Enough About You-BigBabyBaller

Posted on December 19, 2022 by BigBabyBaller

Original Text- 

Money seems to have a big role in our society; you can’t do much or get far if you don’t have any. Money is valuable in different ways, even when you don’t see it physically. In today’s society you must have faith in the government and in the banking system that your money is being handled in the proper manner; if not, then you would have to hide all of your money under your mattress or around your house. I have no clue what happens in the banks, or how they take care of your money. I always thought money was simple; you either have some or you don’t—that’s it. However, being introduced to this assignment, the Yap Fei, US gold, French francs, Brazilian cruzeros, and debit accounts now seem similar. You don’t actually see your money being transferred. When you get paid, you aren’t handed cash, you don’t receive a physical check, the money’s all directly transferred to your bank account, and you just have to trust that you got more money.

My Revisions-

Money has a significant role in our society; we can’t do much or get far if we don’t have any. Money is valuable in many different ways, even without visibly seeing it. In today’s society, we must have faith in the government and banking systems that money is being handled properly. If not, society would resort to hiding money under our mattresses or around the house. Most of society knows little about what happens in the banks and how they handle our money. Often it’s thought to be simple: we either have some or we don’t—that’s it. However, being introduced to this assignment, the Yap Fei, US gold, French francs, Brazilian cruzeiros, and debit accounts now seem similar. We don’t see when money is being transferred. When we get paid, we aren’t handed cash or given a physical check; the money is directly transferred to our bank accounts, and we have to trust that we have the money.

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Rebuttal Rewrite-BigBabyBaller

Posted on December 19, 2022 by BigBabyBaller

The Recipe for Success is Rest

Why do adults in the western world, unlike many South American and European nations, continue to neglect the benefits of a healthy nap schedule? Evidence proves that naps have many advantages for the mind and body. Naps can help boost alertness and performance. Short naps are also proven to improve knowledge and memory. Yet despite these findings, many people debate whether naps are beneficial in our society.

Critics say that naps are useless in today’s society because they slow down the pace of production, make people lazy, and disrupt sleep schedules. Not only do these opinions lack information, research, and common sense, but they have negatively impacted the view society has on short rest. 

“People who often nap have a greater chance of developing high blood pressure and having a stroke, a large new study has found. This may be because, although taking a nap itself is not harmful, many people who take naps may do so because of poor sleep at night.”

The idea that naps can cause high blood pressure and contribute to having a stroke sounds ridiculous. CNN fails to inform the public on the difference between a healthy and unhealthy napping schedule, instead focusing only on how a person who naps too late at night or irregularly is negatively affected. In the United States, the majority of nappers are elderly, which explains the skewed results in these studies. How can we understand the true benefits of napping on the body and mind when we are testing individuals who irregularly nap and have developed brains? CNN is one of many news sources that mislead the public in this way.

In reality, naps will improve one’s health. Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh found that napping was a factor in lowering blood pressure after mental stress. Because of this, napping will be helpful for those who may have health issues. When the body gets rested, it refreshes and is able to recharge. The study found that the brain goes through four different stages of sleep from the first 10 minutes until the final 90 minutes. In Stage 1, the transition between wakefulness and sleep lasts only five to 10 minutes, during which time eye movements and heart rate begin to slow.Stage two begins at 15 to 25 minutes, where brain waves and heart rate decrease further while body temperature begins to drop. This is still considered a light sleep from which you can easily be awakened. Stage three (60 to 75 minutes after falling asleep): the brain begins to produce slower brain waves known as delta waves. If you awaken during this stage, expect to be groggy, disoriented, and cranky. After 75 to 90 minutes of sleep the brain goes into what reachers call REM sleep (Rapid Eye Movement), heart rate and blood pressure rise, eyeball movement increases and dreaming occurs. These stages differentiate what a heath sleep is versus a destructive one and why that happens. 

Taking naps doesn’t just provide health benefits; they can also offer energy throughout the day. “A short nap of 20 to 30 minutes can often be a healthy alternative to drinking more coffee,” psychiatrist say. Working class citizens and students are expected to be awake and functioning for  the majority of the day, which can be extremely exhausting. Instead of lasting all day without sleep and relying on addictive substances like caffeine, one should take a 30- 60 minute nap. Scientific evidence shows a short rest can boost memory, cognitive function, and energy. 

Since we know naps can increase mental performance, they are useful for increasing knowledge. When tired, the brain does not collect information efficiently like it would when rested. High school and college students who regularly have early mornings, long days of learning, and extracurricular activities are most vulnerable to these effects. Sleep deprivation can be hazardous to one’s long-term health as well as the developing minds of adolescents and young adults.Because of this, naps are very useful to those who have demanding jobs and those who are in school.

“Naps are beneficial for memory because the brain is “offline,” not taking in any new information, yet is actively consolidating memories,” says Marissa Bowman, a doctoral student in the Clinical-Health Psychology program at the University of Pittsburgh. Her research focuses on sleep disturbances.

Taking a nap for too long or too late in the afternoon could make it harder to get high-quality sleep at night. A nap late in the day may have the benefit of reducing your fatigue at the moment, but it could also make you feel less sleepy and make it harder to drift off to sleep at bedtime. Napping should never be used as a substitute for sleep. If you feel the need to nap several times a week, you probably aren’t getting enough sleep each night. Officials recommend finding a comfortable, quiet, and dark place to maximize the benefits. Understanding how the brain functions during different stages of sleep is crucial for the public to differentiate between a beneficial nap and a useless one. 

“The conditions your body requires for proper napping are no different than those required for proper nighttime sleeping.” If you live or work in a noisy or busy area, especially in a metropolitan area, a white noise machine can be a wise investment to help drown out sounds. Buchfuhrer says it’s best to keep the room dark, quiet, and slightly cool”.

Overall, the science behind napping and how to incorporate it into daily life can be challenging, but finding time to nap will improve one’s health, body, and mind. Unlike some substances people rely on to stay focused, like nicotine or caffeine; napping is more beneficial than destructive, a natural resource, and free. In order to live a happy and healthy life, take naps.

References:

Cosentino, B. (2021, April 19). How naps can keep you happy and healthy. Landmark Health. Retrieved December 19, 2022, from https://www.landmarkhealth.org/resource/how-naps-can-keep-you-happy-and-healthy/#:~:text=Why%20Nap%3F,and%20improve%20many%20cognitive%20abilities. 

LaMotte, S. (2022, July 25). Napping regularly linked to high blood pressure and stroke, study finds. CNN. Retrieved December 19, 2022, from https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/25/health/naps-high-blood-pressure-study-wellness/index.html 

Okaye, A. (2022, December 13). Types of naps. The Sleep Doctor. Retrieved December 17, 2022, from https://thesleepdoctor.com/napping/types-of-naps/ 

Olito , F. (2012, May 8). The benefits of Napping. Harvard Health. Retrieved December 17, 2022, from https://www.health.harvard.edu/healthbeat/the-benefits-of-napping 

Preidt, R. (2011, March 9). Napping may help keep blood pressure in check. Reuters. Retrieved December 19, 2022, from https://www.reuters.com/article/idUS227342913820110302 

Posted in BigBabyBaller, Rebuttal Rewrite | 1 Comment

Rebuttal-BigBabyBaller

Posted on December 19, 2022 by BigBabyBaller

The Recipe for Success is Rest

Why do adults in the western world, unlike many South American and European nations, continue to neglect the benefits of a healthy nap schedule? Evidence proves that naps have many advantages for the mind and body. Naps can help boost alertness and performance. Short naps are also proven to improve knowledge and memory. Yet despite these findings, many people debate whether naps are beneficial in our society.

Critics say that naps are useless in today’s society because they slow down the pace of production, make people lazy, and disrupt sleep schedules. Not only do these opinions lack information, research, and common sense, but they have negatively impacted the view society has on short rest. 

