DEAR WORLD
OUR WORLD IS IN A STATE OF EMERGENCY
THIS IS A BIG WAKE-UP CALL
WE HAVE A 911 RIGHT NOW
CHECK THIS OUT –
2016
2.8 million deaths
20% of deaths age 15 – 49
There is no safe level of drinking alcohol – Worldwide Study
(Global Burden of Disease study, Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation, 2018) (1)
Globally – 2nd most commonly used drug
2016
Large increase in use of Amphetamines in East and South-East Asia
Large growing market for Methamphetamine tablets and Crystal Meth in both regions – World Drug Report 2016 (2)
2018
Methamphetamines
Major markets continue to grow
USA
2nd greatest drug threat after heroin
East and South East Asia
Crystal Methamphetamine key concern
Amphetamines
70 tons – global seizure
36% rise on previous year
North America and North Africa
Increased seizures
World Drug Report 2018 (3)
Speed – street name for class B drug Amphetamine Sulphate (4)
Methamphetamine – class A drug (5)
Commonly manufactured in illegal hidden laboratories
Ingredients extracted from pills for cold remedies and strength increase combined with chemicals like battery acid, drain cleaner, antifreeze and lantern fuel.
Highly addictive drug burns up the body’s resources, creating a devastating dependence that can only be relieved by taking more of the drug. (6)
Methamphetamine – primary drug of concern
Brunei Darussalam
Cambodia
Indonesia
Japan
Philippines
Thailand
Lao People’s Democratic Republic
Increase in use of Crystal Meth
Cambodia
China
Burma
Malaysia
Vietnam
Australia
Republic of Korea (2)
Used as ‘club drug’ at nightclubs and rave parties
Associated with serious health conditions including aggression, memory loss, psychotic behaviour and potential heart and brain damage
As with all drugs, a poison that first acts as a stimulant but then begins to systematically destroy the body (6)
2018
14 million methamphetamine pills seized in Thailand
$45,000,000 haul – one of the biggest hauls (7)
Major global health problem
The Global Asthma Report – 2018 p.75
339 million people affected by Asthma
2016
420,000 people worldwide died from Asthma – more 1000 per day
UK
1,000 Asthma pumps a month prescriptions in one pharmacy
20% increase in 4 years – death rate one highest in Europe (8)
Caffeine is the most used drug in the world (9)
Caffeine use disorder noted as condition for further study in
Diagnostic Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-V) (10)
Caffeine is one of the most commonly used stimulants among athletes.
It seems to increase physical strength and endurance and might delay exhaustion (11)
Caffeine stimulates or excites the brain and nervous system (12)
Caffeine activates the brain’s reward centre and this is the same as Heroin and Amphetamines (13)
Why have we created a drug like caffeine to fool our brain, so we can push past our natural state of tiredness and exhaustion and continue to function in life?
Sleep and Caffeine
Caffeine has a similar structure to adenosine, a chemical that is present in all human cells.
In the brain, adenosine acts as a central nervous system depressant.
Adenosine promotes sleep and suppresses arousal by slowing down nerve activity.
Adenosine binding also causes blood vessels in the brain to dilate, increase oxygen intake during sleep. When awake the levels of adenosine in the brain rise each hour, making the brain and the body more alert.
To a nerve cell, caffeine looks like adenosine and caffeine binds to the adenosine receptors.
Caffeine does not decrease the cell’s activity as it utilises all the receptors adenosine binds to and the cells can no longer sense adenosine.
As a result, instead of slowing down because of the adenosine level, cellular activity speeds up.
Caffeine blocks adenosine’s ability to open up the brain’s blood vessels, causing them to constrict.
This is why caffeine is used in pain relief medicine for headaches.
If the headache is vascular, relief comes as the caffeine narrows the blood vessels.
The blocking of adenosine causes excitatory neurotransmitters to increase in the brain.
The pituitary gland notices this increased activity and releases hormones that tell the adrenal glands to produce epinephrine. (9)
Let us join the dots here and make it super simple so we all understand and get it.
Adenosine is a chemical, which is present in all living tissue, so that means every cell in our body has this.
In the brain, the job for this chemical is to slow things down, in other words reduce function and nerve activity.
Adenosine promotes sleep and suppresses arousal.
Caffeine looks like adenosine to a nerve cell but it does not decrease the activity.
Instead, it makes use of all the receptors that adenosine binds to and the cells are fooled because they can no longer sense what is real and what is not.
In other words, our cells can no longer sense adenosine.
As a result, activity starts to speed up in our cells instead of slowing down.
Caffeine takes over and blocks the job of adenosine, where it opens up the blood vessels in the brain. Instead it causes these blood vessels to constrict.
In other words, caffeine works totally opposite to our natural state of being.
This blocking of adenosine causes brain activity and these changes lead to a wrong message being sent to our adrenal glands to produce epinephrine – a hormone commonly known as adrenaline.
This means caffeine is artificially changing our biochemistry inside and altering us to have a false state of being.
This means our adrenal glands are over working every single day to produce a stress hormone because caffeine makes it do that.
This means the body is no longer in true balance, so it is going to affect all our organs and sooner or later give us the signs through illness and dis-ease that something is not right.
This means using caffeine ensures a constant availability of hormones (adrenaline), normally reserved and released when we are under stress.
This means our daily caffeine consumption gives rise to a false energy to keep us going, whilst underneath draining us.
This means that over time we are exhausted as we are living out of sync, but this goes un-noticed as we use the caffeine to keep ignoring our real state.
$84.8 billion – Energy drinks market size by 2025
Market growth over forecast period expected to be driven by –
Hectic lifestyle
Need instant energy
Rising disposable income
$24.17 billion – Asia Pacific energy drinks industry expected reach by 2025
$19.12 billion – Europe energy drinks market share forecast to reach by 2025 (14)
Read this well researched blog for all the facts about Caffeine –https://simplelivingglobal.com/the-real-truth-about-caffeine/
2nd leading cause of death globally
$1.16 trillion – annual economic cost of Cancer – 2010
9.6 million deaths in 2018 estimated
5 leading behavioural and dietary risks lead to third of deaths from cancer:
Low fruit vegetable intake
High body mass index
Lack of physical activity
Tobacco use
Alcohol use
22% cancer deaths – Tobacco use responsible
Most common cancers
- 2.09 million – Lung Cancer
- 2.09 million – Breast Cancer
- 1.80 million – Colorectal Cancer
- 1.28 million – Prostate Cancer
- 1.04 million – Skin Cancer
- 1.03 million – Stomach Cancer (15)
Lung cancer tests to start in supermarket car parks
The Week – Issue 1153
2nd December 2017
Age 12 diagnosed with ovarian cancer (16)
Prostate cancer deaths higher than breast cancer deaths in women (17)
£5,000 Easter Egg – world’s most expensive
192 hours to make by a team
1,822 calories chocolate dessert pizza – demand growing
20 million people worldwide have Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
1 million Americans affected (18)
250,000 suffering with CFS in UK (19)
Children now suffering with Chronic Fatigue (20)
$48,000,000,000 retail value of U.S. coffee market (21)
2015/2016
151.3 million bags of 60kg – world coffee consumption (22)
2018/2019 Forecast
163.2 million bags of 60kg – world coffee consumption (23)
2.25 billion cups of coffee consumed everyday worldwide (24)
580% growth in cold brew sales from 2011 – 2016
$38.1 million ready to drink cold brew sales in 2017
105 billion cups of coffee consumed in US annually (25)
Europe holds highest share in Global Coffee Market followed by North America (26)
Coffee butter spread (27)
Coffee vaping juice
Coffee flavor water
Coffee flavor sweets
Coffee flavor liquers
Coffee flavor beer – £22 per pint (28)
Broccoli coffee latest trend for ‘hipster’ market (29)
44% coffee demand from millennial
47% increase in age 18 – 24
60% increase in age 25 – 39
Café culture in China and India becoming fashion symbol
Growing number large middle-class young professionals – high coffee consumption
Driving coffee consumption globally
Asia-Pacific – fastest growing market
Ready to drink coffee demand rising (26)
Sparkling fruit and milk drink – fizzy milk to become the next big drinks trend (30)
Leading cause of ill health and disability worldwide (31)
Most common of all psychiatric disorders (32)
2015
322 million people have Depression (33)
Ketamine and swimming in ice cold water – new treatments offered (34, 35)
2017
108% increase – NHS anti-depressant prescriptions in 10 years (36)
16.2 million adults in US have Depression
80% new mothers experience Postpartum Depression symptoms include sadness, fatigue and mood swings (37)
1 person dies every 8 seconds from Diabetes (38)
700 million adults globally will be affected by 2025 (39)
Type 2 Diabetes after year of live streaming video games (40)
$3,000,000,000 – Diet pills and meal replacement market (41)
84% customers cannot keep weight off so keep coming back success for weight loss company (42)
World Drug Report – 2018
2016
192 million people using Cannabis – most common drug
10,500 tons – Global Opium Production
65% rise from 2016 – 2017
This is the highest estimate recorded since UNODC started recording global opium production at beginning of 21st century.
Non medical use of pharmaceutical opioids reaches epidemic proportions in North America
63,632 died from drug overdose in United States
Highest number on record largely due to opioids like fentanyl
Global
450,000 people died as a result of drug use in 2015 (3)
2018 World Drug Report –
Note all figures out of date because this is how research works
What are the true real raw accurate figures today?
Can research really keep up with what is going on with all the drugs we are taking?
What about ALL the people that research does not have access to?
What about ALL those who think they are not addicted to drugs but they are?
We all know drugs are the secret stuff for many of us including children.
Not everyone is going to be open and up front telling researchers about their illegal habits.
This is worth taking note of as we see numbers and just accept this all like it’s not for us.
USA – 30 states have legalised Marijuana for medical or recreational use (43)
2016
63,600 people died due to drug overdoses
2014 – 2016
25% rise in overdose rates for 24 – 35 year old men
45 – 54 year old women had the most overdoses overall
15 – 24 year old women – highest increase in drug overdoses
19% increase (44)
Physicians murdered for not prescribing Opioids (45)
Opioids – Highly addictive used to alleviate myriad chronic pain
Widely prescribed in US Canada Australia
142 die from Opioid overdoses every day in USA
2005 – 2015 – overdose rate doubled in Australia
298.5 tonnes morphine-equivalent opioids distributed around world per year
The Lancet (46)
Fentanyl
Effective pain suppressant powder – injection, patches, spray, lollipops
50 – 100 times more potent than morphine
Dangerous as readily absorbed through skin or inhalation
Risk to user, first responder attending or forensic scientists analysing drug
Side Effects
Abdominal Pain
Anorexia
Anxiety
Confusion
Depression
Diarrhoea
Dizziness
Fatigue
Flu-like Symptoms
Hallucinations
Headaches
Nausea
Nervousness
Shortness of Breath
Weight Loss (46)
Grey Death
Contains fentanyl, carfentanil synthetic opioid used by vets to treat very large animals, heroin and synthetic opiate U-4770 which is 7 times more potent than morphine.
Carfentanil is 10,000 times more potent than morphine
Purple Heroin
Combination heroin, morphine, fentanyl and carfentanil
Very small amounts can cause seizure, arrhythmia, breathing difficulties and death (47)
Africa and Asia – emerged as cocaine trafficking and consumption hubs
Kratom – emerging as popular plant based new psychoactive substance (3)
Microdosing using psychedelic drugs popular with California digital tech world
The Guardian – 1 September 2018
Nyaope
Highly Addictive
Emergence in South Africa
Contains a mixture of low grade heroin, cannabis and antiretrovirals:
Some antiretrovirals are hallucinogenic and cause dissociative effects
Low cost – 30 Rand or £1.60 per dose
Krokodil
Russia –
homemade version synthetic opioid desomorphine – provides cheap alternative to heroin
readily manufactured from codeine
use can result in serious physical injuries
Krokodil kills skin tissue – causes crocodile type texture (47)
UK – Class A drugs return in popularity to levels not seen for 10 years
Home Office alarmed
more people taking cocaine and ecstasy than any point in past decade (48)
Cocaine delivered faster than pizza (49)
Monkey Dust
Police chiefs have lined a surge in this psychoactive substance which causes volatile dangerous behaviour among users to social media
Drug use spreads rapidly due to conversations on social media (50)
Range of laboratory made chemicals
Mimic effects of THC tetrahydrocannabinol – main psychoactive component of cannabis (51)
672 street names for Spice
https://spiceaddictionsupport.org/street-names-for-synthetic-marijuana/
SPICE IS NOT DESIGNED FOR HUMAN CONSUMPTION (52)
Spice – Hundred Times More Potent than Cannabis (53)
“The most severe public health issue we have faced in decades.”
Marc Jones, the Police and Crime Commissioner for Lincolnshire (54)
Fresh calls have been made for the synthetic drug Spice to be made a Class A drug.
