Well, you can say that fast, loud and danceable tunes give you a lift. It's common sense, right? A dance tune makes one want to dance and the thought itself is associated with fun and celebration. Science, however, tries to explain it a bit further.

In a study reported in ScienceDaily, Daniel Bowling, a neuroscientist at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, compiled around 7500 western classical melodies and Finnish folk tunes. What his team did was measure the distribution of tones in both major and minor keys. What his team found out: the minor thirds (melody note pitched three semitones higher that the tune's keynote) represent 15 percent of the tones in minor pieces, while they are found to be less than 1 percent of tones in major pieces.

These musical intervals, when compared to spoken vowels, show that music in major keys closely match excited speech, e.g., "animated accounts of winning lottery," while music in minor keys match those of sad speech, e.g. failed marriage, etc.

Besides the happy lyrics of "Singin' in the Rain" or the dark and depressing "Gloomy Sunday" by Diamada Galas (or any other song that would make you want to slit your wrists), it's actually the patterns of pitches in major or minor keys that shape the emotion we get from certain musical expressions.

How about a song that takes you "Walking on Sunshine?"  Or better still, how about going "Singin' in the Rain"? Go ahead, make your day!

 

We bet that if you were to inquire with your local health club we would find a rise in the number of patrons' visits. Funny it is that we're so stressed about money and yet go out and spend more money to de-stress.

Zen Habits has an interesting post about 8 Unconventional Ways to De-Stress and Release Tension. Get a load of this: 1. Massage your ears; 2. Finger paint; 3. Strip down your living room; 4. Try laughing yoga; 5. Procrastinate (??!!!); 6. Be brutally honest; 7. Dance in the rain; 8. Enjoy a "staycation."

Side note: Out of curiosity, I tried massaging my ears and it works!

"Start by gently rubbing your earlobes with your thumb and index finger. Then squeeze the outer edges of your ears all the way to the top. .... Finish by using your index fingers and middle fingers to massage behind the ears on the bony part of your skull."

It says that an ear massage makes your brain release endorphins -- your happy hormones. It appears that your ears have tiny reflex points that relax certain parts of your body. Go ahead and try it!

The rest of the tips are also great. Some may sound a bit crazy, e.g. dance in the rain (and singing too, a la Gene Kelly?) but they're actually pretty easy to do. Don't cost you a penny either!

For an easy, take-it-anywhere, do-it-anywhere de-stresser, check out iMusic's ZenMeditate here.

And oh, an educated woman is not necessarily a domineering know-it-all wife that tends to run your life for you -- whether you boys agree or disagree with this, it's an entirely different matter.

A study published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology shows that loneliness is contagious. The study said that loneliness can spread through social networks like a virus. And it is more pervasive among friends, and friends of friends, and friends of friends of friends, than among family members. John Cacioppo at the University of Chicago said that like the common cold, you catch loneliness from someone afflicted by it. A person's loneliness projected through his body language, facial expression and the way he speaks, may affect and make those around him feel lonely too.

Loneliness is a subjective measure that researchers define as how someone feels isolated, or his perceived social isolation. Being alone or isolation are a different matter.

The lonelier you are, the more chances you'll lose friends over time, which makes you more lonely and isolated. It's a vicious cycle.

The good news is, like the common cold, loneliness can be cured. And you should try to find a way out of loneliness. Studies have shown that lonely people are at a greater risk for mental and physical problems. Depression, alcoholism, obesity, heart disease, and a weakened immune system are just some of the effects you risk having when you suffer from long bouts of loneliness.

To win The Biggest Loser, or any other similar struggles in life, you got to have support. Whether you are looking at losing weight, quitting smoking or drinking, getting good grades, or performing well at work, don't do it alone. You got to have support from people around you.

From The Biggest Loser team themselves, here are some of the qualities you should look for in your support person/s:

1. Non-judgmental. What you need is a supporter, no one who would judge and criticize you for every decision you make.

2. Positive and inspiring. If you suffer setbacks, helps you back on track and helps you see how to move forward to your goals.

3. Good listener. Really listens to what you are saying.

4. Altruistic. Really cares about you succeeding and would go out of his way to help you achieve your goal. Last thing he'd do is to do anything that would sabotage your efforts.

5. Reliable. You can count on him whenever you need help.

For support on the fly, you can turn to iMusic's arsenal of products that can be deployed in just 6 minutes - anytime of the day. We recommend IvyFocus, and/or BrainAmp with the FitDrive Suite, and EnergySuite. These additions to anyone's training library trigger peak performance and easily puts you in the "zone." Eliminate pre-exercise mental sluggishness and resistance with just a touch of a button. To find out more, visit us here and click on "key features and benefits"

Dear Joy Pursuer,

Volition has been in business for quite sometime now-- almost 8 years -- and ever since we opened our doors, our passionate focus has been to generate more joy for our clients. Sure, we often call it performance or success, but it all adds up to J-O-Y.

Starting with this first post, we’ll be passing along a little of what we’ve learned over the years. After all, what good is wisdom if you don’t share it!

We have much more to offer than just the tools we provide, so we hope you enjoy this outlet and find it useful.

Recently, one of our team members was indulging their desire for supreme chef status at a school for the culinary arts, when they were told that “life is like a kitchen, it only creates delicious entrees if you choose your ingredients wisely.”

With that being said, you can expect us to send you anything and everything we come across that can make you smarter, stronger, swifter, richer, healthier... and in the end happier!

