Who’s Using What? Consider these facts: According to the government, 20% of American adults have abused prescription drugs – ingesting drugs for other than therapeutic purposes. Perhaps one in four teenagers are abusing prescription drugs. 30% of adult women are using a sleeping pill at least a few nights a week Eleven percent of Americans […]
Booze and sleeping pills – the wrong combination (11/16/11)
Alcohol and Pills for Sleep “Beer and valium, that’s how I sleep. Works every time, a perfect night’s sleep.” So said an actor friend of mine, who often had trouble “coming down” after a play and used this cocktail three or four times a week. Yet often alcohol plus sleeping pills do not “work.” Thirty […]
Weight, learning and sleep – it’s all connected (11/14/11)
Less Sleep, More Weight – and Worse Learning Connections count. A few years ago people had a hard time believing that sleep time determined weight. Though physicians have long recognized that increased weight means increased sleep apnea, most of the population does not recognize that being overweight itself interferes with sleep and increases inflammation. […]
Your cell phone is a biological part of you (11/11/11)
Your Hand, Your Cellphone You’re an ecosystem – a complicated one. Your cell phone is just one component of it – and an inescapable part of your biology. Fortunately, it’s one you can control. A recent UK survey from 12 separate districts found bacteria on 92% of cell phones – and only 82% of human […]
Seeing the new you (11/9/11)
Seeing What’s Inside If you don’t see it, it’s not there, right? And that’s how most people react when told of the extraordinary speed by which their body remakes itself. I look at myself in the mirror now as I did four weeks ago. My gut is approximately as big, my feet, my calves, my […]