At Penn State, we often experience pretty serious winters. Some people love the snow and the winter, but others have a much harder time with it. This is more than them just not liking that particular season. Why does Seasonal Affective Disorder occur?

photo from http://tl.fanpop.com/clubs/random/images/24012675/title/sad-photo

Some people experience Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) when the weather changes. According to MayoClinic,“Seasonal affective disorder (SAD) is a type of depression that’s related to changes in seasons — SAD begins and ends at about the same times every year”. It says that it usually starts in the fall and goes through the winter months.

The symptoms of SAD, according to this article, are pretty similar to the symptoms of clinical depression. Some of the symptoms include “Lack of energy to do everyday tasks”, “Feelings of guilt and worry”, and “Social and relationship problems”. The difference between SAD and Clinical Depression is that people with SAD only feel these symptoms during certain seasons.

The causes of SAD are listed on this website. The two statements that I find most interesting from this site are “Chemical changes in the brain caused by changes in the amount of sunlight are probably involved. Risk factors for SAD include living in geographical locations that are dark or cloudy during the winter” and “Low levels of vitamin D seem to be a risk factor for developing a number of mood disorders, including SAD”. We seem to be at risk, as students of Penn State. We experience winters that are often cloudy.

This study was done with three women who were Vitamin D deficient, and taking antidepressants. The study showed that as the women’s levels of Vitamin D went up the symptoms of depression went down. This is really hard to get conclusive evidence from because of several reasons. The study was very small, and there could’ve easily been third variables involved. On the same site, on the next page it talks about another reason why it is hard to say that SAD is a result of low Vitamin D for certain. Reverse causation could be an issue here. The site says, “People who have depression are at high risk for vitamin D deficiency because they stay indoors, don’t exercise too much, and are likely not eating a healthy diet.” It could logically make sense both ways, and that is why it is hard to tell.

In conclusion, I think that every Penn State student that feels a little more sad during the winter months should take extra Vitamin D. There are no studies that I can find that show any issues with taking Vitamin D supplements daily. Depression can be harmful to every aspect of life, so I think taking a vitamin a day to decrease the chance is definitely worth doing!

photo from http://orthopedicsurgerysandiego.com/vitamin-d-deficiency-as-a-child-could-prove-harmful-later-on/

photo from http://collegelife.about.com/od/healthwellness/a/Tips-To-Help-College-Students-Sleep.htm

Ever since I got to college, I have noticed my energy levels have seemed to drop significantly. I seem to always feel tired. I would feel tired in high school too, but it seems to be way worse in college. Why is this?

Obviously a problem with a lot of college kids is that we do not get enough sleep. Sleep is crucial to being healthy. The amount of recommended amount of sleep, on average, is 7-8 hours a night. Many college students stay up late to do work or study and then get up for class around 8 or 9. According to this site, the average college student get 6-6.9 hours of sleep, when most adults need 6-10 hours of sleep a night.

Have you noticed that in your lecture halls you hear so many people coughing? Well a lack of sleep could be a cause of this. The website above says, “Since sleep deprivation can impact the immune system function, our ability to fight off infections becomes more difficult and we are more prone to getting upper respiratory infections, such as cold and flu, and often feel ‘run down.’ That’s because we are! Heart and lung function is adversely affected by lack of sleep and is associated with worsening chronic lung and heart disease and high blood pressure.” I often do not think about a lack of sleep being able to have such big impacts on my body. I knew that my immune system can get run down if I do not get enough sleep, but think most college kids realize the importance of getting enough sleep.

Sleep deprivation can cause more than just physical illness. College kids have a high risk of having a mental disorder. This website shows how prevalent mental illnesses are in college kids. So what does this have to do with sleep? Well, a lack of sleep can make a person who deals with a mental disorder have a harder time coping. You can read more about it here, and how it can negatively affect academic performances as well. The mental illness and sleep deprivation makes it harder to concentrate and remember things. I never put these two things together, but the correlation between the two makes sense.

