Mark Twain and Alternative Medicine

BY HARRIET HALL, M.D.

What do you know about Mark Twain? That he was a famous humorist? That he wrote Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn? Maybe you know he questioned many conventions like organized religion. What you may not know is that he was an enthusiastic proponent of “alternative medicine” long before the term was coined.

Mark Twain, the pen name of Samuel Clemens, was born in 1835, long before germ theory, antibiotics, randomized clinical trials, or modern vaccines. The medicine of his day was pre-scientific and unregulated, splintered into sects with allopaths, homeopaths, hydrotherapists, osteopaths, and others battling each other for primacy. Anyone could practice medicine without a license. Twain had no rational basis for choosing one sect over another.

Twain always feared death, with good reason. In his day, life was very uncertain, with 25 percent of children dying before their first birthday, and 50 percent by age 21. Twain was a premature, sickly child. As an adult, he asked his mother if she had been afraid he wouldn’t live; he claims she said no, she was afraid he would! He saw four of his siblings die. Frequent epidemics of smallpox, cholera, and scarlet fever tore through the population; mortality was high due to poor nutrition and poor public sanitation.

As a child, Twain was so afraid of measles that he decided to put an end to the fear by catching measles; he deliberately exposed himself to a patient. He found that having measles was nowhere near as bad as the fear had been. He learned there was something worse than death: worrying about it.

Twain was raised with alternative medicine. His mother, Jane Clemens, dabbled in everything from homeopathy to spiritualism to patent medicines. As a boy, Twain saw a faith healer cure his mother’s toothache with suggestion. His mother frequently dosed him with Perry Davis’ “Pain Killer” — a mixture of alcohol, camphor, and cayenne pepper. All treatments apparently worked: he survived.

As an adult, Twain experimented with everything, sampling every system of medical treatment. He thought there was no reliable way to find out why people got sick or the best way to make them well. Back then, there wasn't; but today we do have a reliable way: science. Twain thought that if enough treatments were sampled, there might be a remote chance of finding one that actually worked. […]

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Resistance Bands: The Pros & Cons of Elastic Resistance

by Tom Venuto, from the Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle e-zine

Do resistance bands build muscle? Yes. You can build muscle with resistance band training, there's no question about that. If you stop lifting and switch to bands only, you can probably maintain most of the muscle size that you previously built with free weights as well (maybe all of it).  If you have more casual fitness goals, band training only or band training combined with bodyweight training is a perfectly valid option that can produce some nice results if you make it a point to train progressively.

Muscle is built through resistance training where tension is placed on a muscle and then the amount of tension is increased over time. This is known as progressive overload. Bands are a form of resistance just like free weights. Doing exercises with any form of resistance can build muscle, and muscle growth can continue with any type of resistance as long as you can apply progressive overload over time.

Pros And Cons Of Elastic Resistance Band Training: Maybe the biggest advantage of bands is they are light, portable and convenient. They can be tossed in a gym bag or backpack or packed in a suitcase. Even a whole set of bands is still incredibly lightweight. That makes bands fantastic for training while you are traveling. Even if training with free weights is your primary type of workout there's no question you can at least maintain your gains while you're on the road with band training.

The fact that bands are small and portable also means they're a great tool for people who want to train at home and don't want to join a gym. Whether that's to save driving time, to have solitude instead of crowds, or to save on gym membership dues, these are all valid reasons to train at home.

Versatility is another benefit of resistance bands. This is especially true if you compare bands to weight machines because many exercise machines only allow you to perform one exercise or just a few exercises. There's huge number of exercises you can do with a single set of elastic bands. There are so many, it's almost limited only by your imagination.

On a similar note, bands are unique in the way they offer resistance through various angles and planes of motion that can't be duplicated by free weights. That's because the bands don't depend on gravity to provide the resistance. With one band, you can do pushing and pulling exercises through countless different angles that would require multiple machines costing thousands of dollars each to duplicate. In addition, many of these angles can't be duplicated at all with free weights because gravity only pulls weight one way - down.

Many studies on band training were performed with elderly people as subjects. When you look at the results of this research you see that not only were they able to gain muscle and strength, but also the ease, convenience and safety of bands made them a good choice for that demographic, even people with osteoarthritis (fibromyalgia too). There are also clinical and rehabilitative applications for elastic resistance, as well as sports and athletic training uses. These are beyond the scope of this short article but chalk them up as yet more benefits for bands.

Bands are generally considered very safe, but they can break, resulting in an accident as minor (but painful) as a giant rubber band snap, or as serious as losing an eyeball. The quality of bands can vary and some may be more susceptible to breakage than others. If you overstretch a lighter band, when instead you should have moved up to a heavier band, that also increases the risk.

In addition, if a band is not properly secured to an anchor, it can snap back and strike you even though it didn't break. This can easily happen when you're standing on a band to anchor it and it slips out from underneath your foot. Bands are considered a very joint-friendly form of training, but as you can see, injuries can arrive in other forms than exercise-induced joint pain.

We also need to acknowledge the downsides of band training. One of the major drawbacks of elastic resistance is that it's more difficult to apply progressive overload with any kind of precision. You can apply progressive overload with band training, but it's harder to quantify. The more a band is stretched, the more resistance it provides. One band does not equate to one specific number of pounds of resistance. You can systematically apply overload by simply stretching the band more, but you can't quantify the resistance with an exact number.

It's much easier to track your progress and see the load increases with free weight training. You can count it right down to the pound by tracking volume load. With weight training, you can use a 100 pound barbell on workout one, and then 105 on workout two, 110 on workout three and so on, or whatever exact amount of resistance you need. Multiply the weight by the sets and reps and you have your total volume load and you can confirm if it went up or not. There are bands that provide different levels of resistance, and they are usually even advertised with a poundage number, but this still doesn't provide the precision of free weights.

