Poor Sleep Leads To Deterioration Of The Choice

We all make regrettable decisions when under the influence of alcohol. We can get into an argument with our spouse did not work correctly at the office party, or unintentionally alienate our friends, with thoughtless comment. The same thing can happen when you are too groggy to give proper attention to your actions.
It was shown that sleep deprivation can have the same effect on people like drinking alcohol. Motion without sleep for 24 hours or get only five hours of sleep a night for a week is equivalent to blood alcohol level 0.1 percent.
A study in Britain showed that the drivers behind the wheel, who did not sleep from 17 to 19 hours were more dangerous on the road than drunk drivers, and the reaction time up to 50 percent slower.
Another experiment showed that doctors who work for Lack of sleep makes more mistakes than doctors who were drinking.
Then there are the pilots, bus drivers and other mission-critical occupations that require nerves of steel and attention, or tragic consequences that can occur. Dream of a bad night can be more devastating: in some cases it can be downright dangerous.
The same can be said about those who care for young children, while taking other in school. Nobody in their right mind would think about their children driving drunk. But the tired young mother can do it every day as needed, not knowing the intoxicating effect of sleep deprivation has on its system.
People who get too little sleep may have higher levels of stress, anxiety and depression, and may take unnecessary risks and the buy Valium.
Even one day of work after sleep poor night could have devastating consequences for his career. It's like going to work with whiskey on his breath, and liquor still rising through your veins, seducing you into one bad decision after another. It's just not worth it.
One of the main causes of insomnia and restless sleep is a bad mattress. This is surprising, the majority of North Americans will spend thousands on gym memberships, personal trainers and nutrition to make sure that their bodies are functioning at their best, and still buy the cheapest mattress they can, hoping to save a few dollars.
Mattress investment in your health, happiness and prosperity. By investing in high-grade beds, as Simmons, Sealy and Serta, one is to ensure that sleep is a real priority, not saving.
One of the most important choices you can make when you are tired to buy a cheap bed. Do your research and buy a mattress for a buy Zolpidem. Do not think the money you'll save, I think, mistakes that you will stop when you're sleeping well every night.

Arkansas Reports First Heat-Related Death of 2010

Arkansas has recorded it’s first heat-related death of 2010 according to the under a heat advisory issued by the National Weather Service (NOAA) all week. There were seven deaths in Arkansas from heat-related causes in 2009.">Arkansas Department of Health. Due to patient confidentiality issues, no information on the victim has been released.
Arkansas, along with much of the central part of the United States has been under a heat advisory issued by the National Weather Service (NOAA) all week.
There were seven deaths in Arkansas from heat-related causes in 2009.
Hot, humid weather can be very dangerous. The elderly, people with health problems, and very young children are the most vulnerable to heat, but anyone can be affected. It is important to be aware of the signs of heat exhaustion and heat stroke. It is important to stay well-hydrated, to get out of the sun, and takes rest breaks when working and playing in sun.
If you must pursue intense activity during hot weather, follow these safety tips.
* Drink plenty of water; fluid replacement is crucial to avoid heat risks. Drink more water than usual before exercising or working in the heat. (If you are elderly or taking medication, ask your doctor about fluid intake recommendations.)
* Schedule your strenuous activity during the coolest time of the day.
* Monitor how you feel. If you have difficulty maintaining your regular pace, slow down.
* Symptoms of heat-related illness include muscle and abdominal cramps, heavy (or worse – have stopped) sweating, headache, dizziness, and nausea / vomiting.
Heat related conditions include:

