Cynical Activities - E
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EAST, THE
On America's east coast, increases in sea levels due to global warming are likely to cause substantial damage to structures, wetlands, estuaries, and water supplies. Warming will also increase urban heat stress, which is high on the list of things that do not need increasing. Major diseases new to the U.S., such as Lyme disease and West Nile virus, have started in the East. |
EATING TOO LITTLE
If you fell off your diet again, maybe you were doing yourself a favor. When women eat too little due to conditions such as anorexia nervosa, they may stop menstruating, become dehydrated, develop kidney stones and kidney failure, suffer from constipation or bowel irritation, develop osteoporosis, and grow hair on their faces and arms (which is why the women on most TV shows shave more than the men); in extreme cases, eating too little can make their muscles waste away and lead to irregular heartbeat, heart failure, and death. And if you're pregnant, go ahead and make yourself that tuna-and-jelly sandwich: if you have serious nutritional deficiencies during pregnancy, your child may end up suffering from diabetes, high blood pressure, and strokes, as well as conditions such as schizophrenia or affective disorders severe enough to require hospitalization. |
EATING TOO MUCH
But don't let that scare you into eating everything in the fridge.
Women who binge-eat risk polycystic ovary syndrome, which causes infertility. |
ECHINACEA
Coming down with a cold? Before you reach for the echinacea, note that you can have allergic reactions to this, especially if you're allergic to plants to which echinacea is related, such as daisy and ragweed. Looks like you're going to end up with a drippy nose no matter what you do. |
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, TOO LITTLE
Shock of the Week: being poor ain't good for you. In poor societies, inadequate shelter, diet, and security mean that people live in poor health, die early, and feel an overwhelming desperation about life that can take extreme forms such as sale or starvation of unwanted children, theft of body parts, and violent ethnic conflict. |
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, TOO MUCH
The American Dream isn't all it's made out to be. In rich societies, people suffer from constant time pressures, too little sleep, feelings of anxiety and stress, and estrangement from family and communitym, any of this sound familiar? One study found that stress has increased so much in the U.S. that typical schoolchildren today may experience more anxiety than child psychiatric patients did during the 1950s. The risk of breast cancer and prostate cancer is greater in more affluent areas. Where development results in a shift from traditional diets to Western diets, there may be an increased risk of allergies and asthma. African-Americans are more subject than Africans to dementia and Alzheimer's disease, probably because of dietary habits and other features of development. When Grandpa and Grandma get nostalgic about the Old Country, maybe they have a point. |
ECSTASY
Using MDMA, commonly known as Ecstasy, can lead to psychiatric disorders or possible long-term impairments in brain function, to the extent that regular users frequently forget simple tasks and routinely lose their train of thought while talking, according to one study that...that...sorry, what was I saying? Risky sexual behavior among gay and bisexual men is also associated with Ecstasy—no, no, we mean the drug... |
EDUCATION, TOO LITTLE
The idea that college can have health benefits may not match your memories of your undergrad years, but it's true. People with less education are more likely to kill themselves, get Alzheimer's disease, and generally die early. If you don't have a college education, you'll recover less well, mentally, from coronary artery disease. People who live in communities with low education levels are more likely to be late in seeking treatment for melanomas, so their treatment is less likely to be successful. |
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