Category Archives: Uncategorized

Nicotine and Alcohol Co-Use

 

How many of your friends smoke cigarettes or use tobacco products on a regular basis? How many of your friends smoke at parties or consider themselves only a social smoker? I would be willing to bet that the latter is more common. I know that on more than one occasion in the past I have woken up and regretted the cigarette that I bummed from someone at the Gaff the night before, but why is social smoking so common?

According to this study published in The Official Journal of the International Society for Neurochemistry, booze and tobacco go together like peanut butter and jelly. The study was conducted by Rishi Sharma and his team of colleagues at The University of Missouri. Rishi states that based on recent research, nicotine effects the brain through the basal forebrain. In an article about this study, written by Dana Dovey on medicaldaily.com, it notes that the basal forebrain controls things such as attentiveness and reflexes. Could the stimulant attributes of nicotine effect the depressant properties of alcohol?

The team from the University of Missouri tested this question by experimenting on 20 male adult rats. Each rat had two electrodes implanted to record data while they slept. The electrodes measured three levels of sleep: wakeful, NREM, and REM. These 20 rats were divided into four groups of five rats each.  The first group of rats, the control group, was administered small doses of artificial cerebrospinal fluid and water. The next group was given nicotine and water. One group was given artificial cerebrospinal fluid and diluted ethanol (35% alcohol). The final group was given both nicotine and alcohol.

Rishi and his team found that the rats that received alcohol fell asleep faster and spent more time in REM sleep than those in the control group. Rats that were given both alcohol and nicotine stayed awake longer than the rats given only alcohol, but still fell asleep faster than the control group.

So why do people smoke when they drink? Maybe their bodies are telling them that they need a pick me up. According Sharma, tobacco enhances the effects of alcohol, making it more enjoyable for the drinker. This combination of deterring sleep while enhancing the experience could explain co-use. No mechanism has been identified yet.  Regardless, both alcohol and nicotine are very dangerous drugs that account for many deaths every year.  One beer or cigarette will not kill you, but it is important to avoid abuse of these chemicals

 

Study: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jnc.13219/full

Article:  http://www.medicaldaily.com/cigarettes-and-alcohol-science-finally-figures-out-why-we-smoke-when-we-drink-359712

Picture: https://assets.dnainfo.com/generated/photo/2013/08/cigarette-1377699012.png/larger.jpg

Works Cited

Dovey, Dana. “Cigarettes And Alcohol: Science Finally Figures Out Why We …” Medical Daily. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Oct. 2016.

 

Sharma, R., Lodhi, S., Sahota, P. and Thakkar, M. M. (2015), Nicotine administration in the wake-promoting basal forebrain attenuates sleep-promoting effects of alcohol. J. Neurochem., 135: 323–331. doi:10.1111/jnc.13219

 

Does eating junk food effect a mothers child?

Women who are pregnant are overwhelmed with joy in having the opportunity to have a child. While being pregnant 9 months, women tend to crave an immense amount of junk food. Little do they know that a diet consisting of junk food while carrying a child is extremely harmful towards the newborn. A study that was published in the Federation of American Societies for Experimental biology journal found that the babies of mothers who had a poor diet have minimal feeling to opioids and have a higher chance of overeating junk food. The mothers who ate more junk food interfered with their child’s ability to correctly answer to opioids and led them to eat more foods high in sugar and fat to receive a “good feeling”. An unborn child only receives the nutrients the mother puts into her body and depending on the diet children “good feelings” will vary. If the child relied on junk food, sugar, and fat to receive nutrients that is what they will need and crave when they are born, and soon as adults.

http://greatist.com/junk-food

http://greatist.com/junk-food

http://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/howgetpregnant/MDIxZ-pregnancy-junk-food.html

http://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/howgetpregnant/MDIxZ-pregnancy-junk-food.html

If a mother primarily eats junk food while pregnancy it is not the end of the world, and there are ways to avoid children being addicted to junk food. In order to stop this from happening the child will need to maintain a healthy diet post birth. Although there are ways to avoid obesity and junk food addiction in the child, they will always have a craving for the overconsumption of junk food. This study is observational because they are observing and analyzing diets of women who are pregnant and seeing the outcome of the child. This was done to help mothers and show them what are good and nutritious foods to eat while pregnant, not to scare them. Eating junk food once in a while and having portion control while pregnant is totally acceptable. A consist diet of bad foods is not good for the child or the mother.

http://americanpregnancy.org/week-by-week/20-weeks-pregnant/

http://americanpregnancy.org/week-by-week/20-weeks-pregnant/

Children can also have an increased risk at behavior problems like depression and anxiety from a mothers junk food diet during pregnancy. Researches from Norway and Deakin University watched over 23,000 mothers who were involved in the Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort study. The study recording the mothers diets from pregnancy to their child’s diets from the age of 18 months and 3 years. The mothers were also asked to take a survey about their children to see if there were any symptoms of depression, anxiety, ADHD, and more. As a result the study conducted showed that mothers who ate a junk food diet during pregnancy increased their child’s risk of having a behavioral disorder. A mother has to nurture her body with healthy good foods because what she eats is not only effecting her, it effects her baby.

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/265039.php

http://www.thebump.com/a/eating-junk-food-while-pregnant-effects-baby-more-than-we-ever-realized

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/health/news/10027007/Babies-of-women-who-eat-junk-food-while-pregnant-more-likely-to-be-obese.html

why do you feel so gross after naps?

I pretty much take a nap every single day, sometimes twice a day. When I’m don’t with class, even if it’s only noon, there’s a 99% chance I’m in my bed, ready to pass out. But nothing is worse than waking up from a deep sleep and feeling like you are half-dead. Especially in the evenings, specifically on gamedays, I’m sure a lot of people can relate to opening your eyes after a couple hours of sleep and feeling horrendous. But not matter how many times I wake up and regret the nap I just took, I will almost definitely make the same mistake the next day. How can just a few hours of sleep leave you feeling so great sometimes, and so terrible other times?

The answer to this is sleep inertia. This is when part of your body is still in its sleeping state and you are somehow unable to perform simple tasks. This usually happens when you wake up quickly. If you experience this in the morning, you probably automatically turn to your morning coffee. But when you experience this after an evening nap, its disorienting and confusing. Typically, sleep inertia lasts about 15-30 minutes after waking up, but it could actually last up to 4 hours.

Another issue that affects the level of sleep inertia that you experience is if you wake in the middle of a sleep stage. When you wake after a sleep stage, you normally feel amazing and wide-awake, but if you wake in the middle of one, your sleep efficiency is greatly reduced. When you use an alarm clock, your chances ofth sleep inertia are raised to almost 98%. This almost guarantees that you’ll feel terrible when you wake up in the morning.

This grogginess and tiredness that immediately follows a nap can be very bad for people who have things to do and only plan to lay down for “15 or 20 minutes.”
images-1 This can even cause dangers while driving or performing other important tasks. The closer you are to waking up, the greater your risk is for waking up at the wrong time and suffering the consequences of sleep inertia. There are certain alarm clocks and apps that you can buy that try to memorize your sleep schedule and wake you up at the end of a stage of sleeping.
After a nap, it is ideal to wake up in either stage 1 of sleep or tage 2 of sleep. It is not very beneficial to wake up in the middle of Slow Wave Sleep or REM sleep. Stages 1 and 2 are only the beginning stages of sleep, and your body will not have a very hard time recovering from being inactive. Stage 1 of sleep accounts for 9% of your sleep time, which is not when your alarm would normally go off to wake you up from your nap

Take-home message: Sleep Inertia isn’t usually dangerous but it feels pretty terrible. When your brain is inactive for a decent amount of time, it can only be expected that it’ll need some time to reboot. The best way to deal with this issue would be to purchase an alarm clock that wakes you slowly, or to get a phone app that regulates when you are in the right stage of sleep to wake up.

