Health - Mind and Body Healing

January 10, 2012

Interview with Michael Gelb, author of the book Brain Power: Improve Your Mind as You Age

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Mike Carruthers:
In order to keep your mind and memory sharp as you get older you’ve probably heard the advice of doing crossword puzzles or playing chess.

Michael Gelb:
But there seems to be an emerging consensus that even more than a particular activity the real point is to spend about 15 minutes a day learning something new, challenging your brain.
 

January 9, 2012

Interview with Michael Gelb, author of the book Brain Power: Improve Your Mind as You Age

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Mike Carruthers:
After age 30 mental function declines, that has been a long standing belief that is not necessarily true.

Michael Gelb:
Much of what passes for memory loss with age is really a depletion of oxygen supply to the brain. And that depletion is a function of a sedentary lifestyle and not actually using your brain.
 

December 26, 2011

Interview with Alex S. Key, author of the book The Third Basic Instinct: How Religion Doesn't Get You (Revised Edition)

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Mike Carruthers:
Every creature on the earth has two basic instincts, survival and reproduction and what makes humans different from other creatures is our third basic instinct.

Alex S. Key:
And I propose that the third basic instinct is innate human curiosity - our desire to stimulate our minds, our desire to learn, the instinct to learn.
 

December 23, 2011

Interview with Daniel Amen, M.D., author of the book Change Your Brain, Change Your Life: The Breakthrough Program for Conquering Anxiety, Depression, Obsessiveness, Anger, and Impulsiveness

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Mike Carruthers:
It appears that you actually have more control over your brain than you may have thought. For example…

Daniel Amen, M.D.:
How you think (moment-by-moment thoughts) have a huge impact on how your brain works.
 

December 16, 2011

Interview with Mel Pohl, author of the book A Day without Pain

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Mike Carruthers:
A third of the population suffers from chronic pain and we're all bothered by pain at some point. Here's something interesting...

Mel Pohl, M.D.:
Probably twenty percent of chronic pain is related to the injury and the tissue irritation and about eighty percent is related to our attitudes about the pain.
 

December 15, 2011

Interview with Shawn Smith, author of the book The User's Guide to the Human Mind: Why Our Brains Make Us Unhappy, Anxious, and Neurotic and What We Can Do about It

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Mike Carruthers:
The primary job of the human mind is not to keep you happy but to keep you safe.

Shawn Smith:
That’s why you’ll notice that the bookshelves in the bookstore are filled with books about how to be happy because happiness is not really the default state for our brains. Our brains are really much more concerned about us surviving.
 

October 11, 2011

Interview with Alex Doman, co-author of the book Healing at the Speed of Sound: How What We Hear Transforms Our Brains and Our Lives

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Mike Carruthers:
Music is good for your health in fact it may be essential.

Alex Doman:
For example with stress levels we know that cortisol is a marker of stress and there are numerous studies to show that using the right kind of relaxing music reduces stress levels and stress is one of the leading causes of ill health in America.
 

October 6, 2011

Interview with Patrick Maguire, M.D., author of the book When Cancer Hits Home: Cancer Treatment and Prevention Options for Breast, Colon, Lung, Prostate & Other Common Types

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Mike Carruthers:
About the last thing anyone wants to hear form their doctor is, “You’ve got cancer” and yet it’s a very common diagnosis.

August 18, 2011

Interview with Dr. Richard Kradin, author of the book The Placebo Response and the Power of Unconscious Healing

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Mike Carruthers:
What you think of a medication you are taking can actually impact how well that medication works.

Richard Kradin, M.D.:
Placebo researchers have looked at these things - that the colors of pills, the size of pills, the root of administration of medications - all of these things have an effect on efficacy.
 

May 4, 2011

Interview with Dr. Daniel Amen, author of the book The Amen Solution: The Brain Healthy Way to Lose Weight and Keep It Off

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Mike Carruthers:
For good physical and mental health we need vitamin D and yet most of us don’t get enough.

Dr. Daniel Amen:
Low levels of vitamin D are associated with depression, dementia, obesity, heart disease, cancer, diabetes and high blood pressure. It’s like oh my goodness! And what an easy fix is measure it in your blood, and if it’s low take a supplement or get more sun.