Wherever you are in the world, food is used to influence affective states – whether it’s a soothing bowl of congee or chicken soup when you are unwell, or a piece of chocolate when you are feeling miserable. The question is, how deep is food’s potential to affect how people feel? Can food improve your mood in a significant or lasting way – and, if so, how? Might we eventually be able to prescribe nutritional interventions to help people feel better?

Food And Your Mood

Emerging and accumulating evidence indicates that modifiable features of our lifestyles that influence our immune systems - including nutrition - are important factors in our vulnerability to, severity, and recovery from depression.

The Right Diet To Help With Depression

<ul><li>We tend to eat habitually, choosing foods and flavour profiles that are familiar.</li><li>We need to approach changes to your eating with openness and patience</li><li>It's best to try new foods when you are in a good mood and to approach them with a sense of curiosity.</li><li>Prepare to form some new, manageable habits.</li><li>The most important factor when it comes to building new eating habits is repetition.</li><li>To make repetition achievable, your new behaviours should be small enough that they are manageable even at your most tired.</li></ul>

Changing Your Eating Habits

<ul><li>A whole-food, plant-heavy, fibre-rich diet might reduce depression risk through its anti-inflammatory qualities, through its effects on gut microbes and via other pathways.</li><li>Approach changes to your eating with openness and patience. Give healthy new additions to your diet a few chances if needed, and experiment with different ways of preparing the food. Prepare to form some new, manageable habits.</li></ul>

Eat Real Food, Unpolished and Unprocessed

<ul><li>In the context of an overall healthy diet, there are limits to the health benefits of supplementation.</li><li>Therefore, it would be best to try to increase our consumption of plant foods, whole grains and oily fish.</li><li>There might be a role for the targeted use of supplements to help protect brain health and support mood.</li></ul>

Those Supplements Pills Don't Work As Thought

Supporting a healthy and diverse gut microbiome is likely to be beneficial to mood regulation. The primary food for the population of gut microbes is fibre, acquired by the consumption of a broad range of wholegrains and plant foods – nuts, seeds, herbs, spices, legumes, fruits and vegetables.If we consume insufficient dietary fibre, the balance of microbes becomes perturbed and the protective mucus lining of the gut is depleted, leaving the gut cells vulnerable. In this condition, the junctions of the gut lining can slacken, permitting the transfer of gut bacteria into the bloodstream.

Focus on Fibre, a Key Food for Gut Microbes

Your gut microbiome benefits from a diverse range of plant foods. While there are 300,000 edible plants on the planet, we eat just a tiny fraction of these, around 200. Recent <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5954204/">research</a> suggests it would be good to aim for 30 different plant foods per week. This might sound daunting, but remember that fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, beans, wholegrains, herbs, and spices count as plant foods. And yet more than half of our calories come from just three plants: corn, rice and wheat. Clearly, there is some work to do.

Mix a Variety of Plant Foods Into Your Diet

There is an even faster way to increase the diversity of your gut inhabitants: fermented foods. Fermented products – foods and drinks that have undergone bacterial fermentation – have been a feature of traditional diets around the world for thousands of years. They include kimchi, kombucha, kvass, boza, togwa, kefir,  cheese, yogurt and dozens more. Originating as ways to preserve the harvest and supply nourishment through long, cold winters, these foods are now understood to play a beneficial role in gut-microbial diversity and, by extension, our health.

Eat Fermented Foods

A Western-style diet – high in added sugars, refined carbohydrates, processed meat, fried/fast foods and saturated fats – is associated with increased depression risk in adults and more inflammation and depression in adolescents. There is also evidence that a Western-style diet can impair memory function and appetite control within just a week.Adolescents are prime consumers of sugar-sweetened soft drink, which is of concern in light of research showing that, within just three weeks, moderate consumption of these products increased inflammation in healthy males.