 

Works Cited

http://valleysleepcenter.com/12-facts-about-sleep-inertia/

http://www.psychology24.org/how-to-get-rid-of-sleep-inertia/

Photo

http://www.kaiserquotes.com/blog/helpful-tips-for-those-with-trouble-sleeping/

http://lookfordiagnosis.com/mesh_info.php?term=sleep%20stages&lang=1

Anxiety and Panic Attacks: What They Are and Their Differences

As a person who has been diagnosed with an anxiety disorder, I’ve suffered from anxiety attacks for a very long time. However, I also didn’t learn the difference between an anxiety attack and a panic attack until a few years ago. Given that mental health is extremely important to me, and many other college students, I think this is some information we can all benefit from.

What typically distinct an anxiety and panic attack is that a panic attack usually comes on very suddenly, and usually subsides after ten minutes; while an anxiety is usually provoked by some sort of distress, last longer, and can happen one right after another.

Their symptoms slightly differ as well. Panic attack symptoms include: sweating, shaking, the sensation of choking, nausea, and fear of death just to name a few. Anxiety attack symptoms, while they do include panic attacks symptoms such as shaking and sweating, go on to include much more; a sense of doom, a sense of losing control, hot flashes, feeling the need to escape, and feeling separated from reality.

Now that everyone knows what an anxiety and panic attack is, it’s time to share my hypothesis. If their symptoms are different, what happens to your body during each must also be different. In an article from Medical Daily, it cites a research review of animal studies published by Dr. Jieun E Kim that link the provoking of stimulation in the amygdala to reactions similar to a human panic attack. Given that the amygdala is a small part of the brain responsible for emotional behavior; but more specifically fear and aggression. In other words, panic attacks are believed to stem from the amygdala.

Turns out, science also believes that the amygdala plays a role in anxiety attacks; at least partially. The National Institute of Mental Health

Courtest of: panicaway.com

Courtest of: panicaway.com

explains that memories with intense emotions, specifically emotions where a fear began, are stored in the amygdala. However, the hippocampus also plays a role in anxiety attacks because it processes whether an event from a memory was threatening or not.

So while symptoms between the two differ, on a neurological level, panic and anxiety attacks are actually quiet similar. However, it is important to note that psychology does separate panic and anxiety attacks into different disorder categories.

What is sleep paralysis, and why does it happen?

A couple of times in my life, I have suffered what is referred to as “sleep paralysis”. It almost felt as if my hips and shoulders were pinned to the bed, I couldn’t talk or move and I was completely conscious.  One time in particular I can remember feeling the pressure as if someone was pressing their hands and sitting on my chest. The first time it happened I was in total shock, and had no idea what had just happen. So naturally I reached to my bed side table, grabbed my phone, and frantically typed what had just happened into google. When I found sleep paralysis pop up on my screen I was confused and had many questions. What was it? Why does it happen? Will this happen often? etc. Google quickly answered many of my questions, some vaguely, and some more specifically. I still didn’t understand or know the topic fully. Since it has happened multiple times since, and was reminded of it when it happened during a nap this past week. I decided to write this blog post on the subject, what it is, and why it happens.

Sleep paralysis is defined as a period during the sleep or waking up process in which the individual is unable to move or speak for a period of time. During this time, the person is awake, and conscious but loses the prior mentioned motor skills. From my experience I can attest to this description as accurate. Scientists say that sleep paralysis is a sign that the body is not moving through the stages of the sleep process smoothly, this could be partially due to the fact that it typically occurs close to when a person has fallen asleep, or is close to waking up (Web MD). Sleep paralysis is not thought of to be harmful in any way (Alphr). Here is a video I found that states twenty-five facts about the sleeping disorder.

During the sleep cycle our body shifts between stages of rapid eye movement (REM) and non rapid eye movement (NREM). The periods of REM are when most dreaming occurs due to the fact that the brain is most active during those stages of sleep. Additionally an individual’s voluntary muscles are unable to move and become paralyzed, this is called atonia. Sleep paralysis occurs during the REM stages of sleep, when a person wakes up before the stage is complete. Because of the characteristics of REM stages, this is why people seem alert and awake during sleep paralysis. The same reasons are why individuals may experience hallucinations, and see things, but cannot move (Alaska).

There are many possible causes of sleep paralysis. Many articles and studies state that sleep paralysis is more likely to occur for those who sleep on their back rather than other positions. Additionally, a lack of sleep, certain medications and irregular sleeping patterns could cause the disorder (Alaska). People with mental disorders are also more likely to experience sleep paralysis. According to a 2011 study conducted by Penn State University, 31.9 percent of people with mental disorders such as depression and anxiety have reportedly experienced an episode of sleep paralysis. This is compared to 7.6 percent of people total who have experienced episodes of the sleeping disorder (Life).

There is no specific treatment for sleep paralysis. However, many scientists suggest start by getting a good nights sleep every night. Start developing a routine where you go to bed at approximately the same time every night, and wake up at the same time every morning. Additionally, it is suggested that you look into your family’s health, and mental health history. This way, you can see if you could possibly be suffering from a mental disorder that so often causes the disorder (Web MD).

 

Social Media and Mental Health

In today’s society, social media has taken the world by storm. Billions of people worldwide use social media constantly every day. This effect is especially true, where social media has become a staple of communication and interaction. However, what are the effects that this heavy use of social media is having on our mood and psychology? Could it be that using social media is, in fact, bad for us?

A study done in 2012 in the UK found results that use of social media networks could be causing depression and anxiety. Participants exhibited addiction to social media, reporting the only way they could stop themselves from checking it was to turn off their device. However, they could in fact be addicted to something that is having huge negative effects on their mental health. Many participants in the study reported feeling less confident about themselves when they compared themselves to their friends’ achievements they viewed on social media. However, overall this study is not entirely compelling. The study was only conducted with 298 people, making it a small study and therefore does not provide as strong of results. It also was only conducted only on people in the UK, meaning it is not necessarily a conducive result for Americans or the global population. Additionally, the study was merely a survey, meaning it could not have controlled for confounding variables or an inverse correlation that people who have mental health issues like depression and anxiety use social media more. Overall, this study points us in the direction that there could be a an issue with social media use, but does not go a long way towards proving this is the case.

Another study conducted in 2013 by the University of Michigan provides similar results. The study examined 82 Facebook users. They were asked questions everyday about their levels of happiness and satisfaction to establish a baseline. Then, they increased their social media usage for a 14 day period and were asked the same questions. The results showed that their general state of happiness decreased over the period of increased social media usage. However, again this study is not entirely conclusive. It was only conducted on 82 people, making it another small study. It too, was also a survey, albeit a more scientifically conducted one, but still a survey. This means they did not control for confounding variables, and they also only used people who were already active on Facebook, which could have some effect on the results. In conclusion, this study again points towards the fact that social media usage may have ill effects on mental health, however is not scientifically compelling enough to prove the point.

Further confounding a conclusion on the topic is the fact that there are study results that conclude a positive effect from social media usage on mood and mental health. A study done by the University of California, San Diego concluded that emotion is “contagious”, spreading from person to person, and this effect applies to social media. They also found, when testing over a billion Facebook posts, that posts were contagious, with happy or negative posts leading to friends being more likely to post statuses of this same emotion. However, the study found that happy posts were overall more “contagious”, and they even concluded that the contagious nature of interactions online was even stronger than they had predicted and their study was unable to fully measure the effect. However, this study is highly correlational as it relies on computer software to determine the emotional content of posts and does not provide concrete, science based evidence of the effects the researchers concluded.

Overall, this idea of social media affecting human mental health is still very much left up for debate, and is still being researched. A study conducted as recently as 2014 concluded that while there seems to be a suggested correlation between social media and ill mental health, we still really don’t know. However, with the number of users on social media and with the frequency of its use, it is crucial we continue research on this topic to get to the bottom of a conclusion, before social media takes a toll on all of us.