Concluding Thoughts And Recommendations: If your goal is general fitness and a muscular physique, there's little doubt you can achieve your goals with bands alone, or bands combined with bodyweight and or free weight exercises. If you train at home, bands are a great tool to have. If you travel a lot, they are incredibly useful. I'd also recommend you learn how to do some bodyweight exercises as well. Bodyweight training can be almost equally useful for home and travel training.

If you're in the older age demographic and intimidated by free weights or suffering from osteoarthritis, bands can be an excellent tool. If you're working around joint pain or injuries, bands are a good choice for rehabilitation at any age. Bands can be useful to almost everyone for occasional variety or convenience. I think it's worth it for everyone, regardless of goals, to invest in some resistance bands and experiment with some band training.

Scientific References: Lopes J et al, Effects of training with elastic resistance versus conventional resistance on muscular strength: A systematic review and meta-analysis, Sage Open Medicine, 7: 20, 2019

Can Simply Listening To Nature Be Good For Your Health?

from The Optimist Daily e-zine

There are few things as relaxing as the whisper of wind through the trees or the camping sound of a mountain stream, but it turns out these sounds do more than just help you fall asleep. It turns out that the sounds of nature can actually be beneficial for your health. Listening to nature-made noise can decrease stress and pain, improve cognitive performance, enhance mood, and much more.

A group of researchers from Michigan State University, Carleton University, and Colorado State University partnered with the National Park Service to analyze 18 studies on how natural sounds can impact human health. Their results, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, shows that listening to existing noises in nature has incredibly positive effects, including a decrease in stress and pain, an improvement in cognitive performance, an enhancement in mood, and much more. The research even goes into further detail outlining which particular sounds might bring about specific benefits.

Why we have such a positive response to certain natural sounds isn’t completely clear, but researchers have their theories. To explore the possible health benefits of natural sounds, the team studied more than 10 years' worth of studies conducted around the world. Researchers found that activity in the brain’s default mode network differed in listening to natural sounds versus man-made sounds. Natural sounds resulted in outward focus of attention, whereas man-made sounds evoked an inward focus of attention—a pattern linked to stress.

Buxton, a professor at Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada, conducted a statistical analysis with her team that synthesized results and found that bird sounds helped alleviate stress and annoyance. And water sounds enhanced positive emotions like tranquility, awareness, and relaxation. Buxton’s team encourages people to find inspiration in the Japanese practice of “forest bathing” by visiting a national park or participating in innovative programs, such as sound walks, designed to increase our appreciation of natural sounds that already exist.

The Cathedral Grove in Muir Woods, California is designed as a serene place  where visitors can appreciate nature quietly. So you can leave the Bluetooth speaker at home and let natural life provide the playlist.

But what if there is no escaping unwanted noise such as traffic? There’s good news as research suggests people can still benefit from natural sounds mixed with man-made noises. There’s evidence that natural sounds help mask the negative impacts of unwanted noise, such as cars, trains, and planes. Listening to natural sounds along with man-made noise has better outcomes for your well-being than listening to the unnatural noises on their own. That ocean sounds playlist you listen to every night to drown out the street noise might be doing wonders for your overall health—more than you may even realize!

The benefit of nature sounds to physical and mental health are well-recorded. Studies have linked experiences in nature to have a positive impact on well-being with a measurable decrease in mental stress, an improvement in cognitive performance, and high levels of creativity, as well as improved sleep.

Noise: A Flaw in Human Judgment

Imagine that two doctors in the same city give different diagnoses to identical patients. Now imagine that the same doctor making a different decision depending on whether it is morning or afternoon, or Monday rather than Wednesday. This is an example of noise: variability in judgments that should be identical.

Shermer speaks with Nobel Prize winning psychologist and economist Daniel Kahneman about the detrimental effects of noise and what we can do to reduce both noise and bias, and make better decisions in: medicine, law, economic forecasting, forensic science, bail, child protection, strategy, performance reviews, and personnel selection.

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Quercetin: How to Increase Your Intake of This Important Antioxidant

 While most of us are aware that we need to include important vitamins and minerals in our diet such as vitamin C and zinc, there is a lesser-known compound that doesn’t get the attention it deserves: quercetin.

If you aren’t familiar with quercetin, it belongs to a group of plant compounds called flavonoids, which act as an antioxidant in your body and hunts for free radicals. Quercetin has been found to provide allergy-relief and reduce inflammation, as well as boost immunity. Board-certified internist Vincent Pedre, M.D. says part of the reason quercetin supports your immune system is because it acts as a prebiotic, which feeds the good bacteria in your gut.

"It also augments the effects of vitamin C, synergistically helping to prevent over-activation of mast cells, which secrete histamine when the body is inflamed," Pedre said. "Not to mention, quercetin acts as a zinc shuttle, getting natural antiviral zinc into cells where it can help mitigate viral replication."

Although there is no magic number for how much quercetin you should be getting daily, most supplements recommend dosages between 500 and 1,000 milligrams per day. If you simply make sure to include the following 21 foods in your diet, it should be more than easy to get your daily dose of quercetin.

1. Capers (most concentrated source)
2. Red onion (highest vegetable source)
3. Shallots
4. Red apples
5. Grapes
6. Berries
7. Cherries
8. Scallions
9. Kale
10. Tomatoes (organically grown tomatoes have up to 79% more than conventional fruit)
11. Broccoli
12. Brussels sprouts
13. Cabbage
14. Citrus fruits
15. Bell peppers (green and yellow)
16. Nuts (almonds and pistachios)
17. Asparagus (cooked has slightly more)
18. Buckwheat
19. Black tea
20. Green tea
21. Elderberry tea

The average person typically gets a maximum of 40 milligrams of quercetin per day, but by including these foods in your diet, you can up your intake to at least 500 milligrams and gain the most health benefits. There are plenty of quercetin supplements, but the best plan of attack for boosting your intake is to include a variety of quercetin-rich foods.

How long it took to develop 12 other vaccines in history

With the speed at which the COVID-19 vaccination was produced, there are as many questions about it as it provides us with answers. A look at history may tell us some of what we want to know, but much more data is required.

