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Bribe yourself to better fitness

You look at the mirror and spot a couple of things you’d like to improve. Some of them, you can’t do much about. Then your eyes fall on those couple of extra pounds of fat persistently hanging around your body, refusing to melt away on their own.

So you decide to hit the gym.

You stick your hands into your metaphorical pockets and pay for a full year in advance. You’re determined to commit and to reach your goals!

Here’s the problem.

As you get closer to the gym, you see this huge mountain of failure looming in front of you. It reminds you of all the times you started out, splurged on a membership, and then just quit a couple of sessions later.

Soon, your motivation runs out and you’ve got every reason in the book for skipping this workout… and then the next… and so on.

What gives?

If “looking hot and being fit” isn’t motivation enough, what’s it gonna take to finally drag you to the gym and get you working out without dropping out?

Research from the University of California seems to suggest that a little bribe could do the trick!

Study shows money makes for a great fitness motivator

Two researchers (Charness, Gneezy) took a group of university students and split them into 3 groups. None of these students exercised regularly.

The first group was given a handout explaining the benefits of exercise.

The second group was given the handout, and $25 to attend the gym once in a week.

The third group was given the handout, the $25, and an additional $100 to attend the gym eight more time over the following four weeks.

The results? The group three students who received the additional $100, kept showing up for the required gym sessions. The other groups dropped out.

But the surprising thing is that group three students kept showing up at the gym, even after they had completed the number of visits they had been paid for!

Instant rewards can keep you showing up till you build the habit

Exercising is a habit. And like any other habit, it takes repetition to build. The problem with exercising is that the rewards aren’t immediately visible. You go to the gym, you work out like a beast, but you’ve got nothing to show for it right away. So your brain thinks, “Nah… not fun” and convinces you to quit.

The “bribe” does two things.

  1. It gives you an instant reward that you already associate with compensation for hard work
  2. It keeps you showing up long enough for you to develop a habit.

You can start using this hack right now to get fit

Here’s how you can apply this.

  1. Find a good friend, a family member or someone you trust. Explain that you plan to hit the gym for 8 weeks, once a week.
  2. Agree on an amount of money that you consider significant without being exaggerated — 10% of your monthly salary should do.
  3. Then, get them to pay you for each workout.

So, if you gave them $200 and you’ve committed to 8 weekly sessions, they will pay you $25 per session. If you don’t fulfill your end of the deal, you lose the money.

For some extra motivation, you could put aside the money you’ve earned and re-invest it into training gear.

Remember, all it takes to build a habit is repetition. If you manage to keep showing up during the first few times, you massively increase your chances that the habit will stick.

Bibliography

Charness, G., & Gneezy, U. Incentives to Exercise. SSRN Journal SSRN Electronic Journal. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.905026

How Jolts Cured a Boy’s Chronic Cough

Boy suffering from severe, chronic cough misses 113 days of school and is admitted to hospital 25 times in 14 months

Over the past century, science and technology have made tremendous discoveries in the fields of health and medicine. The human body on its own is an intricate machine, but when the mind is thrown into the equation, matters become even more complex.

The following study (Alexander et al, 1973) deals with the case of a 15-year-old boy suffering from a chronic coughing that was ruining his life.

Within the space of 14 months, he is admitted to hospital 25 times (nearly twice a month), and 8 times to hospital emergency rooms. He also misses a total of 113 days of school and the coughing is sometimes so severe he loses consciousness.

Finally, he is admitted to the Children’s Asthma Research Institute and Hospital (CARIH). Despite the severity of his condition, doctors cannot find an organic basis for the cough — there is nothing physically wrong with him.

After 8 months, he seems to have recovered from his condition and is sent back home. But soon, his symptoms return more severe than ever, so he is readmitted to the CARIH.

CARIH team conclude boy’s chronic cough is a psychological condition — Recommend treatment by electric jolt

As they investigate further, the team discover that while the boy’s cough is being triggered by specific scents at home, it has an additional function — it makes the boy the center of attention within the family and is the main mode through which he interacts with his mother.