Sources:

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/247616.php

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/264902.php

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/274017.php

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4183915/

Curls for Higher Test Scores?

We all know what it’s like being a college student. We are all putting effort forth, some more than others, to obtain good grades and eventually graduate. The stress to get good grades can sometimes be overwhelming. I know that all my friends and I have spent long hours in the library before exams. That seems pretty consistent across campus. Sometimes I find it hard to fit other things into my schedule around exams and spend all my available time studying. You may think this is the best strategy to succeed, but, according to a study performed at The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign by Alexander N. Slade and Susan M. Klies, how you spend your time outside of the library has an effect on your grades as well.

The study observed 408 first-year University of Illinois Medical School students, across four classes, beginning in 2006. The purpose of the study was to determine if regular use of campus recreation facilities had any effect on exam performance.  The study observed both the use of recreation facilities, determined by swipes of each student’s ID card at the facilities, and exam scores throughout the students first year on campus. Recreation facility use was only measured during the 21-day period leading up to each exam.

Students who attended a recreation facility daily or close to daily performed significantly higher than those who did not and averagedcr-graph-1 a whopping 8.3% higher on exams. Nearly 50% of the students observed did not attend a campus recreation facility at all during the 21-day period. While this skews the data, it can still be seen that the students participating in regular active recreation are consistently scoring above average.  Slade and Klies also determined that for each additional day that a student used a recreation facility on campus, they scored .18% higher.

While .18% may seem like a minute difference, it is still a difference.  Throughout your high school and college careers, how many times have you missed a grade by one percentage point or less? When you take the 21-day period leading up to an exam into account, an increase of 1% translates to less than two additional days in the gym per week. That is not a huge commitment.

As Penn State students, we have access to some of the largest and nicest recreation facilities in the country. Take advantage of them! Who knows, maybe a trip to the gym to blow off some steam could save your grade.

 

Study:  https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4376935/

Picture:  https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4376935/

Works Cited

Slade, Alexander N., and Susan M. Kies. “The Relationship between Academic Performance and Recreation Use among First-Year Medical Students.” Medical Education Online 20 (2015): 10.3402/meo.v20.25105. PMC. Web. 17 Oct. 2016.

Are babies born moral?

Most people assume that young children learn right from wrong from their own parents or guardians. Many believe that babies are born with a blank slate and basically know nothing about good/evil or right/wrong until taught it. However, what if babies are born with morality? What if they already know good from bad?

 

This photo was taken from CNN and it displays one of the experiments conducted with the puppet show.

This photo was taken from CNN and it displays one of the experiments conducted dealing with the puppet show.

 

The null hypothesis will be that babies are born with a blank slate with no morality and the regular hypothesis will be that babies are born with a sense of morality. In this article online by the American Phycological Association it gave examples of different experiments tested upon babies. For one experiment, they created different scenarios with two puppets. With one scenario, the puppet helped the other up a hill and with the other the puppet knocked the other down the hill. After showing the puppet show to the 3-month old baby, the baby was more fond of the helpful puppet rather than the mean one. The baby showed that by gazing more at the helpful puppet. They even explained that the older the baby gets, the more “motor skills” it will have. So instead of just gazing, the baby would use his or her hands to point at the “good guy.” 

I began to think okay, babies probably know the difference between the “good guy,” and the “bad guy,” however, do babies help in certain situations? This journal article online created by Felix Warneken and Michael Tomasello of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology used an experiment to display how young children can be very helpful. Within the experiment, they placed the 2-year olds and their parents in a room and a random adult that came into the room had dropped objects like highlighters and paperclips. They wanted to observe and see if the child would help the adult retrieve these objects. In most cases, the 2-year olds DID help the adults “on their own,” without the parents telling them to do so. *Also, the experimentors stated that there was no difference within the experiment if the parents were present during the experiment or not.* This comes to show that most children strive to offer helping hand to most people.

Okay so we understand the fact that infants are amazing and they will help you and they are very down to earth characters. They can determine the good from the bad in different scenarios. It only gets better. In this article online it displayed an experiment conducted by Kiley Hamlin, a psychologist at the University of British Columbia. There was an experiment done with 32 toddlers ranging from 19 to 23 months and they were required to watch a puppet show with two different scenarios. The puppet show showed both a character being nice and one being mean. At the end, the toddlers were allowed to choose which puppet would get a prize and which puppet should get punished. In most cases, the toddler chose the mean puppet to get punished. According to the article, “13/16 gave a treat to the nice puppet and 14/16 took the treat away from the mean puppet.” 

Based on the information and research, the regular hypothesis, “Babies are born with a sense of morality,” was proven true. This also deals with the nature vs. nurture subject. Nature is when one is born with the trait and nurture is when one is taught the trait or learned it from someone (most of the time a parent). Based on the information, this subject is more natural and babies are born with a sense a goodness rather than just a plain blank slate.

Sources Below: 

Weir, Kirsten. “Not-so Blank Slates.” Www.apa.org. N.p., Apr. 2014. Web. 20 Oct. 2016. <http://www.apa.org/monitor/2014/04/blank-slates.aspx>. 

Warneken, Felix, and Michael Tomasello. “Parental Presence and Encouragement Do Not Influence Helping in Young Children.” Wiley Library. N.p., 8 Mar. 2012. Web. 20 Oct. 2016. <http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1532-7078.2012.00120.x/full>.

And, Kristen A. Dunfield. “Kristen A. Dunfield.” Intention-Mediated Selective Helping in Infancy. N.p., 01 Apr. 2010. Web. 20 Oct. 2016 <http://pss.sagepub.com/content/21/4/523.abstract>.

Pappas, Stephanie. “Even Babies Think Crime Deserves Punishment.” Live Science. N.p., 28 Nov. 2011. Web. 20 Oct. 2016. <http://www.livescience.com/17204-babies-prefer-punishment.html>.

OCD

Somewhere between 2% and 3% of the population between the ages of 18 and 54 suffer from OCD (UOCD). This number seems to be very low, but it is actually a large percent and even out ranks other mental disorders like schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, or panic disorder (UOCD). About 3.3 million people in the U.S. alone have OCD. Anyone from ages as early as 18 months old to ages 50 and above (UOCD). It is safe to say that most everyone knows someone or has seen someone on TV who has OCD. I personally have met a few people in my life that have different levels of OCD. My mother actually has a very mild form of OCD and I think it is safe to say that I myself have had my fair share of OCD-like moments.

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What is OCD?

OCD, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, is a very common, chronic condition where a person will have uncontrollable, reoccurring thoughts and behaviors that they feel the need to repeat over and over (NIMH). There are many normal times where someone could experience something like this happening, like double checking to make sure you really did lock your car or unplug your curling iron before leaving. In these cases, it is not out of the ordinary to repeat over. Some people may think that this would mean you have OCD when in fact, you were just taking a precaution. People who do suffer from OCD will do the same things, except their thoughts and behaviors can actually be so severe that it takes over their entire lives. Those who have OCD can recognize their irrational urges but still are not able to control them since they cannot resist.

images

Categories of OCD

Those who suffer from OCD can have different types of obsessions and behaviors and can be put into different categories (Smith). The “washers” of OCD are those that are basically germaphobes and feel the need to constantly wash themselves or clean. “Checkers”, are those who constantly check things to make sure no harm can be done, for example making sure the car door is locked. There are also “doubters and sinners”, these are the ones who need to make sure that everything is done perfectly. “Counters/ arrangers” need to make sure that everything is in order and not out of place. And then there is also “hoarders, who feel the need to keep everything that they own. These are just the common categories of OCD, however their severeness of each person varies. Some people experience extreme symptoms while others may only experience subtle symptoms.

