Motor Skill Myelination

Everyone knows that practice makes perfect. Throughout life we learn new motor skills and improve upon them as we grow. It seems common sense that practicing a particular task results in increased performance over time, but have you ever stopped to wonder how exactly that happens? An immense amount of research has gone into trying…

Could Sex Make You Smarter?

A recent study conducted by researchers at the University of Maryland found that enhanced cognitive functioning and neurogenesis could be achieved through sexual experiences in rat specimens.   Aging is inevitable, and with aging comes an increasing chance of cognitive impairment. These age-associated intellectual declines, which usually appear between early adulthood and old age, are associated…

The rewards for being social

Researchers have long believed that areas of the brain evolved over time to motivate animals, including humans, to behave in a way that would encourage survival and reproduction. Specifically, the mesocorticolimbic pathway in the brain is often referred to as the “reward pathway” in that it is involved in inducing pleasurable effects that make one…

Insomnia: A Real Nightmare

  Insomnia is a sleep disorder generally characterized by an inability to fall and stay asleep for extended periods of time. With one in three adults experiencing some form of the disorder during the course of their life, the condition is not only life altering but prevalent as well. Wake and sleep states are coordinated…

People at risk for stroke should consider exercising more

A stroke is commonly referred to as an attack of the brain that is characterized by a sudden loss in brain function. It can be caused either by the interruption of blood flow to the brain (referred to as an ischemic stroke) or the rupture of blood vessels in the brain (referred to as a…

In one nostril and out the other

Marriage has been a human tradition for an approximated 4,000 years. It is safe to say that the phrase, “honey, stop worrying about nothing” has probably been around just as long. For some reason, even after all these years of practice, men and women just can’t seem to reach a common wavelength when it comes…