Posted by Johnturner77 on June 22, 2000, at 13:41:35
In reply to Some 2-brained theories a radical approach to..., posted by dj on June 21, 2000, at 23:28:36
"If you tilt a person's head 30 degrees to the side and put ice water into one ear, the opposite brain hemisphere will become activated," he said. Thus cold water in the left ear, activating the right hemisphere, might temporarily reduce the symptoms of mania. Depression might be temporarily reduced by placing cold water in the right ear.
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> Ice water in the ear is a traditional neurological test that has been performed, among other things, on astronauts in space to help understand space sickness. How ice water stimulates one hemisphere is not precisely known, but it seems to activate orientation pathways in one ear (which tell people where they are in space), and these pathways are connected to mid- and higher-brain regions in the opposite side of the head, Pettigrew said.
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> Trying the ice water in his own left ear, Pettigrew, who suffers from manic depression, said, "I sat on my couch at home for 40 hours, ruminating about my life." His left brain was stuck in the depression phase. It was, he said, an unpleasant experience.
He must have been really depressed if he didn't try putting ice water in the other ear to try and end it. Maybe he did and was really depressed because it blew his theory :>)The Yoga technique of breathing through alternate nostrils is supposed to help balance the activities of the two hemispheres. There is supposed to be a natural cycle in the breathing between the two nostrils anyway. first one then the other is slightly(or a lot) more open. As the hemispheric dominance shifts, the air flow is supposed to shift. That would be another experiment to try. During the down cycle does one nostril dominate?
poster:Johnturner77
thread:38054
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20000619/msgs/38122.html