Sometimes, I was wondering the consequences of sleep deprivation. Sleep deprivation is a form of psychological torture produces due to the lack of sleep. In other words, how will the sleepnessless affect our body?
Caption: sleep
I have been reading some articles concerned the stress issue. There is one Behavioral and Brain Sciences journal stated that the sleep deprivation effect is considered as a serious type of stress to human. If so, those people who have little sleep every night are trying to put themselves at risk.
Caption: beta-amyloid protien
There is a group of neuro scientist reported that the lack of sleep will cause the development of toxic plaques in the brain area. It seems that stress effects will put our brain at risk by increasing the toxic level. But, how? In fact, it all happens when this thing called the beta-amyloid protein in our brain react by increasing the toxic level. For your information, the beta-amyloid protein is sticky. The plaques will form when the beta-amyloid proteins accumulate together. When the toxics are built in our brain, it will start killing the nerve cells (or neurons). This is why the lack of sleep will help toxic plaques to develop in the brain, accelerating the progression of Alzheimer's disease. Alzheimer is not a curable disease. It produces a degeneration effect in our brain, particularly at our memory. As written in one of my previous post (click HERE), the effect of the Alzheimer disease will usually take place when a person starts aging (getting older) since the neurons in our brain will subsequently reduce every year by year, and when a person do not use their brain well. The lack of critical thinking (or if we do not use our brain for critical thinking from time to time) will usually lead to the Alzheimer disease. Evidences from Brain Sciences journals stated that these toxic will start building up very quickly when a person stay awake for more than 20 hours.
Caption: the effects of the Alzheimer disease (click to enlarge image)
The image above depicts the results a person's brain when suffered from the Alzheimer disease. The hippocampus which controls the long-term memory is shrinked, severely impairing a persons memory function. This is also a reason of the collapse of memory in a person with the Alzheimer disease.
There are various methods used to reduce the formation of toxics in our brain. First, a group of scientist has successfully examined that this drug called the "Almorexant" will help to lower the amount of plaque-forming protein. However, the Almorexant drug is usually used to cure the insomnia disease, and I do not think you can buy this drug without doctor's prescription. Insomnia means unable to sleep. Second, perhaps the most common way to reduce the formation of plaques, that is to sleep longer everyday. This method is useful to limit the formation of toxic in our brain, or perhaps will block it entirely.
Caption: brain regions affected by sleep deprivation (click to enlarge)
Anyway, we could not stop the formation of toxics entirely since the beta-amyloid protein will be produced automatically in our brain as soon as we are awake! There is a group of neuro scientist from the Cambridge University in UK indicated to not consume pills when we have the Alzheimer disease. It is probably not an advisable approach to mitigate the effects of Alzheimer. Instead, they suggest to do plenty of exercises. Exercising is an effective and natural way to keep our body to induce a better sleep. Of course, the building of proteins (toxic) in our body is not only caused by the lack of sleep. They believe that other biological factors will speed up the process. Some biological factors include (1) the foods we consume (2) the weather, e.g. cold, warm etc. (3) mental stability, e.g. brain injuries and (4) infections from various diseases.
Caption: comparison of the brain of a normal and alzheimer patient
Overall, I think the most effective approach to reduce the formation of plaques is to sleep more and properly. There evidences from different medical journals, reported that a person should sleep around 10 PM - 4 AM, or from 11 PM to 5 AM since that is the time our body will repair abnormal cells in our body.
TL's Journey of Life
This post was intentionally dedicated for two friends.
In this post, I will highlight some facts of nutritions with which pregnancy womens should consume during their pregnancy period. Of course, I will try to cover some restricted foods during this period. Please consult a GP (or doctor) for further nutriton and advices during pregnancy period.
Caption: pregnancy
Caption: pregnancy stage
Anyway, I have read some medical books of pregnancy, and those books suggest some facts for fertility. If you want to increase your chances of getting pregnant, you must consume more vitamins and minerals. The book stated this: "Take a good-quality multivitamin suppliment, and combined it with a wholesome diet". The book also suggest that fat is essential for fertility. It says that women need body fats in order to ovulate (a term used to describe the formation of egg in her ovary in which a baby can be formed). Women whose BMI (Body Mass Index) is 20.7 or below will have an infertile chance of 50%. This means they have difficulties in giving birth. Do not worry if your BMI is below 20.7 because you still the other 50% fertility chance. The ideal BMI level a women should have is between 23 and 24, for conception. This was what written in the paper. Therefore, please do not go underweight (and over weight). Anyway, here is a BMI calculator (click HERE). You need to key in your height (in centimetre) and weight (in pounds) to perform the calculation.
