March 19, 2025 • 39 mins
We kicked off the program with four news stories and different guests on the stories we think you need to know about!
Managing Long Covid & One Woman’s Battle Combatting Long Covid. How she discovered Pain Reprocessing Therapy to rewire her brain.
-She now runs a business called Less Stress Studios where she helps people with Long Covid, Anxiety, Depression & more! Ellen Alden – Founder of Less Stress Studios joined Dan.
Alexa is getting creepier. Take this one step to improve your privacy. With Shira Ovide – Washington Post tech writer.
Processed meats don’t just affect your heart. They may worsen cognition, too. Anahad O’Connor – Washington Post Health columnist explained.
March is National Problem Gambling Awareness Month. Recent study finds gambling rates and the intensity of monthly gambling in the Commonwealth have increased. Marlene Warner – CEO of the MA Council on Gaming and Health checked in.
Listen to WBZ NewsRadio on the NEW iHeart Radio app and be sure to set WBZ NewsRadio as your #1 preset!
Managing Long Covid & One Woman’s Battle Combatting Long Covid. How she discovered Pain Reprocessing Therapy to rewire her brain.
-She now runs a business called Less Stress Studios where she helps people with Long Covid, Anxiety, Depression & more! Ellen Alden – Founder of Less Stress Studios joined Dan.
Alexa is getting creepier. Take this one step to improve your privacy. With Shira Ovide – Washington Post tech writer.
Processed meats don’t just affect your heart. They may worsen cognition, too. Anahad O’Connor – Washington Post Health columnist explained.
March is National Problem Gambling Awareness Month. Recent study finds gambling rates and the intensity of monthly gambling in the Commonwealth have increased. Marlene Warner – CEO of the MA Council on Gaming and Health checked in.
Listen to WBZ NewsRadio on the NEW iHeart Radio app and be sure to set WBZ NewsRadio as your #1 preset!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
It's night Side with Dan Ray on WBS Boston's radio.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Gus up the duck boats. Let me tell you this
is a much better team than you might expect, folks,
gus up the duck boats. My name is Dan Ray,
the eternal Optimist. Here spring springs tomorrow. Bro. When is
the official start of spring? Do you have a time
on that? I think it's I think tonight's the last
night of spring. See if you can find me an
(00:28):
official time on that, because maybe if it happens during
our show, I want to introduce it to everybody and
welcome spring. Thank god, winter is finally over, although we
might get some snow this weekend. Good evening everyone. My
name is Dan Ray, im the host of Nightside. We
get down in business now. Rob Brooks is back in
the control room. He's checking out exactly when spring arrives
Thursday tomorrow morning, five oh one am. So I'm gonna
(00:52):
basically take you to midnight and you run your own
after that and five hours in one minute tomorrow morning,
you will have spring. You'll wake up and you'll just
feel different. Tomorrow morning. Everything will be perfect. Everything will
be perfect. Winter's overspring is here. Okay, good got that
taken care of. We have some really good guests coming
up in the eight o'clock hour. No phone calls in
(01:13):
the eight o'clock hour. Already mentioned. Rob is back in
the control room at the Big Broadcast Center. He's all
set to make sure everything goes perfectly. I'm all set
to talk to four guests. We will talk at nine
o'clock tonight about the termination of Massachusetts State Police Trooper
Detective Michael Proctor. He was the lead investigator of the
Karen Reid case and he messed up, and as a consequence,
(01:38):
he has been terminated by the Massachusetts State Police for
a number of things. We'll get into all of those,
but it all involved his investigation of Karen Reid and
some texts that he sent and some things that were
in writing on his phone, and we'll get into all
of that. At ten o'clock tonight, we will have the
opportunity and the privilege of talking with Israeli Consul General
(02:01):
to New England, Benny SHARONI. We're going to talk about
what is going on in the Middle East and specifically
between Israel and Gaza. And then if we get to it,
and I hope we do, I'm going to be pretty
critical of the Trump administration. And I may be off base,
but I think I'm on solid footing a wrongful deportation
(02:21):
out of Texas, which I'm still working on. I want
to make sure we have this right. But I'll talk
about that. If not tonight, we'll talk about it tomorrow night.
First off, we're going to welcome Ellen Alden. Ellen deals
with managing long COVID. She was a victim of it herself.
She was recommended to us by one of our producers.
(02:44):
If you will down to the cape, my good friend
Larry and I want to welcome Ellen Alden, the founder
of Less Stress Studios. Ellen, welcome to Night Side.
Speaker 3 (02:56):
Thank you very much.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
So how long did you deal or are you still
dealing with long COVID.
Speaker 3 (03:04):
Well, I've got COVID the initial infection in twenty twenty one,
so it was almost three years before I really started
to feel you know, better, and you know, recovery. It's
hard to say just because there are really no biometrics
for it. But I know I can work, I know
I can travel, I know I can do the things
(03:26):
that I like to do.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
Again, Okay, so were you in effect because long COVID
is a real thing, and it affects a lot of people. Seriously.
We talked last week about it with Julie Sullivan from
the from Brigham Mass General, Brighams or Brigham Mass General.
They keep changing the names of that particular group. Julie
(03:48):
runs the recovery from Long Covid. There. You're doing this
a little differently on the cape. Tell us about because
of your experience you then took I guess the experience
that you had learned kind of learned as you went along,
and you now have found a studio called less stress studio.
(04:10):
And I assume applying some of the lessons you learned
to help others men and women who want to somehow
get out from underneath the shadow of Long COVID.
Speaker 3 (04:21):
Yes, when I couldn't find any.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
About that, things happened. Don't worry about those. No no, no,
no no no no no no no, no, you go right ahead.
Sorry for the interruption.
Speaker 1 (04:36):
That's very good.
Speaker 3 (04:37):
I was saying, you know, when I couldn't find answers
in the medical you know, I tried it at I
went down to Mount Sinai in a lot of different places.
You know, there just aren't any right now. Treatments or cures,
although they're working on them.
Speaker 4 (04:52):
You know.
Speaker 3 (04:52):
So I had to do things that I could do
for myself, you know, and luckily I was. I have
I'm certified in mindfulness based stress reduction. So I implemented
some breathing techniques, you know, I meditated every day, some
this thing called bagel toning. So I really calmed my
(05:13):
own nervous system down, because it affects every system in
our autonomic nervous system. But being able to control that control,
you know, the thoughts that were coming in the uncertainty,
not to say that, you know, my metal health didn't
get affected, because when you're stuck with something and you're
in bed, and you know, your life changes so drastically
(05:33):
because I also the brain fog and you think, oh,
people are just probably a little you know, a little foggy,
but it turns out it's really debilitating. Like I couldn't
read for a while, and I couldn't write, and I
was a writer, So it was, you know, affected so
much of my life.
Speaker 2 (05:49):
So would we say long covid Okay, I know you've
just described long COVID. Does long COVID come in a
variety of forms? Or is long COVID the same for
everyone who is impacted by it, or are there different
manifestations of long COVID in different people?
Speaker 3 (06:10):
Yeah, there's you know, I work at the doing some
stuff for Brigham too with Julie, and there are five
one hundred people or so in that program. Everybody has
a different case. It's almost like the virus goes in
and it finds the vulnerabilities of the people and will
affect them. So I guess there are two hundred and
twenty two different symptoms that people can have. So it's
(06:32):
really but you know, they're but they're debilitating. I couldn't
get out of it. I couldn't exercise, I couldn't, you know,
Like I said, reader, write for a while.
Speaker 2 (06:40):
And I assume that when you when you think, you said,
what one hundred and two hundred and how many symptoms are.
Speaker 3 (06:48):
There of COVID J and twenty two.
Speaker 2 (06:51):
Yeah, so if you take all sorts of permutations, mathematical
permutations of that, if if someone had symptom one sixteen
and twenty three, their experience might be different from the
person who had system one hundred and six, one hundred
and twelve and two of two. So it's It's almost
(07:12):
astronomical the number of potential types of long COVID that
might exist if you have all the symptoms or just
some of the symptoms. So what do you do at
less stress studios? Do people come to you and say
help me? I assume that's what's going on.
Speaker 3 (07:27):
Right, Yeah, and it's called stressless studios, not that it's
that big a deal, but if anyone was trying to
look it up, that's what it stressed.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
Now, Okay, fine, I see it both ways on my
promotional sheet here, so no problem, that's we got to
write stress less studios. Go ahead.
Speaker 4 (07:45):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (07:45):
And so when people want to work with me and
kind of do the things that I did to that
worked for me to get out of you know, long COVID,
which you know was the coming of nervous system and
also the brain training called in the processing therapy, then yeah,
they call me up. I work remotely. I'm actually in
(08:07):
Manchester by the sea and on the cape, although I
do know Larry, no problem and yeah no and so
yeah so he so, so that's what they do. They
I do workshops with people on those particular things I
just talked about. And I also see people as a
coach working one on one.
