Quick and Dirty Tips

Posted: 30 Aug 2021 07:56 PM PDT

Ah, bullshit. We see it—and call it—all around us: with kids, partners, colleagues, advertising, politics, etc. You name the domain and we've seen its BS. Sometimes it's innocuous and frustrating, but other times it can detrimental, holding us back from trading in truth and reality.

So how do spot and combat the BS swirling around us? John Petrocelli, social psychologist and author of the new book The Life-Changing Science of Detecting Bullshit joined me for a conversation to help decode, demystify, and push past the BS. And yes, it's science.

What is the meaning of bullshit?

Borrowing from a definition developed by moral philosopher Harry Frankfurt, BS, John explains, is "a communicative substance that results from intentionally or unintentionally, consciously or unconsciously… communicating something that one knows little to nothing about" often to impress, to fit in, to persuade, or simply to hide the fact that one doesn't know what they're talking about.

"Essentially," he continues, "it just involves talking about something with little to no regard for what we would call truth, genuine evidence, or established knowledge."

And this matters because, as John told me, "the research so far suggests that BS can have a longer-lasting and more impactful effect on a person's attitudes and beliefs." In other words, BS carries consequences we need to attend to.

How does bullshit show up in the workplace?

"You would think," he began, "that the workplace would be a place that people would engage in evidence-based communication and reasoning more than any other place, but you find just as much BS there as [anywhere else]."

Much of this is driven by people feeling obligated to have an informed opinion about everything. This is exacerbated in the workplace, where we are, after all, supposed to be experts at our jobs. So, when a question is posed, we should have an answer. When an idea is challenged, we should have a defense at the ready.

"But the reality is oftentimes we do not have well-informed answers and evidence-based beliefs about the things we do."

I shared with John some of my own personal...

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Are Sit-Ups and Crunches Bad for You?

Posted: 30 Aug 2021 03:10 PM PDT

Sit-ups and crunches are popular exercises for working the abdominal muscles. They're the go-to for most people who want to strengthen their core or develop six-pack abs. However, sit-ups and crunches have come under increased scrutiny over the last several years as potentially dangerous movements that should be avoided. Are these exercises really as bad as some say they are? If so, what makes sit-ups and crunches so dangerous and what exercises should we be doing instead?

The sit-up controversy: too much bending is harmful

Let's start by looking at where the idea that sit-ups and crunches are potentially dangerous comes from. This idea is based on studies showing that repetitive bending of the trunk, like the motions used in sit-ups and crunches, damages the discs of the lower back. These studies provide useful insights into how disc herniations (also called bulged, slipped, or ruptured discs) can happen. But the findings of these studies should be interpreted with a fair amount of skepticism. Why? Because they're all based on research using the dissected spine of dead pigs that were continuously taken into sit-up or crunch-like motions from 4,400 to more than 86,000 times using a machine in a laboratory setting. Based on these studies, well-meaning rehab and fitness researchers began touting sit-ups and crunches as dangerous movements that should be avoided by most people.

The body has an incredible ability to repair itself and most cases of painful disc herniations are able to heal within a few weeks.

I prefer a pragmatic approach when weighing in on these issues by considering both the research as well as the reality. We are, of course, living and breathing humans, not dead pig spines placed in bending machines for countless hours without pause. What we can take away from this line of research is that too much of the type of bending used in sit-ups and crunches does lead to damage of the spinal discs. But in reality, how many people do you know actually perform anywhere near the number of sit-ups or crunches used in the studies? Some researchers may point out that it's the...

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Food And Recipe Fusion

Tuesday, August 31, 2021