Author: Katie Martin

Why Humans Are Hardwired To Turn To The Right When We Kiss

Post author By Katie Martin
Post date July 21, 2017

When I was 5 years old, I tried to kiss the cute boy who sat next to me in kindergarten.

He did not appreciate my amorous advances, and I had to sit out of recess as punishment for invading someone’s personal space.

It didn’t matter though. From that moment forward, I was smitten with the idea of kissing. As a preteen, I secretly read my grandmother’s tattered copy of The Thornbirds, tried to sneakily catch my older cousins swapping spit with their boyfriends, and watched breathlessly as Jack and Rose kissed on the bow of the Titanic.

I studied the kissing scenes in movies especially hard in anticipation of my own future lip locks. From Jack and Rose to Allie and Noah, I noticed that all on-screen kisses had one thing in common: Both people always turned their heads to the right when leaning in for the kiss.

What can I say? As a lefty, I tend to notice these things.

I recently learned that most people are actually hardwired to turn to the right when kissing. German psychologist Onur Güntürkü studied the kissing practices of 124 couples (unbeknownst to the subjects) and found that the majority of the couples turned their heads to the right when they locked lips.

The same results were found to be true in Bangladesh when scientists observed married couples kissing in their homes. Of the couples observed, 75 percent turned their heads to the right when kissing.

So why do we instinctively turn our heads to the right when we kiss?

It is estimated that between 70 and 90 percent of the world’s population are right-handed. This preference develops in the womb, as early as the tenth week of pregnancy. It’s possible that this early preference for one hand over the other extends into other right-sided preferences, like turning your head to kiss.

Canadian researchers have another interesting theory: We tend to turn our heads right when kissing romantic partners and to the left when kissing platonic family members and friends.

The jury is still out on why we instinctively turn to the right when kissing. As it turns out though, this right-sided head preference isn’t even the weirdest thing about sharing smooches.

Not tonight, honey. I’m allergic to kissing.

Yes, it’s true. You can have an allergic reaction while kissing your sweetheart. If you’re allergic to a certain food, kissing someone who has eaten that food can trigger an allergic reaction. Even if the person didn’t eat that food recently and has brushed their teeth and rinsed their mouth well, you could still have an allergic reaction up to 24 hours later.

It’s bad enough for a food allergy to be triggered by kissing, but what if you were actually allergic to your partner’s kisses?

That’s what happened to Johanna Watkins, a Minnesota woman who is allergic to her husband Scott’s scent, thanks to mast cell activation syndrome, a rare immune disorder.

In an interview with TODAY, Scott shared, “We haven’t kissed in about a year and a half, maybe two years.”

But that doesn’t stop the Watkins from having date nights like other normal couples. They just have to adapt a little.

“We talk on the phone all the time. We watch shows together—she watches the show on her TV and I watch the show on mine.”

First rule of kissing? Good oral hygiene.

This just makes g
ood sense. No one wants to kiss someone whose mouth is less than minty fresh. Even if you brush your teeth before kissing, you can still get cavities from bacteria that stick to teeth.

In an article for SELF magazine, dentist Emanuel Layliev explains, “Cavities are typically passed through mouth-to-mouth contact when there is an exchange of saliva.”

If you and your significant other have a hot-and-heavy make out session, it’s pretty hard not to swap spit. It’s estimated that more than 80 million bacteria are exchanged between partners in a 10-second kissing session.

Someone who has lots of cavity-causing bacteria in their mouth can transfer that bacteria to their partner, increasing the likelihood that they too will develop a cavity. But the opposite is also true. Swapping spit with someone who has lots of good bacteria can boost your immune system.

There’s no need to be scared of kissing.

On average, both women and men will kiss an average of 15 to 16 people before finding the one person they want to kiss forever. In total, the average person spends up to two full weeks of their entire lives kissing.

For people like Erica Valentine, who suffer from philemaphobia, though, kissing is less like a two-week dream vacation and more like a total nightmare.

Philemaphobia is, you guessed it, the fear of kissing. It’s common among young or inexperienced kissers and usually goes away with a little practice. For a small percentage of people who suffer from philemaphobia, though, the fear never goes away.

This fear of kissing is often coupled with other phobias. For example, some people might be afraid of kissing because they’re also afraid of germs, intimacy, or physical contact.

Valentine hasn’t been kissed in over two years, because she’s terrified of the bacteria and germs swapped during kissing. She used to wear braces to discourage her partners from kissing her.

Since her braces have come off, Valentine says, ‘I still wear a retainer but if people get close to me I just use that as a way of putting people off kissing me.”

Skip the spa and schedule a make-out session instead.

I’m always looking for a good excuse to skip the gym, and now I have one. Kissing is not only more fun than clocking time on the treadmill, it’s good for you too.

Kissing stimulates the production of oxytocin, the hormone that promotes calmness. That same hormone is released when we participate in calming activities like massage and yoga.

Kissing also reduces cortisol, a hormone that can cause stress, suggesting that kissing is a great way to relieve tension at the end of a long day.

In addition, lower cortisol levels can also help lower blood pressure. In an interview with Glamour magazine, Dr. Ryan Neinstein explains, “The more you kiss, the more your heart races, and the more your blood flows, ultimately reducing high blood pressure.”

That’s not all kissing can do. Locking lips can burn up to two calories per minute, about the same amount of calories as taking a brisk walk. In addition, you can use up to 30 facial muscles during a really passionate kiss. These muscles can help tone the cheeks and keep wrinkles at bay.

With health benefits like these, you’ll never need a spa day again. Just pretend like it’s high school all over again, grab your sweetheart, and start smooching.

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Lifestyle

6 Secrets Nurses Wish They Could Tell You

Post author By Katie Martin
Post date July 13, 2017

My brother once spent a month in the intensive care unit (ICU) after a car accident. During that time, his doctors would breeze in the room, look at his chart, and spend a few moments discussing his care before popping back out.

His nurses, however, were there 24 hours a day. They changed his bandages, washed his hair when he started to smell, and didn’t flinch when he made some very inappropriate comments after a bad interaction with some of his medication.

The women and men who care for others as nurses are professionals. Never “just a nurse.” Nurses are equal parts healthcare providers, patient advocates, therapists, and superheroes. Most of us though, don’t realize just how vital nurses are in day-to-day hospital operations.

We asked nurses to weigh in on what they wish patients knew about their job. What they shared with us just might surprise you.

1. “One of the things that annoy nurses the most is when people say, ‘I think I have this diagnosis because I looked it up on Google.'”

Thanks to Dr. Google, people can look up aches and pains online. In moderation, googling symptoms isn’t so bad, but it’s easy to fall down the rabbit hole of cyberchondria. It starts by looking up that niggling pain in your stomach.

Before you know it, you’ve diagnosed yourself with one of the rarest incurable diseases in the world.

Among people who used online symptom checkers, 67 percent later sought unnecessary medical treatment. Excessive visits to the emergency room or doctor’s office place a greater strain on nurses who already have a full patient load.

Because people seek unnecessary treatment as a result of online research, nurses have less time to spend caring for patients who are in need of medical treatment.

What’s more, nurses and doctors say, is that cyberchondria often leads patients to try to treat their symptoms on their own, which can land you in the emergency room even if you were perfectly fine before.

Instead, nurses and doctors recommend that if you feel sick or are in pain, it’s always best to simply call your healthcare provider to see if you need to come in to be seen.

2. “In the ICU, it’s frustrating when patients say we’re neglecting or ignoring them…when in reality if I’m not sitting outside my patient’s room then I’m in another room helping with a patient who is crashing or coding.”

