Better You, Backed by Science - David R Hamilton PHD

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It's a weekly tip, grounded in science, to help you think better, feel better, and live better.

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The email will contain a simple, science-backed insight, tip, or strategy that takes just a minute to two to read, and a suggestion for how to try it out in your life.

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Latest Better You, Backed by Science articles.

Image depicting brain rest. Brain sitting on a blue-white striped deck chair with a blue and white parasol above it. The background is an egg-yolk yellow.

Friday 7 August 2026: Why Your Brain Needs Space

Rest isn't something we just take as a luxury. Science shows that it's part of productivity. Rest allows the brain to process and consolidate what it's been learning.

Read the article here.

Illustration of kind genes. Two pink strands in a helix pattern with faded pink cells in the background.

Wednesday 29 July 2026: Nature's Ultimate Health Tonic

Research shows that kindness to others impacts a genetic program that results in reduced inflammation and a bolstering of natural antiviral activity. Kindness signals safety in the brain.

Read the article here.

A typical street in Locorotondo, Italy. A narrow street with white buildings. Buildings are adorned with many green plants and flowers. There are a number of tables and chairs close to the wall on the right, belonging to a local restaurant.

Friday 24 July 2026: Your Brain Needs More Beauty

The science of neuroaesthetics shows that beauty reduces stress, boosts positive emotions, calms the nervous system, and expands perception. Beauty has these effects because it signals safety in the brain.

Read the article here.

Illustration showing what your brain stops letting you see through habituation. Brain made of coloured blocks representing different regions. Hello, red, orange, green, blue, and purple. There's a grid surrounding it.

Wednesday 15 July 2026: What Your Brain Stops Letting You See

Ever wonder why you stop noticing the smell of your own home? Discover habituation - the fascinating process behind what your brain stops letting you see.

Read the article here.

Diagram showing action observation in the brain. Colourful image of neurons in the brain and a transparent robotic image of a person's head, where we can see the brain and wires inside. The image is brightly lit with blues, pinks, and purples.

Thursday 9 July 2026: Watch, Learn, Repeat: The Science of Action Observation

Unlock the ultimate shortcut to muscle memory. Learn how the science of action observation turns visual practice into real-world physical improvement.

Read the article here.

Close up of hands on top of one another. We see a father's palm, a mother's on top of it, then the palm of a young child, and a baby's palm on top.

Wednesday 1 July 2026: Why Tiny Moments Become Life's Biggest memories

We don't remember our lives. We remember the moments that captured our attention and carried emotional meaning. Emotion acts like the highlighter pen of life.

Read the article here.

Sunset with hands holding a clock that is showing multiple versions of itself across the sky, as if going back in time. There's also a series of musical notes stretching back in time.

Wednesday 24 June 2026: The Closest Thing to Time Travel

When you hear a song associated with a specific period of your life, your brain can partially recreate the emotional state that accompanied it as well as where you were, what you were doing, and who you were with.

Read the article here.

Silhouette of young woman on sky background with sun inside her head.

Wednesday 17 June 2026: Name It to Savour It

While naming negative emotions reduces their intensity (affect labelling), studies show that naming positive emotions increases their intensity.

Read the article here.

Square block of nine squares (3 by 3), each of a different colour and containing a cartoon face depicting different expressions - mostly smiles. Top middle (yellow) shows boredom and top right (blue) shows irritation, but the rest are of varying types of smiles, with the eyes helping to distinguish between smiles.

Wednesday 10 June 2026: Name It to Tame It

That process of identifying and naming a specific emotion appears to change how the brain responds to it. It's known as 'affect labelling' and it reduces activity in the brain's threat detection system.

Read the article here. Watch the YouTube video

Cartoon of woman walking across a blue sky by stepping on three floating lightbulbs. Two bulbs are yellow and one is grey. Moving from the left, she's currently stepping from the grey one, which is smaller, onto a larger yellow one in the middle, and there's an even larger yellow one on the right, which would be her next step.

Wednesday 3 June 2026: Why Expectations Change Experience... and how to change yours

Expectation shapes perception across many domains - from taste and pain to performance and wellbeing. Here's the science and some ways to work with your own expectations.

Read the article here.

