INTERESTING TIMES

newer: getting inadequate sleep linked to early death: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8660373.stm
( notes on study that shows that napping increases your ability to learn on that day )

at least, in mice it does:
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/709493?src=mpnews&spon=12&uac=89474MT

It's a dark morning and there's thunder rumbling. I accidentally left the window closed and the kitten was locked out for the night. I think she slept in the big cedar tree, because she started meowing at me when I sat on the toilet, and when I responded she emerged from the tree and came to the bathroom window. I walked to the other end of the apartment and opened the window for her. She ate a few kibbles and is now settled down to sleep off her long night in the wild streets of Portland.

I myself haven't been sleeping very well. The heat definitely reduces my sleep, but last night was cooler and I still didn't go to sleep easily or deeply. I awoke tired, but lacked any faith that staying in bed would give me more energy, so I am up. The nice thing about a dark gray morning is that Portland stays asleep. There is nothing moving in my neighborhood but the crows. A few big drops of rain are beginning to fall and the crows are retreating from the streets to the trees.

I don't remember any dreams from last night.

Ventral tegmental dopamine neurons respond only to UNPREDICTED REWARDS. When the goodie is predictable, those particular dopamine cells stop firing. They's the ones that say "Oh YEAH" to something one discovers as enjoyable and satisfying. Smoking a cigarette fires those cells even when it's not unpredicted, it provokes that Oh YEAH chemistry every single time you light up.

It's the dopamine release in the nucleus accumbens that stengthens the links between the stimulus and the wanting. Wanting and liking are not the same.

( boring to most, notes from organ systems class and later added notes from Intoxicating Minds, this reminds me of the wampus game on the old obsorne PC's, draw your twenty rooms and start sketching in the links )

This article linked below gives me a new nudge to go to sleep when the sun goes down and get up when the sun comes up. It's only natural. For lighting at night, I like to use candles, which are not bright enough to interfere with melatonin production. And I have to keep reminding myself to turn off the blasted computer screen when the sun goes down.

Mercola points out (in link) that cancer incidence is directly related to longitude...folks near the equator don't get much cancer. He believes this is due to vitamin D levels. He discourages sunblock usage because many of the sunblocks available are toxic. Here's his take: http://v.mercola.com/blogs/public_blog/How-to-Reduce-Your-Risk-of-Cancer-By-50--8790.aspx

And here's a post about electric lighting and the relationship to cancer:
Electric Light may pose Cancer Risk
http://www.myhealthinsight.com/2007/03/12/Electric-Light-may-pose-Cancer-Risk.html
( text from the link )