Science of the SpiritS


Post-It Note

Writing your way to wellbeing

Greta Soloman
Forbes
Fri, 10 Aug 2018 06:23 UTC
Writing by hand
© joebuhlig.com
Ask almost anyone you know how they are, and the response is likely to be: "busy". Our inboxes are bursting with emails. Appointments and social events keep stacking up. Family woes, work worries and money matters make our minds work overtime. Not to mention commuting, pollution and the "million and one things" to remember.Add to this the uncertain political times we live in and, well, it's not surprising that many people feel overwhelmed.

Life is fast-paced. And it can be difficult to slow down - especially if being busy is effectively masking anxiety, grief and hard-to-handle emotions.

The end result of all of this seems to be widespread depression. According to The World Health Organization, depression is the leading cause of disability worldwide. They estimate that more than 300 million people are living with depression.

There is no fast-fix for depression, nor for other forms of mental illness. However, creativity is a remedy - a tonic that can help bring about real change. And many hospitals have arts programs to help patients heal.

Comment: See also:

Read More...
Brain

Almost two-thirds of Americans have this sign of an unhealthy brain


PsyBlog
Thu, 09 Aug 2018 09:24 UTC
brain
Too much belly fat is a warning sign of an unhealthy brain, new research from over 5,000 people concludes.

The more belly fat people had, the worse their brain function was, as measured by tests of memory, language and their general mental faculties.

Belly fat is assessed by measuring the waist and the hips and then dividing one by the other to get a ratio.

Belly fat may be particularly bad for the brain due to increased secretion of inflammatory markers.

Inflammatory proteins - too many of which are bad for the body - frequently increase before people get dementia.

Comment: See also: The Age of Metabolic Syndrome - Inflammatory Fat Is Worse Than Obesity

Read More...
People

Effects of DMT can mimic near-death experience


RT
Wed, 15 Aug 2018 15:14 UTC
Shaman
© Global Look PressShaman paints pot used for the traditional ceremony involving ayahuasca.
Taking the powerful psychedelic drug, DMT, can have the same effects as a near-death experience, British scientists at the Imperial College London have suggested.

The researchers displayed results derived from a questionnaire that showed a "striking similarity" between people describing a near-death experiences and those who had taken DMT.

From this, the researchers concluded that near-death or "complex subjective" experiences had been caused by physical changes in the brain.

The discovery has led to hopes that studying DMT can lead to a better understanding of what happens to the brain as it dies.

DMT is a psychoactive compound in ayahuasca, a drink made from vines and used in certain tribal ceremonies in South and Central America. The drug is also popular amongst tourists who are permitted to take part in said ceremonies. Those who take it often note the feeling that they transcend their body and enter another realm.
Read More...
Blue Planet

Look up from your screen! Children learn best when their bodies are engaged in the living world

Nicholas Tampio
Aeon
Thu, 02 Aug 2018 12:03 UTC
children
A rooster crows and awakens my family at the farm where we are staying for a long weekend. The air is crisp, and stars twinkle in the sky as the Sun rises over the hill. We walk to the barn, where horses, cows, chickens, pigs, dogs and cats vie for our attention. We wash and replenish water bowls, and carry hay to the cows and horses. The kids collect eggs for breakfast.

The wind carries the smells of winter turning to spring. The mud wraps around our boots as we step in puddles. When we enter a stall, the pigs bump into us; when we look at the sheep, they cower together in a corner. We are learning about the urban watershed, where eggs and beef come from, and how barns were built in the 19th century with wood cauls rather than metal nails. We experience the smells of the barn, the texture of the ladder, the feel of the shovels, the vibration when the pigs grunt, the taste of fresh eggs, and the camaraderie with the farmers.
Read More...
Hearts

Man's best friend: Pet owners happier, wealthier, more fit than non-owners - survey


Study Finds
Thu, 09 Aug 2018 12:02 UTC
man's best friend
If you think pets are the pits, you may not be living to your potential. A new survey finds that people who own pets are happier, earn more money, and exercise more frequently than those who don't.

In a poll of 1,000 British dog and cat owners over 55 and 1,000 people in the same age group who don't have any pets, researchers calculated that pet owners were twice as likely to consider themselves a success. In fact, 9 in 10 owners agreed that their furry family members were good for their health and well-being. The belief makes sense: the survey showed that pet owners log nearly twice as much exercise, getting a good sweat about five times per week, versus just three time a week for the non-owners.

"The many benefits of pet ownership also include the cardio-vascular exercise of dog-walking, and even the light housework associated with feeding and clearing up after our beloved animals," says psychologist and author Corinne Sweet in a release.
Read More...
Hearts

The healing power of an attitude of gratitude

Richard Gunderman
The Conversation
Tue, 31 Jul 2018 14:23 UTC
thanks
© Michigan State University
Gratitude may be more beneficial than we commonly suppose. One recent study asked subjects to write a note of thanks to someone and then estimate how surprised and happy the recipient would feel - an impact that they consistently underestimated. Another study assessed the health benefits of writing thank you notes. The researchers found that writing as few as three weekly thank you notes over the course of three weeks improved life satisfaction, increased happy feelings and reduced symptoms of depression.