Image of a digital brain with connected lights inside it and two hands around it, but not touching it. The background is a blurred out light blue but we can slightly make out that the hands belong to a person.

Wednesday 27 May 2026: Why Your Brain Loves Stories

Rather than engaging just one system (which happens when you hear a fact), stories recruit several at once. They can trigger emotion, create mental images, activate memory, generate curiosity, and help us predict what happens next. This is why we remember stories better than facts.

Read the article here.

Cartoon illustration of woman with flowing hair in the wind, clouds in the pale green sky behind. She has her hands on her heart and there's red hearts emanating from her heart. She's wearing a mustard coloured top.

Wednesday 20 May 2026: One Year. 52 Emails. One Important Lesson.

Your body doesn't stay neutral when you're kind. Research has shown that kindness impacts circulating immune cells in ways that reduce inflammation and bolster natural antiviral activity.

Read the article here. Watch my YouTube video.

Woman writing colourful post it notes (she is left handed) and sticking them into a page in her diary. She's seated at a wooden table that also has her laptop, glasses, and a white vase containing orange roses. She is wearing a grey short-sleeved top and the photo cuts off at her chin - we only shows her chin and some brown hair hanging down.

Wednesday 13 May 2026: Why Unfinished Tasks Drain Your Energy

The Zeigarnik Effect is how unfinished tasks tend to stick around and take up space in our minds. Knowing this, we can free up mental space by making notes and plans.

Read the article here.

Young woman with long dark brown hair tied back, wearing large circular rimmed glasses, a white blue, and light brown trousers holding an open book with the other hand open, as if explaining something. The background is light blue.

Thursday 7 May 2026: Why Explaining Things Makes You Understand them Better

Studies show that explaining something to others deepens our knowledge and understanding. It's known as the Protégé Effect.

Read the article here. Watch my YouTube video.

Close up of a dandelion starting to shed some seeds. The background is blurred out, but contains bright yellow and greens suggesting morning sunshine.

Wednesday 29 April 2026: Change What You Do by Changing Who You Are

Science is beginning to show that lasting change is less about what you do and more about who you believe you are.

Read the article here.

Photo of a young woman's hands and arms as she holds a pen while writing in a journal. The journal is lined, open, and has a dark, soft cover. She is holding a black pen in her right hand and is writing on the page. There's a coffee cup on the table and the background is blurred out. The image feels warm and soft. The girl also has silver jewellery on her right index finger and middle finger, and one on the middle finger of her left hand.

Wednesday 22 April 2026: Why Writing Helps You Learn Faster

Science shows us that when you're writing by hand, you’re not just copying – you’re processing. And that speeds up learning and understanding.

Read the article here. Watch my YouTube video.

Close up of woman wearing a white blouse typing on her smartphone. There's cartoon images of 'Love', 'Like', 'Laugh', 'notification', and 'person' icons appearing to pop out of her phone.

Wednesday 15 April 2026: What Your Feed is Feeding You

Does whether a person consumes positive or negative content affect whether they will help someone in need? That question was explored in a fascinating experiment.

Read the article here. Watch my YouTube video.

Photo of cooking ingredients on a worktop with a person stirring a glass salad bowl of salad. On the worktop there's garlic, onions, mushrooms, broccoli, spinach leafs, olive oil, sweetcorn, carrots, tomatoes, broccoli, yellow and red peppers, as well as herbs in plant pots. The image is brightly lit and colourful.

Wednesday 8 April 2026: Cooking Once a Week Could Protect Your Brain

Wellness advice often focuses on what we put on our plates – the ingredients – but new research suggests we’ve been overlooking the role of how those ingredients came to land on our plates in the first place.

Read the article here. Watch my YouTube video.

partially snow-capped mountain ranger, looking over the top of a canopy of clouds. The sky is light blue in the background.

Wednesday 1 April 2026: The Emotion that Silences Overthinking

Research suggests that experiences of awe – moments when we encounter something vast or beautiful – can calm the brain systems associated with rumination and self-focused thinking.

Read the article here. Watch my YouTube video.

Girl in her 30s with dark wavy hair making a curious face and looking up with her eyes and closed mouth to the top right. She has her lips pursed and pointing them up in the same direction as her eyes. She is wearing a while blouse and the background is a bright mustard-yellow.

