Did hyperactivity evolve as a survival aid for nomads?


	Did hyperactivity evolve as a survival aid for nomads?

spherepet

6-11-2008 1:42 PM

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tags:

hyperactivity, adhd, ariaal, dopamine, drd4

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<div style="margin: 12px 0px; font-family: arial; color: #333333; background: #ffffff; border: solid 4px #e5e5e5; width: 100%; clear: left;"><div class="CM_CTB_Content_Wrap" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;background-color: #ffffff;"><div style="border-bottom: solid 1px #dcdcdc; white-space: nowrap; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: #eeeeee ;background-image: url(http://clipmarks.com/images/source-bg.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; height: 24px; line-height: 24px; vertical-align: middle; padding-bottom: 4px; color: #666666; font-size: 10px;" ><a href="http://clipmarks.com/clip-to-blog/" title="see clips that are hot right now"><img src="http://content.clipmarks.com/blog_embed/8510de54-921f-4101-8617-5e6e953132c0/F1B4ED75-983A-4A1F-85C5-876E083C30E9/" alt="" width="19" height="19" border="0" style="vertical-align: middle; margin: 0px 4px; display: inline; border: none; float:none;" /></a>clipped from <a title="http://www.newscientist.com/channel/being-human/dn14100-did-hyperactivity-evolve-as-a-survival-aid-for-nomads.html?feedId=online-news_rss20" href="http://www.newscientist.com/channel/being-human/dn14100-did-hyperactivity-evolve-as-a-survival-aid-for-nomads.html?feedId=online-news_rss20" style="font-size: 11px;">www.newscientist.com</a></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.newscientist.com/channel/being-human/dn14100-did-hyperactivity-evolve-as-a-survival-aid-for-nomads.html?feedId=online-news_rss20"><H2 class="inline">Did hyperactivity evolve as a survival aid for nomads?</H2></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.newscientist.com/channel/being-human/dn14100-did-hyperactivity-evolve-as-a-survival-aid-for-nomads.html?feedId=online-news_rss20"><li style="margin-left:16px;padding-left: 0px;">
11:39 10 June 2008
</LI></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.newscientist.com/channel/being-human/dn14100-did-hyperactivity-evolve-as-a-survival-aid-for-nomads.html?feedId=online-news_rss20"><li style="margin-left:16px;padding-left: 0px;">Ewen Callaway</LI></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.newscientist.com/channel/being-human/dn14100-did-hyperactivity-evolve-as-a-survival-aid-for-nomads.html?feedId=online-news_rss20">Impulsivity and a short attention span may be the bane of every parent with a hyperactive toddler, but those same traits seem to help Kenyan nomads keep weight on.</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.newscientist.com/channel/being-human/dn14100-did-hyperactivity-evolve-as-a-survival-aid-for-nomads.html?feedId=online-news_rss20">A gene mutation tied to attention deficit hyperactive disorder (ADHD) is also associated with increased weight among a chronically undernourished group of nomads called the Ariaal. Notably, the mutation offers no such benefit to a cousin population that gave up the nomadic lifestyle in the 1960s.</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.newscientist.com/channel/being-human/dn14100-did-hyperactivity-evolve-as-a-survival-aid-for-nomads.html?feedId=online-news_rss20"><P>The nomads' active and unpredictable life centred on herding might benefit from spontaneity, says <A target="ns" href="http://www.uwm.edu/Dept/Anthropology/faculty/campbell.html">Ben Campbell</A>, an evolutionary anthropologist at the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee, US, who was involved in the new study.</p> <P>"If you are a nomad then you ought to be little more impulsive than if you are settled," he says. "You should be a little quicker on the trigger."</P></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.newscientist.com/channel/being-human/dn14100-did-hyperactivity-evolve-as-a-survival-aid-for-nomads.html?feedId=online-news_rss20">brain's response to a pleasure-delivering chemical called dopamine </blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.newscientist.com/channel/being-human/dn14100-did-hyperactivity-evolve-as-a-survival-aid-for-nomads.html?feedId=online-news_rss20"><I>DRD4</I></blockquote></div><div style="margin: 0px 6px 6px 4px;"><table style="font-size: 11px;border-spacing: 0px;padding: 0px;" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tr><td style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;">&nbsp;</td><td align="right" style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;width:107px" width="107"><a href="http://clipmarks.com/share/F1B4ED75-983A-4A1F-85C5-876E083C30E9/blog/" title="blog or email this clip"><img src="http://content9.clipmarks.com/images/c2b-foot.png" border="0" alt="blog it" width="107" height="17" style="border-width:0px;padding:0px;margin:0px;" /></a></td></tr></table></div></div>

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