Casual sex is a controversial issue. Whilst some believe it to be the best way to spend a Saturday night, others condemn the morality of it as well as the physical and psychological dangers. Generally, casual sex has a bit of a bad reputation and that reputation can easily stick to those who regularly partake in it. That said, a great number of people find themselves involved with casual sex at one point in their lives. In fact, around 80% of undergraduate students admit to having casual sex[1], and by the age of 25, around 70% of the population will have ‘hooked up’ at least once[2]. With such a large amount of the population having had some experience of casual sex, even on a small scale, it seems bizarre that there should be a negative feeling around it, but perhaps there are reasons for that. Putting aside the more obvious ones, such as the risk of sexually transmitted diseases or unwanted pregnancies, many are beginning to question whether casual sex is actually bad for your wellbeing.
In recent years, ADHD has received more and more public attention. Rates of diagnosis have increased in children nationwide – 11% of all American children had been diagnosed with ADHD as of 2011, compared to 7.8% in 2003 and 9.5% in 2007.[i] Understandably, such an increase has provoked skepticism and concern about the validity of the diagnosis, particularly as treatment for the disorder usually involves stimulant medications that can be easily abused. Perhaps this is one of the reasons why, in 2011 CDC data, statistics showed that less than a third of all US children over 6 with ADHD were receiving both medication and behavioral therapy as is generally recommended, and nearly 20% of children with the disorder were receiving neither.[ii] Plenty of people are skeptical about whether ADHD is all that serious a problem, when many of the symptoms seem to be simply magnified versions of normal behavior for children.
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.
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.
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.
The LGBTQ community is often seen as a monolithic entity, with everyone working towards the same end goal. It’s certainly easy to think that way, since they’re united as a community by the marginalization they experience for their sexuality and gender expression. But that acronym itself shows the inaccuracy of that assumption. This community includes gay men and lesbians, who are linked by their homosexuality but often experience different, gender-specific forms of homophobia – for instance, while a gay man might be greeted with simple disgust and even violence by a straight man, a lesbian might instead be told that her homosexuality is “sexy” by the same man and find that he is sexually aggressive towards her despite her orientation or even because of it. Bisexuals often face marginalization in the LGBTQ community because their homosexual peers resent their option to “pass” for straight, or find that potential partners outright reject them for fear of not being able to fully satisfy them. The “queer” label that rounds out the acronym is itself an umbrella term for several other disparate groups who face similar problems in how they are treated by their society for their sexuality and gender identity; often “queer” is used as shorthand for these groups or even for the entire LGBTQ community, due to how many terms would need to be rattled off to mention all of them.
Dissatisfaction with one’s appearance is a familiar feeling to many of us. In a society with idealized bodies plastered all over the media we consume, from magazines to movies and everywhere in between, drawing unfavorable comparisons of oneself to the results of Photoshop might even be inevitable. People do not fret over their looks for no reason, either: perceived attractiveness is, for example, likely to be tied to employment rate and wages earned.[i] Teenagers, too, feel the pressure of trying to measure up to modern times’ Aphrodite and Adonis – perhaps even more keenly than adults, at times. Research shows time and again that young people worry quite a lot over their looks, and sometimes those worries can put them on the path to self-destruction. And since such low self-perception and the disorders associated with it tend to be rooted in adolescence, if they do not outright begin then, it is important to be aware of how these problems crop up in young people if we hope to combat them in the population at large.
Two of the biggest problems facing America today are unemployment and obesity – two seemingly unrelated but equally serious issues. After some of the most difficult economic times since the 1930s, America’s unemployment levels peaked at almost 10% in 2009, leveling out to around 6.3% today[1]. Obesity, likewise, has more than doubled for both adults and children in the US since the 1970s, with around 69% of adults being overweight or obese, and 35% being obese[2]. More and more studies, however, are investigating the link between unemployment and obesity and as results start to flood in, it seems that they are not as unrelated as they seemed.
Statistics
Studies are starting to show that there is a significant link between unemployment and obesity, especially amongst unskilled workers who are struggling to find work. In fact, a Gallup study suggests that if you are between 18 and 44 and unemployed, you are 30% more likely to be obese than your counterparts in full-time employment[3]. High-skilled workers, who may have had sedentary jobs that led them to develop their own fitness plan are more likely to continue exercising and may have savings to help them to eat healthy after losing employment. Low-skilled workers, alternatively, tend to work physical jobs and use that to burn calories. When the job is lost, their only form of exercise goes with it, and it can be difficult to get out of a cycle of watching TV and eating junk food[4]. Of course, these are sweeping generalisations but the statistics are hard to ignore.
Susan and Tim have been married for 10 years. Susan has a fulltime job, but still works hard to care for her home and family. That includes having a home cooked meal prepared when Tim arrives home every day. Today, her son became ill at school and it took her a couple of hours to pick him up and take him to the doctor. That meant Susan was not going to have that meal on the table today. Susan was afraid.
Why would something so minor cause Susan to become fearful? She was in a situation that most people wouldn’t give a second thought. It's just something that happens. For Susan, it could turn into a nightmare.
Susan raced home and hoped she had enough time to begin preparing dinner before Tim arrived. Unfortunately, Tim arrived only a few minutes after her. When he saw there was no food on the table, he was not happy. Therefore, as Susan had feared, he was about to make her life hell.
Depression is one of the most common ailments of our time. The CDC estimates that just under 10% of the US population is depressed at any one time; so many people are afflicted with depression, in fact, that it is the leading cause of disability in the country. With such a widespread and varied group of patients, methods of treatment vary widely as well. Medication and therapy, while certainly the best-known treatments, are far from the only ways we have to combat mental illness. Recent research suggests that depression can also be tackled by instead treating patients’ insomnia.
Depression often accompanies other mental and physical maladies. One of its more common attendants is sleep disorders: as many as 60% of adults with depression also suffer from symptoms of insomnia, and a 2011 study established that there was a link between the two disorders rather than it being a matter of shared symptoms. As insomnia places stress on the mind and body much like depression does, this can make life even more difficult for depressed patients already struggling to overcome a daunting obstacle to their ability to function.