Wednesday 25 March 2026: Turn Anxiety into Curiosity - A Small Mental Shift that Changes How Your Brain Handles Uncertainty

Curiosity reframes the unknown as an opportunity instead of a threat - both neurologically and psychologically.

Read the article here. Watch my YouTube video.

Young woman relaxing at home drinking tea from a large pale blue cup. She sits at the window and the sun is shining. Her eyes are closed as she savours the quiet. She has long, dark brown hair, and is wearing a peach coloured top. She is sitting on a comfy sofa.

Wednesday 18 March 2026: Why Your Brain Needs Silence

Just as muscles need rest time after a workout - to recover and strengthen - the brain needs rest after mental stimulus. And one of the ways to rest it is with silence.

Read the article here. Watch my YouTube video.

Cartoon depiction of a large head and brain with medical staff on ladders adding hearts and cogs into the brain. The head and brain are indigo coloured and the medics are dressed in light blue.

Wednesday 11 March 2026: A Surprising Way Daily Moisturiser May Slow Brain Ageing

Research suggests that daily moisturising may help slow cognitive decline as we age. Ageing skin releases inflammatory substances into the body, which can accelerate ageing, but moisturising can slow this process.

Read the article here. Watch my YouTube video.

Sketch of hands holding a yellow heart, with smaller yellow hearts above it, kind of emanating from it.

Wednesday 4 March 2026: How Kindness is Contagious

Research shows that kindness is contagious. It spreads through social networks, creating ripple effects that can travel outwards to three degrees of separation.

Read the article here. Watch my YouTube video.

Superman depiction. Cartoon image of a tall, skinny man wearing black trousers and a blue suit jacket over a white shirt. He's carrying a brown brief case and has a Superman cape flowing from him. He's holding a barbell with heavy weights on it above his head with one hand. It's so heavy the bar is bending.

Wednesday 25 February 2026: Why Harder Can Feel Better

Have you ever noticed that the things you work hardest for often mean the most? Psychologists call this the IKEA Effect.

It’s the tendency to value things more when we’ve put effort into building, creating, or attaining them.

Read the article here. Watch my YouTube video.

Brightly coloured pastel painting of a heart with lots of arms and hands of people from diverse cultures reaching up to it. The colours are red, blue, yellows, and other bright colours.

Wednesday 18 February 2026: The Science of Positive Empathy

A happiness shared is a happiness doubled. That's what the science of positive empathy tells us.

Read the article here. Watch my YouTube video.

Middle aged woman in a kneeling-meditation pose in a brightly lit studio. She is wearing red leggings and a white t-shirt. There are two windows behind her with bright sunshine shining through them, with white wispy curtains open, illuminating the room. She is kneeling on an olive green mat, which sits on a wooden floor.

Wednesday 11 February 2026: An Unexpected Way to Slow Ageing

Research shows that compassion-kindness based meditation can slow the rate of telomere attrition (a reliable indicator of ageing).

Read the article here. Watch my YouTube video.

4 people in their 20s and 30s running, coming towards the camera. There's a man slightly in front and three women just behind - one to the left of the man and two to the right of him, from camera perspective. They're all wearing sports gear and looking happy.

Wednesday 4 February 2026: The Surprising Science of Exercise (and why it's good news)

Moving around the house, cooking, cleaning, doing chores, walking your dog, walking for the bus — as well as more traditional exercise like the gym, classes, or sport — it all adds up. They key message is this: whatever you do, move.

Read the article here.

Cartoon image of a young man with dark hair and glassed looking like he's figuring something out. Above his head is a tangle of string with an arrow leading towards a bright lightbulb. He is wearing a blue jacket, white t-shirt and brown trousers.

Wednesday 28 January 2026: Solve Your Problems Like a Stranger: A Simple, Science-Backed Way to Think More Clearly When Things Feel Messy

Science shows there’s a small mental shift you can make that often helps problems feel clearer, lighter, and easier to work with.

It’s called creating psychological distance.

Read the article here. Watch my YouTube Video

A woman in her 40s with her eyes closed, breathing, with her hands over her heart. She has wavy, shoulder-length brown hair, and is wearing a red and white horizontally striped t-shirt. She is standing in a well-lit room. An office with a desk and boxes is blurred out in the background, as well as an arched door with a red brick wall.

