Emotion signals

All emotions serve an important purpose.  Our emotions are like messengers or signals telling us to pay attention to something as we journey through life.  Ideally our emotions result in adaptation or learning.  Emotions are therefore crucial to our survival –...

Contentment in 2016

All the striving for happiness is not helpful, and may in fact make you feel worse.  The aim is to feel content – and it is a process not a goal.  Contentment is a stable persistent sense that things are okay, good enough, or satisfactory.  It is not a fleeting...

Festive stress season

  Christmas is listed as a stressful life event. So whilst the festive season may be a wonderful and joyous time for some people enjoying warm social/family gatherings, it can be a traumatic and stressful period for others. There are multiple reasons way this time of...

Healing contact

Isolation hurts. Loneliness is a serious threat to body, brain and mind health.  It is incredible that a sense of loneliness – an intangible feeling – leads to tangible changes in the body.  Specifically, researchers have now discovered the mechanisms by...

Happiness & its Causes

A brain for life will be the topic presented by Dr Nicola Gates for the thousands of participants at the 2016 annual conference Happiness and its Causes. Learn how life-style and mind-style determine your happiness – its all neuroscience after all....

Festive season folly

As the frenetic festive season approaches perhaps pause to consider your greatest asset – your brain. Alcohol is a psychoactive substance that crosses over the blood brain barrier and into the central nervous system. This is why we drink it – because it alters our...