Little Talks

“G : I don’t like walking around this old an empty house..

B : So hold my hand I’ll walk with you my dear

G : The stairs creak as a you sleep, it’s keeping me awake..

B : It’s the house telling you to close your eyes

G : And some days I can’t even dress myself..

B : It’s killing me to see you this way

B+G : Cause though the truth may vary this, ship will carry our bodies save to shore

….”

Little Talks – Of Monster and Men

“When you, when you forget your name

When old faces all look the same

Meet me in the morning when you wake up

Meet me in the morning then you’ll wake up

….”

Bend and Break – Keane

These two are my favorite songs I played recently. If you hear all the songs you will know how beautiful they are. After hearing it for thousand times, I make an opinion that this song is about love unconditionally, even your partner has an alzheimer. How could I say that ? Let’s make a little bit verification PLUS my opinion and the short studies.

 First song : Little Talks-Of Monster and Men) :

‘And some days I can’t even dress myself’ I thought it’s a kind of reduction of global function to do daily activity. This lyric wants to tell that the person has a trouble with her/himself, even they couldn’t do dress, which is dressing is one of the daily activities. Condition that make this reduction, for example is they have a disease then they need others help.

The theory :

Alzheimer’s (AHLZ-high-merz) is a disease of the brain that causes problems with memory, thinking and behavior. The first problem many people notice is forgetfulness severe enough to affect their ability to function at home or at work, or to enjoy hobbies (alz.org). As they pass through different stages of the

disease, individuals’ cognitive and functional abilities decline. In the final, advanced stage of the disease, people need help with basic activities of daily living, such as bathing, dressing, eating and using the bathroom (alz.org).

‘We used to play outside when we were young’ Alzheimer is a disease that occurs in old-age. There’s a word ‘when we were young’ it indicates that they are old now :p

The theory :

Alzheimer's is not a normal part of aging, although the greatest known risk factor is increasing age, and the majority of people with Alzheimer's are 65 and older (alz.org). Alzheimer is a progressive disease then it can worsen over a number of years.

‘The screams all sound the same’ the Alzheimer patients can say the same things all the time. They couldn’t remember what they say, then they will say it again and again.

‘Some days I feel like I’m wrong when I’m right’ This lyrics wants to say that the person is confused with everything near them. They don’t know which is right or wrong.

The theory :

The disease may cause a person to become confused, get lost in familiar places, misplace things or have trouble with language (alz.org)

Second song : Bend and Break (Keane)

‘When you, when you forget your name’ People with Alzheimer have memory loss even they don’t know who are they.

The theory :

The following are common symptoms of Alzheimer’s:

• Memory loss that disrupts daily life.

• Challenges in planning or solving problems.

• Difficulty completing familiar tasks at home, at work or at leisure.

• Confusion with time or place.

• Trouble understanding visual images and spatial relationships.

• New problems with words in speaking or writing.

• Misplacing things and losing the ability to retrace steps.

• Decreased or poor judgment.

• Withdrawal from work or social activities.

• Changes in mood and personality, including apathy and depression. (alz.org)

‘When old faces all look the same’ This lyric wants to tell that they are old. Alzheimer usually occurs in old-age. I’ve said that in previous theory :p

If you talk about Alzheimer, it can’t be separated with dementia. What is dementia ? What is the difference between these two ?

Here we go :

Physicians often define dementia based on the criteria given in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM). Dementia is a general term for the loss of memory and other cognitive abilities serious enough to interfere with daily life (alz.org). There are several types of dementia, one of them is Alzheimer. Alzheimer is the most common type of dementia; accounts for an estimated 60 percent to 80 percent of cases (alz.org)

Thank you for reading a very short story about my favorite songs. What songs do you like guys ? :D

Further information, click link below :

https://www.alz.org/downloads/Facts_Figures_2014.pdf

https://www.alz.org/national/documents/brochure_basicsofalz_low.pdf

http://www.alz.org/alzheimers_disease_what_is_alzheimers.asp

Yawn

It was a super boring time in policlinic while we were waiting for the doctors. They were busy then the patients have to wait for them. We were not going to check up, but as a clerkship or clinic student, we followed the specialist doctor until the end of the world *ok, this is too much*

It’s 11 am and we had waited for about 2 hours. We were waiting in the corner room, some playing our mobile phone and others reading a book. Guess, what did I do ? I was playing google quick draw on my mobile phone. It’s totally fun guys :3 hahaha..

