And what about women, who are less likely to have facial hair?Well, that is too bad. I, however, demand that socialized healthcare workers start stroking my whiskers regularly now!
Posted on 07/13/2010 12:41:50 PM PDT by decimon
Talk about surviving by a whisker. The most common type of stroke can be completely prevented in rats by stimulating a single whisker, according to a new study by UC Irvine researchers.
Strokes are the No. 3 cause of death in the U.S., after heart disease and cancer. About 795,000 Americans suffer them annually, according to the American Heart Association, and more than 137,000 die as a result.
So should we be tickling our own whiskers? And what about women, who are less likely to have facial hair? While it’s too soon to tell if the findings will translate to humans, researchers say it’s possible, and stubble is not required. We have sensitive body parts wired to the same area of the brain as rodents’ fine-tuned whiskers. In people, “stimulating the fingers, lips or face in general could all have a similar effect,” says UCI doctoral student Melissa Davis, co-author of the study, which appears in the June issue of PLoS One.
(Excerpt) Read more at today.uci.edu ...
By a whisker ping.
Not so much after 50. :)
I am curious whether there are studies that would show the comparative incidence of strokes in men with mustaches and/or beards to clean-shaven.
Looks to me that it’s not the whisker per se but the stimulation of some nerves. It would be a helluva thing if they discovered that you need merely rub your lips or pull your ear (or whatever) to minimize the destructive effects of the most common type of stroke.
And what about women, who are less likely to have facial hair?Well, that is too bad. I, however, demand that socialized healthcare workers start stroking my whiskers regularly now!
I thought getting a stroke (or several) WAS stimulation.
b'sides, the missus seems to like it too...
(Sound of grey_whiskers purring...)
Cheers!
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