Social Media & Thinking

Does social media represent positive or negative thinking?

Social media can be both. I regularly put brain-health information on social medial sites. My weekday blog is a type of social media. I spend the time doing that because many people do not have access to brain function information, and I have found learning about it very helpful in my own life. For me, that is positive thinking. Spending hours on social media and comparing what people boast about what they own or where they go or where they live would represent negative thinking. First of all, those who “boast” often misrepresent what is actually true. What a pit it would be to find yourself in the depths of despair about what you do not have as compared with what others say they have—although there is no way of verifying that. Be thankful for what you have, and you will likely have more. 

Listen to my weekly podcast https://anchor.fm/arlene-r-taylor

Negative Thinking Examples

Is the fear of missing out (FOMO), an example of negative thinking?

 I think you just answered your own question. Having a sense of being nurtured, affirmed, and acknowledged is a basic human need. That is not a slam dunk in life, unless you begin doing that for yourself—important as you are the only person who will be with you for your entire life. When you learn to accept, value, and affirm yourself, whatever you receive above that from other is a bonus. You raise your Emotional Intelligence skills so you have very realistic expectations of what you actually need from others and what they can give you. You carefully select a few close friendships that are healthily reciprocal in affirming themselves and others. Within about the space of three years, studies have shown that you tend to pick up the behaviors of the 4-5 people with whom you spend the most time. Therefore, select those with whom you hang—with care. Make sure their behaviors are something you want. More tomorrow.

Positive vs Negative

Why do we think more negative things instead of positive things? 

The short answer is because of the body’s automatic alarm system. When something stressful happens, and most negative things are stressful, the brain releases cortisol, a steroid hormone. It is designed to warn you about imminent danger, triggering changes in your brain and body to prepare you for a flight-or-fight response. This all happens in a nanosecond—a billionth of a second. If you immediately assume the worst is going to happen, that potentiates the stress response and keeps the cortisol pumping. It is so easy to get into the habit of triggering this alarm system by thinking negative thoughts. Thinking positively is easy when something good happens. The brain, however, is capable of choosing to replace a negative thought with a positive thankful thought, which releases dopamine, the feel better chemical. Therefore, thinking positive thankful thoughts is an antidote to negativity. This process requires conscious choice. You choose.

Symptoms Onset

When do symptoms tend to show up in males and females?

 For women, symptoms of depression are more likely to show up during teens and 20s, and around menopause. For men, symptoms of depression tend to show up at andropause in 40s and 50s (have a three times higher suicide rate). Estimates are that it can take 10 years and three different health-care professionals to diagnose depression in males. The good news: a brain that has been trained to respond with depression can be retrained … Tanzi & Chopra pointed out that: depression makes you overly sensitive to  small triggers, leading to a sense of helpless resignation. But if you act early, before you reach this stage, you have room to manage an everyday stress and the energy to carry out your decision to do so. Head the depression response off at the pass. 

REM Sleep DIsorder

What happens when the function of sleep paralysis fails?

There is a REM (Rapid Eye Movement) Sleep Behavior Disorder where there is no paralysis. Likely that is due to a malfunctioning of brain nerve pathways that ordinarily cause atonia during the REM sleep state. If atonia (sleep paralysis) does not occur, individuals can kick, punch, flail their arms, or even jump out of bed acting out their dreams. That can be jarring to a person’s sleep partner—to say nothing of risking a black eye from a flailing fist. The mammalian or 2^nd brain layer adds emotion to dreaming. Much of the 3^rd brain layer is off-line during dreaming, taking an electrochemical nap—which may be the reason it is difficult to “read” material you may see in dreams. However, some critical thinking still occurs as the neocortex tries to help you make sense of your dream, especially when you remember what you dreamed when you awaken.

Listen to my weekly podcast https://anchor.fm/arlene-r-taylor

Sleep Paralysis

How does sleep paralysis happen?

 The short answer is that it comes from the Brain Stem, that portion of the brain that connects the brain with the spinal cord. The longer answer begins with understanding that the brain generates two distinct types of brain waves that combine to form a sleep cycle. Most human sleeping is non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep, characterized by large, slow brain waves, relaxed muscles, and slow deep breathing. There is also rapid eye movement or REM sleep. Rapid eye movement (REM) sleep is often called dreaming sleep. The reptilian or 1^st brain layer consisting of the brain stem and cerebellum, is believed to create REM sleep. It is also responsible for atonia, the paralysis of all voluntary muscle groups, except for the eyes. Normally the human body does not move during REM sleep. That is a very good thing because it prevents people from jumping out of bed and acting out scary dreams. More tomorrow.

Persistent Questions

Today is my birthday—and I was told that you might have a February birthday, too. How do you handle questions about your birthday? I am a sick and tired of being asked how old I am—it is none of anyone else’s business. but some questioners do not seem to know that and keep bugging me.

 Now that I am done laughing, yes, today is the anniversary of my birth day and yes, it is no one else’s business. A person’s age is just a number and it is your right to UNLIST that number (except when you must disclose it legally). I have had people follow me around a campus when I was lecturing at a weekend conference or retreat-- badgering me literally to know when I was born. "On February the 1^st of a very cold year,” I always reply. When they push for a year (by that I mean they continue to ask for a specific birth year—not that they have continually asked me that question over the course of an entire year, although sometimes it feels like that!)—I may reply, “Old enough to know that I am under no obligation to answer that question.” If they are so socially inept as to continue to push for a specific answer, I may reply, “I am aiming to become a supercentenarian, and I will announce it when that happens.”