Spice also goes by the name “Zombie Drug”
due to the zombie-like state it can leave users in
Effects
Users recall experiences of feeling brain-dead and paralysed
Numerous reports of people having fatal heart attacks and strokes
Cases reported of kidney damage, liver damage and psychosis (54)
NHS
£100 million – common painkillers
£68.1 million – Paracetamol
£45.2 million – Aspirin
£23.5 million – Ibuprofen
£14 million – gluten free bread
£2.2 million – Pasta
£0.9 million – Biscuits
£3.7 million – Sunscreen (55)
Earthquakes
June 2018
57,028 Earthquakes in last year (56)
Anorexia – highest death rates all adolescent psychiatric conditions (57)
222% rise in treatment under section for Eating Disorders (58)
70% rise in men admitted to hospital for eating disorders (59)
40% women aged 15 – 30 take less insulin to lose weight (60)
4 year old child aware strategies how to lose weight
Image and weight worries before child starts school (61)
900% increase in e-cigarette use among high school students (62)
Products containing nicotine unsafe in any form for youth (63)
Nicotine affects development of brain that controls learning and attention
Nicotine in e-cigarettes in youth can lead to addiction of other drugs (64)
Studies link e-cigarettes to health issues including Asthma and Bronchitis (65)
$198.9 billion – revenue Quick Service Restaurant industry
2020 – forecast to reach $223 billion (66)
$570 billion revenue generated from Fast Food
Bigger than economic value of most countries (67)
$690.80 billion market value expected to reach in 2022 (68)
$1.46 trillion food supplied by food service and retailing – 2014 (69)
Most prominent markets due to hectic and on the go lifestyle –
Europe
North America (68)
200 million girls experienced FGM in over 30 countries (70)
2018
3 year old girl FGM in UK (71)
$198.7 billion – global bread market to reach by 2020 (72)
39 million tonnes bread, pastry consumption in 27 EU countries (73)
Daily Mail – 25 August 2018
Course teaching Happiness popular at Yale University
21 week course promises ‘a set of scientifically validated strategies for living a more satisfying life’ (74)
50 years – income more than doubling but people are no happier
Lord Richard Layard, Researcher on Origins of Happiness: Evidence and Policy Implications, London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) (75)
Reduced happiness – friendship paradox where less popular on social media (76)
Dopamine dressing – dress happy, wearing overtly fun clothes to lift mood (77)
Cardiovascular Disease
leading cause of death and disability in world (78)
Stroke – 2nd leading cause of death worldwide (79)
Teenagers who binge drink or smoke – stiffer arteries
The Guardian – 29th August 2018 (80)
$1,044,000,000,000 cost of cardiovascular disease by 2030 (79)
ALASKA AND AMERICAN INDIAN
Heart Disease is the leading cause of death among Alaska Natives and American Indians (81)
BRAZIL
Cardiovascular Mortality
3.5 times more increase than other developing countries (82)
CANADA
90% over age 20 at least one risk factor for heart disease
40% have three or more risk factors (83)
CHINA
CVD leading cause of death
6.8 million aged 35+ died
44% CVD related
China is facing a rising epidemic in Cardiovascular Disease and it shows no sign of abating
Frank Hu – Professor of Nutrition and Epidemiology
Harvard Chan School (84)
EUROPE
€210 billion a year – CVD overall cost to EU economy
45% all deaths are Cardiovascular Disease
85 million living with Cardiovascular Disease (85)
JAPAN
Cardiovascular Disease deaths have increased (86)
MALAYSIA
Heart Disease has remained principal cause of death (87)
NEW ZEALAND
Single biggest killer
90 minutes someone dies from heart disease
30% of all deaths every year – Cardiovascular Disease (88)
SOUTH AFRICA
650 people die every day from heart disease or stroke (89)
USA
92.1 million adults living with Cardiovascular Disease or Stroke
$316,000,000,000 costs of CVD and Stroke
2,200 die of Cardiovascular Disease each day (79)
$10 billion spent worldwide on antacids
World Health Organization – 2017
Global antacid market growth – increase incidence of GERD globally
65% age 40+ suffer from acid reflux (90)
Heartburn identified as one of the cardinal symptoms of GERD
Gastroesophageal reflux disease
Increasing prevalence of GERD correlated to obesity
David Armstrong, Chair of World Digestive Health Day, 2015 (91)
15 million people experience heartburn daily in USA (92)
20% experience heartburn daily in UK
94% increase risk of stroke those taking PPI medication (93)
$1,340,000,000,000 – Global International Tourism revenue (94)
Guests invited to use magic mushrooms on tropical retreat
£25 million luxury Blimp aircraft will be on offer
Extreme holidays for Adrenaline Junkies
4.021 billion – Internet users in 2018
Digital in 2018 report
250 million new users online for first time in 2017
Amount time spent on Internet up in the last year
6 hours – average user now spends using internet-powered devices and services
1 billion years online in 2018 if we add up 4 billion users (95)
400 + social networking sites
Dark Web used for illegal activity (96)
23 billion visits – one pornography website
Children consume online time like junk food
15 hours a week on Internet – children age 5 – 15 (97)
NHS has funded 1st Internet Addiction Centre (98)
CHINA
700 million Internet users
First country officially to recognise Internet addiction as clinical condition (99)
JAPAN
518,000 children ages 12 – 18 addicted to Internet (100)
93% travellers will experience Jet Lag (101)
2016
$470,000,000,000 – Global Jet Lag therapy market
2023
$730,000,000,000 – market estimate growth (102)
$48,000,000,000 cost per year for Chronic Kidney Disease treatment (103)
1 in 2 adults expected to develop CKD in their lifetime – USA (104)
1.2 million deaths – Chronic Kidney Disease
Latin America – highest death rate in the world
Mexico – highest Chronic Kidney Disease death rate (105)
75% cases – Diabetes and High Blood Pressure main causes of CKD (106)
45,000 premature deaths in UK due to Chronic Kidney Disease (107)
Kidney Disease costs more than Breast, Lung, Colon and Skin Cancer combined -England (103)
GLOBAL
$1,000,000,000,000
Depression and Anxiety cost to global economy per year (108)
12 billion working days lost each year due to Depression and Anxiety
50 million years of work is the equivalent (109)
50% all lifetime mental disorders start mid-teens
75% start by mid 20s (110)
Mental Health “one of the biggest health epidemics of our time”
The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (111)
450 million people worldwide currently suffer from mental disorders (112)
UK
16 – 24 age young women high risk group for mental illness
Self-harming to relieve distress
Violence or sexual abuse + pressures from rise in social media (113)
20% – age 14 have self-harmed in UK (111)
110,000 children in London suffering significant mental ill health
68,000 children have conduct disorder (serious behaviour and emotional disorder) (114)
USA
2014
5 million people affected by Alzheimer’s Disease and related Dementia
2060
13.9 million people expected
2016
21% increase in death rate due to Alzheimer’s (44)
10.1 million children trafficked – UNICEF (115)
$32 billion – profits generated by global human trafficking (116)
Largest sources of income for organised crime
Fastest growing means by which people enslaved
The UN Office for Drugs and Crime (117)
Hidden illegal nature of human trafficking – gathering statistics difficult (118)
$80,800,000,000 – Global Sleep Aids market by 2020 (119)
150 million adults suffering sleep-related problems
Strong link between psychiatric conditions and sleep problems (120)
Smoke alarms fail to wake children – repeatedly slept through (121)
Nap pods for new parents, city workers, tourists to catch up on sleep (122)
3 billion people use social media each month
Digital in 2018 report
90% users access chosen platforms via mobile devices (95)
ADDICTION to Social Media has emerged over past 20 years
Harmfull as Drugs and Alcohol for Millennials (123)
300% increase – sexual assaults related to social media sites
88% teenagers seen cruelty to another on social networking sites (124)
Cyber-Bullying – most common online risk for all teenagers (125)
Millions of social media crimes go unreported (126)
UK
48% of girls aged 11 – 18 say they have been bullied or abused on social media
The Guardian (127)
$91 billion – Global Sports Market revenue – 2017 (128)
Study – domestic violence increases after football matches (129)
$50 billion cost on 2014 Winter Olympic Games (130)
50% elite British sports people suffer tooth decay
77% have gum disease (131)
Famous sports players die at young ages
Basketball players suffer mental health problems (132)
Marathon runner taking glucose gels and energy drinks – felt sick after
Snowboarder suicides on her 18th birthday
Struggling cope with pressures of high-level competitive sports (133)
More deaths today from suicide than war and homicide together
800,000 people suicide every year
2nd leading cause of death among 15 – 29 year olds (134)
79% global suicides occur low and middle income countries (135)
Hanging, firearms and ingestion pesticide – common methods of suicide (134)
60% increase worldwide – suicide rates in last 45 years
90% of all cases of suicide – mental disorders associated
Compelling evidence indicating adequate prevention and treatment of depression, alcohol and substance abuse can reduce suicide rates (136)
USA
123 people die each day by suicide
79% of all suicide deaths are males
51% of males used firearms
Poisoning most common form of suicide in females (137)
2nd leading cause of death for age 15 – 24
2010 – 2016
70% increase in suicide rates among young and teenage girls (44)
AUSTRALIA
400,000 people think about taking their life each year
65,000 plan or attempt suicide each year
Suicide leading cause of death for age 15 – 44 (138)
NEXT –
If we just look at one thing in this entire blog thus far, with our common sense hat on
We have evidence that suicide rates can be reduced
The evidence tells us there is a link with depression, alcohol, substance abuse and suicide rates.
Would it be wise to consider what this website has delivered on these topics and answer the questions presented in the blogs?
For example – Alcohol is a scientific proven poison.
This means it is not for human consumption and there are no safe levels.
Alcohol alters our state of mind – so are we able to join the dots here.
We drink a poison to alter our natural state of being.
Our body has gone into a 911 as it recognises poison.
Our mind overrides what the body feels and continues this highly addictive substance with its drug like effects.
Could it be possible that this altered state of mind leads to altered thoughts, which then lead to the ending of one’s own life?
Do we need to start looking at things differently and not accepting that a poison, which changes our natural state is going to be ok, if we drink in moderation as the adverts and government guidelines tell us?
Is it time to take full Responsibility for every choice we make, so we can inspire others by our own living way to do the same?
Not by ramming it down their throats or preaching it or even teaching it, but simply reflecting that there is another way that does not harm the human body.
Could this be the real game changer?
$1,000,000,000,000 – Tobacco Industry annual revenue (139)
6,000,000,000,000 cigarettes smoked every year (140)
1 billion smokers in the world (139)
8 million predicted die from Tobacco use by 2030 (141)
4,000 chemicals in Tobacco smoke (142)
70% smokers likely suffer Anxiety and Depression (143)
20th century
100,000,000 died of smoking related diseases
21st century
1,000,000,000 deaths expected worldwide
Allan M. Brandt – Professor of the History of Medicine & Science – Harvard University (144)
THERE IS NO SAFE LEVEL OF TOBACCO USE (145)
This instrument can teach
It can illuminate and yes it can even inspire but it can do so only to the extent that humans are determined to use it towards those ends
Otherwise it is merely wires and lights in a box
Edward Murrow – CBS TV journalist, 1958 (146)
$91,000,000,000 – Global Gaming Industry (147)
$905.6 million – Global Esports economy in 2018 (148)
2024 Olympics – organisers in deep talks about having video games leagues (149)
1 in 10 gamers showed signs of addiction
From an online poll by leading academic
Professor Vladan Starcevic – Medicine Department of Sydney’s Nepean Hospital (150)
41% gamers played online to escape (151)
Players experience a sense of control when they enter into fantasy world of speed, realism, violence and new morals
Many games offer online anonymous interaction with other people;
Sense of family or belonging in the form of a pseudo persona the player develops when repeatedly playing the game
Playing provides an alternative reality in which problems are solved and success and reward is possible
Game provides a sense of control
If life becomes difficult or stressful, the game will provide an avenue of escape from Responsibility and Reality
Taken from in-depth study about gaming addiction (152)
The DSM is the handbook of the American Psychiatric Association and is considered the standard US reference book for mental health
In 2013, it included Internet Gaming Disorder as a condition for ‘further study’
Internet Gaming Disorder is thought to be gradually progressive behaviour, with a chronic course deteriorating over time
The pathological gaming behaviour may lead to significant physical and mental health problems as reported by numerous literary evidences (153)
INTERNATIONAL CLASSIFICATION OF DISEASES – ICD 11
2018 – Gaming Disorder
A pattern of gaming behaviour “digital-gaming” or “video-gaming” characterized by –
Impaired control over gaming
Increasing priority given over other activities to the extent that gaming takes precedence over other interests and daily activities
Continuation or escalation of gaming despite the occurrence of negative consequences
For gaming disorder to be diagnosed, the behaviour pattern must be of sufficient severity to result in significant impairment in personal, family, social, educational, occupational or other important areas of functioning and would normally have been evident for at least 12 months.
ICD – International Classification of Diseases is used by medical practitioners around the world to diagnose conditions and by researchers to categorize conditions
The demand for treatment of gaming disorder has been a key factor in including this in ICD-11 (154)
China has military style boot camp to help gamers overcome Internet dependence
Gamers using diaper as afraid to interrupt the game
Dysfunctional relationships in the family are behind it
Tao Ran – Director
The China Youth Rehabilitation Base
Adults quit their jobs and played 24/7
Some never left their room in 6 months
Never saw daylight (150)
SOUTH KOREA
Channel that shows eSports 24 hours a day
2011 – Korean government introduced Cinderella Law –
forbids playing computer games between midnight and 6am for youth under age 16
Law introduced as country had problem with young people addicted to gaming
Younger and younger people are becoming addicted
Dr. Kim Hyun-soo – Psychiatrist (155)
Gamers so obsessed they stop eating and sleeping altogether
There have been tragic social cases that are related to game addiction
With gaming, it is the frontal lobe that degenerates
It is the frontal lobe that makes humans act like humans
Having it damaged can explain the antisocial, impulsive and unhappy behaviour (155)
USA
72% households play video games (156)
Video game addictions develop out of certain types of life circumstances and often become the ‘filling’ for unmet needs and emotional conflicts in a person’s daily life
Children who spend inordinate amounts of time playing video games may have underlying unresolved issues going on in their everyday life
Compulsive gaming behaviours closely resemble the behaviours exhibited by drug addicts (157)
UK
2013 – 2016
50% growth in Class A drugs young people convicted
Students dealing in drugs to pay off student loans (158)
11 year old children taking Xanax (159)
Youth buying Xanax on social media (160)
Cheaper than Tobacco and easier access than Alcohol (161)
Psychiatric medication used treat anxiety and panic disorders (162)
2017
13,463 – girls under age 18 admitted hospital due self-harming, number has doubled in 20 years
The education system now places a greater emphasis than ever on exam results, while the rise of social media can make problems like bullying or body image issues more intense than they were in the past.”
Emma Thomas – Chief Executive of Young Minds (111)
Tech students unable to boil an egg or change a lightbulb
66% students admit never paid a bill
25% students never washed own clothes
University students known as masters of the digital world, have lost skills that older generations have
Managing cash, making friends and staying healthy among biggest challenges
Young people under intense pressure to perform academically
Never been taught basic skills
“The focus for young people now is on study and learning rather than life skills”
20 year old student
Note – $ quoted in this article refers to USD
Our World Health has reached epidemic levels
Our Global Wellness campaigns are not working
WE HAVE SERIOUSLY LOST THE PLOT
Our Solutions are not working
Our Priorities are not the Truth
We have made Lying so normal
We all need to be asking more Questions
We need to get Talking about the real stuff
It is time to STOP the Hot Talk
It is time to get super Real
It is time to get really Honest
It is time to change our Focus
It is time to change our Priority
It is time to stop all the Blame
Is it time to stop our Excuses
It is time to end the War inside us
It is time to Let Go of all the nonsense in our lives
It is time to know that Alcohol is a scientific proven poison
Is it time to be honest that Caffeine is our most legal drug
Is it time we all learned what Nil by Mouth could do for us
Is it time to ask – are we being Fooled in anyway
Is it time to tell our kids that Doing more is not the answer
Is it time to STOP – JUST STOP
Is it time to review what on earth is Politics doing for us
We have a current form of Intelligence1 that dismisses those of us who are not able to memory recall and study in a certain way
Is it time to change the education agenda and teach everyone how to live human life, so that we can all learn how to live who we truly are.
Our world is really Sick and we need to understand why we get sick in the first place
Our Youth1 are not doing great and this blog presents some real facts
Our Youth2 are our future adult generations – have we thought about that and what that means
Our life seems to be full of Complications and we have not yet considered SIMPLE LIVING
Our Fast Food and Junk Food industry exists because we want it – they call that supply and demand
We all know now that our lifestyle choices can change our Blood Pressure, so why on earth are we creating 2 in 1 pills, as people are forgetting to take their medication
We need to use our common sense and ask why are we the only species on the planet who drinks the milk of another animal – in other words why we love our Dairy
We all need to have a solid sound Foundation in life, that supports our body and becomes our living way
How many of us Lose something or Forget something important, during our day to day life
How serious is it that we have a mind altering Drug with volumes of research confirming this is not for human consumption, yet countries are now legalising Cannabis
Who created Spice, the synthetic version of Cannabis that is rife in prisons and cheap as chips
What is it about us that just wants More more more
What is it about us that feels comfortable Sitting on the Fence, watching the world go by and do nothing, when we know we can Do Something
What is it about us that sees Mistakes as something bad, instead of a simple learning
What is it about so many of us that respects and values Our Car better than our own body
Why are Women trying to Be someone they are not
Why have we dropped our standards so low, that we have become Careless in our life and in our world
Why has our world accepted Shouting and Swearing as normal and said nothing
Why are we allowing individuals, companies, businesses and corporations to Get Away with It
In other words – not raising the standard for each and every one of us on how to live a See Through Life
Why is nothing enough for us, no matter what life brings
Why are we indulging in Christmas and New Year celebrations, with a license to do whatever we want
Why do we want the whole month of D E C E M B E R to go away, so we can forget the crap year we just had
Why have we not considered that our lifestyle choices may be the reason we suffer with the Common Cold every year
Why has our world not united and got a Recipe for Life that could work for us all – Equally
Why have we gone crazy about our Eating choices and demand more and more weird and whacky food combos
Why are we demanding extreme food choices like a 9,600-calorie burger deliberately created to affect our Heart
If we suffer with Cold Hands and Cold Feet, then is it time to read this blog, that makes sense and take action
Before we champion and celebrate our next Independence Day – would it be wise to really stop and consider the true health of our nation
Can we even get our head around the thought of living a life without any Crazy Days
Are we ready to admit that we need our Holidays as a form of self-medication
Are we using Social Media to be recognised and identified, or are we using it for the greater Truth for all
Have we ever considered that our ill choices could be harming Mother Earth
Have we joined the dots that our Holding On actually stops us moving on and evolving
Have we stopped to realise what OVERDOING IT does to the human physiology on a daily basis
Have we considered that most of us lack a true Commitment to Life
In other words – we do not want to Commit to the everyday basic stuff with Consistency
Could this put an end to us Giving Up on life
There is a science to Sleep, yet we have created a huge multi-billion dollar sleep aid industry – why is this
What if we started taking Responsibility and prepare our body for long haul flights, to end suffering from Jet Lag
What if we were taught from young how to Plug in and Connect and what that means
What if we are really all connected and true Family is grander and greater than bloodlines
What if we could spend our time wisely if we knew how to deal with our Regrets
What if by doing a Take 2 we can stop giving ourselves a hard time for no real reason
What if we could discern everything when Listening to Other People
Some of us are big into Gossip, Cursing and Judgement of others, without knowing the real harm
SomeWhat are we subscribing to for our Birthdays and is it what we truly want
What would happen if all of us in this world started practicing how to Be Gentle in every movement
Most of us are unaware that EXPRESSION IS EVERYTHING and what that actually means
More people are living way beyond their means with a Champagne Lifestyle on a Lemonade Budget
Where do syndromes like Just in Case come from and how does this stuff affect us in life
Where is our common sense when we wear Footwear that clearly damages our feet and our posture is compromised
How would our world be, if each of us learned how to Close Cycles, by using this blog from Simple Living Global
How do we have a dis-ease called Raynaud’s for over 150 years without a cure yet
How on earth did the word FOMO get into our dictionary vocabulary
How come some of our kids are not trained in basic Toilet stuff that teachers now have to do it
Do we honestly think that the images in our mind about a Perfect Life are going to be real or are we in illusion
Do we all know that Video Gaming has now got a place in the International Classification of Diseases
Do we really think that living life in the Fast Lane is going to work for our long-term Health
Do we need to hold our Politicians to account and demand Truth across the board
Looking at the state of the world today, how can we be Bored when we just need to Get on with It
No more Vices
No more Secrets
No more Double Life
Dear Dear World
SOMETHING IS NOT RIGHT
How are we choosing to live that is causing so much ill in our world today?
