A Primer on Full-Screen Living
A Primer on Full-Screen Living |
- A Primer on Full-Screen Living
- How to commute like a Buddhist Spirituality
- ‘Meditation saved my life after my husband left me’
- Early Morning Meditation Inspiration - 9/7/2012
- Coffee Talk: A Jolt of Java May Ease Your Neck Pain
- 15 States Lag on Vaccinating Tots for Measles, Mumps & Rubella
- Coffee shop satori
- Romney's religion isn't an asset. No religion is.
- Romney's religion isn't an asset. No religion is.
- Goddamn it -- "God" is back in Democratic Party platform
- Mom's Advanced Age Doesn't Hurt Kids Later in Life
- Rare Form of Autism Might Benefit from Nutrition Supplement
| A Primer on Full-Screen Living Posted: 07 Sep 2012 01:00 PM PDT Post written by Leo Babauta.The other day while visiting a friend, she offered her dog a bone. The dog wanted the bone, but didn't want to drop the toy animal in his mouth to get the bone. "Jack, you can't have both at the same time," my friend said. Most of us are like Jack: we want more than one thing at once. We're not willing to let go of one thing in order to do another. We're doing one work task while trying to stay on top of email, text messages and social media. We're talking with a friend while seeing what we're missing on Facebook and Instagram. We're eating while planning. Making love while thinking about work. Like Jack, we think can hold two things in our mouths at once, but actually that's a fantasy. We can't taste the food while thinking about what we need to do later. Our mouths may be moving and the food might be swallowed, but there's no awareness of how the food tastes. Instead, we're switching back and forth between the planning and the tasting, like a dog going back and forth between a bone and a toy, not content to do just one thing at a time. I'd like to offer, as an alternative, full-screen living. What's full-screen living? It's a life where we allow one thing to take up the entirety of our attention — going into full-screen mode, like a video on your computer — while allowing everything else to fade into the background. Let's take a look. Full-Screen Computer WorkMany long-time readers know I prefer full-screen, distraction-free text editors like WriteRoom, OmmWriter, or Q10. They fill up your screen so there are no distractions as you write — it's just you and your text. No notifications, no other tabs open, no other programs showing, no clock or icons. I'm writing this post in WordPress's full-screen editor, at the moment, as well as using Chrome's Presentation mode (Cmd-Shift F), so that nothing is showing on the screen but these words I'm typing, not even the menubar. But full-screen work on the computer doesn't have to stop there. You can do almost anything in full-screen mode. I read articles and blog posts using the Instapaper service — it strips ads and all irrelevant page elements, and leaves only the text. I watch videos in full-screen mode — online videos on YouTube or Vimeo, or ones saved on my computer in iTunes. If I'm working in a browser tab, I'll pull that tab out into a new window, so that it hides any other tabs that might be open. Or I'll close all other tabs — save things I want to read later in Instapaper and close them, or make note on a to-do list of tasks I need to do that are represented by open tabs, and close the tabs. When you bring whatever task you're working on, or video you're watching, or article you're reading, into full-screen mode, everything else fades into the background. You just have the one task in front of you, the one thing to read or write, and you aren't switching back and forth between bone and toy. This means you can fully focus, can fully savor the article, can fully give your attention to your work. You do better when there's only one thing in your mouth, or in your attention. Full-Screen LivingThat's fine for computer work, but what about life in general? You can live exactly the same way. If you're going to spend time with your child, don't switch between the child tab and the work tabs in the browser of your mind. Put your child into full-screen mode, and let him take up all your attention, and let work and everything else you need to do later fade into the background. You'll still get to the work, when you're done with what you're doing with your child, but for now, be fully in this one activity, with this one person. When you're done with that, you can bring your work into full-screen mode, and let the rest of your life go into the background for the moment. If you eat, let the food fill up the screen of your attention, not your thinking about other things. If you're showering, let that fill your attention, instead of planning. When you're brushing your teeth, let the "conversation" (read: argument) you had earlier fade away and just brush your teeth. When you work, do one task at a time. And don't just do one task at a time, but do that task with all your attention (or as much as possible), and don't be thinking about the other tasks. The DoingAh, easier said than done, right? How do you let other things go when you are doing one thing? How do you focus on your child, or your food, instead of your work? It takes practice. As with anything, when you first start practicing, you won't be great at it, but you'll get better with practice. Start today. A great practice is sitting meditation, where you do nothing but sit, and maybe just pay attention to your breath. That's difficult, as our minds tend to throw thought after thought at us, but noticing those thoughts can be a useful practice that is carried into all other activities in our lives. Beyond sitting, try