Caption: fetus
The BMI calculator is also useful, acting as a health calculator. According to the National Health Service (NHS):
For female
You are underweight if your BMI is below 19.1 (the lower the greater risk)
You are normal if your BMI is between 19.1 - 25.8
You are marginal overweight if your BMI is between 25.8 - 27.3
You are overweight if your BMI is between 27.3 - 32.3
You are severely overweight if your BMI is between 32.3 - 44.8
You are at high-risk if your BMI is beyond 44.8
For male
You are underweight if your BMI is below 20.7 (the lower the greater risk)
You are normal if your BMI is between 20.7- 26.4
You are marginal overweight if your BMI is between 26.4 - 27.8
You are overweight if your BMI is between 27.8 - 31.1
You are severely overweight if your BMI is between 31.1 - 45.4
You are at high-risk if your BMI is beyond 45.4
Caption: twin fetus
I am sure there are some minor issues related to pregnancy which we have understand already, that is the twin babies. If your (and your partner's) family tree do not have of any twins or triplets, then you will never have a twin baby. Please avoid giving birth in late 30s and 40s because that will subsequently increase the risk of breast cancer by 50 per cent.
Caption: pregnancy and water
I am aware that a mother should drink plenty of water during their pregnancy period since water is extremely important for their reproductive system, and is a natural remedy for many diseases. The usual recommendation is to drink at least 2 litres (around 8 glasses) of water a day. Vegetable and fruit juices are recommended. Please AVOID taking coffee (caffeine contained in coffee will increase the risk of conceive), alcohols and soft drinks as much as possible during the pregnancy period since these drinks are not good for your baby. Alcohol is not recommended for the father too since the alcohol-effect will have a probability in killing the number of sperms, subsequently reduces the fertility rate in the women. Besides that, consuming alcohol causes dehydration, leading to nutritient loss. Please also avoid smoking and drugs. Those are negative habbits for a pregnant mother.
An existing medical journal stated that mothers should AVOID taking large amount of vitamin A since too much vitamin A can be poisonous for your liver, particularly during pregnancy period. However, you can continue to eat green and orange-coloured vegetables / fruits (i.e. carrot, oranges). Emotional health is also impotant for fertility. Human, of course, are able to conceive during stress period, but this may result in several difficulties. There are evidences from previous research papers from the Harvard University Behavioral Medicine Centre, stated that too burden (or too much stress) will stop ovulation, and not able to ceonceive.
This are some rumors heard from some elder adults. They suggest to avoid consuming watermelon. According to them, watermelon might generate some negetive effects to the fetus, e.g. abortion. Please do not do heavy exercises (i.e. jumping, rolling on the floor, running etc.) during your pregnancy period. It may also cause abortion. In any cases, you definitely need to buy some new shoes during this period, guess to avoid slipping.
Caption: some fruits during pregnancy period
During pregnancy period, the mother should consume fresh fruits and vegetables. Before and during pregnancy period, the women should aim for 8 servings everyday. This include grains (i.e. brown rice, buckwheat, high-quality protien from organic turkey or chicken, some nuts, tofu, fish) and supply of good fats (i.e. sunflower and pumpkin seed, primerose oil and fish oils). Essential fats (i.e. avacados, nuts and oily fish) are necessary for the reproductive system in your body and is crucial for healthy hormone functioning.
Caption: food pyramid
There are a spectrum of essential minerals needed for a mother during her pregnancy period. First, she need iron, calcium, magnesium, folic acid, selenium, manganese, essential fats, zinc, probiotic bacteria and prebiotic bacteria. These are the main mineral components needed during the nine months. In addition, she need to consume foods which contains vitamin A, C, E, and some of the vitamin Bs (B complex components). Vitamin A is necessary during pregnancy period, but try not overdose. The below are examples of foods that produces such mineral and vitamins:
Folic acid: green beans, spinash, asparagus, brown rice, banana
Iron: eggs, fish, dark green-coloured vegetables, seaweeds, prunes
Calcium: seaweeds, natural yogurt, organic fish, broccoli, nuts.
Selenium: salmon, tuna, broccoli, garlic.
Zinc: seafoods, whole grains, dried fruits.
Manganese: seaweeds, nuts, whole grains.
Magnesium: dark green-coloured vegetables, nuts, vegetables, brown rice.
Essential Fatty-Acids: avacado, olive oil, nuts, fish.
