I stood in the darkness of my room, my bloody hands quivering to the same beat as my legs. Sweat rushed out of my pores as I looked around to see if any of my family members had witnessed my sinful act. I tilted my head to look down at the wooden floor where my mom’s pale white corpse was lying with multiple stab wounds and bloodstains all over her nightgown. I just stared with eyes wide open as the thought ran through my head over and over again: “Murderer! Murderer! Murderer!”

This wasn’t reality. I never killed anyone. Nor was it part of a script for some new horror film. It was all just a terrible dream. At least, that’s what everyone said to me, and I wanted to believe them. But as hard as I tried, my mind and body wouldn’t let go of this nightmare that I had in April 2010. It marked the start of a severe, two-week panic attack.

A panic attack (also called an anxiety attack) is a sudden, extreme fear that can be triggered by a specific, upsetting event or can happen without cause. It’s usually accompanied by sweating, trembling, and shortness of breath.

Nervous

I’ve been a somewhat nervous person for most of my life. I even experienced panic attacks before this one, but of a smaller magnitude. I had nights where I’d shake uncontrollably and not sleep, or get a feeling of electricity running up and down my body. On those occasions, I would read a book or exercise and I would feel better. But when I got my severe panic attack, reading or exercising didn’t come to me easily.

The week before it happened, I was my usual weird self. I cracked perverted jokes to my friends, hung out with my boyfriend, watched horror movies, and spent time imagining stories or drawings I should create. The only unusual circumstance was that school had been especially stressful; I was a senior, so the teachers were extra strict with grades and some classmates were acting up. I wasn’t getting much sleep, since I usually went to bed at midnight and had to wake up around 5:30 every morning. Questions and comments like “What college are you planning to go to?” and “Why are you going to that college? It sucks” had begun to crop up among my peers. It all gave me a headache, and to make matters worse, some evenings I was too busy doing homework to hang out with my friends or my boyfriend.

April 19 was a normal school day: I went to all my classes, paid attention as best I could, and came home with a headache. I went online in an effort to forget about school. I felt a bit drowsy, so I started to read The Almost Moon, a novel about a woman who murders her elderly mother, and just fell asleep. That’s when my personal hell started.

No Relief

I woke up suddenly in a cold sweat. I was shaking like a homeless man stuck in a blizzard. A panicked voice in my head was going, “Why did I have that dream? Am I going to do that in real life?”

I had no reason at all to hurt my mother; our relationship was great. We rarely fought and we talked every day. Yet after I awoke from the dream, my mind remained on that same thought like a broken clock. I kept remembering how some trivial dreams that I’d had in the past had come true—for example, I once dreamt I was playing soccer with friends, and we played soccer the next day in school. In my state of panic over this nightmare, my mind wouldn’t let go of the idea that these horrifying images might come true, too.

I tried to go back to sleep, but I couldn’t. I thought that maybe I should eat, so I got out of bed. My legs felt like vibrating spaghetti. Each step felt worse. When I hit the kitchen, I poured milk on cereal and sat down at the kitchen table. I took a bite, but it made me feel sick to my stomach. I ran back to my bedroom.

I didn’t know what to do. I went on my computer, hoping it would calm me down. My sister and my dad called to me to clean the dishes, and I tried to control my shaking and act as normal as I could. I wanted to tell them what I was feeling; I usually have a good relationship with them, too. But now I was scared that they might send me to an asylum.

When night came around, my eyes were wide as the full moon. I tried everything from watching TV to exercising, but nothing helped me sleep; I spent the whole night awake.

What’s Wrong With Me?

I didn’t want to go to school the next morning, but I had to. I grabbed the pants that I’d worn the day before and a clean t-shirt. My body was still shaking and sweating and my thoughts remained the same. When I passed through my kitchen, I saw a knife on the table and my heart started to pound. I grabbed my bag and ran out of my house.

School didn’t make it better at all; I was still shaking and paid no attention in class. Two of my teachers must have noticed something, because they came up to me separately and asked, “Are you all right?” I just gave them a weak smile and said I was.

