Paying Attention To Feelings Versus Your Head

The question is: Is it better to pay attention to your reasoning skills or your feelings?  This is an old debate that just got some new insights. A researcher at the University of Toronto had his test subjects interact with an anonymous partner.

The subjects had two options from which to choose – they could treat the other person fairly or lie to them. If they lied, they would gain at the expense of their partners.

Before the subjects decided to be fair or to cheat, they were encouraged either to think rationally about the situation and to ignore their emotions or they were told to make their decision based on their gut feelings. Sixty-nine percent of those who were told to be rational decided to lie to their partners while those only 27% of those who were told to go with their gut feelings lied.

With the economic crisis we’ve all been going through, it seems that using our gut feelings got lost in the ‘rational’ thought of “everyone else is doing it so I should, too.” If I could buy a house by exaggerating my income, I may as well do it. If I knew the homeowner wasn’t qualified, but I could profit by giving him a loan anyway, I may as well do it. If I could bundle these useless securities so that no one would know that they were valueless and sell them, why not.

All of these were ‘rational’ thoughts and they almost created a depression! One person who was using her gut was a woman, Sheila Bair, head of the FDIC. In 2008, she was warning bankers that there was a huge problem with mortgages and that the banks should renegotiate entire categories of loans to avoid massive foreclosures.

So what did these rationally minded bankers do - they ignored her. So…maybe when the alarm bells in your gut go off, you’ll start to give them more credit and pay attention.

(Reported Fast Company July/August 2009)

Natural Ways To Fight Osteoarthritis

Research published in Advances in Therapy found that giving study participants 1500 mg of glucosamine sulfate and 200 mg of omega-3 fats resulted in a 20 percent reduction in pain reported to researchers. While glucosamine was effective by itself, combining it with omega-3s really increased its effectiveness. Adding these nutrients together, prevented cartilage degeneration that occurs with osteoarthritis.

Another supplement to explore for relief from osteoarthritis is MSM (methylsulfonylmethane). It can help with arthritis, muscle soreness, shingles and many other painful conditions. In one study of arthritis sufferers reported by Raymond Francis, one group took 2,250 mg of MSM per day. They experienced an 80% reduction in pain over a 6 week period.

Yet another study compared groups taking 1500 mg per day of glucosamine, 1500 mg of MSM or the two together. At the end of 12 weeks, the glucosamine group experienced a 63% reduction in their pain. The MSM group’s pain levels dropped 52% and the group taking both nutrients experienced a 79% reduction in their pain. In addition, the combination group experienced quicker relief in both their pain and inflammation levels.

Keep in mind, you want to take chondroitin with glucosamine, msm and omega-3s.

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Kids Brains Are Impacted Just By Seeing Domestic Violence

Researchers at Harvard and Kumamoto Universities found that children aged 3 to 17 years old who saw severe domestic physical violence at home showed reduced development of the visual cortex in the right hemisphere of the brain by an average of 20.5%.

The visual cortex is where information from our eyes is processed. This means that the child may not process clearly what is going on in their environment.

Some other research I read several years ago talked about how children, whose mothers experienced major stress while the baby was in the womb, experienced greater growth at the brain stem. This is where the fight or flight response originates. Children whose mothers experienced a calm pregnancy experienced greater growth in the front part of the brain where higher reasoning is located.

This study on domestic violence further reinforces that our environment affects the way our brain develops.

(Reported : The Virginian Pilot April 26, 2010)

A Brain Might Not Be Necessary..

In his Schwartz Report Stephan Schwartz tells the story of a young woman who was a cheerleader, an honor student and about to go to Brown University when she was in a terrible car accident.

When the doctors opened her skull to relieve pressure, they were stunned to discover that instead of a brain, the cavity contained only a sack of fluid.

Dr. John Lorber, a neurology professor at the University of Sheffield, reported performing a CAT-scan that showed no brain in the skull of an academically bright student with a high IQ.

Instead Lorber found a small piece of brain tissue covering the top of his spinal column.

This is not unusual according to Lorber, who identified several hundred people who appeared normal but had very small brains.

Even the medical journal The Lancet has published an MRI of a 44-year-old man with very little brain tissue.

So…all of this raises a number of interesting questions, the most prominent being “Do I need my brain and what does it do anyway?”

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Stop Back Pain With Comfrey Extract

A recent study reported that comfrey extract ointment can ease back pain.

After applying the ointment to sore spots for 5 days, 95% of the participants reported improvement as compared with 38% of the placebo group.

Limit topical use to 10 days maximum and don’t apply to broken skin or take orally. The brand used in the study was Kytta-Salbe f which is available at www.smallflower.com.

(Reported Prevention March 2010)

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