” Most breast cancers are found in women who are 50 years old or older.  Women who have inherited changes (mutations) to certain genes, such as BRCA1 and BRCA2, are at higher risk of breast and ovarian cancer.  Some women will get breast cancer even without any other risk factors that they know of. Having a risk factor does not mean you will get the disease, and not all risk factors have the same effect. Most women have some risk factors, but most women do not get breast cancer.  You may want to change the risk factors you can change that you have like immobile or obese to prevent breast cancer from happening.”

Centers For Disease Control and Prevention CDC.gov

“Breast cancer is a type of cancer that starts in the breast. It can start in one or both breasts. Breast cancer occurs almost entirely in women, but men can get breast cancer, too. It’s important to understand that most breast lumps are benign and not cancer (malignant).Breast cancers can start from different parts of the breast. If cancer cells have spread to your lymph nodes, there is a higher chance that the cells could have traveled through the lymph system and spread (metastasized) to other parts of your body.  There are many types of breast cancer, and many different ways to describe them. It’s easy to get confused; learn them.”

American Cancer Society (https://www.cancer.org)

“AN ESTIMATED 236,740 PEOPLE will be diagnosed with lung cancer in 2022 in the U.S.  1 IN 16 PEOPLE will be diagnosed with lung cancer in their lifetime – 1 in 15 men, and 1 in 17 women.  LUNG CANCER kills almost 3 TIMES as many men as prostate cancer. LUNG CANCER kills almost 3 times as many women as breast cancer. Approximately 130,180 AMERICAN LIVES are lost annually.  541,000 PEOPLE IN THE U.S. TODAY have been diagnosed with lung cancer at some point in their lives. THERE IS HOPE. The number of new lung cancer diagnoses are declining steadily. From 2009-2018, the incidence rate decreased by 2.8% per year in men and 1.4% per year in women. Lung cancer deaths have been cut in more than half for men and by a third for women.”

Lung Cancer Research Foundation (https://www.lungcancerresearchfoundation.org/lung-cancer-facts/)

“Down syndrome is a condition in which a person has an extra chromosome. Chromosomes are small “packages” of genes in the body. They determine how a baby’s body forms and functions as it grows during pregnancy and after birth. Typically, a baby is born with 46 chromosomes. Babies with Down syndrome have an extra copy of one of these chromosomes, chromosome 21. A medical term for having an extra copy of a chromosome is ‘trisomy.’ Down syndrome is also referred to as Trisomy 21.   Most important, to know is even though people with Down syndrome might act and look similar, each person has different abilities. Down syndrome remains the most common chromosomal condition diagnosed in the United States. Each year, about 6,000 babies born in the United States have Down syndrome. This means that Down syndrome occurs in about 1 in every 700 babies“.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention – CDC

“While eczema and psoriasis are both somewhat common, according to the University of Pennsylvania Medical School, eczema is about four times more common (with eczema affecting 32 million people and psoriasis affecting 7.2 million). It is also possible to have both conditions but that’s relatively uncommon. One study found that just 1.4% of children with eczema also had psoriasis.

There are also different types of psoriasis and eczema and some are more common than others. Plaque psoriasis is the most common type of psoriasis while atopic dermatitis is the most common type of eczema. Contact dermatitis is another form of eczema which is quite common, but not as prevalent as atopic eczema.

Both eczema and psoriasis can affect people of all ages, but eczema typically first appears in babies and children, while psoriasis tends to manifest later, often between the ages of 15 and 35. “.

National Eczema Association

“Exploding head syndrome (EHS) is a type of sleep disorder in which you hear a loud noise or explosive crashing sound in your head. The sound isn’t real or heard by anyone else. The episode typically happens suddenly either when you’re beginning to fall asleep or when you wake up during the night.

Along with the loud sound, EHS can occur along with flashes of light and muscle jerks (myoclonic jerks). Unlike its painful-sounding name, the episode is painless.”

Cleveland Clinic (https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/exploding-head-syndrome-ehs)

What you need to know about sleep:

You’re tired. You could put your head down on a desk right now and fall asleep immediately. You went to bed late last night, had trouble falling asleep and woke up too early. And let’s not kid ourselves: Tonight will be the same unless … well, read on.

