Why Women Are Addicted to Chocolate

Women have had a love affair with chocolate for hundreds of years. Here are some candid reasons why women often crave chocolate more than they crave men. The love affair between women and chocolate has gone on since its invention. No gift is appreciated more by women - children, teens, and adults - than chocolate. No matter its form - candy bars, covering nuts or fruits, ice cream, or some decadent bakery confection - women LOVE chocolate. But why? What is it about chocolate that causes a woman to drool with desire? And why don’t men react the same way? Statistics show most men prefer a burger or a hearty barbecue over a cocoa-inspired treat. Let’s face it, how often have you heard a guy say, "Dude, I am seriously craving some chocolate"? It just doesn’t happen, right? A recent survey even suggests that many women prefer eating chocolate to having sex. Wow, talk about gender differences! Is taste the only reason women pursue chocolate with such passion while men don’t?

Monell Chemical Senses Center reports that, according to sensory psychologists, women are, in general, predisposed to crave sweets. Genetics plays a vital role in this, as women’s tongues are more sensitive to bitter tastes. Therefore, the sweetness of chocolate is a very pleasant surprise and even can become addictive. This is also evident in women’s choices of alcoholic beverages. They’re more apt to choose a sweet, fruity drink that masks the bitterness of the alcohol.

Another explanation for the disparity between the sexes in desiring chocolate points to evolution. Because men are genetically hard-wired to preserve the species by keeping fit, building muscle tone, and eating balanced diets, and because chocolate contains little to no nutritional value, it simply doesn’t fall on men’s radar as an option. A man will choose meat over sweets, including chocolate, any day.

As to why women might prefer chocolate to sex, it’s all in the chemistry. Eating chocolate releases endorphins, feel-good mood enhancers that are produced by the pituitary gland. These are the very same chemicals released by the brain after orgasm. So why choose chocolate over sex? A woman gets the same great feeling without any of the relational issues, and she doesn’t have to work nearly as hard!

Have you ever heard a stressed-out woman cry, "I need chocolate!"? There’s more than just habit going on when that craving hits. Because of the chemical component, women indulge in chocolate when they’re depressed, frustrated, confused, angry… any emotion that brings the need for comfort. On the other hand, a happy occasion often finds chocolate at the center, too. Women cry with chocolate, and women celebrate with chocolate. No matter the reason - or lack thereof - women can, and will, find any excuse to indulge in their favorite treat. They always have, and they always will. Whether because it tastes so good to them, makes them feel better, or brings back memories of good times shared with good friends, chocolate will always be one of girls’ best friends.

So come Valentine’s Day, Christmas, birthdays, and anniversaries, you can never go wrong giving a woman chocolate as a gift. It says "I love you," "I’m sorry," "Thank you," and just about anything else a woman wants to hear. So give her sweet tooth a treat and her brain and heart a boost with the gift of chocolate.

  

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What Gift to Take to a Dinner Party

What to gift when invited to a dinner party is a question that people encounter regularly. A few options such as flowers, Middle Eastern sweets, and Chocolate can come handy on many occasions.

One of the difficult question to answer when invited to a dinner party is: What gift should I take with me? Flowers, Middle Eastern sweets, and Chocolate are some of the good choices, but each is a better choice in different situations.

You are invited to a dinner party. That's great. You will have fun. However, something really annoys you: What to take with you? You know you cannot show up empty handed, but it is not easy to figure out what to take with you as a gift.
Maybe you have no clue, and maybe a few ideas come to you mind but don't know which is the best? The answer usually heavily depends on the situation, more specifically on the mood of the party and on who invited you. Is it a formal dinner party or just a casual gathering? Is the person inviting you a family member, an old friend, or someone you are invited to for the first time?
Your best choice depends on your answer to these questions first.

Below are a few suggestions and the occasion they fit best.

Middle Eastern Sweets
Middle Eastern sweets can be a great gift in both casual and formal parties, as well as if you invited to people you know well or people newly introduced to. A box of assorted Middle Eastern sweets spans a large number of types and varieties of pastries that usually satisfy most tastes.

