In recent years, research has been discovering that social engagement (SE), such as performing purposeful activities in life, meeting with friends and family, attending social gatherings, and engaging in recreational activities, can provide great benefits for the human aging process. More specifically, SE can help protect us against cognitive impairment, such as dementia, as we…
Amyotrophic Lateral disease, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, is a neuromuscular disease that is caused by degeneration of motor nerve cells in the brain and in the spinal cord. It leads to progressive muscle weakness and dysfunction of the medulla oblongata causing patients issues with transmitting signals from their brain to their spinal cord…
The times most associated with psychedelic use are the peace and love decades of the 60s and 70s; however, these little substances are quickly making a comeback, though not for the reason you may think. No, the hippy lifestyle hasn’t taken over today’s youth and Woodstock 2.0 (this time with more bathrooms!) isn’t on the…
For many of us, coffee is a prominent fixture in our daily routine. Although we may not realize it, caffeine is the most widely consumed psychoactive substance worldwide. Fueling our early mornings and late nights, we can always count on our caffeine fix to get us through. However, despite its prevalence research regarding the effects…
Alcohol use disorder (AUD) and general anxiety disorder (ANX) have become more of a hot-button issue and addiction biology is still struggling to isolate the genetic proclivities if any of these and other disorders. Which as of now have very few effective long term treatments. It also is unable to answer the question of why…
In March of 2020, the Coronavirus disease (Covid-19) took over the world from Wuhan, China. One of the first known effects of this virus was that it was attacking our respiratory system with breathing and chest pain being two of the more serious symptoms. Covid-19 has become a fatal virus with inevitably no known cure;…
Regular physical activity is a lifestyle factor known to benefit neuroplasticity and neurocognitive functions. Regular exercise enhances memory functions, synaptic plasticity in the hippocampus, and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) levels. Evidence suggests that BDNF influences hippocampal synaptic plasticity. This is shown as physical exercise increases BDNF, mRNA and protein levels in the hippocampus but blocking…
Use of cocaine, like other drugs of abuse, induces long-term changes in the brain. Brain imaging studies have repeatedly revealed altered brain structure among individuals with substance use disorder and addiction. Structural abnormalities related to cocaine addiction have been most seen in the prefrontal cortex. The prefrontal cortex is a structure composed of several sub-regions-regions,…
At the end of 2019, the first cases of the coronavirus disease COVID-19 were reported from Wuhan, China (World Health Organization). The disease quickly spread around the world and when March of 2021 came around, it was declared a global pandemic. As the disease started to spread more and more quickly across the world, it…
Does cocaine damage your brain? While the answer is almost certainly yes, a new study by Cousijn et al. (2021) suggests that you might want to take particular caution with it if you’re a woman. These researchers wanted to see how cocaine might differently impact the brains of women versus men—important because most studies in…