From around the Interweb

• Sciam tells us how forcing a smile on your face will trigger a physical sensation that makes you happier. Psychologists at the University of Cardiff in Wales found that people who get botox and other cosmetic surgeries that make it difficult for them to frown, are happier. Read on yourself
• Caffeine is friend and foe. A morning cup of coffee doesn’t just wake you up. According to a study from the Kaiser Permanente Division of Research, it may also lower your risk of Alzheimer’s disease by keeping your cholesterol levels in check – which is associated with the disease. That doesn’t mean you should chug coffee all day long. One cup a day helps prevent Alzheimer’s - but more than three cups can result in anxiety, headaches, nausea and sleeplessness. Read more
• Lose weight in your sleep. Dr. David Katz is the medical contributor to Good Morning America. And in an interview, he said there’s convincing evidence that getting plenty of sleep can help control weight. How? Well, new studies show that getting less than the recommended 8 hours boosts our levels of ghrelin, a hormone that makes you hungry. And at the same time, it suppresses another hormone – leptin – that’s the one that makes you feel full. Read more
• Are you an optimist? Positivity attracts winners and leaders into your life. Take this survey to see where you stand
• Mismanaging your spending might mean Alzheimer's is around the corner. Read on
• Do you have sitting disease? You can shop, pay bills, make a living, and with Twitter and Facebook, even catch up with friends without so much as standing up. And the consequences of all that easy living are profound. Read more

Let's Hope These Don't Make You Lose Sleep Some More.

We simply could not overemphasize the importance of sleeping. Especially now that scientists link lack of sleep to Alzheimer's, obesity, heart ailments, and even death, among others.

Check out 5 of the dangers associated with chronic lack of sleep:

1. Alzheimer's Disease - that dreaded ailment anyone approaching the age of 65 starts worrying about. Why, it afflicts 34 million worldwide (Alzheimer's Disease International), and this number could increase by more than 35 million by 2010. To make things worse (and scarier) is that there is still no known cure for this disease. Alzheimer's Disease is the most common form of dementia. Those afflicted with it suffer memory loss and confusion. This will worsen to a point the patient will not be able to care for himself, and not know what to do when the urge to go to the bathroom arises.

In a study published by Reuters, scientists discovered that chronic lack of sleep spurs the development of toxic plaques in the brain that destroys neurons.

2. Alters hormones and metabolism - having just four hours of sleep each night can make you look old - after less than a week. Sleeping less than the standard eight-hour sleep produces a significant change in your glucose tolerance and endocrine function. These changes resemble the effects of aging or diabetes in it early stages.

3. Weight gain - the most obvious tie-ins to obesity would be sleep-deprivation and the wooziness that makes exercise a near impossibility. But it's more than that. As cited above, some of the changes include hormonal imbalances involving leptin and ghrelin. Leptin suppresses your appetite so you'll stop eating, and makes you more active so you burn off more energy. Ghrelin, on the other hand, stimulates hunger. You have more ghrelin before meals and it decreases after meals.

When you are sleeping, leptin increases so you don't feel hungry. When you lack sleep, leptin is at a low supply and you have too much ghrelin that tells your brain you are hungry. So you eat. And eat. And eat.

3. Increased susceptibility to common cold - in a study published in Archives of Internal Medicine, 153 healthy participants' sleep efficiency were monitored for 14 days. They were then quarantined and administered nasal drops containing rhinovirus, a type of virus that is responsible for common colds in adults and children. Those who had slept less than 7 hours on average were found to be more likely to develop colds compared to those who sleep at an average of 8 hours or more.

4. Heart problems - Time.com reports a study published in the Journal of American Medical Association, that "too little sleep can promote calcium buildup in the heart arteries, leading to the plaques that can then break apart and cause heart attacks and strokes."

5. Diabetes - chronic lack of sleep causes hormonal imbalance (there it is again!) that affects glucose regulation. You don't produce enough insulin producing cells that, in turn, cause your glucose levels to rise. Insulin is necessary to keep your blood sugar level in check. If you don't sleep enough (7-8 hours a night) for a whole week, insulin and blood sugar levels in your system mimic those of a diabetic's.

We've just named 5, and there are a lot more. As it weakens your immune system, one possible effect of chronic lack of sleep is death. Continually depriving yourself of enough sleep could lead to long-term changes in the brain or mental disorders such as depression. Sleep is the time when our brain consolidates memory and information, it is needed to regenerate certain parts of the body.

If you think you are being productive when you skip sleep to work, think again. Don't go to bed thinking about this tonight as this could be worrisome. Worry causes stress.

Stress can keep you up at night, sleepless. 

Let's get some hints from Jason Kapalka of PopCap Games (creators of Bejeweled) and Dr. Carl Arinoldo, a New York psychologist.

Kapalka lists:

1. SFX - those "pings" and muted but thunderous explosions actually influence you to stay on in the game. Notice how the notes get higher as you progress? It makes you want to hear more of those rising pitch - sort of gratifying to hear as you blast away.

2. High Scores - no, not the 1,000 or 2,000 kind of scores - we're talking by the millions here. Kapalka says it's the pinball machine rule. You wouldn't be too proud saying your average score is 64, would you?

3. Low pressure game - they're either slow paced or they don't have time limit at all. PopCap games removed the distraction of unnecessary stress associated with high pressure environment. This works especially for games played by single players.

4. Big rewards - the visual rewards once a new level is reached tend to pat the player in the back. With Peggle, you get rainbows and fireworks and "Ode to Joy" is played - it's a big payoff for the player.

Dr. Arinoldo lists:

5. On-screen changes - the constantly evolving screen increases your engagement, said Dr. Arinoldo. These on-screen changes keeps your brain going, putting new groups of brain cells to work, and increases your concentration.

6. Cognitive benefits - Dr. Arinoldo said that besides the gratification one gets from these games, the player's stress levels go down and shows signs of increase in attention span. As it improves focus, it also assists with problem solving and decision making.

Let's get back to that deadline two hours ago... you're toast!   You procrastinated.

Procrastination and online casual games ... a very bad combination.