Category: Wellness (Page 115 of 116)

Sleeping next to your pet can be harmful

January 24, 2011 / Staff

You shouldn’t have your pet sleeping with you in your bed. It’s unsanitary. It seems like common sense but many people do it. Now there’s a study explaining the health risks.

Sleeping alongside your pets can make you sick.
It’s rare, but it happens. That’s why good hygiene means keeping Fluffy and Spot next to the bed, not on it, two experts in animal-human disease transmission say in a forthcoming paper.
***
Chomel and co-author Ben Sun, chief veterinarian with the California Department of Public Health, did an extensive search of medical journals and turned up a hair-raising list of possible pathogens.
There’s plague (yes, bubonic plague, i.e. the Black Death); chagas disease, which can cause life-threatening heart and digestive system disorders; and cat-scratch disease, which can also come from being licked by infected cats.
Though many people love getting licked or planting a kiss on a pet, it may not be such a good idea, the authors say.
The researchers found several cases of various infections transmitted this way.
“The risk is rare, but when it occurs it can be very nasty, and especially in immuno-compromised people and the very young,” says Chomel, who specializes in zoonoses, the study of disease transmission between animals and humans.
Larry Kornegay, president of the American Veterinary Medical Association, called the article “pretty balanced.” These cases are “uncommon if not rare,” but even so, pet owners should use common sense to reduce risks.

Think about your health the next time your pet jumps into your bed.

Wellness

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Study says soda tax would reduce weight and add revenues

December 14, 2010 / Staff

Obesity is one of the biggest problems in this country, so people are searching for innovative ideas to attack the problem.

One possible approach is to tax sodas and other sugary drinks. It seems logical, but of course one has to deal with the food and beverage lobbyists. Also, some Americans hate the idea of the government dictating anything, though here it’s just a tax to cover the costs we as a society pay for these beverages.

A recent study, however, provides some ammunition for proponents of the soda tax.

Millions of people would lose about a pound or more a year if large taxes were tacked onto regular soda and other sugar-sweetened beverages such as sport drinks and fruit drinks, a new analysis shows.
A soda tax of 20% or 40% would generate about $1.5 billion to $2.5 billion in annual tax revenue. The 40% tax would cost the average household about $28 a year, the research shows.
“If the tax money was used to serve healthier foods in schools and build parks and recreation centers, it could lead to even more weight loss,” says the study’s lead researcher, Eric Finkelstein, a health economist and associate professor of health services at Duke-National University of Singapore Graduate Medical School.
The idea of a substantial tax on soda and other sugar-sweetened beverages has been the subject of hot debate in recent years among national, state and local policymakers. Public health advocates have been pushing for a hefty tax as a way to reduce consumption of these products to help people lose weight and become healthier.
Currently, two-thirds of people in this country are overweight or obese, which is linked to an increased risk of heart disease, diabetes, cancer and many other health problems. Obesity costs the country roughly $147 billion a year in increased medical expenses, according to another study by Finkelstein.

The soda tax seems like an obvious solution, and perhaps this study and others like it will start to tip the balance.

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Nutrition, Research, Wellness

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Sarah Palin is an idiot – slams First Lady’s anti-obesity initiatives

November 24, 2010 / Staff

Obesity is a national epidemic, and First Lady Michelle Obama is trying to do something about it with an emphasis on exercise and healthy food like fruits and vegetables. But that apparently is a real problem for Sarah Palin. Here’s her idiotic quote:

Take her anti-obesity thing that she is on. She is on this kick, right. What she is telling us is she cannot trust parents to make decisions for their own children, for their own families in what we should eat. And I know I’m going to be again criticized for bringing this up, but instead of a government thinking that they need to take over and make decisions for us according to some politician or politician’s wife priorities, just leave us alone, get off our back, and allow us as individuals to exercise our own God-given rights to make our own decisions and then our country gets back on the right track.

Palin is a complete buffoon.

Health Care Policy, Nutrition, Wellness

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Obesity accelerates as teens become young adults

November 10, 2010 / Staff

This is bad news considering the obesity epidemic with kids today.

Heavy teenagers are often destined for skyrocketing weight gain in their 20s, a new study shows.
About half of obese teenage girls and about a third of obese teen boys become severely obese by the time they are 30 — meaning they are 80 to 100 pounds over a healthy weight, the new research says.
We see a tremendous amount of weight gain during those years,” says Penny Gordon-Larsen, senior author of the study and an associate professor of nutrition at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.
Other research has found that heavy children are more likely to become heavy adults. But this is one of the first studies to show what happens to teens who are obese — that is roughly 30 or more pounds over a healthy weight — as they reach adulthood.

It’s critical that we find ways to address obesity in children. At some point they will be a lost cause.

Research, Wellness

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Guide to Lowering Blood Pressure

August 9, 2010 / Staff

Check out this helpful guide on how to lower your blood pressure. It provides handy charts on appropriate blood pressure levels, including the danger levels for hypertension, and it offers useful tips to help handle this condition.

None of the advice will surprise you, but it’s helpful to have it laid out in a well organized and easy-to-read manner. If you or a loved one is dealing with a blood pressure problem, check this out. It’s in a PDF format so you can print it out as well.