Health

Seven Habits for a Healthy Mind in a Healthy Body

To find clues for healthy living today, we must look to our past. The history of human evolution shows a definitive link between our physical health and psychological well-being. The Greeks understood the importance of a Sound Mind in a Sound Body. That credo became the foundation of their civilization. For clues on how we can best survive the 21st century we should look to the wisdom held in our ancestry and evolutionary biology.

In this entry I will explore ways in which modern living is causing our bodies and minds to short-circuit. I will recap the major periods of human evolution and offer a simple prescriptive that can insulate you from the ‘future shock’ that rapid advances in technology have created in our bodies, minds, and society. “Future shock” is a term for a certain psychological state of individuals and entire societies, introduced by Alvin Toffler in his book of the same name. Toffler’s most basic definition of future shock is: “ too much change in too short a period of time.”  Do you feel future shocked? What ways are you coping with it?

The ۷ Habits for a Healthy Mind in a Healthy body are simple daily lifestyle choices. These 7 principles are the foundation of The Athlete’s Way philosophy:

۷ HABITS FOR A HEALTHY MIND IN A HEALTHY BODY

  1. Daily Physicality: Exercise for at least 20 minutes most days of the week.
  2. Intellectual Curiosity: Spend some time in focused thought, exploring new ideas every day.
  3. Foster Creativity: Challenge your mind to connect unrelated ideas in new and useful ways.
  4. Human Unity: Create and maintain close-knit human bonds and a social support network.
  5. Spiritual Connectedness: Identify a Source of inspiration that is bigger than you.
  6. Energy Balance: Balance Calories in/Calories out, and reduce your carbon footprint.
  7. Voluntary Simplicity: Embrace the liberty that comes with wanting and needing less.

Technology vs. Evolutionary Biology

A visual image that I find useful for putting human evolution in perspective is to picture that if the entire length of your arm represented human evolution, the past 200 years would be represented by the white tip of a freshly clipped finger nail. We often forget the lightning speed with which recent modern inventions have reshaped our lives after hundreds of millions of years of very gradual change.

Here is a quick timeline of major inventions that have changed our lives since the 1800s: The steam engine and locomotive were invented in 1804, the telephone in 1876, the first electrical power plant in 1882, the production-line automobile in 1902, the television in 1927, the jet airplane 1943, the ATM in 1967, the cell phone in 1973, the internet in 1983. Isn’t it amazing to realize how recently these changes have occurred considering the first primate fossils date back some 20 million years?

The first seeds of the information age began in 1888 when an American inventor, Herman Hollerith, developed a successful computer, using punched cards and electricity. In 1911 he sold his company, the Tabulating Machine Company, which then became the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company. In 1924 this company became IBM. Analog computers were developed in 1930 and the first electronic computer was in use by 1946.

The digital revolution was officially born late in 1947 when two Bell Labs scientists demonstrated a transistor that could take electric current, amplify it, and switch it on and off. By the late 1960s, large companies used computers. Personal computers were introduced in 1975. The internet and social media have changed the way we live, work and communicate in ways that would have seemed unimaginable just a decade ago. We are all scrambling to keep our bearings in this digital whirlwind.

Like many people, I believe that we have to be proactive in order to combat the potential of digital technology to zap our minds and bodies of their vitality. Obviously, digital advances have improved our lives in so many ways, but there are so many uncertains. For example: As a parent, I wonder if iPads as a learning tool help raise a generation that is being spoon fed too much over-processed everything or do they enhance learning and creativity? I think it’s a dual-edged sword.

Technology has the ability to greatly enhance our lives, but it also has the power to cause our bodies and brains to atrophy. What are the consequences to our biology of living in a virtual reality, where we don’t have to work physically to stay alive? Will our children be able to adapt to these changes better than we did or will it only get worse? The advice herein is a prophylaxis to help insulate your biology so you can continue to climb ever-higher and maximize the potential of your body and mind.

Humans are Built to Run

As hunter-gatherers, the human body evolved to run great distances hunting prey and gathering food. The ability to spring through the air using our gluteus maximus muscles is what sets us apart from primate cousins. This pogo-stick ability of each leg allowed us to travel long distances and to hunt and gather a high protein diet, using relatively little fuel. We are very fuel-efficient machines. As our brains grew, so did our prefrontal cortex, the seat of human intelligence, and we became better hunters. It also kept our cerebellum bulked up, which gave us the benefit of a strong ‘up brain’ and a strong ‘down brain.’ I wrote a Pyschology Today blog about this split-brain model that you can check out here.

