Keep a Food Diary to Lose More Weight

If you are trying to lose weight by eating less, it really helps to keep a food diary, detailing every calorie consumed, according to a recent study conducted by the Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research.

The study, published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, involved more than 1,500 overweight and obese adults. The researchers provided them with training in lifestyle interventions, which included weekly group sessions, regular exercise, a heart-healthy diet, reduced alcohol consumption and the use of food diaries.

After five months, the results indicated that overall, participants had lost an average of thirteen pounds. Those participants who kept a food diary for at least five days a week, however, lost more than twice that average. The researchers speculated that the advantage of using the diary is that it increases the participant’s sense of personal accountability for their eating and resulting weight.

Websource:

Keeping Food Diary Doubles Weight Loss

Dieters Who Keep Track of What They Eat Lose Weight Twice as Fast

By KENDALL KRAUSE, M.D.
ABC News Medical Unit
July 8, 2008

Dieters may be able to take solace in the fact that one of the most powerful weight-loss tools available may be as close as a pen and paper.

In a recent study by the Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research, participants who kept food journals lost almost double the weight of their nonjournaling counterparts.

And at a time when Americans spend $35 billion a year on weight-loss products -- a figure larger than the gross domestic product of most developing countries -- the finding could be good news for those searching for an inexpensive route to a healthier weight.

The study, published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, focused on the efficacy of various behavioral weight-loss interventions in more than 1,500 overweight and obese adults. Participants were schooled on lifestyle interventions, which included weekly group sessions, regular exercise, a heart-healthy diet, reduced alcohol consumption and the use of food diaries.

After five months, participants lost an average of almost 13 pounds -- a significant amount, according to physicians. However, those who used a food diary more than five days a week lost almost twice as much weight as those who didn't. And perhaps more impressively, they kept the weight off.

When keeping food diaries, dieters write down, for better or worse, every calorie that passes through their lips each day.

Frank Bitzer, a 64-year-old retired project manager and study subject, lost 26 pounds during the study, and his cholesterol dropped to healthy levels. Today, four years after the end of the study, he has kept off 20 pounds and continues to feel the positive health effects. Asked about his experiences with keeping a food diary, he described it as "enlightening." He attributed much of his success to the ability to gain immediate information and "see the error of your ways.

"It enabled me to see how much of an impact it made with even just a slight change in your diet, such as having a bowl of ice cream or a fast-food cheeseburger," he says. "That can really skew your calorie intake."

Another successful dieter, Carol Nelson of Hewlett, N.Y., credits food journals with helping her lose almost 20 pounds in six months. Now, thanks to her weight loss, she expects her doctor to cut the dose of Metformin, her diabetes medication, in half.

"It really started with the food journals," she says. "Now it's in my head. By keeping food journals for so many months, the pattern for eating is with me."

Why the Pen Is Mightier Than the Pounds

But why do the diaries work? Experts agree that the ultimate value lies in the formation of a "foundation of personal accountability." Almost everyone agrees that accountability is the most important ingredient behind any successful lifestyle change, including weight loss.

Dr. Patrick O'Neil, director of the Weight Management Center at the Medical University of South Carolina, agrees. "Most of us don't really know how much we eat and drink; we have very charitable memories," he says.

In short, he explains, food diaries force an increased awareness of habits and eating patterns. By allowing patients to follow their eating patterns throughout the day, the visual diary can highlight pitfalls that may have previously gone unnoticed by a dieter. Additionally, when clinicians such as physicians or dietitians review a diary, they can often point out problematic cues, triggers and habits that may be contributing to weight gain. The increased awareness and knowledge allows for targeted problem-solving to improve these troublesome situations. As O'Neil says, "Sometimes a little Monday-morning quarterbacking makes for a better score the next weekend."

Madelyn Fernstrom of the University of Pittsburgh Weight Management Center agrees, adding that food diaries help in "transferring that written record into a permanent mental database."

When Diaries Alone Are Not Enough

Study author Dr. Victor Stevens says that the power of food diaries lies in their flexibility, allowing them to be tailored for accountability for different goals -- from calorie counting to diet quality to overall assessment of eating habits.

But when it comes to a comprehensive weight management strategy, they may not be enough. Stevens suggests that in addition to using a food diary, some dieters may benefit further from joining an organized weight-loss program that provides social commitment and accountability.

If no formal programs are available, he says, "get organized with some friends and make a commitment to help each other."

 

Weblink: http://abcnews.go.com/Health/Fitness/story?id=5327486&page=1

 

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Learning Center Established for Scientific Remote Viewing

Remote viewing has become the hottest item in the domain of ESP research. It’s now possible for you to train yourself in remote viewing as you participate in online research. The Farsight Institute has initiated an online “learning center,” where you can read about remote viewing, participate in training exercises and more. It’s all free and found at http://www.farsight.org/SRV/

 

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Music Used for Healing in Hospitals

Chances are increasing that if you need to be treated in a hospital, music will be part of the treatment. According to a recent survey conducted by the Society for the Arts in Healthcare, along with the Joint Commission and Americans for the Arts, showed that more than one-third of hospitals are incorporating music into their programs, and that percentage is steadily increasing as more research is published on the specific benefits music provides in particular treatment situations.

One study, for example, conducted at the Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, and published in the journal Critical Care Medicine, showed that patients in the intensive care unit hooked up to mechanical breathing machines who were exposed to Mozart piano music evidenced a significant change in various hormone levels related to healing. These changes resulted in lower blood pressure, lowered heart rate, and less need for sedatives, compared to the control group who remained in silence.

 

 

 

Websource:

Music provides healing grace note for hospital patients

By Lisa Gill, Special for USA TODAY

Kristen Stewart holds a round, wooden instrument filled with small, metal beads that sounds like waves gently crashing upon a beach. As she rotates it back and forth, Angelina and Audrianna Liew yawn, flutter their eyes and occasionally drift off to sleep.