How long it took to develop 12 other vaccines in history

Understanding the Unidentified

 BY MICHAEL SHERMER

An advantage of having worked in the skeptical business for 30 years is institutional memory that enables me to place current claims and controversies into historical context. So, when the New York Times published their article on “The Pentagon’s Mysterious U.F.O. Program” in December 2017, and CBS’s 60 Minutes reported that “UFOs Regularly Spotted in Restricted U.S. Airspace” in May 2021—the reports bracketing the latest wave of apparent sightings—I immediately recalled similar waves dating back to the 1890s groundswell of “mystery airships” (later identified as dirigibles). Historian Mike Dash’s description of the 1896–1897 reports in his book Borderlands: The Ultimate Exploration of the Unknownwill sound familiar to those energized by the latest round of UFO videos:

Not only were [the mystery airships] bigger, faster and more robust than anything then produced by the aviators of the world; they seemed to be able to fly enormous distances, and some were equipped with giant wings … The files of almost 1,500 newspapers from across the United States have been combed for reports, an astonishing feat of research. The general conclusion of investigators was that a considerable number of the simpler sightings were misidentification of planets and stars, and a large number of the more complex the result of hoaxes and practical jokes. A small residuum remains perplexing.

Residues & Distortions

The final “small residuum” qualification hints at a reality in all skeptical and scientific investigations. No hypothesis or theory in any field accounts for 100 percent of the phenomena under investigation. The “residue problem” means that no matter how comprehensive a theory is, there will always be a residue of anomalies for which it cannot account. The most famous case in the history of science is that Newton’s gravitational theory could not account for the precession of the planet Mercury’s orbit, subsequently explained by Einstein’s theory of relativity. Darwin’s theory of evolution by means of natural selection could not account for anomalies like the Peacock’s large and colorful tail (which would be a bullseye for predators), but his theory of sexual selection did, demonstrating how females select for mates based on certain traits males develop to stand out from other males and to attract females.

The residue problem in UFOlogy is instructive because it enables skeptics to find common ground with believers and allows us to live comfortably with the fact that we can’t explain everything. For example, in her bestselling 2010 book, UFOs: Generals, Pilots and Government Officials Go on the Record, UFOlogist Leslie Kean notes that “roughly 90 to 95 percent of UFO sightings can be explained” as:

… weather balloons, flares, sky lanterns, planes flying in formation, secret military aircraft, birds reflecting the sun, planes reflecting the sun, blimps, helicopters, the planets Venus or Mars, meteors or meteorites, space junk, satellites, swamp gas, spinning eddies, sundogs, ball lightning, ice crystals, reflected light off clouds, lights on the ground or lights reflected on a cockpit window, temperature inversions, hole-punch clouds, and the list goes on!

So, the entire extraterrestrial hypothesis for explaining Unidentified Flying Objects and Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UFOs and UAPs, respectively) is based on a residue of data left over after the above list has been exhausted. What’s left? Not much, I’m afraid. […]

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The Fine Art of Calming Down

by Lisa Firestone, PhD, for the Psych Alive e-zine 

We all have those moments when we come unglued. We’ve probably had a few more of those than usual this past year. This time period has tested us in entirely new ways, and more likely than not, we can all recount a recent example of flipping our lid. For some, it was that second month of quarantine while we were stress-washing a freshly delivered jar of peanut butter. For others, it’s followed a critical comment from our partner or a stubborn fit from our kids. The point is, we all get activated, and we don’t always get a handle the flood of emotion that overcomes us. What we can control is our response to it.

Calming down is an exercise in patience and self-compassion. It is a skill we can hone by understanding what’s going on in our brains when we feel overwhelmed and by taking actions to help ourselves get our cerebral cortex and the higher functions of our brain back online. When a person flips their lid, their emotions are firing out of control; they may even feel as if they’re in a state of fight, flight, or freeze. They’ve lost connection to their prefrontal cortex, a part of the brain that typically, in essence, “hugs” their limbic (emotional) system and helps them stay attuned, flexible, balanced, and regulated emotionally.

When triggered in moments of stress, our limbic system/emotional center of our brains, perceives a threat and overrides our prefrontal cortex. When this occurs, people lose their perspective and chaos ensues.

Think of that split second when you slammed the door on your partner, snapped at your kid, burnt out in a meeting, or panicked at a parade of thoughts marching into your head as you tried to fall asleep. These can all be examples of “flipped lid” moments. Making ourselves aware of what’s going on in our brains can help us hit the brakes and calm down, rather than reacting in ways that hurt us (or others) or we later regret.

The best thing to do in these heightened moments of stress is take pause and do something rhythmical and predictable like going for a walk or breathing. When we breathe in, we are going to breathe out. When we put one foot down, we pick up the other. The breathing practice of 4-7-8 is one very simple exercise we can try. The idea is to breathe in through our nose for 4 seconds, hold the breath for 7 seconds, and breath out through our mouths for 8 seconds. Doing this five times in a row helps our brain reintegrate and our nervous system calm.

When we get activated by intense emotions in a given moment, our reactions are  sometimes out of sync with what’s actually going on in the present. We react in a big way, but later, when those prefrontal cortex functions are back in place, we regret how we reacted and often hold a more balanced perspective. We may have insight into how we took our partner’s words out of context in an argument. We may realize that our kid was feeling overwhelmed when they acted unreasonably, and our response to them arose from our own feelings of inadequacy or frustration. We may start to see how a persistent feeling of being behind or “not good enough” at work finally got to us. And we may definitely realize how our overactive minds can transform into our biggest critics the minute we have time to sit and think.

In truth, many of our heightened emotional reactions are triggered or intensified by an old familiar feeling or implicit memory and not simply the events we’re facing in the moment. A specific word our partner uses to describe us can tap into an old feeling of insecurity and set off an ocean of self-attacks. A certain tone in our child’s whine can trigger memories of painful moments in our own childhood or a feeling we struggle to handle in ourselves.

