Productivity

Ten minutes of moderate exercise (stair walking) increased feelings of alertness more than caffeine in chronically sleep-deprived women.

One night of sleep loss impaired working memory in women, but not men, although neither men nor women felt as though they had worse memory the next day.

Even short breaks of less than a minute help people stay focused and attentive during demanding tasks. Watching dog videos during breaks can also make such tasks feel less stressful.

Consciousness and Cognition

The 2B-Alert app can tell you how to optimize caffeine intake for alertness based on your sleep schedule and average caffeine consumption.

Early success in winning research funding encourages scientists to apply more often for funding later. Scientists who won funding early in their career were more likely to apply for and win additional funding over the next eight years than similarly ranked peers who didn't win early funding.

Drawing improves the ability to remember words compared with writing them down. This effect is greater for older adults and people with dementia than for younger participants.

Employees who regularly used a smartphone app to perform mindfulness meditation for 10 minutes or more per week experienced greater well-being and less perceived job strain (workload and intensity).

Dim lighting can promote creativity by eliciting a feeling of being more free from constraints on creative thought.

Journal of Environmental Psychology

People were more creative when they were made to think of their multiple social identities, such as race, gender, family, or group identities.

Social Psychological and Personality Science

Cooperation in the operating room was better if the surgeon's gender was different from the majority of the team. The likelihood of cooperation was higher when there were mostly females in the room.