Many doctors believe that exercise is the closest thing to a miracle drug that modern medicine has in its arsenal. But have you ever wondered why that is so? Your brain actually benefits, too.
Tryptophan, found in food, is an important ingredient in the neurotransmitter serotonin. But is that enough to support it as a possible mood booster? The research is decidedly mixed.
One slice is never enough.
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Pizza might seem like a simple food, but it's uniquely equipped to excite our brains and thrill our taste buds.
Young adults at a tailgate. Young adults are more likely than older adults to binge drink and are at greater risk when they do.
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A Sept. 14 report on drug use suggested that opioid use has declined. But troubling trends in drinking among teens and young adults stood out. An addiction specialist explains the unique dangers.
The longer they keep you plugged in to a game, the better it is for the house.
AP Photo/Seth Wenig
When you engage in recreational gambling, you're not simply playing against the odds – you're battling an enemy trained in the art of deceit and subterfuge who uses human nature against you.
In an epileptic brain, the neurons fire wildly.
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During epileptic seizures, neurons in the brain fire without rhyme or reason. New research identifies a possible way to wrest back control by stopping these signals before they can get started.
A Philadelphia man, who struggles with opioid addiction, in 2017.
AP Photo/Matt Rourke
As the nation grapples with its opioid addiction epidemic, an understanding of how the drugs affect people is important. The powerful class of drugs actually can change the brain.
Don’t blame the turkey for those snores coming from the living room!
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Remember that story about the molecule found in turkey that makes you drowsy? Research shows it's a myth – tryptophan doesn't cause you to nod off, but it may be connected to cooperation.
Hearing can be affected by loud noises, but the mechanisms have not been fully understood. The auditory nerve plays a big role.
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Noise is common, but we don't fully know what that means for our hearing. A recent study suggests how overstimulation of the auditory nerve may be too much for it to handle.
Some welcome the possibility of drugs altering our brain for the better, others are concerned about altering our brains at all.
Andrew Adermark/Flickr
Scientists seek out drugs to cure what ails us but we now know that some common medications affect our moral capacity. Since it's happening already, the question is, should we be worried?
Opioid addicts now being armed with overdose antidote.
Gretchen Ertl/Reuters
Many first responders’ – even some university police officers – are carrying a new tool in their first-aid kits. It’s naloxone, the opioid overdose antidote drug, and today it’s more widely available than…
Power, especially absolute and unchecked power, is intoxicating. Its effects occur at the cellular and neurochemical level. They are manifested behaviourally in a variety of ways, ranging from heightened…
Depression and anxiety disorders affect a great many people and though we have antidepressants to treat symptoms, we actually know little about how the chemistry behind them works. For example, we have…