All posts tagged: calm

Could a Cholesterol Medication Calm an Inflamed Colon?

Could a Cholesterol Medication Calm an Inflamed Colon?

Published by Jenni Sidey

Our body is constantly communicating with us through discomfort, aches and pains, or pleasurable sensations, among other physical symptoms. Our body can tell us what seems to agree with us and what doesn’t. Learning to pay attention to these signals can sometimes provide valuable clues about our health. When we introduce a new medication into our bodies, our individual biology may respond in unexpected ways. Sometimes, a medication causes unwanted symptoms. Other times, it may produce a surprising benefit that we weren’t expecting. This is what happened to me. 20 Years of Living With Colitis For the past 20 years, I had been living with a form of colon inflammation called lymphocytic colitis. I had managed it through dietary changes, avoiding certain foods and beverages, including cantaloupe, pears, coffee, tea, and chocolate. These foods seemed to trigger sudden, incapacitating episodes of diarrhea. Avoiding chocolate was particularly difficult because I have always loved chocolate. During those same 20 years, I had also struggled with high cholesterol. Despite being a physician, I had resisted taking medications to …

Is the news stressing you out? MS NOW partners with Calm

Is the news stressing you out? MS NOW partners with Calm

Published by Sam Flores

MS NOW wants to offer news viewers a break when they feel overwhelmed. The Versant-owned progressive-leaning news outlet announced Tuesday that it has entered a partnership with Calm, the San Francisco company that develops apps that help with sleep and relaxation. Calm will be a part of MS NOW’s new direct-to-consumer product that launches Wednesday. The digital platform, called MS NOW Membership, will make the cable channel available without a pay TV subscription for the first time, along with other offerings for those who sign up to pay $7.99 a month. Among those features will be meditation exercises created by Calm to help users process the day’s events. “They are designed not as an invitation to tune out, but as a way to reset, regain perspective, and return to the news with renewed focus and intention,” according to a staff memo from Marcus Mabry, senior vice president for content strategy at MS NOW. MS NOW has also enlisted a group of mental health experts who will front programs only available on the MS NOW Membership …

Jurassic Park, Peaky Blinders, Dead Calm

Jurassic Park, Peaky Blinders, Dead Calm

Published by Daniella Wilson

Sam Neill, the Kiwi actor who cemented his place in Hollywood history playing Dr. Alan Grant in the Jurassic Park franchise, died Monday. He was 78. In a film, television and theater career spanning six decades, Neill played several characters outside of Dr. Grant, for which he is most widely known for. After a rich career in New Zealand and Australia, including lead roles in antipodeaon cinema classics such as Sleeping Dogs (1977) and My Brilliant Career (1979), Neill became an international talent on the rise in Andrzej Żuławski’s cult film Possession (1981). The 1980s and 1990s saw Neill cement his place among the top male actors, starring in Philip Noyce’s Dead Calm (1989), John McTiernan’s The Hunt for Red October (1990), Jane Campion’s The Piano (1993), John Carpenter’s In the Mouth of Madness (1995) and Paul Anderson’s Event Horizon (1997). Though his output slowed in his later years, Neill still gave a memorable turn in Taika Waititi’s 2016 comedy classic Hunt for the Wilderpeople. Though more closely associated with film, Neill also made a …

Calm Doesn’t Always Need a Technique

Calm Doesn’t Always Need a Technique

Published by Jenni Sidey

A few years ago, I recall my daughter being quite hesitant to go down a long slide in the neighborhood playground. She would often look down at me from up on the top of the slide, as if seeking reassurance that all would be well, and that I was down there waiting to catch her if she came down too fast. I didn’t even have to say anything; just a simple smile and a nod would suffice for her to trade her worried expression for one of unadulterated joy. Down she would whoosh, her momentary fear completely forgotten. What struck me, even then, was how little explanation she seemed to need. She didn’t require a strategy, instructions, or reassurance that her fear was “normal.” What she seemed to need most was a simple cue from me that this was not something worth worrying about. When I think back at this, it makes me increasingly curious about a growing trend in the way we approach children’s emotions: our impulse to teach them techniques—structured, named strategies for …

How to calm down an overstimulated brain, according to science

How to calm down an overstimulated brain, according to science

Published by Daniella Wilson

If you’ve ever tried to go on a calorie-controlled diet or do a “digital detox”, you’ll likely have experienced the high-stakes battle between willpower and temptation. This capitulation to our base impulses is often framed, in mainstream culture, as weakness. We should be able to exercise enough self-control to put our phones aside or turn down the offer of a free cookie with our morning coffee. But what if our inability to stop doing things that are bad for us wasn’t really our fault at all? What if our core biological instincts were being manipulated? That’s the conclusion that Nicklas Brendborg, a Danish biotech researcher, has come to. His upcoming book, Super Stimulated, explores the power of what have been dubbed “supernormal stimuli” or “superstimuli”. These are, in short, exaggerations of what an animal is naturally attracted to: “a stimulus that is a bigger, brighter or stronger version than the naturally occurring option”. The term was first coined by a Dutch scientist, Nikolaas Tinbergen, after he ran a set of experiments with birds. He found …

Calm Market Waters Hide Fierce Undercurrents

Calm Market Waters Hide Fierce Undercurrents

Published by Jenni Sidey

Authored by Michael Lebowitz via RealInvestmentAdvice.com, The price movement in the broad S&P 500 index is relatively calm. Yet the market’s undercurrent, as measured by sharply diverging returns across stock sectors and factors, is anything but calm. The current market picture we paint is well embodied by a quote from Jules Verne in 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. “The sea was perfectly calm; scarcely a ripple disturbed its surface. But beneath this tranquil exterior, powerful currents were flowing with irresistible force.” Given this divergence between the calm market surface and the volatility of its underlying stocks’ returns, let’s get a better grip on the market’s undercurrent and decipher what it may be trying to tell us. A Calm Market The graph below shows that the S&P 500’s upward trend has recently flattened into a tight range with minimal volatility. Such consolidation is common after a sharp upward price trend, as the market experienced since early April.  The next graph shows the average true range (ATR) for the index. ATR is a measure of realized volatility. …

Get Montessori vibes in this calm digital playground — just for life

Get Montessori vibes in this calm digital playground — just $45 for life

Published by Miika Tikkanen

TL;DR: Pok Pok is a Montessori-inspired, ad-free kids app that offers calm, open-ended learning for ages 2–8 — and a $44.97 lifetime subscription makes it an easy, guilt-free screen time upgrade. For parents trying to strike a healthier balance with screen time, Pok Pok offers a refreshingly calm alternative. Designed for kids ages 2–8, this Montessori-inspired digital playroom focuses on open-ended exploration instead of flashy rewards, ads, or overstimulation. A lifetime subscription is available for $44.97 (reg. $250). What makes Pok Pok different: Mashable Trend Report Montessori-inspired learning: Encourages independence, curiosity, and hands-on discovery through self-paced play Ad-free and offline-friendly: No ads, no pop-ups, no internet required Low-stimulation design: Handcrafted art and gentle soundscapes keep kids engaged without sensory overload Open-ended play: No rules, scores, or levels — kids explore freely and learn through experimentation Grows with your child: Activities evolve as kids develop new skills and interests Supports core skills: Builds foundations in STEM, numbers, problem-solving, cause and effect, and creativity Regular updates: New toys, seasonal content, and fresh experiences added over time Parent-approved …