Appreciating the intrinsic beauty in life's everyday moments can contribute to a more meaningful existence, according to new research.
In a paper recently published in Nature Human Behavior, Joshua Hicks, a professor in the Texas A&M University Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, says this may be a previously unaccounted for factor tied to perceptions of meaning.
"It might not relate to whether you matter in the grand scheme of things, but we've shown people who value the little things, like your cup of coffee in the morning or being mindful in conversations with others, tend to have a high sense of meaning in life," he said.
Hicks studies existential psychology. Put simply, he aims to understand the "big questions" in life. He describes his main focus as the experience of life—studying people's subjective feeling that their life has meaning.
Scholars like Hicks generally agree there are three main sources of a subjectively meaningful existence: coherence, or the feeling that one's life "makes sense"; the possession of clear, long-term goals and sense of purpose; and existential mattering. This last factor, he says, is the belief that one's actions matter to others.
What Hicks and his co-authors argue in their latest research is that appreciating and finding value in experiences, referred to as experiential appreciation, is a fourth fundamental pathway toward finding meaning in life.
Want a higher GPA in college? Join a gym
Michigan State University, July 10, 2022
For those students looking to bump up their grade point averages during college, the answer may not be spending more time in a library or study hall, but in a gym.
New Michigan State University research shows that students who were members of the recreational sports and fitness centers on MSU's campus during their freshman and sophomore years had higher GPAs than those who weren't.
The research also indicated that students with memberships stayed in school longer. An increase of 3.5 percent in two-year retention rates was seen among this group.
The research supports previous theories suggesting that by creating an environment that connects students to an institution, in this case a university recreational facility, an increase in academic success and retention can occur. During the project, Pivarnik's team analyzed data from a sample of freshmen and sophomores, totaling 4,843 students, and compared the GPAs of those who purchased a fitness facility membership and those who did not. Results showed that after four consecutive semesters, the students with memberships obtained higher cumulative GPAs. They also had more credits completed by the end of their first year in college.
Men's hot flashes: Hypnotic relaxation may ease the discomfort men don't talk about
Baylor University, July 10, 2022
Men who experience hot flashes are unlikely to talk much about it, but they may find relief from their silent suffering if they are willing to try an unusual treatment, according to findings from a Baylor University case study.
After seven weeks of hypnotic relaxation therapy, a 69-year-old man who had uncontrolled hot flashes following prostate cancer surgery showed a drastic decrease not only in hot flashes but also an impressive improvement in sleep quality, according to the study.
Men's hot flashes are, of course, not related to estrogen, the primary female sex hormone. They occur in men with a history of prostate cancer — the second most common malignancy in men — or another disorder causing a testosterone deficiency.
Up to 80 percent of prostate survivors experience hot flashes, and about 50 percent of those experience them as severe and needing treatment. What's more, hot flashes due to prostate cancer tend to be more frequent, more severe and more prolonged than those women experience.
The new research follows previous published studies by Elkins that found a marked decrease in hot flashes among postmenopausal women and also among breast cancer survivors who have undergone hypnotic relaxation therapy. It reduced hot flashes by as much as 80 percent, and research findings by clinically trained therapists show it also improved participants' quality of life and lessened anxiety and depression. (Quality of life included such issues as work, sexuality, social and leisure activities, mood and concentration.)
