Archives for June 2014

When we eat, our body goes to work breaking down the food and distributing its nutrients throughout the body via the blood. One of the most sought after nutrients in the food we eat is glucose, a type of sugar that is one of the body’s favorite energy sources. Glucose is absorbed into the blood through the small intestines and travels to all parts of the body. The chemical process of tearing apart glucose to extract its energy is a violent process that generates a good deal of toxic waste. This toxic waste consists of a electrons that have been pulled apart from molecules in this violent process. If these electrons are not cleared away inside the body, they will bounce and slam into other molecules within cells and convert them into toxic substances that can mutate our DNA, causing genetic damage that will harm the body. So getting rid of these excess electrons, or free radicals, is a very important task. One of the main functions of oxygen is to soak up these free radicals. Oxygen acts like a sponge, soaking up these excess electrons. Once soaked up, the body magically transforms them into carbon dioxide and the blood then carries this carbon dioxide to the lungs, where it is released inside the lungs and breathed out into the environment.

The health effects of laughter very nearly mirrors that of aerobic activity, without all the effort, in the following ways:

• Laughter decreases the production of cortisol. One of cortisol’s side effects is that it depresses the immune system by reducing the production of lymphocytes – white blood cells. White blood cells are our main defense against viruses, diseases, germs and any parasites that infect the body. By reducing the production of cortisol, laughter actually improves our immune system’s ability to fight off such diseases, germs and defend against parasites.
• Laughter increases the production of endorphins. Endorphins have the effect of relaxing the body and relieving pain.
• Laughter improves respiration, thus increasing the level of oxygen intake. Oxygen acts like a sponge, soaking up toxic free radicals (cancer causing elements) within the body and the brain and thus improves brain function.
• Laughter reduces blood pressure.
• Laughter improves cognitive ability.

If you have been cramming for a test or preparing for a very important meeting that requires you to think on your feet or solve complex problems, 30 minutes of laughter prior to the test or meeting will increase cognitive ability during the test or meeting. If you want to perform at your best you need to make laughter a daily habit.

Genius is made not born. We all have the capacity for genius. What unleashes genius is the pursuit of some major purpose or goal. Pursuing a purpose or goal comes first and passion comes second. Passion follows the decision to pursue a major purpose or goal. Passion does not come first. You cannot wait to become passionate about something in order to act. You must act first by pursuing a major purpose or setting a big goal.

The average adult sleeps 7 1/2 hours a night in five 90 minute sleep cycles. Each of these five sleep cycle is composed of five separate levels of sleep: Alpha, theta, delta, rapid eye movement (REM) and then back to theta. The first three sleep levels last 65 minutes. REM lasts 20 minutes and the final level of sleep lasts 5 minutes. The number of hours you sleep is less important than the number of complete sleep cycles you have when you sleep. Five complete sleep cycles a night is optimal.

Completing less than four sleep cycles a night negatively affects our health. REM sleep is particularly important as it’s primary function appears to be long-term memory storage and restoring oxygen to the cornea. During REM sleep what we’ve learned the day before is transported to the hippocampus. If we do not complete at least four 90 minute sleep cycles a night, long-term memory storage becomes impaired. Completing at least four sleep cycles the night after learning a new skill or the night after studying for a test locks in the new skill or study material. If we get less than four complete 90 minute sleep cycles the night after learning a new skill or the night after studying for a test, it is as if we did not practice the skill or did not study at all because it never fully gets transferred to long-term memory.

Each person has their own genetically predetermined metabolic set rate. A set point is a level of weight each person’s body seeks to maintain. For example, if a person’s set point is 200 pounds and they lose 20 pounds by dieting, the body’s metabolism will seek to regain that 20 pounds. Sleeping also affects your metabolic set point. Those sleeping less than 4 hours a night are 73% more likely to be obese. Sleep deprivation lowers leptin (fat) levels and raises gherlin (a hormone that stimulates appetite) levels. When we don’t get enough sleep our bodies increase the level of fat storage and increase our appetites.  Researchers have concluded, therefore, that the only way to maintain sustained weight loss and permanently lower your body’s set point is through a lifelong process of eating less fat and aerobic exercise, coupled with a good night’s sleep (7-8 hours for adults).

A brain cell is also known as a neuron. The average adult has 23 billion neurons. Each neuron is made up of one axon and multiple dendrites. Each axon and dendrite have multiple branches, just like trees. When neurons talk to each other, this is known as a synapse. Axons receive communications from another neuron through each one of its branches and dendrites send communications to other axons on other neurons through each one of its branches. The synaptic gap is an indentation on each dendrite that an axon branch sends its signals through. Think of each axon branch as a plug and each dendrite indentation as an outlet. The axon branch plugs into each dendrite outlet and viola, we have a connection.

20 – 30 minutes of aerobic exercise every day has been proven to stimulate the growth of axon branches on each neuron. The number of axon branches you have is directly related to how intelligent you are. So aerobic exercise makes you more intelligent. Aerobic exercise becomes more important as we age because, as we age, we lose neurons if we do not use them. The average adult loses about 10% of its neurons during a lifetime from lack of use. Aerobic exercise helps keep existing neurons firing with other neurons and keeps them alive and healthy. Thus, the more we activate our neurons as we age, the higher the performance level of neurons and the greater the number of synaptic activity.

By making aerobic exercise a daily habit, you are keeping your brain alive and healthy.

There are two two types of worrying:

1. Short-Term Worrying – Worrying that leads to problem solving. Example: My back hurts I better go to the doctor to see what’s wrong.
2. Long-Term Worrying – Worrying that morphs into thoughts of morbidity or failure. Example: My back hurts, I may have kidney disease, I may lose my kidneys, I may die. What will happen to my family, how will they survive etc.

Worrying is a stress trigger. When stress is triggered, the hypothalamus kicks into action setting off a domino effect of all sorts of neurochemicals which turn on specific bodily processes.  If the worrying continues, the stress trigger remains in the on position and a gene on the 10th chromosome is activated, converting cholesterol to cortisol. A negative side effect of cortisol is a reduction in the production of white blood cells and, thus, a suppression in the immune system opening the door to all sorts of diseases like cancer.

How you worry, therefore, can negatively affect your health.