Any other musician might take offense, but this is exactly the reaction Stewart was hoping for.

Born seven weeks premature, the identical twins have spent 20 days in the neonatal intensive care unit at Beth Israel Medical Center in New York. Like most ICUs, with the racket of beeping monitors and buzzing devices, along with the chatter among visitors and staff, the room is anything but a sanctuary for rest.

But for these infants, sleep is crucial to their growth and development.

As a clinical director and music therapist at Beth Israel's Louis and Lucille Armstrong Music Therapy Program, Stewart specializes in working with premature babies, children and patients with trauma — in this case, showing parents Rick Mei and Shan Liew how to use instruments that mimic heartbeats and womb sounds, as well as their own voices, to comfort their newborns. The goal on this day: to encourage the babies to sleep, become calm and alert, and prepare for feeding.

The twins would go on to spend several more days in the ICU before heading home. Music therapy played a role in their recovery, their mother says.

Beth Israel's program is one of many efforts by hospitals around the country to use music as a way to ease patients' pain, lower blood pressure, reduce anxiety and depression and improve coping abilities to get patients well, faster.

In harmony with healing

"Often, music therapy is more cost-effective than administering medication, especially for patients with anxiety, sleep disturbances or pain," says Al Bumanis, spokesman for the American Music Therapy Association.

A 2007 survey of U.S. health facilities by the Society for the Arts in Healthcare, along with the Joint Commission and Americans for the Arts, found that of the 1,923 facilities, 35% offered some type of music to patients.

Besides promoting relaxation and reducing stress, music therapy has been shown to affect sleep patterns, improve stroke patients' memories and decrease the amount of sedation medication needed for some patients.

Claudius Conrad, senior surgical resident at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, led a study published in December in the journal Critical Care Medicine that attempted to identify changes the body undergoes while listening to music.

The study looked at patients in the ICU who were on mechanical breathing machines. The group that was exposed to Mozart piano sonatas experienced marked decreases in stress hormones and in cytokines — one of the chemicals responsible for regulating the body's response to trauma.

There was also a substantial increase in the production of growth hormones, which helps the body regulate metabolism, particularly during sleep. The result was a reduction in blood pressure, lowered heart rate and less need for medication to keep patients sedated, compared with the control group, Conrad says.

"If patients could be exposed to music in the ICU … they would survive more often, they would leave the ICU faster," he says. "This would also save costs."

From preemies to stroke victims

Other recent studies have further confirmed the benefits of music on healing.

• Patients admitted to a hospital in Helsinki, Finland, after a severe stroke listened to recorded music for at least an hour daily. Compared with those who either listened to audiobooks or nothing, music patients recovered their verbal memory faster, as well as experienced less depression, according to a study in the March issue of the journal Brain.

• Playing two hours of recorded Mozart each week to premature babies lowered their heart rate and helped induce sleep, according to researchers at New York Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center in New York. That study has not yet been submitted for publication in a medical journal.

• Terminally ill patients in Australia who had a single music therapy session were found to have less anxiety, pain and drowsiness compared with those who did not listen to music, according to a study published in the May Journal of Palliative Medicine.

Not all studies are in concert about music's therapeutic benefits. In a 2004 Cochrane Databaseof Systemic Reviews, researchers evaluating 51 studies found that while music reduced patients' perceptions of pain and the need for pain medication, the total benefit was minor.

But try telling that to Kim Febres, a music therapist at the Carol G. Simon Cancer Center at Morristown (N.J.) Memorial Hospital. As Febres strums and sings the first few notes of a popular tune about Naples, Rosa Dotro, 71, an Italian immigrant who has stomach cancer, pushes aside her dinner, wipes the tears streaking her cheeks and sings along in a high, clear voice along, "Saaaanta Lucia! Santa Lucia!"

When they finish, Dotro tells Febres she is worried about having surgery and asks to hear the song again.

"Sing!" Dotro orders. "You can do this all night if you want. I feel better already."

weblink:

http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2008-06-16-music-healing_N.htm

 

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Drinking Coffee Lowers Heart Attack Risk

Drinking several cups of coffee daily will reduce your chances of dying from a heart attack, but will not affect your chances of dying from cancer. That surprising result, from research conducted by the Harvard School of Public Health and published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, came from studying the coffee drinking habits of 41,736 men and 86,216 women with no history of cardiovascular disease or cancer.

The researchers noted that the effect of coffee was not because of the caffeine, because those who drank decaffeinated coffee evidenced the same positive effects as did those who drank regular coffee. They recommended, therefore, to play it safe, and drink the decaf.

 

Websource:

Coffee may have perks for longer living

By Angela Haupt, USA TODAY

Drinking up to six cups of coffee a day may lower the overall odds of dying prematurely, mainly because it cuts the risk of dying from heart disease, a study released today suggests. But the study found that heavy coffee drinking doesn't cut your chance of dying from cancer.

"Our results suggest that long-term, regular coffee consumption has several beneficial health effects," says Esther Lopez-Garcia, lead author of the Harvard School of Public Health report.

The study, published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, examines the relationship between coffee and mortality. It is based on the coffee drinking habits of 41,736 men and 86,216 women with no history of cardiovascular disease (CVD) or cancer. The men were followed for 18 years, the women for 24 years.

The results show that as coffee consumption increases, the overall risk of death decreases. The association is explained mostly by a decrease in CVD deaths, Lopez-Garcia says. Women who drank two to three cups of coffee a day, for instance, had a 25% lower risk of dying from heart disease than non-drinkers.

"Coffee has some beneficial effects on inflammation and endothelial function, which are the first stages of CVD development," Lopez-Garcia says.

No connection was found between coffee consumption and cancer deaths, however. "More studies are necessary to confirm this lack of effect," she says.

