Health-Driven Reasons to Walk

August 17, 2010 By Leave a Comment
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Your family was excited when you took your first step, and you wanted to walk everywhere into your adult life. Unfortunately, along the way, you stopped walking as much. The stressful life that most adults have does not offer much time for proper exercise or recreation. Technology has provided many reasons to become inactive such as remote controls, escalators, riding lawnmowers, and the vanishing of sidewalks.
Walking is a simple activity we have been doing since we took our first steps. There are many reasons to participate in walking and there are many reasons to get back into the habit. Studies have shown that walking at a pace a little faster than normal for 30 minutes can help prevent type-2 diabetes. By walking for 30 minutes, five days a week you can decrease the risk of diabetes by almost 60%.
Whether your male or female, walking can help strengthen your heart. In a recent study, retired men who walked one mile every day had a higher death rate then men who walked over two miles in one day. For women, walking three or more hours every week had a 35% decrease risk of a heart attack then women who did not walk at all.
Walking is not just good for your heart; it is also good for your brain and your bones. Women who walk one and one half hours every week increase their brain function and decrease their risk of Alzheimer’s disease. Women who are postmenopausal increase their bone density by walking one-mile everyday. Women who walk less than one mile have a higher rate of bone loss in their lower body.
Just as walking can help your brain function at a quicker rate, it can help ease the symptoms felt from mental diseases such as depression. Women who walk three to five times every week for 30 minutes can immediately ease their depression. If the routine is continued over a 12-week period, depression symptoms can be reduced by almost 50%.
Is there any more reason to do what is second nature in order to better your health?
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Top Links of August Month

August 16, 2010 By Leave a Comment

http://digg.com/news/sports/Tim_Tebow_s_Rookie_Hazing_Haircut

http://www.gutefrage.net/picoftheday/bpoilspill.html

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/more/07/20/heat.feature/index.html

http://digg.com/story/r/Stephen_Colbert_Announces_Retirement_and_Unretirement_Vid

http://www.gutefrage.net/picoftheday/carwrecks.html

http://digg.com/story/r/Pirates_Mathematically_Eliminated_From_Major_League_Baseball

http://digg.com/story/r/Football_Player_Too_Big_to_Play

http://www.gutefrage.net/picoftheday/sporn.html

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Military Heroes Being Treated to a New Appearance

August 15, 2010 By Leave a Comment
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Every day many American soldiers face injury, disfiguration, dismemberment, and death. So many soldiers return home in flag-draped coffins, and an equally alarming amount return with faces that are unrecognizable to friends and family and seem hideous to the public. Our nation’s heroes have become a new variety of patient to San Antonio’s Lackland Air Force Base’s prosthetics laboratory. Wounded soldiers suffering horrific burns and a multitude of traumas have bombarded the facility as it is one of only two major prosthetic centers working for the Defense Department.
Before the recent wars, Lackland’s lab had seen mostly cancer patients and civilian injuries which helped prepare lab specialists for wartime work. While the lab doesn’t document how many wounded heroes it treats, a rise in soldiers needing expert help occurred in the last few years. Before the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, this lab rarely saw a combat related injury; when a combat related injury did occur, a veteran was looking to replace his prostheses. Currently, almost 20 percent of the lab’s 425 patients every year are wounded soldiers.
The superior technology and highly developed capabilities of Lackland’s lab are available to the outside world. The lab focuses on giving soldiers the best care possible without worry over financial burdens that civilians may face by benefitting from their services. Patients here are treated with only the latest technologies and all prostheses are handmade. To benefit soldiers and give them their old faces back, technicians convert MRI images into three-dimensional molds. This process helps create custom pieces of missing facial bones, including the recent replication of almost 35 percent of one soldier’s skull. While some of the work done in the lab is for life-saving purposes, some is done to save soldiers from the stares and whispers they will face from people who’ve never seen such severe injuries before. Aesthetics do matter, even when you are a military hero. This combination of art, science, and creative thinking can help our returning heroes feel more welcome at home.
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Handling Your Green Demon

August 15, 2010 By Leave a Comment

It happens all the time. You’re happily plodding through life, content with where you are, who you are, and all things around you. Then….BAM! Out of nowhere, the jealousy bug bites and you’re suddenly green with envy. Often times, confident, happy people can turn on a dime into a wild-eyed, green demon of a person without any cause other than their own insecurities. By following a few simple pointers, you can wrestle your inner, green demon back where it belongs.

Hey, nobody is perfect, so stop comparing yourself to someone you think is. Even though it may appear that another person has it all together, more than likely, he or she is probably struggling with the same insecurities you are. Take an inventory of what makes you, you. What can you do better than anyone else? Maybe you can organize a closet like nobody’s business, but can’t sing a note. That’s okay! Embrace what you’re good at and let the other stuff go.

