Mindhacks

Here’s a real gem I came across. A full National Geographic documentary on how science now allows us to percieve things that we are othwerwise unable to see…

Intriguing? Pay attention to kirlian photography towards the end of the video. Facinating stuff!

Anxiety found to increase risk of heart attacks by up to 40%!

We all know that people with a Type A personality and an off-the-charts hostility level may be courting a heart attack. But this might come as a surprise: New research shows that their nervous, socially withdrawn neighbors also have reason to worry.

The research, published in the January 15, 2008, issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology (JACC), shows that longstanding anxiety markedly increases the risk of heart attack, even when other common risk factors are taken into account.

“What we’re seeing is over and beyond what can be explained by blood pressure, obesity, cholesterol, age, cigarette smoking, blood sugar levels and other cardiovascular risk factors,” said Biing-Jiun Shen, Ph.D., an assistant professor of psychology at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles.

The role of anxiety in hiking heart attack risk also goes beyond the effects of depression, anger, hostility, Type A behavior and other negative emotions. “These psychological factors are important in predicting the risk of heart disease, but anxiety is unique,” Dr. Shen said. “Older men with sustained and pervasive anxiety appear to be at increased risk for a heart attack even after their levels of depression, anger, hostility and Type A behavior are considered.”

For the study, Dr. Shen and his colleagues analyzed data from the Normative Aging Study, which was designed to assess medical and psychological changes associated with aging among a group of initially healthy men. Each of the 735 men participating in the new analysis completed psychological testing in 1986 and was in good cardiovascular health at the time.

Although most people think of anxiety as intense worry, Dr. Shen and his colleagues looked much deeper, examining four different measures of anxiety. The first anxiety scale measured psychasthenia, or excessive doubts, obsessive thoughts and irrational compulsions. The second anxiety scale measured social introversion, or anxiety, insecurity, and discomfort in interpersonal and social situations. The third anxiety scale measured phobias, or excessive anxieties or fears about animals, situations or objects. The fourth anxiety scale, manifest anxiety, measured the tendency to experience tension and physical arousal in stressful situations.

Separate sections of the psychological test measured hostility, anger, Type A behavior, depression, and negative emotions. Study participants also completed questionnaires about health habits such as smoking, alcohol consumption and daily diet, and had a medical exam every three years over a follow-up period that averaged more than 12 years.

The investigators found that men who tested at the highest 15th percentile on any of the four anxiety scales, as well as on a scale combining all four, faced an increase in the risk of heart attack of approximately 30 to 40 percent. Those who were found to have even higher levels of anxiety on psychological testing faced an even higher risk of heart attack. This finding held true even after the findings were adjusted for standard cardiovascular risk factors, health habits, and negative psychological and personality traits.

“The good thing about anxiety is that it’s very treatable,” said Dr. Shen. “If someone is highly anxious—if they’re suffering from panic attacks or social phobia or constant worry—we recommend therapy. Although more research is needed, we hope that by reducing anxiety, we can lower the future risk of heart attack. This is one more reason to seek help.”

Dr. Shen said the new research does not address the role of anxiety in provoking heart attacks in women. He and his colleagues are considering such a study in the future.

Source: American College of Cardiology

I found this great article about Open Communication that I thought would be relevant for this Valentines day.

The Power of Open Communication

By James Stinton

A relationship without open communication will inevitably give way to deception. There is no grey area. It is better to hurt another with open communication than to betray with deception. You will find that even the act of open communication prevents deeds that would normally be performed under the veil of dishonesty.

A relationship is a gentle lowering of individuality or Ego. A free flow of ideas, perceptions even insecurities should come to the surface and be discussed. In the ideal environment, no taboo or perceived craziness is outside the limit of open discussion. All taboos are society’s programming anyway- which is far from open at the present time. Even governments and companies have not recognized the power of open communication with their people.