This is all great to know, but what if you have trouble sleeping? This site gives 7 tips on what to do to help sleep better at night. All the tips are great, but I think there are a few that may be especially helpful to college students. The second tip the website gives is to pay attention to what you eat and drink. It specifically mentions to be careful with nicotine, caffeine, and alcohol before bed because they are stimulants. The sixth tip that it give is also helpful. It is to include physical activity into your day. This is because it can increase better sleep. It does warn about exercising too close to bedtime though, because for some people it will make them too energized. The seventh tip, in my opinion, may be the most important. It is to manage stress. This is a big deal in college, because we constantly have so much on our plates. Managing our time is key here, and learning to cope with stress in positive ways. The website says, “To help restore peace, consider healthy ways to manage stress. Start with the basics, such as getting organized, setting priorities and delegating tasks. Give yourself permission to take a break when you need one. Share a good laugh with an old friend. Before bed, jot down what’s on your mind and then set it aside for tomorrow.” Here are some other healthy ways to cope with stress too.

This article in the New York times talks about a study linking bad sleeping habits to lower GPA. I think it is safe to say that there is enough information for us, as college students, to assess the risks of sleep deprivation. Continuing to have a bad sleep schedule seems to have too high of risks to not try and change our habits to promote to a healthier sleep schedule.

Have you ever heard a song that reminds you of a specific person, place, or memory? I know I have certain songs that remind me of a specific memory, some good and some bad. For example, whenever I hear the song “Ain’t No Other Man” by Christina Aguilera it reminds me of singing at the top of my lungs, with my best friend, in my room when we were about 12 years old. This is only one of many examples for me personally. I have so many songs that remind me of thing, and some remind me of a bad memory so vividly that I can’t even listen to them. I really am curious as to why the linking is so strong between the song and the memory.

photo is from http://blog.musicteachershelper.com/making-memories-for-a-positive/

I began to look into why this happens, and i found this study. It shows that music seems to be able to help people remember things.  The website from which that study is found says, “The findings suggest that music is an effective stimulus for eliciting autobiographical memories and may be beneficial in the rehabilitation of autobiographical amnesia, but only in patients without a fundamental deficit in autobiographical recall memory and intact pitch perception”. This is really interesting, but after I saw this I was even more curious on why exactly this happens.

This site explained in perfect words what seems to happen to me when I hear certain song. It says, “’What seems to happen is that a piece of familiar music serves as a soundtrack for a mental movie that starts playing in our head. It calls back memories of a particular person or place, and you might all of a sudden see that person’s face in your mind’s eye,’ Janata said. ‘Now we can see the association between those two things—the music and the memories.’” Janata, who is quoted above, is an associate professor of psychology at UC Davis’ Center for Mind and Brain. Another study that was done in 2011 came up with results that indicate that the “large-scale neural networks” are engaged when listening to music, not just the auditory parts of our brains.

According to this site, which talks about, and explains, the results of the 2011 study. The site sums it up like this, “The Finnish researchers correlated temporal evolutions of timbral, tonal, and rhythmic features of musical stimulus. While timbral feature processing was associated with activations in cognitive areas of the cerebellum, and sensory and the default mode network gray matter of the cerebral hemispheres, musical pulse and tonality processing recruited cortical and subcortical cognitive, motor and emotion-related circuits.” To put it more simply: Listening to, and processing, music uses parts of our brains that are connected to emotion and creativity, which may be why we remember and connect certain songs to specific memories.

There are studies, such as the first one I linked, that show how music can help people who have troubles remembering things to remember a specific memory. It is amazing the way our brains works, and how parts of it connect to other parts. Here is a video that shows how music helps people with Alzheimer’s disease remember things.

In the video it talks about how memories can be stored differently, and how we process music. It talks about the temporal lobe and frontal lobe interacting when we hear the rhythm, then other parts of the our brain gets more involved as we connect farther with the song as we begin to sing along or move along with the song. I think its remarkable, like the doctor in the video says in the video, a man who cannot remember his own daughter can remember a specific memory when a song is playing. I think it would be awesome to see more research being done so that we can try to make advances, and use music to farther help patients with memory loss.

