Chapter 9 health and happiness

people who don't like sunlight Humans have worshiped the sun for millennia.We used to think of the sun as a physical god, but now the sun is more likely to be a cultural idea, especially in Hawaii, New Jersey, Florida, and California.We all love to bask in the sun when we are on vacation, and we also love to enjoy the sun while we eat lunch.If we don’t have access to sunlight while we’re working or studying, we picture ourselves lying in a tanned bed, or we imagine ourselves getting an orange tan.Today in the United States, there are twice as many commercial sunrooms than Starbucks. This is true even though Americans know how dangerous the sun can be.According to a 2002 survey, 93% of Americans know that excessive exposure to the sun is bad for their health, but 81% of Americans still think that they look better when they go out in the sun.One in 10 vacations in the U.S. is still at the beach, and the most popular vacation spot is Hawaii.The industry, which costs $5 billion a year to build indoor sunrooms, has been built by some 30 million Americans—including 2 million teenage children among Americans who bask in the sun.According to another survey, 1 in 10 children between the ages of 12 and 18 use sunlamps, and only 1 in 3 of these children use sunscreen.

Smoking is also very tempting to us when we are young, but we have to say that sun worship is not the same as smoking, it is about our body's dependence on the sun (although it is clear that some people are trying to get rid of this kind of dependence).However, it seems to be a very bad habit to consciously hurt one's skin in order to look better in a short period of time-think about it, temporary satisfaction may be exchanged for long-term pain. Is it worth it? But while there are legions of Sun worshipers, there are also a rapidly growing number of Sun-worshippers who are on a mission to change all of that.They're just people who don't like sunlight.These men greeted the summer sun wearing floppy hats that looked like the landing gear of a World War I radar bomber (with two ear flaps); Bundled up and very reluctantly going to a party by the pool or wearing 14 layers of sunscreen to go to work; they even wear sunscreen in the office.

It's not their fault.Skin cancer is the most common form of cancer in the United States today, with more than 1 million new cases diagnosed each year.Since 1970, the death rate from skin cancer has increased by 50%.Between 1980 and 1987, the number of people with malignant melanoma (actually a dangerous form of skin cancer) increased by 83 percent, and teens who developed skin cancer -- among the , I have never heard of it - and it has also risen. Although skin cancer is more common among those who prefer to expose their skin directly to the sun, skin cancer is more likely to cause death if it occurs in Mexican-Americans or African-Americans (due to melanoma One of the most famous people who died of a tumor was Bob Marley).

At least 25% of skin risks occur before a person turns 18 (although widely reported numbers exceed that).When it comes to bad habits, when you take your child to the beach, you are actually cultivating bad habits in your child. So sun-hating people are determined to defend America beyond just slapping sun protection factors on drink bottles.Like the anti-smoking smokers of the 1970s and the organic eaters of the 1980s, they became the first advocates of avoiding sun exposure, and what they promoted would soon become a national passion. So far, they've created an industry for sun protection clothing, long-sleeved shirts and trousers sewn from a more tightly woven fabric than normal. (White T-shirts usually wear in summer are labeled with an ultraviolet protection factor [UPF], and the UV protection factor is at least 5.) Some clothing materials are added with certain sun protection products or chemicals, such as titanium dioxide, which can reflect solar radiation.In fact, in 2000, this industry did not exist, but now the sun protection clothing industry is almost 180 million US dollars in annual turnover.Indeed, this industry is not yet a great industry.But it's poised for further development, especially if makers of sunscreen can figure out a way to make those earflaps look nothing like the landing gear of a World War I bomber.

Sun haters have also sparked innovations in incorporating sun protection into our everyday lives.Already on the market is a product called SunGuard, a laundry aid that adds sunscreen to clothes — which boosts the UV protection factor of clothing from 5 to about 30 — — also put on the market.In the cosmetics industry, no one had heard of sunscreen for grooming before the 1990s.Today, most foundations and lotions are labeled with a UV protection factor, or SPF, of at least 15. A fast-growing sunscreen product is a private sun room that can change the color of sunlight so that you can enjoy the sun while protecting your skin.Obviously, this is the only safe way to avoid exposure to UV radiation.Sales of this product increased almost 80 percent from 1997 to 2005.Sales of diffused conservatories jumped 67% in the early 2000s.

