Science of the SpiritS


Bell

A sign of the times: Why are kids impatient, bored, friendless and entitled?

kids
"Kids today are in a devastating emotional state! Most come to school emotionally unavailable for learning. There are many factors in our modern lifestyle that contribute to this." ~V.P.

In her practice, my friend Victoria Prooday, OT is seeing something so widespread and alarming that I asked if I could share her thoughts. Due to the overwhelming interest and conversation on this topic, I am re-sharing her post.

I encourage every parent who cares about the future of his/her children to read it. I know that many would choose not to hear what she says in the article, but your children needs you to hear this message.

Arrow Down

Nervous breakdown: What are the signs?

nervous breakdown depression
Nervous breakdown and mental breakdown are dated terms describing emotional or physical stress that temporarily makes someone unable to function in day-to-day life.

Though once used as a catchall for a wide range of mental illnesses, the medical community no longer uses the term "nervous breakdown" to describe any specific medical condition.

Nonetheless, a so-called nervous breakdown remains a sign of a recognized, underlying mental health condition, such as depression, anxiety, or post-traumatic stress disorder or PTSD.

So, the signs and symptoms of what some people may still call a nervous breakdown depend on the underlying medical condition.

Comment: As Western society continues to spiral through its collective mental breakdown, it will no doubt become more and more common for individuals to cope. Knowing the signs of excessive stress and breakdown, and the ability to recover, is becoming more and more important. See also:


Snakes in Suits

Which hairstyles make you look most intelligent and attractive?

Hairstyles
© Flickr/CC BY-ND 2.0Hairstyles as depicted on an ancient sculpture of women in the Louvre, France.
Certain hairstyles made people look more sexy, others more good-natured or even more narrow-minded.

Medium-length casual-looking styles are judged as making women look more intelligent, a survey finds.

These styles are also linked to being good-natured.

Shorter, highlighted hairstyles on a woman make them look more outgoing and confident.

However, in one of those inevitable and irritating trade-offs, shorter hair is seen as less sexy on women.

The hairstyle that gives an intelligent sheen to a man was medium-length side-parted hair.

The bad news for men with these haircuts is that they were also seen as narrow-minded.

The sexiest hairstyle for a man was rated as short hair with a 'front-flip'.

Actors Matt LeBlanc and Ben Affleck both often sport the front-flip.

The front-flip, however, was linked to being self-centred.

Comment: It should be interesting to read this article in light of what we know of cognitive bias and prejudice:


Compass

Jordan Peterson's '12 Rules for Life: A compass for the lost

Professor Jordan Peterson
When I read Canadian psychologist Jordan Peterson's new book, 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos, last fall, it read like a bestseller-to-be.

Well-written, insightful, and best of all, practical. Since its release in January, it has sat atop the Amazon bestseller chart. And thank God.

Peterson's book occupied my mind for weeks after I finished it. His points, or "rules," of personal conduct - surround yourself with people who want the best for you; pursue meaning, not expedience; speak precisely and deliberately - are universally invaluable.

Comment:


Butterfly

Give yourself a tailwind: The value of chasing discomfort, pain and fear

dragon of discomfort fear
There's a remarkable amount of value in chasing discomfort.

Look at the projects on your plate, and ask which make you feel the least comfortable. You'll usually find these projects are extraordinarily valuable, and that your aversion is caused by the fact that they're difficult, frustrating, and ambiguous. While these feelings are uncomfortable, they are precisely what make certain experiences valuable.

Similarly, think of the conversations you've been meaning to have at work and at home. The ones you're most averse to are probably the most important. The same goes for DIY projects you're avoiding; emails left unanswered in your inbox; and books you've been meaning to read, but have been too intimidated to start.

Anyone can do easy tasks, but few want to do ones that make them uncomfortable. By running towards discomfort, instead of away from it, you do what others don't want to-and as a result, deliver unique value. This gives you a leg up on others who don't want to do the work.

Comment: Stepping outside your comfort zone: Ten uncomfortable challenges that will pay off forever


Brain

Researchers find stress can be contagious and alter the brains of your partner

stress
© Getty ImagesStress is contagious, and it can alter the brains of others.
Stress transmitted from others can actually change the brain, scientists at the University of Calgary have found.

In a new paper published in Nature Neuroscience, the authors report the results of research on mice that were exposed to brief electroshocks on their feet and then reunited with a sibling.

Jaideep Bains, professor of Physiology & Pharmacology at the University of Calgary and one of the study authors, said previous research has shown that stress changes the brain and that it can be, in a sense, contagious.