This is the classic not-so-shut-eye experience of many Americans who think they are sleep-deprived and possibly need pills or other treatment to fix their insomnia, teeth grinding, jet lag, restless or jerky legs, snoring, sleepwalking and so forth.

Reality is quite different.

For instance, insomnia is said to be the most common sleep disorder, but these dissatisfying sleep experiences only get in the way of daily activities for 10 percent of us, according to the National Institutes of Health. And in almost half of those cases, the real underlying problem is illness (often mental) or the effects of a substance, like coffee or medication.

Here are five recent findings that might help you rest easier:

1. We sleep better than we think we do

For most of us, sleep deprivation is a myth. We’re not zombies. The non-profit National Sleep Foundation (which takes money from the sleep-aid industry, including drug companies that make sleeping pills) says the average U.S. resident gets 7 hours a night and that’s not enough, but a University of Maryland study earlier this year shows we typically get 8 hours and are doing fine. In fact, Americans get just as much sleep nowadays as they did 40 years ago, the study found.

2. We need less sleep as we age

We’ll die without sleep. The details are sketchy, but research suggests it’s a time when we restore vital biological processes and also sort and cement memories. Last year, the World Health Organization determined that nightshift work, which can lead to sleep troubles, is a probable human carcinogen. On the upside, the latest research suggests we need less of it as we get older.

3. You can sleep like a baby (or Thomas Edison)

Multiple, shorter sleep sessions nightly, rather than one long one, are an option. So-called polyphasic sleep is seen in babies, the elderly and other animals (and Thomas Edison reportedly slept this way). For the rest of us, it is more realistic and healthy to sleep at night as best we can and then take naps as needed. EEGs show that we are biphasic sleepers with two alertness dips — one at night time and one mid-day. So talk to HR about setting up a nap room, like they have for NASA’s Phoenix mission team members.

4. Animals exhibit a range of sleep habits

The three-toed sloth sleeps 9.6 hours nightly. But newborn dolphins and killer whales can forgo sleeping for their entire first month. However, the latter extreme is not recommended for humans. We grow irritable and lose our ability to focus and make decisions after even one night of missed sleep, and that can lead to serious accidents driving and using other machinery.

5. Get used to being tired, hit the desk

The bottom line is that a good night’s sleep is within the reach of most of us if we follow common-sense guidelines for sleep hygiene:

• Go to bed at the same time nightly.
• Set aside enough time to hit that golden 7 hours of sleep.
• Refrain from caffeine, heavy or spicy foods, and alcohol and other optional medications that might keep you awake, four to six hours before bed-time.
• Have a pre-sleep routine so you wind down before you hop in.
• Block out distracting lights and noises.
• Only engage in sleep and sex in bed (no TV-watching, reading or eating).
• Exercise regularly but not right before bed.

But you already know all this and you don’t do it. So your realistic plan might be to surrender to the mid-day desk nap.

Exploding Head Syndrome (EHS)

Exploding head syndrome (EHS) is a disorder characterized by the perception of loud noises (e.g. a bomb explosion, gunshot or cymbal crash) when going to sleep or awakening. Contrary to the name, EHS is not associated with pain. However the noise attacks can elicit a great deal of fear, confusion and distress in sufferers. Reports of tachycardia and palpitations are also common. Despite the distressing nature of EHS, relatively little is known about the prevalence and underlying cause of the condition. Some scientists have estimated that EHS may affect 10% of the population. Females tend to be more at risk than males and the average age of onset is 50 years old.

Stress and exploding head syndrome

A few sufferers hear the noise in only one ear, while others hear it in both ears. In other cases, the sound seems to come from inside the patient’s own head (thus the condition’s name).

Most researchers find that exploding head syndrome often occurs in people who are dealing with high levels of stress and physical or mental fatigue. It affects both men and women, though the condition appears more commonly in women, and among people 50 years and older (though it’s also been reported in children).

Because there’s been little research into the condition, nobody is certain what causes exploding head syndrome. Some experts have speculated that it’s related to minor seizures in the brain’s temporal lobe; others suggest it might be related to hearing disorder

Doin’ the hypnagogic jerk

Exploding head syndrome is one of several conditions described as hypnagogic, or occurring in the transitional state between sleep and full wakefulness.

