Learn about psychedelics research in the 1950s; cold shower benefits; and an inaccurate stereotype about the only child. Thousands of patients were treated with psychedelics in the 1950s by Cameron Duke Fuentes, J. J., Fonseca, F., Elices, M., Farré, M., & Torrens, M. (2020). Therapeutic Use of LSD in Psychiatry: A Systematic Review of Randomized-Controlled Clinical Trials. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 10. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2019.00943 Lattin, D. (2017, January 3). How the War on Drugs Halted Research Into the Potential Benefits of Psychedelics. Slate Magazine; Slate. https://slate.com/technology/2017/01/the-war-on-drugs-halted-research-into-the-potential-benefits-of-psychedelics.html Rick, D. (2011). Dr. Leary’s Concord Prison Experiment: A 34-Year Follow-up Study. Journal of Psychoactive Drugs. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02791072.1998.10399715 The ’60s Are Gone, But Psychedelic Research Trip Continues. (2014, March 9). NPR.org. https://www.npr.org/2014/03/09/288285764/the-60s-are-gone-but-psychedelic-research-trip-continues Yensen, R., & Dryer, D. A. (1992, September 24). Thirty Years of Psychedelic Research: The Spring Grove Experiment and Its Sequels. ResearchGate; unknown. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/309477954_Thirty_Years_of_Psychedelic_Research_The_Spring_Grove_Experiment_and_Its_Sequels Johns Hopkins Medicine Receives First Federal Grant for Psychedelic Treatment Research in 50 years. (2021, October 18). Johns Hopkins Medicine Newsroom. https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/news/newsroom/news-releases/johns-hopkins-medicine-receives-first-federal-grant-for-psychedelic-treatment-research-in-50-years Are cold showers actually worth it? by Cameron Duke Bottoms, L. (2021, September 28). Cold showers are said to be good for you – here’s what the evidence shows. The Conversation. https://theconversation.com/cold-showers-are-said-to-be-good-for-you-heres-what-the-evidence-shows-167822 Buijze, G. A., Sierevelt, I. N., van der Heijden, B. C. J. M., Dijkgraaf, M. G., & Frings-Dresen, M. H. W. (2016). The Effect of Cold Showering on Health and Work: A Randomized Controlled Trial. PLOS ONE, 11(9), e0161749. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0161749 Janský, L., Pospíšilová, D., Honzová, S., Uličný, B., Šrámek, P., Zeman, V., & Kamínková, J. (1996). Immune system of cold-exposed and cold-adapted humans. European Journal of Applied Physiology and Occupational Physiology, 72-72(5-6), 445–450. https://doi.org/10.1007/bf00242274 Only children aren't more selfish than kids with siblings by Steffie Drucker Only Children Are No More Selfish Than Those With Siblings. (2021, October 7). Research Digest. https://digest.bps.org.uk/2021/10/07/only-children-are-no-more-selfish-than-those-with-siblings/ Zheng, X., Su, Q., Jing, C., & Zhang, Y.-Y. (2021). They Are Not Little Emperors: Only Children Are Just as Altruistic as Non-Only Children. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 194855062110381. https://doi.org/10.1177/19485506211038190 Higuera, V. (2019, October 23). Only Child Syndrome: Proven Reality or Long-Standing Myth? Healthline; Healthline Media. https://www.healthline.com/health/parenting/only-child-syndrome one-child policy | Definition, Start Date, Effects, & Facts | Britannica. (2021). In Encyclopædia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/topic/one-child-policy Fifield, A. (2019, May 3). Beijing’s one-child policy is gone. But many Chinese are still reluctant to have more. Washington Post; The Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/beijings-one-child-policy-is-gone-but-many-chinese-are-still-reluctant-to-have-more/2019/05/02/c722e568-604f-11e9-bf24-db4b9fb62aa2_story.html Gallagher, J. (2020, July 14). Fertility rate: “Jaw-dropping” global crash in children being born. BBC News; BBC News. https://www.bbc.com/news/health-53409521 BBC News. (2021, May 31). China allows three children in major policy shift. BBC News; BBC News. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-57303592 Follow Curiosity Daily on your favorite podcast app to learn something new every day withCody Gough andAshley Hamer. Still curious? Get exclusive science shows, nature documentaries, and more real-life entertainment on discovery+! Go to https://discoveryplus.com/curiosity to start your 7-day free trial. discovery+ is currently only available for US subscribers.