Speaker 2 (08:27):
Okay, so you do group things, you do one on one.
Obviously you're not doing this for your health, as I
assume cost involved. Let me ask you the tough question.
Is this sort of a therapy that you have developed
or do you have medical degrees into a training to
back it up? Or is this just this is what
worked for me. If you want me to share it
(08:48):
with you, I'll share it with you. Tell me which
I just want to make sure my audience understands.
Speaker 3 (08:53):
Oh. Absolutely, So I use the you know, the different
they're mostly the Eastern techniques from my mindfulness based stress
reduction program which I took at Brown University. It's a
very hard program. And then the breath you know coaching.
I just became a breath coach. And then also the
pain reprocessing therapy. I am certified in that. So that's
(09:15):
why I can teach that I want.
Speaker 2 (09:17):
Yeah, no, I want people to know and you know
exactly what they're getting into. Now. The best way that
people can reach you if they feel that your training
might be helpful and they don't have to go to
Manchestered by the Sea. This is all done you said remotely,
So you're talking about Zoom one on ones or group
zoom calls.
Speaker 3 (09:36):
Correct, yes, that is all on zoom call calls. And
also I have a free support group as well, but yeah,
they can just catch it. And it's not for everybody.
It's definitely an alternative. But what I liked is in
how I originally started, is something that you can do
for yourself even while you're being treated by the medical system,
just because you know, it's hard to manage all of
(09:58):
this and so the better.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
And it's probably hard for people to get into the
car and drive into a doctor's office, So the fact
that you can do it remotely, that's great. Let's have
the website. How can people most easily get in touch
with you?
Speaker 3 (10:12):
Okay, well it is stress dash Less dash studio dot.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
Com, stress dash less dash Studios, Puerile.
Speaker 3 (10:24):
Dot com studio No just no s just singular.
Speaker 2 (10:27):
Okay, so stress dash less or I guess dash could
also be a hyphen studio dot com stress less studio
dot com with a couple of hyphens in there between
stress and less between less a studio. You could have
probably just put it all together there and it wouldn't
cause me any.
Speaker 3 (10:47):
Sorry, that was ful. You did a great job with
it though I'm trying.
Speaker 2 (10:51):
I'm trying. Ellen. Thanks very much for what you do,
and we want to thank Larry for directing her you
to us. We really do appreciate it. And I understand
what the last name Alden. You might have had some
four bears who came over in the Mayflower? Is that true?
Speaker 3 (11:06):
Yes, my husband did. Twelfth great grandfather.
Speaker 2 (11:11):
What well, congratulations on that. Okay, we should talk to
him some night about the genealogy. Thank you, Ellen. Ellen
stress less studio dot com with a couple of hyphens
in there. Everyone, You'll find it. You'll find it. Thanks Ellen.
We get back. We're going to talk with a Washington
Post technical writer. Here's something that's really creepy, Alexa. Alexa
(11:36):
is getting creepier because Alexa will now tell Amazon everything
you say and you don't even know Alexa's listening. This
is out of the Washington Post. Back on nights side,
This of course, is a Wednesday night. We're halfway through
the week. My name's Dan Ray. We're not halfway through
the show yet. We have wats to do tonight. We'll
get you to midnight. You can listen to us on
(12:00):
the new iHeart app Real simple pull down the iHeart app,
put it on your phone or whatever device you have.
Make us your primary preset WBZ, and we are only
a fingertip away from wherever you are in the world.
Simple as that. My name's Dan Ray. This is Nightside.
I'll be right back right after this.
Speaker 1 (12:19):
Now back to Dan Ray live from the Window World
night Side Studios on WBZ News Radio.
Speaker 2 (12:27):
All right, welcome back. We are going to talk with
a guest who has been with us before, Shira Overday,
Washington Post tech writer Shira. Welcome back to Nightside. How
are you.
Speaker 4 (12:41):
I'm well, and it's Shira Shira.
Speaker 2 (12:43):
Okay, I was focused on the last name. I figured
I had the first name nailed, Shira, but Overday I
got I got the tough one. But this though, Yeah,
all right, okay, my last name is spelled r Ea,
so you can imagine the way that my name is pronounced.
I'm very second imagine. Sure, yes, thanks. So, look, I've
never used Alexa, I've never used Siri. There probably are
(13:06):
some people in my audience who have never used alexra
a Siri, and maybe there may be other devices out
there beyond Alexa and Siri. Explain to my audience how
Alexa or Siri works, and then let's talk about the
problem that you've taught, that you've written about in the
Washington Post.
Speaker 4 (13:25):
Sure, well, all of the voice activated assistance as they're called,
are changing a bit now with artificial intelligence, but the
way they worked for many years is you summon the
voice assistant with some sort of word like you say,
you say the word Siri, or you say the word
(13:46):
hey Alexa, and then there's a snippet of voice of
your voice that is sent to the cloud of that company,
and it kind of processes whatever you've asked it to do,
check the weather, play tailor Swiss songs, and then it
triggers that action. That's the very basic way. It doesn't
(14:06):
It looks a little bit like a phone tree, like
when you call customer service line, right, and then there's
this kind of escalating series of annoying, annoying, canned messages.
So Alex and Siri work a little bit like that
that they're kind of programmed to answer a certain set
of questions.
Speaker 2 (14:22):
Just a technical question that crossed my mind, and I
don't want to be too technical here, but if I
had a lecture or Siri could have ask them not
to play Taylor Swift songs. Is that possible as well?
Just kidding, that's a great question.
Speaker 4 (14:37):
Play music but not hitless Swift. I'm not sure. O.
Speaker 2 (14:42):
So what now has happened is and I've heard this before,
but I think you've done some research on this. It
sounds like theoretically these devices, which were there to make
things simpler for us, may be actually complicating things for
us because they have been able to monitor our conversations
(15:02):
that were not necessarily for them to overhear.
Speaker 4 (15:06):
Correct, that is sometimes correct. So there's two things that
are happening. One is that you were right. Occasionally these
voice as systems, including siy and and Alexa from Amazon,
occasionally they have been found to sort of activate and
essentially record snippets of audio when the person did not
(15:29):
intend to activate them. There's not in the active mode
of activation. That's kind of a known problem. I will
say that in the past there's been some research that
found that happens relatively infrequently, so that maybe gives you
people in your audience some comfort. The other thing is.
Speaker 2 (15:47):
That so there's no suggestion here, just so I to say,
there's really no suggestion here that it's not something that
you freak people out. It's not as if Big Brother
has been listening and writing down.
Speaker 4 (16:02):
I am not in a position to tell people what
to freak out about or not to freak out about.
But yes, I mean, look, the point of these voice
activated assistance is that they have microphones that are always
listening for you to say the trigger work right. So
that may make people uncomfortable. And again, depending on how
whether you feel cool with this or not, there are
(16:23):
some small set of cases where they may turn on
the voice assistance, may record you without you intending to
be recorded, basically accidental activations. So again, whether that freaks
you out or not, that's.
Speaker 5 (16:37):
A person right right.
Speaker 2 (16:38):
So what we're saying is this is not Big Brother
watching you. We have This is not another chapter of
nineteen eighty four or all this Huxley or anything like that.
It just shows that sometimes when we have these great conveniences,
that there's there's not subside benefits, the subside detriments. I
(16:59):
guess I would characterize it.
Speaker 4 (17:01):
Yes, for sure, for sure, with every with every convenience,
there comes a cost, and the cost of these voice
assistants is yes, sometimes they inadvertently record you without your knowledge.
And then the other, you know, larger, larger issue is
that by it is standard that is written into Alexa,
which is kind of the most aggressive of the voice assistance.
(17:24):
Everything you say, all the things that are recorded from
your home, from you asking for Taylor Swift songs or to.
Speaker 2 (17:32):
Remind you Tailor Swift songs right.
Speaker 4 (17:35):
Or not, yes, forgiving, that is all retained in Amazon's
cloud computer system forever. That is the standard approach that
Amazon has.
Speaker 2 (17:46):
Taken well, which gets to the point of then can
your voice, which you would like to think you own,
which we talked about a couple of nights ago, then
can be expertsropriated by some organization that could then use
your voice either for bad purposes or you might hear
(18:10):
your voice being used unknowingly on a commercial someday five
or ten years from now, and you say, my god,
I never did that commercial. But they were the snippets
of your voice, and if they felt it was the
perfect voice they needed a friendly female voice, or an
unfriendly female voice, or a friendly male voice whatever. So, yeah, boy,
(18:31):
this is a lot to think about. Share I hear you.