If the party is during a holiday, a box of Mamoul, which are nut filled Middle Eastern cookies is a better choice. However, for almost all other occasions, a box of assorted Baklava which is a variety of nuts filled pastry is a better choice.
The advantage of bringing with you a box of Arabic sweets will most likely make you stand out as many people might not be very familiar with all the types and varieties a box of assorted Baklava contains.

Flowers
Flowers can be a great gift to a dinner party if there is a celebration occasion. For example, if you are invited over dinner to celebrate someone's graduation or somebody's promotion, a bouquet of flowers is a great choice. On the other hand, flowers would not be a great idea if you are invited to a casual party or to some old friends of yours with no specific occasion. If you decide on bringing with you a bouquet of flowers, stay away from red roses. Gift these to your wife or girlfriend on Valentine. Instead, a nice bouquet of colorful flowers will be great.

Chocolate
A box of Chocolate, like Middle Eastern sweets, is a good fit in most occasions. Some people like milk chocolates and some prefer dark chocolates. A box of mixed, both milk and dark chocolates guarantees that you will satisfy both groups.
Boxes of chocolate are usually widely available in most supermarkets as well as in dedicated chocolate stores, so it should be relatively easy to buy.

It is worth to note that you don't always need to take a gift with you. If you are invited to friends for a casual dinner and you get invited to their residence often, you don't always have to bring something with you. However, even in this case, it would be nice to bring something with you every once in a while.

Besides the gift, make sure you are not late to the party. That would not be appreciated, whatever gift you bring with you. Moreover, don't get there very early. This can be as annoying as arriving late.

In summary, depending on your occasion you are invited to, flowes, a box of Middle Eastern sweets, or a box of chocolate can make a great gift.

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Hallucination

A hallucination, in the broadest sense of the word, is a perception in the absence of a stimulus . In a stricter sense, hallucinations are defined as perceptions in a conscious and awake state in the absence of external stimuli which have qualities of real perception, in that they are vivid, substantial, and located in external objective space. The latter definition distinguishes hallucinations from the related phenomena of dreaming,  which does not involve wakefulness; illusion, which involves distorted or misinterpreted real perception;  imagery, which does not mimic real perception and is under voluntary control; and pseudohallucination, which does not mimic real perception, but is not under voluntary control. Hallucinations also differ from "delusional perceptions", in which a correctly sensed and interpreted genuine perception is given some additional (and typically bizarre) significance.

Hallucinations can occur in any sensory modality — visual, auditory, olfactory, gustatory, tactile, proprioceptive, equilibrioceptive, nociceptive, thermoceptice and chronoceptive.

A mild form of hallucination is known as a disturbance, and can occur in any of the senses above. These may be things like seeing movement in peripheral vision, or hearing faint noises and/or voices. Auditory hallucinations are very common in paranoid schizophrenia. They may be benevolent (telling the patient good things about themselves) or malicious, cursing the patient etc. Auditory hallucinations of the malicious type are frequently heard like people talking about the patient behind their back. Like auditory hallucinations, the source of their visual counterpart can also be behind the patient's back. Their visual counterpart is the feeling of being looked-stared at, usually with malicious intent. Frequently, auditory hallucinations and their visual counterpart are experienced by the patient together.

Hypnagogic hallucination and Hypnopompic hallucination are considered normal phenomena. Hypnagogic hallucinations can occur as one is falling asleep and hypnopompic hallucinations occur when one is waking up.

Hallucinations can also be associated with drug use (particularly  deliriants), sleep deprivation, psychosis, neurological disorders, and delirium tremens.

Classification

Hallucinations may be manifested in a variety of forms. Various forms of hallucinations affect different senses, sometimes occurring simultaneously, creating multiple sensory hallucinations for those experiencing them.

Visual

The most common modality referred to when people speak of hallucinations. These include the phenomena of seeing things which are not present or visual perception which does not reconcile with the consensus reality. There are many different causes, which have been classed as psychophysiologic (a disturbance of brain structure), psychobiochemical (a disturbance of neurotransmitters), and psychological (e.g. meaningful experiences consciousness). Numerous disorders can involve visual hallucinations, ranging from psychotic disorders to dementia to migraine, but experiencing visual hallucinations does not in itself mean there is necessarily a disorder. Visual hallucinations are associated with organic dos orders of the brain and with drug and alcohol related illness.