Recently, Celebrity Selena Gomez came out publicly with the news that she has Lupus. I had heard of this disease, but what exactly is this? What causes Lupus? What have scientists and doctors discovered that can help?

“Lupus is a chronic, autoimmune disease that can damage any part of the body (skin, joints, and/or organs inside the body). Chronic means that the signs and symptoms tend to last longer than six weeks and often for many years.” This is the definition according to Lupus.org. Lupus often causes joint pain and fatigue. The website goes on to clarify that Lupus is not contagious in any way, and it can range from severity. It can be anywhere from a mild case to being life-threatening. An article from Chicago Tribune explains further what exactly Lupus does “The problem lies in the immune system, whose job is to protect against infection. When working properly, it recognizes the difference between healthy and unhealthy cells. When it malfunctions, however, and attacks healthy cells even when there is no threat, the results are inflammation and autoimmune disease.”

photo comes from Mollysfund.org

This news article is interesting because it goes on to talk about how hard Lupus is to test for, because of how many similar symptoms it shares with other diseases.

So now that it’s clearer what Lupus is, how does a person get Lupus? This site regarding Lupus research says, “Lupus is a mystery. Researchers think genetic, environmental and possibly hormonal factors combine in some way to cause the condition.” Lupus is different from cancer, but seems to be similar in a the fact that the way you get Lupus is still not completely figured out. Research like this can often be difficult because performing experiments is very difficult, because they need to be ethical. You can do anything but observational studies, and that is only helpful to a degree because of all the third variables that could be present.

Who typically gets Lupus? According to Women’s Health “More than 90 percent of people with lupus are women between the ages of 15 and 45. African‑American, Latina, Asian, and Native American women are at greater risk of getting lupus than white women.” Men are susceptible to Lupus, along with women who are not in this age bracket, but young women are who Lupus affects the most.

The Chicago tribune article that I referred to earlier is interesting because it goes on to talk about how hard Lupus is to test for, because of how many similar symptoms it shares with other diseases. One of my big questions was how do doctors test for Lupus? Here is a website that helped me better understand the answer to that question. According to the site, the first thing is having the symptoms associated with Lupus. The second is lab testing, to test for the auto antibodies that damage the cells in the person’s blood. The site also says that according to Dr. Gizler, “Diseases like psoriasis that may also involve the skin and joints, or rheumatoid arthritis, can be confused with lupus”. This makes it difficult to spot if a person has Lupus.

Lupus may not be thought of as much as cancer, but I think that research should continue to be done for both Lupus and Cancer. Yes, it may take years, but eventually I think we will be able to find a cure. Science often takes many, many attempts to come to a conclusion, and often times, even then, it still is not 100% right. In some cases Lupus can be life threatening, so it is definitely worth continuing to put money and time into the research, in my opinion.

photo comes from http://www.makeitfit.org/autism-therapy-dogs/

Many people love dogs, and that is very understandable. Dogs are cute, furry, playful, and sweet. Dogs are often referred to as ‘A man’s best friend”. Many colleges bring in puppies during finals week to help the students get rid of some stress. Of course they’re adorable, but often playing with a dog can actually make a person feel better. Why is this?

As this article says, “Playing with or petting an animal can increase levels of the stress-reducing hormone oxytocin and decrease production of the stress hormone cortisol”. It talks about how these hormones help with children in schools feel more relaxed when doing things publicly in front of the class. It also mentions dogs helping patients with Alzheimer’s. This is interesting because it shows that dogs have a wide range of ways they can help different people.

Often people who are depressed or have anxiety tend to focus and worry about the future or on specific things. Often these people have a hard time feeling like they have a purpose as well. Dogs often can help with this. This site says, “Studies have shown that pets help people who are anxious or depressed focus on the present, because they have to pay attention to the care of their pet. Caring for another living creature improves their sense purpose and creates a feeling of being needed.” The article goes on to talk about the affection that pets show for their owners. This can make a person feel like they are lovable and wanted. The site specifically says, “A relationship with an animal requires a different method of communicating, and for people who are anxious or depressed, that is often a preferred way to interact. Pet owners use touch, eye contact and other nonverbal means to communicate with animals. A cat’s purr or a dog greeting them at the door is a form of affection pets can show to their owners that works wonders to comfort them”. This is very interesting to me, because I know that when I am upset and my dog comes and lays next to me it makes me feel better, and I have never really thought about the reason behind it.

