Notes 09/05 to 01/06

The Cause of Internet and TV Addiction?

www.causeof.org

Notes

09/05 to 01/06

· I have more notes than I can publish at the moment. So, instead of leaving you in the dark until I do publish them, I’ve decided to post them here.

· Notes will be removed when they become moot.

1/07/06

Laterality: Things to Consider

*Posture: winged scapula, rounded shoulders, putting one hand in your pocket when standing, using a computer mouse—if one shoulder is more rounded or winged than the other this might reduce blood flow and nerve conduction

*Thoracic Outlet Syndrome

*Pressure: using an object or a body part to apply pressure to a hand/foot can reduce blood flow and nerve conduction, and reduce dominance in that hand/foot (e.g. sleeping with one hand under a pillow)

12/15/05

Vision and Gaze

“After prolonged upward or downward gaze inclination the preferred vertical gaze direction was shifted up or down, respectively…”

Z Exp Angew Psychol.: Preferred gaze direction and the vergence system at rest (abstract)

11/30/05

Laterality: Correcting Laterality: Preserving Hand Dominance:

Supination and Pronation

Activities which May Involve Supination and Pronation:

· Playing the flute (recommended especially for improving breathing, breath control, and hand movements—standing on one leg also recommended; note: people with bilateral TOS [thoracic outlet syndrome] may find it difficult to play the flute)

· Crossing Arms

· Crossing Legs

11/25/05

Arousal: Hypoglycemia

“Two basic physiologic changes are now recognized as involved in lowering the blood sugar [too low] to symptom-producing levels.

The disruption and removal of fibers from plant foods, through the processes of refining, causes the blood sugars to drop low enough to cause symptoms.

· For a simple example, if a whole apple is ground into apple sauce, your pancreas will produce more insulin in response to your eating the apple sauce than it would if you ate the whole apple. This greater quantity of insulin can lower your blood sugar down to the levels of hypoglycemia within a couple of hours.

· This response is further exaggerated if the disrupted fibers have been removed to make apple juice.

· Grinding of whole grains, such as brown rice, into rice flourwill cause a similar increase in insulin response with exaggerated falls in blood sugar levels.

Thus, it is important not only to eat vegetable foods, but, for a few, very sensitive individuals, to eat those foods only as nature provided them--unprocessed, complete with all their fibers.

The second mechanism involves the many kinds of fats that are introduced so generously into the American diet. These fats [saturated fats and trans fats?] inhibit insulin function, causing ‘insulin resistance.’ With poorly functioning insulin, the blood sugar levels rise too high. As a consequence of the high sugar more insulin is produced, finally catching up and surpassing the body's needs. This excess insulin soon drives the sugar to hypoglycemic levels. This paralysis of insulin function is seen with adult-onset diabetes and hypoglycemia.”

http://www.drmcdougall.com/science/hypoglycemia.html

11/16/05

Research Topics: Brainwaves

Performing vision exercises (e.g. palming, sunning, pencil push-ups) for short periods of time helps to maximize SMR brainwaves? (novel stimulus)

“This increased habituation response to a novel stimulus in the ADHD children appears to be related to the fact that individuals with attention deficit disorders fail to sustain attention over time.”

http://www.snr-jnt.org/nfbarch/Reprints/jl-jpa.htm

Sleep: Sleeping on Your Back

Do the following effects of sleeping on your back apply to pregnant women only?

"Back-sleeping can also put you at risk for backaches and hemorrhoids, inefficient digestion, impaired breathing and circulation, and even low blood pressure [too low]."

What is the best position for sleeping during pregnancy?

Laterality

Pronation and Supination

When you jump on one foot, to correct foot dominance, your foot lands in a prone position:

“In simple term, pronation is the flattening out of the arch when the foot strikes the ground. Normally, the foot will pronate to absorb shock when the heel hits the ground, and to assist in balance during mid-stance. The ankle will 'tip' towards the inside.

Excessive pronation can be problematic because the shifting causes increased stress on the inside/ medial aspect of the foot. It pulls on the stabilizing muscles in the lower leg (posterior tibialis) and often causes the knee to shift to the inside.

The excessive stress on the…the body can overcompensate for this pronation and shift the ankle towards the outside causing the ankle to roll over.”

http://www.steenwyk.com/pronsup.htm

Posture

Sitting on the edge or your chair

*Weakens glutes? Can be bad for posture

*Neuro-Linguistic Programming: People in the visual modality often sit forward in the chair or on the edge of their chair

Vision: Binocular Functions: Convergence Insufficiency

Vision: Binocular Functions: Accommodative Insufficiency

Lying on your back and looking upward (e.g. stargazing, cloud-watching) helps to reduce pressure on the extraocular (eye) muscles and helps to improve divergence (looking into the distance)? Allows a person to more easily enter an alpha-theta state (brainwaves)?