mindful cleaning. What you learn in sitting and cleaning will be applicable in every other full-screen activity you do each day. Full-screen living isn't necessarily easier than one where you're constantly switching between the tabs of your mind. It takes constant practice, and in fact that practice is every waking moment. But if we realize we can't have the bone and the toy in our mouth at the same time, then we realize that by giving up the toy, we'll enjoy the bone so much more. It will be fully tasted, instead of stuffed into a mouth that can't taste it. — The Zen of WorkOn a related note, I wanted to let you know that next week, I'll be sharing a new project I've been working on with the San Francisco Zen Center, and my friend Susan O'Connell, a Zen priest and teacher who is vice president of the SFZC. The project is called the Zen of Work, and it's an online course taught by Susan and me (with some other great Zen teachers) that will run during the month of October. It's about learning to be mindful in the workplace, and in many ways, it's an extension of this article and Zen Habits in general. I think you'll love it. More next week! Read More @ Source
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| How to commute like a Buddhist Spirituality Posted: 07 Sep 2012 11:00 AM PDT NY Daily News: If you're wondering how to trek to work without losing your mind, Emmy Award-winner and New York City-based meditation teacher David Nichtern offers up a few pointers on curbing commuter stress. "People think of spiritual practice as a tranquilizer," Nichtern told fitness blog Well+Good NYC on September 3. "But I'm not from the school of 'Let's just chant something.' My school is awareness. The more aware you are, the more likely you're headed to a positive outcome." So, how to make your commute more mindful? He offers up a few ways to respond to common commute scenarios, as per his interview … Read the original article » Read More @ Source
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| ‘Meditation saved my life after my husband left me’ Posted: 07 Sep 2012 10:00 AM PDT Bedford [UK] Times & Citizen: "My husband left me and I literally thought I was going to die" Elizabeth Drake spent most of her life suffering with severe anxiety and agoraphobia, she was crippled with low self-confidence and a fear of being disliked. And when her husband left her after months of verbal and emotional abuse, her whole world fell apart. But instead of shutting herself off from the world, she turned her life around after, she says, she was saved by meditation therapies. Two years on, she says she is happier than she has ever been. Elizabeth, 50, is now a reiki … Read the original article » Read More @ Source
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| Early Morning Meditation Inspiration - 9/7/2012 Posted: 07 Sep 2012 07:00 AM PDT  "Just as flowers open up and bear fruits, just as the moon appears and invariably grow full, just as a lamp becomes brighter when oil is added, and just as plants and trees flourish with rain, so will human beings never fail to prosper when they make good causes." ~The Buddha       Read More @ Source 
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| Coffee Talk: A Jolt of Java May Ease Your Neck Pain Posted: 07 Sep 2012 12:00 AM PDT
If your job is a literal pain in the neck, drinking coffee may help, a new study from Norway says. People who drank coffee before sitting down to work at a computer for 90 minutes reported less pain in their necks and shoulders than those who didn't drink coffee, according to the study. Some in the study had previously suffered chronic neck and shoulder pain, while other participants hadn't — but people in both groups who drank coffee reported less pain, the researchers said. Among people whose daily work involves low levels of muscle activity, such as sitting at a computer all day, about 10 percent report shoulder and neck pain, according to the study. The researchers looked at 48 people, including 22 with chronic neck or shoulder pain, and 26 healthy people. The experiment was part of research on how pain develops during office work; it was not intended to look at the effects of caffeine, the researchers said. People in the study reported to the laboratory first thing in the morning, so to offset any effects of sleepiness, coffee and tea were available. Nineteen of the study participants chose to drink either coffee or tea, but were instructed not to drink more than one cup. Then, for 90 minutes, participants performed a computer task, using only a mouse. Researchers found that people who drank coffee — whether they had previous chronic pain or not — developed less pain over the course of the 90 minutes, compared with those who didn't drink coffee. And at the end of the computer task, the coffee drinkers rated their pain as less intense than the other study participants. It's possible the reduction in pain experienced by coffee and tea drinkers in the study was due to other traits or lifestyle behaviors common to people in this group. Future studies should be conducted in which participants are randomly assigned to consume caffeine or not in order to better understand whether the caffeine itself is truly reducing pain, the researchers said. The study, conducted by researchers at the Sunnaas Rehabilitation Hospital in Norway, was published Sept. 3 in the journal BMC Research Notes. Pass it on: In a laboratory setting, drinking coffee was linked to reduced pain in the neck and shoulders. FollowMyHealthNewsDaily on Twitter @MyHealth_MHND. We're also on Facebook & Google+.  Read More @ Source 
