How Do You Beat The Best?

                How do you beat the best when everyone is telling you that you can’t? You beat the best by being the best.

                What would you do if you were one week away from playing the best football team in the league? Would you get scared and back down? That’s not the way anyone should handle anything. You need to tell yourself that you are the best and after telling yourself that multiple times, you will eventually believe it. If you go in with a positive attitude, you will leave with a positive attitude, if you believe in yourself the entire way.

                Imagine, you are playing the best team in the league and right off the bat, they score twice and are up 16-0. Everyone would imagine you to just give up because they would lose all hope in winning. No one would ever expect the losing team to score 7 times in a row all before the first half is over. It takes courage and a lot of will power to bring yourself up after being put down real quick.

                Now, how did the junior cougars pull this off in their football game today? They used a little psychology and a lot of will power. The coaches had added another practice and whenever they got the chance, they would tell them they were going to win and how badly they were going to beat the other team. By telling the kids this more times than I can count, they boys got it in their head that they were going to win. That’s psychology, my dear.  

                This works for any situation you are feeling unsure of. Whether it be a test, or another sporting event. If you tell yourself enough times that you are going to come out successful, you will be surprised with the outcome every time. Fake it, until you believe it. That is a quote everyone should live by because you by doing this, you will believe in yourself a lot more and help yourself build more and more confidence.

"Sports do not build character. They reveal them."

                “Sports do not build character. They revel them.”

                -John Wooden, legendary UCLA basketball coach

                We all love that feeling of going out on the field, court or mat with a million people screaming your name. It, not only, makes everyone feel better about themselves but it also has benefits on the brain and how it interacts with the rest of your body.

                Playing sports, or just exercising in general is not only good for you physically but it also allows you to grow as a person and become exactly who you would like to be. The more frequent you do what you love, the happier you will be because you will be flooding your body with all of the positive energy you create which just makes you a happier person all around.

                Whether you are playing a sport or exercising, your brain produces a natural chemical called endorphins which are used to relax the body and produce a “feel good” sensation”. These endorphins help your body because they allow you to push past all the hurt you may be feeling and help you go past your goal, so you can better yourself in every way.

                One way you benefit from sports, other than physically, is it helps create a better relationship with you and other people, because they are able to negotiate right and wrong and learn why they might be wrong, or learn why they did something right. They tend to build a much respected relationship with all adults and peers as well. It also helps you learn how to cooperate and not be self-centered because most sports involve people working together as a team. Working as a team teaches children at a young age that not everything revolves around them and that they need to learn to share the responsibility. Another thing you benefit from is better results academically. Since you get a chance to do something other than constantly studying and preparing for school, you get a chance to let your stress out. You are also more likely to join in with other clubs and groups and be a better-rounded person. The best thing, I believe, is that it keeps more children away from risky behavior. When you are on a sports team, there are many more people relying on you to be a good person and it’s not just yourself anymore.

                If you are not on a sports team, or do not do some sort of exercising, I highly suggest you do because it will make you happier and a well-rounded person because you will always have something there to do that makes you happy.

PTSD

How does PTSD affect the brain? Many of us know what it is, but do we really know how it affects us?

            Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental disorder that some obtain after a traumatic experience. Many things can cause PTSD, for example, the sudden loss of a loved one or being physically close to something with a traumatic outcome. The most common cause of PSTD is when soldiers come out of war after being in for so long. When soldiers come out of battle, many suffer from symptoms pertaining to PTSD. Some of these symptoms include, feeling unsafe everywhere you go, having reoccurring dreams of the traumatizing event, or becoming depressed or anxious constantly. These are only a few of the symptoms and for some they only last a few weeks to a few months. However, with some patients, it lasts the rest of their lives.

            Men and women who have served time in the military or are currently serving in the military have to experience many traumatizing situation that can scare them for life. For some, it could be just going into the war. This is traumatizing to some because they don’t know if they are going to make it out to see their families or not. Others are traumatized by watching a friend get shot and killed. Others, get shot at themselves. Those people who experience combat first hand are more likely to get PTSD than those who work back at the base. However, whether you are in the military or you have a sudden loss of the family, doesn’t mean you have any less chance of being a patient of PTSD, because it all depends on what the situation is and how the brain decides to handle the stress.

The part of the brain most affected by PTSD is the hippocampus, which is responsible for retrieving memories and different emotions.  When we are put under large amounts of stress, our body produces cortisol, which is a hormone which helps us respond to stressful situations. However, under extreme situations, such as traumatic ones, the body produces too much cortisol which can actually damage some of the cells that make up the hippocampus. When cells are damaged in the hippocampus, we are at a higher rate to obtain PTSD.

Because researchers know that a major link is between PTSD and the hippocampus, they can try and find cures and methods to help PTSD patients look at a new way to live and not have to live in fear anymore.

Over Working Yourself?

                Do students have too much work to do that it’s actually affecting their health? Think about all the tasks you have to complete tonight and the next night. Is it a lot? Do you think you will get it done in the allotted time period? And will you still have time to hang out with friends and family? What about a job? Can you manage to work a few hours there for a few nights a week?