Beware Of The Burger And Coke Diet

Alcoholic beverages can, in excess, be detrimental to mood, and research <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21382111/">indicates</a> a relationship between excessive alcohol consumption and major depression. Try to stay within or below national recommendations for healthy consumption. If you struggle to control your alcohol intake, contact your GP to find out about support services in your area.

Limit Your Alcohol Intake

Your mood and the food you eat are connected.

Depression and low mood are not separate from the rest of your bodily health: the right diet can help reduce your risk

Understand yourself and those around you.

psychology

Psychology

food

Food

mentalhealth

Mental Health

How to use food to help your mood | Psyche Guides

Humans love patterns. Apophenia is the common tendency to detect patterns that do not exist. Apophenia occurs when we try to make predictions or find answers based on unrelated events. This can lead to poor decision-making and mental health conditions.

Apophenia

The term was coined in 1958 by German psychiatrist Klaus Conrad during his study of schizophrenia. It is an effect of brain function that is now commonly recognised in health, not just to those with a form of psychosis. In schizophrenia, Conrad found that those who developed "apophany" started experiencing abnormal meanings in their daily life derived from unconnected events. n healthy individuals, apophenia may not lead to such alarming consequences, but can still have a significant impact on one’s decision-making processes.

The science of apophenia

Mild apophenia occurs in many domains such as finance, arts, and politics. It has the potential to lead to risky behaviours or wrong beliefs about the meaning of a pattern. Visual illusions. Some people see non-existent images in clouds such as a face as a sign of something significant, such as a message from a loved one or a sign of the future.Financial decisions. People who notice an illusory pattern may believe the outcome of an event is not determined by chance but by previous outcomes or choices. Gamblers might believe that if they make two small wins in a row, they will have a third win.

From fun imagery to financial risk

Apophenia can help you think more creatively, but big decisions should be made only when the facts are clear. To avoid the pitfalls of apophenia:<ul><li>Pay attention to any biased assumptions you make when faced with false patterns.</li><li>Work on accepting that not everything happens for a reason. You are more likely to be successful by making rational decisions based on available evidence.</li><li>Compare the so-called "signs" from the universe with your research.</li></ul>

The balance between embracing and managing apophenia

Apophenia is the tendency to detect patterns that do not exist. Also known as patternicity, apophenia occurs when we try to make predictions, or seek answers, based on unrelated events.

philosophy

Philosophy

problemsolving

Problem Solving

The dangers of apophenia: not everything happens for a reason

<ol><li>Magical thinking refers to the idea that you can influence the outcome of specific events by doing something that has no bearing on the circumstances.</li></ol>https://www.healthline.com/health/magical-thinking

Types of thinking

“We’ve come all this way, spent all this money and now the weather’s getting in the way? It’s so unfair.https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/unraveling-the-mindset-of-victimhood/

2. Victim thinking

I welcome these types of thoughts but turn my mind away from them. I consider this to be mental discipline in action.

Mental Discipline

Entrepreneurship and your relationships are two of the most potent and powerful places to practice mental discipline in your life, as this can help support you in being with and responding to whatever is happening.

The Value Of Mental Discipline

How do you disengage from your narratives and the ways you covertly (or overtly) control and manipulate so you can have joy and fulfillment in life?Choosing to stay present in situations that aren’t ideal allows leaders to perceive and experience more day-to-day magic and synchronicity, but it’s not transactional.

Focusing in the present is a reward in itself

So, how do you start practicing mental discipline in a way that doesn’t force you to pretend to ignore what’s happening in your business or personal life?Arguing with reality doesn’t generate great results in any area of life.

REALITY

When a situation isn’t the way you wish it would be, ask yourself, “What quality (or qualities) am I being asked to develop in this situation?”

Developing And Practicing Mental Discipline

By asking yourself this question and focusing on taking actions that develop more of the qualities you want to have, you stop making up stories about what’s happening and stop trying to control the uncontrollable, both of which are recipes for frustration and failure.

