How Aphasia Causes Difficulty Speaking

 

Language impairment is often caused by tragic conditions like aphasia, a type of brain damage. This condition can teach us a lot about how language works. To begin to understand such a complex, fascinating, and ever-changing field, we will first talk about the human brain and the field devoted to its study.

What Is Neurolinguistics?

Neurolinguistics is a branch of neuroscience whose goal is to understand the neural aspects of language, such as how the brain processes language. To do research in neurolinguistics, neuroscientists depend largely on impaired language data, not normal language data. In other words, analyzing the patterns in the abnormal speech of someone who has suffered from an event like a stroke, or from someone who has a medical condition like dementia, provides information for scientists that normal speech cannot provide. 

The Basic Components of Our Brains

The brain consists of more than 100 billion nerve cells—called “neurons”—which are connected with fibers. The brain’s surface is called the cortex, or “gray matter,” and is responsible for making decisions, storing memories, initiating action, and, of course, for our knowledge of language and grammar. (2) One of the coolest things about the brain is how it’s wrinkled and folded up, because if it weren’t, our heads would be enormous! The cortex is thin, but quite large in surface area, and we need for all of that surface area somehow to fit into the skull—it’s like taking a sheet of newspaper and crumpling it into a ball to fit inside a small bowl. (4) In proportion to our bodies, human brains are larger and more intricate than any other living creature. (6)

You may have learned that the brain has two halves, which are known as its hemispheres (“hemi” is a prefix that means “half”). They are connected by the “corpus callosum”—a network of 200 million fibers. Incredibly, some patients with severe epilepsy need to have this connection surgically removed, and they are still able to function normally! You may also have heard that brain function is “contralateral,” which means that the left side of the brain controls the right side of the body, and vice versa.

Lots of Language Processing Happens in the Left Side of the Brain

The answer to this question is complicated. You may have heard that the left hemisphere is “responsible for language,” and that is mostly true: It’s called “lateralization” when a brain function is localized to one hemisphere (“lateral” means “side”). 

Scientists have figured this...

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Listen to Curious State!

Could we have domesticated a T-Rex? Is the mafia really that violent? Haven't all the possible songs been written by now? Unexpected gems of knowledge are hidden all around us. Let’s dig them up, one offbeat question at a time on Curious State with Doug Fraser.

Episodes include a multitude of experts, from renowned authors to celebrity cat experts and mafia trial prosecutors, working with Doug to explore the hows and whys of the world. Each episode is based around a single, offbeat question. Through interviews, research, and conversation, Doug finds himself in the company of unforgettable answers. Which lead to more questions—but that’s half the fun. 

Subscribe today to get new episodes weekly:

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Have a question you want Doug to find the answer to? Leave a voicemail at (757) 541-8471 or email us at curious@quickanddirtytips.com.

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Why BlockFi’s Founder Believes More Women Should Care About Crypto

Just a few years ago, most Americans weren’t familiar with digital assets or the term “cryptocurrency.” Now, it’s getting mentioned in the news and throughout popular culture, like Superbowl commercials and Saturday Night Live shows. And since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, crypto donations have been pouring into the country helping citizens defend themselves.  

Since March is Women’s History Month, I interviewed Flori Marquez, a female co-founder of BlockFi. The crypto financial services company recently released their second annual Real Talk: Women x Crypto 2.0 survey. The survey reveals the knowledge and behaviors of American females around crypto, investing, and career aspirations—and the results may surprise you!

"Women say that crypto is a means to achieve their financial goals but acknowledge an education gap." – Flori Marquez

Flori and I had a wide ranging discussion about why Americans, and particularly women, should care about crypto. Here are a few topics we talk about on this Money Girl podcast interview:

• How Flori’s background led to her to become the BlockFi co-founder.
• Low and no-risk ways to own crypto and gain exposure to alternative investments.
• The massive increase in women who have invested in crypto, plan to invest in it, and are interested in crypto jobs. 
• Why one in five women believe crypto can help them reach significant...

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The Big 8—Should You Avoid These Common Food Allergens?

It’s very important for people with severe food allergies to avoid the foods they're allergic too. For them, eating even a small amount of nuts or seafood could be life-threatening.

Eight foods account for 90 percent of all food allergy reactions. In the industry, they're often referred to as the Big 8.

In 2004, The Food Allergen Labeling and Consumer Protection Act was put in place to make life a little bit easier and safer for these folks. It mandates that food labels must declare whether or not a product may contain allergens from milk, eggs, fish, shellfish, tree nuts, peanuts, wheat, and soybeans. You may have noticed this information on packaged foods, right underneath the list of ingredients in bold type. It might say something like: Contains milk and eggs.

Although over 200 different food allergens have been identified, these eight foods account for 90 percent of all food allergy reactions. In the industry, they're often referred to as the “Big 8.” But in fact, allergies to some of the Big 8 are a lot more common than others.

How common are the most common food allergies?

According to a new review in the Journal Nutrition Today, milk or dairy is by far the most commonly diagnosed food allergy, affecting 2 percent of the adult population, or one out of every 50 people. The percentage of people who report being lactose intolerant is quite a bit higher. But lactose intolerance, which is a reduced ability to digest the lactose sugar in milk, is not a true allergy. Allergies are almost always reactions to proteins, and people who are allergic to milk are usually allergic to the milk protein casein.

Milk or dairy is by far the most commonly diagnosed food allergy, affecting 2 percent of the adult population, or one out of every 50 people.

Shellfish is the next most common food allergen, affecting 1 in 65. Fish, nuts, eggs, wheat, and peanuts all affect fewer than 1 in 100 people. Interestingly, soy allergy is only believed to affect 1 in 1000 people. So, the Big 8 is really more like the Big 7 plus 1. The inclusion of soy in the list of common allergens may create the impression that soy allergy is much more common than it is.

Many consumers also misinterpret required allergen labeling to mean that these foods should be avoided even by people who don’t have an allergy. This impression is reinforced by front-of-package labeling claiming that products are “free” of various ingredients. While this is helpful information for people who have a reason to avoid those ingredients, it doesn't necessarily...

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From Data Warehouses To A Shift in Mindset - Everything Your Business Needs To Become Data-Driven

Data has radically changed business, impacting almost every industry and bringing them data-driven insights, automated processes, and clarity within decision making. In fact, it’s been proved that adopting a data-driven mindset can boost productivity, increase profit, and even ensure cost reductions.

But, considering that over half of all data collected by businesses ‘goes dark’, meaning it is lost or left unstructured, it’s clear that organizations aren’t yet doing enough to embrace these data-driven ways.

In this article, we’ll be exploring the central tools and mindsets that your business needs to adapt to become fully data-driven. Let’s get right into it!

What is a data warehouse?

A data warehouse is a central location where a huge range of different data sources can be stored. This hub acts as a site where all the company data can be placed, giving employees a place to go to when they’re seeking data.

Businesses that have to deal with unstructured data will often use a balance of data warehouses and data lakes. Increasingly, managing many different forms of data at the same time is becoming a problem for businesses, with 95% of businesses citing this as a central issue for their operations. With this in mind, it’s no wonder that people around the globe are turning to storage solutions for data their business collects.

Most commonly, data warehouses use cloud services, simply due to the nature of having to compile lots of different data sources in one location. With the number of different sources that a business could use, this quickly can become costly if a company is using local storage.

Cloud data warehouses have become incredibly popular, with many businesses now turning to cloud storage as their go-to data solution.

