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Plum Tea Crazy: A new Tea Shop Mystery by NYT Bestselling Author Laura Childs

Theodosia Browning investigates a Charleston steeped in tradition and treachery in the latest Tea Shop Mystery from New York Times bestselling author Laura Childs. While viewing the harbor’s Gaslights and Galleons Parade from the widow’s walk of Timothy Neville’s Charleston mansion, local banker Carson Lanier seemingly tumbles over a narrow railing, then plunges three stories […]
from Plum Tea Crazy: A new Tea Shop Mystery by NYT Bestselling Author Laura Childs

Here’s the disappointingly low level of alcohol consumption associated with reduced risk of dementia

One drink a day (or less) for women and 1-2 drinks (or less) for men reduces the risk of developing dementia, a study has found.

It works out to between 8 and 14 drinks per week.

The study is one of the largest — and longest — to look at the connection between alcohol and dementia.

Dr Kaycee Sink, one of the study’s authors, said:

“As of yet, we still have no cure for Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias, so it is important to look for things that might help people prevent the disease.

Moderate alcohol intake has been linked to lower risk of heart attacks, stroke, dementia, and death in middle-aged adults, but there is still controversy about alcohol intake in older adults.”

Over 3,000 people aged 75 or over took part in the research, which followed them for over six years.

The study found that those who drank moderately had a 37% reduction in the risk of developing dementia compared with those who did not drink at all.

In this study there was no link between the type of alcohol people drank and the benefits.

Dr Kaycee Sink

“We were excited to see that even in older adults, moderate alcohol intake decreases the risk of dementia,.

It is important to note, however, that our study found a significantly higher risk of dementia for heavy drinkers who started the study with mild cognitive impairment.”

The study can’t tell us whether people should abstain until they are in their 70s, but it seems likely the results reflect steady habits.

Dr Kaycee Sink said:

“The participants in this study self-reported their alcohol intake at the start, but it is unusual for people to start drinking in their 70s, so we assume that the habits they reported at the start of the study reflect stable drinking habits.

Without scientific data showing that it is beneficial, I wouldn’t recommend that non-drinkers start drinking in their 70s.”

Dr Kaycee Sink explained:

“Our results suggest that older adults who are normal cognitively and drink moderately do not need to change their drinking behavior.

If you have mild cognitive impairment however, it might benefit you to restrict your drinking and certainly not exceed one drink a day for women and two drinks a day for men.”

The study was published in the journal Alzheimer’s and Dementia (Sink et al., 2009).

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Stimulate your brain with a murder mystery

THE CASE OF THE DEFUNCT ADJUNCT

Filed under: PsyBlog, Science, Science! Tagged: alcohol, dementia, disappointing, health, mental health, PsyBlog
from Here’s the disappointingly low level of alcohol consumption associated with reduced risk of dementia

Boost your brain power with…a bag of candy?

Something as simple as getting a bag of candy is enough to boost memory, research finds.

In fact, anything that quickly puts you in a good mood can boost memory and decision-making.

A recent study is the first to test this out in older adults.

Professor Ellen Peters, who co-authored the study, said:

“There has been lots of research showing that younger adults are more creative and cognitively flexible when they are in a good mood.

But because of the cognitive declines that come with aging, we weren’t sure that a good mood would be able to help older adults.

So these results are good news.

There are ways for older adults to overcome some of the cognitive declines that come with aging.”

For the experiment, one group of people were given two bags of candy and a thank you for taking part…

…the other group were given nothing.

They then carried out tests of memory and decision-making.

Professor Peters explained that the test of decision-making involved looking at virtual decks of cards with people’s faces on:

“We used an experiential task because real life is experiential.

For example, you meet a new person and she is like one of these decks of cards.

You don’t know anything about her and you have to learn if she is someone you can trust.

What this study suggests is that people who are in a good mood are going to learn faster and make better decisions.”

People’s working memory was tested by having them memorise strings of numbers and letters.

Professor Peters said:

“Working memory is important in decision making.

If you’re working your way through different options, how much you can remember of each option — and can therefore compare and contrast in your head — has a big impact on how well you can make a decision.

The results are good news for an ageing population:

“Given the current concern about cognitive declines in the aged, our findings are important for showing how simple methods to improve mood can help improve cognitive functioning and decision performance in older adults, just like they do in younger people.”