Perhaps, someone will develop long-lasting sunscreens, just as they once developed long-lasting cosmetics. How big is this group that doesn't like the sun?If you take all dermatologists in the U.S. (approximately 14,000 people) and their families, the families of people who have recently died from skin cancer (approximately 80,000 from 1997 to 2006), the ) and their families, and America's wary of everything (people who always heed the warnings of dermatologists first, eat only the safest foods, drive the safest cars) - at least 200 Wan sun-hating Americans who wear light fedoras in August.

Can they influence public policy? So far, the U.S. government has shown little enthusiasm for regulating our sunbathing behavior. (Since conservatories are so strongly associated with sun worship, perhaps they fear the same First Amendment challenges.) But Australia does, because their skin cancer rates have reached astronomical levels .In addition, the American Academy of Dermatology (American Academy of Dermatology) also said that if the current trend continues, cancer caused by sunlight may surpass lung cancer to become the number one cancer killer in the country. New York and New Jersey just passed laws banning sun exposure in the home sunroom for children under 14.But in practice, this law does not seem to be very useful.If you want to be serious, you should go to the federal agencies or state attorneys general and ask them to treat the sun room problem like Big Tobacco.If sun haters really want to find a way, they should look more at the warning signs on the beach and sue all those beach resorts that don't provide a sufficient number of warning signs.What was the final result?Do private swimming pools also have to have warning signs?Do outdoor patio furniture also have to have warning signs?Do parks across the country have to do the same?

Will there be future lawsuits claiming the right to "second-hand sunlight"?What if children don't want to bask in the sun at school? In a short period of time, some cities may make clear definitions and regulations on the UV protection factor and SPF of sunscreen and skin care lotion.Currently, those numbers that we put so much weight on a sunscreen bottle only mention how many times it reduces sun exposure. (If under normal circumstances, you can't stand the sun after 10 minutes of exposure, but if you put on sunscreen marked with SPF15, you may be exposed to the sun for two and a half hours. But even if you use sunscreen, if you don't Repeated application, the sun damage to your skin is the same.)

Such lawsuits have already begun to emerge. In 2006, Californians filed a first-class lawsuit against sunscreen makers, arguing that their claims about their products' protective effects on the skin were grossly exaggerated. Does "Safe and Effective" Use Prevent Skin Cancer? Concern about the dangers of the sun may coincide with concerns about global warming — which, by the way, has been said to dilute the ozone layer, thereby exacerbating the severity of skin cancer.Unfortunately, if we don't even have the right countermeasures for basking in the sun, we are likely to get hotter and hotter in the coming decades.

American moms used to say to their kids, "Get out and get some fresh air." Now they say, "Don't forget to put on sunscreen." Sunshine on a clear day isn't nice anymore. sleep deprived person Everyone knows that you should sleep 8 hours a day.It's the exact same kind of nutritionists going back and forth assuming how many carbs we need, and oenologists going back and forth about whether we should drink red wine -- the same song that sleep experts have been singing for 150 years Song: People should sleep 7.5 to 8 hours a night. Well, by that measure, we're falling short.The average American sleeps less than seven hours a night, down about 25 percent since the early 1990s.Thanks to a 24-hour digital clock, and all sorts of expectations, we are awake longer than any American in history.

