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Brain: No more excuses – seems our brains can be taught to control cravings. According to researchers at Yale University, standard therapeutic techniques decrease cravings of cigarette smokers by regulating activity in two separate areas of the brain. In the study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, smokers who are taught cognitive strategies, such as thinking about the long-term consequences of smoking, show increased activity in the prefrontal cortex, an area of the brain associated with cognitive control and rational thought. They also show decreased activity in areas of the striatum, a region associated with drug craving and reward-seeking behavior. “This shows that smokers can indeed control their cravings, they just need to be told how to do it,” said Hedy Kober, assistant professor of psychiatry at the Yale School of Medicine and lead author of the study. More research is being conducted to see if the same goes for other types of drugs and cravings. Read More…

Nutrition: Drinking tart cherry juice daily could help reduce the severity of insomnia and time spent awake after going to sleep, according to a new study published in the Journal of Medicinal Food. In an experiment, adults who drank eight ounces of tart cherry juice in the morning and evening for two weeks reported significant reductions in insomnia severity and saved about 17 minutes of wake time after going to sleep on average. The researchers suspect tart cherries’ natural benefits could be due in part to their relatively high content of melatonin – a natural antioxidant in cherries with established ability to help moderate the body’s sleep-wake cycle. Melatonin is produced naturally by the body in small amounts and it plays a role in inducing sleepiness at night and wakefulness during the day. Cherries may help boost the body’s own supply of melatonin and increase sleep efficiency. Read More…