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| 15 States Lag on Vaccinating Tots for Measles, Mumps & Rubella Posted: 06 Sep 2012 11:00 PM PDT
The percentage of U.S. toddlers who receive the vaccine for measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) remains above the target of 90 percent, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). However, there are 15 states where lower percentages of 1- to 3-year-olds receive this vaccine, the report said. Additionally, the national rates of children this age receiving the vaccines against hepatitis B, poliovirus and varicella (chickenpox) are above the target of 90 percent, the report said. However, coverage varies by state and local areas, and "low vaccination coverage is a concern, especially for extremely transmissible diseases like measles," the researchers said in a statement. The 15 states that fell short of the 90 percent target for the MMR vaccine were Arizona (86.7 percent), Colorado (88.4 percent), Idaho (89.5 percent), Iowa (86.7 percent), Michigan (87.6 percent), Mississippi (89.6 percent), Missouri (88.2 percent), Montana (87.8 percent), South Carolina (89.3 percent), South Dakota (89.2 percent), Utah (88.8 percent), Virginia (89 percent), Washington (89.3 percent), West Virginia (85.8 percent) and Wyoming (85.6 percent). For many vaccines, lower rates of coverage were seen in children whose families live below the poverty line, according to the report. Only two states — Nebraska and Hawaii — met the 90 percent target for the DTaP vaccine, which protects against diphtheria, tuberculosis and pertussis (also called whooping cough), according to the report. Most states had coverage rates between 80 and 90 percent for this vaccine, which is administered in a series of four injections. The national coverage rate was 84.6 percent. The report is based on the data gathered during the CDC's 2011 National Immunization Survey. Researchers interviewed parents of 19,500 children born between January 2008 and May 2010, and followed up with the children's doctors to obtain their immunization records. The results were weighted to be nationally representative. Between 2010 and 2011, there were increases in the percentages of children who received several vaccines, with the biggest increase — from 66.8 percent to 80.4 percent — coming in those who received the full series of shots for the Hib vaccine, which protects against one type of bacterial meningitis. There were also increases in the rates of children receiving the vaccines against hepatitis B and A, and rotavirus. National coverage has remained stable since the mid-1990s for the MMR vaccine, the DTaP vaccine, the varicella vaccine and poliovirus vaccine, according to the report. Vaccines have had a substantial effect on the rates of diseases, the CDC said. Since the introduction of the hepatitis A vaccine, the rate of the disease has dropped 93 percent compared with the pre-vaccine rate. Hospitalizations for rotavirus infections in infants and young children have decreased from 66 percent to 89 percent, and the rate of pneumonia in children under age 5 caused by streptococcus bacteria has decreased by 99 percent by 2007. Less than 1 percent of toddlers received no vaccines, according to the report. Pass it on: While the national rates of vaccine coverage for most vaccines meet the CDC's target of 90 percent, some states are falling short of this goal. FollowMyHealthNewsDaily on Twitter @MyHealth_MHND. We're also on Facebook & Google+. Read More @ Source 
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| Posted: 06 Sep 2012 10:00 PM PDT The true dharma or religion (saddharma) teaches us how to approach and to behold the animative power which, while vitalizing our corporeal body, is intrinsically free of the fate of the corporeal body which ends in death. Short of realizing this animative power which, incidentally, is the condition of ignorance (avidya), we remain endlessly bound to being reborn into alien bodies, all of which, end in death. True religion is very difficult for the modern mind to grasp since, from birth, it has been taught that the body's movements are due to biological causes as if to suggest life, itself, depends on a deep structured cellular mechanism and chemistry. Buddhism doesn't bother itself with debating this matter. In goes to the very heart of the matter by demanding that we make direct contact with the animative power by means of meditation. This means this animative power is present right now for us to experience, face to face. Switching gears, the reason for posting this particular blog had to do with meeting a person today, at my local coffee shop, who was discussing yoga postures. I pointed out to her that the posture, itself, is to be filled with Mind (citta) which first requires that we actually awaken, somewhat, to this Mind. While I was explaining the animative nature of this Mind to her, I could sense that she was directly experiencing it. She had a startled look on her face, then smiled in amazement. Needless to say, she was astonished and remained in a state of light-bliss for a while(that is the only way I can explain it for now). This, I can say, is more than likely the way the Buddha's true religion was transmitted. Some people who met him felt the presence of Mind animating them, becoming in sync with him, so to speak; others did not. It is quite an event, needless to say. It goes to prove what I said earlier about true religion which is not, incidentally, about acquiring a new belief, but about directly experiencing the animative power of life itself which, intrinsically, we are. 
