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by Ken Budd
Updated September 28, 2022
Lose weight, get in shape, stop eating Twinkies — good health can be such a chore. But some of our favorite guilty pleasures are actually good for us. Try indulging in these five healthy sins.
1. Have sex — frequently!
Making love once a week is good for your brain. In a study from Coventry and Oxford universities in England, frequent lovemakers outperformed their less-aroused counterparts on tests that measured verbal fluency (naming as many words as possible that start with F, for example) and visual processing (such as copying a complex design). Both tasks involve working memory and executive function, says lead author and Coventry research fellow Hayley Wright.
So what’s the link between working memory and making whoopee? The improvements could be due to higher levels of hormones such as dopamine, which studies have linked to certain brain benefits.
2. Listen to Mötley Crüe
Or the Cure. Or Men Without Hats. The type of music doesn’t matter: If you enjoy it, your brain will benefit. In a study at the Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, participants listened to music they liked and disliked most, from classical to country. Researchers then used brain scans to examine brain connectivity — interactions between different parts of the brain. The scans showed that the music people liked — not the type of music — increased connectivity, particularly on a brain circuit called the default mode network, which is associated with introspection, empathy and self-awareness.
“Few human experiences activate so many circuits in our brains as music,” says study leader Jonathan H. Burdette, M.D. “I know personally, if I listen to music during the day, I will have a better day.”
3. Take a nap
A short snooze has major brain benefits. Chinese adults 65 and older performed better on a series of tests — from math problems to memorization — if they took an hour-long nap after lunch, according to research published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society. In a study at Germany’s Saarland University, people who napped for roughly an hour improved their ability to retain new information. A 60- to 90-minute nap even beats coffee as a mental pick-me-up: Nappers outperformed non-nappers on memory tests in a University of California, San Diego, study.
The prime time for a nap is between 1 and 3 pm, says Sara C. Mednick, a University of California, Riverside, professor and the author of Take a Nap! Change Your Life. “This time has been related to a naturally occurring dip in alertness,” she says. Mednick recommends a 90-minute nap, but if your time is limited, a six-minute nap can enhance declarative memory — where you keep facts and events — researchers at the University of Düsseldorf found.
4. Get a massage
A relaxing rubdown can improve stress-related insomnia and ease headaches, according to the Mayo Clinic. “Research shows that massage reduces cortisol — the body’s stress hormone — and increases our white blood cell count, thereby boosting our immune systems,” says Karrie Osborn, senior editor with Massage & Bodywork magazine.
Some soothing stroking can also spice up your relationship. When couples completed a three-week massage course, their massage sessions reduced their stress, improved their physical and mental well-being, and increased satisfaction with their relationship, researchers from England’s Northumbria University found. And both partners said they felt better whether they gave or received the massage.
• “Frequent Sexual Activity Predicts Specific Cognitive Abilities in Older Adults,” The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, January 2017. In this study, 72 participants (ages 50 to 83) completed a cognitive assessment and answered a questionnaire about how frequently they had engaged in sexual activity (defined by the researchers as intercourse, masturbation or petting/fondling) over the past year. Participants who reported engaging in weekly sexual activity performed better on aspects of the cognitive test related to verbal fluency and visual-spatial ability than those who engaged in sexual activity monthly or never. Read the full study.
• “Dopamine modulates episodic memory persistence in old age,” The Journal of Neuroscience, October 2012. In this study, researchers imaged the brains of 32 participants (ages 65 to 75) performing a photo memory task on two different days, once after being given a medication to increase dopamine levels in their brains and once after drinking a placebo. With the dopamine boost, participants performed better on the memory test. The strength of the effect was dose-dependent, and participants in the middle weight-adjusted dose group performed best. Read the full study.
• “Network Science and the Effects of Music Preference on Functional Brain Connectivity: From Beethoven to Eminem,” Scientific Reports, August 2014. In this study, researchers imaged the brains of 21 young adults (average age of 24) as they listened to six songs. Four of the songs were representative of classical, country, rap/hip hop and rock genres, one song was from an unfamiliar genre, and one song was each participant’s personal favorite. When participants were listening to songs they preferred, their brains showed increased connectivity in the default mode network, regardless of the genre of music. Read the full study.
• “Afternoon Napping and Cognition in Chinese Older Adults: Findings from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study Baseline Assessment,” Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, December 2016. This study analyzes survey and cognitive assessment results from 2,974 Chinese adults (65 and older). Participants who reported regularly taking a 30- to 90-minute post-lunch nap had higher cognition scores than people who took no naps or who napped for longer than 90 minutes. Read the full study.
• “Nap sleep preserves associative but not item memory performance,” Neurobiology of Learning and Memory, April 2015. In this study, 41 young adults (average age 22.1) were given words and word pairs to memorize. Researchers tested the participants’ memories, directed half the group to watch a DVD and half the group to nap for up to 90 minutes, then retested their memories. Participants who napped were able to recall more of the word pairs than those who stayed awake, although there was no significant difference between the two groups’ abilities to recall individual words. Read a summary of the study. (A fee is required to access the full study.)
• “Comparing the benefits of caffeine, naps, and placebo on verbal, motor and perceptual memory,” Behavioural Brain Research, November 2008. In this study, 61 adults (ages 18 to 39) were tested on three distinct memory processes: verbal, motor and perceptual. During each test, some participants were given a caffeine pill, some were given a placebo, and some took a 60- to 90-minute nap. Participants who napped did significantly better than the other two groups on the verbal recall test, although there was little difference between naps and caffeine in the perceptual learning test. Participants who were given caffeine did noticeably worse at motor learning. Read a summary of the study. (A fee is required to access the full study.)
• “An ultra short episode of sleep is sufficient to promote declarative memory performance,” Journal of Sleep Research, February 2008. In this study, researchers analyzed the results of two experiments to determine whether daytime napping improved memory performance. In the first experiment, 26 university students (ages 20 to 29) were asked to memorize a list of 30 words. Half of the students then napped for about an hour, while the other half played simple computer games. Participants in the napping group were able to recall more words than those who stayed awake. In the second experiment, which was conducted with 18 participants (ages 21 to 29), researchers conducted the same word recall test, but one group of participants was allowed to nap for only about five minutes. Though long nappers were able to recall the most words, participants who took short naps still performed better than those who stayed awake. Read a summary of the study. (A fee is required to access the full study.)
• “Effects of couples positive massage programme on wellbeing, perceived stress and coping, and relation satisfaction,” Health Psychology and Behavioral Medicine, October 2019. In this study, researchers surveyed 19 couples (38 people, average age 36.8) over six weeks. Half the couples completed a massage course that included instruction and at-home practice over the first three weeks and half of the couples completed the course during the latter three weeks. The researchers found that the massage program had a positive impact on couples’ mental well-being, perceived stress and coping but not relationship satisfaction. Read the full study.