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Pictures of my new office in Berkeley!

www.hakasportsclinic.com

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UCLA researchers now have the first evidence that bacteria ingested in food can affect brain function in humans. In an early proof-of-concept study of healthy women, they found that women who regularly consumed beneficial bacteria known as probiotics through yogurt showed altered brain function,...

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Video Gamers Really Do See More

Hours spent at the video gaming console not only train a player’s hands to work the buttons on the controller, they probably also train the brain to make better and faster use of visual input, according to Duke University researchers.

“Gamers see the world differently,” said Greg Appelbaum, an assistant professor of psychiatry in the Duke School of Medicine. “They are able to extract more information from a visual scene.”

It can be difficult to find non-gamers among college students these days, but from among a pool of subjects participating in a much larger study in Stephen Mitroff’s Visual Cognition Lab at Duke, the researchers found 125 participants who were either non-gamers or very intensive gamers. 

Each participant was run though a visual sensory memory task that flashed a circular arrangement of eight letters for just one-tenth of a second. After a delay ranging from 13 milliseconds to 2.5 seconds, an arrow appeared, pointing to one spot on the circle where a letter had been. Participants were asked to identify which letter had been in that spot.

At every time interval, intensive players of action video games outperformed non-gamers in recalling the letter.

Earlier research by others has found that gamers are quicker at responding to visual stimuli and can track more items than non-gamers. When playing a game, especially one of the “first-person shooters,” a gamer makes “probabilistic inferences” about what he’s seeing — good guy or bad guy, moving left or moving right — as rapidly as he can. 

Appelbaum said that with time and experience, the gamer apparently gets better at doing this. “They need less information to arrive at a probabilistic conclusion, and they do it faster.” 

Both groups experienced a rapid decay in memory of what the letters had been, but the gamers outperformed the non-gamers at every time interval. 

The visual system sifts information out from what the eyes are seeing, and data that isn’t used decays quite rapidly, Appelbaum said. Gamers discard the unused stuff just about as fast as everyone else, but they appear to be starting with more information to begin with.

The researchers examined three possible reasons for the gamers’ apparently superior ability to make probabilistic inferences. Either they see better, they retain visual memory longer or they’ve improved their decision-making. 

Looking at these results, Applebaum said, it appears that prolonged memory retention isn’t the reason. But the other two factors might both be in play — it is possible that the gamers see more immediately, and they are better able make better correct decisions from the information they have available.

To get at this question, the researchers will need more data from brainwaves and MRI imagery to see where the brains of gamers have been trained to perform differently on visual tasks.

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Diffuse idiopathic skeletal hyperostosis (DISH) in pre-Columbian North America: Evidence from the eastern Tennessee River Valley

by Maria Ostendorf Smith, Jessica R. Dorsz and Tracy K. Betsinger

“Diffuse idiopathic skeletal hyperostosis (DISH or Forestier’s disease) is a pathological condition of unknown etiology characterized by the exuberant antero-lateral flowing (‘dripping candle wax’) ossification of the anterior spinal ligaments. Clinical data indicate it is a progressive male-predilected pathology manifested in middle age, which steeply rises in prevalence after aged 60. It has become paleopathologically relevant because it has been clinically associated with an affluent lifestyle. Archeological examination of the prevalence of DISH is often undertaken on European samples and frequently in monastic contexts. There are no prevalence data for pre-Columbian samples from North America. The present study establishes baseline information from four prehistoric Late Mississippian period (AD 1300–1600) samples (N = 389) from the upper Tennessee River Valley. Two probable cases and one possible case of DISH (all male) are identified, reflecting less than one percent of the adult sample, and 1.2 percent (2/172) of males. The low prevalence compared to European monastic samples and non-New World cemetery contexts suggests socioeconomic or interpopulational genetic differences that may be tested with subsistence and community health-status controlled osteoarchaeological comparisons within and outside of North America” (read more/open access).

***For the palaeopath people.

(Open access source: International Journal of Paleopathology 3(1):11-18, 2013)

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RAW RAINBOW WRAPS w/ Mango Dressing 

Prep Time: Approximately 15 minutes

Ingredients:

Wrap:

Large collard leaves

Red bell pepper, sliced

Carrots, julienned

Yellow and green zucchini squash, julienned

Purple Cabbage, chopped

Mango Dipping Sauce:

1 Ripe mango, peeled and chopped

1 Carton cherry tomatoes, about 2 cups

1/2 red bell pepper

1 Handful of fresh cilantro

Directions:

1. Slice, peel, julienne, and chop all of the wrap fillings.

2. Using a sharp knife, remove all or most of the collard green stems. This allows for more flexibility when it comes time to wrap.

3. Lay out the fillings across the collard leaf and roll it up as you tuck in the sides of the leaf.

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When someone tries to talk to me while I'm working out

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Trying to be Happier Works When Listening to Upbeat Music

The song, “Get Happy,” famously performed by Judy Garland, has encouraged people to improve their mood for decades. Recent research at the University of Missouri discovered that an individual can indeed successfully try to be happier, especially when cheery music aids the process. This research points to ways that people can actively improve their moods and corroborates earlier MU research.

“Our work provides support for what many people already do – listen to music to improve their moods,” said lead author Yuna Ferguson, who performed the study while she was an MU doctoral student in psychological science. “Although pursuing personal happiness may be thought of as a self-centered venture, research suggests that happiness relates to a higher probability of socially beneficial behavior, better physical health, higher income and greater relationship satisfaction.”

In two studies by Ferguson, participants successfully improved their moods in the short term and boosted their overall happiness over a two week period. During the first study, participants improved their mood after being instructed to attempt to do so, but only if they listened to the upbeat music of Copland, as opposed to the more somber Stravinsky. Other participants, who simply listened to the music without attempting to change their mood, also didn’t report a change in happiness. In the second study, participants reported higher levels of happiness after two weeks of lab sessions in which they listened to positive music while trying to feel happier, compared to control participants who only listened to music.

However, Ferguson noted that for people to put her research into practice, they must be wary of too much introspection into their mood or constantly asking, “Am I happy yet?”

“Rather than focusing on how much happiness they’ve gained and engaging in that kind of mental calculation, people could focus more on enjoying their experience of the journey towards happiness and not get hung up on the destination,” said Ferguson.

Ferguson’s work corroborated earlier findings by Ferguson’s doctoral advisor and co-author of the current study, Kennon Sheldon, professor of psychological science in MU’s College of Arts and Science.

“The Hedonic Adaptation Prevention model, developed in my earlier research, says that we can stay in the upper half of our ‘set range’ of potential happiness as long as we keep having positive experiences, and avoid wanting too much more than we have,” said Sheldon. “Yuna’s research suggests that we can intentionally seek to make mental changes leading to new positive experiences of life. The fact that we’re aware we’re doing this, has no detrimental effect.”

Ferguson is now assistant professor of psychology at Pennsylvania State University Shenango. The study, “Trying to Be Happier Really Can Work: Two Experimental Studies,” was published in The Journal of Positive Psychology.

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healthylivingforyou:

How to Squat With Proper Technique

If you are working out in the gym and could only do one exercise it would be the squat. Why? Because no other exercise challenges the human body to operate as singe unit like the squat. The squat has long been heralded as the “King of Exercises” – and quite rightly so. Whether you’re doing it with weight on your back or all bodyweight, proper form is key. I found this article on squat form, and I thought it was written well, even if it is more towards squatting with a bar.

Benefits of Squatting

One of the biggest misconceptions about the squat is that it is a leg exercise. The squat is in fact a full body exercise. Every muscle in your body is challenged when you squat. The legs and hips push the weight up, the abs and lower back back tense to stabilise your back, and the arms are used to pin the bar onto the back (or help with balance in the case of bodyweight squats).

Squats Build Muscle – Squats build muscle throughout your entire body faster than any other exercise. Squatting is a compound exercises that stresses your entire body as a complete unit. The stress put on your body by squats triggers a hormonal release of testosterone in your body. This elevated testosterone aids in producing muscle at a faster rate.

Squats improve your athleticism – If you want become a better athlete no other exercise will improve your overall athleticism like the squat. Squatting helps you build explosive strength that carries over to most competitive sports.

Squats reduces injuries – Contrary to popular belief, squats do not cause injury (when performed correctly). Performing squats with proper form actually reduces the chance of injuring oneself. Why? Because squatting improves and maintains hip flexibility. Additionally, squats improve the stability of your knees, when using proper squat form (below parallel).

Why you need proper Squat Form

Quite frankly, most people have no idea how use squat with correct form. In fact, I would estimate that 9/10 people I see squatting in commercial gyms today are doing so with extremely poor from.

This is a problem for 3 reasons.

It is dangerous – While squatting with proper form is completely safe, squatting with poor form is extremely dangerous. Incorrect squat technique put a lot of stain on the lower back and knees and can quickly lead to serious injury.

You are seriously compromising the benefits of squatting - When you don’t squat with proper form it completely defeats the purpose of squatting in the first place. Increased muscle, elevated testosterone, improved vertical leap – forget about it.

You look like a complete idiot - To someone who knows how to squat properly there is nothing more pathetic than someone loading the bar up with a ton of weight than not squatting with proper form. Learn how to control your ego and do it right.

How to Squat

The Squat Setup

Approach the rack with the bar at approximately mid-chest height.

Move under the bar and place it on your back. Hold the bar in place with your hands.

Stand with and even stance. Your feet should be shoulder width apart with your feet facing out at a 30 degree angle.

Lift the bar out of the rack and take ONLY one step back. Take a big breath. Tense your entire body. Squat.

Squatting Down

Start from the hips – Bend at your hips and sit back into the squat. Imagine you are sitting down on a seat. The hips joint should always bend before your knees.

Check your knees – Keep your knees out. Your knee joints should be pointing in the same direction as your feet all the way down. If your knee buckle in it normally means that the weight is too heavy.

Keep your weight back – Keep your weight distributed towards your heel.

Go all the way down – You should always aim to squat to at least parallel. Meaning, your hip joint needs to be at least parallel with your knee joint. This is incredibly difficult to judge yourself, even with the aid of a mirror. Ask someone else to assess your depth either in the gym or by video taping.

Think about squatting up - On the way down think about squatting up. This will help to prepare your brain and make the upward movement easier.

Squatting Up

Bounce off the bottom – At the bottom position of the squat your hip muscles should be tight – storing energy. Use this energy to help you bounce out of the bottom of the squat. Ensure that you are bouncing off the hips – not the knees.

Focus on your glutes – When powering up out of the squat concentrate on squeezing your glutes together.

Drive your hips up – Most of the power for the squat comes from the hips. Drive the hips in an upward motion.

Racking the bar

Step forward. Ensure that your bar is over the pins before lowering the weight.

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At long last! Dr. Mullen is bringing her premiere sport therapy services back to the East Bay! You can find me at Haka Sports Clinic in Berkeley. Near the campus and accessible by BART! Accepting appointments as soon as next week! Call (510) 331-9497 to schedule, or email dr.cnmullen@gmail.com