They conclude the boy’s condition is psychological, so they recommend treatment via electric jolts to help him suppress it.

During the treatment sessions, the boy is made to inhale the scents that are known to trigger his cough and then to suppress his cough for a set number of seconds. If he fails to do so, he receives a noticeable but harmless electric jolt to the forearm.

Boy liberated from urge to cough with just two hours of treatment — Still free of chronic cough 18 months later

At first the boy becomes upset at the treatment but he is reassured by the therapists and continues to cooperate. As he manages to suppress his cough for longer periods, he starts to take pride in his increased control over his condition.

With just two hours of treatment, he manages to suppress it completely, and no longer feels the urge to cough when inhaling the scents that had previously caused him to cough so violently.

Electric Shock vs Coughing

Monthly follow-ups show that 18 months after treatment, the boy is still free of his chronic cough despite having been exposed numerous times to the scents that used to trigger his condition.

Electric Jolts help cure many other cases of compulsive behavior such as scratching and hair pulling

This treatment of compulsive behavior by electric jolts is not a one-off case. For the past century, researchers have been using this method to successfully treat cases of compulsive behavior such as scratching, hand washing and hair pulling.

There are also documented cases of curing habits such as smoking, alcoholism, overeating, and gambling, as well as addictions including the chronic use of marijuana and heroin.

But the big bad list of habits doesn’t end there, and we’re all likely to have a couple of them on our daily roster. It would seem those electric jolts are the key to ridding us of these happiness parasites.

 

Bibliography

Alexander, A. B., Chai, H., Creer, T. L., Miklich, D. R., Renne, C. M., &; Cardoso, R. D. A. (1973). The elimination of chronic cough by response suppression shaping. Journal Of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry, 4(1), 75–80. https://doi.org/10.1016/0005-7916(73)90045-1

Entrepreneur Magazine’s List of 100 brilliant companies – 2015

Tech

Mind Meld

https://www.expectlabs.com/

MindMeld allows companies to add a voice-driven “intelligent assistant” to their apps, specific to product catalogs.

Asus Chromebit

A pocket-sized computer on a stick, priced at less than $100, the Asus Chromebit can turn any display into a full computer, making it an excellent upgrade for an existing desktop and a great tool for schools and businesses.

Saygus

https://www.saygus.com/

Saygus turns the smartphone into the superphone, with wireless HD connection for streaming to your big screen, wireless charging, 3D sound, a 21-megapixel camera and 320GB of storage, plus it’s waterproof.

Ponano

https://www.panono.com/

Toss the Ponano into the air and it will give you a 100-megapixel, 3600 panoramic shot of your surroundings, with you right in the middle it.

Penclic Mouse

https://www.penclic.se/penclic-mus/

A computer mouse that looks, feels and moves like a pen, allowing for a relaxed and natural working position, and less risk of repetitive stress injury.

Atomic

https://epitomical.com/atomic.php

Designed to be a “smartphone in smartwatch clothing”, the Atomic can make and receive calls, text and surf using a separate microSIM card, interact on social networks, and even use apps from the Google App Store.

Biomeme

https://www.biomeme.com/

Biomeme attaches to your iPhone 5, allowing you to analyze DNA in less than an hour, at a fraction of the usual price of DNA testing, and with a system so simple a seven-year-old could use it.

Loopwheels

https://www.loopwheels.com/

Loopwheels reinvents the wheel by adding shock-absorption inside the wheels themselves, making for a smoother ride for bikes, wheelchairs and more.

ilumi

https://ilumi.co/

A smart LED lightbulb that connects to your phone via Bluetooth, tells you when to wake and when to sleep, and creates atmosphere, mood and focus.

Airware’s Aerial Information Platform

https://www.airware.com/aerial-information-platform

A safe and reliable operating system for commercial drones, the Aerial Information Platform allows businesses to manage fleets of commercial drones.

