Joy Through Choices

New weight-loss drugs—like Ozempic and Wegovy—have hit the medical community by storm. As people have started to take these semiglutide-based drugs, benefits beyond weight loss have been revealed. Most recently, a study has shown that these drugs may significantly reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s.

Can Wegovy and Ozempic Help Protect People From Alzheimer’s? Semaglutide, the active ingredient in the popular weight loss drugs Wegovy and Ozempic, may help stop amyloid plaques and tau from developing in the brain, as well as lower inflammation levels in people with diabetes, especially women, new research shows.

Over the past 20 years, people have been reading for fun less often (and watching videos more often). That changes the brain, even in skills you might not expect.

Scientists just demonstrated that people who are good at reading have different brains Good readers exhibit distinct brain traits, including a larger left anterior temporal lobe and thicker left Heschl’s gyrus, supporting phonological and meaning processing. Reading reshapes these areas, highlighting the brain's adaptability and the importance of literacy.

Most of the time, our breathing is automatic and unnoticed. But we can also control our breathing—such as when we take deep, slow breaths. While people have known for millennia that conscious breathing can ease stress and anxiety, new research from the Salk Institute explains what’s going on in the brain when you consciously control your breathing.

Neuroscientists discover how the brain slows anxious breathing - Salk Institute for Biological Studies LA JOLLA—Deep breath in, slow breath out… Isn’t it odd that we can self-soothe by slowing down our breathing? Humans have long used slow breathing to regulate their emotions, and practices like yoga and mindfulness have even popularized formal techniques like box breathing. Still, there has be...

“Popcorn brain”—a term coined by computer scientist Dr. David M. Levy—is a form of addiction to our devices. The “popcorn” part refers to how often people jump from one thought to another while flipping through content on their electronic devices—so much so that the offline world can fail to hold our attention. Why is that, and what can you do about it?

5 things to know about "popcorn brain" - Mayo Clinic Press Popcorn brain happens when our brains go pop, pop, pop, racing from one thought or task to another. Learn strategies to improve focus and defend yourself against distractions.

A preliminary study from Columbia University shows that four simple daily activities can prevent brain shrinkage in older age. The difference is equivalent to four years of brain aging. What are those activities?

4 Daily Habits That Could Stop Your Brain From Shrinking Exercise may have the potential to slow brain aging by offsetting typical age-related brain shrinkage, new research suggests.

You might have heard that Bruce Willis—the actor known for his roles in Moonlighting, Die Hard, The Sixth Sense, and other works—has been diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia, or FTD. Unlike in Alzheimer’s, in FTD the early symptoms are changes in behavior—not memory loss—and it tends to affect people earlier in life.

How frontotemporal dementia, the syndrome affecting Wendy Williams, changes the brain – research is untangling its genetic causes FTD leads to changes in personality and behavior. Understanding its genetic and molecular causes could lead to new ways to treat neurodegenerative diseases.

A new study shows that the brains of teens who heavily engage with social media are more sensitive to social feedback. But is this a good or bad thing? Researchers say it’s not easy to categorize as wholly one or the other.

A new study links social media use to changes in teen brains. Is that a bad thing? A recent study adds to a growing body of research that suggests social media's impact on young people can't categorized as simply good or bad.

Most of the research done on dementia has focused on how to stop or reverse it once it has been diagnosed. But researchers have increasingly investigated how to prevent dementia long before it begins. A new imaging study has shown that changes that often occur in middle-aged people—those between 40 and 65—may be the difference between a brain-healthy later life and a dementia diagnosis.

Middle Age is A Critical Window for Predicting Brain Health - Neuroscience News A new study highlights the importance of middle age in understanding and predicting future cognitive health.

Do you have a dog, or have you had one in the past? There has been quite a bit of research showing that the bond people feel with their dogs can improve health in several ways. A new study takes that research a step further, directly measuring brainwaves of people interacting with a friendly poodle that wasn’t even their own. The results showed positive brain benefits from that interaction.

Playing with dogs helps people concentrate and relax, brain recordings show In a study of brain activity, walking a poodle made people more relaxed, brushing the dog improved concentration and playing with her had both effects.

When it comes to smoking, scientists have generally focused on the health effects to the lungs and heart–though some studies have shown a correlation between smoking and poorer brain health. Now, research has shown that smoking can cause brain shrinkage–regardless of genetic disposition to smoking. The good news: when you stop smoking, the shrinkage does, too.

Smoking causes brain shrinkage | WashU Medicine Findings help explain how smoking is linked to Alzheimer’s, dementia

California passed a law that in 2024, elementary schools had to start teaching cursive writing again—a change since 2010, when cursive was no longer required. Other states also mandate cursive. Why? As one California neuroscientist reports, “more neuroscience research is supporting the idea that writing out letters in cursive, especially in comparison to typewriting, can activate specific neural networks that facilitate and optimize overall learning and language development.”

California signs cursive writing into law – what are the brain benefits? A new law requiring cursive to be taught in California schools went into effect at the start of this year. But does this style of handwriting have long to live on a global scale?

For several years, medical professionals have been looking into how taking vitamins can affect health. Recent research, based on multiple studies that include a total of more than 5,000 older adults, shows that taking a daily multivitamin can slow cognitive decline by an average of two years.

Multivitamins Are Linked to Slower Brain Aging A study builds on data showing that multivitamins can keep the aging brain healthy.