Author Archives: Anna

December has arrived. A month full with obligations, but also with a lot of fun. There is so much to prepare. Decorate, preparation of “lutfisk” (it is a kind of dry fish that you put in slightly salty water on the 9th of December), saffrans bullar, ginger cookies, Lucia etc.

This weekend has been rather busy. Lots of running since I need exercise. Walking with sweeties. Lady has a little something in her paw. Maybe a thorn from one of the bushes in the garden when she is chasing the squirrel.

Last Thursday I went to a meeting in Stockholm, an alcohol dependence group for alcohol research. My previous mentor Professor Jörgen Engel is a member of the board, and it was a long time ago since I saw him. Since I have dedicated many years of my life to alcohol research I remember a lot. Brain reward systems are very interesting. Why do people consume alcohol or drugs? There are a lot of reasons, and I remember that my mentor mentioned “Jeppe på berget” when he lectured about alcohol dependence or abuse. This is a famous book and has been played at many theaters where a lot of answers can be found.

By coincidence I found this T-shirt when I rearranged some in my room. It is a photo of Professor Arvid Carlsson. He was mentor to my mentor, Professor Jörgen Engel. There is some kind of research inheritance. Integrative pharmacology. Professor Carlsson has developed and elaborated on the dopamine hypothesis over many decades. All drugs of abuse interact with the brain reward systems and dopamine seem to be a common denominator. And Professor Jörgen Engel, in his turn, has dedicated his life to study the neurobiological mechanisms underlying alcohol dependence.

When I worked on my thesis I studied the cholinergic interaction with dopamine pathways. Many studies have confirmed that there is a close association between alcohol consumption and smoking. It seems like the brain dopamine pathways become more sensitive if they are subjected to intermittent nicotine exposure. That is, that an abuse of a drug can lead to addiction to other drugs of abuse.

This was now a long time ago, and my life is now writing.

Today is a very unique day in Sweden. Första advent. Again, since I am grown up in the countryside, traditions will never disappear. This is the beginning of December, a busy month when everything needs to be prepared for holidays. I am staying at home today with choir music and also some “Konge røkelse” from Norway. This is the last I have from the røkelse so I have to find some more. We always sold that at the pharmacy during December.

I searched the internet because I wanted to share one of the songs by Håkan Hagegård. However, I could´t find, but if you you would like to listen to a carol, “Nu tändas tusen juleljus” is very suitable today. You can find it on Itunes. The first of four candles is lit today. Next Sunday candle number two will be lit.

Snow is falling from the sky in Stockholm today. It is a very cosy “Första advent”. Advent is a very beautiful word. It means “to wait”. Väntan in Swedish.

Yes, it is definitely true that time passes so rapidly. Already Friday. I wasn´t going to write tonight, but I couldn’t resist. Need to feel some inspiration when I write, but after having chocolate ice-cream energy appeared again. Life saver.

I have been struggling some, or to be honest, a lot with this web site. I have discovered that I don´t know much about computer language. So, I have learnt some this week. I got help from a friend from high school who knows a lot about computers. And, it is actually 25 years ago since we graduated from high school. What I remember most is the huge load of work there always was from school. Since I grew up in the country side there wasn´t much to do but study. My best friend lived several kilometers from where I lived so we always needed our parents to drive. Life is different now.

Yesterday I went to see health care. I needed to refresh my hepatitis B vaccine. Viruses are dangerous and clever. To wash your hands and have the hands to stay away from the eyes and the nose is a good way to avoid viruses.  But sometimes that doesn´t help. Immunology is very fascinating. It is incredible how modern medicin has developed. A hundred years ago several infections were more or less mortal, but today a lot of lives and suffering is avoided due to vaccination. An immunological memory with antibodies.

No surprise that time passes by rapidly. Already Wednesday. I am still learning how to use the camera. I like it. It is creative in a way. Modify colours. Learning about pixels. Etc. The photo above is from October.

My parents have been visiting my auntie, so my sweeties had to stay at a place where they were taken care of. Last weekend I went to pick my sweeties up and they were very happy to see me.  Tippa had a little cough due to so called “Kennelsjuka”. Maybe. Or she just missed me. She is ok now. Then we went to Arlanda Airport to see my parents. They had had a great time. Very warm, and a big change to country side weather. However, no snow now.

Readers, you know that I have started to run again. My knees are fine! It is the sense of liberty I like when I run. I like to measure to see changes, so I follow my pulse. I have a pulse of 160-170 when training, and I try to run for more than an hour since the metabolism increases over time. If I remember correctly, there was once a “fight” between Sweden and Norway in cross country skiing. How could Norway become better than Sweden? The trainer put the whole Norwegian team on strict exercise. They started to measure results seriously. They saw changes in a positive direction. Hard work generated results. Bjørn Dæhlie was one of the skiers in the team. This is many years ago.

I also went cross country skiing in school when I grew up in the countryside. There were competitions every year. That was fun, I remember.

Everyday life is in a way very cosy. Even though it doesn’t happen very much it is a gentle way of living. Just to know that you have good health, family and friends. That is worth a lot. It is first when you get hurt or lose something, then you know that everyday life is really valuable. Something you don´t take notice of until there is a change for the worse.

I often listen to the news in the morning and follow what is going on. This week there was a lot of talk about how the countryside in Sweden is getting more and more isolated from the cities. And I know. Because I often travel by bus or train. The bus will not stop where my parents live. I will have to call for a taxi to get to the bus. That is my greatest trouble in life right now; how am I going to have the bus to continue its itinerary to have a prosperous countryside.