If your business is actively searching for an effective cloud warehouse solution but doesn’t know where to begin, take a look at this comprehensive Snowflake vs Databricks comparison which will highlight the most important aspects. 

How can data impact your business?

Business has become vital to the day-to-day success of a business, with users from around the company relying on it and it playing a key role in effective scaling. Each year, the poor handling of data costs...

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The Surprising Upside of Procrastination

The world as I see it is made up of two kinds of people: those who make their beds every day, and those who laugh at the bedmakers because why bother.

I’ve always been a bedmaker. I like the feeling of a tiny accomplishment early in my day. I’ve also always been a bit self-righteous about it. Bedmaking requires a sense of discipline. So obviously, making your bed is just better, right?

Sometimes, under the right circumstances, procrastinating feels good. And it also delivers a different kind of result.

Like making a bed, I’ve always defaulted to assuming that planning takes discipline. So that must mean planning is always better than procrastinating. But what if my logic is wrong? This pandemic has me calling a lot of old assumptions into question. And while I’m still largely a planner, I’m finding myself dallying with procrastination in small doses.

And you know what? Sometimes, under the right circumstances, procrastinating feels good. And it also delivers a different kind of result. So let’s talk today about when and why it’s OK to let procrastination take the wheel.

Is my procrastination helping me or holding me back?

If procrastination tends to be how you roll, start by asking yourself whether it’s serving you or holding you back.

Here are a few questions for you to sit with:

• Am I scrambling but making things happen, or am I dropping balls or missing deadlines?
• Do I feel like my work product suffers from the rush?
• Is my procrastination negatively impacting anyone other than myself ?
• Would something in my life improve if I put more effort into planning?

Be honest with yourself. Let your answers inform the approach you take.

If your procrastination is either impacting someone else or holding you back in any way, it may be time to strive to overcome it. But if your answers leave you feeling OK, then let’s talk about why procrastinating can be a useful thing.

Procrastination can inspire creativity

Wharton professor Adam Grant describes an experiment to explore the relationship between performance and procrastination. In it, participants were randomly assigned to one of two groups. Each participant was asked to think of a new business idea. In one group, the instruction was to pitch the idea immediately. The other group spent a few minutes playing a game before pitching their ideas.

The result? Ideas pitched by those who...

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Is It Better to Run Outside or on a Treadmill?

Spring has finally arrived and daylight saving time has begun, which means warmer weather (at least where I live in California) and later sunsets. I’m super excited about the arrival of spring because it means more time to enjoy outdoor activities with my family even after work on weekdays. 

If you’ve been walking or running indoors on a treadmill for most of the winter because it’s been cold outside or because it got dark too early, spring also means that you can finally start exercising outdoors. There’s nothing like taking in the scenery and fresh air on a nice walk or run on a beautiful day.  

Walking and running are two of the most popular forms of exercise worldwide, so it’s no surprise that I’ve been getting a lot of questions recently about the difference between walking or running overground versus on a treadmill. Is one better than the other?

If you tuned in to last week’s episode on whether dumbbells, barbells, machines, or resistance bands are better for strength training, you know that my answer to these types of questions is almost always “it depends”. 

Anyone who has spent time walking or running overground and on a treadmill will tell you that there’s a real difference between the two. Walking or running on a treadmill is often easier than overground as a result of two important factors: treadmill momentum and uneven terrain. Don’t worry if this is unfamiliar to you because I’ll explain it in a moment. 

Even though overground walking or running is often more challenging, whether it’s better than on a treadmill depends on a host of additional factors that are unique to each person. It can also vary depending on the time of day or the context.

For example, the weather definitely plays a role and so does the relative safety of your outdoor environment. So if it’s 10 degrees or 100 degrees outside, walking or running indoors on a treadmill would be a good choice. A treadmill might also be a good choice if you live in an area with a high crime rate, with a lot of smog, or with a lot of busy streets you have to cross. 

Additional considerations include how convenient it is for you to access a treadmill...

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5 Industries That Are Leading in Productivity Innovation

If you polled business owners from a wide range of industries about what they wanted most from their employees and their operations, chances are one of the most common answers would be productivity. These days, it is all about how to get to the finish line in the most sensical way. Owners and managers want to ensure that targets are being met, while employees want to ensure that they are prioritizing a work-life balance. Both desires are important for a successful business and deserve attention.

Compared to the start of the COVID pandemic, many would argue that the business landscape has changed drastically and businesses daily to-dos have significantly changed. At one point, this change was a source of anxiety and concern, but has since become an opportunity for certain industries to reach a potential that wasn't in their sights initially.

As work from home moves from necessity to norm, there are a few industries that have found a rhythm in business that supports the needs of the business, the employees, and the clients, simultaneously.

Productivity is layered and is not going to look the same for every person or every company.

Here are some of the top industries that are leading the way in terms of productivity innovation, and what you can learn from their ideals.

Logistics

If you had no frame of reference for what supply chain was or meant before, these past couple years have almost certainly made it impossible for you to still not be aware. The logistics industry has experienced a huge boom recently and keeping up with demand requires a level of productivity that is simply unavoidable. Those who are on the front lines of this battle know more than anyone that if there are not processes in place meant to keep everything moving along, they will have a hard time staying afloat among their competitors.

For example, companies that have a fleet of vehicles moving the various parts of their business around have taken to using fleet maintenance management to help them remain productive and stay in front of any potential issues that could compromise that. By managing vehicle maintenance, you are reducing your fleet’s downtime and increasing overall productivity. This proactive strategy can reduce the risk of accidents and last-minute repairs by alerting your team to vehicles that need attention before they become unusable. 

Healthcare

The healthcare industry has been forced into the spotlight since the start of the COVID pandemic. The need for everyone in this industry to hustle, adapt, and join forces in less-than-ideal circumstances has led its leaders to now be able to take a step back and asses what did and did not work in the midst...

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How to De-escalate Your Child’s Meltdown

Your child's meltdowns can be unsettling or even frightening. But using words like "violent" and "manipulative" can cause you to have a negative view of your child as willful and deliberate—maliciously in control of their actions. This in turn will affect how you handle these situations. Dr. Ross Greene reminds us that "kids do well if they can" even when they’re behaving in unfortunate ways.

These factors also influence how tolerant you might be in the face of them. In the book The Reflective Journey: A Practitioner’s Guide to the Low Arousal Approach, Dr. Andrew McDonnell suggests the neutral term "behaviors of concern," rather than a "tantrum" or a "fit."

"Distress behavior" is another way of conceptualizing these episodes—when someone is displaying a negative reaction to others, the environment, or to overstimulation, it’s usually because they are distressed.

If your child is neurodivergent, you may see meltdowns more often than you might in a neurotypical child. And yet neurotypical kids absolutely can have meltdowns! Managing the behavior of a child who is in the midst of a meltdown can be extremely distressing to you. Your child may be verbally or physically aggressive, self-injurious, or threatening when their nervous system is in survival mode. In these highly emotional and often scary situations, it helps to have some understanding of what happens when your child is highly distressed. You can also develop skills that can help you to de-escalate yourself and your child.

Your child may begin to show early signs of distress in subtle or easily visible ways that are unique to them. 

Phases of escalation

When your child becomes extremely overwhelmed they may become explosive, seemingly out of nowhere. However, there is a predictable pattern that happens before, during, and following your child’s distress episodes. Within this pattern, you only have a small window of opportunity to intervene and potentially prevent further escalation.

