Pick Your Poison

For this issue, we’re talking vices. Whether it’s a tale from the workaholic (which harbors within it aspects of greed, envy, and pride) or a day in the life of someone with substance abuse issues, we asked our writers — and our models — to examine the darker elements of their psyche.

Pride

• Your mind will actually create a new comfort zone for itself to protect you from the fear of failure.
• Many fears stem from your ego and its attempts to protect itself.
• There’s a difference between Narcissism and narcissism: Narcissism is a clinical disorder, narcissism is just being really into yourself.
• Narcissists tend to be charming and can impersonate interest in the people around them.
• If you ask a narcissist if they’re narcissistic, they will often say yes.

Gluttony

• Binge/compulsive eaters tend to be perfectionists.
• Both over and underweight people can be binge eaters.
• People who binge eat are more likely to do it at night.

Sloth

• Sleeping too much can raise your risk for depression.
• Oversleeping has been linked to lower socio-economic status.
• Sleeping too much can increase your risk of Type II Diabetes and has been linked to heart problems.

Lust

• Sexual arousal dulls your natural response to the disgusting parts of sex.
• During their lifetime, the average driver will have sex
  in their car six times.
• Strippers who are ovulating make more tips.
• It’s harder to lie to someone convincingly if you find them sexually attractive.
• The earth could be re-populated back to current levels with the number of sperm that can fit in an aspirin capsule.

Greed

• The richest 20 percent of the world account for 86 percent of the world’s total private consumption.
• In the last 50 years, the average American house size has tripled.
• Annually, Americans spend more on shoes and accessories (approx. $100 billion) than they do on higher education.
• Americans purchase twice as many material goods as they did 50 years ago.

Envy

• There’s a difference between envy and jealousy; envy is when you desire what others have, jealousy is when you are angry/afraid that someone will take what you have.
• We tend to remember more details about people we envy than others we don’t.
• “Instagram envy” is the new term for the pang you feel when you see your friends/celebrities post photos of themselves with new, desirable items.
• People who are afraid of being envied tend to be more helpful toward people who may envy them.

Wrath

• Anger arouses the nervous system and can have effects on your cardiovascular and digestive systems.
• Venting anger on inanimate objects actually increases aggressive behavior.
• Anger has also been linked to insomnia.
• Having a destructive reaction to anger means you’re more likely to have heart attacks.