Saturday, May 31, 2008

Blog Dope

Frizzy Logic posted a link to Scientific American's article "Blogging--It's Good for You".

The article reports:
"According to Alice Flaherty, a neuroscientist at Harvard University... humans have a range of pain-related behaviors, such as complaining,
which acts as a 'placebo for getting satisfied'...."

I actually chose not to blog in detail about what a rotten mood I've been in this week, even though I knew, as the article points out, blogging about it could offer the "therapeutic benefits of writing about personal experiences, thoughts and feelings."

Yes, on the one hand, it relieves the immediate stress, but OTOH, I know from experience (from my first blog, especially) it also sometimes leaves me wanting to run out of the house at 2 a.m. with my laptop looking for a wi-fi hotspot where I can delete my mad ranting.
(I'm not online at home for the same reason I don't keep oreos in the cupboard.)
...
The article continues:
Located mainly in the midbrain, the limbic system controls our drives, whether they are related to food, sex, appetite, or problem solving.
“You know that drives are involved [in blogging] because a lot of people do it compulsively,” Flaherty notes.
Also, blogging might trigger dopamine release, similar to stimulants like music, running and looking at art.

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