Tag: health
Mother’s milk is the conduit of a rich two-way system of information and nutrition particular to each unique baby and its unique mother, who breast feeds it
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This is an excellent example of biological semiotics, the sending of messages back and forth between the biologies of the mother and her infant. ABN
Sensory correction feels wonderful
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I got hearing aids a few years ago, and this is kind of how it feels, especially if you play a musical instrument. For adults, acclimation takes much longer because adult brains reprogram more slowly than kids. Everybody should have their hearing tested periodically or before taking on something that depends on good hearing, like learning a language, music, bird watching, conversation and much more. My audiologist told me it takes the average adult seven years to get hearing aids after they have been diagnosed with hearing loss, which typically declines slowly. For years, I thought my computer was bad because I could not hear videos clearly even at top volume (it wasn’t). Not hearing well has significant behavioral ramifications, which you will discover if you get HAs. Personally, I don’t feel embarrassed about wearing them in the least. They are basically eyeglasses for your ears. I love the tech and even think they are kind of cool. Plus I can actually hear quite well again. ABN
Maine egregious healthcare abuse described — Steve Robinson
‘Prion-like amyloid microclots were found in 100% of the COVID-19 vaccinated in a new peer-reviewed study. These clots are now being pulled from corpses worldwide. Criminal charges are warranted…’
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UPDATE: Nattokinase is reportedly able to dissolve these vax-related clots. Nattokinase is available on Amazon. It’s not expensive. ABN
The Great Healthcare Plan
Anxiety and fight, flight, or freeze
I suppose we all know what the fight, flight, or freeze response is.
In the wild, the freeze response is extremely valuable. You see a bear in the near distance and freeze. While you are frozen, you decide what to do. Quietly pull out the bear spray if you have any or just stay still in the hope the animal will leave.
The freeze response gets bad PR when we think of it as only the “deer in the headlights” response. That happens to deer because they do not understand that your car is moving at 60 MPH. If it were going at walking speed, the freeze response would protect the deer by giving it a few more seconds to consider more options.
It might be better to call the “freeze” response the “neither” response, or the “neutral” response or the “neither and keep thinking” response. Fight, flee, or do neither.
Rather than panic and run at or away from the bear, we do neither. Just stay still and consider our options. Time often dilates in such situations and most people probably have at least a few memories of making a very good decision during that brief time dilation.
In the human social realm—the realm of human signals—anxiety is often a sign of a stalled fight-flight response.
What I propose is that the next time you feel anxious about anything, consider the “freeze” or “neither and keep thinking” response rather than fight or flight. Call up and explore your freeze response. It is a very rich and useful response.
You can practice on a small anxiety-inducing incident, even manufacture one.
Do something that normally causes you to feel slightly anxious, but rather than feel anxious choose the “freeze” response instead. If the incident is small enough you will be able to engage in a cool, neutral brain state that greatly resembles beginner’s mind of the Zen tradition.
This technique moderates our instinctive response to a stressor by adding a layer of metacognition that guides it to what we want it to be.
It makes us mindful that we have more options than simply feeling anxious. Since we are social animals, human social stressors very often induce outsized responses that get stuck in a panic mode.
With just a small push from a metacognitive vantage, we can transform counterproductive anxiety into a more open and creative “freeze” response.
Exclusive: Some scientists say many detections of microplastics in the human body are most likely erroneous, with one high-profile study called a ‘joke’
High-profile studies reporting the presence of microplastics throughout the human body have been thrown into doubt by scientists who say the discoveries are probably the result of contamination and false positives. One chemist called the concerns “a bombshell”.
Studies claiming to have revealed micro and nanoplastics in the brain, testes, placentas, arteries and elsewhere were reported by media across the world, including the Guardian. There is no doubt that plastic pollution of the natural world is ubiquitous, and present in the food and drink we consume and the air we breathe. But the health damage potentially caused by microplastics and the chemicals they contain is unclear, and an explosion of research has taken off in this area in recent years.
However, micro- and nanoplastic particles are tiny and at the limit of today’s analytical techniques, especially in human tissue. There is no suggestion of malpractice, but researchers told the Guardian of their concern that the race to publish results, in some cases by groups with limited analytical expertise, has led to rushed results and routine scientific checks sometimes being overlooked.
