Monthly Archives: September 2008
- September 25, 2008
- Can friends synchronize their menstrual cycles?
Oh my! We had no idea that we needed a PhD in statistics to read about this topic. There have been about thirty years of research about the possibility that women who spend a lot of time together can synchronize their menstrual cycles. We invite you to delve into the annals of research on estrous [...]
- September 20, 2008
- Why can you eat three times more than normal when you have PMS?
When we looked into food cravings during menstrual periods, we weren’t able to find any scientific cause. Premenstrual gluttony (lovely term, we know), on the other hand, has an explanation.
Imagine the cycle divided in half, with the time of ovulation being the midpoint. The first half is called the follicular phase and the second half, [...]
- September 16, 2008
- What causes dry eyes?
What causes dry eyes? Dry eyes occur:
With age. Dry eyes are more common in women, especially after menopause.
Infrequently after irradiation to the eye.
With the use of some drugs, including antihistamines, nasal decongestants and sedatives.
Sometimes after eye surgery.
Sometimes with vitamin A deficiency or after a chemical burn to the eye.
In some persons with malpositioned lower eyelids.
In [...]
- September 15, 2008
- Is your waist two times the size of your neck?
Anthropometry is the study of human body measurement for use in anthropological classification and comparison. What fun! Let’s whip out those tape measures and calipers!
There is a lot of research out there, so prepare yourself if you’re going to explore this area. Unfortunately, I sat down in my kitchen to do the research and before [...]
- September 10, 2008
- Why do your boobs get tender before your period?
Some breast pain before your period is perfectly normal. Hormonal fluctuations cause changes in the breast ducts and the breast lobules. The lobules are the milk-producing tissues of the breast. Each breast has about fifteen to twenty lobes that branch into smaller lobules and each lobule and each lobule ends in a bulb. Milk originates [...]
- September 9, 2008
- Why do some people have two different-color eyes?
I have a special attachment to this question. I have had two dear friends who both had two different-color eyes. Ramsey, I am sorry that I am putting you in the same group with Winnie, the Old English sheep dog that we had growing up, but he was special too.
Heterochromia iridium is the fancy medical [...]
- September 6, 2008
- Do pregnant women really glow?
If a pregnant woman asks her husband, “Am I glowing?” there is only one answer: “Yes, dear.”
Don’t worry about lying; the pregnancy glow actually exists and has a biological basis. In pregnancy, blood volume increases by almost 50 percent. This increased blood volume causes the cheeks of women to take on a reddish blush. Pregnancy [...]
- September 5, 2008
- Why don’t women have hairy chests?
Well, actually some women do.
As a culture, we are obsessed with becoming hairless. There are waxing salons, threading salons, laser hair removal treatments, electrolysis, and who could forget good ol’ Nair. The truth is that as mammals we are designed to be covered in body hair. We have the same number of hair follicles as [...]
- September 2, 2008
- Is douching dangerous?
Leyner and I both clearly remember the airwaves being pounded with douche advertising in the 1980s. How can you forget the image of a daughter asking her mother if she ever gets that “not so fresh feeling” and them proceeds to flush herself with a vinegar and water solution. It always made us think of [...]
