Despite All My Rage I Am Still Just Kind Of Lying There Despondently
I don't pay a lot of attention to newswire-type writeups of scientific research -- filtering scientific material through most journalists seems to produce about the same result as running the paper's abstract through a commercial washer and dryer -- but I want to respond briefly to the following claim in this story about salt as a "natural mood-booster":
The idea of a salt-deficient laboratory rat being too depressed to push its brain-pleasure lever is itself one of the most depressing things I have ever read.
In contrast, I greatly enjoyed this quotation from the end of the article: "I personally have never felt depressed by not eating too much salt." While I think it's uncontroversial to say that it's a terrible sentence stylistically, I challenge you to actually agree or disagree with its content in less than thirty seconds.
The tests carried out by US researchers found that when rats were deficient in salt, they shy away from activities they normally enjoy, like drinking a sugary substance or pressing a bar that stimulates a pleasant sensation in their brains.
The idea of a salt-deficient laboratory rat being too depressed to push its brain-pleasure lever is itself one of the most depressing things I have ever read.
In contrast, I greatly enjoyed this quotation from the end of the article: "I personally have never felt depressed by not eating too much salt." While I think it's uncontroversial to say that it's a terrible sentence stylistically, I challenge you to actually agree or disagree with its content in less than thirty seconds.
1 Comments:
Doctors recommend that, to prevent unhappiness, your daily salt intake should be enough to liberally coat the rims of at least four margarita glasses.
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