Researchers warn that the study does not prove a cup of joe is linked with long life. A factor other than coffee could be protecting participants, Lopez-Garcia says. A measurement error also could be possible, because consumption levels were self-reported.

"More research is necessary to be able to recommend consuming coffee on a health basis," she says. "Our study is not enough to make such a statement."

The findings suggest that a component other than caffeine explains the relationship between coffee and a lower risk of death, Lopez-Garcia says. Participants who drank both decaf and caffeinated coffee had lower death rates than non-drinkers.

Some experts still warn, however, that caffeine can lead to detrimental short-term health effects, such as anxiety and sleep problems.

"If you want the best of both worlds, drink decaf — avoid the caffeine and get the good stuff," says longtime coffee researcher Terry Graham of the University of Guelph in Canada.

Past research has produced mixed results on the health effects of coffee, but most experts agree coffee is safe and even healthful.

In 2000, researchers at the Mayo Clinic found that coffee intake was linked with decreased rates of Parkinson's disease. In 2004, Harvard researchers reported that it significantly reduced the risk of developing type 2 diabetes. And a 2005 study found that coffee could help prevent the most common type of liver cancer, according to the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

Karen Collins, a nutrition adviser with the American Institute for Cancer Research, says the key to coffee's health benefits is its antioxidants.

"Coffee drinkers who were scared off years ago by reports that it poses a health threat have no reason to be afraid," she says. "But people also shouldn't be saying, 'I'll just have some coffee today instead of my fruits and vegetables.' "

weblink:

http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2008-06-16-coffee-heart-disease_N.htm

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We Hear with Our Brain

Evidence is mounting that our sense systems are not the perceivers themselves, but provide information to the brain, which in turn creates the perception after doing some calculations and interpretations. The latest example of research demonstrating the brain-centered nature of perception involves hearing through the skin, as studied at University of British Columbia, Vancouver and published in the journal Nature.

In this study, researchers found that how participants “heard” vowel sounds emanating from a speaker can be modified by shooting puffs of air upon their skin, puffs that emulated the usual vocal aspiration associated with the enunciation of a vowel sound. For example, if the speaker emitted the vowel sound “ba,” (which involves no aspiration) while the listener received a puff of air on the arm that corresponded to the aspiration associated with the vowel sound “pa,” (which includes a brief aspiration with the p sound), then the listeners would hear the vowel sound “pa” rather than the vowel sound “ba.” The implication is that the brain is incorporating the physical sensation on the arm with the auditory sensation provided by the speaker to produce the subjective perception.

 

Web source:

Surprise! Your Skin Can Hear

 

Publication Date:  25 November 2009 01:00 pm ET

Author:  JEANNA BRYNER

Source:  Live Science

Link:  http://www.livescience.com/health/091125-skin-hears-sounds.html

 

 

 

We not only hear with our ears, but also through our skin, according to a new study.

The finding, based on experiments in which participants listened to certain syllables while puffs of air hit their skin, suggests our brains take in and integrate information from various senses to build a picture of our surroundings.

Along with other recent work, the research flips the traditional view of how we perceive the world on its head.

"[That's] very different from the more traditional ideas, based on the fact that we have eyes so we think of ourselves as seeing visible information, and we have ears so we think of ourselves as hearing auditory information. That's a little bit misleading," study researcher Bryan Gick of the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, told LiveScience.

"A more likely explanation is that we have brains that perceive rather than we have eyes that see and ears that hear."

With such abilities, Gick views humans as "whole-body perceiving machines."

The research, funded by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Council of Canada and the National Institutes of Health, is detailed in the Nov. 26 issue of the journal Nature.

How we perceive

Gick's work builds on past studies showing, for instance, that we can see sound and hear light, even if we don't consciously realize it. Other studies show if you observe another person's lips moving and think that other is speaking, your brain's auditory regions would light up, Gick said.

Scientists had explained such sensing prowess as the result of experience, as we see and hear people speaking all the time and so it'd be only natural to learn how to integrate what we see with what we hear.

The alternative would be an innate ability. And so Gick and his colleague Donald Derrick, also of the University of British Columbia, studied two senses that aren't generally paired - auditory and tactile - to figure out the root of perception.

How skin hears

The team focused on aspirated sounds, such as "pa" and "ta" that involve an inaudible burst of air when spoken, as well as unaspirated sounds, such as "ba" and "da."

Blind-folded participants listened to recordings of a male voice saying each of the four syllables and had to press a button to indicate which sound they heard (pa, ta, ba or da). Participants were divided into three groups of 22, with one group hearing the syllables while a puff of air was blown onto their hand, the other had air blown onto the neck, and the control group heard the sounds with no air.

About 10 percent of the time when air was puffed onto the skin, participants mistakenly perceived the unaspirated syllables as being their aspirated equivalents. So when the guy said "ba," such participants would indicate they heard "pa." The control group didn't show such mistaken perceptions.

A follow-up experiment in which participants got a tap on the skin rather than a puff of air showed no such mix-up between aspirated and unaspirated sounds.

 

Web link: http://www.livescience.com/health/091125-skin-hears-sounds.html

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A Computer can Display Your Thoughts

Brain scan research correlating mental events with brain activity has made major advances in being able to decipher the subjective experiences within the mind. In a most recent study, researchers have been able to detect and display on a television monitor images that a person is mentally perceiving.

In this research, conducted at the University of California, Berkeley, neurologists asked participants to view video clips while their brains were scanned. They used a specially developed computer program to correlate the shapes, colors, and movements in the video clips with activities in specific brain regions. After these computations were completed, they showed new video clips to the participants while their brains were scanned. The computer program then would display images on the television monitor that corresponded to the detected brain activities. The results were that the researchers were able to watch on the television screen, what the participant was viewing. The images were less clear, but accurately reflected the video being watched by the participant.

The researchers noted that such progress in “mind reading” would have many positive applications, but also could be used for nefarious purposes, too.

