Friday, May 19, 2017

When You Lie, Your Brain Is Actually Suffering

Ever hear this: “Don’t lie, your nose will grow!” or “Liar, liar, pants on fire!”? One of the basic lessons of our childhood was to never tell a lie. We all know we shouldn’t lie, yet we seem to do it anyway. In fact, you’ve probably already lied today. Shaking your head “no”? Could be another lie. Research shows that most people tell 1 to 2 lies a day![1]

We always make excuses for our lies, too. “It’s not pathological lying, it’s a simple white lie.” “I said it so I wouldn’t hurt their feelings.” “I didn’t want to get in trouble.” So, what’s the big deal if everybody else is doing it? Well, as it turns out, lying could be affecting your brain and body.

When you lie, your brain is overwhelmed

Lots of research has been conducted about the health effects of pathological lying and guess what? It could be detrimental to your health.

According to Arthur Markman, Ph.D., the very second that lie leaves your lips, your body releases cortisol into your brain. Just a few minutes later and your memory goes into overdrive trying to remember both the lie and the truth. Decision making becomes more difficult and you could even project your discomfort as anger. This is all in the first 10 minutes![2]

When you lie, your stress increases

After these initial reactions, you may start to feel worried about your lie – or about being caught lying. To deal with this feeling, you might try to make up for the lie by treating the other person more kindly than normal. Or, the reverse could happen and you convince yourself it was their fault that you had to lie.

The day after the lie, one of two things might happen. If you are used to pathological lying, you may begin to believe the lie. If you are not used to pathological lying, you may still feel bad and try to avoid seeing the person you lied to. Continuing to feel guilty over your lie could lead to disrupted sleep patterns over a few days.[3]

All of this additional stress has negative consequences on your health as well. It can increase your blood pressure, cause headaches and lower back pain, and reduce your white blood cell count (you need these to fight illness).[4] A lot of mental energy goes into telling and keeping up a lie, giving you anxiety and in some cases, depression. It doesn’t stop there. These feelings go on to affect your digestion, resulting in diarrhea, upset stomach, nausea, and cramps.

A Notre Dame research project looked into the effects of pathological lying. The study involved 110 volunteers, half of whom agreed to stop lying and the other half who received no instructions. At the end of 10 weeks, the group that lied less often had 54% fewer mental complaints (like stress or anxiety) and 56% fewer physical health issues (like headaches or digestive issues).[5]

Stop Your Pathological Lying!

If lying is part of your daily routine (and let’s be honest, it probably is), then it’s going to be hard to simply stop. You can tell yourself you just won’t lie today, but you’ll probably end up doing it anyway. Just think about your best friend asking you if they have a good singing voice. Can you tell them the truth? I didn’t think so.

Stopping pathological lying takes time. Tell yourself you want to be more honest and make a conscious effort to cut down on your lying. Think twice before responding to a question. Can you avoid answering it? Is there a way to answer it and omit the truth?

Another great way to control pathological lying is to spend time with people who value the truth. Having friends who prefer to hear the truth and who encourage you to tell the truth can be really motivating. And if all else fails… think of your health!

Reference

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Top 10 High Protein Foods That Are Ideal for People Who Want to Build More Muscle

list of alkaline foods

Six packs are a dream many aspire to, such as those that are middle aged, some after a pregnancy, and others after over-indulging in food or an overload of beer, leaving a “beer belly” – not very aesthetically appealing.

Bellies keep on growing, then the search to fade away the flabby tummy begins with diet changes, diet pills, and gym sessions; but the extra belly fat that needs toning down seems so impossible. The stomach is usually a problem area for many.

What is the solution?

Whether you are an “apple” shape with too much belly fat, or a “pear” shape with wider thighs and hips, when it is time to build muscles or lose weight, get ready for a clean diet.

Sit-ups and lifting alone won’t help you reach those perked up muscle stages. That’s right – only if you consume the right foods is it possible to build muscles, and to retain and gain muscle strength without excessive training.

Are you ready to build muscle?

The secret is in nutrition.

Many tend to train so hard that they pay no attention to nutrition, so all the time and effort spent training is wasted. Success is sabotaged when people assume that nutrition is too complicated and avoid following proper diets with rich, clean, and complete protein!

Ignoring nutrition is not an option. Knowledge about nutrition will help you utilize it together with your fitness routine. This will help in maintaining the gain of muscle mass.

First, clean up your diet and participate in a cardio exercise to help shed excess fat. Begin by including regular muscle-building training exercises. This will help with toning all over. Whether you need to burn fat or build some mass, protein will help reap results much faster; it helps with muscle building and fat loss, as well as maintenance and repair.

All about protein intake

Protein is made of amino acids that are muscle building blocks. For optimal muscle growth, the body needs a constant protein [1] supply every day. Amino acids in protein are vital for building, repairing and maintaining muscle tissue.

Protein consists of hydrogen, carbon, oxygen and nitrogen. A sufficient protein amount will lead you to a good nitrogen balance. Reaching this stage, you build muscle.