Because these momentary reactions are like rivers running into old reserves of untapped emotion, we can use what Dr. Daniel Siegel calls “Mindsight” to step back and create a barrier between what we’re experiencing and how we react. Mindsight describes our “capacity to label, analyze and clarify our internal emotional world and how it responds to the world around us.” We can cultivate this capacity by using mindfulness skills.

Mindfulness allows us to see our thoughts and feelings like ships passing on the horizon. We can watch each silhouette sail by, but we don’t need to hop aboard and get carried away. So many of our thoughts and feelings overpower us and take the wheel when it comes to our behavior. By using techniques like meditation and simple breathing exercises, we can notice these thoughts and feelings with compassion and curiosity, but we can bring our attention back to our breath, which helps us to not over-identify with these thoughts or assign them too much meaning.

Every wave of emotion rises and falls. If we can help guide ourselves through these instances of intensity, we can return to a calmer state. The trick is to give ourselves permission to pause. If we can recognize two things, first, that our brains are overwhelmed and not functioning at their strongest capacity to regulate, and second, that our reaction probably has to do with a deeper wound or vulnerability within us, we can meet our uncomfortable emotions with patience, compassion, and perspective.

Giving ourselves this time and space to calm down is a productive action. It helps us reconnect to the wonderful functions of our prefrontal cortex. It helps improve our communication with our partner and model resilience for our children. It allows us to be curious about why we feel the intense ways we do at times, unlocking memories from our history that impacted us in ways of which we might not otherwise be aware. Finally, it allows us to act with integrity and care in how we treat others and how we treat ourselves.

A Conversation with William Nordhaus on the Economics of Global Warming, Pandemics, and Corporate Malfeasance

In this conversation, based on his book The Spirit of Green: The Economics of Collisions and Contagions in a Crowded World, Nobel Prize-winning pioneer in environmental economics, Dr. Nordhaus explains how and why “green thinking” could cure many of the world’s most serious problems — from global warming to pandemics. Solving the world’s biggest problems requires, more than anything else, coming up with new ways to manage the powerful interactions that surround us. For carbon emissions and other environmental damage, this means ensuring that those responsible pay their full costs rather than continuing to pass them along to others, including future generations. Nordhaus describes a new way of green thinking that would help us overcome our biggest challenges without sacrificing economic prosperity, in large part by accounting for the spillover costs of economic collisions. In a discussion that ranges from the history of the environmental movement to the Green New Deal, Nordhaus explains how rethinking economic efficiency, sustainability, politics, profits, taxes, individual ethics, corporate social responsibility, finance, and more would improve the effectiveness and equity of our society.

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Eating Habits to Avoid for Better Sleep According to Nutrition Experts

by Amt Shiffer for “Eat This, Not That”

If you're having trouble falling or staying asleep or feel like you aren't getting restful sleep, it may be time to look at your diet.

There are so many reasons why you might struggle to get good sleep, but one which you may not have considered is your diet. In fact, what you eat and drink on a daily basis has the serious potential to ruin your sleep.

"The food we eat impacts our sleep because of the process of digestion, which spikes blood sugar and causes the secretion of insulin in response to eating," says Lauren Minchen, MPH, RDN, CDN, nutrition consultant. "If our bodies are too busy breaking down heavy foods (particularly if we eat them right before bed), we may not sleep as deeply as we would if we ate healthier, lighter foods."

In order for our sleep to be more fully restorative, our whole body, including our digestion, needs to be at rest," Minchen adds, underscoring the important role the foods you eat before bedtime can have on your sleep. To make matters even more complicated, our diet doesn't just affect our sleep by interfering with our digestive processes, it can also have a direct impact on our circadian rhythm.

"If there is an imbalance of certain essential nutrients or fluid throughout the day, our circadian rhythms may be disrupted," adds Minchen, citing the importance of maintaining a well-balanced, regular diet throughout the day for optimal sleep health.
To get better, more restful sleep, we asked dietitians for the 8 eating habits that you should avoid.

1). Avoid Eating Dinner Late: "So many of us eat dinner late and go to bed shortly after or eat food prior to going to bed, and this can disrupt our sleep as our blood and energy is still going to our GI tract to digest our food," says Amy Shapiro, MS, RD, CDN, registered dietitian and nutritionist. "We want our stomachs to be mostly empty so our energy can be spent restoring and we can get into a deeper sleep. Also, if you are too full prior to going to sleep you can be uncomfortable, experience acid reflux and that can keep you up and disrupt sleep as well."

Adds Brenda Braslow, MS, RDN, LDN, registered dietitian, "The pressure on the esophageal sphincter can cause acid to backflow into the esophagus. This can be very uncomfortable and keep you awake."

2). Avoid Greasy, High-Fat Meals Close to Bedtime: "Fat takes longer to digest and so stays in the stomach longer, stimulating more stomach acid. This can result in heartburn," says Braslow. "Lying horizontally in bed makes heartburn worse because the stomach acid can more easily backflow into the esophagus." It all gets much worse if any of these 18 Foods Making Your Heartburn Worse are on the dinner menu.

3). Avoid Eating Too Much Sugar/Carbs: "Carbohydrates can make us feel drowsy, which may make us feel like they boost our sleep," says Minchen. "However, too many carbs or too much sugar (think sweets, too many starches, etc.) throughout the day can trigger sugar and insulin spikes that ultimately disrupt our sleep hormones and contribute to more wakefulness throughout the night and lighter, less restorative sleep."

4). Avoid Trying to Meet Your Water Intake Goals Too Close to Bedtime: "So many of us forget to drink water during the day and we try to consume most of our water needs in the evening," says Shapiro. "This can lead to disrupted sleep as you may have to wake up throughout the night to use the restroom. It is important to drink water throughout the day to support your body's digestion and detoxification processes and to promote energy.”

