Anna Hunt, Staff Writer
Waking Times

New research shows that children raised around animals and dusty, bacteria-filled environments grow up to be more resilient to stress. When the immune system responds effectively to stress, the result is a decreased risk of mental illness. The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) journal published the findings from this research.

Isaac Davis, Staff Writer
Waking Times

If you’ve ever wondered why the world seems hopelessly fraught with endless conflict, ruled corrupt states, and bent on developing a never-ending supply of advanced weaponry, you’d need to understand the nature of our debt based economy.

The IMF has just reported that total global debt is now at a staggering $164 trillion, which amounts to 225% of total global GDP. Every person on this planet could turn over everything they produce for the next two plus years and we’d still be in debt.

The number is now so astronomically high that its impossible to pay off, and so there really is no point to even trying. In fact, government’s are not at all concerned with paying off the debt because they know the number has lost it’s meaning in the face of such cartoonish proportions.

Even Alan Greenspan, former chairman of the Federal Reserve knows this, essentially admitting that the economy is structured in such a way that the only way to survive is to keep adding debt.

Dylan Charles, Editor
Waking Times

“The best fighter is never angry.” ~Lao Tzu

There are so many different social movements coming into the media spotlight every year, each of them working towards a different agenda, and each of them working against other social movements. It is chaos. But in this chaos there is one commonality they all share: they are motivated first and foremost by anger.

While it is certainly noble to wish to change the world for the better, the vast majority of would-be-change-makers are acting out of anger. And while it can be argued that anger is a natural response to the dire conditions of the day, it is important to understand that acting out of anger is most often highly counter-productive to the aim of improving one’s condition and position in life.

Anna Hunt, Staff Writer
Waking Times

ABC News Australia recently reported on a story about a desperate father. Stephen Taylor’s two daughters were fighting Crohn’s disease, which causes chronic inflammation of the digestive tract. When all else failed, Taylor turned to juicing cannabis and discovered that the plant may have the potential to cure his daughters’ illness.

Cannabis Juice Eases Gut Inflammation and Pain

Taylor’s two daughters, Morgan (21) and Ariel (25), have been fighting Crohn’s disease for many years. This auto-immune disease attacks the lining of the digestive tract, causing chronic inflammation. The symptoms include weight loss, chronic pain, ulcers, rectal bleeding, diarrhea, and anemia.

Anna Hunt, Staff Writer
Waking Times

When it is difficult to make an important decision, especially about something that may impact your life, you may want to sleep on it. It’s logical to assume that it is easier for a rested brain to evaluate choices and make a decision. But come to find out, your brain actually makes some of its own decisions while you sleep. As well, sleep helps the brain process your emotions about a situation, so you are less irrational in your decision making.

Parts of the Brain that Impede Decision Making

During our awake hours, we are consistently making choices. There are times when we’re on automatic pilot, like making the morning coffee or driving to work. But most of the day we have to make decisions about what we want to wear and eat, what we want to do that day, how to tackle work and life situations, etc.