The origin of the placebo can be traced back to a nurse in World War 2. When the U.S. army's morphine supply level is low, she would inject wounded soldiers with salt water and reassured them that the potent painkiller would soon take effect. Henry Beecher, the anesthetist the nurse was assisting, was amazed to see how those soldiers soon find relief and was thus prevented from entering shock. Of course, Beecher didn't know what alleviated the pain and the mechanism behind its release. But as any good scientist would do, he began to question the effectiveness of the painkillers he
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Ever had a distant memory (be it good or bad) conjured up because you heard a particular tune? That's how much music has an impact on your psyche. But did you know that the latest scientific research has found music to raise spatial IQ (called Mozart Effect) and sharpen focus? In 1982, a group of researchers from the University of North Texas performed a three-way test to find out the effect of music on memory. They had three groups of postgraduate students, all of whom were given three tests - a pretest, a post-test and lastly, another test after the first
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In the July of 1968, John B. Calhoun, a respected research psychologist conducted a now-famous experiment on the effect of space on the state of mind. Of course, no human was experimented on. The study only involved rats. He placed 4 pairs of rats in a utopian universe where there's no lack of food and water and there were no predators. The rats, as expected, multiplied rapidly. Their population doubled every 55 days or so. Things got interesting by day 315, when their population reached 620. By this time, space became precious as their population density increase beyond their comfort level. For the
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Holidays are a great time to relax and de-stress. Or so we thought. Truth is, for a lot of people out there, holidays are one of the most stressful time of the year! Do a quick Google search on holiday psychology and you'll find a numerous results on dealing with "holiday blues". Psychologist call the condition, "holiday depression". In fact, according to a American Psychological Association survey, 59% of women reported feeling sad or nervous, making them more susceptible to consume comfort food and eating more than they usually do. What causes "holiday blues"? The University of Maryland Medical Center cited the following as
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People often ask me if there's only one thing I can do to slow down the process of aging in my brain, what would it be? No doubt, the answer for me would be making more friends. We all intuitively know social interaction is beneficial for us but now science have confirmed our suspicion all along. In an experiment with rats, Elizabeth Gould from Princeton University found running stimulates new neuron growth - but that benefits, for some reason or another, disappears if the rat is housed in isolation. I've written much about the positive effects of exercise on the brain but
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