Wednesday 21 January 2026: The Heart-Breath Connection: A Simple Way to Calm Your Nervous System

Heart Rhythm Meditation is a simple science-backed way to calm your nervous system, support your heart, and lift your emotional well-being.

Read the article here. Watch my YouTube Video

Row of five tablets in a horizontal row on a bright yellow background. Four of the tablets are pale yellow. The second from the right is bright pink, has a smiley face, and sunshine emanations coming out of it.

Wednesday 14 January 2026: How to Harness the Power of the Placebo

The placebo effect was once dismissed as the ‘natural course of the condition’. It meant that if a person’s condition improved when they took a placebo, it was just coincidence. We now understand things much better.

Read the article here. Watch my YouTube Video

Photo of middle-aged woman meditating. She had one hand on her chest and another on her tummy. She has long light brown hair, is wearing an open white blouse over a white top, and light blue jeans. It's a bright room with a white background behind her.

Wednesday 7 January 2026: Stress Can Help You Grow - If You Give Your Brain And Body Time to Recover

When you place stress on your body – lifting weights, running, stretching your limits – you don’t get fitter during the effort. You get fitter after, during recovery. As with exercise, same with life in general.

Read the article here. Watch my YouTube Video

Illustration of a young woman looking out through a giant keyhole, which is as big as a giant door. Outside - through the keyhole - the sun is shining and we see a giant colourful flower. The image around the outside of the keyhole depicts nighttime.

Wednesday 31 December 2025: The Science of Self-Affirmations (And Why They Actually Work)

The key difference with self-affirmations (compared with regular ones affirmations) is that we focus on something we believe to be positive already about ourselves. The focus on it causes it to expand, and with it our sense of self expands too.

Read the article here. Watch my YouTube Video

Closeup shot of two people holding hands in comfort. One is comforting the other. The hands are on the lap of the person being comforted and, from the angle, it appears that the comforter is on their knees.

Wednesday 24 December 2025: The Helper's High: How Helping Others Heals Your Heart and Immune System

We’re genetically wired to care. When we show kindness or compassion, the body doesn’t stay neutral. We receive a genuine biological boost — mentally and physically.

Read the article here. Watch my YouTube Video

Young woman practicing breathing. She is sitting in a meditation position and has one hand on her heart and the other just in front of her tummy, with the palm up. She has dark shoulder length hair and is wearing a cream hooded top and blue jeans. She is on a white sofa with a white well behind her. The room is brightly lit.

Wednesday 17 December 2025: The Science of Breathing: How Your Breath Controls Your Nervous System

We all breathe. But according to science, what really matters is how you breathe. Some practices can tone the vagus nerve and even increase oxygen in the brain.

Read the article here. Watch my YouTube Video

A man and woman in a well lit room, by the window, shaking hands as if meeting for the first time. The picture shows others meeting in the background so may be a meet-and-greet event or something similar. The woman is black and is wearing a grey-blue open jacket with white blouse. She is smiling. The man is wearing a cream jumper with white shirt collar showing, and is looking towards the woman.

Wednesday 10 December 2025: Connection in Micro-Moments: How tiny interactions quietly upgrade your nervous system

Science now shows that even tiny moments of connection (human and / or animal) can measurably impact your nervous system, your chemistry, and your sense of wellbeing.

Read the article here. Watch my YouTube Video

Partially opened pink lotus flower floating on gentle running water, like a narrow stream. The stream is running through what looks like a forest. The background is blurred out so all the image definition focuses on the lotus. Its petals are pink, and lightly white at the top, with a yellow centre.

Wednesday 3 December 2025: How to Improve Your Focus and Concentration

Not so long ago, meditation was dismissed as “woo-woo,” but now we know it offers powerful, science-backed health benefits — from supporting mental health and lowering blood pressure, to boosting immune function, slowing biological ageing, and more.

And yes… it can also significantly improve your focus and concentration.

Read the article here. Watch my YouTube Video

A hand outstretched holding three gerbera flowers - one yellow, one light pink and one a darker shade of pink. It's against a pastel blue background.

