Flamingos are so famous for their colour that they’ve even inspired their own hot pink lawn ornament. So they must be born rosy, right?
Nope. It turns out that flamingos are not naturally pink. The lanky-limbed birds are actually born with light gray feathers. Pink is not in their DNA. Flamingos are just one of the many animals that look nothing like their baby pictures.
So what causes the birds to turn pink? Well, their favourite things to eat in the wild are brine shrimp, larvae, and blue-green algae. All three contain compounds called carotenoids, or yellow, red, or orange pigments. When these foods make their way into a flamingo’s digestive tract, enzymes break the carotenoids down into pink and orange molecules. Those molecules are absorbed by fats in the liver and are eventually deposited into flamingo’s skin, feathers, beak, and legs. Over time on this diet, a flamingo’s feathers will gradually turn from gray to a more vibrant hue.
Of course, flamingo feathers range in colour from white to many different shades of pink to orange and red. The colour a flamingo’s feathers turns depends on where they’re located and what they’re eating. For example, the pink feathers of some flamingos living in zoos started to fade until zookeepers started feeding the birds a synthetic version of the pink dye. Now that you know what gives flamingos their distinctive colour, find out which “facts” about animals you have all wrong.
What is fish oil?
Fish oil is fish fat extract, explains Alyssa Pike, RD, manager of Nutrition Communications for the International Food Information Council Foundation. This oil is rich in omega-3 fatty acids, including eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). Essential fatty acids, like EPA and DHA, only come from foods like fish or dietary supplements. They are present in several supplements including fish oil, cod liver oil, krill oil, and vegetarian products that contain algal oil, Pike says. That’s why omega-3’s are one of the 13 vitamins and supplements doctors take every day.
What is fish oil good for?
One of the reasons fish is part of a healthy diet is because of their oil. The omega-3’s are specifically important because they play a special role in our cells, Pike says. EPA and DHA specifically support eye, brain, and heart health, she adds. Malina Malkani, MS, RDN, CDN notes that some evidence also shows fish oil provides relief for rheumatoid arthritis symptoms. Other studies suggest fish oil supplements may improve the symptoms of mental health conditions or disorders including depression, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia, says Malkani, creator of the Wholitarian Lifestyle. These are just some answers to “what is fish oil good for?” (This easy chart will tell you which fish have the most omega-3s.)
Are fish oil supplements the same as eating fish?
Fish oil and omega-3’s are just part of the reason why fish itself is so healthy. Unlike the supplements, whole fish contain more vitamins and minerals than only EPA and DHA, according to Harvard Medical School. That’s why the Dietary Guidelines for Americans includes eating four ounces of fish twice a week, not necessarily the supplement version. Both Pike and Malkani advocate for getting nutrients from food first. Still, if that’s not possible, fish oil supplements could be a good substitute for meeting your omega-3 needs, Malkani says. Just note that eating the whole fish offers more, nutritionally, than the supplement alone.
What should I do before taking fish oil pills?
If you decide fish oil might be an excellent addition to your diet, consult with your doctor before buying or trying any supplements. In some people, it interacts with drugs that affect blood clotting, Malkani says. Some fish liver oil supplements are high in vitamin A, too. Over time, consuming large amounts of vitamin A could cause health issues like liver damage and bone pain, among others, according to Malkani.
Once your doctor approves, it’s time to wade through the many fish oil supplements on the market. Both Malkani and Pike say that supplement quality varies greatly, so it’s important to check the labels. Look for fish oil pills that have been third-party tested for purity, or that carry a seal of purity from the Global Organization for EPA and DHA omega-3’s. Once you have a good supplement, keep them at room temperature.
Next, find out the signs you might not be getting enough vitamin D.
Why women’s pain is dismissed, undiagnosed and undertreated
Katie Luciani was 11 years old when the pain began. That’s when she first got her period, with cramps so excruciating they made her vomit. “We went to see my family doctor at the time and she dismissed it, saying, ‘There’s nothing wrong with you. Everybody gets cramps. Just take Advil.’” But the pain got worse when Luciani was a teen. The same doctor put her on birth control, which dulled the intensity slightly. Nevertheless, she came to expect that once a month, she’d feel a twisting in her pelvis and experience stabbing cramps that jolted through her like electrical shocks. Her doctor continued to tell her that cramps were normal.
