Validation

One aspect of the importance of validation is that, it’s not that I am agreeing with what you are saying, but simply that I listened and heard you. 

That you actually got some idea or feeling of yours heard by me. 

That whatever words I used, my underlying message was: “I see you”.  

And so this releases me from needing to be some wishy-washy agree-with-everyone person and allows me to be myself, to find my voice with which to say, “I see you”. Because the “I” in “I see you” needs to be present.  

And the more I am authentically me, the more I can see you.

Lack of Sleep, High Blood Pressure

A March 2024 study by the American College of Cardiology said,

• “Based on the most updated data, the less you sleep—that is less than seven hours a day—the more likely you will develop high blood pressure in the future,”

• “We saw a trend between longer sleep durations and a greater occurrence of high blood pressure, but it was not statistically significant. Getting seven to eight hours of sleep, as is recommended by sleep experts, may be the best for your heart too.”

• “Getting too little sleep appears to be riskier in females,”

• “The difference is statistically significant, though we are not sure it’s clinically significant and should be further studied. What we do see is that lack of good sleep patterns may increase the risk of high blood pressure, which we know can set the stage for heart disease and stroke.”

• “Further research is required to evaluate the association between sleep duration and high blood pressure using more accurate methods like polysomnography, a method for evaluating sleep quality more precisely,” Hosseini said. “Moreover, the variations in reference sleep duration underline the need for standardized definition in sleep research to enhance the comparability and generalizability of findings across diverse studies.”

Chinese Medicine: Calorific Restriction and Heart Health

An April 2024 study reported in the Chinese Medical Journal, researchers said,

• “In experimental studies using murine models, the sirtuins, notably SIRT1, have been shown to mediate the beneficial effects of [Calorific Restriction] on diverse CVDs, including diabetic cardiomyopathy, myocardial ischemia–reperfusion injury, myocardial fibrosis, atherosclerosis, and abdominal aortic aneurysm,”

• “Existing studies on sirtuins and [Calorific Restriction] merely represent the tip of the iceberg. The evidence supporting sirtuins as a sensor or mediator of [Calorific Restriction] remains insufficient. The distinct functions of each molecule within the family have not been clearly analyzed. Moreover, the conclusions drawn from mouse experiments remain unclear, and further experiments in primates are yet to be conducted,”

Advice Giving -v- Connection

“…advice-giving may reflect resistance to more intimate engagement … in an attempt to manage relationships rather than to connect.”

Irvin Yalom and Molyn Leszcz, “The Theory and Practice of Group Psychotherapy”

Brain Health and Nutrition

An April 2024 study by the Gerontological Society of America said,

• “Broaching the topic of diet and nutrition can be challenging. I start by asking patients what their goals are,”

• “These goals could include physical goals such as maintaining muscle mass, cognitive goals such as preserving memory, as well as functional goals such as being able to travel or play with grandchildren. Linking information about nutrition to helping adults achieve their goals is an effective strategy for stimulating motivation to implement healthy changes.”

• “I would love for everybody to get all of their micronutrients from food … Unfortunately, for most older adults, it’s really challenging to do that due to physiological changes that occur with aging and certain disease states that affect absorption, so we often recommend a multivitamin.”

Vaping Additives

In an April 2024 report by Concordia University it was said,

• “We can see that the presence of vitamin E changes the functional properties of the surfactant,”

• “Oxygen is exchanged for carbon dioxide across the pulmonary surfactant, so if the surfactant properties are altered, so can be the ability for gas to be exchanged. And if the surface tension is changed, that affects the work of breathing. So combined, these changes make breathing more difficult. We think this is the molecular basis contributing to the shortness of breath and reduced oxygen levels seen in people suffering from EVALI.”

• “Many of the components in these solutions are approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration for other uses,”

• “But the high heating rates needed to vaporize these components can cause further chemical reactions to occur. The components that are actually being inhaled may not be the ones in the original e-liquid.”

• “Understanding the impact of vaping additives on lung surfactant is vital, particularly for younger generations who are more influenced by vaping trends,”

• “This research reveals critical insights into the potential short- and long-term consequences of vaping, empowering young individuals to make informed choices about their health and well-being.”

Exercise short-term leading to long-term

In an April 2024 study published by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute said,

• “Even moderate exercise can drastically reduce cardiovascular risk, so finding low-cost ways to get people moving and stay in a fitness program that they can do at home is a huge win for public health,”

• “Research shows it’s easier to think about today instead of the future, whether it’s exercising more to support long-term heart health or saving for a future goal, like college or retirement.”

The Growth Model

“In the growth model, the therapist sets the example of an active, learning, fallible human being who is willing to cope honestly and responsibly with whatever confronts [them], including [their] own vulnerabilities.”

Virginia Satir, “Conjoint Family Therapy”

Four Parts to All Messages

There are always ever only four parts to a message:

I (the sender) am saying something (the message) to you (the receiver) in this situation (the context)

All messages are always requests by the sender for the receiver to do or say something or to not do or say something.

Silence is a message.

Virginia Satir, “Conjoint Family Therapy”

The urge to fix

“The urge to fix, or deny, or to avoid a problem can be very intense, particularly when anxiety is high.”