If this is the current state of our world, would we invest in it as a Business
How can we really celebrate Global Wellness when all our health systems are in crisis
What Intelligence2 have we subscribed to and why are we not challenging it
Is it time we all seek Truth as our only way
Is it time to consider Another Way
IS IT TIME TO END WHAT DOES NOT WORK
If you are feeling suicidal, contact your GP for support or the Suicide Helplines.
In a crisis contact your emergency services.
UK – Samaritans available 24 hours
Tel: 116 123
Childline – for children and young people
Tel: 0800 1111
USA – National Suicide Prevention Lifeline
Tel: 1-800-273-8255
Other Countries
Check International Association for Suicide Prevention Resources on Crisis Centers
https://www.iasp.info/resources/Crisis_Centres
References
(1) Boseley, S. (2018, August 23). No Healthy Level of Alcohol Consumption. The Guardian. Retrieved September 15, 2018 from
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/aug/23/no-healthy-level-of-alcohol-consumption-says-major-study
(2) United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). World Drug Report. (p.x, p.1, p.53). New York, 2016. Retrieved September 21, 2018 from
http://www.unodc.org/wdr2016
(3) (2018). World Drug Report 2018: Analysis of Drug Markets: Opiates, Cocaine, Cannabis, Synthetic Drugs. Booklet 3. United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime. (UNODC). (p.1, p.7, p.8, p.9, p.54, p.58). Retrieved September 18, 2018 from
https://www.unodc.org/wdr2018/prelaunch/WDR18_Booklet_3_DRUG_MARKETS.pdf
(4) Drug, Solvent and Alcohol Abuse Counselling – Level 4 Diploma Course. Stonebridge Associated Colleges
(5) (n.d). Methamphetamine. FRANK. Retrieved September 21, 2018 from
https://www.talktofrank.com/drug/methamphetamine
(6) (2015). The Truth About Crystal Meth and Methamphetamine. Drug Free World. Retrieved September 21, 2018 from
http://f.edgesuite.net/data/www.drugfreeworld.org/files/truth-about-crystalmeth-booklet-en.pdf
(7) (2018, August 22). Thai Police Seize Methamphetamine Haul Worth 45 M. Global News. Retrieved September 17, 2018 from
https://globalnews.ca/video/4401668/thai-police-seize-methamphetamine-haul-worth-45m
(8) (2018). The Global Asthma Report. Global Asthma Network. (p.5, p.27, p.75). Retrieved September 19, 2018 from
http://globalasthmareport.org/
(9) Nichols, H. (2017, October 16). What Does Caffeine Do to Your Body? Medical News Today. Retrieved September 21, 2018 from
https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/285194.php#sources-of-caffeine
(10) Mitchell, H. (2017, October 30). Are You Addicted to Coffee? The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved September 21, 2018 from
https://www.wsj.com/articles/are-you-addicted-to-coffee-1509381012
(11) (n.d). Caffeine. WebMD. Retrieved September 21, 2018 from
https://www.webmd.com/vitamins/ai/ingredientmono-979/caffeine
(12) (n.d). Caffeine in the Diet. Medline Plus. Retrieved September 21, 2018 from
https://medlineplus.gov/ency/article/002445.htm
(13) Cheour, M. (2017, October 3). Caffeine Effects on Different Parts of the Brain. Healthfully. Retrieved September 21, 2018 from
https://healthfully.com/222993-caffeine-effects-on-different-parts-of-the-brain.html
(14) (2017, July). Energy Drinks Market Size Worth $84.80 Billion by 2025 | CAGR: 7%. Grand View Research.
https://www.grandviewresearch.com/press-release/global-energy-drinks-market
(15) (2018, September 12). Cancer. World Health Organization. Retrieved September 19, 2018 from
http://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/cancer
(16) Bains, I. (2018, January 27). Ovarian Cancer at 12: Brave Schoolgirl Fights Disease Which Normally Strikes Women Over 50. Daily Mail. Retrieved September 21, 2018 from
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5318603/Ovarian-cancer-12-Brave-schoolgirl-fights-disease.html
(17) (2018, February 2). Prostate Cancer Deaths Overtake Those from Breast Cancer. BBC News. Retrieved February 4, 2018 from
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-42890405
(18) (n.d). About ME/CFS. Forgotten Plague M.E and the Future of Medicine. Retrieved September 17, 2018 from
http://mecfsdocumentary.com/sample-page/
(19) (n.d). What is ME/CE? ME Association. Retrieved September 17, 2018 from
https://www.meassociation.org.uk/about/what-is-mecfs/
(20) (2018, May 10). May 12 is ME/CFS and Fibromyalgia International Awareness Day. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Retrieved September 21, 2018 from
https://www.cdc.gov/features/cfsawarenessday/
(21) (2015, December). U.S Speciality Coffee Facts & Figures. Special Coffee Association of America. Retrieved September 21, 2018 from
http://www.scaa.org/?page=resources&d=facts-and-figures
(22) (2016). The Current State of the Global Coffee Trade #CoffeeTradeStats. International Coffee Organization. Retrieved September 17, 2018 from
http://www.ico.org/monthly_coffee_trade_stats.asp
(23) (2018, June). Coffee: World Markets and Trade. United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Retrieved September 19, 2017 from
https://apps.fas.usda.gov/psdonline/circulars/coffee.pdf
(24) Davis, N. (2017, July 10). Coffee Cuts Risk of Dying from Stroke and Heart Disease, Study Suggests. The Guardian. Retrieved September 21, 2018 from
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2017/jul/10/coffee-cuts-risk-of-dying-from-stroke-and-heart-disease-study-suggests
(25) (2017, December 4). Cold Brew. Quartz. Retrieved September 21, 2018 from
https://qz.com/emails/quartz-obsession/1144744/
(26) (2018, March). Coffee Market – Growth, Trends and Forecasts (2018 – 2023). Mordor Intelligence. Retrieved September 19, 2018 from
https://www.mordorintelligence.com/industry-reports/coffee-market
(27) (2017, April 4). Espresso Spread is the New Breakfast Trend That’s Better than Coffee. Evening Standard. Retrieved September 21, 2018 from
https://www.standard.co.uk/lifestyle/foodanddrink/espresso-spread-is-the-new-breakfast-trend-that-s-better-than-coffee-a3506571.html
(28) (2018, September 1). Bad Week For: London’s Beer Drinkers. The Week. Issue 1191. p.6
(29) (2018, June 7). Broccoli Coffee: How Nutritious is the Latest Foodie Trend? Independent. Retrieved September 21, 2018 from
https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/food-and-drink/broccoli-coffee-powder-trend-how-nutritious-healthy-eating-benefits-a8387241.html
(30) Morley, K. (2017, September 23). Fizzy Milk Could be About to Hit Supermarket Shelves to Boost Milk Sales. The Telegraph. Retrieved September 17, 2018 from
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/09/23/fizzy-milk-could-hit-supermarket-shelves-boost-milk-sales/
(31) (2017). WHO Global Health Days – Campaign News. World Health Organization. Retrieved April 1, 2017 from
http://www.who.int/campaigns/world-health-day/2017/top-stories/en/
(32) (2015). Depression Management Diploma Course. Stonebridge Associated Colleges
(33) Depression and Other Common Mental Disorders: Global Health Estimates. Geneva: World Health Organization: 2017. Licence: CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO (p.8). Retrieved September 21, 2018 from
http://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/254610/WHO-MSD-MER-2017.2-eng.pdf;jsessionid=614DCBDCBE86479DAC9EB336D5439D1B?sequence=1
(34) Matthews-King, A. (2018, April 16). Ketamine Nasal Spray Rapidly Relieves Depression and Suicidal Thoughts, Finds Trial. The Independent. Retrieved September 17, 2018 from
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/health/ketamine-treatment-depression-suicidal-thoughts-treatment-mental-health-clinical-trial-yale-a8304431.html
(35) Van Tulleken, C. (2018, September 13). Can Cold Water Swimming Treat Depression? BBC News. Retrieved September 13, 2018 from
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-45487187
(36) Lustig, R. (2017, September 10). The Pursuit of Pleasure is a Modern-Day Addiction. The Guardian. Retrieved September 13, 2018 from
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/sep/09/pursuit-of-pleasure-modern-day-addiction
(37) Koskie, B. (2018, June 29). Depression: Facts, Statistics and You. Healthline. Retrieved September 19, 2018 from
https://www.healthline.com/health/depression/facts-statistics-infographic#1
(38) (2017). IDF Diabetes Atlas. Eighth Edition 2017. International Diabetes Federation. (p.49)
(39) (2016, April 6). Cost of Diabetes Hits $825 Billion Dollars a Year. Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Retrieved September 21, from
http://bit.ly/2eM86rD
(40) (2017, March 11). The Mysterious Death of a Live-Streaming Gamer. BBC News. Retrieved September 21, 2018 from
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-trending-39232620
(41) (2016, April 7). The Weight Loss Industry by Numbers. Fooducate. Retrieved September 21, 2018 from
http://www.fooducate.com/app#!page=post&id=57034AEE-364E-1DE1-4E44-B7BACFB5F72B
(42) Goldhill, O. (2014, August 1). A Nation of Weight Watchers: Is Our Obsession with Thin Making Us Fat? The Telegraph. Retrieved September 21, 2018 from
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/womens-health/11003614/A-nation-of-weight-watchers-Is-our-obsession-with-thin-making-us-fat.html
(43) O’Neill, S. (2018, September 18). Day-Tripping to the Dispensary: Seniors in Pain Hop Aboard the Canna-Bus. ABC News. Retrieved September 21, 2018 from
https://abcnews.go.com/Health/day-tripping-dispensary-seniors-pain-hop-aboard-canna/story?id=57907834
(44) (2018, September 20). Drugs, Alcohol and Suicide are Killing so Many Young Americans That the Country’s Average Lifespan is Falling. TIME. Retrieved September 21, 2018 from
http://time.com/5400566/cdc-mortality-report/
(45) Jameson, J. (2017, August 15). Physicians Are Being Murdered for Not Prescribing Opioids. KevinMD.com. Retrieved September 19, 2018 from
https://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2017/08/physicians-murdered-not-prescribing-opioids.html
(46) Schwarz, K. (2017, October 19). World Opioid Map Reveals Devastating Truth. www.news.com.au. Retrieved September 21, 2018 from
https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/health/health-problems/world-opioid-map-reveals-devastating-truth/news-story/8841bac3605407e6cf1e1c60ae7b69ab
(47) (2018, August 24). Monkey Dust, Krokodil, Nyaope: Why New Drug Concoctions Keep Appearing. The Conversation. Retrieved September 20, 2018 from
https://theconversation.com/monkey-dust-krokodil-nyaope-why-new-drug-concoctions-keep-appearing-101916
(48) Gayle, D. (2018, July 26). Class A Drugs Return in Popularity to Levels Not Seen in 10 Years. The Guardian. Retrieved September 18, 2018 from
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/jul/26/class-a-drugs-return-in-popularity-to-levels-not-seen-for-10-years
(49) Winstock, A.R. (n.d). Cokeinoes! Cocaine Delivered Faster Than Pizza. Global Drug Survey. Retrieved September 18, 2018 from
https://www.globaldrugsurvey.com/gds-2018/cokeinoes-cocaine-delivered-faster-than-pizza/
(50) Marsh, S. (2018, August 17). Surge in Monkey Dust Drug Use Linked to Social Media, Police Say. The Guardian. Retrieved September 21, 2018 from
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/aug/17/surge-in-monkey-dust-drug-use-linked-to-social-media-police-say
(51) Ralphs, R., & Sutcliffe, O. (2016, September 23). What is Spice and Why is the Drug So Dangerous? The Conversation. Retrieved September 22, 2018 from
https://theconversation.com/what-is-spice-and-why-is-the-drug-so-dangerous-60600
(52) (2018, February). Synthetic Cannabinoids (K2/Spice). National Institute on Drug Abuse. Retrieved September 22, 2018 from https://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/drugfacts/synthetic-cannabinoids-k2spice
(53) Wennerholm, F. (2015). Spice – A Hundred Times More Potent Than Cannabis. Karolinska Institutet. Retrieved September 22, 2018 from
http://ki.se/en/research/spice-a-hundred-times-more-potent-than-cannabis
(54) Chambers, G. (2018, August 30). What is ‘Spice’ Drug? How Did it Get the Name ‘Zombie Drug’ and Should it Be Upgraded to Class A? Evening Standard. Retrieved September 21, 2018 from
https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/what-is-spice-calls-for-zombie-drug-to-be-made-class-a-a3923646.html
(55) Scott, P. & Kirk, A. (2017, March 28). Analysis: The NHS Spends Millions Prescribing Common Painkillers, Sunscreen and Gluten-Free Food. The Telegraph. Retrieved September 19, 2018 from
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/03/28/nhs-spends-millions-prescribing-common-painkillers-sunscreen/
(56) (2018, June 26). Today’s Earthquakes. www.earthquaketrack.com. Retrieved June 26, 2018 from
https://www.earthquaketrack.com/recent
(57) BMJ-British Medical Journal. (2014, April 8). “Perception that Eating Disorders Women’s Problem Delays Men Getting Help.” ScienceDaily. Retrieved September 22, 2018 from
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/04/140408213541.htm
(58) (2015, October 26). 222% Increase in Eating Disorder Patients Treated Under Section. University of East Anglia. Retrieved September 22, 2018 from
https://www.uea.ac.uk/about/-/222-increase-in-eating-disorder-patients-treated-under-section
(59) (n.d). Number of Men Admitted to Hospital for Eating Disorders Up by 70%. The Guardian. Retrieved September 22, 2018 from
https://www.theguardian.com/mental-health-research-matters/2017/oct/10/number-of-men-admitted-to-hospital-for-eating-disorders-up-by-70
(60) (n.d). Diabulimia: What is It and Where to Get Help. Diabetes UK. Retrieved September 22, 2018 from
https://www.diabetes.org.uk/Guide-to-diabetes/Life-with-diabetes/Diabulimia/
(61) Pells, R. (2016, August 30). Children as Young as Three ‘Worry About Being Fat or Ugly’. Independent. Retrieved September 22, 2018 from
https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/children-as-young-as-three-worry-about-being-fat-or-ugly-a7216951.html
(62) Vivek Murthy – U.S. Surgeon General – U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. E-Cigarette Use Among Youth and Young Adults: A Report of the Surgeon General—Executive Summary. Atlanta, GA: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Office on Smoking and Health, 2016, p. vii
(63) U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. E-Cigarette Use Among Youth and Young Adults: A Report of the Surgeon General—Executive Summary. Atlanta, GA: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Office on Smoking and Health, 2016, p. 5
(64) (2018, March). Electronic Cigarettes (E-cigarettes). National Institute on Drug Abuse; National Institutes of Health; U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Retrieved September 22, 2018 from
https://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/drugfacts/electronic-cigarettes-e-cigarettes
(65) Keller, K. (2018, April 11). Ads for E-Cigarettes Today Hearken Back to the Banned Tricks of Big Tobacco. Smithsonian.com. Retrieved September 22, 2018 from
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/electronic-cigarettes-millennial-appeal-ushers-next-generation-nicotine-addicts-180968747/
(66) (2017). Revenue of the Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Industry in the United States from 2002 to 2020 (in billion U.S dollars) Statista. Retrieved September 17, 2018 from
https://www.statista.com/statistics/196614/revenue-of-the-us-fast-food-restaurant-industry-since-2002/
(67) Sena, M. (2017). Fast Food Industry Analysis 2017 – Cost & Trends. Franchise Help. Retrieved September 22, 2018 from
https://www.franchisehelp.com/industry-reports/fast-food-industry-analysis-2018-cost-trends/
(68) (2017, June 1). Global Fast Food Market Share & Trends Will Grow USD 690.80 Billion in 2022: Zion Market Research. Zion Market Research. Retrieved September 18, 2018 from
https://globenewswire.com/news-release/2017/06/01/1005070/0/en/Global-Fast-Food-Market-Share-Trends-will-grow-USD-690-80-Billion-in-2022-Zion-Market-Research.html
(69) (2017, October 10). Market Segments. United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Retrieved September 18, 2018 from
https://www.ers.usda.gov/topics/food-markets-prices/food-service-industry/market-segments/
(70) (2016, February). Female Genital Mutilation. World Health Organization. Retrieved September 22, 2018 from
http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs241/en/
(71) Bentham, M., Kirk, T. (2018, August 17). Girl, 3, ‘Needed Emergency Surgery After FGM in London.’ Evening Standard. Retrieved September 22, 2018 from
https://www.standard.co.uk/news/crime/girl-3-needed-emergency-surgery-after-fgm-in-london-a3914076.html
(72) (n.d). MCP-6208: Bread – A Global Strategic Business Report. Global Industry Analysts, Inc. Retrieved September 22, 2018 from
http://www.strategyr.com/pressMCP-6208.asp
(73) (n.d). European Bread Market. The Federation of Bakers. Retrieved September 22, 2018 from
https://www.fob.uk.com/about-the-bread-industry/industry-facts/european-bread-market/
(74) (2018, August 25). Course That is Teaching Happiness. Daily Mail.