Endurance running is unique to homo sapiens among all other mammals except for dogs, horses and hyenas. Drs. Lieberman and Bramble, paleontologists at Harvard, established that our slender legs, shorter arms, narrower rib cage and pelvis, skulls with overheating prevention features, and the nuchal joint, which keeps our heads steady when we run, set us apart from chimpanzees.

The scientists concluded that running improved our chances of survival and reproduction. Although we were not as swift as our four-legged competitors, we could (and still can) out run and hunt over greater distances than other predators. Lieberman says, “Endurance running may have made possible a diet rich in fats and proteins thought to account for the unique human combination of large bodies, small guts, big brains, and small teeth.” It also imbedded the need to stay active into our biology.

Unity, Creativity, and Adventure are in Our DNA

One reason the Neanderthals may have became extinct is that they stayed in certain caves in France and parts of Spain for endless generations, relying on the same simple chiseled tools. Homo sapiens, on the other hand, were inclined to keep pushing into new areas, and inventing new technology. This is believed to be one reason that human lineage did not become extinct.

The first jewelry that archeologists have discovered dates back as far as 75,000 years ago. It is believed that homo sapiens in Africa began making beads, and piercing holes in the teeth of deceased loved ones to wear as adornment around this time. These findings illustrate that creativity and a deep need for human connection are embedded in our DNA. As the hunter-gatherers traveled the land in small bands, they also made sharp spears and other tools. Creative thinking and innovation have been linked to human survival for millennia.

Early agriculturists faced many challenges that hunting-gatherers didn’t have to deal with. Farming meant the agriculturists needed to figure out how to exploit a relatively small amount of land very intensely, rather than taking advantage of a large amount of land as hunter-gatherers did. Early agricultural life, didn’t require us to run, but it did require superior intelligence, physical stamina, and close-knit human bonds. Humans were able to do this and continued to evolve.

Agrarian society created a new lifestyle and social network. Pre-industrial farming required intense physical labor. The harvest cycle required a sustained physical effort a few times of the year based on seasonal weather patterns. Just as hunter-gatherers traveled in bands together, agrarian farming built tight communities. The necessities of agrarian life molded human behavior and society in ways that were uprooted by industrialization and commercialized farming.

Early farmers had to store food and to refrain from consuming whatever was available at the moment. If an agricultural community behaved like hunter-gatherers by grazing as they gathered food, they would starve to death in the winter. As agrarians we had to practice delaying gratification and not feast when there was abundance. Given the abundance of calorie-dense, nutritionally low food constantly at our disposal today—and the innate hunter-gatherer wiring embedded in our biology—it is understandable why so many people binge and have trouble delaying gratification.

Industrialization + Energy Gluttony = Global Warming

The first Industrial revolution occurred in Great Britain between 1750 and 1830. The use of automated machinery and the arrival of mass production created a new consumersociety in the late 18th Century. Industrialization was a shock to the human system. Developments in Europe moved the population from a largely rural population, that made its livelihood from agriculture, to a town-centered society increasingly engaged in factory manufacturing. Later in the 19th century, similar revolutionary transformations began occurring in the United States.

Homo sapiens evolved to be very fuel-efficient machines. This is one reason it’s so easy for us to gain weight when we don’t have to do physical work to hunt or harvest our food.  With industrialization, physical expenditure dropped drastically. A typical hunter-gatherer required only 2,000 to 5,000 kilocalories of energy a day obtained through direct caloric consumption. Early agricultural societies required the equivalent of 20,000 kilocalories per person daily to maintain a farm. Early industrial societies required 60,000 kilocalories worth of energy, and modern post-industrial information societies require the equivalent of 120,000 kilocalories. The impact of this energy consumption on our environment are well known and one reason voluntary simplicity will benefit us all in the long run.

Socio-Economic Stratification

With industrialization, people moved into cities and began to work in factories. The human relationship to physicality and to nature changed. Much of the Romantic movements of the 19th century were a reaction to industrialism, by a class of people who could afford to appreciate nature and translate it into art. The Romantics wanted to reconnect with nature for creative and spiritual reasons. They realized that in gaining a command over nature, humans had lost something visceral and mystical that occurred through a connection to nature. How is the disconnect from nature and our own biology impacting our spiritual connectedness today?

