Category Archives: Brain Function

Chronic migraine headaches affect nearly seven million Americans, so there is a strong need for natural treatment. A migraine headache is described as a headache that occurs more than 15 times within a month, unless it is an episodic migraine, which can occur less often. A migraine headache can last four hours or more and ...click here to read more

A large part of falling asleep at night has to do with the melatonin hormone which is made from the pineal gland. Our bodies know when it is time to fall asleep and when to wake up because of our own natural clock. This natural clock also controls melatonin levels which rise mid to late ...click here to read more

Sleep and health go hand-in hand, with insufficient sleep being associated with chronic diseases, depression, motor vehicle accidents and occupational accidents. It is important to understand and be aware of the causes and symptoms of sleep disorders. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 50 to 70 million American adults have sleep ...click here to read more

An estimated 29.1 million Americans have diabetes and 14.8 million suffer from major depression. The two may not seem related, but it’s well known that depression and diabetes do share a link. Unfortunately, researchers are still unsure exactly what brings the two together – the link is considered to be similar to the chicken and ...click here to read more

Vertigo, dizziness, and imbalance are common occurrences among the elderly. It’s estimated that 20 to 40 percent of seniors over 65 who live at home experience falls. A fall in an elderly person can greatly impact their life – especially, if the individual lives alone or there is no one else around. With weaker bones a fall ...click here to read more

Researchers have uncovered that faulty brain signals cause obesity due to overeating high-fat diets. Obesity is a condition affecting more than one-third of American adults. Genetic and environmental factors are thought to play a role in obesity; diet is viewed as one of the leading factors. It is known that consuming high amounts of fat ...click here to read more

The older we get the harder it becomes to shed those few extra pounds that have accumulated over the years. We know being overweight is detrimental to our health – it has been linked to diabetes and heart disease – but new research suggests being overweight is bad for our memory as well. Alzheimer’s disease ...click here to read more

Researchers from the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology have revealed a link between high levels of cardiorespiratory fitness, brain activity and executive function in the elderly. Cardiorespiratory endurance is the ability of the heart and lungs to absorb, transport and utilize oxygen over an extended period of time. A person with a high ...click here to read more

The sun has set, your eyes are heavy, and all signs point towards you falling asleep. You get into bed for what you hope will be a restful evening so you can be energized in the morning, but instead, you’re left tossing and turning all night. Not only do you wake up the next day ...click here to read more

Unhealthy diets containing junk food have been shown to affect the brain and lead to poor mental health. The findings come from researchers at Deakin University and the Australian National University. Specific findings concluded that a part in the brain – the hippocampus – has been shown to be smaller in those who consume junk ...click here to read more

Lack of emotional regulation has been shown to lead to insomnia, this according to new findings. Published in the British Journal of Health Psychology research team lead Markus Jansson-Fröjmark said, “These findings are important because, though the effect size is small, they suggest that teaching people strategies for regulating their emotions might help prevent new ...click here to read more

Has the sound of the telephone ever pulled you like a fish from water out of a deep sleep? You blindly grab for the phone, mumble out a grumpy “hello” only to realize that you haven’t picked up the phone at all, but are speaking into the battery pack at the bottom of your alarm ...click here to read more

Antidepressant therapy may vary among the elderly with late-life depression as it becomes more difficult to treat the older the individual is. The study was published in JAMA Psychiatry which examined longitudinal patterns of changes in depressive symptoms in those who were prescribed antidepressant therapy. Lead author of the study Stephen F. Smagula said, “Elderly ...click here to read more

Alcoholism is recognized as a disease, and researchers have now discovered the brain cells which cause alcoholism and contribute to excessive alcohol consumption. The findings were published in The Journal of Neuroscience from researchers at Texas A&M Health Science Center College of Medicine. Researchers found that alcohol causes alterations to the neuronal morphology in the ...click here to read more