Topic: GRAYLL [IEO] Simple Automated Investment App Driven by AI & ML - page 11. (Read 7950 times)

Our bodies have evolved what can be seen as a highly refined and complex internal clock. Our bodies natural functions continue automatically in an elegant cycle that paces gently over each 24 hour window. When our circadian rhythms are working optimally, our hormones signal shifts at just the right moments — altering our body temperature, making us more alert during the day, and allowing us to shut down for maintenance at night. Those who experience insomnia, work shifts, or burn the candle at both ends, will experience the sensation of a circadian rhythm out of step. This comes with a feeling of jet lag that lingers without travel, and all of the negative knock-on effects that come with inadequate sleep. Artfully, our circadian rhythms are triggered by natural light, so getting outside more often can help us re-set our internal clocks.

Spring might be just around the corner, but for the one in five of us that may suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder — or SAD for short — stimulating the circadian rhythm and spending time basking under natural light can be transformative. For those who experience SAD, the darker months interfere with interactions within the hypothalamus. A drop in serotonin leads to the experience of depression, while excessive melatonin production can cause a sense of lethargy that is hard to shake off. The more natural light stimulation those who experience SAD can provide for themselves, the better they are likely to fare.




Our hectic modern lifestyles tend to leave us grappling with stress on a daily basis. Fascinatingly, research conducted by Yoshifumi Miyazaki of Chiba University, Japan, indicated that only 15 minutes walking in the woods can provide measurable changes in our physiology. When he compared test subjects who walked in the woods to those who walked in the city, he found that the forest walkers exhibited a 16% drop in the stress hormone cortisol. These woodland wanderers also enjoyed a 4% drop in heart rate, and a 2% drop in blood pressure. Miyazaki believes that this is indeed evolution at play, arguing that our bodies adapted to respond to the stunning natural environments in which most of our evolution took place. We are simply not attuned to reap these same rewards from a brick, steel, and concrete environment.



For some of the benefits nature has to offer, we might do well to get a little more hands-on than simply venturing out amongst the trees. You’ve probably heard a green fingered friend waxing lyrical about the therapeutic benefits of gardening, but you might not have realised that there is a chemical interaction at play! Studies indicate that microbes called Mycobacterium Vaccae, found within the soil, co-evolved with us, and serve to signal the shut off of inflammatory cascades within the body, while guarding against a number of mental health issues, including stress, depression and anxiety. These note-worthy impacts have earned these microbes the nickname “nature’s Prozac” — with the added boast of none of the side-effects that medications can bring with them. Of course, modern medicine provides hugely valuable benefits to people all over the world, but it’s nice to know that mother nature has a few tricks up her sleeve too!




In truth, we don’t all have immediate access to a forest environment, or a veg patch for that matter. Luckily, many of the benefits of nature immersion can be gained from taking a time-out in your nearest park or green environment. A team of Dutch researchers found that urban dwellers who lived within half a mile of green space exhibited lower incidences of a variety of diseases. Those included heart disease, diabetes, asthma, depression, anxiety and migraines. Similar research from the city of Toronto found that those who lived in tree-lined areas of the city displayed a boost in metabolic and heart health that would normally be associated with a $20,000 increase in income! While gaining that hefty income bump might well be high on your agenda, why not maximise your well-being gains by getting out into nature now?




What does happiness really look like? It’s a question that philosophers and scientists have probed for centuries. The answers uncovered tend to be varied and complex — but, no doubt both happiness health are vital elements within the realisation of prosperity! The vision behind GRAYLL is to provide people with financial freedom, as part of a holistic move towards such prosperity. The GRAYLL team is creating a user friendly App that harnesses AI to deliver exponential profits to it’s users — making digital investments and wealth creation accessible to everybody. Exploring the shifts in practice and mindset required to achieve health, wealth and happiness — and a full-spectrum life experience — is an important part of the GRAYLL journey.
Join the adventure, and tap into a community of people who are seeking success from a larger perspective!

Learn More About Finance & Economics to Improve Your Situation

Those of us who take an interest in well-being often go to considerable lengths to master improving our mental and physical health. Whether it’s a colourful array of supplements, a meditation schedule, or an advanced yoga class, seeking out that which can enhance our human experience is a popular pursuit! What we sometimes fail to acknowledge, however, is that we have thousands of years of evolution under our belt, and sometimes the answers we seek aren’t to be found in a book or bottle, but in something far more earthly.

If we turn our eyes to the East, we can discover a popular Japanese health practice called Shinrin-yoku, which translates as “forest bathing”. The practice rose to popularity in the 80s as a means to keep burnout at bay for busy professionals, and has become a cornerstone of preventative health care — so much so that doctors even prescribe it! Given that the average Brit or American spends around 90% of their life indoors, you have to wonder what we in the West might be missing out on, and what well-being insights the Japanese might be gaining — all without paying for the privilege.




Advocates of Shinrin-yoku recognized the extraordinary plethora of benefits that time spent within the forest could provide. Those who practice it only need walk, sit, or lie in an immersive natural environment to tap into that which the outdoors has to offer. Effects such as improved focus and memory, reduced inflammation, increased energy levels, and better sleep quality are all, of course, highly desirable! Scientists fascinated by the evident reward of Shinrin-yoku began exploring to try to understand how slipping into nature works it’s magic. There is no doubt that if such a diversity of properties could be bottled in a single product, we would all be clamouring to buy it!



Researchers identified that there is much to stimulate and recharge our immune systems in an unfettered natural environment. Our bodies require interaction with a vast array of bacteria in order to develop robust immunity. If we spend our time ensconced within a sterile environment, our capacity to fight off microscopic hostile invaders will not be at it’s best! The plethora of bacterium to be found in a wild environment, it would seem, are our allies rather than foes, triggering positive activity within our bodies. Within a luscious and leafy space, there is yet more to be gained: chemicals secreted by many trees and plants, called Phytoncides, further stimulate our immune system, triggering a wealth of well-being rewards.




A study from Michigan University found that our ability to remember and focus seem to be enhanced by time spent walking within nature. Melanie Rudd from Stanford University put forward an enchanting theory on why this may happen. She proposed that it is the feeling of awe that we experience when we behold natural beauty, and experience it’s many stimulations, that helps us make better mental connections. She concluded that experiencing immersive awe expands human perception of time, while enhancing our overall well-being. Her research also led her to believe that it causes us to be less materialistic, and more altruistic. Behavioural changes that are certain to enhance our sense of happiness.

A cognitive psychologist at the University of Utah, David Strayer, revealed a little more of what may be providing the mental boost of Shinrin-yoku. By monitoring the brain activity of students on a wilderness trip in Utah, he observed that time in nature allows our prefrontal cortex — the brain’s command centre if you will — to dial down for rest and recovery. When he compared EEG results between the wilderness participants and students left back in the city, he found that the midline frontal theta waves became far more muted in the nature group. These are considered a measure of sustained concentration, so the idea that a walk on the wild side offers the perfect remedy for burnout begins to make more sense!

According to Buddhist teachings, reflections on death and impermanence play a central role in the quest for enlightenment. Within this perspective, all suffering is believed to come from our failure to connect with our true selves. By contemplating death, and accepting that we may die at any moment, we become better able to move past ego, and live each moment with true presence. These sentiments are beautifully echoed in the Japanese concept of Wabi Sabi, which defines an outlook, and an aesthetic. Wabi Sabi celebrates that beauty is transient in nature — that it is “imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete”. The temporary nature of our reality, from the perspective of Wabi Sabi, is in essence beautiful.




Another trend is taking off in the United States. The Death Positivity Movement is driven by the concept that discussing death can provide great value to the living, through greater perspective, liberation, and the shedding of fear. The movement has taken shape in the form of book groups, events, and so called “Death Cafes”, where people meet to discuss mortality over coffee and cake! Participants have expressed a sense of therapeutic value in exercises such as writing an obituary for themselves, or staging their own funeral.