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Signs and Symptoms

People with OCD can be put into any of the above categories based on how they physically deal with their urges. Some people could also have certain motions, or tics, such as blinking or making odd eye movements, twitching of any part of the body, or even making constant sounds or noises (Smith). However, sometimes certain symptoms can be confused with other disorders. Also reading a list of symptoms and realizing that you may be experiencing one of them does not necessarily mean that you have OCD. It is important though to seek help if you seem to have severe symptoms.

Treatments

There are many different ways to help yourself if you have OCD. Being able to control you urges and obsessions is a very important part of recovery. Controlling it will help you live a better life, especially if OCD is taking it over. Self-help, according to this article  includes things like exercising, keep in touch with family and friends, sleeping regularly, and even just realizing you have a problem plus many more. It is good to try and teach yourself to not give in to your regular impulses. Aside from self-help, you could try cognitive behavioral therapy (Smith). Cognitive-behavioral therapy has two different parts to it. The first part is exposure and response prevention. In this part, the person with OCD will be exposure directly to the source of their disorder and then they must refrain from the obsessions or behaviors. Then there is cognitive therapy which focuses on how the person feels when they experience their compulsive symptoms. Other treatments do include medications and different types therapies. (Smith)

Eraser deleting the concept Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, OCD.

Eraser deleting the concept Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, OCD.

Conclusion

The number of people who suffer from OCD is surprising very large, but the level of severeness in everyone can vary widely. Sometimes it is hard to tell if someone even has OCD or if they just experience normal instances that do not seem out of the norm. There are many different ways to control OCD or help contain any symptoms which makes it somewhat easy to help reduce and eliminate obsessions and behaviors. Today there are tons of different clinical studies that are still finding different ways to discover, prevent, and treat OCD in people. This means that research will always constantly be involved in finding treatments and providing help to the 3% of the population who suffers from OCD.

Works Cited

NIMH. “NIMH » Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder.” The National Institute of Mental Health. N.p., Jan. 2016. Web. 16 Oct. 2016.

Smith, Melinda, and Jeanne Segal. “Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD): Symptoms, Self-Help …” Help Guide. Helpguide.org, Oct. 2016. Web. 16 Oct. 2016.

UOCD. “UOCD: Facts& Statistics on OCD. – Tripod.com.” UOCD. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Oct. 2016.

Could exposing infants to peanuts prevent peanut allergies?

I love peanut butter, and I am definitely not one of those many health-conscious people who have decided to go gluten-free, so having a food allergy to one of those things would be really difficult for me. When I was a kid, my parents had me tested to see what allergies I may have, and while I tested positive for allergies to 50+ medicines, grasses, trees, particles, and animals, I consider myself very fortunate to not have any foods listed among them.

These allergies don’t typically develop at birth, but instead early in life. Allergies are somewhat caused by genetics, however. According to WebMD, Children have 33% chance of having their own allergies if they have one parent with some, and they have 70% chance if both of their parents are allergic to something. People who are genetically prone to allergies typically develop them from frequent close contact to allergens. So it is makes sense that with this in mind, traditionally people have been recommended to keep their young children away from possible food allergens, especially if one or both of their parents has allergies.

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So when is it prudent to introduce these allergens to children? The American Academy of Pediatrics traditionally recommends to wait one year to introduce children to cow’s milk, two years to introduce them to eggs, and three years to introduce them to peanuts and other nut related products. The reasoning behind this is that children have weaker immune systems when they are infants, so exposure to these possible allergens at that time could lead to an increased risk of being allergic to them.

In addition to being exposed to these foods at a young age by eating them, some researchers believe in another possible method of exposure, through the infant’s skin. This method, combined with early oral exposure has become known as dual-allergen-exposure hypothesis.

Figure 1 - Dual signal hypothesis for pathogenesis of food aller

Even with this hypothesis becoming popular in recent years, there are some recent studies that have begun to support early introduction of these allergens, rather than shielding infants from them. One such study surveyed Jewish school children in the UK, and Israel to see if they had  peanut allergies. In the UK, 5171 children were surveyed and 5615 were surveyed in Israel. The reason that this is could be significant is that while the UK conforms with the late-introduction guidelines for allergens, Israel does not. In Israel, children are usually introduced to peanuts at a much younger age–typically around 8 months.

The study’s null hypothesis is that early exposure of peanuts does not provide an immunity to peanut allergies, while the alternative hypothesis is that it does provide an immunity to the allergens.

peanut_butter

The study’s results showed that the percentage of UK children surveyed with an allergy to Peanuts was 1.85%. The Israeli school children with peanut allergies was substantially lower, at 0.17%. So according to the conclusion of this study, early exposure to peanut products does in fact build up some kind of immunity to peanut allergies. Of course these results could be due to third variables, such as parent’s disregarding the guidelines, as well as genetic predispositions. Additionally, by limiting the demographic of the study so much (to only Jewish school children), the widespread applicability of this study.

Furthermore, the study is observational, as the researchers did not manipulate the early introduction of peanuts to any of these children, as that would probably be unethical. This is an area that could certainly use more research to further explore it. More in-depth questionnaires could be administered, asking parents of subjects when they had decided to introduce their children to peanuts.  Surveying a wider range of demographic of people would also help strengthen further studies in this area.

This study has, however, changed the way that some people think about the early introduction of peanuts to children. The American Academy of Pediatrics now recommends that parents need not wait the traditional 3 years to introduce their children to Peanut products, but still do not recommend introducing them prior to 6 months of age. So at least for now, there is little reason to fear introducing young children to peanut products.

Picture 1 Source

Picture 2 Source

Picture 3 Source

Traditional AAP Recommendation Source

Allergy Statistics Source

Dual-Allergen-Exposure Hypothesis Source

Study Source

Updated AAP Recommendation Source

Crisis in NFL

Currently in the NFL, there is a crisis going on that is scaring many players, discouraging parents from letting their kids play, and causing problems later in life to some players. The epidemic that has been sweeping the NFL for decades now, but is now recently getting attention is concussions. The problem: it’s not getting any better.

In 2012 and 2013, teams reported that 306 players suffered 323 concussions. However though, this number is most likely higher than the reported value as players often try to hide symptoms and “tough it out” so they can stay in the game and avoid the NFL’s concussion protocol. This is a huge problem because former players have been experiencing problems doctors are now relating to football.concussion_anatomy-1

For those who don’t know, a concussion is a very serious brain injury caused by a forceful blow to the head; and on some occasions, to the body of an individual that causes the person’s head causing it to move rapidly. This then results in the brain possibly twisting or banging off the         skull, leading to swelling and causing chemical changes in the brain.

As you can see, concussions are very serious and can cause many complications later in life. Ex football players have been linked to a lot of these problems. Many ex football players have been  diagnosed with chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). Basically, CTE is a build of this strange protein called Tau. Tau has been linked to disturbing many brain cells in areas that control memories, emotions, and even other functions. Scientists have found alarming concentrations of tau in many autopsies of former NFL players. Tony Dorsett, one of the best running backs of all time has recently been suffering from symptoms like memory loss and depression due to this concussion epidemic. For his story, click here.

It is very evident that concussions are a huge problem in the NFL and that something needs to be done about it. Should the NFL implement stricter concussion policies, implement new rules, and/or conduct research on how to make helmets safer? Probably, but most likely they will do little about it as they have for decades now.

Sources:

Breslow, Jason M. “FRONTLINE.” PBS. PBS, 19 Sept. 2014. Web. 15 Sept. 2016.

 

Weinbaum, William. “OTL: Ex-NFL Stars Show CTE Signs.” ESPN.com. ESPN, 5 Apr. 2014. Web. 15 Sept. 2016.

 

“What Is a Concussion?” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Centers for     Disease Control and Prevention, 16 Feb. 2015. Web. 15 Sept. 2016.

