When drugs are also foods, addiction becomes easier. The pleasures of dining conflate with drug pleasures. Particularly when new experiences are so prized people often ask, how can this be bad? That is why edible marijuana, now being packaged into innumerable combinations with many foods – especially chocolates and candies – represent a particular public […]
Novel Uses of Alcohol (1/16/13)
Many Uses I’ve seen people “treat” themselves with alcohol for many stated reasons. They include: 1. Getting blitzed to “forget everything” (causes have includes faltering love affairs, financial crashes, dying plants, poor calculus grades and “no reason except I want to.”) 2. Fight off radiation sickness (recommended by a Russian virologist – who was still […]
Are Energy Drinks Safe? (11/20/12)
Are They Safe? Energy drink manufacturers say yes – absolutely – they’re safe. They have evidence, many studies. Proof. They may be correct. But it would be best to have independent clinical epidemiologists check the data; outfits like the Cochrane Collective or the National Institute of Medicine should provide impartial reviews. Why Are People Concerned? […]
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 […]
Does your sports team need a sleep doc? (11/2/11)
Hockey and Basketball and… The Vancouver Canucks have one. So now do the Calgary Flames. Dr. Charles Czeisler, head of sleep medicine at Harvard, is now a consultant to the NBA. He’s on record as recommending players get more than 8 hours of sleep a night in order to perform their best. Some teams are […]