Medical Bills, Cost of Living Higher for Obese

 Researchers have found that medical bills are higher for the obese, as well as the cost of living.

Researchers at the George Washington University said that things like employee sick days, lost productivity - and even the need for extra gasoline - can add up to $4,879 for a woman annually and $2,646 for a man.

The report said that is more than the cost of being merely overweight.

Next you're going to tell me that obese people have poorer diets. Or they are at higher risk of heart disease.

Not all attention is good attention?

Cyber Bully Victims Often More Depressed Than Aggressors

I guess maybe researchers thought that victims of bullying would be happy that someone was paying attention to them? But, their research found otherwise:

Students who are victims of cyber bullying at school are more likely to suffer depression than their tormentors, according to researchers.

I think this was mostly a case of a headline gone bad, or maybe someone failing to see the most interesting aspects of the research. The study also looked at the differences between cyber bullying and face-to-face bullying.The fact that cyber bullying victims are more depressed than other bullying victims is kind of interesting.

This new study included U.S. students in grades 6 through 10 who completed a questionnaire designed to measure their levels of depression, and were asked whether they were either perpetrators or victims of bullying.

 "Notably, cyber victims reported higher depression than cyber bullies or bully-victims, which was not found in any other form of bullying," Jing Wang and colleagues at the U.S. National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) wrote in their report, published in the current issue of the Journal of Adolescent Health.

You mean it's not a productivity tool?

Facebook use can lower grades by 20 percent, study says

"Our study, and other previous work, suggests that while people may think constant task-switching allows them to get more done in less time, the reality is it extends the amount of time needed to carry out tasks and leads to more mistakes.
"We should resist the fashionable views of educational gurus that children can multi-task, and that we should adapt our education systems accordingly to keep up with the times."

I'm not sure playing on Facebook while you do homework or some other productive task should be called multi-tasking. Maybe it's just me but I would consider Facebook a distraction, not a task which can be "multi-d" with another task.

Among the comments to the story was this one, from "I'moverhere" in Britain: "Believe me, if it isn't Facebook, it's something else. There's always something ready to distract a bored mind. While you're at it why not do a similar survey relating to consoles, television, texting, radio, football practice and staring into space?

 Well said, I'moverhere!! Smartest quote I've seen in the story yet.

This is your brain on drugs

Teen accidentally texts sheriff to buy pot

HELENA, Mont. — General rule of thumb: when looking to buy marijuana, don't text the sheriff. Authorities said a Helena teen sent out a text message last week in search of pot, but instead of contacting the drug dealer, he hit a wrong number and inadvertently sent the message to Lewis and Clark County Sheriff Leo Dutton.

The text read, "Hey Dawg, do you have a $20 I can buy right now?"
Dutton told the Helena Independent Record he initially thought it was a joke, but he quickly realized it was a real request for drugs. He responded to the text, and a detective pretending to be the dealer organized a meeting with the boy last Wednesday.

 He may want to talk to his drug dealer about getting a number that is not similar to the Sheriff's

Twinkie logic

This groundbreaking study comes to us from the University of Michigan Medical School. Not sure how much was spent to conduct this study, but I'm guessing it could have paid for a year's supply of fruits and vegetables for at least a few kids.

Children who eat vended snack foods face chronic health problems, poor diet

School children who consume foods purchased in vending machines are more likely to develop poor diet quality – and that may be associated with being overweight, obese or at risk for chronic health problems such as diabetes and coronary artery disease, according to research from the University of Michigan Medical School.

Really? Kids who eat potato chips and candy bars out of vending machines might become overweight?

 Previous studies assessing the nutritional value of school lunches and the impact they have on children’s overall health have found similar results, but this study is the first to look specifically at competitive foods and beverages – those sold at snack bars or vending machines, rather than through the USDA lunch program.

The FIRST to look at foods sold at snack bars or vending machines! Sometimes there's a good reason no one has done something before you!

"Childhood obesity, resulting from poor dietary choices, such as those found in this study, greatly increases the risk for many chronic diseases. A healthy school food environment can reduce these dietary risks."

Childhood obesity can cause chronic disease? Why has no one ever reported this?

If more healthful snack options are not available in vending machines or school stores, children are at risk for poor nutrition by choosing these items over a USDA-choice lunch or a meal packed from home, Kakarala says.