What’s interesting about Chinese Medicine is that even if 5 people all have sore throats, each person could get a completely different treatment. Not all sore throats are the same. The same goes for ADHD. Dr. Stephen Cowan wrote a wonderful book on the different types of ADHD you will find in children based on their 5 element constitution. It illustrates beautifully how important it is to treat people individually and why medications won’t always work-not everyone’s type of ADHD is the same. I developed a 5 element ADHD questionnaire based on his book you can find here. The first answers of each section correspond to the element wood, the 2nd fire, 3rd earth, 4th metal and the 5th water. read more

but this fun hobby might be helpful! I met a dog at the dog park named digdy…short for didgeridoo (now you don’t have to click on the link).

Washington state recently implemented a new law requiring that all providers take a suicide prevention training course. Apparently some doctors were not happy with this new requirement…especially anesthesiologists. And sure enough, while I was taking the course, I noticed the anesthesiologists in the class doing crossword puzzles. I completely understand that in their field, they will not have the chance to use the suicide screening tools with their patients but as a member of society, as a human being in a community, I would still think this is very valuable info. So much so, a version of it should be taught in high schools as part of health class; learning how to deal with psychic/emotional pain and supporting others around you who are suffering from it are tools we should all be learning from a young age. read more

This insightful blog post related to coding explains why. It shows us how important it is to plan ahead with some healthy meals pre-made in the fridge if you know you’re going to have a long mentally intense day at work…because once you get home you will have absolutely no will power to resist junk food if you don’t already have something prepared. And the reverse is true…if you expend a lot of willpower trying to resist the junk food in your house or hold back from saying what you really think for days on end…you will have no brain power leftover to solve problems or concentrate at work. The blog post explains it much better than I can as to how willpower and cognitive processing draw from the same finite pool. Hopefully you can use this knowledge to your advantage! (I also love what a testament it is to the importance of good intuitive design, it has more ramifications than you would think.)

is important as this comic delightfully points out, but the term “cage-free” unfortunately is not “legit” nor meaningful. You can find a label report card at greenerchoices which can tell you which terms are just adspeak and which ones are actually significant. Just type in a phrase you are unsure about and the website will tell you whether or not the label is meaningful (ex. free range is not). Most of us know that the label “natural” slapped onto the box looks nice but doesn’t mean much… “USDA organic” on the other hand does mean the product was inspected by a third party agency that verifies that certain standards were upheld to earn that organic label. Read more detail about the term “cage-free” here.