(75) Inman, P. (2016, December 12). Happiness Depends on Health and Friends, Not Money, Says New Study. The Guardian. Retrieved September 22, 2018 from
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/dec/12/happiness-depends-on-health-and-friends-not-money-says-new-study
(76) Nichols, H. (2017, July 3). How Modern Life Affects Our Physical and Mental Health. Medical News Today. Retrieved September 16, 2018 from
https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/318230.php
(77) Bramley, E.V. (2017, February 3). Dopamine Dressing – Can You Dress Yourself Happy? The Guardian. Retrieved September 16, 2018 from
https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2017/feb/03/dopamine-dressing-can-you-dress-yourself-happy
(78) (2018). What is Cardiovascular Disease? World Heart Federation. Retrieved September 22, 2018 from
https://www.world-heart-federation.org/world-heart-day/about/cvds/
(79) (2017, January 25). Heart Disease and Stroke Statistics 2017 At a Glance. American Heart Association. (p.2). Retrieved September 22, 2018 from
https://www.heart.org/idc/groups/ahamah-public/@wcm/@sop/@smd/documents/downloadable/ucm_491265.pdf
(80) David, N. (2018, August 28). Study of Teenager Drinkers and Smokers Shows ‘Significant Damage’ to Arteries. The Guardian. Retrieved September 22, 2018 from
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2018/aug/28/study-of-teenage-drinkers-and-smokers-shows-significant-damage-to-arteries
(81) (2016, June 16). American Indian and Alaska Native Heart Disease and Stroke Fact Sheet. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Retrieved September 22, 2018 from
https://www.cdc.gov/dhdsp/data_statistics/fact_sheets/fs_aian.htm
(82) (2012, September 15). Cardiovascular Mortality in Brazil Has Increased 3.5 Times more than in Other Developing Countries. News Medical. Retrieved September 22, 2018 from
https://www.news-medical.net/news/20120915/Cardiovascular-mortality-in-Brazil-has-increased-35-times-more-than-in-other-developing-countries.aspx
(83) (2017, January 30). Heart Disease – Heart Health. Government of Canada. Retrieved September 22, 2018 from
https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/diseases/heart-disease-heart-health.html
(84) (2016, August 15). China Facing Epidemic of Heart Disease, Stroke. Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Retrieved September 22, 2018 from
https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/press-releases/china-heart-disease-stroke-epidemic-hu-li/
(85) European Cardiovascular Disease Statistics 2017. European Heart Network. Retrieved September 22, 2018 from
http://www.ehnheart.org/cvd-statistics.html
(86) Asian Scientist Newsroom. (2015, July 24). Cardiovascular Disease on the Rise in Asia, Particularly Japan. Asian Scientist. Retrieved September 22, 2018 from
https://www.asianscientist.com/2015/07/health/japan-cardiovascular-disease/
(87) (2016, December 5). Statistic Dept: Heart Disease Remains Top Killer Among Malaysians. Malay Mail Online. Retrieved September 22, 2018 from
http://www.themalaymailonline.com/malaysia/article/statistic-dept-heart-disease-remains-top-killer-among-malaysians#DsmQyEvRQOUQA7fi.97
(88) (n.d). Facts About Heart Disease. Heart Research Institute (HRI). Retrieved September 22, 2018 from
http://www.hri.org.nz/about-heart-disease/facts-about-heart-disease
(89) (2017, August 17). More Die of Heart Disease in SA Every Day than are Murdered. Health 24. Retrieved September 22, 2018 from
http://www.health24.com/Medical/Heart/About-heart/Iin-SA-more-die-of-heart-disease-every-day-than-are-murdered-20150929
(90) (2018, March 14). Global Antacid Market Growth is Expected to be Driven by Increasing Incidence of Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease Globally. www.marketwatch.com. Retrieved September 20, 2018 from
https://www.marketwatch.com/press-release/global-antacid-market-growth-is-expected-to-be-driven-by-increasing-incidence-of-gastroesophageal-reflux-disease-globally-2018-03-14
(91) (2015). World Digestive Health Day. World Gastroenterology Organisation. Retrieved September 20, 2018 from
http://www.worldgastroenterology.org/wgo-foundation/wdhd/wdhd-2015
(92) MacGill, M. (2015, July 22). Acid Reflux: Causes, Symptoms and Treatments. Medical News Today. Retrieved September 22, 2018 from
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/146619.php
(93) Whiteman, H. (2016, November 16). Common Heartburn Drugs May Cause Stroke. Medical News Today. Retrieved September 15, 2018 from
https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/314145.php
(94) Global International Tourism Revenue from 2000 – 2017 (in Billion U.S. Dollars). Statista. Retrieved September 16, 2018 from
https://www.statista.com/statistics/273123/total-international-tourism-receipts/
(95) Mc Donald, N. (2018, January 30). Digital in 2018: World’s Internet Users Pass the 4 Billion Mark. We Are Social. Retrieved September 20, 2018 from
https://wearesocial.com/us/blog/2018/01/global-digital-report-2018
(96) (2016, October 20). What is the Dark Web and How Does It Work? The Conversation. Retrieved September 22, 2018 from
http://bit.ly/2f2uNMu
(97) (2017, August 6). Children Consuming Online Time ‘Like Junk Food’. BBC News. Retrieved September 22, 2018 from
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-40840823
(98) (2018, June 23). First NHS-Funded Internet Addiction Centre. Sky News. Retrieved September 22, 2018 from
https://news.sky.com/story/first-nhs-funded-internet-addiction-centre-11413889
(99) Ryan, G. (2016, June 8). Addicted Gamers Wearing Diapers to Avoid Pauses. Sunshine Coast Daily. Retrieved September 22, 2018 from
https://www.sunshinecoastdaily.com.au/news/addicted-gamers-wearing-diapers-avoid-pause-video-/3041133/
(100) Ryall, J. (2013, August 27). Japan to Introduce Internet ‘Fasting Camps’ for Addicted Kids. The Telegraph. Retrieved September 22, 2018 from
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/japan/10267303/Japan-to-introduce-internet-fasting-camps-for-addicted-kids.html
(101) (n.d). Jet Lag. American Sleep Association (ASA). Retrieved September 22, 2018 from
https://www.sleepassociation.org/about-sleep/jet-lag/
(102) (n.d). Global Jet Lag Therapy Market Size in 2016 and a Forecast for 2023 (in million U.S. dollars). Statista. Retrieved September 22, 2018 from
https://www.statista.com/statistics/788019/jet-lag-therapy-market-value-worldwide/
(103) (2017). Chronic Kidney Disease. World Kidney Day. Retrieved September 22, 2018 from
https://www.worldkidneyday.org/faqs/chronic-kidney-disease/
(104) (2015, October 20). Info Cards/Memes on Diabetes and Chronic Kidney Disease. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Retrieved September 22, 2018 from
https://www.cdc.gov/diabetes/library/socialmedia/infocards.html
(105) Global, Regional, and National Life Expectancy, All-Cause Mortality, and Cause-Specific Mortality for 249 Causes of Death, 1980 – 2015: A Systematic Analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2015. Lancet 2016; 388:1 (p.1483, p.1525). Retrieved September 22, 2018 from
https://www.thelancet.com/pdfs/journals/lancet/PIIS0140-6736(16)31012-1.pdf
(106) (2017, February 15). About Chronic Kidney Disease. National Kidney Foundation. Retrieved September 22, 2018 from
https://www.kidney.org/atoz/content/about-chronic-kidney-disease
(107) (n.d). Facts and Stats. Kidney Care UK. Retrieved September 22, 2018 from
https://www.kidneycareuk.org/news-and-campaigns/facts-and-stats/
(108) (2016, April 13). Investing in Treatment for Depression and Anxiety Leads to Four Fold Return. World Health Organization and World Bank. Retrieved September 22, 2018 from
http://www.who.int/en/news-room/detail/13-04-2016-investing-in-treatment-for-depression-and-anxiety-leads-to-fourfold-return
(109) Chisolm, D., Sweeny, K., Sheehan, P., Rasmussen, B., Smit, F., Cuijpers, P. & Saxena, S. (2016, April 12). Scaling-Up Treatment of Depression and Anxiety: A Global Return on Investment Analysis. Lancet Psychiatry 2016; 3: 419 Retrieved September 22, 2018 from
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanpsy/article/PIIS2215-0366(16)30024-4/abstract?code=lancet-site
(110) (2013). Public Mental Health Priorities: Investing in the Evidence. Annual Report of the Chief Medical Officer 2013. www.gov.uk. (p.117). Retrieved September 22, 2018 from
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/chief-medical-officer-cmo-annual-report-public-mental-health
(111) (2018, August 29). Fifth of 14 Year Old Girls in UK ‘Have Self-Harmed’. BBC News. Retrieved September 19, 2018 from
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-45329030
(112) (n.d). Mental Disorders Affect One in Four People. World Health Organization. Retrieved September 22, 2018 from
http://www.who.int/whr/2001/media_centre/press_release/en/
(113) (n.d). Young Women Are Now a ‘High Risk Group’ for Mental Illness. The Guardian. Retrieved September 18, 2018 from
https://www.theguardian.com/mental-health-research-matters/2017/jan/20/young-women-are-now-a-high-risk-group-for-mental-illness
(114) (2016, December 8). New Report Looks at the Mental Health of Children in London. www.gov.uk. Retrieved September 18, 2018 from
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-report-looks-at-the-mental-health-of-children-in-london
(115) (n.d).The Scale of the Issue. Stop the Traffik. Retrieved September 22, 2018 from
https://www.stopthetraffik.org/about-human-trafficking/the-scale-of-human-trafficking/
(116) (2013). End Trafficking. UNICEF. Retrieved September 22, 2018 from
https://www.unicefusa.org/sites/default/files/assets/pdf/End_Trafficking_onepager_2013.pdf
(117) (n.d). Human Trafficking Fact Sheet. Salvation Army
(118) (2013). Facts About Trafficking. CCAT Croydon Community Against Trafficking. Retrieved September 22, 2018 from
http://theccat.com/facts-about-trafficking/
(119) (2015, July 31). Global Sleep Aids Market Will Reach US $80.8 Bn by 2020: Persistence Market Research. GlobeNewswire. Retrieved September 22, 2018 from
https://globenewswire.com/news-release/2015/07/31/756724/10144080/en/Global-Sleep-Aids-Market-Will-Reach-US-80-8-Bn-by-2020-Persistence-Market-Research.html
(120) (2012, August 1). Global ‘Sleeplessness Epidemic’ Affects an Estimated 150 Million in Developing World. The University of Warwick. Retrieved September 22, 2018 from
https://warwick.ac.uk/newsandevents/pressreleases/global_145sleeplessness_epidemic146/
(121) Walsh, F. (2017, February 23). Smoke Alarms ‘Fail to Wake Children’. BBC News. Retrieved September 17, 2018 from
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-38918056
(122) Williams, S. (2018, September 4). Yes Please! £18 an Hour Nap Pods for Tired Parents. Evening Standard, p.12
(123) Rao, T. (2017, June 12). Social Media is as Harmful as Alcohol and Drugs for Millennials. The Conversation. Retrieved September 22, 2018 from
https://theconversation.com/social-media-is-as-harmful-as-alcohol-and-drugs-for-millennials-78418
(124) (n.d). Social Media Statistics. GuardChild. Retrieved September 22, 2018 from
https://www.guardchild.com/social-media-statistics-2/
(125) Schurgin O’Keeffe, G., Clarke-Pearson, K., & Council on Communications and Media. (2011). The Impact of Social Media on Children, Adolescents and Families. American Academy of Pediatrics, 127(4), 801 – 803. Retrieved September 22, 2018 from
http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/127/4/800.full
(126) Phillips, G. (2016, October 31). Crime, Terrorism and Security: The Dark Side of Social Media. MakeUseOf.com. Retrieved September 22, 2018 from
https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/crime-terrorism-security-dark-side-social-media/
(127) (2017, August 19). Statistics of the Week. The Week. Issue 1138. p.21
(128) (2018). Global Sports Market – Total Revenue from 2005 – 2017 (in Billion U.S. Dollars). Statista. Retrieved September 20, 2018 from https://www.statista.com/statistics/370560/worldwide-sports-market-revenue/
(129) Laville, S. (2014, June 9). Police Fear Rise in Domestic Violence During World Cup. The Guardian. Retrieved September 22, 2018
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/jun/08/police-fear-rise-domestic-violence-world-cup
(130) (2016, July 18). Russia State ‘Sponsored Doping Across Majority of Olympic Sports, Claims Report. BBC Sport. Retrieved September 22, 2018 from
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/36823453
(131) (2018, June 21). Half of Elite British Sportspeople Have Teeth So Rotten it Affects Their Performances, Research Finds. The Telegraph. Retrieved September 22, 2018 from https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/british-sportspeople-tooth-decay-team-gb-team-sky-reading-england-rugby-a8410291.html
(132) (2018, May 31). NBA Players’ Union Hires Director of Mental Health. USA Today. Retrieved September 22, 2018 from
https://eu.usatoday.com/story/sports/nba/2018/05/31/nba-players-union-hires-director-of-mental-health/35545689/
(133) (2018, August 2). Ellie Soutter Death: Father Believes 18–Year-Old Took Her Own Life After Missing Flight to Team GB Training. Independent. Retrieved September 20, 2018 from
https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/olympics/ellie-soutter-death-dead-dies-suicide-father-interview-team-gb-missed-flight-mental-health-a8472326.html
(134) (n.d). Suicide: Facts and Figures. World Health Organization. Retrieved September 22, 2018 from
http://www.who.int/mental_health/suicide-prevention/infographics_2014.pdf
(135) (n.d). Suicide Data. World Health Organization. Retrieved September 20, 2018 from
http://www.who.int/mental_health/prevention/suicide/suicideprevent/en/
(136) (2016). Mental Health – Background of SUPRE – Prevention of Suicidal Behaviours: A Task for All. World Health Organization. Retrieved September 22, 2018 from
http://www.who.int/mental_health/prevention/suicide/background/en/
(137) (2018). Suicide Facts. Suicide Awareness Voices of Education (SAVE). Retrieved September 22, 2018 from
https://save.org/about-suicide/suicide-facts/
(138) (n.d.). World Suicide Prevention Day. www.wspd.org.au. Retrieved September 22, 2018 from
http://wspd.org.au/about/
(139) Eriksen, M., Mackay, J., Islami Gomeshtapeh, F., & Drope, J. (2015). The Tobacco Atlas, 5th Edition (p.7) Retrieved September 22, 2018 from
http://3pk43x313ggr4cy0lh3tctjh.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/TA5_2015_WEB.pdf
(140) Proctor, R.N. (2011). Golden Holocaust: Origins of the Cigarette Catastrophe and the Case for Abolition. California, CA: University of California Press. (p.3)
(141) (2017). World No Tobacco Day, 31 May 2017. World Health Organization. Retrieved September 22, 2018 from
http://www.who.int/campaigns/no-tobacco-day/2017/event/en/
(142) (2018, March 9). Tobacco. World Health Organization. Retrieved September 22, 2018 from
http://www.who.int/en/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/tobacco
(143) Rosenfeld, J. E. (2017, January 26). Now There’s Really No Excuse Not to Quit Smoking. Good Health. Retrieved September 22, 2018 from
https://health.good.is/articles/smoking-is-bad-for-your-mental-health
(144) Brandt, A.M. (2007). The Cigarette Century. New York, NY: Basic Books
(145) (2017, January 23). Tobacco. National Cancer Institute. Retrieved September 22, 2018 from
https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/causes-prevention/risk/tobacco
(146) (2005). Good Night, and Good Luck
(147) (2017, June 16). Inside the Rehab Saving Young Men from their Internet Addiction. The Guardian. Retrieved September 22, 2018 from
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/jun/16/internet-addiction-gaming-restart-therapy-washington
(148) Pannekeet, J. (2018, February 21). Newzoo: Global Esports Economy Will Reach $905.6 Million in 2018 as Brand Investment Grows by 48%. Newzoo.