In critical care units, nurses are trained to deal with life-threatening medical conditions.

Although ICU nurses often have a much smaller patient load—typically one to two patients at a time, emergency patient situations often arise that demand a nurse’s full attention until a patient is stabilized.

According to one ICU nurse, “It took me a few years to not hate my job, and that was when I realized you’re not going to have a quick fix with all of your patients.”

3. “We need lunch breaks and bathroom breaks too!”

Although restroom and lunch breaks are figured into the salaries of many nursing professionals, most rarely get to take a break during shifts that can be as long as 12 to 24 hours.

That’s because most nurses are supposed to take breaks using a buddy system, in which a nurse covers the patients of a nurse who’s on break.

However, according to research done by NPR, one “nurse says she rarely stops. Not for 12 hours. She’s an emergency room nurse in a busy urban hospital. The ideal, she says, would be one nurse for every three patients in her ER. But she typically cares for five patients or more—often eight, if she’s covering for a colleague taking a lunch break. She says there are times when she can’t leave patients’ bedsides.”

The inability to take a break is one of the biggest reasons for nurse burnout on the job. In fact, the majority of nurses feel “stressed, overworked, underappreciated, and underutilized.”

Ultimately, this affects a nurse’s ability to provide the best patient care. In some states, nurses have taken action, winning legal battles to take appropriate breaks. When they get those breaks, nurses are happier, and patients receive better care.

4. “Could you please stop talking while I am trying to listen to your heart/lungs?”

While you’re busy explaining your symptoms in great detail, your nurse is busy trying to assess your vital signs. A patient’s blood pressure, pulse, temperature, and respiratory rate determine the next steps in their care, which is why it’s extremely important to stay silent during this examination.

Vital signs ought to be the most reliable pieces of information in a patient’s file, but when a nurse is distracted at the time of examination, the results are often incorrect. This can have serious consequences for a patient’s health.

For example, a patient might receive an inaccurate diagnosis based on the vital signs that were recorded.

So don’t take it personally if a nurse cuts your conversation short. Although chatting with your nurse might make you feel more at ease, your nurse is simply trying to stay focused on providing the best medical care.

5. “I understand you are sick, and I am here to care for you. But I am not your maid, and this is not a hotel, it is a hospital.”

Hospitals have started offering more amenities to patients, in part because insurance reimbursements are now directly tied to patient satisfaction. In one survey, patients were asked to rate how quickly they received help after pressing the nurse call button without indicating if the help requested was medical in nature.

“Patients have complained on the survey…about everything from ‘My roommate was dying all night and his breathing was very noisy’ to ‘The hospital doesn’t have Splenda.’ A nurse at the New Jersey hospital lacking Splenda said, ‘This somehow became the fault of the nurse and ended up being placed in her personnel file. …Many patients have unrealistic expectations for their care and their outcomes,’ the nurse said.”

Both hospitals and hotels often have cable television, but that’s really where the similarities end.

A nurse’s main focus is on overall patient care. If an immobile patient asks for more water, a nurse is more than happy to accommodate that request. However, if you’re perfectly capable of fluffing your own pillow or changing your television station, think twice before pressing the call button.

6. “You know that you are having surgery, that we are operating on you, and that you are going to be naked on an operating table. Please, for the love of all things, wash yourself and clean your belly button!”

Nurses, like most people, appreciate general good hygiene in others.

Bathing immobile patients is part of the job, but most nurses draw the line at patients who show up for scheduled surgery smelling less than fresh.

It’s not just because nurses have delicate noses. Bathing before scheduled surgery is recommended in most medical offices to help prevent post-op infections.

Please note that although nurses want you to be clean for surgery, they do advise skipping perfumes, deodorants, and lotions that could contaminate the surgical site.

Nurses have touched millions of lives and looked after countless numbers of people in need. Let’s do our best to show them the same care they’ve shown all of us.

Tags 50028531, care, hemingway

Sweat

Turns Out Your Stomach Bug Isn't Always Caused By The Last Thing You Ate

Post author By Katie Martin
Post date July 12, 2017

At first, you think hopefully that the rumbling in your belly is just due to mild indigestion or gas. But then you break out in a cold sweat, the noises in your stomach get louder, and you’re in a race to get to the bathroom.

Acute gastrointestinal events like this happen to the average person about once a year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. During these events, most people tend to blame the last thing they ate, but that’s actually rarely the culprit.
So what does have us scrambling for the Pepto Bismol? Turns out there are several ways you can get a stomach bug.

Viral and Bacterial Infections

Stomach Flu
Gastroenteritis, commonly referred to as stomach flu, is usually caused by a viral infection. Symptoms can include severe nausea, cramping, diarrhea, and dehydration.

Children are most susceptible to strains of stomach flu like norovirus and rotavirus, because these types of gastroenteritis are extremely contagious. Viral stomach flu spreads through close contact with other infected individuals (who can remain contagious for up to three weeks after recovery).
Food Poisoning
Food poisoning, or bacterial gastroenteritis, occurs when bacteria and parasites come in contact with food items. The most common causes of food poisoning are E. coli, Salmonella, and Staphylococcus.

Food poisoning generally isn’t contagious from person to person, but anyone who ate the food in question is at risk for developing symptoms such as acute abdominal cramps, vomiting, and diarrhea.
The last food you ate is not likely to have caused your food poisoning. It usually takes between 10 and 14 hours to fully digest a meal, so the most likely offender is actually the food you ate one to two days prior to feeling ill.

Natural Stomach Bug Remedies

If you suspect you have a stomach bug due to viral or bacterial infection, there are some natural remedies you can try to ease symptoms.
Alternate hot and cold.
If you’re suffering from abdominal cramping, try a heating pad or even a warm homemade rice bag to alleviate pain and allow muscles to relax.

When you break out in a cold, clammy sweat, place a cool, wet cloth on your forehead. The science behind this is a bit complicated, but essentially, as the water evaporates, it creates a cooling effect against your skin, which results in comfort for you.
Be a BRAT.
Ok, don’t really be a brat. But you may want to try the BRAT diet if you have a stomach bug.

Bananas, rice, applesauce, and toast are all great foods to try when you’re suffering from gastrointestinal distress. These foods are bland, high in potassium, and aid in digestive recovery.
Skip cold drinks.
A frosty beverage sounds refreshing when you’re suffering from a stomach bug, but it’s actually better to drink room-temperature drinks that are high in electrolytes to replenish nutrients that have been lost through nausea and diarrhea.
Ginger
There’s a reason people head straight for the ginger ale at the first sign of a stomach bug. Ginger is a superfood that contains antioxidants and has anti-inflammatory properties that can soothe an inflamed gut.

Flat ginger ale can help alleviate tummy trouble, but ginger tea and crystallized ginger root are also excellent remedies.
Avoid certain irritants.
A hot cup of coffee might be the furthest thing from your mind when you’re suffering from a stomach bug. But if you’re feeling better, you might be tempted to reach for the caffeine.

It’s best to hold off on digestive stimulants such as coffee, chocolate, and fatty, greasy foods for a few days until your symptoms completely resolve. Otherwise you might find yourself facing a second round of gastrointestinal distress.

Non-Contagious Causes of Stomach Upset

Not all stomach bugs are caused by an infection.

