Getting enough sleep is more important than most of us think. Dr. Elizabeth Blake Zakarin is an Assistant Professor in Medical Psychology (in Psychiatry) at Columbia University Medical College (CUMC) and reveals links to major mental health conditions affected by insufficient sleep.
Getting Enough Sleep Why it matters and what to do about it
Sleep problems can contribute to difficulties in school, getting along with friends, anxiety, depression, and can even increase the risk for suicide. In this video Dr. Zakarin explained the steps we can all take to improve the quality of our sleep.
The bottom line: “Getting enough sleep is more important for your brain (and other important organs) than most of us realize.” And it’s certainly worth moving it up a notch or two on our priorities list.
Krishnan-Sarin is a professor of psychiatry at the Yale University School of Medicine and the Co-PI on the Yale Tobacco Centers of Regulatory Science.
E-cigarettes and vapes have exploded in popularity in the last decade, especially among youth and young adults — from 2011 to 2015, e-cigarette use among high school students in the US increased by 900 percent. Biobehavioral scientist Suchitra Krishnan-Sarin explains what you’re actually inhaling when you vape (hint: it’s definitely not water vapor) and explores the disturbing marketing tactics being used to target kids. “Our health, the health of our children and our future generations is far too valuable to let it go up in smoke — or even in aerosol,” she says.
In the area of adolescent tobacco use, Suchitra Krishnan-Sarin has conducted qualitative research including focus groups and surveys to understand patterns and perceptions of use of tobacco products; clinical trials to develop and test the use of novel behavioral and pharmacological cessation and prevention interventions; and experimental evaluations of behavioral and neural predictors of use and cessation behaviors. Because of her expertise in youth tobacco use behaviors, she has contributed to the Surgeon General’s report on Preventing Tobacco Use among Young People and also serves as a member of the FDA’s Tobacco Product Scientific Advisory Committee.
The red and white tulip is the symbol for fighting Parkinson’s Disease.
Although April 11th is World Parkinson’s Disease (PD) Day, the entire month of April is Parkinson’s Disease Month with activities highlighting the progress against this debilitating disease robbing, at the very least, every one-hundredth child of their parent or grandparent.
Believe it or not, the absurdly-expansive claim about exercise in the heading even may be an understatement! No other study even comes close and it’s findings were unexpectedly clear: FIVE OF THE WORLDS TOP DISEASES ARE REDUCED BY PHYSICAL ACTIVITY. Simple physical activity!
Literally, the counsel given to Adam and Eve: “by the sweat of thy brow thou shall eat thy bread” seems to have been a commandment and not just gardening instructions! Read more →
TED stands for Technology, Entertainment and Design and the TED prize of $100,000 is given each year to three exceptional individuals who are also granted “one wish to Change the World.” Their wishes are unveiled at a ceremony held during the TED conference which spotlights innovative individuals from all over the world.
Josh Silver has been working on a solution to the overwhelming shortage of eye specialists in areas of the world and has developed glasses selling for $19 (US) which are made by any individual who needs them without help from a “specialist.”
His “wish” was to lower the cost to a mere dollar and distribute a billion of the glasses to those who need them in the world by 2020.
Some time ago I did a series of posts about medical proverbs but deliberately left one out: The Sleep Habits to be “Healthy Wealthy and Wise.” It deserved an entire post of its own.
We (and Wiki and Google) usually associate this aphorism with Benjamin Franklin and his “Poor Richard’s Almanack”—a collection of maxims published in the early 18-hundreds. But it sounds mighty Hippocratean or Socratean to me. Read more →
The Remarkable Batman: Daniel Kish How I use sonar to navigate the world
With his trusty long white stick, Daniel Kish, blind almost since birth walked up the stairs to the stage at the TED conference on his own without difficulty. Barely audible were tiny clicks coming from somewhere but when reaching the top he began his life story of being blind.
Daniel Kish has been blind since he was 13 months old, but has learned to “see” using a form of echolocation. He clicks his tongue and sends out flashes of sound that bounce off surfaces in the environment and return to him, helping him to construct an understanding of the space around him. In a rousing talk, Kish demonstrates how this works and asks us to let go of our fear of the “dark unknown.”
