Financial market meltdowns, wars, unemployment, declining 401(k)’s, global warming. You name it, we’ve got it. How does it affect your brain? Not in a good way. In fact researchers have found that stress can actually cause brain cells to warp. And that can cause long lasting harm to humans. Bruce McEwen, a neuroscientist at Rockefeller [...]
Archive for November, 2008
There’s no shortage of stress these days.
Posted in Brain games, Health, Mental stimulation, Neurology, Stress relief, tagged amygdala, brain cells, Brain games, financial meltdown, global warming, hippocampus, prenatal stress, stress, unemployment on November 25, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Physical exercise. Not just good for your body.
Posted in Brain games, Exercise, Health, Learning, Memory, Mental stimulation, Neurology, tagged aerobic exercise, brain decline, Brain games, brain tissue, cognitive decline, dopamine, mental executive functions, physical exercise on November 11, 2008 | 1 Comment »
Sure, sure, sure. We know that we should be exercising to keep our bodies from becoming totally decrepit. But would you be more motivated if it also helps to keep your brain from declining? Two researchers just published a study that claims that exercise not only staves off the decline in brain function that often [...]
Which comes first, the milkshake or the obesity?
Posted in Brain games, Health, Learning, Memory, Mental stimulation, Neurology, tagged behavior, Brain games, brain's reward center, chocolate milkshake, cognition, dopamine, genes, Learning, mood, motivation, Neurology, obesity, sleep on November 4, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
When you do something pleasurable, your brain releases dopamine. This dopamine is like a natural drug. It’s created in your brain’s reward center and released when you are expecting a reward, like a nice big fat chocolate milkshake. If you get less than normal pleasure from drinking that milkshake does it mean you will drink [...]