 

Web source:

Psychic Computer Shows your Thoughts On Screen

 

Publication Date:  November 1, 2009

Author:  CHRIS GORULAY

Source:  Times (U.K.)

Link:  http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/science/living/article6898177.ece

 

This is a follow up of a story SR ran a while back.

 

Scientists have discovered how to 'read” minds by scanning brain activity and reproducing images of what people are seeing - or even remembering.

Researchers have been able to convert into crude video footage the brain activity stimulated by what a person is watching or recalling.

The breakthrough raises the prospect of significant benefits, such as allowing people who are unable to move or speak to communicate via visualisation of their thoughts; recording people’s dreams; or allowing police to identify criminals by recalling the memories of a witness.

However, it could also herald a new Big Brother era, similar to that envisaged in the Hollywood film Minority Report, in which an individual’s private thoughts can be readily accessed by the authorities.

Earlier this year, Jack Gallant and Thomas Naselaris, two neurologists from the University of California, Berkeley, managed to 'decode' static images seen by the person from activity in the brain's visual cortex. Last week Gallant and Shinji Nishimoto - another neurologist - went one step further by revealing that it is possible to decode signals generated in the brain by moving scenes.

In an experiment which has yet to be peer reviewed, Gallant and Nishimoto, using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) technology, scanned the brains of two patients as they watched videos.

A computer programme was used to search for links between the configuration of shapes, colours and movements in the videos, and patterns of activity in the patients’ visual cortex.

It was later fed more than 200 days’ worth of YouTube internet clips and asked to predict which areas of the brain the clips would stimulate if people were watching them.

Finally, the software was used to monitor the two patients’ brains as they watched a new film and to reproduce what they were seeing based on their neural activity alone.

Remarkably, the computer programme was able to display continuous footage of the films they were watching - albeit with blurred images.

In one scene which featured the actor Steve Martin wearing a white shirt, the software recreated his rough shape and white torso but missed other details, such as his facial features.

Another scene, showing a plane flying towards the camera against a city skyline, was less successfully reproduced. The computer recreated the image of the skyline but omitted the plane altogether.

'Some scenes decode better than others,” said Gallant. 'We can decode talking heads really well. But a camera panning quickly across a scene confuses the algorithm.

'You can use a device like this to do some pretty cool things. At the moment when you see something and want to describe it to someone you have to use words or draw it and it doesn’t work very well.

'You could use this technology to transmit the image to someone. It might be useful for artists or to allow you to recover an eyewitness’s memory of a crime.”

Such technology may not be confined to the here and now. Scientists at University College London have conducted separate tests that detect, with an accuracy of about 50%, memories recalled by patients.

The discoveries come amid a flurry of developments in the field of brain science. Researchers have also used scanning technology to measure academic ability, detect early signs of Alzheimer’s and other degenerative conditions, and even predict the decision a person is about to make before they are conscious of making it.

Such developments may have controversial ramifications. In Britain, fMRI scanning technology has been sold to multinational companies, such as Unilever and McDonald’s, enabling them to see how we subconsciously react to brands.

In America, security agencies are researching the use of brain scanners for interrogating prisoners, and Lockheed Martin, the US defence contractor, is reported to have studied the possibility of scanning brains at a distance.

This would allow an individual’s thoughts and anxieties to be examined without their knowledge in sensitive locations such as airports.

Russell Foster, a neuroscientist at Oxford University, said rapid advances in the field were throwing up ethical dilemmas.

'It’s absolutely critical for scientists to inform the public about what we are doing so they can engage in the debate about how this knowledge should be used,” he said.

'It’s the age-old problem: knowledge is power and it can be used for both good and evil.”

 

Web link:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/science/living/article6898177.ec

 

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High Fructose Corn Syrup Creates Hypertension

The more you drink those sugar drinks, the greater chance you have of developing high blood pressure. That’s the conclusion of a study presented at the American Society of Nephrology annual conference by researchers at the University of Colorado Denver Health Sciences Center

More than four thousand adults aged eighteen and over who had no history of hypertension completed a questionnaire regarding their intake of fruit juices, soft drinks, bakery products, and candy. When this data was correlated with blood pressure readings, the results indicated that consumption of more than 74 grams of corn sugar (the equivalent of two and one half cans of soda pop) was associated with observed hypertension.

 

Web Source:

High Fructose Corn Syrup: A Recipe For Hypertension, Study Finds

ScienceDaily (Nov. 11, 2009) — A diet high in fructose increases the risk of developing high blood pressure (hypertension), according to a paper being presented at the American Society of Nephrology's 42nd Annual Meeting and Scientific Exposition in San Diego, California. The findings suggest that cutting back on processed foods and beverages that contain high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) may help prevent hypertension.

Over the last 200 years, the rate of fructose intake has directly paralleled the increasing rate of obesity, which has increased sharply in the last 20 years since the introduction of HFCS. Today, Americans consume 30% more fructose than 20 years ago and up to four times more than 100 years ago, when obesity rates were less than 5%. While this increase mirrors the dramatic rise in the prevalence of hypertension, studies have been inconsistent in linking excess fructose in the diet to hypertension.

Diana Jalal, MD (University of Colorado Denver Health Sciences Center), and her colleagues studied the issue in a large representative population of US adults. They examined 4,528 adults 18 years of age or older with no prior history of hypertension. Fructose intake was calculated based on a dietary questionnaire, and foods such as fruit juices, soft drinks, bakery products, and candy were included. Dr. Jalal's team found that people who ate or drank more than 74 grams per day of fructose (2.5 sugary soft drinks per day) increased their risk of developing hypertension. Specifically, a diet of more than 74 grams per day of fructose led to a 28%, 36%, and 87% higher risk for blood pressure levels of 135/85, 140/90, and 160/100 mmHg, respectively. (A normal blood pressure reading is below 120/80 mmHg.)