At home that evening I lay on my bed in the fetal position, terrified. It felt like the old me had rotted away and left only weak, shaken bones behind. I wanted to go back to normal.

I went on my computer to search around for information on what I was going through, and ended up thinking that I was suffering from schizophrenia. That made me freak out even more. I felt that if people found out what was going on I’d be ostracized for the rest of my life, so when my dad or my sister passed by and asked me if I was OK I called out, “I’m fine, I just have a little stomachache.”

Click here to read the rest of the article on YCTeenMag.org.

Reprinted with permission from Youth Communication.

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Esta es una obra inteligente, original e instructiva. Sus alcances permiten entender con claridad como se puede convertir a la astrologia en instrumento de desarrollo espiritual y psicologico. Libro adecuado para todos los que, interesados en la astrologia, reconocen en ella un significado espiritual y un valor que aumenta nuestro autoconocimeinto. El contenido de esta obra gira en torno a temas como karma y relaciones, progresiones, transitos, lecturas de Edgar Cayce, ascendente y regente, etc.

(more…)

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Summer of Night

Sometimes, the rules lead to big gains.

First Energy, a utility based in Ohio, got such a boost Thursday, a week after the company announced it would close six coal-fired plants, blaming new federal rules aimed at slowing emissions of mercury and other toxins.

Without these plants, electricity prices in parts of Ohio dominated by First Energy are expected to nearly double at a power auction scheduled for May.

The reason: There will now be a smaller fleet of power plants available to meet potential power needs. This smaller supply means the price to coax companies like First Energy to make their plants available will rise.

Julien Dumoulin-Smith, an analyst at UBS, predicted rates would rise from $126 for every megawatt available per day to $200. For the 8,000 megawatts of power plant capacity owned by First Energy in the region, that would be an extra $216 million for the year covered by the auction.

Jonathan Arnold, an analyst at Deutsche Bank, said there’s a chance prices could approach $500, which would be an enormous windfall for First Energy.

First Energy shares rose 3.3 percent Thursday on a day in which the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell slightly.

Electric utilities have complained about a raft of new and tightening environmental standards. They argue that the rules are too stringent and that utilities are not being allowed enough time to prepare for them

The rules address several environmental issues: Emissions of toxins harmful to human health, pollutants that lead to smog and acid rain, the amount of water used to cool plants and disposal of power plant waste products.

Utilities argue that the cost of complying with the rules is too high, that electric power supplies could be constrained in certain regions and that electricity bills will rise.

What they don’t generally say, however, is that the rules can lead to higher earnings in some cases.

Electric utilities are regulated differently in every state, so the way utilities can benefit differs too. Here’s how:

_ In states where power prices are set by market forces, fewer plants means lower electricity supply, and higher prices. Companies that have plants that comply with the new rules stand to benefit from higher prices. First Energy has nuclear and modernized coal plants that meet the new standards.

_ In states that are regulated, utilities have to ask public utilities commissions for permission to install new equipment or build new plants. But the utilities are allowed to earn a higher return on these big-ticket investments than they are for selling power to customers. To the extent that the new environmental regulations allow regulated utilities to build new equipment, they will likely lead to higher earnings.

But some companies will suffer. For example, utilities in unregulated states that have to pay for upgrades themselves and cannot benefit from higher prices won’t be able to offset the cost of the equipment. Similarly, if state regulators refuse to allow utilities in their state to pass the cost of the upgrades or new plants to customers, those companies could suffer too.

The industry also argues that higher prices could also lead to lower power demand and profit.

First Energy chose to close plants that likely would have been unable to operate under the new rules on toxins. These plants are generally older and inefficient, so installing emissions control equipment would have cost the company too much money. These plants were already seldom used, so by closing them the company does not stand to lose much revenue from the small amount of power they generated.

But in the markets First Energy operates, plants earn money two ways: by selling power, and by making power plants available for use during peak periods, even if they are never actually needed.

With the closure of four plants in Ohio, there will be less power available to meet demand. That is expected to drive prices for capacity higher.