Learn about psychedelics research in the 1950s; cold shower benefits; and an inaccurate stereotype about the only child.
Thousands of patients were treated with psychedelics in the 1950s by Cameron Duke
Are cold showers actually worth it? by Cameron Duke
Only children aren't more selfish than kids with siblings by Steffie Drucker
Follow Curiosity Daily on your favorite podcast app to learn something new every day with Cody Gough and Ashley Hamer. Still curious? Get exclusive science shows, nature documentaries, and more real-life entertainment on discovery+! Go to https://discoveryplus.com/curiosity to start your 7-day free trial. discovery+ is currently only available for US subscribers.
Find episode transcript here: https://curiosity-daily-4e53644e.simplecast.com/episodes/psychedelic-therapy-history-cold-showers-only-child-myth
CODY: Hi! You’re about to get smarter in just a few minutes with Curiosity Daily from Discovery. I’m Cody Gough.
ASHLEY: And I’m Ashley Hamer. Today, you’ll learn about why thousands of patients were treated with psychedelics in the 1950s; whether cold showers are actually worth taking; and why the stereotype of the selfish only child doesn’t hold up.
CODY: Let’s satisfy some curiosity.
The idea of using psychedelics in medical settings is all the rage these days — but it’s nothing new. In the 1950s, scientists performed pioneering experiments with hallucinogenic drugs. They found tons of promising therapeutic applications for psychedelics, but the research was stopped almost as quickly as it began — not because of science, but because of politics.
Between 1950 and 1965, roughly 40,000 people were prescribed one of many forms of LSD therapy for mental health conditions like schizophrenia, psychopathy, and neurosis.
At the time, this was mainstream medical science taking place at multi-million dollar research facilities and esteemed institutions like Harvard University. Altogether, this research into the potential therapeutic effects of LSD and other hallucinogens led to more than 1,000 academic papers, six international conferences, and big, long-term research studies like the Spring Grove Experiment. To this day, that experiment is the largest ever attempted on the therapeutic effects of psychedelics.
While the research was promising, it had its issues. For starters, a lot of the experiments lacked control groups, and negative data may have been excluded from analysis and publication. For example, Timothy Leary’s famous Concord Prison Experiment involved giving 34 prisoners psilocybin alongside psychotherapy to see if it would keep them from reoffending. That study was contested by other researchers, who pointed out problems with its methods and conclusions. But rocky scientific standards notwithstanding, many experiments suggested that hallucinogenic drugs were at least promising enough to warrant more robust and thorough research. But that would have to wait.
In 1962, research on hallucinogens in the US came to an abrupt halt. It wasn’t due to medical or scientific necessity. Instead, it was a casualty of cultural warfare. That year, the US Congress passed new drug safety regulations, and the FDA reclassified LSD as an experimental drug and began to clamp down on its research.
Soon after its reclassification in 1962, LSD “escaped the lab,” so to speak. As its popularity grew, it became associated with anti-war demonstrators, which led to it being totally outlawed in the US in 1968. It also didn’t help that high-profile psychedelics researchers like Timothy Leary were huge counterculture icons.
Decades later, a renewed interest in therapeutic psychedelics is gaining serious research traction. In 2020, a systematic review of clinical trials found that LSD could potentially be a very effective tool in psychiatry. And just last month [October], the National Institutes of Health awarded the first grant for therapeutic psilocybin research in 50 years.
Researchers are optimistic about the potential of future studies. This research has a long road ahead, and hopefully it’s a good trip.