1. Heat Rash Heat rash is a skin irritation caused by excessive sweating during hot, humid weather. It can occur at any age but is most common in young children. Although heat rash occurs because of exposure to extreme heat, treating heat rash is simple and usually does not require medical assistance. Other heat-related problems such as those listed below can be much more severe.
2. Heat Cramps Heat cramps usually affect people who sweat heavily during strenuous activity. This sweating depletes the body's salt, magnesium, and water. The low salt and magnesium levels in the muscles may be the cause of heat cramps. Heat cramps may also be a symptom of heat exhaustion.
3. Heat Exhaustion Heat exhaustion is a milder form of heat-related illness that can develop in exposure to high temperatures and inadequate or unbalanced replacement of fluids. It is the body's response to an excessive loss of the water and salt contained in sweat. Those most prone to heat exhaustion are elderly people, people with high blood pressure, and people working or exercising in a hot environment.
4. Heat Stroke Heat stroke occurs when the body is unable to regulate its temperature. The body's temperature rises rapidly, the sweating mechanism fails, and the body is unable to cool down. Body temperature may rise to 106°F or higher within 10 to 15 minutes. Heat stroke can cause death or permanent disability if emergency treatment is not provided.
5. Heat-Related Deaths Most heat-related deaths occur when high temperatures overcome the body's natural ability to cope with heat. The elderly, very young children and persons with chronic medical conditions (especially cardiovascular disease) are at highest risk.

New Jersey Workplace Blood Donor Coalition Focuses On Combating NJ Blood Shortage

New Jersey is facing a severe and chronic blood shortage. To address this potential crisis, the New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS) and Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation (NPC) are joining forces to create the New Jersey Workplace Blood Donor Coalition. This partnership also will include New Jersey businesses as well as hospital and blood bank associations in an effort to increase workplace blood donations in the state.
Novartis will chair the coalition launched today at its headquarters in East Hanover, New Jersey.
The coalition will call upon employers to conduct more workplace blood drives each year and to increase the number of people in the state who routinely donate blood from 2.5 percent to the national average of 5 percent.
In 2007, New Jersey used 45,269 more units of blood than it collected. In the past, New Jersey has turned to other states when blood was needed. Now, these states are experiencing blood shortages of their own, and this alternative supply is becoming less available.
"Many New Jersey residents are quick to give blood in times of national crises or natural disasters, but we need donations on a regular basis to maintain a stable blood supply for daily medical and emergency needs," said Health and Senior Services Commissioner Heather Howard. "We look forward to help from the New Jersey business community to provide more opportunities for people to donate blood and do it on a more frequent basis to ensure that New Jersey has an adequate blood supply at all times."
Nine out of 10 people will need blood some time in their lives. Blood is in constant demand for treatment of injuries, cancer, and hemophilia and for use during surgery. The act of giving a pint of blood – the standard for blood donations – may save up to three lives. Workplace blood drives provide a convenient way for donors to give blood during the workday without leaving the office. For these reasons, the coalition has adopted the theme that Governor Corzine coined last year, "Save 3 Lives…All in a Day’s Work."
"Workplace donor campaigns are an integral part of our culture at Novartis, and I am proud to be involved as a founding member of this lifesaving task force," said Kevin Rigby, Vice President of NPC’s Public Affairs, and Corporate Chair of the Coalition. "While blood is needed 365 days of the year and is already in short supply, we are entering the summer months – a time of even greater need for blood donation."
There are three major reasons most people give for not donating blood. It’s not convenient; they haven’t been asked; or they are unaware of the need. The Save 3 Lives campaign addresses these issues. Donating blood at the workplace only takes about an hour. Companies that host workplace blood drives generally enable their employees to donate on company time and all employees can be asked to participate. Employers can share information about the need for blood – and the importance of blood donation to public health – through blood drives and corporate communications.
It is especially important to encourage everyone in New Jersey’s minority and multicultural communities to donate at all times throughout the year. As one of the most culturally diverse states in the nation, New Jersey needs to reach out to minority groups as their blood types are often in short supply.
For example, 25 percent of Asians and 18 percent of African Americans have B positive blood type while only nine percent of Caucasians and Hispanics have that type. In addition, some African-American patients have U negative or Duffy Negative blood types, which are rare. Patients with these blood types must depend on other African-Americans to supply this life-saving blood. Workplace blood donor drives offer opportunities to reach diverse ethnic groups.
In addition to NJDHSS and Novartis, the eight founding coalition members are MetLife, Capital One, Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, the New Jersey Hospital Association, Virtua Health, Educational Testing Service, New Jersey State Masonic Blood Program and the Blood Bank Task Force of New Jersey.
Their goals include expanding the size of the Coalition by 200 percent in the first year, and ensuring that New Jersey has an adequate blood supply at all times. Doubling the number of residents that donate blood on a regular basis would meet New Jersey’s needs for blood donations.
Sixty percent of the adult population is eligible to donate blood. Specific requirements include being in good health, being at least 17 years old and weighing at least 110 pounds. People taking certain medications are not eligible to give blood. Healthy individuals over 75 years old must have written permission from their physician dated within two weeks of their donation.