“People who often nap have a greater chance of developing high blood pressure and having a stroke, a large new study has found. This may be because, although taking a nap itself is not harmful, many people who take naps may do so because of poor sleep at night.”

The idea that naps can cause high blood pressure and contribute to having a stroke sounds ridiculous. CNN fails to inform the public on the difference between a healthy and unhealthy napping schedule, instead focusing only on how a person who naps too late at night or irregularly is negatively affected. In the United States, the majority of nappers are elderly, which explains the skewed results in these studies. How can we understand the true benefits of napping on the body and mind when we are testing individuals who irregularly nap and have developed brains? CNN is one of many news sources that mislead the public in this way.

In reality, naps will improve one’s health. Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh found that napping was a factor in lowering blood pressure after mental stress. Because of this, napping will be helpful for those who may have health issues. When the body gets rested, it refreshes and is able to recharge. The study found that the brain goes through four different stages of sleep from the first 10 minutes until the final 90 minutes. In Stage 1, the transition between wakefulness and sleep lasts only five to 10 minutes, during which time eye movements and heart rate begin to slow.Stage two begins at 15 to 25 minutes, where brain waves and heart rate decrease further while body temperature begins to drop. This is still considered a light sleep from which you can easily be awakened. Stage three (60 to 75 minutes after falling asleep): the brain begins to produce slower brain waves known as delta waves. If you awaken during this stage, expect to be groggy, disoriented, and cranky. After 75 to 90 minutes of sleep the brain goes into what reachers call REM sleep (Rapid Eye Movement), heart rate and blood pressure rise, eyeball movement increases and dreaming occurs. These stages differentiate what a heath sleep is versus a destructive one and why that happens. 

Taking naps doesn’t just provide health benefits; they can also offer energy throughout the day. “A short nap of 20 to 30 minutes can often be a healthy alternative to drinking more coffee,” psychiatrist say. Working class citizens and students are expected to be awake and functioning for  the majority of the day, which can be extremely exhausting. Instead of lasting all day without sleep and relying on addictive substances like caffeine, one should take a 30- 60 minute nap. Scientific evidence shows a short rest can boost memory, cognitive function, and energy. 

Since we know naps can increase mental performance, they are useful for increasing knowledge. When tired, the brain does not collect information efficiently like it would when rested. High school and college students who regularly have early mornings, long days of learning, and extracurricular activities are most vulnerable to these effects. Sleep deprivation can be hazardous to one’s long-term health as well as the developing minds of adolescents and young adults.Because of this, naps are very useful to those who have demanding jobs and those who are in school.

“Naps are beneficial for memory because the brain is “offline,” not taking in any new information, yet is actively consolidating memories,” says Marissa Bowman, a doctoral student in the Clinical-Health Psychology program at the University of Pittsburgh. Her research focuses on sleep disturbances.

Taking a nap for too long or too late in the afternoon could make it harder to get high-quality sleep at night. A nap late in the day may have the benefit of reducing your fatigue at the moment, but it could also make you feel less sleepy and make it harder to drift off to sleep at bedtime. Napping should never be used as a substitute for sleep. If you feel the need to nap several times a week, you probably aren’t getting enough sleep each night. Officials recommend finding a comfortable, quiet, and dark place to maximize the benefits. Understanding how the brain functions during different stages of sleep is crucial for the public to differentiate between a beneficial nap and a useless one. 

“The conditions your body requires for proper napping are no different than those required for proper nighttime sleeping.” If you live or work in a noisy or busy area, especially in a metropolitan area, a white noise machine can be a wise investment to help drown out sounds. Buchfuhrer says it’s best to keep the room dark, quiet, and slightly cool”.

Overall, the science behind napping and how to incorporate it into daily life can be challenging, but finding time to nap will improve one’s health, body, and mind. Unlike some substances people rely on to stay focused, like nicotine or caffeine; napping is more beneficial than destructive, a natural resource, and free. In order to live a happy and healthy life, take naps.

References:

Cosentino, B. (2021, April 19). How naps can keep you happy and healthy. Landmark Health. Retrieved December 19, 2022, from https://www.landmarkhealth.org/resource/how-naps-can-keep-you-happy-and-healthy/#:~:text=Why%20Nap%3F,and%20improve%20many%20cognitive%20abilities. 

LaMotte, S. (2022, July 25). Napping regularly linked to high blood pressure and stroke, study finds. CNN. Retrieved December 19, 2022, from https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/25/health/naps-high-blood-pressure-study-wellness/index.html 

Okaye, A. (2022, December 13). Types of naps. The Sleep Doctor. Retrieved December 17, 2022, from https://thesleepdoctor.com/napping/types-of-naps/ 

Olito , F. (2012, May 8). The benefits of Napping. Harvard Health. Retrieved December 17, 2022, from https://www.health.harvard.edu/healthbeat/the-benefits-of-napping 

Preidt, R. (2011, March 9). Napping may help keep blood pressure in check. Reuters. Retrieved December 19, 2022, from https://www.reuters.com/article/idUS227342913820110302 

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Research – Fatboy

Posted on December 19, 2022 by fatboy489zt

Oversleeping:
How The Treacherous Charade Can Be Our Downfall

Oversleeping is the most devastating complication that happens to people. Most people believe that oversleeping is defined as sleeping from anything that is 12+ hours in a night. However, the actual amount of sleep that is considered oversleeping is 9+ hours a night. People will live healthier lives once they become informed and get the right amount of sleep. 

Sleeping is the most important action that people have to pay attention to, despite it being so natural for humans. The amount of time that people need to sleep is depending on the amount of hours they want to be awake for the next day. For a full day of waking hours, 7-8 hours a night is the perfect amount of time to get the energy people need to start off the day. If somebody decides that they only want to be energized for a few hours, they can continue to sleep 9+ hours a day and continue to be unhealthy.

Taking time into account for a “good sleep” is the best way to measure sleep. It allows us to set intervals for how healthy the sleep was depending on the amount of time a person slept. For example, a person that is getting less than 7 hours of sleep a night will absolutely have worse health than a person who is sleeping 7-8 hours a night. In the text How many hours of sleep are enough for good health, Eric J. Olsen states, 

“For adults, getting less than seven hours of sleep a night on a regular basis has been linked with poor health, including weight gain, having a body mass index of 30 or higher, diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, stroke, and depression.”

Getting the correct amount of sleep and how productive people will be the next day go hand-in-hand with each other. It allows us to get the most out of their day, which will end up being the complete opposite if we are getting too little or too much sleep. Think of this as like a goldilocks’ rule, too little and too much are bad, but just right will have us feeling better than ever ready to start our day. In the article Can a Good Night’s Sleep Make Us More Productive, Wendy Wisner states, 

” ‘First of all’, says Sharma, ‘studies have found sleep loss can impact our ability to make clear-headed decisions, and it increases the chances that we will make risky choices. It can make planning difficult and managing complex tasks more challenging.’ According to research, poor sleep also can cause problems with time management and job performance demands.”

People not getting the correct amount of sleep will lead to them living drastically unhealthier lifestyles than what they would like. It is true that the correct amount of sleep that will lead to a person being the most productive is 7-8 hours. This is the best time range that would leave people energized and have their body/mind be able to get through an entire day. Until people consistently sleep for the correct amount of time a night, they will continue to live afflictive lives.

The thing is, many people actually don’t follow this 7-8 hour rule and would go extremely under the mark. In the article, “In U.S., 40% get less than recommended amount of sleep,” by Jefferey M. Jones, it is stated that, “Medical studies have related a lack of sleep to health problems and cognitive impairment.” 

Sleeping too much leaves drastic consequences such as health problems through one’s life. However, naps are a key detail throughout the day if we are sleeping for too little and trying to play catch up with sleep. Naps are beneficial to refresh the body and focus the mind for those who can’t fit 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep into their schedules.