B complex vitamins: brown rice, avacado, lentils, eggs, seaweeds.
Vitamin A (betacarotene): carrots, tomatoes, cabbage, spinash, broccoli.
Vitamin C: raw fruits (i.e. oranges and kiwi), any berries, broccoli, red pepper.
Vitamin E: olives, avacado, nuts.
Probiotic Bacteria: yoghurt, miso.
Prebiotic bacteria: banana.
Caption: the food chart
Of course, there are other foods (and fruits) suggested to increase the chances of fertility. Here are some examples: Avacados, almonds, figs, berries (e.g. strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, raspberries), pomegranates, brown rice, oats, seaweed, sprouted clover and sunflower, turtle beans.
Caption: breast-feeding
Breast-feeding. What is good about breast feeding? Because every mammal produces different quantity and type of nutritions (i.e. protiens, fats, minerals, vitamins etc.) in their milk, therefore, the most suitable milk for human baby is the milk from their mother. A medical book written that human milk contains at least 100 different compounds not found in formula (strongly required for the baby's brain development), which means there are never a better substitution of milk than the human milk for babies. The American Journal of Public Health reported that breastfed babies usually suffered 30 per cent reduction in illness in the first six months. Overall, human milk is good for babies for (1) reduces diarrhoea (2) colds (3) ear infections (4) vomitting and (5) fever. I am not sure of this, but rumors suggest that breastfeeding will tighten the mother-children relationship. Breast feeding is also essential for the mother to release necessary hormones whilst burning extra calories (reducing fats) and reduces mood swing or depression. I have ever read an article, stated that breast feeding reduces the risk of breast cancer. If your baby reject your milk (e.g. screaming), it means the mother is out of balance in her liver or probably causes indigestion. Please visit a GP if that ever happens. The process of breast feeding usually take place for only 6 months.
As a summary, women during their pregnancy period should consume:
1. Five portions of fresh fruits and vegetables daily. Stirfying and steaming are two recommended methods suggested when cooking the vegetables. Please drink freshly pressed vegetable juices.
2. You need plenty of complex carbohydrates (i.e. sweet potato, barley, green lentils, carrots, cauliflower, banana apples, berries, papaya, pears). You also need soluble fibres that you may get from green-coloured vegetables to prevent constipation (a very common problem during pregnancy).
3. This is probably the most essential advice. Please drink plenty of water. Expert suggests pregnant women to drink at least 8 glasses of filtered water everyday to maintain their hydration levels.
4. Consume more protien foods during pregnancy in your meal everyday. This includes: tofu, organic white meat, fish (make sure its organic fish), eggs, beas, and peas.
5. Consume essential fatty acids such as omega-3 fats. They are extremely important in pregnancy especially for your baby's brain and eye (vision) development.
6. Consume more calcium foods, such as natural yoghurt, dark-green vegetables, sea vegetables, tofu, almonds. Try AVOID high-volume calcium saturated dairy products such as whole milk, cream and full-fat cheese. Vitamin D is necessary for proper calcium absorption, but you can get this vitamin from the sunlight. So, make sure you go outdoor everyday for sunlight absorbtion (for vitamin D).
7. Consume some foods with iron. One source of high-iron food is red meat (i.e. beef). However, there are many alternatives for vegetarians or vegans, such as beans, lentils, chickpeas, eggs, dark green-coloured vegetables, raisins, prune juice etc. However, to increase your iron absorption, please consume food rich in vitamin C at the same time.
8. Consume folic acid foods, such as sprouts, brocolli, asparagus, peas and brown rice. You should consume 'some' healthy snacks to keep your sugar level balanced. Here are some examples: stewed fruits, dried fruits with nuts and seeds, oat cakes, yoghurt and olive.
Here is the summary of what pregnant womens should avoid in order to not harm their unborn baby:
1. Avoid consuming foods that may contain bacteria called listeria, such as cheese.
2. Avoid raw or partial cooked eggs as they may cause food poisoning. Also avoid foods made using eggs such as mayonnaise, salad dresing and ice creams.
3. Avoid uncooked meats. Also avoid liver products such as fish liver oils since they are excessively high in vitamin A.
4. Avoid certain fishes such as shark and sword fish. DO NOT consume more than two portions of oily fish (i.e. tuna, sardines) a week. The reason is because fish contain toxic metal that will harm your baby.
5. Avoid alcohol, coffee and cigarettes.
6. Avoid consuming peanuts if the babies siblings or parents have allergies to nuts.
7. Avoid fried and unhealthy foods that is too-fat, contain too much sugar, white rice, pasta, white bread, white pasta, and salt.