The first phase is the trigger. Your child’s nervous system detects danger. Triggers might include fear, anxiety, frustration, sensory overload, confusion, sudden changes in routine, lack of autonomy, too many demands, fatigue, or illness.

Their frontal lobe...

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Nouns: Concrete, Abstract, Collective, and Compound

A student named Caley sent me this message:

“My writing teacher loves your book and uses it a lot. I would like for you to explain concrete, compound, abstract, and collective nouns.”

I remember learning that a noun is a person, place, or thing; but unfortunately, it’s more complicated than that. 

Concrete Nouns

People, places, and things are all concrete nouns. They’re things you can see or touch such as kittens and puppies, trees and flowers, sticks and stones, and cities and countries.

Abstract Nouns

People often find abstract nouns more confusing. They’re things such as concepts, feelings, ideas, states of mind, and attributes. For example, honor, loyalty, courage, truth, and freedom are all abstract nouns. 

If you have an abstract word like those, and you want to test whether it’s really a noun, one way to do it is to see if you can replace the word with one that is more recognizable to you as a noun—a concrete noun.

For example, let’s say you have this sentence:

I’m out of gumption today.

If you want to figure out whether gumption is a noun, see if you can replace it with a concrete noun: 

I’m out of milk today.

You can. You can replace gumption with the concrete noun milk, so it’s a good bet that gumption is an abstract noun.

Try it with this sentence:

Don’t you have any decency?

Is decency a noun? Sure because you can replace it with other nouns:

Don’t you have any rocks?

Don’t you have any kittens?

Don’t you have any trees?

Words sometimes serve multiple purposes, so a word such as hate can be both an abstract noun and a verb.

In this sentence it’s a verb:

I hate fishing.

In this sentence it’s an abstract noun:

Don’t bring your hate in here.

No need to get confused though. You can still use the concrete-noun test to see when it’s a noun. When you can replace hate with a concrete noun, then you know it’s playing a role as an abstract noun:

Don’t bring your dog in here.

Don’t bring your fish...

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How to Engage Socially When You’re Feeling Anxious

Spring is here! We often associate this season with breaking out from the cocoon of winter and into social butterflies. This is easier for some than others. I am a proud introvert, and I usually have to prepare myself for the increase in social interactions.

You may not identify as introverted. Maybe you've been diagnosed with social anxiety, or you just feel socially awkward in general. Whatever the case may be, there are many of us that desire social interaction and closer relationships, but it doesn’t come naturally to us. In fact, many social interactions can feel threatening. For instance, a great friend of mine is getting married and I’m invited to the wedding. My first thought was, “Heck yeah, I am super happy for you!” and my second thought was “Now I have to be at a wedding where the only person I’m going to know is the bride.” This is an introvert’s nightmare. The introductions, having to remember all those names, the forced smiles, and laughter, the dreaded small talk. Suffice it to say, I and many others will read that as threatening.

What does it mean to feel threatened in social situations?

You might be wondering: what happens when we read an environment as threatening and what does that mean? Threatening doesn’t mean that it’s abusive, violent, or anything of that nature. When you struggle socially, simply saying, “Hi, I’m Terrence” to strangers can feel like doing a State of the Union address. The problem with reading these environments as threatening is it causes us to be socially disengaged. In order to bond with others, we have to socially signal that we are interested and open. When we feel uncomfortable, our body language can express the exact opposite.

When we feel socially threatened, we don't engage in prosocial signaling. Instead, if you’re like me, you may what is socially referred to as “RBF,” which I will call Resting Badass Face. In technical terms, your facial expressions become constricted. You may often have a downcast gaze or you may have a tendency to stare. Your body language is also typically tight and robotic in nature. You may speak in a monotone or flat voice. Additionally, you may more easily misinterpret what others are saying or their social cues. All of this leads to people staying away from you because you are signaling that you don't want to be bothered, when in fact your internal intention may be that you want others to talk to you and like you.

Activating your social safety system

In order to combat this, we want to activate our social safety system. We can do this through facial expressions, gestures, and body language. In the same way that we use these tools to communicate with others, we can use them to communicate with ourselves. For example, if you're in a good mood and you force yourself to frown and walk around with an angry posture, you'll...

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Why Do People Talk About Being 'Out of Spoons'?

A few months ago, I started to notice people talking about spoons in a weird way.

First, my amazing fiction writing and podcasting friend Mur Lafferty tweeted, “I have no spoons for making decisions today.” And then just a few days later, a linguist friend named Lauren Ackerman tweeted, “Trying to remind myself that just because I have *some* spoons does not mean I have *enough* spoons,” And I’m like, “What is up with all these spoon references?” And maybe you’ve heard something like this and wondered too.

So I got a general sense of what it means from the context – spoons are a metaphor for energy – but why spoons? 

Well, you won’t find it in any major dictionary, and I have to confess that for reasons I can’t remember now, I thought it had something to do with “Game of Thrones,” but of course, it does not. It turns out this really useful concept, which is called spoon theory, also isn’t that new. It’s actually been around since 2003, but I do think it’s moving more into the mainstream.

Here’s the deal:

The origin of spoon theory

A woman with lupus named Christine Miserandino came up with the metaphor on the fly when she was a college student, and her good friend and roommate asked her what it felt like to have lupus – not what the symptoms were, but what it felt like to live with lupus. 

The two women were in a dining hall, and after casting around for a few seconds, Christine grabbed a bunch of spoons and handed them to her friend. Then she said something like “Imagine that every time you do something, it costs you a spoon.” Getting out of bed? One spoon gone. She took a spoon away. Showering? Another spoon gone. And so on. She went on to explain that people with disabilities or who are sick start with fewer spoons than other people, and some things that wouldn’t cost a healthy person any spoons at all, like maybe getting dressed, can cost someone with lupus a spoon or two. 

And the friend started to realize that Christine had to manage her metaphorical spoons because she only got so many each day. When you have a chronic illness or disability, you aren’t going to be able to do every single thing you want or need to do before you run out of spoons. 

Christine wrote up the story on her blog, butyoudontlooksick.com (which seemed to be down because of a technical problem at our time of publication but is also available through...

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Curious State Newsletter

7 Ways to Protect Your Money From Lawsuits

No one wants to deal with the hassle of getting sued, but unfortunately, it happens. So, it's critical to protect your money from risks, such as you, a family member, or an employee getting found at fault in a lawsuit and having to pay expensive damages. 

This post will cover seven ways to reduce various risks, so you can protect your money from potential lawsuits and losses.

1. Purchasing liability insurance

Buying liability insurance is one of the most important things you can do to protect your assets. It can be combined with other insurance or purchased as a stand-alone policy. If someone sues you, liability insurance covers your legal costs, up to your policy limits. 

For instance, if you have $250,000 of liability coverage and get found at fault for $750,000 in legal damages, you'd be responsible for paying the difference, or $500,000, out of pocket. Having enough liability is critical for protecting your future financial health. Getting involved in a personal or business lawsuit is a significant financial risk you could face.

Here are several common types of liability you may need.

If the court awarded $50,000 for medical bills, but you only had $10,000 of coverage, you'd be responsible for the remaining $40,000.

• Auto liability insurance is required in almost every state if you own a vehicle; however, each state's minimum varies significantly. So, if your state has a low liability coverage requirement, you likely need much more. In Florida, my home state, drivers must only carry $10,000 of personal injury liability and $10,000 of property damage liability. That's a small amount of protection if you ever got into an accident and hurt someone or their property. 
  
