Circulatory Contemplation
Mom: "Sachin, beta, can you please take some time to pray to God?"
Me: "No."
Mom: "You really should pray more. How else will you gain knowledge and become smarter?"
Me: "Uh...by eating good food and studying."
Mom: "No, that's not what I mean. I mean real knowledge and wisdom."
So I was eating some pomegranate seeds while studying about cardiovascular physiology, and I started thinking about how everything we consume into our bodies is integral for our physiological function...and since the brain is also a part of physiology, then our very thoughts and decisions are in essence a product of whatever we have eaten. Like that old cliche goes, you are what you eat.
I looked up "pomegranate" on Wikipedia and I was happy to find that studies have shown that pomegranate reduces systolic blood pressure by inhibiting angiotensin-converting enzyme aka ACE. So I guess it is like an ACE inhibitor...and ironically, I was just reading about ACE inhibitors in my notes. Yay for random coincidences. Hehehe.
Anyways, back to the topic at hand. It's really true. For example, last night, I drank some chai as I studied and my concentration was indeed affected by the tea. Of course, most of this is just common sense...I mean, duhhh! of course one's diet has an impact on their psychological well being and current mental status. What's the big deal?
I guess it's what my mother told me earlier that kind of leads way to acknowledge that possibility that there's more to it than diet and environmental influences alone. Introspection and self-mediated thinking in the form of prayer or meditation might as well influence how we think, feel, and act as well. It's not quite all chemical...and yet it really is. Huh? Confusing? Yes. Very. How much control over our thoughts and feelings do we really have?...and how much is merely physiologically regulated like an eterenal machine? Hmmm...
This is why I'm eager to start reading this book I recently checked out at the library after it was suggested as a good read by my biochemistry professor. The book is entitled A General Theory of Love, and it looks at how the connections we establish with others around us and the thoughts and feelings that provoke us can all be tied to biochemical pathways that in affect are regulated by whatever we feel like introducing into our body in the first place?...
A chicken and the egg question, it appears to be.
And now I return to studying for my exam. Hahaha. What a way to procrastinate!
Me: "No."
Mom: "You really should pray more. How else will you gain knowledge and become smarter?"
Me: "Uh...by eating good food and studying."
Mom: "No, that's not what I mean. I mean real knowledge and wisdom."
So I was eating some pomegranate seeds while studying about cardiovascular physiology, and I started thinking about how everything we consume into our bodies is integral for our physiological function...and since the brain is also a part of physiology, then our very thoughts and decisions are in essence a product of whatever we have eaten. Like that old cliche goes, you are what you eat.
I looked up "pomegranate" on Wikipedia and I was happy to find that studies have shown that pomegranate reduces systolic blood pressure by inhibiting angiotensin-converting enzyme aka ACE. So I guess it is like an ACE inhibitor...and ironically, I was just reading about ACE inhibitors in my notes. Yay for random coincidences. Hehehe.
Anyways, back to the topic at hand. It's really true. For example, last night, I drank some chai as I studied and my concentration was indeed affected by the tea. Of course, most of this is just common sense...I mean, duhhh! of course one's diet has an impact on their psychological well being and current mental status. What's the big deal?
I guess it's what my mother told me earlier that kind of leads way to acknowledge that possibility that there's more to it than diet and environmental influences alone. Introspection and self-mediated thinking in the form of prayer or meditation might as well influence how we think, feel, and act as well. It's not quite all chemical...and yet it really is. Huh? Confusing? Yes. Very. How much control over our thoughts and feelings do we really have?...and how much is merely physiologically regulated like an eterenal machine? Hmmm...
This is why I'm eager to start reading this book I recently checked out at the library after it was suggested as a good read by my biochemistry professor. The book is entitled A General Theory of Love, and it looks at how the connections we establish with others around us and the thoughts and feelings that provoke us can all be tied to biochemical pathways that in affect are regulated by whatever we feel like introducing into our body in the first place?...
A chicken and the egg question, it appears to be.
And now I return to studying for my exam. Hahaha. What a way to procrastinate!