A new profession has also sprung up in the form of Death Doulas, who aid those who are close to death, much as a conventional Doula would aid in the process of birth. Where death has historically been a deeply taboo topic in the West, perhaps these new trends indicate a more constructive perspective on the end of life that may help people process emotions linked to their own mortality, or the loss of loved ones.

“It’s only when we truly know and understand that we have a limited time on earth — and that we have no way of knowing when our time is up — that we will begin to live each day to the fullest, as if it was the only one we had.” — Elisabeth Kubler-Ross




New Orleans artist Candy Chang experienced a long period of deep grief after the loss of a friend, until, in 2011, she decided to turn her hurt into art. On the wall of an abandoned house she created a giant chalk board, and filled it, over and over, with the line: “Before I die, I want to….”. Upon each line, the words were followed by a blank space for passers-by to fill in. To her astonishment, every line on the wall was filled by the next day, with every emotion from longing to pain; from joy to insecurity; from gratitude, though to fear, and wonder. Chang began to see her community in an entirely different way, and realised that she was not alone. Local people began to maintain the wall, connecting in new and unexpected ways, and crime even fell in the area!

Today, there are more than 5,000 Before I Die walls all around the world. When it comes to what people wrote, some of Chang’s favorite examples include: “Before I die I want to be someone’s cavalry.” (New Orleans, USA), “Before I die I want to stop being afraid.” (Jerusalem, Israel), and “Before I die I want to stare at the stars with the people I love.” (Pohang City, South Korea). After the project became a viral phenomena, Chang reflected that: “Preparing for death is one of the most empowering things you can do. Thinking about death clarifies your life.”

 


Stepping out of the ingrained tendencies of our death denying culture might just be the best way to up our game — as it were — and live our lives with greater intention. Of course, dwelling on death indefinitely will not serve us well, but working to cultivate a mindful revere for our transient state may help us to live in the present moment, and let go of the small stuff! Time spent with loved ones, daring to do the things we dream of, and shedding the trivial, all require illumination when we loose sight of ourselves. Recognizing the finite nature of our time within this life is, perhaps, just the ticket to help us draw focus on what really matters.

 

Getting to grips with our own mortality may well mean making time spent on the things we care about a priority. Having the financial freedom to pursue the life we dream of is the vision that led the GRAYLL team to develop our revolutionary App. GRAYLL harnesses the power of AI to deliver exponential profits to it’s users — making wealth creation without time investment accessible to everybody. An exciting GRAYLL community began to take shape, and is growing every day — filled with those who believe in exploring innovative ways to achieve health, wealth, and happiness. Join GRAYLL on it’s journey, connect with like-minded people, and begin building a life of true intention!

For most of us, death and dying are not easy topics to discuss or think about. While the desire to live is logical — a natural survival instinct, shared with most of life on earth — are we doing ourselves a disservice by not examining the reality of our own mortality? Many will have come across a story in which someone or another experienced something that brought them very close to death. While trauma can induce a variety of negative effects, we also know that many who’ve had a brush with the reaper find extraordinary new purpose and meaning within their lives!

“Death is the destination we all share; no one has ever escaped it. Death is very likely the single best invention of life. It is life’s change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new.” ― Steve Jobs

Of course, a life threatening moment is not something that we tend to aspire to. However, is it possible that by becoming more familiar with the thought of death, we could be more able to live our best lives now? Fascinatingly, cultural perceptions of death around the world are varied, and new attitudes to death on the rise. Perhaps, by sitting alongside this usually-taboo subject, we can learn a thing or two about prospering in the land of the living.