Speaker 4 (18:34):
Yeah, Look, I mean I think it's fun to think
that that Amazon is not going to like sell your
voice to some sort of con artist, right, who's gonna
tend to be your grandchild. But I think the risk here,
and then this is a standard risk for all these
technology companies, is that they collect as much data as
(18:56):
they possibly can, because nothing stops them from doing so. Right,
and whenever there is large amounts of data, it is
a honeypot for someone. It could be stolen by hackers.
It could be you know, either requested with a valid
legal warrant or maybe not by a government authority. It
(19:19):
could be used in ways that you cannot imagine. It
is also standard at these companies that they sometimes have
human beings listen to those recordings in order to see
if you know, transcription and things like that are accurate.
That is something else that when that's been reported on,
people freak out about that, and then I get.
Speaker 2 (19:38):
That, well, that's okay. I think people should freak out
about more things, because look, I think it's fair to
say that there's stuff going on in this world that
we normally say, well, the government will protectives, the government
will make sure that that's and in fact, the government
can't stop those six o'clock phone calls when people calling
you asking you to sign up for solar panels or
(20:01):
or increase your your you know what if you fix
your plumbing. I mean it's like those those those those
auto dialed calls when you say hello, and it takes
fifteen seconds for the person from where somewhere in the
Philippines to say, oh, well, good evening, Hello, how are you?
And the government can't stop those either, so.
Speaker 4 (20:23):
Anyway, well, I think the reality is again, the more
data these companies collect, the more information there exists on
the Internet for people to steal or purchase or trade
in order to tailor scams right that that seem sophisticated
and that make us fall for them, or to you know,
(20:46):
persuade us to buy stuff. I mean, you know, again,
I agree with you. People should be more freaked out,
and that is the thing that they should freak out about,
is again this mass collection of our personal data, including
bits of our voices without really I mean like we
have no possible way to anticipate how that might be
used or misused today or in the future.
Speaker 2 (21:08):
You bet you, you bet you sare it overday? Thank
you very much. As always, we will talk again. I
very much appreciate your time with us tonight, very informing. Thanks, thanks,
my pleasure. Thank you. All Right, we're a little bit
late here for the eight thirty news. That's fine, that's
coming right up. We're gonna hold on that. We come
back on and talk about process meets don't just affect
your heart, they may worsen your cognition too, that's good news.
(21:32):
And then we'll talk about gambling, March's National Problem Gambling
Awareness Month. Of course it is. You've heard of March madness.
You thought it was about basketball. It's about basketball and gambling.
We'll be back on Nightside with two very two more
very interesting guests.
Speaker 1 (21:48):
It's night Side, Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2 (21:55):
All right, welcome back. We join now by our guest,
you had O'Connor. Uh. He is a Washington Post health columnist,
a new Hut. Welcome to Night's Side. How are you.
Speaker 5 (22:08):
I'm doing great? Thanks, it's Anahad. Great to be here.
Speaker 2 (22:11):
Anahad okay, I got it. I've never seen that name before.
I'm sorry that I mispronounced it. It's Anahad Anahad okay.
Speaker 5 (22:20):
Yeah, yeah, no problem, a problem, it's not there's not
many of us out there, I guess not.
Speaker 2 (22:27):
Is that a family name. I see O'Connor at the end,
I was, what is that happened to be Gaelic by
any chance of know?
Speaker 5 (22:33):
Ah, that's a good guess. It's well, it's actually from
Sanskrit and it means celestial. It means celestial music. And
my my, the short story behind it is that my
parents were hippies and so they gave my siblings and
I names from Sanskrit. But O'Connor is the Irish part.
Speaker 2 (22:53):
No, clearly that one I'm very familiar with. I'm a
I'm My family is from County Cork. So my parents
weren't hippies. They were a little they were World War
two generation, so hippies had. So we're talking about processed meats, okay, which,
of course processed meats could be what anything, cold cuts,
hot dogs give us the scope of I'm sure there
(23:17):
are other things that fit under the umbrella or the
category processed meats that I haven't mentioned. What else are
we talking about when we talk about processed meats?
Speaker 5 (23:25):
Yeah, so they're usually the really highly processed, cured salted meats,
so hot dogs, sausages, bacon, salami, you know, daily meats,
those kinds of like preserved meats typically.
Speaker 2 (23:43):
Okay, and so these are known to affect your heart.
I don't really want to ask, because I had a
ham sandwich tonight, But how did they affect your heart?
What do they do to your heart? And then we'll
get to what they do to your cognition.
Speaker 5 (24:00):
Yeah, So, health authorities have long discouraged people from consuming
a lot of processed and red meats because they know
that these foods contain a lot of saturated fat and
that can raise your LDL cholesterol, which is the kind
associated with heart disease. Typically, the higher your LDL cholesterol,
the higher your risk of heart disease and heart attacks
(24:22):
and strokes. So that's primarily the reason doctors and health
authorities have discouraged people from eating processed and red meats.
But now, in this news research, they looked at whether
there was a relationship between how much processed and red
meat people ate and their risk of developing cognitive issues
as they got older, such as dementia, Alzheimer's, memory decline,
(24:47):
and loss. And they found that the more process meats
people ate, the higher their likelihood of developing these cognitive
issues as they got older.
Speaker 2 (24:57):
Okay, so I assumed that This is consumption that starts
when kids are bringing boloney sandwiches to school, or maybe
they don't bring boloney sandwiches to school were like we did.
But uh, I assume it starts when when people when
when you know, infants start to eat real food. Is
there any I mean are they saying there's no safe level?
(25:20):
Like you know I I, for example, I use myself
oftentimes as a guinea pig on this show. I'm a
big Boar's Head fan. I think that boys and Telly
meats are really good, and now I like Boy's head turkey,
and I occasionally get a couple of slices of thinly
sliced ham maple honey ham to throw into a salad.
I'm not somebody who's who's eating a lot of subs
(25:41):
every day, But how how concerned should I be about
the fact that over my lifetime I've probably eaten a
lot of sandwiches, a lot of a lot of hot
dogs at baseball games, and uh, you know the typical
diet that many Americans look back in the rear view
mirror and say that's the way I'm lived for thirty
years or forty years or fifty years or more.
Speaker 5 (26:04):
Yeah, I mean, that's a great question. And so, I mean,
the first thing to know about the study is that
it was quite large. It looked at like almost one
hundred and fifty thousand people followed for over four years,
and it was observational in nature. So they didn't take
they didn't do a randomized control trial. They took people
and split them into groups and said, Okay, this group,
you're gonna eat salami and you know, ham sandwiches every day,
(26:27):
and this group, you're not gonna eat any processed meats.
They follow people and ask them about their diets, and
you know, found that they're the more of these processed
meats people ate, the higher they're likelihood of developing cognitive
issues as they got older. But that doesn't mean that
everyone got cognitive issues or that if you you know,
(26:48):
if you eat some processed meat, you know that you're
definitely going to get mentioned Alzheimer's or cognitive issues. You know,
and there are so many other parts of your diet
that also play a role as well, how much sugar
you're consuming, how many ultra processed foods you're consuming. So
the key takeaway was just that you know, there are
reasons to believe that processed meats could play a role
(27:11):
in your likelihood of developing you know, dementia, Alzheimer's, cognitive decline,
because we know they can increase your saturated fat or sorry,
they can increase your LDL cholesterol levels because of their
saturated fat and a higher LDL itself. You know, it
seems like it could potentially, you know, be causal. Also,
(27:35):
these process meats tend to have high levels of sodium
and preservatives such as nitrates and nitrites that can potentially
increase your blood pressure. And we know that if you
have higher blood pressure, that can lead to more vascular issues,
and that's you know, obviously can play a role in
your brain health. You know, these preservatives can also increase
oxidative stress and inflammation. So you know, doesn't mean that
(28:00):
you can't eat any processed meat ever, just that if
you're eating, if you're eating, you know, if you're eating
ham sandwiches every single day, then that certainly is not
everything in moderation.
Speaker 2 (28:15):
But they say that, but if this isn't everything in moderation,
I think I'm okay. If this is the surge of
general telling us in nineteen sixty four, throw the cigarettes away.
I mean, this is not quite at that level, but
it's something people should.
Speaker 5 (28:29):
Definitely not okay. And the other thing to know is that,
you know, if you're someone who likes processed meats like myself,
I like, you know, I had a turkey sandwich today.