Have you unfairly blamed yesterday’s Chinese takeout for your stomachache? A food allergy or reaction to medication may be the cause instead.
Food Allergies
Allergies tend to cause itchy eyes, a sore throat, and a runny nose. If you’re allergic to certain foods, however, your allergy symptoms might appear similar to a stomach bug.
Almost any food is capable of causing an allergic reaction, but the most common offenders are peanuts, shellfish, milk, soy, and wheat.

If you think your stomach bug is caused by food allergies, try eliminating that particular food from your diet for a few days. If you notice your symptoms clearing up, then you may be allergic to that particular food.
Fortunately, food allergies aren’t contagious. Your doctor may recommend allergy testing to determine exactly which foods trigger symptoms. Treatment can include eliminating certain foods, prescription antihistamines, or immunotherapy for severe food allergies.
Medication-Induced Reaction
Medicine is supposed to make you feel better, right?
In some cases, prescribed medicines—especially antibiotics, anti-inflammatory drugs, and angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors—can cause gastrointestinal distress that may make you think you’ve got a stomach bug.

Antibiotics in particular can cause severe upset stomach and diarrhea because they wreak havoc on bacteria in the large intestine.
It’s important to continue taking antibiotics and other prescribed medications per your doctor’s instructions. If you’re suffering from a medication-induced stomach bug, make like Jamie Lee Curtis and try a probiotic. Probiotics contain good bacteria that aid digestion and can help restore the natural bacteria balance to your gut.

When to Call the Doctor

A stomach bug should begin to resolve on its own within two to five days. If you do not start to feel better or if your symptoms get worse, you should call your doctor.

Other signs you should call your doctor include:
–Weakness, dizziness, or trouble urinating (which can be signs of dehydration)
–A persistent high fever lasting more than two days in children and more than five days in adults
–Blood in stool
–Vomiting that lasts more than two days

Stomach Bug Prevention

Unfortunately, the flu shot will not protect against viral and bacterial gastroenteritis. Although these ailments are commonly called the stomach flu, they’re totally unrelated to influenza, which is a respiratory virus.

The best way to steer clear of tummy trouble is to always wash your hands or use hand sanitizer before preparing or eating a meal.
Think about all the things you touched during the day and how many people were there before you. That’s a lot of germs. Washing your hands is the best way to prevent viral and bacterial infections from spreading.

If anyone in your family has already contracted a stomach bug, it’s not too late to stop the virus from spreading. Disinfect your home from top to bottom. This includes doorknobs, kitchen counters, bathrooms, and linens that the sick person in question has used.
It might sound harsh, but if you can quarantine the infected person temporarily as you disinfect, you just might avoid contracting the stomach bug yourself.

If you’ve already contracted the stomach bug, you can help spare others by staying home as long as possible. Even though you might start to feel better within two to three days, you’re actually contagious for up to three weeks.
You may not be able to avoid going back to work for three weeks, but you can disinfect your work space, wash your hands often, and avoid physical contact with coworkers and friends until you’re no longer contagious.

Twenty million people will get the stomach bug this year. Now that you’ve got all the facts, fingers crossed that you won’t be one of them!

Tags 50029541, body, hemingway

Sweat

5 Unexpected Ways Your Body Can Totally Betray You

Post author By Katie Martin
Post date July 12, 2017

When I was 5 years old, I saw Santa Claus in our living room. I had crept out of my room to sneak into bed with my parents when I very clearly saw a man filling up our Christmas stockings.

Although my parents assured me the next morning that I was dreaming, I have firmly stood by my belief that I was wide awake and saw Santa Claus in our living room. Sadly (although unsurprisingly) my recollection of Santa Claus was actually a false memory.

in a gene called PRDM12. Essentially, CIPA turns off the receptors that allow us to feel pain, cold, and heat. People with CIPA are at a greater risk for high fevers, especially in childhood. This can be fatal, because CIPA inhibits a person’s ability to sweat and help cool the body down.

Currently, CIPA treatment is focused on preventing infections, fevers, and injury due to accidental self-harm.

5. Alternatively, it can also make you immune to anesthesia.

For people like Jenny Morrison, who suffers from Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, local anesthesia has no effect during medical procedures.

Anesthesia “works for a few minutes and wears off very quickly,” she says. “In some people it doesn’t work at all, but for me it probably lasts about 10 minutes.”

Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (EDS) is actually a group of 13 connective tissue disorders that are typically characterized by joints that stretch more than normal, overly stretchy skin, and fragile muscle tissue.

Not all types of EDS cause immunity to anesthesia. Researchers still don’t clearly understand the link between EDS and local anesthesia, but most believe it’s related to the extreme flexibility of connective tissue. Some research shows evidence that since the connective tissue is so loose, the anesthesia quickly slips away from the site being numbed.

There is no treatment for this peculiar side effect of EDS, but people with the disorder can opt for general anesthesia instead, meaning they’ll sleep through the procedure.

Tags 50029466, body, hemingway

Nosh

The Strange Ways That We Make Food Last Longer

Post author By Katie Martin
Post date July 11, 2017

No refrigeration? No problem. In the famous peat bogs of the United Kingdom, large quantities of butter dating back to 600 B.C. have been unearthed. “Bog butter” was preserved this way because the acidic, cool waters of the bog were ideal to keep food fresh—the original refrigerator.

Fast forward a couple thousand years to the early 20th century, when a man named Clarence Birdseye (of frozen vegetable fame) perfected a “quick freezing” method of preserving fruits and vegetables.

Now you can walk in the frozen food section of the grocery store and purchase virtually any type of food, all thanks to refrigerated food preservation innovation. And it all started with bog butter.

Even though most of us eat preserved foods every day, how many of us have given any thought to the actual process of how we make food last longer? The moment food is harvested, it begins to spoil. Food preservation is instrumental to human survival.

From ancient bog butter to frozen peas, here are the strangest ways we make food last longer.

Burying

Burying food might seem like an odd way to keep it fresh, but sticking stuff back in the ground is actually a great way to preserve food. Burying food helps keep it fresh by shielding it from sunlight, oxygen, and warm temperatures.

Before refrigeration was commonplace, cabbages were traditionally buried underground to store them. Some Appalachian farmers still swear that cabbages that have been buried taste sweeter.

Other cultures have customs of burying food as a means of preservation as well. In Greenland, the Inuit still make a traditional delicacy called kiviak, which involves burying a whole seagull sutured inside a sealskin for several months, allowing the meat to ferment.

Similar to food burial, a root cellar keeps foods, especially root vegetables, fresh for months. Root cellars, like the ground, provide a cool, damp environment ideal for food preservation. The added bonus of a root cellar? Walking downstairs to grab your produce instead of digging up the backyard to figure out where you buried last year’s cabbage crop!

Fermenting

About 7,000 years ago, one lucky person ate some questionable produce, decided it was tasty, and discovered the process of fermentation. Or that’s the theory, anyway. Scientists think that our ancestors stumbled on fermentation—which is essentially controlled decay—by accident.

When foods are fermented, carbohydrates are converted into alcohol or acids using “good” bacteria.

The awesome thing about fermentation is that you can literally ferment almost anything, and there are numerous health benefits to eating fermented foods.

Fermented foods such as kombucha contain probiotics (the bacteria that helps keep your digestion regular) and preserve key nutrients in food. The next time you’re thinking of reaching for Activia yogurt in the grocery store, you might want to pick up a jar of sauerkraut instead.

Canning

When you think of France, you probably think about fashion, the Eiffel Tower…and canned vegetables?

Canned vegetables are so ubiquitous on grocery store shelves that you may not consider this a strange method of food preservation at all.

