Monday, November 21, 2011

Addictions: The painful truth

Addictions aren't just cigarettes, alcohol, and drugs. Nope, they can include just about everything from shopping, internet, video games, food, etc. The list goes on. I will be talking about addictions in general, but will most likely be making comments on alcohol as I have second hand experience from my father being an alcoholic. I will also being making comments and marijuana as I have had first hand experiences with the drug a few years back.
Addiction can be either mental, or physical. There is some debate to whether marijuana is a mentally addictive drug, or physically addictive. There is some debate whether it's even a drug at all. Some marijuana users, including myself from freshman year, stated that marijuana is only an herb, from nature. On the other hand, cigarattes, alcohol, and other drugs are proven to be physically addictive, as they show what can happen when not used.
One of the best ways to overcome addiction is healthy use of the substance. For instance, if you are addicted to alcohol, and drink a 6-pack a day, drink a bottle a day, then take baby steps from there. The same goes with many other substances. The number one way to stay off of addictions though, is to never start. Some people get it lucky, and they may try it a few times, and never get phyically addicted but only psychologically addicted, which is much easier to overcome, or not addicted at all. With my marijuana use, I only became psychologically addicted. Once again, there is debate to whether you can become physically addicted, but it was still hard to overcome. After I quit, I still had cravings plenty times a day, which slower lowered to once a year. Yes I still have cravings once in a blue moon, but I choose to overcome them. Do your best, and don't start. Coming from a teen, it's not fun to get off. Enjoy your life, get high on life, and be happy. You don't need help from substances to get happy, get help from your peers. The good ones.

Saturday, November 19, 2011

The Secret Life of Pronouns

The Secret Life of Pronouns

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn20848-the-secret-life-of-pronouns.html

The way you speak can reveal many things about you that you do not realize. For example your personality, thinking style, emotional state, and connections with others can all be revealed by words you use commonly. One such word is “like”, commonly used by teenagers. Another is “um”, also used by the teenage population. The Little words that you use everyday are the ones that reveal the most about you. There are three main types of writing that can reveal a lot of your personality, Formal, Analytical, and Narrative writing. People who write Formally tend to be more concerned with status and power, less honest, and drink and smoke less. people gradually become more Formal as they age. Analytical people tend to be more honest, have higher grades, and have a more complex view of themselves. Finally people who use Narrative writing tend to be natural story tellers, have more friends, have better social skills, and see themselves as more outgoing.

This can affect how many people interact with each other, possibly allowing people to learn much more about people through conversation than before.

this can effect everyone who talks to other people or writes anything

Scientists Reveal Jealousies on Mock ‘Mission to Mars’

Scientists Reveal Jealousies on Mock ‘Mission to Mars’

http://news.yahoo.com/scientists-reveal-jealousies-mission-mars-173527695.html

This is a follow up story to the blog reported earlier on the 520 day mock mission to Mars.

The Russian program director of the mission reported is wasn’t all smooth sailing for the 6 man multinational crew. The mission was designed to test the long-term effects of stress and isolation. The psychologists witnessed conflicts between crew members and the command team because the work load was not always evenly distributed. Jealousies emerged over who received more news from their loved ones. This sense of jealousy is similar to those experienced by draftees in their first months away from home. Doctors were on the ready to massage hurt egos and diffuse any explosive disputes. No one’s physical health suffered and the crew remained a single team. The 3 Russians, 1 Chinese, 1 French, and 1 Italian were each paid about $100,000 for the experiment.

Being paid $192.31 a day with food and lodging included doesn’t seem too bad. But being confined in small metal containers without much outside contact and a language barrier with other smelly men doesn’t seem like a good job for the money. The only positive of the job is if it someday helps future astronauts make a successful trip to Mars and back.

Friday, November 18, 2011

Restless leg syndrome

Restless leg syndrome

Restless leg syndrom in definition is a poorly understood and often misdiagnosed neurological disorder.RLS (which is also sometimes referred to as Jimmy Legs, spare legs or "the kicks") may be known as uncontrollable urges to move the limbs in order to stop uncomfortable, painful or odd sensations in the body, most commonly in the legs.RLS may start at any age and is a growing disease for a certain percentage of people although it may disappear permanently in some sufferers.This article is very importan to know about me and others. It gives us basic information of thia syndrome and helps us understand what it is.

Color Blidness

Color blindness

Color blindness in definition is the inability to perceive differences between some or all colors that other people can distinguish. It is most often from genetics, but may also occur because of eye, nerve, or brain damage, or due to exposure to certain chemicals.In that case I believe color blindness is great infromation to know about people. It can now help you know that color blind people need to see colors like blue,black,and red when looking at things to actaully read it.

Tic

Tic

A Tic in definition is a sudden, repetitive, stereotyped, nonrhythmic, involuntary movement (motor tic) or sound (phonic tic) that involves discrete groups of muscles. There are to different kind of Tics there is simple motor, motor tics, simple phonic tics, complex motor tics and typical tics. Simple motor tics are sudden meaningless movements, such as eye blinking or shoulder shrugging.
Motor tics can be of an endless variety and may include such movements as hand-clapping, neck stretching, mouth movements, head, arm or leg jerks, and facial grimacing.
A simple phonic tic can be almost any possible sound or noise, with common vocal tics being throat clearing, coughing, sniffing, or grunting.
Complex motor tics are purposeful-appearing and of a longer nature.
Complex phonic tics may fall into various categories, including echolalia (repeating words just spoken by someone else), palilalia (repeating one's own previously spoken words), klazomania (compulsive shouting), lexilalia (repeating words after reading them) and coprolalia (the spontaneous utterance of socially-objectionable or taboo words or phrases).
Coprolalia is a highly-publicized, though uncommon, symptom of Tourette syndrome.
Typically, tics increase as a result of stress or high energy emotions, which can include negative emotions, such as anxiety, but positive emotions as well, such as excitement or anticipation.This article is very informative and good to know about ticcs and others can know it,and I know now alot about it as well.

Hallucinations

Hallucinations

A Hallucination in definition is a sensory perception experienced in the absence of an external stimulus, as distinct from an illusion, which is a misperception of an external stimulus.Hallucinations can be found in many sensorys including visual, auditory,olfactory, gustatory, tactile, or proprioceptive (sense of balance and position in space). Metacognitive abilities in definition are abilities that allow us to monitor or draw inferences from our own internal psychological states (such as intentions, memories, beliefs and thoughts).
The ability to discriminate between self-generated and external sources of information is considered to be an important metacognitive skill and one which may break down to cause hallucinatory experiences. This article is very informative and tells us about Hallucinations and I believe it will help others know what it is, because I now know what it is.