“What quality (or qualities) am I being asked to develop in this situation?” 1

In my experience, this question also helps you become deeply receptive and increases your agency and power with respect to the situation.

“What quality (or qualities) am I being asked to develop in this situation?” 2

Focusing on cultivating a quality you want more of during hard times supports you in choosing aligned actions and responding nimbly to what shows up because your mind won’t get as snared by its habitual reactions.

“What quality (or qualities) am I being asked to develop in this situation?” 3

In this way, you can keep adjusting your aim and stay on track with your goals, no matter the challenges that happen along the way.

“What quality (or qualities) am I being asked to develop in this situation?” 4

Aside from making you a stronger and more well-rounded person, this also has the direct benefit of getting you through challenges more quickly and with better outcomes.

“What quality (or qualities) am I being asked to develop in this situation?” 5

Resist magical thinking and wishful thinking when in trouble, its easy to fall into these habits because of childhood feedback loops. YOU GET WHAT YOU GET, LOVE IT ALL, AMOR FATI, THIS IS THE ONLY WAY, BE BRAVE, BE STEADY, BE PATIENT!

Entrepreneurship and your relationships are two of the most potent and powerful places to practice mental discipline in your life, as this can help support you in being with and responding to whatever is happening.

personaldevelopment

Personal Development

habits

Habits

communication

Communication

How To Practice Mental Discipline When Navigating Business Challenges

Many of us are facing challenges that can be stressful, overwhelming, and cause strong emotions in adults and children. Public health actions, such as physical distancing, can make us feel isolated and lonely and can increase stress and anxiety. eople may have strong and lingering reactions. Learning healthy ways to cope and getting the right care and support can help reduce stressful feelings and symptoms.

How To Handle Stress ?

The symptoms may be physical or emotional. Common reactions to a stressful event can include : 1. Disbelief2. Feelings of fear, shock, anger, sadness, worry, numbness, or frustration3. Changes in appetite, energy, desires, and interests4. Difficulty sleeping or nightmares, concentrating, and making decisions5. Physical reactions, such as headaches, body pains, stomach problems, and skin rashes6. Worsening of chronic health problems7. Worsening of mental health conditions It's natural to feel stress, anxiety, grief, and worry during traumatic events .

So Basically What Are The Symptoms Of this Well Known Stress ? 

1. Take breaks from watching, reading, or listening to news stories, including those on social media. It’s good to be informed but hearing about the traumatic event constantly can be upsetting. Consider limiting news to just a couple of times a day and disconnecting from phone, tv, and computer screens for a while.2. Take care of yourself. Eat healthy, exercise, get plenty of sleep, and give yourself a break if you feel stressed out.3.Make time to unwind. Try to do some other activities you enjoy.4.Connect with your community- or faith-based organizations .

Healthy Ways to Cope with Stress 

1. Talk to others. Talk with peopleexternal icon you trust about your concerns and how you are feeling. Share your problems and how you are feeling and coping with a parent, friend, counselor, doctor .2. Avoid drugs and alcohol. These may seem to help, but they can create additional problems and increase the stress you are already feeling. So in this way you can cope up with your stress feelings .

Two Most Important Tips For Getting Out Of Stress .

Nowadays managing stress is important so by following this you may have control on this feeling called stress

Everyday tension takes a heavy toll on your health. Learn how to identify common, ongoing stressors and how to deal with stress effectively.

health

Health

10 Simple Ways to Cope with Stress

Have you ever wondered why we often behave so irrationally?Psychologists do too, which results in countless researches about human nature. Although there is still a lot of unanswered questions, and there is a long way to go until we find the definitive answer for example to why we fall in love with a specific person, thanks to them we now know a lot more about how we feel, think and behave.Here we have collected 50 proven psychology facts, that explain a lot about human nature and will completely change how you see the world.

Background

Although these facts are interesting, fun, and tell us a lot about human nature, never forget that most of them were described after conducting research with small numbers of specific populations. But it is a fact that they provide a wonderful way to raise questions, and to start digging into the wonderful and weird world of psychological research and in the end completely change how you see the world.