However, the process of sealing food in pressurized, heat-treated containers didn’t come about until the 18th century, when Napoleon Bonaparte offered a reward to the person who could invent a food preservation method for his men.

Canned foods can be safely eaten for up to several years after they’ve been processed. When foods are heated in jars to a high
temperature, bad bacteria that causes food to spoil is removed.

At the same time, the heat creates a vacuum seal that prevents air from getting back into the jar. As long as the seal remains unbroken, food stays fresh.

Jellies, Jams, and Aspics

Believe it or not, until fairly recently, the fanciest of fancy foods was essentially meat Jell-O, which is about as delicious as it sounds.

Aspics are a savory, molded gelatinous dish that usually contains preserved meats inside, much the way Jim preserves Dwight’s desk supplies on The Office. Like other methods on this list, aspics preserve foods by cutting off oxygen, thus preventing spoilage.

Jellies and jams are a much tastier way to preserve many fresh foods, particularly fruits. Although we most often think of fruit jellies, vegetables like peppers and tomatoes (okay, this one is technically a fruit) can also be preserved this way. When a food is made into jelly, the high sugar content and acidity of the fruit help prevent spoilage.

But unless you also can your jelly jars properly, mold could form on top. Back in the day, people would just scrape the mold off the top and put the rest on their morning toast. Now we know that placing jelly jars in boiling water for a few minutes will vacuum seal them, eliminating the mold risk altogether.

Blast Chilling

Remember Clarence Birdseye? His quick freeze method of preserving vegetables is the precursor to the modern method of blast chilling food preservation. Blast chilling cools food quickly with a blast of fast-moving, icy cold air.

The benefit of blast chilling is that foods maintain their quality, unlike other frozen foods, which can be watery and tasteless when thawed. In order for food integrity to be maintained, it must be rapidly cooled from temperatures around 158 degrees F to freezing in under 90 minutes.

Because it preserves food fast, blast chilling is used in modern restaurants as a way to prep foods in advance.

Blast-chilled foods can be quickly thawed and prepared just like fresh foods. For example, Japanese chefs have used blast chilling for years to preserve fresh fish for sushi.

Salt Curing and Dehydration

Most of the methods on this list involve providing the right moisture/oxygen content to safely preserve food. Salt curing is the process of preserving food, usually meat, with large quantities of salt.

Salt draws the moisture out of food items and prevents spoilage. Salt curing can be done as a dry rub (most often used to preserve ham) or as a brine solution (ideal for preserving cod and other fish).

Dehydration, on the other hand, involves removing all the moisture from foods in order to preserve them. To dehydrate foods, you need heat, dry air, and a source of airflow.

You can safely dehydrate some things in the sun or even in your car if you’re bold. But the easiest (and safest) way to dehydrate large quantities of food is using either your oven or a food dehydrator.

There’s a reason beef jerky was such a popular trading item on the Oregon Trail. Dehydrated foods don’t need to be refrigerated, last a long time, and are extremely lightweight and easy to store.

Freeze Drying

Freeze drying food is a super technical form of dehydration and really can’t be done at home the way many other food preservation techniques on this list can be.

When f
ood is freeze dried, it is in a vacuum chamber, and the temperature is brought to below freezing. This way, the water in the food evaporates from a solid state to gaseous state, preserving the taste and structure of the food but removing the moisture content.

The most popular freeze-dried food is probably astronaut ice cream, but freeze-dried foods can be found in almost every grocery aisle, from cereal to coffee.

Food scientists have made innovative advances in food preservation, but most of the ways we make food last longer have been around for centuries.

After all, astronauts still eat packets of reconstituted dehydrated foods, proving that those Oregon Trail settlers had the right idea when it comes to making food last longer.

Tags 50027931, fuel, hemingway

Wellbeing

Insane Medical Conditions That Can Just Suddenly Appear

Post author By Katie Martin
Post date July 11, 2017

Camille was smart, attractive, and loved her job. Theoretically she had everything going for her—except for an embarrassing and humiliating condition. She smelled like dead fish.

This had been a problem since she was a child, when her classmates made fun of how she smelled, and a teacher questioned her hygiene. The odor continued to plague her into adulthood, and people at work complained about it.
She hit her lowest point when she was a teacher and her students started calling her “Ms. Fishy.”

What’s worse, Camille’s nose doesn’t pick up the scent, so she doesn’t know when the odor intensifies.
Eventually she discovered that she suffers from a bizarre metabolic disorder called trimethylaminuria (TMAU), in which the body secretes excessive amounts of the chemical trimethylamine, which produces the noxious odor.
Although there is continuing research on the topic, the condition is quite rare (only 600 documented cases in the U.S.), so still not much is known about it. There is no cure, only management of symptoms.

When Camille got in touch with an organization for people with TMAU, she learned she was not alone. She also learned of some steps to take to minimize the intensity of the odor, such as dietary changes, taking chlorophyll, and showering frequently. But for now she and other people with this condition continue to struggle with its effects.
And TMAU is just one of a number of bizarre conditions that have scientists more than a little puzzled.

Pica

If you thought pica was just a unit of measurement, think again. Pica is described by the National Eating Disorder Association as “an eating disorder that involves eating items that are not typically thought of as food and that do not contain significant nutritional value.”
Pregnant women are at a higher risk for developing pica disorder. Instead of craving pickles and ice cream, pica sufferers will crave things like pebbles, soil, soap, and charcoal.

In one extremely bizarre pica case, a woman ingested furniture polish up to three times a day. Sometimes pica is triggered by a mineral deficiency, but there is usually no underlying cause for the disorder.

Fatal Familial Insomnia

Sonia Vallabh watched her mother struggle to fall asleep for over a year. Eventually, Vallabh’s mother existed in a sort of trance state, somewhere between being fully awake and asleep. She suffered from the rare genetic disorder fatal familial insomnia (FFI), and Vallabh also carries the gene.

Vallabh doesn’t know when she’ll start developing symptoms. In a race against the clock, she currently researches FFI in hopes of finding a cure.
FFI causes progressive, debilitating insomnia. It is such a rare disorder that there are only 28 family bloodlines in the entire world with the genetic markers for FFI.
Once diagnosed with FFI, patients typically succumb to the disease in a year or less. Vallabh’s mother passed away just months after she began to show symptoms of the disorder. Current research is hopeful, although there is no cure for the sleeplessness that plagues FFI sufferers.

Cold Allergies

Six-year-old Jacob Russell was rushed to the emergency room multiple times when his hands and feet began turning purple for no apparent reason.
Mysteriously, by the time doctors would examine Jacob, his extremities had returned to their normal color. Jacob also experienced allergy symptoms such as hives in the dead of winter, not exactly peak allergy season.

Finally, the Russells found out that Jacob suffered from from cold urticaria, or an allergy to the cold. Just like allergies to pollen or peanuts, symptoms of cold urticaria range from normal itchy skin and minor swelling to life-threatening anaphylaxis.
In Jacob’s case, temperatures under 50 degrees trigger symptoms. To combat his symptoms, he no longer drinks cold beverages, and his family relocated to Florida for the warmer temperatures.
Unlike seasonal allergies, it’s hard to treat an allergy to cold weather, so treatment focuses on managing symptoms instead.

Fortunately, most patients fare quite well after diagnosis by staying away from anything that triggers their symptoms.

Exploding Head Syndrome

Most people drift off to dreamland peacefully, but people with exploding head syndrome (EHS) hear explosive noises when they fall asleep or wake up.

These noises aren’t associated with pain but can sound like a July 4th fireworks display to those who suffer from the disorder.
The first time you experience EHS can be disorienting, as the noise sounds incredibly real, but it is only happening inside your own head.