5). Avoid Drinking Too Much Alcohol: "Like carbohydrates, alcohol can make us feel sleepy. However, too much alcohol (and for some, any alcohol at all) can actually suppress the first two stages of REM sleep (there are four total stages we cycle through a few times each night), which contributes to a disruption of the natural sleep cycle and leads to less restorative sleep," says Minchen. "Alcohol can also lead to insomnia for some since they experience a delay/suppression of the first two stages of their REM sleep."

6). & 7). Avoid Drinking Coffee or Tea After Dinner & Avoid Generally Drinking Caffeine Late in the Day: 

6). "Caffeine blocks adenosine in the brain. Adenosine is a sleep-promoting chemical we naturally produce when we need sleep (we produce more as the day progresses). When caffeine blocks this brain chemical, we feel alert and awake," says Minchen. "Caffeine also has a half-life of 4-6 hours, meaning that only 1/2 of it has been broken down in that time frame. If you drink coffee or tea after dinner, you will effectively experience the alert feelings of caffeine all night, and the caffeine will only be metabolized closer to when you wake in the morning."

7). "Caffeine is a stimulant and gives us energy, clarity and focus. However, some people do not metabolize caffeine very efficiently and it can remain in our systems long after we consume it. This can prevent us from falling to sleep," says Shapiro. "I recommend my clients do not consume caffeine (from tea, soda, coffee or even chocolate in some individuals) after 12 p.m. If you reach for a 4 p.m. coffee to get you through the rest of the day and you don't sleep well you may want to consider switching to water, decaf, or other (unsweetened) non-caffeine beverages!"

8). Avoid Going to Bed Dehydrated: "Becoming dehydrated throughout the day disrupts our sleep cycles and may lead to more wakefulness and less restorative sleep," says Minchen. "Dehydration actually contributes to there being fewer available amino acids (proteins) in our bloodstream, which means we don't produce adequate amounts of melatonin. This may mean that being chronically dehydrated will disrupt our circadian rhythm and actually leads to insomnia. Further, not getting adequate sleep can then lead to dehydration, which feeds this vicious cycle. Adequate sleep helps our bodies regulate fluid retention through the secretion of vasopressin. If we cut sleep short, we may end up more dehydrated throughout the day."

US Government Says UFOs are “Real”

An Analysis of the 60 Minutes Investigation 
BY MICK WEST

The 60 Minutes segment of Sunday May 16, 2021 (available on YouTube), was no doubt for many people a startling revelation that the US Government has admitted that UFOs are “real” and the military is investigating them. But for me it was a walk down memory lane, a recap of the curious events of the last four years. A disappointing recap at that, as I’d hoped at least for some new nuggets of information that I could use to help solve the rather complicated puzzle of just exactly what is going on.

The segment opens with an interview with a familiar character, Luis Elizondo, reputedly the former head of a $22 million program instigated by Senator Harry Reid called AATIP: the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program. Ostensibly this was created to study possible future developments in aerospace. Elizondo claims the program was actually created to study UFOs (or, as they prefer to call them now, UAPs, or Unidentified Aerial Phenomena.) Put out to tender in 2008, the budget was awarded to Harry Reid’s friend, Robert Bigelow, a UFO and paranormal enthusiast.

Elizondo opens with the startling claim that “the Government has already stated for the record that [UFOs] are real.” Startling, that is, until you remember that “UFO” does not necessarily mean alien visitors, but rather something unidentified in the sky, something about which the observer lacks sufficient information to identify. Obviously, the government would admit such things are “real.” A mylar balloon floating into the range of a Navy jet’s camera is “real”, but the U in UFO and UAP does not mean extraterrestrial, or even necessarily an aerial technology beyond any known physics and aerodynamics.

Elizondo then goes on to describe craft exhibiting startling technologies—the ability to accelerate at a physics-defying 600g, reaching speeds of 17,000 mph in the atmosphere, or even through water. These are things that the government very much has not admitted are real. […]

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Study Finds That Extreme Exercise Carries Metabolic Consequences

by Shawna Williams for The Scientist e-zine

Healthy people put through high-intensity interval training, or HIIT, displayed  insulin resistance and mitochondrial dysfunction after working out excessively.

 As a researcher at the Swedish School of Sport and Health Sciences, Filip Larsen would hear anecdotes about the downsides of too much exercise—a common enough phenomenon that nevertheless puzzled him. “All athletes know if you train too much, something’s happening. . . . Your legs feel terrible after a while, and then if you just continue, you have these psychological disturbances too, like mood disturbances,” he says. “That hasn’t been really described in the literature—no one knows exactly what’s going on.”

To find out, Larsen and his colleagues recruited 11 healthy young people and put them through a 4-week, increasingly intense regimen of sessions on a stationary bike while monitoring their glucose tolerance and mitochondrial function. During the toughest week, the subjects displayed insulin resistance and other deleterious metabolic changes, the team reported last week (March 18) in Cell Metabolism.  

“It’s a very impressive study,” says Thijs Eijsvogels, an exercise physiology researcher at Radboud University Medical Center who was not involved in the work. Typically, cardio-metabolic health improves with greater exercise volumes, and the results indicate that there’s a point at which those benefits stop accruing, he notes.

That changed in the third week, designed to represent excessive training, during which the participants completed a grueling 152 minutes of intervals over the course of the week. After that, the subjects’ intrinsic mitochondrial respiration fell by an average of 40 percent compared with the samples taken at the end of the moderate-intensity week, the researchers report. 

It’s quite similar to the changes that you see in people that are starting to develop diabetes or insulin resistance.
—Filip Larsen, Swedish School of Sport and Health Sciences

Furthermore, the subjects’ glucose tolerance—measured by their glucose levels before and after they consumed a sweet drink—also dropped between the light-training week and the end of the excessive-training week (no oral glucose test was performed after the moderate training week). “It’s quite similar to the changes that you see in people that are starting to develop diabetes or insulin resistance,” Larsen says. 