                If you can do all this stuff, chances are you are decreasing your health as well. Many children start to feel this as they get older and start to put more on their plate than they can actually handle. There are many reasons students will feel the need to do this. For instance, they want to be the best they can be so their parents are proud of them, or they want to be number one in the class to show the teacher they can do it. Another big one is that some just like to do it because they want to better themselves. There are many other reasons why teenagers in particular take on many more responsibilities, but those are just a few of the main ones.

                Taking on these responsibilities however can have negative side effects on your behavior and your health. For one, it can make you more irritable, which I’m sure we have all felt that time when we have so much stuff to do so we snap on everyone that tries to talk to us. Another thing that can happen, is it can result in us becoming less interested in activities that we used to love doing. Another very important thing that can result from too much responsibility is when we start to seclude our self from others. This can be a problem because then we are not getting the necessary interaction needed to comfort ourselves and also we do not get the necessary support from our parents and friends.

                In order to keep yourself sane while trying to better yourself would be to just remember how much work is needed to be done if you really want to add another activity to your daily routine. Also if you find yourself too stressed out, try backing down a little bit and wait to catch up on all your other priorities and then add in the other stuff when you are ready for it.  

Too Much TV?

We can all sit down and watch TV when we don’t want to do something that we know we should be doing. Have you ever had to clean your room and instead turn the TV on for “background noise” and end up watching more TV than cleaning your room? We all do it, but is it really the best thing for your brain? Can it lead to some harmful effects in the long run?

                There are two types of brain waves produced within your brain. One kind is Beta waves, which are produced when you are thinking logically. The other kind is Alpha waves, which are produce when we are in a relaxing state, such as when we are meditating or watching TV.  While watching TV, you don’t have to do much logical reasoning because the show gives it straight to you, causing your body and brain to go into a relaxation mode. However when you are reading a book or a magazine, you are more likely to read it and then think about what they are actually trying to say, causing your brain to be in a more active mode.

                In 1969, an experiment was conducted to test this hypothesis, and the results came back showing that in less than one minute, the brain starts to slow down, and starts producing Alpha waves. Then just as quickly as it slows down, it speeds back up when you pick up a book or magazine.  Another finding from the experiment is when you are watching TV, the parts of your brain that are normally in charge of logical thinking tune out and stop working at that moment.

                Other, more specific ways watching TV has harmful effects your brain is it can decrease your attention span, it can cause impaired brain development in children during their critical growing period and believe it or not, it can actually rot your brain. We have all heard out parents say “get away from the TV, it’s going to rot your brain cells”, however studies show that it can gradually decrease the neural pathways. For this reason, reading is called exercising your brain. By doing this you are reopening those neural pathways and even making new ones.

                Even if all you do is turn off the TV for an hour or two a day and read, sing or whatever hobby you have, it can lead to increased life expectancy. Researchers aren’t 100% sure why watching TV increases your risk of death, however it could be because decreasing your brain cells leads to degenerative brain disorders such as Alzheimer’s and Dementia.

Lying like Pinocchio?

We all have told a little lie to protect a friend or family member. We all know that we shouldn’t tell lies, however sometimes we think it’s the only option we have. Even though, we may not grow a super lo ng nose like Pinocchio, lying can have some serious impact on your stress levels and your brain.

So with all the fuss about lying and how many problems it can cause, why do we do it? Because the only problem with telling the whole truth and nothing but the truth is actually telling the truth. We don’t want to hurt that one person’s feeling or say that we were studying all night when you never really touched that book.

There are many other reasons why we lie even though we know it’s not good. For example, we lie mostly to get ourselves out of awkward situations. We all know that feeling of “I really don’t want to be here, so I’m going to tell a small fib so I can get out of it”. This can lead to you telling more and more lies as you get older though because you were so good at the first one, what makes you think you can’t do it again so you keep going.

Stress is caused from lying even though you don’t see it short term, it will come back and get you in the long term because you have to put effort into what you are saying and make sure it sounds believable. You also have to be sure that the lie isn’t going to get out because if it does then you have a lot more explaining to do than just what happen, but also why you didn’t want to share.  

So I guess the point of this whole blog post is to say suck it up and try telling the truth even though it might not end up very good for you in the short term, at least it won’t come bite you in the long term.

Dreaming

Have you ever wondered what’s going on in your brain when you sleep and dream? To me, that has always been a wondering question. However, not many people actually know exactly what is happening when you dream, some think it’s just random brain impulses and others think it’s the brains way of telling you something that you didn’t even know about yourself. Hopefully one day, a scientist or a random person on the street will find out the truth behind it, but until then, let’s dive into the unknown and see what we can come up with ourselves.