There are many theories about why people suffer from EHS. Some scientists believe EHS is brought on by extreme stress or inner ear issues. Serious cases of EHS have seen improvement with treatment of antidepressants and calcium channel blockers.

Gluten Delusions

Gluten intolerance can cause digestive issues, brain fog, and anemia. But gluten intolerance can also cause one unusual side effect: psychosis. One woman started having unexplained delusions and was finally admitted to a psychiatric hospital, where treatment had little effect.

Doctors finally suspected the woman had celiac disease but did not connect gluten intolerance to her psychotic break. When the woman was again hospitalized, she was put on a gluten-free diet, and her symptoms improved dramatically.
The relationship between gluten and neurological conditions is still a mystery. When a person suffers from celiac disease, the body views gluten as an invader.

It’s thought that the body’s inflammatory response to gluten can travel to the brain, causing a whole range of neurological disorders.

Alien Hand Syndrome

Extraterrestrials do not actually come and take over the body of someone suffering from alien hand syndrome (AHS), but it’s pretty close. For those who have AHS, the hand has a life of its own, not unlike Thing from The Addams Family.

AHS actions are totally involuntary and usually take the person suffering from the disorder by surprise.
AHS can occur after certain neurological procedures. Patients do see some improvement in hand control with Botox injections and nerve blocks, although there is no cure for the disorder.

Stendhal Syndrome

Staff at the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, Italy, are accustomed to tourists experiencing panic attack–like symptoms upon viewing the beautiful works of art in the gallery.
These attacks were first recognized by Marie-Henri Beyle in 1817, when he had such a flush of emotions when viewing art in Florence that he fainted.

Beyle, who wrote under the pen name Stendhal, experienced these attacks several times when in the presence of great beauty, thus the syndrome that bears his name today.
Stendhal syndrome is a psychosomatic disorder in which people quite literally have an “art attack.” When viewing scenes of concentrated beauty—as in an art museum—people with Stendhal syndrome experience a wide range of symptoms, including anxiety, heart palpitations, fainting, and even hallucinations.
Upon suffering an attack, people with Stendhal syndrome typically recover quickly. Because the syndrome is brought on by what an individual considers to be beautiful, no two triggers are the same.

Alice in Wonderland Syndrome

“Curiouser and curiouser!” Alice (of Wonderland fame) exclaims after she falls down the rabbit hole. While Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland is a work of fiction, the rare neurological disorder of the same name is very real.

People with Alice in Wonderland syndrome have the illusion that they’ve gotten smaller or larger than the environments where they are. Anyone can develop Alice in Wonderland syndrome, but people who experience migraines are believed to be more susceptible. Fortunately the syndrome doesn’t persist for long and isn’t associated with lasting side effects.

Face Blindness

As a child, Glenn Alperin was unable to tell his brothers apart. He struggled at school to recognize teachers and classmates. Sometimes Alperin even has trouble recognizing his own reflection in the mirror.
He has a rare condition known as face blindness, or prosopagnosia. Because of his condition, almost everyone Alperin meets is a total stranger to him.

People with prosopagnosia “simply fail to develop normal face processing abilities despite normal intellectual and perceptual functions,” according to the Centre for Face Processing Disorders.
There is no cure for face blindness, but it is believed that up to 2 percent of the population could have this disorder. Most patients are able to develop ways of coping with the condition, though. For example, patients might ask loved ones to wear certain identifiable scents or the same hairstyle and clothing.

Foreign Accent Syndrome

Karen Butler went to the dentist for a routine surgery. When she woke up, she no longer spoke with her Midwestern accent. Now Butler speaks with an indeterminate accent that’s vaguely Transylvanian. Her daughter thinks she sounds like a mild-mannered vampire.
Her dentist thought she was just having a hard time coming out of the anesthesia. When the accent persisted long after the drugs wore off, Butler sought medical advice.

It might sound silly, but Butler has the very real, very rare foreign accent syndrome.
Foreign accent syndrome is a neurological disorder that usually arises as the result of a brain injury. The first recorded case of the disorder was in 1941, when a Norwegian woman was hit in the head with a piece of shrapnel and woke from surgery with a German accent. In the years since, there have only been around 100 reported cases.
This benign condition can last for years, and in many cases, patients never revert back to their former accents.
As for Karen Butler, she embraces her new way of speaking, although she feels that the accent has softened a bit over time. Still, she’ll happily oblige when someone asks her to talk like Dracula.

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Lifestyle

Is It Ever Okay To Propose At Someone Else's Wedding?

Post author By Katie Martin
Post date July 10, 2017

“The entire atmosphere [of the wedding] felt moving. So moving in fact that John stopped midceremony to propose to his longtime girlfriend, ‘Jane,’ and reveal her pregnancy.”
If this sounds like a situation straight out of a wedding nightmare, it gets worse—because it actually did happen to one woman who shared her experience in a letter to the advice column “Dear Prudence.”

The newlyweds continued to be upstaged by John and Jane at their reception, when John used his platform as best man to talk about his relationship with Jane, even requesting a special dance for the two of them in celebration of their engagement.
The woman ends her letter by asking, “Do you think John’s behavior warrants the end of a long-term friendship, or are we angry over nothing?”

Was this as rude as it sounds?

Almost all wedding etiquette experts agree universally that upstaging the marrying couple on their wedding day is never okay. Proposals and other big announcements, like a pregnancy, should be avoided at weddings.

There is one small exception to this rule: If you are determined to propose during a wedding, you must have the couple’s express blessing to proceed, as was the case when bride Jess Nakrayko helped plan a surprise proposal during her wedding.
When you ask the couple for their blessing to propose at their own nuptials, look for forced smiles and barely suppressed rage that you would even suggest such a thing.

If you see genuine enthusiasm, feel free to go ahead with the proposal, but do so in the most low-key way possible. Even if the couple gives their blessing, you should still respect that the wedding is their day, and the focus should ultimately be on them.
Viral wedding reception proposals are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to defining modern wedding etiquette.

Wondering what other traditional wedding etiquette may have changed? Experts weigh in on some of the top wedding etiquette questions to keep you faux-pas free this wedding season.

Dress Code Etiquette for Newlyweds and Guests

Nontraditional wedding dress codes are becoming the norm as couples look to make their wedding stand out, but this can be confusing, especially for older guests who may wonder if their traditional blue suit is appropriate for a “fancy ranch” wedding.

Ariel Stallings, a writer for Offbeat Bride, recommends that couples who want their dress code to stand out give guests as much specific information about the dress code as they can so there is no confusion.
You can put this information directly on your invitation, but since space might be limited, Stallings suggests using your wedding website to elaborate on dress code instead.

If you have a very specific dress code in mind, include pictures or links to outfits that would be appropriate.
As for guests, traditional wedding etiquette still holds true: You should always abide by the dress code.

But what does “steampunk chic” even mean?

If you’re not quite sure what the dress code is, check the wedding website for more information, or do some google research.

If you still don’t have a clear idea of what to wear, don’t hesitate to reach out to a member of the wedding party for clarification. When the couple has a specific wedding theme in mind, they’ll be happy to share examples of appropriate clothing that fits the dress code.

Répondez s’il vous plaît.

RSVPs are almost universally guaranteed to give the wedding couple stress-induced ulcers before their big day. Much to the couple’s chagrin, however, most RSVPs end up tossed aside on kitchen counters for weeks before being returned right before the deadline.

