Sometimes people who know me well are surprised to find out that I love “To Do” lists. On the one hand, I love a really free unstructured life and schedule. On the other hand, I find that there’s a benefit to imposing some self-structure. One of the ways that I have always done that is with To Do lists. However, I have been moving towards a shift lately in which the To Do list is beginning to serve a different purpose in my life than it has up to this point.

I use versions of the To Do list in many different ways. Each week I make my To Do list for work which includes when I plan to do different writing jobs. It also includes items that aren’t deadlined but that I’d like to do such as researching writing contests or looking for new clients, etc.

I often make a weekly To Do list (in calendar form) of the other things that I want to do with my week. Sometimes this is very structured. I get these ideas in my head about what I should be doing in order to have the life that I want. Then I create To Do lists that reflect these ideas. For example, I decide that I should be going to yoga three times per week, hiking once a week, attending at least one cultural/educational event per week, doing something artsy once per week, etc. Then I make a calendar-based list of specifically what activities I’m going to do that week and when.

I also sometimes make monthly To Do lists. These reflect the same types of things as the weekly list but Keep reading…

Tags: goals, lists, organizing life, to do list

As I sit down to write this, I am asking myself, “what is the smartest thing you’re thinking about right now?” I want to cut through the mess and share smart thought-provoking thoughts here. But the truth is that my smarts are kind of scattered right now.

During the times when I feel healthiest, I am enjoying a routine. I journal in the mornings. I read a bit in the morning as well. Then I work for a short period of time. I go to yoga or for a walk. In the evening, I do something creative (crochet/collage) while watching a movie (foreign/documentary). I go out a few times a week with friends for discussion and entertainment. The entertainment is often educational/artsy/cultural.

However, I fall out of this pattern as often as I fall into it. At the moment, the routine has faded. There are still a lot of smart, creative things happening in my life but they feel more scattered. There are books on my bed but none are succeeding in capturing my daily interest. I’m watching addiction shows (Intervention/Hoarders) more than the movies in Spanish I really want to be watching. I’m working more than usual and going to yoga less.

It used to be that I’d beat myself up when I fell into times like this. I felt like the routine way of doing things was “right” and this was “wrong”. That’s changed in the past year or so, though. I know that the routine feels better in a lot of ways and I aim for that. However, I also know that sometimes ideas and thoughts and understanding emerge from the messiness of less routine times.

I do think that I need to make a concentrated effort to journal more and go to yoga more. Those things bring me back to myself so that I can actually analyze and understand and articulate what’s going on in my head. The rest will sort itself out.

And honestly, I think that might be the smartest thought that I can offer today … to aim for great things for yourself but cut yourself a lot of slack when you aren’t doing precisely what you think you ought to be doing.

Tags: diary of a smart chick, smart

Non-compliance. It can refer to a lot of things but we most often hear it when we’re talking about taking your medications. People who choose not to take their prescribed medications as their doctors have ordered are guilty of non-compliance. Some say that’s their problem since they’re the ones who get sick from not taking their meds. Others, however, see it as a bigger social problem because these people who opt not to keep themselves well can end up costing the government a lot more in health care treatment down the line.

A lot of different things are being done to try to limit patient non-compliance. Enhanced education to alert patients about the importance of taking their medications correctly is one common approach. Sending text message alerts to patients when it’s time to take their meds is an increasingly common option. And now we’re starting to see patients get paid for taking their meds when they are supposed to.

One controversial new program uses a computerized pill dispenser system to enter people into a lottery system when they take their medication. Names are randomly drawn and money is awarded to the winner. This serves as an incentive for people to remember their meds. Of course, there is always the chance that these non-compliant folks aren’t ingesting the meds because they don’t believe they need them but the general idea is that forgetful patients will be more likely to remember their meds if there is monetary incentive to do so.

The controversy comes from the idea that you shouldn’t have to pay people to take their medication. Adults should take their meds because it’s what’s good for them. However, the programs seem to be successful in increasing medication compliance which could end up saving money for the government down the road. So is it a smart idea?

Prevention of disease is always smart. It’s a lot better to prevent it at a low cost than to have to pay a lot of money to treat it whether you’re the patient or the government’s health care program. There are probably better options for encouraging long-term medication compliance than paying people but there’s no doubt that money gets people to do things faster than most other things will. So maybe it’s not a great solution but it might be a smart one after all.

Via Neatorama

Tags: health, medication compliance, patients won't take meds, pay patients to take meds

We've come a long way from mood rings!

I read an interesting article earlier this month about so-called Smart Clothing. This is clothing that would be able to determine what your mood is and then improve your mood by responding to you. It’s still in prototype form and is debuting in museums while it’s being worked on but the basic idea is this:

• Moods are programmed into your clothing based on responses to what’s happening in your body. For example, an increased heart rate may be one sign that you are getting anxious.
• The clothing is pre-programmed to respond to these moods. Responses may include a text message, image or video that displays on a sleeve or an audio recording of the voice of a loved one.
• Your clothing is set to read your mood throughout the day and to respond with the pre-programmed responses. For example, if your clothing believes that you are feeling anxious, it may provide an audio tone that you’ve recorded of a calming affirmation.