Business Tools

AnyPerk

https://anyperk.com/

AnyPerk enables companies to incentivize their employees via hundreds of products and services nationwide such as discounted gym memberships, restaurant and travel deals, clothing and free movie tickets, that don’t expire and can recur monthly.

AlienVault’s Open Threat Exchange

https://www.alienvault.com/open-threat-exchange

A crowdsourced platform, where small businesses from 140-plus countries monitor and discuss digital risks via the contribution of more than 1 million threat indicators daily.

GroupAhead

https://www.groupahead.com/

With GroupAhead, organizations can build dedicated smartphone apps (no tech skill required) for the exclusive use of their members, allowing them to communicate, schedule events, send reminders and lots more.

ExpenseBot

https://expensebot.com/

Automates expense reporting by collecting credit card transactions, matching them to scanned receipts, and creating a smart expense report for review and approval on the go or via email.

Narrative Science

https://www.narrativescience.com/

Takes big data, spreadsheets and complex visualizations, and transforms them into narratives, which are summaries designed specifically to highlight the data that is important to the specific reader.

Startups.co

https://www.startups.co/

Startups.co help startups get everything for launch, including customers, press, funding and mentors.

Duet Display

https://www.duetdisplay.com/

Duet Display is an app that saves you money and space by turning your iPad into a second monitor for your Mac laptop or desktop.

PCH International

https://www.pchintl.com/

PCH International bridges the gap between idea and production of the final product, including everything from product design engineering and development, manufacturing, packaging and fulfillment, distribution and retail, and ultimately the customer out-of-box experience.

All4Staff

https://all4staff.com/

Allows companies to get rid of paperwork, giving new hires a better first day by using a 100% digital onboarding solution, allowing for easy entry of data, which is saved in a secure 256-bit AES encrypted data center.

TechValidate

https://www.techvalidate.com/

A software platform that creates compelling marketing content, crafted according to data collected via web-based questionnaires optimized for high response rates.

Finance and Capital

Community Sourced Capital

https://www.communitysourcedcapital.com/

Community Sourced Capital is helping small businesses and local economies thrive by providing them with a collaborative network where they can borrow affordable and responsible capital at zero interest.

Women’s Venture Capital Fund

https://www.womensvcfund.com/

The Women’s Venture Capital Fund invests in businesses with at least one woman in a leadership role, based on the conviction that gender-diversity in teams improves decision-making, raises quality standards, and ultimately makes the venture more profitable.

ZestFinance

https://www.zestfinance.com/

ZestFinance brings together machine learning and thousands of potential credit variables, empowering lenders to better assess factors such as the potential for fraud, the risk of default, and the viability of a long-term customer relationship.

FlashFunders

https://www.flashfunders.com/

FlashFunders is a no-fee equity investment platform that saves entrepreneurs thousands of dollars by offering them SEC-compliant documents and FDIC-insured escrow accounts, and streamlining the fundraising process.

Fundbox

https://fundbox.com/

With Fundbox, small businesses can now have better cash flow by clearing outstanding invoices and getting the amount transferred to their bank accounts instantly and securely, rather than waiting 30, 60 or 90 days to get paid.

VerInvest

https://www.verinvest.com/

VerInvest makes it simpler for qualified financiers to verify their accredited investor status and connect with startups seeking capital by providing a secure, confidential verification platform that eases compliance with securities laws.

Pipeline Fellowship

https://www.pipelinefellowship.com/

Pipeline Fellowship is set to change the face of angel investing by offering boot camps in 10-plus U.S. cities where women can learn the the skills to master this mostly male-dominated field.

Earthport

https://www.earthport.com/

Earthport makes it easy to send low value cross-border payments while reducing delays, errors and fees and ensuring an exceptional customer experience.

Local Lift

https://www.locallift.com/

With Local Lift, merchants have a platform for offering discounted products and services to consumers, allowing them to raise funds for growth.

Aspiration

https://www.aspiration.com/

Aspiration is an investment firm that empowers the middle class to invest intelligently. The firm also donates a dime of every dollar they earn, to help Americans climb the ladder of opportunity.

