How am I feeling today about the state of things near and far? Check my fingernails.
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Out of the Walls
In February 2008, my brother died of ALS. During his four-year-long struggle with the disease, he anonymously published a no-holds-barred blog on Blogger, to which I contributed as “Ratty”. Under that protective pseudonym, I published a much smaller companion blog called Rat in the Walls, which allowed me to voice things about his illness that I couldn’t voice otherwise. Today, I pulled down the wall and changed my Blogger profile to use my real name instead of the pseudonym.
I’m owning the ugly as well as the love.
RQ235
“In a survey conducted by the American Academy of Dermatology (AAD) of 1,151 young adults, 45 percent of participants did not worry about proper protection when exposed to the sun. Despite the warm weather or the desire to be tan, sun exposure can cause a bevy of problems, from wrinkles to skin cancer.
The AAD’s study painted a problematic picture of young adults uncertain about the risks of sun exposure or tanning habits. Tanning could lead to advanced aging of the skin, causing wrinkles. Around 30 percent of those surveyed were unaware that the sun caused wrinkles.
While wrinkles are a cosmetic problem, tanning can cause some serious health problems. Approximately 24 percent of the young adults surveyed did not know what was safer, a tanning bed or the sun. This confusion among young adults can lead to problems that last much longer than a summer’s tan.
According to the AAD, melanoma is the most common type of cancer for people between the ages of 25 and 29 and second-most in people between the ages of 15 and 29.”
–Charles Poladian. “ReTweet This: Tanning Is Unsafe.” Medical Daily May 14, 2012. Web.
RQ125
“Brain scans revealed that people with no symptoms of Alzheimer’s who engaged in cognitively stimulating activities throughout their lives had fewer deposits of beta-amyloid, a destructive protein that is the hallmark of the disease.
While previous research has suggested that engaging in mentally stimulating activities – such as reading, writing and playing games – may help stave off Alzheimer’s later in life, this new study identifies the biological target at play. This discovery could guide future research into effective prevention strategies.”
–Sarah Yang. “Lifelong Brain-stimulating Habits Linked to Lower Alzheimer’s Protein Levels.” UC Berkeley NewsCenter. January 23, 2012. Web.