Auditory

Auditory hallucinations (also known as Paracusia),  particularly of one or more talking voices, are particularly associated with psychotic disorders such as schizophrenia or mania, and hold special significance in diagnosing these conditions, although many people not suffering from diagnosable mental illnes may sometimes hear voices as well. Auditory hallucinations of non-organic origin are most often met with in paranoid schizophrenia. Their visual counterpart in that disease is the non-reality-based feeling of being looked or stared at.

Other types of auditory hallucination include exploding head syndrome and musical ear syndrome, and may occur during sleep paralysis . In the latter, people will hear music playing in their mind, usually songs they are familiar with. Recent reports have also mentioned that it is also possible to get musical hallucinations from listening to music for long periods of time. This can be caused by:  lesions on the brain stem (often resulting from a stroke ); also, tumors, encephalitis, or abscesses. Other reasons include hearing loss and epileptic activity. Auditory hallucinations are also a result of attempting wake-initiation of lucid dreams.

Olfactory

Phantosmia is the phenomenon of smelling odors  that aren't really present. The most common odors are unpleasant smells such as rotting flesh, vomit, urine, feces, smoke, or others. Phantosmia often results from damage to the nevous tissue in the olfactory system. The damage can be caused by viral infection, brain tumor, surgery, trauma, and possibly exposure to toxins or drugs^.  Phantosmia can also be induced by  epilepsy affecting the olfactory cortex and is also thought to possibly have psychiatric origins. Phantosmia is different from parosmia, in which a smell is actually present, but perceived differently from its usual smell.

Olfactory hallucinations have also been reported in migraine, although the frequency of such hallucinations is unclear.

Tactile

Other types of hallucinations create the sensation of tactile sensory input, simulating various types of pressure to the skin or other organs. This type of hallucination is often associated with substance use, such as someone who feels bugs crawling on them (known as formication) after a prolonged period of cocaine or amphetamine use.

Gustatory

This type of hallucination focuses typically on food and is common to individuals presenting persecutory perceptions along with the experience of epileptic aura.

General Somatic Sensations

General Somatic Sensations of a hallucinatory nature is experienced when an individual feels that his body is being mutilated i.e. twisted, torn, or disembowelled. Other reported cases are invasion by animals in the person's internal organs such as snakes in the stomach or frogs in the rectum. The general feeling that one's flesh is decomposing is also classified under this type of hallucination.

Stages of a hallucination

1. Emergence of surprising or warded-off memory or fantasy  images 
2. Frequent reality checks 
3. Last vestige of insight  as hallucinations become "real"
4. Fantasy and distortion elaborated upon  and confused with actual perception
5. Internal-external boundaries destroyed and possible pantheistic experience 

Cause

Hallucinations can be caused by a number of factors.

Hypnagogic hallucination

These hallucinations occur just before falling asleep, and affect a surprisingly high proportion of the population. The hallucinations can last from seconds to minutes, all the while the subject usually remains aware of the true nature of the images. These may be associated with narcolepsy. Hypnagogic hallucinations are sometimes associated with brainstem abnormalities, but this is rare.

Peduncular hallucinosis

Peduncular means pertaining to the peduncle,  which is a neural tract running to and from the pons on the brain stem. These hallucinations usually occur in the evenings, but not during drowsiness, as in the case of hypnagogic hallucination. The subject is usually fully conscious and then can interact with the hallucinatory characters for extended periods of time. As in the case of hypnagogic hallucination, insight into the nature of the images remains intact. The false images can occur in any part of the visual field, and are rarely  polymodal.

Delirium tremens

One of the more enigmatic forms of visual hallucination is the highly variable, possibly polymodal delirium tremens. Individuals suffering from delirium tremens may be agitated and confused, especially in the later stages of this disease. Insight is gradually reduced with the progression of this disorder. Sleep is disturbed and occurs for a shorter period of time, with rapid eye movement sleep.