After a recovery period, during which participants completed 53 minutes of intervals spread across the week, most measures rebounded. Oxygen consumption and power output during exercise, as measured by how hard they pedaled, were higher after recovery than at baseline or at any other point during the experiment. However, intrinsic mitochondrial respiration had not fully recovered by the end of the experiment, remaining 25% lower after recovery than it had been after the moderate week. 

In a second component of the experiment, the researchers monitored blood glucose levels in 15 elite athletes who weren’t subject to any intervention and in matched, non-athlete controls. On average, the two groups’ levels over a given 24-hour period were about the same, but the athletes spent more time with glucose levels either above or below the normal range. Eijsvogels remarked, “I think joining together all of these findings gives a really strong message of the impact of repeated and sustained bouts of intense exercise training on glucose tolerance,” he says. 

The study didn’t examine what, if any, long-term health consequences might arise from excessive exercise. Linda Pescatello, who studies the health effects of exercise at the University of Connecticut and was not involved in the study, says she suspects the findings about the effects of over-exercise do indeed have real-life ramifications, with individuals having different thresholds for over-exercise depending on their fitness levels.

She points to a 2020 review article, coauthored by Eijsvogels, that found associations between very high levels of exercise and what the authors called “potential cardiac maladaptations” such as coronary artery calcification. “I guess the bottom line is, especially for the average person, all in moderation if you want to maximize the health benefits” of exercise, she says. 

Study coauthor Mikael Flockhart, also at the Swedish School of Sport and Health Sciences, says that it’s not clear where the “tolerable limit of training” is. Knowing where that limit is, he says, would be helpful to everyone. 

Reference: M. Flockhart et al., “Excessive exercise training causes mitochondrial functional impairment and decreases glucose tolerance in healthy volunteers,” Cell Metab, doi:10.1016/j.cmet.2021.02.017, 2021.

When Men Behave Badly: The Hidden Roots of Sexual Deception, Harassment, and Assault

Sexual conflict permeates ancient religions, from injunctions about thy neighbor’s wife to the permissible rape of infidels. It is etched in written laws that dictate who can and cannot have sex with whom. Its manifestations shape our sexual morality, evoking approving accolades or contemptuous condemnation. It produces sexual double standards that flourish even in the most sexually egalitarian cultures on earth. And although every person alive struggles with sexual conflict, most of us see only the tip of the iceberg: dating deception, a politician’s unsavory sexual grab, the slow crumbling of a once-happy marriage, a romantic breakup that turns nasty. When Men Behave Badly shows that this “battle of the sexes” is deeper and far more pervasive than anyone has recognized, revealing the hidden roots of sexual conflict — roots that originated over deep evolutionary time — which define the sexual psychology we currently carry around in our 3.5-pound brains. Providing novel insights into our minds and behaviors, When Men Behave Badly presents a unifying new theory of sexual conflict, and offers practical advice for men and women seeking to avoid it.

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7 Hidden Messages On Packaged Food Labels You’re Not Noticing

by Kiersten Hickman for “Eat This, Not That”

We spoke with a registered dietitian about the specific things you should be looking for in a food label. As you peruse items in your grocery store and see foods with labels like "heart-healthy" and "all-natural," it almost seems like every item in the store has some kind of healthy spin to it. While those front labels try to make their foods sound healthier, the nutrition food labels can reveal a very different, but true picture.

In order to learn how to properly read nutrition labels and look for any hidden messages the front of the box may be missing, we spoke with Maggie Michalzcyk, RDN and founder of OnceUponAPumpkinRD.com, about what specific things to look for in your food labels. The next time you go to pick up snacks to stock up on, here's how to make sure those snacks are truly healthy.

1). Look for high fiber & high protein: When it comes to picking out her snacks, Michalzyck says she likes to look for higher counts of fiber and protein. "You want the snack to be giving you nutrition like protein and fiber to tie you over to the next meal and not a ton of sugar," says Michalzyck. If you're looking for snacks that actually make you feel full and have nutritional benefit, look for these two things.

2). Be mindful of the sugar count: "People should look out at the sugar content," says Michalzyck. "Check ingredients on packaged goods—you may not expect there to be sugar alcohols, multiple types of sugar, and other ingredients, but there can be." Make sure to calculate how much sugar you should eat in a day so you can calculate the proper amounts.

3). Be wary of a long ingredient list: "A super long ingredient list is a telltale sign that the product is not the healthiest," says Michalczyk. "It's important to read the ingredient list, especially if you have allergies or sensitivities or just prefer to say away from a certain ingredient. Maybe you think there would never be two different types of sugar in your frozen ravioli, only to read the label and find out that there is."

4). The order of the ingredient list matters: Ever wonder why the list of ingredients on a label isn't just in alphabetical order? That's because the order of the list matters! "Ingredients are listed in predominance of weight in the ingredient list—the thing it has the most of is first," says Michalcyzk. Check what the first few ingredients are to know what that item is really made of.

5). Note where sugar is on the ingredients list: Is sugar first on the ingredient list? You may want to put that item right back on the shelf! "One thing to know about sugar content is that you can know that the sugar will be high if you look at the ingredient list and sugar is one of the first few things listed," says Michalzyck. "More often than not when I see sugar as the first ingredient, I don't need to look at the rest because I will start looking for a different (healthier) alternative."

6). Look for high fructose corn syrup: If there's one ingredient to avoid, it's high-fructose corn syrup. "I say try to stay away from high fructose corn syrup in any and all products," says Michalczyk. High-fructose corn syrup is a sweetener chemically similar to sugar (derived from corn syrup) and studies have shown that frequent consumption of this product has contributed to obesity and related health issues, according to Mayo Clinic.

7). Look at the calories per serving:  A packaged good may have more than one serving in some products, so make sure you pay attention to the calories per serving, how large that serving actually is, and how many serving each package contains. When you use it, be sure to measure it out so you an account for the proper amount of calories.

