New research suggests that the engaging, visual-spatial nature of the game may disrupt the formation “intrusive memories”

Traumatic events can cause people to experience "intrusive memories"—distressing recollections that occur without warning, summoning the sights, sounds and feelings connected to the painful incident. Such symptoms are often treated with psychotherapy. But, as Sarah Knapton reports for The Telegraph, a new study suggests that intrusive memories can be mitigated by a less conventional method: playing Tetris.

Researchers from Oxford University and the Karolinska Institute in Sweden studied a group of 71 patients who had been admitted to the emergency room of an Oxford hospital after experiencing a car accident. Half of the subjects were used as a control group. The rest were asked to recall the traumatic crash, and then play a 20-minute game of Tetris. The study, published recently in the journal Molecular Psychiatry, found that patients who played Tetris within six hours of the crash experienced 62 percent fewer intrusive memories during the week following the incident compared to patients in the control group. Researchers wrote that the game acts as a “therapeutic vaccine” of sorts, appearing to prevent the formation of traumatic memories.

Read more: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/playing-tetris-can-block-traumatic-memories-study-says-180962704/#KVIWvqCMKOtOcGqz.99

There is no question that modern society has many advantages. Life is no longer nasty, brutish and short, and thanks to our modern lifestyle, we have comforts and luxuries unheard of only a generation or two ago.

Despite this however, people are struggling in modern societies with an apparent epidemic of stress, depression, anxiety and suicide…

One theory is that despite all the comforts of modern society, humans live under drastically different situations than that under which we originally lived under for millennia.

For millennia, human beings lived lives being connected to things which gave purpose, belonging, hope and meaning, such as living physically active lives, closely connected to people and nature. Whether by cause or effect, human brains are thus wired such that:

• When we do physical exertion (e.g. hunting, gathering, farming), it gives our brain dopamine and adrenaline
• When we have close connections with others such as through face-to-face and physical contact, it gives our brain oxytocin

In modern society, things have radically changed. Unlike the past, modern humans have many sources of “easy dopamine” such as:

• The ever constant sensory stimulation from our technology (e.g. the internet, television, video games, recreational screens)
• Modern processed foods that are laced with sugar, which are present apparently in 80% of foods found in a grocery store!

As a result, we are seeing a generation whose brains have gotten used to requiring easy dopamine/dopamine, and who struggle when they do not have that easy dopamine/adrenaline. As a result, our kids don't want to go outside, unlike a generation ago.

Worse, hours spent in front of a screen doesn't give our brains what we really need… We are a social species, and we are wired to require oxytocin, which comes from face-to-face contact and feeling deeply connected to others. Social media and screen time doesn't give that.

So ultimately, this helps us understand why so many kids struggle… Their brains are seduced by activities (e.g. screens) which give easy dopamine, but which doesn't give their brains what they really need, which is oxytocin.

A researcher involved with an eye-opening new study on the presence of added sugar in tens of thousands of food products, including many marketed as 'healthy,' says industry is a force to be reckoned with as new regulations are developed

"They have a lot of money. They have a very loud voice. They are able to hire lobbyists to fight for their best interests," Erin Hobin of Public Health Ontario told Alberta@Noon on Friday.
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