Learning during sleep
You may have heard that sleep is very important during a test or exam week. This is because sleep is important for your memory. Sleep...
You may have heard that sleep is very important during a test or exam week. This is because sleep is important for your memory. Sleep...
As you may know depression is one of the most common mental health disorders and affects millions of people globally. Either you or someone around...
Have you ever wondered why you felt so tired after lunch, a few hours after your first cup of coffee, or why consuming a maté...
In our current world, working from 9 until 5 o’clock is almost the exception rather than the rule. 20% of the working adults, the so-called...
The way our genes work can be influenced by our environment; this is called epigenetics. However, what if we could directly alter our genes? New...
Quite a strange idea: Every night we lie down waiting to go into some sort of unconscious state, trusting that we will wake up about...
In the current society, we have the tendency to try to label everyone, so we can justify someone’s behavior. In psychology we do the same;...
A human's brain contains about 100 billion neurons that are interconnected in many ways. This makes it rather complicated to study. It would be handy...
Did I lock the car? Did I leave the gas on? Do I have my wallet with me? These are all very normal thoughts that...
You are sitting on the train, looking out of the window, caught up in deep thought. You are probably daydreaming or reflecting on yourself. At...
Do you know the feeling that you get when eating your favourite meal, or of drinking your first beer on a Friday evening? Supposedly, this...
I have good news for some of you and bad news for others, your brain peaks early in your life expectancy; very early. The common...
Everyone is getting older. And so is the brain, which is reflected in the health of our brains. Many people experience dementia as they age,...
Alzheimer's disease is the most common form of dementia, for which researchers are still searching for a cure. As a starting point, the amyloid cascade...
Ray Nayler’s recent science-fiction novel “The Mountain in the Sea” is an imaginative dive into the depths of neuroscientific theories on consciousness, language development and...
What is intermittent fasting?Fasting has been part of human history for millennia. During our hunter-gatherer ages, we would run into times where food was scarce,...
You probably know that people nowadays are getting older than ever before, that is because our living conditions and medical knowledge are better than in...
Maybe you are familiar with the following; when you are stressed or upset, you get nauseous which you experience in your stomach. This portrays exactly...
We at Brainmatters mainly focus on the science part of the brain, but it's also interesting to take a look into the clinic. Selma Coumans...
Horror, my brain and I It’s spooky season. Isn’t there a better time to cuddle up in front of your TV and watch a horror...
You're biking home alone through the dark and you're afraid someone will chase you. You are afraid of spiders, heights or small spaces. Do these...
Where does the term come from?Have you watched Marvel Movies? You might be familiar with the villain Thanos, who has such power that he can...
On a sunny Thursday in October, I got on my bike towards Berg en Terblijt where Aimée Coenen welcomed me in her large farmhouse. After...
Meditation is beginning to gain a foothold in the West. Perhaps our busy, Western culture has an increasing need to take a closer look at...
Mindfulness meditation is a form of meditation that focuses entirely on the here and now. All attention is on breathing in and out calmly. The...
Meditation causes the brain to work differently. Not just during meditation itself, but for weeks afterward. New research shows sustained effects in a brain region...
A new study shows that a breathing-based meditation technique helps people with severe depression in whom even medication has no effect. More than half of...
It's nothing new, of course, but totally contemporary again: meditating. It is said to be good for body and mind, to provide relief, peace in...
If your mom is afraid of spiders, then there's a good chance you are too. We already know from previous research that parents' fears are...
Discussion around the topic of psychedelic drugs tends to trip people up a lot, but with its increasing acceptance in the scientific and therapeutic field,...
Walking down the street by yourself late at night, until in the distance you see a person standing in the shadows. With a pounding heart,...
Have you ever fallen in love? If yes, then you probably know how exciting and all-encompassing this experience can be. But falling in love also...
Nowadays, social media is full of ‘fitgirls or boys’. At first glance, this seems of no harm, especially with obesity being a worldwide problem among...
We are all afraid from time to time. Some cannot stand horror films, others are afraid of spiders, and yet others get weak in the...
Hey you! Yes, you! Are you conscious right now? Of course you are, right? But what does this actually mean? Consciousness is an extremely intuitive,...
Besides ‘How to Change Your Mind’, another relatively new Netflix series called ‘The Mind explained’ consists of short episodes of approximately 20 minutes each. Each...
We all have habits we would like to change; drink less alcohol, cut down our mobile phone usage, and go to the gym more often....
In this book, the famous sleep researcher Matthew Walker tries to unravel all the neuroscientific research on sleep and dreams currently available. In an understandable...
At Brainmatters we are fascinated by the brain. But if you were to see a brain lying on a table, it wouldn't look all that...
While discussing the potential of psychedelics in treating psychological disorders during the course ‘Neuropsychopharmacology’, one of my peers brought up this Netflix documentary series called...
The summer is just coming to an end, and with it a period of heat wave. The elderly and babies in particular suffer from high...
A newborn baby often sees many faces pass by above their crib. Although the visual system is not fully developed at birth, babies develop a...
Here at brainmatters.nl, we love the brain and we hope to get you just as excited about this mysterious organ inside our heads. If you...
When talking about new impressions, a topic that cannot be left undiscussed is love. What happens in our brain when we see a potential partner...
Whenever you meet someone new, you immediately (believe to) have a general sense of what the person is like. This is the first impression we...
how new impression can drain your energy Last year I moved far away from home to study in Maastricht. I had to start from scratch;...
