Americano

I know what you’ve been thinking, because I’ve been thinking the same thing: “Hasn’t it been a long time since a not-very-famous starlet was paid to endorse a dubious-sounding cosmetic?” Our wait is over, as 24-year-old Nina Dobrev has lent her personage to what I sincerely hope is both the world’s first and also last caffeine-infused facial cream. In a clever marketing pitch, Ms. Dobrev explained to a reporter how she manages to look so stunning even early in the morning: “Just being happy. Happiness is the best thing [for looking fresh in the morning]." She added, “And also, being 24. It really helps if you’re a 24-year-old actress. But mainly, it’s the happiness.”

Comstock

Changes in attitudes

Anyone can tell you the difference between ignorance and apathy: “I don’t know, and I don’t care.” But Dr. Brit Anderson of Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center made headlines last week at the Pediatric Academic Societies meeting by providing a more detailed answer. An emergency medicine fellow, Dr. Anderson wondered whether high school football players put themselves at risk of death and permanent brain damage because they were uninformed about concussions or because they felt death and permanent brain damage were small prices to pay for the esteem of their teammates and fans. Surprising those of us who knew football players in high school, apathy beat ignorance in a blowout.

In a survey of 120 high school athletes, Anderson’s team (of researchers, not football players) found that 70% recalled receiving concussion education, and nearly 91% understood that returning to play too quickly could lead to serious injury. More than 91%, however, said that it was okay for an athlete to play with a concussion, and nearly 60% said they would not report a concussion to their coach immediately. Additionally 73% patted the investigators’ butts, saying, “Good interview, man.”

These results suggest a serious deficit in our concussion education efforts for young athletes. In addition to teaching the symptoms and consequences of concussion, we also need to convince young football players that brain damage and death are undesirable outcomes of a football game. I think we’re going to have to get tough: “If you play with a concussion and die out there, you absolutely may not wear your letter jacket!” Of course, we could alter the rules of youth football so that we don’t risk injuring millions of young, developing brains every year, but ... ah, who cares?

REMless

Keeping the United States #1 in the world on so many measures is hard work. Sure, having the world’s highest rates of obesity and teen pregnancy is easy, but leading humanity in divorce, incarceration, and death by reptile? These things take work! Maybe that’s why our kids now rank first in the world in sleep deprivation according to newly released data from the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) and Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS).

The TIMSS and PIRLS projects don’t just track how far our students are falling behind their peers in other countries in math, science, and literacy. They also collect other data, including information about students’ sleep habits. It appears that if only American kids would put down their iPhones and get some sleep, they might start gaining ground on those cursed, well-rested Finns. But, really, what are you going to do but sleep in a country where night lasts all winter? Personally, I blame the design of the TIMSS and PIRLS tests; if there were fewer questions about math, science, and reading and more about Angry Birds and YouTube, can anyone doubt we’d be #1?

Buzzkill

As though we needed any more proof that those wonks at the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) were anti-fun, they appear to have strong-armed the Wrigley division of Mars Inc. into suspending sales of Alert Energy Caffeine Gum (in tasty fruit and refreshing mint flavors!). Each stick of the gum provides a rapidly absorbed dose of caffeine roughly equal to that in a half-cup of coffee.

Citing the deaths associated with consumption of some “energy beverages” and the young age of many gum consumers, FDA Deputy Commissioner Michael Taylor presumably draped his arm over the shoulders of Wrigley’s executives and invited them to picture what might happen when a class full of sleep-deprived American eighth-graders crammed whole packs of the stuff in their mouths just before sitting down to take the TIMSS and PIRLS. I guess for now caffeine-craving U.S. citizens will be limited to coffee, tea, soda, more than 500 brands of energy beverages, chocolate, diet pills, headache medicines, SumSeeds sunflower seeds, Morning Spark Instant Oatmeal, Perky Jerky dried meats, Foosh breath mints, and, of course, caffeinated facial moisturizer. If none of those things appeal, I guess they’ll have to just be happy.

David L. Hill, M.D., FAAP is the author of Dad to Dad: Parenting Like a Pro (AAP Publishing, 2012). He is also vice president of Cape Fear Pediatrics in Wilmington, N.C., and  adjunct assistant professor of pediatrics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He serves as Program Director for the AAP Council on Communications and Media and as an executive committee member of the North Carolina Pediatric Society. He has recorded commentaries for NPR's All Things Considered and provided content for various print, television and Internet outlets.