While this research into gratitude is relatively new, the principles involved are anything but. Students of mine in a political philosophy course at Indiana University are reading Daniel Defoe's 300-year-old Robinson Crusoe, often regarded as the first novel published in English. Marooned alone on an unknown island with no apparent prospect of rescue or escape, Crusoe has much to lament. But instead of giving in to despair, he makes a list of things for which he is grateful, including the fact that he is the shipwreck's sole survivor and has been able to salvage many useful items from the wreckage.

Comment: The neuroscience of gratitude: Small acts of generosity

Read More...
Sherlock

Psychopaths have a hard time detecting distress

Stephen Johnson
big think
Fri, 03 Aug 2018 19:12 UTC
Norman Bates
© 'Psycho' via Universal Studios
Psychopaths have little trouble recognizing when people are happy or angry based on their facial expressions. But they seem to have a much harder time recognizing the emotion of distress, according to new research from the Australian National University.

"For most people, if we see someone who is genuinely upset, you feel bad for them and it motivates you to help them," said lead study author Amy Dawel of the ANU Research School of Psychology. "People who are very high on the psychopathy spectrum don't show this response."

The study, published in Personality Disorders: Theory, Research, and Treatment, involved 140 participants who examined photographs of faces expressing various emotions. Some emotions were faked, some genuine.

The results showed that people high in psychopathic traits-like callousness, shallow affect and poor empathy-were less able to tell when someone was faking the emotion of distress.

Comment: See also: Blame the Brain: Why psychopaths lack empathy

Read More...
Attention

Why your brain will never run out of problems to find

David Levari
The Conversation
Thu, 28 Jun 2018 20:00 UTC
goalposts
© JoeNattapon/Shutterstock.comWhy do people constantly ‘move the goalposts’ when making judgments?
Why do many problems in life seem to stubbornly stick around, no matter how hard people work to fix them? It turns out that a quirk in the way human brains process information means that when something becomes rare, we sometimes see it in more places than ever.

Think of a "neighborhood watch" made up of volunteers who call the police when they see anything suspicious. Imagine a new volunteer who joins the watch to help lower crime in the area. When they first start volunteering, they raise the alarm when they see signs of serious crimes, like assault or burglary.

Let's assume these efforts help and, over time, assaults and burglaries become rarer in the neighborhood. What would the volunteer do next? One possibility is that they would relax and stop calling the police. After all, the serious crimes they used to worry about are a thing of the past.

But you may share the intuition my research group had - that many volunteers in this situation wouldn't relax just because crime went down. Instead, they'd start calling things "suspicious" that they would never have cared about back when crime was high, like jaywalking or loitering at night.

Comment: See also: Identifying hidden flaws in our thinking: A cognitive bias crib sheet

Read More...
Laptop

Twitter: The high school we can't log off from

Jennifer Senior
The New York Times
Sat, 04 Aug 2018 00:01 UTC
social media cartoon
© Bráulio Amado


Twitter rewards us for our mistakes. It isn't designed to let us grow up.

It appears we're in the midst of yet another Twitter backlash. Marquee users have been slowly backing away from their feeds (or slipping off the grid entirely); last week, Twitter's stock plunged by more than 20 percent after the company reported a decline in monthly users.

The arguments for defection are at this point familiar: Twitter is a dark reservoir of hatred, home to the diseased national id. It turns us into our worst selves - dehumanizing us, deranging us, keying us up, beating us down, turning us into shrieking outrage monkeys hellbent on the innocents of Oz. It uncomplicates complicated discussion; stealth-curates our news; hijacks our dopamine systems, carrying us off on a devil's quest for ever more dime bags of retweets and likes.

Comment: While opposite sides of the aisle will disagree over exactly how, it seems most can agree that Twitter seems to bring out the worst in people. It really does seem to lower people to the level of high school tribalism, bullying and playground insults. As the above author notes, the platform can be used in a beneficial way, but it's up to the individual user to make that distinction and act accordingly.

Read More...
Life Preserver

5 brutally honest truths to help overcome anxiety

Mark DeNicola
Collective Evolution
Mon, 23 Jul 2018 00:00 UTC
Anxiety
"Don't worry about the future; or worry, but know that worrying is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubblegum."

- Baz Luhrmann
As a former severe anxiety sufferer, I beyond sympathize with those of you that are still entrenched in the unpredictable, overwhelming and oftentimes flat out scary experience that is anxiety.

For several years, anxiety was my unwanted sidekick that at its peak not only prevented me from properly eating and sleeping, but convinced me that I would never again be able to live another minute of my life without it. But as the restless nights, unhealthy thoughts, and panic attacks continued to mount, I eventually reached a point where I knew that the reality I was experiencing simply wasn't sustainable.

I personally committed to seek out every resource I could to learn and apply in hopes of conquering anxiety without the use of medication - since the side effects always have and continue to terrify me. While much of what I came across simply didn't work, there also was a great deal that did. But more than anything, what surprised me about my journey was how much of it was rooted in how I perceived and approached the mental health condition that impacts an estimated 10% of teenagers and 40% of adults in the United States.

Here are 5 brutally honest truths about anxiety that I believe you need to accept before you can successfully overcome it for good:

Comment: In this article, explaining the difference between worry and anxiety, it states that worrying lies in the head, while anxiety resides in the body. So you could say the 6th truth is one of the most effective ways of settling the nervous system and shutting off over-stimulation that can cause anxiety in a world gone mad is through deep breathing that activates the vagus nerve and brings back a sense of equilibrium. And one of the surest and most effective programs out there that does this is the Éiriú Eolas Breathing and Meditation Program.



Read More...