https://newzoo.com/insights/articles/newzoo-global-esports-economy-will-reach-905-6-million-2018-brand-investment-grows-48/
(149) White, L. (2018, August 11). Why Video Gaming is Now a Major Industry. Daily Mail, p.106
(150) Ryan, G. (2016, June 8). Addicted Gamers Wearing Diapers to Avoid Pauses. Sunshine Coast Daily. Retrieved September 22, 2018 from
https://www.sunshinecoastdaily.com.au/news/addicted-gamers-wearing-diapers-avoid-pause-video-/3041133/
(151) Hussain, Z., & Griffiths, M.D. (2009). Excessive Use of Multi-Player Online Role-Playing Games: a Pilot Study. International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction – Springer Link. Retrieved September 22, 2018 from
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs11469-009-9202-8
(152) Kem, L. (2005). Gamer Addiction: A Threat to Student Success! What Advisors Need to Know. NACADA Clearinghouse of Academic Advising Resources. Retrieved September 22, 2018 from
https://www.nacada.ksu.edu/Resources/Clearinghouse/View-Articles/Game-Addicted-Students.aspx
(153) Naskar, S., Victor, R., Nath, K., & Sengupta, C. (2016). “One Level More.” A Narrative Review on Internet Gaming Disorder. NCBI. Retrieved September 22, 2018 from
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5479086/
(154) (2018, September). Gaming Disorder. World Health Organization. Retrieved September 20, 2018 from
http://www.who.int/features/qa/gaming-disorder/en/
(155) (2017, June 16). The Rise of eSports: Are Addiction and Corruption the Price of its Success? The Guardian. Retrieved September 22, 2018 from
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2017/jun/16/top-addiction-young-people-gaming-esports
(156) (n.d). Alarming Video Game Addiction Statistics. www.addictions.com. Retrieved September 22, 2018 from
https://www.addictions.com/video-games/alarming-video-game-addiction-statistics/
(157) (n.d). Does My Child Have Video Game Addiction? www.addictions.com. Retrieved September 7, 2017 from
https://www.addictions.com/video-games/child-video-game-addiction/
(158) Spratt, V. (2018, September 6). I Deal Drugs to Help Pay Off My Student Loan. BBC. Retrieved September 9, 2018
https://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcthree/article/abceaf0e-29f9-4bb6-899d-eb51194a2526
(159) Izundu, C.C. (2018, May 3). Xanax: Children as Young as 11 Taking Anxiety Drug. BBC News. Retrieved September 18, 2018 from
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-43431453
(160) Moss, L. (2018, February 14). Teens ‘Buying Anxiety Drug Xanax on Social Media.’ BBC News. Retrieved September 23, 2018 from
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-43048406
(161) Dixon, C. (2018, May 8). Xanax WARNING: New Prescription Drugs Craze is a Deadly Game of Roulette. Express. Retrieved September 23, 2018 from
https://www.express.co.uk/life-style/health/956401/xanax-effects-prescription-drug-buying-online-medication-high-addiction
(162) Nichols, H. (2017, December 7). What You Need to Know About Xanax. Medical News Today. Retrieved September 18, 2018 from
https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/263490.php
(163) McDougal, B. (2017, September 20). Tech Generation Students Unable to Change a Light Bulb or Boil an Egg. The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved September 20, 2018 from
https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/tech-generation-students-unable-to-change-a-light-bulb-or-boil-an-egg/news-story/5da1c5525a50fa79d7748592f030e266
Comments 38
This is the most strongest blog thus far from Simple Living Global.
Just presenting the facts, 163 research items that have been read.
We can no longer ignore the state of our world today.
SOMETHING IS NOT RIGHT
It is time for us all to wake up and ask the questions that this website is presenting.
Stunning blog, meticulous in its stats and facts and it paints a very stark picture for humanity at this time.
For all the technology, pharmaceuticals, medical care, highways and byways, organisations and staff, churches and religions, charities and research – we still have a tsunami that is facing us – the tsunami you lay out clearly here.
Question is, how are we going to respond?
When you see the statistics laid bare like this, there really is little to do but sit with the Truth and consider that we have arrived in a pretty dire place as a society.
It feels like we are living in a state of complete unrest.
If there was ever a wake up call for us to sit up and take note, it is this blog.
The drug statistics here are huge.
More drug usage now than at any time in history.
Cocaine delivered faster than pizza.
To be honest, this doesn’t surprise me.
It feels like everyone is struggling in some way or another. People looking for avoidance or answers. Fatalism abounds.
It is clear from what this blog presents, but it is also clear in what I see happening around me. The conversations I have. The sharings about how intense life is, the stresses, the dissatisfaction, the partying and the post partying come down. Cycles repeating themselves with no satisfaction in sight.
And the supply is there to meet the demand.
What can we do? Read this blog. Consider our choices.
Daily Mail – Page 43
2 June 2018
A Murder, Stabbing and a Machine Gun attack – yet another night of senseless violence in London.
London’s violent crime epidemic intensified after a woman was stabbed to death and a man left fighting for his life after a machine gun attack.
Three other men were stabbed in separate attacks within hours of each other and two teenagers were rushed to hospital after acid attacks.
Violent Crime Epidemic
Senseless violence – what is this telling us?
Where are our senses when this violence takes place, what is our awareness of how we are feeling?
Do we have any awareness of oursleves when this violence is going on?
Is there so much tension inside that something flips and we’re gone?
Can such aggression towards another just come from no where?
Are we turning to substances like drugs and alcohol, when we feel a niggle or hurt inside that instead of expressing and communicating about it, we numb it out, but all the while it is simmering and brewing inside, so at some point it releases in violence?
Can turning to substances contribute to the violence, by amplifying what is held within?
What if we were raised to feel any hurt and have the space to express it
In other words, we stop, pause, feel it and deal with what was there.
Could this turn the tide on our epidemic of violence and move towards a more harmonious way with each other?
Is this 911 blog presenting that we need to bring about real change and it comes from how each and everyone is living.
I have referenced this blog multiple times in conversations since I read it.
I can feel the impact it has had.
The imperative to open our eyes and see what is going on is clear.
To discuss what we see.
To consider how we contribute to the whole.
This is one of those blogs that you just can’t stop reading.
The statistics you present here are as enthralling as they are shocking and there is so much that could be commented on.
In particular, I found your explanation of adenosine to be very informative and it made it easy to understand the deeper workings of the effects that caffeine has on us.
Looking at this blog overall, it is a damning indictment of where we are as a humanity and yet what is presented here is a fraction of what is going on in the world if we were to consider all of the illnesses and diseases that mankind has, the reasons we have for not going to work, corruption, greed, famine, war and any other reason where we treat another human being lesser than we are.
As this blog says, ‘SOMETHING IS NOT RIGHT’, and this blog has gone a long way in exposing what that is.
Thank you Simple Living Global for your continued dedication in exposing what is not the truth.
We really are in a state of emergency.
With all of the statistics and facts presented in this blog and on this website, surely it is a wake-up call for us.
I know that for a long time I had kept my head under the blanket, not wanting to be seen or speak the truth of what is really going on in the world, or what I know to be the Truth – but what if exposing the ill is what is needed, in order for us all to start to question where we are today and so we can at least consider how we will move forward?
A fundamental shift is required if we ever going to change what does not work.
Something clearly is not right, as this blog is presenting and what if the power is within each one of us to make that change?
Traditional farming is not attracting our younger generation with it often seen as a laborious job, that requires hard work with little pay.
Instead, at least in England, I have read stories of the younger generation of farmers turning to alcohol.
One news story was about a conference that has been going for at least 50 years which will not go ahead next year, due to the poor conduct and drunken behaviour of young farmers at the annual event.
The other news story that I have been reading about has been a movement to creating non-alcoholic beverages, using home grown crop as a way to appeal to the non-alcoholic drinking crowd.
Some of us may say – well this is fair enough if there is a market for it, but what if this is the issue?
Why do we have a market for beverages that will be sold as non-alcoholic?
Why do we NOT have a huge demand for natural, nutritious foods, which is what farming was originally about?
We all know that most people no longer eat home cooked food on a regular basis, with take-outs common place and new restaurants popping up every day on local high streets, and so it is obvious that the demand is no longer there for us to nourish and nurture ourselves.
Is it because our focus is all about having a good time and there is minimal consideration for the human frame?
Is it no surprise then that the younger generation feel no call to move into the profession of farming?
Is it possible that farming is now a dying trade?
Do we care that we have a 911 on our hands here, as if this trend continues, what will happen to agriculture, the quality of our food and the human body as a result?
A true sit up and listen blog here with some astounding facts about the truth of the state we are in – Yes agreed – we are in a state of emergency.
I shall be passing this one on for as many people to see as possible.
Thank you for all the research and pulling this all together in one place.
Thank you for bringing to our attention the drug called Krokodil, Simple Living Global.
This article in the Metro gives some more information and there are concerns that it has hit the UK too.
https://metro.co.uk/2018/10/29/flesh-rotting-zombie-drug-krokodil-is-being-taken-in-britain-experts-warn-8084549/
The pictures on the link are quite horrendous, showing rotting skin.
Here is an extract from the news article –
‘Users’ skin becomes scaly and rotten around injection sites due to chemicals added during the cooking process. It’s sometimes made with paint thinner and phosphorous from matches – hence the name Krokodil…Users who inject it often die within 2 years…’
What is going on?!
Just taking this one topic alone – this is evidence that we are in a state of emergency.
Many of us are likely to be unaware of this drug and I have to say that I was before reading this extensive article by Simple Living Global.
It really raises the question – what is going on with human life, that we have gone to another extreme of creating a drug that literally rots the flesh?
Is this a reflection of the absolute lack of value and regard that we have for the human body?
What if by taking care of our bodies, we are not just healthier, but we can contribute to society more, be committed to life and have access to a form of intelligence that far surpasses any score on an IQ test?
What if the very thing that we are eroding is the very thing that we need to truly succeed in life, so that we all can evolve?
Is it possible that the purpose of creating this drug is to retard evolution?
Talking to a care worker about the state of the care home industry.
She shared about the level of abuse going on.
In people’s houses where family members have taken on the role of carer and are struggling and resenting it – taking that out on their charge.
Inside care homes where the job is just a job and there is, at best, no true care being brought – just function, and at worse, there is wholesale abuse happening.
She also shared how it is very common for old people to take a fall at home and because there is no family or community around them, they can go for days laying there before they are found – no one notices the curtains aren’t opened, no one checks in.
She shared how she found one lady rotting away on her floor, alive. She had been there for days. Maggots in her mouth from the vomit. Laying in her own waste. Her skin eaten away where it had been sitting in urine.
Basically the worst torture you can imagine, laying there unable to move but aware and experiencing the full horror.
She said the devastation for these people is impossible to fathom. They can be nursed back to function, but they simply don’t get over it and are terrified to go home.
She said you would be shocked to know how many people suffer this fate around the world.
If this is not an example of how we are in the midst of a 911 crisis in society, I do not know what is.
JS thank you very much for sharing this. It most certainly is an eye opener.
It is great that this lady has shared this with you and that you have chosen to share this here, so that we all can be more aware.
How many people are living like this?
We have become a society where we ‘mind our own business’ or ‘don’t want to get involved’ but to what extent is this causing harm?
I have been to care homes and have witnessed how staff can take advantage of older folk, not respecting them and honouring what they are saying; this is also abuse as abuse is not just about being physically hit.
It is interesting what you say about true care as well or the absence of it, as particularly in our societal systems we have forgotten this crucial aspect. It is not so much what we do for another but the way that it is done that makes a lasting impression and difference, but ‘the way’ is often now negated in favour of getting the job done and at what cost?
Is it time for us all to wake up and open our eyes to the fact that the way that we are currently operating is sub standard and is way below the decency and respect that we all deserve?
Harvard T.H. Chan – 17 January 2019
https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/press-releases/leading-health-care-organizations-declare-physician-burnout-as-public-health-crisis/
Burnout among USA physicians has become so widespread that a new paper published today by Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Harvard Global Health Institute, Massachusetts Health and Hospital Association (MHA) has deemed the condition a public health crisis.
The paper includes directives aimed at curbing the prevalence of burnout among physicians and other care providers including –
The appointment of an executive-level chief wellness officer at every major health care organisation
Proactive mental health treatment and support for caregivers experiencing burnout
In a 2018 survey conducted by Merritt Hawkins, a physician recruitment organisation
78% of physicians reported some symptoms of professional burnout.
Physicians experiencing burnout are more likely than their peers to reduce their work hours or exit the profession.
By 2025, the US Department of Health and Human Services predicts that there will be a nationwide shortage of nearly 90,000 physicians with many driven way from medicine or out of practice because of the effects of burnout. Further complicating matters is the cost an employer must incur to recruit and replace a physician estimated at between $500,000 and $1,000,000.
This is a 911 situation.
If our doctors are sick – those that are there to treat us when we are ill, then we are in serious trouble.
Are we ready to wake up and accept that all is not well?
Are we aware that if we are ill in anyway it is impossible to support another with their healing?
Is it possible that we need to put self-care at the forefront of employee health, in all professions?
Does this blog by Simple Living Global on Self Care raise some poignant questions for us to consider?
https://simplelivingglobal.com/self-care/
Is it possible that as employees we need to put the care of ourselves first as part of our responsibility in taking care of our health?
Is it possible that we will always get burnout, if we continue to put the needs of others above the care we need for ourselves?
King’s College London News – 29 November 2019
https://www.kcl.ac.uk/news/an-estimated-1-in-4-children-and-young-people-have-problematic-smartphone-usage
A study by researchers at King’s College London estimated – 1 in 4 children and young people use their smartphones in a way that is consistent with a behavioural addiction.
Smartphones are being used in a dysfunctional way, which means an average of 23% were showing problematic smartphone usage (PSU).
PSU is any behaviour linked to smartphones that has features of an addiction like: feeling panic or upset when the phone is unavailable, finding it difficult to control the amount of time spent on the phone and using the phone to the detriment of other enjoyable activities.
This is the first study at this scale, summarising findings from 41 studies that have researched 41,871 teenagers and young people across the world.
First author Samantha Sohn from the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience at Kings says “Behavioural addictions can have serious consequences on mental health and day-to-day functioning, so there is a need for further investigation into problematic smartphone usage in the UK…”
HELLO – WE HAVE A 911
While we wait for researchers to look at longitudinal data and do what they do – can we get our common sense hats on and start with good old fashion conversations and a dose of honesty.
SOMETHING IS NOT RIGHT and we are all smart enough to know this excess screen time is not working and we have a huge global problem that is only going to get worse as kids are getting younger and younger using smartphones and before we know it they are hooked.
As a world subscribing to the current form of intelligence where everything requires evidence and research after research, we seem to be missing something.
Has anyone noticed that perhaps we have a blind spot, so to speak, when it comes to our children having smartphone addictions, as we ourselves who are parenting are suffering from the same behaviours?
In other words, we cannot see or be aware of the dangers as we are well and truly subscribing to that way of living – where we feel panic if our phone is unavailable or we find it difficult to control the amount of time we actually spend using the phone.
The big thing here that we ought to take note of is – these children and young people are our future generations of adults.
How are our health systems going to cope if we have the youth of today suffering with technology addiction in some form?
How can our researchers get on the front foot if they keep looking to give us proof, or come up with solutions and then tell us they need another study and another study?
WE – all of us – need to do our bit if we are ever going to see the tides turn.
If we do nothing, ignore these news stories, accept it is what it is, then we can be certain we will have a major 911 to ADD to the plethora of current 911s.
This blog states what is going on in our world today and if we were scholars studying mankind during this era, it would be true to say we failed miserably in addressing the current ills, that we have created as a species on earth.
The Times – 13 January 2020
46% charged with stabbing someone to death in the past 3 years in London had a history of knife crime, according to Metropolitan Police figures.
The figures show that the system dealing with knife crime offenders is not working.
It indicates we are failing to rehabilitate offenders effectively or protect society through the courts.
The new government is to reform education in prisons and introduce tougher sentences.
The Mayor’s office stated that cuts to youth services and the chronic underfunding of police, prisons and rehabilitation services have contributed to violence increasing across the country.
