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Many health-conscious people take a multivitamin daily because they wish to provide
their bodies with an optimal amount of vitamins and minerals. This simple idea, that one cannot
rely solely on diet to take in all the nutrients one needs, is widely accepted. A field of
complementary and alternative medicine called orthomolecular therapy draws on the same basic
understanding. From the Greek "ortho," right, orthomolecular describes a treatment that
provides "the body with optimal amounts of substances which are natural to the body" (4).
Orthomolecular psychiatry, in particular, is the prescription of extra nutrients to treat mental
disorders. Some orthomolecular practices, such as those attempting to cure cancer and
schizophrenia, are advised against by health agencies (6). However, the therapy can also be
applied as a preventative measure for more common disorders, or for conditions that might
otherwise seem like a result of societal pressures instead of physical problems. If vitamins and
minerals enhance day-to-day bodily functions, their absence in the diet may account for
abnormal functions of the mind.

As a young child, many of us have seen if not read comic books and seen the heroes of that world of Marvel and their amazing abilities that seem so beyond our own capacity, but each character seems to have their own biological reasoning for why they are the way they are. Peter Parker is bitten by a radioactive spider (Spiderman), Matt Murdoch becomes blind but develops heightened senses (Daredevil), Reed Richards and his closest friends are hit by cosmic rays that their experimental rocket ship travels through (Fantastic Four) etc. Charles Xavier and his X-men are the most biologically explainable creation and yet the most common explanation cannot account for what is possible; if one puts aside the fact that these works are fictional of the creator.

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is a psychiatric disorder that is commonly characterized by obsessions and compulsions (1).  Obsessions are recurrent thoughts, images, or impulses that an individual with OCD experiences frequently.  These obsessions are unwanted and usually occur automatically.  People with OCD perform compulsive acts in order to relieve the anxiety caused by the obsessions.  Compulsions are repetitive rituals that are completed according to “rules” that may or may not be related to the obsession (2).  Although people with the disorder recognize that their actions are irrational, they feel compelled to do them out of fear that something disastrous will ensue.  Most compulsions fall into four categories: counting, checking, cleaning, and avoidance.  An example of compulsive cleaning is someone who washes her hands five hundred times a day because she is afraid of being contaminated by germs (1).  Clearly a life based around the completion of rituals is not an easy or particularly pleasant one, but people abstain from getting help because of the shameful stigma attached (to the disorder).  There are a variety of treatments available, however, and due to technological advancements there is serotonin therapy which is based on a neurobiological model of OCD.

As we evolve from zygotes to fully-functioning adults, we are influenced by a myriad of various factors, from the way we are raised to who we associate ourselves with. When I think of what I have become, I think of all my external influences- what I have read, whom I have met during my lifetime, the experiences I have had; what I rarely ever think of is my genetic makeup and how it has influenced me as a person. Out of the functions that genes oversee in the human body, the most intriguing is sexual differentiation, which is the development of a person from an “undifferentiated zygote” to a fetus, which will then evolve into a walking, talking, conscious male or female (2).

What is a belief, and why bother having any? After all, if nothing can be proven as true, why would we believe in anything anyway? But certainly, we believe things, even against all sensory input.

For instance, if you stand in the middle of train tracks and look at them going off in the distance, your sensory input tells you that they meet up yonder a ways. And yet, you don’t believe that. Why would you go against your perceptory input on this? Probably it is because you have prior experience with tracks, watching them while on a train or walking, and have had the experience of seeing them open up before you as you move. Or do they open up before you? Though your senses tell you they do, you don’t believe that either. You believe they are stationary, not moving. But if that is true, how come they come together at the horizon, but never where you are?

Do you feel sick after ingesting milk products? Do you have to stay away from foods that
contain milk or cheese? If so, you are possibly lactose intolerant. You might also be
allergic to dairy. The two conditions are not the same, though they share one effect on
people’s lives; staying away from dairy foods. We will not explore dairy allergies in this
paper.

Here we are exploring lactose intolerance. What is lactose intolerance? Lactose
intolerance is a condition brought on by a lack of the digestive enzyme lactase, whose job
it is to break up the lactose molecule during digestion. If you don’t have enough lactase
to break up the lactose in your digestion system, lactose will remain inside the intestine.
It can not pass through the intestinal membrane wall to be absorbed into the blood stream.
When the lactose is sitting in your intestine, digestive bacteria will do its best to
metabolize the lactose. In doing so, the bacteria put off large amounts of gas, resulting in
your experience of bloating, flatulence and diarrhea, all of which can be quite painful. (1)

About a week ago, I felt like I was getting a cold. Rather than down some DayQuil and move on, I decided to take a different approach. I entered into a small, patchouli-smelling store called Arrowroot on Lancaster and looked around for some alternative cold medicines and found one named Coldcalm. The directions said to let two tablets dissolve on the tongue every two hours, and the sufferer’s cold symptoms would be relieved. Hating cough syrup and interested, I decided to buy the package of white pills and was happy to find that they really helped. Even though I still had a cold, it was entirely manageable.

Then my mother called me, telling me to get a flu shot. It’s not that I am not scared of needles, but I don’t particularly like getting shots (although, who does?). So I decided to do research and see if the whole needle-in-arm event could be avoided this flu season. I found that it’s not necessary to be vaccinated, although getting a shot isn’t a bad thing. I know that I, for one, will not be going to the Health Center for a flu shot this year.

Homosexuality is an issue that has sparked tumultuous debate in the United States, and has been brought to the forefront in the last fifty to sixty years. While the legal and social implications has captured the attention of the media, the lingering question of biology remains at the core of the debate. Is it possible that one is born with the characteristic of being homosexual, or is it solely a learned behavior embedded in cultural norms? Researchers since the nineteen-fifties have studied homosexuality in a variety of ways, through genetics, animal behavior, and even birth order. While few have come to a conclusive answer, important progress has been made since the time homosexuality was merely considered a mental disorder that could be cured.

Is chocolate really as harmful as the world makes it out to be? I remember coming home one night after trick-or-treating and gazing into my huge pillowcase full of candy. I can vividly recall selfishly eating most of it all in one night and feeling incredibly ashamed and guilty that I had done so. My mom spitefully reproached me with all the horrible things that were going to happen to me if I continued to act so carelessly. Chocolate has attained such a negative reputation throughout the years, and it is often referred to as the devil’s candy. Unfortunately, not many people know that this sensuous and sinful candy actually produces beneficial health related results.

Every evening after finishing my yoga session, I leave the yoga studio feeling strong, calm, revitalized, and, above all, incredibly sweaty. The combined effects of a heated yoga studio and physical exertion always seem to challenge my body temperature, resulting in the feeling that every square inch of my skin is oozing with perspiration. My yoga teachers have always told me that sweating is very healthy, and it helps the body get rid of toxins and excess energy. In looking into this question of why we sweat, I will examine the biological basis for sweating, and why it varies from person to person.