 

The power of positivity

Just recently a friend of mine was told she has a malignant tumor in her stomach. My parents kept drilling it into my mind that I had to stay positive and help her to stay positive as well. Of course I agree with positivity lifting your mood but could it really result in healing? I was willing to find out though.

Dr. Deepak Chopra writes in a CNN article about the positive thinking in relation to healing. Of course just thinking cannot cure you but it can certainly help. Chopra discusses thinking being “real” medicine. The placebo effect allows us to realize that this to be correct. The placebo effect basically allows someone to believe the drug given to them will allow them to feel better even though it may not be a real drug. So while a patient is in their hospital bed, Dr. Chopra reveals that they can often trigger this said effect by themselves. However, people will continue to argue the effectiveness of this. Although it becomes difficult, thinking is obviously the most important part of this process, and that in itself becomes increasingly difficult. Simply being able to think positively can even serve for a decline in blood-pressure and stress levels.

I was scrolling through Facebook and came across a video that was shared by a friend. This video showed a cancer patient happily dancing to a trending new song. Attached to the video is an article written by the patient. She includes that you should make the most of the bad situations and that laughter is the best medicine. Hearing this coming from the actual patient and not a scientist reviewing the situation proves how powerful positivity is. She has the power to sit in her bed and sulk or get up and make the best of it. Evidently, smiling and having a good time will prevent you from feeling worse.

So while just thinking cannot provide a cure or overall healing, it definitely serves as an aid during the process.

sources:

http://www.cnn.com/2011/12/05/health/positive-thinking-deepak-chopra/index.html?hpt=hp_t2

http://www.kvue.com/news/local/dallas-area-woman-puts-the-juju-n-that-chemo/338363187

Violence and Video games

Growing up, I think it would be safe to assume that a majority of us played with some kind of video game. Video games are fun, they are easy to operate, and of course they are an escape from reality. Over the years I have encountered many parents or even kids tell me that video games are bad, because of the effect it has on the person playing it. I wanted to truly examine if they are as bad as people claim they are and offer my opinion from my experiences in this blog post. First off I would like to start of by saying that in my personal opinion, It is the player playing the game, not the game that shapes what him/her does outside of the video game. I relate video games beliefs with my gun beliefs, it is on the hands or responsibility of the person in charge, not the object.

https://www.thinglink.com/scene/741009806260699137

https://www.thinglink.com/scene/741009806260699137

The supreme court actually made the decision that video games could not be banned, we know this from the famous case of Brown vs. Entertainment merchants association. Violent video games allow for the release of anger in my opinion, think of video games as a release from reality, it is your vacation. Some people have linked violence to video games, the one person is playing video games, they are actually detracting from the claim that video games cause violence or murder.Various claims have been made in terms of video games being “bad” and having negative affects on the person that is playing the game.
The first argument against that video game influence violence is that “the military uses video games for tactics and killing”. Well to dispute this, 10 year olds are playing Halo to have fun, they are not using it to kill their friends at the park. The Military in America is more than likely the most disciplined group of men and women in the world. The next claim that video games are bad comes from violence against women, many believe that women are being itemized in video games and this why we have domestic abuses against woman. This is totally absurd, many games actually encourage women to play, by having a leading woman role character. The final claim is that we evolve into the person we are playing as. I personally do no think that I am emulating a marine sniper when I play Call of Duty, that is just my opinion though.
Benefits of playing video games are amazing. It was actually found that video games can truly slow the aging process. A group of 681 contestants who are 50 years or older were asked to play video games for 2 hours everyday for a week. From this, it slowed the natural decline of cognitive skills. I always found out that Call of Duty can improve one’s eye vision. While looking for the bad guys in Call Of Duty, it can improve your eye sight. We know this from a case done in 2009.

http://www.31.com.au/latest-news/positive-aging-benefits-from-video-games-according-to-report

http://www.31.com.au/latest-news/positive-aging-benefits-from-video-games-according-to-report

To sum the entirety of the blog post up, I am saying that video games are not as bad as parents say they are. We have learned that there is actually various benefits to playing games. I think it is unfair when parents claim that their kids show violence acts due to video games, because it is on the parents or the kid.

Sources
https://www.cnet.com/news/video-games-may-cause-aggression-based-on-difficulty-not-violence/

http://videogames.procon.org

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/07/video-games-good-for-us_n_4164723.html

Can you diagnose yourself with cute aggression?

Have you ever wanted to squeeze a puppy to death? Or drop kick a kitten because it was so cute? Or even seen Kristen Bell’s sloth meltdown on Ellen? After recently going home for the first time this semester, I thought I was going to kill my dog. This made me wonder why cute things bring out the worst in you.

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Image from: http://graphicsheat.com/cute-puppies/

I found out that these crazy urges are due to a psychological thing called cute aggression. Cute aggression is defined  as the urge to squeeze or scream over something that you think is overwhelmingly cute. This mix up of emotions is very similar to when someone cries tears of joy. For example, when a mother gives birth to a child she is so happy that she will start to cry. She is releasing all of her negative emotions with the positive at once. Similarly, when you see something extremely cute, you become aggressive. While reading an article on Popular Science, I read about a study done at Yale University that explains why we have these violent urges towards the things we love. Rebecca Dyer and her team hypothesized that getting aggressive is our body’s way of regulating our emotions. She believes that dimorphous expressions (two expressions at once) occur when people feel overwhelmed with intense feelings.

The team gathered a total of 109 volunteers to test their hypothesis. They showed them a slideshow of cute animals and babies and also neutral pictures to see what their reactions would be. They measured the strength of their reactions by asking them how aggressive they felt. After the scattered results of this first study, the researches felt that they weren’t thorough enough. They realized that the results were extremely limited because they were based on self report, so they decided to conduct the experiment again.

The second time around, they gave the participants bubble wrap. This time, when they looked at the pictures they could squeeze however much bubble wrap that they needed to. This gave Dyer and her team the ability to use an actual number to measure aggression. The results showed that the volunteers popped more bubbles when looking at the cuter pictures. The cute pictures averaged 120 bubbles while the neutral and funny pictures averaged 80 bubbles.

Dyer’s team concluded that their results supported their hypothesis. When faced with an extremely cute picture, it can fill your brain with so much emotion that the only way our body can regulate it is with a dimorphous expression. Since the participants showed higher levels of aggression towards the cuter pictures, it proves that a single stimulus (a very cute picture), can provoke two emotional responses at once (happiness and aggression). Dyer believes that one reason for this conclusion could be that when we see something cute, we then realize that it is only a picture, and get very frustrated that we cant cuddle or take care of it. Another explanation she mentions is that our bodies cannot handle that much positive emotion, so it needs to be negative in order to balance it out.

One downfall of this study that I personally noticed is that the experiment only used pictures. They didn’t actually use real dogs or real babies. Ultimately, you would think that if they did use real living things their results would be even more compelling and increase the aggression dramatically.

In the end it is nice to know that when I scream and squeeze my dog I am not mimicking actions of a young serial killer. It is actually quite normal to feel this way, and I can proudly diagnose myself as someone who suffers from cute aggression.

 

Does Marijuana Affect Sperm?

Marijuana, pot, weed, dro, pac, bud, or whatever you may call it is increasingly becoming more popular in the United States. Whether for medicinal or recreational purposes, more Americans, specifically  younger adults have taken up using marijuana. However, many people are unsure of the effects it has on your body. One of the more famous rumors is that smoking marijuana lowers your sperm count. Could this possibly be true?635961444810294824-marijuana

In a study done by the University of Buffalo, researchers examined the affect smoking marijuana had on sperm. To measure this, researchers examined two separate groups. The sperm of a control group of 59, and the sperm of an experimental group of 22. The volunteers of the control group were fertile men who produced at least one pregnancy in the past and who were not sexually active in the past two days. The volunteers of the experimental group admitted to smoking marijuana at least 14 times a week for at least 5 years. The results were pretty alarming. The tests revealed that the people who smoked marijuana had significantly less sperm in their seamen. In addition, there was also a decrease in the sperm’s hyperactiviation (HA), which is a specific type of swimming sperm does that is required before fertilizing an egg. The results were also the same once the dead sperm were removed.

unknown-5 There are other studies that share similar conclusions as well. In a study done by the American Journal of Epidemiology, 1,215 young men between the ages 18-28 were recruited to test the affects of marijuana on sperm. According to the study, 45% of the young men reported smoking marijuana within the last three months. The tests returned some shocking numbers. The people who smoked more than once a week had a 28% lower sperm concentration and a 29% lower sperm count than the non smokers. Both of those numbers are almost a third!