If you look at a person who is depressed or has anxiety, they often do not seem to laugh or smile as much. Webster’s dictionary defines depression as a serious medical condition in which a person feels very sad, hopeless, and unimportant and often is unable to live in a normal way. Here it says that “In many cases, the dog gives the owner a sense of self-worth and identity that might otherwise be missing from life. Also, the gluttonous, lustful, comic behavior of dogs is not only entertaining but also allows the inhibited human master to experience release and humor.”

The matter of fact is that dogs may not be the exact cause of happiness. Diseases and illnesses often make it hard to pinpoint the causes, or what exactly helps in coping with them. This is because correlation does not equal causation, and there are often many 3rd variables that could be having an effect on the outcomes. In my opinion, dogs are very beneficial to humans, whether science has been able to prove it or not. A quote, that I absolutely love, from Josh Billings is, “A dog is the only thing on earth that loves you more than he loves himself.” This is something that again proves that dogs are beneficial to people with depression and anxiety. They shove love, and make people feel loved. Even if this is not the sole reason that owners of dogs with depression or anxiety are improving, there are no big negatives to owning a dog besides the time it takes up. This may not even be a negative for a person who struggles with depression and anxiety, because it would give them a reason to get up and do something, instead of just staying in bed.

This website is extremely helpful in helping understand the struggles of  measuring the effects of pets on people. As I said before, it talks about how it is hard to know 3rd variables, and if reverse causation could be present. It specifically says, “Most evidence on the benefits of having a pet comes from surveys of current health, but that means it is impossible to know if a person is in good health because she has a pet or if he is more likely to get a pet because he is in good health.”

I think if you have the time and you struggle with anxiety or depression it is definitely worth getting a dog. If you don’t have time, I think it is even worth going to play with dogs as a stress and anxiety reliever. This organization (video below) brings dogs to locations like schools, nursing homes, homeless shelters, and other locations similar to these. This is awesome, and the benefits it could have are definitely worth the time, in my opinion!

When a woman gives birth, almost immediately after the nurses try their best to make sure the newborn is held by the mother, and gets skin-to-skin contact. Yes, this is sweet, and clearly a bonding experience between the two, but what’s the big deal about it all? Are there benefits for both the parent and the baby?

photo comes from http://cutebabywallpapers.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/newborn-baby-wallpaper.jpg

One of my good friends did a project on Reactive Attachment Disorder our senior year in high school. I remember her talking about how babies who did not receive enough one on one attention could develop this disorder, and it would affect how they interacted with people socially all throughout their life. I am now wondering if this idea of immediate skin-to-skin contact has anything to do with this disorder, or if there are other specific reasons why this is done.

When a woman is pregnant the baby is inside the womb for about 9 months. It makes sense that we swaddle babies in the early stages because they have been used to being bundled up, all warm, for 9 months. Well, this is part of the reason physical contact is important too. According to this this site, “The newborn is coming out of a very restrictive environment, so anything that simulates that comforts them. Being touched or hearing a heartbeat is familiar because they heard it in the womb.” Imagine coming out of the only place you’ve ever known and having all these changes. Well, we don’t remember it, but clearly we all went through this. The website talks about how it can calm the babies and comfort them, which will help them cry less. We know all parent wants that!

Something that I read from this article that I found very interesting was that, “Having your baby skin to skin, not only helps strengthen the maternal bond, but most mothers find that they can more easily recognize their babies needs”. This shows a benefit for not only the baby but the mother as well. Of course the benefits seem to be greater for the baby, but there seems to be proof of benefits for the mother as well.