  For instance, if your teen driver got into a car crash and injured a passenger or another driver, you'd likely get sued by the injured party or their insurer. If the court awarded $50,000 for medical bills, but you only had $10,000 of coverage, you'd be responsible for the remaining $40,000...

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The Candida Diet: Separating Fact from Fiction

A listener writes:

“I have recurrent problems with candida or yeast. I have seen articles stating that I should eat less sugar and avoid foods that contain yeast, such as bread. How accurate is this advice?”

I’m so glad you asked! There is a confusing mix of true and false information about candida diet and nutrition. Let’s sort fact from fiction.

We talk a lot about the microbiome: the microbes that live in and on our bodies.  Although most of the microbes in the microbiome are bacteria, a small number are actually fungi or yeast and these are sometimes referred to as the mycobiome. 

Candida albicans is a type of yeast that is very commonly found both on and in the human body, where it generally causes no problems. Certain conditions, however, can lead to an overgrowth of this benign organism. The resulting infection is known as candidiasis.

An overgrowth can affect the mouth and throat, in which case it is commonly referred to as thrush. This condition occurs most often in people with suppressed immune systems, such as premature babies, those living with HIV or AIDS, cancer patients, and others being treated with immune-suppressing drugs,

Very rarely, it can spread via the blood to internal organs--and this can be quite serious.

But by far the most common location for candidiasis is the vagina.

What are the symptoms of Candida overgrowth?

Candidiasis of the oral cavity results in a very characteristic white coating on the inside of the mouth and may be accompanied by redness and irritation. Candidiasis in the vagina causes a very characteristic discharge and localized itching.

But candida overgrowth in the intestines generally has no symptoms whatsoever. Studies have found no link between Candida counts in the gut and chronic fatigue, headaches, or any of the other symptoms sometimes attributed to Candida.

Also, a word to the wise: breath tests are not a valid way to diagnose Candida overgrowth. These diagnoses are confirmed by taking a fecal sample or swabbing of the affected tissue and testing it for yeast.

What causes yeast infections?

Antibiotic use can set the stage for yeast overgrowth by killing off beneficial bacteria that would normally hold candida populations in check. High estrogen levels can also be a risk factor, which is why yeast infections are more common when you are pregnant or taking hormones. People with a suppressed immune system can also be more susceptible to yeast overgrowth, as are those with diabetes.

But apart from these more obvious risk factors, some women just seem to suffer from more than their share of these uncomfortable infections. It’s natural to wonder whether diet and nutrition could possibly play a role. And, as this listener discovered, you’ll find lots of...

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Everything You Need to Know About Loans from Direct Lenders

Loans from direct lenders are among the most reliable ways to get yourself a loan. Online direct lenders might not function the same way you're used to when applying for loans, but they can offer some advantages to those who qualify.

How do direct lenders work?

A direct lender is an institution, bank, or company that lends money to customers directly. Instead of acting as a broker, who normally charges an application fee for their service, a direct lender offers loans without any additional fees or charges.

Payday loans from a direct lender may be taken out for various reasons, including but not limited to medical expenses, purchase of a new car, home improvements, student loans, debt consolidation, and much more.

A direct lender is an organization that lends money directly to the customer — when you apply for a loan with this organization, the money that you're given comes directly from the organization's bank account. In contrast, a broker is an individual or organization that introduces customers to other people or organizations who want to lend money. They will take your details and pass them on to potential lenders, who will contact you if they've approved your loan request.

If you decide to apply for a loan with a direct lender, you'll need to provide them with some basic information about yourself. This will include your name and address and details about your income and employment status. You'll also need to confirm the amount of money you want to borrow and how long you'll need it for.

Once the lender has the information they require from the borrower, they can make an offer. If you're happy with the offer, then the money will be deposited into your bank account within the same day or the next working day in most cases.

What are the benefits to applying for a loan with a direct lender?

When you apply for a loan with a direct lender, your application is processed by one person or company, who will provide you with the funds if successful. You then make the payments directly to that lender, who takes care of everything.

Direct lenders offer better interest rates and terms 

Direct lenders can offer better interest rates and terms than banks because they understand that their clients need quick loans and do not want to deal with lengthy applications. The direct lender will often approve the loan in a matter of minutes or hours, with the money being transferred into the client's bank account on the next business day.

The direct lender will only require basic information from you and will not look at your credit score. This is because you are already in a difficult situation if you need a...

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How to See, Solve, Scale with Danny Warshay

Whether you have dreams of starting the next global enterprise, you’re considering a side hustle, or you’re just looking to be more innovative in your corporate day job, building an entrepreneurial skill set is something that can benefit every one of us.

 

Danny Warshay, Executive Director of the Nelson Center for Entrepreneurship and Professor of the Practice at Brown University, joined me today to discuss his new book See, Solve, Scale.

 

In this interview, we discuss how entrepreneurship is grounded in listening well and solving problems creatively. He shares his favorite strategies for turning an unsolved problem into a breakthrough success.

 

Listen to the full conversation on Apple, Spotify, your favorite podcast platform, or just click play on the audio player above.

Entrepreneurship is a structured process

 

“Sometimes people think…[entrepreneurial skill is] something that you're born with; it's congenital; that you're able to be an entrepreneur just by virtue of being born with a talent. And I know for a fact that is not true. I know everybody is born with the innate ability to be an entrepreneur,” he began.

“Entrepreneurship is a structured process.”

 

• The first step is See. This is effectively looking around, paying attention, and spotting real opportunities, pain points, or holes in the marketplace that even the end-user or customer may not realize they need.
• The second step is Solve. This is what “you might call invention. There’s certainly creativity involved.” But it’s invention with intention. “Too often, tech people are starting with a potential solution and hoping to stumble into a problem they can address.” There is “some structure about the creativity. It uses things like nominal group technique and systematic inventive thinking.” Often these solutions don’t emerge from big “eureka” moments, but rather moments in which you might say “huh, that’s funny.”
• The third step is Scale. And here the focus is on delivering real impact over the long term. Because something could be impactful but short-lived. And we’d call this a fad.

How can we apply this process in a corporate environment?

Not everyone is or aspires to be an entrepreneur in the traditional sense. But there are ways to infuse this structured, creative problem-solving methodology into the work we’re doing for a...

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What is Ethical Non-Monogamy?

Hello listeners! I'm on maternity leave, but this week I wanted to share with you an episode from another great Quick and Dirty Tips podcast: the Savvy Psychologist.

Savvy Psychologist is your weekly window into the world of psychology and how it can help you meet life's challenges. Host Dr. Monica Johnson is a licensed psychologist ready to tackle any subject, from how to cope when we're feeling to deciding if being a parent is right for you.

This week, I'm sharing an episode from last fall about ethical non-monogamy. It's a fascinating episode that explores whether monogamy makes sense for everybody, and how to explore non-monogamy in an ethical way with your partners.

If you enjoy the episode, you can find the Savvy Psychologist podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you're listening to Relationship Doctor.

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Dumbbells, Barbells, Machines, or Bands for Strength Training?

Listener Mia emailed me to ask: “What’s the best equipment to use for strength training?” I get this question a lot from both new and experienced exercisers alike.

With so many different types of strength training equipment available at the gym, in retail stores, and online, it’s easy to get confused and overwhelmed.

The question I most frequently get asked is some variation of whether dumbbells, barbells, machines, or resistance bands are best. My answer is always “it depends” because in reality there’s no one best piece of workout equipment for everyone or even for the same person at different times.

