Concussions are a huge concern in this day and age and often occur while participating in sports. A concussion is when your brain hits your skull and it becomes damaged. It is difficult to function as your cognitive abilities are obstructed from this injury. Many feel the pain of having nausea, migraines, and memory loss. It is difficult to learn while you have a concussion, but how does it affect your ability to learn after you have recovered from one?

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At the time of a concussion, it is difficult to learn and doctors recommend that you do not participate in school until you have fully healed. However, there are still problems that can arise after you come back. The long term effects from concussions depend on the severity of them. It also depends on how many concussions you have had. Once you get one concussion, it becomes easier for it to occur again. The location of the concussion is also another factor that can lead to long term effects. If you have multiple concussions in the same part of the brain, then it can become increasingly damaged and sometimes the damage is irreversible. Frequency of concussions are also something that can cause long term damage. This is why people with concussions need to make sure they are fully healed before participating in any activities that might cause them to get another concussion. Cognitive impairment is the aspect where one’s learning abilities are affected. Some people can have difficulty learning for the rest of their lifetime due to a concussion. This is why we must be smart and make sure we are fully healed before doing any activities. You also can have memory and reasoning problems which can also affect how you learn.

Concussions are something that people should not mess around with. If you have one, you should make sure you are healed entirely before doing anything. Kids in school often want to rush back from them so they can participate in sports, but it isn’t worth the risk when you could damage your brain that can cause lifelong problems. It is essential that coaches, parents, and doctors, and patients do not rush this healing process.

http://www.cerebrum.com/cms/the-life-long-effects-of-concussions/

Long Term Effects of Concussions on the Brain

A hot debate in the United States is gun control. Owning a gun has been a right in America ever since the government passed the second amendment. However, crimes and shootings have caused many Americans to believe that we need to create stricter laws to prevent this. Some believe that this will reduce the crime rate, but how does increased gun control laws actually affect the crime rate?

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Most murders in America usually involve a gun, but how does an increase in gun control affect this? In a study, the statistics show that states with higher gun violence do not have many laws regarding purchasing, owning, or registering a gun. The states with lower crime rates have stricter guidelines for purchasing and registering their guns. There was a study that graded states based on how strong their gun laws were and almost every state that had a high gun crime rate got a very poor grade. This however was considered a correlation due to the inability to find a pattern. Another factor on the gun crime rate was education. Less educated areas seemed to have a higher gun crime rate.

In the end, there is always going to be an argument when it comes to gun control and both people for and against have valid arguments about the matter. Increasing gun control laws seem like a logical way to decrease the crime rate, but there hasn’t been enough supportive evidence to prove this claim.

Gun Laws, Deaths and Crimes

In today’s world, we are always staring at screens. The advance in technology has created a world where we are constantly looking at some type of screen. Almost everywhere you go, there are televisions or computers. Almost everyone has a cell phone in today’s age. Teenage kids today are one of the largest users of screens. Video games, social media, and entertainment are always pulling teens towards some type of screen. It’s nearly impossible to go somewhere without seeing a screen. Teens tend to overuse technology, but can this overuse damage their eyes?

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One study shows that in fact it can. There are a wide range of problems that can arise from screens. In an article, Dr. P Suresh discussed how screens affected the eyes of teens and adults. Some problems that occur are lack of focus, tension headaches, computer vision syndrome, and myopia. These are all causes from overuse of screens. Damaged eyes are not the only thing caused by overuse of screens. Overuse also shows an increase in obesity in teens.

I am sure many of us have felt our eyes hurt from staring at our phones too much and we need to be conscious of how overuse of phones and other screens can affect us. Our eyes are something that we need to take care of and there are many things we can do to prevent screens and the advancing technology from harming our eyes.

http://www.thehealthsite.com/diseases-conditions/tech-related-eye-problems-your-teen-may-be-suffering-from-f1216/

Movies are meant to entertain us and many of us love to watch thrillers or scary movies. During these movies, there tends to be many instances where crime or violence are involved. A lot of us enjoy the suspense and the scare factor to it, but not many of us think about what it can do to our mood. I know most of us have probably watched hundreds of murder scenes and other violent scenes, but does this have any effect on us?

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One study shows that people do become more aggressive after watching violence in movies, however, it depends on what personality you have. It is interesting to see how it depends on how people react to the violent scenes they watch. These scenes can affect our decisions are made due to emotion and how we think. People in the study were affected in different ways and some were more aggressive than others after watching these types of scenes.

Movie makers are not going to change the what they put in their movies and violence is always going to be a part of it. It’s intent of being entertainment is not always going to be beneficial to society. These violent scenes can cause aggression to some and this may lead to violence. Finding people with aggressive behavior at a young age is something that people can do to prevent violence in movies from affecting their behavior and aggression.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/science/11087683/Watching-violent-films-does-make-people-more-aggressive-study-shows.html

For many of us, we find ourselves scrolling through Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and other social media sites throughout the day. Some of us check out social media as soon as they wake up. Some are on these sites before bed. Either way, we use social media a lot, but could it be detrimental to your health and cause depression?

Well, according to psychologist Stephanie Mihalas, social media can cause depression and anxiety when used in the wrong way. Most people use social media to keep in contact with people or to network for jobs or other reasons. However, some of us use social media for different reasons and can cause us to be depressed. If you use social media when you are in a bad mood, it can lead to depression because you compare yourself and your life to others in a negative way. Also, using social media when you are bored can also cause you to feel depressed after. Social media can also cause people to seclude themselves from others. Social media can lead to a decrease in face to face interaction. Many people hide behind their phones and lose opportunities to have a face to face interaction. This is essential if one is depressed or finds themselves in a depressed mood. Being able to talk to people face to face and express themselves to others is necessary for a healthy lifestyle. Social media has the ability to harm us more than most think.

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Social media is something that we need to learn to balance. There are many benefits to it, but we need to make sure that we do not become dependent upon it. The key is to find a healthy balance between real world interaction and online interaction. So all of us need to keep a conscious of how we use social media and how it effects our moods and how we interact every day.

http://www.everydayhealth.com/hs/major-depression-resource-center/depression-social-media/

Hi, my name is Ryan Kusmira and I am currently a Senior here at Penn State. I am from a community south of the city of Pittsburgh called Bethel Park.  I am a huge sports fan, especially hockey. It was really exciting to see the Penguins win the Stanley Cup this past year! Anyways, I’m currently going to school to get a degree in Recreation Parks and Tourism management. If you’ve never heard of this major then please check out this link and see what it’s all about HERE. I had never heard of this major when I first stepped foot in Penn State, and many of you probably haven’t either. I am so happy I found this and I love my major. I needed to take another General Science class and my academic advisor recommended this one. She told me that it was much different than normal science classes and that everyone who she has recommended for this class really enjoyed it. So I figured why not give it a shot. This class already seems really interesting and I am really excited for this semester. There are many reasons why I am not a science major. To get started, I love science and nature, however I never wanted to pursue a career in it. I am a people person and wanted to find something where I’m able to interact with many people everyday. The major I am in now is group oriented and focuses on working together and is not all about exams. I really struggle on exams and this is one of the reasons I never wanted to be a science major.