The Power of Positive Thinking:

Norman Vincent Peale has been an inspiration for the people of all times. His integration of prayer with life has given a boost to many people and have made them happy. We shall examine his principles in a brief sketch.

*How faith in yourself makes good things happen to you;

*How to break worry habit;

*How to get other people to like you;

*How to “energize your life”–to give yourself the vitality and initiative needed to carry out your ambitions and hopes;

*How to avoid “the jitters” in your daily work;

*How to believe in yourself and in everything you do;

*How to live a controlled, relaxed life no matter how fast the pace may be;

*How to build new power and determination through a simple formula that really works;

*How to develop the power to reach your goals;

*How to think the kind of thoughts that lead you to a fuller life and satisfying success.

Try to release your powers.

STRESS MANAGEMENT

Manage stress by time management: Time is a gem, learn to save it.

Formulate goals and objectives.

Set Priorities.

Plan for the Day.

Ipsism

Masturbation refers to sexual stimulation, especially of one’s own genitals (self masturbation), often to the point of orgasm. The stimulation can be performed manually, by other types of bodily contact (short of sexual intercourse), by use of objects or tools, or by some combination of these methods. Masturbation is a common form of autoeroticism, and the two words are often used as synonyms, although masturbation with a partner (mutual masturbation) is also common. Animal masturbation has been observed in many species, both in the wild and in captivity.

The word masturbation is believed to derive from either the Greek word mezea (μεζεα, “penises”) or the Latin manus (“hand”) and the Latin turbare (“to disturb”). A competing etymology based on the Latin manu stuprare (“to defile with the hand”) is said by the Oxford English Dictionary to be an “old conjecture”.

While “masturbation” is the medical term for this practice, many other terms and expressions are in common use. In the vernacular, terms such as “pleasuring oneself”, “wanking” and “jerking off” are common.

Smoking

Effects of Smoking

As a matter of fact, we all know about the ill-effects of cigarette smoke and tobacco use but a smoker really is helpless in front of this menacing addiction. When he has to, he ‘will’ smoke; the underlying psychology is ‘A fag allows a man’. The ‘Will’ is associated with the short term effects. Let us see the quick-effects of a cigarette smoke that makes a man physically and mentally dependent on it. These immediate effects encourage a smoker to take a fag;

• Nervous system and brain activities are quickened for few minutes by the stimulation caused by smoke.
• One cigarette quickly increases blood pressure and heart beat rate. At the same time blood flow to the body’s end points is reduced giving numbness to the areas like fingers and toes.
• Hunger, taste and olfactory senses are weakened.
• Dizziness is also experienced in many cases.

While the smokers enjoy the short term effects, what about the long-term affects which, most of the time, are irreversible? Smoke actually increases the risk of suffering from life-threatening diseases even if a person quits in the later years of his life. Of course, quitting would at least help to diminish the evil effects of tobacco. Smoking has a permanent effect on the following parts of a human body even if you have smoked for only five years;

• Lungs,
• Heart,
• Eyes,
• Throat,
• Urinary tract,
• Sex organs,
• Women’s fertility zone,
• Men’s sperm production,
• Digestive organs,
• Bones and joints,
• Skin

The intensity of the irreversible effects of smoke depends on certain factors;

• The quantity of cigarette smoke per day;
• How old was he when he started smoking;
• Number of years a person has smoked;
• Level of resistance to the tobacco chemicals;

Let us understand the effects of smoke one by one:

• Smoking and Atherosclerosis
• Smoking and Osteoporosis
• Smoking and Buerger’s Disease
• Smoking and Cataract
• Smoking and Leukoplakia
• Smoking and Peptic Ulcer
• Smoking and Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS)
• Smoking and Infertility
• Smoking and Thyroid Diseases
• Effects of Smoking on Skin
• Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD)
• Cigarette Smoke Induced Erectile Dysfunction
• Smoking and Cancer
• Smoking Affects: Head 2 Toe

The effects of smoking on human health are serious and in many cases, deadly. There are approximately 4000 chemicals in cigarettes, hundreds of which are toxic. The ingredients in cigarettes affect everything from the internal functioning of organs to the efficiency of the body’s immune system. The effects of cigarette smoking are destructive and widespread.

