Is it possible to become more likable? This author says “yes.” Your words become your reality.
“You are what you say.” Fair or not, what you communicate to others can lead others to make assumptions about your character — a concept called spontaneous trait inference.
Is it time to move on in your life? Time to start fresh? Kick the hurt and pain of the past away? This article can give you 5 ways to begin. My favorite, and one I have a hard time with, Forgive.
…forgiving yourself may be an important part of this step as well, as sometimes we may end up blaming ourselves for the situation or hurt. While we indeed may have had some part to play in the hurt (see step 2), there’s no reason you need to keep beating yourself up over it. If you can’t forgive yourself, how will you be able to live in future peace and happiness?
Most people agree that procrastination is not good, but is it always bad? This article list 10 reasons procrastination is good. Here are some highlights:
1. Procrastination helps you learn to manage delay.
The ancient Greeks knew a thing or two about living the good life. In fact, Greek philosophers highly valued procrastination, as much as stating that it is good to learn to manage delay. Of course, there’s a significant difference between active and passive procrastination, where the former can be considered good and the latter — just sitting around doing nothing, for example — is decidedly in the category of bad. Knowing when to act, even though that may mean delaying action, is good advice.
2. Procrastination provides time to reflect on what’s most important.
You need time to think about what matters most in life. Not in the sense that you’re contemplating weighty philosophical issues, simply what’s most important to you. By taking your time to think through some things – or think of nothing at all so that your mind can clear, you’ll discover the kernels of importance that reside in your mind and heart. Then, you can act accordingly.
3. Much better decisions may result from procrastination.
Rushing in to deal with this or that task, project or item on your list of things to do doesn’t necessarily mean they’ll be done well or provide any meaningful satisfaction for their completion. You might also find yourself accepting projects and tasks that aren’t right for you, that you’re ill-equipped to handle, shouldn’t do because they’re someone else’s responsibility, or it’s simply not the right time to get started on them. Just because something is on a list is not always a green light to work on them. By procrastinating, your decision may be better informed as a result.
4. Prioritization may be the offshoot of procrastination.
If you’re putting off things, procrastination could help you jumpstart prioritizing. This is helpful to get rid of unnecessary tasks, things you might have begun that weren’t worth your time, at least now.
5. Cooler heads prevail when you procrastinate saying you’re sorry.
While you might feel pressure to apologize when you’ve wronged another and anxious to get it over with, if you push yourself to do it immediately, who knows what might come out of your mouth? This is a case where allowing yourself time to think carefully about what and how (and perhaps where and when) you’ll issue the apology will result in a better, sincerer apology. Even if it’s taking an hour or so and breathing in and out deeply, you’ll be in a calmer state of mind and your tone of voice and body language will be more relaxed.
Intermittent fasting has a whole host of good things. While you deny your body of food, it heals and rebuilds (autophagy), it burns fat for weight loss, and it improves glucose tolerance. However, this article reveals that these benefits may not be as robust and in some cases reversed in women during childbearing years.
Studies show that intermittent fasting for women within childbearing years actually have disturbed sleep patterns, loss of lean muscle mass instead of fat during training, stimulation of the Sympatheic Nervous System (fight or flight response), resistance to autophagy, reduces glucose tolerance, weight gain, and infertility. Not cool. Maybe wait on the intermittent fasting until Menopause.
As it stands right now, I’d be inclined to agree that pre-menopausal (and perhaps peri-menopausal) women are more likely to have poor—or at least different—experiences with intermittent fasting (at least as a weight loss tool).
I am not sure science can be relied upon for much these days. They seem to be contradicting themselves constantly. The most recent reversal? Cholesterol. A new study, “Dietary cholesterol promotes repair of demyelinated lesions in the adult brain” by Berghoff, Gerndt et al, finds a link between dietary cholesterol and the remyelination of the adult brain. Specifically, dietary cholesterol plays a significant role in the repair of demyelnation in the brain. Multiple Sclerosis sufferers may have help on the horizon.
A recent study, “Hippocampal GABA enables inhibitory control over unwanted thoughts (Schmitz, Correia 2017),” has shown a link between the prefrontal cortex and the hippocampus in inhibiting unwanted thoughts. Previously thought to be the sole work of the prefrontal cortex, researchers have found that an overactive hippocampus can derail the brains ability to suppress unwanted thoughts. If this hypothesis is supported, it can mean a complete change in the way we treat mental health issues like PTSD, schizophrenia, depression and anxiety disorders.
It is said that Hippocrates prescribed laughter to his patients in 4 B.C.E. Was he on to something or was he a fraud?
Actually, modern research agrees with Hippocrates. Researchers have been studying this since the 1970’s, but it really gained traction in the early 80s when writer Norman Cousins cured himself of ankylosing spondylitis with vitamins and laughter. In the mid 80’s a study by Dillon, Minchoff and Baker (1985) found laughter increased antibodies that fight infection. Du Pre’s 1998 study indicated laughter increased the disease-fighting killer cells and lowered blood pressure.
Further research shows that those who scored high on a sense of humor scale also score high on optimism and self-esteem measures that results in quicker recovery, increased stress coping abilities, enhanced immune function, and reduced pain experience (Friedler 2010, Lefcourt 2002). In some cases, all you need to do is think about laughing to accrue these benefits (Berk, Berk, and Tan 2008).
So, is laughter the best medicine? It increases antibodies and enhances the body’s immune functions, lowers blood pressure and stress, speeds recovery, reduces pain, and according to Cousins, cures incurable diseases. — That’s a resounding YES.
Goals are extremely important to our sense of well-being. But, not just any goals, research has shown goals with certain characteristics are achieved easier and help make us happy. Here’s the skinny on goal setting for a high completion rate and max benefit.
Remember, making progress toward goals brings a higher sense of well-being than achieving the goal. Or as Denzel Washington’s character said in The Equalizer, “Progress not perfection.”
Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the number one neurological disease in America and is the most common form of dementia. The side effects of this disease are devastating to the patient, the family and the community where they reside. This paper investigates 3 new treatments for AD, TMS with cognitive training, deep brain stimulation, and insulin therapy. All show signs of slowing the progression of AD but insulin therapy has the most promise because it is non-invasive, has better results and less time consuming than the other therapies.
Continue reading“Alzheimer’s Disease from a Neurological Perspective”
The major objections noted include concerns about glamorizing and glorifying eating disorders, as well as teaching “tips and tricks” for weight loss and hiding behaviors from treatment providers. Psychology Today rips Netflix new video regarding anorexia nervosa. Thanks to Psychology Today for pointing out the foibles of this movie – as …