Where are the baby dinosaurs? Another Form Of Extinction
Jack Horner and his dig teams have discovered the first evidence of parental care in dinosaurs, extensive nesting grounds, evidence of dinosaur herds, and the world’s first dinosaur embryos. He’s now exploring how to build a dinosaur.
Paleontologist Jack Horner discovered the first dinosaur eggs in the Western Hemisphere, the first evidence of dinosaur colonial nesting, the first evidence of parental care among dinosaurs, and the first dinosaur embryos.
Horner’s research covers a wide range of topics about dinosaurs, including their behavior, physiology, ecology and evolution. Due to struggles with the learning disability, dyslexia, Horner does not hold a formal college degree but was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Science from the University of Montana in 1986. Also in 1986 he was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship.
He’s the Curator of Paleontology at the Museum of the Rockies in Bozeman, Montana, and is widely acknowledged to be the inspiration for the main character in the book and film Jurassic Park.
How to use a paper towel You’ve Been Doing It Wrong
Attorney Joe Smith, as a Democrat, is an outspoken advocate for many causes. He is a well known figure in his Oregon community and once was the chair of the Oregon Democratic Party. He served as the district attorney for Umatilla County and was the Executive Assistant to the Speaker of the Oregon House of Representatives.
He is an active lawyer in private practice after famously running for the position of Oregon Attorney General without soliciting a single contribution over $99.99.
As a tenet of the TED culture is “Ideas worth spreading,” smith’s crusade against paper towel waste was a natural for the TEDx conference held in Portland.
At the time of this filming, Jack Horner was the Museum of the Rockies Curator of Paleontology but he has since retired. He is known for his groundbreaking discoveries of the first dinosaur eggs in the Western Hemisphere, the first evidence of dinosaur colonial nesting, the first evidence of parental care among dinosaurs, and the first dinosaur embryos.
Paleontologist Jack Horner discovered the first dinosaur eggs in the Western Hemisphere. He and his dig teams have discovered the first evidence of parental care in dinosaurs, extensive nesting grounds, evidence of dinosaur herds, and the world’s first dinosaur embryos. He’s now exploring how to build a dinosaur.
His lifelong quest to research dinosaurs was not stifled by the ADHD which kept him from a formal college degree but enabled him to be awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Science from the University of Montana in 1986 and later be awarded a MacArthur Fellowship.
Now he has a dinosaur named after him! The recently discovered Daspletosaurus horneri, or “Horner’s frightful lizard,” lived in Montana around 75 million years ago and is a cousin of the T. Rex. It stood at 2.2 meters tall and, as its name hints, it had a large horn behind each eye. A scaly face dotted with tactile sensory organs (similar to the ones modern crocodiles have) provided their snouts with sensitivity similar to fingertips. Its discovery provides new insight into how tyrannosaurids evolved. This new species appears to have evolved directly from its sister species, Daspletosaurus torosus. The finding supports the theory of anagenesis, or direct evolution without branching, in which a species changes enough over time from its ancestral form to become a new species.
Jack, widely acknowledged to be the inspiration for the main character in the book and film Jurassic Park is now the Retired Curator of Paleontology of the Rocky Mountain Museum and Museum of the Rockies Emeritus Regent’s Professor, Montana State University
Did you know that you’re 30 times more likely to laugh if you’re with somebody else than if you’re alone? Cognitive neuroscientist Sophie Scott shares this and other surprising facts about laughter in this fast-paced, action-packed and, yes, hilarious dash through the science of the topic.
You’re tying your shoes wrong – no matter that you’ve been doing it for 70 years and you’ve got it so down pat that you can do it and chew gum at that same time.
Who knew?
The good news? You’re not too old to learn (again) how to tie shoes.
As it turns out, there are two completely different knots, tied with only the most miniscule of differences—one holds and the other does not.
Terry Moore found out he’d been tying his shoes the wrong way his whole life when he complained to a salesman that the laces he’d bought were substandard because they wouldn’t stay tied.
In the spirit of TED, he takes the stage to share a better way. (Historical note: This was the very first 3-minute audience talk given from the TED stage, in 2005.)
If you’re gonna change the way you tie shoes after watching this video, you’ll (I’m almost positive) find that it’s not the “slam dunk” that you first think it is.
Things like this are so in-grained they seem like they’re almost genetic, similar to the migration instinct of birds. In some ways, quitting smoking may be easier.