From the Crowd

Assembly

https://assembly.com/

Assembly brings together designers, developers, marketers, project managers and other creative professionals to collaborate on turning ideas into reality, while having transparency in terms of expenses, progress of development and income.

iNaturalist

https://www.inaturalist.org/

iNaturalists provides a platform for naturalists to record what they see in nature, meet other nature lovers, and learn about the natural world.

Beepi

https://www.beepi.com/

For those who want to sell their previously-owned cars, Beepi steps in, evaluates the car, and if it makes the grade, Beepi will find a buyer within 30 days or purchase the car.

Glow First

https://www.glowing.com/glow_first

Infertility can drain couples emotionally and financially, so Glow First eases the burden with a not-for profit program where couples contribute a monthly fee to a group fund until they become pregnant, while couples who have been trying to get pregnant for 10 months get the financial help they need.

Experiment Engine

https://www.experimentengine.com/

Experiment Engine provides companies with the advice of conversion-rate experts who will create web-page variations that can be tried through a comprehensive A/B testing platform.

Peerby

https://www.peerby.com/

Peerby is an app that allows you to see what your neighbors are willing to lend, so you can borrow it for free.

Tilt

https://www.tilt.com/

Tilt makes it easy to collect money from a group of people for a shared purpose — from something fun such as a beach house rental, to something socially-conscious such as transforming a neighborhood.

CrowdCheck

https://www.crowdcheck.com/

Crowdcheck helps investors make good investment decision by verifying through due diligence the legitimacy of startups seeking crowdfunded cash.

Plum Alley

https://plumalley.co/

Plum Alley focuses on sectors that matter to women, giving female founders a rewards-based crowdfunding site that helps close the financing gap.

Patch of Land

https://patchofland.com/

Patch of Land is a lending marketplace that brings together accredited and institutional investors, and borrowers who are looking for funding for real-estate projects, but are routinely bypassed by traditional lenders.

Social Impact

Frog Design

https://www.frogdesign.com/

Frog Design is a creative consultancy that combines the development of state-of-the-art products, services and strategies for brands, with a mission to improve the quality of life for impoverished citizens at home and abroad, by collaborating  with nonprofits, corporate foundations and other charitable concerns.

EveryLayer

https://www.everylayer.com/

EveryLayer have designed a way to deliver high-speed broadband to deploy new networks and services and provide every last customer a high quality, affordable service no matter how remote their location.

BioLite HomeStove

https://www.biolitestove.com/

The BioLite HomeStove creates a highly efficient cooking fire that produces 91% less emissions and generates usable electricity, potentially improving the quality of life of 3 million people who still cook over smoky indoor fires.

BluMarble

https://blumarble.com/

BluMarble collects over 1500 bottles per month from the Las Vegas strip and upcycles them into beautiful products for everyday use, as well as custom products for many restaurants and hotel chains across the country.

Twice

https://www.liketwice.com/

With Twice you can shop online for amazing second-hand clothes from top brands, all in beautiful condition, and also sell your own with just a few clicks.

ePantry

https://www.epantry.com/

ePantry is a household supplies service that ships all-natural cleaners and paper products right to your doorstep, at a price that is 30% less than grocery stores.

Codestarter

https://codestarter.org/

Codestarter empowers children who want to learn how to code, by sending out a laptop for every $250 crowdfunded.

Yoobi

https://yoobi.com/

Yoobi makes colorful, vibrant school supplies to spark learning and creativity, matching every item purchased with an equivalent to a school or hospital classroom through the Kids in Need Foundation or Starlight Children’s Foundation.

Fashion Project

https://www.fashionproject.com/

Fashion Project allows people to donate used designer clothing for women, and choose a charity that will benefit from 55% of net profits from the sale of that item.

Empowered by You

https://empoweredbyyou.com/

Empowered by You creates high quality lingerie, with 20% of the net proceeds from sales going towards microloans to impoverished women, allowing them to break the poverty cycle and start their own business.

