In response to growing consumer anxiety, California lawmakers are considering enacting what could be the first statewide restrictions on bisphenol A, a chemical found in plastic baby bottles and infant formula cans.

The bill would require that all products or food containers designed for children 3 years and younger contain only trace amounts of the chemical.

Bisphenol A can disrupt the hormonal system, and there is concern that the chemical could cause changes in behavior and the brain.

The U.S. Congress is also considering legislation to ban it in children’s products, and Canada has announced that it intends to ban the use of the chemical in baby bottles.

A study has suggested that it may take only one tobacco cigarette for some people to get addicted to nicotine, because of how their brains are wired.

By manipulating receptors in the brains of rats, researchers were able to control whether the first exposure to nicotine was enjoyable or repulsive. They experimented on two types of receptors for dopamine, a chemical messenger in the brain’s reward circuitry.

By blocking the receptors, the researchers were able to switch how nicotine was processed — from repulsive to rewarding or positive. The natural variations that occur between people may therefore explain why some are more likely to become addicted to nicotine.

The latest research suggests that while you are asleep, your brain is busily processing the day’s information. It combs through recently formed memories, stabilizing, copying, filing, and making them more useful for the next day.

A night of sleep can make memories resistant to interference from other information and allow you to recall them more effectively. And sleep also lets the brain sift through newly formed memories, possibly even identifying what is worth keeping. During sleep, your mind analyzes collections of memories, perhaps even helping you find the meaning in what you have learned.

As exciting new findings about sleep come in more and more rapidly, it becomes more and more clear that your brain is anything but inactive during sleep. Skimping on sleep can interfere with crucial cognitive processes. Miss a night of sleep, and the day’s memories might be compromised.

A growing body of research has begun to focus on a particular mental limitation having to do with your ability to use a mental trait known as executive function — thought processes require conscious effort to focus or make decisions.

But executive function draws upon a single resource of limited capacity in the brain. When this resource is exhausted, your mental capacity may be severely hindered. Even unrelated activities that tax the executive function have important lingering effects, and may disrupt your ability to make such an important decision.

These findings have important real world implications. If making choices depletes executive resources, then later decisions might be affected adversely when you are forced to choose with a fatigued brain. Basically, your brain is like a muscle — when it is depleted, it becomes less effective.

George Carlin’s views on aging:

Do you realize that the only time in our lives when we like to get old is when we’re kids? If you’re less than 10 years old, you’re so excited about aging that you think in fractions.

‘How old are you?’ ‘I’m four and a half!’ You’re never thirty-six and a half. You’re four and a half, going on five! That’s the key

You get into your teens, now they can’t hold you back. You jump to the next number, or even a few ahead.

‘How old are you?’ ‘I’m gonna be 16!’ You could be 13, but hey, you’re gonna be 16 ! And then the greatest day of your life ! You become 21. Even the words sound like a ceremony. YOU BECOME 21. YESSSS!!!

But then you turn 30. Oooohh, what happened there? Makes you sound like bad milk! He TURNED; we had to throw him out. There’s no fun now, you’re Just a sour-dumpling. What’s wrong? What’s changed?

You BECOME 21, you TURN 30, then you’re PUSHING 40. Whoa! Put on the brakes, it’s all slipping away. Before you know it, you REACH 50 and your dreams are gone.

But wait!!! You MAKE it to 60. You didn’t think you would!

So you BECOME 21, TURN 30, PUSH 40, REACH 50 and MAKE it to 60.

You’ve built up so much speed that you HIT 70! After that it’s a day-by-day thing; you HIT Wednesday!

You get into your 80’s and every day is a complete cycle; you HIT lunch; you TURN 4:30; you REACH bedtime. And it doesn’t end there. Into the 90s, you start going backwards; ‘I Was JUST 92.’

Then a strange thing happens. If you make it over 100, you become a little kid again. ‘I’m 100 and a half!’

May you all make it to a healthy 100 and a half!!

HOW TO STAY YOUNG

1. Throw out nonessential numbers. This includes age, weight and height. Let the doctors worry about them. That is why you pay ‘them.’

2. Keep only cheerful friends. The grouches pull you down.

3. Keep learning. Learn more about the computer, crafts, gardening, whatever. Never let the brain idle. ‘An idle mind is the devil’s workshop.’ And the devil’s name is Alzheimer’s.

4 . Enjoy the simple things.

5. Laugh often, long and loud. Laugh until you gasp for breath.

6. The tears happen. Endure, grieve, and move on. The only person, who is with us our entire life, is ourselves. Be ALIVE while you are alive.

7. Surround yourself with what you love , whether it’s family, pets, keepsakes, music, plants, hobbies, what ever. Your home is your refuge.

8. Cherish your health: If it is good, preserve it. If it is unstable, improve it. If it is beyond what you can improve, get help.

9. Don’t take guilt trips. Take a trip to the mall, even to the next county; to a foreign country but NOT to where the guilt is.

10. Tell the people you love that you love them , at every opportunity.

AND ALWAYS REMEMBER:

Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.