The image of a sad, lonely individual almost tied to their computer for 18 hours a day and making money from some Californian bedroom is great if you are from the Daily Mail and want to bash the internet generation. But in reality, it seems that such people are most unlikely to be able to make any money online at all, because their brains are literally shutting down. Sadly for the Daily Mail's editors, it is not the computer or the internet that is causing the problem.

New research has found that our brains start shutting down the connections we have built up simply when we are sedentary. Much of our ability to think or to solve problems comes from the complex web of interconnectivity between all the different regions and operating centres of our brain. This is achieved with a neural connection system known as the "Default Mode Network" (DMN). But the new study from researchers at the University of Illinois has found that when we slow down and do less physical activity it is the DMN which starts switching off. The very system which our brains use to make us really brilliant as people is the very system which disappears first when we "give up". It seems that this may well be one of the reasons for the symptoms of many psychological illnesses of old age - our brains stop working so well simply because we slow down physically.

Many business people I meet complain they don't get time to move much - they say they are "chained to their desks". Well, actually they aren't. Tying people up in chains and forcing them to work came to an end in Britain in 1807. Nowadays, you are free to move around...! So, when it comes to trying to find the right way to create a new money-making website and you are stuck for ideas - take a walk. When you are confused by the plethora of social networks - move away from your computer, perhaps go for a swim. And when you simply can't face answering any more emails, why, rush out of the house and jog your way around the park.

This new study confirms that the merest trickle of physical activity will set that Default Mode Network back into action, enabling you to think more clearly and to work out solutions to your business problems. Sometimes, the answer to creating that new website does not lie inside your PC or on the net - rather the answer is already in your own brain, but you need to start moving to connect it all up.

There is another psychological advantage to physical movement as well; depression and anxiety are relieved by physical activity. So if work is getting you down, a walk is often all you need to cure your ills.

When you find it tough to run your online business, the answer is simple. Switch off your PC and go for a walk. When you return to your desk, those re-built networks in your brain will have found the solution - and, bonus, you'll feel good as well. Plus the chances are you'll find a way of making more money than those sedentary youngsters in their Californian boudoirs..!

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The problem of the 33 miners trapped 700m below ground in Chile is both dreadful and fascinating. Many of us are fully engaged with this story because it taps into several emotions. Yet those of us who are engaged with the story have not commented on it, we have taken no action on it. We haven't tweeted about it, nor recommended it to a friend. We haven't listed it on Digg, written about it in Facebook or bookmarked a page in our browser. So how come we are engaged?

When you look online for information about increasing the engagement with your website or your blog you will find loads of advice which talks about measures of engagement which are nothing of the sort. Your readers do NOT have to take any kind of action to be engaged. After all, you may come out of the cinema elated or crying depending on the film. During the two hours you were there you were fully engaged, transported away by the movie from your world to their world. But were you tweeting, commenting, writing about it? Or were you actually engaged. Did you need to take any action to be engaged? Or did you just have to connect your mind to the movie?

Taking action is not the same as engagement. You can get people to take action on your website by being controversial, stupid, or by making errors. The pedants, for instance, will comment to "correct you". But are they actually engaged? Probably not. You can also get people to tweet you, to link to you and to put a recommendation on Digg, but will they remember your business for more than a few moments? Probably not. They took action - which many people say is a measure of engagement - but is it?

In other words, much of what we say is online engagement is nothing of the sort. True engagement comes when you trigger an emotional connection between your website or blog and your readers. You engage people when you make them think, when they laugh, when they cry. But getting them to push a button, make a comment or forward to a friend is not actual engagement; instead it is action.

Of course, you want people to take action too - but far too often we appear to confuse these two issues. Measuring actions taken with your website does not tell you if you are truly engaging your audience. Measuring the emotional content of your website will.

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Annie Turnbull is 111 years old and is the oldest living person in Britain; congratulations to her - and to her "secret" of success (a daily glass of sherry). When the internet first came to life she was in her 90s. Would she have made it to her grand old age if the web had been around when she was a teenager? Many people worry that today's youngsters are so wrapped up in technology they could be harming their lives. But new research suggests it might be good for you to use the web a bit more. Indeed, it may even prolong your life.

Researchers have done a "meta analysis" of all the studies which have looked at the link between social isolation and early death. For years there have been studies which have suggested that lonely people tend to die younger than those with a rich social life. This new analysis confirms that this is indeed the case; the richer and more diverse a social life you have, the longer you will live.

So, with more people living considerable parts of their lives online - and teenagers grunting at each other using Facebook pokes, rather than in person - are we getting increasingly isolated and thereby potentially reducing our lifespans? Is the fact that we are all sitting in front of computers, connecting remotely rather than face-to-face, making us live fewer years than might be possible?