So the next question I have is if this have anything to do with Reactive Attachment Disorder (RAD)? This is not a disorder that many people know about. I had not even heard of it until last year. This site says, “Attachment Disorders are psychiatric illnesses that can develop in young children who have problems in emotional attachments to others.” It goes on to talk about the symptoms of this disorder. The issues the child will have usually deal with social interactions. It also says they have issues calming down when stressed, and tend not to look for comfort in their caregivers. There is not a lot of information proving that not having skin-to-skin contact with their mothers can lead to the child having RAD. The screen shot of the Powerpoint shown below shows potential causes of RAD. RAD seems to occur from more long lasting neglect. With this being said, there is no information proving that a lack of skin-to-skin contact has caused RAD, but there is no proof that skin-to-skin contact has any negative outcomes either, so it certainly can’t hurt to do.

There are so many benefits to skin-to-skin contact after birth, that I truly do not know why a mother would not want to, if she was able. This site summarizes the importance of this contact into 6 benefits, some of which I have mentioned earlier. The first benefit is that the baby is warmer. The second is that the baby breathes more normally. The third is that the baby cries less. The fourth is that the baby is more likely to nurse sooner and longer. The fifth is that the baby can hear the mother’s heartbeat, which provides the baby with comfort. Lastly, the sixth benefit is that the baby’s heart rate is more likely to be regular. According to this study, “34 randomized trials involving 2177 women and their babies found that babies in the SSC group cried less, interacted more with their mothers, had improved cardiorespiratory stability and glucose levels, and were more likely to be breast-fed”. This backs up what the previous site said. Overall, skin-to-skin contact between a newborn baby and the mother seems to be important, and very worth doing.

For whatever reason, many people want to be skinnier, and often this is good. Losing weight is good and can be very beneficial to your health. In today’s world, however, it seems that there are always new ways of losing weight. A big thing now is various types of diet pills. Are these a good or bad idea to take?

According to this website, “A few pills, especially the newer prescription varieties (such as Meridia and Xenical), have been shown in clinical studies to help dieters shed a few pounds. But the majority of the ads you see on the Internet and TV are for products that are unregulated, untested and unproven.” This is very scary, because as we know, doctors often cause more trouble because they don’t look into the science of the medicine well enough. If they’re untested and unregulated, that means we really have no idea if 1. they will work and 2. if they will have negative side effects.

So when are diet pills recommended to be used? They clearly are not for everyone. This Health Guidance article talks about who should and shouldn’t take diet pills. It says that people with a body mass index (BMI) of 27 or higher, it may be a good way to lose weight, but for everyone else the cons outweigh the pros. This is a BMI calculator that can help you calculate what your specific BMI is.

THIS website, that I linked before, says that the pills have been “associated with raised heart rate, raised blood pressure and heart failure.” Side effects are a factor with every medication, so it makes sense that you should check with your doctor before just calling the number on the tv and ordering the diet pills.

Right now, there is a lot of talk about birth order. The big question behind all this is does being born first, last, or a middle child effect your personality? It is often speculated that if you are born the first child you may have specific traits or tendencies across the board, as well as middle and last children having their own specific ones.

The photo above shows some of the characteristics that children are thought to have according to their birth order. The photo and says that first born children are often responsible, perfectionists, and take leadership roles more so than middle or last born children. This website describes the firstborn child as “authoritative, strict, direct, and confrontational.”. The middle child is a bit different than the first born child. The website linked above says they have “intermediate levels of radicalism”. The photo says that they are often rebellious, secretive, and mediators. The youngest child, according to the photo, is thought to be social, frantically irresponsible, and spoiled. The website from before says, “However, the most common description found of the youngest sibling is in the form of one word: rebellious. The theory is that the youngest cannot do what the other siblings can, and as a result, lashes out”. The photo says the middle born is the rebellious, so we see a little disagreement here. Only kids are thought to be similar to first born children , according to the photo, and often comfortable being the center of attention which makes sense since they are the only child that has to be given attention from the parents. The website that I have reference for every other order says, “An only child generally follows the pattern of seeking relationships with adults, liking attention, and having difficulties sharing”.

