7 Reasons to Get More Music in Your Life

The beneficial functions of music are not limited only to the level of fun. Read how else it can do good for you.

Music does not need translation and it is addressed to all the people worldwide. It brings us pleasure, relaxes us, makes us dance, laugh and cry. However, the beneficial features of music are not limited only to the level of having fun.

Here are seven reasons – some of which we could not even imagine – showing us how important the music is and how it improves the quality of our lives.

Sex Stimulates the Brain Function, Say Scientists

Scientists from the U.S. and South Korea performed a series of experiments on rats and mice of middle age and came to interesting results.

Researchers at the University of Maryland found that sexual experience stimulates the development of new neurons in the hippocampus, which is responsible for the transition to long-term memory.

Several tests showed that after a series of sexual acts the process of neurogenesis in aging rats accelerated, and their brains actually became younger.

However, the suspension of the process of sexual activity slowed down the process of regenerating neurons and all the improvements in the higher brain functions

5 Common Habits That Are Bad for Our Mental Health

When talking about bad habits, usually something like smoking, sedentary lifestyle and poor diet comes to one’s mind. However, the most unhealthy habits are not related to our behavior, but to our psychological state.

To be able to change these habits first it is necessary to know the impact they have on our daily lives.

1. Isolating ourselves from others and feeling lonely

Loneliness is devastating for both mental and physical health. It makes us feel vulnerable to others, so we become cautious and aloof.

7 Key Benefits of Positive Thinking

Positive thinking is the background of modern phylosophy of living a successful and happy life. Being optimistic is often portrayed like a foundation of making your life full and happy. And really, these are not just words. There are several benefits in positive thinking which influence our health, confidence and relationships with other people. If you’re not one of these positive-thinkers yet, and wonder why you should try positive thinking yourself, here are some reasons for you:

1. Positive thinkers cope with stress faster and more effective.

If an unpleasant situation happens, they concentrate on solving it rather than thinking that the things are out of their control. Aclually, they are less subjected to

4 Everyday Things That Can Change Your DNA

Scientists discovered the “allergy gene” and are convinced that eventually allergies are a genetic anomaly that can mutate. Under this logic, scientific studies went on to conclude that human genes are not static.

In fact, genes can and do change during the life of a person. Lifestyle and diverse environmental factors can transform and destroy the DNA. This process goes on from generation to generation, changing the data that we currently know.

The truth is that a number of everyday things have already affected the human DNA. Here are some of them:

Cell phone radiation

For years, scientists have insisted that the radiation from mobile phones affects the human DNA. Several studies have confirmed that, but most of us still insist on holding the headset at the ear, despite the fact that technology offers us

6 Factors That Influence Your Dreams

When we sleep, external stimuli become part of our dreams. Our brain has the ability to integrate the ‘interference’ in dreams in order to make us remain in the sleep state.

Therefore, there are several factors that influence the events and sensations in our dreams. What are they?

1. Sounds

Have you ever dreamed that your alarm clock is ringing? Such dream can be caused by the sound coming from an alarm, and it shows how the sounds you hear may actually be

Possible to Overcome Phobias While Sleeping!

Everyone has fears, either kept private or expressed openly. Some people get trembles and shaky hands at a fear of public speaking, or supervisors, some people are afraid of heights, high speeds or stuffy confined spaces. Phobias are a common thing, but letting them go is not so simple. Soon it may become possible to replace sessions conducted by psychiatrists with an unusual and pleasant treatment … during our sleep, scientists say.

Are you afraid to ride subway, to meet with your own boss or look down from the balcony on the fifth floor? Perhaps, getting rid of these phobias, instead of a chair in the office of a psychiatrist, pillows and blankets will be just as efficient. Targeting brain activity during sleep can help mitigate the effects of fear-inducing memories, researchers claim.

Why Do We Get That Weird Falling Sensation When Going to Sleep?

Most likely you’ve experienced a sudden strange sensation of falling when going to sleep, which rudely awakens you. In reality it is not a dream of falling, which happens in deep sleep, but an instant physical sensation that wakes us and is accompanied by a hallucination, not a dream.

To better understand this phenomenon, it is necessary to understand the mechanism of sleep.

Dream begins in a part of the brain called reticular formation, which sends signals to the spinal cord to relax the muscles and suppress stimuli. The jerk that you feel when you wake up does not wake you when you have already fallen asleep, because the body absorbs its own consciousness. Everyone agrees with this. But then the scientists’ opinions differ. Here are 3 possible explanations of this phenomenon:

Impact of Fear on the Human Brain

The impact of fear on the human brain is very powerful: it completely changes the way we process information.

“When people are frightened, intelligent parts of the brain cease to dominate”, Dr. Bruce Perry explains, quoted in an article published on the Time magazine website. When faced with a threat, the cortex responsible for risk assessment and actions cease to function. In other words, logical thinking is replaced by overwhelming emotions, thus favoring short-term solutions and sudden reactions.

On the other hand, interpretation of the environment helps us to survive disasters. Joseph LeDoux, professor of psychology at New York University, explains that this mechanism “monopolizes the brain resources to help face the threat”.

What Happens to Our Brain When We Break Up?

An unwanted and unexpected separation may entail significant psychological stress. Often people parallel this feeling with a fist in the stomach, or a stab in the heart. Despite the efforts, the help and support of their friendly circle, this feeling proves to be very difficult to fade away, at least in the first few months. In an attempt to understand the subjectivity and universality of the pain of separation, psychologists have focused their research on studying the brain.

Edward Smith and his colleagues, having collected a sample of people who had just experienced an unwanted and painful breakup, investigated their brain activity using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) while they were looking at photos of former partners and thinking of the moments they spent together. Afterwards, their brain activity was examined while researchers were inflicting pain in their arm, and when looking at pictures of their friends.