You know you've found the one

 John and his girlfriend Mary decide to become bank-robbers.

Mary does the actual robbing at gunpoint inside the banks while John waits outside as the getaway driver. They are initially successful with a string of heists that make headlines and they become folk-heroes. Until one day their luck runs out and they get caught.

At trial, the judge condemns Mary to ten years in prison, while John gets two years. However, once they get to their respective prisons, they discover that due to a clerical error John will be serving ten years and Mary only two. Despite her insistence, John convinces Mary to keep quiet about it.

After two years Mary gets out and she continues to visit John faithfully every month and they exchange letters and phone calls regularly for the remainder of his ten years.

Finally, after he does his time, John gets out and is joyfully reunited with Mary. They get married and move to a different state and start anew, leaving their life of crime behind. They raise a family with children and grandchildren and eventually reach old age, after having lived a happy marriage.

At their 50th wedding anniversary party, the entire family and friends are gathered. A great celebration is had, with many laughs and stories, recounting their life together.

The conversation turns to the secrets of a happy marriage. One of the guests asks Mary why she decided to stick with John while he was in prison, despite all of the hardships.

Mary answers: “Well… you know you have found the One when you finish each other’s sentences.”

And that is when the fight started

When I got home last night, my wife demanded that I take her someplace expensive. So I took her to a gas station. And that's when the fight started...

 After retiring, I went to the Social Security office to apply. The woman behind the counter asked me for my driver's license to verify my age. I looked in my pockets and realized I had left my wallet at home. I told the woman that I was very sorry, but I would have to go home and come back later.

 The woman said, "Unbutton your shirt". So I opened my shirt revealing my curly silver hair.

She said, "That silver hair on your chest is proof enough for me" and she processed my Social Security application. When I got home, I excitedly told my wife about my experience at the Social Security office.

 She said, "You should have dropped your pants. You might have gotten disability, too." And that's when the fight started...

 My wife and I were sitting at a table at my high school reunion, and I kept staring at a drunken lady swigging her drink as she sat alone at a nearby table. My wife asked, "Do you know her?"

 

"Yes," I sighed, "She's my old girlfriend. I understand she took to drinking right after we split up those many years ago, and I hear she hasn't been sober since."

 

"My God!" says my wife, "Who would think that a person could go on celebrating that long?" And that's when the fight started...

 

I took my wife to a restaurant. The waiter, for some reason, took my order first. "I'll have the strip steak, medium rare, please."

 

He said, "Aren't you worried about the mad cow?" "Nah, she can order for herself." And that's when the fight started...

 

A woman is standing nude, looking in the bedroom mirror. She is not happy with what she sees and says to her husband, "I feel horrible; I look old, fat and ugly. I really need you to pay me a compliment."

 

The husband replies, "Your eyesight's damn near perfect." And that's when the fight started...

 

I tried to talk my wife into buying a case of Miller Light for $14.95. Instead, she bought a jar of cold cream for $7.95. I told her the beer would make her look better at night than the cold cream. And that's when the fight started...

 

My wife asked me if a certain dress made her butt look big. I told her not as much as the dress that she had worn yesterday. And that's when the fight started...

 

A man and a woman were asleep like two innocent babies. Suddenly, at 3 o'clock in the morning, a loud noise came from outside. The woman, bewildered, jumped up from the bed and yelled at the man "Holy crap. That must be my husband!"

 

So the man jumped out of the bed; scared and naked he jumped out the window. He smashed himself on the ground, ran through a thorn bush and to his car as fast as he could go. A few minutes later he returned and went up to the bedroom and screamed at the woman, "I AM your husband!"

 

The woman yelled back, "Yeah, then why were you RUNNING?" And that's when the fight started...

 

Saturday morning, I got up early, quietly dressed, made my lunch, grabbed the dog, and slipped quietly into the garage. I hooked up the boat to the truck and proceeded to back out into a torrential downpour. The wind was blowing 50 mph, so I pulled back into the garage, turned on the radio, and discovered that the weather would be bad all day. I went back into the house, quietly undressed, and slipped back into bed. I cuddled up to my wife's back, now with a different anticipation, and whispered, "The weather out there is terrible."

 

My loving wife of 10 years replied, "Can you believe my stupid husband is out fishing in that?" And that's when the fight started...

 

I asked my wife, "Where do you want to go for our anniversary?" It warmed my heart to see her face melt in sweet appreciation. "Somewhere I haven't been in a long time!" she said. So I suggested, "How about the kitchen?" And that's when the fight started...

 

My wife and I were watching Who Wants To Be A Millionaire while we were in bed. I turned to her and said, "Do you want to have sex?" "No," she answered. I then said, "Is that your final answer?"

 

She didn't even look at me this time, simply saying "Yes."

 

So I said, "Then I'd like to phone a friend." And that's when the fight started...

 

The Trucker and His Emu

An Aussie trucker walks into an outback cafe with a full-grown emu behind him. The waitress asks them for their orders. The trucker says, 'A hamburger, chips and a coke,' and turns to the emu, 'What's yours?'

