The Benefits of a Good Scare

October 21, 2015

It is around this time of year that scaring becomes a big deal. Houses are strung with Halloween decorations from spiders to ghosts and ghouls, and then often splashed with ‘blood’ as well. Families and friends play tricks on each other or gather together in dark rooms to watch scary movies or tell terrifying tales. Haunted houses make a killing too – if you’ll excuse the pun! Of course, it’s not just in October that we liked to be scared either. In fact, all year round, people partake in extreme sports or adrenaline pumping activities and the scare industry is big business. We make an event of being scared, eagerly anticipating it and taking a thrill from it afterwards. In short: we love it!

What’s odd about this is that should any of these activities have a genuine, real-life affect, we’d be terrified – and not in a good way, as intended. Most people would not want to be put into a genuinely life threatening situation and fear is our brain’s way of protecting us from that. It warns us of a threat and helps us to react accordingly, but when it comes to thrill seeking, a lot of people thrive on a good scare. So we know that some people enjoy it. The question is, though, can a scare actually be good for you?

The answer? Absolutely it can, and this is why:

The High

The first and perhaps most obvious benefit of being scared is the natural high that comes with it. When faced with a potentially threatening situation, our bodies go into what is known as the fight or flight response. At its base, this is a release of adrenaline that allows us to either flee from the situation or act quickly and efficiently to fight it. At a more complex level, it’s a physiological change. Our heart rate increases, our breath quickens, we begin to sweat, our muscle tense, and our concentration focuses narrowly on the perceived threat. Our brains are also flooded with chemicals such as dopamine and endorphins – yes, the same ones that give you a buzz after exercising[1].

It’s not fight or flight that is, in itself, enjoyable. In a genuinely threatening situation, we wouldn’t get a buzz from this response, but rather would be able to react in a way that better suited the circumstances. Dr. Margee Kerr, a scare specialist at Robert Morris University says the response becomes enjoyable when we know that we are away from harm. Once we accept that we are safe, we are free to enjoy the chemical rush and enjoy that sense of relief – or even of achievement – that we feel once we get through a haunted house or scary movie[2].

Modafinil and Neuro-enhancement: Delightful or Dangerous?

September 15, 2015

What Is It?

Science fiction is abound with neuro-enhancement technologies and medications. The Bradley Cooper film Limitless is just one example, in which characters discover a street drug that allows them to unleash 100% of their brain power, becoming not just more productive but more charming, cleaner, and more energetic. But could such a drug ever exist? Perhaps. Whilst not on the same level as the drug in Limitless, Modafinil is tipped to be the first true neuro-enhancement drug suitable for healthy people.

The FDA approved drug, which is marketed as Provigil in the US and the UK is a schedule IV drug, meaning that you must have a doctor’s prescription in order to legally buy it or possess it[1], although there are plenty of off-label versions of the drug being sold on illegal, overseas websites. At its base, it’s a stimulant that is prescribed to people suffering from sleep disorders such as narcolepsy and is used to increase the cognitive functions of people with neuropsychiatric disorders and shift-work related sleep deprivation[2]. It has later become a nootropic, or ‘smart drug’, taken by healthy people to increase concentration, memory, alertness, energy, and motor skill as well as reducing sleepiness[3].

Doctor Peter Morgan from Yale University explains that it is effective because it acts on several different neurotransmitters at once. It affects your dopamine levels, making you more alert and more interested in things. It affects your norepinephrine, again improving alertness and focus. It affects histamine too, which keeps you awake. It is also believed to enhance short-term memory by as much as ten per cent by influencing the neurotransmitter glutamate[4]. It could affect other transmitters too, meaning that the reaction is different for different people.