I know what you’ve been thinking, because I’ve been thinking the same thing: “Hasn’t it been a long time since a not-very-famous starlet was paid to endorse a dubious-sounding cosmetic?” Our wait is over, as 24-year-old Nina Dobrev has lent her personage to what I sincerely hope is both the world’s first and also last caffeine-infused facial cream. In a clever marketing pitch, Ms. Dobrev explained to a reporter how she manages to look so stunning even early in the morning: “Just being happy. Happiness is the best thing [for looking fresh in the morning]." She added, “And also, being 24. It really helps if you’re a 24-year-old actress. But mainly, it’s the happiness.”

Comstock

Changes in attitudes

Anyone can tell you the difference between ignorance and apathy: “I don’t know, and I don’t care.” But Dr. Brit Anderson of Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center made headlines last week at the Pediatric Academic Societies meeting by providing a more detailed answer. An emergency medicine fellow, Dr. Anderson wondered whether high school football players put themselves at risk of death and permanent brain damage because they were uninformed about concussions or because they felt death and permanent brain damage were small prices to pay for the esteem of their teammates and fans. Surprising those of us who knew football players in high school, apathy beat ignorance in a blowout.

In a survey of 120 high school athletes, Anderson’s team (of researchers, not football players) found that 70% recalled receiving concussion education, and nearly 91% understood that returning to play too quickly could lead to serious injury. More than 91%, however, said that it was okay for an athlete to play with a concussion, and nearly 60% said they would not report a concussion to their coach immediately. Additionally 73% patted the investigators’ butts, saying, “Good interview, man.”

These results suggest a serious deficit in our concussion education efforts for young athletes. In addition to teaching the symptoms and consequences of concussion, we also need to convince young football players that brain damage and death are undesirable outcomes of a football game. I think we’re going to have to get tough: “If you play with a concussion and die out there, you absolutely may not wear your letter jacket!” Of course, we could alter the rules of youth football so that we don’t risk injuring millions of young, developing brains every year, but ... ah, who cares?

REMless

Keeping the United States #1 in the world on so many measures is hard work. Sure, having the world’s highest rates of obesity and teen pregnancy is easy, but leading humanity in divorce, incarceration, and death by reptile? These things take work! Maybe that’s why our kids now rank first in the world in sleep deprivation according to newly released data from the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) and Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS).

The TIMSS and PIRLS projects don’t just track how far our students are falling behind their peers in other countries in math, science, and literacy. They also collect other data, including information about students’ sleep habits. It appears that if only American kids would put down their iPhones and get some sleep, they might start gaining ground on those cursed, well-rested Finns. But, really, what are you going to do but sleep in a country where night lasts all winter? Personally, I blame the design of the TIMSS and PIRLS tests; if there were fewer questions about math, science, and reading and more about Angry Birds and YouTube, can anyone doubt we’d be #1?

Buzzkill

As though we needed any more proof that those wonks at the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) were anti-fun, they appear to have strong-armed the Wrigley division of Mars Inc. into suspending sales of Alert Energy Caffeine Gum (in tasty fruit and refreshing mint flavors!). Each stick of the gum provides a rapidly absorbed dose of caffeine roughly equal to that in a half-cup of coffee.

Citing the deaths associated with consumption of some “energy beverages” and the young age of many gum consumers, FDA Deputy Commissioner Michael Taylor presumably draped his arm over the shoulders of Wrigley’s executives and invited them to picture what might happen when a class full of sleep-deprived American eighth-graders crammed whole packs of the stuff in their mouths just before sitting down to take the TIMSS and PIRLS. I guess for now caffeine-craving U.S. citizens will be limited to coffee, tea, soda, more than 500 brands of energy beverages, chocolate, diet pills, headache medicines, SumSeeds sunflower seeds, Morning Spark Instant Oatmeal, Perky Jerky dried meats, Foosh breath mints, and, of course, caffeinated facial moisturizer. If none of those things appeal, I guess they’ll have to just be happy.

David L. Hill, M.D., FAAP is the author of Dad to Dad: Parenting Like a Pro (AAP Publishing, 2012). He is also vice president of Cape Fear Pediatrics in Wilmington, N.C., and  adjunct assistant professor of pediatrics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He serves as Program Director for the AAP Council on Communications and Media and as an executive committee member of the North Carolina Pediatric Society. He has recorded commentaries for NPR's All Things Considered and provided content for various print, television and Internet outlets.