The best piece of workout equipment for you right now depends on a variety of considerations. For example: your experience with strength training, how much weight you’re lifting, whether or not you have a spotter, the location where you’re exercising, whether or not you’re dealing with an injury, etc.

In this episode, I’m going to share with you what these pros and cons are for each type of equipment because I believe your strength workouts will be safer, more effective, and tons more enjoyable when you’re armed with the knowledge to make optimal equipment choices for yourself. 

Strength training machines

Let’s start with strength training machines. Go to any gym and you’ll find a large section dedicated to them. These are machines to strengthen your glutes, quads, hamstrings, chest, back, arms, abs, and just about every body part imaginable.

There are a ton of reasons to love strength training machines and most of the reasons boil down to ease of use. For example, you can easily adjust the resistance by simply sliding the pin in the middle of the weight stack to a different location. This is great if you want to save yourself the hassle of loading and unloading a bar with plates like you would with a barbell.

What’s also great about strength training machines is that it’s hard to get the lifting technique wrong because the motion of the lift is guided almost entirely by the machine. This is beneficial for people new to strength training who want to jump right in without having to worry about getting injured because of poor lifting technique.

The biggest drawback of strength training machines is that they don’t provide the freedom of motion needed to give your muscles a robust workout. Because the motion of the lift is guided almost entirely by the machine, your muscles aren’t required to balance the weight like you would have to do when using barbells or dumbbells.

The end result is a less robust workout because important muscle fibers that would otherwise help you balance and stabilize the weight during the lift are not used. The exception to these downsides of strength training machines are cable machines.

Cable machines (also known...

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How to Reduce Your Child's Challenging Behavior

Often parents describe their frustrations with their child in terms of what they perceive to be their child’s purposeful non-compliance and annoying behavior.

I’ve heard statements like:

• “She just doesn’t make good choices!”
• “He’s just trying to get attention.”
• “They just want their own way all the time!”
• “She acts out for no reason!”

It’s understandable. When you’re repeatedly faced with kid behaviors that are anywhere from mildly challenging to very concerning, you can be so exhausted and frustrated that through the lens of your activated nervous system you mostly see negativity. It’s hard to consider any other explanation for your child’s behavior other than a lack of motivation or refusal to do better.

Not wanting to be a permissive, lax, or neglectful parent, it might be hard to imagine that there are alternatives to taking a hard line with your child. So you double down on restrictions, take away privileges, or impose consequences in hopes that your child will start doing what you want them to do if environmental conditions get unpleasant enough.

Alternatively, you might blame your child’s diagnosis—like ADHD—for their challenging behavior and spend a lot of time trying to fix what you and consulting professionals see as problematic about your child. Just get them to focus more, try harder, follow directions more, and/or listen more and things will get better—right?

What if you looked at your child’s behavior from a different perspective?

Your child isn’t giving you a hard time, they are having a hard time

The main tenet of the Collaborative and Proactive Solutions  (CPS) communication model originated by Dr. Ross Greene is that “kids do well if they can.” Kids would prefer to do well—they want their adults to feel and act positively toward them. So challenging behaviors are a signal that something is getting in their way. There’s an incompatibility between your child’s unique characteristics (their personality, preferences, abilities, developmental stage, mood, etc.) and the demands being placed on them.

Challenging kids struggle to meet demands because they’re lacking crucial cognitive, social, and emotional regulation skills, without which they really can’t do any better than they’re doing in any given moment. The environment is demanding that they use skills that they haven’t developed yet! Dr. Greene refers to this developmental delay as “lagging skills.” We all respond maladaptively when we lack the skills to respond...

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Why Am I So Sensitive? Expanding Your Window of Tolerance (Part 2)

Listen to Part One of this episode.

After listening to last week's episode, I'm hoping you spent some time thinking about whether you are more hyper or hypoaroused and how narrow your window of tolerance may be.

In this episode, we'll focus on ways to expand your window of tolerance so that you can be engaged in life instead of triggered by it.

Safety versus novelty

In order to reach this goal, we must first find the middle path between safety and novelty. These are two human needs that require the right balance in order for our window of tolerance to expand and be sufficient for us to engage in life in rewarding ways.

Let’s first define safety. Safety is our need for predictability, protection, relaxation, security, and connectedness to others. We also have a natural need for novelty. This is our thrill-seeking side that craves unpredictability, risk, and excitement. We want to encounter things that are different from our norm to shake it up and keep life interesting.

Like most things in life, when we have too much or too little of something it doesn’t bode well for us. When a person tries to avoid risk at all times to maximize safety, it prevents them from growing. Most growth requires a bit of friction—thus the adage "no pain, no gain."

Healthy risks are necessary for a healthy life. Negative self-talk can lead us to react poorly to healthy challenges and changes or inhibit us from taking risks. For example, thoughts like “ I don’t deserve success” or “I’m not allowed to make any mistakes” and “If I try, I know I’ll fail" are examples of negative self-talk that can prevent us from growing.

On the other hand, when someone craves too much novelty, it can lead them to engage in impulsive risks. Impulsive risks often lead to unintended negative consequences. Examples of impulsive risks may include overspending, substance abuse, and dropping personal or social responsibilities to the detriment of relationships.

Broadly speaking, to expand your window of tolerance, you must seek a middle path between safety and novelty. You can begin to do this by practicing taking appropriate risks and being open to new experiences.

A risk is considered healthy if you’ve considered the potential consequences of the activity from your wise mind. In doing so, you can expand your window of tolerance gradually over time and use coping strategies to cope with unpleasant emotions or sensations related to trying a new activity.

When approaching a new situation, be mindfully aware of any avoidance patterns that show up. Oftentimes...

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Abbreviations, Acronyms & Initialisms

Today's topic is the difference between abbreviations, acronyms, and initialisms.

Many people use the word acronym to describe any abbreviation made from the first letters of a string of words, but technically, they aren’t all acronyms. Sometimes they are called initialisms.

Acronyms

Let's back up. Any shortened form of a word is an abbreviation, for example, "etc." for "etcetera" and "Oct." for "October;" but acronyms are special kinds of abbreviations that can be pronounced as words, such as "NASA" (“National Aeronautics and Space Administration”) and "OPEC" (“Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries”). This makes acronyms a subset of abbreviations. All acronyms are abbreviations, but not all abbreviations are acronyms.

Initialisms

Initialisms are another type of abbreviation. They're often confused with acronyms because they are made up of letters, so they look similar, but they can't be pronounced as words. "FBI" and "CIA" are examples of initialisms because they're made up of the first letters of "Federal Bureau of Investigation" and "Central Intelligence Agency," respectively, but they aren't usually pronounced as words. Insiders sometimes call the FBI "fibby" and the CIA "see-uh," but most of the world says "F-B-I" and "C-I-A," so they are initialisms.

Overview

So remember:

• Initialisms are made from the first letter (or letters) of a string of words, but can't be pronounced as words themselves. Examples include “FBI,” “CIA,” “FYI” (“for your information''), and “PR” (“public relations”).
• Acronyms are made from the first letter (or letters) of a string of words but are pronounced as if they were words themselves. Examples include “NASA” and “NIMBY”(“not in my backyard”).
• Abbreviations are any shortened form of a word.

Sometimes acronyms like "scuba" become so common they're accepted as words in their own right. "Scuba" was originally an acronym for "self-contained underwater breathing apparatus," but now dictionaries include it as a word.

