Sticking with what you know

Stressful situations and anxiety can come anytime. For some it comes with meeting new people, or in other people it may even be through going to new places. For example, if you are meeting someone you have never met before but have arranged to meet, if you are early at the meeting place you might feel yourself getting nervous, or find yourself scouting the people around, hoping that you have not missed the person you were supposed to meet. Or perhaps you want to be straight out of your chair when the afore-mentioned person walks in to demonstrate your eagerness, and this keeps you on tight edge all the time.

We are all susceptible to stress. Stress is another one of those things that makes us human, for without stress, we would be in the same state as we were before, unevolved. For it is the human body’s response to stresses that have made us who we are. Stress helps us to grow. The body’s reaction to stress programs our genetic code and responses and is directly linked to our growth.

Stress goes hand in hand with anxiety. In fact, we can even go as far as to say that stress is prolonged anxiety. It may manifest itself in various ways such as through physical reactions, like excessive sweating, faster heartbeat or headaches. Or you may find your palms getting sweaty, or yourself talking in a higher pitch voice, or gulping air when breathing.

When you face a stressful situation where you have to make a decision, try to come up with one beforehand and stick with it, instead of going with your feelings. The singer Bob Dylan had planned to sing a song on a television news channel, and at the last minute he was told it was too risque to perform. Rather than opt for another song, he choose to stick with his guns, and did not perform at all at an occasion that had been meant to be his music breakout moment. Instead, his sticking with his own beliefs gave him more respect and popularity. You can read more about this from the Piano Teachers Crouch End website.

So when you feel anxious, perhaps trust your head instead of your heart. Stick to the facts instead of going by how you feel. Of course this varies across individuals but it might be a good rule to go by.

Getting priorities right

The sights of social letdown are around us. Just see how the number of people being made homeless seems to be increasing. But why is the problem not dealt with? The simple answer is that because there is a shortage of funding. It all comes down to money. But the trail goes deeper and higher up than you think. When there is a shortage of money coming into the country, then there are less taxes, and consequently less money for public provision. The situation that you see on the street, however unfortunate, is because the local authority does not have the money to step in and intervene for the better. And the fact that you have to step in reflects a breach of the social contract between the government and its citizens.

Governments raise money through taxes. And through these, they pledge to pay for public services. How local authorities choose to spend the money of course is their choice. Some may choose to spend it on fancy computers. Some may opt to spend it on services for younger people. Some may choose to spend it on the elderly and provision for such people. Others may choose to spend it on working adults. All local authorities do in all likelihood spend it to cover a wide breadth of the population as much as possible, so that everyone benefits – but the reasons for doing so are not as altruistic as you might think. It is more for the sake of gaining votes coming local election time, so that would-be councillors can point to the £100 donation that they spent on the local nursing home and then crow in some publicity poster and website about how committed they are to ensuring that the local elderly population has access to services it needs, and the provision that they are making for the elderly in order that they may live good lives.

The situation on the ground is more obvious. An improvement? Not much will appear to have been done, it seems. But it is buying political clout for election time, and making little provisions that allow, on the face of things, for local authorities to be seen to be doing things is what matters. Repeat the small dwindling sums of money for other services, such as children’s libraries – perhaps another £100 donation to the local library. What do you get? A mention on the local website that “XXX council invested in the library and contributed a percentage of local revenue for the furthering of education of the future generation.” The words are longer than the value provided.

Money talks. Unfortunately, that is the case. Money gives you spending power, freedom and control over life. And a good life skill to learn is to work to accumulate it first rather than to become a spendthrift. Maybe we should take a leaf out of the classical composer Rossini‘s book, who made his fortune writing operas such that by the age of thirty seven he could comfortably retire. (Unlike Mozart, who had died penniless.) But we should also counsel our local authorities to spend finances more astutely, focussing on the human element instead of the social media and PR element. Just remember, the website may look good, but it is the human living out on the street that matters.

Triumph – but at what cost?

Guess who the most hated man in Egypt is right now?

Clue: It is one of their politicians.

It’s not even Donald Trump.

In fact, it’s got nothing to do with politics.

The man that is fanning the flames at the moment is footballer Sergio Ramos.

Ramos plays for the Spanish team Real Madrid as a centre-back. That is to say, he is one of two players in front of the goalkeeper, to stop opposing players from getting their strikes in.

Ramos has made a reputation for himself over the years as a hardman, using physical play to intimidate or put off opposing strikers from coming into his zone. This means that instead of shooting directly from the front of the goal, where the width gives a larger target, opposing players have to go from the side, where the angle is narrower. Ramos’ reputation as a hardman has meant he has been sent off many times in his career.

