Brain, Health

Ketogenic diet cures epilepsy

I’m a fat-head! Are you? You’d better hope so, since our brains are 60% fat! When I was at school, I was taught that we are born with a full complement of brain cells, and as we get older, they die off, leaving us with fewer and fewer. (OK, I [...]

Brain, General, Health

Music to your ears?

Are you one of those people who says that music moves you? Well, this bloke in Vancouver was moved all right! Two metres to the right, to be exact! You can try it for yourself. What you need to do is listen to your iPod with in-ear headphones, while jogging [...]

Brain, Health

Music, your brain and exercise

Apparently, some people have known since 1911 that cyclists pedal faster when listening to music. An American researcher, Leonard Ayres, discovered that listening to music competes for your brain’s attention and can therefore distract you from the pain and tiredness that your brain would otherwise complain about. (Hmmm…. Leonard Ayres… [...]

Emotional intelligence, General, Health

Kleptomania

Channel 4 documentary I had a ‘phone call from a documentary producer, needing an expert on board a pilot (On board? Pilot? See what I did there!!) programme for Channel 4, to help explain and ultimately help people with Kleptomania. (Dictionary definition: A recurrent urge to steal, typically without regard [...]

General, Health, Learning

Lining up the ducks…

It’s all finally coming together, at last! This week has been somewhat eventful!! Channel 4 documentary I had a ‘phone call from a documentary producer, needing an expert on board a pilot (On board? Pilot? See what I did there!!) programme for Channel 4, to help explain and ultimately help [...]

Health, Learning

Sleep learning

The idea of sleep learning probably began in 1951 when a couple of researchers at the University of Washington DC attempted to teach Chinese words and their English translations to volunteers as they slept. They concluded that, “Learning can occur during sleep.” The problem is though, while several other people [...]

Brain, Health

Is yours fear or phobia?

Talking of the mysterious workings of the mind, which have you got? Fear or phobia? Do you care either way? When you’re afraid, you’re afraid! So there I was on Monday, about to walk out of the door, to go to my ballet lesson, when the ‘phone rang… Of course [...]

Brain, Emotional intelligence, General, Health

Stress and Anxiety

What are Stress and Anxiety? Stress is the word we use to describe the arousal of the autonomic nervous system. It’s what motivates us to get things done, to rise to a challenge or to get out of the way of a car driving fast towards us. However, these days [...]

General, Health

Making a stand

  Those of you who’ve read my newsletter about it might ask your spine, lungs, kidneys, liver, brain and circulation why they’d all be better off if you do more standing. And if they don’t come back with an answer, watch the short videos below!     I really dunno how [...]

Emotional intelligence, General, Health

And what a week, for revelations!

I can’t help it. It’s in my genes! An international consortium of scientists have apparently found 60 genetic locations that influence 1. whether we tend to store fat and 2. where we store it. It’s relevant because, for example, fat around the tummy is known to be more dangerous to [...]