People prefer electric shocks to being left alone with their own thoughts

June 13, 2021by MQDuong1 Comment

I came across this academic study that focuses on how difficult it is for people to sit alone with their own thoughts. Here is the most interesting part (I put together small paragraphs from all over the article)

Ninety- five percent of American adults reported that they did at least one leisure activity in the past 24 hours, such as watching television, socializing, or reading for pleasure, but 83% reported they spent no time whatsoever “relaxing or thinking”.
Most participants reported that it was difficult to concentrate (57.5% responded at or above the midpoint or the point scale) and that their mind wandered (89% responded at or above the midpoint or the scale), even though there was nothing competing for their attention.
There was no evidence that enjoyment of the thinking period was related to participants’ age, education, income or the frequency with which they used smart phones or social media.
In part 1 of the study, participants rated the pleasantness of several positive stimuli (e.g attractive photos) and negative stimuli (e.g an electric shock). Many participants elected to receive negative stimulation over no stimulation, especially men: 67% of men gave themselves at least one shock during the thinking period compared to 25% of women. The gender difference is probably due to the tendency for men to be higher in sensation-seeking. But what is striking is that simply being alone with their own thoughts for 15 min was apparently so aversive that it drove many participants to self-administer an electric shock that they had earlier said they would pay to avoid.
Source: Just think: The challenges of the disengaged mind

This is simultaneously interesting, embarrassing and frightening. I have one of those disengaged minds. Just sitting alone with my own thoughts is so challenging. I tried to do it multiple times and always found myself looking at my phone. More embarrassingly, at the time of the “transgression”, I was aware of that tendency and had no other distraction competing for my thoughts, yet I still couldn’t keep myself engaged. Yoga has been a greatly positive experience, but whatever progress I may have made is apparently insufficient with regard to being able to sit alone with my own thoughts.

life, Personal Growth, Random, Science

Almond Milk or Soy Milk

August 21, 2019by MQDuong1 Comment

Looking for a tasty and nutritious drink besides cow’s milk and store-bought juice. 90% of which is made from concentrate, I decided to do some research on almond milk and soy milk to see which one is the better choice.

One of the benefits of these two choices is that they are great for those who want to lose weight. Both almond and soy milk contain little saturated fat, sugar or calories.

Unfortunately, neither of them naturally contain much calcium, though store-bought milk can be calcium-fortified.

Compared to almond milk, soy milk is richer in nutrition, especially protein (the stereotype that almond milk is a good source of protein is false) and more environmentally friendly as soy requires less water than almond.

Soy milk is allegedly related to weakened fertility in men. A Harvard study in 2009 reported that soy milk consumption might have detrimental effects on male fertility.

The soy study was part of a long-term investigation of environmental factors and fertility. The subjects were 99 male partners of sub-fertile couples. Each man had a medical evaluation and complete semen analysis, and each provided a detailed three-month dietary history that evaluated 15 soy-based foods, ranging from tofu and tempeh to soy milk, veggie burgers, and “energy bars” containing soy protein.
The study found that the men who consumed the most soy had the lowest sperm counts. And it didn’t take much soy to do the trick — as little as one portion every other day was linked to a reduction in sperm count. All in all, the men who ate the most soy had counts that averaged 41 million fewer sperm per cubic milliliter than men who ate the least. The impact was greatest in overweight men, and the results remained valid after age, smoking, alcohol, caffeine, body mass index, and the time between specimen collection and the preceding ejaculation were taken into account.
Harvard Medical School

However, the view was challenged by a study by Harvard School of Public Health in 2015 and another study in 2010. A definite conclusion on the matter remains to be determined. Given all the factors above, soy milk looks to be the winner in this contest.

Science

Circadian rhythm, Melatonin, Adenosine, Caffeine and Sleep

August 23, 2018May 14, 2020by MQDuong4 Comments

This piece will be my summary of the first two chapters of a wonderful book called “Why we sleep”. I feel a mixed feeling of concern and excitement after reading these two chapters, and would like to share what I learned. The two chapters use science to describe the two primary factors influencing our sleep and the consequences of our normal behavior nowadays, including the effect of caffeine. Knowing these consequences helps a person make better decisions to improve his/her sleep and health.

I highly recommend the book to anyone who cares about sleep and his or her health. All the good findings are from the book. All the clumsy explanations and communication are mine.

