as being a source of food and green flowers as being devoid of nectar. Researchers then introduced the trained bees to a new blue-green flower. Bees that had tasted the sugar water prior to the test were less hesitant to land on the foreign flower.
Prior tests prove excitement nor accelerated foraging behavior explain the bees’ willingness to quickly land on the blue-green flower.
“The finding that bees exhibit not just surprising levels of intelligence, but also emotion-like states, indicates that we should respect their needs when testing them in experiments, and do more for their conservation,” Lars Chittka said.
In another experiment, researchers simulated a spider attack. Test bees who had just had some sugar water were quicker to resume foraging in the wake of the spider scare.
“Sweet food can improve negative moods in human adults and reduce crying of new-borns in response to negative events,” said Luigi Baciadonna, a PhD candidate at QMUL. “Our results suggest that similar cognitive responses are occurring in bees.”
Hormones, your diet, even Facebook—they can all toy with your emotions. Take charge and prime yourself for ultimate mental well-being.
Our moods color how we see the world. Sadly, many women will struggle with clinical depression (almost 13 percent) or anxiety (about 33 percent) at some point in their lives. In this handbook to your mind-set, you’ll learn about key factors that influence how you feelfrom estrogen levels to sugar intakeas well as cutting-edge treatments. In search of quick pick-me-ups? We’ve got those, too. Read on to lift your spirits.
Fact No. 1: Depression doesn’t always mean sadness
For more than half of people with the diagnosis, irritability and anger are the most prominent symptoms. In fact, those emotions are associated with more severe depression, according to a 2013 study. “Patients report that it doesn’t take much to set them off,” says Philip R. Muskin, MD, professor of psychiatry at Columbia University Medical Center. “They bicker with their spouses as soon as they walk in the door or get upset over little annoyances, such as spilled milk.”
Also keep an eye out for these symptoms: difficulty concentrating, remembering things and making decisions; losing interest in activities you once enjoyed, like having sex; and appetite changes (one common complaint is that food has grown tasteless). Finally, you may feel as slow as molassesyour thinking, reactions and even physical movements could become sluggish. It’s also not uncommon to have trouble sleeping, adds Dr. Muskin: People who are depressed often wake up in the wee hours with no idea why.
Fact No. 2: Therapy really works
Research overwhelmingly shows that talk therapy can help with depression, either alone or in combination with medication. While a 2013 review of nearly 200 studies found that no single method was significantly better than any other, you may want to consider a form called mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT), which teaches a blend of Eastern meditation techniques and practical skills to counter damaging thoughts. In a 2015 U.K. study, one group of subjects phased out their use of antidepressants while attending eight group MBCT sessions and practicing at home; another group stayed on antidepressants and did not receive therapy. Both treatments showed similar success rates after two years. (A little more than half the people in each group avoided a relapse.)
“When you’re depressed, your view of life becomes distorted, and you may not notice how your mood can spiral downward,” explains Simon Rego, PsyD, director of the Cognitive Behavior Therapy Training Program at Montefiore Medical Center in New York City. “But mindfulness training helps you become more present in the moment, which in turn lets you detach from destructive thought patterns.”
Like any new practice, MBCT takes an investment of time (and often money) to start. The advantage is that it offers tools you can use your whole life, says Rego.
There are many varieties of therapy; your provider may use a combination of techniques, depending on her training and your specific needs. Here, a few common types.
Cognitive behavioral therapy: Aims to help you identify and change negative thought processes and habits.
Psychodynamic therapy and psychoanalysis: Work to raise awareness of how your past experiences and relationship patterns affect the way you feel and act.
Behavioral activation: Encourages you to do pleasurable activities (like exercising or hanging out with friends) to boost your mood.
Interpersonal therapy: Focuses on improving your relationships with others.
Problem-solving therapy: Helps you strengthen your ability to deal with stressful experiences.
Social skills therapy: Teaches communication techniques that can be applied to everyday situations.
Supportive counseling: Assists you through a stressful event (such as a death in the family or a divorce) and helps you develop coping strategies.
Fact No. 3: Foods can boost your mood
“In my opinion, food is one of the most powerful weapons we have in our arsenal when it comes to fighting depression,” says Dr. Ramsey, co-author of The Happiness Diet. A study published in June backs him up: Researchers found that higher consumption of fiber, whole grains and produce had protective effectswhile a diet packed with added sugars and refined grains was associated with increased risk. Dr. Ramsey’s five suggestions for your grocery list:
Leafy greens: Try to eat at least one serving a day, urges Dr. Ramsey. Veggies like kale, spinach and Swiss chard are rich in folate, which is critical for making serotonin and dopamine.
Seafood: Women who ate fish at least twice a week had a 25 percent lower risk of depression than those who consumed fish less often, according to a 2014 Australian study. Shellfish count, too, says Dr. Ramsey.