But you can go to the grocery store and buy,
you know, deli meats that say night write and night
trate free, which are those potentially harmful preservatives. You can
(28:49):
buy the deli meats that don't have a lot of
sodium added to them. So one that I like, for example,
is applegates. They use they don't use the nitrites and
nitrate preservatives. You can buy one that sold in most
grocery stores and I think it's made by Wegmans. It's
called just Turkey, where it's literally just the sliced turkey
without a bunch of additives. So if you are going
(29:11):
to eat the process meats, then try to get the
ones that have fewer additives, you know, just the turkey
meat without the additives, or the you know, sliced roasted
chicken without the additives. You know, so you can choose
the ones that are have.
Speaker 2 (29:27):
Got to be a smart What you're saying is you've
got to be a smart consumer. With the warning that
you've issued, it's never too late to get back on track.
I think everybody tomorrow could take some of this advice.
Uh A new thank you very much. I really appreciate it.
A new on O'Connor Washington Post Health column. Get it right,
(29:49):
get the first name right that time.
Speaker 5 (29:50):
A new hut cloth on a hut.
Speaker 2 (29:53):
But that's not that's okay. I gotta get because you
know I'll have you back. I want to work on
it between now and then. Anaha, thank you very much.
I appreciate it very much.
Speaker 5 (30:04):
My pleas are great to talk to you. Have a
good evening, Great you too, you as well?
Speaker 2 (30:08):
All right, when we come back, March's National Problem Gambling
Awareness Month. Isn't it funny that March is also March Madness?
With the Sweet sixteen NCAA. You're going to talk with
Marlene Warner. She's the CEO of the Massachusett Council on
Gaming and Health. Coming back on Nightside right after this.
Speaker 1 (30:25):
Now back to Dan Ray live from the Window World
night Side Studios on WBZ News Radio.
Speaker 2 (30:33):
I'm here to tell you March is National Problem Gambling
Awareness Month. It's also the month of March madness. Maybe
it's appropriate with me is Marlene Warner. She's the CEO
of the Massachusetts Council on Gaming and Health. Marlene, I
didn't even realize we had a Council on Gaming and Health.
Tell us about is that a state agency or is
(30:54):
that a private agency?
Speaker 6 (30:57):
We're a private, nonprofit organization. Previously, we were named up
until twenty twenty where the Massachusetts Council and compulsive gambling
and actually we've been in the commonwealth since nineteen eighty three.
Speaker 2 (31:08):
Yeah, well the compulsive gambling one. Did it compulso become
a bad word? And did we changed as a result
of that?
Speaker 6 (31:16):
Yeah, compulsive is certainly a little bit stigmatizing or a
lot stigmatizing. I think the other thing is that we
recognize that we can help people prior to them getting
to the point of addiction or disorder, which would be
the more appropriate terms to use now. So really identifying
that folks are in need of services and support from
(31:36):
the moment they make the decision to gambling, all the
way through long term recovery.
Speaker 2 (31:41):
Yeah, I know, I get it, and you know it's
always I look at a lot of that stuff as euphemisms,
but if it works better this way. The Massachusetts Council
on Gaming and Health, we have just legalized sports betting
in Massachusetts in the last year or so.
Speaker 6 (31:57):
Correct, Yes, it's been especially we're coming upon two years
of legalized sports wagering.
Speaker 2 (32:04):
Okay, fine, Now again you use the word wagering, which
I guess is a softer word in betting. When when
I was a little kid, I mean when I was
ten or twelve, used to get those those cards from
the bookies. You've had to pick three games on NFL
Sunday and you bet a bucket. If you got all
three games right on the spread, you got five bucks back.
(32:26):
I never turned out to be a big gambler or
anything like that. I'm actually the I knew that the
thing was all that the house always won. Okay, So,
and I don't like to go into situations where where
my chances of losing money are worse than my chances
of winning money. But a lot of people have this problem.
(32:47):
My question is, do you think we made a mistake.
This is a tough question because I'm noticing that the
lottery revenues are coming down, and I have to assume
there's a relationship that as the football and sports betting
goes up, that has to impact the Massachusetts State lottery.
Correct or No, So I you know.
Speaker 6 (33:06):
I really can't comment on that piece. I guess what
I would say is that our Massachusets State Lottery continues
to be the most profitable lottery per capita in the world.
So you know, we still are doing just fine in
the Commonwealth in terms of lottery sales. You know, I
certainly you know it would be a good question for
the treasure for the lottery director.
Speaker 2 (33:25):
Oh yeah, well, treasure treasurer Uh Goldberg is a great friend.
And I heard the numbers last week, and I assume that,
like anything else, if you open up more you know,
whatever options for people who who are who are gamblers,
that they the mass Lottery, which is a wonderful lottery
(33:46):
by the way, it's everyone knows it's all on luck.
So you you buy a ticket on impulse, but you're
hopefully you're not spending a lot of money the kids
shoes shoe money. However, I think it's different when you
bet in football in sports, and I'll tell you why,
and you're probably going to disagree with me. I think
(34:06):
most people realize Yeah, they buy a lottery ticket. It's
pure luck. So there's no onus on losing My numbers
didn't come up big deal. But there's a lot of
people who bet football games, basketball games, bet they're spread beer,
convinced that they know more than the bookies do about
wh who's injured and all of that. And I would
(34:27):
bet that compulsive gambling. There's more compulsive gamblers who are
involved in sports betting than there are in the lottery.
Speaker 3 (34:34):
Can you comment on that, Yes, I can comment on that.
Speaker 6 (34:38):
So I think one of the things that's really interesting
about Massachusetts is that we have a pretty robust research
agenda here in the Commonwealth, and that was part of
the twenty eleven Expand of Gaming Act that brought casinos
to Massachusetts under Governor daval Patrick and he and the
legislatory at the foresight to make sure that there were
significant dollars set aside to study a lot of this.
(35:00):
Of things that we know is that the biggest predictor
of someone having a gambling problem is that they are
a regular lottery player. But that doesn't mean that their
unhealthy play is coming from lottery play. Only. We typically
see that they play the lottery and other things. We
did not see with the introduction of casino gambling here
(35:22):
at least thus far over the last ten years, any
significant increases in terms of gambling problems. We're still obviously, like,
like we said, not even two years into sports wagering.
You know, anecdotally, people will certainly say, and there's some
early research results here in mass choos to say that
there are some more significant problems happening as relates to
(35:43):
sports wagerings. But I think the segments of the population
are really different when we talk about that, and whether
they also are you know, at baseline also lottery players,
I think is another thing that we're trying to determine.
You know, all this research is happening through you, matt Amherst.
Speaker 2 (36:00):
Well, I could do I could do the research for
you right now. I can tell you that. And I
don't want to be a wise guy when I say this,
but I guarantee you that the lottery players skew older,
and the and the sports betting players skew younger, and
they will go to casino's probably somewhere in the middle,
right or wrong.
Speaker 6 (36:20):
I think it depends. I think you know, again, these
are all nuanced pieces I don't.
Speaker 2 (36:26):
I'm talking about I'm talking about you're paying research to you, Mass.
I'm telling you right now that a lottery players because
because I go into variety source and I see who's
playing the lottery, young people aren't playing the lottery. That's
part of the problem the lottery has, the dev Goldberg
is trying to address. And the people who are betting
on football games and on college basketball games, they're not
people in their sixties and seventies. The more people in
(36:48):
their twenties and thirties. And you know, you can spend
a lot of money if you you Mass are doing research.
But that's what the research in my opinion, and that's
just from observations. I mean, talk probably talk to a
couple of bookies and be able to figure it out.
So what can we do here? What is the solution
to this dilemma that you have sketched out for us?
Speaker 6 (37:10):
I think the solution is to do a couple of things.
One is, before you introduce new forms of gambling or
even expand upon the ones that we currently have, is
to continue to offer a lot of safety nets. And
so safety nets look different in different forms of gambling,
and regulatory efforts and certainly in general public awareness. I mean,
(37:30):
we have been around since nineteen eighty three, and yet
a lot of folks still don't realize that you can
have a gambling problem. So just constantly promoting the existence
of the issue and some of the signs and symptoms,
but also just making sure people know to call one
eight hundred gambler so that they can get the help
and resources they need that we do have here in
the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The other thing I guess I
(37:52):
would say is that there are many opportunities to make
products safer safer, excuse me, and also how they are
advertised and how they are promoted safer, and I think
there's a lot of a lot of room for opportunity there,
whether that be with the operators, whether that be the
state through the lottery, or through the individual companies which
(38:13):
are licensees of the commonwealth, or through the regulatory actions.
Speaker 2 (38:19):
I would just add one final comment, and I don't
know if you can agree with me or not, but
it is my belief that once you let the genie
out of the bottle, it's tough to put the genie
back in the bottle.