Death Traditions From Around The World


Those of us existing within the Western cultural bubble can easily forget that some of life’s great fundamentals — such as the rituals of death — can be very different within other cultures! In Tana Toraja, Indonesia, the dead are venerated in a festival called Ma’nene. For this celebration, families remove the remains of their most revered ancestors from their coffins, and clean and dress them. The exuded relatives may be carried as part of a vibrant procession, before being returned to their resting place once festivities are over.

In Ghana, funerals are a huge affair, often costing far more than weddings. Within the Greater Accra Region of the country, it is customary for specialist carpenters to create lavish and brightly coloured coffins, known as fantasy coffins, or proverbial coffins (abebuu adekai). These crafted vessels reflect the life of the person they will contain, and may come in the form of objects such as cars, food items, animals, tools, or even a giant cigarette carton! In Japan, the dead are celebrated annually in the three day festival of Obon. Within Japanese culture, while those lost are mourned, death is considered a liberation.

“That it will never come again is what makes life so sweet.”— Emily Dickinson


In mainland China, Taiwan, Japan, and Korea, the number four is associated with death because of the way the words are pronounced. Because of this, the number is often avoided in hospitals, airports and hotels. Buildings may omit the 4th floor, the 14th, 24th — and so on — or substitute the number “4” with the letter “F”. In South Korea, a huge trend has caught on to have the ashes of loved ones compressed into beads that can be displayed in the home. Many companies around the world are capitalizing on this sort of concept, even offering the means to subject ashes to high enough pressure and temperature that gemstones are created from loved ones’ remains. Within Western cultures, cremation only became normalized in the 1970s. We have to wonder, what will be the next trend?

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The cost of ICT, geopolitical factors, economic factors, social, and geographical differences all come into play when we consider why such digital divides exist. The term “Facebook Divide” was even coined to describe demographics who do, or don’t, have access to the giant social media network! Arguments for bridging the digital divide include generating greater economic equality, improving social mobility, the forging of healthy democracy, and the potential to stimulate greater economic growth. Certainly, technological advancements historically drive cultural shifts. When we imagine the ways that innovations such as automobiles, radio, television, and air travel expanded our access to and understanding of different cultures, each seems monumental, and yet each pales in comparison to the potential held within the internet.

The Bamboo Ceiling, And Other Cultural Barriers

Within multi-cultural societies, fascinating new vocabularies are appearing to facilitate the break down of cultural divides. While the gender gap let to the adoption of the term “glass ceiling”, author Jane Hyun coined the term “bamboo ceiling” to address the barriers faced by Asian Americans in the work place. Haley Yeates discussed this concept in her 2017 Ted talk on cultural diversity. Born in South Korea, and adopted into an Australian family as a baby, Yeates’ experience working as a communications professional led her to explore issues impacting cross-cultural collaboration. She noted that a McKinsey study looking at over 300 multinational companies found that those performing in the top quarter for ethnic diversity were 35% more likely to have financial returns above their competitors!


Yeates’ research led her to conclude that culturally diverse teams were more likely to draw realistic conclusions, and more likely to deliver innovation. She also noted that within increasingly global societies, diversity in business better reflects today’s customer bases. She shared that breaking down so called “ceilings”, bamboo or otherwise, means that employees can bring their whole selves to work, fostering a stronger dynamic for everyone. So, if multiculturalism is good for business, can we apply the same logic and strategies to all areas of the human experience?

Bridging Cultural Divides

When different cultural elements meet, our capacity to understand and accept our differences
will be key when it comes to building bridges that unite. The continued improvement of translation tools, paired with greater access to global information, communication, and business resources are certain to elevate cultural collaboration across local and international barriers. The expanding remote work marketplace also suggests exciting potential for improved social mobility and opportunity, without geographical restriction.

Paradoxically, while businesses and educational bodies are exploring ways to harness multiculturalism, and greater connection is increasing cross-cultural understanding, technology is also being harnessed to plant seeds of division and mistrust within the political arena. It would seem that our societies still have some growing up to do — hopefully our global community is an infant that is set to blossom into adult hood, in the not-too-distant future.


