Issue #23

Hey friends 👋🏽,

Welcome back to Thought Caffeine, a weekly newsletter where I share my favourite discoveries during the week.

I’m commuting back and forth to a rural village in Bali to learn bits about healthcare management in the villager’s local clinic as part of my community medicine rotation. The problems I hear the most from programme leaders were directly related to the lack of manpower & innovation.

I speculate that this has to do with uninspiring incentives for fresh graduates, who would be the ideal demographic for producing creative output, and instead attract a herd of “older” conservatives who tend to fall back on the status quo.

Imagine working full time as a general practitioner for less than $350 a month (IDR 5 million a month). If I’m supporting a family, the wages are practically laughable.

💉 Vaccine coverage ranked by country

As of February 27, Israel is leading the pack with vaccine doses administered per 100 people. Many believe this is down to Israel’s immaculate integration of technology and data into their governance, paired with their relatively low population.

🫀 Blood pressure variations throughout the day

This image was obtained from a Medscape article discussing whether or not it was beneficial to take BP medications at night. Here’s the reason behind this consideration:

1. Cumulative results of blood pressure measurements in patients who are given a 24-hour monitor, the following graph demonstrates the usual BP variations throughout the day
2. Patients who don't have this blood pressure drop at night, often called non-dippers, are at increased risk for cardiovascular mortality, heart failure, and stroke.
3. Most patients take their blood pressure medications in the morning. But blood pressure is supposed to decrease at night, and switching some blood pressure medication to bedtime rather than morning makes intuitive sense.

However, this informal review article concluded that there is still insufficient evidence to be certain that nighttime dosing of medication has much benefit.

🎓 The Etymology of University

I stole this one directly from one of David Perell's Monday Musings entries, which consistently lead to my own weekly musings and intellectual explorations.

"University" is a beautiful word.

It's a synthesis of two words: "unity" and "diversity." When you attend university, look for the unity in the diversity of knowledge. Ideally, by studying how diverse fields of knowledge intersect, you can compose a unified picture of the world.

📚 BOOK GIVEAWAY!

I’ll be giving some 5-6 books away for my newsletter subscribers for free next month! More info on that soon via my other social media outlets (Follow my Instagram and Twitter for the latest).

🙂 Other things I've been enjoying

1. Podcast: Work Life on Vulnerability. Adam Grant and Brené Brown discuss what vulnerability is and isn’t, how to be vulnerable without relinquishing boundaries, and why ‘toxic masculinity’ is a horrible term.
2. Podcast: Not Overthinking on sympathy vs pity. Taimur & Ali have a heated discussion over the differences between empathy, sympathy, and pity and I found it rather humorous.
3. Starbucks. I’m slowly starting to re-incorporate my old pre-pandemic habits into my daily life, starting with co-working in my local Starbucks. Doing individual work while surrounded by others inspires a sense of comradeship that motivates me to be more productive.

📖 Quote of the Week

"Getting rich isn’t about one silver bullet or secret strategy. It happens through regular, boring, disciplined action. Most people see only the results of all this action—a winnable moment or an article in the press. But it’s the behind-the-scenes work that really makes you rich."

From I Will Teach You To Be Rich by Ramit Sethi. Resurfaced via Readwise.

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Hope you have a great week! 🚙

John