Do you know:
Originally, chocolate will increase the excitement level in a person. This means that eating chocolate continuously will make us feel happy. There are also evidences stated that consuming chocolates is beneficial for our heart. This was indicated by existing research. However, a recent research published in the British Journal of Psychiatry confirmed that consuming chocolate for a period of time (i.e. 5 years) will increase the percentage of depression! Their research also suggest that consuming whole food (i.e. green vegetables, fruits and fish) will lower the risk of depression 26 per cent. Therefore, try not eating too much chocolate and processed foods (e.g. cocktail sausage) to reduce the risk of depression.
I seriously think this is probably the 100th time going to Cambridge for research purpose, and really weird, I think this is probably the first time taking so many photographs around that place. Anyway, I am extremely happy although I could not complete one of the experiment this time.
Here are some photos taken. I will post the remaining on facebook. By the way, please click on the photographs to enlarge the size.
Caption: Churchill College, Cambridge
There are 31 colleges in Cambridge. Every college has different name. Every colleges will offer different courses. Coincidently, Churchill college deals with psychology and information sciences. This is also why I will only attend seminars, workshops and conducting some research work at Churchill college and not other colleges.
Caption: myself and the Mathematical Bridge at Queens College
Having a very tention and tedious feeling when I ever thought of going back to school for studies again, lol. Maybe I have been studying for a very long time now.
Caption: myself outside the Wolfson Foyer at Churchill College
Caption: myself in the Jack Colville Hall
Took some photographs with Ting-Ting.
Caption: myself and Ting-Ting infront of Churchill
Sometimes, I was wondering, why are they giving me some dairies when I don't usually use a dairy? Lol. Maybe I could use it as a present for my siblings when I return home soon?
Caption: the 2009 - 2010 Cambridge University diary
Caption: content of the diary
I showed Ting-Ting around Churchill college and met some of the professors. We chatted with some laughters. They are extremely nice people. They also believed that Ting-Ting is capable and should consider doing a PhD because she should have no problem handling it based on the way she think and speak. However, definitely not at Churchill college, maybe at Fitzwilliam college or Trinity college Cambridge. I was wondering, hows Trinity college? How's their lecturers? Anyway, I will try persuade her to apply for a PhD research position at Cambridge after graduating her postgraduate, although funding a PhD research is a serious matter for most people. It is very costly! Hopefully a collegue or professor would be able to recommend her a scholarship by then.
Anyway, here are some really beautiful images of bridges taken. Now, the history of the Mathematical bridge may sound a little suspicious to you, when people claimed that the bridge was initially built without nails - but people could actually stand on the bridge without nails! That was so amazing. The bridge was formed based on some mathematical calculations where a myth says that the Cambridge students and research fellows dissembled the bridge sometime in the 17th century and could not resemble it again!
Caption: Mathematical bridge at Queens College
Caption: Trinity Bridge near Claire and Trinity College
Here are some photos taken in Sheffield. Hmm, Sheffield is a really very boring place. This explains why I have not been to this town after staying in UK for almost a decade.
Caption: somewhere in Sheffield Town
Caption: the wheel of Sheffield
Caption: in Sheffield Town
Human brain contained 10 power of (12) neuron (also known as brain cells). This means that a person's brain should contain approximately 1 trillion neurons (1, 000, 000, 000, 000 neurons). In this post, i will explain every single thing in a very simple form because those scientific terms will usually make us feel sleepy when reading. Anyway, humans are able to think because neurons are passing information from one to another at a very significant speed. The neuron will pass information from one to another through tiny wires, and we called them as fibre. There is a mathematical calculation for this, stating that the transmission between information for the fibre length of 60.8 millimeter will consume approximately 1 second. However, the maximum length of fibre between neuron is 1.1 mm. Based on calculation, the actual transmission speed between 2 neurons are 0.0183 second, an extremely significant speed of transmission. This is why human could think so quickly.
Caption: the human brain
The cells in our brain is known as the brain nerve cells. We could also find other nerve cells all over our body - called the body cells. The only difference between nerve cells and body cells is that nerve cells will die due to aging while body cells will not die. Instead, body cells will regenerate automatically depending on different factors (i.e. food that we consume, medicines that we apply etc.). That is why if we cut our finger, it will recover automatically, in the matter of time. However, when the brain nerve cells die, they will not regenerate anymore.