I decided to embrace voluntary simplicity and live closer to nature a few years ago. Getting out of the city and de-cluttering my life was the most liberating thing I’ve ever done. Today I can fit all of my material possesions in the back of a small station wagon, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. I keep the overhead very low and am able to live by the 7 principles here on a spartan budget. You can, too! One great thing about the digital age is that it allows you to work from anywhere. I have chosen to live closer to nature with visits to the city. I find that it is the perfect balance for optimal creativity and well-being. I feel very lucky to have the best of both worlds.

The socio-economic stratification of those who make a living doing creative jobs and who also exercise regularly is a point of interest to me. When I look at the record number of high-achievers entering local road running races, marathons, triathlons…and compare those statistics to the nationwide averages of obesity, I ask myself the chicken-or-the-egg question of which came first: their creative success or their dedication to regular physical activity? I fear that exercise, obesity, and creativity will become more and more of a class-divider in years to come. I am working to combat this through everything I do with The Athlete’s Way platform and corporate partnerships geared at funneling resources towards wellness initiatives aimed at underserved American youth.

Conclusion: Sweat is the Most Effective Elixir for Future Shock

I strongly believe that the 7 Habits for a Healthy Mind in a Healthy Body presented here are an antidote for future shock. Adopting these habits into your daily routine will keep you healthy, happy, and young at heart. Daily physical activity is ultimately the single most important elixir for staving off the negative impacts of modern life. Just 20 minutes most days of physical activity makes a huge difference in your state of well-being.

As Hippocrates said, “Walking is the best medicine.” A short, brisk daily walk could make all the difference in your long-term mental and physical health. If you want to be a resilientthought leader or innovator, you need to flex muscles in your mind and your body. Physical activity clears the cobwebs from your mind and makes you more creative. Almost every successful person I know who has an enduring career and remains prolific with fresh ideas has made the connection that regular physical activity is a requisite for his or her mental, physical, and professional longevity.

You don’t have to become an exercise fanatic, but nobody can sweat for you. If you want to stay competitive in a modern world you have to make physical activity a part of your daily routine. A generation ago before the digital revolution, in accepting his 1950 Nobel Prize in Literature Bertrand Russell—who was a zealot for the power of physical activity—addressed the pitfalls of modern living and offered some advice. I close with a quote from his speech titled: What Desires are Politically Important?

Our mental make-up is suited to a life of very severe physical labor. I used, when I was younger, to take my holidays walking. I would cover twenty-five miles a day, and when the evening came I had no need of anything to keep me from boredom, since the delight of sitting amply sufficed. But modern life cannot be conducted on these physically strenuous principles. A great deal of work is sedentary, and most manual work exercises on a few specialized muscles. Civilized life has grown altogether too tame, and, if it is to be stable, it must provide the harmless outlets for the impulses which our remote ancestors satisfied by hunting… More seriously, pains should be taken to provide constructive outlets for the love of excitement. Nothing is more exciting than a moment of sudden discovery or invention, and many more people are capable of experiencing such moments than is sometimes thought.

Christopher Bergland
لوسی

لوسی

لوسی (به انگلیسی: Lucy) یک فیلم علمی–تخیلی و اکشن آمریکایی-فرانسوی محصول سال ۲۰۱۴، به نویسندگی و کارگردانی لوک بسون است.[۱] اسکارلت جوهانسون به عنوان شخصیت اصلی فیلم و مورگان فریمن نقش پروفسور نورمن را ایفا می‌کند. لوسی توسط یونیورسال استودیوز در ۲۵ ژوئیه ۲۰۱۴، در ایالات متحده به نمایش درآمد.

داستان

لوسی یک زن ۲۴ ساله آمریکایی است که در تایپه تایوان زندگی و تحصیل می‌کند. دوست پسر او می‌خواهد تا یک محموله کیف را بدست مردی کره‌ای به نام آقای جانگ برساند، اما او مقاومت می‌کند ولی دوست پسرش با دستبند دست او را به کیف می‌بندد و او را مجبور می‌کند تا آن را به آقای جانگ تحویل دهد. لوسی بعد از دیدن افراد جانگ می‌فهمد آن‌ها یک باند خلافکار هستند و او را مجبور می‌کنند تا کیف را که درونش ۴ بسته مواد آبی رنگ است باز کند. جانگ به لوسی پیشنهاد کار می‌دهد و لوسی قبول نمی‌کند، سپس افراد جانگ او را با ضربه‌ای بیهوش می‌کنند. وقتی دوباره به هوش می‌آید می‌فهمد آن‌ها، بدن او را به عنوان یک حامل ماده شیمیایی فوق‌العاده قدرتمند به اسم CPH4، به کار می‌گیرند تا بتوانند این موارد را به صورت غیرقانونی به اروپا منتقل کنند و لوسی به همراه ۳ نفر دیگر حامل این مواد هستند.

