Sleep

WASHINGTON (AFP) - – People who sleep more or fewer than seven hours a day, including naps, are increasing their risk for cardiovascular disease, the leading cause of death in the United States, a study published Sunday shows.

Sleeping fewer than five hours a day, including naps, more than doubles the risk of being diagnosed with angina, coronary heart disease, heart attack or stroke, the study conducted by researchers at West Virginia University's (WVU) faculty of medicine and published in the journal "Sleep" says.

And sleeping more than seven hours also increases the risk of cardiovascular disease, it says.

Study participants who said they slept nine hours or longer a day were one-and-a-half times more likely than seven-hour sleepers to develop cardiovascular disease, the study found.

The most at-risk group was adults under 60 years of age who slept five hours or fewer a night. They increased their risk of developing cardiovascular disease more than threefold compared to people who sleep seven hours.

Women who skimped on sleep, getting five hours or fewer a day, including naps, were more than two-and-a-half times as likely to develop cardiovascular disease.

Short sleep duration was associated with angina, while both sleeping too little and sleeping too much were associated with heart attack and stroke, the study says.

A separate study, also published in "Sleep", showed that an occasional long lie-in can be beneficial for those who can't avoid getting too little sleep.

In that study, David Dinges, who heads the sleep and chronobiology unit at the University of Pennsylvania school of medicine, found that 142 adults whose sleep was severely restricted for five days -- as it is for many people during the work week -- had slower reaction times and more trouble focusing.

But after a night of recovery sleep, the sleep-deprived study participants' alertness improved significantly, and the greatest improvements were seen in those who were allowed to spend 10 hours in bed after a week with just four hours' sleep a night.

"An additional hour or two of sleep in the morning after a period of chronic partial sleep loss has genuine benefits for continued recovery of behavioral alertness," Dinges said.

In the study about sleep and cardiovascular disease, researchers led by Anoop Shankar, associate professor at WVU's department of community medicine, analyzed data gathered in a national US study in 2005 on more than 30,000 adults.

The results were adjusted for age, sex, race, whether the person smoked or drank, whether they were fat or slim, and whether they were active or a couch potato.

And even when study participants with diabetes, high blood pressure or depression were excluded from the analysis, the strong association between too much or too little sleep and cardiovascular disease remained.

The authors of the WVU study were unable to determine the causal relationship between how long a person sleeps and cardiovascular disease.

But they pointed out that sleep duration affects endocrine and metabolic functions, and sleep deprivation can lead to impaired glucose tolerance, reduced insulin sensitivity and elevated blood pressure, all of which increase the risk of hardening the arteries.

The American Academy of Sleep Medicine recommends that most adults get about seven to eight hours of sleep each night.

Shankar suggested that doctors screen for changes in sleep duration when assessing patients' risk for cardiovascluar disease, and that public health initiatives consider including a focus on improving sleep quality and quantity.

"Sleep" is a peer-reviewed scientific journal published by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine and the Sleep Research Society.

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My opinions: We all know that having not enough sleep is harmful to our health. But according to this article, it shows that sleeping more than enough is harmful too.

So how much is enough?

According to the researchers at West Virginia University's (WVU) faculty of medicine, 7 hours of sleep a day is enough while the The American Academy of Sleep Medicine recommends that most adults get about seven to eight hours of sleep each night.

Many of us may think that by sleeping later, we can have more time to do our own things such as playing DOTA, watching movies, chatting on the phone with friends or even reading that partifular story book.

However, by not sleeping enough would actually cause problems, pimples breakout is the most common aamong teenagers.

Studies has shown that
1.short sleep duration was associated with angina,
2.while both sleeping too little and sleeping too much were associated with heart attack and stroke
3.and participants who slept nine hours or longer a day were one-and-a-half times more likely than seven-hour sleepers to develop cardiovascular disease.

Hence, it's important to have enough but not too much sleep - 7-8 hours is the most preferred sleeping time.

Drugs

Jul 27, 2010

SHE made the headlines by stomping on the roof of a taxi early this year and then lying down in the middle of Hougang Avenue 9, causing vehicles to come to a screeching halt.

On Tuesday, Huynh Thanh Ha appeared contrite in the dock of a district court. With tears running down her cheeks, the Vietnamese national pleaded guilty to taking drugs the night before her bizarre behaviour and was jailed six months for drug consumption.