Adults Need Their Teddy Bears, Too

Do you take a teddy bear to bed with you at night? If you are an adult, chances are about one in three that you said yes, according to a new survey.
Travelodge, a hotel chain found in the United States, the United Kingdom, Spain, Ireland, Canada, and Australia, surveyed 6,000 British adults and learned that many respondents like to end their day with a “comforting and calming” teddy bear. In North America, Travelodge is franchised by Wyndham Worldwide, which has a mascot called Sleepy Bear. Travelodge also has a line of motels called Thriftlodge that has a bear mascot named TJ.

Comforting Teddy Bears

According to Travelodge, 25 percent of men say they take their teddy bear with them on business trips, but apparently many of the travelers have trouble remembering their comfort animals, as the hotel reported having to reunite more than 75,000 bears with their owners last year, and many of the reunions were with adults.
This is not the first time Travelodge has surveyed adults about their need for stuffed, cuddly comfort. In 2007, a survey of 2,000 people found that 63 percent of respondents said they needed a cuddly toy to sleep. Twenty percent of men admitted to cuddling a teddy, compared to 15 percent of women.
The earlier survey also revealed that 8 percent of women said they sprayed their pillow or nightclothes with their partner’s aftershave when they were away from home alone, while only 3 percent of men used their partner’s perfume for the same reason. Nearly 60 percent of people admitted they felt lonely sleeping without their partner, and 16 percent had difficulty getting to sleep.
In the more recent study, Travelodge found that traditional teddy bears are the most popular bedtime cuddle among adults, followed by Winnie the Pooh and Paddington Bear. In the Telegraph UK, Corrine Sweet, a psychologist, noted that cuddling a teddy bear “evokes a sense of peace, security and comfort. It’s human nature to crave these feelings from childhood to adult life.”

CDC Reports Pn Formaldehyde Tests Of Trailers

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) posted on Wednesday two reports from its work related to assessing the levels of formaldehyde in the indoor air of travel trailers used by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) for emergency housing of Gulf Coast residents. One report, the results of which have been previously reported, assessed indoor formaldehyde levels. The other looked at emissions from specific travel trailer components and construction materials.
In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, FEMA provided travel trailers, park models and mobile homes to Gulf Coast residents who had lost their homes in the hurricane. CDC has been working with FEMA and other agencies to investigate the levels of formaldehyde in the trailers and mobile homes.
“These two studies provide much helpful information,” said Michael McGeehin, director of the Division of Environmental Health Hazards at CDC. “But the findings are only applicable to those trailers distributed by FEMA in the Gulf Coast Region; they do not apply to other trailers in use elsewhere in the country. However, taken together, the two studies indicate that manufacturers of travel trailers and the government agencies that influence their design, should consider using construction materials that emit lower levels of formaldehyde as well as designs that increase outside air ventilation.”
McGeehin noted that, as CDC previously recommended, families that include children, the elderly, and those with chronic diseases such as asthma should make relocating to permanent housing a priority.
Assessment of Unoccupied Travel Trailer Building Materials and Components (newly released study)
In an effort to identify and better understand factors that could foster high levels of formaldehyde and other volatile organic compounds, CDC had the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) measure air formaldehyde concentrations in whole trailers and emissions from specific parts of each trailer, such as walls, floors, ceilings, tables and cabinets. Four vacant, never-used trailers were provided by FEMA, including two trailers that were specifically designed to be used as temporary emergency housing and thus not commercially available.
“Even with a limited sample of trailers, this study affirms what would be expected, that construction materials that emit high concentrations of formaldehyde, when part of a relatively small structure that has poor ventilation, have the potential to produce elevated levels of formaldehyde in the indoor air,” McGeehin, said. “This suggests that efforts to design and build emergency housing units may be able to greatly improve indoor air quality by using different construction materials and ensuring that ventilation systems let in fresh air.”
Formaldehyde emissions from the four whole trailers studied ranged from 173 to 266 micrograms per meter per hour in the morning to 257 to 347 micrograms per meter per hour in the afternoon due to increasing temperatures. Median formaldehyde emissions in previously studied, newer (six months or less) site-built and manufactured homes were 31 and 45 micrograms per meter per hour, respectively. Researchers also found phenol, and TMPD-DIB1 (which is used to make plastic) at levels higher in the trailers than commonly found in site-built or manufactured homes. Though elevated, neither phenol nor TMPD-DIB levels were found at high enough levels to pose health hazards.
McGeehin stressed that the CDC study, because it only examined four travel trailers, did not provide results that could be applied to all FEMA-supplied travel trailers or to other types of temporary housing, such as park models or mobile homes. He noted the FEMA-supplied trailers were different from other types of housing because they contain extensive wood surface areas packed into relatively small spaces, and often let in less fresh air than site-built or manufactured houses.
“This detailed analysis does help us identify the sources of formaldehyde and other volatile organic compounds that may make the largest contributions to poor indoor air quality,” McGeehin said. “It also indicates that, even though individual construction materials can meet standards that are generally accepted by the construction industry and others, the amount of space and the amount of ventilation also affect the concentrations found in the air.”

