Treating this mood disorder may benefit the heart as well as the mind.

Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in women. Close to 43 million women in the United States have some form of cardiovascular disease — a term that includes both heart disease and stroke — and every year nearly 422,000 die of it. That's more than succumb annually to all forms of cancer combined. Heart disease and stroke are also a major cause of life-altering disabilities.

Several behaviors and conditions — smoking, poor diet, physical inactivity, high cholesterol, obesity, high blood pressure, and diabetes — increase ...

The brain basis of the hypnotic state remains a matter of conjecture.

The term "hypnosis," invented in the 19th century, is derived from the Greek word for sleep, but the derivation is misleading. People undergoing hypnosis are often physically relaxed, and they may be told to close their eyes to enter a hypnotic state, but they remain fully awake and alert. Yet the way that the brain processes information during hypnosis does suggest an alteration in consciousness that researchers are still trying to understand.

A hypnotic state involves three related features: absorption or selective attention, suggestibility, and dissociation. Selective attention ...

A physician explores the brain's ability to compensate for injury by recounting his daughter's premature birth and early years.

Dr. Adam Wolfberg, a physician at Tufts Medical Center, specializes in high-risk pregnancies. Many of his patients give birth to premature babies. As a physician, Dr. Wolfberg knows a great deal about neonatal research and clinical care. As a father of a premature infant himself, he also understands the emotional roller coaster parents endure as they try to help a fragile infant reach its full potential.

In 2002, when his wife Kelly was about six-and-a-half months pregnant, she went into ...

There is much truth behind the phrase "stress eating." Stress, the hormones it unleashes, and the effects of high-fat, sugary "comfort foods" push people toward overeating. Researchers have linked weight gain to stress, and according to an American Psychological Association survey, about one-fourth of Americans rate their stress level as 8 or more on a 10-point scale.

In the short term, stress can shut down appetite. A structure in the brain called the hypothalamus produces corticotropin-releasing hormone, which suppresses appetite. The brain also sends messages to the adrenal glands atop the kidneys to pump out the hormone epinephrine (also known ...

Research into painkiller addiction suggests that successful treatment may require ongoing use of a drug that dulls the craving for the painkiller.

People with heart disease are at higher risk of cognitive decline, but increased physical activity may equate with the cognitive function of someone several years younger.

If your child is being treated for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), you may have one less thing to worry about. A study involving 1.2 million children and young adults provided reassuring evidence that the drugs used to treat ADHD do not increase the risk of death from heart disease.

Researchers, who published their results in October 2011 in The New England Journal of Medicine, analyzed medical records from a nationwide private insurance plan along with health plans based in Tennessee, California, and Washington State. They compared children taking stimulant drugs such as methylphenidate (Ritalin) and dextroamphetamine (Adderall) that are ...