TiggyToes's blog: "What People think they know..."

10 Reasons Not to Skimp on Sleep Too busy to go to bed? Having trouble getting quality sleep once you do? Your health may be at risk (Original posting : By Sarah Baldauf Posted October 16, 2008) You may literally have to add it to your to-do list, but scheduling a good night's sleep could be one of the smartest health priorities you set. It's not just daytime drowsiness you risk when shortchanging yourself on your seven to eight hours. Possible health consequences of getting too little or poor sleep can involve the cardiovascular, endocrine, immune, and nervous systems. In addition to letting life get in the way of good sleep, between 50 and 70 million Americans suffer from a chronic sleep disorder—insomnia or sleep apnea, say—that affects daily functioning and impinges on health. Consider the research: 1) Less may mean more. For people who sleep under seven hours a night, the fewer zzzz's they get, the more obese they tend to be, according to a 2006 Institute of Medicine report. This may relate to the discovery that insufficient sleep appears to tip hunger hormones out of whack. Leptin, which suppresses appetite, is lowered; ghrelin, which stimulates appetite, gets a boost. 2) You're more apt to make bad food choices. A study published this week in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine found that people with obstructive sleep apnea or other severely disordered breathing while asleep ate a diet higher in cholesterol, protein, total fat, and total saturated fat. Women were especially affected. 3) Diabetes and impaired glucose tolerance, its precursor, may become more likely. A 2005 study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine found that people getting five or fewer hours of sleep each night were 2.5 times more likely to be diabetic, while those with six hours or fewer were 1.7 times more likely. 4) The ticker is put at risk. A 2003 study found that heart attacks were 45 percent more likely in women who slept for five or fewer hours per night than in those who got more. 5) Blood pressure may increase. Obstructive sleep apnea, for example, has been associated with chronically elevated daytime blood pressure, and the more severe the disorder, the more significant the hypertension, suggests the 2006 IOM report. Obesity plays a role in both disorders, so losing weight can ease associated health risks. 6) Auto accidents rise. As stated in a 2007 report in the New England Journal of Medicine, nearly 20 percent of serious car crash injuries involve a sleepy driver—and that's independent of alcohol use. 7) Balance is off. Older folks who have trouble getting to sleep, who wake up at night, or are drowsy during the day could be 2 to 4.5 times more likely to sustain a fall, found a 2007 study in the Journal of Gerontology. 8) You may be more prone to depression. Adults who chronically operate on fumes report more mental distress, depression, and alcohol use. Adolescents suffer, too: One survey of high school students found similarly high rates of these issues. Middle schoolers, too, report more symptoms of depression and lower self-esteem. 9) Kids may suffer more behavior problems. Research from an April issue of the Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine found that children who are plagued by insomnia, short duration of sleeping, or disordered breathing with obesity, for example, are more likely to have behavioral issues like attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

A rat can last longer without water than a camel. Your stomach has to produce a new layer of mucus every two weeks or it will digest itself. The dot over the letter "i" is called a tittle. A raisin dropped in a glass of fresh champagne will bounce up and down continuously from the bottom of the glass to the top. A female ferret will die if it goes into heat and cannot find a mate. Chewing gum while peeling onions will keep you from crying. A 2 X 4 is really 1-1/2" by 3-1/2". During the chariot scene in "Ben Hur," a small red car can be seen in the distance (and Heston's wearing a watch). Sherlock Holmes NEVER said, "Elementary, my dear Watson." Because metal was scarce, the Oscars given out during World War II were made of wood. The number of possible ways of playing the first four moves per side in a game of chess is 318,979,564,000. There are no words in the dictionary that rhyme with orange, purple and silver. Astronauts are not allowed to eat beans before they go into space because passing wind in a spacesuit damages them. The very first bomb dropped by the Allies on Berlin in World War II killed the only elephant in the Berlin Zoo. Weatherman Willard Scott was the first Ronald McDonald. If one places a tiny amount of liquor on a scorpion, it will instantly go mad and sting itself to death. (Who was the sadist who discovered this??) Bruce Lee was so fast that they actually had to s-l-o-w film down so you could see his moves. That's the opposite of the norm. The first CD pressed in the US was Bruce Springsteen's "Born in the USA." The original name for butterfly was flutterby. The phrase "rule of thumb" is derived from an old English law which stated that you couldn't beat your wife with anything wider than your thumb. The first product Motorola started to develop was a record player for automobiles. At that time, the most known player on the market was Victrola, so they called themselves Motorola. Roses may be red, but violets are indeed violet. By raising your legs slowly and lying on your back, you cannot sink into quicksand. Celery has negative calories. It takes more calories to eat a piece of celery than the celery has in it to begin with. Charlie Chaplin once won third prize in a Charlie Chaplin look-alike contest. An old law in Bellingham, Washington, made it illegal for a woman to take more than three steps backwards while dancing! The Guinness Book of Records holds the record for being the bookmost often stolen from public libraries. The glue on Israeli postage is certified kosher. Bats always turn left when exiting a cave! The first couple to be shown in bed together on prime time TV were Fred and Wilma Flintstone. Men can read smaller print then women can; women can hear better. It is impossible to lick your elbow. The State with the highest percentage of people who walk to work: Alaska The average number of people airborne over the US any given hour: 61,000 Intelligent people have more zinc and copper in their hair. The first novel ever written on a typewriter: Tom Sawyer. The San Francisco Cable cars are the only mobile National Monuments. 111,111,111 x 111,111,111 = 12,345,678,987,654,321 Each king in a deck of playing cards represents a great king from history: Spades - King David Hearts - Charlemagne Clubs -Alexander, the Great Diamonds - Julius Caesar If a statue in the park of a person on a horse has both front legs in the air, the person died in battle. If the horse has one front leg in the air the person died as a result of wounds received in battle. If the horse has all four legs on the ground, the person died of natural causes. Q. Half of all Americans live within 50 miles of what? A. Their birthplace. Q. If you were to spell out numbers, how far would you have to go until you would find the letter "A"? A. One thousand Q. What do bulletproof vests, fire escapes, windshield wipers, and laser printers all have in common? A. All invented by women. Q. What is the only food that doesn't spoil? A. Honey In Shakespeare's time, mattresses were secured on bed frames by ropes. When you pulled on the ropes the mattress tightened, making the bed firmer to sleep on. Hence the phrase......... "goodnight, sleep tight." It was the accepted practice in Babylon 4,000 years ago that for a month after the wedding, the bride's father would supply his son-in-law with all the mead he could drink. Mead is a honey beer and because their calendar was lunar based, this period was called the honey month, which we know today as the "honeymoon". In English pubs, ale is ordered by pints and quarts... So in old England, when customers got unruly, the bartender would yell at them, "Mind your pints and quarts, and settle down." It's where we get the phrase "mind your P's and Q's" Many years ago in England, pub frequenters had a whistle baked into the rim, or handle, of their ceramic cups. When they needed a refill, they used the whistle to get some service. "Wet your whistle" is the phrase inspired by this practice. ~~~~AND FINALLY~~~~~~~~~~~~ At least 75% of people who read this will try to lick their elbow.