That’s a lot of cognitive improvement from one little pill, and the list of people taking it is impressive. It’s prescribed to surgeons who need the boost to get them through long surgical procedures whilst maintaining a steady hand. It’s prescribed to long-haul airline pilots and shift workers. There are also many famous people who reportedly take it to help with day-to-day living. Tim Ferriss, author of The 4-Hour Workweek is one, comedian and actor Joe Rogan is another. Even President Obama is rumored to have taken it[5]. For those not so famous, the internet is littered with case studies and personal proclamations regarding the greatness of this drug and its potential for the future of neuro-enhancement. All this though, makes it easy to wonder: is it just too good to be true?

Does Modern Life Cause Early-Onset Dementia?

August 16, 2015

Dementia affects millions of people worldwide and in the US, there are presently an estimated five million people suffering from age-related dementia. If you are in America and you are over the age of 85, you have a one in two chance of developing some sort of dementia[1]. It is the sixth leading cause of death[2]. In 2015, nearly one in five Medicare dollars will be spent on dementia and Alzheimer’s will cost $226 billion. By 2050, that cost is expected to rise to $1.1 trillion[3]. It’s a terrifying fact.

Dementia is an umbrella term for disorders of mental processes caused by brain diseases or injury. There are a number of different types of dementia but by far the most prevalent and most well-known is Alzheimer’s, which currently accounts for around 70% of all dementia diagnoses[4]. What’s worrying is that dementia diagnoses are increasing as the population ages, as are deaths from neurological diseases like Alzheimer’s. What’s more worrying, though, is that dementia is affecting individuals at a younger and younger age.

Dementia and the Youth of Today

Whilst previously, ‘early-onset dementia’ referred to people in their mid to late 60s, it is now starting to refer to people diagnosed as young as 30 and 40. That’s a frightening concept, and whilst some claim that it’s the result of living longer and being better at curing other diseases (because, they claim, everybody has to die of something), Colin Pritchard of Bournemouth University in the UK is not so sure. Pritchard and his team of researchers examined the mortality data from the World Health Organization and looked at the changing pattern of neurological deaths across 21 western countries, from as far back as 1979[5]. What they discovered was startling.

Gender Expression and the Umbrella of Terms

August 11, 2015

Transgender Americans and their struggles have become much more prominent in recent times. Last year, an article about the transgender rights movement focusing on actress Laverne Cox made the cover of TIME magazine;[i] and earlier this year, Caitlyn Jenner made her transition from male to female public, discussing it in interviews with 20/20[ii] and Vanity Fair.[iii] It would be fair to say, then, that there is a fair amount of public interest and discussion on the subject of transgender people and the life they experience at present. However, most of the public discourse appears to focus on a clearly delineated change: male to female, female to male. But for many people, gender can actually a much more complicated issue than simply being one or the other.

People who do not feel they fit in the world as either male or female will often refer to themselves as “genderqueer” or “nonbinary” rather than simply transgender.[iv] Both are umbrella terms used to cover many ranges of gender expression. Some people will use both terms interchangeably; others feel they have slightly different connotations. For the purposes of this article, I will be using the term “nonbinary” to refer to this group of people, as it came into use for this purpose more recently than “genderqueer,” and I have seen it used more often in recent discussions of gender. The word nonbinary refers to the fact that these people consider themselves as living outside of the gender binary, which is to say, the male/female dichotomy we usually think of when describing a person’s gender.

Fat Shaming vs. Fat Acceptance: Is It Okay to be Fat?

July 11, 2015

Fat: it’s big news. In today’s world, everyone wants to talk about every body, be it big, little, or oddly shaped, and fat is right there at the top of the agenda. There’s the fat shamers (those whose purpose it is to shame ‘fatties’ into becoming ‘thinnies’) and the fatosphere (people who write blogs for and in support of fat people). Then there is everybody in between and it seems that no-one wants to be left out of the debate. So with all this going on, and with the fat acceptance activists doing daily battle with the fat shamers, the real question remains: is it okay to be fat?

