ScienceDaily: Living Well News

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• High heart rate at rest signals higher risk of death even in fit healthy people
• Bad decisions arise from faulty information, not faulty brain circuits
• Training the brain to improve on new tasks
• The bigger the group, the smaller the chance of interracial friendship
• Concert cacophony: Short-term hearing loss can be protective, not damaging, researchers find
• Drinking cup of beetroot juice daily may help lower blood pressure
• No evidence drugs, vitamins, supplements help prevent cognitive decline in healthy older adults
• Smartphone way to lose weight
• Laser liposuction melts fat, results in tighter skin
• Musicians who learn a new melody demonstrate enhanced skill after a night's sleep
• In sex, happiness hinges on keeping up with the Joneses
• Our futures look bright, because we reject the possibility that bad things will happen
• Taste of beer, without effect from alcohol, triggers dopamine release in the brain
• Following a Western style diet may lead to greater risk of premature death
• Ten-year follow-up of physical activity among adolescents
• Strong urban cores promote socializing in the city
• Are four prenatal visits enough?

High heart rate at rest signals higher risk of death even in fit healthy people Posted: 15 Apr 2013 05:49 PM PDT A high heart rate (pulse) at rest is linked to a higher risk of death even in physically fit, healthy people, suggests new research.

Bad decisions arise from faulty information, not faulty brain circuits Posted: 15 Apr 2013 02:24 PM PDT Researchers have found that it might be the information rather than the brain's decision-making process that is to blame. The researchers report that erroneous decisions tend to arise from errors, or "noise," in the information coming into the brain rather than errors in how the brain accumulates information.

Training the brain to improve on new tasks Posted: 15 Apr 2013 02:24 PM PDT A brain-training task that increases the number of items an individual can remember over a short period of time may boost performance in other problem-solving tasks by enhancing communication between different brain areas. The new study is one of a growing number of experiments on how working-memory training can measurably improve a range of skills -- from multiplying in your head to reading a complex paragraph.

The bigger the group, the smaller the chance of interracial friendship Posted: 15 Apr 2013 02:23 PM PDT The larger the group, the smaller the chance of forming interracial friendships, a new study shows.

Concert cacophony: Short-term hearing loss can be protective, not damaging, researchers find Posted: 15 Apr 2013 02:23 PM PDT Contrary to conventional wisdom, short-term hearing loss after sustained exposure to loud noise does not reflect damage to our hearing: Instead, it is the body's way to cope. The landmark finding could lead to improved protection against noise-induced hearing loss in future.

Drinking cup of beetroot juice daily may help lower blood pressure Posted: 15 Apr 2013 02:22 PM PDT A cup of beetroot juice a day may help reduce your blood pressure, according to a small study.

No evidence drugs, vitamins, supplements help prevent cognitive decline in healthy older adults Posted: 15 Apr 2013 12:14 PM PDT A review has found no evidence that drugs, herbal products or vitamin supplements help prevent cognitive decline in healthy older adults.

Smartphone way to lose weight Posted: 15 Apr 2013 09:49 AM PDT Forget fad diets and hypnotherapy; your smartphone could be a key tool to losing those post-Easter egg pounds, according to scientists.

Laser liposuction melts fat, results in tighter skin Posted: 15 Apr 2013 09:48 AM PDT A new, minimally invasive treatment that uses lasers to melt fat could replace the "tummy tuck," suggests research on more than 2,000 people.

Musicians who learn a new melody demonstrate enhanced skill after a night's sleep Posted: 15 Apr 2013 09:48 AM PDT A new study examining how the brain learns and retains motor skills provides insight into musical skill. Musicians who practiced and learned a new melody and were tested on it again after a night's sleep showed enhanced learning, says a researcher. The study found, however, that when two similar musical pieces were practiced one after the other, followed by sleep, any gains in speed and accuracy were diminished.

In sex, happiness hinges on keeping up with the Joneses Posted: 15 Apr 2013 09:47 AM PDT In sex, happiness hinges on keeping up with the Joneses, a new study finds. Sex apparently is like income: People are generally happy when they keep pace with the Joneses and they're even happier if they get a bit more.

Our futures look bright, because we reject the possibility that bad things will happen Posted: 15 Apr 2013 09:47 AM PDT People believe they'll be happy in the future, even when they imagine the many bad things that could happen, because they discount the possibility that those bad things will actually occur, according to a new research.

Taste of beer, without effect from alcohol, triggers dopamine release in the brain Posted: 15 Apr 2013 09:47 AM PDT The taste of beer, without any effect from alcohol itself, can trigger dopamine release in the brain, which is associated with drinking, and other drugs of abuse.

Following a Western style diet may lead to greater risk of premature death Posted: 15 Apr 2013 09:45 AM PDT Data from a new study of British adults suggest that adherence to a "Western-style" diet (fried and sweet food, processed and red meat, refined grains, and high-fat dairy products) reduces a person's likelihood of achieving older ages in good health and with higher functionality.

Ten-year follow-up of physical activity among adolescents Posted: 15 Apr 2013 06:59 AM PDT New research shows that the drop in boys' physical activity during the teenage years levels off in early adulthood.

Strong urban cores promote socializing in the city Posted: 15 Apr 2013 06:44 AM PDT Opportunities for social interaction -- which are important for individual, economic and social well-being -- are hampered in decentralized cities, even more than by fragmented urban layouts and long commute times, say researchers.

Are four prenatal visits enough? Posted: 12 Apr 2013 05:45 AM PDT Reanalysis of the World Health Organization's  Antenatal Care Trial (WHOACT) shows that there is an increased risk of fetal death at between 32 and 36 weeks for women who have a reduced prenatal care package. Original analysis of the WHOACT concluded that reducing prenatal visits of low risk women from eight to four was not detrimental to their or their babies' health and could cut costs. Based on this advice some countries have lowered the number of routine prenatal visits . However, in light of the 2010 Cochrane review, which suggested that reduced prenatal visits was in fact detrimental to health, the WHOACT data was reanalyzed by an international group of researchers. Once the data was adjusted for maternal risk (such as smoking, age, education) the group found that there was an increased risk of fetal death for the women who had reduced numbers of prenatal visits.

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