1. Life emerged on earth about 3.8 billion years ago, but sex did not evolve until more than 2 billion years later. Dirty limericks emerged only quite recently, geologically speaking. 2. Sex—what is it good for? Scientists are not sure, since asexual reproduction is a better evolutionary strategy in some important ways. 3. For those who refuse to commit to one strategy: The hermaphroditic earthworm Dendrobaena rubida has both male and female genitalia. If it cannot find a partner, the worm doubles up so that its female bits and male bits can go to town. 4. Although famously monogamous, female Adélie penguins slip away from their mates occasionally to couple with unattached males. They exact a fee for such a dalliance—stones to bolster their nests—not unlike certain people. 5. Some talented penguin teasers can get a gift even without putting out. Again, not unlike certain people. 6. Barbary macaques have a distinctive way to get their mates to make a sperm donation: yelling. If the female does not shout, the male almost never climaxes. 7. How do we know this? German primatologist Dana Pfefferle watched a group of macaques, counting the females’ yells and the males’ pelvic thrusts. She says this work is “quite weird, but it’s science.” 8. Here in the US of A, that kind of stuff ends up on YouTube. 9. Because Barry White sounds terrible underwater: Fish can produce a variety of noises with their bones, teeth, and gas bladders. Grant Gilmore of Estuarine Coastal and Ocean Science Inc. says that male fish probably use some of these sounds to woo females. 10. The spiny anteater, an egg-laying mammal native to Australia and New Guinea, has a penis with four heads, but only two fit into the female at once. 11. The tiny male paper nautilus, an octopus, impregnates the much larger female by shooting his penis (a modified tentacle) into her—and leaving it there. 12. Homosexual behavior is found in at least 1,500 species of mammal, fish, reptile, bird, and even invertebrate. 13. My two dads: When a male goose courts another male goose, a female sometimes slips in and mates with both males. Later, the male partners share paternal duties. 14. Some seagulls practice lesbian mating, although the eggs that result from their liaisons are sterile. 15. Biologists at the University of California at San Francisco have found that male fruit flies exposed to high levels of alcohol become hypersexual and try to court practically anything with wings, including other male fruit flies. Eventually the revelry turns into a dysfunctional orgy, with “a chain of males chasing each other,” says one insect expert (subscription). 16. As the flies get increasingly tanked, their chance for mating success keeps dropping. This is one more reason why the fruit fly is a great model for studying humans. 17. Only a few vertebrates besides humans copulate face to face. Among those that sometimes do this: hamsters, beavers, and some primates, such as bonobos and orangutans. 18. French kissing is rarer still. The only other species known to do it as a prelude to mating is the white-fronted parrot. After the birds open their beaks and touch tongues, the male spews his lunch onto the female’s chest. 19. It is here that the mating habits of the white-fronted parrot and Homo sapiens diverge. 20. Size really does matter: People tend to choose mates of similar race, education level—and chubbiness. A recent British study indicates that obese people usually select partners with comparable levels of body fat.