8). The types of fat matter: While some think having foods with fat in it is unfavorable, it's actually healthy to have a reasonable amount of fat in your diet—it’s a longer burning fuel and helps you feel full. However, knowing the different types of fat will matter when reading a nutrition label. According to Mayo Clinic, limit your saturated fat count to less than 10 percent of target calories per day. As for trans fat, while some trans fats are created naturally in some foods (but in very small amounts), most items with partially hydrogenated trans fat can increase blood cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, and triglyceride levels. In short, it could increase your risk of cardiovascular disease. In short, be wary of items with a high trans-fat count.

Mental Immunity: Infectious Ideas, Mind Parasites, and the Search for a Better Way to Think

Astonishingly irrational ideas are spreading. COVID-19 denial, anti-vaxxers compromising public health, conspiracy thinking hijacking minds and inciting mob violence, toxic partisanship cleaving our nations, the return of Flat Earth theory… What the heck is going on? Why is all this happening, and why now? More important, what can we do about it? Does our “right to our opinion” trump our responsibilities? Does the resulting ethos effectively compromise mental immune systems, allowing “mind parasites” to overrun them? Are conspiracy theories, evidence-defying ideologies, and garden-variety bad ideas all species of mind parasites, each of which employs clever strategies to circumvent mental immune systems? In this conversation, based on the book Mental Immunity, Andy Norman shows that minds and cultures have immune systems, and that they really can break down. Fortunately, he assures us that they can also be built up: strengthened against ideological corruption. Can his ideas revolutionize our capacity for critical thinking?

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Study Links Mushroom Consumption To Lowered Risk Of Cancer

from The Optimist Daily e-zine

We at The Optimist Daily are no stranger to the power of mushrooms. These versatile  fungi can be used to make sustainable clothing, treat depression, and even build decomposable coffins. Now, a new study from Penn State College of Medicine indicates that mushroom consumption could help protect against cancer. 

The study analyzed 17 cancer studies from 1966 to 2020 and found that people who incorporated any variety of mushrooms into their daily diets had a lower risk of cancer. Specifically, those who ate 18 grams of mushrooms daily had a 45 percent lower risk of cancer compared to those who did not eat mushrooms. 

The researchers believe this health benefit is tied to mushrooms’ high concentration of ergothioneine, a unique and potent antioxidant. Diving deeper, the researchers found that mushroom consumption is particularly beneficial in terms of preventing breast cancer. 

More research is needed to determine the exact link between mushrooms and better health, but this study is a great starting point and for those looking to give themselves a health boost, consider throwing some extra mushrooms into your diet today.

Foods Linked To Better Brain Power from the Harvard Health e-zine

Just as there is no magic pill to prevent cognitive decline, no single almighty brain food can ensure a sharp brain as you age. Nutritionists emphasize that the most important strategy is to follow a healthy dietary pattern that includes a lot of fruits, vegetables, legumes, and whole grains. Try to get protein from plant sources and fish and choose healthy fats, such as olive oil or canola, rather than saturated fats.

That said, certain foods in this overall scheme are particularly rich in healthful components like omega-3 fatty acids, B vitamins, and antioxidants, which are known to support brain health and often referred to as brain foods. Incorporating many of these foods into a healthy diet on a regular basis can improve the health of your brain, which could translate into better mental function.

Research shows that the best brain foods are the same ones that protect your heart and blood vessels, including the following:

1). Green, leafy vegetables. Leafy greens such as kale, spinach, collards, and broccoli are rich in brain-healthy nutrients like vitamin K, lutein, folate, and beta carotene. Research suggests these plant-based foods may help slow cognitive decline.

2). Fatty fish. Fatty fish are abundant sources of omega-3 fatty acids, healthy unsaturated fats that have been linked to lower blood levels of beta-amyloid—the protein that forms damaging clumps in the brains of people with Alzheimer's disease. Try to eat fish at least twice a week, but choose varieties that are low in mercury, such as salmon, cod, canned light tuna, and pollack. If you're not a fan of fish, ask your doctor about taking an omega-3 supplement, or choose terrestrial omega-3 sources such as flaxseeds, avocados, and walnuts.

3). Berries. Flavonoids, the natural plant pigments that give berries their brilliant hues, also help improve memory, research shows. In a 2012 study published in Annals of Neurology, researchers at Harvard's Brigham and Women's Hospital found that women who consumed two or more servings of strawberries and blueberries each week delayed memory decline by up to two-and-a-half years.

4). Tea and coffee. The caffeine in your morning cup of coffee or tea might offer more than just a short-term concentration boost. In a 2014 study published in The Journal of Nutrition, participants with higher caffeine consumption scored better on tests of mental function. Caffeine might also help solidify new memories, according to other research. Investigators at Johns Hopkins University asked participants to study a series of images and then take either a placebo or a 200-milligram caffeine tablet. More members of the caffeine group were able to correctly identify the images on the following day.

5). Walnuts. Nuts are excellent sources of protein and healthy fats, and one type of nut in particular might also improve memory. A 2015 study from UCLA linked higher walnut consumption to improved cognitive test scores. Walnuts are high in a type of omega-3 fatty acid called alpha-linolenic acid (ALA), which helps lower blood pressure and protects arteries. That's good for both the heart and brain.

Religious vs. Secular Morality — Science and the Good: The Tragic Quest for the Foundations of Morality

In their book Science and the Good, professional philosophers James Hunter and Paul Nedelisky trace the origins and development of the centuries-long, passionate, but ultimately failed quest to discover a scientific foundation for morality. The conversation takes a decidedly interesting turn when Drs. Hunter and Nedelisky reveal that they are both theists and that their Christian worldview informs their thinking on moral issues. The three then dig into the weeds of the difference between religious and secular moral systems, the nature of God and morality, why a purely naturalistic approach to morality does not negate religion or even the existence of God (natural law could be God’s way of creating moral values), natural rights and rights theory, consequentialism, deontology, and virtue ethics, progress in philosophy, why philosophers never seem to reach consensus on important subjects like morality, how to think about issues like abortion, why they believe in God and follow the Christian religion and yet reject Divine Command Theory, and much more.

