FOUR SIGNS YOU'RE SLEEP-DEPRIVED:

According the magazine "Prevention", you can become so used to being sleep-deprived, you don't even notice how much it's affecting you on a daily basis. 

And sleeping in on the weekends won't fix it.

And even if you get seven or eight hours of sleep a night STARTING NOW, it might still take a few WEEKS before you're completely caught up on sleep.  Here are four signs you need to make sleep a bigger priority . . .

#1.)  YOU HAVE TROUBLE MAKING SIMPLE DECISIONS.  When you're tired, it's harder for your brain to tell the difference between what's important and what's not.  So you have to think about EVERY DECISION a little bit longer.

#2.)  YOU EAT AND EAT, BUT YOU'RE STILL HUNGRY.  Chronic sleep loss can mess with your blood sugar and make your body produce less leptin . . . which is a hormone that curbs your appetite.

nd lack of sleep also makes you produce MORE ghrelin (--pronounced grellin).  It's a hormone that makes you hungrier.

#3.)  YOU KEEP GETTING SICK.  Researchers injected two groups of healthy volunteers with a cold virus:  One group had gotten at least eight hours of sleep a night for the last week, and the other group had gotten less than seven hours a night.

In the end, THREE TIMES as many sleep-deprived people got sick.

#4.)  YOU'VE BEEN EXTREMELY EMOTIONAL.  In one study, volunteers skipped one night of sleep, then looked at disturbing images while researchers monitored their brain waves.

On no sleep, they had 60% more activity than normal in a part of the brain called the amygdala (--pronounced ah-MIG-da-la), which helps process fear and anxiety. 

(Prevention.com)

Man Accused In Bow And Arrow Attack On Friend

MCDONOUGH, Ga. -- A man wanted in a violent attack in Ohio has surrendered in Georgia, police said.

Police said 57-year-old Harvey Spivey used a bow and arrow to shoot another man near Cincinnati.

Officials said Spivey had been on the run since Monday. Police said Tuesday night, Spivey told a farmer in McDonough about the attack and said he wanted to turn himself in.

Police investigators said 50-year old Doug Stacey was shot twice in the back and once in one of his hands. Officials said Stacey had let his friend, Spivey, stay with him for a couple of days, but had kicked him out on Monday.

Stacey told officials that Spivey returned with the bow and arrow and shot him while he was sleeping.

The 50-year-old victim had an arrow lodged close to his spine and suffered a collapsed lung.

“He had me bawling…just scared me to death. I didn’t know if he was going to live or not,” said Stacey’s sister, Sandra Charles.

Stacey is recovering.

Spivey will likely face attempted murder charges once authorities return him to Ohio, police said.

 

Police: Couple broke in to 'make out'

KEY LARGO, Fla -- A Florida couple arrested for allegedly breaking into a home told officers they were looking for a place to "make out," police said. Becky Herrin, spokeswoman for the Monroe County Sheriff's Office, said a neighbor of the vacant Key Largo home called 911 just after 9 p.m. Sunday to report two people breaking into the house, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported Tuesday. Herrin said deputies arrived to find a broken window, the door unlocked and Adrian Alonso and Iliu Gonzalez lying on the floor of the home. The couple told police they broke in to "make out." They were arrested and charged with criminal mischief.

Electronic sign hacked, gives rude message

SEATTLE -- An electronic roadside information sign in Seattle was hacked to display the message "eat my shorts," authorities said. "For us in Seattle, it's very rare," Rick Sheridan of the Seattle Department of Transportation said. "All the devices are locked with either a key lock or padlock so they're physically secured." It's unclear when the sign was hacked but a crew member from the SDOT re-coded the sign Sunday, removing the temporary source of amusement for West Seattle residents, KCPQ-TV, Tacoma, Wash., reported Monday. "I just thought it was absurd," Geoffrey Garza said. "What was funny about it is, at first I was like, of course that's what it should say, than I was like wait, that traffic sign just told me to 'eat my shorts' and I just loved it, it's very comical." Hackers trade instructions online on how to break into and alter the instruction coding, KCPQ said, and though they may be intelligent they are committing a crime, carrying with it a possible felony conviction and nasty fine.

Happiness costs $75,000/yr. in U.S.