After high school, Luciani moved from Toronto to Vancouver to study media arts. One day, she experienced a new kind of pain in her abdomen. “It went from a five to a 20 very fast,” she recalls. She hurried to the hospital, where staff found fluid in her abdomen, caused by a ruptured ovarian cyst. Once again, Luciani was told, “There’s nothing to worry about—it’s normal.” The physician gave her morphine and sent her home. But throughout the course of the year, more cysts ruptured, and each time, Luciani faced the same message in the emergency room: “You just have to get through it.”
When she was 25, Luciani found a gynecologist who told her the symptoms sounded like endometriosis, which occurs when the uterine lining grows in other areas of the pelvis, where it doesn’t belong. He booked her in for exploratory surgery to look for signs of the painful chronic condition, but in the end, he didn’t find anything wrong. (Learn more serious health symptoms you should never ignore.)
Luciani was filled with hopelessness. She’d been sure she had endometriosis, but a doctor was telling her that wasn’t true. In too much agony to work, she moved back to Toronto, where her family lived. She searched for a new doctor who could help her, but after reading the report from her surgery, each health practitioner said the same thing: since the procedure hadn’t led to a diagnosis, nothing was wrong with her. She was told the pain was in her head and was offered antidepressants but never a solution for the pain. “I just felt crazy at that point,” she recalls.
Finally, at age 26, after having consulted with five doctors since her initial surgery, Luciani found one in Atlanta who was willing to repeat the procedure. She paid nearly CAD $40,000, and this time, the results were conclusive: she had endometriosis. Three years later, she would also be diagnosed with polycystic ovary syndrome, a condition that affects women’s hormone levels and can result in cysts in the ovaries.
Luciani isn’t the only woman to spend years having her pain dismissed, or to be forced to advocate for herself with doctor after doctor simply to secure a diagnosis. A 2006 study published in the British Journal of Obstetrics & Gynaecology interviewed women with chronic pelvic pain and concluded that “most felt that their pain and suffering had not been legitimized by at least one doctor that they had seen.”
Over the past few decades, researchers have found that women’s pain is often taken less seriously than men’s and, as a result, it frequently goes untreated or undertreated in Western medicine. There is no lab test to evaluate pain, so it’s up to a patient to describe their experience—and up to their doctor to believe them. But, as Luciani learned, health care providers can be quick to conclude that a woman’s pain isn’t so bad or is “all in her head”—an attitude that can lead to prolonged suffering and can put women’s health at serious risk.
Women’s pain
Pain is an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience, but because you can’t see it, it’s nearly impossible to measure. Still, there is reason to believe that women’s pain is different from men’s. According to a review in the British Journal of Anaesthesia, an expansive body of literature has shown that women are not only more at risk for pain but they feel it more intensely than men do. “If we asked people, ‘Do you have significant levels of pain?’ women are more likely to say yes than men,” says Dr. Roger Fillingim, professor at the University of Florida’s College of Dentistry and director of the University of Florida Pain Research and Intervention Center of Excellence. Furthermore, in lab studies, when people are exposed to a painful stimulus, Fillingim says the women in the trials consistently report feeling more pain than the men.
According to Dr. Angela Mailis, founder of the Pain and Wellness Centre in Vaughan, Ont., the reasons for these differences likely span biological, psychological, social and cultural factors. In her book, Beyond Pain: Making the Mind-Body Connection, she explains that women’s hormones play a role in women’s pain. For example, women are more sensitive to pain at certain stages of their menstrual cycles and are less sensitive during pregnancy. But cultural expectations like “men don’t cry” can also impact how individuals report or seek help from pain, and how physicians treat it.
Women are also more likely to experience chronic pain (a condition that lasts more than 12 weeks). According to the 2007-2008 Canadian Community Health Survey, nine per cent of men and 12 per cent of women ages 12 to 44 experience chronic pain, and those numbers only increase with age. Some of those conditions, such as Luciani’s endometriosis, are specific to women, but that doesn’t explain all of the difference. For example, compared to men, women are four to nine times as likely to experience fibromyalgia and about two and a half times as likely to get migraines and disorders of the temporomandibular joint (which connects the jawbone to the skull). (Here’s what you need to know about fibromyalgia.)