Speaker 6 (38:30):
Yeah, we certainly see that, seeing that in a lot
of states and folks just continue to expand but don't
actually correct some of the problems that they've kind of
created and solved.
Speaker 2 (38:40):
You know, our tribe, give us the website where people
can seek some help if they if they're able to
realize they need some help, where can they go?
Speaker 6 (38:48):
Yeah, so they can. They can go to game sencema
dot com if they want some help in terms of
keeping their game states. And then if they definitely need
treatment twelve step programs, they can go to Gambling Helplinema
dot org, which is a website put out by dph.
Speaker 2 (39:03):
Okay, sounds great, Thanks very much, appreciate your time, Thank
you much, and happy March Madness. Thanks very much. March
National Problem Gambling Awareness Month. That's all we're going to
see for the next two or three weeks for sure.
And if you're a gambler, it's it's tough to resist.
We've got to coming back on night's I'm going to
talk about the termination of Massachusetts State Police trooper Michael Procter.
It's night Side with Dan Ray on WBS Boston's radio.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Gus up the duck boats. Let me tell you this
is a much better team than you might expect, folks,
gus up the duck boats. My name is Dan Ray,
the eternal Optimist. Here spring springs tomorrow. Bro. When is
the official start of spring? Do you have a time
on that? I think it's I think tonight's the last
night of spring. See if you can find me an
(00:28):
official time on that, because maybe if it happens during
our show, I want to introduce it to everybody and
welcome spring. Thank god, winter is finally over, although we
might get some snow this weekend. Good evening everyone. My
name is Dan Ray, im the host of Nightside. We
get down in business now. Rob Brooks is back in
the control room. He's checking out exactly when spring arrives
Thursday tomorrow morning, five oh one am. So I'm gonna
(00:52):
basically take you to midnight and you run your own
after that and five hours in one minute tomorrow morning,
you will have spring. You'll wake up and you'll just
feel different. Tomorrow morning. Everything will be perfect. Everything will
be perfect. Winter's overspring is here. Okay, good got that
taken care of. We have some really good guests coming
up in the eight o'clock hour. No phone calls in
(01:13):
the eight o'clock hour. Already mentioned. Rob is back in
the control room at the Big Broadcast Center. He's all
set to make sure everything goes perfectly. I'm all set
to talk to four guests. We will talk at nine
o'clock tonight about the termination of Massachusetts State Police Trooper
Detective Michael Proctor. He was the lead investigator of the
Karen Reid case and he messed up, and as a consequence,
(01:38):
he has been terminated by the Massachusetts State Police for
a number of things. We'll get into all of those,
but it all involved his investigation of Karen Reid and
some texts that he sent and some things that were
in writing on his phone, and we'll get into all
of that. At ten o'clock tonight, we will have the
opportunity and the privilege of talking with Israeli Consul General
(02:01):
to New England, Benny SHARONI. We're going to talk about
what is going on in the Middle East and specifically
between Israel and Gaza. And then if we get to it,
and I hope we do, I'm going to be pretty
critical of the Trump administration. And I may be off base,
but I think I'm on solid footing a wrongful deportation
(02:21):
out of Texas, which I'm still working on. I want
to make sure we have this right. But I'll talk
about that. If not tonight, we'll talk about it tomorrow night.
First off, we're going to welcome Ellen Alden. Ellen deals
with managing long COVID. She was a victim of it herself.
She was recommended to us by one of our producers.
(02:44):
If you will down to the cape, my good friend
Larry and I want to welcome Ellen Alden, the founder
of Less Stress Studios. Ellen, welcome to Night Side.
Speaker 3 (02:56):
Thank you very much.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
So how long did you deal or are you still
dealing with long COVID.
Speaker 3 (03:04):
Well, I've got COVID the initial infection in twenty twenty one,
so it was almost three years before I really started
to feel you know, better, and you know, recovery. It's
hard to say just because there are really no biometrics
for it. But I know I can work, I know
I can travel, I know I can do the things
(03:26):
that I like to do.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
Again, Okay, so were you in effect because long COVID
is a real thing, and it affects a lot of people. Seriously.
We talked last week about it with Julie Sullivan from
the from Brigham Mass General, Brighams or Brigham Mass General.
They keep changing the names of that particular group. Julie
(03:48):
runs the recovery from Long Covid. There. You're doing this
a little differently on the cape. Tell us about because
of your experience you then took I guess the experience
that you had learned kind of learned as you went along,
and you now have found a studio called less stress studio.
(04:10):
And I assume applying some of the lessons you learned
to help others men and women who want to somehow
get out from underneath the shadow of Long COVID.
Speaker 3 (04:21):
Yes, when I couldn't find any.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
About that, things happened. Don't worry about those. No no, no,
no no no no no no no, no, you go right ahead.
Sorry for the interruption.
Speaker 1 (04:36):
That's very good.
Speaker 3 (04:37):
I was saying, you know, when I couldn't find answers
in the medical you know, I tried it at I
went down to Mount Sinai in a lot of different places.
You know, there just aren't any right now. Treatments or cures,
although they're working on them.
Speaker 4 (04:52):
You know.
Speaker 3 (04:52):
So I had to do things that I could do
for myself, you know, and luckily I was. I have
I'm certified in mindfulness based stress reduction. So I implemented
some breathing techniques, you know, I meditated every day, some
this thing called bagel toning. So I really calmed my
(05:13):
own nervous system down, because it affects every system in
our autonomic nervous system. But being able to control that control,
you know, the thoughts that were coming in the uncertainty,
not to say that, you know, my metal health didn't
get affected, because when you're stuck with something and you're
in bed, and you know, your life changes so drastically
(05:33):
because I also the brain fog and you think, oh,
people are just probably a little you know, a little foggy,
but it turns out it's really debilitating. Like I couldn't
read for a while, and I couldn't write, and I
was a writer, So it was, you know, affected so
much of my life.
Speaker 2 (05:49):
So would we say long covid Okay, I know you've
just described long COVID. Does long COVID come in a
variety of forms? Or is long COVID the same for
everyone who is impacted by it, or are there different
manifestations of long COVID in different people?
Speaker 3 (06:10):
Yeah, there's you know, I work at the doing some
stuff for Brigham too with Julie, and there are five
one hundred people or so in that program. Everybody has
a different case. It's almost like the virus goes in
and it finds the vulnerabilities of the people and will
affect them. So I guess there are two hundred and
twenty two different symptoms that people can have. So it's
(06:32):
really but you know, they're but they're debilitating. I couldn't
get out of it. I couldn't exercise, I couldn't, you know,
Like I said, reader, write for a while.
Speaker 2 (06:40):
And I assume that when you when you think, you said,
what one hundred and two hundred and how many symptoms are.
Speaker 3 (06:48):
There of COVID J and twenty two.
Speaker 2 (06:51):
Yeah, so if you take all sorts of permutations, mathematical
permutations of that, if if someone had symptom one sixteen
and twenty three, their experience might be different from the
person who had system one hundred and six, one hundred
and twelve and two of two. So it's It's almost
(07:12):
astronomical the number of potential types of long COVID that
might exist if you have all the symptoms or just
some of the symptoms. So what do you do at
less stress studios? Do people come to you and say
help me? I assume that's what's going on.
Speaker 3 (07:27):
Right, Yeah, and it's called stressless studios, not that it's
that big a deal, but if anyone was trying to
look it up, that's what it stressed.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
Now, Okay, fine, I see it both ways on my
promotional sheet here, so no problem, that's we got to
write stress less studios. Go ahead.
Speaker 4 (07:45):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (07:45):
And so when people want to work with me and
kind of do the things that I did to that
worked for me to get out of you know, long COVID,
which you know was the coming of nervous system and
also the brain training called in the processing therapy, then yeah,
they call me up. I work remotely. I'm actually in
(08:07):
Manchester by the sea and on the cape, although I
do know Larry, no problem and yeah no and so
yeah so he so, so that's what they do. They
I do workshops with people on those particular things I
just talked about. And I also see people as a
coach working one on one.
Speaker 2 (08:27):
Okay, so you do group things, you do one on one.
Obviously you're not doing this for your health, as I
assume cost involved. Let me ask you the tough question.
Is this sort of a therapy that you have developed
or do you have medical degrees into a training to
back it up? Or is this just this is what
worked for me. If you want me to share it
(08:48):
with you, I'll share it with you. Tell me which
I just want to make sure my audience understands.
Speaker 3 (08:53):
Oh. Absolutely, So I use the you know, the different
they're mostly the Eastern techniques from my mindfulness based stress
reduction program which I took at Brown University. It's a
very hard program. And then the breath you know coaching.
