Jamie Lee Curtis is turning 50 and reports that she feels better than she ever has. Perhaps it's the lessons she's gathered through her ups and downs that have primed her for this prized place in life. Here are some thoughts regarding her half-a century milestone.
Turning 50 used to mean being put out to pasture, says Curtis. Not anymore. This leading lady feels more vibrant and is more active than ever.
With age comes wisdom, and Curtis has wised up the the fact that she no longer needs to worry about how perfect her figure is. She encourages women to accept their bodies and the beauty of aging naturally.
Baring her soul helps her come clean, and the now-sober Curtis says, "When you gain sobriety in the middle of your life, you're really reborn."
As her big birthday approaches, Curtis, also an author of children's books, says she is happy to have "dropped the rock -- the rock of addiction, of family, of comparisons with other people." It's about being fit and focused and furious, she says.
This morning I had to talk to my son about his latest little escapade -- putting a huge wad of gum down the garbage disposal. I spent a good half hour risking limbs while cleaning up that mess. Yet when I talked to him about it, he barely seemed to listen much less apologize sincerely. I finally had to request an apology -- and the one I got was insincere. (Grr.) As a punishment, he has to do extra chores to "make up the time" that I spent fixing the disposal. He wasn't phased by that at all.
The kids, ages 12 and 13, were having a hard time in school and completing other activities because of their phones. In addition, they were lying to relatives in order to get money to spend on their phones. They had had their phones for 18 months. Before recognizing that it had become a problem, their parents hadn't restricted their cell phone use.
While some debate its efficacy, marijuana has been sparingly prescribed for certain conditions for many years now. It has exhibited some ability to help manage pain, reduce ocular pressure for glaucoma patients, reduce nausea from chemotherapy, and help with AIDS-related wasting syndrome. But, besides the potential addictive qualities, medical marijuana also can cause some loss of memory.
Scientists may have found a way to harness the medical benefits of marijuana without some of the side effects. The psychoactive compound in marijuana is called tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). THC has positive benefits such as relieving pain and anxiety but can result in cognitive problems. In fact, patients on marijuana therapy are more likely to suffer from depression and anxiety in the long run. In a lab study on mice, scientists have found that organophosphorus agents (OP) had the same positive effects as THC without the downsides. Much more research is needed before this finding could be applied to humans.
Genetics may be to blame for hooking some people on cigarettes. Genetics may make some smokers more prone to lung cancer too, say three new studies. This is the strongest case so far for the biological foundation of nicotine addiction.
Scientists have pinpointed genetic variations related to smoking that could one day lead to screening tests and customized treatments for those trying to kick the habit.
The gene variations, which govern nicotine receptors on cells, could help explain some of the mysteries of chain smoking, nicotine addiction, and lung cancer -- like why a 90-year-old lifetime smoker never gets cancer, why some people can occasionally light up and never get hooked, and why some people have such a hard time quitting.
Initially, researchers are pretty certain that a smoker who inherits these genetic variations from both parents has an 80 percent greater chance of lung cancer than a smoker without the variants. That same smoker tends to light up two extra cigarettes a day and has a much harder time quitting than smokers who don't have these genetic differences.
The three studies, funded by U.S. and European governments and published Thursday in the journals Nature and Nature Genetics, looked at more than 35,000 white people of European descent in Europe, Canada, and the United States. Blacks and Asians will be studied soon.
If acronyms such as LOL, 9, AFC, AYTMTB, B4N, and BTDT make sense to you, then you just might have a texting addiction. A recent article in the American Journal of Psychiatry states that, if you overuse text messaging, you may have a problem with it. Possible signs that you're overusing texting include:
Excessive use that interferes with your daily activities (such as school, work)
Feeling depressed when you can't text
Becoming socially isolated because of it.
It all seems a little silly and blown out of proportion to me. But then, I know my niece was racking up huge cell bills because her parents' plan didn't include free text messaging. Despite repeated discussions and reprimands from her parents (including paying the charges for texting) she couldn't seem to stop until her parents took her phone away. Maybe it was an addiction after all...
Compulsive text messaging, urges to get online and surf the web, cravings to play video games... What do all of these activities have in common? They're practices people do on the Internet, and one doctor says psychiatrists should recognize it as a bona fide mental illness.
Technology certainly has made things easier to get work done. But it can also be a great distraction to "unplug" from the rest of the world. After all, have you ever looked at your watch and gotten online to check your email, only to realize hours have passed in what seemed like minutes? Making time fly is one thing, but a doctor from the Oregon Health and Science University in Portland says this habit can be taken a step further to addiction.