Health

Independa

https://independa.com/

While many elderly people might not readily adopt the latest technology, most of them are very familiar with the television, so Independa has chosen this platform as a tool for them to stay socially engaged with friends and family, all from the comfort of their couch.

Vida Health Coach

https://www.vida.com/

Vida is a subscription-based service with an app that pairs you 1:1 with a health coach, helping you achieve personal goals such as weight loss, fitness, detox dieting, lowering cholesterol or blood pressure, preventing diabetes, and reducing stress.

Withings Activité

https://www.withings.com/

This great-looking smartwatch tracks movement and sleep patterns, and works with the Health Mate app for coaching, all in a handsome analog interface.

Beam

https://beamtoothbrush.com/

Beam is an electronic toothbrush that connects to your phone via bluetooth, tracks and records your daily brushing habits, and rewards you with stars and prizes, killing oral-boredom.

CrossChx

https://crosschx.com/

CrossChx has created a platform that aims at reducing medical record error and improving treatment, by generating unique global identities for patients, verified through fingerprint scan.

Sleepio

https://www.sleepio.com/

Sleepio is a service that creates customized sleep improvement programs based on lifestyle and environmental improvements, and without resorting to medication.

PerfectServe Synchrony

https://www.perfectserve.com/connect/perfectserve-synchrony/synchrony-overview

PerfectServe Synchrony is a tool that  improves patient outcomes by allowing patients to get their orders faster and enabling physicians to attend to their patients more quickly through direct and effective communication.

Thync

https://www.thync.com/

Thync is a headband that combines neuroscience with technology, allowing users to control their own mental state through electrical pulses to the brain.

BitGym

https://www.bitgym.com/

BitGym allows you to connect your smartphone or tablet to a cardio machine and experience a virtual tour through various locations in the world — no extra hardware necessary.

Pavlok

https://wp.pavlok.com/

Pavlok is a wristband that uses small electric jolts to help you break even the most persistent habits in as little as five days.

Design and Fashion

Reformation

https://www.thereformation.com/

Born out of an awareness of the pollution resulting from the fashion industry, Reformation has set out to create killer garments that don’t kill the environment.

WindFall Kiosk

https://hecklerdesign.com/product/windfall-kiosk/

The Windfall Kiosk is a beautiful, secure, commercial-grade tablet kiosk that works with multiple tablet models without compromising with bulky, one-size-fits-all solutions.

Walleries

https://www.walleries.com/

The Walleries app helps you hang a group of pictures without using tape measures or calculations — just create a preview in the app, order the printed template and use it on your wall to get precise guides for hanging your pictures.

Core Construction

https://voormi.com/pages/core-construction-technology

Voormi’s latest innovation Core Construction technology, is the first single-layer fabric with an integrated weather-protective membrane, making it lighter and more versatile than other weatherproof garments, while still delivering the comfort of a fleece.

Normal

https://nrml.com/

Using Normal’s free app to snap a few pics of your ears, you can order custom-fit, 3d-printed earbuds that don’t fall out.

Olly

https://www.olly.com/

Olly have set out to transform taking your vitamins and supplements into the most delicious, foolproof, enjoyably good habit you’ll ever start (and never stop).

Cone

https://www.aether.com/

Cone is a chic, voice-recognition-enabled, thinking music player that learns about your musical tastes based on the tracks you skip and those you request, and can also connect wirelessly to form multi-room sound systems.

Boxman Studios

https://boxmanstudios.com/

Boxman Studios modifies shipping containers to develop and deploy iconic, jaw-dropping structures that are as safe as they are awesome.

Houzz

https://www.houzz.com/

Houzz allows users to create the home they’ve always wanted by first browsing its huge archive of photos for inspiration, shopping from its selection of millions of curated products, and connecting with the right professionals out of its database of over 3 million contractors.

Noke

https://fuzdesigns.com/pages/noke

The Noke is a padlock that does away with the frustrations of lost keys and forgotten combinations, and instead uses a smartphone, an app and a bluetooth connection to unlock.