در میان سفر، کیسه حاوی CPH4 که در شکم لوسی جاسازی شده بود، در اثر ضربه یکی از قاچاقچیان به شکم او پاره شده و مقدار زیادی از CPH4 در بدن وی پخش می‌شود و باعث فعل و انفعلات غیرعادی در وضعیت زیستی وی می‌شود که به وی این توانایی را می‌دهد که به تدریج تمام ظرفیت اسمی مغز خود را به صورت بالفعل درآورد در اولین گام ظرفیت استفاده از مغزش از ۱۰ درصد معمول به ۲۰ درصد می‌رسد. او قاچاقچیان را از پای درمی‌آورد و به بیمارستان می‌رود و پزشکان را مجبور می‌کند او را جراحی کنند و مواد را از شکم او خارج کنند. دکتر به او می‌گوید CPH4 ماده‌ای است که به میزان خیلی کم جنین در هنگام رشد از بدن مادر دریافت می‌کند و تأثیر خارق‌العاده‌ای دارد، و حالا این نمونه ساخته شده به دست انسان و مصنوعی است.

حالا لوسی توانایی‌های زیادی به دست آورده از جمله او می‌تواند امواج را کنترل کند و با پروفسور ساموئل نورمن ارتباط برقرار می‌کند. پروفسور نورمن کسی است که روی افزایش سطح مغز انسان‌ها تحقیق می‌کند. لوسی که قدرت ارتباط به وسیله امواج را دارد با پروفسور ارتباط برقرار می‌کند و به او می‌گوید من به تدریج ظرفیت استفاده از مغزم افزایش پیدا می‌کند و به پروفسور نورمن می‌گوید من مدتی کمتر از ۲۴ ساعت زنده هستم، اما اکنون توانایی ذهنی زیادی دارم و چه کاری می‌توانم بکنم، پروفسور نورمن به او می‌گوید وظیفه هر سلول انتقال اطلاعات است مانند یک سلول باش و به پیشرفت علم کمک کن. لوسی هم به نورمن می‌گوید در ۱۲ ساعت آینده نزد تو خواهم آمد.

او با پلیسی به نام پیر دل ریو ارتباط برقرار می‌کند و می‌گوید سه بسته مواد مخدر در حال ورود به اروپا است و از او می‌خواهد تا جلوی آن‌ها را بگیرد. او اطلاعات این سه نفر را که از مغز رئیس قاچاقچی‌ها به دست آورده در اختیار پلیس قرار می‌دهد. پلیس‌ها آن‌ها را بازداشت می‌کنند، اما قاچاقچی‌ها موفق می‌شوند مأموران پلیس را از پای درآورند و مواد را از بدن حاملان خارج کنند. در همین حال ظرفیت ذهنی لوسی به طور مداوم افزایش پیدا می‌کند. لوسی که به پاریس رفته است با قدرت خارق‌العاده‌ای که دارد ارتباط خلافکاران با هم را شنود می‌کند و متوجه عملیات آن‌ها می‌شود او با همین قدرت ذهنی خلافکاران را از بین می‌برد و مواد را بدست می‌آورد.

لوسی به ملاقات پروفسور نورمن و همکارانش می‌رود و اطلاعات زیادی در اختیار آن‌ها قرار می‌دهد. او که به هفتاد درصد از ظرفیت مغزش دست یافته از پروفسور می‌خواهد تا بقیه مواد را به او تزریق کند تا به ۱۰۰ درصد ظرفیت مغزش برسد. پروفسور می‌گوید بشر ظرفیت استفاده از این علم را ندارد و لوسی به او می‌گوید من تمام اطلاعات را در یک کامپیوتر اختیار تو قرار می‌دهم تا تو به تدریج آن را افشا کنی. در همین حال آقای جانگ و سایر تبهکاران تحت فرمان او به دانشگاهی که پروفسور نورمن آنجاست حمله می‌کند و با نیروهای پلیس درگیر می‌شوند. پس از تزریق مواد لوسی به مرور تغییر شکل می‌دهد پس از رسیدن جانگ که رئیس قاچاقچی‌ها است به محل لوسی کاملاً ناپدید شده، جانگ می‌پرسد او کجاست اما کسی نمی‌داند، در همین حال پیر دل ریو سر می‌رسد و جانگ را می‌کشد. وقتی که او می‌پرسد لوسی کجاست پیامی روی موبایلش می‌بیند که می‌گوید من همه جا هستم، کامپیوتری که لوسی ساخته یک فلش مموری حاوی اطلاعات هم در اختیار پروفسور نورمن قرار می‌دهد.