Disclaimer

There is a reason why psychologists ask you about your mother. One of the most robust <a href="https://d1wqtxts1xzle7.cloudfront.net/41507315/Ravitz_et_al__Attachment_measures__a_25year_review_2010.pdf?1453639315=&response-content-disposition=inline%253B+filename%253DAdult_attachment_measures_A_25_year_revi.pdf&Expires=1607516146&Signature=cd4m-vMRms83XTNGgbzEaF6b3P86p69YpFqLgB0jKLu97laBbGu3EJzfybcmMTWfwEAEYR6UKO9t0ZyuZeDOCLyPtOO8wQDoFbMLemDWKZLh1inXdYGf6TJgciSciGH-VNvzPxKGjeIPcTLRg2eJqhtCFUFk4lfcoMZoKS8yAFTaHJ~jkA0VZC6vn2TMqJgU6-~uhLi5AmmISmpBkSwVvMjjLBoAeyMiRow4xCtnGAugUZx53aOxpsUrU0WzzIrSbUp0VQGt5m0TDNfZPP-Z8LGN8qq8VvKpPcewsndHQ6SKz-3R-txPqZ6GCmu0a5gUYAWF8sgrduW6MbhtXSuyuQ__&Key-Pair-Id=APKAJLOHF5GGSLRBV4ZA">findings of psychology shows us</a>, that no matter where we are born, the past relationship we had with our primary caregiver, massively affects our adult intimate relationships, the way we handle stressful challenges, or our behaviour towards our health.

1. Our early relationship with our mother has life-lasting consequences

We all want to be happy, but if you want to be healthy, you should rather search for meaning, says a <a href="https://www.pnas.org/content/early/2013/07/25/1305419110.short">study led by Barbara Fredrickson</a>. They have studied the genes of people who are engaging in a lot of activities which makes them feeling good, but lack true meaning (like going out extensively) and the results were shocking: they had the same gene expression patterns as people exposed to chronic adversity. The group suggests stop running after momentary joys and start looking for activities with meaning.

2. A feel-good life is not necessarily a healthy one

Contrary to popular belief, stress is not always a bad thing, actually it can be good for you. <a href="https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/08/190810151933.htm">Psychologists have long observed</a>, that stress help you accomplish task more efficiently, and can motivate you to reach your goals. However, it is important to have good ways to respond to it, and to have possibility to recover from it–without them, it becomes unhealthy, making our life miserable.

3. Stress can be good for us

You would not think so, but you might make different decisions when you are speaking in your second language. According to <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0956797611432178">a study conducted at the University of Chicago</a>, students using a foreign language made less emotional and more rational decisions. This suggest we might process information differently when speaking another language.

4. Speaking in a foreign language changes your decisions

No matter where you are in the world, people will recognise if you make a sad, happy, disgusted, fearful, surprised or angry face. Due to this, these emotions are called <a href="https://www.paulekman.com/universal-emotions/">universal emotions</a>, and they are known across cultures and at a very young age.

5. Some emotions are universal

Maslow’s hierarchy is probably wrong. His hierarchy of human needs says that at base levels we are driven by basic physiological instincts to survive and only after fulfilling these needs can we move over to other needs, like social connections and self-actualization. But <a href="http://www.jlampl.net/SocialNetworksMaslow.pdf">current research says </a>otherwise, as it shows hat our most fundamental need is belonging and our connection to other humans. This is what makes us engage in activities leading to self-preservation or self-fulfillment.

6. Social connections might be more important to us than food

A few of us can see the shape of emotions, smell colours, or hear shapes. This <a href="https://www.healthline.com/health/synesthesia">interesting neuropsychological phenomenon </a>is called synaesthesia and happens when our mind involuntarily blends sensations that normally are experienced separately. The people, who experience it, tend to be born with this skill.