One potential reason for the difference, says Dr. Tania Di Renna, medical director of the Toronto Academic Pain Medicine Institute at Women’s College Hospital, is trauma from the past. “Women are more easily subjected to domestic violence, abuse and sexual abuse,” she says, and these events are associated with chronic pain. And Fillingim explains that the parts of the brain that are particularly affected by these adverse formative events are connected to the parts that participate in the perception of pain.
When pain is dismissed
While women are more likely to experience acute discomfort, they’re also less likely to receive adequate treatment for it. A 2001 paper in the Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics entitled “The Girl Who Cried Pain: A Bias Against Women in the Treatment of Pain” found “women are more likely to be treated less aggressively in their initial encounters with the health-care system until they ‘prove that they are as sick as male patients.’”
This aspect of women’s pain has been documented in many ways. Back in the 1990s, a study published in the journal Sex Roles found that men were more likely to be given painkillers after heart surgery while women were more likely to receive sedatives. More recently, in 2008, when researchers looked at treatment of patients who came to the emergency room for abdominal pain, they observed that women were 13 to 25 per cent less likely than men to be given opioids and waited 16 minutes longer to receive them. The study, which was published in Academic Emergency Medicine, concluded that “gender bias may be a component.”
Other women, like Luciani, see doctor after doctor, being told that their condition is to be expected or isn’t that bad—in other words, pain, however severe, is normalized. According to a 2010 report from the U.S.-based Campaign to End Chronic Pain in Women, 50 per cent of American endometriosis sufferers will see at least five health care professionals before receiving a diagnosis or referral for their illness.
Overall, doctors are indeed more likely to attribute women’s symptoms to emotions or a mental health issue. In one 2009 experiment published in the Journal of Women’s Health, when men and women presented with heart disease symptoms, doctors were twice as likely to diagnose the women with mental health conditions.
Joanna Kempner, 44, had her migraine pain dismissed as a mental issue at just five years old, when her doctor told her that it was just a symptom of her “type A personality.” Later in life, another physician suggested her headaches were caused by the stress of not having a boyfriend. These experiences prompted Kempner, who is now an associate professor of sociology at Rutgers University in New Jersey, to study the treatment of migraines and write the book Not Tonight: Migraine and the Politics of Gender and Health. “There’s been this trend over time that migraines are about who you are as a person,” says Kempner, expounding on the deep-rooted stereotype that women who suffer from migraines are smart, middle- to upper-class women who just can’t relax. Even many migraine treatment recommendations offer simple stress-relief tactics, as if to suggest migraine patients can’t handle the pressures of daily life.
Why are women ignored?
There are many reasons why women’s pain might go undertreated. For one, as Mailis writes in her book, “When it comes to pain research, women traditionally have been excluded as research subjects. This was partially due to the fact that the researchers assumed that the results produced by studies of pain on men could be generalized to women too.”
Most experts agree that bias is likely to play a role. “Pain cannot be measured effectively, so physicians depend on their patients to report their pain,” says Kempner. “If the reporter is a woman rather than a man, very often that person is going to be interpreted through a cultural lens [in which] women are characterized as neurotic and whiny.” In fact, many of the physicians that Kempner interviewed for her research got the sense that their colleagues often believed migraine patients to be whiny.
Di Renna agrees. “I think there’s an issue with women being perceived as potentially more catastrophizing,” she says. “They will seek care more, they do have more [diagnosed] mental health issues, so they’re more likely to be dismissed versus a male.”
But women aren’t the only group who face these stereotypes—many minorities and ethnic groups are also at risk. “African Americans have a very difficult time being heard when they say that they’re in pain,” says Kempner. “The entire history of race was predicated on a false system of biological difference between racial categories. And much of that history was derived from a notion that people of African descent couldn’t feel pain. It was a necessary piece of scientific racism: one had to believe that Africans didn’t experience pain in order to send them out to do hard labour in the hot sun.”