Is this telling us that our government cannot keep the public safe on the cheap or is there more for us to be aware of?
Do we need to be asking more questions?
Can we for one moment stop the finger pointing and blame and consider WHY on earth is this happening with our youth of today and how has it gotten so out of control?
Are the WHY and HOW questions going to get us to dig deeper and work out what is really going on that leads to the behaviour of a young person acting out in such an un-natural state which we call crime?
Most of us would agree that our systems are failing us but we forget to ask WHY and how did it get to this point?
Is it because the majority, call it the masses are doing nothing, saying nothing and just accepting things as long as it is not under their nose or directly about their close ones?
Are we aware that there are specialists working around the clock in hospitals dealing with knife wounds and the seriousness of these life threatening incidents?
Are any of us aware that knife crime is not just about attempting to kill another human but a deliberate intent to cause maximum suffering because where a person is knifed has been calculated?
Read this article coming from a surgeon who is on the ground working with knife crime victims and it will serve as a 911 wake up call to all of us.
https://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/politics/article/st-marys-hospital-london-knife-crime
WHY do knife criminals go on to be murderers?
What gets inside of them that cannot escape this behaviour?
What are the movements, in other words behaviours of someone who has the intent to murder?
Are we afraid of these types of questions or are we unwilling to go there because this type of stuff is way too much and belongs for the movies on screen and not real life?
How do we get to the root ill of this major issue that is now becoming the norm ?
Are we just going to blame the offenders or are our systems to be called to account for not nailing this and reversing a growing trend of knife crime?
OR are we – each of us going to look at our hand in the whole knife crime epidemic?
What are we each as individuals doing about it – even if it is just talking openly to everyone and having conversations at every dinner opportunity?
Daily Mail – 9 May 2020
A machete attack is taking place every 2 hours on the streets according to the latest examination of statistics. This represents a dramatic rise in ‘Wild West Britain”.
Gangsters, especially those in county lines drug gangs, are increasingly spreading fear with gruesome machete attacks.
According to the Crime Prevention think tank, there is absolutely no reason for anyone in the UK to own a machete. Critics say they have little legitimate use but they are not on a list of banned blades.
Hello – if we just stop, put our common sense hat on and join the dots here.
These weapons were used as a tool originally to cut the undergrowth of sugar cane in Africa and Latin America. They are huge and they are dangerous so WHY are they not on the list of banned blades?
Next – will our solutions work?
Have they ever worked to get us to the root cause of WHY and HOW this is happening on our streets and rising?
Can another 20,000 more police officers over the next 3 years cut it?
Are those wielding the blades going to be put off with longer sentences behind bars?
This is a 911 wake up call and things are not going to get better unless we all start asking more questions.
Not accepting this bit of news as just another story or not in our neighbourhood, so let’s ignore it for now, hoping it will sort itself out and go away.
If this type of crime is on the rise, what is the future – in other words what else are they going to come up with in the crime world?
Once upon a time the whole country would receive front page news headlines if one person was a victim of knife crime.
Today, in our modern advanced so-called intelligent 21st century, it has become our new normal and this news headline statistic confirms that fact.
I have come to realise that we have 911 stories going on under our nose, in our face and that means on our streets and in our communities.
It is now almost daily that I could report what I hear and see and it is probably shocking to some and to others they may not even want to believe it is actually happening.
This is a true story shared by a close relative –
A machete attack late at night, a man claiming to be Jesus and some other holy figure from the past. For the record, this guy holds a top job in the city as a banker and society holds him in high regard because his status is up there with what we call wealthy people.
So how on earth does this happen and do we really care and where does all this end up?
Back to the story – humans were not attacked, just cars and trees and other green stuff.
The police said they would like to drop any charges and asked the vehicle owners to sort it out directly with the man who at one point thought he was Jesus.
WHY ? well they said too much paperwork and way too busy.
We could say that policing is not working and there is no one to blame.
We could say that a caution from the police would be on his record as next time it may be serious and a human being could be at the other end of a weapon, like a machete.
We could say that if this was logged and he got told this he may clean up his act.
On that note, this guy was on marijuana for a long time but as many find, not dealing with the underlying issues more of the same does not cut it. In other words, addiction means we need the substance to continue with our altered state of being, but more is needed as the ugly stuff just keeps coming up and up.
It is then we seek stronger forms of drugs to do the job, so to speak.
No surprise this man was taking cocaine and this is because the pot smoking is not enough.
This is not me saying it – this is what I am being told by a member of his close family.
Yes the police know about the cocaine and do they write things off because it’s too much paperwork or is there something more here?
In other words, are they seeing more and more of cocaine and other drug use incidents and unless they are a high category of crime they let it go?
Possible?
Neighbours are saying it’s mental health and this man needs help.
Relative saying rehab did not work, as the man said he would like to continue taking drugs and so with the ‘free will’ banner that allows us to do whatever we want, he goes back home and continues his drug taking but at a higher dose.
Do we get this so far? Is it making any sense and what would common sense tell us if we asked it right now and presented the above?
Where do we go with this and how many of us are already judging because we lack the true understanding of what this is all about?
In other words, at the root there are issues, undealt with by choice but nevertheless they remain there. Others close to the man can pinpoint their take on when it started and some of us may just point the finger as it’s bad behaviour, blah blah and carry on with our own lives.
Dad died when this man was a very young boy and his sibling says it started back then and it has continued. One thing was not talking and the lack of expression throughout the next 4 decades.
Enough said, we have a 911 regardless of how we want to look at this real life story.
Our world has a 911 – this blog is spelling that out to us.
Our world is made up of all of us as individuals.
Could it be possible that these under the radar life stories about people that are living in our neighbourhood and in our community add up and this is what gives the global stats that are mentioned in this spectacular blog which is simply presenting the facts to bring more awareness?
We tend to think with cocaine or marijuana it is a certain “type” of character who does that stuff.
How wrong can we be if we just consider this comment and who this man is in society?
Could it be possible that there are many many 911 cases like this happening in our streets and all it takes is for us to open our eyes and pin our ears back so we can see and listen?
What we do with it is up to us, but for me talking by way of comment gets it out there so if anyone ever reads this comment, they know it is going on and not just something made up.
For the record we now know that the UK right now has a debt that is bigger than their whole economy.
To me this is a 911 and questions need to be asked as to how it has got to this point.
For the record, I am no politician, financial wizard, economist, smarty pants or policy maker.
So what could we learn if we simply apply and use the microcosm which then reflects the whole – macrocosm?
Could we gain insight into how this has happened?
In other words, how are individuals living in this country, where they currently have a national debt HIGHER than the sum of their entire economy?
Are they being irresponsible with their spending?
Are they ignoring the debts they have and continuing to spend?
Has the recent few months of staying at home added to this spending culture?
Are people not wanting to face the reality that something is not right?
Are we afraid to admit and accept that we have failed in our money life?
Are we too busy taking what handouts we can and spending above that?
What if we studied individuals, not in a lab or double blind testing with placebo and hypothesis and all those words, but through observation and proper real talk and find out what is going on in our homes and with shopping habits and spending behaviour across all ages and all types in the population?
What could we learn from this type of investigative study which is not quantified with numbers but qualitative by the nature of observation?
How is a country in this mess going to make a U turn and get back on track?
How do we motivate the masses to take responsibility?
How do we inform our governments that their decisions have cost them and put the national purse in a very serious state which is unhealthy?
On another point, have we considered how many people will be even more fear-full after hearing this news that the country is in major debt?
Add that to the fears of the pandemic and all the other news the media is dishing out daily and we have a crisis on our hands.
How is this going to play out in human health and that includes our mental health and well-being?
This is a 911 and a serious wake up call for all of us right now.
If we are in any doubt with what has been presented in this blog, just read this blog and the confirmation is there – our whole world is in a 911 state of emergency.
Euro News – 8 July 2020
https://www.euronews.com/2020/07/08/six-arrested-after-dutch-police-discover-prison-and-torture-chamber-in-sea-containers
Dutch police have discovered 6 shipping containers converted into a makeshift prison cell and one as a torture chamber. Inside the containers, which had been finished with sound-insulating plates and heat insulating foil, police found a dentist’s chair, pruning shears, loppers, scalpels, pliers, handcuffs, tape, balaclavas and cotton bags that can be pulled over the head. In addition they also found several sets of police clothing, bulletproof vests and flashing lights.
The short video in the above link is worth watching. It gives us an insight into the violence of the Dutch criminal underworld.
The authorities found the containers after French police cracked data from encrypted phones used by criminals which enabled law enforcement in the Netherlands to read messages live.
Officers under surveillance observed men working in the sea containers almost everyday since mid-April. 6 men were arrested on suspicion of preparing kidnappings and serious assault.
In another story, Dutch police mention an investigation about a crypto communication service used by criminal networks which has led to the seizure of 8,000 kg of cocaine and 1,200 kg of crystal meth.
During the investigation, officers read 20 million messages live.
However, this stopped from 13 June as the communication service sent a push notification to its users advising them to throw away their phones immediately suspecting they had been infiltrated by a government agency.
Head of the National Criminal Investigation Service said that this was a true game-changer for investigations because they ‘now know better how they work’.
Reading this news story – we could agree it is a 911 emergency.
That means we all need to be aware what is going on in our world, even it does not directly have anything to do with us.
This is serious stuff and whilst police are discovering it now, we can take it that this underworld operation has been going on for a very long time.
Do they get their ideas from movies, as it seems too far out there for it to be happening in real life?
Can we even imagine the resources it takes to read through 20 million messages?
How ahead of the game are those who partake in this type of activity, in the name of drugs?
Drugs and everything related to it, including weapons are big business and they obviously have their own law locking up in prisons cells who they want. Torture chambers tell us this is not to be taken lightly in any way, as it is happening and is not just a threat to those who end up in these sea containers.
What we can say is they are on the front foot as it is all planned and worked out. On this particular case, they got found out and a few men were arrested. But let’s not be naïve as there will be a lot more who are not going to be investigated or arrested and so it will continue.
But let us stop for a moment and consider this – a repeat for Simple Living Global as we mention this over and over again in our drug related comments.
These gangs are in big business because we put them there.
In other words, we the public want our drugs and like all of our purchases we want good prices, discounts and on the cheap where we can get away with it. We are not interested how it gets to us or who is involved, where it is made, what trafficking routes it is taking or who gets arrested, abused, imprisoned, tortured or killed in the process. We just want the end product at our convenience, no questions asked, so we can enjoy the poison of our choice. The poison being the drug.
Let us not play dumb when we all know that these substances alter our natural state and are registered by our body as a poison.
We collectively could put the drug world suppliers out of business if we just stopped demanding them.
In other words, stopped seeking more and more drugs because we choose to.
But let’s be super honest – that is not going to happen overnight.
Whilst it is important for the public to hear news stories like this to alert us of what is going on, we ought to take note that our need for drugs is what is fuelling this underworld business.
Many of us go around thinking and blindly believing that a ‘certain type’ of person takes drugs and this is where we need a wake up call. The demand is super high and suppliers are working 24/7 to deliver the drugs to those that request them. It is here we ought to remember that many so-called ordinary people, general public we don’t even suspect are the consumers of illicit drugs.
As a world, we need to ask questions like WHY is the demand so high and getting higher?
HOW has it got to this point where a whole dark underworld operates under our very nose and we know little or nothing about what is actually going on?
Daily Mail – 18 July 2020
Knife crime has sky rocketed in the UK.
126 knife attacks everyday –
one attack using a blade or sharp weapon reported every 11 minutes.
The rise has led to calls for greater use of police stop and search tactics, more on the street police and a crackdown on social media promoting gang violence.
Are our calls being heard or are we on the back foot?
In other words are those who commit the crimes already onto the next thing while we try out our solutions to nail this modern-day plague.
Whether we believe the same as the police do, that the increase is partially driven by the spread of ‘county lines’ drug gangs is not up for question here.
Are we seeing more gang violence and knife attacks because our youth of today have no job prospects or real role models, or is there something more we have not yet considered or questioned?
It would be a wise move right now to read our forensic blogs on YOUTH.
They presents the facts and the stats and pose questions that we need to consider now and not dismiss, as this problem is not going to disappear overnight.
https://simplelivingglobal.com/international-youth-day/
https://simplelivingglobal.com/international-youth-day-2017/
It is clear that our youth are seriously in need of support. When will we accept that nothing thus far has worked and things are now escalating at a rate where we cannot get control and stamp it out?
Something is missing as this behaviour is not natural.
Do we need to ask more questions and get to the root cause of why any human harms another?
Abuse is abuse, regardless of the degree and level of abuse.
This means we need a world where we are free of abuse, even the small stuff that goes on in our everyday lives that we just put up with.
Is it this way of living that leads to real life role models?
Is this the reflection our youth of today need so that they can observe that it is possible to live another way?
The Guardian – 29 November 2020
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020/nov/29/one-in-five-older-people-in-the-uk-have-been-abused-poll-finds
Abuse of older people is at “unprecedented levels” according to a leading charity in the UK.
1 in 5 elderly people, over the age of 65 have been abused. This equates to 2.7 million victims across the country.
The World Health Organization estimates that globally 1 in 6 people age 60 and older experienced some form of abuse in the last year.
Richard Robinson – the CEO of Hourglass, formerly known as Action on Elder Abuse said that he was genuinely shocked with the findings and “although we have known for a long time that we live in a world prejudiced against older people, the results shows how widespread the issue is. These figures really shine a light on the true scale of the crisis.
Our polling shows that while people know that abuse of older people is a problem in the UK today, there is a complete disconnect between awareness of the issue and a true understanding of the role we all play in preventing abuse.”
In March, Hourglass warned that isolation and lockdown would act like a “pressure cooker” for the abuse of older people.
The charity has long suspected that the abuse of older people has been drastically under-reported to authorities.
Under lockdown conditions, older people lacked safeguards that would have previously existed through day to day contact with the outside world.
We all know that older people are vulnerable and generally unable to speak and express how they truly feel and what is worth noting in this report is that more than one third did not believe that “inappropriate sexual acts directed at older people” counted as abuse. Furthermore, 30% did not view “pushing, hitting or beating an older person” as abuse. 32% did not believe “taking precious items from an older relative’s home without asking” constituted abuse.
We could agree with Hourglass when they say that people have “conflicting views about what constitutes elder abuse.”
“…the truth is that a troubling proportion of those we surveyed do not actually see some very harmfull behaviours as abuse. If you do not think it is abuse to sexually assault an older person or to take money from their bank account without permission – and more than a third of people don’t – then you are far more likely to perpetuate the cycle of abuse. You are part of the problem” said Robinson.
WHY does the abuse of older people slip under the radar even though it is a significant problem?
What is going on for those that abuse another human and in this case a vulnerable elderly person?
Are they venting or releasing their own hurts, anger, frustrations or sexual desires?
Is there something at play that we are not yet aware of in the human psyche that makes a human being cause harm to another?
Is it time we started this line of questioning?
We have a 911 world emergency on our watch – so what are we going to do about it?
It is always easy to sit on the fence, hope it goes away or doesn’t happen to us but it is going on in our in our own homes, our neighbourhoods and our communities, so how can we ignore it?
When we are made aware of news like this, we cannot un-read or un-feel whatever we have read or felt.
Each and everyone of us have a responsibility and talking about the uncomfortable and disturbing forms of abuse that goes on with vulnerable people is needed if we are to ever bring a stop to this behaviour.
Dear World – this is a 911 and we all need to know about it and then talk about it.
Saying nothing continues the lies and the cover ups and keeps these atrocities under the radar.
Time to get our heads above the parapet, say it as it is and let research know that citizen journalism is as valid as to what they are doing and not any less.
Daily Mail – 13 March 2021
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9356797/Video-naked-young-RAF-recruit-initiation-ceremony-triggers-investigation.html
Some of us may not be aware that there is such a thing going on in our armed forces called “initiation rite”.
Those who join and are new go through some form of abuse and it has been known for a very long time that this actually goes on.
On that note – we now have news headlines and this is a 911 for us ALL to wake up and pay attention to. This is not something new but it has now reached the public awareness.
What has now come to light is a “shocking and sickening video” where a naked young recruit is being held down by other troops that were drunk and he is being sexually assaulted.
Did we know that initiation ceremonies were once a “staple of military life” and Defence chiefs have been working hard to stamp out bullying and this type of behaviour?
Without going into the graphic detail about this disturbing video, we ought to pay attention that alcohol is a big part of this. On that note – read our insightfull blog on this website called The Real Truth about Alcohol and then the 200+ comments and there will be no doubt that this legal scientifically proven poison alters our natural state.
https://simplelivingglobal.com/the-real-truth-about-alcohol/
We can choose to ignore this simple fact or we can bring it to our awareness that when we behave in an inhumane way – something changes us first and in this case it is alcohol. The more we consume the poison the more harmfull our behaviour seems to be.
