I bet you think the debate about cholesterol and its damaging effect on health is settled. Interestingly it isn’t. It’s actually really interesting to hear the other side of the story, that cholesterol may not be as bad as it’s made out to be. In fact it may simply be a scapegoat in a much greater debate. I love reading …
Something I have noticed a lot is how our bodies have their own rhythm and sometimes the key to getting your body or mind to do what you want is to understand and learn to manage these rhythms. Take hunger for example. I find that’s controlled by rhythm, the time in my life that I have had a regular routine. …
There seems to be a growing acceptance that the brain must be kept fit just like our bodies. For me it comes down to a standard principle that I feel humans and other species have to adhere to. Use it or lose. Basically every thing that you can do is something you’re body has to build and maintain during famine …
Adding enjoyment to my life is a main theme for me at the moment. I like to find a fun enjoyable way of doing whatever it is I want to do. Be it lose weight, cut down on red meat, whatever. The reasoning is that most of us, especially me respond most to things we like. If we have to …
This post has been reproduced at as keys to weight loss: smarter goals I’ve done a lot of soul searching recently, wondering about what I’ve acheived, what hasn’t worked out. One thing that stands out to me is that I’ve really embraced the principle of Smarter goals. As I’ve matured I’ve simply focused more and more on the principles of …
The answer is very simple really. Trans-fats get a bad name because they are linked to the increased rates of coronary heart disease and many related risk factors. Coronary heart disease is caused at a basic level by the pipes of the bodies blood transport system, the arteries, veins and capillaries becoming less elastic, and more prone to blockages as …
Reading through wikipedia’s page on diabetes mellitus raised the question for me about whether glut 4 levels in the cells of the body correlate in any way with insulin resistance.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diabetes_mellitus. Other posts on this blog have described a potential pathway for glut 4 to mediate insulin sensitivity and glucose uptake within cells. Lot’s of the articles I ‘m reading at …
I’ve mentioned the crucial role of glut 4 receptors in previous post. I just came across a journal article which was able to explain how insulin allows entry of glucose into cells and it was via glut 4 receptors. This makes it clearer to me how exercise can directly influence risk of diabetes type 2. This form of Diabetes is …
When I studied memory during A level psychology I was fascinated by what we know about memory. I chanced across this article today http://www.livescience.com/health/080428-working-memory.html. I like it because memory was initially presented in very simplistic terms. It’s nice to see extra levels being added that fit my experience of learning and using my memory. I agree with the concept that better …
OK here’s another idea. this one is something I feel like putting out there to see if it stimulates a debate. I don’t know of any research to support it. I just wonder whether it holds water when put under scrutiny. So in the interests of open debate I’ll put it out there. Is it possible that viruses or virus …
Ok, heres’s another thing that amazed me when I found it out. I probably learnt it years agon cos I just checked http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DNA and found it called complementary base pairing which rings a bell to me. Going back over it I see that it’s effectively a binary code. Just like the code that runs in computers. What’s the point then. Well it’s …
Thankfully I haven’t had a stroke but this amazing video from ted.com gives an insight from a neuroscientist on how she experienced a stroke. Thankfully she’s fine now but her insights taught me a lot. This article first appeared as What’s a stroke like and what can it teach us
Just felt like sharing this amazing video from Jeff Hawkins titled “How brain science will change computing” from ted.com that really helped me form a stronger view on how my brain works. It’s also fascinating how the improvement of computers matches what we see with humans. We have more space to remember info and better connections to share it.
To give you a quick insight into my view on the biology and psychology of learning I’ll focus on how we learn movements for sports. In explaining this I feel it offers insights into how we learn things generally. This concept simply sees movement as a product of the learning and shows how the two can be combined. Everything I’ve …
It occurred to me just recently that I had a possible explanation for the muscle DOMS (Delayed Onset of Muscle Soreness) effect. This effect is basically the pain you experience in a muscle when you push it further or in a different way than you have for a while. Research generally shows that it is when you have worked to …
Wouldn’t it be great if the very act of doing something you love could make you fit and so you could acheve two separate things in one go. That’s something I’m always trying to acheive and when it comes to getting fit and healthy I consider it the holy grail. Well, talking to my wife yesterday we started to wonder …
If you’re like me you like to know basic statistics that help you understand the bigger picture. The emphasis in many cultures is on big fast results but the feedback from research and from successful lifestyles that manage weight well is that small and slow results are better than big and fast. so I thought I would record this stat …