 

 

لوسی
Lucy (2014 film) poster.jpg

پوستر فیلم
کارگردانلوک بسون
تهیه‌کنندهویرجینیا سیلا
نویسندهلوک بسون
بازیگراناسکارلت جوهانسون
مورگان فریمن
عمرو واکد
چویی مین-سیک
موسیقیاریک سرا
فیلم‌برداریتیری آربوگاس
تدوینجولین ری
شرکت
تولید
اروپاکورپ
تی‌اف۱
توزیع‌کنندهیونیورسال استودیوز
تاریخ‌های انتشار
  • ۲۵ ژوئن ۲۰۱۴ (ایالات متحده)
  • ۶ اوت ۲۰۱۴ (فرانسه)
مدت زمان
۹۰ دقیقه
کشور ایالات متحده آمریکا
 فرانسه
زبانانگلیسی
فرانسوی
هزینهٔ فیلم۴۰ میلیون دلار
فروش گیشه۴۶۳٫۴ میلیون دلار


 

سینا یاوریان

سخنران، مدرس و مشاور روانشناسی

روش خطرناک-فرويد

یک روش خطرناک

یک روش خطرناک (به انگلیسی: A Dangerous Method) فیلمی تاریخی محصول سال ۲۰۱۱ به کارگردانی دیوید کراننبرگ و با حضور بازیگرانی همچون کیرا نایتلی، ویگو مورتنسن، مایکل فاسبندر و ونسان کسل است. فیلمنامه توسط کریستوفر همپتون از نمایش‌نامه سال ۲۰۰۲ او به نام درمان سخنگو اقتباس شده است.

داستان فیلم

در سال ۱۹۰۴ کارل یونگ (با بازی مایکل فاسبندر) با یک بیمار روسی مبتلا به هیستری به نام سابینا اسپیلرین (با بازی کیرا نایتلی) آشنا می‌شود که از لحاظ روانی دچار مشکلات فراوانی است. سابینا در رفتار و حرکاتش تعادلی ندارد و حرکت‌های مداوم بدن و نگاه‌های نگرانش حاکی از آن است که وی از لحاظ ذهنی به شدت آشفته است.

یونگ با استفاده از روش «گفتار درمانی» سعی می‌کند تا ذهن پریشان سابینا را آرام کند تا زمینه را برای بازگو کردن اتفاقاتی که منجر به ایجاد مشکلات در ذهن او شده را باز کند. پس از مدتی تلاش، یونگ سرانجام موفق می‌شود تا با استفاده از روش گفتار درمانی، به گذشته تکان دهنده سابینا پی ببرد. سابینا در گذشته توسط پدرش مورد آزار و اذیت قرار گرفته بود و به همین جهت اکنون تعادل عصبی ندارد. این مسئله باعث می‌شود تا یونگ سراغ استاد علم روانشناسی یعنی زیگموند فروید (با بازی ویگو مورتنسن) را بگیرد و از او دربارهٔ نظریه اش مبنی بر رابطه بین مشکلات جنسی و آشفتگی ذهنی اطلاعات کسب کند. اما این کسب اطلاعات در ادامه تبدیل به اختلاف نظر بین این دو می‌شود.[۲]

یک روش خطرناک
A Dangerous Method Poster.jpg
کارگرداندیوید کراننبرگ
نویسندهکریستوفر همپتون
بازیگرانکیرا نایتلی
ویگو مورتنسن
مایکل فاسبندر
ونسان کسل
مارایکه کاری‌یر
موسیقیهاوارد شور
مدت زمان
۹۹ دقیقه
زبانانگلیسی
فروش گیشه۲۷٬۴۶۲٬۰۴۱ دلار[۱]

 

 

 

سینا یاوریان

 

سخنران، مدرس و مشاور روانشناسی