The Weekly Dose - Episode 50

The Weekly Dose...

... the latest from Dr Karan

  Here is your weekly dose...  

Hi all!Here is your weekly dose of the Sunday Six! A few things I found interesting this week. If you enjoy this please feel free to forward this to friends. families and enemies alike!If you've enjoyed any of my content over the years, I know you will enjoy my new book "This Book May Save Your Life", available to pre-order here: My First Ever Book!If you enjoy interesting conversations and podcast, check out my brand new podcast "The Referral With Dr Karan"!**You'll find more in depth analysis of some of these subjects on my social platforms in the links just below, including Dr Karan Investigates! for deep dives into interesting topics on my YouTube channel.**

The Military Sleep Method...

When I know have an all day operating list coming up, I’ll prioritise my sleep the night before over anything else. Sleep deficiency plays a role in human mistakes and sometimes these mistakes can lead to tragic accidents; plane crashes, highway collision and perhaps even nuclear reactor meltdowns!I don’t want to add to this dishonours list and make avoidable mistakes in surgery…Naturally another high stakes area where mistakes can literally kill someone (especially yourself), is in the military.This is why the U.S. Army practices the “military method” of sleep. A technique originally used by U.S army pilots to relax and supposedly worked so well, the pilots in the Pre-Flight School who used the military method were able to fall asleep within 10 minutes…even with gunfire in the background.Here's how it works:

1. Relax your face. Focus on your forehead, your eyes, your cheeks, your jaw, and so on. Feel the tension fade away.  

2. Drop your shoulders. Let your arms go floppy and feel your shoulders relax.

3. Take a deep breath. Slowly inhale and relax your stomach. Don’t hold your stomach in; let it all out.

4. Relax your legs.  Let your legs sink into the bed or the floor.

5. Clear your mind. Visualize some calming images, like lying by a flowing river or staring at the clouds

Does the science stack up?Well..yes!Stages 1, 2, and 5 are otherwise known as “progressive muscle relaxation,” and evidence suggests it’s a good way to induce a calm, peaceful state. The breathing techniques in stage 3 and the “guided imagery” of stage 5 have been show to enhance relaxation states.Additionally..this is a method...a routine and this is where the hidden benefit of the military method lies.Research suggests keeping a routine is one of the best ways to improve your sleeping habits. It could be as simple as reading before bed, taking a shower, or some stretching exercises. Give the military method a go if you're struggling for sleep but it is not a silver bullet. You need to try it for at least 6 weeks. Stick at it, and you might just wake up feeling well-rested...hopefully without background gunfire.

Predict Rain With Your Nose...

Can you predict rain with your nose?Well…there is actually *some* scientific evidence to suggest it may be possible to sniff out rain before it arrives….and it might have something to do with petrichor.The word petrichor is from the Greek petros, meaning stone (ref. petrified – turned into stone), and ichor, the fluid that flowed in the veins of ancient gods.You already will be aware of that strangely sweet but earthy scent that is released by the ground after heavy rain….this is known as petrichor.This smell is a result of the common soil bacterium, Streptomyces, produces a compound called geosmin. It is the smell of geosmin that we oddly attracted to. In fact, humans are so acutely able to detect small concentrations of geosmin that it betters sharks’ ability to smell blood.The science goes something like this; water droplets from rain impact with a surface (soil) and traps pockets of air in the pores of the ground. These pockets burst and become tiny aerosols that take traces of whatever was on the ground with them, including geosmin. These chemicals can be carried up by the air and carried miles ahead of the rainclouds themselves and it is more than likely it's these aerosol particles that people are detecting when they smell rain on the horizon.Another contributing factor to the smell of approaching rain is the presence of ozone in the wind. This chemical has a “sweeter” note than the slightly more earthy petrichor. So when you next get a whiff of something sweet and earthy in the wind, it might be worth grabbing an umbrella. 

Herpes & Snakes...

So the word herpes comes from the Greek word for snake...apparently because the disease creeps up on you!That's where we got the word herpetology, the study of snakes. Herpes is also related to the word serpent which came from Latin.You'll notice that herpes and herpetology have Hs in Greek but serpent has an S in Latin and that's because a lot of Greek S sounds or words are turned into Hs through sound change called debuccalisation (literally removal the buccal cavity..ie removing the use of the mouth in saying a word..a heavy H to a tip of the tongue S).  That's why we have the words hemisphere and semicircle both meant half , but the prefix hept comes from Greek and sept- comes from Latin...It's the same reason why we have both prefixes hepta and sept for seven! 