Of course, we know this to be false today, but remnants of this belief still linger in the medical system. In fact, in a recent effort to determine why Black patients are undertreated for pain, researchers asked medical students whether they believed a number of false biological differences between Black and white people (that Black people have thicker skin, for one). Their results, which were published in the Proceeding of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America in 2016, showed that students who put stock in such statements—half of them held at least one false belief—were more likely to think Black patients suffered less pain and, as a result, recommended less effective treatment in the study.
Sentenced to suffer
The act of ignoring a patient’s pain can do lasting damage to a patient, both physically and emotionally. “The years of being dismissed and told that it’s in my head really took a toll,” says Luciani. “Even today, when my pain levels are really bad, it’s like, Should I go to the hospital? Do I really want to deal with somebody questioning me or telling me that it’s not that bad?”
A year and a half ago, in spite of her gynecological issues, Luciani gave birth to a baby girl, Kaya. When she takes her daughter to the doctor now, she worries, “Are they going to believe what I’m saying about her?”
Di Renna meets many patients who, like Luciani, saw multiple doctors while searching for answers before being referred to her care. “Some patients develop a sort of post-traumatic stress disorder from seeing physicians about pain,” she says. “They feel like they’re being dismissed. They’re not being listened to. They’re viewed sometimes as drug-seeking because they want a solution.”
For certain women, being told their pain isn’t that bad will mean that an important diagnosis is delayed or missed. A 2015 study from researchers in the U.K. concluded that it took longer for women to be diagnosed with bladder, colorectal, gastric, lung, and head and neck cancers, as well as lymphoma. And a 2016 report from The Brain Tumour Charity, also based in the U.K., found that diagnosing women’s brain tumours required more visits to a doctor and more time than men’s.
For other women, being turned away from treatment may lead them to give up on the medical system altogether. The 2010 report from the Campaign to End Chronic Pain in Women says, “Those afflicted are routinely misdiagnosed, shuffled from office to office, inappropriately treated and left without answers or hope, needlessly suffering. They often end up experimenting with myriad therapies, most with unknown benefits, until they find a treatment or combination of treatments to relieve some of their pain.”
For women with undertreated chronic pain, the prolonged suffering itself can also take a toll on their health. “There’s increasing evidence that poorly controlled pain is bad for you,” says Fillingim. “It disrupts a lot of physical systems, and in fact, chronic widespread pain is associated with earlier mortality, even when you control for other things,” such as gender, age and lifestyle factors.
Learning to listen
Clearly, something needs to change. Fillingim suggests rethinking how we describe pain entirely. For example, many studies look at how women’s sensitivity or tolerance to pain differs from men’s. But, “we may be biasing the conversation by suggesting that males are the reference group and women are too sensitive,” he says. “Maybe women are the reference group.”
The majority of experts agree that part of the solution is to include women in research and better educate medical students about women’s pain. Dr. Paul Yong, an OB/GYN and assistant professor in the department of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of British Columbia, says research on endometriosis has improved doctors’ understanding of the condition in recent years, and there have been major improvements in how medical students are trained to look for symptoms in women. Still, all of this takes time to trickle down into practice.
Though Luciani continues to experience pain on a regular basis, she eventually found a doctor who listens and truly hears her concerns. “The first time we met, I was in the room with him for about three hours, and he just listened and let me talk and didn’t interrupt me,” she says. “I left crying and wondering, Is this what a doctor’s appointment is supposed to feel like? I had never experienced that before.”
For so many years of her life, Luciani had felt dismissed by doctors. “I would always get anxiety: Are they going to hear me? Are they going to believe me?” Now, she’s learning to trust her own feelings again. “If something’s wrong, you shouldn’t have to think, Is this just in my head?”
Next, find out more diseases doctors are most likely to miss.
How to remove furniture dents in carpet
You moved around the living room furniture and now you have four dents in the carpet where the sofa used to be. Carpet dents are unsightly, but here’s a quick and simple trick that will fix them with little effort and no expense.
You can remove a carpet dent with just an ice cube and a spoon. No really, hear us out.