I just became a breath coach. And then also the
pain reprocessing therapy. I am certified in that. So that's
(09:15):
why I can teach that I want.
Speaker 2 (09:17):
Yeah, no, I want people to know and you know
exactly what they're getting into. Now. The best way that
people can reach you if they feel that your training
might be helpful and they don't have to go to
Manchestered by the Sea. This is all done you said remotely,
So you're talking about Zoom one on ones or group
zoom calls.
Speaker 3 (09:36):
Correct, yes, that is all on zoom call calls. And
also I have a free support group as well, but yeah,
they can just catch it. And it's not for everybody.
It's definitely an alternative. But what I liked is in
how I originally started, is something that you can do
for yourself even while you're being treated by the medical system,
just because you know, it's hard to manage all of
(09:58):
this and so the better.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
And it's probably hard for people to get into the
car and drive into a doctor's office, So the fact
that you can do it remotely, that's great. Let's have
the website. How can people most easily get in touch
with you?
Speaker 3 (10:12):
Okay, well it is stress dash Less dash studio dot.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
Com, stress dash less dash Studios, Puerile.
Speaker 3 (10:24):
Dot com studio No just no s just singular.
Speaker 2 (10:27):
Okay, so stress dash less or I guess dash could
also be a hyphen studio dot com stress less studio
dot com with a couple of hyphens in there between
stress and less between less a studio. You could have
probably just put it all together there and it wouldn't
cause me any.
Speaker 3 (10:47):
Sorry, that was ful. You did a great job with
it though I'm trying.
Speaker 2 (10:51):
I'm trying. Ellen. Thanks very much for what you do,
and we want to thank Larry for directing her you
to us. We really do appreciate it. And I understand
what the last name Alden. You might have had some
four bears who came over in the Mayflower? Is that true?
Speaker 3 (11:06):
Yes, my husband did. Twelfth great grandfather.
Speaker 2 (11:11):
What well, congratulations on that. Okay, we should talk to
him some night about the genealogy. Thank you, Ellen. Ellen
stress less studio dot com with a couple of hyphens
in there. Everyone, You'll find it. You'll find it. Thanks Ellen.
We get back. We're going to talk with a Washington
Post technical writer. Here's something that's really creepy, Alexa. Alexa
(11:36):
is getting creepier because Alexa will now tell Amazon everything
you say and you don't even know Alexa's listening. This
is out of the Washington Post. Back on nights side,
This of course, is a Wednesday night. We're halfway through
the week. My name's Dan Ray. We're not halfway through
the show yet. We have wats to do tonight. We'll
get you to midnight. You can listen to us on
(12:00):
the new iHeart app Real simple pull down the iHeart app,
put it on your phone or whatever device you have.
Make us your primary preset WBZ, and we are only
a fingertip away from wherever you are in the world.
Simple as that. My name's Dan Ray. This is Nightside.
I'll be right back right after this.
Speaker 1 (12:19):
Now back to Dan Ray live from the Window World
night Side Studios on WBZ News Radio.
Speaker 2 (12:27):
All right, welcome back. We are going to talk with
a guest who has been with us before, Shira Overday,
Washington Post tech writer Shira. Welcome back to Nightside. How
are you.
Speaker 4 (12:41):
I'm well, and it's Shira Shira.
Speaker 2 (12:43):
Okay, I was focused on the last name. I figured
I had the first name nailed, Shira, but Overday I
got I got the tough one. But this though, Yeah,
all right, okay, my last name is spelled r Ea,
so you can imagine the way that my name is pronounced.
I'm very second imagine. Sure, yes, thanks. So, look, I've
never used Alexa, I've never used Siri. There probably are
(13:06):
some people in my audience who have never used alexra
a Siri, and maybe there may be other devices out
there beyond Alexa and Siri. Explain to my audience how
Alexa or Siri works, and then let's talk about the
problem that you've taught, that you've written about in the
Washington Post.
Speaker 4 (13:25):
Sure, well, all of the voice activated assistance as they're called,
are changing a bit now with artificial intelligence, but the
way they worked for many years is you summon the
voice assistant with some sort of word like you say,
you say the word Siri, or you say the word
(13:46):
hey Alexa, and then there's a snippet of voice of
your voice that is sent to the cloud of that company,
and it kind of processes whatever you've asked it to do,
check the weather, play tailor Swiss songs, and then it
triggers that action. That's the very basic way. It doesn't
(14:06):
It looks a little bit like a phone tree, like
when you call customer service line, right, and then there's
this kind of escalating series of annoying, annoying, canned messages.
So Alex and Siri work a little bit like that
that they're kind of programmed to answer a certain set
of questions.
Speaker 2 (14:22):
Just a technical question that crossed my mind, and I
don't want to be too technical here, but if I
had a lecture or Siri could have ask them not
to play Taylor Swift songs. Is that possible as well?
Just kidding, that's a great question.
Speaker 4 (14:37):
Play music but not hitless Swift. I'm not sure. O.
Speaker 2 (14:42):
So what now has happened is and I've heard this before,
but I think you've done some research on this. It
sounds like theoretically these devices, which were there to make
things simpler for us, may be actually complicating things for
us because they have been able to monitor our conversations
(15:02):
that were not necessarily for them to overhear.
Speaker 4 (15:06):
Correct, that is sometimes correct. So there's two things that
are happening. One is that you were right. Occasionally these
voice as systems, including siy and and Alexa from Amazon,
occasionally they have been found to sort of activate and
essentially record snippets of audio when the person did not
(15:29):
intend to activate them. There's not in the active mode
of activation. That's kind of a known problem. I will
say that in the past there's been some research that
found that happens relatively infrequently, so that maybe gives you
people in your audience some comfort. The other thing is.
Speaker 2 (15:47):
That so there's no suggestion here, just so I to say,
there's really no suggestion here that it's not something that
you freak people out. It's not as if Big Brother
has been listening and writing down.
Speaker 4 (16:02):
I am not in a position to tell people what
to freak out about or not to freak out about.
But yes, I mean, look, the point of these voice
activated assistance is that they have microphones that are always
listening for you to say the trigger work right. So
that may make people uncomfortable. And again, depending on how
whether you feel cool with this or not, there are
(16:23):
some small set of cases where they may turn on
the voice assistance, may record you without you intending to
be recorded, basically accidental activations. So again, whether that freaks
you out or not, that's.
Speaker 5 (16:37):
A person right right.
Speaker 2 (16:38):
So what we're saying is this is not Big Brother
watching you. We have This is not another chapter of
nineteen eighty four or all this Huxley or anything like that.
It just shows that sometimes when we have these great conveniences,
that there's there's not subside benefits, the subside detriments. I
(16:59):
guess I would characterize it.
Speaker 4 (17:01):
Yes, for sure, for sure, with every with every convenience,
there comes a cost, and the cost of these voice
assistants is yes, sometimes they inadvertently record you without your knowledge.
And then the other, you know, larger, larger issue is
that by it is standard that is written into Alexa,
which is kind of the most aggressive of the voice assistance.
(17:24):
Everything you say, all the things that are recorded from
your home, from you asking for Taylor Swift songs or to.
Speaker 2 (17:32):
Remind you Tailor Swift songs right.
Speaker 4 (17:35):
Or not, yes, forgiving, that is all retained in Amazon's
cloud computer system forever. That is the standard approach that
Amazon has.
Speaker 2 (17:46):
Taken well, which gets to the point of then can
your voice, which you would like to think you own,
which we talked about a couple of nights ago, then
can be expertsropriated by some organization that could then use
your voice either for bad purposes or you might hear
(18:10):
your voice being used unknowingly on a commercial someday five
or ten years from now, and you say, my god,
I never did that commercial. But they were the snippets
of your voice, and if they felt it was the
perfect voice they needed a friendly female voice, or an
unfriendly female voice, or a friendly male voice whatever. So, yeah, boy,
(18:31):
this is a lot to think about. Share I hear you.
Speaker 4 (18:34):
Yeah, Look, I mean I think it's fun to think
that that Amazon is not going to like sell your
voice to some sort of con artist, right, who's gonna
tend to be your grandchild. But I think the risk here,
and then this is a standard risk for all these
technology companies, is that they collect as much data as
(18:56):
they possibly can, because nothing stops them from doing so. Right,
and whenever there is large amounts of data, it is
a honeypot for someone. It could be stolen by hackers.
It could be you know, either requested with a valid
legal warrant or maybe not by a government authority. It
(19:19):
could be used in ways that you cannot imagine. It
is also standard at these companies that they sometimes have
human beings listen to those recordings in order to see
if you know, transcription and things like that are accurate.
That is something else that when that's been reported on,
people freak out about that, and then I get.