The “hypnagogic jerk” is an involuntary muscle spasm or twitch that occurs as a person is drifting off to sleep.

The muscle spasms may occur spontaneously or may be induced by sound, light or other external stimuli. Some people report hypnagogic jerks accompanied by hallucinations, dreams, the sensation of falling, or bright lights and loud noises coming from inside the head.

As with exploding head syndrome, researchers aren’t sure why hypnogogic jerks occur, but a few theories exist. One hypothesis says that these events are a natural part of the body’s transition from alertness to sleep, and occur when nerves “misfire” during the process.

Another popular idea takes a more evolutionary approach to hypnogogic jerks, explaining that the spasms are an ancient primate reflex responding to the relaxation of muscles at the onset of sleep — the brain misinterprets the relaxation as a sign that the sleeping primate is falling out of a tree, and causes the muscles to quickly react.

Is there a cure for exploding head syndrome?

When exploding head syndrome is related to stress or fatigue, experts recommend stress-management techniques such as yoga, meditation or simply a hot bath before sleeping.

Doctors have reported that many sleep disturbances like exploding head syndrome are related to the use of certain medications or drugs, according to the ASA. Moderating the use of these drugs may alleviate the symptoms of exploding head syndrome.

Some evidence suggests that clomipramine, a member of an older class of tricyclic antidepressants, can help treat exploding head syndrome.

For many patients, the condition comes and goes, disappearing for long stretches at a time, then eventually going away entirely on its own.

There are various theories as to what might cause EHS. For instance, some scientists have speculated that EHS may be associated with minor temporal lobe seizures. Another theory is that EHS is caused by sudden shifts of middle ear components. Other possible causes include stress/anxiety, impairments in calcium signalling and brainstem neuronal dysfunction.

Fortunately, exploding head syndrome is not as dangerous as it sounds.

But it is a real condition, and researchers are finally beginning to seriously investigate the rare and little-understood sleep disorder.

People with exploding head syndrome hear extremely loud noises — a gunshot, an explosion, a thunderclap — as they’re drifting off to sleep, or as they wake up from a deep sleep.

When exploding head syndrome is related to stress or fatigue, experts recommend stress-management techniques such as yoga, meditation or simply a hot bath before sleeping.

Doctors have reported that many sleep disturbances like exploding head syndrome are related to the use of certain medications or drugs, according to the ASA. Moderating the use of these drugs may alleviate the symptoms of exploding head syndrome.

Because of the benign nature of EHS, many individuals do not require medical treatment. However if an individual is suffering from disturbed sleep or considerable distress as a consequence of EHS, then treatment may be necessary. Tricyclic antidepressants have been proven useful in some individuals. Some evidence suggests that clomipramine, a member of an older class of tricyclic antidepressants, can help treat exploding head syndrome.  Calcium channel blockers may also be beneficial. Non-pharmacological strategies such as relaxation, improved sleep hygiene and counselling may also help to alleviate symptoms.

For many patients, the condition comes and goes, disappearing for long stretches at a time, then eventually going away entirely on its own.

“The initial signs and symptoms of GBS are varied and there are several disorders with similar symptoms. Therefore, doctors may find it difficult to diagnose GBS in its earliest stages. There is no known cure for Guillain-Barré syndrome. However, some therapies can lessen the severity of the illness and shorten recovery time. There are also several ways to treat the complications of the disease. Typically, the point of greatest weakness occurs days to at most 4 weeks after the first symptoms occur. Guillain-Barré syndrome can be a devastating disorder because of its sudden and rapid, unexpected onset of weakness—and usually actual paralysis. Fortunately, 70% of people with GBS eventually experience full recovery. The recovery period may be as little as a few weeks up to a few years. ”

National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke – NIH (https://www.ninds.nih.gov/guillain-barre-syndrome-fact-sheet)

“Guillain-Barre (gee-YAH-buh-RAY) syndrome is a rare disorder in which your body’s immune system attacks your nerves. Weakness and tingling in your hands and feet are usually the first symptoms.

These sensations can quickly spread, eventually paralyzing your whole body. In its most severe form Guillain-Barre syndrome is a medical emergency. Most people with the condition must be hospitalized to receive treatment.”

MAYO CLINIC