10/18/05

Vision: Binocular Functions: Light Sensitivity

Glare

*Reduce glare with ceiling light covers

*Glasses: Non-reflective frames and lenses—anti-glare coating on lenses actually lets more light through the lens to reduce the glare?

*Use non-glare (dull, matte finish) tape to reduce glare from light indicators, small metallic surfaces?

*Anti-glare shield for monitors—LCD monitors also produce glare

*Some keyboards produce more glare than others

*” The best types of tinted lenses to block out glare from fluorescent lights are yellow, amber and brown. The darker the shade, the more glare will be blocked. However, everyone must experiment to see what works best under different circumstances. On a bright day, try using brown lenses for your glasses. For overcast days or at night, you can try using the lighter tints of yellow and amber.”

http://www.glaucoma.org/living/glaucoma_and_dr.html

10/12/05

Vision: Binocular Functions: Light Sensitivity

Glare

It appears that something as small as an indicator light, which are sometimes found on monitors or modems, can exacerbate photophobia—even if it’s only in your peripheral vision.

Vision and Gaze, Monitor Height

“The size of the eye opening is related to the direction of gaze—as we gaze higher, the eyes open wider. The amount of evaporation roughly relates to eye opening, the higher gaze angle when viewing a VDT screen results in faster tear loss [dry eye syndrome]. It is also likely that the higher gaze angle results in a greater percentage of blinks that are incomplete [eyestrain].”

http://library.thinkquest.org/C0123325/synd.htm

09/13/05

Other Suggestions: Breathing: Humidification

*Too much humidity vs. negative ions: summer SAD

*Too little humidity vs. negative ions: winter SAD

Laterality: Correcting Laterality: Preserving Hand Dominance:

Supination and Pronation

*Compare physical therapy for carpal tunnel syndrome and for correcting handedness with mudras (symbolic gestures made with hands or fingers)

*Foot supination and pronation, foot posture, footwear modification, lotus position (meditation)

Foot supination and pronation:

http://www.steenwyk.com/pronsup.htm

Sitting cross-legged:

http://www.wildmind.org/meditation/posture/crosslegs.html (note: if you need to loosen your hips it might not be a good idea to stretch your quadriceps if you already have tight hamstrings)

Sitting cross-legged and laterality: left-handers should reverse legs for these positions?

*Effects of forearm supination and forearm pronation on median nerve (nerve conduction), blood vessels, laterality, carpal tunnel syndrome

*Bumiparsa Mudra (meditation position) and laterality

“the left hand rests [rests in a supine position—force isn’t exerted for the forearm to remain in this position], palm upwards, in the hollow of the thighs.”

http://www.webcastmy.com.my/bodhivision/Symb5.htm

*Bumiparsa Mudra (meditation position)

Also referred to as ‘bhumisparsa’ (the most popular spelling I’ve found), bhumi-sparsa, bhumisparsha, bhumi-sparsha, ‘gesture of touching the earth’, ‘gesture of pressing the earth’

*What effect is caused when the forearms are in a prone position (e.g. when putting both hands in pockets, or for people with rounded shoulders)? Increases nerve conduction and blood flow to the hands (through the carpal tunnel)? Decreases blood flow to the brain? Helpful for people with migraines (effect is similar to ‘warming of the hands’ by interlocking one’s hands)?

*Ergonomic keyboards, mice:

http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,122404,00.asp

*Signals of fatigue: When we become tired we may position our sub-dominant forearm or foot in a prone positon, or position our doniminant forearm or foot in a supine position

*Improve circulation to dominant hand while using a mouse by also using a mouse rest?

*Holding paper down with subdominant hand (prone position) while writing with dominant hand (not prone) can cause issues with hand dominance?

*Things to Consider: Too much Lateralization?

“Mudras never generate an excess of energy, they simply seek an optimal balancing of prana [energy], much like a thermostat. So next time you are ailing, remember it may just be an instance of maladjusted prana and an innocuous sleight of hand could be the cure.”

http://www.lifepositive.com/spirit/traditional-paths/rituals/mudra.asp

“‘Often you might have been rebuked by your mother for twiddling your fingers or dangling your legs [the result of hyperactivity?]. This is considered inauspicious because it involves a waste of prana or the vital energy within us,’ he explains. ‘An excess of wastage can even lead to brain damage; mudra vigyan taps this energy to heal the individual. The science of mudras is one of the finest gifts of yoga to the cause of human welfare,’ he adds.”

http://www.lifepositive.com/spirit/traditional-paths/rituals/mudra.asp

Back to 'Notes'