"These results indicate that high fructose intake in the form of added sugars is significantly and independently associated with higher blood pressure levels in the US adult population with no previous history of hypertension," the authors concluded. Additional studies are needed to see if low fructose diets can normalize blood pressure and prevent the development of hypertension.

Study co-authors include Richard Johnson, MD, Gerard Smits, PhD, and Michel Chonchol, MD (University of Colorado Denver Health Sciences Center). Dr. Richard Johnson reports a conflict of interest as the author of "The Sugar Fix." The authors report no other financial disclosures.

The study abstract, "Increased Fructose Intake is Independently Associated with Elevated Blood Pressure. Findings from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2003-2006)," (TH-FC037) was presented as part of a Free Communications Session during the American Society of Nephrology's 42nd Annual Meeting and Scientific Exposition on Oct. 29 at the San Diego Convention Center in San Diego, CA.

 

Web link: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/10/091029211521.htm

 

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Meditation Improves Attention Span

Our attention normally flits about. It also “blinks,” (as if the eyes of attention were closed for that time) for about one half of a second after each focus of attention. Research has shown that meditation increases the span of attention, resulting in less frequent “blinks.”

In a recent series of experiments, researchers used “binocular rivalry” to study the stability of attention. In this type of experiment, the subject looks through a binocular lens, which shows each eye a different picture, in this case a picture of horizontal lines and a picture of vertical lines. The subject has difficulty reconciling these two images and thus the attention flits back and forth between the two different images.

In one experiment, Buddhist monks participated. When they practiced “compassionate meditation,” thinking about the suffering of the world, their attention flitted back and forth between the two images. When they practiced one-pointed concentration, their attention remained much more stable, fixed on one or the other of the two images. In another experiment, subjects who had never meditated received training in meditation. Before their training, their attention in the binocular experiment showed typical flitting. After eight weeks of training in meditation, the flitting of attention was significantly reduced.

 

Web source:

How Meditation Improves Attention

 

Publication Date:  11 May 2009

Author:  

Source:  Psyblog

Link:  http://www.spring.org.uk/2009/05/how-meditation-improves-attention.php

 

William James wrote that controlling attention is at "the very root of judgement, character and will". He also noted that controlling attention is much easier said than done. This is unfortunate because almost every impressive human achievement is, at heart, a feat of attention. Art, science, technology -- you name it -- someone, somewhere had to concentrate, and concentrate hard.

Wouldn't it be fantastic to be able to concentrate without effort? Not to feel the strain of directing attention, just to experience a relaxed, intense, deep focus? So naturally the million dollar question is: how can attention be improved?

Psychologists are fascinated by the sometimes fantastical claims made for meditation, particularly in its promise of improving attention. It certainly seems intuitively right that meditation should improve attention -- after all meditation is essentially concentration practice -- but what does the scientific evidence tell us?
Does meditation improve attention?

The problem with attention is that it naturally likes to jump around from one thing to another: attention is antsy, it won't settle -- this is not in itself a bad thing, just the way it is. Attention's fidgety nature can be clearly seen in the phenomenon of 'binocular rivalry'. If you show one picture to one eye and a different picture to the other eye, attention shuttles between them, wondering which is more interesting.

A simple lab version of this presents a set of vertical lines to one eye and a set of horizontal lines to the other. What people see is the brain flipping between the horizontal and the vertical lines and occasionally merging them both together, seemingly at random. People usually find it difficult to see either the horizontal or the vertical lines -- or even the merged version -- for an extended period because attention naturally flicks between them.

If the binocular rivalry test is a kind of index of the antsy-ness of attention, then those with more focused attention should see fewer changes. So reasoned Carter et al. (2005) who had 76 Tibetan Buddhists in their mountain retreats meditate before taking a binocular rivalry test. They sat, wearing display goggles and staring at the lines, pressing a button each time the dominant view changed between horizontal, vertical and merged. The more button presses, the more times their attention switched.

meditation2

In one condition their meditation was 'compassionate', thinking about all the suffering in the world while in the other it was 'one-point' meditation focusing completely on one aspect of their experience, for example their breath going in and out. Although the 'compassionate' form of meditation had no effect, the 'one-point' meditation reduced the rate of switching in half the participants.

The results were even more dramatic when the Buddhists carried out the one-point meditation while looking through the goggles. Some of the most experienced monks reported complete image stability: they saw just the horizontal or vertical lines for a full 5 minutes. When compared to people who do not meditate, these results are exceptional.
Quicker results

Of course we don't all have 20 years to pass in a mountain retreat learning how to concentrate, so is there any hope for the rest of us? A recent study by Dr. Amishi Jha and colleagues at Pennsylvania University suggests there is (Jha, Krompinger & Baime, 2007). Rather than recruiting people who were already superstar concentrators, they sent people who had not practised meditation before on an 8-week training course in mindfulness-based stress reduction, a type of meditation. This consisted of a series of 3-hour classes, with at least 30 minutes of meditation practice per day.

meditation3

These 17 participants were then compared with a further 17 from a control group on a series of attentional measures. The results showed that those who had received training were better at focusing their attention than the control group. This certainly suggests that meditation was improving people's attention.

Dr. Jha and colleagues were also interested in how practice beyond beginner level would affect people's powers of attention. To test this they sent participants who were already meditators on a mindfulness retreat for one month. Afterwards they were given the same series of attention measures and were found to have improved in their reactions to new stimuli. In other words they seemed to have become more receptive.

Attentional improvements from meditation, though, have recently been reported even quicker than 8 weeks. A study carried out by Yi-Yuan Tang and colleagues gave participants just 20 minutes instruction every day for five days (Tang et al., 2007). Participants practised a Chinese form of meditation called 'integrative body-mind training', which uses similar techniques to other types of meditation. They found that after only this relatively short introduction participants demonstrated improved attention compared to a control group, along with other benefits such as lower levels of stress and higher energy levels.

