Las arterias calcificadas, sin embargo, se encontraron en el 27 por ciento de aquellos que dormían menos de cinco horas diarias por noche y el porcentaje era de un 11 por ciento en quienes dormían entre cinco y siete horas diarias por noche, y de tan sólo un seis por ciento en quienes dormían más de siete horas por noche.

Now referred to as long-term potentiation (LTP), this mechanism has since become the most intensively studied in modern neuroscience,and is widely believed to be the cellular basis of learning and memory, although this is yet to be proven unequivocally.

In the new study, Santiago Canals of the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics in Tübingen and his colleagues used the same protocol to induce LTP. But while the vast majority of researchers have investigated LTP in slices of hippocampal tissue, this study involved observing LTP in live animals.

This new research provides the first evidence that the local modifications in synaptic connections induced by LTP lead to long-lasting changes in the activity of a diffuse network of brain regions, and even to facilitated communication between the two hemispheres. The fMRI data showed that hippocampal LTP recruits higher order association areas, as well as regions involved in emotions and others subserving different sensory modalities, all of which are known to be involved in memory formation.

ApplesQuercetin is the flavonoid that enables apples to keep the doctor away. Quercetin has been shown to reduce cancer risk, prevent heart attacks, stave off cataracts, control asthma, prevent recurrent gout attacks, and speed healing from acid reflux. Green TeaGreen tea contains, among others, the cancer-fighting flavonoid epigallocatechin gallate (ECGC). ECGC is unique in that it seems to battle cancer at all stages, from thwarting chemical carcinogens, to suppressing the spread of tumors. ECGC is as much as 100 times more powerful an antioxidant as vitamin C, and 25 times more powerful than vitamin E. ECGC also may account for the antibacterial properties of green tea. ChocolateChocolate contains many of the same flavonoids found in tea. The darker the chocolate, the more flavonoids present. Cocoa powder is the richest source by weight, and to maximize your benefits, make your hot chocolate from scratch. Homemade hot chocolate will provide you with more flavonoids than a store-bought mix. Red WineFlavonoids are the source of the well-known "French Paradox"—the ability of the French to consume lots of fat-laden cheese without dropping like flies from heart attacks. The red wine they enjoy is flavonoid-rich, which lowers their risk of heart disease. And if you're not a drinker, you can get almost all the same benefits from purple grape juice.

Marc G. Berman and colleagues at the University of Michigan wanted to test the effect of a walk’s scenery on cognitive function (Berman, Jonides & Kaplan, 2008; PDF).

In the first of two studies participants were given a 35 minute task involving repeating loads of random numbers back to the experimenter, but in reverse order.

The results showed that people’s performance on the test improved by almost 20% after wandering amongst the trees. By comparison those subjected to a busy street did not reliably improve on the test.

New research suggests that play and down time may be as important to a child’s academic experience as reading, science and math, and that regular recess, fitness or nature time can influence behavior, concentration and even grades.

Young children with sensory processing disorders are especially susceptible to behavioral and attention problems if they are not allowed to move and exercise throughout their day.

If you give girls and boys language tasks, most girls will process the information in the same way (in a specialized language area)

help them with word storage and retrieval

But for boys, sensitivity to the modality of how words are presented means that an extra steps need to be taken to match words that are picked up by listening and words that are read on the printed page. No wonder dyslexia is much more common in boys - the separate system means that the sight and sound of words are learned as distinct processes.

The major finding was that increased working memory capacity following training was associated with changes in brain biochemistry. Specifically, the researchers found changes in the density and binding potential of cortical D1 dopamine receptors in brain regions that are activated during working memory tasks.