Beans: Beans can help improve mood, says Dr. Ramsey, because their prebiotic fiber feeds the beneficial bacteria in our intestines, which play a role in regulating inflammation and brain health.
Nuts: A 2013 Spanish study showed that a Mediterranean diet supplemented with an ounce of nuts per day reduced a person’s risk of depression by about 20 percent. Nuts appear to help prevent low levels of the healthy-brain compound BDNF.
Dark chocolate: Snack on one small square of a bar that’s at least 70 percent cacao. The dark stuff possesses compounds that help increase blood flow to the brain.
Fact No. 4: Perimenopausal mood swings don’t last
Doctors once thought that the natural drop in estrogen that occurs after menopause makes women more vulnerable to depression, says Pauline Maki, PhD, professor of psychiatry and psychology at the University of Illinois at Chicago. But research has turned that theory sideways, finding that women were experiencing an uptick in bad moods duringperimenopause. “We realized that it was hormone fluctuationsnot the final drop in estrogenthat made the difference,” says Maki. The good news is that those ups and downs will come to an end; like hot flashes, they should disappear once your hormones become stable again. But if the irritable dips are interfering with your everyday life, talk to your ob-gyn. Maki says that oral contraceptives are one effective approach. Your doc may suggest taking an SSRI as well.
Science has come up with some interesting theories and proof that negative feelings that we experience in our daily lives can have an overall detrimental effect on our own body’s organs. That is right the way you think about a problem now can seriously affect how you feel years or even months down the road. The trick is to put harmful thoughts at ease so that later on we don’t pay for that negative thinking. Such prolonged negative thinking can lead to damage to your organs which in turn can lead to some serious medical conditions. Here are some of the things negative thinking can do to your body.
The brain, our most complex organ, is an ever-active communication hub where cells continuously speak with other cells. Naturally, connections between neurons in the brain are key to the ability to process our many thoughts and emotions. In fact, scientists believe the origin of many if not all brain disorders, including depression, addiction, and post-traumatic stress disorder, may be a misrouting of information.
A new study explores the way two separate populations of collaborating cells within the amygdala, the emotion zone of our brain, contribute to our ability to assign feeling to particular events.
Though they intermingle, two groups of neurons in the amygdala will form parallel lanes to carry information about an experience to other cells; as the researchers explain, this traffic is what decides whether our emotional response to an experience is positive or negative. Led by Dr. Kay Tye, of MIT’s Picower Institute for Learning and Memory, the team believes the reason these different neuron populations reside together within the amygdala is to allow for quick interactions among cells reacting to different inputs. Such speed is necessary, they hypothesize, when coordinating a response to urgent situations.
The current study is based on previous research performed by Tye’s lab, where she and her colleagues first identified the two populations, or groups of functionally similar neurons in the amygdala. At that time, they learned how these separate groups of cells helped process both positive and negative emotions. One of these populations relays information to the nucleus accumbens, which plays a role in learning to seek rewarding experiences, while the other sends input to the centromedial amygdala, which scientists believe may turn our attention to important stimuli and influence how we react to situations.
Intrigued by this discovery, the researchers wanted to know more. They asked themselves, what exactly do these neurons do when an animal reacts to a frightening stimulus — or, for that matter, a pleasurable one? And so they designed the current experiment.
The Experiment
They began by tagging, in three groups of mice, each population of neurons. This is necessary because, unlike some areas of the brain, no topographical features separate the populations or limit how they move so they are intermingled and otherwise indistinguishable. Using a light-sensitive protein as a tag, the researchers labeled the cells communicating with the nucleus accumbens, the cells projecting to the centromedial amygdala, and a third group of cells connecting to the ventral hippocampus, which is involved in anxiety. Next, the researchers trained the mice to discriminate between two different Pavlovian sounds, one linked to sweet reward (sugar water) and the other to bitterness (quinine). Finally, they recorded electrical activity from each group of neurons as the mice encountered the two stimuli.
Analyzing the collected data, the scientists compared the brain’s anatomy (which neurons are connected) and its physiology (how neurons respond to input) and discovered a surprise.
The neurons within each labeled subpopulation did not all react the same way to each stimulus. Some responded to one stimulus, some to the other, and some responded to both. Some neurons became excited and others inhibited.
Despite these many differences, the researchers discovered overall patterns of behavior for each population. The neurons projecting to the ventral hippocampus appeared balanced, responding equally to both positive and negative cues. Among neurons projecting to the nucleus accumbens, the reward stimulus excited most, while bitterness drew no reaction. Finally, the opposite happened among neurons connecting to the central amygdala — the bitter cue excited most of these neurons, which remained unresponsive to the sweet reward.
These results suggest our brains process emotions at the level of small populations of cells or possibly even individual neurons. As Tye and her colleagues discovered, we have only scratched the surface and do not yet fully appreciate the complexities of our brains.
ARYAN'S BLOG 