Smart clothing original article

Tags: depression cure, interactive clothing

The FDA has warned that the consumption of a coffee-based sexual enhancement aid that contains an ingredient called hydroxythiohomosildenafil is not something that a smart person would choose to take. Hopefully that sounds obvious and you don’t need additional information but just in case:

• The product, called Magic Power Coffee, contains an ingredient called hydroxythiohomosildenafil that is very similar to the main active ingredient in Viagra.
• The problem with hydroxythiohomosildenafil is that it interacts with many other medications. The main risk that it poses is that it can rapidly decrease your blood pressure levels to levels that are dangerously low.
• The risks of low blood pressure are many and range from the fairly innocuous problem of feeling lightheaded to more serious issues like temporary organ failure.
• The biggest problem is that this product is an over-the-counter product that is labeled as an all natural dietary supplement. This causes people to think that it is safe when it may not be. This is a big problem with many over the counter medications supplements that are not fully regulated by the FDA.
• Another clue that Magic Power Coffee may be a questionable product is that it is sold in large part by average people who are looking for a money-making sales opportunity. You can go on their website and get your own it to start selling this product. That’s not necessarily always bad but it’s definitely iffy.
• In fairness, the FDA does not have any record of this product causing any serious health problems for anyone to date. However, they do recommend against taking this product due to the fact that it contains ingredients that are known to be unsafe.
• And I do have to confess that the company’s marketing of the product as the world’s first passion coffee is intriguing even if the product itself turns me off. I don’t buy that you can improve your love life and your finances with this magic coffee but the advertising idea is certainly intriguing.

Tags: creative marketing, fda, health, natural supplements, weird products

Researchers at the Palo Alto Research Center have created a tiny new portable device that could make a huge difference to people in developing nations that might be HIV positive. Here’s how it works:

• The person who is being tested has their finger pricked to draw blood.
• The blood sells are sent through a laser beam for analysis.
• A detector analyzes the blood to look for T cells.
• If the T cells number fewer than 250 then antiretroviral HIV treatment can be recommended.

Pour in a little but of liposuctioned fat or human bone marrow. Add a dash of sugar, a pinch of oxygen, a bit of growth hormone and some nutrients. Put in a bioreactor and voila! You have made human bones.

It sounds a little bit crazy but this is the process that scientists are using and it’s allowing them to actually create human bones. The work is being done at Columbia University and the implications are huge. It could mean that people would no longer need titanium joints or even bone grafts because we could grow human bones for them instead.

Basically the scientists create a fake bone first using a machine that reproduces it from a digital images. This allows any bone to be recreated. This fake bone is then put into the bioreactor with the aforementioned ingredients (although of course the whole process is a lot more precise than that). And over time, this leads to the growth of a human bone.

It will be awhile before this technology is used in hospitals. It needs to go through animal and human testing first. However, a decade or two from now we could see bone grafts disappear as this much less painful option becomes available.

Has anyone heard of the product called Le Whif? I’ve only read about this online but from what I understand it is a product that allows you to get the benefits of chocolate and coffee without actually consuming them. This is done through inhaling a powdered version of the product from a biodegradable dispenser.

The website for the company says that you get chocolate without the calories and your coffee caffeine jolt without the cup. This could be appealing to people who are dieting but crave chocolate. It could also be good for people who really like the morning caffeine boost from coffee but don’t like that whole process of making it and taking a cup with them to work.

I don’t know if I buy it. I think it’s an interesting idea. I think I’d considering trying the product just to see what it’s like. I’m particularly curious about the taste of the products. But as a true substitute for chocolate and coffee? I think I’d rather stick with the real thing.

What do you think about the idea of Le Whif?

Tags: breathe coffee, inhale chocolate, le whif

Nanotechnology is starting to really become an interesting part of medicine today. A recent report indicates that nanobot robots can actually be used to locate cancerous tumors in the body. They are inserted into the body and then essentially ride the bloodstream to the location of the cancer. Not only that, but they actually have the potential to disrupt the tumor’s growth.

The study, completed at the California Institute of Technology, found that small polymer robots could be covered with a protein called transferrin and then inserted into the body to find melanoma tumor cells. The robots could get inside of the tumor cells and use a process called RNA interference to disrupt the growth of the tumors. The next step would be to create nanobots that could actually get in there and shrink the tumors to get rid of the cancer entirely (rather than just stopping it from growing).

This technology is still a ways off in terms of being a reality for the average cancer patient. Additional testing needs to be completed and technology may need to be improved in the future. However, this is a great step for nanotechnology in medicine.

The use of nanotechnology in medicine fascinates me. I think it’s because this is one of those things that I can comprehend at an intellectual level but it just blows my mind to try to understand exactly how it really works. Sure, I can read the scientific explanations of how the technology works but then when I try to think about how someone can build a super-tiny machine and actually make it do things like this … Wow!

Tags: medicine, nano robot, nanobot, nanotechnology

I was just reading an article in a design magazine about a very unique design approach that has been taken by a Japanese mental health clinic located in Tokyo. The design uses a variety of different tricks that would likely confuse the mind. For example, there are doors located all throughout the mental health hospital but the doors don’t actually open. How do you get into the rooms if the doors don’t open? Well, there are hidden doors located behind bookcases and in the center of walls adorned with decorations.

It sounds almost like a form of torture doesn’t it? Here you are, trying to gather together your sanity, and everything that should be normal around you is different from the way that it’s supposed to be. It sounds confusing. It sounds frightening. But perhaps it’s exactly the opposite. Perhaps this unique approach to design could be the thing that helps to heal patients.

The thinking behind this design is that it’s a truly hands-on, day-to-day method of getting everyone in the facility to think outside of the box. When your normal surroundings are altered in a very unusual way like this, you are forced to think differently. You are forced to be more creative. This could have a very beneficial impact on altering the negative states of mind of the patients who come to receive help at the mental health clinic. It might even have a positive effect on the thinking patterns of staff and visitors.

As beautifully described by the magazine:

“By providing alternate perspectives for viewing the world, and avoiding being trapped by pre-existing perceptions, the interior allows visitors–and staff members–to experience opening new doors in their hearts, one after the other.”

It’s a fascinating idea isn’t it?

Tags: design, hidden rooms, japanese design, mental health clinic, unique design