Fat Shaming

Fat shaming (heckling and harassing obese people) is becoming increasingly popular. The idea is that shame will motivate overweight and obese people into doing something about their situation. It is suggested, too that the whole concept of fat shaming stems from the idea that people don’t lose weight because they are lazy, lack willpower, and have little or no self-discipline[1]. These ‘shamers’ come from all walks of life, from government campaigns designed to encourage people to lose weight, to the media who aim to stigmatize fat people, right down to the general public who use things like Twitter’s hashtag #fatshamingweek in a way that makes fat shaming seem almost like a hobby, something to take fun from, rather than anything productive. But does fat shaming actually work? And perhaps more importantly, is it morally acceptable?

The Millennial Generation: Their Attitudes, Social Behavior, & Religious Independence

June 23, 2015

A lot of thought and effort has been expended on pinpointing what makes up the character of the millennial generation, and how they became that way. The main point that most everyone agrees on is that they are very different from their parents and grandparents before them. Of course, some change in attitudes is inevitable with the passage of time, and millennials do still retain some aspects of their forebears’ perspective and values. Still, there is one area in particular where millennials break quite radically with their predecessors: as a whole, they are dramatically less religious than the rest of the country.

A recent Pew Research Center study[i] on millennial attitudes and social behavior examined how they compared to the previous generations. Many of these findings are unsurprising: for instance, millennials are much more likely than any other group to have posted a selfie, or a picture of oneself (usually taken with a phone camera), on their social media, indicating how far they have integrated recent technology into their lives. Other findings are less immediately apparent. For instance, millennials tend to be more liberal than their parents, but they are far more likely to identify as independent from political organizations than their predecessors than previous generations did at their age, regardless of whether they lean right or left politically; essentially, they don’t identify as members of the parties they vote for.

Baby Boomers and the Elder Orphans That They Become

June 18, 2015

The Aging Population

The population of America is aging. We’re getting older. That may seem self-evident but the problem is, it’s not just us. Rather, the proportion of older people within our society is increasing and the ratio of young to old is shrinking. In 2012, there were 43 million people aged 65 or over in the US, compared to just 35 million only ten years earlier, in 2002[1]. It is estimated that by 2029, 20% of the US population will be 65 years old or over, and that by 2056, the population of over-65s will bigger than that of the population of under 18s[2]. This, in part, is due to the so-called baby boom generation – those born in the fertile post-war years between 1946 and 1964. The oldest of this group turned 65 back in 2011 and the youngest will probably need health care right through to 2060. Many chose to remain child-free, which in itself isn’t a problem, but as the population continues to age, so difficulties begin to show.

The Baby-Boomers and What They Become

The baby-boomers are now facing a new, and perhaps less spritely name: the elder orphans. The term, coined recently, refers to older people who need care yet have no relatives either at all or living nearby. Dr. Maria Torroella Carny, the chief of geriatric and palliative medicine at North Shore Health System, released a paper last week discussing just that issue. These elderly people, who are often divorced or widowed and have no children, have no support system and are effectively ‘orphaned’ during a particularly vulnerable time in their lives. She uses case studies to demonstrate just how serious this can be and how devastating the potential consequences are[3].

Lead Poisoning and Criminal Behavior: Can there really be a link?

May 17, 2015

The recent death of Baltimore man Freddie Gray, who’s spinal cord was apparently snapped when in police custody, has sparked not only an investigation into police practices but has also reinvigorated the discussion around the potential effects of lead poisoning in children. Despite long being known to be harmful, the effects of lead paint in the homes of children are still being discovered and surprisingly, are still having an effect. The question of the moment, though, is can lead poisoning in children ultimately lead to criminal behavior in adults?

Lead Paint and its Effects

Although the practice of putting lead into paint was banned in 1978, many homes, especially in poor socio-economic areas, still have lead paint on the interior and exterior walls. In time, this paint deteriorates and will chip or release dust that can either be breathed in or more likely swallowed by children. It wasn’t so long ago that 10 micrograms of lead per deciliter of blood was considered a safe level. However in 2012, following a 30 year study into the effects of lead poisoning, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reduced that number to just five micrograms per deciliter. Now, many argue that there is no safe level at all[1]. What’s even scarier is that in 2007, an estimated 25% of homes still contained deteriorating lead paint and currently, more than four per cent of children in the US have some level of lead poisoning. These figures rise in big cities and poor urban areas.