According to Dr. Block, getting hooked on the web has all the same traits of a typical "offline" addiction: withdrawal and tolerance and requiring more time to get the same satisfaction, for example. He also says that 86 percent of Internet addicts have other mental illnesses -- so I'm wondering if those traits contribute to this computer-aided dependency. Either way, it'll be interesting to see if psychiatrists diagnose "web addiction" in the future.
Men can sometimes take flack for playing too many video games, but it turns out that it's just the way we're made! According to this article, gender actually contributes to guys' ability to get "hooked" to games like Halo. They use strong words like "addicted," but clearly it's just in our genes and not a problem (at least I'm going to keep telling myself that).
Interestingly enough, Stanford researchers hadn't meant to address video game habits with this study. Originally, they were trying to figure out territorial tendencies among the two genders. Twenty-two guys and gals were monitored while playing a special video game that was meant to gauge whether or not men were more territorial than women. It was a customized game where each player tries to gain as much territory as possible.
The results showed that the men's brains reacted differently than women's. When they were playing, the area of the brain that's connected to the feeling of reward and addiction was active -- and even more so when they gained territory! This proves that we're wired differently when it comes to video games, as much as the industry would hate to admit it. Now guys can arm themselves with science next time they catch and earful for spending too much time behind a controller.
After more than ten years in the making, professor Thomas Kosten has finished a vaccine that has the potential to cure addiction. The way it accomplishes this is nothing short of amazing. The drug literally prevents the body from getting high!
Right now, the vaccine addresses the effects of cocaine most effectively. However, he says they are working on translating this wonder medicine to other applications such as methamphetamine and heroin. Imagine if they could address the same addiction that cigarette smokers deal with?
Another incredible aspect of this vaccine is that even thought the process takes a while, there are no withdrawals. So patients trying to kick the addiction to a substance don't have to go through all the painful side-effects! So how did they do it? Well, doctors inject an altered version of the drug, in this case the cocaine molecule, which tells the body to start making antibodies against it. When the real cocaine is used, it ends up getting urinated out before it ever reaches the brain. Science can do some truly amazing things -- let's see if they can come up with more variations of this vaccine!
Do you use painkillers--both prescription and over-the-counter--on a regular basis to ease your aches and pains? I am only an occasional pill-popper but I know many people who've made painkillers a regular part of their day.
But regular painkiller use is the problem, not the solution, according to new research. Regular use of such medication can actually cause headaches. What's more, the body becomes resistant and accustomed to the pain pills, and the body can produce withdrawl symptoms, even with mild painkillers, according to this article from The Daily Mail. Yikes. That's pretty frightening if you ask me.
But there's more yet -- click here for more info if you're using pain medication on a regular basis.
Most consumers like to be aware of potential risks associated with their investments. If you're a patient, and you look at yourself as a consumer of medical practices, you'd probably want to be aware of any risks associated with a particular doctor, right?
Well, the case of addiction among physicians is prompting California to reconsider a confidentiality program that enables these doctors to get rehab in secrecy, and still practice medicine. Now we are not talking about a huge number of doctors: only about 1 percent in the entire US, actually. But you wouldn't know if your doctor was in that 1 percent or not, even if he had botched an operation in the past.
Opponents of this secrecy program say that rehabilitation is not helping doctors get better, nor is it looking out for the interests of the patients. But due to the confidential nature of this whole issue, it's hard to tell what's working and what's not. It could be that some doctors with addictions are very successful at rehab! Even so, the ones who aren't successful wouldn't be required to disclose it, and patients would still be putting their trust (and money) into the hands of these medical professionals. It's a question that is sure to garner heated attention in the future, possibly closer to July when California's program ends. If no alternative system is put in place, then the state will revert back to zero-tolerance and begin pulling medical licenses.
Gastric bypass surgery is not the miracle fix everyone seems to think it is. In fact, many people have developed dangerous addictions after undergoing the surgery. What Oprah emphasized on her show, and what I think everyone who is struggling with weight should know is that if you don't address the demons that make you overeat, you'll never truly be healthy. Also? Skinny does not equal happy, no matter how much you think it will.
Recently I came across this very interesting article in the New York Times about a woman who was seemingly addicted to water -- she would carry several water bottles with her everywhere, never going more than a few minutes without a drink and making frequent visits to the bathroom. Overnights she would even drink, sometimes more than a gallon, before morning.