Food and Drink

WISErg

https://wiserg.com/

WISErg has set out to solve the growing problem of food waste in America by turning food matter into a high-nutrient liquid that can be converted to organic fertilizer, allowing grocers and commercial kitchens to dispose of food scraps with no mess, no odor and no sewage output.

Credibles

https://credibles.co/

With Credibles, customers prepay for food or produce and receive “edible credits” that they can redeem at a selection of food businesses, while helping their favorite business get the money it needs to grow.

Freight Farms

https://www.freightfarms.com/

Freight Farms builds farms that can grow fresh produce inside specially-converted shipping containers equipped with LEDs and hydroponics, while an app controls metrics like humidity and temperature remotely.

Foodily

https://www.foodily.com/

Foodily is a recipe search engine with over 2 million recipes — collect, create and share your own, turn recipes into shopping lists, and order ingredients online for delivery.

SmartGrill

https://www.lynxgrills.com/products/smartgrill-by-lynx/

The SmartGrill brings restaurant-quality performance to your outdoor cooking experience, and elevates it with smart technology including smartphone programmability, voice-activated cooking, and automatic functionality via a database of more than 200 pre-programmed recipes.

Foodspotting

https://www.foodspotting.com/

In Foodspotting, users share and review dishes instead of restaurants, making it easier to find the perfect dish to hit the spot.

Brodo

https://brodo.com

Brodo brings back the spotlight on the world’s oldest comfort food by serving heart-warming bone broths such as the “Organic Chicken Broth” made with Pennsylvania Amish organic chicken.

EnjoyFresh

https://www.enjoyfresh.com/

Through EnjoyFresh, inspired chefs and food lovers can meet at a common point in their love for food, with made-to-order off-menu items and one-of-a-kind culinary experiences.

Scio

https://www.consumerphysics.com/myscio/

Scio allows you to scan materials, physical objects, food, medicine, plants and more, to get instant, relevant information such as ripeness and nutritional information to your smartphone.

ButterUp

https://www.butterup.com.au/

The ButterUp knife uses clever design to take the frustration out of dealing with cold butter, transforming it into sumptuous, easy to spread ribbons of dairy goodness.

Recreation

FanDuel

https://www.fanduel.com/

FanDuel is a dream come true for fans of fantasy sports, offering one-day leagues with no season-long commitment,  20,000+ leagues open every day, and over $10 Million in real cash prizes paid out every week.

Axe Bat

https://axebat.com/

The Axe Bat brings together science and tradition to create a bat with unique features for improved performance grip and more efficient power transfer while reducing the risk of injury.

Soundwall

https://www.soundwall.com/

Soundwall merges art, sound and technology creating a combination of visual and audio components to create a unique, everlasting connection between artists and consumers.

Oru Kayak

https://www.orukayak.com/

Oru Kayak combines space-age materials and age-old crafts to create a foldable kayak that you can pack in your car, on a flight or go hiking with.

Jukely

https://www.jukely.com/

For a low monthly fee, Jukely gives you access to concerts every night in several major cities, with hundreds of shows to choose from every month.

Concert Window

https://www.concertwindow.com/

With Concert Window, artists and bands can broadcast their shows using an app or laptop, charge whatever they wish for the show, and get 70% of the proceeds while using the service for free.

Fancred

https://fancred.com/

Fancred is a social media network exclusively dedicated to sports fans, with users declaring allegiance to teams and having a “field day” during game day.

Oyster

https://www.oysterbooks.com/

For a low monthly fee, Oyster brings you unlimited access to over 1 million bestsellers, award-winners, and more.

The Robot Factory

https://tinybop.com/apps/the-robot-factory

The Robot Factory is a gorgeous app where kids can create any robot they imagine from 50+ parts: exoskeletons, telescopic arms, spider legs, and more.

Spinlister

https://www.spinlister.com/

Splinster allows people to rent out their snowboards, skis, surfboards and bikes to other users, while having insurance coverage.

