A dream come true

Electrode

What would you think if I say there is no longer the need to use your hand to change the TV channel when advertisements start? What if, instead of that, you could simply use your brain to do it? Many of you may be thinking “a dream come true”. It appears like dreams are becoming a substantial possibility these days. Thanks to a revolutionary new device, which is calling everyone's attention, this dream is very close to become a reality. 

The Braingate is a device made of electrodes which are surgically implanted on a person’s motor cortex that helps the owner to control objects and to communicate effectively. It is designed to assist people who had suffered accidents or strokes and, as a consequence, are currently disabled. The user can move external objects using only the mind/thought. However, this idea is still in its infancy despite it has been already tested on real people.  

A controversy that surrounds this wonderful discovery has to do with the abuse of the system. It was made specifically for people with disabilities, but it’s believed even healthy people may feel the desire to “improve” their lives by using the system. How drastically our lives could change if we didn’t have the necessity to move to perform common actions like drinking an orange juice or turning the page of our book? If you have the chance, would you choose to implant electrodes on your brain in order to make your life easier?

If you want to take a deeper look on the Briangate system, click here.

Trapped in a Nightmare

I know some old people who claim that they have never had nightmares, they say that they are too optimistic. What if a healthy diet and the use of some pills had more to do with nightmares than an optimistic attitude?

Recent research has shown that sleeping pills, a diet rich in lithium and some other pharmacological agents affecting neurotransmitters are likely to cause or increase nightmares, since they tamper with the neurochemical composition of a healthy brain activity.

On one side an insuficient ammount of lithium in your diet may lead to an increase in the amount of nightmares and even to a mental illnesses which are in fact treated with lithium. This way, it is very important to have the correct amount of grain, pulses, fruits and other food that contain high amount of lithium.

Another important factor to consider is whether you are using any sleeping pills or anti-depressants which are likely to cause sleeping disorders, since they are designed to tamper with your neurotransmitters in order to help you overcome this type of condition and it might happen that your condition is not that bad, but the prescribed d medication causes you terrible nightmares.

Also is important to consider that some medication to treat infectious diseases may cause nightmares to the patient taking them. 

Considering the factors mentioned above I dare to say that highly probable that we have to re-consider what we think to be the causes of a terrible night sleep. First of all people who suffer constantly from nightmares such as post-traumatic stress patients, depressive or bipolar people are under medication that according to recent data may increase their nightmares; thus, their condition may not be as bad as their nightmares tell them.

If you thought nightmares were a children condition and that is not normal to have them as an adult, but you are suffering from nightmares anyways, you should ask yourself if you follow a healthy diet or if you are under any pharmacological agent that could affect your neurotransmitters.

As for people who have never suffered from nightmares, they must be doing something right.

 

The Role of Family in Attention Deficit/Hiperactivity Disorder

Attention Deficit/Hiperactivity Disorder (ADHD), includes much more than the person who suffers it, this disorder also affects all the people that are involved in learning processes; This way, one of the most important actors in this process that we have to consider is family and the effect that a kid with this disorder implies for it, since family dinamics are affected by the behaviour that children with ADHD present, affecting at the same time the core of relationships and behaviour learning, which for a child is family.

According to JB Schweitzer, TK Cummins andCA Kant from Medical Clinics of North America (2001) ADHD is one of the most common yet undiagnosed psychiatric disorders in children. This might be an explanation for how difficult is to find material that helps you to work with this kid in the classroom; but parents, and family in general, should take more action since according to Diagnosis and Treatment of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder in Children and Adolescents by Larry S. Goldman, MD; Myron Genel, MD; Rebecca J. Bezman, MD; Priscilla J. Slanetz, MD, MPH the key to a succesful treatment of this deficit is the early diagnose and, most importantly, the right one.

Ideally the family should be alert and realize that if their children symptoms such as
developmentally inappropriate levels of inattention, impulsivity, overactivity, or a
combination of these; they can help their kid by noticing and speaking with an specialist, because these characteristics may indicate ADHD which results in chronic functional impairment, affecting not only the children's academic performance, but also the family dinamics that build the life-style, the affective and socila enviroment in which the kid will grew up and learn.

Taking into account all the mentioned above, I would dare to affirm that family is one of the fundamental mainstay for a child that suffers from ADHD to develop a better life quality and to be treated propperly, in a healthy enviroment.