H E A L T H ~ 911

Children's Mental Health

2009-06-29T09:17:00.004-05:00

Parents worry more about Kids mental health

More evidence we are living in an ' age of anxiety.' Health experts surprised at the extent of concern more parents have about their children's emotional and behavior problems.

A National Center for Health Statistics survey reports nearly one out of five boys and one out of ten girls have parents who are worried..

Its good to see parents more willing to seek help and to ask questions. Because more of them are recognizing emotional and behavior problem symptoms. The increased practice of medicating children with ADHD and Anti-Psychotic therapy has skyrocketed.

Some schools have helpfully increased their mental health services. And many pediatricians are bringing mental health experts into their offices or arranging a consultant service to help these kids and parents.

Juice Drinking fights Alzheimers

2006-08-31T21:05:00.000-05:00

Alzheimers risk lowered by drinking juice daily. Seeing how some of our friends have suffered from Alzheimers moves us to wonder if there is anything we can do to help prevent. Seems there is no cure. But what about prevention?

Several new reports show promise of things that might lower the risk. Good. One of them is as simple as drinking juice daily. Read this research that involved 1,800 people over ten years.

Those who drank either vegetable or fruit juice three times weekly lowered their risk of Alzheimers 76%. More work needs to be done but that would encourage many of us to drink more all natural juice. Peel or skin included. That is where most of the polyphenol anti-oxidants are, the part most of us throw away.

Alzheimers News here
Alzheimers Organization here

Bathroom Germs

2006-07-12T16:20:00.000-05:00

Bathroom Germs

Do You Know What Is Lurking in Your Bathroom? No matter how clean you think you are, the quantity and variety of germs that you would find on your hands at any given time would shock you. Germs are spread every time we touch an object or a person. Not all of them are dangerous, and some bacteria are even helpful.

However, your risk of getting sick is increased every time you use a public restroom, as evidenced by a 1996 study conducted by the American Society for Microbiology. They discovered that while 95% of the people surveyed said they washed their hands every time they used a public facility, only about 67% actually did. A recent nationwide poll showed that 39% of respondents are worried about the germs lurking in public restrooms. Is there a reason for concern? According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, infectious disease is the number three killer of Americans. They report that 40 million Americans get sick from hand-carried bacteria every year, and 80,000 people die from those germs.

Germs thrive in moist areas, and live off organic waste, which can be found in nearly every public restroom. What can you “catch” in a public restroom? Many illnesses that are transmitted in public restrooms include the common cold and flu bugs, intestinal illnesses, and skin infections. There is also a potential danger of picking up the bacteria that can be fatal, from streptococcus, staphylococcus, salmonella, E. coli and even hepatitis A.

People also worry about picking up STDs (Sexually Transmitted Diseases) from toilet seats. Out of all the concerns about germs in public restrooms, STD's are actually the least likely to be a problem. This fear may be due more to urban legend than to anything else. Most of the bacteria and viruses that cause sexually transmitted diseases cannot live long enough outside the body for transfer to occur.

There is a far greater risk of coming into contact with the salmonella and shigella bacteria, which can be transferred by contact with feces. The infected person can transfer the bacteria onto any surface he touches – such as toilet handles, sink faucets and door handles. What should you look out for? Over-crowded restrooms, wet floors or puddles, lack of available supplies (toilet paper, soap and paper towels) and foul-smelling odors are all signs of improper maintenance and should be a cause for concern. Often the odor in public restrooms comes from dried urine in tile grout. Once dry, regular cleaners cannot remove the uric acid salts, and bacteria feed off them. (The odor comes from the bacteria’s digestive process.)

Germs – particularly fecal bacteria, can be shot into the air every time a toilet flushes. This bacterium settles on surfaces throughout the bathroom and is often enough to spread disease. How can you protect yourself?