First, place an ice cube in the carpet dent. If the carpet has a dent that is very large or long, you may need to place a couple of ice cubes to fill the spot. The ice cubes will slowly melt, and after 12 hours, blot up any wet spots with an absorbent towel or sponge. The carpet doesn’t have to be 100-per cent dry—slightly damp is fine. The moisture from the slowly melting ice cube gives the carpet fibers time to swell and regain their original shape.
Finally, use the edge of a spoon to push the carpet fibers back in an upright position. A coin will also work.
Most carpet can handle the moisture from the melting ice cube without a problem, but If you are concerned about getting your carpet wet, try the method out first on a dent that’s in an inconspicuous spot.
Here are nine places you’re not vacuuming—but should be.
Why it’s not safe
We’ve all been there: You either forgot to put the egg carton back in the fridge after whipping up an amazing breakfast or got distracted while putting away your grocery store haul. Whichever way, your eggs ended up staying on the counter way longer than you intended. So the question is, are they still any good?
Unfortunately, eggs left out on the counter for more than two hours need to be tossed. This is because eggs are susceptible to salmonella contamination due to how they’re processed before they get to the grocery store. The same can’t be said for eggs in Europe.
Eggs can be contaminated with salmonella before they leave the farm, either because the hen is infected (the bacteria doesn’t make them sick) or the egg comes into contact with dirt and fecal matter after it’s laid. Due to this risk, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration requires egg farmers to thoroughly wash, dry, sanitize and refrigerate eggs before they’re shipped off. This process removes any potential salmonella from the shell but does slightly thin it and removes some of its natural protection. So, the eggs are almost immediately refrigerated to prevent any new bacteria introduction (salmonella flourishes in temperatures between 4-60°C).
Once the eggs have been refrigerated, letting them sit unrefrigerated is a big no-no. Transferring eggs from your fridge to the kitchen counter can cause condensation on the eggshell. Water and warm temperatures are a breeding ground for salmonella, meaning the water on the eggshell exposes the egg to contamination. Even if the room-temperature eggs don’t have condensation on them, bacteria can still contaminate them through the thinned shell.
How long do eggs last?
When kept in a refrigerator at 4°C or lower, eggs can last up to five weeks. You should keep your eggs on one of the refrigerator’s shelves—the door is one of the warmest parts of the fridge.
After those five weeks, air will have seeped through the shell and started to break down the yolk and white.
The symptoms of salmonella aren’t worth the risk, so even if you think your eggs might be OK after some time on the counter, it’s better to be safe than sick.
Next, learn about the foods you could be spoiling by storing in the fridge.
Farewell, Blue Bridge
Sadly, a famous and distinctive landmark here in Victoria is gone forever. The Johnson Street Bridge, or “Blue Bridge” as it was known, was a historic landmark in the minds of many residents and tourists alike.
When anyone asked for directions about how to get downtown into Old Town or even to the Inner Harbour, you would mention the Blue Bridge as a landmark that could be seen from a great distance.
The bridge was originally completed at a cost of about $918,000 and opened back in 1924. The Blue Bridge received its name when the city decided to use a blue oxide paint, which matched the pigment of the bridge so any fading colour would be less noticeable. The same blue paint was used to paint all the lamp standards throughout the city.
On August 12, 2010, Victoria city councillors voted to replace the Blue Bridge rather than refurbish it. The construction of a bascule bridge (movable bridge) beside the Blue Bridge began in 2013, and opened to the public on March 31, 2018.
The new bridge does afford a three-lane roadway, a pedestrian walkway on the south side, a multi-use pathway on the north side and special lighting to enhance the bridge without disturbing any of the sea animals—all good things.
But to those of us who were born and raised here, it feels as though a part of our heritage is gone and, sadly, can never be replaced.
Here are 12 more awesome things you didn’t know were in Canada.
In conversation with the Dalai Lama
Reader’s Digest Canada: After the 2015 terrorist attack in Paris, you said, “There are days when I think it would be better if there were no religions.” What did you mean?