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| Romney's religion isn't an asset. No religion is. Posted: 06 Sep 2012 09:01 PM PDT Nice people are just that: nice. Good people are just that: good. Compassionate people are just that: compassionate. There's no need to ascribe their niceness, goodness, or compassion to their religiosity, as Jack Roberts did in an opinion piece, "Romney's religion should be an asset, not a liability," in today's Portland Oregonian. I say this as a non-Mormon who from my Mormon friends has gained a deep appreciation for the positive values that church imparts to its members -- chief among them their obligation to provide support and charity for others. I could never join that church myself because their beliefs are not my beliefs, but I am convinced that every community benefits by having more people with the personal qualities most of the Mormons I know exhibit. Well, it's nice to know that the Mormons Jack Roberts is familiar with are nice, good, compassionate people. But if you read some of the comments on the Oregonian article, it'll be clear (and utterly non-surprising) that some Mormons are jerks. Most of my friends and acquaintances are either atheists or non-Christians. They have lots of positive qualities. I can pretty much guarantee that they're as nice, good, and compassionate as any bunch of religious people. But I would never claim that their non-belief in God is what makes them so kind and caring. It's irrelevant, really, just as Romney's religion should be when voters assess his qualifications to be president. Roberts quotes from a South Park episode dealing with Mormonism. This is to his credit; thumbs-up to any opinion writer who is able to support his position with a South Park quote. However, I learned from a commenter on his piece that Roberts left out the end of what a Mormon boy said in the South Park episode. Through the magic of Google, I was able to find the script of that show. Here's what the Mormon boy says, in full (I've italicized the part Roberts left out, for understandable editorial reasons). Look, maybe us Mormons do believe in crazy stories that make absolutely no sense, and maybe Joseph Smith did make it all up, but I have a great life. and a great family, and I have the Book of Mormon to thank for that. The truth is, I don't care if Joseph Smith made it all up, because what the church teaches now is loving your family, being nice and helping people. And even though people in this town might think that's stupid, I still choose to believe in it. All I ever did was try to be your friend, Stan, but you're so high and mighty you couldn't look past my religion and just be my friend back. You've got a lot of growing up to do, buddy. Suck my balls. "Suck my balls" humanizes Gary, the Mormon boy. I found his mini-speech annoyingly sanctimonious up to that point. Those three words revealed him to be an appealingly flawed human, just like the rest of us. Still, it's absurd to think that just because the Mormon church encourages its members to love their family, be nice, and help people, this is why Mormons do these things. Non-Mormons do those things also. Non-religious people do those things also. All kinds of people all over the world love their family, are nice, and help people. Jack Roberts needs to realize this. By and large religion doesn't make people better, any more than playing golf, going to college, playing a musical instrument, or doing anything else makes people better. Everything we experience in life, along with our genetic heritage, makes us who we are. Religion is one influence, but by no means the most important influence. Get to know all those nice, caring, compassionate atheists in your community, and you'll understand what I mean. 