Tim Rettig, author of Struggling Forward: Embrace The Struggle. Achieve Your Dreams, described intercultural empathy as one of the key skills needed to develop real understanding across cultures. He described this as consisting across three dimensions: the capacity to empathise cognitively, emotionally, and behaviourally. This means the capacity to tap into another person’s perspective, to imagine feeling as they do, and to be able to act in a way that demonstrates we understand and care about that person’s experience. If information is the key to understanding, then surely technology will have an indispensable role to play. Ultimately, the result of cross-cultural understanding is not homogeneity, but strength in diversity. What could possibly make collaboration more exciting?

The cities of today are thrumming multi-cultural hubs, loaded with creativity, and human complexity. Meanwhile, migration is steadily on the rise. Technological innovation has brought us all closer together, through the wonders of the World Wide Web, and affordable air travel. When we set these monumental leaps against a backdrop of a global population that has doubled in the last 50 years alone, it is impossible not to wonder how we will adapt to our quickly evolving shared existence on the planet we all call home. Despite the many challenges that humanity faces, a bounty of potential waits to be harnessed, if we can expand our capacity to embrace each other, and work together within this new global era.

A Population On The Move

As our planet’s population creeps towards 7.8 billion, migration has for the first time began to outpace population growth. According to the UN’s Department of Economic and Social Affairs, some 272 million people — around 3.5% of the world’s population — make up this statistic. Conflicts, climate change, and political instability drive the displacement of refugees and asylum seekers, which are estimated to account for around 10% of migrants world wide. Most people migrate for work, while international students are on the up thanks to increasing education opportunities abroad. Climate related challenges such as water shortages, crop fluctuations, and rising sea levels are expected to increase displacements further yet into the future.



Upwards trends in movement between populations certainly pose complex issues, but perhaps not in the ways you might expect. Further research from the UN revealed that migration can benefit economies, raising GDP and easing pressure on pension systems. Large population influxes can put stress on social infrastructure, such as health care, education and housing, although data suggests that taxes paid by migrants largely pay for the services they use. Meanwhile, studies suggest that many countries are seeing statistical drops in crime rates alongside influxes of migrants, including in the US and Germany. As we look to the future, migration is a hot-button topic that elicits a broad range of reactions around the world. Fundamentally, the modern experience in terms of both population and migration is in it’s infancy. Aspiring to foster greater understanding and cooperation between cultures is a highly relevant pursuit, that is certain to be necessary as we move into the future!

The Digital Divide

Many may have experienced the fascination of watching a teenager communicate with others all around the world through an online gaming platform. For older generations, this cultural interconnectivity is both exciting, and extraordinary to behold! For those of us who enjoy unfettered access to such technology, it can be easy to assume that we are connected to the world’s many cultures in equal measures, but this is not yet the case. The term “digital divide” describes the gulf between those who have ready access to computers and the Internet, and those who do not.

You Already Know How To Grow Through Failure

Failure is hard — it can be painful, and even life-altering — but braving the peril of failure is woven into the fabric of our very culture. In order to realise all the great innovations that built our modern life experience, there were no doubt many more failures serving as stepping stones in our collective journey. In truth, the capacity to fail, learn, and try again, is something we are born with. Each small child tries and fails countless times before they take their first wobbly steps. Children play with making sounds endlessly until they begin to form words and master communication. For those of us who have lost touch with the courage to be bold, all that is required is to remember!

“Why would I feel like a failure? And why would I ever give up? I now know definitely over 9,000 ways an electric lightbulb will not work. Success is almost in my grasp.” — Thomas Edison


Perhaps the perfect lesson to look to is that provided by Thomas Edison — the inventor of the lightbulb — who offered a beautiful perspective on the difference between failing, and being a failure. For Edision, more than 10,000 attempts were required before he successfully created the first commercially viable electric lightbulb. Completely un-phased by the challenge, he didn’t give up on his quest. At the 9,000 attempts mark, a journalist asked Edison if he should admit defeat, to which he simply replied: “Why would I feel like a failure? And why would I ever give up? I now know definitely over 9,000 ways an electric lightbulb will not work. Success is almost in my grasp.” Edison went on to become one of the most phenomenal innovators in history, patenting more than 1,000 ideas within his lifetime.