Dalai Lama: The knowledge and the practice of religion have been helpful, but today they’re no longer enough. This is true of all faiths. They’ve been—and still are—frequently intolerant. Wars have been waged in the name of religion. In the 21st century, we need a new ethic that transcends religion. Far more crucial than organized faith is our elementary human spirituality: a predisposition toward love, kindness and affection that we all have within us, whatever our beliefs. In my view, people can do without religion, but they can’t do without inner values, without ethics.
What led you to this conclusion?
I’ve been in Indian exile for 56 years. I was forced to flee Tibet as a result of the conflict that arose after China occupied the country in 1950. India is a secular society that lives by a secular ethic. Mahatma Gandhi was profoundly religious, but he was also a secular spirit. That’s why he’s my role model. Gandhi embodied religious tolerance, which is deeply rooted in Indian society. With very few exceptions, we find not only Hindus, Muslims, Christians and Sikhs living in peace, but also Jainists, Buddhists, Jews, agnostics and atheists.
Among the six billion “believers” in the world, there are many who don’t take their own religions seriously.
Among those six billion, there are many corrupt people who pursue only their own interests. But achieving global peace requires harmony within countries. This is true of all conflicts going on now-in Ukraine, the Middle East, Afghanistan, Nigeria.
Studies suggest altruistic behaviour is more rewarding than egoism. People don’t have to be selfish. They can just as easily be altruistic and gear their activities to the welfare of others. Altruism makes us happier.
Happiness isn’t just a coincidence; it’s a capacity that every individual has at his or her disposal. Everyone can be or become happy. Research tells us what factors have a bearing on happiness. Step by step we can transform the factors that create barriers to joy-this is true of individuals and the whole of society.
You attach great importance to modern brain research. Why?
Our brain is a learning organ. Neuropsychology tells us that we can train our brains like we train our muscles. In this way, we can overcome what is negative. We can change for the better. This is revolutionary progress.
Thanks to this progress, we’re now more certain of the fact that ethical behaviour and compassion are things we are born with, while religion is something that is instilled in us. The conclusion we can draw from that is that ethics run deeper and are more natural than religion.
How can we further develop our capacity for compassion? What questions should we ask ourselves?
Are we open-minded or narrow-minded? Have we considered the whole situation or are we concerned only with certain aspects? Do we genuinely look at things in a long-term perspective or only in the short term? Are our actions truly motivated by sincere compassion? Is our compassion limited to family and friends?
We must reflect, and we need research and more research. Ethics have mainly to do with our spiritual condition and not with formal membership in a religious community. We must overcome our self-imposed restrictions and learn to understand the views of others.
In the present conflict in Ukraine, this means that eastern Europe needs western Europe, and western Europe needs eastern Europe. So talk to each other! Realize that we are living in an age of globalization. The new motto must be, “Your interests are our interests.” Fundamentalism is always harmful. Yesterday’s ideas will get us nowhere.
Climate change is another thing we can only come to grips with globally. I hope and pray that the next climate summit in Paris later this year will
finally produce concrete results. Egoism, nationalism and violence are the wrong course. The most important question for a better world is, “How can we serve each other?”
Every day, we wipe out 150 animal and plant species and blow 150 million tons of greenhouse gases into the air. What can a secular ethic do to stop this?
In the last century we made huge progress in material terms. All in all, this was a good thing. But it also crippled the environment. In the 21st century we must learn, cultivate and apply inner values such as mindfulness, education, respect, tolerance, caring and non-violence at all levels.
There are two ways of looking at human nature. One of them says that human beings are inherently violent, ruthless and aggressive. The other view is that we are naturally attuned to kindness, harmony and living in peace. I stick to the latter. I don’t consider ethics to be a collection of commandments and prohibitions for us to observe and to which we must adhere. Instead, it’s a natural inner drive that can inspire us to seek happiness and satisfaction for ourselves and others, to the greater good of humanity and the living world.
Education changes everything. People are capable of learning.
What can each of us do to make the world a better and more peaceful place to live?
If we want to make this world a better place, then we have to become better ourselves. There is no easy route. First of all, we have to see our enemies as human beings. It’s in our own best interest to do everything in our power to ensure that all living beings can thrive. For that, we need spiritual schooling and education of the heart.
The real enemy is the enemy within, not the external one.
