Meika Hollender is an MBA graduate of New York University’s Stern School of Business who recently launched a new brand of sexual health products called “Sustain.”These include Fair Trade condoms free of toxic chemicals. This is the third installment in our “Instigators” series, which profiles people fighting for change in women’s health.
Some studies suggest that not sleeping enough is just as damaging to our health as smoking, and that getting less than six hours could lead to medical issues and — even worse — shave years off your life span.
“People often say you can sleep when you’re dead, and I say that’s true, but you’ll be dead a lot sooner if you don’t sleep right now,” said Lisa Meltzer, a doctor and associate professor of pediatrics at National Jewish Health. “The science is quite clear that insufficient sleep leads to a significant impact on all aspects of functioning.” After all, research suggests that 24 hours without sleep is similar to being legally drunk.
The bad news: Fifty to seventy million Americans already suffer from sleep disorders. But the good news: We’re not necessarily damned if we don’t get a full eight hours.
A biotech company is trying to transform future treatments of Parkinson’s by transplanting brain cells from pigs into the brains of people with the disease.
There’s currently no cure for Parkinson’s disease, a condition that progressively limits a person’s ability to move. The age of onset and the speed of progression vary, but it affects nearly 1 million U.S. residents. Parkinson’s essentially causes the loss of dopamine-producing brain cells, which assist our brains with regulating and controlling movement. As it stands, there’s medicine to treat this, but its effectiveness starts to dwindle after a few years of use.
Now, Living Cell Technologies in Auckland, New Zealand, hopes that its new methods can also slow down the disease’s progression. Researchers took cells from pigs’ choroid plexus — a part of the brain that has a “cocktail of growth factors and signaling molecules known to keep nerve cells healthy,” according to New Scientist — and planted them into the brains of 18 patients. They put the cells in capsules with a coating made from seaweed, which helps stop patients’ immune system from attacking the foreign pig cells and also helps “growth factors” move into nearby human brain tissue.
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Pig brain cells were transferred to the brains of humans with Parkinson’s disease.
When death comes to Cleveland, it’s far more likely to be packing a needle than a gun.
Just since June 1, there have been 41 reported drug fatalities in the city and surrounding suburbs, the Cuyahoga Medical Examiner confirmed Friday.
By contrast, there have been 42 homicides in Cleveland all of this year — 38 of them by gunfire.
And with 248 heroin/fentanyl overdoses now on the books for 2017, the county — including Cleveland — is easily on pace to eclipse last year’s total death toll of 312 for those kinds of overdoses, officials reported.
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A heroin user prepares to inject himself in New London, Conn. John Moore / Getty Images file
Glen Campbell has been battling Alzheimer’s disease since 2011, and fans have followed his journey through the highs and the lows of the devastating diagnosis. Kim, Campbell’s wife of 34 years, reveals in her latest public update that her husband is in Stage 7 of the disease and is no longer able to verbally communicate.
According to Alzheimers.net, Stage 7 is the final stage of Alzheimer’s disease; patients in this stage are nearing death. The site explains that those with Stage 7 Alzheimer’s “lose ability to respond to their environment or communicate. While they may still be able to utter words and phrases, they have no insight into their condition and need assistance with all activities of daily living. In the final stages of the illness, patients may lose their ability to swallow.”
Kim Campbell tells Studio 10 Live that her husband is “healthy” and “content,” and although he’s lost the ability to communicate verbally and has severe aphasia, “he still understands the universal language of smiles and kisses, and he enjoys food.”
Trystan Reese and Biff Chaplow exploded onto the parenting scene a couple years ago after the couple fought to adopt Chaplow’s niece and nephew, who were living in a traumatic home. Their journey through court hearings and custody battles was chronicled on the popular parenting podcast The Longest Shortest Time, and Reese and Chaplow were dubbed the “accidental gay parents.”
Now, after gaining custody of their son and daughter, Reese and Chaplow are planning to add a third child to their family. Reese, who is a transgender man, is pregnant. In a new episode of the podcast, he and Chaplow talk about their decision to have a baby, going through a miscarriage, finding out Reese was pregnant, telling their families, and how other people react to seeing a pregnant man.
Japan’s suicide rate is falling after years of preventative measures, but there’s still much to do, says the Japanese government.
Compiled by the Japanese cabinet office, the report found that the number of people who took their own lives fell to 21,897 in 2016, the lowest level in 22 years. For much of the 2000s the rate hovered above 30,000 each year.
The report was the 11th consecutive paper released by the government, and showed that despite the positive drop, Japan still has one of the highest suicide rates among industrialized nations. On average, 19.5 people kill themselves per 100,000 in Japan, compared to 11.3 in Canada, or 7.5 in Britain. Topping the list however is Lithuania, where 30 people out of 100,000 take their own lives each year.
Showering is—and should be—a daily habit for most of us, and everyone has their own routine. Some people can’t live without washing their hair each day while others chose to skip a day or two, and the differences continue on from there. However, did you know that some of the most common shower habits might not actually be that healthy?
Believe it or not, some of the things you do every day while taking a shower could be affecting you in ways you never thought of. Check out this list to see if your shower habits are doing you more harm than good.
It’s hard to pick up a magazine, check your Instagram feed or even talk to your friend without being given some diet tip, welcomed or not. Some advice out there is good, some not so much. There are a few tips that I’ve heard over and over that make me want to scream, “nooooo!”
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A top down view of a healthy breakfast bowl of cranberries, almonds, Greek yogurt and bananas, also apples, toast with peanut butter and a cup of coffee. Kirk Mastin / Getty Images Stock
The news that 52-year-old Seattle grunge rock icon Chris Cornell had killed himself after a concert in Detroit shocked and saddened fans of the Soundgarden frontman.
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But perhaps even more shocking is the fact that Cornell was one of scores of middle-aged American men who took their own lives on Wednesday: 121 Americans die by suicide each day, according to the Centers for Disease Control — and 93 of them are men. (The Wayne County medical examiner’s office declared Cornell’s death a suicide by hanging; Cornell’s wife has disputed that ruling and suggested her late husband’s anti-anxiety medication may have played a role.)
In fact, American men make up the bulk of suicides nationwide. Victims of death by suicide are overwhelmingly white (7 out of 10), male and — just like Cornell — between the ages of 45 and 65.
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Chris Cornell of Soundgarden performs during the band’s concert at the Wiltern in Los Angeles on Feb. 15, 2013. Chris Pizzello / Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP
Film and Writing Festival for Comedy. Showcasing best of comedy short films at the FEEDBACK Film Festival. Plus, showcasing best of comedy novels, short stories, poems, screenplays (TV, short, feature) at the festival performed by professional actors.
Rubbers Reinvented
Japan’s Suicide Rate is Finally Falling
Bad shower habits
James' World 2 