In the article, “Napping: Benefits and Tips,” by Jay Summer, it states, “A short daytime snooze may also boost workplace performance. A nap can improve cognitive functions such as memory, logical reasoning, and the ability to complete complex tasks.” Although it is true that we should get our amount of sleep during the night, it is fine to get our sleep throughout the day as well in short chunks. 

Despite napping being a great way to help with our mental state, we cannot overdo it. Overdoing it (sleeping too much) will lead to consequences/negative effects that we will run into such as diseases from the heart and even diabetes. Sleeping too much will leak into our social life if we aren’t watching how long we nap throughout the day. In the article, “Longer naps may awaken these four health issues,” it states, 

“Naps exceeding half an hour during the day could possibly lead to serious health conditions like cardiovascular disease, diabetes and metabolic syndrome. A study published in April 2016 found that naps lasting more than 60 minutes a day increased the risk of type 2 diabetes by 50 percent.” 

The correct amount of sleep that people should be getting when they go to sleep at night is 7-8 hours. Crossing this line by either getting too much or too little will lead to substantial consequences such as not being as productive and doesn’t allow us to make the right choices. Getting the correct amount of sleep will lead to us living the best version of ourselves and making those right choices.

Oversleeping continues to rob people of their fullest lives. Anxiety, depression, and chronic diseases are all main causes of what oversleeping leads to. People who don’t realize this or don’t monitor the amount of sleep they are getting a night, will lead themselves into a spiral of such problems mentioned. People who oversleep are generally people who work odd hours, have an uncomfortable sleep situation, or a sleeping disorder. 

Sleeping is one of the most necessary things for people to function properly throughout their day. When people begin to get too much of it, they start to cross this line where it can start out as one of the best things for you, to one of the worst things for you. Studies have shown that sleeping over eight hours a night can reduce cognitive ability and reasoning skills, increase anxiety and depression, and improves the possibility of chronic diseases. 

Oversleeping can have detrimental effects that reduce cognitive ability and reasoning skills. In a recent study at the University of Western Ontario, the amount of sleep associated with highly functional cognitive behavior was the same for everyone (seven to eight hours) regardless of the age. 

Reasoning and verbal abilities were two actions strongly affected by sleep. Crossing that line of getting too much sleep will leave people’s body and mind to be mentally drained. Continuing to oversleep makes it laborious to get out of that consistent sluggish feeling everyday. These people end up living their daily lives by going into a state called “sleep drunkenness” that is described in an article named What’s Up With That? Why Does Sleeping In Just Make Me More Tired? By Nick Stockton where Stockton states,

 “Many scientists call oversleeping sleep drunkenness because it can feel like a hangover. But, unlike the brute force neurological damage caused by alcohol, your misguided attempts to stock up on rest makes you feel sluggish by confusing the part of your brain that controls your body’s daily cycle.”

Chronic diseases are another one of the treacherous effects that can be caused by oversleeping. If people are oversleeping consistently, they are putting themselves at risk for diabetes, heart disease, and obesity. Harvard’s massive Nurses Health Study found that people who slept 9 to11 hours a night developed memory problems and were more likely to develop heart disease than people who slept a solid eight hours. Sleeping too much will also cause people to gain weight. A recent study showed that people who slept for nine to ten hours every night were 21% more likely to become obese over a six-year period than were people who slept between seven and eight hours. While a six-year period might not sound like something crazy to look out for, the process of trying to get away from these effects are more grueling than people might believe. 

Anxiety and depression, chronic diseases, reasoning and verbal abilities, and reduced cognitive abilities are all results that come from the menacing problem of oversleeping. Despite being threatening effects, they are only considered long-term effects, which means that it will only happen to us if we consistently oversleep for years. Oversleeping comes with short term effects as well, despite already having the many long-term effects mentioned before. 

Despite oversleeping every once in a while being irrelevant to the damages of oversleeping, short-term effects are the start of the aggravating causes of oversleeping when we begin to oversleep daily. We begin with short-term effects that range from tiredness, laziness, dizziness, loss of memory, and allow our body to get used to this bad habit which would lead to the long-term effects. In Oversleeping: The Effects & Health Risks of Sleeping Too Much, Michelle Roberge states, 

“ ‘If someone is sleeping too much, more than 9 hours each night, the quality of sleep should be evaluated. If the quality of your sleep is poor, it could result in more time in bed.  Your body needs deep restorative sleep, and if that is not happening during the recommended 8 hours, your body will instinctively try to prolong the sleep period to obtain the quality of sleep it needs,’ says Michele Roberge”

Once our bodies reach the point where we get used to oversleeping and do it consistently, that is when the abhorrent effects begin to weigh down on us and take tolls on our health. We begin with the disturbing feelings of being tired and lazy. These effects cost us our happiness and we lose the opportunity to have that productive day that we planned on having the day before, that is if we even remember. 

Memory loss adds on to the pile of irritating short-term causes of oversleeping. We begin to not remember things clearly and start to live our lives unproductively when we oversleep daily. We forget what we study the night before a big test, we forget things that we planned to do on certain days, and could even get to the point where we don’t remember our mother’s birthday while it has already passed (which could be possibly the worst one). In the article, Getting 9 Hours of Sleep Per Night May Indicate Risk of Dementia, Christopher Curly states, 

“Could regularly ‘sleeping in’ be a harbinger of cognitive decline, including Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia? A new study from the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine in Florida suggests it might. Sleeping more than 9 hours per night was linked to a decrease in memory and episodic learning, both risk factors of dementia.” 

There is a difference between somebody who always had a long duration of sleep vs. somebody who is just trying to play catchup with their sleep, despite the fact that both are considered oversleeping. This is also when the short-term effects and long-term effects start to draw a line between each other and begin to differentiate. The people who are just simply playing catchup have a higher risk of catching these short-term effects while the people that continue to sleep in have a higher risk of the long-term effects.  

Oversleeping is the reason why so many people continue to face adversities in their lives. People don’t understand the calamitous short-term and long-term effects  that oversleeping leads to. Until they do, they will continue to live afflictive lives.

Sleeping is something that is natural for humans. Many people will spend most of their lives staying in bed and sleeping since it is what they believe is for the best. Despite this seeming like a good idea, it leads to our health being left in a disastrous state. 

People commonly mistake the idea that getting a lot of sleep throughout the night leaves us productive for the next day. It is true that getting a goodnight’s rest leaves you with energy and mentally prepared for the next day, but when crossing that line between enough sleep and too much, it turns from “I’m ready to begin my day!” to “I don’t want to get out of bed today.” In the article, “Oversleeping,” by Austin Meadows (Sleep Foundation), he states, “In addition to sleeping more than nine hours a night, other [consequences] of oversleeping include: Excessive napping during the day, Excessive daytime sleepiness, Headache”

Headaches are another pesky consequence that comes from the vile causes of oversleeping. Meadows gives his opinion and elaborates about headaches due to oversleeping from a research done by Hiroe Kikuchi, Kazuhiro Yoshiuchi, Yoshiharu Yamamoto, Gen Komaki, and Akira Akabayashi that would include patients wearing watch-type electronic diaries as a form of way for scientists to detect any headaches from sleeping too little and too much. After also looking into this research done by Kikuchi, Yoshiuchi, Yamamoto, Komaki, and Akabayashi, we see that the results that they have come up with is that, 

“Using computerized EMA and actigraphy, longer sleep and worse sleep quality were shown to be related to more intense headache intensity on within-individual basis and they may be precipitating or aggravating factors of TTH.”

The false remedy of catching up on sleep by napping the day away does not make up for a missed night of sleep. Sleep debt is the effect of not getting your usual amount of sleep for the current night and trying to get that time back by sleeping through the day. Sleep debt is one of the most problematic operation that happens to us.

