Positive Psychology Ireland

16/05/2026

Some words of wisdom from Jonathan Haidt, NYU professor and happiness researcher .

08/05/2026

27/04/2026

A small study, but so many others point to the restorative power of music

A recent study on the effects of music on mental fatigue placed 30 university students into two groups—the control group and the music group—and found that those in the music group reported a substantially greater reduction in fatigue than those tested in silence.

After placing electrodes on the scalp to record brainwaves, participants performed a demanding task, which decreased their alpha peak frequency. This frequency marker of alertness and cognitive efficiency at lower levels is a fatigue indicator. Participants who listened to a genre of relaxing Chinese folk music returned to their baseline, showing significant recovery. The control group listening to silence had no recovery.

Higher levels of delta, theta, and alpha brain wave patterns are associated with fatigue. These slow-wave patterns were decreased in the music group. The study concluded that people who listened to relaxing music after a mentally draining task recovered brain activity patterns associated with alertness and reported feeling physically less tired. Learn more about the study and its results below!

26/04/2026

Check out my latest blog post "Transformation and the "Glow Up"experiment https://positivepsychology.ie/news-2/

22/04/2026

One hospital chose to do something deeply human for patients in intensive care. Staff began wheeling some ICU patients to the beach so they could feel sunlight, breathe sea air, and see something beyond hospital walls. That decision brought care into a space where hope could feel more immediate and real.

Serious illness can shrink a person’s world to machines, alarms, and ceilings. A short trip outdoors can break that feeling. Open air, natural light, and the sight of water can remind patients that life still exists beyond treatment rooms and clinical routines. That reminder can carry emotional force.

Medical care often focuses on what can be measured, and that makes sense. Still, recovery also involves mood, dignity, and the will to keep going. A beach visit cannot replace medicine, yet it can support the spirit of someone who needs every source of strength available.

Nurses and doctors who make this happen show a wider view of healing. They are not just treating symptoms. They are caring for whole people. Compassion like that does not weaken medicine. It deepens it and gives it a human face.

Fresh air cannot solve everything, but sometimes it can change a day, lift a mind, and give a patient one moment that feels free again. 🌊☀️

13/04/2026

I love the perspective in this poem.

10/04/2026

A win win - nutritious foods for kids and increased income for Irish farmers.

08/04/2026

I don’t think we need too much encouragement to talk to strangers in this country- O think we just do it a lot, naturally. But here’s some encouragement anyhow 😀

Based at UC Berkeley, Greater Good reports on groundbreaking research into the roots of compassion, happiness, and altruism.