I know what you’ve been thinking, because I’ve been thinking the same thing: “Hasn’t it been a long time since a not-very-famous starlet was paid to endorse a dubious-sounding cosmetic?” Our wait is over, as 24-year-old Nina Dobrev has lent her personage to what I sincerely hope is both the world’s first and also last caffeine-infused facial cream. In a clever marketing pitch, Ms. Dobrev explained to a reporter how she manages to look so stunning even early in the morning: “Just being happy. Happiness is the best thing [for looking fresh in the morning]." She added, “And also, being 24. It really helps if you’re a 24-year-old actress. But mainly, it’s the happiness.”

Comstock

Changes in attitudes

Anyone can tell you the difference between ignorance and apathy: “I don’t know, and I don’t care.” But Dr. Brit Anderson of Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center made headlines last week at the Pediatric Academic Societies meeting by providing a more detailed answer. An emergency medicine fellow, Dr. Anderson wondered whether high school football players put themselves at risk of death and permanent brain damage because they were uninformed about concussions or because they felt death and permanent brain damage were small prices to pay for the esteem of their teammates and fans. Surprising those of us who knew football players in high school, apathy beat ignorance in a blowout.

In a survey of 120 high school athletes, Anderson’s team (of researchers, not football players) found that 70% recalled receiving concussion education, and nearly 91% understood that returning to play too quickly could lead to serious injury. More than 91%, however, said that it was okay for an athlete to play with a concussion, and nearly 60% said they would not report a concussion to their coach immediately. Additionally 73% patted the investigators’ butts, saying, “Good interview, man.”

These results suggest a serious deficit in our concussion education efforts for young athletes. In addition to teaching the symptoms and consequences of concussion, we also need to convince young football players that brain damage and death are undesirable outcomes of a football game. I think we’re going to have to get tough: “If you play with a concussion and die out there, you absolutely may not wear your letter jacket!” Of course, we could alter the rules of youth football so that we don’t risk injuring millions of young, developing brains every year, but ... ah, who cares?

REMless

Keeping the United States #1 in the world on so many measures is hard work. Sure, having the world’s highest rates of obesity and teen pregnancy is easy, but leading humanity in divorce, incarceration, and death by reptile? These things take work! Maybe that’s why our kids now rank first in the world in sleep deprivation according to newly released data from the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) and Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS).

The TIMSS and PIRLS projects don’t just track how far our students are falling behind their peers in other countries in math, science, and literacy. They also collect other data, including information about students’ sleep habits. It appears that if only American kids would put down their iPhones and get some sleep, they might start gaining ground on those cursed, well-rested Finns. But, really, what are you going to do but sleep in a country where night lasts all winter? Personally, I blame the design of the TIMSS and PIRLS tests; if there were fewer questions about math, science, and reading and more about Angry Birds and YouTube, can anyone doubt we’d be #1?

Buzzkill

As though we needed any more proof that those wonks at the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) were anti-fun, they appear to have strong-armed the Wrigley division of Mars Inc. into suspending sales of Alert Energy Caffeine Gum (in tasty fruit and refreshing mint flavors!). Each stick of the gum provides a rapidly absorbed dose of caffeine roughly equal to that in a half-cup of coffee.

Citing the deaths associated with consumption of some “energy beverages” and the young age of many gum consumers, FDA Deputy Commissioner Michael Taylor presumably draped his arm over the shoulders of Wrigley’s executives and invited them to picture what might happen when a class full of sleep-deprived American eighth-graders crammed whole packs of the stuff in their mouths just before sitting down to take the TIMSS and PIRLS. I guess for now caffeine-craving U.S. citizens will be limited to coffee, tea, soda, more than 500 brands of energy beverages, chocolate, diet pills, headache medicines, SumSeeds sunflower seeds, Morning Spark Instant Oatmeal, Perky Jerky dried meats, Foosh breath mints, and, of course, caffeinated facial moisturizer. If none of those things appeal, I guess they’ll have to just be happy.

David L. Hill, M.D., FAAP is the author of Dad to Dad: Parenting Like a Pro (AAP Publishing, 2012). He is also vice president of Cape Fear Pediatrics in Wilmington, N.C., and  adjunct assistant professor of pediatrics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He serves as Program Director for the AAP Council on Communications and Media and as an executive committee member of the North Carolina Pediatric Society. He has recorded commentaries for NPR's All Things Considered and provided content for various print, television and Internet outlets.