To suddenly start being open after a long period of hiding is far more difficult than being open on a regular basis. But inevitably this line has to be crossed, and accepted. An environment suitable for revealing all is the first stage of open communication. Both parties must be willing to hear anything and refrain from allowing their Ego to jump into the fray; to judge, feel hurt or angry.

Next comes regularity. At first the impulse to be dishonest “in order to protect someone” will be strong. This is the first stage of dishonesty that is justified has being beneficial to the other person. Slowly this nurtures roots of deeper deception. If the root is cut while it is young and even little white lies are absorbed by the light of open communication – no lie can ever grow.

Does this mean one can share all thoughts, all ideas, or beliefs with anyone? It should. For now you’d get locked up or thrown into an institution as a madman. But there will come a time when society’s contract with dishonesty and illusion gives way to a deeper understanding of open communication. In the meantime there can be a selective agreement of open communication between a single couple, a single family, a single company and it’s employees, between a single government and it’s people before finally the whole world accepts the idea as norm.

Everyone may not like the idea at first, preferring to hang on to the perceived power that comes through lying. It is they who will prefer to go to war when the truth has been set free. Granted, there is a fine line between loose lips that sink ships and open communication in the spirit of greater love between two enlightened individuals. Open communication does not mean running the mouth like a loose cannon. It means selectively choosing your words in a way that will bring about greater harmony between yourself and another party. And avoiding the acts that would disrupt that harmony whenever possible. And in the rare cases where a controversial decision must be made in haste and a decision was made in error, it can quickly be discussed, accepted and learned from.

Most great tragedies begin with a small deception that gets cultivated over time. If you can learn to be open even when on the surface it appears that it will not serve you, over time you become the person that can always be depended on for the truth. And because the truth is a power sought from the depths of every Soul- anyone who possesses it will hold a position of great power. Respected, admired and even revered for their sincerity, and openness even in times when the truth is unpopular and their name risks being tarnished- they rise above the primitive contract of society and peer into a new world waiting on the horizon.

(source)

Giving babies nutritious food could significantly increase their earning power as adults, new research suggests.

The findings, published in the British medical journal The Lancet, were based on a three-decade study of Guatemalan males from birth.

Those who had been well-fed soon after they were born earned almost 50% more than those who had not.

Experts say the results could affect how aid is managed in countries in the developing world.

The findings could also have a bearing on social policy towards the poor in more developed nations.

‘First clear link’

Although there is widespread evidence that the babies of better-off parents grow stronger and richer than those of the poor – indeed, it’s so obvious that it hardly needs saying – the reasons why this happens are complex.

Food, schooling, the economic environment and the social services provided by government, all play a role.

In this long-term study of villagers in Guatemala, however, nutrition was the only variable that changed.

During the 1970s, some of the babies in the study were given a very nutritious food supplement, some a less nutritious one.

When the researchers returned three decades later to see how the babies – now men – were faring, they found that men who had had the very nutritious supplement up to the age of three were earning nearly half as much more per hour than the other villagers.

The girl babies who had become women did not have similar wage differentials, possibly because they had less choice about where they worked.

But The Lancet said these results were the first direct evidence of a clear link between early-life nutrition and adult wages, and that feeding babies well could drive economic growth.

(source)

Here’s an awesome article I just read from staff-writer Kenn Rodriguez from the Valencia County News-Bulletin.

It’s really encouraging to hear about active visualization and mind-developing techniques in today’s classrooms!

Daydreaming? Creativity? It’s part of their math lesson

After being introduced by teacher Elizabeth Gomez, Holly Davis talks a bit to Gomez’ fifth-grade class at Raymond Gallegos Intermediate School.

“One of my favorite things to do in school was to daydream,” she admits to them. “Today we’re going to use our imaginations. Who’d like to be in my story?”

Asking students to use their imaginations and telling a story aren’t an unusual occurrence in most American classrooms.

Saying those things while teaching mathematics is.

