Sep 6, 2020 04:49 PM
Sorry, gym bunnies, but men with dad bods just make better fathers
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...every-time
INTRO: Men who have put on lockdown weight, rejoice - women have a positive opinion about it. Researchers from the University of Southern Mississippi found that women perceived men with dad bods to be better parent material. While the gym-honed body is considered generally more attractive, it scores the lowest with women regarding monogamy and child-rearing.
For the study, 800 women were shown bodies ranging from lean to slightly overweight. The dad bod came out on top, while the gym bod came last. Dad bods scored high with positive behaviours: “Babies melt this person’s heart”; “This person tries to teach their child new things”. Gym bods were assigned negative traits, such as “This person thinks kids are annoying” and “This person grabs or handles their child roughly”. The research also alludes ominously to gym bods’ “pluralistic mating strategies”.
So there you have it, all those with gym bods. Women find you alluring during their cocktail-sipping/nightclub-surfing years but when they want to get serious, they think you’re bad fathers and serial cheaters. Is this harsh on men who just wish to keep physically fit? Maybe it says less about actual gym bods than it does about creepy gym guy syndrome. Many women have come across creepy gym guys: men with ripped musculature bulging out of neon singlets who appear to live semi-permanently in the weights section, occasionally lifting dumbbells with attention-seeking grunts, but mainly sitting on benches, ogling women.
Understandably, few women want the likes of creepy gym guy to father their children. However, there’s widespread confusion about dad bods... (MORE - details)
Researchers Discover a Specific Brain Circuit Damaged by Social Isolation During Childhood
https://www.mountsinai.org/about/newsroo...-childhood
INTRO: Loneliness is recognized as a serious threat to mental health. Even as our world becomes increasingly connected over digital platforms, young people in our society are feeling a growing sense of isolation. The COVID-19 pandemic, which forced many countries to implement social distancing and school closures, magnifies the need for understanding the mental health consequences of social isolation and loneliness. While research has shown that social isolation during childhood, in particular, is detrimental to adult brain function and behavior across mammalian species, the underlying neural circuit mechanisms have remained poorly understood.
A research team from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai has now identified specific sub-populations of brain cells in the prefrontal cortex, a key part of the brain that regulates social behavior, that are required for normal sociability in adulthood and are profoundly vulnerable to juvenile social isolation in mice. The study findings, which appear in the August 31 issue of Nature Neuroscience, shed light on a previously unrecognized role of these cells, known as medial prefrontal cortex neurons projecting to the paraventricular thalamus, the brain area that relays signals to various components of the brain's reward circuitry. If the finding is replicated in humans, it could lead to treatments for psychiatric disorders connected to isolation... (MORE)
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...every-time
INTRO: Men who have put on lockdown weight, rejoice - women have a positive opinion about it. Researchers from the University of Southern Mississippi found that women perceived men with dad bods to be better parent material. While the gym-honed body is considered generally more attractive, it scores the lowest with women regarding monogamy and child-rearing.
For the study, 800 women were shown bodies ranging from lean to slightly overweight. The dad bod came out on top, while the gym bod came last. Dad bods scored high with positive behaviours: “Babies melt this person’s heart”; “This person tries to teach their child new things”. Gym bods were assigned negative traits, such as “This person thinks kids are annoying” and “This person grabs or handles their child roughly”. The research also alludes ominously to gym bods’ “pluralistic mating strategies”.
So there you have it, all those with gym bods. Women find you alluring during their cocktail-sipping/nightclub-surfing years but when they want to get serious, they think you’re bad fathers and serial cheaters. Is this harsh on men who just wish to keep physically fit? Maybe it says less about actual gym bods than it does about creepy gym guy syndrome. Many women have come across creepy gym guys: men with ripped musculature bulging out of neon singlets who appear to live semi-permanently in the weights section, occasionally lifting dumbbells with attention-seeking grunts, but mainly sitting on benches, ogling women.
Understandably, few women want the likes of creepy gym guy to father their children. However, there’s widespread confusion about dad bods... (MORE - details)
Researchers Discover a Specific Brain Circuit Damaged by Social Isolation During Childhood
https://www.mountsinai.org/about/newsroo...-childhood
INTRO: Loneliness is recognized as a serious threat to mental health. Even as our world becomes increasingly connected over digital platforms, young people in our society are feeling a growing sense of isolation. The COVID-19 pandemic, which forced many countries to implement social distancing and school closures, magnifies the need for understanding the mental health consequences of social isolation and loneliness. While research has shown that social isolation during childhood, in particular, is detrimental to adult brain function and behavior across mammalian species, the underlying neural circuit mechanisms have remained poorly understood.
A research team from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai has now identified specific sub-populations of brain cells in the prefrontal cortex, a key part of the brain that regulates social behavior, that are required for normal sociability in adulthood and are profoundly vulnerable to juvenile social isolation in mice. The study findings, which appear in the August 31 issue of Nature Neuroscience, shed light on a previously unrecognized role of these cells, known as medial prefrontal cortex neurons projecting to the paraventricular thalamus, the brain area that relays signals to various components of the brain's reward circuitry. If the finding is replicated in humans, it could lead to treatments for psychiatric disorders connected to isolation... (MORE)