Figure out what caused the bout of jealousy to begin with. Be specific when you do this. Saying “I wish I had her life” isn’t going to work. What is it you want? Her house? Her Car? Her Marriage? Knowing what triggered your green demon will help you decide if it’s worth being jealous over. Next, determine how will you feel when you’ve obtained her house? Her car? Her marriage? Be honest with yourself. If you can’t be sure whether your life will improve for the better once a certain goal is achieved, it probably won’t make you any happier than you are right now. Instead, find different ways to bring more happiness and contentment into your life. Generally, a jealous fit originate with a case of the “don’t haves”. Instead of focusing on an empty spot in your life, search out things you can do to enhance your current situation. By reaching inward and focusing on what you do have, you can keep your green demon tame and put away where it belongs.

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Vitamins: Liquid or Pill Form?

August 15, 2010 By Leave a Comment
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You have been told for years to take your vitamins, but sometimes you just cannot find the right one. Vitamins help supplement the nutrients that your body needs when it doesn’t get enough from your daily diet. It used to be that your only option for daily vitamins was a pill as round as your pinky, which are hard for anyone to swallow. With the advances in science, your vitamins can come in the form of a liquid or smaller pill doses you take throughout the day.
Choosing a multivitamin should take some thought because you want to get the most nutrients without overdosing. Men and women require different doses of certain vitamins, which is why vitamin companies market different formulas. The problem with most pill form vitamins is that the absorption is 10% of what you ingest while your body gets rid of the rest. Liquid vitamins have a 90% absorption value, so you keep most of the nutrients you ingest.
Some individuals choose not to take vitamins because they do not dissolve correctly in the stomach causing them to come right back up. Most vitamins that are mass-produced by popular companies do not pass the dissolve test. The dissolve test requires a vitamin to be dropped in a glass of warm water. If the pill has not dissolved in the water after 30 minutes, then it will not dissolve in your stomach.
Although vitamins in pill form have been given a bad name, they are not all made the same. The digestive properties and absorption are determined by what the pill is held together with. The least expensive and mass-produced vitamins use the cheapest inactive ingredient that holds the vitamins together. The inactive ingredient used is what decides whether or not your body will absorb most of the nutrients.
When it comes to choosing a multivitamin, it is important to take into account your body. You know your body best. A multivitamin, whether it is in liquid or pill form, should be of high quality in order to receive the most benefits.
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Is Older Blood Making Patients Sick?

August 13, 2010 By Leave a Comment
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Every day in the United States millions of people having surgery or facing injury need donated blood. It’s frightful to think that a life-saving blood transfusion could be weeks old—up to six weeks old! A group of scientists is working to prove that older blood may have detrimental effects on recipients. While this may seem icky to some people, the idea of having weeks-old blood put into their veins, the national blood supply is continually strained.
Blood is a perishable commodity, much like eggs at the grocery store. The Food and Drug Administration allow blood banks to store red blood cell products for up to 42 days. While older blood is rotated out when newer blood is received, some blood may reach the 42 day limit, especially in hospitals where a surplus of one specific blood type has built up. The median number of days that blood is stored before going to a patient is 16.
Almost 15 percent of patients that are hospitalized received a blood transfusion. An estimated 15 million bags are used in the United States every year with very little to spare; at least one area of the country goes through a blood shortage annually. Scientists are just trying to determine whether fresh blood is better for a patient’s overall health and recovery.
Blood breaks down over time, like any other organic matter, but it’s not known whether those microscopic changes are contributing to serious side effects in patients. Several years ago, a series of smaller studies indicated blood that was well beneath the FDA’s 42-day guideline may cause an increase in complications for some patients. Researchers were concerned that infections, blood clots, and organ dysfunction could occur. More recently, the Cleveland Clinic found that in 6,000 heart patients, those who received blood that was over 14 days old were at a slightly higher risk of dying, being ventilated longer, experiencing kidney failure, or contracting infections. This current study may be able to give a definitive answer to this question, but in case it doesn’t, medical personnel has been educated about older blood.
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The “Newest” Best Way to Lose Weight

August 13, 2010 By Leave a Comment
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Millions of Americans are aware of that obesity has reached epidemic levels in this country. Some have seen the effects of obesity up close and have experience health issues or lost a loved one because of obesity related health issues. With so many overweight people out there, commercialism has risen to the challenge by offering a plethora of diet plans, diet snacks, and diet management systems. So, how do you know what is really the best way to lose weight and keep it off?

A recent study at the University of Melbourne, Australia indicated that quick, one-time weight loss is a better dieting method than slower loss in regards to life-long weight loss goals. This study compared two groups: one group lost around 40 pounds in 3 months and the other lost about the same amount of weight, but in almost nine months. All of the study’s participants weighed in within a 20 pound range of one another when the study began. At the end of the study, 78 percent of participants in the rapid loss group reached their aspirations, while a little less than half of participants were able to meet their goals on the slow but sure plan.

Researchers also reported that participants in the slow but sure plan were four times more likely to drop out than their counterparts. It seems that early success, spurred on by continued weight loss, encouraged and motivated participants to push forward and endure. When participants were only losing a little each week, it was noted their motivation dropped and was hard to regain. It was also noted after a one-year period, those who had obtained quick success kept off more weight than those who didn’t.

There were no fad or crash diets involved in this study, as it’s not advisable to lose large amounts of weight quickly when the method for loss is detrimental to a person’s health. Moderate portions were given to all participants and researches adamantly warn against crash dieting as a weight-loss program for anyone. Choose a healthy eating plan, exercise, and stick to it.