Indeed, the number of people who average less than six hours of sleep per night is growing rapidly—from 12 percent of the U.S. adult population in 1998 to 16 percent in 2005.In other words, there are about 34 million people who are staying up late with lights on: either the washing machine is turned on in the middle of the night, or the hidden gentleman who surfs the Internet in the middle of the night, or you come and chat with each other. One has to admit that, to some extent, people who sleep less are more hard-working than some of the rest of us, some of whom make such an impressive impression.Margaret Thatcher is said to have slept only 5 hours a night, and Madonna emphasized that she only slept 4 hours a night.Thomas Edison (Thomas Edison) once blamed himself for being too indulgent, sleeping more than five hours a night, and he also asked his employees to review themselves. (This is the same employee, though, who said that Edison actually slept a lot more than he admitted.) A good college friend of mine, moneymaker Jim Cramer, , never slept more than 4 hours at night, otherwise he would have been caught up by the very competitive guys at Harvard. Honestly, what other activity can you think of other than deprivation of sleep that would function both as torture for a prisoner of war and as a kind of badge of honor for a super-struggler?You might envy those who say they get little sleep, who, if nothing else, are given more time in the race to achieve more.An extra 90 minutes a day -- that's one-tenth of an extra day of waking -- or 8.2 years more than some people expected to age, say 82.While you sleep less, you have lived the experience of someone who lived to 91.Now, this is a very tempting thing to do. But the truth is that most people who get too little sleep are neither proud of it nor do they work as hard as one might think.Some people who get too little sleep are either young surgeons who are fledging their wings, or Wall Street climbers who fly around the United States and Asia all day long.Most of the people who stay up for work are night shift workers, or emergency service workers like EMTs or utility linemen, and they risk being hurt without the promise of additional income , high risk of accidents and health problems. More generally, most people wake up in the middle of the night because they can't sleep, not because they don't want to.Statistics show that, in fact, lack of sleep is associated with poor health, anxiety, stress, and low income.Men get less sleep than women — although women, especially younger women, are more likely to say they don't get enough sleep. (A whopping 76 percent of women ages 18 to 34 said they slept during the day at least once a week.) In the only large-scale study of sleep that included many black Americans, blacks sleep a full hour less than the average person, and their sleep quality was significantly worse when compared with both black and white women. The rise in sleep deprivation would have tragic results, if it could be predicted. In 2005, 60 percent of respondents to a survey of Americans' sleeping conditions said they had been sleepy and lethargic during the day in the previous year; 37 percent said they had napped or fallen asleep behind the wheel up.Of the more than 50,000 crashes a year - including 1,500 fatalities - the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says drowsy driving is the cause of most crashes.Famous disasters like the grounding of the Exxon Valdez oil tanker and the Staten Island Ferry collision were apparently caused by the driver falling asleep behind the wheel. Less sleep also means less productivity.Two in 10 U.S. adults say sleepiness caused them to make a mistake on their most recent job, costing an estimated $50 billion. In addition, lack of sleep threatens family harmony.Of the sexual activity of U.S. adults -- including 64 percent of women ages 35 to 44 -- 39 percent said they had to give up sex in order to sleep.1 in 4 American adults say their spouse or sex partner's trouble sleeping keeps them from falling asleep, too.What is it that keeps men from sleeping more often than women?People can only look for reasons in terms of online pornography, online gambling, and often there is discord when the husband is going to work and the wife is going to rest. Perhaps the most surprising effect, though, is the vicious circle between sleep deprivation and obesity.Being overweight can lead to sleep problems, including the tendency for pilots to hold their breath during congested flights.But in fact, too little sleep may also increase your chances of being overweight, since lack of sleep triggers hormones that boost hunger and appetite.According to research by the National Center on Sleep Disorders Research at the National Institutes of Health, sleeping just six hours a day can increase your chances of being obese by 23 percent.Getting less than 4 hours of sleep a day increased the chances by 73%. Too many Americans don't know how to fight insomnia with a 5-mile run. A 5-mile