Jan. 24th, 2008 12:13 pm
Optimisery
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muckefuckFeeling under the weather today, but it's hard to distinguish the effects of a cold indirectly effected by poor sleep from the direct effects of poor sleep. If it is a cold, then it shoots to hell my theory that deep freezes are healthier, since I was healthy as a horse through all those weeks and weeks of damp cold. The past three winters have been some of our best ever in terms of avoiding sickness, and they've also been some of the mildest in living memory. Hmm...
I've got a new coat (thanks,![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
monshu!) whose capacities I'm still trying to nail down. Some days, I wore too many layers under it and got overheated, others I wore too few and felt chilly. It got me thinking: When you're cold, your body burns calories in order to stay warm. So allowing yourself to be less-than-toasty while outside would be equivalent to doing extra exercise, right? However, straining to keep warm also stresses your body and makes your more liable to get sick. So (leaving comfort aside for a moment here) where is the optimal trade-off in term of health benefits? Perhaps health-fasters have something to say about this...
On a related note, I was thinking about whatlhn posted years ago about the persistence of shameful memories. There's actual research (which I can't be arsed to find) which shows that memories of humiliation are recalled more vividly than even moments of intense pleasure. Last week, I had the insight, Well, maybe the wicked schoolteachers of my past were on to something after all. Consider this: How many facts are fixed forever in your memory because of the embarrassment of getting them spectacularly wrong once? On the other hand, too much abasement would make you either give up the subject altogether or be unable to do anything with it without constantly burning from shame. Again, there must be some perfect balance between constantly cringing and never forgetting.
I've got a new coat (thanks,
monshu!) whose capacities I'm still trying to nail down. Some days, I wore too many layers under it and got overheated, others I wore too few and felt chilly. It got me thinking: When you're cold, your body burns calories in order to stay warm. So allowing yourself to be less-than-toasty while outside would be equivalent to doing extra exercise, right? However, straining to keep warm also stresses your body and makes your more liable to get sick. So (leaving comfort aside for a moment here) where is the optimal trade-off in term of health benefits? Perhaps health-fasters have something to say about this...On a related note, I was thinking about what
lhn posted years ago about the persistence of shameful memories. There's actual research (which I can't be arsed to find) which shows that memories of humiliation are recalled more vividly than even moments of intense pleasure. Last week, I had the insight, Well, maybe the wicked schoolteachers of my past were on to something after all. Consider this: How many facts are fixed forever in your memory because of the embarrassment of getting them spectacularly wrong once? On the other hand, too much abasement would make you either give up the subject altogether or be unable to do anything with it without constantly burning from shame. Again, there must be some perfect balance between constantly cringing and never forgetting.