Davis, who is the math coordinator for the Los Lunas Schools, has come this morning to model teaching techniques for Gomez – teaching techniques that are at the forefront of the district’s “numbers literacy” initiative.

“It’s a national trend,” said Davis after the class. “Ninety-three percent of the state is using some variation of the math approach. There are a couple of districts that aren’t quite there yet, but they’re going to have to be.

“Because the goal is to teach kids to think and process, the goal is not valuing the answer only.”

In the classroom, Davis tells a story about a girl named Alexis who has five coins. She says two of the coins are the same. The students are asked how many other coins Alexis has and what kind of coins they are. They enthusiastically answer.

Another exercise Davis goes through involves the number 678.

That’s the number of the day.

Using magnets representing numbers grouped in hundreds, tens and ones, she shows the students several ways of grouping them to understand and visualize the number.

It’s all part of the new approach, one that Gomez, who is in her fifth year with the Los Lunas Schools, said works on many levels.

“I’ve done some of this with the kids, done some using overheads,” she said. “A lot of the stuff up there is actually mine. So I’ve done this with the kids where they work out problems together. We’ve done the same thing with fraction bars and papers like this or the place value units. So they’ve done it before.”

Eventually the students pair up to work on problems. In the past, such a thing would be unthinkable for math teachers — but not with the new approach.

“They work together a lot because sometimes they can compare answers then, if they’re different, they can talk about them and figure it out,” Gomez explains.

Even with her experience teaching using these same math literacy methods, Gomez said she likes being able to see Davis model the lesson.

“She’s our coach so she’s elaborating on some of the stuff I’ve done here,” Gomez said. “So I’m actually learning from her and so are the kids. But it’s neat that they’re taking what I’ve taught them and applying it and kind of expanding it.”

Many times, Gomez said, she will have students teach part of a lesson, showing the other students how they came up with the answer.

“I’m always using things like this or actually having the kids be the teacher and present their problems,” she said. “It’s kind of fun for them, but I think it makes them more excited about it and be creative and know that there’s more than one way to get somewhere. I always tell them that.”

The new approach also incorporates a lot of writing and reading. The days of “reading, writing and ‘rithmatic” being separated are gone, Davis said.

“Now you see writing in math because there just aren’t enough hours in the day, and we have standards that we have to meet so you have to be artful in your planning to integrate them together. If you’re going to do art, you have to integrate it into some standard.”

After the class, Davis said her co-workers at the district offices were teasing her for being so happy that morning.

The office staff knew she was happy, she said, “because I got to go out and teach.” Davis said she’s also been happy with the new math initiatives.

“I feel so fortunate in this district because I really do feel like we have leaders at all levels that are instructional leaders,” she said. “They’re not just managers. They know how to do instruction. And they can go into a classroom and teach it, all the way up to the superintendent and even my boss.

“When you have a group like that, they’re valuing individuals. This district is lucky to be able to use a comprehensive literacy approach, which is the same thing. It’s not ‘Open up your textbook and we’re reading this story.’ It’s ‘I picked a book for you’ and in the teacher’s mind it’s up to their instructional level and meets their interest.”

David said she’s found a lot of support in the district for the new teaching methods, which also encompass all other subjects, not just math, she said.

“The feedback I get as math coordinator is that they like it, but I definitely know it is a process for the teachers to change too,” she said. “Change is a big deal, and teaching is hard.”

Gomez, who said she “loves math personally,” welcomes the new approach as a teacher.

“I always tell the kids there’s always earning and teaching. As a teacher, I learn every day, and that excites me. I’ve been real excited with the programs we’ve started, and the kids are more excited. I look at it as things that reel them into the joys of math rather than constant bookwork. Not higher level thinking.

“I think I love math, and I’m more excited that the kids are liking it and applying it so it’s like ‘Yes, they actually get it,’” Gomez said. “That’s been exciting for me.”

(source)