Cofee is Good for Your Brain

Want a fun and easy way to power up your brain? Have a chat over coffee, tea, or even warm milk.

The key here is the chat, not your choice of beverage. Even if they’re brief, occasional bouts of social interaction can help sharpen your wits.

Keep Chatting for Better Thinking

Whether you engage in conversation with a friend, a family member, or the guy behind you in the express line, keep talking. In a recent study of young adults, a mere 10 minutes of face-to-face conversation about a social issue was enough to boost working memory and mental processing speeds. Chitchat was as good as a crossword puzzle, in terms of brain benefits. In fact, the more people socialize, the better their brainpower -- regardless of age. (For a quick way to boost your social network, join the RealAge Community.)

Mental Aerobics
Conversation requires us to pay attention, remember what was said, deduce the other person’s meaning, and come up with appropriate responses -- some pretty serious mental gymnastics. And when it comes to mental muscle, it’s use it or lose it. Here’s another fun way to make your mind do somersaults.

Is coffee bad for pregnancy?

Tired moms-to-be that drink coffee to help coping with their busy schedules should get advice about coffee consumption since a new study suggesting that drinking coffee increases the chance of miscarriage has been published. The idea that caffeine consumption is linked to higher rates of miscarriage is not new, but critics said the observations could be biased because some pregnant women reduce their caffeine intake because of morning sickness. 1063 women early in their pregnancies were interviewed about their caffeine consumption recording those who changed their drinking patterns and those who didn’t. All participant women were followed to 20 weeks of pregnancy or until miscarriage. Increased risk of miscarriage was associated to consumption of 200 milligrams or more of caffeine per day (just over one cup of coffee). The effect was the same with plain coffee or other caffeine-containing beverages such as fizzy drinks, tea and hot chocolate. The research team, who published thair work in the American Journal ofObstetrics and Gynecology (DOI: 10.1016/j.ajog.2007.10.803), said that caffeine constricts blood vessels, and this effect may be restricting blood flow to the placenta. They say it is also possible that caffeine may have a toxic effect on the fetus. Although the conclusion is not firm, they suggest pregnant women to avoid caffeine during pregnancy. “It’s not a big sacrifice”, after all.
Adapted from newscientist.com