Don’t be that wedding guest.
Wedding etiquette expert Tessa Brand says wedding guests should follow a few cardinal rules when sending back an RSVP.

First, make sure you only RSVP for guests included on the invitation. If you were not given a plus one, under no circumstances are you to include a guest in your RSVP.
But it shouldn’t matter if I just want to bring one person along, right?
Wrong.
The couple has budgeted for a specific number of guests. You may think, “It’s just one person, what’s the big deal?” But those costs do add up and can leave newlyweds scrambling to accommodate your wedding crasher instead of focusing on their big day.

Second, actually write your name on the RSVP card. If there is a meal option and you are including more than one guest in your RSVP, always make sure to specify which guest gets which meal.
Third, send the RSVP back in a timely manner. It doesn’t matter if you are the maid of honor and are obviously attending the wedding. The moment couples send out invitations, they start anxiously awaiting RSVPs. They’re usually pre-stamped, so there should be no reason to delay responding quickly.

Don’t just text the bride or groom to let them know you are attending—unless of course, that is what the invitation says to do.

Giving and Receiving Gifts: What’s the Protocol?

Many couples feel uncomfortable with the idea of having a traditional wedding registry but have been told that registries are a wedding must.

Although nothing about a wedding is an absolute must, it is a nice idea to have a registry, says wedding guru Liz Moorhead of A Practical Wedding. Even if you have everything you need, wedding guests will still want to give you gifts.
What if we want to do a nontraditional registry, like a honeyfund?
That’s totally fine, but just be aware that while many guests will contribute, some consider cash-based registries a little crass.

Creating a small registry of physical gift items will help ensure you get items you’ll actually use. (But it’s inevitable that some guests will go rogue and gift you something totally bizarre.)
As for guests: No longer do you have to abide by the traditional “pay for your plate” rule, say the wedding experts over at the Knot. If you’re unfamiliar with this piece of wedding etiquette, the usual rule has been that guests should purchase a gift of roughly the same monetary value as the wedding meal.

Naturally, this can lead to some awkward conversations. Of course, it’s in poor taste for a couple to reveal how much is being spent on the wedding—and it’s equally uncouth for guests to reveal how much they are willing to spend for a gift.
Guests can avoid the confusion altogether by simply consulting the gift registry, which should have a range of items in every budget. Not sure how much to spend? For close family and friends, you should expect to spend between $100 and $150. For coworkers and casual friends, between $50 and $100 is an appropriate amount.
What if I can’t afford a gift in that price range?
If you can’t afford a gift in the suggested price range, don’t worry. Choose an inexpensive item on the registry that you can afford, and consider pairing it with a thoughtful handmade gift.

The newlyweds will appreciate that you both stuck to the registry and gifted them something unique.

When in doubt, just ask.

Although it’s almost universally acknowledged that there are some things you should just never do at weddings, there are exceptions to every rule.

Whether you’re newly engaged or you just received (another) save-the-date in the mail, when in doubt about wedding etiquette, never be afraid to ask for clarification. When you nail that “steampunk chic” dress code, you’ll be glad you did.

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Nosh

Bizarre Eating Habits Of Celebrities

Post author By Katie Martin
Post date July 10, 2017

Famous people do some pretty weird stuff. Michael Bublé eats his corn on the cob like a hot dog, and Chrissy Teigen famously licks the seasoning off Doritos before sticking them back in the bag. Tim Tebow is known to put butter in his coffee.

But some celebrities take eating to a whole new level of strange. From Mariah Carey’s all-purple diet to Karl Lagerfeld’s separate house for dining (yes, you read that correctly), here are some of the most bizarre eating habits of the stars.

Tom Brady doesn’t eat nightshades.

Love him or hate him, there’s no denying Tom Brady’s athletic prowess on the field. Patriots fans can thank his wife, supermodel Gisele Bündchen, who put their family on a strict diet that Brady follows religiously.

The Brady–Bündchen clan famously eats an 80 percent vegetable diet. But Brady, in particular, does not eat nightshades.
Unlike medieval Europeans, who believed tomatoes and other nightshades to be poisonous, Brady doesn’t consume members of the Solanaceae family because there is some evidence they can cause inflammation.

In an interview with GQ magazine, Brady says of his strict diet, “I learned so many different things…because I was kind of—and still am—an aspiring athlete in a lot of ways. I still want to reach my maximum potential, I still love doing what I do, and I want to do it as well as I can for as long as I can.”
With five Super Bowl wins under his belt and no signs of slowing down, Tom Brady might just be onto something.

Karl Lagerfeld has a separate house for eating.

Lagerfeld drinks copious amounts of Diet Coke during the day, preferring only cold beverages.

Lagerfeld has a lot of bizarre habits, including an obsession with the color white, cleanliness, and exclusively wearing 17th-century-style custom-made nightshirts to bed.
As one does when one uses the main house to sketch and daydream, Lagerfeld has a second home for eating and entertaining. Lagerfeld explains: “I never have lunch, but when I do, I ask them to bring it to me in the house. I actually have two houses.

“This house here, it’s only for sleeping and sketching, and I have another house two-and-a-half meters away for lunch and dinner and to see people, and where the cook is and all that.”

Kourtney Kardashian eats her placenta.

Yes, you read that correctly. Kardashian made headlines a couple of years ago for taking placenta pills. Placenta is an organ that develops during pregnancy to nourish a fetus in utero. When a baby is born, the placenta is delivered soon after. While nearly all mammals eat their placenta postpartum, the practice of consuming placenta is pretty rare for human women.

Kardashian said her placenta pills were “yummy” and may have influenced her sister Kim’s decision to also take placenta pills postpartum. Kim Kardashian West decided to consume her placenta because she struggled with postpartum depression after her first pregnancy.
Some anecdotal evidence suggests that consuming placenta may help combat postpartum depression, so Kardashian West thought, “why not try it? What do I have to lose?”

The Kardashian sisters may have made headlines for consuming their placenta, but having it ground into pills is one of the tamer ways to consume one’s own internal organ. Instead of eating hospital food, one woman had her placenta stewed into a tasty broth for her first post-birth meal.
Usain Bolt has a McNugget addiction.
If you want to train like the fastest man on Earth, head straight for the golden arches. During the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Bolt consumed 100 chicken McNuggets a day.

“At first I ate a box of 20 for lunch, then another for dinner. The next day I had two boxes for breakfast, one for lunch and then another couple in the evening.”
That’s just under 5,000 calories in nuggets alone, not even counting dipping sauce! Of his nugget addiction Bolt says, “Man, I should have gotten a gold medal for all that chowing down.”

For the most recent Olympics in Rio, Bolt gave up his McDonald’s addiction. Instead, he opted for yams, lean protein, and his least favorite veggie, broccoli, to get in shape.
Mariah Carey eats purple foods three days a week.
Most women work out in sneakers, shorts, and a tank top, but Mariah Carey is not most women. She opts to get her sweat on in stilettos and fishnets instead. When it comes to her diet, Carey is just as over the top.

After the birth of her children in 2013, Mariah Carey turned to the purple diet to get back in shape.
The purple diet is exactly what it sounds like: You may eat as many naturally purple foods as you like. Carey reportedly chowed down on purple carrots, cauliflower, and eggplant three days a week. Purple foods have anthocyanins, a powerful antioxidant, which may aid in weight loss.

While Mariah Carey looks phenomenal no matter what color food her food is, she has evidently moved on from the purple diet. According to Carey, on her new food plan, “All you eat is Norwegian salmon and capers every day. That’s it.”
Sounds tasty.