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Build A Better Core

from Harvard Health Watch 

Your core is the stable part of your body that helps make everyday movements more efficient and safe — like whenever you reach, carry, walk, bend, or twist. Your core is more than just your abdominals — it also involves your hips, back, and even your shoulders. A strong core offers other health benefits as you age in addition to proper movement.

Get More From Your Core: Core strength has far-reaching benefits. For instance, significant weakness in core musculature may contribute to a forward head posture and an increase the upper back's curvature, which can trigger neck and shoulder pain. Sore knee or hip? Core weakness can be the main contributor. Your core also is one of your biggest protectors from a back injury.
     Core strength is also crucial for fall prevention. "Our bodies constantly have to adapt not only to different surfaces, but different weighted loads," says Eric L'Italien, a physical therapist with Harvard-affiliated Spaulding Rehabilitation Center. "Adequate core stability and strength can prepare you to better react to these changes and keep you from losing your balance and stumbling."

Increase the Load: Some floor exercises like the plank and superman poses are great for engaging your core muscles. A plank pose is where you hold a push-up position — with straight arms or resting on your forearms — for 10 to 30 seconds. With superman, you lie face down with arms extended overhead, and you lift legs, shoulders, and arms off the floor simultaneously and hold for 2 to 3 seconds.
     However, if you want a different core workout, consider walk-and-carry exercises, says Eric L'Italien, a physical therapist with Harvard-affiliated Spaulding Rehabilitation Center. He calls these moves "loaded carries" because you hold weights, such as dumbbells or kettlebells, while walking.
"Carrying a heavy object while you walk teaches you to brace your core, which engages much of your entire core musculature, including your shoulders, back, and hips," says L'Italien. Loaded carries also can improve everyday movements like holding and carrying groceries, moving furniture, or rising out of bed.

Hold n’ Stroll Here are 3 easy-to-do loaded carries to try. You can perform them together as a core-only workout or add one or more to your usual exercise routine.
"Do them before your regular workout to make your workout more challenging, or afterward, if you want to make the loaded carries feel more strenuous," says L'Italien. (If you're not already doing strength training, or you have a chronic health condition, first check with your doctor.)

  1).  Farmer's carry: Stand tall and hold either a dumbbell or kettlebell in each hand. (Begin with a moderate weight, like the amount you use to do biceps curls.)
Keep your arms down at your sides. Engage your core muscles by taking in a deep belly breath and then blowing it out while you tighten your abs. Walk for a minute. (You mimic a farmer carrying pails of milk, hence the name.) Continue to breathe throughout the carry, maintain proper posture, and try to keep the tension in your abs as you move. Rest for 30 seconds and repeat until you've completed 2 or 3 sets. "If it feels easy, extend the walking time, or add more weight," says L'Italien. "If it's too difficult, shorten the walking time to 30 seconds or reduce the weight."

   2). Cross-Body Carry: This is performed like the farmer's carry, except you keep one arm straight overhead with the other hand down at your side as you walk. After you have completed your walk, rest for 30 seconds, switch hand positions, and repeat. This completes one set. Do 2 or 3 sets.
     "The slight weight imbalance will challenge your core in different ways," says L'Italien. If holding the weight overhead is too hard, keep it at shoulder level. Adjust the weight and walking time, as needed.
 
   3). Suitcase carry: This exercise is done as the name implies; you walk holding a weight in only one hand while your other hand is free. After you have completed your walk, rest for 30 seconds, switch the weight to the other hand, and repeat the walk to finish one set. Do two or three sets.
     "With all the weight on one side, it forces you to work harder to maintain a neutral position so you don't lean while you walk," says L'Italien. "This helps to ensure symmetry in your core strength and protect your back when carrying heavy or awkward objects to one side."

The Fagradalsfjall Volcano

The recently awakened Fagradalsfjall volcano in Iceland has been burping up and drooling lava since March. And nearly the whole time drone pilots—the real MVPs of nature photography in 2021—have captured the epic scenes of spewing lava from above.

This is pretty spectacular footage.

The Fagradalsfjall Volcano

Is Fast Food Actually Addictive?

From the “Eat This, Not That” e-zine 

Michael Moss, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, reveals in his book "Hooked" that fast-food can be just as addictive as heroin!

You probably already know that fast food isn't one of the healthiest food options, considering it's usually highly processed, devoid of nutrients, high in calories, and often fried (we're looking at you, french fries & onion rings). Despite knowing its unhealthy aspects, it may feel nearly impossible to turn down your favorite fast-food spot as you're driving by… and that's not entirely your fault.

Michael Moss, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, reveals in his book Hooked: Food, Free Will, and How the Food Giants Exploit Our Addictions that fast-food can be just as addictive as heroin. If you're wondering how this is possible, Moss breaks it down: While heroin relies on morphine to draw out the addictive nature of the drug, fast-food turns to simpler elements like fat, salt, and sugar, all of which have the same impact on us once we take a bite. 

The reason for this is that these components—fat, sugar, and salt— trigger that same dopamine release in our brains that morphine does. As the New York Post reports, Moss notes in his book that, "[Dopamine] is a tool for our survival. We need to eat in order to live, and dopamine is there to motivate us to eat." So, this is what might make it so difficult for your brain to turn away the fast food you know and love.

Moss also highlights that food manufacturers may be using this addictive property in fast food to their advantage. They use a nearly undetectable, highly processed starch derivative called Maltodextrin, which has the same addictive properties of sugar (it just doesn't taste sweet). It's foods with these types of processed starches that can shoot your glucose levels up, then almost immediately go back down, which "prods the brain into making more dopamine that calls upon us to look for more food," writes Moss.

And so begins the endless cycle of searching for food that has the same impact on the body. This is why you may begin to crave those same unhealthy fast-food meals over and over—you may truly be addicted to the effect the food has on you.