Medical Health

I was told that Europeans do not “live to work,” they “work to live.” And I once read that European women prefer rather unambitious husbands — Europeans cherish time and European women feel that overachievers spend way too much psychological and physical time away from their wives and families.

What has ambition brought us? Early death and taxes and global warming.

I have noticed that some stores offer to refill your small bottles of emu oil for a discount. They usually dispense the “new” oil from a large bottle they keep at room temperature under the counter. But the emu-oil manufacturers say, “For extended storage refrigerate unused portion.”

Emu oil is a fat, and fats go rancid at room temperature. If you use emu oil to treat inflammatory skin conditions, such as minor burns or psoriasis, you will find that your non-refrigerated oil quits helping.

Just keep your emu oil in the fridge, and then when you need some, let it warm on your kitchen counter for 15 minutes before you try to pour it from the bottle. That’s why the stores give you rancid refills: they want to dispense it on demand; they don’t wait while the refrigerated supply liquifies.

Yes, the anti-inflammatory drug prednisone makes it difficult to sleep–that’s one of the side effects–but not only that, it takes my sense of time back to a childhood level: time slows down (so to speak), days seem longer, not as rushed.

As we age, we say that the years just keep going by faster and faster, and perhaps it’s age-related inflammation of the brain that makes us think that way: we feel like time has shortened or accelerated.