While we were busy with our useless activity *it’s just me, LOL* one of my friend’s yawning. In a blink of an eye, one by one of us started yawning too; like a domino effect. Have you experienced this moment ? I think many people can relate to this condition. But how come ? Hmmm.. my friend said that if you started to yawn after your friends, it means you are an empathic person. Is that true ?  

Here we go my short research :

Yawning can be observed in most vertebrate species from fetal stages to old age. In mammals, it consists of an involuntary sequence of mouth opening, deep inspiration, brief apnea, and slow expiration (Walunski and Deputte, 2004).

In mammals, it has been observed that more than 90% of yawns occur at rest whereas the remaining yawns seem to be triggered by social or emotional stimuli. These contextual differences have motivated a classification of yawning into “physiological” and “social” yawns, although the phenomenology of yawns does not depend on the context (Deputte, 1994; Walusinski and Deputte, 2004).

*wow, it also can be triggered by social or emotional; not only when we felt sleepy. Wait, is yawning occurs only because we felt sleepy ?

Based on Bruke, 2013 from University of Sidney, Australia, there is no agreement as to the immediate stimulus triggering a yawn. This is partly because a yawn is commonly associated with a variety of conditions such as tiredness, boredom, sleepiness, loss of attention, fatigue, hunger, malaise and, most surprisingly, observing other people yawning (contagious yawning). They are contagious through non-verbal communication (Darwin, 2004).

*yay ! we found that yawning is contagious and boredom can trigger a yawn. Couldn’t agree more because we were super bored at that time. OK, next :D

Studies said that replication of yawn is triggered involuntarily. Neither does the yawner want to make others yawn, neither is the spectator-receiver of the replication aware of a need to yawn (Moore 1942, Baenninger 1987). How is this replication triggered ? It can be triggered by sight, hearing, or smell (Darwin, 2004). Sight is the most powerful stimulant. R. Provine shows that 55% of spectators viewing a video showing 30 successive yawns will yawn within five minutes. The latency period varies from a few seconds to five. The existence of a susceptibility to contagion among blind subjects confirms that sight is not the only trigger. Viewing part of the face only, such as a wide open mouth, does not trigger replication. Therefore a multimodal perception of the whole facial configuration and of audible respiratory moments is needed, along with coordinated dynamics for replication to happen (Provine 1986, 1989).

As far as I know, a yawn is triggered involuntary and the powerful stimulant is by sight. If you saw other’s yawning, then the brain will get the stimuli and you start yawning. In another study, it says, following such perception, the motor trigger of the yawning reflex is also involuntary and stems from the setting into the action of sub-cortical motor loops (gray nucleus – brain stem) (Darwin, 2004).

*it’s a nice info, isn’t ? Hmm. Back to the first question. Is it related to empathy ?

The answer is yes.

As the explanation before, that yawn can be stimulated then resulting reaction with cognitive participation of an emotional nature. It includes a complex of a human behavior, empathy. So it’s a normal reaction, it’s a human behavior if you started to yawn after the other in your surroundings, although it happened involuntary.

Then here is the longest citation :

As a basis of social cognition, facial expressions reflecting emotions underly complex and flexible cognitive processes. Only human primates demonstrate the capacity to perceive others as agents endowed with intention, along with the ability to identify. This capacity to think about others and their desires is probably at the root of the complexity and sophistication of Homo sapiens’social bevaviour. (Theory of the mind). This is the basis of conscious empathy: to understand the feeling of the other, to feel personally what the other feels. The replication of yawning is akin to decoding an emotion, the other’s state of vigilance, but at an unconscious, automatic level allowing for the synchronisation of the state of vigilance between individuals, which one could qualify as an instinctive, involuntary empathy. This capacity to in tune with unconscious affects rests on implicit communications, developed over the course of evolution, but whose neurobiological mechanisms are just starting to be understood (Adolphs 1996, 2001, Meltzoff 2002).

OK guys, after reading this post, are you starting to yawn ?