With every conclusion there is always a possibility of it just happening by chance, but this is not likely. Over a thousand people were tested between the two studies, so the numbers are there. However, more testing should be performed to know for sure, but for the time being, it is probably a good idea to not smoke marijuana if you plan on having a kid.

Sources:

http://aje.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2015/08/16/aje.kwv135.abstract

http://www.buffalo.edu/news/releases/2003/10/6427.html

Can spicy things make you live longer?

There is a saying, that comes from ancient times and has been popularly held for decades. I come from Ecuador and have noticed that the old generation from my country has many beliefs about how certain foods will affect your health. So to start this post I wanted to share a common belief that I think South America and other cultures have in common. The question that I want to answer through this blog is: Do spicy things affect the mortality of a person?

According to a study conducted by the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, spicy food may have an effect in mortality. They had data from 512,891 participants from diverse areas of China that had answered questionnaires about the types of chili peppers they ate and how many days a week they ate them. This was an observational study since participants were asked how much spicy things they ate during a period of time. They were also asked to give other information such as their measurements and their health status; these way confounding variables were controlled. Even though most were controlled, it would have worked better if participants were randomized and chilli peppers were given to one group and a placebo chilli would be given to another. This way it could have been an experiment that would provide more evidence of how spicy food has an effect on mortality.

All of the individuals in the study aged between 30 and 79 years old. After a seven-year follow up, 20224 people had passed away. Scientists compared the data from these participants depending on their health status and how often they consume spicy food. Here is a table showing the results:

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Tables

As seen in the data above, when the participants of the study had spicy food several times a week, it lowered their risk of mortality.The null hypothesis has been rejected therefore, the study has an alternative hypothesis since something is going on. Furthermore, scientists separated the data from those who had Cancer, Ischemic heart disease and Diabetes and others who had infections or respiratory diseases. Individuals were categorized through models 1, 2 or 3 depending on their age, sex, education, physical activity, smoking and drinking status. When comparing the data from participants who ate spicy food less than once a week with those who ate it 6 to 7 times a week, scientists noticed a 14% lower risk of death for causes of death (hard endpoint).

Even though, this is a very big study there is the need of replication since there is always a probability of chance. In this case it is very unlikely, but life-changing discoveries need meta analyses in order to prove the hypothesis (in this case: the amount of spicy food consumed changes mortality). Scientists did not find a mechanism that can explain their finding that spicy food lowers the risk of mortality but they do have a reasonable speculation for them to believe it does. Therefore, the conclusion of the study could be a false positive or correct since something is going on.

To conclude, there is the need of meta analyses and replication since the research paper indicated that this is the first published study in which the amount of spicy food eaten and mortality rates are analyzed. Also, data collected is just from one area (China) and is therefore generalizing the discovery. It is similar to the Dutch study of sugary drinks discussed in class. There is not enough evidence to prove that spicy food lowers the risk of death of an individual but this study suggests that something is going on.

Ultimately, the belief that spicy food is healthy for you may be certain, and therefore some people may want to eat more spicy food but it needs to be eaten with moderation. This study does not allow people to make the conclusion that people who eat too much spicy food will live longer. I also found an article from NBC news that mentions the positive effects of spicy food and actually mentions the study I talk about above but also mentions some of the negative effects of eating too much spicy food such as making your blood thinner and provoking hemorrhoids.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chicken Noodle Soup + Orange Juice = Sickness Cure?

There’s nothing like a steaming hot bowl of homemade chicken noodle soup to pick you up when you’re not feeling the best. Every time I’m sick, my mom loads me up on orange juice and chicken noodle soup. I don’t mind either so I scarf both down, not actually sure if it helps or just consciously makes me feel better. As I sit in au bon pain and scarf down a bowl of soup, I can’t help but wonder – is chicken noodle soup (and orange juice) actually good for the soul?

Chicken Noodle Soup

UPMC Health Beat helps me understand this concept by first breaking down the ingredients and their purpose in an article published in 2014. The warm broth can help with the upper respiratory system and clear congestion. Chicken can help support the immune system, while the noodles will help you feel more full. While I always thought carrots, celery and onion were just for taste – they can help build a stronger immune system and fight off illness quicker.

Of course medicine can help you fight off your sickness as well, but the antioxidants from chicken noodle soup can really help build a strong immune system and give the body the extra kick to conquer the illness. Studies have shown that a bowl of chicken noodle soup can work as an anti-inflammatory and help with congestion.

A study conducted by Fox News explained that the key ingredient in chicken noodle soup to cure a cold is the chicken stock. The base can help decrease mucus production, even with store bought soup. When the study tried vegetarian soup, the results weren’t as effective as the soup with chicken stock as the base. The key is chicken!

Not only does chicken noodle soup taste great, but it makes you feel better too. It’s a win-win.

Orange Juice

A big glass of orange juice has always accompanied a bowl of chicken noodle soup when I catch a cold, which is then followed by a few vitamin C tablets after my meal. OJ is key when recovering from being sick, but why?

Fox News refers to a study done by the University of Toronto in the 70’s that the length of a cold can be shortened by one day just by taking the daily recommended dose of vitamin C. According to the FDA, 90 milligrams daily is enough. A glass of oj typically contains 120 milligrams of vitamin C – a good amount to help fight a cold.

While some claim the daily dosage is helpful, Linus Pauling – a biochemist – insists that taking four times of the daily dose can help tremendously. Others say that exceeding the dosage has no actual benefit and the recommended 90 mg is just as helpful.

Bottom line – no matter how much vitamin C you intake, benefits will follow – whether its in the form of a tablet or a cold glass of orange juice.

Chicken noodle soup and orange juice is my favorite cold remedy combination that has ongoing positive effects and can kick a cold away in no time.

Power couple.

Power couple.

 

RLS

Restless Leg Syndrome

 

When I was in middle-school, I had one friend who would always yell at me for moving my legs at the strangest times. Even when we would have sleepovers and I would be trying so hard to fall asleep, I literally could not stop moving my legs. This wouldn’t happen all the time, but when it did, it was beyond frustrating. I would be watching a movie and suddenly have the urge to get up and run on a treadmill just so my legs would chill. It was like a tingling in my lower legs that would only go away if I was moving them somehow.images-1

I’ve heard the term “restless leg syndrome,” but I never really thought it was an actual disorder. It’s not very serious but it is when there is an uncomfortable sensation in your legs that will only go away when you make movements. There’s really no specific test for RLS, but Doctors think it affects roughly 10% of the American population. Some scientists think that it’s caused by irregular dopamine transmissions. Dopamine, a neurotransmitter, is a chemical that affects the body’s reward and motivating system. In another blog that I wrote, I said that this is the chemical that is believed to cause extroverts to be so outgoing.

Unlike some medical mysteries, scientists think they may have found a mechanism for what causes this unrestful disorder. Researchers at Johns Hopkins University evaluated a group of forty-eight participants. Twenty-eight of these participants had RLS, and twenty of them did not. Using an MRI, the levels of glutamate in each participant’s brain were measured. After measuring each patient’s sleep pattern for 2 nights, the levels of glutamate in each participant’s brain were measured again. After the 2 nights of sleep, the levels of glutamate in participants who suffered from RLS were much higher than those who did not. Like dopamine, glutamate is a neurotransmitunknownter, but glutamate stimulates the body’s brain and the central nervous system. This allows scientists to rule out some possible third variables, but not all of them. But the discovery of the correlation between RLS and glutamate could possibly only be correlation.