run seems to be the answer to both insomnia and obesity. Some lawmakers are starting to make laws about sleep. A 2003 New Jersey study on criminalization of drowsy driving equated drowsy driving with drunk driving—though other states were slower to respond to the notion. The private sector is seizing the opportunity to help people sleep at night and stay awake during the day.At present, the sleeping pill industry is a booming industry: In 2004, the global sales of Ambien, a new sleeping pill without any dependence, hit a record of 2 billion US dollars.The number of people aged 20 to 44 who took sleeping pills doubled from 2000 to 2004.In terms of staying sober, cocaine-infused energy drinks are the fastest-growing category in the nearly $100 billion beverage industry and are expected to outpace all conventional beverages in terms of profits from 2005 to 2008. A combination of soft drinks and sports drinks.Of course, the color of Starbucks store decoration is much darker than that of Folgers, the leader of the American retail industry, and closer to the color of cocaine, so Starbucks has penetrated deeply into American culture. Came across Starbucks. If you can't sleep at night and can't sleep during the day, there's a company called Metronap that offers nap pods to customers in airports, office buildings, and other public spaces.Indeed, it is inconceivable that one could read everything from cover to cover in broad daylight among a crowd of strangers—sleeping, after all, is a very private habit.Still, lack of sleep has become a public problem. It's hard to imagine a GetMoreSleep campaign these days though -- late-night jokes are lighthearted indeed, and well-dressed speakers are hard to come by -- and maybe it should be. An American-style nap (Siesta) emerges.Still, that doesn't seem to fit with the hard-working American ethic, which was set before 24-hour e-mail and online shopping.Now if the focus is on issues of public safety and productivity, the reason for the lunch break seems very strong.There have been famous people in the past who took naps, like Winston Churchill, who would work late into the night and sleep in a cape-like pajamas in the afternoon.Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton are also said to be very pro-siestas.Is America ready for "early to bed, early to rise" or "if you're tired, just close your eyes and rest"? America is facing a huge choice - either enjoy the extra waking hours and figure out new, more productive ways, or simply say, we can't afford 8 hours of sleep and figure out how 8 hours of sleep.Where to go is not a small problem.Our health and our lives depend on our choices. international picture Americans are tired, and the rest of the world is not much better. According to a survey on sleep conducted by AC Nielsen in 2005, 7 out of 10 night owl countries are in Asia.Note that the United States does not rank first among these 10 countries. ▲Chinese Taiwan has 69% of the population, South Korea has 68% of the population, Hong Kong has 66% of the population, Singapore has 54% of the population, Malaysia has 54% of the population, Thailand has 43% of the population, often after midnight before going to bed. ▲ According to reports, 75% of Portuguese, 65% of Spaniards and 39% of Italians often go to bed after midnight.All three countries are famous for sleeping during the day, perhaps to compensate for the loss of sleepless nights.Ironically, napping culture has already posed a challenge to productivity in Spain, and in 2006 the government launched a nationwide campaign requiring all federal employees to take no longer than 45 minutes for lunch. ▲In addition to the nightingale country, Asian countries account for a full half of the morning bird countries-did they get up at 7 o'clock before?Then again, people don't think of America as the morning bird country. ▲ 91% of Indonesians, 88% of Vietnamese, 69% of Filipinos, 64% of Indians and 64% of Japanese all get up before 7 o'clock in the morning. ▲In the top ten countries, 66% of Danes, 64% of Germans, 64% of Austrians, 63% of Finns and 62% of Norwegians also get up at 7 o'clock in the morning. What are the main causes of sleep deprivation?While people around the world say that "habit" and "work schedule" determine sleep behavior, one-third of Americans still believe that "family/kids" are the main determinant of sleep behavior, while those who say the same Only 17% of Europeans, only 16% of Asians.More than half of Europe's population said that work was the main reason for sleep deprivation, while the vast majority of Asians said the main reason for sleep deprivation was habit. Americans are feeling more tired as their sleep duration decreases -- but they don't see themselves as the most tired people.This is so because they compare themselves to the Japanese -- 1 in 4 people who sleep less than 6 hours a night are Japanese.So which country sleeps the most?Twenty-eight percent of New Zealanders and 31 percent of Australians sleep more than nine hours a night.