There are plenty of things that are good for your health but incredibly unpleasant — taking fish oil or doing burpees come to mind. So what about taking cold showers? It’s definitely unpleasant, but is there any evidence that it’s good for you? Or is it just a bunch of hot air about cold water?
Cold showers have a small but devoted following, especially among biohacker types who are always looking for the next step toward self-optimization. Their purported benefits range from a boosted immune system and metabolism to greater energy and self discipline. Luckily, a number of studies have looked into some of those claims.
And as it turns out, cold showers might actually have real health benefits. In 2016, a group of researchers in the Netherlands found some evidence that cold showers boost immune function. They split 3,000 people into four groups. All took hot showers, but one group was asked to end their showers with 30 seconds of cold water, while another group did 60 seconds and another 90. The control group never subjected themselves to cold water. During and after the 30-day regimen, the researchers were able to measure some real differences between the groups. The cold showerers reported fewer sick days from work than the control group, regardless of how long they stood in the cold water.
It’s not clear why this might be happening, but a much smaller study in the Czech Republic found that cold water immersion slightly boosted the immune system. Now, the study had a small sample size and the immune system boost was small, but measurable. But it does hint at a possible explanation for the results of the 2016 experiment.
Another reason cold showers might boost both energy and health is that a blast of cold water triggers a fight or flight response, which causes the body to produce noradrenaline and dopamine as well as increasing blood flow to muscles. That boost in circulation and feel-good neurotransmitters could be good for you.
Other studies have found that cold water boosts a person’s metabolism briefly, while others have measured mental health benefits from cold water immersion.
The evidence for cold showers is small, but it’s there. It’s worth mentioning that you shouldn’t mess with cold showers if you have certain heart problems — that sudden boost in heart rate could be dangerous. But for those who can, evidence suggests that a blast of cold water may do your body some good so long as you’re willing to brave the cold.
Only children get a bad rap. A lot of society believes their lack of siblings makes them spoiled and self-absorbed. But science is slowly repairing their reputation — including a new study, which found they’re not any more selfish than kids with siblings.
Scientists G. Stanley Hall and E.W. Bohannon first coined the term “only child syndrome” at the turn of the 20th century. They categorized kids based on different traits and found a correlation between only-child status and attributes like loneliness and selfishness. Hall even called being an only child a “disease in itself.” But the pair’s research has since been discredited, and more rigorous and recent work dispels the myth they started.
This latest study was conducted in China, which is like the only child capital of the world. The country implemented a “one-child policy” in 1980 to curb its booming population. More than a hundred million Chinese children grew up without siblings until the program ended in 2016. As a result, Chinese only children have their own invented diagnosis: “little emperor syndrome.”
To study only children’s selfishness, scientists had 337 adults indicate their views on how generous only children typically are. The researchers also had them estimate how much of a given amount of money the average only child would share with them. About a third of those participants had grown up as only children. The results showed that the stereotype is still alive and well: people with siblings rated only children as being more selfish, though people without siblings didn’t.
Then the team recruited a different group of people, about half of whom were only children, and had them rate themselves. According to their answers, the participants with siblings were just as selfish as the only children.
Now, it’s possible there’s a flip side to “only child syndrome.” Prior research found that only children had better relationships with their parents, which might make them even more giving. To test this, scientists recruited 99 students, half of them only children, and offered them a small sum of money to share with their parents, friends, acquaintances, or strangers. But, again, there was no difference in the amount each group shared. The only children weren’t more charitable, even with their parents.
Many families around the world are choosing to have fewer children these days due to climate concerns and sky-high costs of childrearing. At least parents can take peace of mind in knowing that growing up solo doesn’t make their children more selfish.
Let’s recap what we learned today to wrap up. Starting with
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ASHLEY: Today’s writers were Cameron Duke and Steffie Drucker.
CODY: Our managing editor is Ashley Hamer.
ASHLEY: Our producer and audio editor is Cody Gough.
CODY: [AD LIB SOMETHING FUNNY] Join us again tomorrow to learn something new in just a few minutes.
ASHLEY: And until then, stay curious!