Health Archive

Does Suffering Build Character?

July 30, 2007 · Category: Buddhism, Health, Individualism, Intellectual, Mindfulness

This somewhat-throwaway comment, from a post by Virginia Postrel, caught my eye: Contrary to what you may have heard, the only sort of character suffering builds is the ability to suffer -- a useful ability in a world where suffering is the routine nature of life but not a virtue that makes the world a better place. I say "somewhat-throwaway" because I don't think her overall argument stands or falls on this point. But on this point itself... Do you agree with her? Or do you see ways in which suffering builds character? Do you feel that suffering has built your own character? ...

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On Finding a Doctor to Supervise Your Water Fast

February 6, 2007 · Category: Health, Water Fast

My posts on water fasting, interestingly enough, have become some of the most popular and active posts at Mudita Journal -- at least, in terms of traffic and the questions these posts have generated. One reason for this, no doubt, is the fact that there is so little good information available about how to safely conduct a water fast. I've tried to address this topic, to some extent, in my own posts. That said, despite the fact that I've conducted 8 or 10 fasts personally, I don't consider myself an expert on fasting, and I strongly encourage my readers to consult with ...

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Money Doesn’t Buy Much Happiness

June 29, 2006 · Category: Health, Individualism

How much happiness does money actually buy you? About twelve percent -- or less, if you look at actual happiness, rather than reported life satisfaction. From a LiveScience article about a new study to be published in the June 30 issue of Science: It was expected that those who made less than $20,000 a year would spend 32 percent more of their time in a bad mood than those that had an annual income greater than $100,000. In reality, the low-income group spent only 12 percent more time in a bad mood than their wealthier counterparts. This suggests that the link between ...

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How to Break a Water Fast (Without Gaining Weight Back)

June 25, 2006 · Category: Health, Water Fast

In response to my first water fast entry, Tara asks: I have started a water fast and have yet to decide how long I will be doing it for. I know you can lose weight by fasting, but I've heard you nearly always put it all back on. I was wondering how you can keep the weight off once you finish fasting, and what's the best way to come off a fast. [edited for grammar] I typically lose about two pounds for each day that I fast, and rarely am I eager to return to my original weight. Fortunately, you don't ...

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Meditation and Chronic Pain

June 2, 2006 · Category: Buddhism, Eckhart Tolle, Health, Meditation, Mindfulness

A new friend has pointed me to a conversation on his blog about meditation and chronic pain. He invited me to comment since he knows I've got some experience with the topic. The original questioner asks: How do you deal with Chronic Severe Pain? It takes energy to have patience, and long term agonizing pain disrupts the spirit, makes meditation impossible, sends shock waves through the whole body constantly, relaxation cannot happen. Enlighten me. For help in this area, I highly recommend the book Break Through Pain by Shinzen Young. It is the best book I've read on the subject. I can relate ...

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Maybe PT-141 Will Take Me Into the Now

April 23, 2006 · Category: Eckhart Tolle, Health, Meditation

The Guardian has an fascinating article about a new drug, an inhaler called PT-141, that stimulates sexual desire in women as well as men. The article explores some interesting dynamics at the intersection of sex, health, and pharmacology. Here's one apropos bit: 'I see a lot of couples in my practice who don't know how to relax,' says Leonore Tiefer, a professor of psychiatry at New York University School of Medicine. 'That's fine - it's a big asset to them in their corporate lifestyle, where they can work 80 hours a week. They're trained to multi-task. Well, it doesn't seem that that is ...

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Insider’s Guide to Trader Joe’s

April 15, 2006 · Category: Health, Personal, Recipes, Reviews

Kathy and I just got our very own Trader Joe's -- well, other than the 300 other people who are always in the store -- about 20 minutes away, in Albuquerque. Anybody who understands that the only proper way to sell avocados is in bags of 6 at a time, has my money. When I first moved to Los Angeles, I would shop at Albertson's first, and then stop by Trader Joe's for specialty items I couldn't find at Albertson's. At some point, however, I realized that the prices at Trader Joe's prices were almost universally lower than at the chain supermarkets -- ...

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Eight Ways to Find Good Wines

April 11, 2006 · Category: Health

Marshall Sontag and I have been working hard doing research for a new online business we plan to start in the wine industry. One of the books I've been reading in this vein is Lewis Perdue's excellent The Wrath of Grapes. Perdue devotes a full chapter to the incontrovertible health benefits of moderate wine consumption, and the wine industry's perpetual incompetence at capitalizing on those health benefits. I'll have more soon about our wine industry projects. In the meantime, I couldn't pass this up.... Writing for the Napa Valley Register, Dan Berger has an excellent column with suggestions for how to find ...

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Investigating Polyphasic Sleep

March 3, 2006 · Category: Health, Personal

Marshall has turned me on to polyphasic sleep. Has anybody out there tried it? I have had a love-hate relationship (mostly hate) with sleep since I was young, and I already have to nap during the day to avoid getting headaches in the evening. So I'm wondering whether polyphasic might work well for me. I'm also thinking of doing another 7-day water fast (my sixth?) in April. That tends to be a time when I require less sleep, so I'm thinking it could be a good time to experiment with polyphasic sleep. UPDATE: Check out the 30-day update from the ...

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Meditation Associated with Increased Grey Matter in the Brain

November 10, 2005 · Category: Health, Meditation

Here's a fascinating new press release from Yale University: New Haven, Conn.-Meditation is known to alter resting brain patterns, suggesting long lasting brain changes, but a new study by researchers from Yale, Harvard, Massachusetts General Hospital, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology shows meditation also is associated with increased cortical thickness. The structural changes were found in areas of the brain that are important for sensory, cognitive and emotional processing, the researchers report in the November issue of NeuroReport. Although the study included only 20 participants, all with extensive training in Buddhist Insight meditation, the results are significant, said Jeremy Gray, assistant professor ...

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