The scary thing is that she had been that way as long as she could remember but had never understood why -- it took a doctor taking a special interest when when she was 38 years old and in the hospital for something else to finally solve the mystery.
For that woman the issue was a hormonal deficiency and the fix was as simple as a daily nose-spray prescription. But can a person actually be addicted to water? According to the article the answer is yes -- it's called psychogenic polydipsia and it's defined as an uncontrollable compulsion to drink, usually due to mental illness.
And to think that most have a hard time making ourselves enough water!
New research released this week looked closely at the signs and symptoms of nicotine withdrawal and pinpointed brain mechanisms linked to dependence on the chemical as well as anxiety over the stopping of its use.
The study in this situation was done on a rat population, but even so may lead to drugs or treatments (or both) that could lead to more effective treatments in the future for smokers.
The brain system involved with anxiety and craving was stimulated heavily by nicotine withdrawal, which helps explains why it is so hard to quit for many smokers. Smokers often relapse long after stopping smoking because of the long-term effects nicotine has on that area of the brain, according to the research.
A recent survey by the Stanford University School of Medicine shows that 1 in 8 American adults obsessively check emails and surf the internet . It says that basically, they're addicted. Are you that 1 in 8? Or is it somebody in your office or family? (If you have a big family there's probably several afflicted members!)
You zone out while surfing the net or mindlessly browse through pages and don't even remember what you've just read.
You easily get sidetracked at work with emails instead of doing work.
You worry what you might be missing when you're not online.
You have family or friends who are upset by the amount of time you spend online.
Strategies for coping with internet addiction or internet addiction symptoms:
Turn off email alerts so you aren't distracted while working.
Schedule specific times during the day to check your email, and stick to only those times.
Set up regular face-to-face times with people that get you away from the computer (i.e. meet a friend for lunch instead of emailing him/her back and forth all day).
I've become quite the anti-sugar nut. I don't want any part of sugar and find myself closely examining every food label I come across. The lower the sugar, the happier I get. Sugar-free? Even better.
It's been fairly easy for me to wean myself off sugar. Cutting it from my kids' diets is more of a challenge. They want it, crave it, beg for it. Slow and steady is my plan for them. In time, I hope to have them choosing fresh fruit for snacks, instead of Chips Ahoy cookies. Christina Sbarro over at ParentDish wrote on September 15 about some sugary new research which makes me more convinced my kids are better off without the refined white stuff.
Jamie Lee Curtis is turning 50 and reports that she feels better than she ever has. Perhaps it's the lessons she's gathered through her ups and downs that have primed her for this prized place in life. Here are some thoughts regarding her half-a century milestone.
While some debate its efficacy, 
Genetics may be to blame for hooking some people on cigarettes. Genetics may make some smokers more prone to lung cancer too, say three new studies. This is the strongest case so far for the biological foundation of nicotine addiction.
If acronyms such as LOL, 9, AFC, AYTMTB, B4N, and BTDT make sense to you, then you just might have a 
Compulsive text messaging, urges to get online and surf the web, cravings to play video games... What do all of these activities have in common? They're practices people do on the Internet, and one doctor says psychiatrists should recognize it as 
Men can sometimes take flack for playing too many video games, but it turns out that it's just the way we're made! According to this article, gender actually contributes to guys' ability to get "hooked" to games like Halo. They use strong words like "addicted," but clearly it's just in our genes and not a problem (at least I'm going to keep telling myself that).
After more than ten years in the making, professor Thomas Kosten 
Do you use painkillers--both prescription and over-the-counter--on a regular basis to ease your aches and pains? I am only an occasional pill-popper but I know many people who've made painkillers a regular part of their day. 
Most consumers like to be aware of potential risks associated with their investments. If you're a patient, and you look at yourself as a consumer of medical practices, you'd probably want to be aware of any risks associated with a particular doctor, right?
Did anyone watch the 
New research released this week looked closely at the signs and symptoms of nicotine withdrawal and pinpointed brain mechanisms linked to dependence on the chemical as well as anxiety over the stopping of its use.
A recent survey by the Stanford University School of Medicine shows that 1 in 8 American adults obsessively check emails and surf the internet . It says that basically, they're addicted. Are you that 1 in 8? Or is it somebody in your office or family? (If you have a big family there's probably several afflicted members!)
I've become quite the anti-sugar nut. I don't want any part of sugar and find myself closely examining every food label I come across. The lower the sugar, the happier I get. Sugar-free? Even better. 
Summer Slimdown Guide: Instant self-confidence boosters
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Summer Slimdown Guide: Calorie-free foods (or close to it)