7. Some of us can smell colours

Have you ever noticed how your mum likes to speak a lot about the things that happened to her during her early twenties? Or ever wondered why people love coming of age teenager stories? Our preference for recollecting memories from adolescent and early adulthood is called “<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reminiscence_bump">reminiscence bump </a>”, and it might be because of the many changes we experience during that time, and our mind tend to remember changes more than a bit more monotonous periods.

8. Things that happen to us in early adulthood are with us long term

According to the facial feedback theory, our facial expressions influence how we feel. So <a href="https://health.ucsd.edu/news/releases/Pages/2020-07-30-headline-news-botox-may-lessen-depression.aspx">scientists </a>have temporarily disabled the muscles needed of sad facial expressions with Botox injections. This made people lose their negative emotional experience, and they have reported decreased symptoms of depression.

9.Botox could treat depression

Do you want to perform better at learning something? It might be time to open your classical music folder, as listening to classical music was found to enhance even older people’s memory performance. The finding is so robust that it has its own name: the “<a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF03324720">Vivaldi effect </a>”.

10. Listening to classical music is good for your memory

According to <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0146167299259007">Tara Macdonald and Michael Ross</a>, if you are in love and you would like to know whether it will last, you should just ask your mom. They reported that dating couples tend to predict the longevity of their relationships through rose-coloured glasses, so asking their friends and family served as much better predictors of whether their romances would survive.

11. Our friends know the future of our romantic relationship better than us

Babies are born with the ability to understand all accents of the world, but from the age of 5 months they start to <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/phenomena/2009/06/14/five-month-old-babies-prefer-their-own-languages-and-shun-foreign-accents/">prefer and listen to their mother’s accent </a>and avoid connection with people with other accents.

12. We prefer our own accents as soon as 5 months old

Although many times dyslexia is seen only as a problem, it can be a sign of a uniquely functioning brain with many strengths. For example, watching the same videos, children diagnosed with dyslexia were <a href="https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/12/201201103605.htm">observed </a>to give more emotional responses than children without it, suggesting an atypical, enhanced way of noticing and processing emotional cues.

13. Kids with dyslexia are more emotionally responsive

If you want to give the perfect present, remember that <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17439760.2014.898316?journalCode=rpos20">psychological research suggests</a> that purchasing experiences has a more lasting positive effect on people’s happiness than material objects and looking back, people will also believe to have spent their money more wisely.

14. Experiences make us happier than material gifts

Call your grandma! Being socially isolated and feeling lonely have seriously dire consequences on us: <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0033350617302731">they make us more prone to </a>poor mental health and can lead to serious, undesirable cardiovascular outcomes.

15. Isolation can hurt us physically

Researching who takes part in elections and other political activities, <a href="https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/09/200925134722.htm">scientists </a>have come to a surprising result: more narcissistic people can be more involved in such activities, may it be signing petitions, donating money or contacting politicians. Add to those result that narcissistic people also prefer their own personal gain to the societal needs and we might see the root of some our current problems.

16. Narcissistic people tend to be more politically involved

After researching the brain of older women with Alzheimer, <a href="https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/11/201118161133.htm">researchers have found </a>those women’s brain showing smaller brain volume, who were living in areas exposed to higher levels of air pollution compared to those who did not. This suggests that foul air could damage our brain, altering its structure negatively.

17. Air pollution hurts not only our lungs, but our brains too

According to a <a href="https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapsychiatry/article-abstract/2608757">study </a>, collecting data from 147 261 adults aged 18 to 99 years, anxiety is more prevalent in high-income countries than in countries with poorer socioeconomic environment. The study further suggests that poorer people living in Western countries are the most anxious population in the world.

18. Westerners are more anxious

In a paper published in the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, researchers claim that atheists and agnostics are significantly more likely to be better sleepers than Catholics and Baptists.