Sex during pregnancy: Is it safe for the baby?

April 29, 2015

Many pregnant couples have a lot of questions when it comes to their sexual relationship during the pregnancy. There are many different ways that a pregnant woman will experience her sexuality during pregnancy and it can sometimes differ greatly from how she felt about her sexuality before and after pregnancy. Couples want to know if having sex is safe for the baby, how their sexual desire might change throughout the pregnancy, different positions, and various other questions.

Is having sex safe during pregnancy?

This is one of the top questions that couples have. The simple answer is yes, it is safe. Your baby is protected within the amniotic sac, the uterus and the surrounding muscles. Apart from that, the mucus plug in your cervix will protect the baby from any infections (although if you have concerns about sexually transmitted infections, you should always use protection). Unless a doctor has specifically told you that you can’t have sex because of some kind of complication with your pregnancy it will be safe to have sex right up until you go into labor. Such complications can include placenta previa, premature labor, unexplained vaginal bleeding or abnormal discharge, cervical insufficiency, a dilated cervix, when your water has broken, if you or your partner have or feel an outbreak of genital herpes coming on, or have other sexually transmitted infections. If you ever have any doubts about whether or not it’s safe to have sex during your pregnancy, your safest bet is to check with your doctor. If your doctor says that sex is off limits for you, make sure to have him or her define what sex is. You might still be able to have oral sex, engage in mutual masturbation or other forms of intimacy even if vaginal intercourse is off the table for the time being.

Burlington Vermont: A Road Map to Becoming a Renewable City

April 19, 2015

In September of 2014 the city of Burlington, Vermont became the first major city in the nation to source 100% of its electricity from renewable energy sources. Though the achievement received scant media attention, it marked a major milestone for renewable energy in the United States. Across the country, coal plants are being retired and renewable energy is grabbing an increasing percentage of the electricity market share. Slowly but surely Big Oil and Coal are losing their stranglehold on the American power grid.

Cities looking to make their own contributions toward greening the U.S. power grid can learn a lot from Burlington's example. So what does it take to become the country's first renewable city?

What Powers Burlington?

Burlington's landmark achievement was a long time in the making. The city has been growing its renewable energy portfolio since 1984 when it completed construction of the Joseph C. McNeil Generating Station, a wood-burning power plant. When rising energy costs in the 1970s prompted Burlington's utility company, Burlington Electric Department (BED), to investigate alternative approaches to powering the city, the utility concluded that “[u]sing wood fuel would put money back into the Vermont economy, improve the condition of Vermont’s forests and provide jobs for Vermonters.” The facility is powered almost entirely by wood chips generated as a byproduct of the state's lumber industry. BED's most recent figures indicate that in addition to generating power through wood burning, the facility is now recovering methane gas produced as a byproduct (biogas) and using it to generate additional power.

The McNeil plant has been an important source of renewable energy for Burlington since its construction; as of 2013 energy generated at McNeil accounted for about 45% of Burlington's total energy consumption. In the intervening years, however, BED has invested in a variety of additional renewable resources, including several wind farms and hydroelectric plants. By 2013, these combined resources had allowed the city to reduce its fossil fuel usage to less than 6% of its total electricity consumption.

The tipping point for Burlington occurred in the fall of 2014. The city's declaration of independence from fossil fuels coincided with its purchase of the nearby Winooski One Hydroelectric Facility, which city officials had long had their eye on. Ownership of Winooski One ensured Burlington a long-term, reliable source of renewable energy and allowed the city to close the resource gap that until that point had been filled by fossil fuels. While exact figures have not yet been made available, according to a 2014 article by Burlington Free Press the city now anticipates that wind, hydropower, and biomass will each supply roughly one third of the city's power. Small-scale resources, such as locally generated solar power and agricultural biogas plants also contribute a small percentage of the city's power supply.

Journal of Public Heath & Environment