Korea public health reader (April 4, 2010 edition)

• In the wake of the brother of actress Choi Jin-shil taking his own life, psychiatrists in South Korea remind the public that suicide is "contagious but preventable."

• Korean-American health writer Suzy Khimm writes on why Obama's (alleged) "Federal takeover" of healthcare is actually in the hands of the states.

• Stress over jobs and marriage is causing many young Koreans to experience sleeping difficulties.

• The Korea Times talks about how personal genome sequencing may be used to predict, prevent, and treat disease. Indeed, this could end up shooting average life expectancy into the nineties. If the meteor misses us in 2012. 

• Cat naps (mini siestas?) are reportedly a good way to beat springtime fatigue.  

• With the threat from H1N1 having waned, half of all doses of the once hard-to-come-by vaccine — perhaps tens of millions — may have to be discarded. I, for one, did not get mine until just last month. When it first came out and there weren't enough doses to go around, I was too old (over twenty-five, I think), then when they released it for everyone, I was ineligible to get it done at the student health center because I wasn't enrolled in enough credits to be counted as full time, and after that my insurance had temporarily lapsed. Finally I just went into Safeway one evening and paid the nine bucks (the price had dropped). Why get the vaccine when I already got through flu season without contracting H1N1? Because I figure that when Son of Swine Flu (the slightly mutated relative of H1N1) rolls around a few decades later, I might not be as youthful and healthy as I am now. By the way, I did get my seasonal flu shot (for free), back when I was fully insured.