User Interest Poll (Completed March 30, 2011)

[Todd Becker]

I'm sending out this user survey to find out which topics are of greatest interest.  I suspect that some users are mainly interested in one or two topics, while others are more broadly interested.  This will help me to focus my writing in areas that you enjoy reading about, though I will of course follow my own interests and also continue to probe new areas.

I will let this post run until March 30, and it will continuously update.  Only registered users can vote or view the results. Each user gets one chance to vote, but you can select up to 3 favorite topics during your voting.  Your votes are anonymous -- I can't identify the voters.

You can view the results of the poll by clicking "View results" -- but you have to vote first before you can see them!  

If there is a topic out there you'd like to seem me right more about -- either a totally new subject or a follow-on to a previous article, please feel free to add your own suggestion as a REPLY to this message.

[jared33]

It's been a while since I checked in here...I see a lot of new interesting information.  I've started to get caught up, but I can see it will take me a while.

One topic I haven't seen covered much is: neuroplasticity.  You've written about this a few places, but it would be interesting to approach it from the 'Hormetism' point of view.  How can we apply the principles of hormesis actively change our brains or nervous systems in positive ways?  Some of this might deal with recovery from strokes or injuries, but maybe healthy people could also benefit.

Jared

[aelephant]

I'm actually interested in everything, so I voted for the 3 categories I consider broadest.

Cold showers are interesting and if new information or new studies come out, I'd definitely be curious to read about it, but I feel like the info presented already makes a great case and it's something I've already adopted myself as a regular practice.

As far as losing weight goes, it has never been a problem for me. I'm much more interested in gaining muscle without fat or losing fat without losing muscle.

[dee]

Psychology wasn't in the choices.

An interesting topic for a post would be hypoxia. Lots of benefits and research.

Neuroplasticity would also be a cool topic, if you can find new ways to it. (All I could find to benefit it was phenols, elevating blood flow to the brain, exercise, and dual n-back; and you've talking about half those already).

Longevity would be a cool topic too. I've been trying to think of a hormetic (is that a word?) way to stimulate telomerase.

Or hot showers. Repeated mild heat stress sounds so good. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2664638/ & http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18056960

Does accupuncture count as a form of hormesis?

[Todd Becker]

Psychology wasn't in the choices.

Good suggestion, dee.  I modified "Becoming stress resistant" to the more general "Psychology and stress resistance".  This could include overcoming addiction or depression, anger management, or just improving one's outlook.  In the survey, I'm trying to target general or basic areas without too many different choices, but I'll certainly also look to the very specific suggestions such as the ones you've listed.

[Todd Becker]

This poll is now closed.  I wish more people had voted, but the 13 who did vote took the time to express their preferences and suggest new topics.  For that, I'm appreciative.

The top vote-getter was "strength and fitness".  I've also noticed a vibrant discussion of this topic in a recent thread:

My views on getting fitter

The topic was started by dee, with excellent contributions by aelephant and thomas_seay.  It's got me thinking, and I plan to address this topic in an upcoming post.

I'll also consider researching some of the other suggested topics. Thanks again to all who participated.  I may run polls like this from time to time to gauge interest.