Many people turn to mindfulness meditation to help them manage their chronic pain, a practice that’s been used for centuries.
However, it’s been an open question whether meditation is simply functioning as a placebo, rather than actually quelling pain.
...
Huntington's disease is a devastating, fatal neurological illness with little means of treatment, but a new study in mice offers a glimmer of hope.
Huntington's occurs when inherited genes cause key proteins to fold and clump together within brain cells. Over time, this...
Find it hard to take time to exercise during your busy workweek?
No problem, a new study says -- one or two “weekend warrior” workouts are just as likely to help you maintain your brain health.
People who regularly use marijuana experience changes in their brain structure and function, but it’s not clear that cannabis is the cause, a new study finds.
Researchers found specific differences in the brains of people who’d ever used weed, particularly in...
Most kids with attention issues won't go on to develop serious psychiatric conditions like psychosis or schizophrenia.
However, a new study finds poor attention spans in childhood, plus certain genes, could play a role in raising the risk for these conditions.
Of...
Smoking marijuana during pregnancy may quell your morning sickness, but it could also harm your child’s development, a new study warns.
Cannabis exposure in the womb is associated in early childhood with poorer thinking skills, researchers reported Oct. 28 in the j...
Texts deliver rapid-fire messages, but a new study indicates human brains can keep up with the barrage.
The brain can detect the basic linguistic structure of a brief sentence in roughly 150 milliseconds -- about the speed of a blink of an eye, researchers report.
...
Medication and behavioral therapy are both effective in combatting fatigue caused by multiple sclerosis (MS), either separately or together, a new study finds.
MS patients felt significantly less fatigue after they were prescribed
Brain scans can provide early warning of who will develop chronic pain following a whiplash injury, a new study finds.
Higher levels of “cross...
If you're in your 40s or 50s and have trouble getting and staying asleep, that's not a good sign for brain health as you age, new research suggests.
“Our study, which used brain scans to determine participants’ brain age, suggests that poor sleep is linked t...
Maybe you've seen a cartoon character shake their head back and forth following a sharp blow -- clearing away whatever stars or birds are circling their noggins.
Turns out, that same move might help coaches and physical trainers identify a
Women fighting breast cancer can relieve some of their chemotherapy “brain fog” through aerobic exercise, a new clinical trial in Canada suggests.
Breast ca...
Alzheimer’s disease might damage the brain in two distinct phases, a new study suggests.
An early phase that occurs slowly and...
People sense millisecond shifts in odor as quickly as they might spot a change in color, new research shows.
The study discounts the notion that smell is a "slower" sense than sight or hearing, scientists say.
"A sniff of odors is not a long exposure shot of the c...
Bilingual people have more active and flexible brains, a new study has discovered.
Brain scans revealed that folks who speak two languages have increased connectivity between their brain regions, researchers reported Oct. 10 in the journal
Microscopic magnetic nanodiscs could provide a much less invasive means of providing deep brain stimulation, a new study says.
The tiny discs – about 250 nanometers across, or 1/500 the width of a human hair – would be injected directly into specific regions ...
Most boys treated with breakthrough gene therapy for a rare but deadly brain illness are faring well six years later, two new reports find.
The 77 boys were treated for cerebral adrenoleukodystrophy (CALD), a formerly incurable and progressive genetic brain disease that ...
The brain has a waste-disposal system that clears away junk proteins that contribute to the development of dementia and Alzheimer’s dise...
Damage to the brainstem could be behind the physical and psychological effects of Long COVID, a new study suggests.
Brain scans of 30 Long COVID patients found they had damage to th...
In a small, preliminary study, piano lessons provided to cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy appeared to help them maintain brain health.
"There were a lot of outside stressors contributing to my mood, but piano practice and going to lessons were always something go...
A new, large study from France underscores the link between adult hearing loss and dementia.
"Given the major burden of cognitive decline and the absence of curative treatment, identifying modifiable risk factors is of importance," a team led by
Even air pollution levels considered safe by U.S. standards appear to cause differences in the brains of growing children, a new review suggests.
"We're seeing differences in brain outcomes between children with higher levels of pollution exposure versus lower levels of ...
The head of a Princeton team that mapped the brain of an adult fruit fly -- a watershed step in understanding the human brain -- explains the feat in a way that belies its complexity.
"Just like you wouldn't want to drive to a new place without Google Maps, you don't wan...
Patients who lose the use of their hands and arms after a stroke or traumatic brain injury could regain some function through deep brain stimulation (DBS), new research demonstrates.
DBS involves surgical placement of electrodes to deliver electrical impulses to areas of...