External enmities never last, and the conflict between China and Tibet is no exception. If we respect our enemies, they can become friends.
This is why my allegiance to non-violence is unwavering. We have a real chance of making the 21st century a century of peace, a century of dialogue, a century of caring,
responsible and compassionate humanity. This is what I hope for. This is what I pray for.7
German journalist Franz Alt has met with the Dalai Lama 30 times over 33 years.
Next, check out these inspiring and wise quotes from the Dalai Lama.
What is melanin?
Melanin is a pigment that special cells produce, according to Megan Winner, MD, a surgical oncologist with expertise in melanoma skin cancer from the NYU Winthrop Hospital. The melanin pigment absorbs light hitting the skin, dissipating the ultraviolet (UV) radiation from the sun before causing damage, Dr. Winner says. So it acts as the body’s natural defense against the harmful rays of the sun. “Exposure to UV radiation can directly harm the DNA of a skin cell, resulting in changes in the cell’s behaviour that ultimately lead to the transformation of a normal cell into cancer,” she says. (Here are 15 skin cancer myths you need to stop believing right now.)
Why do people with red hair have a higher risk of melanoma?
People with lighter skin tone, particularly those with red hair, have lower levels of natural melanin protection and thus higher rates of melanoma, Dr. Winner says. The amount and type of melanin in our skin actually helps determine skin colour, according to Shari Lipner, MD, a dermatologist at NewYork-Presbyterian and Weill Cornell Medicine. This same pigment determines hair colour, too. Pheomelanin is the dominant, lighter pigment in people with red hair, while people with darker hair make the eumelanin pigment. These pigments are essentially why some people “tan” while others “burn” after sunlight damages the skin. Check out the five reasons your sunscreen isn’t working.
New research could make a difference
Recent research could make a big difference in decreasing the risk of melanoma in redheads. People with red hair have variants in the melanocortin-1 receptor protein, causing their light skin color, according to Dr. Lipner. The study showed mice given a small increase in palmitoylation, enhancing the melanocortin-1 receptor protection, were less likely to get melanoma than those who did not, Dr. Lipner explains. This research uses mouse models, however, and needs more work before applying the findings to humans, Dr. Winner notes. Plus, the body’s natural melanin alone is not enough to prevent skin cancer even in darker-skinned people, Dr. Winner says. So even if this research does eventually apply to people, you should never skimp on SPF.
In fact, people of all skin and hair colours can still decrease their risk of developing skin cancer by avoiding the sun during peak hours, regularly applying sunscreen, avoiding tanning beds, wearing protective clothing, and visiting a board-certified dermatologist for any concerning or changing spots on your skin.
These are the 13 signs of cancer men are likely to ignore.
Chances are, you buckle up when you’re on the road but think nothing of leaving your dog untethered. If so, join the crowd—84 per cent of pet owners don’t restrain their dogs on car trips, according to a survey done by the AAA along with Kurgo, a pet company, in 2011. Even if you’ve got the chillest dog on the planet and see no reason to confine her (as 42 per cent of survey respondents believed) or you’re just going on a quick drive, the short answer for “does your dog need a seat belt” is: Yes they do, says Lindsey A. Wolko, founder of the Center for Pet Safety (CPS), a nonprofit research and consumer advocacy organization.
Why does your dog need a seat belt?
When dogs are restrained or contained in the car, they can’t distract the driver as much, Wolko explains. That’s a biggie: Every day, nine people are killed and 1,000 more injured because they were distracted while driving, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And while cell phones are the biggest attention-grabbers, a pet can mess with your focus too. In fact, roughly two-thirds of dog owners admitted to being distracted by their pup in the car, according to the Kurgo/AAA survey. Another danger: A free-roaming dog can turn into a deadly projectile during a crash or sudden stop. A 10-pound dog, for instance, exerts 500 pounds of force during a 50-mile-per-hour collision while a 60-pound dog becomes a 2,700-pound projectile at 35 miles per hour. (Here are more things you need to know before bringing your dog on a road trip.)
How do dog seat belts work?
