brain

A 20-minute yoga session immediately improves speed and the number of hits on tests that assess working memory. And in addition, this exercise increases the ability of the brain to stay focused, learn new information, retain it and apply it, according to a study just published in the Journal of Physical Activity and Health.

Do you think that while you are studying sleeping can become a waste of time? Here are three recent scientific studies that show the importance of getting a good night's sleep during exam time.

Laughter is normally the reflection of a state of joy, is associated with well-being and has multiple benefits for health both at a physiological and psychological level. However, sometimes laughter is a sign that something is wrong with the brain. This is what happens in gelastic epilepsy, a rare form of seizures in which the seizures appear in the form of laughter. Although this laugh usually sounds mechanical and unnatural, it is curious that in some cases it can seem normal and even be contagious!

Not all itching goes away if you scratch yourself. 15% of people suffer long-term itching, sometimes caused by information and medically, for example those caused by morphine in terminally ill cancer patients. Scientists at the National Institute for Dental and Craniofacial Research in Bethesda (Maryland, USA) have discovered that there is a hormone that sends itch signals to neurons in the spinal cord, which in turn transmit them to the brain. This could lead to a chronic itch remedy.

The smartest ones are slower to determine in which direction large objects are moving. This is the conclusion reached by scientists at the University of Rochester when applying a simple visual test to people with different intelligence quotient (IQ). Of course, they are much better when it comes to small objects.

Unlike what we usually think, the brain remains active even when it is apparently resting. The activity of the brain organ at rest, that is, without the presence of any stimulus or task, is structured and responds to certain patterns or spatiotemporal networks: the so-called resting-state networks (RSN). Neuroscientists from Pompeu Fabra University (UPF) have just deciphered the keys to its operation.

The continuous climatic changes that are taking place this spring, with abrupt rises and falls in temperatures, can cause those people suffering from some type of mental disorder such as depression or anxiety to suffer relapses or accentuate their episodes of crisis.

This is clear from a European study of Belgian, Dutch, Swedish and Irish researchers who claim that our ancestors of the Victorian era were more intelligent than us. Specifically, his work, published in the magazine Intelligence, shows that the reaction time of human beings has been lowered from 1889 until now in the West, and that this would be related to a lower IQ, which has decreased by 14 points, that is that is, 1.23 points per decade.