"We thought, if stress causes long-lasting changes in the brain of the person who was stressed, or the mouse, and stress can be transmitted, does the transmitted stress cause the same changes in the brain?" Bains said in an interview Wednesday.

Comment: More from Psyblog:
[...]

Dr Toni-Lee Sterley, who led the study, said:
"There has been other literature that shows stress can be transferred - and our study is actually showing the brain is changed by that transferred stress.

The neurons that control the brain's response to stress showed changes in unstressed partners that were identical to those we measured in the stressed mice."
The conclusion comes from a study on pairs of male and female mice.

One of the pair was exposed to a mild stress before being returned to its partner.

The results showed that both the stressed mouse and the one that was not directly stressed had the same changes in critical brain networks.

Professor Jaideep Bains, who led the research, said:
"What we can begin to think about is whether other people's experiences or stresses may be changing us in a way that we don't fully understand.

The study also demonstrates that traits we think of as uniquely human are evolutionary conserved biological traits."
Stress caused the mice to release a chemical signal in the form of a pheromone to alert its partner.

Social interactions helped the female mice bounce back from the stress: the affected neurons recovered by around 50%.

The social interaction did not not help the male mice.

Professor Bains said:
"If some of the effects of stress are erased through social interactions, but this benefit is limited to females, this may provide insights into how we design personalized approaches for the treatment of stress disorders in people."



Dollar

Study suggests maximum income for optimal happiness is $75K per year

money man
The maximum income for optimal happiness is between $60,000 and $75,000 per year, new research finds.

Any more than that is associated with falling levels of happiness - perhaps because, above this level, the sacrifices are not worth it.

The researchers also asked people about their satisfaction with life.

Comment: See also:


Brain

The pineal gland doesn't produce enough DMT for psychedelic experiences, says researcher

pineal gland
© rob3000
Psychedelic researcher David E. Nichols is pushing back against the belief that the pineal gland in the brain produces mystical experiences because it creates a powerful psychoactive substance called N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT).

The pineal gland is a small structure inside the brain that influences the sleep cycle by secreting the hormone melatonin. But claims have spread that the pineal gland also can produce DMT, a claim that has been used as a biological explanation for dreams, UFO abductions, and other out of body experiences.

Trace amounts of DMT have been detected in the pineal gland and other parts of the human body. But Nichols, an adjunct professor of chemical biology and medicinal chemistry at the University of North Carolina, said in an article published the scientific journal Psychopharmacology that there is no good evidence to support the link between the pineal gland, DMT, and mystical experiences.

People

Bullying, either as victim or perpetrator, found to triple the risk for psychotic disorders

sad child on bed
© Olaf Heil / Global Look Press
Being involved in sibling bullying triples the risk of psychotic disorders in adulthood, new research finds.

The risk is tripled whether the person is the victim or the bully.

A child who is bullied at home and at school has four times the chance of developing a psychotic disorder later on.

Psychotic disorders, like schizophrenia, are those that involve becoming detached from reality.

This could include experiencing hallucinations, delusions or paranoid thoughts.

Comment: See also:


Clipboard

Choose your pursuits carefully - Ten habits that will dramatically improve your life

happy, happiness
In Hans Christian Andersen's fable The Red Shoes, a young girl longs for a pair of pretty red shoes. She ultimately tricks the blind woman who cares for her into buying her a pair. Her love for the red shoes causes her to give them priority over the more important things in her life, and, as often happens in fables, karma is not on her side. The shoes become firmly stuck to her feet and force her to dance non-stop, to the point where she almost dies from exhaustion and starvation.

We can scoff at the little girl's foolishness, but, in real life, we often do the same thing - we chase after the things that we think will make us happy and don't realize that we're heading down a dangerous path.

One study found that the people who experience the greatest job satisfaction aren't the ones in the big, fancy offices; they're the ones who approach their work as a calling, even when that work involves menial labor.

Another study found that simply seeing fast-food logos makes people impatient. It's not that there's some intrinsic characteristic of fast food that makes people impatient; it's the habits we've come to associate with fast food, such as always being on the run, eating on the go, and never slowing down enough to enjoy a healthy meal, that bring out our impatience.

We have to be very careful in choosing our pursuits, because our habits make us. Cultivating the habits that follow will send you in the right direction. They'll help you to lead a more meaningful and fulfilling life, whereby you cultivate the best within yourself.

Comment: This might help too! 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos