Mindconnection eNL, 2018-12-02

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Item 1. Americans for Limited Government has presented Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) with the annual Senator of the Year award for his “extraordinary courage in defense of liberty.” Read the full story here:

http://dailytorch.com/2018/11/chuck-grassleys-courage-in-2018-ended-obama-era-fisa-abuse-and-held-the-line-on-kavanaugh/

Item 2. The FDA finally took baby-steps against the sicko predators who hawk e-cigs. Read the full story here:

https://www.digitalcommerce360.com/2018/11/15/what-the-fdas-new-e-cigarette-regulations-mean-for-e-retailers

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• Helps with reading fluency and comprehension.
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• Speaks (and shows) letter by letter spelling, synonyms, and definitions of scanned words or lines.
• Shows the syllabication onscreen. Also has one-touch translation to Spanish.
• Provides definitions and other information from the American Heritage Children's Dictionary and Thesaurus, American Heritage College Dictionary, and Roget's II Thesaurus.
• Easy to use. Recommended for adults and children age 10 and up.
• Mobile, completely self-contained, requires no computer.

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What if I told you how the typical person in the USA can be ten times smarter without taking that pill? There is a way, and it involves ending sleep deprivation.

Sleep deprivation is a major IQ-killer. People often don't realize they are running a sleep deficit, partly because they use stimulants like excess caffeine but also because they just don't know what normal feels like.

In the USA, if you pick 100 people at random you will likely pick 100 sleep-deprived people. Every single one of them would see a ten-fold increase of effective IQ by correcting the problem. Notice, I say effective IQ. There is your raw IQ, which is also greatly diminished by sleep deprivation; this is the score you'd get on a standardized IQ test. Your effective IQ is what you actually use.

If you're sleep-deprived, your default brain mode is autopilot. Due to lack of sleep, your brain is loaded with the waste that should have been removed during sleep. Your higher functions are sluggish and impaired, so they generally get switched off. If you do try to use them while in this condition, they don't work so well. One problem here is people get so accustomed to this dysfunctional condition they believe it's normal. They can't even tell they are impaired. Except for the yawning and sluggishness, which they attempt to address with stimulants like caffeine and sugar.

Distraction is an insidious stimulant that is even more destructive to intelligence than the drug type of stimulant. It dissipates whatever effective IQ you have, robbing you of the ability to think at all. So turn off text message notifications, silence the phone ringer, and turn off anything else that will interrupt you. Being in a distracted state can give the impression you have all of your faculties and thereby disguise sleep deprivation. But it doesn't solve any problems, it just makes even more of them. You have to fix the sleep deprivation.

Here are some common causes of sleep deprivation and how to fix them:

• Use of an alarm clock on a regular basis. Fix this problem by going to bed earlier so that you naturally awake at the desired time.
   
• Inconsistent bedtimes. Ever hear of the circadian rhythm? That's the key factor here. Set a bed time, and do not deviate from it unless there is a very compelling reason to do so. The fact it's the weekend is not such a reason. Our next bullet point is related to this one.
   
• No transition. You can't go from active to sleep-ready in an instant. You need some transition time that is free of stimulation. First, set a shutdown time for your day. Don't answer e-mails or texts during this time. Then when shut down time hits, shut down. Turn the lights down to reduce stimulation. If you're angry at your spouse, don't use this time to continue the fight (you could use it to apologize for your part in the dispute). Then do something that relaxes you; take 15 to 30 minutes, as needed. Read a book or magazine, cuddle with your kitty (who would really appreciate the attention) or do some gentle stretching exercises.
   
• Over-use of stimulants. Those so-called "energy drinks" burn out your adrenal system, making you even more tired. That puts you into a vicious cycle. The same goes for anything else you drink; look at the amount of caffeine and adjust accordingly. Sugary drinks also over-stimulate, but those cause tooth decay, osteoporosis, diabetes, low testosterone, cell oxidation and other problems so should be 100% eliminated from your diet. All fruit juices, even "100% natural" are sugary drinks.
   
• Too much light in the bedroom. A common cause here is the "always on" mobile phone being charged on the night stand. There is no reason to have that phone in your room; you are there to sleep. Set the phone to automatically turn off half an hour before bedtime and keep it in some other room. Various other sources of light also stimulate the wake-up response so eliminate those too. If you have a landline (VOIP or anything else), your handset(s) should have a "do not disturb" setting that you can set so they won't ring during sleeping time.
   
• Dirty bedding. You should change sheets and pillow cases once a week, at a minimum. Wash them in hot water (to kill mites), using half the recommended amount of detergent (so they stay soft). Dry them gently on low heat (so you don't damage the fibers), and remove while still damp so they can air dry. Do not use "fabric softener," which is just rancid fat and petroleum-based perfumes.
   
• Morning showers. Most people shower either in the morning or before bed. If you don't perspire profusely at night, why wait until morning to shower so that you're sleeping with a dirty body in your  bed? Think about why you might want to change if you are a morning shower person. Other factors might make this a "has to be morning" situation, but from a sleep standpoint the night shower works better.
   
• Taking antisocial media anger to bed with you. I am amazed at how many people waste time arguing with abusive idiots on anti-social media. They will often do this in the evening, get all worked up before going to bed, then wonder why they can't sleep. The best cure here is to simply not do antisocial media. The second best cure is to set limits on it, such as you will quit by X time and you won't get into arguments.
   
• Taking negative thoughts to bed with you. You're there to sleep, not to mull over your problems. The fix here is to think of something positive, so your mind is redirected away from the unpleasant. It can even  be something that hasn't happened yet. For example, you could start thinking about the end of the IRS and imagine yourself attending a trial in which its top terrorists are indicted. Or you could think about nice things you can do for specific people over the next few days; imagine the smile or maybe even hug that each act of kindness will bring. Or just think of someone you love and why that person is special to you.
   
• Watching television before bed. Many people have a television and/or computer in their bedroom, and they stay up watching TV and/or being online. The fix here is to eliminate television from your life (I did that in 1990 and it was one of the best decisions of my life) and move all electronics out of the bedroom. You are there to sleep, that is your mission; it is not what you do once you get bored with whatever else is in your room.

This list could be much longer. What you need to do after addressing everything on it is to take a good look at your sleep situation and identify problems that interfere with your sleep or diminish its quality. Then solve each one.

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Let's talk about leg strength. Unfortunately, this is not something most people think about or seem to care about. Even devoted gym goers usually treat legs as an afterthought. Guys, especially, go for the "beach muscles" and do anemic training for their legs.

The result of that is a gradual loss of mobility. It usually goes like this, with a slight delay (maybe a couple of years) among the gym faithful:

Jim retires. He didn't take time, while working, to develop any real interests. Now that he has so much free time, he spends more of it relaxing in front of the television.

He spends a lot of time sitting (watch retirees, and you'll see that's normal). His legs, barely challenged when he was working, now go unchallenged in retirement. So they get progressively weaker.

Jim's wife encourages him to get out and walk. But it's hard for Jim to do even that, since his legs are so weak. So he sits even more. Then he needs a cane. Then he needs a walker. Then he needs a nursing home bed. Then he dies.

It doesn't have to be that way, but for the vast majority of people it is.

Photo taken about one week before 40th High School Class Reunion

Now let's say you can weight train only one day a week for some reason (it would not be one that I understand, because I weight train six days a week). We know you can't do a "whole body workout" and expect decent results unless you're at the remedial/rehabilitation level. So which muscle group will you train?

The best choice here is legs. You must work legs to retain your mobility. Refer again to the example of Jim.

The point here isn't that you should stop training everything else and you'll be fine as long as you train legs. The point here is leg training is the most important of all your training. Don't make it an afterthought kind of workout, really make the most of to stimulate your leg muscles to respond adaptively. That means harder work than what most people think, but the payoff is huge.

Just staving off that old age loss of mobility is a big reward, but you also have the reward of having strong legs to do things that you enjoy. Before old age and well into old age.

Here's an example of a sport in which leg strength is paramount: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXuEoNWLtfE

Sometimes, I'm climbing the same problems with guys 20, 30, or even 40 years younger than I am and after a couple of hours they are exhausted but I still have juice. In response to one person who observed this, I said I've had 30 more years to lift weights and develop strength, and when they reach my age they'll be just as strong. I'm not the only climber in great condition, in fact the folks I frequently climb with are in great condition. Here's a guy who is about 25 years younger than I am and I think he's in better condition than I am despite not having that additional quarter century to work on it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=agU9p86wMi4

So now you are probably thinking that I'm going to detail a leg workout you can do. The thing is, it doesn't matter what kind of workout you do for legs if you're not fully present in that workout and focused on stimulating the adaptive response.

Consider two different approaches to doing the identical squat exercise (whatever it happens to be). James doesn't do much more than flex his knees. No recruitment of glutes, no real strain on the quads. Tim, on the other hand, goes deep. As deep as he can. All the way down, work the bottom, come up. Tim's workout is effective, James' workout is a waste of time.

Another way people shortcut their workout is they go for volume only. Or they go for intensity and don't get volume. If you have to choose, intensity is the one. But you don't have to choose, you can get both and when you do they are synergistic. The sum is much greater than the individual parts. That is, when you combine you multiply rather than merely add.

If you watch a competitive body builder train, that person does both in one set. You can get the intensity at the beginning (kind of tricky) or at the end (much more straightforward).

Here's how it works. Let's say it's the leg extension. You set the weight so each rep is difficult, and you go at your normal tempo for the first eight reps. There's your volume. If you still have steam at this point, slow down the reps. If you are starting to fail at this point, maintain your tempo or speed it up just a tad so you can complete four more reps. Just don't cheat on the range of motion.

Those last four reps are your intensity, and each one is more intense than the previous one. The principle behind this is similar to the pre-exhaustion principle. But it doesn't work unless you are training at the edge of your ability while keeping your form and range of motion where they need to be.

Once your legs are "gone" (severely atrophied), your quality of life plummets. Keep your legs strong, because the alternative is so awful.

When training legs, start the session by reminding yourself this is your most important workout and you must do it right. Get that mental focus right, and the workout that follows should be productive.

• The best workouts are short and intense.
• A good diet contains far more flavors and satisfaction than the typical American diet.

In its December issue, Discover Magazine reported that "The signature of insulin resistance" is common to everyone with Alzheimer's but not to the population at large. This strongly hints at causation, yet another reason to make your diet 100% free of wheat, corn, high fructose corn syrup, and fruit juice.