After reading these characteristics and thinking about people in my own life, I see how many of them could be true. My step-sister was the only child before my mom married her dad, and I remember playing with her when we were younger and her having a very hard sharing. She, still to this day, is very comfortable being the center of attention as well. My little brother is the youngest, or last born, and he sometimes frantically irresponsible, and is very social. I am the oldest child and I am definitely more of a perfectionist than my brother or step-sister. I often take it upon myself to be responsible in certain situations as well.

Although many of these may be true in my situation and many other people’s situations, there are so many possible third variables that it is hard to say for sure that birth order truly effects the personality of the child. This paper talks about a lot about the confounding variables that can effect this study. It says, “Many of these studies had possible problems with confounding variables. The most commontype was inadequate control of family atmosphere variables such as demographic changes, incomplete sibships, age and sex of subjects, socioeconomic status (SES), and sibship size and neglecting to consider the effects of these potentially important confounding variables upon their results”. This is exactly why we cannot come to a solid conclusion. There certainly seem to be many correlations between personality and birth order, but we cannot confidently say that birth order is a direct causation of personality traits.

What is ADHD anyways? ADHD stands for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. It affects children, adolescents, and even adults. Often the person who is diagnosed with ADHD has trouble staying focused on one topic for extended periods of time. Often children and adolescents with ADHD have a hard staying focused in a classroom setting. Often they will miss part of what is being discussed in class because they were not focusing on what was being said, but instead zoning out or thinking about many other things. This article is very helpful in understanding ADHD a little better. In the section titled “Understanding ADHD is Key”, it says “Trevor Resnick, MD, chief of the neurology department at Miami Children’s Hospital and clinical associate professor of neurology at the University of Miami’s Miller School of Medicine said there is no right way to tell a kid about ADHD. “The most important issue is that it is a chemical imbalance of the brain chemical dopamine and when that imbalance is present, a person may experience some of the ADHD symptoms.”

So now that we have a little knowledge of what ADHD is, the question I want to tackle is how exactly should doctors go about helping people with this disorder?

My brother and my boyfriend both have a form of ADHD. Neither of them struggle with hyperactivity, but they both say they have trouble focusing in school without a type of stimulant drug such as Adderall or Vyvanse. They both agree that it helps them, but it also makes them feel a little odd. Often my brother will lose his appetite when he takes Vyvanse, but that is one of the common side effects. My boyfriend doesn’t lose his appetite, but will often be very to himself and quiet when he takes his medicine (a form of Adderall). I have often wondered if taking the medicine causes just as many issues, but just smaller ones. They both have decided that they only need to take it during the school year, because focusing in a classroom for an hour or more is extremely difficult without it, but they can get through shorter, every day, activities without it.

So should the answer be giving people drugs to help or should the answer be a more natural method? Are the drugs helping or harming the person more? In both this site and this one there is mention of other ways to handle ADHD other than stimulant drugs, or things to go along with the drugs.  Below is a chart from a website called ADHD Institute. The chart along with the site explain other things that can help with dealing with ADHD.

It is known that these stimulants, such as Adderall, can have negative side effects, but theyre different depending on the person. Who can say what is best for what person. There is constant research being done on ADHD and ways to treat the symptoms that come along with it. Should this just be a trial and error per case to see what works best? Its especially hard to categorize all people who have ADHD because there are so many forms and levels of severity of the disorder. Should a patient start with the prescribed medicine and if it causes too many issues, try non-pharmacological therapies, or start the other way around? Often the person is told where to start with treatment according to how severe their case is, but is that how we should handle it? Shouldn’t there be an easier way than trial and error? Hopefully, research will eventually help us find that easier way.

A big issue people talk a lot about today is hormone injected animals that are being raised for food. The farmers who raise these food-producing animals want them to get big, and fast, because this means they can make more money. Are these hormones affecting us as we eat the foods produced by these animals? Are the hormones affecting the environment or anything else?

A big question for me was: how are all these hormones regulated throughout the animals? After looking around I found out that only certain hormones are allowed, and even then, only certain amounts of those hormones. According to the FDA website, “The FDA approves these drugs only after information and/or studies have shown that the food from the treated animals is safe for people to eat, and that the drugs do not harm the treated animal or the environment. The drugs also have to work as intended.”