Meadows goes into detail about this, explaining that it is actually what causes people to get more sleep than they are supposed to get. Trying to make up for a sleep debt eventually leads to us having to deal with mental problems such as depression and anxiety. Health conditions would also continue to play apart in this by adding towards sleep disorders such as insomnia and sleep apnea. Trying to make up for the loss of sleep would just lead us down a worse path than what we were already on. 

Dr. Tim Church from the Biomedical Research Center at LSU is a main supporter of how getting 10+ hours of sleep will do you more good than bad. He exemplifies his results in an article named, “Want To Get Faster, Smarter? Sleep 10 Hours,” by Allison Aubrey. Church explains in this article how sleeping for an extended period of time had helped football players have increased performance during their workouts and would even have a faster 40-yard dash. In Aubrey’s article, Church states, 

“It’s hard to say how the connection between more sleep and improved physical performance may translate to weekend warriors — or middle-age folks who are just trying to hold onto a nine-minute jogging pace.The take-home message here, Church says, is that this is just one more example of how sleep makes a difference.”

Sleeping does make a difference, but not in the way of how Church thinks it does. This short term run of how sleeping more has improved these football players is nothing more than a short term run. In the article, Are You Sleeping Too Much? Here’s How to Tell (and Why It Can Be Risky), Moira Lawler states, “oversleeping can lead to:Increased fatigue and low energy, decrease in immune function, changes in stress response.”

Instead of improved physical performance that he thinks oversleeping allows, the research stated above contradicts everything that he believes about oversleeping helping the football players. The short-term effects may seem nice, but Church doesn’t realize that it is going to affect the players’ health in more bad ways than good ways in the long run. The risk of chronic diseases such as diabetes, heart diseases, and even anxiety are the added on causes in how it could go south for these football players if they are to be kept on this disastrous sleeping schedule. In the article, The Health Risks of Oversleeping, Hidaya Aliouche states, 

“studies have repeatedly indicated a U-shaped association between health risks and sleep duration, with either extreme (significantly shorter or longer periods of rest) associated with an increased risk of health impairment or disease. “

Church’s statements are one of the most ignorant things to have ever been said. There isn’t a silver of research stated that would even consider the fact that sleeping more than usual would help us physically and mentally. Research stated above contradicts the dense explanations from Church of how oversleeping is good for us.

As much as people would like to believe that staying in bed longer would eventually lead to positive effects on your body and mind, There just isn’t enough evidence as to why it would do any good for anybody. It might feel like a good thing when waking up at 1 in the afternoon after sleeping for 12 hours, but when we take into account the negative effects of chronic diseases and the mental issues it could lead to, it just isn’t worth it in the end. 

So just think about that the next time you want to stay in bed for just “5 more minutes.”

References

Jones, Jeffrey M. “In U.S., 40% Get Less Than Recommended Amount of Sleep.” Gallup News, 19 December 2013, https://news.gallup.com/poll/166553/less-recommended-amount-sleep.aspx. Accessed 18 October 2022.

Smith, Suzannah. “Longer naps may awaken these four health issues – Vital Record.” Vital Record, 23 June 2016, https://vitalrecord.tamhsc.edu/long-naps-cause-health-issues/. Accessed 18 October 2022.

Summer, Jay. Napping: Benefits and Tips. Sleep Foundation, 2022. Sleep Foundation, https://www.sleepfoundation.org/sleep-hygiene/napping.

Olsen, E. J. (2020, 04 11). How many hours of sleep are enough? Mayo Clinic. Retrieved December 13, 2022, from https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/adult-health/expert-answers/how-many-hours-of-sleep-are-enough/faq-20057898

Wisner, W. (2022, August 30). Sleep and Productivity: What You Need to Know. Sleep.com. Retrieved December 13, 2022, from https://www.sleep.com/sleep-health/sleep-and-productivity

Curley, C., Krans, B., & Hammond, N. (2019, October 14). 9 Hours of Sleep Per Night Linked to Dementia Risk. Healthline. Retrieved December 4, 2022, from https://www.healthline.com/health-news/9-hours-of-sleep-per-night-dementia-risk

Roberge, M., & Osmun, R. (2022, November 13). Oversleeping: The Effects & Health Risks of Sleeping Too Much. Amerisleep. Retrieved December 4, 2022, from https://amerisleep.com/blog/oversleeping-the-health-effects/

Stockton, N. (2014, July 22). What’s Up With That: Why Does Sleeping In Just Make Me More Tired? WIRED. Retrieved December 4, 2022, from https://www.wired.com/2014/07/whats-up-with-that-why-does-sleeping-in-just-make-me-more-tired/

University of Western Ohio. (2018, October 9). Too Much Sleep is Bad For the Brain. Neuroscience News. Retrieved December 4, 2022, from https://neurosciencenews.com/too-much-sleep-brain-9983/

Aubrey, Allison. “Want To Get Faster, Smarter? Sleep 10 Hours.” NPR, 7 June 2010, https://www.npr.org/2010/06/07/127478147/want-to-get-faster-smarter-sleep-10-hours. Accessed 22 November 2022.

Meadows, Austin. “Causes and Effects of Oversleeping.” Sleep Foundation, 15 March 2022, https://www.sleepfoundation.org/how-sleep-works/oversleeping. Accessed 22 November 2022.

Premier Health. “Too Much Sleep Can be Bad for Your Health.” Premier Health, 2021, https://www.premierhealth.com/your-health/articles/women-wisdom-wellness-/too-much-sleep-can-be-bad-for-your-health. Accessed 22 November 2022.

Aliouche, H. (2022). The Health Risks of Oversleeping. News Medical. Retrieved December 19, 2022, from https://www.news-medical.net/health/The-Health-Risks-of-Oversleeping.aspx

Lawler, M., & Chua, J. P. (2021, July 30). Oversleeping: Signs, Complications, and Outlook. Everyday Health. Retrieved December 19, 2022, from https://www.everydayhealth.com/sleep/are-you-sleeping-too-much/

Posted in fatboy, Portfolio Fatboy, Research | 1 Comment

Open Strong—Hollyp

Posted on December 19, 2022 by McCormick Karner

Opening paragraph 1:

Women are blatantly ignored in the sports world because of the apparent lack of respect provided by local and national services. While all sports are affected by this level of disrespect, we tend to focus on the WNBA and the NBA, as basketball is one of the most televised sports in our society. Despite the game being so popular, women in the sport are given almost nothing for perfecting their craft, primarily because of streaming. Through various studies, the limited media time provided by different streaming services becomes clear. However, it is also proven that when the WNBA is well represented in the media, the brand grows as a whole. Thus proving that if the WNBA received as much media time as the NBA, and if the WNBA players’ CBA were as generous as the NBA’s, then, women would be paid equally.

Thesis: 

If the WNBA received as the NBA, and if the WNBA players’ CBA were as generous as the NBA’s, then, women would be paid equally.

Opening paragraph 2:

The world of sports turns a blind eye when it comes to giving women the opportunity to succeed. The NBA tends to cast the biggest shadow over the WNBA, despite both promoting the same content. While the NBA has built a strong fanbase in its 76 year history, the young WNBA has been stunted of gaining a fraction of the traction the NBA has now, even though we live in a world with thousands of streaming services. Without better opportunities, the underpaid WNBA players will never be able to receive a level of pay that is more suitable in the world of sports. If the WNBA was available on more streaming platforms, then the fanbase would undoubtedly increase, resulting in an increase in pay as well. 

Thesis:

If the WNBA was available on more streaming platforms, then the fanbase would undoubtedly increase, resulting in an increase in pay as well. 