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| Romney's religion isn't an asset. No religion is. Posted: 06 Sep 2012 09:00 PM PDT Nice people are just that: nice. Good people are just that: good. Compassionate people are just that: compassionate. There's no need to ascribe their niceness, goodness, or compassion to their religiosity, as Jack Roberts did in an opinion piece, "Romney's religion should be an asset, not a liability," in today's Portland Oregonian. I say this as a non-Mormon who from my Mormon friends has gained a deep appreciation for the positive values that church imparts to its members -- chief among them their obligation to provide support and charity for others. I could never join that church myself because their beliefs are not my beliefs, but I am convinced that every community benefits by having more people with the personal qualities most of the Mormons I know exhibit. Well, it's nice to know that the Mormons Jack Roberts is familiar with are nice, good, compassionate people. But if you read some of the comments on the Oregonian article, it'll be clear (and utterly non-surprising) that some Mormons are jerks. Most of my friends and acquaintances are either atheists or non-Christians. They have lots of positive qualities. I can pretty much guarantee that they're as nice, good, and compassionate as any bunch of religious people. But I would never claim that their non-belief in God is what makes them so kind and caring. It's irrelevant, really, just as Romney's religion should be when voters assess his qualifications to be president. Roberts quotes from a South Park episode dealing with Mormonism. This is to his credit; thumbs-up to any opinion writer who is able to support his position with a South Park quote. However, I learned from a commenter on his piece that Roberts left out the end of what a Mormon boy said in the South Park episode. Through the magic of Google, I was able to find the script of that show. Here's what the Mormon boy says, in full (I've italicized the part Roberts left out, for understandable editorial reasons). Look, maybe us Mormons do believe in crazy stories that make absolutely no sense, and maybe Joseph Smith did make it all up, but I have a great life. and a great family, and I have the Book of Mormon to thank for that. The truth is, I don't care if Joseph Smith made it all up, because what the church teaches now is loving your family, being nice and helping people. And even though people in this town might think that's stupid, I still choose to believe in it. All I ever did was try to be your friend, Stan, but you're so high and mighty you couldn't look past my religion and just be my friend back. You've got a lot of growing up to do, buddy. Suck my balls. "Suck my balls" humanizes Gary, the Mormon boy. I found his mini-speech annoyingly sanctimonious up to that point. Those three words revealed him to be an appealingly flawed human, just like the rest of us. Still, it's absurd to think that just because the Mormon church encourages its members to love their family, be nice, and help people, this is why Mormons do these things. Non-Mormons do those things also. Non-religious people do those things also. All kinds of people all over the world love their family, are nice, and help people. Jack Roberts needs to realize this. By and large religion doesn't make people better, any more than playing golf, going to college, playing a musical instrument, or doing anything else makes people better. Everything we experience in life, along with our genetic heritage, makes us who we are. Religion is one influence, but by no means the most important influence. Get to know all those nice, caring, compassionate atheists in your community, and you'll understand what I mean. 
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| Goddamn it -- "God" is back in Democratic Party platform Posted: 06 Sep 2012 08:00 PM PDT Jeez, I was beginning to think that the Democratic Party to which I belong really was a coven of atheistic religion-haters who got their kicks from burning the Bible while high on illicit drugs (that'd be a good thing, of course). My hopefulness arose from reading that "God" had been dropped from the 2012 Democratic platform. The Christian Broadcast Network reported: Guess what? God's name has been removed from the Democratic National Committee platform.This is the paragraph that was in the 2008 platform: "We need a government that stands up for the hopes, values, and interests of working people, and gives everyone willing to work hard the chance to make the most of their God-given potential." Now the words "God-given" have been removed. The paragraph has been restructured to say this: "We gather to reclaim the basic bargain that built the largest middle class and the most prosperous nation on Earth – the simple principle that in America, hard work should pay off, responsibility should be rewarded, and each one of us should be able to go as far as our talent and drive take us." I much prefer the godless paragraph. It sounds much more American to me. Hard work. Responsibility. Talent. Drive. Those words seem more in tune with our national ethos than "God-given potential." God-given potential? Sounds like whatever we're born with, that's what we're stuck with, because God gave us what we have to work with, and nobody can argue with God. But the Democrats acceded to a request by President Obama to restore "God" to the platform. Well, I watched video of the voice vote at the convention which needed a 2/3 majority to be approved, and it sure sounded to me like an equal number of delegates approved and disaprroved of God in the platform (plus Jerusalem being the capital of Israel). Maybe in 2016 the Dems will hold firm on their godlessness. I'll start praying for that! 
