This is an excellent article in Time.  If you want to master life, and achieve happiness, it is important to develop habits that are conductive to your living to the fullest.  Addictions forces you to desire to continue something even if you know it is bad.  Probably understanding better how we get ‘hooked’, can allow us good strategies in combatting this.

According to Time, 18.7 million people in the US are alcohol abusers, 3.6 million are dependent on drugs, 71.5 million are users of tobacco, and over 80% craves caffeine.  an estimated 4 to 8 million are also considered problem gamblers, and 16 million are said to suffer from compulsive sexual behavior.

How We Get Addicted - TIME

“Addictions,” says Joseph Frascella, director of the division of clinical neuroscience at the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), “are repetitive behaviors in the face of negative consequences, the desire to continue something you know is bad for you.”

China is growing rapidly, but growth has its price.  According to a World bank Study which was recently published in the Financial Times, as many as 750,000 Chinese die prematurely each year due to the effects of pollution.  It is said that 16 of 20’s most polluted cities are in China.

The US has another problem.  37% of US births in 2005 are borne out of wedlock.  In 1960, that was 5.3%.  today, 47% of adults in their 30s and 40s have lived with a partner who was not their spouse.