Stephen King eats cheesecake every day.

Like the Golden Girls, Stephen King loves cheesecake. Evidently, the king of suspense eats a piece of cheesecake every day before writing.

In an interview with Bon Appétit magazine, King said, “I have a son who swears by creme brulee and always eats it before he writes. For me, it’s cheesecake.”
Cheesecake is a decadent treat to have every day, but King might be onto something by eating it daily. Cheesecake does actually offer some nutritional benefits.

Cheesecake is Stephen King’s brain food, but there is one dish he won’t touch. “I don’t eat oysters. It’s horrible, the way they slither down your throat alive.”
Nicolas Cage only eats “dignified” meat.
Back in 2010, Nicolas Cage made headlines when he revealed the weird way he eats: “I actually choose the way I eat according to the way animals have sex. I think fish are very dignified with sex. So are birds. But pigs, not so much. So I don’t eat pig meat or things like that. I eat fish and fowl.”

While we’re not sure if fish and fowl are more dignified than other animals, Cage’s dignified diet is pretty healthy. Fish and poultry are lean proteins, and most nutritionists recommend pork and red meat in moderation.

Scott Foley eats peanut butter on scrambled eggs.

Peanut butter tastes delicious in some pretty unlikely combinations.

Elvis Presley famously had his staff fly with him to Colorado to satisfy a late-night craving for a peanut butter, jelly, and bacon sandwich. Hollywood hunk Channing Tatum likes PBJ&Cs (peanut butter, jelly, and Cheetos sandwiches).
Scott Foley, who stars on the ABC drama Scandal, recently revealed that his family eats peanut butter slathered on scrambled eggs for breakfast. Says Foley, “It’s so good. Don’t knock it till you try it. …Peanut butter eggs. Dig it.”

There’s no denying that both peanut butter and eggs are a great source of protein, but we’ll just take Foley’s word for it on his unusual breakfast combination.

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Sweat

5 Real Medical Conditions Named After Disney Characters

Post author By Katie Martin
Post date July 10, 2017

Remember the first time you saw Alice fall down the rabbit hole? Or Prince Charming place the glass slipper on Cinderella’s foot? The wonderful world of Disney allows children (and adults) to indulge in make-believe and fantasy.

While the characters in Disney tales may be purely fictional, these psychological conditions named after them are very real.

Rapunzel Syndrome

Quian Quian (not her real name), a 12-year-old girl in China, was mysteriously losing her hair and wasting away. Fearing the worst, Quian’s mother took her daughter to the doctor after discovering a lump in her stomach.

What doctors found in Quian’s stomach was shocking.

A scan showed that the lump in Quian’s stomach was a massive hairball, weighing approximately one pound.

Quian had been munching her own hair for months, and although her mother had seen her put her hair in her mouth occasionally, she “thought she was just playing and didn’t think much about it.”

Quian suffers from a rare psychological disorder called Rapunzel syndrome. People with Rapunzel syndrome don’t have absurdly long hair. Instead, they compulsively pull and eat their own hair. Over time, the hair forms a solid mass in the stomach, with a “tail” much like Rapunzel’s storied locks leading into the intestines.

The medical term for Rapunzel syndrome is trichophagia. The disorder is thought to be similar to other obsessive–compulsive disorders. If diagnosed early, patients are treated with antidepressants and psychotherapy. But if left undiagnosed, patients can develop deadly trichobezoars, the giant hairballs that form inside the stomach.

Rapunzel syndrome is rare, and with treatment, patients can fully recover from the physical side effects of the disorder. But as with most obsessive–compulsive disorders, management of the underlying psychological issues can require lifelong treatment.

Sleeping Beauty Syndrome

Beth Goodier, a seemingly healthy teenager, was just 16 when she began to find it a constant struggle to stay awake.

At first, Beth had trouble staying awake in class, a common problem for many tired teens. Her mother became frightened when Beth fell asleep after school one day and couldn’t be awakened. When Beth finally woke up, it was as if she’d reverted back to being a small child again.

After many months of inconclusive medical treatment, she was finally diagnosed with Kleine-Levin syndrome (KLS), also known as Sleeping Beauty syndrome.

KLS is a rare neurological disorder that generally strikes teens and young adults like Beth. KLS sufferers will often sleep for months at a time, waking for only a few moments a day. During an episode, KLS patients often act like small children and are unable to make sense of the world around them.

Unfortunately, kisses from princes do not cure Sleeping Beauty syndrome. There are no treatments available for KLS, but the good news is that patients typically recover from the disorder within about 10 years.

Alice in Wonderland Syndrome

When Helene Stapinski was a child, she often saw normal-size objects become very small, “as if everything in the room were at the wrong end of a telescope.” As Helene aged, the episodes grew infrequent and faded as she became an adult.

Once, right before bedtime, Helene’s daughter Paulina told her mother that everything suddenly looked very small. Helene knew exactly what her daughter meant and assured her she understood.

It turns out Helene and Paulina Stapinski have a rare neurological disorder known as Alice in Wonderland syndrome.

Also called Todd’s syndrome (for Dr. James Todd, the first to write about the disorder), Alice in Wonderland syndrome is a condition in which people believe they’ve become very small or very large in comparison to their surroundings.

Anyone can develop Alice in Wonderland syndrome, but it’s thought that people who get migraines experience the condition most often. Other triggers can include infection, stress, and cough medicines.

Much like Alice’s experience in Wonderland, the syndrome doesn’t last long and isn’t associated with any negative enduring effects.

Mad Hatter Disease

When I was 2 years old, I bit the end off a thermometer and tried to swallow the mercury inside. My mother immediately called poison control, who advised that although I probably had not swallowed enough mercury (if any) to cause lasting harm, she should probably induce vomiting anyway.

Turns out, if I’d succeeded in my mercury-tasting goal, I might have shared something in common with the Mad Hatter.

The Mad Hatter is an excitable, forgetful, and all around silly fellow. But inspiration for the character was based on a very serious medical condition caused by mercury toxicity.

In the 18th and 19th centuries, many hats were made of felt. In the felting process, hat makers were exposed to high levels of mercury vapor, a neurotoxin. This prolonged exposure to mercury caused a condition known as erethism, which can trigger personality and behavioral changes.

Sufferers of the malady appeared to be a little nutty, hence the colloquial phrase “mad as a hatter.”

In the 20th century, as hats fell out of fashion, so did Mad Hatter disease. Additionally, the process of felting that used mercury vapor was banned in the United States in 1941. Although Mad Hatter disease can still occur, it is incredibly rare in the 21st century.

Mowgli Syndrome

Earlier in 2017, a girl was found living with monkeys in the Katarniaghat Wildlife Sanctuary in India. She made worldwide headlines and was dubbed the “Mowgli girl,” named after the main character in Disney’s beloved film The Jungle Book.

Originally a story by Rudyard Kipling, The Jungle Book tells the story of Mowgli, a small boy raised by wolves.

He goes on to be taken in by villagers and learns to interact with humans again.

Mowgli syndrome is loosely used as a term to describe feral children, who have so little human contact that they do not learn social behaviors and language.

Although many of the children with Mowgli syndrome have it as a result of serious neglect, with therapy and treatment, most go on to learn to speak and socialize normally.

Peter Pan Syndrome

Lisa Brinkworth loved her husband, Joe, but after eight years of marriage, she realized she was “playing mother to a Peter Pan, albeit an adorable one.”

