Tag Archives: sleep

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Tip: shut off the screens and play this weekend.

Go out and have some fun. Make time for consecutive deep thoughts. Play!  Get outside! Walk with a loved one, without a heart rate monitor or GPS to track your steps. Write in a journal. Pray or meditate. Turn off your alarm. Jared Diamond says in one of his books that he found Hunter Gatherer tribal men spend about 20 hrs/week supplying all the food their family needs. The rest of the time is spent in play with children, religious pursuits, dancing around the fire…sounds great to me! (He also noted that his physician, lawyer, and accountant friends were not happy to hear this particular finding.) Thanks to Michael Hyatt for this hint.

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What does a PaleoPathologist actually DO?

There’s just no doubt that everyone out there is clamoring to know more about what a pathologist does in a cancer hospital!  We are definitely not CSI Forensic pathologists, who can figure out by DNA who the perpetrator was before the next commercial break. So as a public service PaleoPathologist, recipient of a 2008 Lifetime Achievement Award by the College of American Pathologists,  has decided to describe in excruciating detail my day.award resized

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Sleep? I’ll sleep when I’m dead!

PaleoPathologist has some vivid memories from his seven years at Duke Medical School. One is the sound coming through the back wall of his apartment starting at 10 at night; the adjoining unit housed some fellow medical students. They claimed to start studying at 10 PM. Paleopathologist was studying the backs of his eyelids at 10PM on a weeknight.  The other little vignette was walking into the Seely G. Mudd Medical Library and seeing one of his classmates asleep, his head on an open medical text, and drool pooling on the page!sleep

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How to live longer in 8 “Blue Zone” steps.

When PaleoPathologist was a kid he remembers seeing a skit on a variety show, might have been Rowan and Martin’s Laugh In, where a frumpy woman said, “I hear that scientists think they can help us live to 140.  Big deal.  Who wants to be a little old lady for 70 years?”  Good question!  But what if we can extend middle age 20, 30, 40 more years? Ah, sounds better.  According to The Blue Zones, one of the longest living groups in the world is the 7th Day Adventists in Loma Linda, California.  Since PaleoPathologist is the head of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology at Porter Adventist Hospital in Denver and is on the Mission Advisory Committee, he has a copy of the handbook, Creation Health Discovery, and is about to share the 8 steps.

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A couple of new posts on Sleep

PaleoPathMate and PaleoPathologist spent a week in Seattle with PaleoDaughter and PaleoGrandson. We rented a basement apartment and man did we sleep a lot. Between 8.5 and 10 hours a night. Naps in the afternoon. It was great. It also was great to see the western branch of the Clan. PaleoGrandson is bursting with energy!

Back in the PathCave at Porter, after only 7.5 hours of sleep (FitBit measured!) and no less than two other articles came at me on sleep and circadian rhythms.  They do such a nice job of summarizing the evidence that PaleoPathologist is going to cite them and go back to his work!  They are a nice addition to the previous article in my series on rhythms.

First is a new site that I’m enjoying, ThePaleoMom.com.  She is a PhD just like PaleoPathologist and left her research career to do a vital job–raising her kids. Her posts are filled with good science and I’m enjoying reading them. Take a look at her recent one on sleep.

Second is Chris Kresser’s site. He is also quite thoughtful on “paleo” issues and worth reading. His email came through just a couple of hours ago announcing his post on…sleep. Sometimes PaleoPathologist can’t help wondering if multiple messages coming through all at once might represent some kind of supernatural whisper? Like “Hey, dork, why only 7.5 hours last night? You have ten fingers, can’t you count?”

What are you doing to get not only minimum, but luxurious amounts of sleep?