Kerr and Bowen, “Family Evaluation”

Silence

“Silence is also quicker in fulfilling needs than speech. That is because what you are described by is repaid and removed, and without reality. Silence is your attribute. Speech is might, and might is an attribute of Allah. Silence is abasement, and abasement is your attribute. Speech is height, and silence is lowness. When two people meet - one speaking and one silent, the judgement goes to the silent one in every state.”

Sidi ‘Ali al-Jamal of Fez, “The Meaning of Man”

Subjective Distortion of Reality

“A person who feels rejected and blames it on others, usually is underemphasizing his own subjective distortion of reality.”

Kerr and Bowen, “Famlly Evaluation”

Autonomous Functioning

“The phrase ‘processing at the highest levels of mental functioning’ does not mean that people with high intelligence quotients (IQ) have more capacity for autonomous functioning. Objectivity and the associated autonomy from one’s environment derive from the capacity to recognise the difference between emotional, feeling, subjective, and objective responses and to act on that recognition.”

Kerr and Bowen, “Family Evaluation”

Bad Cholesterol consumed by liver immune system

A March 2024 study by the Karolinska Institutet, Sweden on how immune cells in the liver react to high cholesterol levels and eat up excess cholesterol that can otherwise cause damage to arteries, said,

• “Essentially, we wanted to detonate a cholesterol bomb and see what happened next,”

• “We found that the liver responded almost immediately and removed some of the excess cholesterol.”

• “We were surprised to see that the liver seems to be the first line of defence against excess cholesterol and that the Kupffer cells were the ones doing the job,”

• “This shows that the liver immune system is an active player in regulating cholesterol levels, and suggests that atherosclerosis is a systemic disease that affects multiple organs and not just the arteries.”

• “Our next step is to look at how other organs respond to excess cholesterol, and how they interact with the liver and the blood vessels in atherosclerosis,”

• “This could help us develop more holistic and effective strategies to combat this common and deadly disease.”

Relationship Process

“When one person asks another, “Why do you do what you do?” focus on the relationship process is immediately lost. The focus is lost because the question assumes that the cause of the person’s behaviour exists within that person.”

Kerr and Bowen, “Family Evaluation”

New Orgenelle in Liver

A March 2024 study by First Hospital of Jilin University reports on a new organelle called the mitochondria-lysosome-related organelle (MLRO). It is unique in that it formed by the fusion of a mitochondrion and a lysosome, a cellular "garbage disposal" unit. It provides an alternative way to break down damaged cell parts.

Informed Diabetics

A March 2024 study by the University of Coimbra said,

• “Our main motivation was to contribute to the reduction of the existing disparity in the knowledge that diabetic patients have regarding their disease,”

• “With this study we evidenced the need to improve the disease knowledge of type 2 diabetic patients.”

•  “One of the main reasons for this disparity in knowledge is probably the behavior of health professionals and the areas that are prioritized when informing patients,”

• “We focused on patients’ own knowledge of their disease, rather than disease management being based solely on biological indicators. We hope that the results obtained will allow professionals to change the way they inform patients,”

Viewpoints

“Despite the limits of our objective understanding of human behaviour, we have not been especially constrained in terms of our willingness to passionately adhere to certain viewpoints about the nature of human problems. We demonstrate against war as if we undertand the cause of war. We could just as easily demonstrate against schizophrenia.

Our understanding of that phenomenon is about as limited as our understanding of war. We continually admonish ourselves for what we do or do not do and continually implore each other to be different. There appears to be an infinite supply of people available to tell us the “right” way to think and the “right” way to act.

The vast majority of the admonitions and directives that swirl around us are hopelessly entangled in subjectivity.

Depending on the phenomenon under consideration, we blame some thing, some person, some group, some whatever for its presence. We blame genes, chemicals, parents, schools, a variety of “bad” influences, and certain politicians for what goes wrong.”

Kerr & Bowen, “Family Evaluation”

Non-invasive blood glucose monitoring

In a March 2024 study by Tomoya Nakazawa of Hamamatsu Photonics (Japan) on near-infrared light (NIR) to estimate blood glucose levels, said

“[The] phase delay-based metabolic index, which has not been reported by other researchers, is a scientifically important discovery,”

“The proposed method can in principle be implemented in existing smart devices with a pulse oximetry function and is inexpensive, battery-saving, and simple compared with other noninvasive blood glucose monitoring techniques. Thus, our approach could be a powerful tool towards portable and accessible BGL monitoring devices in the future.”

The Fasting-mimicking diet (FMD)

A February 2024 study by the University of Southern California on the Fasting-mimicking diet (FMD) [“a five-day diet high in unsaturated fats and low in overall calories, protein, and carbohydrates and is designed to mimic the effects of a water-only fast while still providing necessary nutrients”] said

“This is the first study to show that a food-based intervention that does not require chronic dietary or other lifestyle changes can make people biologically younger, based on both changes in risk factors for aging and disease and on a validated method developed by the Levine group to assess biological age,”

“This study shows for the first time evidence for biological age reduction from two different clinical trials, accompanied by evidence of rejuvenation of metabolic and immune function,”

“Although many doctors are already recommending the FMD in the United States and Europe, these findings should encourage many more healthcare professionals to recommend FMD cycles to patients with higher than desired levels of disease risk factors as well as to the general population that may be interested in increased function and younger age,”