“First Energy’s nuclear plants and baseload coal plants with environmental controls are the primary beneficiaries of the EPA rules,” says Hugh Wynne, an analyst at Sanford Bernstein.

Power prices have been driven lower in recent years by low natural gas prices, which in many markets set the price of electricity. Because of this, prices for capacity have become more important to company earnings.

Customers in northern Ohio will pay higher prices than they otherwise would have in the coming years. The final prices they pay, however, will depend on several other factors, including the price of coal, the price of natural gas, and power demand.

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Hundreds of species never before seen in a Peruvian national park have been found during an inventory of the Amazonian forests there, according to a conservation group.

The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) announced today the discovery of 365 species previously undocumented in Bahuaja Sonene National Park in southeastern Peru. More than a dozen researchers inventoried the park’s plant life, insects, birds, mammals and reptiles. The species found are known to exist elsewhere, but have never been seen inside Bahuaja Sonene.

The discovery included 30 undocumented bird species, including the black-and-white hawk eagle, Wilson’s phalarope and ash-colored cuckoo. The survey also found two undocumented mammals — Niceforo’s big-eared bat and the Tricolored Bat — as well as 233 undocumented species of butterflies and moths. This expedition was the first time that research of this scale has been carried out in Bahuaja Sonene National Park since it was created in 1996, according to the WCS.

“The discovery of even more species in this park underscores the importance of ongoing conservation work in this region,” said Julie Kunen, WCS director of Latin America and Caribbean Programs. “This park is truly one of the crown jewels of Latin America’s impressive network of protected areas.”

Bahuaja Sonene National Park contains more than 600 bird species including seven different types of macaw, more than 180 mammal species, more than 50 reptiles and amphibian species, 180 fish varieties and 1,300 types of butterfly.

Since the 1990s, the WCS has been working in Tambopata and Bahuaja Sonene Parks in Peru, and Madidi, Pilon Lajas and Apolobamba Parks in neighboring Bolivia. The Greater Madidi Landscape of Bolivia and Peru spans more than 15,000 square miles of the tropical Andes and is considered to be the most biodiverse region on earth.

The past decade saw a boom in new species discovered in the Amazon. On average, a new species was discovered every three days from 1999 to 2009, according to the conservation group WWF.

Follow OurAmazingPlanet for the latest in Earth science and exploration news on Twitter @OAPlanet and on Facebook.

• Camera Trapped: Wonderful and Weird Wildlife Around the World
• The 10 Most Pristine Places on Earth
• Amazing Creatures Discovered in the Amazon

Copyright 2012 OurAmazingPlanet, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Images courtesy of WCS, Andre Baertschi and Carlos Sevillano.

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Case Western Reserve University researchers found that people who want to maintain a sense of “comfortability” in a social atmosphere will eat, whether they’re hungry or not — which can lead to overeating, if others are consuming a lot of food.

“They don’t want to rock the boat or upset the sense of social harmony,” study researcher Julie Exline, a psychologist at Case Western Reserve, said in a statement.

Exline and her colleagues studied 101 college students in a two-part study; the first part included a questionnaire where researchers determined the participants’ people-pleasing characteristics. (People-pleasers were characterized by their worry about hurting other people, tendencies to put others’ needs first and sensitivity to criticism.)

Then, the study participants sat down with an actor who was pretending to also be a study participant. The actor was given a bowl of M&Ms and took a small handful of about five candies. Then, the actor handed them to the study participant, who took some candies.

Researchers found that people who scored higher on the people-pleasing characteristics questionnaire also took more of the candies.

“People-pleasers feel more intense pressure to eat when they believe that their eating will help another person feel more comfortable,” Exline said in the statement. “Almost everyone has been in a situation in which they’ve felt this pressure, but people-pleasers seem especially sensitive to it.”

The research is published in the Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology.

Dr. David Katz, HuffPost blogger and director of the Yale University Prevention Research Center, told ABC News that this pressure to eat and eat may also be a factor in the obesity epidemic.