ROFL?

Sometimes it's not clear whether a word is an initialism or an acronym because people say it different ways. Take the abbreviation you see on the Internet for "rolling on the floor laughing." It's ROFL. I always pronounce it...

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Barracking, Sheilas and Shouts: How the Irish Influenced Australian English

The Warrnambool potato harvest of 1881. State Library of Victoria

Australian English decidedly finds its origins in British English. But when it comes to chasing down Irish influence, there are – to paraphrase Donald Rumsfeld – some knowun knowuns, some unknowun knowuns, and a bucket load of furphies.

Larrikins, sheilas and Aboriginal Irish speakers

The first Irish settlers, around half of whom were reputedly Irish language speakers, were viewed with suspicion and derision. This is reflected in the early Australian English words used to describe those who came from Patland (a blend of Paddy and Land).

The Irish were guided by paddy’s lantern (the moon); their homes adorned with Irish curtains (cobwebs); and their hotheadedness saw them have a paddy or paddy out. These Irish were said to follow Rafferty’s Rules – an eponym from the surname Rafferty – which meant “no rules at all”.

More than a few Irish were larrikins. In his book Austral English, E.E. Morris reports that in 1869, an Irish sergeant Dalton charged a young prisoner with “a-larrr-akin about the streets” (an Irish pronunciation of larking, or “getting up to mischief”). When asked to repeat by the magistrate, Dalton said: “a larrikin, your Worchup”.

This Irish origin of larrikin had legs for many years, and perhaps still does. Unfortunately, here we have our first furphy, with more compelling evidence linking larrikin to a British dialect word meaning “mischievous or frolicsome youth”.

But if larrikin language is anything to go by, these youths went way beyond mischievous frolicking – jump someone’s liver out, put the boot in, stonker, rip into, go the knuckle on and weigh into are just some items from the larrikin’s lexicon of fighting words.

With the Dalton furphy, though, we see evidence of something called “epenthesis”, the insertion of extra sounds. Just as Dalton adds a vowel after his trilled “r” in a-larrr-akin, many Aussies add a vowel to words like “known” and “film” (knowun and filum) –...

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Grammar Quirks: Edward Ashton on Yeeting What Needs to be Yote

Grammar Girl: What’s your favorite word and why?

Edward Ashton: You’re gonna need to define “favorite” here.  If you mean “most overused,” then it’s probably “really.” I had to delete about 500 examples from the first draft of "Mickey7," and there are probably still too many of them left in there. If, on the other hand, you’re looking for the word that I have the most personal affection for, I’ll go with “ephemeral.” It looks good on the page, it’s fun to say, and it describes literally everything in the universe when considered at the proper time scale.

GG: What’s a word you dislike (either because it’s overused or misused) and why?

EA: “Portmanteau” has always gotten on my nerves. It’s the sort of word that you just can’t help imagining wearing a top hat and a monocle and droning on all evening about how things were so much better when the common words knew their place.

GG: What word will you always misspell?

EA: Beaurocracy. Burocracy. Bea… dammit!

Never Forget How to Spell 'Bureaucracy' Again

GG: What word (or semblance of a word) would you like to see added to the dictionary? Why?

EA: I’ve recently become a big fan of “yeet” and its derivatives “yote” and “yoten.” As of now I’m clearly too old to use them without coming in for a hail of derision, but if they were officially added to the lexicon, I feel like I’d be able to freely yeet whatever needed to be yoten without fear of reprisal.

GG: Any grammar pet peeves we should know about?

EA: As a data scientist, I can get pretty snooty about the fact that “data” is in fact the plural of “datum” and cannot be used as a singular word. I know, I know, this is a losing battle, but I will never see “this data supports the proposition…” without my hackles rising. Also, the inappropriate use of ‘s to indicate plural rather than possessive really sets my teeth on edge. And don’t get me started on the whole “who vs. whom” thing, because if you haven’t gotten that distinction figured out by this point in your life, then I just…...

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Grammar Quirks: Alex Finlay on 'And'

Grammar Girl: What’s your favorite word and why?

Alex Finlay:   “And.” It gets me so many places. And you can start a sentence with it, contrary to what too many were taught in grade school.

GG: What’s a word you dislike (either because it’s overused or misused) and why?

AF:  I dislike “however,” particularly when used at the beginning of a sentence. “But” is simpler and has more flow.

Starting a Sentence With 'However': Right or Wrong?

GG: What word will you always misspell?

AF:  Too many to list. My manuscripts in Word are covered in squiggly red lines.

GG: What word (or semblance of a word) would you like to see added to the dictionary? Why?

AF:  “For f*ck’s sake” — because so many of my characters say it.

GG: Any grammar pet peeves we should know about?

AF:  The view that contractions aren’t allowed in formal writing. I don’t like that.

When You Should Use (and Avoid) Contractions

GG: To what extent does grammar play a role in character development and voice?

AF:  To a degree, but the key is to remember that we speak much differently than we write.

GG: Do you have a favorite quotation or passage from an author you’d like to share?

AF:  I love the last line of "The Great Gatsby:"  

“So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.”

Fitzgerald must’ve loved it too — it’s on his tombstone.

GG: What grammar, wording, or punctuation problem did you struggle with this week?

AF:  Semicolons; always the semicolons.  

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7 Legal Ways to Reduce Your Tax Bill

While paying taxes that you legally owe the tax authorities is critical, there's no need to pay more than you owe. While evading taxes is a crime, it's not against the law to use legit strategies to minimize your federal or state taxes. 

This post will cover seven legal ways to reduce your taxes. Depending on your eligibility for tax benefits, using them could save hundreds or thousands of your hard-earned dollars. Using one or two tips could help you eliminate your entire tax bill or increase your tax refund.

Here are the details on each of these legit ways to lower or eliminate your tax liability.

1. Contributing to retirement accounts

Making contributions to one or more retirement accounts is one of the best ways to skip taxes and boost your future financial security. I'm a huge fan of participating in workplace retirement plans, such as a 401(k) or 403(b). They come with high contribution limits, and many employers pay some amount of matching funds to sweeten the deal.

Just about everyone with earned income (or a spouse with income) can put money into an individual retirement account or IRA. That includes employees who don't have a retirement account at work and the self-employed. There are even more options when you work for yourself part- or full-time, including a SEP-IRA and a solo 401(k). 

So, how exactly does using a retirement account cut your taxes? With traditional accounts, such as a traditional IRA or 401(k), your contributions are tax-deductible. That means you don't pay taxes on them in the current year. 

For instance, if you earn $80,000 and max out a 401(k) with contributions of $20,500, you only pay taxes on $59,500 of income—not $80,000. For 2022, if you're over age 50, you can contribute $6,500 more, for a total of $27,000. What's not to love about that? 

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Does Insulin Resistance Lead to Binge Eating?

Amy asks: "Has anyone considered the correlation between undiagnosed insulin resistance and binge eating or emotional overeating?"

Researchers have, in fact, detected an association between decreased insulin sensitivity (or insulin resistance) and binge eating disorder. These two conditions frequently occur together. But we’re still not sure exactly how they are linked.

What is insulin resistance?

Insulin is a hormone that’s secreted by the pancreas when your blood sugar rises—typically after you eat. Its job is to clear glucose out of the blood and into the cells, where it can be either used or stored for future use. When our cells become less sensitive to the effects of insulin, the glucose just keeps circulating in the blood, leading to high blood sugar. Decreased insulin sensitivity is often a precursor to Type 2 diabetes.

