Pregnancy and motherhood may make us all go a little gooey, but it's not turning mums' brains into mush, according to mental health researchers at The Australian National University.
The study - conducted by the Centre for Mental Health Research (CMHR) at ANU - suggests that despite fears mothers may have that pregnancy affects their cognitive functions, there is no evidence to suggest that is true. The findings have been released as part of Mental Health Week, which runs until tomorrow (Saturday).
The research team, lead by CMHR Director Professor Helen Christensen, analysed information from the PATH through Life Project database and found that neither pregnancy nor motherhood had a detrimental effect on cognitive capacity.
Health & Wellness
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Illustration of intense headache pain and possible sources vascular temporomandibular joint TMJ syndrome and the brain itself CT scans in the background convey clinical diagnosis often involved in treatment of patients suffering from migraine type symptoms
Illustration of intense headache pain and possible sources vascular temporomandibular joint TMJ syndrome and the brain itself CT scans in the background convey clinical diagnosis often involved in treatment of patients suffering from migraine type symptoms
Flash was ridiculed by the cluster headache community for his "miracle cure". But when a survey of fellow sufferers who self-medicated with hallucinogens was published in the mainstream journal Neurology, the results gave weight to his claims. The Harvard Medical School scientists who conducted the survey have now applied for a preliminary clinical trial on the subject.
The sneezing season is already upon us - but a little inside knowledge can reduce our chances of being laid low. Professor Ron Eccles explains how to fend off the winter chills.
It's often been said that men don't think with their brains and now scientists have proved what women thought all along - that a man's sperm quality turns out to be an indicator of his brain power.
Researchers have discovered that men who scored highly in a variety of intelligence tests also had high counts of healthy sperm.
But low scores in intelligence tests showed that men had fewer sperm and that they weren't so healthy.
Evolutionary psychologist Geoffrey Miller, from the University of New Mexico, said: 'It's not necessarily that the same genes are influencing sperm quality and intelligence.
Researchers have discovered that men who scored highly in a variety of intelligence tests also had high counts of healthy sperm.
But low scores in intelligence tests showed that men had fewer sperm and that they weren't so healthy.
Evolutionary psychologist Geoffrey Miller, from the University of New Mexico, said: 'It's not necessarily that the same genes are influencing sperm quality and intelligence.
Doctors are examining if food given to astronauts can provide long-term help to children with Crohn's disease. The food is easier to digest because it contains treated amino acids, which can normally be difficult for the body to process. It has been found to have short-term benefits for patients with the digestive system disorder, but experts want to look at whether they continue.
Feeling blue? According to Dr Klaus Linde from the Centre for Complementary Medicine in Munich, a supplement of St John's Wort should improve your mood. In his review of 29 studies on the yellow-flowering hedgerow plant, also known as hypericum perforatum, Linde has shown it to be as effective as drugs such as Prozac in treating depression.
Millions of Britons are increasing their chances of getting cancer because they do not know that alcohol, processed meat and poor diet can cause the disease. Many people are confused about what raises or reduces someone's likelihood of becoming a victim of the country's second biggest killer.
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Clara only went into care this year
Clara only went into care this year
Clara Meadmore, a resident at Perran Bay nursing home in Truro, Cornwall, only moved in to care in January.
The retired secretary said sex meant marriage when she was young and she never wanted to marry.
Rethink fears the credit crunch will lead to more people seeing their GPs
House repossession was rated as the event most likely to cause mental health problems, ahead of redundancy, or finding out about infertility.
Charity Rethink called for action to prevent a "mental health disaster".
About two-thirds of children with sleep-disordered breathing (SDB) - snoring or obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) - have some degree of cognitive deficit, but the severity of the cognitive deficit has been notoriously difficult to correlate to the severity of the SDB, suggesting that other important issues may be at play, or that the right factors were simply not being measured.
A new study that will be published in the first issue for November of the American Thoracic Society's American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine opens the door to understanding the complex relationship between sleep, breathing and brain function in a whole new way.
"A history of snoring is a predictor for cognitive deficit in children with SDB," said principle investigator Raouf Amin, M.D., professor of pediatrics and the director of the Division of Pulmonary Medicine at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center. "However, the frequency of apnea events during sleep does not predict cognitive deficit and does not correlate with the degree of cognitive deficit. Such a paradox raised the question of whether there are some variables that we do not traditionally measure in the sleep laboratory that might modify the effect of SDB on cognition."
A new study that will be published in the first issue for November of the American Thoracic Society's American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine opens the door to understanding the complex relationship between sleep, breathing and brain function in a whole new way.
"A history of snoring is a predictor for cognitive deficit in children with SDB," said principle investigator Raouf Amin, M.D., professor of pediatrics and the director of the Division of Pulmonary Medicine at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center. "However, the frequency of apnea events during sleep does not predict cognitive deficit and does not correlate with the degree of cognitive deficit. Such a paradox raised the question of whether there are some variables that we do not traditionally measure in the sleep laboratory that might modify the effect of SDB on cognition."
Comment: Given the changes in bankruptcy laws in the US (among other things), one would think that the pervasive mental breakdown of the population was the goal. Scared and cofused people are so much easier to control.