Dreamways

"When babies sleep less, they may gain too much weight. A new Harvard study finds that babies and toddlers who sleep less than 12 hours daily are at greater risk for being overweight in preschool, startling evidence that the link between sleep and obesity may affect even very young children.“ This interesting finding is reported in a new article by Carla K. Johnson ("Less sleep raises tots‘ obesity risk, study says,“ The Denver Post, 08 Apr 08).

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"In marketing as in medicine, perception can be everything,“ Benedict Carey infroms us in his news article "$2.50 Placebo Gives More Relief Than a 10 Cent One“ (The New York Times, 05 March 08). "A higher price can create the impression of higher value, just as a placebo pill can reduce pain. Now researchers have combined the two effects. A $2.50 placebo, they have found, works better than one that costs 10 cents.“ In waking life, not only can sugar pills make us feel better, but the more expensive we think they are, the more curative!

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"Study Finds that Sleep Is Key in Helping Brain Learn Anew.“ These tantalizing words headline a report in The New York Times (29 Jan 08). Not surprisingly, the article offers substantiation for this headline. "Researchers who study the brain know that it’s far from an immutable object. 'It’s much more plastic than most people think,‘ said Giulio Tononi, a psychiatrist at the University of Wisconsin. 'It’s changing all the time.‘"

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"The exotically shaped creatures that began to sprout silently all over the cozy lecture hall were soon spilling onto empty chairs and into women’s laps and shopping bags.“ Uh oh. "When fully grown, these curiously animate forms will find a home as part of a mammoth version of the Great Barrier Reef.“ This waking dream, reported by Patricia Cohen ("Want to Save a Coral Reef?  read more »

In his article "Waking Up to Our Dreams“, author Robert Moss writes that recent sleep dream research suggests that "our dreams are not strange results of meaningless biological processes. Rather, they are produced by the part of the brain tied to motivation, goals and desires.“ (Parade Magazine, 29 Oct 07) In refuting the notion that sleep dreams are random and insignificant firings of the sleeping brain’s neurons, he accords even greater significance to sleep dreams. "Dreams may even be related to survival itself.  read more »

"After suffering a devastating stroke four years ago, Susan Brown was left in a wheelchair with little hope of walking again. Today, the 57-year-old woman has regained use of her legs and has begun to reclaim her life, thanks in part to encouragement she says she gets from an online virtual world where she can walk, run and dance.“

"Robert Salvatierra, long imprisoned in his home by his terror over going outdoors, has started venturing outside more after gaining confidence by exploring the three-dimensional, interactive world on the Internet."
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"Fake acupuncture works nearly as well as the real thing for low back pain, and either kind performs much better than usual care, German researchers have found.“ (Carla K. Johnson, "Even fake acupuncture beats usual care for back pain, study finds, “ The Denver Post, 25 Sep 07) Even the thought of acupuncture makes many a Westerner suspicious. Fake acupuncture? Even more dubious! That these procedures are more efficient in pain relief that standard Western medicine?  read more »

"Motala had her foot blown off by a land mine; Fuji lost most of her tail to a mysterious disease; Stumpy crippled her leg in an unknown injury in the wild. Only a few years ago, a wounded elephant, dolphin and kangaroo like these would not have had much hope. Under the rough rules of the wild, they would have quickly died of predation, infection or starvation.“
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In his essay "When Sadness Is a Good Thing“ (Time Magazine, 27 Aug 07), John Cloud ruminates about sadness and depression. "In the 1960s, the pharmaceutical company Sandoz marketed its new tranquilizer Serentil with ads in medical journals suggesting the drug be prescribed to 'the newcomer in town who can’t make friends … The woman who can’t get along with her new daughter-in-law ... The executive who can’t accept retirement.‘ But the FDA stopped the ads.  read more »

"Who's Minding the Mind? The subconscious brain is more active, independent and purposeful than once thought. Sometimes it takes charge.“ (Benedict Carey, The New York Times, 31 Jul 07)

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