Media Diabetes Paula Deen has diabetes – for three years. Just as in the movie Casablanca, people are shocked! Shocked! But before demonizing Ms. Deen and her butter filled southern recipes, let’s look at what the public should gain from this overhyped, simplified media story: Diabetes – even “adult onset” type II – is highly […]
Can kids get addicted to the internet? (1/16/12)
Compulsion or Addiction? Can you get addicted to internet use? A new Chinese study in PLoS 1 argues that it certainly happens; that it clearly changes brain and behavior; and that the brain changes seen are in many ways similar to what happens with drug addiction and gambling. Kids Who Can’t Stop The adolescents – aged 14 […]
Rebound insomnia (1/13/12)
When You Can’t Stop Using Sleeping Pills You can’t sleep and you must. You start to take sleeping pills. They work – for a while. Then you find you need more. You try some nights without those pills. You can’t sleep at all – until you take the pills again. You’ve got rebound insomnia. Join […]
Going to the dogs – for your health (1/11/12)
Who Lives, Who Dies My internist cousin says he knows who will live and die among his older patients: those who own dogs. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) provisionally agrees. They believe the data show that dog (and cat) ownership can lower: Blood pressure Feelings of loneliness Cholesterol and triglyceride levels While increasing – […]
Is there an epidemic of sleep apnea in our police? (1/6/12)
Sleepy Police Especially when you’re young, sleep apnea can kill you. When old, it can really muck up your life. And American and Canadian police appear to suffer sleep apnea in epidemic numbers. That’s not the public conclusion reached on an important Harvard study on 5000 American and Canadian police. Media reports declared a third […]