The 19-year-old, who is married to a Singaporean, was also jailed two weeks for endangering public safety by acting rashly and lying down in the middle of a road. As the second sentence was ordered to run concurrently, she will serve only six months behind bars.

Asking the court to impose a lenient sentence on Huynh, her lawyer Tan Cheng Kiong told the court that his client had marital woes. She had married a 39-year-old Singaporean man in July last year but found it difficult to settle down here. She would try to drown her sorrows with liquor and on Feb 15 she met a Vietnamese woman who passed her a red pill which her new friend claimed would make her feel much better.

Instead, Huynh ended up intoxicated and committing offences such as lying on a busy road the next morning, the lawyer said. Two other charges for causing damage amounting to $428 by stomping on the roof of the taxi and ignoring police warnings to calm down, were taken into consideration by the judge when sentencing.

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Conclusion: Huynh Thanh Ha stomped on the roof of a taxi and laid down in the middle of Hougang Avenue 9, causing distruption to the traffic after drugs consumption and she was jailed for 6 months and charged $428 for the damage of the roof of the taxi.

People take drugs because they like what the drugs do to their brains. All drugs of abuse, from nicotine to heroin, cause a series of temporary changes in the brain that produce the "high" feeling.

One of these changes is the rise in available levels of certain neurotransmitters associated with feelings of pleasure. Among these is dopamine, a naturally occurring neurotransmitter that some scientists now think is implicated in most of the basic human experiences of pleasure.

A bowl of favorite ice cream or a compliment may all be related to a rise in dopamine levels in the normal person's brain. Also, drugs boost dopamine levels. When a person takes cocaine, or a cigarettem, the drugs cause a rise in dopamine levels in the brain, a rush of euphoria, or pleasure. Although it's not the only chemical involved in drug abuse, experts believe that dopamine is the crucial one.
Dopamine teaches" people to repeat the behavior of abusing drugs mainly because of the euphoric effects.


Although some drugs can be helpful such as atibiotics, they are a lot of other harmful drugs which can cause serious health problems if taken in large amount.

Drugs not only causes health problems, it affects out ability to make rational decisions hence we should not abuse drugs as not only they did not solve our problems, they would add on to our problems.

Suicides rise in S'pore

Jul 26, 2010


SUICIDES rose in Singapore last year as the economy went into a recession. A total of 401 people took their own lives, up from 364 in 2008.

In the latest statistics released on Monday by the Samaritans of Singapore (SOS), a helpline dedicated to suicide prevention, the rate of suicide went up from 8.76 per 100,000 residents in 2008 to 9.35 last year as Singapore battled its worst recession.

While suicide rates have been known to rise during bad times, the SOS statistics are showing more worryingly, that suicide rates among youths are on the rise as well.

The total number of suicides among those aged 10 to 19 years reached a six-year high in 2009, with 19 youths taking their own lives. This is a stark 58 per cent jump from a year earlier when 12 suicide cases among youths were reported.

Based on statistics from 1991 to now, there has been three clear peaks in suicide rates among youths in Singapore, occuring in 1998, 2001 and 2009, all of which coincided with the economic instability.

During the Asian financial crisis in 1998, youth suicides jumped from 22 deaths from 14 the year before. Similarly, youth suicides hit a record 27 deaths in 2001 during the economic downturn.

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My opinions: The summary of the article is that all three peaks in suicide rate among youths from age 10 to 19 coincided with the economic instability, and that sucidide among youth is increasing. Also, in 2008 there were 12 youths committed suicide and the number jumped to 19 this year.

Economic poses stress on people. When people are faced with problems, they seek solution and if can't, they think that suicide is the only way out.

However, suicide is not a permanent solution.

It not only destroy your own future, it is a very irresponsible act to your family members, relatives and friends.

Before we do anything rash or silly, we have to think of our family members, especially our parents who raise us up. Who will take care of them when they are old and weak?

Hence, we should not seek suicide as it is irresponsible, and it's not the only solution.

If we see people who are prone to seek their own lifes, it's best to ask them about their problems or refer them to an adult they can trust, or even a counsellor, as it is best to talk things out before they do anything impulsive.

Japanese living longer than ever

May 26, 2010

TOKYO - JAPANESE people are living longer than ever, with the average life expectancy now a world-record 86.44 years for women and 79.59 years for men, the health and welfare ministry said on Monday.