Travel

GoEuro

https://www.goeuro.co.uk/

GoEuro offers comparative pricing across all types of transport: air, rail, bus and boat, allowing travelers to select the cheapest mode of transport, the scenic route or, if they’re lucky, both.

asterRIDE

https://www.asterride.com/

asterRIDE works with qualified and experienced professionals to offer a variety of transportation services for your events.

Transit

https://transitapp.com/

Transit is a free app that makes your daily commute a breeze by displaying all nearby transport options and departure times instantly, allowing you to quickly plan a new route when something doesn’t go as planned, request an Uber, or grab the closest bike share or car2go.

Refund.me

https://www.refund.me/

Refund.me helps you claim compensation for your delayed or cancelled flights, quickly and without any beaurocratic hangups.

Shuddle

https://shuddle.us/

Shuddle is a car service for minors and seniors that gives you peace of mind through extensive background checks — you get to see drivers’ details in full, meet them in person, and track the journey from start to finish through the app.

DUFL

https://www.dufl.com/

DUFL is a premium, luxury travel service that allows you to virtually ‘pack’ by selecting your clothing items from within an app so you can travel bag free, while your freshly cleaned and neatly packed clothing travels to your specified destination.

Mojio

https://www.moj.io/

Mojio makes your car more like a smartphone, helping you make informed decisions that keep your car healthy and safe for as long as possible.

Bluesmart

https://bluesmart.com/

Bluesmart is a smart suitcase that you can control from an app via bluetooth, allowing you to receive smart alerts, and track all your travel data to get insights about your travel habits.

Sealander

https://fb.sealander.de/index_eng.html

Whether you’re out on a round trip, exploring an island, swimming, fishing, or being cradled to sleep by waves, the Sealander is the amphibious mobile home that can take make that journey happen.

Dash

https://dash.by/

The Dash app uses an inexpensive device to connect your car to your smartphone, turning it into a safer, more efficient vehicle, improving your driving and maximizing fuel efficiency through realtime feedback.

Is Legalization Bad For Your GPA?

As efforts to decriminalize marijuana continue, we have more benefits than just being able to smoke pot — we can research its effects on the brain, too.

Cannabis is federally classified as a Schedule I drug, which means that it’s not only illegal, but it’s also considered to have no medical use whatsoever. That makes it unlawful to study anything involving pot, even in a clinical setting.

But this 2015 study takes advantage of Colorado’s recent marijuana legalization to observe its effect on smokers. And it doesn’t look pretty.

57 students at the University of Colorado were selected because they smoked pot more than twice a week. Their smoking and study habits were observed for two weeks.

The study found significant negative correlations between marijuana use and academic motivation. Not only that, but minutes spent smoking was found to be a direct negative predictor of GPA. Specifically, heavy smokers had a GPA over 7% lower than non-smokers.

So while marijuana legalization has been a long time coming, that means our understanding of its effects on cognitive processes has been stalled as well. Before you light up to celebrate when decriminalization comes to you, take a look at the science that comes with it.

MIT & The Robot Cheetah

We live in astounding times, while it’s old news to say that technology is accelerating at breakneck speed — one can’t help but to have their mind blown by a recent video showcasing MIT’s robot cheetah not just autonomously running, but actually leaping over obstacles placed ahead of it.

MIT Cheetah.jpg

Advancements are being made across the board, be it liquid body armor prototyping in Poland, 400,000 schools getting 3d printers in China, to the privatized space wars being waged by Blue Origin and SpaceX, we could be on the verge of a tech boom beyond anything in recorded history.

To put things into context — about 4000 years ago humans were using a Roman abacus for basic calculations.

Your I-Phone in 2200 BC….

RomanAbacusRecon.jpg
“RomanAbacusRecon” by Photographer: Mike Cowlishaw

Fast forward roughly 3,920 years later, and the roots of digital computing begin with the invention of Turing Machines. 70 or so years after that – the whole of human knowledge is accessible from a handheld device that lets you talk across continents… no big deal.

One could say this the stuff of science fiction. Only it’s happening right now.