First of all, your mother was right. Wash your hands frequently throughout the day, using proven methods of hand washing (see below). Do not touch your eyes, nose, face or mouth until you’ve washed your hands. Carry waterless antibiotic hand washing gel with you. If you’re going to be out and using public facilities, carry your own toilet paper with you. Try not to use toilet paper that is sitting on the top of the holder, on the back of a toilet or on a shelf.

Never use toilet paper that is wet or damp, or looks as if it might have been wet at one time. Because the inside surfaces of sinks harbor a large concentration of germs, don’t touch them. Do not use your hands when you flush the toilet, turn on or off a tap or open the restroom door when leaving.

Avoid Tick Bites

2006-06-20T16:38:00.000-05:00

Tick Bites
Do you love being outside in the summertime, running through theyard with bare feet or planting in your garden? The whole family can benefit from quality time spent outdoors but certain precautions should be made to avoid tick bites.

Ticks are miniscule bugs that thrive in tall grass, brush, orwoodland areas and some are carriers of Lyme Disease, which, ifleft untreated, can be quite harmful. They do not fly but tickscan latch onto your skin if you rub against them. Most people donot notice when they have been bitten and the longer they areattached, the greater risk you run of contracting a tick-bornedisease.

If you expect to go camping or hiking in the woods, take theseprecautions to avoid tick bites and stay healthy this summer:

1. Tuck your lightweight long pant legs into your socks and tuckyour long-sleeved shirt into your pants. This will keep ticks onthe outside of your clothes. Clothing should also be tightlywoven so ticks do not find their way through the clothing to yourskin. 2. Wear light-colored clothing so ticks can easily be seen. 3. Wear repellants with DEET and apply to clothing BUT do notspray your child's hands or face. A concentration of 24% DEET hasbeen shown effective for five hours of protection but do notspray more than once each day.

4. Carefully inspect your entire body when you return inside.Deer ticks are especially small so ask someone to help you. Take extra care to check the scalp since hair can easily hide a tick.Repeat this procedure with your pets that go outside. Long fur also provides the perfect hiding place for ticks.

5. Since deer are carriers for ticks, make your landscaping asdeer-resistant as possible to keep the ticks out of your yard. Plant shrubs the deer will not eat, keep your grass cut short,and remove any leaves and debris that often act as a tickbreeding ground.

If you are bitten by a tick, carefully remove the tick with tweezers as close to the skin as possible and as quickly as possible. Be sure the entire tick is removed; if you are unsure,seek medical attention. You may also want to keep the tick in a container for identification.

The most common symptom of Lyme Disease is a reddish, roundbulls-eye mark at the site of the bite. Other symptoms are fever,joint and muscle pain, sore throat, fatigue, swollen glands, anddizziness. If you think you have any of these symptoms, contactyour medical provider as soon as possible. The sooner antibiotictreatment begins, the better the chance for full recovery.

Stress vs. Blood Pressure

2006-05-31T12:33:00.000-05:00

Does STRESS on job cause Chronic High Blood Pressure ? This report says NO.

Dr. Samuel Mann (Cornell Medical) says job stress does not cause chronic high blood pressure. Studies of over 100,000 people now prove it. A job flare up will certainly raise our blood pressure short term but that in itself is not a reason to change jobs for medical reasons. This seems to disprove what others have tried to prove over 40 years of research.

No doubt job stress can cause other problems but chronic high blood pressure is not one of them.

Job Stress Blood Pressure report.

Heart Doctor stops surgery to donate Blood

2006-05-29T16:42:00.000-05:00

Heart Doctor stops surgery 20 minutes to donate pint of blood. The 12 hour surgery was going well except for the fact the young boy was losing blood. And the hospital was about out of his rare type. Which the good doctor just happened to have. Doing this saved the boy from bleeding to death.

Dr Weinstein, a New York Heart surgeon, is a member of Heart Care International. Doctors, nurses, and other health care people donate their time to fly way off to some foreign country to assist local doctors and their patients. They are an impressive group. Many of them actually use their vacation time to perform such a wonderful service for others.