What You Should Watch...

"Pressure point" - NetflixI didn't even intend to watch this but I somehow started and finished this rousing movie.I began in earnest watching the new Avatar movie but was bored within 15 minutes so switched over to something else...There's something about rousing sporting movies where the antagonists go from losers to winners after overcoming so mental obstacle or a moment of clarity.This is a movie about a rowing team that is aiming to beat Harvard University in the national championships but you don't have to appreciate the sport of rowing to enjoy this film.I guess in a way it parallels real life in some fashion. Often there is fine line between loss and victory. The difference might be a matter of mindset rather than skill.When I first started doing gallbladder operations, I found it technically challenging to understand the anatomy and how to approach the case and mentally gave up many times and shied away from doing many of those cases.Now..it's probably my favourite operation to do! I just sat down one day and broke down why I was struggling with this. It wasn't a skill deficiency, it was the fact I was focussed on a small component of the operation rather than taking a global view. A small mental switch helped me begin to break down this procedure and here we are! 

The Hadza Tribe...

The Hadza people are an ethnic group in Tanzania. They are one of the last populations in Africa who follow a hunter-gatherer lifestyle, similar to that followed by humans for 99% of our history. 

The Hadza have little if any access to antibiotics, agricultural products or modern sanitation, permitting researchers a glimpse at what a palaeolithic microbiome might have looked like! They also live in a geographical region where our early hominin ancestors are thought to have emerged, making them an interesting study group for evolutionary biologists and anthropologists alike.Considering the Hadza have little access to modern medical facilities, they have relatively low metabolic and infectious disease rates compared to other groups in Northern Tanzania. It is believed that this is at least partly down to their unique gut microbiome.The staples of their diet include the baobab tree, high-fibre tuber roots, berries, fresh honey, and various meats from hunting.  The Hadza microbiome is markedly different from the microbiomes of people in industrialised countries, boasting more diversity and greater stability, which are key markers of microbiome health.  

Interestingly, the Hadza microbiome has repeatedly been shown to be higher in bacterial species considered pathogenic than industrialised populations. In particular, they showed higher levels of treponema.Considering the general health of the Hadza people, it appears these bacteria have a function as yet unknown. Their unique bacterial composition is thought to play a large part in their ability to digest raw colon and eat large amounts of fibre with no ill effect. 

Most exciting of all, the Hadza play host to species not seen anywhere else, opening up whole new avenues of research. In fact, in one study, as many as 33% of their bacterial genera were unknown. Imagine discovering a jungle where that much of the ecosystem was new to science!What can we learn and take-away from the Hadza? 

First and foremost, make sure you only take antibiotics when they are essential, as they can deplete your gut flora. 

Additionally, make sure you eat a variety of plant-based fibrous foods as these feed beneficial bacteria and fuel the production of essential short-chain fatty acids. 

Lastly, the Hadza microbiome was shown to have some bacteria found in the surrounding biosphere, with researchers theorising it might be one of the ways their microbiome bounces back after the dry season.In light of this, there is a case to be made that it can be beneficial to get out into nature and interact with the soil. A simple and safe way to interact with the environment would be to try your hand at some gardening.

Have Interesting Conversations...

This has been a longer than usual newsletter...I sort of just got carried away with writing this week!Humour me for one last monologue...One of the reason I got into podcasting this year was just the fact I really enjoyed the conversation I had in my first ever podcast as a guest.Truth be told, I prefer learning from people than books. The rich tapestry of information you can glean from a real human far outweighs the value you can get from a book written by some faceless human.With that in mind, I had a mind-blowing conversation with a recent guest on my podcast about the menopause. Truly eye opening.I can't wait for you to watch and listen to that conversation.Aside from this, I'd urge you to enjoy having more conversation with a greater range of people. Even negative interactions teach you something.What are we in the end if not just a collective amalgamation of all our experiences and interactions in life? Both positive, negative and ambivalent.

As always, please give me feedback on Twitter. Which of this weeks Sunday six is your favourite? Is there something you want more, or less of? I'm open to any suggestions so please let me know! Just send a  tweet to @drkaranrajan and use the hashtag #theweeklydose at the end so I can find it!

Have a wonderful week, all.

Much love,

Karan