'Sounds great, I'll have the same,' says the emu.

A short time later the waitress returns with the order 'That will be $9.40 please,' and he reaches into his pocket and pulls out the exact change and pays.

The next day, the man and the emu come again and he says, 'A hamburger, chips and a coke.'

The emu says, ' Sounds great, I'll have the same.'

Again, the trucker reaches into his pocket and pays with exact change. This becomes routine until the two enter again. 'The usual?' asks the waitress.

'No, it's Friday night, so I'll have a steak, baked potato and a salad,' says the man..

'Same for me,' says the emu. Shortly the waitress brings the order and says, 'That will be $32.62.'

Once again the man pulls the exact change out of his pocket and places it on the table.

The waitress cannot hold back her curiosity any longer. 'Excuse me mate, how do you manage to always pull the exact change from your pocket every time?'

'Well, love' says the trucker, 'a few years ago, I was cleaning out the back shed, and found an old lamp. When I cleaned it, a Genie appeared and offered me two wishes. My first wish was that if I ever had to pay for anything, I would just put my hand in my pocket and the right amount of money would always be there.'

'That's brilliant!' says the waitress. 'Most people would ask for a million dollars or something, but you'll always be as rich as you want, for as long as you live!'

What Is Brain Plasticity?

This is Brain Awareness Week, March 15 to 21 and there is growing evidence that suggests that promoting sleep maybe useful to restore synaptic plasticity in different pathological conditions.  Since plastic processes are essential for functional recovery, management of the sleep-wake cycle in patients and an adequate treatment of associated sleep disturbances could be crucial for the rehabilitation outcome. 

I did some reading of a few studies on how Brain Plasticity may help us. I have tried to summarize what I read below but remember these are my interpretations of some interesting articles I found by doing a google search on brain plasticity and sleep and reviewing the scientific journals that came up in the search. (The pandemic restrictions gives us lots of free time to explore.)

 Essentially, the human brain is a collection of nerve cells. These cells are communicated with by chemicals called neurotransmitters, which are released by various organs in the body in response to various stimuli. This helps to form emotions and many medications work by interacting with neurotransmitters and their receptors.

 The cells of the brain don't only communicate via neurotransmitters; they can also communicate with adjacent cells via electrical impulses. This means that the geographical layout of the brain is more important than was once realized.

 That's where brain plasticity, also called "neuroplasticity" or “Neuronal plasticity” and the science of plasticity psychology comes in and there are some suggestions that the neuronal plasticity may help in the treatment of Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA).

 OSA is a common breathing and sleep disorder, characterized by cessations or reduction in respiration due to pharyngeal collapse during sleep that induce intermittent hypoxia and sleep fragmentation increasing daytime sleepiness and risk for cardiovascular disease. OSA is associated with neurocognitive impairment, with negative influence on vigilance, attention, executive functioning, and memory.

Results from recent studies by H. Xie and W.H. Yung suggests that changes in synaptic plasticity could account for cognitive impairment in OSA patients. A better understanding of the plastic changes occurring in OSA patients, as well as their possible role in cognitive impairment, is of great importance at a therapeutic level.

 In a study done by M. M. Ohayon, M. A. Carskadon, C. Guilleminault, and M. V. Vitiello, found that sleep in patients affected by Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is characterized by a general accentuation of the sleep modifications which are observed in normal ageing. Different studies have found an EEG slowing during a condition of resting wakefulness in AD and Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) patients.

 Albeit the mechanisms underlying the beneficial melatonin effects in AD and MCI remain unclear, Kang and co-workers have found in mice that sleep reduces synaptic anomalies associated with amyloid precursor protein (APP), one of the typical synaptic alterations observed in AD. These data raise the possibility that the positive effects of sleep in AD and MCI are associated with an enhancement of synaptic plasticity. Since plastic processes are strongly impaired in AD patients, a reduction of sleep alterations could be useful to restore synaptic plasticity and to limit or to slow down the cognitive decline in such patients.

The prevalence of sleep disorders in children with autism ranges from 40% to 80%. Sleep in autistic children is characterized by long sleep latency, nocturnal awakenings, short sleep duration, low sleep efficiency, circadian rhythm disturbances, increased REM density and stage 1 sleep, reduction of REM sleep and SWS, and decreased spindle activity. Moreover, behavioural insomnia syndromes and REM sleep behaviour disorder have been often observed.

Different studies have found a deficit in melatonin secretion in autistic patients that seems to represent a risk factor (and not a consequence) of autism.

Recently it has been proposed that learning disabilities in autisms are related to an abnormally high LTP linked with pineal hypofunction, low serum melatonin levels, and sleep dysfunction. According to a recent study by A. J. Yun, K. A. Bazar, and P. Y. Lee, promoting sleep by means of a melatonin treatment may reduce learning disabilities by restoring the synaptic plasticity. Melatonin treatment improves sleep quality in autistic patients and secretin, a hormone that stimulates melatonin, induces a temporary improvement of autism symptoms.