#56 - 20 November, 2024

To begin with, my apologies for skipping out on last week's newsletter. After close to 60 topics in the last year, I seem to be becalmed and in the doldrums for new ideas.

OTC - new and improved!

While waiting for fresh winds, I have been reworking Over The Counter (OTC) to deliver better value. OTC is now available in 3 formats, based on the kind of media consumer you are.

1. Short videos - 5-6 minute run through with my comments and opinions.
2. A slide show where the material can be seen but without the bells and whistles of a video show - for comic book readers, so to speak.
3. Cut the crap; let me read for my self - includes a list of suggested reading on the topic from my files.

Become more resilient. Reframe stress as opportunity for growth.

You can view/ download this post as a PDF slide show here: ▶️ https://peach-caitrin-72.tiiny.site/OTC-2024-11-17-stress-reframe-resilience.pdf

🄽🄾🅆 People respond to stress in one of 4 ways.

• Resilience: maintaining functional status through the stress.
• Recovery: Initial distress, then recovery.
• Delayed onset: Onset of distress some time after the event.
• Chronic stress: Persistence without recovery. 

💬 "The most common response to adversity is not chronic stress; it’s resilience."

🄱🅄🅃... Resilience is much more common than expected. Research shows that it is found in 66% of people, with most people maintaining healthy functioning even after traumatic events. Maladaptive coping strategies, such as viewing stress as insurmountable, can increase the likelihood of giving up in challenging situations.

💬 "Sometimes all it takes is one weak moment to trigger an avalanche of doubt and negativity."

🄽🄴🅆 Re-framing stress as a choice, a chance to grow or a challenge can reduce its negative effects. It makes it easier to handle, linking autonomy and a sense of agency to improved well-being and happiness.

💬 "Framing stress as something you choose helps create a sense of agency and control." 

🅂🄾... When facing a stressful situation, mentally framing it as a chosen challenge can foster resilience. We have the ability to learn the skill

💬 "Take a step back and reframe the situation… see stress as a signal you have the opportunity to rise to a challenge."

𝔼𝕟𝕕𝕢𝕦𝕠𝕥𝕖 || "Having a strong sense of controlling one’s life is a more dependable predictor of positive feelings of well-being than any of the objective conditions of life we have considered."

𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗹𝗲 ▶️ Science says emotionally intelligent people use these 2 mental strategies to overcome adversity and become remarkably resilient

Suggested reading

• Resilience is invaluable in tough times. Here’s how to build it
• Resilience and healthy aging
• How deep does life go?
• How to avoid death by comfort
• The Buddhist and the Neuroscientist
• How being pessimistic can help you succeed

Memory beyond the mind - the intelligence of our other cells

You can view/ download this post as a PDF slide show here: ▶️ https://peach-caitrin-72.tiiny.site/OTC-2024-11-17-cell-memory.pdf

🄽🄾🅆 Scientists have long known that brain cells store memories. Researchers have tested whether non-brain cells could show memory-like behaviour.

💬 "Learning and memory are generally associated with brains and brain cells alone."

🄱🅄🅃... Recent research challenges the long-standing belief that memory formation is unique to brain cells. The implication that organs or tissues might retain information could have unexpected consequences for medical treatment approaches.

💬 "... the ability to learn from spaced repetition isn’t unique to brain cells, but, in fact, might be a fundamental property of all cells."

🄽🄴🅆 A study from New York University indicates that cells outside the brain can also learn and form memories. Experiments showed that non-brain cells responded to spaced chemical pulses by activating a memory gene similar to brain cells during learning.

💬 "cells could determine when the chemical pulses, which imitated bursts of neurotransmitter in the brain, were repeated rather than simply prolonged—just as neurons in our brain can register when we learn with breaks rather than cramming all the material in one sitting."

🅂🄾... The discovery of cellular memory opens pathways for novel learning methods and personalised medical treatments that go beyond brain-focused therapies. Treatment methods might need to consider cellular memory across the body. This discovery could lead to enhanced learning techniques and new therapies for memory-related conditions

💬 "*This discovery opens new doors for understanding how memory works and could lead to better ways to enhance learning and treat memory problems."

𝔼𝕟𝕕𝕢𝕦𝕠𝕥𝕖 || “Learning and memory are generally associated with brains and brain cells alone, but our study shows that other cells in the body can learn and form memories, too.”

𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗹𝗲 ▶️ Memories are not only in the brain, human cell study finds - Devitt J, Medical Xpress. November, 2024

Suggested reading

• Comic explainer: how memory works - an absolutely delightful comic strip that explains memory
• Compare your memory with an orangutan’s – personality quiz
• What happens in your brain when you make a memory?
• How your brain decides which memories to save

... and some more

🄷🄴🄰🄻🅃🄷🄲🄰🅁🄴

• **Omega-3 and omega-6 supplements reduce risk of 19 types of cancer
• There aren't enough smart people in biology doing something boring]

🅆🄴🄻🄻🄽🄴🅂🅂

• How good sleep became a business
• What happened when I stopped drinking caffeine for a month
• **Bacterial ‘sat nav’ tracks where you’ve been with surprising accuracy
• How technology and loneliness are interlinked

🄿🅁🄾🄳🅄🄲🅃🄸🅅🄸🅃🅈

• **Try 'Pomodoro 2.0' to focus on deep work
• The death of search
• These are the best personal knowledge management tools for organizing information
• You too can write a book

🄴🅃🄲⊡

• Bertrand Russell’s 10 Commandments for living in a healthy democracy

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