What I Learned From Podcasts This Week

 This week, the podcasting universe spilled its wisdom upon me and presumably millions of other listeners in the areas of hypnosis, marriage, coffee, and drinking water. It's worth reiterating that podcasting offers listeners entertainment, education, elucidation, and information. 

Can anybody be hypnotized?

In the November 17th episode of Science Vs, host Wendy Zukerman allowed herself to be hypnotized, along with a group of other audience members, as part of a comedian / hypnotist show. The thing is -- it didn't really work on her. Why? Zukerman talks to comedian hypnotist Jim Spinnato and three professors to ferret out these facts about hypnosis.

First, hypnosis cannot make people do something they really don't want to do. According to the experts, if a suggestion is made to a hypnotized person which truly offended their sensibilities, they would break out of their hypnotic state. Therefore, a hypnotist cannot get people to, say, take off their clothes in public or claim that they know someone who actually likes Ted Cruz.

Second, even though a hypnotist in the movies may say "you are getting sleepy," you are not asleep when you are hypnotized. You're not unconscious, either, just in a highly suggestible state of consciousness.

Third, scientists don't know exactly how the mechanisms of hypnosis work. Scary as it may seem to patients about to go under before surgery, doctors don't really understand how anesthesia works, either. The same goes for hypnosis. It's a bit of a mystery.

The business of marriage; “You’re my everything”

In the November 21 episode of Hidden Brain, host Shankar Vedantam talks to author Stephanie Coontz (Marriage, A History) and psychologist Eli Finkel.

While people today like to discuss the traditional view of marriage between a man and a woman who marry for love, both guests cast doubt on that assumption. Coontz, in research for her book, speaks about marriage as a business proposition for centuries. Not only were arranged marriages common, but marriage was seen as a business transaction where both parties brought something to the table -- a trade, a skill, money, a dowry or family connections. 

Finkel talked about modern marriage, and warned that people in modern culture expect their partner in marriage to perform all the roles necessary for the other to be satisfied and happy. According to Finkel, asking your spouse to be a lover, confidante, best friend, and fill all our your emotional and physical needs is a task that many cannot accomplish. What results is disappointment, disillusionment, and, ultimately, dissolution of the marriage. He recommends that people today moderate their expectations about their married partner. 

When to drink coffee and how much water to drink

In the November 26 episode of Something You Should Know, Dr Stuart Farrimond talks to host Mike Carruthers about our daily routines.

Farrimond first questions our collective belief that we need coffee desperately as soon as we get up. The good doctor poo-poos that belief by explaining that adenosine is one of the hormones that modulates sleepiness. The less adenosine, the more awake we feel. According to Farrimond, adenosine levels at their lowest when we first wake up and cortisol levels -- which stimulate wakefulness -- are very high 

Therefore, he recommends waiting two to three hours before having that first cup of coffee. The caffeine in coffee, he says, blocks adenosine and first thing in the morning, there's essentially nothing to block. 

That may be true, however, I will still be having my coffee within 15 minutes of waking up.

Farrimond goes from coffee to water, disputing the eight glasses of water a day mandate. First, he notes that we get about one-third of our water from our food every

Then Farrimond says that people who believe that completely clear urine is a sign that you're drinking the right amount of water are wrong. 

In fact, the good doctor says completely clear urine typically means you have too much water in your system and your kidneys are trying to eliminate water from your system.

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Finally, what is attribution bias? When we make a mistake, such as being late for work, we tend to blame other factors. When someone else makes a mistake, we assume it is a result of a character flaw. For example, we're late for work because of traffic. Others are late for work because they're lazy or disorganized. 

With attribution bias, we judge ourselves by our intentions, but we judge others by their actions.