True Love Becomes Scientific?

My homepage on my Safari internet is CNN.com, and usually I take a few minutes each day to browse any interesting articles. However, the article I found one night is the most fascinating one I have seen yet. 

It states that it has now been scientifically proven that a person can find love with another that indeed lasts a lifetime. They tested couples with brain scans, and detected their levels of passion for their partner. These were the certain chemical reactions that were occurring in the brains of the test subjects.

I can't say if this is a bunch of baloney, because I honestly don't even know! However, if this really true, it does make me wonder what other aspects of our social lives will one day be controlled and detected by scientific means...

Image found through Google Images from: www.lovespeaks.net/images/colourful-hearts-candyheart-love1.jpg

Pink Eye or Make up Residue?

I have been suffering from a mild cold the last week and half, and I have been stocking up on Vitamin C. I have no time to be sick, so I am taking the medication necessary and trying to get enough sleep so that my cold will go away soon! I think I am reaching the last few stages of my cold, because I am coughing more, which means the unhealthy mucus is getting out of my system. However, I awoke this morning to a very scary symptom.

When I woke up this morning, I discovered that I could not physically open my eyelids, because my eyelashes were cemented together with substance. This reminded me immediately of the well known infection pink-eye, or conjunctivities, which I contracted in fifth grade. However, I soon realized that it was just my usual "morning eye boogies" but in a surplus. My mother said I was overreacting, but I wasn't convinced that I was exempt from having gotten this painful eye infection again.

I did some online research and looked up the symptoms of conjunctivitis. It said that pink-eye, or conjunctivitis, usually has the following symptoms:

- red eyes

- swollen, red eyelids

- feeling as if there is a foreign substance in the eye

- an itching or burning feeling

- mild sensitivity to light

- drainage from the eye

I realized shortly that my eye redness quickly faded after using some over the counter eye drops, and the mucus drainage from my eye was normal. I also realized I had been so sleepy the night before I had forgotten to take off my eye make up, which probably caused the surplus and "eye boogies" as I so delightfully call them. 

This short-lived but important experience taught me that it is important to know the symptoms before diagnosing yourself. And if you aren't completely sure, it is the best to notify your doctor, because it is better to go to a doctor and have them tell you that you are healthy rather than to not see anyone and find out you are unhealthy when it is too late! Pink eye isn't serious, but it is easily transmitted and it isn't fun, and I am sure glad I don't have it. 

A New Phenomenon Among GBN Students

There was a short period for me in 6th or 7th grade when knitting was all the rage. Kids would be caught in class with their knitting needles out and would be very disappointed and upset they were being forced to put this exciting new art project away. Colorful scarves (that link shows you the knitting pattern too!) were the biggest thing for the kids, and they were all handmade. They didn't keep anyone very warm, since we were young so there were many holes and mistakes in the knitting process. I wasn't very good at knitting then, and I am still a failure at it now!

Apparently this fad is coming back in style! In the past few weeks, I have seen dozens of students being yelled at by teachers for not paying attention to teachers because they are knitting. Beautifully created (and perfect!) scarves are tied around the necks of both genders, and I feel a little out of place. I did some digging in my basement and found some old yarn and knitting needles from my failed attempt in middle school. 

So far, I am not doing very well, but the Internet is a  HUGE help. Check out this video, it's reteaching me how to knit. I can't start anything substantial, but maybe this will help!

Aha! A Happier Holiday

It is officially December, and I couldn't be more excited for the holiday season. I was talking to my mother in the car, (coming home from Christmas shopping of course!), when we got to discussing a slightly morbid topic. I have heard many times before that suicide rates peak because of the holiday season. This never really made sense to me, because Christmas, winter, and the holidays just make me so cheerful and happy.

Yes the holidays bring certain frustrations, but I still never understood this statistic. So, I did some research, and I found some conclusive evidence that denies the fact that suicide rates increase around Christmas! The most clear and decisive piece of evidence I found was this article  I found from the Carl R. Darnall Army Medical Center Health Library. It says that suicide rates are linked to the holidays by the media, and actually peak in the spring and slightly decrease in the winter!

Finally, there is light at the end of the tunnel! This renewed my strong belief that Christmas is a worldwide happy time of the year! :D The article did say, however, that something called "seasonal affective disorder" is a type of depression linked to winter. But this is related to the dark, cold, winter days, and the not the holidays themselves!

Another article, which was a source of information for the Darnall Medical Center's library, was written in the New York Times on December 27, 2005. It states that a very large study conducted by the Archives of General Psychiatry, found that psychiatric visits decreased in the weeks before Christmas and then rose afterwards. A study conducted by the Mayo Clinic, that looked extensively at a 35-year period, found there was no relationship between the holidays and suicides!

So, for now, my mind is at peace, and is no longer cluttered with the morbid thoughts of depressed people during what should be the happiest time of year! 

And check out this video - the media is catching on to the reality of these studies as well! Hopefully the depressing myth of holiday suicides will be extinguished forever! The video was aired in December of 2007 on CNN Morning News.