Smoking Effects on the Human Body

• Toxic ingredients in cigarette smoke travel throughout the body, causing damage in several different ways.
• Nicotine reaches the brain within 10 seconds after smoke is inhaled. It has been found in every part of the body and in breast milk.
• Carbon monoxide binds to hemoglobin in red blood cells, preventing affected cells from carrying a full load of oxygen.
• Cancer-causing agents (carcinogens) in tobacco smoke damage important genes that control the growth of cells, causing them to grow abnormally or to reproduce too rapidly.
• The carcinogen benzo(a)pyrene binds to cells in the airways and major organs of smokers.
• Smoking affects the function of the immune system and may increase the risk for respiratory and other infections.
• There are several likely ways that cigarette smoke does its damage. One is oxidative stress that mutates DNA, promotes atherosclerosis, and leads to chronic lung injury. Oxidative stress is thought to be the general mechanism behind the aging process, contributing to the development of cancer, cardiovascular disease, and COPD.
• The body produces antioxidants to help repair damaged cells. Smokers have lower levels of antioxidants in their blood than do nonsmokers.
• Smoking is associated with higher levels of chronic inflammation, another damaging process that may result in oxidative stress.

Read more about how cigarettes harm us from head to toe: The Effects of Cigarette Smoking

_{U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The Health Consequences of Smoking: A Report of the Surgeon General. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Office on Smoking and Health, 2004.}

Improving Your Memory

We are happy to launch our Neuroscientist Interview Series with an interview with Dr. Torkel Klingberg.

Alvaro Fernandez (AF): Welcome. Can you let us know where you work, and what your Lab does?

Dr. Torkel Klingberg (TK): I have a professorship at Karolinska Institute, and lead the Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience Lab, part of the Stockholm Brain Institute. The lab is addressing the questions of development and plasticity of working memory. We do that through several techniques, such as fMRI, diffusion tensor imaging to look at myelination of white matter in the brain, neural network models of working memory and behavioral studies. In addition, I am a scientific advisor for Cogmed, the company that developed and commercializes RoboMemo.

AF: What studies have you published so far? What studies are in the pipeline, and will be published soon?

TK: You can find a complete list, and the studies themselves, at the lab homepage. Among our studies are three studies on the effect of working memory training: Klingberg et al. 2002, 2005 and Olesen et al. 2004. We have recently submitted two papers on the effect of training in combination with medication, and the effect of training on school performance.

AF: What are the highlights of your research so far?

TK: Our paper from 2004 in Nature Neuroscience, on the effect of working memory training on brain activity, and the 2005 randomized, controlled clinical trial that showed the impact of working memory training specifically in kids with ADD/ ADHD, have caught most public attention, including references in Scientific American.

My other research concerns the neural basis for development and plasticity of cognitive functions during childhood, in particular development of attention and working memory.
In short, I’d say that we have shown that working memory can be improved by training and that such training helps people with attention deficits and it also improves reasoning ability overall.

AF: What are the effects in every-day life for a child with attention deficits?

TK: When looking at the 1,200 children who have trained in Cogmed’s Stockholm Clinic since start, the most common effects are sustained attention, better impulse control and improved learning ability. Parents often report that their children perform better in school and are able to keep up a coherent conversation more easily after training. Being able to hold back impulses, such as anger outbursts, and keeping better track of one’s things are other every-day life benefits.

AF: How are you making the program available?

TK: All rights are with Cogmed, who is making this available in Sweden and starting to offer this to selected clinics in the US this year. The program is called RoboMemo Working Memory Training Program.

AF: What do you expect that we will learn over the next 5 years in the field of Brain Fitness Programs and cognitive training?

TK: I think that we are seeing the beginning of a new era of computerized training for a wide range of applications. Our studies has mostly been aimed at individuals with marked problems of inattention, but there is a wider zone concerning what you define as attention problems, and we will see how RoboMemo can help a larger part of the population in improving cognitive function.

AF: What will you talk about at CHADD?

TK: I will present the data from our published studies on ADHD, as well as some new data from independent researchers in US universities that confirm our findings concerning the effect of working memory training.

AF: You are writing a book, correct? what is it about?

TK: The book is a popular science book about working memory, in the lab and in daily life. It will be out in March in Sweden and we are currently looking for a US publisher.

AF: Dr. Klingberg, thanks for your time.

TK: My pleasure.