Our body is so carefully designed, that every minute part of our body and its each and every reactions are for a specific purpose. Some good information about crying and tears that i found interesting....
Most mammals will produce tears in response to extreme pain or other stimuli, but crying as an emotional reaction is considered by many to be a uniquely human phenomenon, possibly due to humans' advanced self-awareness. Some studies suggest that elephants and gorillas may cry as well.
Based on scientific studies, tears that come out of our eyes are three types:
1) Basal tears: In healthy mammalian eyes, the cornea is continually kept wet and nourished by basal tears. They lubricate the eye and help to keep it clear of dust. Tear fluid contains water, mucin, lipids, lysozyme, lactoferrin, lipocalin, lacritin, immunoglobulins, glucose, urea, sodium, and potassium. Some of the substances in lacrimal fluid fight against bacterial infection as a part of the immune system.
2) Reflex tears: The second type of tears results from irritation of the eye by foreign particles, or from the presence of irritant substances such as onion vapors, tear gas or pepper spray in the eye's environment. These reflex tears attempt to wash out irritants that may have come into contact with the eye.
3) Crying or weeping (psychic tears): The third category, generally referred to as crying or weeping, is increased lacrimation due to strong emotional stress, depression or physical pain. This practice is not restricted to negative emotions; many people have been known to cry when extremely happy or when they are laughing. In humans, emotional tears can be accompanied by reddening of the face and sobbing — cough-like, convulsive breathing, sometimes involving spasms of the whole upper body.
An interesting discovery about the content of tears was made by Dr. William H. Frey II, a biochemist at the St. Paul-Ramsey Medical Center in Minnesota. He and his team analyzed two types of tears:
the emotional ones (crying when emotionally upset and stressed - Type 3) and
the ones arising from irritants (such as crying from onions - Types 1 and 2).
They found that emotional tears contained more of the protein-based hormones, prolactin, adrenocorticotropic hormone, and leucine enkephalin (natural painkiller), all of which are produced by our body when under stress. It seems as if the body is getting rid of these chemicals through tears. That explains why we usually feel better after a good cry.
This is a great study that shows very clearly that our body and mind are very tightly integrated. Emotional stress created in the mind results in the chemical reactions in our body which produces these fluids.
Friday, October 05, 2007
Friday, August 17, 2007
Origin of the Moon
This is the popularly accepted the theory for the formation of Moon:
At the time Earth formed 4.5 billion years ago, other smaller planetary bodies were also growing. One of these hit earth late in Earth's growth process, blowing out rocky debris. A fraction of that debris went into orbit around the Earth and aggregated into the moon
Check out these links to find more about the scientific theories for the origin of the moon
http://www.psi.edu/projects/moon/moon.html
http://csep10.phys.utk.edu/astr161/lect/moon/moon_formation.html
At the time Earth formed 4.5 billion years ago, other smaller planetary bodies were also growing. One of these hit earth late in Earth's growth process, blowing out rocky debris. A fraction of that debris went into orbit around the Earth and aggregated into the moon
Check out these links to find more about the scientific theories for the origin of the moon
http://www.psi.edu/projects/moon/moon.html
http://csep10.phys.utk.edu/astr161/lect/moon/moon_formation.html
Monday, July 23, 2007
Personality
I came across a article named Personality Plus by Malcom Gladwell in which he analyzes the different methods available to test and understand the personality.
The following portion of the article captured my interest...
Our personality can hold contradictory elements—is at the heart of “Strangers to Ourselves,” by the social psychologist Timothy D.Wilson. He is one of the discipline’s most prominent researchers, and his book is what popular psychology ought to be (and rarely is): thoughtful, beautifully written, and full of unexpected insights.
Wilson’s interest is in what he calls the “adaptive unconscious” (not to be confused with the Freudian unconscious). The adaptive unconscious, in Wilson’s description, is a big computer in our brain which sits below the surface and evaluates, filters, and looks for patterns in the mountain of data that come in through our senses. That system,Wilson argues, has a personality: it has a set of patterns and responses and tendencies that are laid down by our genes and our early-childhood experiences. These patterns are stable and hard to change, and we are only dimly aware of them.