Posted in hollyp, Open Strong | 2 Comments

Bibliography- Peanut

Posted on December 18, 2022 by peanut2348

Paragraph

1.Linder, D.O. (2022). The Trial of Orenthal James Simpson: An Account. https://famous-trials.com/simpson/1862-home

This is about the criminal trial for the murder of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman. Victims were brutally stabbed to death, and OJ Simpson took off shortly after this incident. 

This gave me a visualization of how the murders happened that night. Police gathered enough information to arrest Oj Simpson, but Simpson pleaded not guilty. This also gave me insight of the Trial. 

Pak, E. (2022). O.J. Simpson Murder Case: A Timeline of the ‘Trial of the Century.
https://www.biography.com/news/oj-simpson-trial-timeline

This gave me a timeline of the Trial of the Century. Exact times were giving and dates as well.Murders were taken place outside of O.J Simpsons Brentwood home in california. 

I used this to describe more about how Simpson fled. He was later spotted driving a white bronco, he eventually surrendered at his home. 

The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica, (2022). Johnnie L. Cochran, Jr. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Johnnie-L-Cochran-Jr

Information was provided about Simpsons ex- wife, and how Simpson was the prime suspect and how he attempted to escape after being told about his pending charges. Jury later found out he was not guilty of the murders. The public express opinions of racial lines that i provided.

Moore, A. G. (1996). The OJ Simpson Trial-Triumph of Justice
or Debacle. . Louis ULJ, 41, 9. http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/Simpson/Simpsonchron.html

A timeline was giving from 1994 – 2016

Simpson was accused of not only the murders but of compensatory damages, assault, kidnapping, and armed robbery. he was sentenced to 33 years in prison which was later on after the murders. A knife was found form Simpsons Brentwood home, but was aid to be unconnected to the case.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/style/longterm/books/chap1/outrage.htm

This basically gave me reasons why Simpson was not guilty in this article.

I used the reasons they describe in my arguments.I used this in my argument to fight that he was not guilty. Many people were very against his innocence because of the evidence provided. 

Latendresse, D., Smith, M., & Rettig, S. (1996). Black Identity: The O.
J. Simpson Case. Journal of Social Distress and the Homeless, 5(3),
273–303. https://doi.org/10.1007/bf02091654

This reviewed white and black perspectives. This was used in O.J Simpsons guilt or innocence.

This specific article didn’t give as much information, i only used this to describe how his race was part of the trail.

Cowan,
G. Fairchild, H. (1997). The O. J. Simpson trial: Research and theory on the
dynamics of ethnicity -Introduction to the issue. Journal of Social Issues.
Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Halford-Fairchild-2/publication/286862573_The_O_J_Simpson_trial_Research_and_theory_on_the_dynamics_of_ethnicity_-_Introduction_to_the_issue/links/62e725cc4246456b55ff00cc/The-O-J-Simpson-trial-Research-and-theory-on-the-dynamics-of-ethnicity-Introduction-to-the-issue.pdf

the case of O.J Simpson gave the public a reaction to use it as a way to apply social science models of ethnicity. 

I used this to describes about O. J ethnicity and how he may have been profiled. 

Casiano, L. (2021, April 20). OJ Simpson trial: A look back at the
racially charged high-profile case. Fox News. https://www.foxnews.com/us/oj-simpson-trial-racially-charged-case 

Many people would stand outside of the court during this trial.

The trail of O.J Simpson left the community divided amongst racial lines, which i described. Many people of the African community supported O.J Simpson.

Posted in Bibliography, Portfolio, Portfolio Peanut | 2 Comments

Casual – spatel8267

Posted on December 17, 2022 by spatel8267

Sleep Disorder

Sleep is one of the essential daily activities and one of the most vital elements in maintaining good health. Sleep improves life satisfaction, bodily processes, and equilibrium. The cellular, organic, and systemic processes of an organism depend on sleep, and its absence may be damaging to health as well as alter eating habits, blood sugar control, blood pressure, cognitive functions, and several hormonal axes. For optimal physical, cognitive, and psychological health, one must get enough quality sleep. The most crucial tasks of sleep include brain development, memory processing, cellular repair, and learning. Sleep plays crucial roles in regulating the operations of numerous other bodily systems in addition to helping to maintain appropriate brain function. Lack of sleep is linked to increased daily drowsiness, decreased neurocognitive performance and fatigue.https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK547676/

Medical professionals frequently overlook sleep loss from a variety of causes as a curable health issue. Serious medical disorders like diabetes mellitus and insulin resistance, hypertension, obesity, obstructive sleep apnea, depression, and anxiety have a substantial correlation with it. These medical and mental health conditions increase the risk of heart attack and stroke in a person. Other negative effects of chronic sleep deprivation on public health include increased mortality and morbidity, poor performance during awake activities leading to an increase in accidents and injuries, lower self-reported quality of life, decreased family well-being, and reduced use of medical services. It is obvious that lack of sleep has a significant impact on one’s health and happiness. The quantity and quality of sleep are crucial for both physical and mental health and should be taken into account in any treatment plan.

A person with insufficient sleep is said to be ten times more likely to suffer depressive symptoms and seventeen times more likely to experience anxious symptoms. Poor sleep increases the risk of suicide conduct, regardless of any other mental health issues, according to a growing body of studies.By messing with our circadian rhythms and interfering with our regular sleep stages, lack of sleep impacts the mental health of both our bodies and our brains. Lack of sleep impairs the brain’s capacity to make emotional decisions and to synthesize a variety of bits of information.

An impairment in cognitive and psychological performance as well as deteriorated physical health are linked to sleep disorders. A range of psychiatric and physical illnesses, as well as maladaptive functioning, can be brought on by its situational or pathological changes. If detected, disturbed sleep can be a sign of physical, mental, or emotional problems as well as a cause of illness.Another trait connected to suicide acts is impulsivity, which is raised and problem-solving abilities that are lowered when one is sleep deprived. We also react more emotionally, have a tendency to think poorly of ourselves, and are more sensitive to stress when we are sleepy. We are less robust physically and emotionally, less able to employ sound judgment and coping mechanisms, and we are irritated, restless, and worn out. The CDC says that more than half of those who die by suicide do not have a known mental health diagnosis, making awareness of these vulnerabilities vital for all of us. These consequences of sleep deprivation occur regardless of any other underlying mental health conditions.

How do we sleep well is a question that should be answered. Experts’ recommendations for sleep therapies frequently center on healthy behavioral practices, also referred to as sleep hygiene.According to Dr. Prichard and the American Academy of Sleep Medicine,

“The first step to getting a good night of sleep is to wake up around the same time every day, even on the weekends. If you wake up at 7 AM on weekdays but sleep in until 10 AM on Saturday and Sunday, you’re essentially experiencing three hours of jet lag every weekend. Your circadian rhythm can’t keep up with that kind of change and keep your body functioning in a normal and healthy way.“

Another helpful suggestion is to stay away from caffeine and other stimulants for at least three hours prior to bedtime. In addition to delaying your natural sleep cycle by preventing you from feeling sleepy, caffeine can stay in your system for up to eight hours (much longer if you are pregnant, just delivered, or have liver issues). That matters because it is more likely that you will fall asleep fast if you just go to bed when you are tired, according to experts. The interaction between caffeine abuse and sleep disruption can be difficult to solve.Avoiding caffeine and other stimulants for at least three hours before night is another good advice. Caffeine can linger in your system for up to eight hours and delay your normal sleep cycle in addition to keeping you from feeling drowsy (much longer if you are pregnant, just delivered, or have liver issues). This is significant because, according to experts, if you simply go to bed when you are exhausted, you are more likely to fall asleep quickly. It can be challenging to resolve the relationship between caffeine usage and sleep disruption.

Dr. Prichard recommends creating a relaxing atmosphere, which includes keeping your bedroom dark, cool, and quiet. She suggests,

“Sticking to a consistent bedtime routine that incorporates calming activities like light reading or meditation and staying away from screens. Most screens emit blue light, which mimics sunlight, confusing our brightness detectors, and interfering with melatonin production. Reconsider an alarm clock with a lighted time display, as seeing this can create unneeded anxiety about the sleep you may be missing out on.”

