Mud and the Academic
Posted: 05 Apr 2007, 07:11As a forum lurker who enjoys the banter and bandinage that passes through these postings on a daily basis I have been content with just lurking! However I saw this just now on MSN's home page and thought you'd all like to share it with me! It just says what we all have found out independantly and does rather prove that even academics can be (and probable are) into WAM as much as we all are.
Quote:
There was further proof this week that adults and kids alike need to shun the telly and video games and instead embrace the great outdoors. Scientists at Bristol University and University College London found that exposure to dirt may be an effective way of lifting our mood and giving our immune system a boost.
The researchers found that mice exposed to a ‘friendly’ bacteria normally found in the soil altered their behaviour in a way similar to that produced by antidepressant drugs. The results of the study were published in the journal Neuroscience and described how levels of serotonin, the brain’s ‘happy’ chemical, were boosted by the bacteria, just as they are by the drugs prescribed to battle depression.
Quote:
There was further proof this week that adults and kids alike need to shun the telly and video games and instead embrace the great outdoors. Scientists at Bristol University and University College London found that exposure to dirt may be an effective way of lifting our mood and giving our immune system a boost.
The researchers found that mice exposed to a ‘friendly’ bacteria normally found in the soil altered their behaviour in a way similar to that produced by antidepressant drugs. The results of the study were published in the journal Neuroscience and described how levels of serotonin, the brain’s ‘happy’ chemical, were boosted by the bacteria, just as they are by the drugs prescribed to battle depression.