Can money make us happy if we spend it on the right purchases? A new psychology study suggests that buying life experiences rather than material possessions leads to greater happiness for both the consumer and those around them.
Category: General Blog
How memories form, fade, and persist over time
What was the name of that guy with that stuff in that place with those things? Don’t you remember?
Is Quantum Mechanics Controlling Your Thoughts?
The rules of quantum mechanics are turning up everywhere these days, and may be behind the efficiency of photosynthesis, the accuracy of our sense of smell, and even the source of our conscious mind.
Mind-Body Therapy May Improve Pelvic Pain
| Mind-Body Therapy May Improve Pelvic Pain | |
 |
|
A new study suggests that a mind-body therapy called Mensendieck somatocognitive therapy may reduce long-term (chronic) pelvic pain in women. The effects lasted several months after the treatment ended.
Mensendieck therapy emphasizes body awareness. During treatment, patients learn how to correct their movements, breathing patterns and posture. This therapy is commonly used in Europe, especially Denmark, Norway, Sweden and the Netherlands.
Last year, Norwegian researchers found that Mensendieck therapy reduced pain and restored normal movement in 40 women with chronic pelvic pain with no known cause. The researchers reported their findings after a one-year follow up in the latest issue of the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology.
In the study, the participants were randomly assigned to receive either standard care alone or standard care plus 10 weeks of Mensendieck therapy.
At the beginning and end of the study, the authors measured the motor function (including movement, posture, gait and respiration), pain and psychological stress and well being. All of the women in the Mensendieck therapy group experienced significant improvements in all areas compared to the control group.
One year later, the authors found that the women in the therapy group experienced additional improvements in their symptoms. During the one-year period, their pain scores improved by 64 percent, and they experienced significant improvements in psychological distress. In contrast, pain scores in the control group did not change appreciably.
Although these early results are promising, additional studies are needed before a firm conclusion can be reached.Natural Standard
The Mystery of Borderline Personality Disorder
People with borderline personality disorder are some of psychology’s hardest cases. Many commit suicide. But recent treatment advances are unlocking what was once a mystery illness.
Key Labour Cases in UK
Redundancy selection
Rolls-Royce v Unite
(unreported, EWHC 2420 (QB) 17 October 2008, HC)
Rolls Royce alleged that the redundancy selection matrix they had agreed with the trade union Unite could not proceed as it amounted to age discrimination. The redundancy selection process used a points system based on five criteria: achievement of objectives, self-motivation, expertise and knowledge, versatility and application of knowledge, and wider personal contribution to the team. In addition, each employee could receive one extra point for each year of continuous service. Those with the least points were selected for redundancy.
Unite argued that:
- even if the continuous service points were indirect age discrimination, they could still be objectively justified, and
- the continuous service points fell within the exception available under the age discrimination regulations, allowing length of service criteria of more than five years which fulfil a business need.
The High Court agreed with the union that the continuous service points were objectively justified. Given the use of these points with the other criteria within the matrix, the length of service points were capable of being justified under Regulation 3 as they did achieve a legitimate aim. The scheme agreed with the union had the legitimate aim of peaceful redundancy selection, and the aim of respecting the loyalty and experience of the older employees and protecting older employees who find it harder to get jobs from becoming unemployed. In addition the age award fell squarely within the length of service exception.
Implications for employers
- Employers should have in place a carefully planned redundancy procedure which can be used if the need to make redundancies arises.
- One of the best methods to adopt for selecting employees remains the redundancy score sheet or selection matrix approach.
- Selection criteria used in any redundancy procedure must be objective and verifiable against, for example, attendance and personnel records. Selection criteria must be applied fairly and not be discriminatory.
- It remains safer for employers to avoid length of service criteria as part of a redundancy selection process.
- However, if employers do use length of service criteria as part of a redundancy selection process, they may be able to defend their use of this criterion if they can show it fulfils a business need or achieves a legitimate aim of the business.
- The old method of 'last in, first out' (LIFO) used as a sole method is likely to still be age discriminatory. However, as part of a matrix, length of service may be a valid and fair indicator of loyalty and experience.
- Careful employers may therefore use a redundancy scheme which includes length of service in conjunction with other criteria, although they may still have to justify this approach.
- Employers who wish to use age discrimination as a reason for changing an existing redundancy scheme may find this a less compelling reason following this decision.
Exercise Improves Old Brains
The moment of truth has arrived, again. The holidays have passed, the leftovers are dwindling and you have renewed your annual New Year’s resolution to get back into shape… for real.
Study: Facial Expressions of Emotion are Innate, Not Learned
Facial expressions of emotion are hardwired into our genes, according to a study published today in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.
Video Games May Do the Aging Brain Good
Older adults might want to take an interest in their grandchildren’s’ video games, if early research on the brain benefits of gaming is correct. In a study of 40 adults in their 60s and 70s, researchers found that those who learned to play a strategy-heavy video game improved their scores on a number of tests of cognitive function.
People Who Exercise On Work Days Happier, Suffer Less Stress
People who exercise on work days are more productive, happier and suffer less stress than on non-gym days, scientists revealed today.
Scientists extract images directly from brain
Japan’s ATR Computational Neuroscience Laboratories have developed new brain analysis technology that can reconstruct the images inside a person’s mind and display them on a computer monitor, it was announced on December 11. Further development of the technology may soon make it possible to view other people’s dreams while they sleep.
New Study Links Green Spaces to Healthier Bodies & Minds
A new study published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine found that inner-city kids living in neighborhoods with more green space gained about 13% less weight over a two-year period than kids living amid more concrete and fewer trees.
Memories may be stored on your DNA
Remember your first kiss? Experiments in mice suggest that patterns of chemical “caps” on our DNA may be responsible for preserving such memories.To remember a particular event, a specific sequence of neurons must fire at just the right time. For this to happen, neurons must be connected in a certain way by chemical junctions called synapses.
Top 4 Foods To Boost Your Memory
Here are some of the memory foods that you should incorporate into your diet to reap the benefits of memory enhancement.
Radical Evolution: The Future of Human-Machine Intelligence
Ray Kurzweil sees a radical evolution of the human species in the next 40 years. The merger of man and machine, coupled with the sudden explosion in machine intelligence and rapid innovation in gene research and nanotechnology, will result in a world with no distinction between the biological and the mechanical or physical and virtual reality.
Prof.Dr Lakshman Madurasinghe Chairman's Secretariat 