After reading this, I was a bit confused because of all the negative talk surrounding the subject. The FDA may regulate these hormones, but do we really know the long term effects they have on us? Here it shows that even the FDA approved drugs may have negative effects on humans who eat the food. According to the article I just linked, science has began to link exposure to these hormones to many illnesses, not limited to, but including, breast cancer, prostate cancer, obesity, diabetes, and Endometriosis.

The good news is, there are regulated labels and with just a little reading of this article it can help us realize what we are actually getting in the food we buy. If you read to the bottom of the website, there are 2 photos of 8 oz steaks.  One represents steak that comes from a cow that has been treated with added steroids and the other represents steak from a cow that has not been treated with added steroids. The steak that comes from a cow that has been treated with added hormones has almost twice as much estrogen in it than the other steak.

My initial reaction is to worry about all the extra estrogen and other hormones in the meat, but is it truly harmful? There are only speculations so far. How do we know that this is what is causing the cancer and other health issues? It is truly hard to know if there is a third variable causing these things to happen or not. How can we know for sure if we should stay away from meat with added hormones or not? If it is truly causing cancer and other health problems, isnt it then completely unethical to continue to give the animals added steroids? Another thought: Wouldn’t it be better to play it safe than sorry, and stop with the added hormones? In America, many things are banned now but what about other countries? Take a look at this website that talks about meat in Canada. Isn’t this crazy?

Also, check out the  shown in the photo to read about some pervasive myths about all natural foods.

Does sex have other benefits beyond the immediate pleasure? Are there negatives that come along with having more sex? If so, what are the pros and cons, and why?

(photo comes from here)

I began to think about these questions after my freshman seminar class on Tuesday. We had a class where we talked about stress and ways to deal with that stress. In the beginning we had to say ways that we cope with stress. Things such as going to the gym, listening to music, sleeping, and eating were very common answers. Nobody actually said sex, but the guest speaker said that in college a lot of people admit that sex is a way they try to cope with stress. I had heard this before, but I began to wonder more about it.

What makes people feel less stressed after they have sex? I started to look into this and found  this website that talks about ways sex can benefit you. It mentions that you can have higher levels of antibodies which would then help with your immune system. This makes sense, because when you get sick you often feel more stressed. This usually is because you are often more tired and therefore get less done and because of that you stress more. The website also says that it,”Counts as exercise by burning five calories per minute”. This also makes a lot of sense, because when you exercise your body release more Endorphins into your brain. As you can see here, “They are commonly known as the happy hormone, simply because it makes you feel calm, relaxed, and pleasurable”.

http://www.slideshare.net/usqedu/physical-activity-helps-stress-post

Another way sex can help with stress is that by touching and hugging your brain also releases the “happy hormone”. Being intimate can also increase your self-esteem and overall happiness, which can reduce stress. Increasing happiness usually goes can in hand with being less stressed. Many other health benefits can come from sex as well such as lowering blood pressure, decreasing pain, lowering risks of heart attacks, and many more.

There is so many positives that come along with having sex, but are there any downsides to it? Well, not all sex can help reduce stress. This this site, formatted as a question and answer blog from the Columbia University says, “However, keep in mind that certain sexual situations may be inherently stressful, due to sexual and interpersonal challenges, concerns, and mishaps.” If you are sleeping around, or sleeping with someone who is in a relationship, this can cause more stress. You could be worried about pregnancy, diseases, or the more emotional part of it all. So, sex can help stress, but usually only if it is in a stable and monogamous relationship.

Hi, my name is Shannon Kress! I am taking this class because it was advised to me by my advisor, and I thought it looked really interesting. I am in the Division of Undergraduate studies, but I am thinking of possibly doing something in Communications or Business. Science has never interested me much, so I know I would not like to pursue it in the future as my major.

My senior year was a great year for many reasons. One of them being that my basketball team won the championship. This is a photo of us after the game, and you can watch a video of some of the high lights here