Staying sane through the primaries

Editor's note:

A tenth item would be to check your source. Be media literate. Be skeptical of what you fear and read until you have verified the information from credible sources who provide accurate, true information. Beware of what the Trump whitehouse calls "alternative facts." There is no such thing. There may be alternative interpretations and opinions, but there is no such thing as alternative facts. Be aware of false equivalency. Are there two sides to the question, "How much is 2 + 2? "What atoms comprise a molecule of water, H2O?

Why are people in the U.S. living shorter lives?

Editor's note:

Life expectancy in the United States has dropped for three years in a row. Why?

Because of the increasingly fragile safety net and decreased quality of life because of low wages due to income inequality.

John and Johnson fined 572 million in opioid crisis.

Editor's note:

400,000 opioid deaths in the U.S. since 1999. 6,000 in Oklahoma. Johnson and Johnson get fined 572 million dollars.

How to encourage your kids to be honest (it works with adults as well).

The bias in medicine based on sex and race.

John Oliver, 08/18/19

Gotta Keep Reading

Editor's notes:

There are plenty of studies that show the benefits of reading. People who read books tend to more mentally healthy than people who don't. In fact, the opposite is true - Beware of the person who doesn't read books.

Bullying increases suicide risk 3 times in 12 - 15 year olds

From Science Daily on 08/15/19

A new study in the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry(JAACAP), published by Elsevier, reports that bullying victimization may increase the risk of suicide attempts among young adolescents by approximately three-times worldwide.

"Globally, approximately 67,000 adolescents die of suicide each year and identifying modifiable risk factors for adolescent suicide is a public health priority," said lead author Ai Koyanagi, MD, and Research Professor at Parc Sanitari Sant Joan de Deu, Barcelona, Spain.

The findings are based on nationally representative data collected through the World Health Organization's (WHO) Global School-based Student Health Survey, which is a school-based survey conducted in multiple countries across the globe.

The study included 134,229 school-going adolescents aged between 12 and 15 years from 48 countries across five WHO regions, including Africa, the Americas, the Eastern Mediterranean, South-East Asia, and the Western Pacific. The sample was comprised of nine high-income-, 33 middle-income-, and 6 low-income-countries.

For more click here.

Editor's note:

I see a lot of middle school kids who are bullied usually in school. There are many aspects to these situations but the two that are biggest are first, that is the shame attached to other people watching the bullying and sometimes egging it on and joining in with excited shouts and derrogatory laughing and cat calls, and the second, is helping the victim stick up for himself and get out of the victim role. There are many ways to do this and the victim usually needs coaching and support.