What we don't know about ourselves

A great deal - a vast deal . . .

If you are a doctor, you, (hopefully) will have a very clear map of your own and other peoples' internal organs, lymph system, blood vessels, skeleton and so on - the rest of us . . . a vague notion of where one's heart, lungs and liver are, and probably not much than that.

It's weird to think of all these unknown miles of gut and vessels doing their thing, keeping you going, and not really knowing how any of it actually works or where it is placed in the body. I probably, even after not living there for some years, have a better idea of London's layout than where any of my lymph glands are, or what any of them look like.

Talking of glands . . . do you know where your adrenal glands are? those such vital things that control and deal with stress, flight or fight, etc. I didn't know until I stared reading about what happens when they become depleted - vaguely thought they must be somewhere in the neck. Nope . . . they sit snugly on top of the kidneys, and are complex/vital in operation and most often overlooked.

After a boring bout of Trigeminal neuralgia, which is still wobbling on slightly, I'm still trying to figure out what IT likes and doesn't, so started researching more into diet, stress, exercise, etc, and found out some fairly amazing stuff.

Sadly IT doesn't like me sitting too long at the computer, so I'll go and clean out the shed instead, but if you are as interested as I was, here's the rather wonderful Dr Berg explaining about how these Toblerone-shaped wonderments work.

Information, and fathoming stress

To a certain extent anyway.
The information part of this post refers to Ted Talks.

                                              
I'd forgotten about these marvels until friend Kim reminded me via a Facebook link to one such mini-lecture on the cheering subject of Hitler.
So, the last few days during any fairly mindless activity: washing up, going through bills, etc, I've loaded up a Ted Talk and have learned and/or certainly deepened any previous knowledge I had acquired on a variety of subjects: why sugar is so bad for us, sleep behaviour, how the brain synthesises happiness, neurosurgical implants to combat depression, environment issues . . . so many talks, so many subjects.
The one I was listening to this morning while clearing up the kitchen was about Stress - not avoiding it as such, more how to look at it. Rather than assuming stress is totally a bad thing, the speaker (who was an eminent psychologist in this field) was describing what happens in our bodies if we learn to accept stress and know that we are in fact equipped to deal with it.
So, rather than panicking and feeling we are about to do damage to ourselves during a stressful situation, we should understand that our heart is beating harder for a reason; breathing faster, important, as we are sending more oxygen to the brain in order to rise to whatever the challenge is. Err . . . probably not so well explained (but then I'm not an eminent scientist, more of a muddled muser). Anyway, I thought I'd try out these theories this morning on a dog walk - often fairly stressful as at the sight of even a pathetically small squirrel will send the hounds into a frenzy with me desperately hanging on to their leads.
We went 'up the hill' and as usual one of the local cats was sitting in the middle of the lane, smirking at our approach. The dogs shriek-barked, gyrated, pulled and did all the usual stuff they do and the cat continued sitting and smirking.
Normally at this point I will swear a lot, get very cross and become anxious about what might happen to my back, arms, etc, and what might happen if the dogs slipped their collars. This time I thought about dog-stress. These dogs have been bred to chase and probably maul furry creatures; their bodies were reacting as they should, I was reacting to their stress and that was okay. I could deal with it and I wouldn't die (hopefully).
I let them shout a lot, and studied the morning's spectacular clouds rather than swearing and when the cat finally went off to find something to be stressed about itself, we peacefully continued the walk.
I'm sure I'll forget these rather Zen thoughts when a particularly appalling bank statement arrives or whatever but . . . maybe not.
Right; in-tray and a lecture on Space, I think.

                                                 

Oi! stop that.

In 2010 I had an episode of extreme pain and fear that went on for what seemed like months, maybe it was only weeks, but it felt an awful lot longer.
(Blog post 'evolution' in 2010, if anyone is interested . . .)
Not wishing to recall all that, but I had a reminder of it this morning, as if myself had prodded myself and said 'hey, stop, otherwise  . . . remember this!'
After the afore-mentioned phase, I had worked out pretty much what caused the pain in my face and neck and had avoided, as much as possible, doing the things that set it off. But we get complacent, do we not?
In my case it was: don't over do it on the computer (this will be a short post) don't use the phone much, and absolutely no stuffing it into my neck and talking with head at a stupid angle while cooking/washing up/ feeding the cat, etc. NO coffee - actually I have stuck to that one, but the tea amounts and strength has been creeping up; don't slump while reading or TV watching; alternate sitting activities with walking, gardening etc; and the big one: Don't get stressed.
Easy to say: we all do and about the most pathetic things sometimes. But I do think the cumalative stress thing is damaging; adding on more and more to the list and feeling guilty if not everything is dealt with.
So today, I have done most of the jobs, cast an eye over the list, ignored some things and spent a bit more time just . . . existing; a bit more time looking at trees, clouds and appreciating the day for what it is. It may not last, and I might get another warning in which case I will slow down again and thank myself for reminding myself that it's just not worth getting that stressed; a bit is good - keeps things moving along, but just not - too - much.

Image borrowed from 'Sweetoldvintage blogspot