The following foods are high in protein: fish, meat, cheese, yogurt, tofu, beans, milk, lentils, nuts, eggs, and seeds.

To get started, follow the top ten high protein foods to help with the mission of gaining strength and weighing up some muscle mass.

1. Lean Beef

To gain muscle, very lean beef should be the staple. It is loaded with all that is needed for muscle growth; it includes iron, B vitamins, and zinc.

Most importantly, it has a high protein quality with a high amino acid level that works with insulin in promoting muscle growth. Just 3 oz of a lean beef serving will provide the same amount of protein as 1.5 cups of beans at only half the calories, which is good news if you are trying to lose weight.

2. Skinless Chicken

Like beef, chicken is a good source of protein; just 4 oz of grilled chicken [2] contains 36 grams of protein. This is crucial for muscle repair and maintenance, as well as bone health and maintenance of weight. As a plus, there are many ways to prepare chicken as well.

3. Cottage Cheese

Not many are aware that that cottage cheese is packed with Casein protein (14 grams per half a cup.[3] ) Casein is a protein slow in digesting, which makes it perfect for maintaining muscle. It is a good source of calcium, vitamin B12, and many other crucial nutrients.

4. Eggs

Eggs are sometimes insinuated to be harmful to health, but they are not. Eggs contain a high amount of protein, with 9 vital amino acids and chorine, the “right fat,” as well as vitamin D. A medium-sized egg [4] has 5.7 grams of protein.

5. Whey Protein

Protein supplements are popular in fitness industries, as they provide a convenient protein source [5] at affordable prices. Bodybuilders use them on waking up and after workouts. One scoop contains between 9-30 grams of protein, depending on the type and brand – it’s best to read labels.

Whey can also be mixed in meals. It is important to get high quality protein from foods and use whey protein to boost your protein intake.

6. Fish

Fish are low-fat, high-protein, and rich in essential omega-3 fatty acids. They contain between 19-36 grams of protein [6] depending on the type of fish. Omega-3’s aid in losing fat and ensure proper functioning of body processes like metabolism.

7. Almonds

Almonds are popular tree nuts. They are loaded with nutrients, including vitamin E, fiber, magnesium, and manganese. A total of ten almonds contains 2.5 grams of protein. [7]

8. Broccoli

Broccoli provides protein without fat. It is also a rich source of vitamin A, potassium folate, and vitamin C. Paired with foods missing any amino acids, broccoli is a healthy contribution to daily requirements of protein. One cup has 2.57 grams of protein.[8]

9. Quinoa

Quinoa has a high protein content, and with good reason. The seed is a complete protein, packed with all 9 amino acids that the body needs. The high-protein content makes it a perfect choice that is cholesterol-free and a low-fat source of protein for vegans and vegetarians. A cooked cup of quinoa has 8.14 grams of protein. [9]

10. Lentils

Protein is not the only nutritious benefit lentils contain. Half a cup of lentils has [10] approximately 9 grams of protein. They are packed with potassium, iron, zinc phosphorous, niacin, and folate. Lentils are high in soluble fiber, reducing or preventing high blood pressure.

Featured photo credit: Livestrong.com via img.aws.livestrongcdn.com

Reference

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Successful People Don't Just Listen to What People Tell Them, They Have These 7 Critical Thinking Habits

Ever been stuck with trying to get to a solution, but not getting anywhere? If you nod affirmatively, you may be lacking in critical thinking. What you have to remember about critical thinking though, is that you will not get from 0 to 100 in just a second. There are many skills that you need to learn and understand before you can get to use your brain this way : you inquire into and enquire about all the facets of a problem, before actually getting to solve it, keeping your “judgment” well out of the way.

Why Is Critical Thinking So Hard To Achieve?

The toughest thing about critical thinking is the fact that you need to suspend your judgment while you do so, keeping your very open to the thought that the belief you have about something, can in the next instant, proven to be wrong or incorrect. Also, as a critical thinker, you are in a way deviating from the norm, which means all the things that your peers believe and even want you to believe, can, in fact, be incorrect. The very basis of critical thinking is an almost continuous back and forth between making theories or beliefs, and then trying to accept or eliminate what works and what doesn’t. [1]

Are You On The Right Path To Critical Thinking?

Despite the difficulty of critical thinking, it is becoming more and more of a valued tool in the professional field – perhaps because there is a dearth of critical thinkers. So to see whether you are the next best thing since sliced bread when it comes to critical thinking, you should try to take The California Critical Thinking Disposition Inventory – a psychological test that can be used to measure whether people are disposed to think critically or not, by measuring seven different thinking habits, or essential skills. [2]

  1. Truth-seeking: Are you a flame carrier for truth, and nothing but? Do you try and understand how things actually are instead of believing hearsay?
  2. Open-mindedness: Is new information acceptable, good or just bad to you? Do you give new ideas, even if they “sound” weird or wrong, a fair chance? Or are you closed to modernity?
  3. Analyticity: Do you try and find and understand the reasons behind things? Are your decisions gut-based or do they have pros and cons behind them?
  4. Systematicity: Are you orderly in your approach of problem-solving? Do you break down a problem into parts and then tackle them one by one?
  5. Confidence in Reasoning: Do you always defer to other people or is your own belief more important to you? Are you confident in your own judgment and do you think that you have reasons for your confidence? Do you like to evaluate your own thinking?
  6. Inquisitiveness: Do you question, and question often? Are you full of curiosity?
  7. The Maturity of Judgment: Do you take time in reaching a conclusion or do you jump to conclusions? Do you try and analyze things from different perspectives and take other people’s experiences into account, instead of just valuing yourself above it all?