Melatonin & circadian rhythm

Everyone has a 24-hour rhythm called a circadian rhythm. The internal 24-hour clock in our brain communicates the circadian rhythm to every area of the brain and part of the body. When the sun sets, our body starts to release a chemical called Melatonin. Melatonin signals to our body that “it’s getting dark, it’s getting dark” and that the time for sleep is close. As we sleep, the chemical starts to wear off. As soon as the sun rises and interacts with our eyes, our brain knows that it’s time to stop pumping Melatonin into our bloodstream. Once the chemical stops circulating, the brain and body know that it’s time to wake up. The rhythm continues in the same way every day regardless of our lifestyle.

It’s worth noting that Melatonin has little effect on why we feel sleepy. It is just a signaling chemical released by our body to trigger a certain action. In this case, it’s a) knowing that it’s dark b) getting up now.

Adenosine and the sleep process

As we are awake, our body constantly produces a chemical called Adenosine. The more Adenosine is accumulated, the sleepier we feel. It is because the concentration of Adenosine will trigger the sleep-inducing part of our brain and mute the wake-promoting region. The production of Adenosine happens only when we are awake and stops when we are sleeping.

The diagram below will explain why the urge to sleep is the biggest at 11pm or midnight. The blue line is our sleep process which represents the level of Adenosine. It rises from 7am to 11pm and decreases when we are asleep. The black line represents our circadian process. It doesn’t change because of our lifestyle. On the other hand, the blue line can certainly does

What will happen if we pull an all-nighter?

As we stay awake during the night, the level of Adenosine continues to rise. Around 4-5 am in the morning, we will feel particularly sleepy since the level of Adenosine is the highest at that moment so far (the orange line). We will feel better in the morning, especially at the peak of our circadian rhythm. However, the level of Adenosine continues to accumulate and later in the evening, we will be hit by a wave of sleepiness that is even harder to resist. To remove the extra sleep pressure from an all-nighter, we will have to sleep longer in the morning. However, who can have the luxury of sleeping till 10am in the morning during the weekdays? As a result, we become sleep-deprived to some extent. There is always a residue of Adenosine from the previous day in our body and it will keep us sleepy, unproductive and listless.

The same happens when we party, go out or binge-watch series late at night. Instead of going to bed around 10-11 pm, we stay up late till 2-3am. Our body has only 4 hours of sleep. There will be plenty of Adenosine left to be carried over to the following day. If the behavior repeats, it will accumulate and we will constantly feel lethargic and sleepy. After a while, even longer sleeps on the weekends may not be enough to remove all the lingering Adenosine. And would you want to sleep in the whole weekends when the weather is nice outside? With family obligations, will there be enough time for sleep on the weekends?

Additionally, our sleep process and circadian rhythm can help explain why we feel easier to sleep when travelling Westward than when travelling Eastward.

When we travel East, we are forced to sleep earlier (the orange line) than we normally do. On the other hand, as we travel Westward and are tied up with business or social obligations, we would tend to sleep later when we normally do (the purple line).

Caffeine

To fight back against the urge to sleep, we tend to rely on caffeine. Caffeine does make us feel more awake and less prone to falling asleep. How does it do that?

Caffeine blocks Adenosine from interacting with the receptors in our brain, an interaction that would cause sleep-inducing effects. While being blocked from caffeine, the sleep-inducing chemical will keep increasing while we are awake. On other hand, caffeine is worn off gradually by our body. Eventually, caffeine in our body will disappear and Adenosine will be free to interact with the brain’s receptors, this time in an accumulated amount.

If we drink coffee late at night to stay awake and our body doesn’t remove caffeine fast enough, we can stay up later. Once the caffeine disappears, Adenosine in an increased quantity will attack our receptors and the urge to sleep is even bigger than it normally is (the purple line)

According to the book “Why we sleep”, it takes our body on average five to seven hours to remove 50% of the caffeine consumed, meaning that if a person has a cup of coffee at 8pm, it’s like that 50% of the caffeine is still in that person’s body by 1am. Of course, each body is different in how fast it can wear the caffeine off. That’s why some people don’t seem to be much affected by caffeine while others are more prone to the chemical’s effect. Plus, the older we are, the more slowly the caffeine-removing process takes place.

As a result, keep in mind the effect of Caffeine before you decide to sip that hot and delicious cup of coffee or tea at night.

Consequences of sleep deprivation

Diminished immune system
Higher risk of cancer
Higher risk of Alzheimer
Higher exposure to diabetes
You feel hungry despite being full. Hence, you’ll be more susceptible to gaining weights

References

H. Keong. (2015). Vulnerability to Sleep Deprivation: A Drift Diffusion Model Perspective.

M. Walker. (2017). Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams