Marijuana could improve your memory as you age – so when you are 90 you’ll remember why you are in jail!

Another study by Ohio State University scientists find that specific elements of marijuana can be good for the aging brain by reducing inflammation there and possibly even stimulating the formation of new brain cells. Although the exact cause of Alzheimer’s remains unknown, chronic inflammation in the brain is thought to contribute to memory impairment.

Relax – I’m not advocating that people smoke marijuana regularly in moderation to improve their memory or enhance brain functions or stave off Alzheimer’s – that’s against the law! And smoking anything is bad for your health.

“It’s just that there are some substances that millions of people for thousands of years have used in billions of doses,” says Gary Wenk, professor of psychology at Ohio State and principal investigator on the research. It might be wise to learn a lot more about this plant’s beneficial properties.

According to Ohio State research, THC, the psychoactive part of Marijuana joins nicotine, alcohol and caffeine as agents that, in moderation, have shown some protection against inflammation in the brain that might translate to better memory later in life.

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Children learn the solution to a problem best when they explain it to their mom.

New research from Vanderbilt University reveals that children learn the solution to a problem best when they explain it to their mom. “We knew that children learn well with their moms or with a peer, but we did not know if that was because they were getting feedback and help,” Bethany Rittle-Johnson, the study’s lead author and assistant professor of psychology at Vanderbilt’s Peabody College of education and human development, said. “In this study, we just had the children’s mothers listen, without providing any assistance. We’ve found that by simply listening, a mother helps her child learn.”

Rittle-Johnson believes the new finding can help parents better assist their children with their schoolwork, even when they are not sure of the answer themselves. Although the researchers used children and their mothers in the study, they believe the same results will hold true whether the person is the child’s father, grandparent, or other familiar person.

“The basic idea is that it is really effective to try to get kids to explain things themselves instead of just telling them the answer,” she said. “Explaining their reasoning, to a parent or perhaps to other people they know, will help them understand the problem and apply what they have learned to other situations.”

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Men are particularly vulnerable to suicide and are three and a half times more likely than women to end their own lives.

A recent study of Australian men has found that those who were sexually abused as children are 10 times more likely than women to contemplate taking their own lives; many of these men had not been clinically diagnosed as depressed. While gender and mental health problems are the most important risk factors for contemplating suicide, it is increasingly acknowledged that traumatic experiences such as childhood sexual abuse may be a significant risk factor.

Childhood sexual abuse of men or women has monumental consequences for those involved AND for extended family and society in general. Even the PERCEPTION of sexual abuse [in false memories or erroneous perceptions of actual events] is enough in many individuals to trigger long-term traumatic emotional harm eventually resulting in suicidal thoughts and plans, occasionally ending in suicide.

Dr Patrick O’Leary and Professor Nick Gould of the University of Bath’s Department of Social & Policy Sciences conducted a series of surveys and face-to-face interviews with men in a study funded by the University of South Australia. Results were published online in the peer-reviewed British Journal of Social Work.

Dr O’Leary said: “Childhood sexual abuse is an under-recognized problem in men – most of the studies exploring the link with suicide have been in women. Men are particularly vulnerable because they don’t like to talk to others about their problems. It’s difficult for anyone to come to terms with traumatic experiences such as childhood sexual abuse, but for men the stigma is worse because they don’t tend to confide in their friends as much.

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Dark chocolate – good for stress? Yes! Good for you? Maybe not so much.

Maybe. Maybe not!

A recent article by the American Chemical Society (ACS) purports to extol the virtues of dark chocolate as a possible cure for stress. Apparently there is some substance to their study as it is getting plenty of press. Maybe that’s because we Westerners do like chocolate – and having a report that substantiates our appetite for the sweet confection adds to its reasonableness as a snack for us stressed-out folks.

Although it is nice that 1.4 oz of dark chocolate a day can significantly reduce stress over a two week period, it’s also true that “nobody can each just one!”

Let’s face it, some of us like chocolate A LOT – so much so that we might find it difficult to cut back to 1.4 oz per day!

I think it’s a bit early to start patting ourselves on the back for eating what is good for us each time we reach for the bonbons.

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Neuroscientist Fred H. Gage and his colleagues at the Salk Institute examined brain samples from mice. All of the mice showed vivid proof of what’s known as “neurogenesis,” or the creation of new neurons. But the brains of more athletic mice in particular showed many more. These mice, the ones that scampered on running wheels, were producing two to three times as many new neurons as the mice that didn’t exercise.

Since Gage’s discovery, scientists have been finding more evidence that the human brain is not only capable of renewing itself but that exercise speeds the process.

“We’ve always known that our brains control our behavior,” Gage says, “but not that our behavior could control and change the structure of our brains.”

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