Knowing that a restful night’s sleep is possible is beneficial. And whether you are a college student, parent, professional, or patient, it’s crucial to think about how getting enough sleep can improve both your own and the health of people under your care.

References

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK547676/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3634295

Posted in Causal, Portfolio SPatel, spatel | Leave a comment

Casual Rewrite- spatel8267

Posted on December 17, 2022 by spatel8267

Sleep Disorder

Sleep is one of the essential daily activities and one of the most vital elements in maintaining good health. Sleep improves life satisfaction, bodily processes, and equilibrium. The cellular, organic, and systemic processes of an organism depend on sleep, and its absence may be damaging to health as well as alter eating habits, blood sugar control, blood pressure, cognitive functions, and several hormonal axes. For optimal physical, cognitive, and psychological health, one must get enough quality sleep. The most crucial tasks of sleep include brain development, memory processing, cellular repair, and learning. Sleep plays crucial roles in regulating the operations of numerous other bodily systems in addition to helping to maintain appropriate brain function. Lack of sleep is linked to increased daily drowsiness, decreased neurocognitive performance and fatigue.https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK547676/

Medical professionals frequently overlook sleep loss from a variety of causes as a curable health issue. Serious medical disorders like diabetes mellitus and insulin resistance, hypertension, obesity, obstructive sleep apnea, depression, and anxiety have a substantial correlation with it. These medical and mental health conditions increase the risk of heart attack and stroke in a person. Other negative effects of chronic sleep deprivation on public health include increased mortality and morbidity, poor performance during awake activities leading to an increase in accidents and injuries, lower self-reported quality of life, decreased family well-being, and reduced use of medical services. It is obvious that lack of sleep has a significant impact on one’s health and happiness. The quantity and quality of sleep are crucial for both physical and mental health and should be taken into account in any treatment plan.

A person with insufficient sleep is said to be ten times more likely to suffer depressive symptoms and seventeen times more likely to experience anxious symptoms. Poor sleep increases the risk of suicide conduct, regardless of any other mental health issues, according to a growing body of studies.By messing with our circadian rhythms and interfering with our regular sleep stages, lack of sleep impacts the mental health of both our bodies and our brains. Lack of sleep impairs the brain’s capacity to make emotional decisions and to synthesize a variety of bits of information.

An impairment in cognitive and psychological performance as well as deteriorated physical health are linked to sleep disorders. A range of psychiatric and physical illnesses, as well as maladaptive functioning, can be brought on by its situational or pathological changes. If detected, disturbed sleep can be a sign of physical, mental, or emotional problems as well as a cause of illness.Another trait connected to suicide acts is impulsivity, which is raised and problem-solving abilities that are lowered when one is sleep deprived. We also react more emotionally, have a tendency to think poorly of ourselves, and are more sensitive to stress when we are sleepy. We are less robust physically and emotionally, less able to employ sound judgment and coping mechanisms, and we are irritated, restless, and worn out. The CDC says that more than half of those who die by suicide do not have a known mental health diagnosis, making awareness of these vulnerabilities vital for all of us. These consequences of sleep deprivation occur regardless of any other underlying mental health conditions.

How do we sleep well is a question that should be answered. Experts’ recommendations for sleep therapies frequently center on healthy behavioral practices, also referred to as sleep hygiene.According to Dr. Prichard and the American Academy of Sleep Medicine,

“The first step to getting a good night of sleep is to wake up around the same time every day, even on the weekends. If you wake up at 7 AM on weekdays but sleep in until 10 AM on Saturday and Sunday, you’re essentially experiencing three hours of jet lag every weekend. Your circadian rhythm can’t keep up with that kind of change and keep your body functioning in a normal and healthy way.“

Another helpful suggestion is to stay away from caffeine and other stimulants for at least three hours prior to bedtime. In addition to delaying your natural sleep cycle by preventing you from feeling sleepy, caffeine can stay in your system for up to eight hours (much longer if you are pregnant, just delivered, or have liver issues). That matters because it is more likely that you will fall asleep fast if you just go to bed when you are tired, according to experts. The interaction between caffeine abuse and sleep disruption can be difficult to solve.Avoiding caffeine and other stimulants for at least three hours before night is another good advice. Caffeine can linger in your system for up to eight hours and delay your normal sleep cycle in addition to keeping you from feeling drowsy (much longer if you are pregnant, just delivered, or have liver issues). This is significant because, according to experts, if you simply go to bed when you are exhausted, you are more likely to fall asleep quickly. It can be challenging to resolve the relationship between caffeine usage and sleep disruption.

Dr. Prichard recommends creating a relaxing atmosphere, which includes keeping your bedroom dark, cool, and quiet. She suggests,

“Sticking to a consistent bedtime routine that incorporates calming activities like light reading or meditation and staying away from screens. Most screens emit blue light, which mimics sunlight, confusing our brightness detectors, and interfering with melatonin production. Reconsider an alarm clock with a lighted time display, as seeing this can create unneeded anxiety about the sleep you may be missing out on.”

Knowing that a restful night’s sleep is possible is beneficial. And whether you are a college student, parent, professional, or patient, it’s crucial to think about how getting enough sleep can improve both your own and the health of people under your care.

References

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK547676/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3634295/

Posted in Causal Rewrite, Portfolio SPatel, spatel | 1 Comment

Research Paper – sillyinternetperson

Posted on December 17, 2022 by sillyinternetperson

Music and the Mind: Born to Jam or Learned to?

Music is a result of human biology. It is believed to have developed around the same time as language by anthropologists and musicologists alike. However, did humans evolve to create and enjoy music or is it solely cultural? Only recently has this been a point of controversy in the scientific community.

Between 0.52% and 4% (one source claims 1.5%) based on the last two sources and extra data) of people are affected by congenital amusia, or tone deafness experienced from birth. Around the same amount of music students exhibit the opposite, perfect or absolute pitch.

To name pitches we use western music theory, a system we use to understand music as well as a tool to compose it. But what even is music?

Music is vocal, instrumental, or mechanical sounds having rhythm, melody, or harmony. While definition encapsulates what music is at its very simplest, it is not very specific. Melody and harmony do not mean much to the average music listener. To define a couple of terms: Melody is the leading voice of a piece that often has repeating themes, and harmony is the combination of notes played simultaneously to create chords. To communicate all this, usually there is sheet music (A.K.A.: a score, or chart) that composers use to communicate certain things to performers.

Music theory was developed to lay rules and give guidelines to music, but most importantly, to communicate music to performers. A little known fact to non-musicians is that there are dialects and separate standards for different kinds of music. For example, jazz music often has notation indicating what chord is being played each bar, or whenever there is a new chord. Classical does not do this unless it is written for a guitar or a piece meant to be improvised over. A more extreme example is that between western and eastern music. Indian music uses scales that do not exist in western music called raga (RAH-guh). While it does center around a set of pitches, each pitch in the scale is preceded by a set of notes before a singer lands on the desired pitch.

Music, like language, has dialects that would be unplayable to some who have grown to know one and not the other. You could even compare genres to accents. These parallels are no surprise, given that music and language comprehension develop alongside each other in childhood, and in the history of our evolution. An article by Nobuo Masataka suggests that a precursor to music was actually a version of a language, akin to a birdsong, as we had “vocal flexibility of other animals such as songbirds“.

Music comprehension is a byproduct of language comprehension.

Our ability to understand music is directly correlated with language, something humans evolved to have an affinity for, and the reason for civilization. Therefore predating society and furthermore, culture. Its reason for existence can not be something that was created after it.

