sven van zanten

  Many people think Stoicism is merely a synonym for "emotionless" or, at most, a dusty ancient-Greek philosophy . While, yes, Stoicism originated with such ancient illuminati as Seneca, Epictetus, and Marcus Aurelius, it's far beyond “emotionless.” And Stoicism is more widely adopted today than one might think: from the New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks staff to rapper LL Cool J and broadcaster Michele Tafoya. Plus, Stoicism's devotees have included George Washington, Walt Whitman, Frederick the Great, Eugene Delacroix, Adam Smith, Immanuel Kant, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Ralph Waldo Emerson. What is Stoicism? It asks us to do good while staying calm, to focus on what’s important and under our control, not wasting thoughts let alone time on what we can't affect. Easier said than done, especially with all the modern pressures that beset even successful people. To help, Ryan Holiday and Stephen Hanselman have written the just...

  We can't tell what stress is doing to our body; what we don't know can harm us.    Stress is not just what happens to you, or a feeling, or upsetting thoughts. It's all of the above, and more. The severity of the stressors we face, and our thoughts, feelings, and bodily responses, can differ in the levels of stress they indicate. Coping effectively with one component of stress may not help with others. So much has been written about stress that you might think everything that can be said has been said. But there are issues that are not widely recognized and yet have importance both scientifically and for the individual. Stress has multiple components. There are “stressors,” events and conditions that initiate stress; cognitive mediators, such as the perception and interpretation of stressors; stress responses, such as negative emotions and physiological changes; coping activity, our mental and behavioral efforts to manage stressors and their subjectiv...

  Psychedelic experiences and mindfulness linked to better psychological wellbeing     A new study has found a positive association between mindfulness practice, psychedelic use, and overall psychological wellbeing. The findings have been published in the Journal of Psychoactive Drugs . “Psychedelics as a topic is exploding back into both popular culture and academic study, the potential here is tremendous,” said study author Tianhong Tim Qiu of Western University. “Rightfully, much of present research is focused on clinical/medical applications, often as alternative treatments for mental health disorders. However, many users have claimed (anecdotally) great benefits to their own psychological wellbeing. That is, healthy people may also experience profound enhancement of their lives induced by psychedelics and often outside of any clinical context.” “The motivation for this study is simple: I sought to find out if ordinary people who use psychedelics experienc...

  Have you ever had the sense that your reactions to relatively minor stressful events are bigger than other people's? Do you see other people reacting calmly to challenges, like urgent home repairs, unexpected changes at work, or being slighted by someone, but you feel very rattled by these circumstances? If you've ever had a sense you overreact to stress, and would like to take stress in stride more, here are some suggestions. 1. Self-compassion. Self-compassion is a great, practical strategy for increasing your cognitive and behavioral flexibility. What's beautiful about self-compassion is that it doesn't matter the cause of the stress or of your reactions. Regardless of the causes, self-compassion will help you feel less assaulted by the stress and allow you to access the most skillful, creative (as in creative problem-solving) parts of yourself. I've written plenty of guides to self-compassion, so I won't reinvent the wheel. You can read th...

Sven van zanten Published in the journal of Personality and Individual Differences , researchers were interested in investigating the associations of dispositional optimism and pessimism with cognitive abilities in adulthood. They found that young adults with higher dispositional optimism and lower pessimism had higher reasoning skills and higher pessimism was related to lower scores on memory tests for middle-aged adults. Previous research shows that optimism is related to positive health and wellbeing outcomes, whereas pessimism is associated with health-related risks and maladaptive behaviors. According to intellectual investment theories, it is suggested that personality traits can affect cognition abilities. For instance, joy promotes creativity and negative emotionality activates people’s thought-action repertoire to prepare them for quick decisions in threatening situations. People with optimistic views tend to pay attention to positive information and believe the...

  jori sven van zanten Landmark trial compares LSD and psilocybin trips, finds few differences        new study published in the journal Neuropsychopharmacology has reported the results of the first modern clinical investigation to compare the acute effects of psychedelics LSD and psilocybin. The landmark study reveals little subjective difference between the two psychedelic drugs beyond the effects of LSD lasting longer than psilocybin. Clinical research on the therapeutic uses of psychedelic drugs continues to move forward at an incredible pace. Scientists are currently investigating how psychedelics can be used to treat everything from depression and anxiety to cluster headaches and Alzheimer’s disease . But something that hasn’t been clinically investigated, beyond blurry late-night college dorm room conversations, are the differences between LSD and psilocybin. And understanding these differences will be important as psychedelic researchers...

 jori sven van zanten Eating more mushrooms is associated with lower risk of cancer, according to a systematic review and meta-analysis published in Advances in Nutrition     The systematic review and meta-analysis published in Advances in Nutrition examines 17 cancer studies from 1966 to 2020. Analyzing data from more than 19,500 cancer patients, researchers explore the relationship between mushroom consumption and cancer risk. Mushrooms are rich in vitamins, nutrients, and antioxidants. The team’s findings show that mushrooms may also help guard against cancer. Even though shiitake, oyster, maitake, and king oyster mushrooms have higher amounts of the amino acid ergothioneine than white button, cremini, and portobello mushrooms, the researchers found that people who incorporated any variety of mushrooms into their daily diets had a lower risk of cancer . According to the findings, individuals who ate 18 grams of mushrooms daily had a 45% lower risk of canc...