Been busy, busy so been a while since I posted …
Those of you who know Jimmy, virtually here or in the real world (I’ll leave the implications of the blurring boundary between online & offline reality to someone with more time & less fun in their lives to sort that philosophical hot potato out), will know that he burns enough incense to make the environmental effects of slash & burn cocaine farming in the Amazon basin look like small change. Not my thing, but each to their own, & least it covers some of his more, er, manly smells.
I always thought its soothing powers were just more smoke & mirrors from the enlightened elements in society, if anything just got up my nose & made me more upset than any supposed stress-relief. Well turns out that it isn’t simply some hokum to extract yet more money from the monied gullible (you’ll never see a poor incense dealer – always the ones tootling around in their Porsches, etc.).
In a recent scientific paper published in the FASEB Journal an active component of incense, incensole acetate, was shown to have anxiolytic (reducing anxiousness) & anti-depressant-like activity in mice. The usual caveats of animal models & their use for human conditions still apply, particularly in higher cognitive processes such as emotions (anxiety, depression), but intriguing ideas about the potential pharmacological effects of incense nonetheless & quoting the paper authors:
‘ Furthermore, the biochemical and pharmacological effects of IA [incensole acetate] may provide a biological basis for deeply rooted cultural and religious traditions ‘
So, maybe with all my busy-busying I should chillax with some pyschoactive incense? Maybe.
O’Db,
Welcome back oh coffee writer.
I’m sitting here burning the topic of your post and hold my hands up of watching smoky whisps for many-a-year now.
It really does relax me and I now smoke 20 a day…..pass me the lighter or at least the cooking pot, from the left hand:
That’s so wrong
haha … Pass the Duchy.
Are you suggesting that that whole track is about weed? Duchy = weed?
O’DB in the Forest´s last blog ..Lib and Kathleen are now friends
Duchy, I thought in this case referred to a cooking pot not smoking pot?
Interesting stuff OD’B, un/fortunately for me, incense sticks remind me of cheap takeaways and taxis so I don’t find them that relaxing, its like a manufactured and perfumed weed smell, and I honestly prefer the smell of a joint.
Here’s one for the ultimate incense smellers everywhere
I miss pineapple….
I cannot stand the smell of incense or a joint. My allergies make me sensitive to all odors…bummer. Those two are havoc to me. Also, the smell of weed has always made me nauseous or lose the contents of my stomach.
Clinically Clueless´s last blog ..An Ode To Mr. Theodor Seuss Geisel
So how exactly does one tell if a mouse is depressed or anxious?
Do they have a mocked up cat mouth nearby and if the mouse runs into it, hence throwing a 7, they conclude its had enough? 2 lumps of cheese one marked ‘poison’ the other marked ‘not poison’ and see which one it eats? Give them a blog and see if they write endless depressing articles?
Also how exactly do they pre-depress the mouse. Do they put a Coldplay CD? Force them to watch Big Brother? Make them use British public transport? Force them to sit next to a new age Christian on a 12 hour flight? Ramble on about Reiki, meditation, an other complete bunch of new age arse? What is the latest in depressing mice?
These boffins have too much time on their hands and should get out more.
As for incensole acetate, hate the stuff sounds like arsehole meditates. Its for lavender clutching, right wing Tory voting arses who want everyone to think they’re a hippy and new age but really couldn’t be further from it. Give me some quality dooby any day of the week (or weekend).
Think that about wraps it up.
I love you.
Haha … nice ranting GiT.
Depressed mice: straight answer is I don’t know the exact details, but assume they have animal behaviour models that replicate some of the known physiological processes (e.g. presumably incl. dopaminergic neurotransmission, known to be affected in human depression) & behavioural traits (e.g. apathy – no kidding – something as simple as measuring an environmental interaction like duration, repeat visits, etc. to a running wheel). As the name suggests it is only a model &, as mentioned in the article, some models are better than others (e.g. basic/primal responses such as fear & pain are often replicated well, but higher cognitive processes such as depression can be more problematic, but still behavioural scientists have good data suggesting good approximations in their model studies). If you’re really interested it’ll all be fully disclosed & defined in the Methods section of the paper – but reading the minutiae of methods of scientific paper is a sure-fire way to head towards the poisoned cheese.
All this – incensole acetate/&rsehole meditate or otherwise – highlights the scientific method of observation based, empirical & rational thought used to define the world around us. It’s not always perfect, but personally think it is still the best methodology we have developed so far. And from it something like incense burning, that i’d previously prejudicially lumped in with so much other spiritual hokum, can have a biochemical & physiological basis & provides one strand of evidence to explain for why it has become so important in many religious & ritualistic ceremonies.
Hate it when you sit on the fence…..you’ll get splinters
Mice smile when they’re happy, don’t they? Mickey sings and dances, making it easy to tell when a mouse is happy.
Kathleen´s last blog ..Grab Some Health News: Meeting the Mental Health Needs of Sexual Minorities and More
Oh yes, there was a study about incense and respiratory irritation and lung cancer though. However, aromas do seem benefit us – My favorite is the smell of food, of course. In fact – it’s time for breakfast1
Kathleen´s last blog ..Grab Some Health News: Meeting the Mental Health Needs of Sexual Minorities and More
Interesting point.
Whilst the anxiolytic & anti-depressant efficacy of incensole acetate in this study is evident in this study, there maybe 100s of additional chemicals derived from incense burning. Some of these may well be respiratory irritants &/or carcinogenic in nature.