Hot MedFax

Big surprise.   Exercise is linked to self-control, according to newswise.com. I can certainly attest to that.  The last thing I want to do most mornings after getting up is putting on my sneakers and going running.  Yet, I've been doing that for the last -- well, I don't want to tell you how many years because it's actually been decades. But a new study says  people engaged in a tailored physical activity intervention demonstrate improved self-control. “There’s a particular type of task called ‘delay discounting’ that presents individuals with a series of choices between ‘smaller/sooner’ and ‘larger/later’ rewards,” says Michael Sofis, a doctoral student in applied behavioral science at the University of Kansas, who headed the  study . “It’s something we all experience in our lives. Do you want a little money now — or wait and get a lot of money later? The degree to which one chooses that smaller/sooner reward is called impulsivity, and that has been l...

I don't know about you but I hate it when I'm not in control, of the world or myself.  I arrive minutes early (it enrages my son) for just about anything, because I like to get the lay of the land.  And I check my email a thousand times (well, maybe more like a hundred) times before I go out because I don't want to miss anything. Now a new study says that wanting more self-control can actually hinder our efforts to obtain it.   Huh? Haven't we all been programmed to strive for self-control? Whether it's wanting that extra piece of chocolate cake (Donald Trump, I'm looking at you) or unwise spending habits (that's me), going after that extra bit of self-control can, well, maybe harm us rather than help us, in the end. Newswise.com reports that new research points out that, ironically, wanting to have more self-control could actually be an obstacle to achieving it (regardless of one’s actual level of self-control). The study, done by Bar-Ilan Universit...

Quick.  Would you pick a creamy milkshake over a Big Mac?  A bag of M&Ms over macaroni and cheese? A red velvet cupcake with gobs of icing over a hotdog loaded with sauerkraut? If so, you've just proved a new theory.   Sugar wins out over fat every time. According to Anahad O'Connor at The New York Times, " An intriguing new study suggests that what really draws people to such treats, and prompts them to eat much more than perhaps they know they should, is not the fat that they contain, but primarily the sugar." She notes that new research tracked brain activity in more than 100 high school students as they drank chocolate-flavored milkshakes that had the same amount of calories but were either high in sugar and low in fat, or vice versa. "While both kinds of shakes lit up pleasure centers in the brain, those that were high in sugar did so far more effectively, firing up a food-reward network that plays a role in compulsive eating," she reports. ...