Japanese women extended their life expectancy by more than four months in 2009 from the previous year, while men added some three months.

Japanese women's longevity set a world record, followed by 86.1 years for women in Hong Kong and 84.5 years for French women, said the ministry.

Japanese men's average life expectancy came fifth globally, compared with 81.0 years for men in Qatar, the world's highest, followed by Hong Kong, Iceland and Switzerland, the ministry said.

The Japanese people are renowned for their longevity, attributed in part to a healthy diet, active lifestyle and good health care.

But the long life expectancy is also set to cause problems for Japan, which has one of the world's lowest birth rates, leaving a shrinking working population to support a growing mass of retirees.

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My opinions: The main point of the article is that Japan has a long life expectancy,which is 86.44 years for women and 79.59 years for men, and they experience an ageing population.

According to the UBS report, using United Nations data, found that four of the world's 10 fastest ageing populations are in Asia. Japan is in the No. 2 spot, followed by Singapore, South Korea and Hong Kong.

The challenge of ageing is a shrinking workforces and the increasing need supporting the elderly.

However, the healthcare sectors like hospitals, medical equipment makers and drugmakers would benefit, and Life insurance and asset management firms should also get a boost from a growing need for wealth management for retirement.

Also, old people are skilled and knowledgeable and they should be allowed to work if they are healthy, as some of them can be productive in the workforce too.

Smoking toddler

Indonesia's smoking toddler cuts back to 15-a-day
A chain-smoking Indonesian toddler has cut back to 15 cigarettes a day thanks to "therapy focused on playing", a child welfare official said Tuesday.

Two-year-old Ardi Rizal shocked the world when a video of him smoking a cigarette appeared on the Internet last month and drew attention to Indonesia's failure to regulate the tobacco industry.

Six months after his father gave him his first cigarette, the overweight boy from Sumatra island was smoking 40 a day and threw violent tantrums if his addiction was not satisfied.

Despite local officials' offer to buy the Rizal family a new car if the boy quits, his parents feel unable to stop him because he throws massive tantrums if they don't indulge him.

His mother, Diana, 26, wept: 'He's totally addicted. If he doesn't get cigarettes, he gets angry and screams and batters his head against the wall. He tells me he feels dizzy and sick.'

Child welfare officials called in to try to wean the toddler off cigarettes said that when they played with him he did not smoke as much.

"The boy has been able to reduce his cigarette intake significantly, very quickly, after the treatment," National Commission for Child Protection chairman Seto Mulyadi told AFP.

"The therapy focused on playing -- we occupied him with toys so that he forgets cigarettes," he said.

Ardi developed his nicotine addiction while spending his days at a traditional market where both of his parents worked, Mulyadi said.

Simple toys and someone to play with were enough to take his mind off cigarettes, at least for a while. The therapists also encouraged Ardi to associate cigarettes with bad things.

"The boy likes singing songs so we tell him that if he continues smoking, he won't be able to be a singer one day, and it works," Mulyadi said.

"It's much easier to help kids like him than teenage tobacco addicts."

Ardi's case has highlighted the tobacco industry's aggressive marketing to women and children in developing countries like Indonesia, where regulations are weak and many people do not know that smoking is dangerous.

Cigarette consumption in the Southeast Asian archipelago of some 240 million people soared 47 percent in the 1990s, according to the World Health Organization.

Indonesia's biggest cigarette manufacturer, PT HM Sampoerna, is an affiliate of Philip Morris International.

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I was quite shocked when i first read this news.

Ardi Rizal's father gave him cigarette at the age of 1 and a half year.

I think that the main cause that Arzi, the 2-years-old toddler who smokes, is his father. If his father did not introduce him this, how would the toddler be able to smoke? If his parents did not pay for the cigarettes for him, how would he be able to smoke (40 cigarettes a day)?

From this, I would say that his father is very irresponsible person because he "introduced" cigarettes to Ardi.. How would a 2 year old know about the consequences about smoking?

Ardi might be healthy now but who knows what will happen in the future?

Some harmful effects of smoking:
1)Heart attacks
2)Strokes
3)Cancer
4)Emphysema, an illness that rots your lungs gradually
5)Stomach ulcers
6)Amputation because of blocked arteries etc

If Ardi is a teenager, he would know about the consequences of smoking and if he still smoke, at least that is his decision and he would bear the consequences himself, but definitely a two-year-old would not know much about health.