There is even evidence that meditation can improve a major limitation of the brain's attentional system. Attentional blink is the finding that our attention 'blinks' for about half a second right after we focus on something (follow the link for the full story). Meditation, however, seems to be able to increase our minds' attentional bandwidth. Slagter et al. (2007) gave participants 3 months of intensive meditation training and found that afterwards the attentional blink was seriously curtailed. In other words people were capable of processing information more quickly and accurately. Perhaps, then, meditation really can open the doors of perception...

meditation4

This research on meditation's effect on attention is just the tip of the iceberg. Other studies have also suggested that meditation can benefit motivation, cognition, emotional intelligence and may even sharpen awareness to such an extent that we can control our dreams (Walsh & Shapiro, 2006). And these are just the psychological benefits, there also appear to be considerable physical benefits.
Beginner's guide to meditation

Since it is so beneficial here is a quick primer on how to meditate. Meditation is like chess: the rules are relatively easy to explain, but the game itself is infinitely complex. And like chess the names and techniques of meditation are many and varied but the fundamentals are much the same:

1. Relax the body and the mind. This can be done through body posture, mental imagery, mantras, music, progressive muscle relaxation, any old trick that works. Take your pick. This step is relatively easy as most of us have some experience of relaxing, even if we don't get much opportunity.
2. Be mindful. Bit cryptic this one but it means something like this: don't pass judgement on your thoughts, let them come and go as they will (and boy will they come and go!) but try to nudge your attention back to its primary aim, whatever that is. Turns out this is quite difficult because we're used to mentally travelling backwards and forwards while making judgements on everything (e.g. worrying, dreading, anticipating, regretting etc.). The key is to notice in a detached way what's happening but not to get involved with it. This way of thinking often doesn't come that naturally.
3. Concentrate on something. Often meditators concentrate on their breath, the feel of it going in and out, but it could be anything: your feet, a potato, a stone. The breath is handy because we carry it around with us. But whatever it is try to focus all your attention onto it. When your attention wavers, and it will almost immediately, gently bring it back. Don't chide yourself, be good to yourself, be nice. The act of concentrating on one thing is surprisingly difficult: you will feel the mental burn almost immediately. Experienced practitioners say this eases with practice.
4. Concentrate on nothing. Most say this can't be achieved without a lot of practice, so I'll say no more about it here. Master the basics first.
5. Zzzzz Zzzzz. That's not meditating, that's sleeping.

This is just a quick introduction but does give you enough to get started. It's important not to get too caught up in techniques but to remember the main goal: exercising attention by relaxing and focusing on something. Try these things out first, see what happens, then explore further.

 

Web link: http://www.spring.org.uk/2009/05/how-meditation-improves-attention.php

 

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Is DNA Telepathic?

If DNA strands can recognize other DNA that has similar material when there is no known channel of communication between them, would that be considered telepathy? Well, scientists are using that word, perhaps tongue in cheek, to describe something they have no way of understanding.

Research has shown that when various DNA strands are suspended in water, they begin to congregate in groups of similar genetic sequential material. Science knows of nothing in water that would make such communication possible. According to the report published in the Journal of Physical Chemistry, the water contained no proteins or other chemicals that could have provided a means of communication. Although scientists have no explanation for this ability, they do believe it is an important feature of DNA’s behavior.

 

Web source:

Does DNA Have Telepathic Properties?

 

Publication Date:  April 28, 2009

Author:  

Source:  The Daily Galaxy

Link:  http://www.dailygalaxy.com/my_weblog/2009/04/does-dna-have-t.html

 

Dna47_3_2 DNA has been found to have a bizarre ability to put itself together, even at a distance, when according to known science it shouldn't be able to. Explanation: None, at least not yet.

Scientists are reporting evidence that contrary to our current beliefs about what is possible, intact double-stranded DNA has the 'amazing” ability to recognize similarities in other DNA strands from a distance. Somehow they are able to identify one another, and the tiny bits of genetic material tend to congregate with similar DNA. The recognition of similar sequences in DNA’s chemical subunits, occurs in a way unrecognized by science. There is no known reason why the DNA is able to combine the way it does, and from a current theoretical standpoint this feat should be chemically impossible.

Even so, the research published in ACS’ Journal of Physical Chemistry B, shows very clearly that homology recognition between sequences of several hundred nucleotides occurs without physical contact or presence of proteins. Double helixes of DNA can recognize matching molecules from a distance and then gather together, all seemingly without help from any other molecules or chemical signals.

In the study, scientists observed the behavior of fluorescently tagged DNA strands placed in water that contained no proteins or other material that could interfere with the experiment. Strands with identical nucleotide sequences were about twice as likely to gather together as DNA strands with different sequences. No one knows how individual DNA strands could possibly be communicating in this way, yet somehow they do. The 'telepathic” effect is a source of wonder and amazement for scientists.

'Amazingly, the forces responsible for the sequence recognition can reach across more than one nanometer of water separating the surfaces of the nearest neighbor DNA,” said the authors Geoff S. Baldwin, Sergey Leikin, John M. Seddon, and Alexei A. Kornyshev and colleagues.

This recognition effect may help increase the accuracy and efficiency of the homologous recombination of genes, which is a process responsible for DNA repair, evolution, and genetic diversity. The new findings may also shed light on ways to avoid recombination errors, which are factors in cancer, aging, and other health issues.

 

Web link: http://www.dailygalaxy.com/my_weblog/2009/04/does-dna-have-t.html

 

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Will Power Located in the Brain

Whether or not you can use will power to influence your choices depends upon which part of the brain becomes involved, according to recent research conducted at the California Institute of Technology.

In this experiment, published in the journal Science, a group of self-described dieters examined pictures of food to sort them into categories such as tasty, fattening, neutral, etc. After each participant had indicated which foods were diet acceptable and which not, the participant faced a choice of two foods to eat. One was a food that person had indicated was tasty but not part of the diet, while the other was a food that was acceptable to that person’s diet. The participant’s brain was scanned during the decision making process to determine which brain area was most active.

