Myths and Facts on Sleep Depravation
Posted on 03. Oct, 2010 by Jessica in Global Health Clues
Sleep is a vital part of health. Losing sleep means losing energy, focus and being prone to illnesses. It affects your immune system, hormones and other crucial functions of your body.
This importance of sleep has generated many guidelines for achieving the perfect relaxing sleep. However, there are many myths that people shouldn’t take as seriously as they do. Some sleeping habits that we have developed are actually causing us more harm than good.
Let’s start with some simple facts that we should be aware of, and myths that could cause us major health problems, and even fatal mistakes.
- If you have insomnia, you need to take prescription drugs every night. MYTH.
Sleeping pills are designed for short term sleep problems, and not for daily insomnia. These problems may be caused by stressful or traumatic events like the loss of a loved one or job, or even jetlag. Those with long-term sleeping problems should practice other methods, such as changing pre-sleeping habits such as avoiding watching too much TV, avoiding caffeine and such.
As a consequence of this belief, in 2004, there were 35 million prescriptions for sleeping pills in the United States. In the last four years, the number of Americans aged 20-44 who were taking up pills has doubled.
- Taking afternoon naps to replace lack of sleep at night makes up for lost sleeping hours. MYTH.
Spaniards have a tradition of taking afternoon naps. Because of this habit, they lose an average of 40 minutes less per night compared to other Europeans. Consequently, Spain has the most workplace accidents in the European Union, as well as the third lowest productivity rate.
- Insomniacs never dream. MYTH
Studies have been conducted that monitor the sleep of insomniacs. According to the results, they have actually slept through the whole night. The problem is, they experience something close to lucid creaming. In this state, they believe that they are fully conscious, even when they are still asleep. In other words, they are dreaming that they are awake.
Dreaming may be connected to electrical activity that flows through the brain every 90 minutes during REM sleep. An average person can spend more than six years dreaming in their lifetime. Why exactly we dream? Nobody knows.
We need seven to eight hours of sleep for optimum health. The experts discovered that all we need is seven hours. According to the study, those who sleep less than seven hours a day are twice as prone to cardiovascular diseases. Those who sleep for nine hours or more also have an increased risk.
Malaria Developing Resistance to Drugs
Posted on 17. Sep, 2010 by Jessica in Global Health Clues
The World Health Organization has warned last year about parasites developing resistance against the new drug artemisinin. It first emerged between Cambodia and Thailand and is now slowly spreading.
Through the years, artemisinin has been largely praised because of the increasing recovery rates for malaria cases. This mosquito transmitted disease kills almost one million people all over the world.
The drug resistance was first discovered in Western Cambodia back in 2007 and since then, have been observed in other parts of the region as well. There have been cases of drug resistance to artemisinin in Souther Myanmar, the Chinese-Myanmar border, as well as in Southern Vietnam near Cambodia.
WHO is worried that the emergence of the resistance could “seriously undermine” the efforts of bringing malaria under control.
Artemisinin has been used to replace older drugs that have been able to develop resistance against the drugs. The best strategy to avoid this growing resistance is to eliminate any fake or substandard medicine that increases resistance.
Prescription Drug Abuse
Posted on 17. Jul, 2010 by Jessica in Global Health Clues
Illegal drug abuse is not the only concern of today. Abuse of prescription medicine painkillers is sending as many people to the Emergency Room.
Five years ago, hospital visit caused by the use of illegal drugs outnumbered legal medication 2 to 1. Today, the estimated value of ER visit due to over the counter medicine abuse is a whopping 1 million. The most abused medication are painkillers and sedatives. According to a government report, this is the same number of visits by people who overdose on heroin, cocaine and other illegal drugs. This means, in a span of years, the number of ER visits for medication abuse has doubled.
According to the study, painkillers and sedatives started the trend. Results show that the pain killers oxycodone and hydrocodone have more than doubled in a 4 year span. A certain kind of tranquilizer also nearly doubled its stats.
The data came from more than 200 hospitals in the United States. Most of the cases are overdoses. Other cases involve mixing drugs or taking them with alcohol. While health officials are not sure why painkiller use have increased dramatically, prescription for these drugs have indeed risen, so many of the ER events got their drugs legally.
There is no estimate regarding the fatalities however, last year, CDC reports that the drug related death has doubled from the 1990’s to 2006. The fatalities were connected to prescription painkillers methadone, Oxycontin and Vicodin.
People are now concerned about the abuse of prescription drugs and the effects it has been causing of late.