Of course those that champion and endorse alcohol would be up in arms and disagree but if alcohol was great for our health, why do we have numerous studies telling us otherwise?
More to the point, WHY are we not listening to the Police and Emergency Department medical staff that deal with alcohol related incidents and see what they have to say?
We like to think that our Armed Forces are there to protect us and shield us from harm and yet individuals, like those mentioned in this news story, within the establishment are at “free will” to do what they want in their own time – off duty and somehow this is ok.
As some of us are waking us and asking why our world is as it is today, no doubt we will hear and see more videos like this exposing us to another 911, so we are no longer pretending or ignoring the horrors endured by some and inflicted by other fellow humans. Yes we harm our own species and that in itself requires a stop moment to ponder on. Unless we bring news like this to the public awareness, we will continue to be in the dark with our rose coloured spectacles on.
International Labour Organization – 11 June 2021
https://www.ilo.org/kathmandu/info/public/pr/WCMS_801338
Child Labour rises to 160 MILLION worldwide – an increase of 8.4 million children in the last 4 years, with millions more at risk, due to the impact of the pandemic, according to a new report by the ILO and UNICEF.
The International Labour Organization and UNICEF warn that the pandemic context may threaten Nepal’s progress in eradicating child labour.
Progress to end child labour has stalled for the first time in 20 years.
This report points to a significant rise in children age 5 to 11 years of age in child labour. They account for over half of the total global figure.
Children age 5 to 17 in hazardous work – defined as work that is likely to harm their health, physical safety and psychological wellbeing, has risen by 6.5 million to 79 million since 2016.
The report indicates that by 2022 (next year) an additional 9 million children are at risk of being pushed into child labour, as a result of the pandemic. A simulation model shows this number could rise to 46 million if there is no access to critical social protection coverage.
“These new estimates indicate that despite the increasing commitment and efforts by governments, the social partners and civil society to tackle child labour, the problem remains on a massive scale.
This situation represents an intolerable violation of the rights of individual children, it perpetuates poverty and it compromises economic growth and equitable development….” Says ILO Director for Nepal.
Enough said, there is more for the reader – click the link above for the ILO.
Dear World
We have another 911.
We could just be honest and say slavery exists today and it is deeply disturbing when it is happening to children.
This is happening all over the world and it sure is not going to stop as long as we, the consumers, those that want what these children work for, are making the demand.
Suppliers would not be able to employ cheap labour and exploit children if there was not business.
Before we get governments trying to fund solutions, which let’s face it have not ever worked yet because we keep seeing a rise in statistics like this news story, let’s wake up and look inside. That means each and every one of us is accountable when we want what we want for the cheap price, which often comes with a price tag, like slavery – in this case we can call it child labour.
It would be a wise move to do some research out there and see what our young children are doing for the economy, to meet the needs of those who demand goods and turn a blind eye to how it gets delivered. All types of industry are involved and way too many to mention as this is not what this comment is about.
It is high time we all started taking some responsibility for what is going on in our world. These kids have no voice, so we need to speak up and say it as it is. More of us need to be talking about this kind of news story as it is not just going to go away.
It is worth reading the blog once again and ALL the comments thereafter and realise we as a world are really not doing so great, considering we are supposedly the most intelligent species walking on this planet.
The Guardian.com – 29 July 2021
https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2021/jul/29/when-shame-kills-why-do-so-many-mothers-in-senegal-feel-forced-to-their-babies
Women in Senegal feel forced to murder their babies. They say that crushing social stigma, poverty and lack of traditional support systems had left them with no choice but to commit infanticide.
Mbeubeuss is one of the biggest rubbish tips in Africa and Senegal’s largest open cemetery for murdered babies.
The reasons given for the high rate of infanticide in Senegal are shame about pregnancy outside marriage and loss of traditional support for young women.
Religious conservatism, economic hardship, lack of access to contraception and sex education are leaving women in Senegal feeling isolated.
Women have been jailed for infanticide. “To have a child out of wedlock is serious and poorly viewed by society. Women who find themselves in this situation prefer to choke the baby than to suffer the pressure from society” says a deputy in Senegal’s national assembly.
In the past, girls would go into the sacred woods for up to 3 months and learn about menstruation and sexuality. The last of these mass ceremonies was in 1968. It is cited as a reason why women now have less control of their fertility.
How many of us are even aware of what goes on in our world – in another country?
A story here about a woman ends up forced to marry an older man, had 4 children and wanting to divorce means her children get taken away. She then ends up getting help in another town from a so-called religious leader who rapes her. She gives birth in a back street and then suffocates the baby and ends up in jail for 5 years. Today she lives hidden away from society in the forest.
There are many many stories similar to this going on in our world today and Africa is known for this. For those wanting to know more or need more evidence, a quick search online gives us plenty.
We have so many women in the world today desperate to have a baby and here we have the killing of new born babies. Nothing makes sense does it?
The bit that we could focus on is seeking support from a religious leader who rapes her and she gets pregnant. Before we jump on the bandwagon of sympathy or judgement or projecting our views and opinions – have we considered the following:
In our times of need, we turn to the religion and those that represent that, but what if this is not an isolated case at all?
Have we all heard about the 2021 Historical report from the Independent Commission on Sexual Abuse in the Church where 330,000 minors were victims since 1950? Yes our priests and others religious figures have committed sexual violence in France.
https://www.ciase.fr/medias/Ciase-Summary-of-the-Final-Report-5-october-2021.pdf
Time to wake up world and not just women – this is for everyone. We have a 911.
Our focus when we read a story like this takes us off in one direction but hidden in a tiny sentence is the fact that a religious leader raped a very vulnerable woman seeking his help.
Where is the religion in that and WHY do we have so much of this going on under the guise of “religion”, which for most represents safety, security and God?
Do we really believe or feel that there is a God that allows his people that represent him to carry out acts of evil through the word “religion”?
WHY are the masses seeking religion in times of need like this woman and then discover it is not what they had in mind about God?
What if this woman turns her back on God and humanity because of her lived experience that not even a religious leader can be trusted?
All questions worth considering here.
It would be wise to wake up, smell what is really going on in our world, before we utter a word about the grandness and greatness of our religions, when we have this going on all over the world.
Ignoring it or pretending what is going on, changes nothing. Talking about it in our everyday conversations brings it to the fore and above all we start to become aware.
BBC News – 9 August 2021
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-58154046
United States – Job vacancies has jumped by 590,000 as the country continues to face a labour shortage.
10.1 MILLION JOBS according to figures from the Labour Department.
This has happened as companies now struggle to find workers in sectors such as hospitality and leisure as the economy re-opens.
Unemployment at the start of the pandemic surged to 14.8% and now despite restrictions being eased, workers have not rushed back to jobs in the numbers expected.
The shortfall has been blamed on lack of affordable childcare, generous unemployment benefits and pandemic related retirements and career changes. Others say that too many low skilled jobs are being advertised and not enough suitable candidates.
Without getting into a crystal ball reading about the labour market recovering or what economists are predicting or any other future projections, let’s go for a reality check here.
THIS IS A 911 EMERGENCY
We have lost our work force and this will have devastating consequences that researchers may not yet have even considered to study. While we wait for them to hypothesise and analyse, can we get real and honest?
Could it be possible that our new lockdown movements got us out of our daily routine and rhythm – both needed to hold a steady foundation in daily life and we swapped it for comfort.. the stuff we indulge in because we can?
A bit like throwing the word Responsibility out of the window and having fun as if we are on holiday but it happens to be inside our home. We get a bit slack with getting things done around the house and we may end up watching even more TV or spending excess time scrolling social media and add to that the regular late nights – how can we then suddenly want to look for a full time job and get working again?
In comes our excuses and justifications of why and we listen to those thoughts fed to us telling us how awful our working life was and the job was not good money, etc., etc., and before we realise we are deep in the beliefs that staying home is the best for us all.
This is going on in our big nation so what about the rest of the world – all who have had similar experiences of being shut down by the authorities and told to stay in.
How are we spending our days and our nights and where did we stop and WHY?
To keep things moving in our world, we have all got a job to do and not taking up employment “because we can” removes us from the flow needed to keep us engaging in the world and not hiding behind the comfort of our homes.
What if by going back to work we meet colleagues that genuinely benefit from what we have to say or what we bring by way of our presence? In other words, we are reflecting something to another and staying away by not working, others miss out.
This is well worth considering.
DEA – United States Drug Enforcement Administration – 27 September 2021
https://www.dea.gov/press-releases/2021/09/27/dea-issues-public-safety-alert
The DEA issues a public safety alert on the sharp increase in fake prescription pills containing Fentanyl and Methamphetamine.
DEA warns that International and Domestic Criminal drug networks are flooding the United States with lethal counterfeit pills.
This is the first public safety alert in 6 years to raise public awareness of a significant nationwide surge in fake pills that are mass produced by criminal drug networks in labs, deceptively marketed as legitimate prescription pills and are killing unsuspecting Americans at an unprecedented rate.
Fake prescription pills are widely accessible and often sold on social media and e-commerce platforms – making them available to anyone with a smartphone, including minors.
These counterfeit pills have been seized by the DEA in every U.S. state in unprecedented quantities.
9.5 million counterfeit pills seized this year – more than the past 2 years combined.
DEA laboratory testing reveals at least 2 milligrams of fentanyl, which is considered a lethal dose and 2 out of every 5 fake pills with fentanyl contain a potentially lethal dose.
Note – A deadly dose of fentanyl is small enough to fit on the tip of a pencil.
The vast majority of counterfeit pills brought into the United States are produced in Mexico and China is supplying chemicals for the manufacturing of fentanyl in Mexico.
“The United States is facing an unprecedented crisis of overdose deaths fuelled by illegally manufactured fentanyl and methamphetamine. These counterfeit pills are dangerous and extremely addictive drugs and are more lethal than ever before.” DEA
The drug overdose crisis in the US is a serious public safety threat with rates currently reaching the highest level in history.
2020
93,000 died of a drug overdose in the United States
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Fentanyl, the synthetic opioid, most commonly found in fake pills, is the primary driver.
Drug poisonings involving methamphetamine, increasingly found to be pressed into counterfeit pills, also continue to rise as illegal pills containing methamphetamine become more widespread.
Drug trafficking is also inextricably linked to violence.
2,700 firearms seized linked to drug trafficking, which is a 30% increase since 2019.
Dear World
We have a 911 emergency.
This may be one nation reporting but we know it is going on all over the world.
There is no country free of illicit drugs today and yet we have allowed this to carry on.
Time to wake up and clock this report.
High time we started asking more questions.
Best time now to read The Real Truth about Amphetamines on this website as Meth is covered in detail.
https://simplelivingglobal.com/the-real-truth-about-amphetamines/
Whilst our authorities put effort into their mission to protect communities and enforce drug laws to bring to justice all those – foreign and domestic, responsible for sourcing, producing and distributing these counterfeit pills and all illicit drugs, what can we do?
Where is our personal individual responsibility?
Where are we watching things happening but saying and doing nothing?
Where are we contributing or enabling these activities to continue in our neighbourhood?
Why are we afraid to speak up and say it as it is when it comes to the drug world?
Why are so many of us caught up in our new modern pain killers that contain fentanyl?
If a deadly dose of fentanyl can fit on the tip of a pencil – what is that saying to us?
How serious is this and WHY and HOW has it got to this point?
What is the pain we are burying and not dealing with that leads to taking lethal drugs that do far more damage than we could comprehend?
WHY has our pain got so bad that we are looking for stronger and stronger doses of medication that can literally kill us?
WHY are so many unable to stop or make the movements to change direction when it comes to illegal drugs?
ALL these questions need to be asked if we are to ever see the tides turn and get on the front foot when it comes to our drug issues worldwide.
YES Dear World – this is real life and this is a BIG 911 call to ALL of us.
Medical Express – 27 May 2022
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2022-05-burnout-emergency-medicine-workers-high.html
BURNOUT in emergency medicine workers hits a new high.
The pandemic has caused a prolonged increase in workload and stress among specialists in many healthcare sectors and this has been particularly noticeable in emergency medicine. (EM)
A survey carried out by the European Society for Emergency Medicine (EUSEM) among EM professionals in 89 countries showed that 62% of the responders had at least one symptom of burnout syndrome and 31.2% had two.
Results from the survey were published in the European Journal of Emergency Medicine.
The paper shows that the chronic problems faced by EM specialists, such as understaffing, limited resources, overcrowding and lack of recognition have been greatly exacerbated by the pandemic.
41.4% reported having access to psychological support – face-to-face or at a distance.
Burnout in healthcare professionals may lead to alcohol and drug abuse and even suicide.
(PTSD) post-traumatic stress disorder is another common manifestation of burnout and this can have devastating long-term consequences for the individual.
Many of those affected by burnout were thinking of a career change and this was more prevalent among younger professionals than those who were older and more experience. This would necessarily lead to understaffing in the short term and would only make matters worse for those who remain.
EUSEM President Dr. Abdo Khoury from the Department of Emergency Medicine and Critical Care at Besancon University Hospital in France said “An EM worker who is overworked under stress will have a negative effect on patients too. Burnout can show itself in a distant or indifferent attitude to work, as well as reducing productivity and efficiency. It can lead to lower-quality care and an increase in medical errors.”
We now have “overwhelming evidence that medical professionals have unmet needs and these are growing exponentially. An important social determinant of health is the lack of exposure to stressful living conditions. It would be difficult to find a group of people who were more subjected to stress during the pandemic than EM specialists” say the paper’s authors.
Dear World
Have we considered the question as to WHY one of our most intelligent population in the caring profession are on Burnout?
WHY has years and years of studying which includes medical school not prepared them for human life and how to live under stress in a highly demanding job and workplace environment?
Where have we failed as a society and not made the demand?
Is this something we need to put at the top of any training and any profession so we never need to get to the point of burnout?
It makes no sense that those we the general public go to for help to those that know more than we do about our body, when it comes to medical – are facing burnout.
What if our body starts to break down by the time it reaches burnout and so as a professional we may end up having a ‘blind spot’ and not being able to diagnose another with a similar condition. Possible?
Are we ready to admit we have a 911?
Read this whole blog again AND thereafter every comment and there will be no doubt – our world is in a constant 911 state of emergency now.
UPI News – 1 July 2022
https://www.upi.com/Health_News/2022/07/01/fireworks-injuries-deaths/8671656683864/
4th July in the United States often include dazzling fireworks but these holiday pyrotechnics are causing a growing number of injuries and deaths.
There has been a rise of 25% over the past 15 years in fireworks-related injuries and deaths in the U.S. according to the United States Consumer Product Safety Commission.
The majority of the fireworks-related deaths were associated with firework mis-use.
In 2020, there were 15,600 injuries because many public fireworks displays were cancelled because of the pandemic and lockdown.
75% of the total estimated fireworks-related injuries in 2021 occurred between June 18 and July 18. The age group with the most injuries were young adults ages 20 to 24.
1,500 of the Emergency Department visits involved firecracker injuries and another 1,100 involved sparklers.
33% of injuries were burns.
Hands, fingers, head, face and ears were the most injured body parts.
Devices were less safe than expected.
31% of those selected and tested containing non-compliant components, including fuse violations, the presence of prohibited chemicals and pyrotechnic materials overload.
Dear World
If researchers could talk to each and everyone that attended the Emergency room and asked – what is the purpose and is it worth it?
WHY have we got a man-made device containing gunpowder and other combustible chemicals which create an explosion when ignited just simply for the pleasure and display that is over in a few seconds?
Are those that subscribe to ‘saving the environment and the planet’ the same who want the fireworks for their celebrations?
Everything matters even if it does not suit our narrative or lifestyle.
Having zero health benefits but a danger to those that mis-use and end up in the emergency room is a burden on our health system which could easily be avoided.
This means we have to ask – WHY we want this type of distraction when it turns out to be a 911?
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention – 29 July 2022
https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/71/wr/mm7130a1.htm
Teenagers aged 14 to 17 – suicide and homicide are the 2nd and 3rd leading causes of death, respectively. Most youth homicides result from firearm injuries.
Firearms are the most common method of youth suicide.
1 in 15 boys reported carrying a gun for non-recreational purposes in the last 12 months.
1 in 50 female high school students reported carrying a gun for non-recreational purposes at least once during the preceding 12 months. Gun carrying was more prevalent among those who experienced violence, suicidal ideation or attempts or substance abuse. For example, gun carrying among males and females was more prevalent among those who had been threatened or injured with a weapon on school property (25.9% and 11.2% respectively) than it was among those who had not (5.2% and 1.3% respectively).
