The five most-read stories on Scope this week were:
The science of willpower: Earlier last year, Stanford health psychologist Kelly McGonigal, PhD, published a book based on her popular Stanford Continuing Studies course "The Science of Willpower." In this Q&A, she discusses the latest research on the topic and how stress, sleep deprivation and nutrition can lessen our ability to resist temptations.
Ask Stanford Med: David Spiegel taking questions on holiday stress and depression: This week, David Spiegel, MD, director of the Stanford Center for Stress and Health and medical director of the Stanford Center for Integrative Medicine, took questions about managing holiday stress and depression as part of our Ask Stanford Med series. He will respond to a selection of questions in an upcoming Q&A on Scope.
NBC’s Rock Center explores Internet addiction: A segment on Internet addiction aired Thursday night on Rock Center with Brian Williams. Among those featured on the show was Stanford psychiatrist Elias Aboujaoude, MD, an expert on compulsive disorders and behavioral addictions and author of a book on the dark side of the Internet.
Light-switch seizure control? In a bright new study, researchers show how: In a study recently published in Nature Neuroscience, Stanford neuroscientist John Huguenard, PhD, and colleagues show that a deep-brain structure called the thalamus plays a key role in epileptic seizures, which are the all-too-often consequence of a stroke affecting the brain’s cognition-oriented outermost layer, the cerebral cortex.
Study shows regular physical activity, even modest amounts, can add years to your life: Research published this week in PLoS Medicine found that regular exercise is associated with longer life expectancy, even at relatively low levels of activity and regardless of body weight.