19. Atheists sleep better than Catholics

And so is sadness. The basis of this phenomenon might be our natural tendency to mimic the behaviours and facial expressions of others. <a href="https://medium.com/better-marketing/your-good-and-bad-moods-are-contagious-psychologists-call-it-emotional-contagion-c7d857c7cabc">Scientists say </a>this emotional synchrony happens unconsciously but the extent of it depends on the intimacy we share with the other person.

20. Happiness is contagious

People usually think that high self-confidence is the key to achieve success, but <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/people-with-low-self-confidence-are-more-likely-to-be-successful-2012-7">according to business psychologists Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic</a>, it is not exactly true, as he says “low-enough” self-confidence makes you more open to feedback and behaviour changes which result in better workplace results.

21. People with lower self-confidence are more likely to be successful

Do you want to remember something? Give yourself a good night’s sleep: <a href="https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2005/06/050629070337.htm">according to a study</a>, fresh memories stick better if we have a well-deserved rest after studying them.

22. Proper sleeping hours improve our memory significantly

Although life is getting more digital, psychologists argue for keeping handwriting part of our curriculum. <a href="https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/10/201001113540.htm">It seems </a>that kids writing by hand learn more and remember better than the ones using a keyboard. It might be due to the fact that handwriting activates more senses, which helps to create connections between different parts of the brain.

23. Writing by hand makes kids smarter

Our culture tends to see mind-wandering as bad, but actually, <a href="https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/10/171024112803.htm">according to psychologist </a>it can be just a symptom of being intelligent and more creative.

24. Daydreamers are more creative

First impressions are more important than you think. <a href="https://www.verywellmind.com/understanding-the-primacy-effect-4685243">Scientists observed </a>the this at many parts of our life, especially when convincing others, so you should not be afraid to speak up first. People tend to remember the first argument for a longer time and they also influence our opinion stronger.

25. What we say first is what sticks with others

In a <a href="https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-short-term-memory-2795348">classic cognitive psychology study </a>participants, who had to remember 3 letter strings, could recall 80% of them after 3 seconds but, after 18 seconds they could only remember 10%. This effect has been reliably replicated since that, suggesting that you might have already forgotten some of the facts you have read above.

26. Our short-term memory lasts less than half a minute

In a brain-imaging study, <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5663956/">scientists have found </a>that listening to sad but not happy music increased the strength of mind-wandering. It has also caused people to focus inwards and think about themselves, while people listening to happy music thought more about the music itself and other people.

27. Sad music makes our mind wander

There is a reliably observed effect, named after its original observer as the <a href="https://www.spring.org.uk/2012/06/the-dunning-kruger-effect-why-the-incompetent-dont-know-theyre-incompetent.php">Dunning–Kruger effect</a>, which describes the cognitive bias that individuals with low ability at a task are the most likely to overestimate their performance. These people simply fail to recognize their lack of ability making them incapable to objectively evaluate their own competence.

28. People who are the most incompetent are the least aware of their own incompetence

When reviewing the effects of regular volunteering, <a href="https://www.ucl.ac.uk/students/news/2020/apr/10-benefits-helping-others">psychologists have found </a>that it might reduce early mortality rates by 22%, compared to those in people’s who don’t take part in such activities. Regular helpers also reported reduced depression symptoms and increased sense of life satisfaction and wellbeing.

29. Regularly helping others might make us live longer

The personality of owners of stereotypically aggressive breeds, like Rottweiler or German Shepherd, <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-mindful-self-express/201208/3-surprising-true-facts-about-pets-and-their-owners">was compared </a>to the owners of stereotypically peaceful breeds, like Labs and Golden Retriever. The result? They were found to be higher in anger, aggression, and hostility traits.

30. More hostile people own more aggressive dog breeds

A research <a href="https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/11/201112103517.htm">published in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Research and Therapy </a>has found that when patients with mild cognitive impairment started practicing physical exercise at least three times a week, their risk of getting Alzheimer’s has significantly decreased. Time to dust off our running shoes.