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| Mom's Advanced Age Doesn't Hurt Kids Later in Life Posted: 06 Sep 2012 07:00 PM PDT
Contrary to current thinking, children of older mothers do not appear to be at increased risk of diseases later in life, according to a new study. The results show people born to women 35 to 44 years old were no less healthy in their 40s and 50s than those whose mothers were 25 to 34 when giving birth. In fact, the study found those born to younger mothers ― ages 20-24 ―were at a greater risk of diseases than those born to women ages 25-34. The biggest factors that the research linked to the eventual health of children were the mother's education level and the number of years she lived after giving birth to them. While it is still true that higher maternal age brings a greater risk of miscarriage and conditions such as Trisomy 21, "with respect to adult age, early births appear to be more dangerous for children than late ones," said study researcher Mikko Myrskylä of the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research in Germany. [See Best Age to Raise Kids? Older Parents Say 30s.] Myrskylä and colleagues analyzed information from 18,000 U.S. children and their mothers. On first look, children born to mothers over 35 did appear less healthy as adults than those born to 25- to 34-year-old moms. Over the 10-year study, the children of older moms were more likely to be obese or die. They also rated their overall health as lower, on average. However, after the researchers took into account the mother's education and date of death, people born to moms older than 35 were no more likely to be unhealthy than those of 25- to 34-year-old moms. In other words, the negative effect of advanced maternal age vanished, the researchers said. However, people born to women ages 20-24 suffered from 5 percent more diseases than those born to mothers ages 25-34, the researchers said. The value is even higher — approximately 15 percent — for those born to mothers ages 14-19. The finding that a mom's date of death has a bearing on her children's health could be due to the psychological effects of losing a mother, the researchers said. With increasing life expectancy, the risk of losing a mother at a young age most probably is no longer critical for most children born today, the researchers said. The study was published online Aug. 28 in the journal Demography. Pass it on: A mother's advanced age does not appear to affect her child's health as an adult. Follow MyHealthNewsDaily on Twitter @MyHealth_MHND. We're also on Facebook & Google+. Read More @ Source 
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| Rare Form of Autism Might Benefit from Nutrition Supplement Posted: 06 Sep 2012 06:00 PM PDT
People who have a very rare form of autism may benefit from treatment with a common nutritional supplement, a new study suggests. The results show some people who have symptoms of both autism and epilepsy have a rare genetic mutation that causes them to have abnormally low levels of essential nutrients called branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs). When the researchers fed a diet enriched with BCAAs to mice that were engineered to have that same genetic mutation, the diet completely reversed the symptoms, the researchers said. The mice not fed the enriched diet showed the symptoms of epilepsy and other neurological problems. However, it's not clear whether the findings will translate to people. Because the mutation is so rare, the researchers have not yet studied the effects of adding BCAA supplements to the diet of people with this particular form of autism, and it's possible a change in diet may only be beneficial if started early in life (the patients currently known to have the mutation are no longer young children). Still, the findings suggest there may be other forms of autism with genetic causes that can be treated, "and we need to find them," said study researcher Gaia Novarino, a staff scientist at the University of California, San Diego. Patients could also be screened for the new genetic mutation, or related mutations, to predict whether they will develop the disease, the researchers said. The study is published online today (Sept. 6) in the journal Science. Genetic mutation The researchers analyzed genetic information from individuals in three families of Turkish, Egyptian or Libyan descent, all of whom had children with autism, intellectual disability, and either seizures or abnormal brain wave activity. The families were consanguineous, meaning the parents were closely related by blood. (Children of closely related individuals are known to be at increased risk for genetic disorders.) Six of the children had mutations in a gene called BCKDK. In contrast, none of the 200 healthy people tested for the study had the mutation. The result of this mutation is that the body breaks down BCAAs more rapidly than normal. Indeed, the children in the study with the mutation all had below-normal BCAA levels. Their BCAA levels could be increased without ill effects by providing them with BCAA supplements bought from a health food store, the researchers said. The researchers next need to study whether the patients' seizures and autism symptoms improve with the nutritional supplement, a process that could take some time. They will need to find more people with this mutation in order for their study to have scientifically meaningful results. Potential treatment "It's really encouraging from the point of view of treatment," said Valerie Hu, a professor of biochemistry and molecular biology at George Washington University, who researches the genetics of autism and was not involved in the study. "It shows that some forms of autism ... [are] a result of some metabolic dysfunction," Hu said. Hu said that, as a mother of a child with autism, the search for a cure often can seem hopeless. "When you think that this disorder is a result of faulty brain development, what are you going to do about that?" Hu said. But if studies show that some types of autism are due to metabolic abnormities, it makes sense that correcting such abnormities could improve symptoms, Hu said. The UC San Diego researchers suspect the BCKDK mutation causes both seizures and neurological problems. It's possible that because levels of BCAAs are low, a higher concentration of other amino acids find their way into the brain and cause problems, the researchers said. Finding that a mental condition is caused by a metabolic problem is not unprecedented. The condition phenylketonuria, or PKU, occurs when the body cannot properly break down the amino acid phenylalanine. Levels of this amino acid can build up and cause brain damage — leading to symptoms such as seizures and mental retardation, according to the National Institutes of Health. The condition is treatable if children follow a strict diet with low levels of phenylalanine. Pass it on: One type of autism caused by a rare genetic mutation may be treatable. Follow Rachael Rettner on Twitter @RachaelRettner, or MyHealthNewsDaily @MyHealth_MHND. We're also on Facebook & Google+. Read More @ Source 
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