“ A wonderful fact to reflect upon, that every human creature is constituted to be that profound secret and mystery to every other. ” Charles Dickens
This is a very interesting study in which it was shown that the e-cigarette vapor caused lab mice immune system to be weakened to the point that it could not fight off the flu, some of the mice died. the negative effects of "vapping" should be considered.
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This is a very interesting article about a researcher who figured out a way to measure the body's natural biological clock. The long term implication here is that at some point we may be able to turn back our biological clocks!
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Instincts are defined as: an innate, typically fixed pattern of behavior in animals in response to certain stimuli.
The following are 5 gut instincts that you should not ignore, click the link at the end of the post for a more thorough discussion on each one.
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The news of actor Robin Williams has once again brought forward the horrible grip that depression can have on a person to drive them to commit suicide. There are many articles that discuss his condition and so I will not share any particular one here, but I would like to take this time to urge people to consider reaching out for services should you not feel at your "normal" level of functioning for some time.
Depression can be something that a person can learn to deal with through therapy and perhaps even avoid completely through medication, but if one ignores it or does not get the appropriate help it can take over ones life and become unbearable.
1-800-273-8255 is the national suicide prevention hotline.
Mental Health while still considered taboo by most of our culture, is as serious an issue any medical condition, sometimes even worse.
The following is a very good summary of the stages of change model, that many therapists utilize when helping clients change bad behaviors.
These are the Stages of Change:
Pre-contemplation
Contemplation
Preparation
Action
Maintenance
Click here for full Article which helps one to identify in which stage they are, and thus makes it easier to change unwanted behavior.
The following article is a must read for all of you procrastinators out there!
research shows that when we think to ourselves, "I'll feel more like doing it tomorrow." we really do believe it, meaning that we separate our future self from our present self, and we believe that the 'tomorrow' version of us will do a better job than the today version.
The problem with this thought process is that its flawed! Because the future self and the present self is the SAME YOU! when we can picture our "future self" in our mind with the burden of tomorrow's responsibilities AND today's, we are more motivated to get our work done without putting it off. Very interesting read! Article is below.
Click Here for original article.
The Article below shares 4 steps that we can take in order to develop better memory. In short they are:
Have a memory palace: It turns out, that when we were hunters and gatherers, our ancestors did not need to remember shopping lists to go grocery shopping, they needed to remember were places, and routes so they knew how to get back to their home (or cave?). This means that our brains are wired to remember things better if we think of them visually (pictures) and spatially (routes) rather than words on a list. Below are 4 steps to start building your own memory palace.
1) Build your palace: Chose a building you know the layout of (the home you have lived longest in)
2) Construct Images: Items you want to remember need to be associated with images you wont forget.
3) Place images in the right place: Place items you need to remember along a path in yout memory palace (maybe the route from the front door to your room?).
4) Go for a walk to recall: visually walk the route in your mind and see all of the images you laid out in the walk associated with the things you need to remember, the crazier the image the easier it will be for you to remember!
Click the link below to read the full explanation of the method!
Click Here for original article
Currently, for a mental health professional to reach a depression diagnosis he/she has to interview the client, resulting in a process that can be hot and miss due to omissions by client, wrong interpretations by clinician, etc. In Austria, a team of researchers have successfully shown that there is a link between serotonin levels and the depression network in the brain. This means that hopefully in the not too distant future depression can be diagnosed the same way people measure their insulin level with a glucose monitor!
The research has shown that in the blood there is a serotonin transporter protein, this protein allows for for serotonin to be transported into blood platelet cells. Studies have shown that this protein works the same way in the blood as in the brain, meaning that if there is an abnormal rate of serotonin uptake in the blood platelet cells, there is a also a deficiency in serotonin uptake in the brain.
Click below for the complete study. WARNING! there is a LOT of heavy research language in the study, it may be difficult to grasp.
Turns out that 50% of you overall happiness is determined by personality traits determined by your personality traits that you get from your genes handed down by your parents and their parents. The good news is that you can actively chose to affect the other 50% that determines your overall happiness. The following articles discussed 7 things that people that are happy chose to do often!
1) Make GOOD friends
2) Actively express thankfulness
3) Actively pursue your goals
4) Do what you excel at as often as you can
5) Give
6) Don't single-mindedly chase "stuff"
7) Live the life you want to live
this is a very brief summary of the information, please click on the link below to read the full explanation of these 7 things so that you can be on your way to becoming as happy a you can be!