Shed Your Fear To Pursue Passion Over Mediocrity

Larry Smith, a professor of economics at the University of Waterloo in Canada, has a great passion for helping students to find careers that ignite their passion. In his view, passion really is the key concept. In a 2011 Ted Talk, he instructs his audience to find the courage to pursue their dreams unfalteringly. He argues that while many of us settle for a life dedicated to things that interest us, we should not settle for a mediocre “interest”, but strive to discover our destiny. He explains that finding the thing that unleashes our potential — our highest capacity for success — will require the pursuit of many interests, and many failed attempts. This, he shares, is always a better path than risking looking back on our life with the thought “If only I had…”

[/i]“One of the biggest secrets to success is operating inside your strength zone but outside of your comfort zone.”[/i] — Ralph Heath


In fact, this concept applies to all areas of life — not just the professional realm. If only I had… Taken that trip? Told her I loved her? Believed I deserved it? Learning to dip into fear as a means to a rewarding life is a process that requires work, and — would you know it — requires risk of failure too. Ralph Heath, author of Celebrating Failure: The Power of Taking Risks, Making Mistakes and Thinking Big, defines the zone in which the magic happens most eloquently: “One of the biggest secrets to success is operating inside your strength zone but outside of your comfort zone.”

This clarifying insight pulls everything together quite succinctly. Through our successes, we discover our strengths, but in our failures we find the means to expand our comfort zone — often in directions that we might never have imagined. This golden window is where we are most likely to discover real passion, and realise true prosperity. So, don’t look at failure as a self-defining experience. See it instead as evidence of your quest towards destiny!

YExpand Your Horizons With GRAYLL


The courage to innovate is born out of a willingness to leap into life and grasp each new learning experience. When we are bold, and shed self-limiting beliefs, we are better able to achieve our true potential! Such innovative thinking is what led the team behind GRAYLL to develop the revolutionary algorithms that drive the GRAYLL App & System. Our vision was to create something that was the first of it’s kind — a user friendly App that harnesses advanced capabilities of AI to deliver exponential profits to it’s users — making digital investments and wealth creation accessible to everybody. We believe in exploring the shifts in practice and mindset required to achieve health, wealth and happiness. Join the GRAYLL journey, and tap into a community of people who are seeking success in all areas of life!

When you were a little kid, and someone asked what you wanted to be when you grew up, what was your go-to answer? Of course, your fantasy future might have transformed a little since then, but there’s a lesson to be found in the passionate perspective of that young mind! As adults, the pressure we put upon ourselves to succeed in life can sometimes lead to an unhelpful sort of paralysis. More often than not, we become conditioned to choose safety over risk. Perhaps a parent or school teacher discouraged our youthful dreams to be a firefighter, or a magician, and we grabbed hold of the idea that growing up meant choosing the path of least resistance.

“I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.” — Michael Jordan


Don’t get me wrong — security is phenomenally important when it comes to human prosperity — but at times it must be balanced against the great reward of satisfaction. Pursuing a life of passion, and of purpose, is the surest way to tap into the highest expression of your potential talent. An old Chinese proverb tells us that “failure is the mother of success”, so what happens if we tip the scales a little, and take a gamble for greatness?

