All posts filed under: Neuroscience

Our Guts, Our Selves

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When people talk about “gut feelings”- something they can’t really rationalize, but feel as though the emotion is “coming from the heart” or “I feel it in my guts”, are those feelings actually coming from the heart or gut? Well no. But this doesn’t mean that the heart and gut do not influence our moods, decisions, and behavior. They do, especially the gut. How could the gut possibly influence our minds, and why? First let’s address the question of why. Although we often tend to treat our bodies as just something to walk our minds around, our bodies are important parts of who we are (for an account of what it is like to lose a sense of your body, see “The Disembodied Lady”, by Oliver Sacks, in The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat). But the gut is special! That is, if you are any kind of a complex animal, you have to have one. Even tardigrades, the super tough little animals that can survive extreme conditions, like being frozen to -300 …

Why worry about stress?

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Why start this blog by talking about Stress? There’s so much out in the media about stress, and so many seminars and workshops about stress. And “listicles” about the 7 things you can do to reduce stress!!!! (Why are they always odd numbers?) There’s a lot of information out there. But personally I find it all tends to swing between banal and overly technical. Stress is a part of life. Some people think it is good for us, motivating us to work hard. Is it really so terrible, and is it really that important manage it? The short answer is yes. But this blog is not about short answers, at least not that short! Stress makes our lives less enjoyable, less meaningful, and one thing is clear- stress contributes to, and worsens, most chronic disease (for instance type II diabetes and cardiovascular disease, cancer), and can even increase inflammation. But the evidence base for how it does so is complex, especially for human studies. Part of the problem is that for scientists it is hard …

Introduction: Why another blog about health and neuroscience?

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There is so much information about the latest findings related to health and wellness in newspapers, magazines, and on the Internet, it feels like a deluge. Some of this information is accurate and useful, some of the advice is wrong (“5 foods you should NEVER eat!”) or dangerous, and a lot of it is there just get money out of you. How to make sense of all of it? It isn’t hard for me. I have a PhD in Physiological Psychology, and have been working in the field of Psychoneuroimmunology for more than twenty years. I’ve spent 35 years in scientific research, involving hands on bench work, writing papers and grant applications, and reviewing (tons of) papers submitted for publications and grants for funding. This has required developing expertise and background in topics ranging from molecular biology to human clinical studies. After all these years I feel like I am bilingual- I speak, read, and write in English and Sciencese. The great thing is that now I have a wide-ranging knowledge base, and an ability …