Caption: structure of our body cell
Neurons will die slowly when human starts aging (the amount of neuron will be reduced every year). If this is the case, when we reached to a certain age when most of the brain cells are dead, then we should be infected by the alzeimer disease (alzeimer is a state where a person's mental capacity decreases - simply unable to use our brain memories anymore - i.e. using the short-term, long-term and episodic memory). However, there are evidences stating that using our brain in critical thinking should help to recover from the alzeimer disease. That is why elder adults were asked to perform critical thinking involving mathematical calculations (i.e. playing mahjong) because doing these activities will help stimulating the brain, and prevent brain cells from dying quicker. Anyway, playing mahjong or poker will only exercise the brain so the brain cells will decrease slower. However, those activities should bypass the central executive easily. In other words, those tasks are not significant enough to produce critical thinking. As practice increases, the processing in our brain will jump to the state of automaticity and will not require brain processing from the central executive anymore. Therefore, those task (i.e. playing mahjong) will somehow become useless and were unable to prevent the alzeimer disease.
Caption: Broadbent (1971) upper-lower mechanism stress theory
Because a person's brain is way too complicated to explain every components contained in the brain, neurologists and cognitive psychologist can only predict some parts with theories and structures. Cognitive psychologists argued that single mechanism should be too simplistic when defining many brain processes. Therefore, they do believe that there are 2 levels in a brain. What happen is, the central brain is the upper mechanism in the theory above. The upper mechanism is important since it monitor the overall progress of our brain, particularly when dealing with stress. When we perceive an information (i.e. sound that we listen), the sound will be sent to the lower mechanism, and if dealing with any stress related activities, that particular sound will be sent to the upper mechanism for further monitoring. Usually, our performance will not be reduced when doing anything, except if we were drunk or in fatigue condition. According to this cognitive psychology theory, sleepy or noisy environment will not affect human performance at all. So, people, do not use sleepy as a reason when you were unable to complete a task :)
Caption: the hippocampus
Somewhere in the middle section of the brain, called the Hippocampus. It is an extremely important component (major component) of our brain that deals with the long-term memory and navigation. People will suffer from the alzeimer disease when the surface of their hippocampus is damaged. The hippocampus is a component in the central executive system of our brain. When linking to the theory above, the hippocampus should be somewhere in the upper mechanism (a part of the central executive).
Caption: structure of a neuron and fibres
If anyone have watched the Mr. Brain (a japanese series), then this section is going to be exciting. According to Mr. Brain, our brain need carbohydrate to increase the brain's processing speed. Well, it can be true that our brain require carbohydrate, but not the way he explained. He said the more carbohydrate we consume, the more efficient our brain would be. It is simply not true, since to date, the only thing that will increase brain processing speed is injection that supply MGso4 to a person's body. Other possibility is by consuming certain fish since some fish contained some element that will exchange the food into MGso4. It has the ablity to boost the speed of processing in our brain. Similar to the theory of a car, needing petrol in order to move. The same theory of applying glucose into our brain to make it function. In other words, our brain can only function with glucose. It is a fact that that our brain can only accept glucose through the blood stream (blood veins) as neurons do not have the capacity to store glucose.
Caption: an indepth structure of neuron and fibre
A rough calculation of critical work processing with our brain is, usually will not exceed 50 minutes. This means we need to rest our brain after working for 50 minutes when handling critical processing (i.e. hard tasks or stress). Experts suggest to take 10 minutes break to refresh our brain. Every 10 minutes break should allow us to use our brain for the next 50 minutes again. The most effective brain resting method is to sleep. Only sleeping will rest the brain well. However, there are other suggestions from different experts, that is to do some leisure activities. Some examples are eating, laughing, watching movies, playing video games, walking around, exercising. Banana is a good source that will help in relaxation since the MGso4 (MGso4 is a chemical combination of magnesium and sulfate) contained in banana provide natural way to calm a person's mind. It also provide sufficient carbohydrate, transforming it to glucose for all body parts in a person, especially the brain. Therefore, consuming carbohydrate is equal to consuming glucose since carbohydrate will be transformed to glucose.
However, too much glucose in a person's body will lead to the diabetes disease. That is an extremely serious disease. Originally, a person's body sugar level should be around 4.5 to 6.3 unit/millilitre. Exceeding 5.5 unit is considered as reaching the first stage of diabetes, and the patient will usually be monitored with medication. However, if the blood level in a person's body is below 4.5 unit, then usually, doctors will suggest the patient to drink some water with glucose in it. This approach will help to raise their sugar level to normal again.
Anyway, you may also wish to read more about human brain by clicking the following links: Part 1 and Part 2
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