Environmental Factors of Keeping Brain Young
Razi Berry A stimulating environment keeps the “hippocampus” — which is the brain’s memory control center — young, so to speak. Causes of this are molecular mechanisms that affect gene regulation. These current findings from studies in mice provide clues as to why an active, varied life can help preserve mental fitness in old age. […]
Memory Helps Us Make ‘In the Moment’ Decisions
Razi Berry Scientists have long known the brain’s hippocampus is crucial for long-term memory. Now a new Northwestern Medicine study has found the hippocampus also plays a role in short-term memory and helps guide decision-making. The findings shed light on how the hippocampus contributes to memory and exploration, potentially leading to therapies that restore hippocampal […]
Why Do Smells Make You Remember
Razi Berry A new Northwestern Medicine paper is the first to identify a neural basis for how the brain enables odors to so powerfully elicit those memories. The paper shows unique connectivity between the hippocampus — the seat of memory in the brain — and olfactory areas in humans. This new research suggests a neurobiological […]
REM Sleep Important in Retaining Memories
Razi Berry The presence of dreaming during rapid-eye-movement (REM) sleep indicates that memory formation may occur during this sleep stage. But now, researchers from Japan have found that activity in a specific group of neurons is necessary for memory consolidation during REM sleep. Researchers from Japan found that activity in a specific group of neurons […]
Can a little bit of exercise make you smarter?
Razi Berry Most people know that regular exercise is good for your health. New research shows it may make you smarter, too. Exercise is cheap and ubiquitous with smart results Neuroscientists at OHSU in Portland, Oregon, working with mice, have discovered that a short burst of exercise directly boosts the function of a gene that […]
Sleep Helps the Brain’s Ability to Learn
Razi Berry Synapses in the hippocampus are larger and stronger after sleep deprivation, according to new research in mice published in JNeurosci. Overall, this study supports the idea that sleep may universally weaken synapses that are strengthened from learning, allowing for new learning to occur after waking. Sleep may universally weaken synapses strengthened from learning, […]
Gang’s all here: The benefits of the synergy of the essential oil in cannabis (Part 2)
Sarah LoBisco, ND, IFCMP (licensed in VT) In the first part of this article, I discussed the concept of the entourage effect of cannabis. This is reference to the fact that the synergy of all its components acting together has different and enhanced effects than any of its isolates. In this post, I will expand […]
Drawing Helps Memory Better Than Writing
Razi Berry Everyone is looking for ways to improve their memory. And this is especially true in older adults, who may be struggling with the first signs of dementia of Alzheimer’s disease. A new study has shown that using drawing could help enhance memory, better than writing out lists, or notes. Drawing could help enhance […]
Your Hidden Senses Will Save You
Razi Berry Think You Only Have 5 Senses? Think Again. Try 8 or More… It was before 5:00 am on a hot summer day in Phoenix and I had dropped off my dear friend at the airport. A Tuesday morning in the dead center of summer and the gate resembled more a quiet museum of […]
Eat These Foods to Help Strengthen Your Intuition
Razi Berry I was just turning fifteen years old and an eating disorder was killing me. I had gone into heart failure as a complication, and my life was slipping from me while my parents and younger siblings watched. Their hearts were breaking. And so was mine; my heart was literally broken. Heart. Failure. Disordered […]