Trump to advise all US water systems to remove fluoride from public water
On January 20, the Trump White House will advise all U.S. water systems to remove fluoride from public water. Fluoride is an industrial waste associated with arthritis, bone fractures, bone cancer, IQ loss, neurodevelopmental disorders, and thyroid disease.
‘We are ending the war on saturated fats’ — RFK Jr
Face-blindness (memory) test
| This is an interactive version of the Exposure Based Face Memory Test. Introduction: The human brain has a special module that is used to recognize faces. People with prosopagnosia, also known as “face blindness”, have difficulty remembering faces. Every time they see a face it looks to them like a face they have never seen before and such people have to use other information such as hair, voice, and body to recognize others. The Exposure Based Face Memory Test was developed as an open source measure of face memory and was designed with a procedure that is both closer to the demands on face memory experienced in every day life, and minimizes administration time. Procedure: In this test you will be shown a long series of faces. For each face you must say if you have been shown that person before, or if this is a new face you have not been shown yet. It should take 2-5 minutes to complete. This test can only be taken once. It is spoiled if you have seen any of the faces before. So if want accurate results, make sure to take it seriously the first time. Participation: You use of this assessment should be for educational or entertainment purposes only. This is not psychological advice of any kind. Additionally, your responses to this questionnaire will be anonymously saved and possibly used for research or otherwise distributed. |
This is a quick test which will give you some sense of whether you have or do not have face-blindness. I scored better than just 16.5% of people who have taken the test, which does not qualify as prosopagnosia, though I do have moderate-significant face-blindness. One aspect of this condition not yet studied, far as I know, is I sometimes see the faces of people I should recognize as distorted, sometimes rather weirdly so, sometimes just a bit weirdly; this happens just before I fully recognize them by voice or some other prompt. If you have face-blindness it is probably a good idea to tell people you meet about it. Some people react with surprise and confusion but many have heard of prosopagnosia and appreciate getting the information. Human faces form a semiotic ‘language’ which people with excellent face-recognition probably greatly enjoy. Easily recognizing/ remembering faces facilitates building social relationships. Not easily recognizing faces causes a delay in fully receiving into your mind the social presence of another person, thus making it more difficult to build social relationships. I have probably spent more time thinking about language and interpersonal communications than most people because I largely remember people initially or click with them through their speech idiosyncrasies more than by remembering their faces. ABN
Inherited predisposition for higher muscle strength may protect against common morbidities
A study conducted at the Faculty of Sport and Health Sciences at the University of Jyväskylä showed that a genetic predisposition for higher muscle strength predicts a longer lifespan and a lower risk for developing common diseases. This is the most comprehensive international study to date on hereditary muscle strength and its relationship to morbidity. The genome and health data of more than 340,000 Finns was used in the research.
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‘Product of USA’ food labels to be used on products derived from animals that were born, raised and slaughtered within the USA ONLY
In just two days, Americans may start noticing a change to the labels on their meat and egg products as a new rule takes effect.
In March 2024, Tom Vilsack, USDA secretary at the time, announced the finalization of a rule that will require that ‘Product of USA’ food labels only be used on products derived from animals that were born, raised and slaughtered within the US.
The new rule is set to take effect January 1, 2026 and will apply to meat, poultry and egg products.
Currently, regulations allow products derived from animals born, raised and slaughtered outside of the US to be labeled ‘Product of USA’ as long as they are at least packaged in America.
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This appears to actually be beneficial to the American public. Where’s the catch? ABN
Eye movements during REM sleep stage
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I wish videos like this did not play stupid canned music. In some videos (not this one), it appears to be a mind-control device to subliminally alert watchers that the information is bad and wrong; vids of that type often have a growling obnoxious background.
Otherwise, it is good to see these eye movement. If you can’t sleep at night, imitating this or doing some sort of eye movement often induces sleep. That technique works for me fairly well. ABN
Here is another video, which is probably better than the first. Click CC for an explanatory text band:
American Buddhist Net 