So the essential skills needed in critical thinking are analyzing, applying the standards, classifying, seeking further information, logical deduction, predictions and finally and most importantly: “transforming” the conclusions into knowledge. [3]

The Tools Used In Critical Thinking

Frankly, critical thinking is basically a series of tos and fros between theories or beliefs and their elimination or acceptance. From the birth of a belief to its eventual binning or acceptance, there are many a tool one can use that keep the judgment suspended till the scales of justice, science and logic list on one side.

  • A Sound Argument: Much like a pros and cons list, an argument is when we present a list of whys and why nots for a belief and then reach a sound conclusion: the statement about what should be done or believed. Arguments, however, need to be proven.
  • Deductive Reasoning: Deductive reasoning often follows a set of conclusions after a sound argument; you can then, following logic, “deduce” what those conclusions now state in their entirety. Sometimes though, deductive reasoning is unable to prove something by mere logic.
  • Inductive Reasoning: So when arguments and deductive reasoning refuse to provide a solution, this is where inductive reasoning steps in. Starting with eliminative and enumerative reasoning and then moving onto abductive reasoning: a logical happening that happens by “chance” but basically can be traced back to the very problem we are trying to solve. Not quite gut, but somewhere close.

How To Put Critical Thinking To Use

What have been stated above are beliefs. Now for you to put critical thinking to use, you need to internalize and channelize these theoretical principles and apply them to your daily thought processes. Be unafraid – state your opinions, ask your questions, admit to being wrong, own up to thinking that you are right, be ready to be questioned in return and lastly: know that your belief system is not infallible.

Once you start to apply critical thinking, you may end up discovering that what you believed in is actually a falsification. Chin up, cheer up and be critical. The ultimate goal or aim of critical thinking is not to break something but to build something even more awesome in place. [4]

Don’t be wary of being in the wrong. If all the great minds thought like that and refused to question their own theories or the one of the greats before them, the world would still be thought of as flat, with the sun revolving around it…

Featured photo credit: http://ift.tt/2pTabw8 via flickr.com

Reference

[1] Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute: Critical Thinking
[2] Insight Assessment: CCTDI
[3] University of Michigan: Critical Thinking Skills
[4] University of Hong Kong: Improving Critical Thinking

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Andrea Antoni  Finds Pantone Colors In Natural Landscapes And...



















Andrea Antoni  Finds Pantone Colors In Natural Landscapes And Cities

Italian graphic designer Andrea Antoni searches the world for Pantone colors, reminding us to embrace the colorful nature of our surroundings.In each of his landscape studies, Antoni digitally inserts his hand with a swatch, containing complimentary Pantone shades that are represented in the background. 

Through these pictures, Andrea also tries to preserve the nostalgic emotion, associated with a particular place. “The images reflect the way I see the world, or the memory I have of some places. Some show the sensations that these places evoke in me,” the artist said.


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Andrea Antoni  Finds Pantone Colors In Natural Landscapes And... crss



















Andrea Antoni  Finds Pantone Colors In Natural Landscapes And Cities

Italian graphic designer Andrea Antoni searches the world for Pantone colors, reminding us to embrace the colorful nature of our surroundings.In each of his landscape studies, Antoni digitally inserts his hand with a swatch, containing complimentary Pantone shades that are represented in the background. 

Through these pictures, Andrea also tries to preserve the nostalgic emotion, associated with a particular place. “The images reflect the way I see the world, or the memory I have of some places. Some show the sensations that these places evoke in me,” the artist said.


Follow us on Facebook! WARNING - awesomeness inside.

posted by tu recepcja via

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Hueman, recent worksAllison Tinati, aka Hueman, grew up drawing... crss


Hueman, recent works


Hueman, recent works


Hueman, recent works


Hueman, recent works


Hueman, recent works


Hueman, recent works


Hueman, recent works


Hueman, recent works


Hueman, recent works

Hueman, recent works

Allison Tinati, aka Hueman, grew up drawing and painting in Northern California, and received her degree in Design | Media Arts from UCLA in 2008. Whether she is creating delicate visions on canvas or crushing massive walls with a spray can, she often draws on the human condition to create colorful mash-ups of the abstract and figurative, and the beautiful and grotesque. Hueman’s unique freestyle process involves creating tightly refined compositions from a spontaneous beginning of paint splashes, drips, and sprays. 

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