Take Home Message: This study was very important for the progression of understanding RLS because most studies that were previously done measured dopamine levels. This is an example of how our own intuition can block us from seeing the answers to questions we have been studying for years. Even though this isn’t a very serious issue, if it had been a more serious problem, who knows how many people would have died because scientists were studying the wrong variable

Works Cited

http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/restless_legs/detail_restless_legs.htm

https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/sleep-newzzz/201306/breakthrough-restless-legs-syndrome

Photo 1

https://middlesexhospital.org/our-services/hospital-services/the-comprehensive-sleep-center/services/restless-leg-syndrome-rls

photo 2

http://www.medicinenet.com/restless_leg_syndrome/article.htm

 

Are you a dedicated fan?

Growing up and still to this day my family and I have always been huge sports fans. Both my sister and I played 3 sports in high school and my sister later on went to play division 1 golf. We not only spend large amounts of time watching each other play but also watch our favorite professional and college sports teams play. Growing up in New England near Boston means you better like the Patriots, Red Sox, and Celtics. There hasn’t been a season yet in my life where I haven’t watched at least 75% of each season. Across the country there are millions of dedicated sports fans that would die for their team. This popped a question in my head. What makes us so attached to our favorite teams?

USP MLB: ALCS-DETROIT TIGERS AT BOSTON RED SOX S BBA USA MA

According to this interesting article I found research has shown that there is an increase in testosterone while watching sports due to the competitive nature sports has and therefore a simply explanation for increased tension between fans during games. Also, due to mirror neurons we have, fan sometimes feel as though they are the ones playing the game because we are watching the players in the game and think we are playing as well. Mirror neurons are like a mirror you look into, the reflection is doing the same thing as the person looking into the mirror.

Fans get riled up when they watch their team play because they feel like they are playing with them and in the game so there is a lot of emotion when watching a sporting event. Also, when your team is preforming well you obviously are happy and feel a sense of pleasure and sensation. Like I learned in psychology, dopamine levels rise when you have a feeling of pleasure. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that effects emotion. So like-wise, if your team is playing bad and loosing your dopamine levels lower.

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 In studies conducted by Daniel Wann, professor of psychology at Murray State University, results have showed that the more dedicated the person perceived themselves as to their favorite sports team, showed lower levels of loneliness and higher levels of self-esteem and positive emotions regardless of how well your favorite sports team has done. His research has also showed that the team you support is part of your life and something you carry with you, thus making yourself proud that you support them raising your self-esteem level. Personally… not to brag but after reading this research my self-esteem levels are probably through the roof because clearly the New England Patriots are the best in the league, Tom Brady is the GOAT,  and they’re going to win another Super Bowl.

I also personally think that being a dedicated fan to a certain team brings you together with others and is healthy for you because you meet and interact with others who have similar interests as you do. In a sporting event it is clear from the start that only one team can win. Winning together or loosing together brings you closer to your fellow fans and makes the bond between the team you support and your fellow fans stronger and only makes you want that team to thrive even more.

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Professor Wann in other studies he had done, also looked into the superstition of sports fans. In his study with 1,000 participants, more than half said they were superstitious. Likewise he found that the more dedicated a fan was to a team the more superstitious that fan was… pretty self-explanatory.

What does this make you? Are you a dedicated fan? After reading this I can say my dedication to my favorite sports teams is still very strong but not to the point where I have pregame rituals and prayers I have to say before my team play. Although, my dopamine levels will lower tremendously if the Patriots do not win the Super Bowl this year.

First picture found here.

Second picture found here.

Third picture found here.

IM GOING BALD!

All of us men and some women have the fear of thinning and receding hair. Unfortunately most of us men can blame it on our fathers. Recently I have noticed that my hair has been thinner than usual and I want to get to the bottom of it. According to Huffington Post, about 66% of men experience some form of hair loss by the age of 35. That number increase to about 85% of males by the age of 50. The most common type of hair loss is called male patterned baldness (Scientific Name – Androgenic Alopecia) which is typically described as the hair at the temple starts to recede. This will eventually create a small spot of hair at the front of your hairline because you will start to lose the hair on the crown of your head simultaneously.

Image result for stages of male pattern baldness

So what is the science behind how hair loss actually occurs. The science behind it isnt completely understood yet, but there is a well known belief of the root cause. As stated by American Hair Loss Association, it starts occurring when enzymes in the body start converting testosterone into dihydro-testosterone (DHT). Hair follicles are sensitive to DHT, so it essentially shortens the life of each follicle that it had contact with. If it was affected it is rendered basically useless and is now unable to produce quality hair follicles.

As always we know in science things are meant to be proven wrong, and this leaves much opportunity for someone to contest this theory. The thought of correlation does not equal causation is very relevant in this theory because there has a possibility of being many third confounding variables in someones life. A few of the most common are though to be:

  1. Diet
  2. Stress
  3. Lack of sleep
  4. Lack of protein
  5. Various medications

It is nearly impossible to test many of these factors and the effects they have on someone over time to there is not very much data to eliminate or prove any of these factors.

Overall, this is something none of us men can avoid. Its just something we have to expect will probably happen to us. For those who may experience some of these issues or want to get ahead of the curve, here is a link to help prevent your hair loss.

Dont Go Bald

Sources: Source 1 Source 2 Source 3

Is cutting weight actually an advantage?

 

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Cutting weight, a part of most combat sports, is something most athletes don’t look forward to. In sports such as MMA(mixed martial arts), boxing and wrestling, athletes pick to compete at a certain weight and must make that weight on the day they weigh in otherwise they are unable to compete. Cutting weight is pretty much just losing a lot of weight in a short period of time. Some athletes cut upwards to 20-25 lbs in a few days.

Having been a wrestler since the age of 5, I am pretty familiar with cutting weight. I’ve been around guys who have cut 20+lbs in 2 days and I’ve also had to lose 15-20lbs in a few days. When I was little my parents wouldn’t let me cut weight because they said it stuns your growth. I just listened to them when I was little, but as I got older I made my own decisions and I felt that I almost had to cut weight because that is what everyone did. I felt as if I would be a disadvantage if I did not cut weight. Looking back now, I am wondering if cutting weight is actually an advantage?

An article published in December of 2012, by the Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition, shows a meta analysis of 50+ studies done on athletes cutting weight and the effects of cutting weight on them and their bodies. They organized these studies into 5 subcategories. They looked at rapid weight loss very generally, the ways people lose weight, the physiological and psychological effects it has and the success/failure rates in competition of the athletes.

According to the analysis, a high percentage of athletes lose 2-5% of their body weight. In addition 40% of all the athletes in the study lost 5-10% of their body weight and there were some high outliers who lost even more. The athletes reported their varying methods of rapid weight loss, which include fasting, reducing liquid intake, saunas, plastic suits, vomiting, laxatives etc. The results of the meta analysis show that there are many psychological effects including, depression, decreased short term memory, concentration issues and increased rage. As far as physiological effects, most studies showed there was an effect on both aerobic and anaerobic performance. This refers to things like dehydration, increased heart rate and muscle depletion.

Overall the study is saying and showing the negative effects of cutting weight. I understand and can see all of the negative effects but I don’t think that will stop people from cutting weight. It has been a part of the sport for so long and still is a big part. I think they can continue to do studies and publish them but I don’t think it will stop people. If you are going to cut weight in sports I think that you should diet and do it more so in a correct way rather than starving yourself, not drinking water and running and sitting in a sauna.

