According to a research report released this week there might be yet another benefit to having that daily cup of coffee every morning. Essentially the report shows that for participants that consumed approximately the same amount of caffeine as 1 cup of coffee there was a noticeable improvement of memory functions for both long term and short term. The study participants that received the caffeine were consistently able to outperform the other participants, making it a very real possibility that coffee or other caffeine drinks can have a significant impact.

Obviously one study was not enough to be medically conclusive so multiple follow up studies are being planned at this point. Doctors did not that it was surprising to see that the results were so black and white, making it highly likely that future studies will confirm the results. Many doctors have recommended coffee or similar drinks for patients due to the other various health benefits and now it looks like there is another reason to continue drinking coffee. This is great news for coffee and tea drinkers everywhere, so if you enjoy a little caffeine every morning now is the time to celebrate, you’ve been helping your brain remember things much better than without it.

For years scientists and researchers have studied the negative effects stress can have on people’s lives but until just recently there were very few benefits to stress. According to an educational research study released this week however stress can actually lead to improved memory functions.

The study was conducted at the University of Bristol and contrary to predictions students under extreme stress actually outperformed their unstressed counterparts. The reason for this is also quite clear according to them; the hormones released when under stress are apparently closely related to memory recall and storage.

Researchers went on to say that being stressed while learning or reviewing information basically increases a student’s ability to remember what they are doing. They say that for thousands of college students around the world this is good news, especially given current study habits.

Of course there is always a drawback as well; researchers confirmed that being over stressed will in fact have the opposite effect on students. Too much of the stress hormones will apparently put the brain into a mode of confusion and as a result much of the information being studied is not able to be remembered or recalled at a later date. Further studies are being conducted by numerous colleges to further investigate how stress and hormones are related though at this time much of the scientific world agrees that a moderate level of stress is good for students to help boost their memory and memory recall functions.

Obviously being overweight already has plenty of disadvantages but today a research report published indicates that losing weight may do even more than previously thought. Obviously losing weight is encouraged because being overweight causes various health problems but it turns out weight loss actually helps improve memory function as well as other brain activity.

The study was conducted using a large variety of people that were both overweight and not overweight. The study found that in general people that were overweight had significantly more memory problems than those that were not overweight. More importantly the study showed that as people began to lose weight their memory functions began to recover very quickly and were able to return to normal.

Along with improved memory weight loss patients also showed a substantial decrease in heart health issues; which was already a well known benefit. This just goes to show that losing weight should be a top priority for anyone overweight. The drawbacks to being overweight keep getting bigger and bigger so it only makes sense that eventually the world’s obesity problem will go away.

Researchers not involved with the study have already commented that this is quite a groundbreaking discovery. Linking memory and other brain functions to obesity is quite substantial because of the wide variety of affects it could have. Further follow up studies are being planned right now and will likely be conducted sometime in the near future to see what other parts of the mind might be affected by being overweight or obese.