“There’s no question the way we eat is influenced by others,” Katz told ABC News.”It’s compounded around holidays and big events, but it plays out in lesser ways every day as we interact with our families and people in our workplaces. It’s not just Super Bowl Sunday.”

For some tips on how to avoid mindless eating, garnered from research and from Cornell University expert Brian Wansink, click through the slideshow:

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And, as always, YouTube delivered. So here are our 13 favorite puppy stampede videos.

No, don’t thank us, thank heaven… which is where puppies and viral videos come from.

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Schachner’s role as ref involves calling penalties, one of his favorites being “fouling of the field” or “premature watering of the lawn.”

Beyond puppies, Puppy Bowl VII is also expected to feature 20 kittens, five pigs, one bird and “a few hamsters.”

To learn about one fuzzy Puppy Bowl player who found a loving home, click here.

Every puppy seen on Puppy Bowl is available for adoption. If you’re interested in adopting a dog in need of a home, visit Petfinder.com.

Need more puppies in your life? Check out the adorable photos below:

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Every year 5.1 billion pounds of pesticides are used in the U.S. alone. Pesticides have been linked to disrupting entire eco-systems and have been proven to be cancer-causing. U.S. breweries use around 6 billion pounds of grain every year to make beer. That is a lot of grain, most of it receiving high doses of pesticides and chemicals. This high amount isn’t surprising when you consider that America drinks 50 billion pints of beer every year. An unfortunate amount of that beer is poorly made with conventional ingredients.

Thankfully, you don’t have to go out and buy low-quality beer for the game. There are many companies that not only use organic ingredients, but also use ecologically sound practices in their manufacturing process. Beer is one of the world’s oldest beverages. It deserves a little respect.

This is only a small sampling of many options. I encourage you look around to see what you can find locally, too. Some small breweries allow you to fill kegs, jars, or jugs to bring home. This earth-friendly practice is often budget friendly as well.

For more reading on the topic:
Organic beer industry flourishes
Organic beer and wine
The Big “O”: Defining organic beer

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The federal government has proposed designating about 600 square miles in Idaho and Washington – roughly half the size of Rhode Island – as critical habitat in an effort to save this last U.S. herd of fewer than 50 animals.

But the plan has touched a raw nerve in this deeply conservative region, where the federal government is already viewed as a job destroyer because of restrictions on logging and other activities.

A recent public meeting on the habitat proposal drew a crowd of 200 angry people, several of whom excoriated government officials for allegedly trying to destroy their local lifestyle.

“Please leave northern Idaho alone,” Pam Stout, a local tea party activist, told federal biologists.

“We belong here too, not just the animals,” added resident Scott Rockholm.

Other speakers were less polite, accusing government officials of a land grab, raising allegations of United Nations conspiracies or telling the federal government to get out of a region that is mostly federal land.

But it’s not that simple.

Federal endangered species law requires that critical habitat be set aside for the caribou, and environmental groups went to court to force the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to comply.

This is one of the few places left in the United States that still contains all of the species that were present when Lewis and Clark traveled through 200 years ago, including caribou, said Terry Harris of the Kootenai Environmental Alliance.

“I don’t think we want to lose that,” Harris said.

Under the proposal, 375,000 acres of high-elevation forest land in the Selkirk Mountains, including portions of Bonner and Boundary counties in Idaho and Pend Oreille County in Washington, would be designated as critical habitat. Nearly all of the land is already owned by the federal and state governments, with about 15,000 acres in private hands in Idaho.

Under a critical habitat designation, any activities that require federal approval or money would be scrutinized for their impact on the caribou.

This has alarmed residents who snowmobile, hunt and chop wood in the thick forests of northern Idaho’s lake country, or who have businesses that rely on forest access.

“Our economy revolves around that national forest,” said resident Lee Pinkerton. “Without it, we have to find a new way to make a living.”

Snowmobiling is a particularly popular activity here, drawing lots of tourists in winter. Operators worry that the region’s trail system will be reduced to help caribou.

