It Must've Been
Something I Ate
Nutrition and Sleep
For thousands of years in human history various potions and concoctions have been used to induce changes in mental states and to affect mood. In fact, "melancholy" comes from the Greek words melas (black) and khole (bile). Ancient Greek physicians attributed depression to a state associated with darkened bile. This was part of their theory of "humors," relating body fluids to different mood states. Thus the terms phlegmatic, sanguine, and choleric, in addition to melancholic.
The four basic temperament types conceptualized by Hippocrates and other ancient physicians involved body fluids and their interaction with food. Of interest in more modern times is the Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov, who revived these ancient categories in characterizing the nervous systems of dogs: the choleric ones got excited too easily; the melancholic ones could be too easily inhibited; the phlegmatic ones were slow to move either in the direction of excitement or inhibition; and the sanguine dogs could move rapidly in either direction without reaching an extreme. Pavlov did not directly link these temperament traits to foodstuffs, but ancient Greek, Roman, Chinese, and Aztec cultures did. In fact, all early cultures developed rituals requiring the use of a pharmacy of herbs and nutrients to modify human
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