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What to Do When You’re Bored With Your Routines
Last spring I started a new exercise class. As someone who dislikes doing jumping jacks, burpees and push-ups, I found the workouts surprisingly enjoyable — at least for a while. But after several months, my newish hobby began to feel like watching the same episode of a TV sitcom over and over again. Overly familiar with the class routine, my excitement had been replaced with boredom, a nattering emotion that affects us all. A 2016 study estimated that 63 percent of us suffer from boredom at least once over a 10-day period. While it certainly won’t kill us, researchers have found that chronically bored people are more prone to depression, substance use and anxiety.
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The Real Problem With Trigger Warnings
In 2016, Onni Gust, a historian at the University of Nottingham, wrote in The Guardian about using trigger warnings to help students “stop for a moment and breathe” during class. Gust described how a slide presentation might note that the next slide references mutilation, or that the following passage includes a graphic description of sexual violence. The warnings don’t allow students to skip the class reading assignments, but instead remind students to use their coping strategies and “keep breathing,” Gust wrote. About half of U.S.
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Unlocking Secrets of Memory and Time in the Brain
Our bodies know when to fall asleep and when to wake up. Our brains can keep track of short bursts of time like a mental stopwatch. But in our memories, our sense of time is fuzzy. Now, research is beginning to uncover how we put our memories in order. These new insights into the workings of the brain, paired with other findings, could help in the understanding and early detection of diseases such as dementia and Alzheimer’s, scientists say. The idea that we perceive time in our memory subjectively is well known in psychology, says Lila Davachi, a professor of psychology at Columbia University.
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Stress in Childhood and Adulthood Have Combined Impact on Hormones and Health
Adults who report high levels of stress and who also had stressful childhoods are most likely to show hormone patterns associated with negative health outcomes.
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Smell, Your Least Appreciated Sense
Your emotions are directly tied to the smells you experience. Join Rachel as she takes you on a tour of how smell affects the lives of everyone, from finding your spouse to survival. Enjoy her tips on using your nose to enhance your life. Dr. Herz is a leading expert on the psychological science of smell. Her published books include "Why You Eat What You Eat", "The Scent of Desire" and "That’s Disgusting". She’s written numerous research papers and articles and has been a guest on shows including "On Point" and "Science Friday". Dr. Herz is an adjunct faculty member at Brown University and Boston College and she advises many companies about enhancing consumer experiences.
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New Research From Clinical Psychological Science
A sample of research exploring the structure of daily emotion-regulation-strategy use, long-term memory of childhood violence, and prenatal risk for autism spectrum disorder.