On top of that, in his schema we have another personality: it’s the conscious identity that we create for ourselves with the choices we make, the stories we tell about ourselves, and the formal reasons we come up with to explain our motives and feelings. Yet this “constructed self ” has no particular connection with the personality of our adaptive unconscious. In fact, they could easily be at odds.
Wilson writes:
The adaptive unconscious is more likely to influence people’s uncontrolled, implicit responses, whereas the constructed self is more likely to influence people’s deliberative, explicit responses. For example, the quick, spontaneous decision of whether to argue with a co-worker is likely to be under the control of one’s nonconscious needs for power and affiliation. A more thoughtful decision about whether to invite a co-worker over for dinner is more likely to be under the control of one’s conscious, self-attributed motives.
What we really need is an understanding of how those two sides of the personality interact in critical situations
-- Excerpt of the Article ends here
He says a person could react to situations differently based on which part of the personality wins over the other and gets into action at any given circumstance
I was impressed with the analysis done. The "constructed self" here could also be referred to as "I - The ego". I think that the Adaptive conscious is created based on the intensity of our experiences, thats the reason it stops with Child-hood experiences...
And what the excersies like Meditation and Yoga does is to become aware of this Adaptive conscious train it and use it in a positive way.
The following portion of the article captured my interest...
Our personality can hold contradictory elements—is at the heart of “Strangers to Ourselves,” by the social psychologist Timothy D.Wilson. He is one of the discipline’s most prominent researchers, and his book is what popular psychology ought to be (and rarely is): thoughtful, beautifully written, and full of unexpected insights.
Wilson’s interest is in what he calls the “adaptive unconscious” (not to be confused with the Freudian unconscious). The adaptive unconscious, in Wilson’s description, is a big computer in our brain which sits below the surface and evaluates, filters, and looks for patterns in the mountain of data that come in through our senses. That system,Wilson argues, has a personality: it has a set of patterns and responses and tendencies that are laid down by our genes and our early-childhood experiences. These patterns are stable and hard to change, and we are only dimly aware of them.
On top of that, in his schema we have another personality: it’s the conscious identity that we create for ourselves with the choices we make, the stories we tell about ourselves, and the formal reasons we come up with to explain our motives and feelings. Yet this “constructed self ” has no particular connection with the personality of our adaptive unconscious. In fact, they could easily be at odds.
Wilson writes:
The adaptive unconscious is more likely to influence people’s uncontrolled, implicit responses, whereas the constructed self is more likely to influence people’s deliberative, explicit responses. For example, the quick, spontaneous decision of whether to argue with a co-worker is likely to be under the control of one’s nonconscious needs for power and affiliation. A more thoughtful decision about whether to invite a co-worker over for dinner is more likely to be under the control of one’s conscious, self-attributed motives.
What we really need is an understanding of how those two sides of the personality interact in critical situations
-- Excerpt of the Article ends here
He says a person could react to situations differently based on which part of the personality wins over the other and gets into action at any given circumstance
I was impressed with the analysis done. The "constructed self" here could also be referred to as "I - The ego". I think that the Adaptive conscious is created based on the intensity of our experiences, thats the reason it stops with Child-hood experiences...
And what the excersies like Meditation and Yoga does is to become aware of this Adaptive conscious train it and use it in a positive way.
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
A Earth without people
An interesting article in scientific american about what would happen to our earth that is in present condition. if we humans do not exist.
Go ahead and read this if you want to know what all things we humans have done to the nature and environment....
http://sciam.com/article.cfm?chanID=sa006&colID=1&articleID=2691D716-E7F2-99DF-38F54EF6075AAB4D
Go ahead and read this if you want to know what all things we humans have done to the nature and environment....
http://sciam.com/article.cfm?chanID=sa006&colID=1&articleID=2691D716-E7F2-99DF-38F54EF6075AAB4D
Friday, April 06, 2007
Living Life Naturally
A good web site that i came across on living a natural life. A doctor from AP, India talks about the natural way of living.