Speaker 2 (19:38):
That, well, that's okay. I think people should freak out
about more things, because look, I think it's fair to
say that there's stuff going on in this world that
we normally say, well, the government will protectives, the government
will make sure that that's and in fact, the government
can't stop those six o'clock phone calls when people calling
you asking you to sign up for solar panels or
(20:01):
or increase your your you know what if you fix
your plumbing. I mean it's like those those those those
auto dialed calls when you say hello, and it takes
fifteen seconds for the person from where somewhere in the
Philippines to say, oh, well, good evening, Hello, how are you?
And the government can't stop those either, so.
Speaker 4 (20:23):
Anyway, well, I think the reality is again, the more
data these companies collect, the more information there exists on
the Internet for people to steal or purchase or trade
in order to tailor scams right that that seem sophisticated
and that make us fall for them, or to you know,
(20:46):
persuade us to buy stuff. I mean, you know, again,
I agree with you. People should be more freaked out,
and that is the thing that they should freak out about,
is again this mass collection of our personal data, including
bits of our voices without really I mean like we
have no possible way to anticipate how that might be
used or misused today or in the future.
Speaker 2 (21:08):
You bet you, you bet you sare it overday? Thank
you very much. As always, we will talk again. I
very much appreciate your time with us tonight, very informing. Thanks, thanks,
my pleasure. Thank you. All Right, we're a little bit
late here for the eight thirty news. That's fine, that's
coming right up. We're gonna hold on that. We come
back on and talk about process meets don't just affect
your heart, they may worsen your cognition too, that's good news.
(21:32):
And then we'll talk about gambling, March's National Problem Gambling
Awareness Month. Of course it is. You've heard of March madness.
You thought it was about basketball. It's about basketball and gambling.
We'll be back on Nightside with two very two more
very interesting guests.
Speaker 1 (21:48):
It's night Side, Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2 (21:55):
All right, welcome back. We join now by our guest,
you had O'Connor. Uh. He is a Washington Post health columnist,
a new Hut. Welcome to Night's Side. How are you.
Speaker 5 (22:08):
I'm doing great? Thanks, it's Anahad. Great to be here.
Speaker 2 (22:11):
Anahad okay, I got it. I've never seen that name before.
I'm sorry that I mispronounced it. It's Anahad Anahad okay.
Speaker 5 (22:20):
Yeah, yeah, no problem, a problem, it's not there's not
many of us out there, I guess not.
Speaker 2 (22:27):
Is that a family name. I see O'Connor at the end,
I was, what is that happened to be Gaelic by
any chance of know?
Speaker 5 (22:33):
Ah, that's a good guess. It's well, it's actually from
Sanskrit and it means celestial. It means celestial music. And
my my, the short story behind it is that my
parents were hippies and so they gave my siblings and
I names from Sanskrit. But O'Connor is the Irish part.
Speaker 2 (22:53):
No, clearly that one I'm very familiar with. I'm a
I'm My family is from County Cork. So my parents
weren't hippies. They were a little they were World War
two generation, so hippies had. So we're talking about processed meats, okay, which,
of course processed meats could be what anything, cold cuts,
hot dogs give us the scope of I'm sure there
(23:17):
are other things that fit under the umbrella or the
category processed meats that I haven't mentioned. What else are
we talking about when we talk about processed meats?
Speaker 5 (23:25):
Yeah, so they're usually the really highly processed, cured salted meats,
so hot dogs, sausages, bacon, salami, you know, daily meats,
those kinds of like preserved meats typically.
Speaker 2 (23:43):
Okay, and so these are known to affect your heart.
I don't really want to ask, because I had a
ham sandwich tonight, But how did they affect your heart?
What do they do to your heart? And then we'll
get to what they do to your cognition.
Speaker 5 (24:00):
Yeah, So, health authorities have long discouraged people from consuming
a lot of processed and red meats because they know
that these foods contain a lot of saturated fat and
that can raise your LDL cholesterol, which is the kind
associated with heart disease. Typically, the higher your LDL cholesterol,
the higher your risk of heart disease and heart attacks
(24:22):
and strokes. So that's primarily the reason doctors and health
authorities have discouraged people from eating processed and red meats.
But now, in this news research, they looked at whether
there was a relationship between how much processed and red
meat people ate and their risk of developing cognitive issues
as they got older, such as dementia, Alzheimer's, memory decline,
(24:47):
and loss. And they found that the more process meats
people ate, the higher their likelihood of developing these cognitive
issues as they got older.
Speaker 2 (24:57):
Okay, so I assumed that This is consumption that starts
when kids are bringing boloney sandwiches to school, or maybe
they don't bring boloney sandwiches to school were like we did.
But uh, I assume it starts when when people when
when you know, infants start to eat real food. Is
there any I mean are they saying there's no safe level?
(25:20):
Like you know I I, for example, I use myself
oftentimes as a guinea pig on this show. I'm a
big Boar's Head fan. I think that boys and Telly
meats are really good, and now I like Boy's head turkey,
and I occasionally get a couple of slices of thinly
sliced ham maple honey ham to throw into a salad.
I'm not somebody who's who's eating a lot of subs
(25:41):
every day, But how how concerned should I be about
the fact that over my lifetime I've probably eaten a
lot of sandwiches, a lot of a lot of hot
dogs at baseball games, and uh, you know the typical
diet that many Americans look back in the rear view
mirror and say that's the way I'm lived for thirty
years or forty years or fifty years or more.
Speaker 5 (26:04):
Yeah, I mean, that's a great question. And so, I mean,
the first thing to know about the study is that
it was quite large. It looked at like almost one
hundred and fifty thousand people followed for over four years,
and it was observational in nature. So they didn't take
they didn't do a randomized control trial. They took people
and split them into groups and said, Okay, this group,
you're gonna eat salami and you know, ham sandwiches every day,
(26:27):
and this group, you're not gonna eat any processed meats.
They follow people and ask them about their diets, and
you know, found that they're the more of these processed
meats people ate, the higher they're likelihood of developing cognitive
issues as they got older. But that doesn't mean that
everyone got cognitive issues or that if you you know,
(26:48):
if you eat some processed meat, you know that you're
definitely going to get mentioned Alzheimer's or cognitive issues. You know,
and there are so many other parts of your diet
that also play a role as well, how much sugar
you're consuming, how many ultra processed foods you're consuming. So
the key takeaway was just that you know, there are
reasons to believe that processed meats could play a role
(27:11):
in your likelihood of developing you know, dementia, Alzheimer's, cognitive decline,
because we know they can increase your saturated fat or sorry,
they can increase your LDL cholesterol levels because of their
saturated fat and a higher LDL itself. You know, it
seems like it could potentially, you know, be causal. Also,
(27:35):
these process meats tend to have high levels of sodium
and preservatives such as nitrates and nitrites that can potentially
increase your blood pressure. And we know that if you
have higher blood pressure, that can lead to more vascular issues,
and that's you know, obviously can play a role in
your brain health. You know, these preservatives can also increase
oxidative stress and inflammation. So you know, doesn't mean that
(28:00):
you can't eat any processed meat ever, just that if
you're eating, if you're eating, you know, if you're eating
ham sandwiches every single day, then that certainly is not
everything in moderation.
Speaker 2 (28:15):
But they say that, but if this isn't everything in moderation,
I think I'm okay. If this is the surge of
general telling us in nineteen sixty four, throw the cigarettes away.
I mean, this is not quite at that level, but
it's something people should.
Speaker 5 (28:29):
Definitely not okay. And the other thing to know is that,
you know, if you're someone who likes processed meats like myself,
I like, you know, I had a turkey sandwich today.
But you can go to the grocery store and buy,
you know, deli meats that say night write and night
trate free, which are those potentially harmful preservatives. You can
(28:49):
buy the deli meats that don't have a lot of
sodium added to them. So one that I like, for example,
is applegates. They use they don't use the nitrites and
nitrate preservatives. You can buy one that sold in most
grocery stores and I think it's made by Wegmans. It's
called just Turkey, where it's literally just the sliced turkey
without a bunch of additives. So if you are going
(29:11):
to eat the process meats, then try to get the
ones that have fewer additives, you know, just the turkey
meat without the additives, or the you know, sliced roasted
chicken without the additives. You know, so you can choose
the ones that are have.
Speaker 2 (29:27):
Got to be a smart What you're saying is you've
got to be a smart consumer. With the warning that
you've issued, it's never too late to get back on track.
I think everybody tomorrow could take some of this advice.
Uh A new thank you very much. I really appreciate it.
A new on O'Connor Washington Post Health column. Get it right,
(29:49):
get the first name right that time.
Speaker 5 (29:50):
A new hut cloth on a hut.