Exasperated with Joe’s irresponsible, carefree antics, Lisa finally gave him an ultimatum: Grow up or get out. After that, Joe decided he’d rather be a grown-up with his wife and children and finally hung up his metaphorical Peter Pan tights.

Joe Brinkman’s experience is not uncommon. Although grown men who continue to act like teenagers are anecdotally associated with the boy who refused to grow up, both men and women are susceptible to developing Peter Pan syndrome.

At its core, Peter Pan syndrome is an individual’s refusal to take on adult responsibilities. Although it’s not technically recognized as a formal disorder, most psychologists recognize Peter Pan syndrome as a very real condition.

One theory holds that overprotective parenting can lead to children developing Peter Pan syndrome. In addition, people with Peter Pan syndrome blame others for their failures in life, refusing to take responsibility for their own actions.

Fortunately, men and women who show signs of Peter Pan syndrome can be easily cured: Counseling, therapy, and a little tough love are all prescribed treatments.

Tags 50029266, body, hemingway

Motherhood

Wacky Pregnancy Advice People Insist On Sharing

Post author By Katie Martin
Post date July 6, 2017

There comes a point in every woman’s pregnancy when people feel reasonably sure that your protruding belly is, in fact, due to pregnancy and not the large burrito you had for lunch. It is also around this time that everyone from your mother to your mailman begins to offer unsolicited words of wisdom regarding pregnancy.
Some are helpful, but you should definitely take the following bizarre pieces of pregnancy advice with a big pinch of salt.

Don’t Cut Your Hair

During pregnancy, hormones cause most women to grow thicker, shinier hair that would make a Pantene model envious. Lustrous locks may sound like a dream come true, but all that hair can be a real nuisance. Women are often tempted to chop off their locks in the third trimester.

However, one popular piece of advice pregnant women receive is that they should avoid cutting their hair until after the baby is born.
According to grandmothers everywhere, cutting your hair while pregnant severely inhibits your life force, leaving you susceptible to illness and other problems. This eccentric piece of advice has persisted since the biblical story of Samson but, to no one’s surprise at all, is entirely unfounded.

It is perfectly safe to cut your hair during pregnancy. But before you rush out to get the mom bob, remember that your amazing pregnancy hair doesn’t last forever. Many new moms experience postpartum hair loss as a result of fluctuating hormones, so you might want to postpone the trim until you see how your hair reacts post-pregnancy.

Indulge Your Cravings To Prevent Birthmarks

On the surface, this seems like a great piece of advice pregnant women can get behind. That fourth piece of pizza? Go for it. Ice cream with shredded cheese on top? Treat yourself. However, according to some, if you don’t indulge your pregnancy cravings, your baby will end up with a birthmark shaped like the food you craved.

No mother wants their child to be born with a very specific birthmark in the shape of a peanut butter and pickle sandwich, but it doesn’t appear there is very much truth behind this particular piece of advice.

Birthmarks can be genetic, but most spontaneously occur. In addition, almost everyone has a birthmark somewhere, even if it’s not very noticeable—and ours certainly doesn’t look like the ice cream/French fry sandwich our mother said she craved.

Eat More Bananas if You Want a Boy

Has anyone ever told you to eat more bananas if you’re set on having a boy? Turns out, there might just be some truth to this wacky piece of pregnancy advice. According to a study from Oxford and Exeter Universities, high levels of potassium (which is found in bananas), along with high levels of sodium, were associated with having a boy.

Because so many cereals are now fortified with potassium and other nutrients, a bowlful of Fruity Pebbles may also increase your odds of having a boy. (The effect of all that sugar on you and your developing little one, however, is another question.)

However, the old wives’ tale that drinking more milk to have a girl doesn’t hold any weight. If you’re set on sugar and spice and everything nice instead of snails and puppy dog tails, scientists suggest cutting back on your morning cereal to increase your odds of having a girl.

A Full Moon Brings on Labor

It’s well-known science that the moon influences the ocean’s tides, but can a full moon influence pregnancy and labor? According to superstition, there is a noticeable uptick in births during a full moon.

This superstition persists not just for pregnancy but across medical fields in general. Paramedics swear they get more calls during a full moon and emergency room doctors agree the waiting rooms certainly seem busier then.

According to Duke University scientists, though, there is no correlation between the full moon and labor. However, changes in barometric pressure can cause women to go into labor. So if you see thunderstorms in the forecast, it might be wise to pack your hospital bag just in case.

Toughen Up Your Tatas

One common piece of pregnancy advice many women receive is that they should “toughen up” their breasts in preparation for breastfeeding. Some women are told to use Brillo pads (yes, the same steel wool pads that are used to clean extra dirty pots and pans) to toughen up their tatas.

This is one piece of advice pregnant women should definitely not follow. Not only does it sound downright painful, it’s completely unnecessary. Your body was made to breastfeed, and though most new moms have struggles in the early days or even weeks of nursing, there’s certainly no need to do any kind of preparation in advance.

Don’t Rub Your Belly or You’ll Spoil the Baby

By the third trimester, you can usually balance a lot of things on your growing belly, and you might find that you rub your belly subconsciously. According to an old wives’ tale from China, rubbing your pregnant belly often will spoil a baby.

While research doesn’t show that a baby whose mother rubbed her belly is spoiled, scientists have proven that babies do respond to a mother’s touch more than her voice while in the womb.

Most doctors also agree that newborns can’t be spoiled, so go ahead and rub your belly as much as you’d like. Not only does your baby like it, it will also help them recognize you after they are born!

Do a Cleanse Before Your Due Date

The one thing that terrifies women more than pushing a baby the size of a melon out of a lemon-sized hole? Pooping during childbirth. In fact, “how to avoid pooping during labor” is one of the most googled phrases relating to pregnancy. Many women are advised to use enemas or natural cleanses before their due date to reduce the risk of embarrassment.

However, according to doctors, there’s not much you can do about it, and it happens to most women during labor. The good news is that you’ll be so focused on pushing, you probably won’t even notice if it happens—nurses are pros at quickly and quietly cleaning up. Trust us, that’s not the worst thing they’ve seen.

Don’t Lift Your Hands Above Your Head

Most pregnant women are treated more delicately than the enchanted rose in Beauty and the Beast. During pregnancy, women are often advised not to lift their arms above their head, which apparently could cause the umbilical cord to wrap around a baby’s neck.

Obviously, this makes everyday life pretty inconvenient. That box of cookies you hid on the top shelf? Don’t even think about it. Did you weight train before pregnancy? Stop immediately! Unless you’re Wonder Woman, don’t even think about any exercise more strenuous than walking for nine months.

There’s little truth to this particular piece of advice. Umbilical cord issues are due to fetal movement rather than maternal movements. The next time you feel like starting the wave at a baseball game, go for it. Your baby will be just fine.

Stuff Your Bra With Cabbage

This last one’s technically a piece of postpartum advice, but it’s really strange, so it made the list. Stuffing cabbage leaves in your bra during breastfeeding is supposed to help reduce engorgement, an extremely painful feeling that occurs as a new mom’s milk arrives. The cabbage leaves can either be chilled or used at room temperature.

This piece of advice is weird, but it actually holds up. Evidently, cabbage leaves do absorb fluids. However, there are other, less cabbage-y ways to reduce painful swelling. Alternating cold compresses and moist heat will do the trick, and as an added bonus, you won’t smell like sauerkraut.

Tags 50028971, hemingway, parenting

1. It can trick you into believing you have ghost hands.

2. It can cause you to see things—after you’ve lost your sight.

3. It can take away your ability to understand language.

4. It can leave you unable to feel pain.