Music can be used to communicate and there are entire systems created to communicate it, however it can exist without communicating at all. This is another distinction between a biological reason for music’s existence, rather than cultural: it can exist without culture. There is a group of people who can not appreciate music though, and it is not their fault.

Tone deafness affects only a small percent of the population. Simply put, it is the inability to match pitch. People affected by tone deafness can tell if a pitch is higher or lower, but can not match it themselves when using their voice or an instrument. They also have no problem with rhythm, as rhythm is a pattern in time, something our brain is always looking for – for a multitude of reasons beyond music.

A study done by Isabelle Peretz, Stèphanie Cummings and Marie-Pierre Dubè found that congenital amusia has a hereditary component. However “congenital” only accounts for those affected at birth. Like speech impediments, amusia can affect an adult who has experienced brain damage. The case on the other end of the spectrum is perfect pitch.

Perfect pitch is the ability to identify a pitch without having heard a reference note before it. Relative pitch is able to distinguish the intervals between notes, often exhibited by musicians through training. Although, it is about as rare to not be able to recognize pitch at all as it is to be able to have a perfect affinity for recognizing pitch as a music student (4%). Perfect pitch uses music theory to identify these pitches, and though music theory is a cultural phenomenon, identification using the system is like identifying an object using a word.

Peretz and her team discovered that their data allowed for “the mapping of genetic loci for congenital amusia”. This means that there is a chance that if someone was born without the ability to enjoy music, their next of kin may exhibit the same behaviors.

Chromesthesia, a form of perfect pitch in which colors are associated with pitch, and a form of synthesia, a perceptive disorder that causes the subject receiving sensory or cognitive stimuli to involuntarily experience another sensory or cognitive path as well. Synthesia is also hereditary.

The linguistic similarities, developmental habits and hereditary nature of music’s relationship with the mind show clearly that music can not only exist without the influence of culture, but predates it. While it can be argued that its practice today and by this generation categorized music as merely a piece of culture that captures events and trends in our time, the deep roots it has in our minds are there from birth.

We Jam, Therefore We Are

Our strong suit as humans is the ability to speak. We evolved to be so good at it that we can now do it with people on the other side of the planet as well as people who are not on the planet. As a byproduct, we developed a new art: music. We have practiced it for 35,000 years and have created an incredibly valuable industry around it. In 2020, the music industry generated $59.48 billion. Clearly, us humans find a lot of value in music. Most of us, actually.

Four percent of the world does not like music due to congenital amusia, or tone deafness from birth. In 2007, Isabelle Peretz, Stèphanie Cummings and Marie-Pierre Dubè researched the relationship between hereditary (able to be passed down by parents) speech impediments and congenital amusia. They found that congenital amusia is hereditary, coded in our DNA. Not only can you be predisposed to have no tone recognition ability, but you can be born with the ability to recognize tones perfectly.

Some people with absolute pitch, the ability to recognize a note when played, experience it in a way that is ineffable. They can not describe how they recognize the note, they just do. For people with tone-color synthesia, or chromesthesia, it is a different case. Synthesia is perceptive disorder that causes the subject receiving sensory or cognitive stimuli to involuntarily experience another sensory or cognitive path as well. There is also congenital synthesia, congenital meaning the condition is with the patient from birth. Congenital synthesia is also hereditary.

Disorders relating to pitch are not just developed in childhood, induced through chemical agents, or a product of brain damage (all causes of both amusia and chromesthesia), but could also be caused by a variation in genetic code. Pitch recognition is embedded in our genetic coding as a byproduct of early language. Language is what allowed homo sapiens to form communities, and soon enough we dominated the planet. To this day, our ability to comprehend music has survived because the humans that developed language survived.

Aside from the evolutionary and hereditary aspects of music, something all of us can experience is our emotional and cognitive reaction to music.

Music can alleviate choking. To “choke” in reference to sports and other competitions, is to fail due to the pressure of the situation; to crack under pressure. Researchers at Victoria University discovered that playing music during stressful situations lowered the subject’s self-awareness, allowing them to perform better. To prove their hypothesis they used the game of basketball. They had two type of scenarios: low pressure and high pressure. It was discovered that when music was played during the high pressure scenarios decreased self-awareness, and enabled participants to minimize explicit monitoring of execution and reduce general distractibility”. It allowed them to think clearly during a stressful situation. (Mesagno, Merchant, Morris, 2009).

Music therapy is the clinical use of music to accomplish goals one would in regular therapy. It involves creating, performing and listening to music. Music therapy has shown to lower blood pressure, improve memory, enhance social skills and even reduce muscle tension. There are a bunch of types of music therapy but they all prove effective in some way shape or form.

Based on the information gathered from the “choking” study and the influence music can have when paired with the practice of therapy, it is apparent that music can be used as a tool for alleviating mental ailments. Not only do we simply enjoy it, but can gain from it. The response from the body and mind to music displays the ability for humans to comprehend it is on a deeper than lyrical level.

Each example of the human brain’s relationship to pitch, not even mentioning rhythm, is proof that we have an innate ability to process musical concepts and that music is not just a cultural phenomenon, but hardwired into humans by default.

Call And Response

The human brain is wired to understand music. Some would think that the practice of music is solely a cultural phenomenon and one of the many things we do that biological affinity is not a prerequisite for. However, this is simply not true.

A common misconception about music is that it is shaped by culture. Yes, music can be influenced by culture, however music can have an effect on culture without having to be influenced by it. For example, music aided the civil rights movement by giving minorities a voice in media, all the way up until current day.

At first, folk, then jazz, R&B, Motown, and currently, Rap/Hip-hop. Using these genres as a means of expressing their point of view and exposing the condition of places like the Bronx in the 70’s to the public eye was crucial to their cause. A prime example of this is The Message by Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five. Songs like The Message showed anyone outside of New York City what it was like to live in ghettos dominated by landlords that did not hesitate to burn their homes down for insurance money.

Music permeates culture like a virus. Culture is just the host. However, unlike a virus, it can exist without a culture.

It can be argued that music is an entirely learned practice; that it exists because we created it eons ago and decided to continue its practice. This is true to a degree. Similar to the way we have a model for the English language based on grammar and syntax, we have a model for music based on harmony and rhythm. You could say that music is simply academia in practice, like a demonstration of these qualities music can have. This is also true, however there’s a reason for the academia’s existence in the first place. For the study of language, it is that we speak it and use it to communicate important information. For music, it is that we exist with certain biological properties, such as the ability to interpret pitch.

The human brain is wired to interpret pitch. The only auditory functions that are necessary for our survival are the ability to interpret tone or voice – the shape of a soundwave – the ability to determine where a sound comes from in space, and the ability to determine if a pitch is higher or lower. Tone deaf people can understand if a pitch is higher than another or lower. Being able to identify the intervals between pitches is not necessary for our survival, but something most people do if they have ever hummed a song. Along the same vein, long term pitch memory is also not necessary for our survival, however we can recall our favorite songs. We could live without the ability to replicate the exact pitch that was heard. Four percent of the population, people affected by tone deafness, live fine without it. Yet, here we are, with the ability to recognize pitch.

Another argument is to put the question of “If we can identify pitch, is music biological as opposed to cultural?” point of view in a different context.

“If we can taste, is food biological as opposed to cultural?”

The answer is yes, it is common sense. That is the reason the statement is not as impactful in the context of music. We are taught about our digestive system and our senses at a young age. Music is taught to children, however the anatomical and psychological concepts are not, simply because they are too complex and irrelevant to what a child needs to know growing up.

Food is half the reason for having a tongue, it is a reason for having a nose, it is the reason we avoid bad tasting things and are attracted to good ones. Having this complex system to comprehend taste does not mean our bodies are meant to taste rocks. We think food. It’s the same with pitch recognition, only a portion of our hearing sense. The sound of rocks is a topic that will not often show up in a conversation about music, same as rocks to the conversation of food, even though you can taste a rock and hear a rock moving against something else.

