March 20, 2019

The System:

• Shocking graph showing the growth of physicians and administrators in healthcare from 1970 to 2009. Much like higher education, medicine continues to become more complicated, with more rules, while costing much more. Physicians are making less money and patients are spending more. You really have to see the graph to understand the magnitude of the problem. 
• You have to also love the Thomas Sowell quote at the bottom. Thanks Drew Withington for the link. 

“Magnesium Never Produces Addiction”

• That is a direct quote from a cool article called Magnesium in addiction – a general view. Makes sense, you can’t be addicted to water, or oxygen. This article makes several important points on the roles of Magnesium in brain health and in addiction. Mag has interesting interactions with the NMDA receptor that parallel ketamine’s effects. Finally an argument for my invention, KetamagTM. 
• Stress induces magnesium depletion. Heroin dependent patients who were given Mag along with methadone showed reduced relapse. Check out the article and the 63 glorious Mag references. 

Pen is Mightier:

• This paper looked at 3 studies of note-taking either with handwriting or a keyboard to see which method leads to better retention. Because most people can type faster than they can write, typing leads to more verbatim (“shallow processing”) recording of notes in class. This is a more mindless way to process what you are learning, leading potentially to worse performance on testing. Laptop note-taking led to worse performance on factual content and conceptual understanding. 
• Read the article for more depth, but everyone should consider handwriting notes. At the very least, don’t make fun of the few old school people in your class who still write while the professor is speaking. 

Fathead:

• Right after purchasing a formidable amount of olive oil in California, my wife and I were alerted to a recipe for low carb pizza crust – Fathead crust. No need to use sauce and cheese, just make this stuff like focaccia and dip in oil. Best dough substitute we have run across. Also makes a solid pizza. Mozzarella, almond flour, cream cheese, an egg. Thanks Alyssa Thomas for the recipe. 

Leisure:

• When all the work is finished and you finally have some free time, what do you do? Aristotle said human potential could only be realized in leisure. Joseph Pieper wrote an entire book about leisure in 1952 that has been called one of the most important philosophy titles published in the twentieth century. He pointed out then that we “overvalue the sphere of work.” 
• We do not want to be like Ivan Ilyich, realizing after a few decades in the sphere of work, that we have not paid attention to the things that matter. Make your leisure time count by doing something that matters with people you love, and staying away from screens. 

Quote:
“All of you are perfect as you are – and you could use a little improvement.” 
– Suzuki-Roshi

Martin Huecker, MD, is co-editor in chief of the free, open access Journal of Wellness. He is an Associate Professor and Research Director in the Department of Emergency Medicine (EM) at the University of Louisville. He is a member of Phi Beta Kappa, and the Alpha Omega Alpha medical honor society. Dr. Huecker graduated from UofL’s EM Residency Program and (Chief Resident in 2011). He works full time seeing patients and teaching residents in the UofL Emergency Department. His diverse research interests include substance use, accidental hypothermia, and healthcare professional wellness. Dr. Huecker is also a Certified Lifestyle Medicine Physician (DipABLM). He loves books, (cold) trail runs, dogs, and coffee. His wife is an OB/GYN and they have 4 children with cool names.