Our conscious minds, which use most of our brain's energy, only account for 5 percent of our brain's activity. 95 percent of what goes on is in the subconscious and zombie programs as David Eagleman calls them. So, when your…
Science now says we have 85 billion neurons in the brain. There are 5 times as many neuronal networks allocated for threat detection than there are for non-threat input. This is why negativity is so easy to default to AND…
You know how when you go back to the hometown you grew up in, how you almost feel like a child again? Sometimes you can feel it in your whole body, like you’re being transported back in time. For some,…
Your cortices, like muscles, grow with use. So if you use your limbic brain to function mostly--in fear and threat--you strengthen that part of the brain so it dominates. If you use your prefrontal cortex mostly--for higher level thought like…
This time of year, we love playing with fear. Some of us love terrifying ourselves at haunted houses, while others get a thrill out of curling up under the covers and watching a scary movie. During the rest of the…
Our culture teaches us that we should be strong and resilient. Weakness is frowned upon, and asking for help is seen as a weakness. Am I telling you anything new yet? I’m all for asking for help - but only…
We live in a paradox: change is the only constant yet human psyche resists change. Ability to adapt to new circumstances has always been a powerful driving force of human evolution. Yet human brain finds comfort in the sense of…
As we know our brains and emotions are intimately linked in a dance facilitated by hormones, neurotransmitters, and a myriad other stimuli. So it stands to reason that if women experience a radical hormonal flux each month, that their brains…
We spend lots of time learning how to navigate people, things, situations, environments and any other external influence we can think of. But it is the inner navigation, called interoception, that can be pivotal in our ability to heal and…
Loneliness and social isolation can be a major contributor to some common neuro-degenerative diseases like alzheimers. A new study led by Carnegie Mellon University's J. David Creswell offers the first evidence that mindfulness meditation reduces loneliness in older adults. If meditation…