The Adjusted Prevalence Ratios (aPRs) for All 10 violence-related experiences, included fighting, bullying, dating violence, missing school because of safety concerns and sexual violence were significant.
Dear World
We have yet another 911.
UPI Health News – 30 August 2022
Abusive infant head trauma in France.
Researchers found a marked increase in the incidence and severity of abusive head trauma in infants from 2020 to 2021, during the pandemic’s first 2 years, in the Paris metropolitan area compared with the pre-pandemic period from 2017 to 2019.
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2795760
The incidence of abusive head trauma in babies under a year old – the most severe form of child abuse and neglect – increased 2.5 times from July to December 2021.
Babies in the study had faced one or more subdural hemorrhages – bleeding between the brain and skull from severe head injury. Abusive head trauma was assessed by a multi-disciplinary evaluation after a social, clinical, biological and radiological workup.
13 of the 99 infants with abusive head trauma died.
Among babies with median age of 4 months –
86 had bridging vein thrombosis
74 had retinal hemorrhages
23 had fractures
20 had skin injuries
53 had to undergo neurosurgery
26 had status epilepticus
(seizure lasting longer than 5 minutes or having multiple seizures within a 5 minute period without returning to a normal level of consciousness between episodes).
The researchers said that measures taken to contain the pandemic “deteriorated the psychosocial situation of adults, increased the periods where parents or guardians were at home for a prolonged time with their children and reduced the intensity of prevention and early detection programs” for child abuse and neglect.
According to the researchers, abusive head trauma is the most frequent cause of traumatic death in infants in high income countries. If babies survive, they face “microcephaly, epilepsy, motor and visual deficiencies, language disorders, intellectual disability and behavioural abnormalities, leading to severe lifelong disabilities.
Dear World
This is a 911.
How have we got to the point where regardless of our personal situation and the lockdown measures, we end up with such horrific crimes to the most vulnerable – babies that do not walk or even talk, yet are at the receiving end of abuse to the point where it can leave them with lifelong problems and in some cases face death when they have only just been born and are not even a year old?
What gets into a parent or guardian that then abuses a baby?
We have to explore every line of questioning and asking where on earth is this outer force coming from BECAUSE we ALL know that we as humans in our right minds are simply not capable of ever harming a baby. FACT.
American College of Emergency Physicians – 22 September 2022
https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2022/09/22/2521202/0/en/Poll-Increasing-Violence-in-Emergency-Departments-Contributes-to-Physician-Burnout-and-Impacts-Patient-Care.html
Violence in U.S. Emergency Departments is increasing.
80% emergency physicians say the rate of violence experienced in emergency departments has increased.
45% say it has greatly increased over the past 5 years.
89% emergency physicians agree that violence in the emergency department has adversely impacted patient care.
Over the past 5 years, emergency physicians have witnessed and experienced a steady increase in assaults which were made worse by the pandemic.
The 2022 poll updated findings from 2018 and shows that the frequency of violence in emergency departments is increasing with 66% of emergency physicians reporting being assaulted in the past year.
33% say they have been assaulted more than once.
Dr. Chris Kang, president of ACEP says “in addition to physical risks, the persistent threat of violence detracts from patient care and contributes significantly to emergency physicians’ mental health challenges and burnout.”
87% of emergency physicians report a loss of productivity because of violence.
85% report emotional trauma and an increase in anxiety because of violence.
66% of emergency physicians say that Covid-19 has increased the amount of violence in emergency departments.
69% of emergency physicians say that covid-19 has decreased the level of trust between patient and physicians or emergency department staff.
“As emergency departments are no longer respected as safe zones, inadequate protections for emergency medical professionals and staff, and patients combined with insufficient accountability from hospitals, communities and assailants can only encourage violence to continue. We must do more to make sure that physicians and staff can perform their duties without needing to worry about threats to their safety and wellbeing,” said Dr. Kang.
Dear World
This is another 911 for the record.
What has this Covid-19 virus done to our common decency and respect that is no longer our basic 101 standard?
Can we blame the virus, the pandemic or the lockdown or is it time to look at our own personal and individual behaviours so we can knock out our ‘random’ venting and violence towards others and in this case, our workforce that takes care of us when we need them – the medical professionals?
WHY is the whole world not up in arms and doing something about this?
WHY are we even accepting this level of harm towards those that have studied and worked hard to be there for us in an emergency health situation?
It makes no sense and we are ALL responsible for sitting back, reading it and doing nothing.
This type of news needs to be front page headlines and everyone needs to be talking about it and making sure it stops. Easier said than done we may say sitting in our overwhelm state but if we do not talk then we are part of the bigger problem.
Our world and the current mess we are in is because we stand by, do nothing, say nothing and accept things as they are.
It is high time we wake up to all the 911 calls made in this article, alerting us to no longer stay in our sleeping state, when so much harm is going on under our nose.
JAMA Network Open – 22 December 2022
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2799859
A new study compared risks of firearm related death and injury among young adult males in selected US cities with wartime service in Iraq and Afghanistan.
This cross-sectional study of 129,826 young adult men living in Chicago, Philadelphia, New York City and Los Angeles in 2020 and 2021 found that young adult males from zip codes with the most violence in Chicago and Philadelphia had a notably higher risk of firearm-related death than US military personnel who served during the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, while the most violent areas in New York City and Los Angeles were associated with less risk for young adult males than these theatres of war. In all zip codes studied, risks were overwhelmingly borne by young adult males from minoritized racial and ethnic groups.
This means that the study’s finding that young adult males of minoritized racial and ethnic groups in parts of major US cities faced greater firearm-related risks at home than did soldiers at war. This calls for an urgent response that emphasises violence reduction and trauma–informed interventions.
Abstract
2020 – homicides in the United States saw a record single year increase, with firearm injuries becoming the leading cause of death for children, adolescents and young adults. It is critical to understand the magnitude of this crisis to formulate an effective response.
Conclusions
In this cross-sectional study, the population of young adult males in the most violent areas of two of the cities studied face higher mortality risk from firearm related deaths than US soldiers faced serving in a combat zone during the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, including in a heavily engaged frontline unit.
Dear World
We have Another 911 that most of us may not be aware of.
University of Missouri, School of Medicine – 12 January 2023
https://medicine.missouri.edu/news/firearm-deaths-and-injuries-involving-children-increase-during-pandemic
Previous studies have examined the link between the pandemic and increased fire on injuries among adults, but few studies have evaluated the impact on children.
A new study conducted at St. Louis Children’s Hospital and retrospectively reviewed paediatric firearm injuries before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic from March 2015 to February 2020 and compared the data to injuries that happened during the pandemic from March 2020 through to March 2022. The study found a significant increase in paediatric firearm injury rates during the pandemic compared to in the 5 preceding years.
“The escalation in injuries was driven by a significant increase in firearm assaults and homicides as well as increased frequency of innocent children injured as bystanders amidst adult crime “said lead author Mary Bernadin M.D., assistant professor of clinical emergency medicine and paediatric emergency medicine.
“While black children were the most frequently victimised both prior to and during the pandemic, there was a significant increase in black victims during the pandemic relative to other races. The proportion of victims having Medicaid or self-pay insurance status also significantly increased during the pandemic.” said Bernadin.
The author also stated another particularly noteworthy trend that is revealed by the findings of three spikes in monthly paediatric firearm assault/homicide rates during the pandemic, each happening within three months of a surge in COVID-19 deaths.
Dear World
We have yet another 911 which most of us will not be aware of.
Head and Neck Cancer Alliance
2023 Oral, Head and Neck Cancer Awareness Fact Sheet
https://headandneck.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/2023-OHANCAW-Fact-Sheet.pdf
Oral, Head & Neck Cancer Awareness Week 16 – 23 April 2023
Awareness days have a purpose to post on social media and the founder of Simple Living Global has been taking action since 2017 reporting daily on topics that humanity need to be aware of.
Where there is more to report, we do our best to bring awareness by way of posting a comment.
We are not short of content and at times it is appropriate to post on 2 of our articles as it is for the following comment.
Many of us may not be aware of the facts.
Did we know that in 2022, around 650,000 people were affected by head and neck cancer worldwide, with 330,000 deaths. In the United States alone, there will be 65,000 new diagnoses made, with 14,600 deaths.
Cancers of the Oropharynx, (tonsil and base of tongue) are increasing in incidence in Europe and North America, particularly among young non-smokers, due in large part to infection with human papilloma-virus (HPV).
Of the cases of head and neck cancer diagnosed in the United States, it is estimated that nearly 70% will be attributed to HPV infection.
31% head and neck cancer cases attributable to HPV in Europe
17.5% in Asia
Tobacco and Alcohol are very strong risk factors for oral, head and neck cancer, particularly those of the tongue, mouth, throat and voice box. Those who use both tobacco and alcohol are at greater risk for developing these cancers than people who use either tobacco or alcohol alone.
Researchers have correlated the rising incidence of head and neck cancer, particularly throat cancer, in young adults, a group traditionally at low risk to the human papilloma-virus (HPV).
HPV is a potentially cancer-causing virus that can be transmitted through oral sex.
NHS fact sheet tells us HPV can spread from any skin to skin contact of the genital area,, vaginal, anal or oral sex and sharing sex toys. HPV has no symptoms and is very common.
https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/human-papilloma-virus-hpv/
Many studies support that oropharyngeal cancers – those affecting the tonsils, back of the mouth (throat) and base of the tongue have been on the rise since the mid-1980s and currently 50-70% of these cases are caused by HPV infections.
2018
HPV-related throat cancer surpassed cervical cancer as the most common HPV-related cancer in the United States.
Let’s join the dots and keep it simple.
Dear World
WE HAVE A 911
Our young adults all over the world are engaging in oral forms of sexual activity that gives rise to cancers that affect the tonsils, back of the mouth and base of tongue. Whilst we may want to continue to dismiss the facts, it is not suddenly going to disappear.
Europe and North America have the statistics confirming that young non-smokers (not a group associated with these types of cancers) are getting cancer and if we join the dots and read up what HPV actually is, we can be certain it is because of oral, vaginal, and anal sex. Add to that sharing sex toys.
Society does not want to go there or ever admit how prevalent this has now become.
If our health systems do not alert us and warn us then chances are this type of information remains under the radar, so to speak.
There is a form of reductionism when we tell the public that it is very common and most people have no problems with this virus. For those seeking comfort for their irresponsible sexual behaviour they will find the wording and take it as a certainty that they will be ok as the website informed them. But what if this leads to even more irresponsible behaviour with oral sexual activity and perhaps multiple sexual partners and this inevitably will give rise to cancers that were once very rare in young adults?
We have become immune and complacent about so many diseases that could easily be eradicated. We call them lifestyle choices.
In the name of pleasure, we go about doing what we want without ever considering the consequences. If and when things do go wrong, we have a health system that will fix us, mend us and we may learn or we may just go back to the very ill behaviour that created the disease in the first place.
If we look at Alcohol and Tobacco – how many more research studies do we need to admit that they are poisons and not for human consumption? However, for those that know, it is not that simple to give up something that we have become addicted to. Very few want to get to the root cause of WHY they went down the road of Alcohol, Tobacco or both and so we continue and our body cops it and then communicates it back to us with some form of illness and disease.
We know this is true and yet we continue down the ill road, with no stop in sight until something happens.
WHY is it that we wait and nothing – no news, no awareness days and no real life stories are able to stop us in our track? Worth considering.
The Guardian – 5 October 2023
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/oct/05/children-deaths-guns-rising
87% increase in gun-related deaths over the past decade of children in the United States.
Data shows firearm fatalities are the leading cause of accidental death in children, while poisonings have also risen in the past decade.
The study noted the recent trends in paediatric injury-related fatalities are alarming, with increases in homicides, suicides and poisonings in the past decade.
https://publications.aap.org/pediatrics/article-abstract/152/5/e2023063411/194344/Trends-in-Pediatric-Nonfatal-and-Fatal-Injuries
The pandemic exacerbated numerous factors underlying this disturbing trend, including access to lethal means, such as firearms and opioids, the mental health crisis and structural racism.
Co-author of the study, Dr. Rebeka Mannix said the increase in deaths in 2020 to 2021 is an amplified trend that has been creeping up for the last decade.
There have been 500 mass shootings in the U.S. so far in 2023, a rate of more than one a day.
2,279 firearm homicides were recorded in 2021 victimising children and teenagers ages 1 to 18, twice the number of deaths recorded a decade earlier.
More homicides and suicides involving children were recorded in 2021 than in any year since 1999.
States with the weakest gun safety laws had a 39% increase in gun suicide rates over the past 2 decades.
Half of suicides among children ages 10 to 17 old involve firearms.
4.5 million children in the U.S. live in homes where at least one gun is loaded and not properly secured.
Dear World
This is a 911
Have we stopped to ask WHY would a child aged 10 suicide be using a firearm?
Can it get any more serious?
British Medical Journal – 31 May 2024
https://www.bmj.com/company/newsroom/tobacco-funded-research-still-appearing-in-top-medical-journals/
TOBACCO FUNDED RESEARCH STILL APPEARING IN TOP MEDICAL JOURNALS
Tobacco-funded research is still appearing in highly-cited medical journals – despite attempts by some to cut ties altogether, according to an Investigation.
Tobacco companies are investing billions in pharmaceutical and medical products.
https://www.bmj.com/content/385/bmj.q1153
Although the tobacco industry has a long history of subverting science, most leading medical journals do not have policies which ban research wholly or partly funded by the industry.
Even when publishers, authors and universities are willing to restrict industry ties, they struggle to identify funding sources because Tobacco companies have funded front groups and have diversified into pharmaceutical and health technology fields.
These investments include treatments for conditions caused or aggravated by smoking, such as Lung Cancer, Heart Disease and Asthma.
These ties complicate ongoing work of researchers, scientific organisations and journals to distance themselves from the industry and has led to calls for journals to not only institute bans on research by Tobacco companies but also on their subsidiaries.
The Investigative Desk and the BMJ searched the PubMed database and found hundreds of relationships between Big Tobacco’s medical and pharmaceutical subsidiaries and medical research.
Tobacco policies were checked of 10 leading general medical journals and 10 journals in each of the 3 therapeutic areas especially affected by smoking.
Of those 40 journals, only 20% had policies prohibiting studies partly or wholly funded by the Tobacco industry.
10 journals in the field of Respiratory Medicine.
6 had a tobacco policy but in Oncology only one did and None in Cardiology.
Among the 10 general medicine journals, only the BMJ had such a policy.
Even with the journals that have a policy, enforcement can be difficult when it involves subsidiaries or organisations associated with Tobacco companies.
Last year the BMJ retracted a paper after it became clear that the listed funder receives sponsorship from a group supported and fully funded by one of the Big Tobacco companies.
“Institutions, professionals and scientific journals should refuse involvement with the Tobacco industry.
Anyone who understands the history, extent and nature of the epidemic and the Tobacco industry’s strategic efforts to divide the public health community knows that industry money should be rejected.”
Professor Ruth Malone – University of California
“Given the industry’s ‘long-standing history of dishonesty’ it is ‘very straightforward’ that researchers should cut ties to companies after they are acquired by Big Tobacco, as otherwise they would be ‘working with the Tobacco industry’ and contribute to their profits.”
Professor Nicholas Hopkinson – Imperial College London
The BMJ has updated its 2013 policy.
In addition to excluding research funded by the Tobacco industry, BMJ journals will also exclude work where authors have personal financial ties to the Tobacco industry.
The Guardian – 23 August 2024
https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/article/2024/aug/23/five-children-killed-injured-week-haiti-gang-warfare
5 CHILDREN A WEEK KILLED OR INJURED IN HAITI GANG WARFARE
Analysis of UN data shows RISING toll on children who are being caught in the crossfire and also recruited to kidnap, loot and murder.
131 children have been killed or injured this year.
47% RISE on the final 6 months of 2023.
Most were hit by stray bullets when armed gangs launched machine gun assaults on their neighbourhood or battled with other armed groups and the police in the streets.
Entire neighbourhoods have been burned, kidnappings and sexual assaults are rampant and children are being directly targeted or caught in the crossfire.
Armed gangs control 80% of the capital of Haiti – Port-au-Prince.
Haiti’s deep and rampant poverty makes it easy to convince children to take up arms or work as informants.
1 in 2 children going hungry and schools often closed, the offer of regular food can be sufficient.
“There’s a lot of young boys and a lot of girls too, that are joining the gangs for security but also because they don’t have any opportunities.”
Cassandre Regnier – Programme Director at Summits Education