heart disease – ReelLIFE SCIENCE

In the latest of our Research Videos for 2016, Prof. Brian Hughes investigates whether the belief that feelings of misery and loneliness can cause someone to die of a broken heart, is in fact true.

Brian’s work in the NUI Galway School of Psychology explores the link between emotional stress, the functioning of our hearts, and our risk of developing various heart diseases. Over the past decade, his group has tested the cardiovascular response of thousands of people subjected to various laboratory-controlled stresses.

Video by Claire Riordan, Scientific Engagement Associate at CÚRAM . With thanks to Dr Sinéad Conneely, Lecturer, School of Psychology and Dr Wei Lü, Visiting Lecturer from Shaanxi Normal University, Xi’an, China.

Dr. Louise Horrigan, Lecturer in Physiology in NUI Galway (Photo credit, Enda O’Connell)

In the third in our series of Research Videos for 2016, Dr. Louise Horrigan, Physiology Lecturer in the College of Medicine and Health Sciences, introduces the topic of Functional Foods. These are foods that, as well as having nutritional value, have been scientifically proven to give other health benefits, such as lowering cholesterol or treating heart disease. As well as lecturing to NUI Galway students, Louise is also involved in researching the benefits of Blueberry and Hawthorn juices, which you can find out more about here.