Mind over Manner: Explorations in Neuroscience, Current Events and Philosophy

      Nearly everyone knows that physical activity is key to a healthy mind and body; these effects are well documented. Physical activity is known to decrease heart attack risk, lower blood cholesterol, strengthen bones, reduce the risk of some cancers, and reduce the incidence of clinical mental illness (Miko et al, 2020). A systematic review by Kelley at al in 2017 explored the relationship of exercise and sleep outcomes in adults and found similar results: that, for 950 adults, exercise improves selected sleep outcomes in adults (Kelley, 2017). These benefits are widely known; at the same time, the benefits of consistent sleep are far less understood. Sleep is known to benefit cognitive performance and relieve stress, yet its full range of effects are vastly ignored by the public. While we all know that physical activity can help us sleep in a variety of ways, such as producing melatonin and regulating body temperature, sleep is just as important in facilitating ...

  Lately, I feel like we’ve all heard a refrain repeated over and over about digital spaces: “media literacy is dead”. We have the information of the world at our fingertips, yet we struggle so much to find the basic takeaways from the media we consume. Do I think media literacy is totally dead? No, of course not. But it’s dying, and we’ll lose all of our common sense in discussions of our media if we don’t lock in QUICK. I’d like to discuss/rant about how the rise of social media reactions to current media has rotted our brains. The spaces we occupy online are full of misinformation, demonization, and reactionary responses to minor inconveniences and challenges. To start, I’d like to argue that we no longer have to think for ourselves. Critical thinking and common sense is at an all time fucking low; this much is clear. I do believe that this decline is due to the rise of social media. These platforms, while providing a means to connect over and share infinite information, the co...