Risk factors for insulin resistance include genetic predisposition, sedentary lifestyle, and excess body weight, especially when you carry your weight around the middle. However, it is possible to develop insulin resistance even if you are normal weight. It’s also possible to have excess weight without being insulin resistant.

What is binge eating?

Many of us occasionally engage in behavior that we might describe as binging—whether that’s on Netflix or ice cream. But Binge Eating Disorder (BED) is a medical condition characterized by repeated episodes of eating unusually large quantities of food and feeling a loss of control.

It’s important to note that it’s possible to have BED without being overweight, and vice versa. However, people who suffer from BED are more likely to be overweight. And people who are overweight are more likely to have insulin resistance. The question that some researchers are now asking is whether binge eating might be a separate risk factor for developing decreased insulin sensitivity. Alternatively, could insulin resistance possibly lead to binge eating, or is the association simply coincidental?

Does binge eating lead to insulin resistance?

Eating an extremely large amount of food in a single sitting can cause short-term effects on insulin metabolism. And if that pattern were repeated, it could contribute to decreased insulin sensitivity over time. So, it’s plausible that binge eating behaviors could provoke insulin resistance—independent of any weight gain that might occur.

But it's also possible that the "causal arrow" might actually be pointing in the other direction.

Does decreased insulin sensitivity lead to binge eating?

One potential consequence of insulin resistance is disordered appetite signaling. If your cells aren’t getting the glucose that’s released into your bloodstream after you eat, the brain might continue to receive the signal to eat—despite the fact that the...

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Curious State Discovers Unforgettable Answers Starting March 29th

Can animals break the law? Why do some fonts just feel so good? Can a "friend with benefits" relationship last? Could we have domesticated a T-Rex? Dive into what you didn’t know you needed to know on Curious State with Doug Fraser. Doug is a veteran in the podcast space (NPR’s What We Do) and a perpetual fan of the peculiar. Through his signature interviewing style and immersive sound design, Doug endeavors to answer life’s everyday mysteries, one question at a time. Curious State launches with two episodes on March 29th, 2022, but you can listen to the trailer right now using the player above.

Episodes include a multitude of experts, from renowned authors to celebrity cat experts and mafia trial prosecutors, working with Doug to explore the hows and whys of the world. Each episode is based around a single, offbeat question. Through interviews, research, and conversation, Doug finds himself in the company of unforgettable answers. Which lead to more questions—but that’s half the fun. 

Subscribe today to get new episodes weekly:

• Apple Podcasts
• Google Podcasts
• Spotify
• Stitcher
• TuneIn
• iHeartRadio
• Amazon Music
• RSS

Have a question you want Doug to find the answer to? Leave a voicemail at (757) 541-8471 or email us at curious@quickanddirtytips.com.

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Curious State

Wired for Love: How Love Literally Reshapes Our Brains

Hello listeners!

I'm taking some time off for my maternity leave, but I didn't want to leave you with a hole in your podcast-listening routine! So today, I'm sharing an excerpt from Wired for Love, a brand new book from neuroscientist Stephanie Cacioppo.

Cacioppo is one of the world's foremost neuroscientists studying romantic love. In Wired for Love, she tells the story of how she met the foremost scientist of loneliness, how they fell in love, and the tragic story of his death seven years later.

Woven in to her personal story are revelatory insights into how and why we fall in love, what makes love last, and how we process love lost—all grounded in cutting-edge findings in brain chemistry and behavioral science.

If you love what you hear today, you can find Wired for Love at your local bookstore, Amazon, Audible, or Bookshop.org.

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How to Prioritize When Everything Is a Priority

I talked to a client last week, the president of a business I’ve worked with for years. In the past, I would have described her as generally cool as a cucumber. But not this time. 

 

In this conversation, she showed up with an almost frantic energy, seeking help with their organization design, her span of control, a plan to re-engage an overwhelmed and exhausted workforce, a talent retention strategy, and an employee development roadmap.

 

I let her put it all out there. Then I asked if she could prioritize for me. She told me that was her prioritized list!

 

I don’t think she’s alone. And I don’t think it’s only upper management feeling this way.

 

These days we’re all feeling like everything is on fire. And as more of us are working remotely or in a hybrid fashion, we’re missing those in-person cues that help us interpret where our leaders are feeling the greatest angst.

 

For those of us who are high-achievers (ahem), our default tends to be to just prioritize everything. Which is, of course, the worst idea. Because it heightens the risk of burnout, of a ball dropping, of the quality of something suffering somewhere.

 

Wading through chaos is a rule and no longer an exception. It’s a skill we all need to build and show off on the regular.

 

So what can you do when it feels like everything is a priority and there’s just no way to get it all done well?

 

Here are four steps you can take.

1. Begin with boldness

Sometimes, overfilling our plates can leave us feeling like superheroes. But candidly—and here comes some tough love—it’s kind of the lazy person’s game. Because pushing for clarity takes courage, energy, and a willingness to be vulnerable—to admit you can’t handle everything (because of your being human and all).

 

So, start by recognizing it’s your job to seek clarity, to raise the flag. Likely you’re the only one who really knows just how much is on your plate. No one else is keeping track. Therefore, it’s on you to step up and manage your boundaries and your energy.

 

Doing this well and with confidence means shifting your mindset from victim to victor.

 

Here’s what this might sound like in practice.

 

Instead of “I’m really sorry—I’m struggling to handle it all,” try “I’m unwilling to let anything fall through the cracks, so let’s prioritize all these tasks/projects to ensure the most critical are getting our best energy and focus.”

 

You know you’re impressed by that bold confidence to say we need to prioritize. 

 

This mindset shift positions you as someone thoughtful, strategic, and in control....

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4 Solutions for Post-Workout Back Pain

Have you ever stood up from a chair hours after a workout or gotten out of bed the morning after exercise to discover a stiff, achy, or painful lower back? Few people can honestly answer no to this question, especially when you consider that lower back pain is one of the most common reasons people visit healthcare providers and nearly 4 out of 5 people will have it at some point in their lives. 

Unfortunately, improper form during exercise or overdoing it during a workout is an all too common way to strain the lower back. Even as a physical therapist, I find myself waking up more often than I’d like with a stiff and achy lower back the morning after a good workout. 

If you’re in your 40s or older like me, it’s tempting to blame lower back pain on age. It’s true that the body changes in ways that we don’t like as we get older. But from my experience working with people from across the age spectrum, there are usually more important reasons for post-workout lower back pain than age. 

The good news is that, unlike age, most of the reasons for lower back pain after a workout are things that you can control. Here are four common reasons your back might hurt after a workout and what you can do about it.

Too much forward or backward bending of the spine  

By far the most common reason for lower back pain after a workout is too much forward or backward bending of the spine. Take a look at the people around you the next time you’re at the gym and you’ll see what I mean.

Too much forward bending of the spine commonly happens when performing exercises such as deadlifts, single leg deadlifts, situps, or crunches. The lower back ends up bending forward too much, making a rounded shape which can strain the lower back muscles and cause too much compression on the spine. 

Too much backward bending of the spine commonly happens during exercises such as squats, overhead presses, or while rowing on a rowing machine. The lower back ends up bending backward too much, making an arched shape which can also strain the lower back muscles and cause too much compression on the spine. 

The lower back should ideally be close to a...