Bob Davis, a resort owner and 30-year resident of the area, said previous restrictions on snowmobiling already cut that business by 70 percent.

“Snowmobilers don’t go where they are not wanted,” Davis said. “These people will ride someplace else.”

Federal biologists Ben Conard and Bryon Holt spoke at the public meeting, telling the crowd that the critical habitat designation would be mostly unnoticed.

“To the average person, you are not going to see a difference,” Conard told the audience, drawing guffaws from skeptics.

Federal approval has already been required for many activities ever since the mountain caribou were first listed as an endangered species in 1984. The Fish and Wildlife Service declined to designate critical habitat at that time, fearing that would help poachers locate the animals. Those concerns have now faded.

But while the designation won’t immediately lead to road closures or land restrictions, the federal officials acknowledged that some activities could ultimately be curtailed if they are found to hurt the caribou.

“We are trying to re-establish an animal that is native to the United States,” Holt said.

Coolin is located on the shores of Priest Lake, about 80 miles north of Spokane, Wash., in the thick, wet forests of the southern Selkirk Mountains. Such forests produce the lichen that are the animals’ only food source in winter.

Woodland caribou used to be found across the northern tier of the United States, but these days are found only here and in Canada.

The southern Selkirk herd moves across the border between the U.S. and Canada. But only one or two caribou are typically spotted each year on the U.S. side. Last year none were spotted.

“Why do we need 375,000 acres of critical habitat if we have no caribou?” wondered resident Pat Hunter.

Locals also complain that the caribou are being eaten by grizzly bears and wolves that are also protected species in the area.

Environmental groups say the designation is long overdue.

Harris said people who argue that there are too few caribou to warrant the designation are missing the point.

“The issue of too few caribou is precisely the reason for the critical habitat designation,” Harris said. “That’s the problem this is intended to solve.”

There is no evidence that reintroduced wolves are eating many of the animals, he said.

Instead, the Fish and Wildlife Service blames the caribou decline on the loss of contiguous old-growth forests due to logging and wildfires, plus the building of roads and recreational trails that fragment habitat and help predators move into caribou range.

But many local leaders are determined to prevent the critical habitat designation.

Bonner County Commissioner Cornel Rasor told the crowd that his goal in calling the meeting was to start the process of derailing the proposal.

“We’re trying to change the direction of the ship of state,” he said.

After a public comment period, the federal government will announce its decision on the critical habitat proposal this fall.

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State Sen. Troy Balderson sent a letter Friday afternoon to state lawmakers, asking them to sign on to the proposal. He plans to introduce the bill Tuesday, and hearings are planned next week.

Ohio has some of the nation’s weakest restrictions on exotic pets. Efforts to strengthen the state’s law took on new urgency in October when authorities were forced to kill 48 wild animals – including endangered Bengal tigers – after their owner freed them from his Zanesville farm and then committed suicide.

“For the safety of our citizens and the animals, our regulations must ensure that the horror inflicted on my neighbors and constituents in Zanesville never happens in Ohio again,” Balderson, a Zanesville Republican, wrote.

Terry Thompson, 62, released the animals on Oct. 18. Six were captured and taken to the Columbus zoo, where they were put under quarantine by the state. One, a spotted leopard, was euthanized after it was hit by a lowering hydraulic door and suffered a severe spinal cord injury.

If the bill becomes law, Balderson’s measure would immediately ban people from acquiring additional exotic animals. Zoo, circuses, sanctuaries and research facilities would be exempt.

Owners of lions, tigers and other large animals such as elephants and crocodiles would be banned in 2014 from keeping the creatures unless they applied to be a “private shelter” and met new caging requirements and care standards.

“It’s going to be tough to keep it, but you can keep it if you’re ready to meet the regulations,” said Josh Eck, Balderson’s legislative aide.

People who own small monkeys or certain other primates could also continue to have them, but they also would need to meet new standards.

“The senator doesn’t want the state to get into the business of seizing and euthanizing these animals,” Eck said.

