Monthly Archives: April 2016

‘Trigger’ for stress processes discovered in the brain

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“Now we have a better understanding of how stress is generated,” says Tomas Hökfelt of the Karolinska Institutet and guest professor at the MedUni Vienna. This could result in a further development where secretagogin is deployed as a tool to treat stress, perhaps in people suffering from mental illness such as depression, burn out or posttraumatic stress disorder, but also in cases of chronic stress brought on by pain. If a rapid recovery phase follows a period of stress, body and mind are restored to “normal working”, which is associated with a suppression of the release of circulating stress hormones.

 

‘Determination’ can be induced by electrical brain stimulation

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Doctors in the US have induced feelings of intense determination in two men by stimulating a part of their brains with gentle electric currents.

The men were having a routine procedure to locate regions in their brains that caused epileptic seizures when they felt their heart rates rise, a sense of foreboding, and an overwhelming desire to persevere against a looming hardship.

The remarkable findings could help researchers develop treatments for depression and other disorders where people are debilitated by a lack of motivation.

 

‘Anti-Aging’ Hormone May Actually Shorten Life

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Call it anti-anti-aging therapy. It turns out that injections of  growth hormone — a staple of anti-aging, hormone-replacement therapy —  may have the opposite effect as intended, thwarting a person’s quest  to live to an advanced age.

In an ongoing study of very old people, those in their 90s with  naturally low levels of human growth hormone appear to have a far  better chance of living into their 100’s compared with people who have  above-average levels of the hormone.

 

What makes extroverts happier? Researchers say a more active ‘desire system’ than introverts makes them seek out rewarding activities

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Extroverts are happier than introverts because of a more effective ‘desire’ system’, researchers have discovered. Previous theories had claimed the effect was caused by a more effective pleasure system – but that has now been discounted. To make their discovery, researchers analyzed over 1,300 people,  tracking their response to 14,000 activities.

‘Extroverts, because of their active nature, are more likely to seek
and spend more time on rewarding activities,’ the researchers said in
the journal.

‘When they do so, they also experience a higher boost in momentary
happiness as compared to their introverted counterparts.