The results indicated that the brains of those participants who exercised “will power” and chose the dietary food were active in a particular area different from the active brain area of those participants who elected to eat the tasty food that was not part of their diet. Those who showed “will power” engaged the “dorsolateral prefrontal cortex,” an area associated with working memory and meeting goals. This part of the brain was inactive in those participants who chose the tasty food.

 

Web source:

Brain's Willpower Spot Found

 

Publication Date:  12 May 2009 09:26 am ET

Author:  ROBERT GOODIER

Source:  LiveScience.com

Link:  http://www.livescience.com/health/090506-willpower-brain.html

 

When healthy eaters choose broccoli over a Butterfinger, they use a small region in their brains that indulgers don't use.

That bundle of cells is a clue to the biology of willpower, a new study finds. Like a wagging finger in our heads, the region admonishes us to consider long-term benefits over instant rewards when we make decisions.

"This is the first time people have looked at the mechanism of self-control in people who are making real-life decisions," said Todd Hare, a Caltech neuroscientist who led the study.

To zero in on the nodule that imposes willpower, Hare and his colleagues scanned the brains of 37 people who called themselves dieters. During the scans, the subjects pored over 50 photos of foods. They rated the foods according to taste and healthiness.

Some foods, such as Wheat Thins and granola, earned strong "neutral" marks in both categories. For the final test, scientists showed each volunteer a food that they had labeled "neutral" and asked them to choose between it and each of 49 other foods.

When the results were in, the scientists divided the dieters into two groups: those who had self-control and those who didn't. Those with self-control chose healthy foods over tasty foods. Those with no self-control opted for flavor.

Every one of the volunteers used a part of their brains called the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, the scans revealed. It's a squiggly-shaped region behind the forehead. Those who exercised restraint, however, also used a part of the brain called the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, a smaller lump of brain cells buried further back. It has been associated with working memory and meeting goals.

The results were detailed in the May 1 issue of the journal Science.

"It's unlikely that self-control is just one little nodule in the brain," cautioned Scott Huettel, neuroscience professor at Duke University who was not involved in the study. "There are undoubtedly many things that contribute to the way people make decisions." However, Huettel added, the regions Hare's team studied seemed to correspond to the decisions people make.

The findings could lead to new treatments for over-eaters, drug addicts and smokers, among others. In fact, Hare's team is now developing brain-training exercises in an effort to help people improve their self-control. In the future, this kind of research could also bear on legal decisions, lending insight into how much responsibility we can claim for the quality of our decisions.

 

Web link: http://www.livescience.com/health/090506-willpower-brain.html

 

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Brain Proves Receptive to Color Therapy

The use of color in healing has many advocates, including Edgar Cayce. Although there has been some past research on the effect of color on mood, new research has focused on brain activity. In one recent study, for example, researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have been learning how different colored lights can stop the firing of specific neurons in the brain. This new tool has potential for treating abnormal brain activity associated with disorders such as chronic pain, epilepsy, brain injury, and Parkinson’s disease.

 

Web source:

Neuroengineers Silence Brain Cells with Multiple Colors of Light

Neuroscientists at MIT have developed a powerful new class of tools to reversibly shut down brain activity using different colors of light. When targeted to specific neurons, these tools could potentially lead to new treatments for the abnormal brain activity associated with disorders such as chronic pain, epilepsy, brain injury, and Parkinson’s disease.

The tools work on the principle that such disorders might be best treated by silencing, rather than stimulating, brain activity. These “super silencers” exert exquisite control over the timing of the shutdown of overactive neural circuits – an effect that’s impossible with existing drugs or other conventional therapies.

“Silencing different sets of neurons with different colors of light allows us to understand how they work together to implement brain functions,” explains Ed Boyden, senior author of the study, to be published in the Jan. 7 issue of Nature. “Using these new tools, we can look at two neural pathways and study how they compute together. These tools will help us understand how to control neural circuits, leading to new understandings and treatments for brain disorders – some of the biggest unmet medical needs in the world.” Boyden is the Benesse Career Development Professor in the MIT Media Lab and an associate member of the McGovern Institute for Brain Research at MIT.

Boyden’s super silencers are developed from two genes found in different natural organisms such as bacteria and fungi. These genes, called Arch and Mac, encode for light-activated proteins that help the organisms make energy. When neurons are engineered to express Arch and Mac, researchers can inhibit their activity by shining light on them. Light activates the proteins, which lowers the voltage in the neurons and safely and effectively prevents them from firing. In this way, light can bathe the entire brain and selectively affect only those neurons sensitized to specific colors of light. Neurons engineered to express Arch are specifically silenced by yellow light, while those expressing Mac are silenced by blue light.

“In this way the brain can be programmed with different colors of light to identify and possibly correct the corrupted neural computations that lead to disease,” explains co-author Brian Chow, postdoctoral associate in Boyden’s lab.

In 2005, Boyden, in collaboration with investigators at Stanford University and the Max Planck Institute, introduced the first such “optogenetic” technique, so called because it combines the use of optics with gene delivery. The 2005 tool, now widely used, involves a light-activated ion channel, ChR2, which allows light to selectively turn on neurons in the brain.

Two years later, Boyden demonstrated that halorhodopsin, another light-sensitive protein, could inhibit the activity of neurons when illuminated. “But the genomic diversity of the world suggested that more powerful tools were out there waiting to be discovered,” Boyden says. His group accordingly screened a diverse set of microbial light-sensitive proteins, and found the new multicolor silencers. The newly discovered tools are much better than the old. Arch-expressing neurons were switched off with greater precision and recovered faster than halorhodopsin-expressing neurons, allowing researchers to manipulate different neurons with different colors of light.

