Smokers miss more work than nonsmokers

For decades, It has been shown in countless studies the damage produced by cigarette smoking. For instance, cigarettes increase stomach inflammation, ulcers and gastritis. However, there is a study that shows something that I am pretty sure you are not aware of. A report published by the magazine “Addiciton” revealed that smokers miss work two to three days more per year than non-smokers. Only in the UK this issue has cost nearly 400 million pounds thousand, one thousand 700 million euros a year.

The data comes from a review of 29 independent studies conducted between 1960 and 2011 in Europe, Australia, New Zealand, United States and Japan, with a total of more than 71,000 public sector workers and private. The authors of the report, members of the University of Nottingham (UK), focused on the smoking habits of workers, and analyzed the frequency with which these were absent in the last two years. Smokers were 33% more likely to miss work than nonsmokers, and they missed an average of 2.7 working days per year, as explained Jo Leonardi-Bee, author of the report. They also calculated that current smokers were 19% more likely to miss work than former smokers, so encourage them to leave the snuff may also cause "considerable cost savings for workers."

In addition, the study has also shown that children who live with smokers are also more likely to miss school. A passive smoking has been associated with increased susceptibility to the development of various diseases, from asthma to heart attacks, which makes workers must miss work more often to stay home with their sick.

In my case, I stopped smoking three months ago and I feel better now. It is hard but not impossible. In this video there are some smoking effects. Are you aware of those effects? Do you think that smoking is related with missing hours of work?

No more alcoholism

Alcoholism is one of the issues that most affects our society today. Many people have lost everything and end their lives living in the streets due to this addiction.

Nevertheless, nowadays the solution for this problem could go beyond psychological therapy. Do you know where is it? Here in Chile! A team of scientists from “Universidad de Chile” are working to produce an anti alcoholism vaccine. The vaccine injects a gene, already present in the 20% of the Asian population, which blocks the action of an enzyme, "dehyde dehydrogenase", this enzyme metabolizes the alcohol in our system. Without it, the unease provoked by the consumption of alcohol, such as dizziness, tachycardia or vasodilatation, is exacerbated. Therefore, patients react so violently to alcohol that it inhibits their addiction  Most current therapies against alcoholism block this enzyme, but as they are patches or pills they depend on the patient’s will to take the medication. The vaccine affects the liver cells directly, and one shot a month would be sufficient to help alleviate the addiction.

When testing alcoholic rats, they diminished their consumption of alcohol by 50%. They hope to reduce the consumption of alcohol in humans by a 90% to 95%. The process is slow because they need to pass many stages to get the final product, but if everything goes as planned the vaccine will be available in 2014. But is it good to depend on a vaccine? Might more people start drinking alcohol recklessly because they know that a vaccine exists that could cure their addiction?

 Here you can find some international news regarding this discovery

http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/health/2011/01/07/vaccine-alcoholism-works-chile/
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1344971/Vaccine-alcoholism-works-making-feel-sick-drink.html
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/159226.html
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/health-science/chilean-researchers-to-test-vaccine-against-alcholism/story-e6frg8y6-1225983868771

Marijuana’s legalization: an endless fight

For several years, it has existed a constantly struggle about cannabis’s legalization. Nowadays, there isn’t any country where pot is 100% legal although some states allow people to consume and to cultivate marijuana for personal consumption. Despite the moral consequences that the completely legalization of this drug could bring to any existing society, the medical benefits and the cultural power that marijuana has is even stronger.

The main reason that cannabis users give in order to legalize marijuana, it is because the existence of numerous studies where have proven medical benefits in THC, the main component of this drug. It is also very important to think about the culture behind marijuana. Being a very harmless substance, much less than tobacco and alcohol, marijuana has a peace message. As the leading effect is to slow down almost every muscle of your body, the main consumers of this drug are commonly very peaceful.

It was very strange that looking for reasons against legalizing marijuana, I could only find moral motivations for not allowing the free consume of this drug. There are not scientific facts to assert that marijuana is a bad drug and a harmful one. I believe for that reason it has been so controversial and difficult to reach an agreement about if we have to legalize it or not. And what do you think about this?

How do I look??

Thanks to mass media and science progress, every day we are becoming more acquaintance with how plastic surgery has become an alternative to make people feel happier with their bodies.

We are living in a time in which is common to hear that a celebrity have had a nose job, a liposuction done, or the breasts enlarged in the case of women. They go through these surgeries in order to fit into the celebrity world: runways, movies, magazines, etc. Whatever the reason might be, they have become fashion icons, and plastic surgery with cosmetic purposes has become trendy.

Now, imagine a situation in real life: a girl doesn’t realized that her lips are too thin until she has her nose fixed, then she realizes about some other “defect”, and here is where the vicious cycle starts. As you might notice, there is a narrow boundary between what can be normal and what can detonate the dependence to these procedures.

But, what is about plastic surgery that some people happen to be addicted to it?  Well, let us think! It gives people the opportunity to change almost any part of their body that is not pleasant for them; it is faster than doing exercise, letting alone the fact that there are some features that can’t be changed with any exercise or sport; and it completely can change a person’s life. Yet, can plastic surgery cannot change people’s feelings, manners, or personalities. Until what extent looking great has turned to be more important than being a great person from the inside out?

You should watch this video on how a celebrity has changed her face with plastic surgery

.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EhmFayIPLa4

Sharing For A Living

Some years ago, a friend of mine told me to sign into Facebook. At that time, the only place where I would write my ideas, feelings, and what was going on my life, was my diary. She was so persistent that I decided to find out what was all about Facebook. I didn't find anything interesting in it, so I didn't do as my friend told me to. I remember she was very disappointed that I didn't create an account; she even told me that I would never going to be popular.

Now, after 5 years or more, I have fallen into the social network's world, and even though they are a great tool to communicate with people in a cheaper way, I still do not understand how people become so addicted to it. Although social networks are really entertaining and helpful to comunicate, I think it is dangerous for our own life. 

Being addicted to Facebook or Twitter, the two most used social networks nowadays, can effect your academic performance. Updating your Facebook status or scrolling down on Twitter every 5 seconds, can really affect your concentration on more important issues, like our studies, and our English homework. People spend more time on the internet and on these social networks than they could really imagine.

Let's picture this:

You wake up at 06.00, and check your e.mail, maybe the news, and of course, Facebook. Even if there is no one online at 6.00 in the morning, you stare at the chat, and check it every time you can. Then, you go to work, university or school; you check Facebook on the phone, and you keep doing that every hour of the day. 

Social Network Addiction is a serious problem, and it can also affect the way you perceive reality. Being in a virtual world almost the entire day, can really make you feel that you are still in the virtual world; therefore, you don't even know in what reality you are in. Your self-steem also depends on what status or comment do you read, what photo you were tagged in...

It is not possible that our lives depend on Facebook's updates. 

So I wonder: what can we do, then, to realize that we can become addicts before it gets worse?