Source: http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5842a1.htm
Colony Collapse Disorder: Bees
Posted on 14. Jul, 2010 by Stephanie in Global Health Clues
Disappearance of Bees at an Alarming Rate
Bees have been disappearing at an alarming rate over the past few years. This phenomenon started around 2006 when commercial beekeepers began losing 30% to 90% of their hives. [1] According to a survey conducted by AIA and USDA, honeybee losses averaged at approximately 36% from 2007 to 2008, and around 29% from 2008 to 2009. [2]
Although this phenomenon has been going on for quite some time now, scientists are still unable to pinpoint the exact cause leading to the unusually high disappearance of honeybees in the US. Scientists refer to this phenomenon as the Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD). With CCD, the hive is left with very little or no adult honey bees but with a live queen present and no dead bees found.
There is evidence that suggests that a combination of environmental stress, pesticides, and pathogens may have lead to the demise of bee hives. However, there are still no concrete evidences that can pave the way for a solution to this problem. According to Jeff Pettis, Research Leader at the USDA Bee Lab: “We obviously think it’s more complicated than we first believed as in we don’t believe that we’re looking for a single virulent pathogen, although that can’t totally be ruled out. At first we were thinking that we’d find a single causative agent, a virulent pathogen sweeping through the bee population, and that doesn’t appear to be the case.”
Bee pollination plays a crucial role in the production of crops, fruits, and vegetables. In California, the almond crop alone uses 1.3 million colonies of bees, approximately one half of all honey bees in the United States, and this need is projected to grow to 1.5 million colonies by 2010.
Agricultural Research Services (ARS) scientists are hard at work in determining the cause in order to formulate a solution. Beekeepers are advised to provide a stress-free habitat for the hives.
References:
1. >http://www.ars.usda.gov/News/docs.htm?docid=15572
2. http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/pr/2009/090519.htm
Also in the News:
Bees Dying at Dangerous Rate
Vertical Farming
Posted on 14. Jul, 2010 by Stephanie in Global Health Clues
Sustainable Indoor Farming
With the rapid pace of population growth and urbanization, food production has become a concern. There is an estimated 6.6 billion people in the world today, and huge chunks of land are being converted into residential and commercial areas, resulting to scarce agricultural lands. By the year 2050, current projections show that the population will peak at around 9 billion, nearly doubling the demand for food and shelter. Also, 80% of the world’s population will reside in urban centers, creating an even bigger problem in the shortage of food and already scarce agricultural lands.
As a response to this global catastrophe, Professor Dickson Despommier of Columbia University, along with a team of graduate students in medical ecology, has come up with a sustainable solution in the form of vertical farming. Vertical farming is a conventional agricultural technique wherein staple crops could be grown in environmentally friendly high-rise buildings right in the heart of cities.
Imagine having a farm in the middle of the hustle and bustle where fresh produce are just an arm’s reach. The increasing demand for food can now be sustained through vertical farming, a revolutionary step that will not only improve urban life, but also revitalize damaged lands used in traditional farming.
Included in Time Magazines 50 best inventions of 2009, vertical farming introduces an innovative method in growing crops in a controlled indoor environment using recycled resources, and hydroponic and aeroponic technologies, which are soil-free methods that use way less water to produce fruits, vegetables, and other crops year-round.
Benefits of vertical farming:
- Organically grown food free from pesticides, herbicides, and other chemicals
- No crop failures due to harsh weather conditions and pests.
- Fresh fruits and vegetables can be produced year-round in any climate or weather condition, resulting to an increased production in crops. Fish and poultry could also be grown indoors.
- Fossil-fuel and greenhouse-gas emissions are significantly reduced since heavy farm machineries are no longer needed.
- Lesser spoilage because no long transports are needed to deliver the produce.
- Conserves water. Vertical farming uses recycled black water.
- Reduces health risks. In traditional farming, humans are exposed to infectious diseases, as well as toxic herbicides, pesticides, and other chemicals. VF greatly reduces these health risks since it operates in a controlled environment.
“For the first time in the history of human existence, farming won’t have to rely on soil types. You’ll be able to build a farm in the middle of a desert or in Iceland. You’ll put it wherever you want and people will live there as a result, because you can generate food and energy in those places. Now the water has to be obtained from the ground but if you dig deep enough you’ll find it. You don’t need a lot for hydroponic farming. That’s why it’s worth it no matter what you do have to do to drill for it,” [1] says Dickson Despommier in an interview with mc-miller.com.
References:
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