Science behind naps

Before coming to college, I rarely took naps. Now they are sometimes essential throughout the week. Whether its following a big test, a long night out, or just a crappy nights sleep, I find myself needing a nap AT LEAST once a week. Now, of course this isn’t a great habit, I wanted to see the effects of the duration of my naps. Some days I nap for 30 minutes to an hour. While other times I nap for well over 2 hours. I guess this mostly depends on the day.

Last year as a freshman there was a sign about napping, which I found funny. Who needs information about napping? Whats the big deal?  After looking into it some more I found some information on optimal nap duration. Each allotted duration of your nap can help or hinder a specific aspect with regards to your brain.

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For example according to this site; there are signifiant difference in the effects according to the duration of your naps. To overall reboot your energy, they say to take a power nap between 10-20 minutes. A 30 minute nap will leave you feeling groggy or cloudy, an additional 30 minutes of exhaustion following your nap will pass before you feel the benefits of your nap. When you nap for an hour studies show that it will aid in your memory to retain information; but this groggy feeling will also be prevalent following this one hour nap. During a 90 minute nap you will go though one sleep cycle. This will have the groggy feeling avoided completely. 

According to this article

There IS a science behind napping. Napping can be beneficial in the way that it helps you stay mentally sharp and overall live a healthy life. Now we know they can recharge your energy meter but how much can a nap really do for your brain.

While researching this topic I found so much different information regarding naps, It has been found that a 90 minute nap will improve learning all day. How? I did not understand how this could be possible.

This site reflects on a study done in attempts to prove this claim true. They took 39 young adults and broke them into two groups. Both groups performed rigorous educational tasks that were targeted to tire out the hippocampus. After this task, one group took a 90 minute nap where as the others stayed awake. Following the nap, all participants were then again asked to attempt vigorous learning tasks. The participants who remained awake become less successful than of those who did have the opportunity to nap.

The bottom line is naps seem to effect your brain and body in different ways, but overall it has been found that the hypothesis of napping for 90 minutes will increase your learning abilities has been accepted whereas the null hypothesis has been rejected. Or, this could very well be a false positive.

Change in Air Pressure Could Cure Jet Lag

As a resident of California, I have a five and and a half hour flight and three hour time shift every time I travel between school and home. Because of this and many other trips both domestically and abroad, I am no stranger to the dreaded effects of jet lag.

Jet lag occurs when your body’s circadian rhythm is interrupted by change in daylight hours. Your circadian rhythm controls many of your normal habits, but mainly your schedule for eating and sleeping. It si your body’s “internal clock”, and when time shifts the rhythm and schedule is interrupted leaving travelers with sleepless nights and drowsy days. But according to a new study, there may be hope for the victims of jet lag.

Scientists developed a hypothesis that oxygen levels may play a role in animal’s circadian rhythm because they observed that oxygen levels in cells would change throughout the day and night, especially when eating and sleeping. So in an experimental study with mice, scientists simulated a six hour time change and observed that the mice that experienced a small drop in oxygen level 12 hours before or two hours after adapted to the change in time significantly faster than the control mice that did not experience a change in oxygen levels.

Of course the next step of this is going to be studies done on humans, and if it proves to work it could change the experience people have while traveling greatly. In addition, airlines are interested in studies like these because there is potential for them to control the pressure in aircrafts that would result in less or no jet lag. I am hopeful that there is a way to prevent or cure jet lag, but just because the alternative hypothesis in this study was shown, humans may react differently or not at all even though mice did.

Is breakfast really essential?

Growing up I was always told to eat a big, healthy breakfast because it’s the most important meal of the day. As I got older, I began to eat breakfast less and less. Now, like many other college students, I prefer to sleep through breakfast altogether. My roommate on the other hand is an early riser and loves to eat a big breakfast. Since I am extremely skinny, he always tells me that skipping breakfast is hurting my already poor diet. I started to wonder if what he said was true: is missing breakfast really bad for you? According to Allison Aubrey of NPR, it isn’t.

In her article, Aubrey says that extensive research dating back to the 1960’s has shown that breakfast can lead to improved health. However, this is being disputed today. Researchers in Canada studied about 12 thousand participants and monitored their eating habits in relation to their BMI (body mass index) and their weight. They found that the participants’ eating habits had no relationship with either other factor. I am a bit skeptical with this study because the researchers did not manipulate the x variable (breakfast) at all. If they had randomly chose half the participants to eat breakfast and half to skip it, then we could possibly see some causation. Instead, what they did was have the participants self-report their eating habits, which can lead to bias (people can be embarrassed about how much they eat) error (people can easily forget to write it down), or at best show us a correlation, but no causation.

David Ludwig, nutrition professor at Harvard School of Public Health, says it’s not about when we eat, it’s what we eat. He says that if you choose to eat a breakfast full of processed carbs, it’ll probably be worse for you than if you don’t eat at all. However, if you eat a breakfast full of protein, like eggs, you’ll be feeling satisfying longer. Drew Ramsey is a psychiatrist at Columbia University and he studies the link between food and mood. Ramsey also agrees that protein in the morning can help people control their appetite better. In his study, Ramsey took 57 adolescents and randomly placed them into 3 categories: low protein breakfast, high protein breakfast, and no breakfast at all. The results showed that high protein breakfasts caused people to reduce their daily intake, hunger, and they did not gain any fat.

Looking at both studies, I am more inclined to side with the fact that eating a healthy breakfast is most beneficial. Having said that, my original question was whether or not it was bad to skip breakfast altogether. While one study said you should eat a healthy breakfast and the other says it doesn’t matter, they both say that it’s not bad to miss breakfast either; it just depends on what you eat when you decide to do so. Now, I may start to eat a healthy breakfast more often, but I won’t feel guilty when I skip it entirely.

sources:

http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2016/05/13/477794736/breakfast-blowback-maybe-skipping-the-morning-meal-isnt-so-bad

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4815143/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26239831

 

Are you Really Paying Attention?

I am going to assume that majority of you were sitting in the same position as I was just not too long ago. Whether you’re a freshman who just recently went through this, or a senior who did four years ago, many of us had to sit down and consider the transition from high school to college. One big thing I had to consider was the difference in class size. The only debate that occu404e_2_0813rred in my mind concerning coming to Penn State University was that I would now be getting an education with around four hundred students sitting in the room with me, whereas in high school there were only twenty-five. Not being able to have a special bond with my professor like I did in high school and fearing that I was going to have a hard time staying focused in class was a big factor in where I was going to come to college.

A problem that I face every day in my lecture classes has to do with me struggling to stay focused and paying careful attention to my professors and whatever their teaching, even when I think I am paying attention. Although it is in my control of whether I use my phone during class or talking to my friends, it is evident that in a lecture class it is not easy to get in trouble. While being on my phone or distracted from other things going on in the lecture hall it affects me completely. Information process modeling is an analogy that demonstrates that our brain can we viewed and understood the exact way a computer is. Our brain starts off with encoding information that stems from our senses to then be sent to a “storage compartment”. After that, the information that has been  understood is now stored for our long and short-term memory. Once this is complete, our information that we have learned and understood has the capability of being retrieved later on. However, during this whole process our attention has to do with the encoding part of memory. During encoding, the key and most important part is making your first memory and without attention it is unable to be retrieved later on. With fail of paying attention it is impossible for whatever you’re learning about to be sent to your short-term memory which makes it impossible to be further sent to your long-term memory.

screen-shot-2016-10-20-at-4-02-04-pm     You may be wondering where I am going with this but, without information being sent to our long-term memory we are unable to process information that we learn in class that is perhaps crucial to know for an exam. Making the decision to come to Penn State University I have the opportunity to face and go through many things. I’m going to be honest, my fear of struggling in a class of around four hundred students quickly became a reality when I first started classes here however, I have learned to put my phone away and save my conversations for later to make sure my attention is completely on my professor.