The Benefit of Lavender Oil

Lavender oil is revealed to be the fragrant way to give athlete's foot the boot

By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 11:43 AM on 15th February 2011

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Athlete's feet bear the brunt: Lavender oil could be used to aid sufferers of fungal infections, a study has shown

Lavender oil could provide a sweet-smelling solution to infections such as athlete’s foot, thrush and ringworm, research suggests.

Tests showed that even at low concentrations, lavender oil had ‘highly potent’ anti-fungal properties.


Tests on the constituents of the essential oil, which is already used to aid sleep and repel moths, showed the effects were mainly due to a compound called alpha-pinene, also found in rosemary and turpentine.


It was not clear how it worked, but it could be by damaging the structure of disease.


Professor Ligia Salgueiro, one of the scientists behind the research at the University of Coimbra in Portugal, said: ‘In the last few years there has been an increase in the incidence of fungal diseases.

'Unfortunately, there is also increasing resistance to anti-fungal drugs used to treat them.


‘Research by our group and others has shown that essential oils may be cheap, efficient alternatives that have minimal side-effects.


‘This is a good starting point for developing this oil for clinical use to manage fungal infections.’


The research, reported in the Journal of Medical Microbiology, was conducted in the lab and the scientists pointed out that real proof would come from testing lavender oil on people, which Professor Salgueiro hopes to start soon.

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Conditions such as athlete’s foot are painful, unsightly and hard to treat, often requiring repeated applications of ointments and creams.

In those with weakened immune systems, fungal infections can be extremely serious and even fatal.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1357098/Lavender-oil-revealed-fragrant-way-athletes-foot-boot.html#ixzz1EBwSEF4m

How coffee can boost the brainpower of women...

How coffee can boost the brainpower of women... but scrambles men's thinking

By Pat Hagan and Fiona Macrae
Last updated at 12:57 AM on 2nd February 2011

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Next time you have a high-pressure meeting at work, keep an eye on what goes into your colleagues’ cups.
Drinking coffee improves women’s brainpower in stressful situations – but sends men into meltdown, according to a study.

While sipping a cappuccino or downing an espresso boosts women’s performance when working with others, the same drinks impair men’s memories and slow their decision-making.

Boost: Drinking coffee improves women¿s brainpower in stressful situations - but sends men into meltdown, according to a study. 

And given that Britons get through some 70million cups of coffee a day, the implications are significant, say the researchers.

Psychologist Dr Lindsay St Claire said: ‘Many meetings, including those at which military and other decisions are made, are likely to be male-dominated.

‘Because caffeine is the most widely consumed drug in the world, the global implications are potentially staggering.’

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The researchers, from Bristol University, wanted to examine what coffee does to the body when it is already under stress, such as during a tense meeting.

They recruited 64 men and women and put them in same-sex pairs. Each pair was given a range of tasks to complete, including carrying out negotiations, completing puzzles and tackling memory challenges, and told they would have to give a public presentation relating to their tasks afterwards.

Half of the pairs were given decaffeinated coffee, while the others were handed a cup containing a large shot of caffeine. 

The researchers found that men’s performance in memory tests was ‘greatly impaired’ if they drank the caffeinated coffee.

Stress: Britons get through some 70million cups of coffee a day

They also took an average of 20 seconds longer to complete the puzzles than those on the decaffeinated coffee.

But women completed the puzzles 100 seconds faster if they had been given caffeine, the Journal of Applied Social Psychology reports.

Previous studies have suggested that coffee may provide protection against diabetes, Alzheimer’s disease, liver damage and gout.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1352700/Coffee-boosts-womens-brainpower-scrambles-mens-thinking.html#ixzz1Cu5KeTBV

Exercise really does make you clever

Exercise really does make you clever: Fit children have better memories say experts

By Sophie Borland
Last updated at 10:42 PM on 16th September 2010

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If you want to boost your child’s results at school, you could do a lot worse than ensuring that they do plenty of exercise. 

Scientists have already shown that physical activity can make you brainier. But a team in America has used scans to show that an important part of the brain actually grows in children who are fit.

These youngsters tend to be more intelligent and have better memories than those who are inactive.

Physically fit children performed better in memory tests and had larger hippocampi, according to a new study (posed)

Scientists also found that one of the most important parts of their brains was 12 per cent larger than those of unfit youngsters.

They believe that encouraging children to take exercise from a very young age could help them do better at school later. 

Researchers from the University of Illinois, in the U.S., studied the brains of 49 children aged nine and ten using a magnetic resonance imaging scan, a technique which provides very detailed pictures of organs and tissues in the body.

They also tested the fitness levels of the children by making them run on a treadmill. The scientists found that the hippocampus, a part of the brain responsible for memory and learning, was around 12 per cent larger in the fitter youngsters.


They found that these children performed much better in memory tests. 

Professor Art Kramer, who led the study published in the journal Brain Research, said the findings had important implications for encouraging individuals to take part in sport from a young age. 

‘We knew that experience and environmental factors and socioeconomic status all impact brain development,’ he said.

‘If you get some lousy genes from your parents, you can’t really fix that, and it’s not easy to do something about your economic status. 

But here’s something that we can do something about. ‘This is the first study I know of that has used MRI measures to look at differences in brain between kids who are fit and kids who aren’t.’

The findings could encourage parents and schools to make exercise more of a priority for young children. 

Figures show the majority of youngsters lead inactive lifestyles, with a third of those of primary school age either overweight or obese.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1312622/Exercise-really-does-make-clever-Fit-children-better-memories.html#ixzz1BaWNDxfr