31. Weekly exercise can prevent downgrade to Alzheimer’s

Although alcohol abuse is always bad for your brain health, there <a href="https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/12/201203200605.htm">seem to be 3 specially sensitive periods </a>, when severe alcohol consumption results in cumulative long-lasting detrimental effects on your brain: gestation (from conception to birth), later adolescence (15-19 years), and older adulthood (over 65 years).

32. There are special periods when alcohol is terrible for us

Have you ever felt punched in the stomach after somebody rejected you? It is no wonder that rejection hurts so much. <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22286852/">According to neuroimaging studies </a>the same brain areas are activated during socially and physically painful experiences, resulting in very similarly hurting experiences.

33. Rejection literally hurts you

Infants’ brains may be shaped by their mother’s experiences during pregnancy. <a href="https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/11/201124111105.htm">A new study </a>combining neuroimaging with hormonal samples, found babies of women who were experiencing stress to have different brain structures compared to healthy ones, especially in regions important in emotional answers, making them more likely to have emotional issues in later life.

34. Stress during pregnancy changes our brains

Do you want to convince somebody to stop doing something annoying, like littering? <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1111/1467-8721.01242">Psychologists advise </a>you rather focus on the positive outcome with your message, say for example: “Almost everybody who lives here, place their trash in the garbage”. This way the appropriate behaviour is presented as the social norm and people are unconsciously inclined to follow it.

35. We don’t change our behaviour by hearing it is bad

It has been shown in <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/10579289_Culture_and_point_of_view">multiple studies</a>, that when seen a scene, most Americans focus on the visually most prominent acting object but most east-Asians focus on the background and the context. This suggests, that from the beginning of perception those of us from east-Asian cultures see people and objects more in relationship to their environment.

36. People from different cultures process information differently

Fathers behave differently with daughters and sons: they are more attentive and responsive to their daughters’ needs, sing more often to them, and speak more openly about their emotions towards them. The study published in 'Behavioural Neuroscience' explored the neural background for this behaviour: showing fathers their daughters’ happy facial expressions resulted in higher activation in brain areas involved in reward, emotional regulation, and face processing.

37. Fathers’ brains respond differently to daughters and sons

According to <a href="https://www.wired.co.uk/article/dan-ariely-bonuses-boost-activity-but-not-quality">a study conducted in India and in the United States</a>, big bonuses only raised the performance of the workers in certain cases: if they did mechanical work. But in case of work requiring use of cognitive skills, big rewards were actually detrimental on performance.

38. Bonuses don’t always work

<a href="https://personal.lse.ac.uk/KANAZAWA/pdfs/PAID2009.pdf">A study has found </a>those people, who sleep and wake up late, to be more intelligent. It might be because of their tendency to diverge from normally practised activities, in this case, the usual social functioning of being active during the day.

39. Night owls are more intelligent

We value things more if we were involved in their creation and people also see their creations- even if they are very amateurish- as similar in value to experts’ creations. Researchers calls this phenomenon <a href="https://www.behavioraleconomics.com/resources/mini-encyclopedia-of-be/ikea-effect/">the IKEA effect</a>.

40. We value things that were made by us disproportionately

A <a href="https://www.cmu.edu/dietrich/sds/docs/loewenstein/MispredictingDistress.pdf">research group has studied couples </a>and asked them to predict their emotional state after their possible future breakup. What was the result after visiting them again if the breakup indeed happened? Most of the participants hugely overestimated the distress levels they would feel, and in real life they were a lot less disturbed.

41. We are bad at forecasting our emotional reactions

<a href="https://www0.gsb.columbia.edu/mygsb/faculty/research/pubfiles/2413/Hotornot%25202008.pdf">An analysis of a dating website </a>has found that people prefer to date others with similar levels of attractiveness. This effect is more prevalent in women. Compared to them, men seem to consider their other characteristics more strongly when choosing a potential date.