Success Is Not The Greatest Teacher

When we experience success — whether it’s a great response to a project, a promotion, or a raise — we are right to celebrate our moment of triumph. However, it’s important to recognise that a direct route to success often involves a helping of luck. In contrast, when we fail, we are presented with a lens under which we can examine powerful life lessons. In failing, we discover humility, wisdom, perspective and realism. We have the chance to reflect on the validity of our course, and adjust it for the betterment of our future selves.7

“It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all, in which case you have failed by default.” — J.K. Rowling


A vast number of hugely successful individuals failed many times in pursuit of their passion, before becoming the much glamourised icon we now recognise. J.K. Rowling’s story is a prime example of such a tale: She first envisioned the story of Harry Potter while sitting on a train. Over the next seven years, she struggled with bereavement, divorce, poverty, and unemployment, while gradually writing her first manuscript. No less than twelve major publishing houses turned Harry Potter down, but Rowling didn’t give up. The then-small publishers, Bloomsbury, picked up the book for a meagre £1500 advance, and made an initial print run of only 1000 copies. Rowling’s courage and determination in the face of failure paid off — within a year the novel was winning awards, and Rowling was to go on to sell more than 400 million copies of her books around the world!

Powering Us Towards Greater Achievement


Many of us like to have a cup of coffee before we sit down and get stuck into a task. The caffeine within each cup helps us out by acting as a molecular mimic. It fills and blocks the receptors of adenosine, a chemical within the body that normally promotes sleep. Just as seeing a cup of coffee can make areas of our brain light up, a study from the Stevens Institute Of Study found that only smelling a cup of joe helped test subjects perform better at analytical tasks, such as solving maths problems.

Another intriguing study from Ohio State University found that coffee enhanced people’s capacity to work well within a team. Unsurprisingly, participants who hit the java were more alert. However, they were also more on topic, and talked more actively with their team mates. Their attitude underwent an adjustment too, with coffee drinkers giving more positive reviews of the group’s performance, and feeling more confident about their own performance as well.

Helping Us Towards Our Fitness Goals


For those already struggling to keep up your New Year fitness resolutions — you’re probably going to like this one. A study from the University of Kent identified coffee as a helpful assistant for helping us stick to our activity commitments. One of the greatest barriers to fitness is physical exertion, and our perception of the effort we have to undertake. The research revealed that coffee consumption can reduce how much we feel the struggle, which might help us stay on track with greater ease.

Alongside helping us stay staying active, a study from the University of Nottingham suggested that coffee has the power to aid in weight management. The human body holds two different types of fat. The first — brown adipose tissue — is found in higher volumes in babies, while adults have less. The second — white adipose tissue — is the one that many adults today struggle with having too much of, in the form of stored excess calories. Brown fat performs a unique function, generating body heat by burning sugar and fat, and regulating those substances within the blood. The researchers found that drinking coffee directly stimulates brown fat activity, increasing the consumer’s metabolic rate. Their work continues, with the hope of trying to harness this mechanism in the fight against obesity.

Adding Length To Our Life-Spans


Coffee has been associated with a slew of health benefits, from reduced risk of diabetes, stroke, respiratory illness, kidney and liver disease, to improved heart health. This might be why coffee drinkers seem to live longer. Research from the University Of Southern California found that people who drink one cup of joe a day were 12% less likely to die than their coffee-phobic counterparts, while drinkers of two to three cups a day were 18% less likely to meet their maker. Coffee’s rep. has not always been rosy, with some studies tying it’s consumption to increased risks of a small number of cancers. One body of research, that suggested extreme coffee consumption — twenty-five cups a day or more! — could cause hardening of the arteries, has now been reported as debunked by the British Heart Association, following much more extensive research.

The vast array of antioxidants and phenolic compounds within the beverage might point to some of those positive effects, including the reduced risk of several other types of cancer. In that particular area, the jury is still out, as concrete evidence of cancer-countering properties have been demonstrated in animals, but not yet in humans. Direct disease prevention has been revealed when it comes to fighting Parkinson’s disease. Scientists from Rutgers University identified that coffee contains a disease-slowing duo in the form of caffeine and EHT (Eicosanoyl-5-hydroxytryptamide), a fatty acid derivative of the neurotransmitter serotonin, found in the waxy coating of coffee beans. These two sidekicks tag team to slow the progression of Parkinson’s. Studies in Sweden and the US also appeared to indicate that a fairly heavy coffee habit — six cups or more each day — could reduce the risk, or slow the progression, of Multiple Sclerosis.

