As the economy sinks, insomnia increases and America searches for a good night’s sleep
Chris Dalto is an affable fellow, a happily married father of two and a lawyer-turned-financial planner. Normally, he sleeps like a baby.
Social Support Shields Spouse from Damage of Caregiving
Yolanda Spencer is eternally grateful for the weekly visits from fellow members of the Bethel AME Church in Jamaica Plain. Without them, she’s not sure how she would have survived the last eight years, since her husband Vincent, now 62, fell off a ladder and became a quadriplegic.
Some comfort for the grieving: There’s no wrong way to do it
Grieving used to be seen as a very straightforward process: You cried at the funeral, were sad for a few months, then you had some “closure,” and got on with your life.
Psychologists — both pop and professional — thought that anyone who didn’t cry at the funeral or were still crying a year later was either heartless or overly emotional.
Eat Fish, Be Happy
Feeling depressed? Ask not what your parents did or didn’t do when you were a child. Ask yourself what you had for dinner last night, and the night before, and the night before that.
Biology May be to Blame for Panic Attacks
Carol Brown is 54 now, healthy and happy. But until her early 40s, her life was one panic attack after another.
Alcoholism a Disease or a Moral Failing
In the old days, people used to debate whether alcoholism was a disease or a moral failing. Now it is abundantly clear that not only is it a disease, but one with a strong genetic component.
Brain Scanning and OCD
The sophisticated science of brain scanning may be on the brink of revolutionizing the intuitive art of psychiatry, one of the few domains left in medicine in which a doctor’s educated guess is still the most common way to figure out what’s wrong
Meditation and the Brain ….?
For decades, open-minded Westerners – patients and doctors alike – have been touting the medical benefits of meditation, an ancient Eastern practice that comes in hundreds if not thousands of different flavors but consists basically of quieting the mind through moment-to-moment nonjudgmental awareness.
Sleep and Memory – Are they Intertwined?
In July, researchers led by Robert Stickgold, an assistant professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, reported that a full eight hours’ sleep after learning a motor task boosts performance by 20 percent the next day.
Even a one-hour nap can improve scores on a simple visual task, others reported in May.
New Drug for Narcolepsy
Mary Rourke, a 55-year old teacher from Salem, N.H., used to nod off all the time as a child, but people just shrugged and said, “Oh, she must be very tired,” she recalls.