42. Who we find hot depends on our own attractiveness

<a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/11086437_Effects_of_social_exclusion_on_cognitive_processes_Anticipated_aloneness_reduces_intelligent_thought">Participants of a research </a>who were led to think that they would be alone later in life, were less likely to function logically after receiving this information. The other participants, who received bad forecasts of non-social misfortunes, have not shown cognitive decrease, emphasizing the role of social belonging in conscious thinking.

43. Thinking that you will end up alone can cause a drop in intelligent thought

At a study of an older community, <a href="https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/05/180509162704.htm">researchers have found </a>that following depression, people had their brains in worse shape. The brain had literally shrunk in its volume! Depressed elderly have exhibited greater memory problems than their peers.

44. Being depressed may age your brain

People find face and body symmetry attractive, but do not worry if your face is not completely symmetrical. It <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1090513805000401">has been proven </a>that by adding symmetrical jewellery or face paint to asymmetrical faces, people also ended up preferring them.

45. We find symmetry attractive

<a href="https://www.healthline.com/health/alien-hand-syndrome#fast-facts">The Alien Hand syndrome </a>most usually occurs after somebody suffers from stroke or other brain injury. The report feeling as if their hand is controlled by someone else. It can behave completely out of their own will. It was even reported in some case to trying to harm the owner of the hand.

46. Some people’s limbs have their own mind

Funny people, and especially those who enjoy dark humour, <a href="https://theconversation.com/funny-people-are-more-intelligent-than-their-po-faced-peers-84709">were found to </a>be more intelligent than their less funny peers. Both their verbal and non-verbal intelligence was higher, moreover they were less aggressive than people who did not appreciate dark humour.

47. People who appreciate dark humour have Higher IQs

<a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2003-02858-014">Students finish on average, 3 weeks later </a>, that their “most realistic” estimate, and one week later than their “worst case-scenario”. This overly optimistic mode of planning is called as planning fallacy by psychologists.

48. We almost always underestimate how long it will take to finish a task

Although, it is statistically impossible to be so, when asked, <a href="https://www.psychologicalscience.org/news/motr/when-it-comes-to-driving-most-people-think-their-skills-are-above-average.html">most people will answer </a>that they are better-than-average drivers. If they are told that others disagree with them, they will simply argue that other’s good driving category is not as accurate as theirs.

49. We all think we are better-than-average drivers

Neuropsychologists have discovered that the expression, “I know what you feel” is literally true for some of us. These people, when they see others being touched, or hurt, experience the same touch or feel like they were hurt. Not the best company for your next horror movie, are they?

50. One in a hundred people literally feels other’s pain

Some facts here have completely opened my eyes to our behaviour traits. It's also cool knowing also how these facts are all derived from studies with real participants, and are not just educated theories.

50 Proven Psychology Facts — 1# Our early relationship with our mother has life-lasting consequences. 2# Botox could treat depression.

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Science & Nature

50 Psychology Facts That Will Change How You See The World

We develop a more realistic view of where we are in the grand scheme of things during our life. We go from “the way to make progress is to keep going when you start to feel tired!" to I am okay with how I am.

Wisdom is quiet and knows that life is complicated

A few years ago when I was a full-blown gym rat, I was horribly obnoxious. (I still am, but for other reasons.) I used to try to encourage people during classes by reminding them “the way to make…

Don’t Listen to Anyone Who Claims to Have the One Neat Trick

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How to use food to help your mood | Psyche Guides

The dangers of apophenia: not everything happens for a reason

How To Practice Mental Discipline When Navigating Business Challenges

10 Simple Ways to Cope with Stress

50 Psychology Facts That Will Change How You See The World

Don’t Listen to Anyone Who Claims to Have the One Neat Trick

7 Things I Avoid To Become the Happiest test test testtesttttttt

The Anxiety Paradox

What I’ve learned from 10 years of therapy - and why it’s time to stop

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It's time to Read like a Pro.

It's time to
Read like a Pro.