PRINCETON, N.J. -- Money can indeed buy happiness and it costs $75,000 a year for U.S. adults, researchers found.  Angus Deaton and Daniel Kahneman, both of Princeton University, analyzed more 450,000 responses to a daily survey -- from the Gallup Organization and the Healthways Corp. -- of 1,000 randomly selected U.S. residents and found life evaluation rose steadily with annual income, but the respondents' everyday experiences did not improve beyond approximately $75,000 a year. The study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, found as income dropped from $75,000, respondents reported decreasing happiness and increasing sadness and stress. Emotional well being refers to the emotional quality of a person's daily life and is assessed by the respondents' report of the time spent in positive and negative emotional states the previous day. Life evaluation refers to a person's thoughts about his or her life and is assessed by a rating scale of zero to 10. "We conclude that lack of money brings both emotional misery and low life evaluation; similar results were found for anger," the study authors said in a statement. "Beyond $75,000 in the contemporary United States, however, higher income is neither the road to experienced happiness nor the road to the relief of unhappiness or stress, although higher income continues to improve individuals' life evaluations."

Deaton and Kahneman said the data suggest that the pain of life's misfortunes, including disease, divorce and being alone is exacerbated by poverty.

Non-stick cookware linked to cholesterol

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. -- Chemicals used in the production of non-stick cookware and waterproof fabrics appear more likely to have elevated cholesterol levels, U.S. researchers say. Stephanie J. Frisbee of West Virginia University School of Medicine in Morgantown and colleagues assessed serum lipid levels in 12,476 children and adolescents -- average age 11.1 -- included in the C8 Health Project, which resulted from the settlement of a class-action lawsuit regarding perfluorooctanoic acid contamination. Perfluoroalkyl acids -- including perfluorooctanoic acid and perfluorooctanesulfonate -- are found in drinking water, dust, food packaging, breast milk, cord blood, microwave popcorn, air and occupational exposure. Perfluoroalkyl acids are used in the manufacture of fluoropolymers, which give non-stick heat resistance to cookware and waterproof fabrics and upholstery. The children and teens submitted blood samples in 2005 and 2006. Among the participants, perfluorooctanoic acid was found in 29.3 nanograms per milliliter compared to a national survey of 3.9 nanograms per milliliter, but perfluorooctanesulfonate concentrations were similar -- 19.1 nanograms per milliliter vs. 19.3 nanograms per milliliter. After factoring for other variables, higher perfluorooctanoic acid levels were linked to increased total cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein, or "bad" cholesterol, and perfluorooctanesulfonate was associated with increased total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol and HDL or "good" cholesterol. The findings are published in the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine.

     
22-year-old Gary Williamson convinced his girlfriend and another woman to play “Strip Monopoly”. The rules are pretty simple: Lose an article of clothing anytime you land on another person’s property. But the game got complicated when all three players were naked, and the “other woman” started to flirt with Gary. It turned into a full blown brawl, with Gary allegedly assaulting both the woman and his girlfriend.

Korean Woman (Named ‘Vehicle’) Fails DMV Test 959 Times

(SINCHON, SOUTH KOREA) After trying to pass the drivers’ exam 959 times, Cha Sa-soon finally passed. The 69-year-old driver has become a national celebrity. She even has a brand new Hyundai to drive. She’s become the unlikely spokesperson for the

carmaker, starring in a TV commercial. Ironically, her name is Korean for “vehicle”.

     
Starting 5 years ago, “Grandma Cha Sa-soon” visited the DMV on a daily basis and took the written drivers’ test. She failed every time. Eventually, she got discouraged and went to the DMV only 3 times per week. A government employee at the DMV says (quote) “We didn’t have the heart to tell her to quit. So she kept showing up here every morning. When she finally got her license, we all went out in cheers and hugged her, giving her flowers. It felt like a huge burden falling off our back.”

Domino’s Employee Had Phone Sex While Still Making Pizzas

(VALLEY STATION, KENTUCKY) An employee at Domino’s Pizza has been fired for having phone sex while on the job. Even worse, he used the stolen credit card number of a customer to pay for the phone sex. He racked up a charge of $298.

     
The sex char company has records to show the call was made only 15 minutes after the woman ordered a pizza from Domino’s. The pizza place can’t apologize enough, though they’ve tried. She says (quote) “So while this was going on -- the sex line phone call – they’re making food for people. Very gross.” Meanwhile, the phone sex operator has agreed to waive the charge on the woman’s credit card.