The bill would let owners of constricting and venomous snakes keep their reptiles, but they must have safety plans in place in case the snakes got out. Owners could still breed and acquire new snakes, Balderson’s office said.

The proposal is less strict than a framework suggested last year by a state study committee.

The group had recommended a more stringent ban on the casual ownership of exotic animals. Those who still owned restricted wildlife – such as bears, monkeys and others – in 2014 without proper licenses or exemptions would have the animals taken away by state or local officials.

___

Associated Press writer JoAnne Viviano contributed to this report.

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After years of no sex — or even just empty, mechanical sex — divorced people discover a sudden renewed vigor in their post-split sex lives. Countless divorcees rave about their newfound singleton sexual freedom and after being conditioned to believing that life without it is fine; they realize just how important sex really is. You can’t simply “delete” it and ignore that it exists. So once divorcees venture back into the world with open eyes and a clean slate, they can’t believe what they’ve been missing all those years. Without all the bad relationship clutter clouding their minds, they often realize that the absence of sex was a major part of their marriages’ demise.

We now have years of research data confirming what most of us already know intuitively: sex is about as basic and innate the need as food, water and oxygen. We need it to survive. Deprive someone of it for years and what do you get? You get the compounded effects that you see from years of abusing one’s health. It’s not too different than a situation in which a person keeps pumping bad food into their system and ends up with a life-altering disease.

People With Strong Sex Lives Live Longer

Consider this: According to Dr. Howard S. Friedman, co-author of The Longevity Project (along with Dr. Leslie R. Martin), sex is the cornerstone to living a longer, healthier life. In fact, it’s not just a matter of “wham bam thank you ma’am,” rather it’s very much physiological. It’s not merely about the sex itself; it is about the release of hormones that takes place, coinciding with an emotional connection to the intimate experience. For women, that is measured in the number of orgasms they have, something that Dr. Friedman concludes after considering eighty years of compiled psychological research. For men as well as women, the physiological benefit is a matter of oxytocin release — something that occurs while they are in the act of giving through touch during sex. In both cases — medically speaking — the pleasure factor is directly linked to physical benefits of sex, which are largely connected to the release of hormones.

When we bring a new baby into the world, there is a phenomenon that occurs if the baby is not touched, physically nurtured or cuddled. The medical terminology for this is Failure to Thrive. Children suffer a number of adverse conditions as a result of abuse or neglect — which can be linked back to the Failure to Thrive. Think about it. If we are dependent on touch from the moment we are born, it makes perfect sense that as adults we would need the same intimacy in our lives. Many couples in bad marriages are in “Failure to Thrive” situations. Though it may be voluntary on both parties’ part, more often than not one person in the marriage withholds sex as a punishment. Have you ever heard of someone holding back food or water? Holding back sex for whatever reason is an act of neglect and it directly contributes to a “Failure to Thrive” existence.

Universally — regardless of culture, religion, race or socio-economic status — divorced men tend to die sooner than married men. In fact, when you hear about how one long-married spouse dies soon after the death of their partner, it is often because of the lack of oxytocin release. Similarly, when people stay in sexless, loveless relationships, they are on an early track to death. Even though women’s mortality is not affected by divorce, the sudden parting of the clouds after a divorce can completely get both men and women back on the track to healthy living.

I am a huge advocate of good sex, for both pleasure and health reasons. Not just empty, meaningless, mundane and obligatory physical exchange — but real, deeply engaging, wholly satisfying curl-your-toes sex. Countless times I have unabashedly talked about the need for it in our lives, and yet it remains a taboo topic that almost always creates some serious controversy. What is it with the world? When will we realize as a society that being sexually selfish is bad for health? It’s okay to indulge ourselves in longevity, happiness, good health, strong companionship and lasting self-assuredness stemming from a vibrant sex life. It’s essential to look beyond the age-old social mores that taught us “sex is something to be ashamed of.” Sex is paramount to living healthy and whole lives and is and nothing to be ashamed of.