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Non-Traditional Health Care Services Have Gained Wide Acceptance in the West

August 13, 2010 By Leave a Comment
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Health medicine as practiced in the West expanded to include non-traditional modalities, such as acupuncture and Reiki, in the first decade of the 21st Century. This explosion in interest can be at least partly attributed to a growing dissatisfaction with conventional medicine, a greater awareness and acceptance of the core philosophies represented by alternative medical services and a social sea change exhibited in part by the desire to exert more self control over one’s personal health care.
Most people who embrace alternative health care do so as a complement to conventional medical treatments, giving rise to the term “complementary medicine.” Cancer and AIDS patients discouraged with the medical establishment’s failure to find a cure for their diseases turn to alternative medicine for the relief their Western doctors cannot provide. It does not matter to them whether enough empirical evidence exists to support the claims of the individual modalities; improvement of their condition does.
It is difficult to capture the precise meaning of the term “alternative medicine,” as it varies from culture to culture. Some cultures regard alternative medicine simply as therapies that have existed for millennia. According to a European Commission report, alternative medicine is defined in the United States as
“A broad domain of healing resources that encompass all health systems, modalities and practices, and their accompanying theories and beliefs, other than those intrinsic to the politically dominant health system of a particular society or culture in a given historical period.
“It includes all such products and ideas self defined by their users as preventing or treating illness or promoting health and well-being.
“Boundaries within complementary and alternative medicine and between complementary and alternative medicine and the domain of the dominant system are not always sharp or fixed.”
The European Commission itself has defined alternative medicine as therapies not included in the traditional medical syllabus.
Perhaps the best way to describe alternative medicine is as a complementary form of medicine that is used alongside conventional Western medical therapies.
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Japanese Women Expected to Outlive the Rest of the World

August 12, 2010 By Leave a Comment
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It’s mostly common knowledge that women have a higher life expectancy than men, but in Japan, women will be outliving men by nearly seven years. The Japanese government’s recent report indicated that a Japanese woman’s life expectancy reached 86.5 years, topping the world’s longevity chart for a quarter-century.
Statistics for 2009, recently released by the Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare indicated that both men and women in Japan were expected to live longer, healthier lives. While average life spans rose for both men and women, Japanese men saw their ranking fall to fifth place in the world’s longevity chart. Average life spans increased five months for women and four months for men. A recent surge in male suicide dealt a blow to longevity figures for Japanese men and Japanese elders have also become more involved in alcohol abuse and crime. Many indicate these behaviors are a result of the recent global economic downturn which brought on much lower wages and unstable jobs.
Normally, living a long life is regarded as a good thing; it’s not such good news for Japan. Japan’s population is declining and when coupled with a low birth rate, longer life expectancies indicate a disproportionate and abundantly large elderly population. Societies with overly large elderly populations experience strain on government services and retirement programs, as well as, labor shortages.
The unfailing increase in longevity for the Japanese can be contributed to stellar medical care that’s significantly reduced cancer, pneumonia, cardiac, and stroke related deaths—the major causes of death for Japanese citizens. Another contributing factor: most Japanese maintain a healthy diet and higher standards of living.
With Japanese women owning the lead, they aren’t lonely at the top. Women in Hong Kong are expected to live just over 86 years, women in France, 84.5, and women in Switzerland are expected to live between 84 and 85 years.
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I am Healthy: Why Should I Get Health Insurance?

August 12, 2010 By Leave a Comment

With all the talk on the political scene and in the news nowdays, it’s no wonder that people are asking questions about health insurance. Should I get it? Do I need insurance? How can I protect my family? The fact of the matter is that although health insurance can be expensive, you can’t afford to be without it!

Many people, especially those who are young and relatively young, often wonder if they need any health insurance at all. An alarming amount of people in the US actually go without health insurance! While there is no one set answer for everyone, being insured and protecting your future is always a good option.

For many people, health insurance is like car insurance. You pay premiums every month, but you never use it until there’s an accident. Even though you are fit and healthy, you need to have some kind of health insurance. It might seem wasteful to pay premiums month after month when you’re not sick, but much like that car insurance, when an accident happens, you’ll be thankful for the insurance.

Let’s just look at one situation to help put this into perspective. Let’s say you are driving along in that insured car of yours. You are gong about your business when suddenly you are hit by another driver who was distracted. That driver has no car insurance, no license, and was driving at reckless speeds. You and your car are both severely damaged. You will wind up in the emergency room, getting tests and treatments, and may even need surgery. Now, while your car is likely taken care of because you had car insurance, your life is not! You are now stuck with thousands of dollars of hospital and doctor’s bills. Not to mention any medications you may need for your recovery. Similar to car & personal insurance, you need to take about insuring your pet; there are different pet insurance plans available which keeps away those unexpected veterinary hospital bills.

While this is a rather drastic situation, the fact of the matter is that it could happen. And does everyday! So, even if you are young, healthy, fit, and disease free, think about some medical insurance to protect you—now and in the future.

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