When we sleep, there are four different cycles our body goes through. One is when we are in a light sleep and is easy to wake up from. When we move into the next stage of sleep, we often move into a deeper sleep and your heart rate and breathing rate decrease a little along with your body temperature. As you move into stage three and four, you fall into an even deeper sleep. When you reach stage 5, your body goes into a stage called REM (rapid eye movement). During this stage, we are more likely to dream, along with an increase in heart rate and the change of rapid to shallow breathing rates. As you sleep, the faster stage 3 and 4 get and the more stage 1, 2 and 5 you get. If your bodies don’t go through REM sleep, it is believed that you will have a harder time learning and remembering things because, another thing that happens during REM sleep is that you rejuvenate your body and brain and get it ready for the day ahead.

Have you ever had a really good dream but can’t remember what it was about, or what happened? Like many of you, that has happened to me countless times and I cannot figure out why. When I looked it up, a theory from the theorist Sigmund Freud had an idea. He theorized that when we dream, we are dreaming of repressed memories, or memories that we try to forget. Another theorist, L. Strumpell, thought that because we learn things from doing them over and over again, it is hard to remember dreams when they are at random most of the time.

If you can remember what your dreams are but have no idea what they mean or what they symbolize, some researchers have been able to draw a parallel between that dream and what it might mean. For example, the falling dream, which I’m sure everyone has had some time in their lives, can be connected to some insecurities you may be feeling or some kind of anxiety. Another common dream you might have had is forgetting you had a test and feeling like you’re going to be late to take it. Researchers suggest that you may be feeling tested and you don’t think you are up for the challenge.

There is still a lot of work to be done to figure out why we dream and what it symbolizes, however, the little bit of theories that we do have may push someone to figure the whole theory out.

How to Handle Stress in a New Way!

Have you ever felt so stressed and can’t seem to focus on anything? If yes, have you ever found a way that helps you get passed that stress? For instance, sleeping, exercising, eating maybe? How about meditation? I’ve never actually thought that meditation can be so beneficial, but it is because it helps relax the brain and keep yourself focused.   

During meditation, we are able to “turn off” our brain and just let our minds wander for a little bit. The biggest part of your brain affected is the frontal lobe because it is the part of the brain that is responsible for our decision making and when we are put under a lot of stress with a bunch of different decisions to make, clearing your brain and letting everything evaporate for a little bit is very beneficial. Another part of the brain that is affected is the parietal lobe and the thalamus which are two regions of the brain that help take in the senses and help decode what the message is and helps get it to the correct area of the body, respectively. Mediation helps with these two areas by allowing them to slow the intake of senses allowing them to catch up or just rest for a little bit.

Other ways mediation is beneficial to your brain besides more focus and less anxiety is that it allows you to have more compassion and creativeness in everything you do. This is because while you are in the mediation state, the brain is able to “turn off” like I said before and a part of the amygdala, which is in charge of some emotional feelings, is slowed down so when you relax that part, you gain more compassion for the things you do.  Also mediation is shown to increase gray matter in your brain which can lead to more focus throughout the day and help put you in a positive mood. The last good thing about meditation that can be very beneficial to your brain and body is that it has been seen to slow down the aging process which is also caused by the increasing gray matter.

So if you are under a lot of stress, or just have some time to kill and don’t want to do anything, I would highly recommend trying meditation. All in all it’s a great way to just gather yourself before you have a huge test or meeting. However it is that you gain stress, I would definitely say try meditating even if its for a few minutes. Anything to clear your mind is good.

Music Affecting the Human Brain

Psychology is something that can be studied at great depths for as long as we all live. The reason why is because there is always something new being learned about why we all have different ways of behaving every day.  My favorite aspect to study in psychology is the human brain and what part of the brain is responsible for what. For instance, I find it very fascinating to learn about why we learn things and how our mind can take in one thing and remember it forever.

Psychology is such a cool branch of science because like I said earlier it shows you why you act the way you do and to me, that’s the coolest thing! Have you ever wondered why you do something that can can’t be explained by genetics? Most of it can be explained by psychology and if not, it should in the next few years. There are many different experiments that can keep expanding on the knowledge that’s already known.

Like I said earlier, my favorite thing to study in psychology is the human mind, and here’s why. The human mind is affected by many things. Music for one thing can affect what mood you are in and can predict our personality. For example, a study shows that if you like pop music, your personality can be described as having a high self-esteem and hardworking but are not very creative or at ease. Country music fans are described as hardworking and outgoing. Obviously, just because you like a certain type of music does not mean that you are exactly what the psychology study shows but kind of shows you a little what you might be like. Pretty cool huh?

                Another cool thing about music that can affect the way you think and learn is that studies show that the more music you listen to with a heavy bass line, the more extravert and outgoing. However the more classical music you listen to the more creative you are and the higher IQ you would have.

                Another way music affects the brain is because it scratches every part of the brain. For example, when you are listening to music, the amygdala, which is the part of the brain that is responsible for some emotions, tends to affect the different emotions you feel. Also the auditory cortex is responsible for the first stage of hearing the music, after that, the hippocampus, which is responsible for memory, remembers the music and any musical experience.

                All of this stuff about music is just a little bit about what affects the brain, and there are many more.