Recently I have been having bouts of light blindness. You may have experienced light blindness when looking directly in to a headlight of a car at night, or some other similar incident. Normal light blindness only lasts for a few minutes.

Stress related light blindness can effect a person for as much as a few hours.

Here are some pictures of what you may see when experiencing light blindness:

The treatment I have been using after having these bouts of light blindness, is to seclude myself in to a quiet room until I mentally relax. This normally helps the symptoms subside.

Light blindness can also be a symptom of an oncoming migraine headache. In these cases they most likely will be followed by a very bad headache. Luckily I have not experienced the migraines.

I have to say this is probably the most convincing Stop Smoking Ad I’ve ever seen:

How popular will medicinal marijuana be when they take the high out of it? We may find out soon as Israeli scientists have reportedly cultivated a form of cannabis that does not get users stoned. The new plant looks, smells, and tastes like regular marijuana; but scientists have isolated the substance called tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) which induces the numbing sensation familiar to pot smokers.  Instead the scientists have increased the effects of cannabidiol (CBD) which has proven to be helpful to diabetic and psychiatric patients. It will interesting to see the effects of this innovation on both medicinal and illegal marijuana trade.

In a recent study conducted by a government agency, a discovery indicates that marijuana use does not impair lung function. Compared to smoking cigarettes, marijuana has been found to not cause long term or permanent damage to the functionality or health of the lungs. The study was conducted by following approximately 5,000 test subjects who smoked marijuana equivalent to a joint per day over a period of seven years. The subjects performed a breathing test to provide results as to the effects of marijuana on lung function.

While this study indicates that marijuana does not cause lung damage or conditions such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease -C.O.P.D. for short,- the drug can still have effects on memory and learning as well as irritate the airways. It is not completely clear as to whether or not the effects marijuana has on memory and learning are long term or permanent, but its notoriety to cause coughing and irritated airways is figured to be temporary, meaning the symptoms will likely recede once a user quits smoking marijuana. It remains unclear as to how exactly marijuana does not cause lung damage, but it is assumed that its prime ingredient, THC, may be a factor due to its slight anti-inflammatory effects.

Whether you will damage the rest of your life, we can’t say.

Obesity is a problem for 17 percent of teens in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A study that followed nearly 1,000 children into their teens suggests a link between poor maternal relationships as toddlers and being overweight as teens.

Mother-child relationships were evaluated at one through three years of age. The relationship was assessed based on the mother’s awareness of the emotional needs of child and her ability to nurture in response to those needs.
Approximately one quarter of the children in the study demonstrated an inferior relationship with their mothers.
About 22 percent received perfect scores.

The children were evaluated again at age 15. At this time over 25 percent of the children with poor relationships in early childhood were obese. This is twice as many as those with healthy relationships.

The article states that stress, some of which could stem from poor mother-child relationships, may be a contributing factor in obesity. It is important to note, however, that habits like unhealthy diet and lack of exercise and sleep probably play a bigger role.

This is turning out to be the summer of bed bugs. There have been numerous issues on the news of bed bug invasions throughout the US.

In researching bed bugs I found this website Bed Bug Reports. They give many good examples of how to check for bed bugs in hotels prior to going to sleep.

These little blood suckers get you when you are asleep and can live years between meals. They also can readily crawl in to your luggage over night. You then bring them home.

The list on www.bedbugreports.com, gives a list of complaints from users of the website along with a list of hotels, some very fancy where people have been bitten. They also have some pictures of bed bug bites which are pretty disgusting.

According to a newly published study, fish-oil supplements may lower your risk of breast cancer.

Researchers at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center surveyed more than 35,000 postmenopausal women and discovered that those who took omega-3 fish-oil supplements had a 32 percent lower incidence of breast cancer.

In general people who take supplements tend to live a healthier lifestyle anyway so it is difficult to isolate the omega-3-fish oil supplements as the cause of the lowered incidence.  Other studies, namely a recent one from Harvard, also discovered health benefits of omega-3 fish oil so taking them is probably a good idea anyway.

A study by professor David Buss at the University of Texas claims that older women are more sexually active than younger women. The study suggests that as women approach menopause and infertility they are less likely to worry about bearing children and therefore more free to enjoy sex.  Many of the participants in the study were recruited from Craigslist which may skew results significantly.

The study  has evolutionary implications and comes at the heals of another study showing that older men are now more likely to contract sexually transmitted diseases as drugs to combat erectile dysfunction become more popular.

Conclusion: Old people will f#@k themselves into extinction.

What happened to Tom Platz? Remember the old Muscle & Fitness Magazines with his legs?

For those of you who do not know Tom, I have added his picture below.

I just read Wikipedia on Tom and it said that he now lives in Scottsdale Arizona and supplements his income as a salesperson at Airpark Chrysler Jeep.

I cannot believe it. The famous Tom Platz is a car salesman. Poor Tom. Goes from the famous story of showing up in Southern California with $50 in his pocket and being an Olympia contender to being a car salesman. Thanks Joe Weider. I guess you got all the money.

According to a report by the New York Times, women pay more than men for health insurance. The troubling part is that even policies that do not include maternity care are more expensive for women than they are for men. Some of the companies that were investigated are Humana and Anthem Blue Cross.

There has been a clear migration away from company sponsored insurance coverage as companies have struggled to make ends meet. The discrepancy in prices and coverage between men and women becomes even more evident in these cases.  The variance was also found when insurance coverage and prices were compared state to state.

A study by a national organization for health care consumers, shows Idaho health insurance, for example, experienced an increase of 121.6 percent in health care premiums over the past eight years and was second only to Wyoming’s in the nation.

Individuals and families that scrutinize insurance offers before signing up have a better chance of avoiding unfair price disparities based on gender. There are several websites that assist users in finding medical insurance policies at lower and more competitive pricing. Insurance companies usually will not refer prospects to any of these websites as there are considerable discounts and savings to be found. One such website offering a discount in medical insurance quotes delivered savings between $100 and $200 monthly.