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5 Steps to Becoming a Cycle Breaking Parent

Every parent carries with them an inner template of the ways they were parented in their own childhood. Sometimes those internal templates carry profound psychological wounds due to abuse they suffered at the hands of their earliest caregivers. Other parents have maladaptive templates of having been raised by parents who had great intentions but lacked the emotional and relational skills to parent well, having been raised by relationally unskillful parents themselves.

Parents usually come into my practice already having decided that they want to parent their own children in more adaptive ways than they were raised. They want to be less reactive in the face of their child’s big feelings than their own adults were with them in childhood. They want to be less punitive when their child displays challenging behaviors, and end intergenerational patterns of using psychologically harmful strategies like shaming, spanking, and time-outs.

But while parents may want to break the cycle of unskilled parenting and pass down healthier ways of managing emotions, they aren't sure how to go about it or where to start. That’s because the desire to parent differently is necessary, but not always sufficient, for actually parenting differently. Breaking the cycle of misattuned and/or hurtful parenting requires an ongoing and intentional commitment to certain internal and external behaviors.

In this episode, I'm going to break down the first 5 steps to becoming a cycle-breaking parent.

1. Understand how maladaptive parenting gets passed down through generations

You can't break unhelpful cycles of parent-to-child disconnection without first understanding how they are passed from one generation to the next.

Let’s start with the term “trauma”—I know that’s a weighty term, but hear me out! The word “trauma” means the combination of the experience of an overwhelming event plus the after-effects it has on an individual. Anything you experienced as life-threatening or physically or emotionally harmful in your childhood that also had a lasting negative impact on your well-being can be considered psychological trauma.

Intergenerational trauma occurs when unresolved trauma in one generation is passed to the next generation through familial or cultural socialization. It can also occur when parenting behaviors are experienced by and modeled to a child in such a way that the child experiences the effects of the previous generation’s traumas—despite not having experienced the original traumatic events themselves!

Ongoing trauma that starts in infancy or early childhood is called relational or developmental trauma. It usually occurs within significant relationships with early caregivers or family members. This can include child maltreatment such as abuse or neglect, as well as a serious disruption of the parent-...

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Why Am I So Sensitive? Neuroception Explained (Part 1)

Today's episode is all about neuroception and the window of tolerance. Don't worry if you've never heard these terms before! I'm going to break them down for you.

What is neuroception?

Neuroception is your nervous system's ability to scan your environment and label cues and behaviors as safe, dangerous, or life-threatening. In response to this, a level of arousal is activated that is best suited for the circumstances. Essentially, your nervous system is trying to scan your environment and promote the best adaptive response.

As listeners of this podcast know, things don't always work out the way they were intended. You can have faulty neuroception or false alarms. We may perceive neutral cues as dangerous because they remind us of traumatic experiences from the past (e.g. a certain smell, rude behavior, loud noises). As a result, our arousal can either be too high or too low based on how our body falsely perceives the danger. This can lead to problems in our daily lives and our relationships.

There are many common triggers for neurocepting danger, such as a history of physical and sexual abuse. We can have poor attachment in our early lives, with attachment figures failing to help us regulate our emotions or being the source of much of our anxiety. Important people not paying attention to us can be a trigger. Other triggers may include: people being angry with or disappointed in us, criticism, feeling pressure to excel, receiving messages that we aren’t good enough, or various types of loss (e.g. divorce, abandonment, death). Being sensitive to these triggers and having false alarms can affect our window of tolerance.

What is the window of tolerance?

The window of tolerance is the zone where we feel safe, at ease, socially engaged, and comfortable. This is the ideal place to be, but if you struggle with faulty neuroception, your window of tolerance is narrow.

Based on your neuroception responses, you may vacillate between hyperarousal and hypoarousal. They sound similar, but the response is very different!

In hyperarousal, we can feel super activated and overwhelmed. In hypoarousal, we can feel distant and disconnected. Let's get into the details about what these states look like as it's important to be able to identify which state you're in. Remember, awareness is a skill!

If you're in a state of hyperarousal, you'll notice several things. You may be easily distracted or have difficulty with concentration, racing thoughts, and intense rumination or obsessive thoughts. You may feel easily overwhelmed, distressed, anxious, panicked, or nervous. You might also feel anger, irritation, or rage, and a sense of uneasiness, discomfort, or lack of safety. In your body, you may notice that you feel restless or fidgety, wound up or tense, easily startled or jumpy, and have a hard time...

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Can You Start a Sentence with 'And'?

I always see some shocked faces when I tell a classroom of college students that there is nothing wrong with beginning a sentence with the word “and” (or for that matter, the words “but,” “because,” or “however”).

I encourage them not to take my word for it, but to look it up, so I refer them to Ernest Gowers’ 1965 revision of Fowler’s Dictionary of Modern English Usage, which explains that the idea is “a faintly lingering superstition.” I also often suggest Garner’s Modern American Usage, which calls it a “rank superstition.” Superstitions don’t age well, apparently.

Even Wilson Follett’s stuffy Modern American Usage calls the rule “a prejudice [that] lingers from the days of schoolmarmism rhetoric.” William Safire included it in his book of “misrules” of grammar, and Strunk and White didn’t mention it as a problem at all. So there.

Yet the superstition persists, and it remains a common belief among students entering college.

The “and” style, which linguists sometimes call paratactic, is common in early middle and early modern English, as a look at the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, the Canterbury Tales, or the King James Bible will show. So how did this bit of folklore come about?

The idea that one shouldn’t begin a sentence with “and” was not one of the prescriptive dicta proposed by eighteenth century Bishop Robert Lowth or by his imitator Lindley Murray, but it did show up in some nineteenth century language commentary. As Dennis Baron first noted, George Washington Moon singled “and” out in his 1868 book “The Bad English of Lindley Murray and Other Writers on the English Language.”

Moon wrote that “It is not scholarly to begin a sentence with the conjunction ‘and.’” (He was referring to George Perkins Marsh, the scholar, diplomat, and environmentalist who penned “Lectures on the English Language” in 1860.) Marsh’s comment is telling, because he refers to sentence-initial “and” as “not scholarly,” suggesting that avoiding “and” is a matter of style or rhetoric.

The misconception that it is an error of grammar is a generalization of the reasonable rhetorical advice not to overuse coordination. If writers rely only on "and," essays can become a mere sequential narrative: “It was summer and we went to the beach. And the sand on the beach was very hot. And after a while we got tired so we went home. And Mikey got sand in his bathing suit and the sand got all over the car.” You get the idea.

But what changed from the days of the King James Bible with its many sentence starting “...

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Serial Comma

The Oxford comma is the comma that goes before the final “and” in a series. For example, if I write “snorts, howls, and guffaws,” if I put a comma after “howls” and before the word “and,” that’s an Oxford comma.

Who called it the ‘Oxford comma’?

It’s also called the serial comma or, rarely, the series comma or the Harvard comma, but the name Oxford comma seems to be the most popular, and it gets that name because it’s the style used by the influential Oxford University Press.

The name “Oxford comma” is newer than you might think though. The Oxford English Dictionary shows the first printed use of the term in 1978, although it’s likely it had already been used among editors for at least a few years before then because the example is from an informal history of the Oxford University Press and is talking about the origin of the comma rule. In fact, I found what I believe is an example from 1974 in the Google Books database, although I wasn’t able to see the whole thing. 

By contrast, I found references to the phrase “serial comma” from as far back as 1935 and “series comma” from as far back as 1919.

Who invented the serial comma?

The first style book to...

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