Parkinson's disease and Lewy body dementia

Parkinson's disease is linked with Lewy body dementia for their similar hallucinatory symptoms. The symptoms strike during the evening in any part of the visual field, and are rarely polymodal. The segue into hallucination may begin with illusions where sensory perception is greatly distorted, but no novel sensory information is present. These typically last for several minutes, during which time the subject may be either conscious and normal or drowsy/inaccessible. Insight into these hallucinations is usually preserved and REM sleep is usually reduced. Parkinson's disease is usually associated with a degraded substantia nigra pars compacta, but recent evidence suggests that PD affects a number of sites in the brain. Some places of noted degradation include the median raphe nuclei, the noradrenergic parts of the locus coeruleus, and the  cholinergic neurons in the parabrachial  and pedunculopontine  nuclei of the tegmentum.

Migraine coma

This type of hallucination is usually experienced during the recovery from a comatose state. The migraine coma can last for up to two days, and a state of depression is sometimes comorbid. The hallucinations occur during states of full consciousness, and insight into the hallucinatory nature of the images is preserved. It has been noted that ataxic lesions accompany the migraine coma.

Charles Bonnet syndrome

Charles Bonnet Syndrome is the name given to visual hallucinations experienced by blind patients. The hallucinations can usually be dispersed by opening or closing the eyelids until the visual images disappear. The hallucinations usually occur during the morning or evening, but are not dependent on low light conditions. These prolonged hallucinations usually do not disturb the patients very much, as they are aware that they are hallucinating.  A differential diagnosis are opthalmopathic hallucinations^.

Focal epilepsy

The visual hallucinations from focal epilepsy are characterized by being brief and stereotyped. They are usually localized to one part of the visual field, and last only a few seconds. Other epileptic features may present themselves between visual episodes. Consciousness is usually impaired in some way, but nevertheless, insight into the hallucination is preserved. Usually, this type of focal epilepsy is caused by a lesion in the posterior temporoparietal. 

Schizophrenic hallucination

Hallucinations caused by schizophrenia.

Drug-induced hallucination

Hallucinations caused by the consumption of psychoactive substances such as LSD or DMT.

Pathophysiology

Various theories have been put forward to explain the occurrence of hallucinations. When psychodynamic (Freudian) theories were popular in psychiatry, hallucinations were seen as a projection of unconscious wishes, thoughts and wants. As biological theories have become orthodox, hallucinations are more often thought of (by psychologists at least) as being caused by functional deficits in the brain. With reference to mental illness, the function (or dysfunction) of the neurotransmitters glutamate and dopamine are thought to be particularly important. The Freudian interpretation may have an aspect of truth, as the biological hypothesis explains the physical interactions in the brain, while the Freudian deals with the origin of the flavor of the hallucination. Psychological research has argued that hallucinations may result from biases in what are known as metacognitive abilities.

These are abilities that allow us to monitor or draw inferences from our own internal psychological states (such as intentions, memories, beliefs and thoughts). The ability to discriminate between internal (self-generated) and external (stimuli) sources of information  is considered to be an important metacognitive skill, but one which may break down to cause hallucinatory experiences. Projection of an internal state (or a person's own reaction to another's) may arise in the form of hallucinations, especially auditory hallucinations. A recent hypothesis that is gaining acceptance concerns the role of overactive top-down processing, or strong perceptual expectations, that can generate spontaneous perceptual output (that is, hallucination).

Treatments

There are few treatments for many types of hallucinations. However, for those hallucinations caused by mental disease, a psychologist or psychiatrist should be alerted, and treatment will be based on the observations of those doctors. Antipsychotic and atypical antipsychotic medication may also be utilized to treat the illness if the symptoms are severe and cause significant distress. For other causes of hallucinations there is no factual evidence to support any one treatment is scientifically tested and proven. However, abstaining from  hallucinogenic drugs, managing stress levels, living healthily, and getting plenty of sleep can help reduce the prevalence of hallucinations. In all cases of hallucinations, medical attention should be sought out and informed of one's specific symptoms.

Epidemiology

One study from as early as 1895 reported that approximately 10% of the population experienced hallucinations. A 1996-1999 survey of over 13,000 people  reported a much higher figure, with almost 39% of people reporting hallucinatory experiences, 27% of which were daytime hallucinations, mostly outside the context of illness or drug use. From this survey, olfactory (smell) and gustatory  (taste) hallucinations seem the most common in the general population.

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