Most of the things that he says makes sense. Try it out if you are interested.
http://www.livingnaturallife.com/index.asp
Most of the things that he says makes sense. Try it out if you are interested.
http://www.livingnaturallife.com/index.asp
Thursday, March 29, 2007
Life
An Email forward on life, worth reading...
A group of alumni, highly established in their careers, got together to visit their old university professor. Conversation soon turned into complaints about stress in work and life.
Offering his guests coffee, the professor went to the kitchen and returned with a large pot of coffee and an assortment of cups - porcelain, plastic, glass, crystal, some plain looking, some expensive, some exquisite - telling them to help themselves to the coffee.
When all the students had a cup of coffee in hand, the professor said:"If you noticed, all the nice looking expensive cups were taken up,leaving behind the plain and cheap ones. While it is normal for you to want only the best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems and stress. Be assured that the cup itself adds no quality to the coffee. In most cases it is just more expensive and in some cases even hides what we drink. What all of you really wanted was coffee, not the cup, but you Consciously went for the best cups... And then you began eyeing each other's cups.Now consider this: Life is the coffee; the jobs, money and position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold and contain Life, and the type of cup we have does not define, nor change the quality of Life we live. Sometimes, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the coffee God has provided us."
God brews the coffee, not the cups.......... Enjoy your coffee!
"The happiest people don't have the best of everything. They just make the best of everything."
Live simply. Love generously. Care deeply. Speak kindly. Leave the rest to God.
A group of alumni, highly established in their careers, got together to visit their old university professor. Conversation soon turned into complaints about stress in work and life.
Offering his guests coffee, the professor went to the kitchen and returned with a large pot of coffee and an assortment of cups - porcelain, plastic, glass, crystal, some plain looking, some expensive, some exquisite - telling them to help themselves to the coffee.
When all the students had a cup of coffee in hand, the professor said:"If you noticed, all the nice looking expensive cups were taken up,leaving behind the plain and cheap ones. While it is normal for you to want only the best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems and stress. Be assured that the cup itself adds no quality to the coffee. In most cases it is just more expensive and in some cases even hides what we drink. What all of you really wanted was coffee, not the cup, but you Consciously went for the best cups... And then you began eyeing each other's cups.Now consider this: Life is the coffee; the jobs, money and position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold and contain Life, and the type of cup we have does not define, nor change the quality of Life we live. Sometimes, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the coffee God has provided us."
God brews the coffee, not the cups.......... Enjoy your coffee!
"The happiest people don't have the best of everything. They just make the best of everything."
Live simply. Love generously. Care deeply. Speak kindly. Leave the rest to God.
Wednesday, March 07, 2007
Measuring Time
Interesting question about how we measure time. Check this link
Why is a minute divided into 60 seconds, an hour into 60 minutes, yet there are only 24 hours in a day?
Why is a minute divided into 60 seconds, an hour into 60 minutes, yet there are only 24 hours in a day?
Wednesday, January 10, 2007
13 Things that do not make sense
An article from Newscientist.com on 13 things that do not make sense for the scientists, i.e., 13 things for which science do not have a explanation yet.
1. The Placebo effect
2. The horizon problem
3. Ultra-energetic cosmic rays
4. Belfast homeopathy results
5. Dark Matter
6. Viking's Methane
7. Tetraneutrons
8. The pioneer anomaly
9. Dark Energy
10. The Kuiper cliff
11. The WoW signal
12. Not-so-constant constants
13. Cold fusion
Experimenting with the Placebo effect, a scientist Fabrizio Benedetti of the University of Turin in Italy, states that "the mind can affect the body's biochemistry"
Check this link to find out more
1. The Placebo effect
2. The horizon problem
3. Ultra-energetic cosmic rays
4. Belfast homeopathy results
5. Dark Matter
6. Viking's Methane
7. Tetraneutrons
8. The pioneer anomaly
9. Dark Energy
10. The Kuiper cliff
11. The WoW signal
12. Not-so-constant constants
13. Cold fusion
Experimenting with the Placebo effect, a scientist Fabrizio Benedetti of the University of Turin in Italy, states that "the mind can affect the body's biochemistry"
Check this link to find out more
Friday, January 05, 2007
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