Hence, I think that Ardi's father should reflect on his actions and try to do his best to help his son quit smoking as soon as possible.
This is a video of Ardi.

Malaysian teen shot by police

9 May 2010

Teenagers in Malaysia cannot keep out of trouble, it seems.

A 17-year-old motorcyclist, Mohd Azizi Aziz, who allegedly taunted policemen in a patrol car, was shot during a chase along Jalan Jelebu, Negri Sembilan at about 3.30am, Saturday.

He was said to be travelling back to his home in Taman Tasik Jaya in Paroi after helping a friend at a pasar malam stall in Ampangan.

The bullet hit his hip. The teenager has been admitted to the Tuanku Jaafar Hospital here for surgery. His condition is said to be stable..

As they saw the police car getting nearer, they fled in different directions.

Upon seeing this, the two cops in the car gave chase, repeatedly warning Azizi, who was astride a Honda EX5, to stop.

However, the boy allegedly ignored their orders and rode towards Jalan Jelebu some 2km away.

Osman Salleh, state police chief, said Azizi was allegedly riding in a zig-zag manner, apparently taunting the cops to get him if they could.

"When the victim failed to stop after repeated warnings, one of the cops fired a shot," he said.

He said Azizi stopped his bike upon reaching Kampung Ujung Pasir, about 1km away, and tried to flee. However, he was stopped.

"It was only then that the cops knew Azizi was hit," he said.

The victim did not have a valid riding licence, added Osman, saying that based on preliminary investigations, the policeman did not intend to shoot the victim.

"He took out his pistol from the left window and wanted to fire a warning shot but it hit the victim. We will, however, have to verify this," he said.

"The victim is now recuperating and his condition is stable," he said.

Mr Osman also said that the cop did not follow standard operating procedures on discharging firearms.

The cop who allegedly shot the teenager has been detained.

The policeman, a constable attached to the Rahang station, has been in service for one-and-a half years.

"Since the lives of the policemen were not in danger, he should not have opened fire," he told reporters at the opening of Felda Securities' shooting range at Felda Bukit Rokan near here, later Saturday.

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Personally, I think that police should not abuse their authority. As the boy did not pose any danger threats to him, he should not have use his weapon so recklessly and cause an injury. It's fortunate that the boy had only sustained an injury, what if it has cost his life?

All in the name of fashion

Hi all. I'm sure you all know Lady Gaga is right?

Or at least, you must have heard of the songs "Just Dance" or "Poker Face"?



Lady Gaga, her real name is Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta, is a 24-year-old American multi-talented songwrite and singer. She has a very unique sense of dressing. She even has her own creative production team, called the "Haus of Gaga".

This time, she has really gone gaga.

She had one of her legs amputated below the knee purely for fashion purposes.

According to an online source, the pop singer endured the operation so that she could look increasingly 'different', and it seems she has achieved her objective. Her record company even paid for the operation and her new video will showcase the knew image when filming begins in three weeks.

"This is the latest fashion I'm starting and you can see that I'm a world leader when it comes to wacky and weird shit huh. Next month after I recover from the surgery I hope to have the other leg amputated or maybe my arm, hmm...which one should I amputate next?" Lady GaGa said on MTV yesterday whilst hopping around the studio.

"Just think how cool it would be if other mediocre pop acts were to amputate parts of their bodies? You could have headless wonders singing along to their latest template RnB nonsense drum tracks. (Content too vulgar for posting) I think this GaGa bird is onto something, innit," Ronald Schweiner, a music journalist for Melody Maker remarked.

Veteran pop act, Madonna has already shown an interest in the new craze and has vowed to have both of her unsightly arms amputated, and in an extra twist, donated to science.






A perfectly healthy person, amputated her leg out of her own free will, and chose to become a "handicap".
All done in the name of fashion.
Has power, fame and money drive her mad?

Quite a number of people, especially teenage girls, had been influenced by her fashion sense. Such as girls tying a ribbon on top of their hair. Now, will they follow blindly and amputate their limbs too?

I cannot deny that she is an extremely talented lady. She can sing, dance, and compose songs really well. However, I don't agree with the concept of cutting your limbs for the sake of fashion.

Will you go as far as amputating any of your body parts - for fashion purposes?


:O


Source: www.youtube.com
http://www.adailynewspaper.com