A social enterprise providing education and information to protect and enhance the mental health of young people
Regular physical activity improves brain function even in young adults considered in their prime and at the height of cognitive ability, according to a new University of Otago study. A body of research already exists showing aerobic exercise improves brain function in older adults, but there is a limited amount of literature on how it affects young adults. The Otago [...]
CHRIS UHLMANN: Allowing teenagers tastes of alcohol to try and promote responsible drinking might be counterproductive. That's the view of the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre after a four year study of the drinking habits of 2000 families. Researchers found that teenagers who got alcohol from their parents are three times more likely to [...]
Most of us would recognize classic depression, with its heavy veil of sadness and hopelessness. But what if you just started getting stomachaches or were suddenly very snappy? Could you be depressed without knowing it? "Depression doesn’t always look like debilitating sadness," says Richard Kravitz, MD, MSPH, a professor of internal medicine at University of [...]
This past weekend, I found myself 400 miles and 3 states away from home with $16 of cash, a half tank of gas, but no credit cards. I pulled into a gas station and asked if they would take a check. Nope. How about a credit card number phoned in from my husband? Nope. My [...]
What do we actually mean by research and how does it help inform our understanding of things? Understanding what’s being said in any new research can be challenging and there are some common mistakes that people make. Have you ever tried to interpret some new research to work out what the study means in the [...]
In early 2014, a Sydneysider was filmed racially abusing a young Asian woman on the train, shouting racist insults and loudly mimicking her accent. She then verbally attacked an Anglo-Australian man she presumed to be the woman’s partner. While the community response to the changes to section 18C, and the widespread public condemnation of attacks [...]
Scientists are now seeing that continued exposure to porn gives the brain an unnatural high—something it literally isn’t wired to handle—and the brain eventually fatigues. Anatomy and physiology instructor Gary Wilson notes this is the same pattern noticed when drugs are abused: the brain becomes desensitized. More of the drug or harder drugs are needed [...]
A Californian dad went a little too far when he tried to win the 'cool dad' contest by hosting a wild party for his teenage daughter. Jeff Lake, 48, was arrested by San Diego police, for hosting a party where underage people drink alcohol. The birthday party was in celebration of Olivia turning 18, and boasted [...]
One aspect of education that is increasingly worrying parents is the place of Special Religious Instruction (SRI) in Victorian government schools: 42 per cent have withdrawn their children from SRI over the last 12 months, leaving fewer than one in six enrolled (The Age, 21/12/2014), after the government issued a more detailed "opt-in" form to [...]
Clare can now talk with calm reflection about the moment she decided to end her life. She remembers feeling as if she were living in a sort of twilight zone where nothing made sense: she was being shunned by colleagues and faced losing her job as a teacher. Things had spiralled out of control after [...]