If you’re in a bad relationship, try counseling and rehabilitating your marriage. But if you can’t get anywhere and both partners are living in a “Failure to Thrive” situation, I say move on and join the ranks of countless other divorcees who are now enjoying a newfound freedom in their lives. It might be time for a little sex re-education though since you’ve been out of the loop so long. Who knows what you’ve been missing out on?

The next time a doctor records a patient’s medical history and asks questions about smoking, drinking, drugs, marital status and lifestyle, he or she should also be asking about the patient’s intimacy history. The reason we record this medical history is to formulate a long-term plan for our patients’ health. Sex and intimacy are definitely a part of health, so it needs to be included in the plan. If we notice an area that needs attention, patients should be referred to physicians that specialize in Sexual Medicine. A prescription for great sex is part of healthy living.

An often overlooked but majorly important aspect of this sexual and medical counseling is continuous education about safe sex. I can’t emphasize enough the importance of safe sex, regardless of whether you’re in a monogamous relationship or not. Here’s the mandatory prescription from your doctor: Safe Sex Equals Great Sex.

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Just as Little League pitchers are on pitch counts to protect their elbows, a hit count would prevent the repeated blows that can cause concussions and lead to extreme brain trauma, Chris Nowinski, co-founder of the Sports Legacy Institute, said Friday.

“The hit count is not an idea we own. Prominent researchers have been talking about it for a while,” Nowinski said. “But we can push this to reality. … We have to find a solution for the children, who are most at risk, and the guidelines will help us get there.”

SLI works with the Boston University Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy, and has been a leader in raising public awareness about the dangers of concussions and advocating for safer sports. The NFL has cracked down on flagrant hits in recent years, and is regularly toughening its rules for treating concussions. Players are prohibited from playing or practicing until they’ve been cleared by a medical professional, and Commissioner Roger Goodell said Friday the league is considering having independent neurological doctors at games to examine players.

The dangers are just as great for children, Nowinski said – maybe even greater. Pop Warner and a growing number of states now have regulations requiring players to be removed if they show signs of a concussion, and bar them from competing again until cleared by a medical professional.

But Nowinski said kids are still absorbing hits at a rate that would be considered dangerous for adults.

“We have to recognize the (physiological) differences,” he said. “They’re not little men, they’re children.”

Research may never be able to say what number of hits is dangerous or causes brain trauma, Nowinski said. But high school football players may take an average of 1,000 hits a season, SLI said, with some absorbing as many as 2,500.

And most kids are playing more than one sport.

“We’ll have to have the guts to put down a number on paper and say, `This is a rational goal. This is what kids should be under,’” Nowinski said.

The initiative is getting some high-profile support, with Indianapolis Colts center Jeff Saturday appearing at Friday’s news conference. Saturday played a key role in the NFL’s rules changes as a member of the players’ union executive board. Tennessee Titans quarterback Matt Hasselbeck is also involved, as is former Seattle Seahawks linebacker Isaiah Kacyvenski, now a member of SLI’s board.

“We need to take it out of kids’ hands,” Saturday said. “It’s us as adults that have to encourage our children and we have to be the ones to make a standard for our kids. They can’t advocate for themselves.”

The Sports Legacy Institute plans to sit down this spring with youth sports organizations and medical experts, including head trauma expert Dr. Robert Cantu, to come up with hit count guidelines. There should be limits for each day, week, season and year, as well as required rest after minimum exposure to brain trauma. The guidelines would not be limited to football, either, applying to other sports such as soccer, ice hockey and rugby.

Once the guidelines are established, it would then be up to the sports organizations to implement them, ideally beginning in 2013.

“Nobody wants to think about this aspect because football is so fun to watch and so fun to play,” Nowinski said. “But we have to address the issue.”

And the more organizations that are involved, the better, Nowinski said. Some youth groups are hesitant to impose restrictions or limits because they don’t want to drive off children – or their parents.

But if everyone is adhering to the same standards, that won’t be an issue.

“We’re not anti-football,” Nowinski said. “But we are pro-child.”

___

Follow Nancy Armour at http://www.twitter.com/nrarmour

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