Going Somewhere? The National Transportation Safety Board has recommended that cell phone use be banned for all drivers. The lone exception – emergency use. As NTSB chairman Deborah Hersman put it – “”No email, no text, no update, no call is worth a human life.” Don’t expect the car industry, the media, or even most […]
Is the flexible workplace a way to save your sleep? (12/19/11)
Flextime – Flexwork Americans are severely rest deprived. Combine 24-7 electronic availability with fast changing (or disappearing) jobs plus kids and elderly parents, and Americans are regularly slipping to around 6 and a half hours of sleep a night. Those are levels at which weight gain, increased cardiovascular disease, more flues, colds, and other infections […]
Can you cut your cancer risk by half? (12/12/11)
Health Versus Health Care America’s health care budget is 2.6 trillion dollars. On its own it would rank as the fifth largest economy in the world. We’re 49th in overall mortality. How much of this vast spending goes to health prevention? A pittance. Not enough people make money on preventing illness, though plenty make money […]
Overcoming a bad night’s sleep (12/7/11)
Bad Night Who’s a perfect sleeper? Gaze in a mirror and you’re probably not looking at one. In Gallup polls, perhaps only 5% of the population says they sleep well every night. Yet lots of people have bad nights, with perhaps one third of Americans complaining of insomnia that goes on and on and on. […]
After Iraq and Afghanistan – veterans’ health, PTSD, and sleep apnea (12/5/11)
The Wars Are Not Over US veterans are in trouble. Veterans returning to the work place are finding it difficult to find jobs with their unemployment rate north of 12%, versus the (falsely low) figure of 9% for the country. One reason is many have come back ill. What sort of ailments is the question. […]