“Multicolor silencing dramatically increases the complexity with which you can study neural circuits,” says co-author Xue Han, postdoctoral researcher in Boyden’s lab. “We will use these tools to parse out the neural mechanisms of cognition.”

How they did it: MIT researchers loaded the Arch and Mac genes into viruses that inserted their genetic cargo into mouse neurons. Optical fibers attached to lasers flashed light onto the neurons, and electrodes measured the resulting neural activity. [See graphic]

Next steps: Boyden’s team recently demonstrated the efficacy of ChR2 in monkeys with no apparent side effects. Determining whether Arch and Mac are safe and effective in monkeys will be a critical next step toward the potential use of these optical silencing tools in humans. Boyden plans to use these super silencers to examine the neural circuits of cognition and emotion and to find targets in the brain that, when shut down, could relieve pain and treat epilepsy. His group continues to mine the natural world for new and even more powerful tools to manipulate brain cell activity – tools that, he hopes, will empower scientists to explore neural circuits in ways never before possible.

Source: “High-Performance Genetically-Targetable Optical Neural Silencing by
Light-Driven Proton Pumps,” Chow BY, Han X, Dobry AS, Qian X, Chuong AS, Li M, Henninger MA, Belfort GM, Lin Y, Monahan PE, Boyden ES. Nature Jan 7 2010.

Funding: NIH, NSF, McGovern Institute Neurotechnology (MINT) Program at MIT, Department of Defense, NARSAD, Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, Jerry and Marge Burnett, Society for Neuroscience, MIT Media Lab, Benesse Foundation, Wallace H. Coulter Foundation, and the Helen Hay Whitney Foundation.

Web link:

http://newswise.com/articles/mit-neuroengineers-silence-brain-cells-with-multiple-colors-of-light-these-new-tools-show-potential-for-treating-brain-disorders3?ret=/articles/list&category=science&page=1&search[status]=3&search[sort]=date+desc&search[section]=20&search[has_multimedia]

 

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Americans Knit Various Religions Together

In this age when consumers wish more personalized items, it is no surprise that they may also be looking for customized religion. According to a recent survey, that’s exactly what they are doing, using a bit from this tradition, some from that, and so on, to create a personally meaningful spiritual path.

According to a survey conducted by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, more Americans are attending religious services in traditions other than their own, and are blending Christianity, Eastern religions and New Age beliefs. They found, for example, that twenty two per cent of respondents who claimed to be Christians also believed in reincarnation.

Among the beliefs and practices, they found that sixteen per cent of Americans believe in the “evil eye,” that some people can put a negative spell on others. About one third of those polled report being in contact with someone who has died. Nearly one half of those polled indicated that they had had some kind of mystical experience.

The report indicated that these results indicated a significant increase in such spiritual experimentation since the 1980s when this poll was previously conducted.

 

 

Web source:

Survey: More Americans mix, match religions

While a growing number more experience ‘awakening,’ Pew report finds

When it comes to religion, many Americans like the mix-and-match, build-your-own approach.

Large numbers attend services of traditions other than their own and blend Christianity with Eastern and New Age beliefs, a survey finds.

The report Wednesday from the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life also shows tremendous growth over the past three decades in the number of Americans who say they have had a religious or mystical experience.

Though the U.S. is an overwhelmingly Christian country, significant minorities say they hold beliefs of the sort found at Buddhist temples or New Age bookstores. Twenty-four percent of those surveyed overall and 22 percent of Christians say they believe in reincarnation, the idea that people will be reborn in this world again and again.

As for the significant numbers who visit more than one place of worship, it's not just an occasional visit while on vacation or for special events like weddings and funerals.

'Beliefs and practices'
One-third of Americans say they regularly or occasionally attend religious services at more than one place. One-quarter say they sometimes attend services of a faith different from their own.

"It is as much now the norm as it is the exception for Americans to blend multiple religious beliefs and practices," said Alan Cooperman, associate director for research at the Pew Forum.

Among the report's other findings:

Personalizing faith
White evangelicals and black Protestants are most likely to say they have had a religious or mystical experience. Yet even those unaffiliated with any religion show a strong spiritual bent. Three in 10 reported having such an experience.

D. Michael Lindsay, a Rice University sociologist of religion, said the results illustrate what he calls the "playlist effect" in contemporary American religious practice.

"The way we personalize our iPhones, we also personalize our religious lives," he said.

That so many Christians believe in astrology and reincarnation will trouble Christian leaders already concerned about professed believers who take what they need from the faith and leave the rest.

The build-your-own-religion findings show that "culture and pop culture and the Internet are probably more powerful teachers than Sunday school teachers," said Scott Thumma, a sociologist at the Hartford Institute of Religion Research.

The survey of more than 4,000 adults was conducted by phone in August; the total sample size has margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points.

Web link:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34352940/ns/us_news-faith/

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Intuitionist Earns Millions

Intuition proves to be a valuable asset. In an exclusive interview with cnnmoney.com, Laura Day, author of Practial Intuition and How to Rule the World from your Couch, claims to have earned millions of dollars on financial investments by following her intuition. She reported that corporations pay her ten thousand dollars a month to be available for intuitive consults. As one example of a late night call she received from a CEO, she was asked whether a firm with which the CEO was negotiating would pull out of the deal were the CEO to assert a certain position.

She also claims that her intuition works well in the financial market even though she knows nothing of that world. The interview concluded by interviewing a couple of neuroscientists about intuition. One expressed doubt as to whether or not a person’s intuition would be effective for a topic for which the person had no experience or knowledge. It’s an important question for further research. Training in medical intuition, for example, often involves the study of anatomy, physiology, and pathology. The purpose of such medical training is to enable the intuitionist to recognize the significance of impressions they may receive.

 

Web source:

http://money.cnn.com/video/news/2010/01/06/n_laura_day_intuitionist.cnnmoney/