The study was published in the journal Cognition and Emotion (Carpenter et al., 2013).

from PsyBlog

Stimulate your brain with a murder mystery

THE CASE OF THE DEFUNCT ADJUNCT

Filed under: PsyBlog, Science Tagged: Cognition, Jeremy Dean, PsyBlog
from Boost your brain power with…a bag of candy?

The Type of Presents That Bring The Most Happiness

Material purchases can bring as much happiness as experiential ones, but in time-release form.

The finding is fascinating because until now studies have suggested that experiential purchases are superior.

Experiential purchases include things like holidays, concert tickets or visits to a spa.

Material purchases, though, can provide just as much pleasure in the long-run, the new research suggests.

For the study, people were asked to keep track of their levels of happiness five times a day over two weeks.

The study compared the effects of material purchases, like portable speakers and coffee makers, with experiential purchases, like tickets to a hockey game or a weekend ski trip.

The results showed that experiential purchases provided short intense bursts of pleasure which tended to fade away.

In contrast, material purchases brought repeated smaller doses of happiness over the weeks.

However, when people looked back at their purchases six weeks later, it was the experiences that gave them more satisfaction.

So, perhaps experiences still have the edge.

Mr Aaron Weidman, the study’s first author, said:

“The decision of whether to buy a material thing or a life experience may therefore boil down to what kind of happiness one desires.

Consider a holiday shopper deciding between tickets to a concert or a new couch in the living room.

The concert will provide an intense thrill for one spectacular night, but then it will end, and will no longer provide momentary happiness, aside from being a happy memory.

In contrast, the new couch will never provide a thrilling moment to match the concert, but will keep the owner snug and comfortable each day throughout the winter months.”

The study was published in the journal Social Psychological and Personality Science (Weidman & Dunn, 2015).

» Read on PsyBlog

Still Looking for a last-minute gift? How about THE CASE OF THE DEFUNCT ADJUNCT ?

Filed under: PsyBlog, Science Tagged: Christmas, Gifts, happiness, Holidays, Jeremy Dean, PsyBlog
from The Type of Presents That Bring The Most Happiness

Feeling stressed? Try doing something nice for someone else.

Feeling seasonal stress? Try doing a small favor for someone else. A study in Clinical Psychological Science found that

prosocial behavior moderated the effects of stress on positive affect, negative affect, and overall mental health. Findings suggest that affiliative behavior may be an important component of coping with stress and indicate that engaging in prosocial behavior might be an effective strategy for reducing the impact of stress on emotional functioning.

» Read the summary on PsyBlog: A Surprising Way To Cope With Everyday Stress

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Filed under: APS, PsyBlog, pychology, Science, Science! Tagged: Jeremy Dean, PsyBlog, stress
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File under “Studies I Totally Don’t Believe.”

Eating four cloves of garlic makes you smell better? Sure it does…

» Continue reading: Strangely Eating This Makes Men Smell More Attractive

from PsyBlog http://bit.ly/1YzSrNI

Reading murder mysteries makes you smell great–it’s scientifically proven!

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Filed under: PsyBlog, Science Tagged: attractiveness, body odor, garlic, PsyBlog, science
from File under “Studies I Totally Don’t Believe.”

Drink to remember?

One to three glasses of champagne each week could slow memory loss from ageing, recent research finds.

Scientists have found that phenolic compounds in champagne can help improve spatial memory.

The phenolic compounds come from the Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier red grapes which are used alongside Chardonnay in the production of champagne.

The compounds affect the signals sent from the hippocampus to the cortex.

The compounds were found to slow the age-related decline in this signalling.

» Continue reading: The Celebratory Drink That Could Improve Memory

from PsyBlog http://bit.ly/1OYl1H5

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Filed under: PsyBlog, pychology, Science, Science! Tagged: Champagne, Pinot Noir, PsyBlog
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Don’t touch me there: The Body Map of Acceptable Social Touching

Who is allowed to touch whom, where, and under what circumstances? Thanks to a cross-cultural study, we now know:

The greater the pleasure caused by touching a specific area of the body, the more selectively we allow others to touch it.

Few major differences were seen in the types of social touching allowed between the different cultures.

The closer the relationship, the fewer places were off-limits.

The study was published in the journal PNAS (Suvilehto et al., 2015).