Dog seat belts are really harnesses—a padded vest that goes over your pup’s head, cinches at the chest, and then gets clipped to the seat belt. A good harness lets your dog lie down and sit up while preventing her from moving side to side, says Wolko. That’s key—the more secure your dog is, the less likely she’ll fly into something when you slam the brakes. If your dog can wiggle out of the harness, it’s a sign that it’s too big or designed poorly, Wolko notes.
Do dogs need car seats?
You can also safely contain a pup in a crate or a carrier. When picking one out, think snug, not roomy. To get the correct size, measure your dog from the tip of his nose to the base of his tail and add six inches, recommends Wolko. That will give your pooch space to lie down but prevent him from slamming into a hard-sided crate in case of an accident. “I think it’s also important for pet owners to understand that the majority of crates on the market are not what we call crash protection crates,” Wolko says. “These products can fracture if they’re plastic or fall apart if they’re metal. So, they’re not as strong as you think they are.”
How to get your dog used to seat belts and car seats
You may have to acclimate your formerly free-range pup to her harness, crate, or carrier. Go slowly, suggests Wolko. “Start with five-minute trips, and then expand to ten- and 15-minute rides, and just keep going. Eventually the dog will settle down and get used to it,” she says. During the outing, give her plenty of praise and a treat after you make the practice runs. (Check out these 11 warning signs your dog is suffering from heat stroke.)
Safest place for dogs in the car
“First thing’s first: Dogs do not belong in the front seat, and they do not belong on your lap. Period, end of sentence,” says Wolko. The safest place for dogs in a carrier or harness is in the back seat. Just as that airbag could harm a child in an accident, your dog is also at risk. If you’ve got an SUV with three rows, your kids should go in the second row and the pooch in the third. If your pup is in a crate, put it in the car’s cargo area—preferably on the opposite side of your child. Traveling alone with your furry family member? Buckle him up in his harness or carrier on the passenger’s side of the backseat so he can see you and feel reassured.
Keeping your pet safe on the road
You may be tempted to toss a chew toy or a plushie into the crate to keep your dog happy during a trip. Don’t. It can become a choking hazard or it can injure your pup if you crash. Your best bet is to stop every two hours or so to walk and play with your pet, recommends Wolko.
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Jony Ive, chief design officer at Apple, says that we’re using our phones too much.
This might come as a surprise, being that Ives has a clear financial incentive for wanting people to have their faces permanently buried in his product. But at the New Yorker Techfest conference, when David Remnick, editor-in-chief of the magazine, asked Ive to assess the iPhone’s impact on the world, Ives replied, “Like any tool, you can see there’s wonderful use and then there’s misuse.” When Remnick asked Ives to define misuse and he answered, “Perhaps, constant use.”
Ive is not exaggerating when he says constant use. Some studies show that the average person spends 3.3 hours a day on their phone, checking it every 10 minutes for social media updates, messages, and more.
Ive doesn’t think we should be using our phones so much, and it turns out that the late Steve Jobs, the father of the iPhone, would probably feel the same way. In an analysis of Jobs’ 2007 introduction of the iPhone to the world, The New York Times writer Cal Newport explains: “The presentation confirms that Mr. Jobs envisioned a simpler and more constrained iPhone experience than the one we actually have over a decade later. For example, he doesn’t focus much on apps. When the iPhone was first introduced there was no App Store, and this was by design. As Andy Grignon, an original member of the iPhone team, told me when I was researching this topic, Mr. Jobs didn’t trust third-party developers to offer the same level of aesthetically pleasing and stable experiences that Apple programmers could produce. He was convinced that the phone’s carefully designed native features were enough. It was ‘an iPod that made phone calls,’ Mr. Grignon said to me.”
As we all know, the iPhone has become much more than a phone that plays music. It’s become, well, everything. We use our phones for communication, entertainment, navigation, banking, social media—the list goes on and on. Some experts warn about digital addiction, particularly for teens, which can bring about depression, anxiety, and a decreased desire to interact with people, among many other adverse effects. Not to mention that fact that many companies are using your phone to track your every move.
Victoria L. Dunckley, a psychiatrist who writes about the effects of screen time, says that reducing on time spent with our noses in a device can positively impact our sleep, creativity, and overall happiness. As soon as you’re finished reading this article, try it!
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