I love stories like this and hope you do to.

Click Here for more.

Aspartame Artificial Sweetener

2006-04-05T16:08:00.000-05:00

Interesting news update today on Artificial Sweetener Aspartame. Many of us have heard conflicting news on using artificial sweeteners. Some say OK....some say it causes cancer. Who is right? I always put more trust in human research over animal research. And thats what we have here. Other research involved huge doses and animals. None of us take huge doses and none of us are animals.

The artificial sweetener aspartame does not increase the risk of cancer, says a U.S. National Cancer Institute study that included more than 500,000 American adults.

This new study included 340,045 men and 226,945 women, ages 50 to 69. Over five years of followup using aspartame. This report was shared with the American Association for Cancer Research yesterday.

Anti-aging TEA

2006-03-30T05:55:00.000-05:00

Drinking Tea is healthy. In case you have missed the many reports out past year about the health benefits of tea......click here for just one that speaks of how good it can be. These Douglas Hospital researchers found that the regular consumption of either black or green tea may reduce age related problems like Alzheimer disease. This is a terrible disease and there hasen't been much one could do to combat it. So this report is significant.

This is the first study to show how helpful both black and green tea can be. Researchers were very impressed to observe tea extracts blocking death of brain neurons. And that is one of the terrible things about Alzheimers disease.....good brain cells dying.

Tea: the New Anti-Aging Beverage? Click here.

Cell Phone Radiation Hazard

2006-03-05T13:00:00.000-05:00

Cell Phone Radiation (Reuters)
Cell Phone Radiation researchers in Finland will now conduct a more advance testing of possible radiation damage to human skin. Previous testing found evidence of mobile phone radiation causing cell-level changes.

Cell Phone use has become so common now and some researchers suspect this has caused an increase in brain cancer. But this has never been proven. Lots of speculation. More research needed.

Click here for Cell Phone news.

Belly Fat worse kind of fat

2006-03-01T15:42:00.000-05:00

New Belly Fat Health Report
So many new reports warn of the " fat danger to our health." And most of these tell us the most unhealthy fat is: Belly Fat. .. Even for children. We now know that children with fat belly were likely to have some of the same health risk factors of middle-aged obese adults. About one in five children are at risk. ..Read this report of a womens' group attacking Belly Fat by lifting weights twice weekly. They noticed expanding waistlines as they aged. And decided to do something about it. Weight training was the answer. Muscle burns more calories than fat. And looks better too !!!! Some doctors compare exercise and weight training to the " fountain of youth." ........................................Women Weight Training study--click here

Yahoo Health Groups

2006-02-24T16:17:00.000-05:00

Yahoo Health Groups are very helpful sources of health information and support. Check out a few that may interest you and judge for yourself .

Browse for more specialized Groups
· Advice (2051)
· Alternative Medicine (6264)
· Beauty (4367)
· Children's (1998)
· Drugs and Medications (2348)
· First Aid (562)
· Fitness and Nutrition (7233)
· Health Care (7529)
· Men's (922)
· Other (5470)
· Professional (19274)
· Reproductive (1278)
· Seniors (349)
· Stress Management (1428)
· Support (31030)
· Teens (975)
· Women's (4514)
· Pet Health@ (1190)

Woman's Self Care Guide (WebMD)

2006-02-23T00:37:00.000-05:00

Helpful folk at WebMD have offer " Womans Guide to Taking Care of Herself." You help take care of everyone else.......learn more about taking care of YOURSELF. Need Calcium? Got too much stress? Worrying about child care? Want to Eat Smart to Live Well? All this and much more is covered. Including: Make a Date!.. With Your Doctor. Skip over and read this report and check out all the free links, etc. Click here for WebMD Womans Guide.

Green Tea vs. Cancer and Alzheimers

2006-02-21T14:32:00.000-05:00

Click Here for Green Tea health report.