Speaker 2 (29:53):
But that's not that's okay. I gotta get because you
know I'll have you back. I want to work on
it between now and then. Anaha, thank you very much.
I appreciate it very much.
Speaker 5 (30:04):
My pleas are great to talk to you. Have a
good evening, Great you too, you as well?
Speaker 2 (30:08):
All right, when we come back, March's National Problem Gambling
Awareness Month. Isn't it funny that March is also March Madness?
With the Sweet sixteen NCAA. You're going to talk with
Marlene Warner. She's the CEO of the Massachusett Council on
Gaming and Health. Coming back on Nightside right after this.
Speaker 1 (30:25):
Now back to Dan Ray live from the Window World
night Side Studios on WBZ News Radio.
Speaker 2 (30:33):
I'm here to tell you March is National Problem Gambling
Awareness Month. It's also the month of March madness. Maybe
it's appropriate with me is Marlene Warner. She's the CEO
of the Massachusetts Council on Gaming and Health. Marlene, I
didn't even realize we had a Council on Gaming and Health.
Tell us about is that a state agency or is
(30:54):
that a private agency?
Speaker 6 (30:57):
We're a private, nonprofit organization. Previously, we were named up
until twenty twenty where the Massachusetts Council and compulsive gambling
and actually we've been in the commonwealth since nineteen eighty three.
Speaker 2 (31:08):
Yeah, well the compulsive gambling one. Did it compulso become
a bad word? And did we changed as a result
of that?
Speaker 6 (31:16):
Yeah, compulsive is certainly a little bit stigmatizing or a
lot stigmatizing. I think the other thing is that we
recognize that we can help people prior to them getting
to the point of addiction or disorder, which would be
the more appropriate terms to use now. So really identifying
that folks are in need of services and support from
(31:36):
the moment they make the decision to gambling, all the
way through long term recovery.
Speaker 2 (31:41):
Yeah, I know, I get it, and you know it's
always I look at a lot of that stuff as euphemisms,
but if it works better this way. The Massachusetts Council
on Gaming and Health, we have just legalized sports betting
in Massachusetts in the last year or so.
Speaker 6 (31:57):
Correct, Yes, it's been especially we're coming upon two years
of legalized sports wagering.
Speaker 2 (32:04):
Okay, fine, Now again you use the word wagering, which
I guess is a softer word in betting. When when
I was a little kid, I mean when I was
ten or twelve, used to get those those cards from
the bookies. You've had to pick three games on NFL
Sunday and you bet a bucket. If you got all
three games right on the spread, you got five bucks back.
(32:26):
I never turned out to be a big gambler or
anything like that. I'm actually the I knew that the
thing was all that the house always won. Okay, So,
and I don't like to go into situations where where
my chances of losing money are worse than my chances
of winning money. But a lot of people have this problem.
(32:47):
My question is, do you think we made a mistake.
This is a tough question because I'm noticing that the
lottery revenues are coming down, and I have to assume
there's a relationship that as the football and sports betting
goes up, that has to impact the Massachusetts State lottery.
Correct or No, So I you know.
Speaker 6 (33:06):
I really can't comment on that piece. I guess what
I would say is that our Massachusets State Lottery continues
to be the most profitable lottery per capita in the world.
So you know, we still are doing just fine in
the Commonwealth in terms of lottery sales. You know, I
certainly you know it would be a good question for
the treasure for the lottery director.
Speaker 2 (33:25):
Oh yeah, well, treasure treasurer Uh Goldberg is a great friend.
And I heard the numbers last week, and I assume that,
like anything else, if you open up more you know,
whatever options for people who who are who are gamblers,
that they the mass Lottery, which is a wonderful lottery
(33:46):
by the way, it's everyone knows it's all on luck.
So you you buy a ticket on impulse, but you're
hopefully you're not spending a lot of money the kids
shoes shoe money. However, I think it's different when you
bet in football in sports, and I'll tell you why,
and you're probably going to disagree with me. I think
(34:06):
most people realize Yeah, they buy a lottery ticket. It's
pure luck. So there's no onus on losing My numbers
didn't come up big deal. But there's a lot of
people who bet football games, basketball games, bet they're spread beer,
convinced that they know more than the bookies do about
wh who's injured and all of that. And I would
(34:27):
bet that compulsive gambling. There's more compulsive gamblers who are
involved in sports betting than there are in the lottery.
Speaker 3 (34:34):
Can you comment on that, Yes, I can comment on that.
Speaker 6 (34:38):
So I think one of the things that's really interesting
about Massachusetts is that we have a pretty robust research
agenda here in the Commonwealth, and that was part of
the twenty eleven Expand of Gaming Act that brought casinos
to Massachusetts under Governor daval Patrick and he and the
legislatory at the foresight to make sure that there were
significant dollars set aside to study a lot of this.
(35:00):
Of things that we know is that the biggest predictor
of someone having a gambling problem is that they are
a regular lottery player. But that doesn't mean that their
unhealthy play is coming from lottery play. Only. We typically
see that they play the lottery and other things. We
did not see with the introduction of casino gambling here
(35:22):
at least thus far over the last ten years, any
significant increases in terms of gambling problems. We're still obviously, like,
like we said, not even two years into sports wagering.
You know, anecdotally, people will certainly say, and there's some
early research results here in mass choos to say that
there are some more significant problems happening as relates to
(35:43):
sports wagerings. But I think the segments of the population
are really different when we talk about that, and whether
they also are you know, at baseline also lottery players,
I think is another thing that we're trying to determine.
You know, all this research is happening through you, matt Amherst.
Speaker 2 (36:00):
Well, I could do I could do the research for
you right now. I can tell you that. And I
don't want to be a wise guy when I say this,
but I guarantee you that the lottery players skew older,
and the and the sports betting players skew younger, and
they will go to casino's probably somewhere in the middle,
right or wrong.
Speaker 6 (36:20):
I think it depends. I think you know, again, these
are all nuanced pieces I don't.
Speaker 2 (36:26):
I'm talking about I'm talking about you're paying research to you, Mass.
I'm telling you right now that a lottery players because
because I go into variety source and I see who's
playing the lottery, young people aren't playing the lottery. That's
part of the problem the lottery has, the dev Goldberg
is trying to address. And the people who are betting
on football games and on college basketball games, they're not
people in their sixties and seventies. The more people in
(36:48):
their twenties and thirties. And you know, you can spend
a lot of money if you you Mass are doing research.
But that's what the research in my opinion, and that's
just from observations. I mean, talk probably talk to a
couple of bookies and be able to figure it out.
So what can we do here? What is the solution
to this dilemma that you have sketched out for us?
Speaker 6 (37:10):
I think the solution is to do a couple of things.
One is, before you introduce new forms of gambling or
even expand upon the ones that we currently have, is
to continue to offer a lot of safety nets. And
so safety nets look different in different forms of gambling,
and regulatory efforts and certainly in general public awareness. I mean,
(37:30):
we have been around since nineteen eighty three, and yet
a lot of folks still don't realize that you can
have a gambling problem. So just constantly promoting the existence
of the issue and some of the signs and symptoms,
but also just making sure people know to call one
eight hundred gambler so that they can get the help
and resources they need that we do have here in
the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The other thing I guess I
(37:52):
would say is that there are many opportunities to make
products safer safer, excuse me, and also how they are
advertised and how they are promoted safer, and I think
there's a lot of a lot of room for opportunity there,
whether that be with the operators, whether that be the
state through the lottery, or through the individual companies which
(38:13):
are licensees of the commonwealth, or through the regulatory actions.
Speaker 2 (38:19):
I would just add one final comment, and I don't
know if you can agree with me or not, but
it is my belief that once you let the genie
out of the bottle, it's tough to put the genie
back in the bottle.
Speaker 6 (38:30):
Yeah, we certainly see that, seeing that in a lot
of states and folks just continue to expand but don't
actually correct some of the problems that they've kind of
created and solved.
Speaker 2 (38:40):
You know, our tribe, give us the website where people
can seek some help if they if they're able to
realize they need some help, where can they go?
Speaker 6 (38:48):
Yeah, so they can. They can go to game sencema
dot com if they want some help in terms of
keeping their game states. And then if they definitely need
treatment twelve step programs, they can go to Gambling Helplinema
dot org, which is a website put out by dph.
Speaker 2 (39:03):
Okay, sounds great, Thanks very much, appreciate your time, Thank
you much, and happy March Madness. Thanks very much. March
National Problem Gambling Awareness Month. That's all we're going to
see for the next two or three weeks for sure.
And if you're a gambler, it's it's tough to resist.
We've got to coming back on night's I'm going to
talk about the termination of Massachusetts State Police trooper Michael Procter.
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