nVNS, Health, and Performance
Today, let’s dig into the two extremes of human performance in the workplace – “underperformance” and “overperformance.” A lot of the credit for this blog and the work that went in behind the scenes for it, should go to my wife, Leigh Ann. She has dedicated decades of her life to enhancing workplace performance and […]
Co-Morbidity – The What, the Why, and How Much
I’ve mentioned my father before, in other blogs. He passed away a few months ago. He spent his career as OB-GYN. When I asked why he choose that field, he had a curious answer. He said that Monday morning conversations among the doctors who dealt with cancer, or heart disease, or other problems were often […]
Serotonin and Depression
My father was old school. For one, he wasn’t interested in sports cars. He liked big Cadillacs, and always bought his, versus leasing it. He would drive those old cars into the ground rather than ever parting with one. But it isn’t like he babied them, spending weekend afternoons applying endless layers of wax. I […]
The History of VNS:
From the electro-compressor to Truvaga The history of vagus nerve stimulation is a fascinating story that goes back nearly a hundred and fifty years. In the 1880s, John Leonard Corning invented the “electro-compressor” to active the vagus nerve. He was trying to treat a painful and irregular heart rhythm called super ventricular tachycardia, or SVT. […]
Optimizing Neurodevelopment and Cognitive Function
Do you like TED Talks? If you do, then I highly recommend that you spend 15 minutes watching one by the American philosopher and famous podcaster, Sam Harris. The subject he tackles in the talk is whether the quest to develop progressively better artificial intelligence (AI) is safe. His concern isn’t AI in general, but […]
10 Things You Need to Know About the Vagus Nerve and Stimulating It
Titles like this one are straight clickbait, and I am truly sorry for using it. Worse, I hate top 10 lists, because people tend to skim them for the one or two items they care about and then ignore the rest. Please don’t do that here, because I am going to be providing lots of […]
The Role of Innate Immune Cells in the Brain
Aristotle is known as the father of modern science, which means he’s got some pretty serious scientific street cred. I mean, being talked about in the same breath with other giants like Archimedes, Newton, and Einstein means you can talk the talk and walk the walk. Think this is hype? Aristotle’s “natural philosophy” covered, […]
What to do about Headaches?
Headaches are one of the most common and debilitating conditions humans experience. Fortunately, they leave few obvious lasting physical consequences, but this means that, for those who don’t experience them, it can be difficult to sympathize with the person who is experiencing the agony of a migraine, or the desperation of a cluster headache. For […]
The History of VNS:
From the electro-compressor to Truvaga The history of vagus nerve stimulation is a fascinating story that goes back nearly a hundred and fifty years. In the 1880s, John Leonard Corning invented the “electro-compressor” to active the vagus nerve. He was trying to treat a painful and irregular heart rhythm called super ventricular tachycardia, or SVT. […]
Chronic Stress
Long before the late writer Michael Crichton wrote the blockbuster Jurassic Park, he was a medical student in Boston. His experiences as a resident at Massachusetts General Hospital may have served as the creative inspiration behind NBC’s hit show ER, but they also were the subject of one of his earliest books, Five Patients. In […]