We can use our senses to perceive anything, but there’s a specific reason for having each sense in the first place. For hearing, it is to be aware of things that create sound, and within that, pitch recognition is to listen to and/or create music. For taste, it is to gauge the benefit or danger of whatever we intend to ingest, the ability to taste, say sweet things, is to gather carbohydrates. Each type of flavor exists to quench a nutritional craving or warn us. Consider pitch to be a flavor of sound.

It is possible that humans found social/cultural value in music, same as language. If that is the case, it is no wonder the two functions evolved alongside each other. Music and language comprehension more closely related than one would think. In asking the question of whether tone deafness is hereditary or not, a study found that using genetic speech impediments was the quickest route to discovering the answer.

No matter which way you slice it, music is embedded in us.

“If we can taste, is food biological as opposed to cultural?”

Yes. In fact, it is common sense. That is the reason the statement is not as impactful in the context of music. We are taught about our digestive system and our senses at a young age. Music is taught to children, however the anatomical and psychological concepts are not, simply because they are too complex and irrelevant to what a child needs to know growing up.

Food is half the reason for having a tongue, it is a reason for having a nose, it is the reason we avoid bad tasting things and are attracted to good ones. Having this complex system to comprehend taste does not mean our bodies are meant to taste rocks. We think food. It’s the same with pitch recognition, only a portion of our hearing sense. The sound of rocks is a topic that will not often show up in a conversation about music, same as rocks to the conversation of food, even though you can taste a rock and hear a rock moving against something else.

We can use our senses to perceive anything, but there’s a specific reason for having each sense in the first place. For hearing, it is to be aware of things that create sound, and within that, pitch recognition is to listen to or create music. For taste, it is to gage the benefit or danger of whatever we intend to ingest, the ability to taste, say sweet things, is to gather carbohydrates. Each type of flavor exists to quench a nutritional craving or warn us. Consider pitch to be a flavor of sound.

It is possible that humans found social/cultural value in music, same as language. If that is the case, it is no wonder the two functions evolved alongside each other. Music and language comprehension more closely related than one would think. In asking the question of whether tone deafness is hereditary or not, a study found that using genetic speech impediments was the quickest route to discovering the answer.

No matter which way you slice it, music is embedded in us.

References

Gervain, J., Vines, B. W., Chen, L. M., Seo, R. J., Hensch, T. K., Werker, J. F., & Young, A. H. (2013, December 3). Valproate reopens critical-period learning of absolute pitch. Frontiers in systems neuroscience. Retrieved October 17, 2022.

Morley, I. (2013, December 24). The Prehistory of Music : Human Evolution, Archaeology, and the Origins of Musicality. Pro Quest Ebook Central. Retrieved October 17, 2022.

Peretz, I., Cummings, S., & Dubé, M. P. (2007). The genetics of congenital amusia (tone deafness): a family-aggregation study. American journal of human genetics, 81(3), 582–588.

Witynski, M. (n.d.). Perfect pitch, explain. What Is Perfect Pitch? | The University of Chicago. Retrieved October 17, 2022.

Carden, J. (2009, July 9). Absolute pitch: Myths, evidence and relevance to music education and … Sage Journals. Retrieved December 5, 2022.

Cervellin, G. (2011, March 22). From music-beat to heart-beat: A journey in the complex interactions between music, brain and heart. European journal of internal medicine. Retrieved December 4, 2022.

Doolittle, Emily, and Bruno Gingras. “Zoomusicology: Current Biology – Cell.com.” The Cell, Current Biology, 5 Oct. 2015.

Tilot, Amanda K., et al. “Investigating Genetic Links between Grapheme–Colour Synaesthesia and Neuropsychiatric Traits.” Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, The Royal Society Publishing, 21 Oct. 2019.

Art & Music. The Smithsonian Institution’s Human Origins Program. (2022, September 19). Retrieved December 4, 2022.

The Hidden Sense: On Becoming Aware of Synthesia. (2009, January). Retrieved December 4, 2022.

Music Therapy: What Is It, Types & Treatment. (n.d.). Cleveland Clinic.

Masataka, N. (2007). Music, evolution and language. Developmental Science, 10(1), 35–39.

Szyfter, K., & Wigowska-Sowińska, J. (2021, September 21). Congenital amusia-pathology of musical disorder – Journal of Applied Genetics. SpringerLink. Retrieved December 20, 2022.

Pradilla, I., Tierradentro-Garcíab, L. O., Palacios-Arizac, M. A., Díaz-Forerob, A. F., Botero-Menesesa, J. S., & Talero-Gutiérreza, C. (2020, June 25). Congenital amusia and academic performance among Colombian University students. Trends in Neuroscience and Education. Retrieved December 20, 2022.

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White Paper – sillyinternetperson

Posted on December 17, 2022 by sillyinternetperson

Music, evolution and the Harmony of Souls by Alan R. Harvey

Musicologists argue music evolved alongside language.

“And we shall see that music’s universality extends beyond the structural components of pitch and rhythm, extending to cross-cultural roles in ‘facilitating group coordination and cohesion.’” 

There are people who do not enjoy music or listening to music, said to be affected by congenital amusia. (Define)

Congenital is defined as an abnormality from birth, 

“Music must rank as the highest of the fine arts—as the one which, more than any other, ministers to human welfare.” – Herbert Spencer (quote listed in Encyclopedia of Quotations about Music)

“Can’t hear it in my head at all – I can ‘see’ images in my mind’s eye, but have never ‘heard noises in my mind’s ear’. If I tried to imagine a tune, I’d imagine my own internal voice sub-vocalising it.”

casual

because we evolved to speak, we do music

amusia is hereditary which means it biological

Synthesia is a disorder that can cause absolute pitch, it is biological

rebuttal

humans do it, therefore it is subject to cultural influences (note that counter-culture is a result of culture and that therefore it is still influenced by culture for)

While animals have been singing before humans existed, what they do is not art, rather a form of communication. They use tonal and rhythmic patterns to communicate and attract mates, not for the sake of creating art. 

This propensity for music – this “musicophelia” – shows itself in infancy, is manifest and central in every culture, and probably goes back to the beginning of our species. It may be developed or shaped by the cultures we live in, by the circumstances of life, or by the particular gifts or weaknesses we have as individuals – but it lies so deep in human nature that one is tempted to think of it as innate, much as E. O. Wilson regards “biophelia,” our feeling for living things. – Oliver Sacks

sauce: 

Absolute pitch: Myths, evidence and relevance to music education and performance – Jill Carden, Tony Cline, 2019 

From music-beat to heart-beat: a journey in the complex interactions between music, brain and heart 

How Does Music Affect the Mind and Body? – Medford Leas

Smithsonian 

29 Music Industry Statistics [2022]: Facts, Trends, And Sales – Zippia

Wayback – Synthesia

https://web.archive.org/web/20110628222645/http://www.pucsp.br/pos/tidd/teccogs/artigos/pdf/teccogs_edicao1_2009_artigo_CAMPEN.pdf

Semantic mechanisms may be responsible for developing synesthesia – PMC (polish last names i think)

Rethinking Congenital Synaesthesia – TANGIBLE TERRITORY

WHAT ARE THESE PEOPLE TALKING ABOUT???

Investigating genetic links between grapheme–colour synaesthesia and neuropsychiatric traits | Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences

Is synthesia hereditary (yes)  

The induction of synaesthesia with chemical agents: a systematic review – PMC

CHRISTOPHER MESAGNO, DARYL MARCHANT, AND TONY MORRIS 

https://www.singwise.com/articles/tone-deafness-amusia-and-other-causes-of-persistent-pitch-problems#:~:text=Although%20someone%20who%20is%20tone,awareness%20of%20the%20wrong%20note.

tone deafness^

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