More studies show green tea could help protect from Alzheimer's disease, fight cancer, lower cholesterol and even help with weight loss. Some of these studies were done with animals and some with people. Its a habit healthier than we realized. Because green tea has more antioxidants than most other drinks. The Chinese and Japanes have known this for centuries and really appreciate their drinking of tea. Its working its way around the world, now the second most popular drink Worldwide. Reading this report will help you make another healthy choice.

Lower Cancer Deaths

2006-02-17T15:10:00.000-05:00

Fewer cancer patients are dying. Good news. Many of us have lost either a friend or family member to this dreadful disease. Now fewer patients are dying, thanks to earlier detection, better treatment, and less smoking. The percentage of men who smoke has dropped 20% in the last 35 years. Cigarette consumption (usa) is at its lowest level since World War II.
30% of all cancer deaths are related to smoking. But there are about 45 million still smoking in USA. And lung cancer is still the leading cause of cancer deaths.
Click here for this Cancer news update

How To Survive Cold and Flu season

2006-02-14T00:24:00.000-05:00

Read this Health Tips report and gain a better chance of surviving the cold and flu season this year. The tips are simple and could easily be overlooked. Take hand washing, for example. Some doctors put this first on list of healthy tips to fight off cold and flu germs. Dirty hands are the most frequent source of bacteria. Frequent washing for children and parents will go a long ways toward keeping you healthier. Desk or doorknob germs can last several hours. Germs spread after child touches them and then puts finger or hands to face, mouth, etc.

Emergency Medicine Report Card

2006-02-06T23:57:00.000-05:00

How does your State score on Emergency Medicine ? The average of all USA states is C- ........Read this new study from American College of Emergency Physician that evaluates each State in four ways. I didn't find any A+ States at all.

Whole Grains Help Elderly Hearts

2006-01-25T22:01:00.000-05:00

I've seen many reports on healthy benefits from eating whole grain breads; dark rice; oatmeal, etc. Very Heart Healthy. Plus some other healthy advantages also. But, this is the first report I've read where researchers worked only with the elderly.

And this research left no doubt three servings daily of whole grains, etc, will help the elderly live longer and live better. More quanity and more quality of life is a worthy goal.

Click Here to see how some simple nutritional choices can really increase the health of the elderly and also, the health of mid agers too.

Brush your Teeth---Helps Your Heart !!

2006-01-24T16:41:00.000-05:00

Read this brief report if you've never heard or read how brushing and flossing your teeth can help prevent a heart attack.

Echinacea does not prevent Colds..

2006-01-20T14:31:00.000-05:00

Click Here for latest research report on Echinacea. These German researchers speak of this herb helping to shorten the length and severity of colds but does not prevent a cold. Echinacea is the top selling herb for treatment of colds in Europe and the United States.

More information about Echinacea can be Found Here

Pain Killer Poisoning

2006-01-04T01:21:00.000-05:00

Acetaminophen is the most popular pain reliever, used by over 100 Million people per year. Most users consider it so safe they aren't concerned about getting too much. And thats probably why there are over 56,000 emergency room visits annually. Over 100 of them die. One popular brand is Tylenol. Most of us use it and have found relief.

But its also found in so many other products (cold remedies, prescriptions,etc)that people can overdose without realizing it until its too late. Some companies are now printing more information on the Front label. And we commend the McNeil company for warning people:

" If you don't read the label.......Don't use the product.!"

Just doubling the daily safe dose could lead to death, according to these researchers. I'm glad for the warning. It came as a surprise that this popular over the counter product is the leading cause of liver failure. Read your labels. Talk with pharmacist if any doubts.

Read News Report
One More Report Here

Is Fish Really a BRAIN FOOD ?

2006-01-03T15:31:00.000-05:00

Eating Fish Makes us Smarter?
We've heard that since we were kids. Is it true? Yes, it is. Read this NY Times news report that confirms eating fish is good for our brain.

One Harvard study revealed the more fish expectant mothers ate the smarter their baby would be at 6 months.

