Cognitive Factoid On Chocolate Is Wonderful News!

Now! As an incorrigible chocoholic, what about this!

Any Chocoholic Attendees at the European Society of Cardiology meeting in Paris have just been given this wonderful news. Chocolate Biscuits and puddings could cut the risk of heart disease by a third.

A total of over 100000 people took part in seven studies which have then been analysed by Scientists at Cambridge University. Where in people they found the highest intakes of chocolate consumption they also found a 37% reduction in cardiovascular disease and a 27% reduction in strokes, as compared to those with the lowest intakes of chocolate.

I am sorely tempted to leave this factoid at that, but honesty dictates. They also delivered a health warning. The results have to be treated with caution. Commercially available chocolate is high in calories which if eaten too much can lead to diabetes and heart disease.

I am left wondering if a bar of good quality chocolate and a good walk is a solution!

I wish you well

Gerry Neale is the author of a novel recently published in paperback called "Squaring Circles" available from amazon.co.uk or the publishers www.pearlpress.co.uk The website about the book itself and reviews of it is www.squaringcircles.co.uk

Achieving Bad Habits – No Problem – You Can Catch Them!

What is more, you can even catch bad habits from the person you love. Who says? The University of Cincinatti, as a result of an intriguing study they have conducted which tests the commitment to achievement in particular and attempts at self-improvement in general. But watch out! You might choose and marry a partner for their good qualities which don’t rub of on you. However their bad ones could be catching almost as if you have been ‘infected’ by them!  And here is why.

It seems if your partner, wonderful though they are, is a food addict, the chances are disproportionately high you will become one too. Their drink problem could be yours for the asking. Your commitment to personal fitness could be first neutralised by their laziness and then eventually abandoned.

It seems that good habits in our spouses we don’t catch, but bad ones we do.

How was the research conducted and on whom? It involved married couples or those living together for between 8 and 52 years. It centred on their smoking, drinking, patterns of sleep, exercise and additional health habits.

Significant information emerged for all of us interested in psychology. Men are worse as a negative influence on their partners  than women. Yet both when faced with the manifestation of an unhealthy habit or activity in their partner, were reticent or reluctant to comment on it or draw attention to it. It was as though they were signalling their approval. It seemed that that this became a joint consent as one invariably got sucked in to the bad behaviour of the other.

The activity in gay and lesbian couples was more difficult to analyse because it seemed both promoted the bad habits equally.

What I find worrying here is what was not in the research but what could be extrapolated from this.

Imagine a child wanting to run for his or her school - and one day in the Olympics, and the class teacher is a couch potato. More than that he constantly pours scorn on fitness and health, labelling them fanatics.

Think then of how we as parents or grandparents can so easily neutralise the intent and commitment in our children and grandchildren to lead healthier lives. Our smoking or drinking or mere lack of respect for healthy habits could be equally damaging for them. Wouldn’t they too, just like the Cincinatti project proved, be reluctant to try to correct or even criticise their elders, then become complicit and finally prefer to indulge themselves too?

I do hope I am stretching the University findings just too far, but I fear I am not.

I take the message in this as- “Stay well and help find healthy solutions. Don’t become part of the problem however much it hurts for the ones we love.”

Sincerely, I wish you well

Gerry Neale

Sir Gerry Neale is a writer, mentor and artist. His first novel, “Squaring Circles” has been recently published in the UK in paperback (ISBN 9780956868824) It has a strong cognitive behavioural and spiritual theme. More information is available on www.squaringcircles.co.uk. The book is obtainable on Amazon (co.uk) and increasingly in UK bookshops. See other articles by him on http://psychologysimplified.blogspot.com 

View his mixedmedia watercolours on www.sirgerrynealeartprints.com

www.sirgerrynealeartprints.com

Cognitive Factoids - Avoid Stressful Relationships And Live Longer!

Three questions! First, suppose you have always been a happy and unstressed soul. Would you think you would be likely to outlive an unrelated, unhappy and stressed person? I think we all would! Second, if our circumstances changed and we chose to live with such a stressed individual, what then? Wouldn’t we be likely to die sooner and perhaps even a lot sooner? Again wouldn’t most of us say, Yes we would! Third and finally, if we had a stressful childhood, would our lives be shortened even if we then managed to achieve a much more peaceful adulthood? If we were Zebra Finches, then we would be absolutely right on all three answers!

Isn’t that really to be treated by humans as a bit of a laugh? The University of Glasgow would say no. Results have now been published in Proceedings of The Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. And clearly Professor Monaghan sees potential comparisons with humans.

In truth, if we had been told it about humans achieving longer lives, wouldn’t we have accepted it?

Zebra Finches form strong bonds with their mates and appear to respond to stress in the same way we do. In fact if they join with stressed partners it seems their life expectancy is four times worse than that of relaxed birds.

This discovery was aided by some chicks being injected with stress hormone for two weeks and monitored against those without, all being kept in a stress free environment.

After they had fledged it was discovered that not only those injected died sooner, so did the mates they had been placed with.

Extrapolation of these results shows how choosing a mate who helps us to avoid stress could help us as well as Finches to achieve longer lives!

But stepping back from the obvious difference between us, can we really be surprised? Already we have heard so much about the damage stress causes humans.

I have never subscribed to the school of thought which believes that all races of humans comprise such superior species and incomparable to all others on the Planet. Learning from animals can teach us so much on how we ourselves may have unknown latent powers.relating not only to our known senses, but like many animals, we may have others so far untried.

Experts are predicting we will be able to talk to dolphins within five years. Elephants and whales may follow suit. I may not live long enough to hear it or even witness it, but I predict we will discover in these animals an astonishing level of spirituality and wisdom compared with our own.

So all this is “not for the birds”! It is research we cannot afford to ignore.

Gerry Neale is an artist, mentor and writer. His first novel, Squaring Circles, has recently been published in Paperback and is already available on leading online sites such as Amazon (co.uk). The theme of the novel is how our spirituality, awareness of Nature and our emotions can dictate our cognitive behaviour. There are reviews and more information on the book’s website at www.squaringcircles.co.uk. 

His mixed media watercolours can be viewed on www.sirgerrynealeartprints.com

Psychology Simplified On Bringing The Best Or Worst Out In People

Read this newly posted article by Gerry Neale relating to how to behave more productively and change ourselves when dealing with contentious issues with staff and suppliers. Cognitive Mentors