Some Health Tips From Ethiopia
Today I came across a website called Ethiopian Review which presented a number of interesting, if counter-intuitive, health tips. I have nothing against Ethiopians but it is not the first place that would come to mind to search for this kind of information. However, like this site, much of the research there is sourced from authoritative sources with commentary by the authors.
Swearing Eases Pain
Researchers at Keele University discovered that subjects who swore could withstand pain better than than those who used less offensive words.
Getting Angry Is Good For Blood Pressure
Generally accepted wisdom is that getting angry raises your blood pressure and therefore is ill-advised. At Carnegie Mellon University, scientists found that people who were irritated in high-stress situations and responded by getting angry, produced a stress hormone called cortisol which acts to lower blood pressure. The worst way to respond to a high stress situation, according to findings of the study, would appear to be fear which resulted in higher blood pressure.
Stress boosts Memory
This is the item most appropriate to this blog and the information comes from a study conducted at the University of Buffalo where researchers found that a brief period of stress can boost memory and learning capabilities. Professor of Physiology and Biophysics, Zhen Yan trained lab rats to complete a maze and then one half of the group were put through a stressful, 20-minute swim. The wet rats made fewer mistakes when re-running the maze than the ones who did get the stressful swim.
Coca Cola (R) Works To Prevent Cognitive Decline
Soda pop has a bad name in most circles but neuroscientists at Glasgow Caledonia University found that fizzy drinks with 25 grams of sugar (the same as a can of Coke(R)) helped subjects with memory. In fact those subjects who had the drink were able to recall about 17% more information than the control group. This is a bit of a no-brainer since the brain uses glucose as fuel. It is what the body does naturally in stressful situations where good recall might be a beneficial in surviving but the mechanism tends to decline with age and therefore, what the older you get the more you should drink.