Another study revealed that older folk eating fish at least once a week did much better than those that did not.

Of course, we all know about the mercury health hazard in some fish. Read this news report for the way to go. Light tuna is one of the safer ones.

Fish Brain Food report here

Click here for one way of finding out if you already have mercury problems

SUV's Safer than Cars? Not for KIDS

2006-01-02T02:47:00.000-05:00

SUV's NOT Safer for Children Report

Childrens Hosptial Child Safety Info

Some car owners were getting after some SUV owners during recent gas high prices. One SUV owner replied: " Well yes, it does take more gas. But our kids are safer than in a car." Some of us used to think so. But not anymore. Read this new report and you'll see children can be more endangered riding in a SUV than in a car !!

One problem with SUV's is their tendency to ' roll-over.' A lot more than any car. And children's injuries are Three-times worse in SUV rollovers than in a car. Read what a Children's Hospital emergency room doctor has to say about this:

. "Many people just assume that the extra weight and size of an SUV makes them safer, but what we found was that the potential benefits were canceled by the SUVs' increased likelihood of rolling over," said study co-author Dr. Dennis Durbin, an emergency room doctor at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.

"The message for parents is that SUVs are no safer, and that they should know the importance of ensuring that their children are properly restrained for their age on every trip in the car."

SUV's are more popular than ever, partly due to owners feeling of safety. And some tests have verified that. But they only tested for adults. This new report considered the safety of Children and learned some alarming things that you should also know about.

Fewer Cancer Deaths

2005-12-25T17:27:00.000-05:00

The good news is fewer people with Cancer are dying from cancer. The bad news is just as many people are getting cancer but, thanks to more screening and earlier treatments, they are living longer. No doubt the earlier we discover cancer the better. Much more treatable.

Some lifestyle changes are also helping. For instance:

1) People are smoking less. (ex: high schoolers that smoke has dropped almost 10 %)
2) People are consuming less alcohol
3) People are more ' fat ' conscious and eating less FAT
4) People are more concerned about the sun and its cancer-causing effect.

More info: National Cancer Institute

Barley is "Heart Healthy"

2005-12-23T17:38:00.000-05:00

The FDA has responded to a request from the National Barley Foods Council that " Barley " be included in food list of Heart Healthy foods. They both agreed Barley is good for our hearts and there is solid evidence it can reduce the risk of coronary heart disease.

The good test results were based on daily consumption of 3 Grams of Barley fiber each day. It can be statistically proven this daily consumpiton can lower our cholesterol. I'm going to eat more whole grain barley.

Research has long shown Barley to be a very healthy choice. Great potential. We will now be hearing more about it. Coronary heart disease continues to be the leading cause of death and disability in the United States. This ruling will encourage more companies to produce and market more of this heart healthy grain.

More Barley Report info here

Skin Cancer Mole Alert

2005-12-18T20:02:00.000-05:00

BBC Skin Cancer News report...............introduces Lee Jordon, skin cancer survivor, now has a helpful web site to show others the danger signals as well as prevention wisdom. Young people should pay attention to him. His cancer struck a couple years ago at age 23. And he always used sun protection..!!

His skin cancer developed from moles on arms and leg so he has named his new web site:

Mole Aware

Check it out. Might save a life. Yours or maybe a friend. Lee lost a friend to this so is doubly motivated to spread the word. Take a peek at what this survivor wants to share:

Gradual changes over many months can be hard to spot
Use mirrors to see the back of your body

Use a digital camera once a month to compare
Keep your eyes on other peoples moles too

If in doubt, get it checked out, without delay
Short bursts of UV exposure is dangerous, stay sunSmart

As the winter moves on, moles might evolve quicker
Practice checking your skin for odd moles

Choose fake tanning products if you want a tan
Heat can strip your skin of moisture

Take care of your lips
Snow reflects the sun, protect your facial areas
The low sun is blinding, keep sunglasses with you