Word: stress
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...seem wired to attack our hair under traumatic conditions, possibly because forcibly extracting hair is painful; it can divert attention from stress to the more immediate matter of how to solve a pressing problem. For chronic hair pullers, that diversion turns into addictive psychological relief. Some people with trichotillomania pull out hairs not only from their heads but also from their pubic areas and armpits; as many as 20% eat their hair; a small minority pull other people's hairs. "Many say it's not painful but more of a sense of just a tug, one that provides a calming...
Scientists think rapamycin's cellular target - called mTOR for "mammalian target of rapamycin" - helps regulate the body's response to nutrients and may also, according to Strong, "gear up responses to stress," such as the oxidative stress that damages proteins and DNA and contributes to disease development. "What we're doing with rapamycin," Strong says, "is we're actually tricking the cells into thinking that they're depleted of nutrients. Rather than the animals losing weight - we haven't noticed any weight loss - they may be just using their proteins more efficiently, and then repairing proteins more efficiently...
...other families, the cuts are less drastic, but they serve as a daily reminder of the new financial stress families face after the pink slip arrives. Family vacations are put on hold, kids' summer camps and sports programs are eliminated, air-conditioning is used less, movies and even cable are cut or reduced, new clothes and haircuts are postponed and family dinners at restaurants are increasingly reserved for special occasions. To be sure, many of these cuts affect both the husband and wife, but women - even those who work outside the home - still take on more household responsibilities, including cooking...
...little in the way of rigorous science to explain these associations. Now that's beginning to change. At Carnegie Mellon, for instance, psychologist Sheldon Cohen has been exploring exactly how positive emotions affect the body. (This is the flip side of previous work by Cohen and others linking stress, Type-A behavior and negative emotions to lowered immunity, heart disease and shorter lifespan.) Cohen's research shows that people with a "positive emotional style" have better immunity to cold and influenza viruses when exposed in the lab. His most recent work, presented at the conference, suggests that this is mainly...
Just as there is no universal formula for treating the psychological conditions that plague us - depression, anxiety, stress - there's no one-size-fits-all trick to boosting happiness. In her recent book, The How of Happiness, Lyubomirsky aims to help joy-seekers find activities that are their best personal match. But for those who are better suited to technology than book-reading, she's just unveiled another tool, which is perhaps the ultimate sign that positive psychology has come of age: the "Live Happy" iPhone application, available free on iTunes...