Binge Drinking Does Not Hurt Students' Test Performance

Students, do not take this as a license to binge drink, but the results of a new experiment show that binge drinking the night before taking a test does not have a negative effect on test performance. However, binge drinking can have an impact on mood, attention, ability to drive, and other safety-related activities, as well as health.
The surprising results of this study, which were limited to examining scores on academic test-taking only, do not negate the fact that binge drinking is a dangerous activity. Consequences of binge drinking can include blackouts, alcohol poisoning, impaired memory, loss of sensory perception, risk of liver disease, aggressive behavior, and risk of heart disease and metabolic syndrome. Women who engage in binge drinking may become the victims of rape.
The study’s authors, who are with Boston University School of Public Health and Brown University, found that while binge drinking the night before academic testing generally did not affect the students’ test performance, it could have an impact on problem solving, the ability to write essays, and other skills.
To arrive at their conclusions, the researchers tested 193 university students from the Boston area. Over a four-day period, the volunteers consumed either beer or nonalcoholic beer. Those who consumed beer the first evening were given nonalcoholic beer the second evening. The morning after each beer or nonalcoholic beer activity, the students took practice versions of the Graduate Record Exam and a mock quiz on a lecture they had attended the previous day.
The students performed equally well on the exams and the quizzes regardless of which beverage they had consumed the night before the testing. The fact that the students scored high on the tests also indicated that they had taken the study seriously.
Jonathan Howland, professor of community health sciences at Boston University, and Damaris Rohsenow, research professor at Brown’s Center for Alcohol and Addiction Studies, emphasized that “we do not conclude that excessive drinking is not a risk factor for academic problems.” They noted that other factors, including students’ individual study habits, class attendance, and motivation also have an impact on academic performance.
A report from the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, entitled “Drinking in America; Myths, Realities, and Prevention Policy,” notes that about 90 percent of the alcohol consumed by people younger than age 21 years is in the form of binge drinks. In another report, “Binge drinking among US adults,” the authors note that the proportion of current drinkers that binge is highest (51%) in the 18- to 20-year old age group. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention notes that binge drinking is twice as prevalent among men as among women.
Previous studies of binge drinking among students have shown that heavy drinkers have more problems with school performance than their peers who drink less. This experiment was the first to explore an association between binge drinking and academic performance using a controlled approach. While it indicates that binge drinking may not impair academic test-taking abilities the day after drinking, it in no way suggests such drinking behavior is beneficial or benign, and it raises questions for further study.