One in three former NFL players believe they have football-related brain damage that’s doing untold harm to their lives, a new study finds.
Unfortunately, their fears might be harming their mental health on top of whatever risks they face from
Antidepressants have the potential to improve memory and thinking skills, a new study suggests.
Some patients experienced a boost on brain tests after taking the SSR...
It's called the MIND diet and its primary aim is to help guard against thinking and memory declines as you age. But does it work?
Yes, claims new research that found following the MIND diet for 10 years produced a small but significant decrease in the risk of developing ...
Brain training aimed at improving memory can ward off symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease for years, a new study claims.
For the first time, scientists have detected microscopic microplastics lodged in the human brain.
Researchers in Germany and Brazil say that 8 out of 15 autopsied adults had microplastics detected within their brain's smell centers, the olfactory bulb.
The particl...
Vaping may look cool when you're young, but it appears to be dulling the brains of college students, a new study warns.
College students who vape have lowe...
Two monoclonal antibody treatments to slow Alzheimer's disease, lecanemab (Leqembi) and donanemab (Kisunla), have been approved by the U.S...
New research uncovers a possible reason why teenaged girls struggled so mightily with their mental health during the pandemic: Scans showed their brains aged far faster than expected during that stressful time, even faster than the brains of their male peers.
In the stud...
Brain changes that signal Alzheimer's disease even before symptoms appear are linked to an increased vulnerability to financial scams, new...
A new brain imaging study has concluded that autism likely isn’t caused by faulty connections to the amygdala.
A prevailing hypothesis of autism spectrum disorder has held that people with the condition have poorer neural connections in certain brain regions, inclu...
Diabetes can age the brain by up to four years, a new study based on MRI scans shows.
There was one silver lining: Healthy lifestyle changes could help prevent that neurological aging, the Swedish researchers said.
“Having an older-appearing brain for one&rsq...
People with multiple sclerosis appear to have a lower risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease, a new study suggests.
MS patients are far ...
High levels of fluoride in drinking water may dim the intelligence of children, a new U.S. government report shows.
Based on an analysis of published research, the potentially controversial
A good night’s sleep is crucial for helping people make new memories, a new study says.
Neurons that capture new memories during the day reset while you ...
Casey Harrell was losing his ability to speak due to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease.
“Not being able to communicate is so frustrating and demoralizing. It is like you are trapped,†said Harrell, 45.
But a ...
Some comatose patients with severe brain injury might be paying closer attention to their surroundings than previously thought, a new study says.
About 1 in 4 patients respond to instructions covertly, with their brains showing activity even though their bodies arenâ€...
Untreated high blood pressure in your 60s could raise your risk for Alzheimer's disease later, new research shows.
The good news: Simple steps can ...
Eating a healthy diet that dampens inflammation in the body could lower your odds for dementia, especially if you already have heart risk factors, a new Swedish study shows.
So-called anti-inflammatory diets focus on foods like vegetables, fruits, whole grains, fish and ...
Drinking can increase a senior’s risk of a brain bleed following a fall, even if they only occasionally imbibe, a new study finds.
In fact, the risk of a brain bleed i...
Many people with Parkinson's disease may fear dementia as a common consequence of the disease.
But new research suggests dementia is not inevitable with Parkinson's, and in fact is less common than presumed.
If dementia does occur, it typically does so much later ...
Wildfire smoke could interfere with the safety of surgeries, a new study warns.
Inhaling the smoke could complicate the effects of anesthesia on surgical patients, and it also might hamper their recovery, researchers reported Aug. 6 in the journal Anesthesiology...
Folks who rub their forehead and complain that a complex problem is making their brain hurt aren’t overstating things, a new review suggests.
Mental exertion appears to be associated with unpleasant feelings in many situations, researchers reported Aug. 5 in the j...
Skip the bacon and those holiday hot dogs: A new study finds eating processed red meats raises your odds for dementia.
Overall, just two servings per week of processed red meat was linked to a 14% rise in dementia risk, compared to folks who ate less than three servings ...
Artificial intelligence is adding new luster to the old-fashioned EEG brain scan, increasing the potential usefulness of the century-old medical test, a new report says.
The EEG, or electroencephalogram, tracks brain activity through a dozen or more electrodes stuck to t...
Puttering around the home or office isn’t enough to protect a person from stroke, a new study says.
People need to be more active to lower their stroke risk, either by exercising in their free time or biking or walking to work, results show.
“Physical ...
Millions of Americans deal with the sleep deficits brought on by sleep apnea, and many turn to one of the few treatments out there, continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) machines.
But what if new neurochemical targets in the brain could lead to new, less cumbersome ...