Wednesday 26 November 2025: The Science of Being Thankful

One theory goes that we’re wired for connection – and gratitude connects us. And since connection boosts brain health, heart health, and overall physical health and longevity, gratitude is a doorway to all those benefits.

Read the article here. Watch my YouTube Video

Young woman with light brown wavy hair looking joyful. She is wearing a white suit jacket with a pink top and the background is cyan. She is dancing - she has one arm straight up and the other is half way up, as if in the middle of a dance move. She is very happy.

Wednesday 19 November 2025: A Surprising Way to Lift Your Mood and Boost Your Energy

If I was to think of some techniques that deliver the most gains from the least amount of effort, the power of using your body to shape your state would most definitely be in my top 3.

Read the article here. Watch my YouTube Video

Cartoon image of young woman with a bubble around her of mental images showing confusion about which foods are healthy. There's images of an avocado, slice of orange, blueberries, salads, but also snack bars, hotdogs, doughnuts, and other similar items of both health and unhealthy types.

Wednesday 12 November 2025: A Surprising Way to Optimise Your Immune System

Being kind to others changed the genetic activity of circulating immune cells (white blood cells), reducing inflammation and increasing antiviral defences.

Read the article here. Watch my YouTube Video

Two girls, happy, hugging facing the camera, wearing bright clothing and sunglasses. They're both wearing open blue denim jackets and striped tops. One has dark blue and white stripes and the other has read and white strips - both horizontal stripes. The girls on the left is smiling broadly and the girl on the right has a wide open mouth smile and is making a fun two finger peace gesture. They seem very happy and fun. The background is single tone mustard-yellow.

Wednesday 5 November 2025: Live Your Best Possible Self

Imagine a time, say a year from now, where things have gone really well, as well as they possibly could. You've worked hard, overcome challenges, and you've achieved what you set out to do.

Read the article here. Watch my YouTube Video

Cartoon image. Multiethnic group of people cooperating for environmental protection and sustainability in a park: they are supporting earth together - one is recycling waste, one is growing plants, one is choosing renewable energy resources. Four of them in the middle are holding a giant planet Earth in their hands. They're in a park and the sky is blue behind them.

Wednesday 29 October 2025: The Stress-Reducing Power of Social Buffering

What really carries us through disruption and challenging times isn’t bandwidth or servers; it’s patience, compassion, kindness, and shared humanity. It’s each other.

Read the article here. Watch my YouTube Video

3 women around 40 years old laughing hysterically. They're sitting on the floor at the foot of a bed on a rug. They're all wearing jeans, have no shoes on, and are holding cups of tea or coffee. They're wearing light coloured tops - one is blue, one is white, and one is light green.

Wednesday 22 October 2025: Why Laughter Really is the Best Medicine

There's more to laughter than a good feeling. Studies now show it impacts the heart and immune system, it produces endorphins and reduces inflammation, and it's like gym time for the soul.

Read the article here. Watch my YouTube Video

Autumn view over rusty-coloured fir trees from a high vantage point. In the background we see mountains and the clouds are beneath us almost looking like a lake.

Wednesday 15 October 2025: How Awe Rewires the Brain

Awe reduces activity in the brain's default mode network - the part that's linked with self-focus and overthinking. It also reduces inflammation, makes us feel more humble, and even inspires a sense of 'enlarged connectedness'.

Read the article here. Watch my YouTube Video

Cartoon image of a pink brain with rosy cheeks, smiling, while doing a yoga pose standing on one leg with finger and thumb of each hand held in a mudra. It's wearing a blue headband and a heart bubble is emerging from it's mind.

Wednesday 8 October 2025: When You Visualise Illness to wellness

Studies show that imagination activates many of the same brain circuits as reality. The reason is that, in our distant past, the brain learned to react to imagined danger as if it was real because it might have saved our lives.

Read the article here. Watch my YouTube Video

Young african american woman, wearing an orange jumper, over blurred background smiling with hands on her chest with closed eyes and grateful gesture on face.

Wednesday 1 October 2025: "I like your hair" - The Surprising Science of Compliments

Studies show that most people hugely underestimate the positive impact of compliments, while also hugely overestimating how uncomfortable a compliment will make a person feel.

Read the article here. Watch my YouTube video

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