Currently viewing the category: "Innate Inteligence"

Hail My Symptoms

By On · Add Comment · In body aches, cough, fever, immune system, Innate Inteligence, medicine, microorganisms, sneezing, swine flu, symptoms

Well, I’m feeling under the weather today. Swine flu, I think. Again. Third time this year. I’m feverish, body aches, severe runny nose, sneezing, not sneezing but feeling like I have to (hate that), and slight chills.

But it just reminds me that my symptoms are welcome. Yes, welcome–thank god for symptoms–because they are my body’s way of protecting me from dangerous microorganisms.

The fever increases my body temperature to a level not safe for many microbes. The runny nose, sneezing, and cough expel any unwanted germ from my mucous membranes, where they like to attach before invading. The chills and body aches are the environment’s response to the ongoing war between my immune system and the invaders it’s fighting. Think of it as the beating any battlefield takes during wartime–Pearl Harbor, Hiroshima, a Sumo dohyō, you get it.

I’m not generally a drug-taking guy. Saying that, I will take a med if it’s useful to me at the time. So, you all remember when I cracked my tooth a year ago? Motrin’d it. Didn’t mess around–I was hurtin’ big time. Then there was the time I had appendicitis. Morphine’d it. Thank goodness for narcotics–they’re useful, no doubt. But I don’t run to antibiotics, or cold medicine, or anything like that when I’m sick because I’m really of the belief that the body knows what to do and when to do it–it has an incredible innate inteligence directing it. And I’m confident in my body’s Innate Intelligence to handle most things that come its way.

So I’m celebrating my innate ability to heal by embracing my body’s symptoms. I’m at work today and everybody coming in knows my status. If they are freaked out about it, they are not required to stay. I wash my hand one thousand times a day, anyway…but I double that when I’m symptomatic.

Anyway, I kind of value the times when I feel under the weather, because, frankly, it allows me to get some much needed rest, so I ain’t complaining. Five more hours and I’ll get to become more intimate with my bed.

Fitness Without Work

By On · Add Comment · In AMP, ATP, cardiovascular exercise, endurance, Innate Inteligence, metabolic, PPAR-delta
The human obsession with easy has reached an all time high. It appears as if hard work is as passé as Paris Hilton. Now it appears that getting in shape the old fashioned way–with lots of pain, sweat and tears–is a thing of the past. So says a recent report out of the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla, California.

According to researchers, a gene responsible for regulating the effects of exercise–increased metabolism (fat burning) and lasting endurance–has been identified. On top of that, the same researchers have produced a couple of drugs that can mimic those effects. They have dubbed their findings, “Exercise in a pill.”

The genetic mechanism of exercise uncovered by this study is fascinating, even if I don’t agree with the conclusions. For instance, the researchers found that by giving mice the drugs alone (no exercise), they showed no benefits related to exercise. It wasn’t until the mice actually exercised that the benefits appeared. They found that mice who were given the drugs and exercised, even just a little, reaped huge metabolic rewards–they increased their endurance by 77%. They also found a decrease in blood glucose and free floating fatty acids–good news for diabetics and the obese. And, remarkably, they found that mice given these drugs stayed lean even when fed a high-fat diet.

The mechanism of this extraordinary process is the following: When we exercise we deplete our energy molecule, ATP. The byproduct of this depletion is another molecule, AMP. As AMP levels rise in the cells, they act as a sort of fuel gauge and tell the gene, PPAR-delta, to turn on. When this gene is turned on, metabolism increases telling the body to burn more fuel. Burning fuel, in the form of stored fat, creates more ATP. More ATP equals more energy and, as a result, leads to greater endurance. That’s the way the body works during high activity. Fascinating, isn’t it? But now with the help of two new drugs, GW1516 and AICAR, scientists can mimic the effects of exercise.

Here are some things to think about: First, the whole process works only when ATP (energy) levels decrease. This happens solely through high levels of activity, like exercise. That’s precisely why researchers got zero effect in the non-exercising mice. No exertion, no lowering of ATP, no turning on PPAR-delta, and thus, no metabolic or endurance effects. When they made the mice exercise, though, the whole process was turned on, and the physiological benefits occurred. So the idea, according to the study’s conclusions, is that people who “like exercise” can use these drugs to boost what they are already doing–a sort of doping for amateurs, while obese people, or people who “don’t like exercise”, can use the drugs for benefit with minimal activity. Remember, some activity must occur for the physiological cascade to happen.

The reason I said I do not agree with the conclusions is that I know of nothing in the universe which is free. No free lunch. Whenever man thinks he has got the upper hand on Mother Nature when it comes to human functioning, he gets slapped in the face with a dose of reality. Antidepressants are not risk free, nor is Viagra, and I promise you, neither will be “exercise in a pill.” My guess is that the whole purpose of this cellular process of energy repletion is to act as a self-regulating feedback mechanism. It’s a part of the Innate Intelligence of the body. It knows when to turn on, when to maintain, and when to shut off. And it does so because I’ll bet it is of a distinct disadvantage for this process to be turned on at all times. So why would we want to have the process turned on for longer than the body deems necessary, obese or not obese? I’ll bet that by manipulating the gene with drugs to turn on PPAR-delta in the absence of heavy exercise will have some deleterious consequences, but, I guess, only time will tell. Anyway, the drugs are not on the market yet, so I’m sure there will be further testing and we’ll just have to see.

I just never understand why we’ve got to rely on training wheels to get a job done that can be taken care of through our own efforts. Hey, I get the concept of convenience–I like paying for my gas at the pump, too, instead of walking all the way over to the cashier’s window. Who doesn’t? But to take a pill so I can get the benefits of exercise without actually exercising is like, well…masturbating. I guess it’s OK but…I prefer the real deal. I’m weird like that. I mean, imagine inheriting a fortune…or being Gerald Ford…or getting the job simply because you’re the boss’ son. I don’t know about you but I personally don’t see the satisfaction in that. I can appreciate, however, that I’m probably in the minority on this issue. So, all in all, I figure that when these drugs finally hit the market they’ll be huge. But we’ll have to wait and see what price they’ll bring with them.

Emotional Benefits of Breast-feeding Now Understood

By On · Add Comment · In babies, breastfeeding, dendrites, hormone, Innate Inteligence, oxytcin
Check out how incredible the human body is: Researchers have now uncovered how mothers deliver a hormonal burst to breastfeeding babies which triggers feelings of love and the baby’s trust that all of its needs are met. WOW! That’s simply incredible. The human body never ceases to amaze me.

Take a bite out of this tripper: When a baby breastfeeds, the suckling reflex triggers a hormonal cascade–large surges of the hormone oxytocin are released from mom’s brain–that provide baby with a sense of well-being. Science has known this, but what it didn’t know was how. The quandary was that the production of oxytocin from mother’s brain cells was just not enough to provide this response in baby alone, yet large surges in the hormone have been measured. Through computer simulation, however, researchers from China, France, Italy, and the United Kingdom found that the female brain recruits dendrites–whose normal job is to create communication channels between brain cells–into secreting the hormone. Mama mia! Now is there anybody who doesn’t find this as mind-blowing as I do?

The only thing I can say in my awe is that this is yet another example of Innate Intelligence working miraculous feats of living wonderment in what separates man from cadaver. This same Innate Intelligence know exactly which chemicals and neurotransmitters to secrete at all times, and frankly, I find it humbling. Whenever I come across man’s attempt to “improve” upon physiology through artificial means, I shake my head in contempt, simply because I know man can’t do it better than mother nature can–not now, not ever. But, sometimes, just understanding is enough. I bow down to the power of nature.

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