And as he has aged, and his physical skills have declined, Ramos has resorted more to guile and trickery, to get players sent off or carded, to influence the game. He writhes around at the slightest contact as if he has been hit by a train, and he is always playing mind games with the opposition.

So why is Ramos the most hated man in Egypt right now? Last night’s Champions League football final saw Real Madrid take on Liverpool. And in the game Ramos practically arm-barred talismanic Mo Salah into the ground, slamming his shoulder into it and dislocating it.

You can see that Ramos deliberately traps the arm before using his left leg to deliberately induce a fall.

The old wily fox realised that the only way to have an edge was to take out the opposing team’s most influential player.

Salah is out for the World Cup. Which is why many Egyptians will be fuming at was what not a deliberate attempt to play the ball at all. With Salah out, Egypt doubts.

The sad message is what it sends to kids and fans. Real Madrid is one of the most popular teams in the world, and Ramos is one of the more well-known players in it.

But subscribing and following a team means justifying such acts and condoning them. It breeds a “win at all costs” mentality that includes negative competition.

Drive is a good thing to have. The Baroque music composer J S Bach once walked two hundred miles to watch a concert by Dietrich Buxtehude. And Bartholomeo Cristofori went through many revisions before he produced the working version of the piano. But when the drive to win is tempered by ill practice, it sets up the wrong mindset, which, exacerbated over time, compounds a disconnect between perception and reality, which is where mental deterioration begins.

The problem is also because supporting bad practice demands we re-frame evidence. Is Sergio Ramos a dirty player? If you are an Egyptian, or a neutral, you might say “Yes”. If you are a Real Madrid fan, you would say “No”, despite his reputation over the years (look how the Real Madrid and Barcelona matches always end up with Madrid trying to roughhouse Leo Messi). But in saying “No”, you are forced to accept and even justify an incorrect act.

Remember how in the World Wars people claimed innocence for acts of atrocities because they said they were only following orders? The whole evidence of evil actions was reframed by the act of purporting to follow the company line – in this case the national line.

And in not admitting to wrong actions, but trying to justify them in order to avoid the humbling admissions, we only create distortions of truth.

The pursuit of success to obtain triumphs at all costs leaves much to be desired. It demands we be ruthless. And the fact that we could even consider ruthless to have some positive tinge to it goes to show how distorted our senses are.

Mental health time bomb.

Painkillers may have effect on your baby’s fertility

Nope, you read right.

Scientists have studied data and suggested that the use of painkillers by women during a pregnancy may have effect on their offspring when it comes to future generations’ intent to conceive.

Scientists studied foetal human tissue and the effects that these had under treatment of paracetamol and ibuprofen. Both are common generic medicines used to manage pain, and hence a common feature of them is the management of pain receptors – the dulling of pain to the point that receptors are less responsive so that the body adapts and is less affected. The scientists found that in both cases, when the foetal human tissue was exposed to pain relief drugs, the number of germ cells, which are the ones that develop into sperm and eggs, were reduced after a week.

Hence, the use of painkillers by women during their pregnancy could lead to these effects being transferred to their off spring.

In other words, their children could have difficulty conceiving.

The problem with this research, as with many other similar kinds, is that it was done not on humans but on tissue-compatible cases. Tests were done on mice and tissues grown in laboratory, and while they have similar bearing to humans, we cannot say for definite if this is what would happen. Unfortunately, it is unethical to prescribe high doses of pain-relief to women only to observe the effects on their offspring a generation later. That cannot happen.

Current pregnancy guidelines do state that it is safe to take paracetamol, but only at the lowest dose and for the shortest space of time.

It is best prescribed under the supervision of a doctor, but it is difficult to prevent pregnant women to walk into a supermarket and get some for themselves!

The study was carried out by researchers from the University of Edinburgh and Copenhagen University Hospital. It was funded by the UK Medical Research Council, the Wellcome Trust, and a British Society of Paediatric Endocrinology and Diabetes Research Award. It was published in the peer-reviewed journal Environmental Health Perspectives.

The researchers did say their results suggested that painkillers have an effect on the level of germ cells, which may alter how DNA is formed and so could potentially affect future generations. But these results came from tests that were not performed in humans, and many other factors that contribute to fertility were also not accounted for.

And while these kinds of studies may never be fully conclusive, it is always better to be aware, than sorry!

The real health concern behind energy drinks





Red Bull mixed with vodka.










Ibuprofen and the fertile imagination


















One cigarette a day can cost a lot




I digress.





Let’s establish the facts of the matter again.

216,000 adults were surveyed.


86,000 (40%) have never smoked before.



Another way of looking at the data would be as follows:

216,000 adults surveyed.



Suddenly the data doesn’t look sexy anymore.




216,000 adults were surveyed.


86,000 (40%) have never smoked before.





