Word: habit
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...Democratic nominee. The fear of such ridicule -- and the bad odor Democrats attach to their has-runs -- are two reasons why no one is racing to set up phone banks in Davenport, Iowa. Says Democratic Party treasurer Bob Farmer: "The party has got into the habit of eating its nominees for lunch if they lose...
Some movie experts maintain that cinematic violence has reached such a pitch that spontaneous imitations are inevitable. Others say that disputes arise because young audiences have long had a habit of talking back to the characters and commenting on the movie as it runs. The difference today is that gangs come to the theaters armed and prepared to settle their altercations with shoot-outs. But for all the hand wringing over the latest outcropping of violence, Hollywood has little incentive to stop making gang movies: New Jack City was No. 2 at the box office last week, grossing an impressive...
...people plump up after giving up cigarettes? There are several emotional and behavioral factors, including simply the habit of putting something into one's mouth. But experts increasingly believe physiological factors play the largest role. Nicotine, found in tobacco, speeds up physiological functions, especially the rate at which the body metabolizes food. "Though people will tell you they smoke to relax, in reality, they're all charged up," says psychologist Daniel Kirschenbaum of Chicago's Northwestern Memorial Hospital. A smoker's heart rate, for instance, averages 84 beats a minute, compared with 72 beats for a nonsmoker. When smoking stops...
Health officials are concerned that the desire to stay slim may be contributing to the high rate of smoking among teenage girls, who tend to take up the habit at a younger age than boys. Just this month the American Journal of Public Health reported that more than twice as many adolescent girls as boys said they were worried about gaining weight if they quit smoking. In years past, cigarette companies capitalized on such fears. Lucky Strike ads in the 1920s encouraged women to "Reach for the Lucky Strike Instead of a Sweet." Unfortunately, doctors note, even modest weight gains...
Will the CDC study discourage smokers from snuffing the habit? If so, this would be a terrible mistake, says Kirschenbaum, who adds that the health risk of smoking a pack and a half to two packs a day "is equal to carrying 60 to 80 extra pounds in body weight." Smoking, which leads to 400,000 U.S. deaths a year, "is about the most dangerous thing a person can do," affirms Tausz. "I'd rather see someone be a few pounds heavier and a nonsmoker, than smoke and be skinny." No doctor would disagree, but try telling that...