Exercise reduces greed (Yahoo!7)

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by Crystelle Coulon

If you’re obsessed with making more money, buying more shoes or just having more of everything, then a new study from the University of Berlin is for you.

Researchers have found that the "natural high" associated with aerobic exercise (think: doing a spin class or pounding the pavement), dampened participants' need for rewards – such as money.

The team of researchers performed an experiment on two groups of volunteers: the first group were sedentary, while the others were trained endurance athletes. They asked the volunteers to perform 30 minutes of demanding exercise on a treadmill, or the same amount of time doing "placebo exercise" such as stretching.

RELATED: Being selfish makes you happy

An hour later, they played a monetary incentive game where the volunteers had to press buttons quickly to try and gain or avoid losing a Euro. The researchers found that the brain didn't respond any differently when it came to losing a Euro – but it dulled all the participants' desire to win money.

The research, which was published in the journal Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, follows a recent study (published in the same journal) that found exercise dramatically alters our attitudes towards food.

The study asked 35 women to look at pictures of food – both after a morning of exercise and after a morning without exercise. They found that after a brisk workout, the women’s attention response to the images decreased.

Lead author Professor James LeCheminant, from Brigham Young University, said: "This study provides evidence that exercise not only affects energy output, but it also may affect how people respond to food cues."

So next time you're tempted by a hit on the pokies or trip to the buffet, maybe head to the gym instead.

RELATED: Why photos of animals make you a better employee

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Being selfish makes you happier (Yahoo!7)

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Next time you want to pocket your spare change instead of leaving a tip behind, don’t feel guilty.

While we’re brought up to believe that “sharing is caring” and that altruism is the shortcut to happiness, prioritizing yourself over others can make you feel so damn good.

According to new research published in the journal Psychological Science, when our own self-interest is imposed on us it helps us to avoid feelings of guilt while we relish the benefits all to ourselves. That is, we really can have our cake and eat it too, but only if we're told to do so.

In the first of two studies, psychological scientists Jonathan Berman and Deborah Small tested the theory that that removing an individuals' sense of agency would remove their feeling of responsibility for an outcome, leaving them free to enjoy self-interest without feeling selfish.

In it, they gave $3 each to 216 undergraduates. One group of participants were told to donate their money to a non-profit charity (imposed-charity condition), some were told to keep the money (imposed self-interest condition), and the remaining participants were told they could do whatever they wanted with it (choice-condition).

RELATED: Why it's important to say no

As the researchers hypothesized, those who were given the option to keep the money for themselves reported being happier than those who were told to donate their money or those who were given the freedom to choose what to do with it.

"Often people really want to act in a selfish manner," Berman says. "But they don't do so, because they know they would feel selfish if they did."

The researchers speculated, however, that it was possible that the self-interest choice group could have been happier because there was no choice at all, so they conducted a second experiment to see if choice really matters.

In the next study, all participants had to choose between two options. Once again, the participants were happiest when they could choose between two options that would benefit themselves and not others.

The study revealed that while freedom of choice was important to participants, it ultimately didn't make them happier; having no choice freed them from any guilt standing in the way of happiness.
Source: Science Daily

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Your brain on an orgasm

Volunteers masturbated inside a functional MRI machine so that researchers could deepen their understanding of the female orgasm. They found that from build-up to orgasm, your brain lights up like Sydney Harbour on December 31.
AT FIRST TOUCH

The brain’s genital sensory cortex fires up. “The clitoris, vagina and cervix each stimulate different parts of the cortex,” says behavioural neuroscientist Dr Barry Komisaruk, who led the MRI study by Rutgers University, US.