Stimulation For The Mind With GRAYLL


For a lot of us, coffee is a part of our tool-kit for being at our best. If coffee’s not your favourite go-to when you need a boost, which food, drink, supplement, or practice would you not want to go without?

The team behind GRAYLL are always exploring for tips and tricks that will make prosperity more accessible. This quest ties in perfectly with their vision to create an App that makes wealth creation easy and simple for everyone. The GRAYLL App allows users to make digital investments, from as little as $10. It uses AI technology to achieve exponential profits and higher than average returns. Expand your capital and enhance your life experience with GRAYLL — and make every day count! Now, we’re off to put on the coffee…

For the coffee lovers of the world, there’s nothing quite like the smell of a fresh brewed pot in the morning. We all associate coffee with it’s ability to help us wake up and face the day, or push us through that late-night work session, but what is it that makes us all so passionate about that cup of joe, and what exactly is it doing to our bodies? While we have a fairly strong grasp, of the stimulating super-powers of caffeine, there is a lot more to this world-prized beverage. Coffee contains over 1000 chemical compounds, and we are only really beginning to scratch the surface of what they all do for us.

Coffee is a mindbogglingly popular drink — it ranks as the second most valuable commodity in the world, second only to crude oil! Our global coffee habit is valued at more than 100 billion dollars annually, which is probably why scientist are on the case to understand it better. Their continuing curiosity about the beautiful bean is gradually shedding light on why coffee holds such a special place in our hearts, and why so many of us can’t imagine life without it.

Why Is A Good Cup Of Coffee So Irresistible?



The origins of our adoration for this black, bitter drink are a little tricky to trace. The coffee plant is native to Ethiopia and Sudan, although the first evidence we have of people preparing and drinking it as we do today — using roasted and ground beans — carries us back to 15th century Sufi shrines, in modern-day Yemen, where the drink was prepared ritualistically. From there, trade took the bean to Persia, Turkey, northern Africa, into Europe, and on to the rest of the world. Ironically, science suggests we’re not supposed to like it. Bitter compounds in nature usually serve to deter animals from consuming things — suggesting that they are not safe to eat — but the distinctive bitter flavour of coffee seems to have the opposite impact. So, how did that come about?

Scientists from Northwestern University, Illinois, discovered that our affection for java is genetic, but not in the way they first imagined. They began by looking for taste genes that could distinguish the coffee lover from the coffee loather, but instead discovered a different genetic factor was at play. In fact, it is our genetic predisposition towards the psychoactive properties of coffee that leave us hankering for our morning espresso. Our brains quickly learn to associate that unique bitter flavour with the way the coffee makes us feel, rather than how good or bad it tastes. There is something to our capacity to taste that bitter flavour however. The researchers found that out of those who were inclined to the mind-altering impacts of coffee, the ones who could taste the bitterness more were even more likely to get attached to the stuff. That’s a powerful case of craving by association!

The Coffee Doesn’t Even Need to Pass Our Lips For Us To Feel The Effects


Those with a passion for the coffee-kick experience more changes within their bodies than the caffeine buzz, and the associated addiction that can come with it. Our drive to seek out a cup of the good stuff leads us to develop an enhanced capacity to sniff coffee out. A study from the University of Portsmouth revealed that habitual coffee drinkers can detect the smell of coffee more easily, and with greater speed, than those who don’t drink it regularly. What’s more, the greater their craving grew, the stronger their ability to detect the coffee odour became!

A team from the University of Toronto discovered that coffee drinkers experience a change in brain activity when they are simply reminded of the drink. Have you ever seen someone drinking coffee in a movie late at night, and then found yourself fighting the urge to put on the coffee pot? So powerful is our response to coffee that an external cue will fire up certain areas of our brain. In this sense, coffee is considered a primer — just thinking about it can trigger arousal and alertness.