A Meandering on Mind
Posted May 25, 2001
I got an email this morning from Rev. Barbara C. that claimed
75% of Americans are chronically dehydrated.
(Likely applies to half of world population.)
In 37% of Americans, the thirst mechanism is
so weak that it is often mistaken for hunger.
Even MILD dehydration will slow down one's
metabolism as much as 3%.
One glass of water shut down midnight hunger
pangs for almost 100% of the dieters studied
in a U-Washington study.
Lack of water is the #1 trigger of daytime fatigue.
Preliminary research indicates that 8-10
glasses of water a day could significantly
ease back and joint pain for up to 80%
of sufferers.
A mere 2% drop in body water can trigger
fuzzy short-term memory, trouble with basic
math, and difficulty focusing on the
computer screen or a printed page.
And
Drinking 5 glasses of water daily decreases
the risk of colon cancer by 45%, plus it can
slash the risk of breast cancer by 79%
and one is 50% less likely to develop bladder
cancer.
I just knew it was talking about me, so I decided to start drinking a lot of water. The thing is, I forgot. It must have been a dozen times that I said, "Next time I get up, I'll get a glass of water." I made that round trip all through the day, and never once while I was up did water cross my mind. Only after I sat back down and got back involved did it pop into my head. That was when I once again said, "Next time I get up, I'll get a glass of water."
Finally tonight, I got one. I sipped on it as I did a little cleaning in the kitchen. Next thing I knew, I was brushing my teeth, remembering the glass was still half full. Sure enough. There it was hiding behind the can of Scrubbing Bubbles.
Ya know, I can remember a time when everything that registered was audibly, tactilely, visually, viscerally remembered. Forgetting things wasn't an issue. The notion of having to stop and think about how old you were was ungraspable, and when I'd see older people do it, I'd be amazed.
Brainwashing was something else I remember pondering. An ad meant a black and white square in the paper announcing B T's was having a sale or a funky little cartoon guy singing "You'll wonder where the yellow went when you brush your teeth with Pepsodent." Ads were breaks inserted in television programs so you could get up and pop a TV dinner in the oven. I think kids today grow up with an intrinsic understanding of having your mind bent, but we weren't yet being bludgeoned by media, and I didn't get it.
There was hypnotism. No way did I believe some guy could swing a watch in front of my face and then make me cluck like a chicken.
Nor did I get addiction. I first learned of it while watching a movie with my dad. In it some guy was threatening a girl with a needle. I wanted to know why she was so totally freaked out, and that was when my dad told me about heroin. I couldn't imagine not being able to "just say no." To anything. My mind in those days felt absolutely solid and trustworthy.
Forgetfulness, brainwashing, hypnotism, addiction--they were all concepts that adults seemed to accept as unquestionably real, and yet I couldn't fathom a one of them. Then I grew up and played with my mind enough to learn to see it, and I watched it discover each of those things.
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article brought up for you.
