Tunnel Vision

There was a book I read so long ago the name is now a distant memory (one I am unable to access at this very moment), however the premise of it was that our brain is responsible for our learning and that moles were a very important key to helping us remain flexible, with our brains. The hypothalamus, which is no bigger than the size of an almond, is the area of the brain that regulates functions of the body, such as thirst, hunger, sex, stress and even body temperature. It has been discussed that the hypothalamus is also responsible for how our brains learn new things and allows our body to adapt to new life situations. Well, it was suggested in this book that when our brains get to use to doing something one way, we become repetitive with certain tasks, or when we only smell the same brand of fabric softener for years and years, our brains record this and lets our body have the appropriate response as it always does. This means that doing the same thing all the time will leave us in a “rut” for lack of a better term. The idea came to me to write about this when I decided to make a lemon-garlic dressing for my salad today instead of my usual balsamic vinaigrette (which I still love). What am I getting to? Well, the book previously mentioned said that through its extensive research of observing (no experiments, thank you) they were able to trace back the moles ancestors to years before our time. Interestingly enough those moles had eyes and full vision, and much of what they hunted was above ground. The observation indicated that moles, the ones we know today, with very tiny wee eyes and blurred vision come from the same line of moles that have over time, while needing to migrate underground for food and survival of predators, eventually have fazed out the use for vision. Therefore their brains sent the appropriate message to the rest of their bodies to no longer produce much vision since they don’t need it anyway and rely rather on instinct.

Lets go back to the salad dressing. After eating it, and enjoying it much, I actually felt like I saw things differently. My little wee balsamic mole eyes had been awakened. Being flexible with your brain, our taste buds, your sense of hearing, your sense of touch and colour is apparently very important, that’s what I remember most about that book (the one I’ve long forgotten the name of). Since research confirms that reading, particularly current print, or doing puzzles is helpful in preventing Alzheimer’s it appears that keeping your brain not only active but also flexible has huge benefits. Not only did my choice in a new dressing spice up my day it also helped my health.