Eating well can put you in good humour
A Cotswolds special school has shown that a change of diet can alter behaviour
Until the 18th century doctors classified people according to the amount of the four humours they experienced: phlegm, blood, choler and black bile. A person’s character was determined by which of these humours was predominant.
The humours not only decided someone’s personality, whether sanguine, choleric, phlegmatic or melancholic, but also diseases to which they might be prone. Choleric people are aggressive, irascible, irritable and impulsive, and the melancholic are depressed pessimists who have to drag themselves out of bed each morning.
Sanguine and phlegmatic now mean much the same thing but a purist would describe the sanguine as an overconfident optimist and the phlegmatic as laid-back, unexcitable and calm. Scientists no longer believe in humours but still debate the extent to which personality, genetic inheritance and environment (including diet) influence disease patterns.
Earlier doctors tried to restore health by rebalancing humours that were out of kilter by blood-letting and with herbal remedies. More effective and standardised drugs are now prescribed according to their pharmacological action, but just as when patients were ill or disturbed in the 17th century, doctors still believe that their equilibrium can sometimes be rebalanced by changing their diet.
These principles prevail at a special school in the Cotswolds, a therapeutic community and residential school for boys suffering severe behavioural, emotional and social problems who were previously considered unteachable. It uses dietary methods, as well as drugs, to control some of its wilder pupils.
The effect of supplementing a good diet and appropriate drugs with omega-3 and 6 fatty acids on those with severe behavioural problems has been carefully charted over four months. A surprising number became better socialised, co-operative and took part in carpentry, art, or learnt basic office skills.
Source - Times
Until the 18th century doctors classified people according to the amount of the four humours they experienced: phlegm, blood, choler and black bile. A person’s character was determined by which of these humours was predominant.
The humours not only decided someone’s personality, whether sanguine, choleric, phlegmatic or melancholic, but also diseases to which they might be prone. Choleric people are aggressive, irascible, irritable and impulsive, and the melancholic are depressed pessimists who have to drag themselves out of bed each morning.
Sanguine and phlegmatic now mean much the same thing but a purist would describe the sanguine as an overconfident optimist and the phlegmatic as laid-back, unexcitable and calm. Scientists no longer believe in humours but still debate the extent to which personality, genetic inheritance and environment (including diet) influence disease patterns.
Earlier doctors tried to restore health by rebalancing humours that were out of kilter by blood-letting and with herbal remedies. More effective and standardised drugs are now prescribed according to their pharmacological action, but just as when patients were ill or disturbed in the 17th century, doctors still believe that their equilibrium can sometimes be rebalanced by changing their diet.
These principles prevail at a special school in the Cotswolds, a therapeutic community and residential school for boys suffering severe behavioural, emotional and social problems who were previously considered unteachable. It uses dietary methods, as well as drugs, to control some of its wilder pupils.
The effect of supplementing a good diet and appropriate drugs with omega-3 and 6 fatty acids on those with severe behavioural problems has been carefully charted over four months. A surprising number became better socialised, co-operative and took part in carpentry, art, or learnt basic office skills.
Source - Times
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