Coffee drinkers will tell you that caffeine sharpens their minds. As it turns out, they’re right.
Caffeine stimulates the hippocampus. The hippocampus holds your memories and sits deep inside the brain behind your ears. Fun fact-hippocampus is Latin for seahorse and yes, they’re two small organs shaped like seahorses! Caffeine strengthens the connection between the nerve cells and these “amped up” cells enhance learning and memory. The higher the caffeine dose, the stronger the connection. A caffeine dose 10 times normal which is reached only by die-hard coffee addicts, produces the strongest effect which lasts for about 3 hours. The makers of Red Bull and Jolt and certainly Starbucks know how to draw you in and keep you comin’. They know that with work and home responsibilities, most of us are running on fumes. The long-term impact of this level of caffeine consumption is not known, so approach with caution. Claudia Join me on Facebook at Dr. Claudia McCulloch. At DrClaudia.net, click on the "Ask Me" button and send me a question. Sign up for the Sunday newsletter. Don't miss a thing! The grass is always greener on the other side.
"Man, I’d kill to have his truck!" Yes, we covet. We want what “that” person has. You’re not lacking moral character, it’s your brain! The mirror neuron system is responsible. It’s the part of the brain that turns on when either performing or watching someone perform an act. Envy is an infectious disease and explains much of human behavior. Just look at the Black Friday sales! Copying other people is a good way to learn about the environment and also protects our survival. Two systems are involved in coveting. The mirror neuron system and the system that helps us decide the value of an object. Put them together and ta da! You want what other people want and have. It’s not about competition, it’s about survival. Again, advertising agencies use this trait to sell their trinkets. Help your kids to use the rational part of their brains to make smart financial decisions! Claudia Join me on Facebook at Dr. Claudia McCulloch. At DrClaudia.net, click on the "Ask Me" button and send me a question. Sign up for the Sunday newsletter. Don't miss a thing! Ask what, you say? Anything that's on your mind. That one nagging question that keeps popping up in your mind day after day...that's the one to ask.
Call me, Dr. Claudia McCulloch, during the LIVE Facebook "peek-in" of our radio show, All Things Family today. We're at 833-400-5050. If you'd like, go to DrClaudia.net and send me a question using the "Ask Me" button. You can be anonymous, if you don't want to be known, or use a different name! When? Today from 4-6 pm Central Time. That's 2-5 Pacific and 5-7 Eastern. See? Easy peasy. No tickets to buy or anything. Can't make it? Listen to the podcasts that are on DrClaudia.net that are posted after the show airs during the weekend. Make it easy on yourself. Get everything delivered to your digital door if you "like" my Facebook page or sign up for the daily short posts and Parenting Pointers. The Sunday newsletter is a great way to get it all! Claudia Morality does not come from our relatively recent ability to reason, but comes from our animal ancestors.
Morality comes before reason. A chimpanzee will drown to save its peers and will refuse food if eating prevents others from being injured. Dogs have a sense of “wild justice” suggesting animals have a sense of right and wrong. Their behavior and ours comes from ancient social tendencies. Team work made it possible for animals and humans to survive. It was necessary to make sacrifices to keep the species going. Those sacrifices left a traceable impact on the emerging brain. As we evolved, reasoning and impulse control advanced the socialization process. The development of language generated a code by which we live. When people say killers act like animals, they’re actually…not. Claudia Join me on Facebook at Dr. Claudia McCulloch. At DrClaudia.net, click on the "Ask Me" button and send me a question. Sign up for the Sunday newsletter. Don't miss a thing! |
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