Relax. You are OK. Indeed, the very fact that you are reading this suggests you are potentially the kind of person who is using web technology to help lengthen their lifespan. Far from the online world reducing our lives, research suggests we engage in social networking activities which actually help promote the kind of behaviour that makes us likely to live longer. It appears we use online social networks to create more varied social connections, deeper social connections and more frequent social connections. They are all the kind of things which the latest research on lifespans and social isolation suggests as being positive and beneficial.

Indeed, a couple of years ago I wrote about a study which pointed to the possibility that social networkers live longer. Now, this latest study confirms the earlier suggestions - the extra social activity you undertake online is all helping you improve your chances of being a long-time Silver Surfer. If anyone tells you that social networking is a waste of time, just tell them you are trying to beat Annie Turnbull at her own game...!

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Lady Gaga has almost 16m fans on Facebook. My guess is she doesn't know many of them. Over on Twitter, Britney Spears is "top of the pops" with almost 6m followers. Likewise, I suspect few of them are on her birthday card list. Meanwhile, the typical social networking user has around 150 people who are their friends or followers. And the chances are these "average" users actually know most of the people who they connect with online.

New research shows that we tend to trust people on Facebook and Twitter and other social websites when we already know them. In other words, the online social world is an extension of the real world, not a replacement for it. If we know the people who write blog posts, for instance, we tend to trust those posts more than when similar articles are written by people we have no real connection with.

What this means for an online business is simple. In order to get your material online trusted by people who read it you need firstly to get to know them. Whilst you can do this online, of course, a more solid connection can be established offline. It implies that the most trusted material online comes from people who spend a great deal of time in the real world connecting with real people. For online businesses that means your success is going to be improved if you "get out" and meet people.

The millions of fans of Lady Gaga probably trust all that she writes on Facebook because they "know " her and are "connected" with her in the real world. It does not, of course, go two ways...! But the example demonstrates that simply being present in the real world enhances your online connectivity and trustworthiness.

Far too many online businesses appear to think that all you need to do is be present here on the web and make lots of marketing noise. But this new study demonstrates that your value goes up when you are already known to people, before they read your online content. And that means you simply have to get out and about and meet people, real, in the flesh.

Your online material is going to be more trusted and thereby bring you more value if you get yourself known by people first. They will trust your material more if they know you.

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Freud had a word for it, but for many people it is a difficult word - "Fehlleistungen". Today we call it a "Freudian Slip" and it happens when we say one thing which reveals our "true desires" when we should say something else. For instance, we might want to say to an attractive individual "Can you tell me the way to the bread shop?" - when in fact we actually say "Can you tell me the way to your bed shop?".  Desire gets in the way of intentions sometimes.

We all make these slips - parapraxes as they are called - and they seemingly reveal our inner intentions. That's one theory, but other suggestions are they are merely coding errors in the formation of words as we speak. "Bread" and "bed" are very similar in formation - one tiny coding error is all we need to make the mistake. Or so some people think. Perhaps not; perhaps, after all, Freud was right all along.

New research shows that we often "give ourselves away" without actually meaning to. Psychologists from the University of Nebraska have found that when you say something about another person you are actually revealing a great deal of information about yourself too. For instance, when asked to rate people the information provided about the other person was actually closely connected to the personality traits of the rater themselves. Their comments on the individual they were supposedly rating were actually showing more about themselves.

Clearly, with the plethora or Web 2.0 opportunities, people must be giving out information about themselves all the time, without really intending to do so. They comment on a blog post, for instance, in a way that seemingly adds to the discussion, but actually could well be sending out signals about the commenter themselves instead. And that could well determine whether or not people actually like you. Another study shows that when we are nice online, we are usually nice in the real world too. When we are negative and nasty in online forums, guess what? Yes, deep down, inside we are pretty negative and nasty in the physical world.

So, if you give the game away that you are somewhat negative in any online comments the chances are people will not want to connect with you because instinctively they know you are just the same "for real".

What does this all mean for your online activity? It means that if you want to succeed you are going to have to firstly be yourself in all your comments. Don't be "business like" or try to use some kind of persona. If you do, you will give yourself away anyway, rather like an online Freudian Slip. And secondly, if you are a negative person, your online activity will clearly show this and people will quickly realise you are someone they don't really want to connect with. It all suggests that positivity is essential to online Web 2.0 success.

These two studies therefore suggest that there are two things you need to do to make sure you succeed online:

1. Be yourself
2. Have a positive attitude

But come to think of it, that's how successful people have always achieved their brilliance in the first place. Hey ho - in the online world, once again, we're discovering that what we have always done for centuries offline is true still online.

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Hello, how are you? Hope all is well in your world today. It's a bit dreary here at the moment, weather-wise, but I'm looking forward to a busy day. Later on, I'm off to the BBC for a live interview about the psychology of too much online choice. Anyway, enough about me - what's been happening in your world? I hope you are enjoying the start of the holiday season. Are you going away? Will you post all your snaps on Flickr? And are you wondering why I'm asking all these questions?

Already your mind has gone into "conversation" mode. You should have felt - even if only briefly - that I was talking directly to you, that we were somehow connected. Of course, we aren't really. I'm sitting here at my computer typing, perhaps several hours, days or even weeks before you are reading this. Yet, to you it feels that we are briefly connected. Have you ever read a book and felt the writer was talking directly to you - and you alone? Those kind of books are brilliant, aren't they? They really "get to you" and you empathise a great deal with the writer.

New research from Princeton University gives us a clue as to how all this might work. And it shows the way ahead for bloggers and online businesses. This study wanted to know what was going on in the human brain when it was in conversational mode. Traditionally it has been thought - indeed known - that different parts of our brain are used when we speak and listen. But this new research shows something extra. It demonstrates that when we are listening to stories, when our brain is engaged in conversational activity, the parts of the brain that really work are the same in the speaker and the listener. In other words, when I say something my brain cells are working (hopefully...!) in certain areas of my brain. And as you listen to what I am saying, the same sets of brains cells in your brain fire up. This suggests that conversation is more than just speaking and/or listening. There is a shared mental activity happening, which the Princeton researches have named "mind melding". When we converse our brains are in sync.

Although this research was only about speaking and then listening, it does give us a clue as to why social networking has become so popular online. The fact that you are able to hold conversations online, to chat to people, means much more neurological empathy, which could well mean conversations are easier to understand. If our brains are "melded" and I understand what I am saying, it suggests you would also understand as a listener. Consider all those business people who talk about "pushing the envelope" taking things "out of the box" and then " running it up the flagpole". Sometimes we don't understand what they are on about. But I'm guessing they might not understand either...! They are just coming out with a stream of nonsense which they don't truly engage with. That means we won't understand it either because our brains are not "melded".

So, how can you gain from this in your online business? The answer is simple. Write your website as though you were talking to an individual. Don't write for "an audience", write for "a person". That will force your writing into conversational mode, meaning your readers minds could well be "in sync" with yours, creating greater empathy and thereby a more solid connection. Speak directly to your readers, rather than merely writing objective content - it will boost your online presence and power no end.

Or you could just talk to them on audio so they really do listen to you and get their mind truly melded with yours.

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Tony Hayward, the departing Chief Executive of BP, is a man full of numbers. He has been with the company for 28 years. On his watch, BP had to spend £19bn on capping a leaking oil well. And, perhaps today, we'll hear that his departing pay-off is an interesting number too. Indeed, we are fascinated by numbers generally. What if the Sri Lanka cricketer Muttiah Muralitharan had only taken 799 wickets before the end of his last match, instead of the 800 he actually achieved. It's just not cricket is it to "only" get 799; we needed the "round number" of 800 to make it "right".

And why were there only three blind mice, not four or 27? Why did the clock strike "one" when the mouse ran up the clock - and not three or seven? And why are some numbers "round" anyway? We have a strange relationship with numbers - and, as some mathematicians will tell you - they do not exist anyway...! Some cultures do not have numbers they have one word for a single item and then another word meaning more than a single item; it is either "one thing" or "many things". They have no concept of "numbers". In other words, "numbers" are not "natural" but are a human invention - a social construction.

Consequently, our brains process numbers in a variety of ways - often related to our social setting, our cultural up-bringing and the emotional attachments we have to the way we learned about numbers in the first place. And all of this means the numbers you use on your website can have different impacts on your visitors. If you are in business, this is important - you use numbers to signal prices, for instance. So getting those numbers right is essential.

For example, should you say that 75% of your customers prefer a particular product, or "three out of four"? What would be better - "two thirds" or "66%"? Get the choice wrong and you could reduce the chance of having the impact you want. New research on how we process numbers shows that sometimes you would be better off using percentages and others you would do best if you used frequencies.

The study shows that when we process frequencies, as in "three out of four", our brain has to work harder. It means that often, we don't bother doing this because generally we are "wired" for an easy cognitive life - the less processing we can do, the better. So, we prefer percentages as there is less calculating for us to do and so we "get" the number more quickly. But here's the problem - we have less confidence in percentages. We trust frequency numbers more - partly because they require more in depth processing.

So, on your website, if you want people to trust your figures, percentages are out. But if you want them to understand your numbers quickly, then percentages are in. Say you want people to quickly understand you are giving them a good deal and that other people agree with this. Saying "90% of our customers agree" would get you a greater chance of success than saying "nine out of ten customers agree". But if you wanted people to trust the deal you are offering you might want to say "four out of five people will save money" instead of "80% of people will save".

Probably, it really means your sales copy should include BOTH percentages and frequency numbers. The percentage enables your readers to quickly understand and the frequency helps them trust your numbers more.

So, when we discover the deal that Tony Hayward gets, I wonder if it will be in round numbers, in percentage terms or in frequency format. The way it is communicated to us could reveal a good deal about what BP really would like us to think...!

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