As impressive as these developments are, we’re after something just as big — at Pavlok we’re designing devices to alter the inner workings of the human subconscious, using effective and measurable behavioural modification.

Simply put — helping you break bad habits for good.

Wearables are the future. While some offer to do things like let you track email, measure fitness goals, and tell time, our device was created to help you permanently break bad habits.

Pavlok is designed to address the constant email checking, the burger binging, and even the compulsive 80-selfie-a-week poster.

Simple habits are one thing — but our device has even helped change lives that have struggled with smoking or sugar intake.

We can’t wait to show the world the potential this device has to offer.

This article was written by Jared Rogers of Pacific Hitz.

61% of heavy smokers quit habit

“If it weren’t for nicotine in tobacco smoke, people would be little more inclined to smoke than they are to blow bubbles or light sparklers” (Russell)

M.A.H. Russell, a nicotine researcher who worked for Maudsley Hospital and the Addiction Research Unit in the Institute of Psychiatry in De Crespigny Park, London (UK) insisted, “There is little doubt that if it weren’t for nicotine in tobacco smoke, people would be little more inclined to smoke than they are to blow bubbles or light sparklers.”

He was probably right.

When you think about it in a strictly mechanical way, inhaling smoke into the lungs shouldn’t be a pleasurable activity at all. Yet, smoking is one of the most common addictive habits.

If you are a smoker and have ever tried to quit, you are well aware of the vicious grip smoking has on its victims. Willpower is rarely enough. Cravings, withdrawal symptoms, mood swings and irritability can wreak havoc in your life.

The smoking habit is a fearsome opponent, and every time you quit and relapse, the habit gains a little more control over you, suppressing you even more.

However, breaking the smoking habit is definitely doable.

The study below shows that you do not need to depend on willpower alone to succeed. Willpower is a finite resource — it’s great for sprints but sucks at marathons. However, there is a tool that can keep you on track when your willpower fails, and it is scientifically proven to work.

Small electric jolts used to treat smoking habit in group of dependent heavy smokers (32 cigarettes per day)

In a clinical study, small electric jolts were used to help a group of dependent heavy smokers (32 cigarettes per day) quit their habit.

Participants were randomly assigned to one of five groups. While one group did not receive any treatment (what is usually referred to as the “control group” in experiments) the other four groups were treated with electric jolts.

Those receiving the electric jolt treatment had small electrodes attached to their forearms. While the sequence used for each group varied, the method basically involved the participants engaging in the act of smoking, and receiving small electric jolts before, after or during the activity.

Within just 5 sessions, 41% of participants stop smoking completely. By the end of the treatment, 61% of those receiving electric jolts had quit their smoking habit.

Electric Shock vs Smoking

Nearly a century of data shows how electric jolts can help stop smoking and other persistent habits

When you think about how many people try to quit smoking every day, and fail, a 61% success rate is staggering. However, this figure is neither surprising nor unheard of in the field of aversion therapy.

Almost a century of research has already proven the effectiveness of this method. In another study (Russell 1970) 67% of smokers quit their habit using the same technology. These electric jolts even helped 84.2% of chronic marijuana users break habit using electric jolts.

One particular clinical study (Lubetkin, 1974) showed how electric jolts helped a young man break free of a 3-year heroin addiction.

If you have been fighting a losing battle against your smoking habit, these electric jolts could offer you the key to break free from your addiction.

Bibliography

Lubetkin, B. S., & Fishman, S. T. (1974). Electrical aversion therapy with a chronic heroin user. Journal Of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry, 5(2), 193–195. https://doi.org/10.1016/0005-7916(74)90113-X

Russell, M. A. H. (1970). Effect of Electric Aversion on Cigarette Smoking. Bmj, 1(5688), 82–86. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.1.5688.82

Russell, M., Armstrong, E., & Patel, U. (1976). Temporal contiguity in electric aversion therapy for cigarette smoking. Behaviour Research And Therapy, 14(2), 103–123. https://doi.org/10.1016/0005-7967(76)90065-6