News and Articles on Health

Asthma is a common respiratory condition in adults and children. An asthma attack results in a narrowing and inflammation of the airways leading to the lungs. Triggers for an asthma attack can include: allergens, pollen, pet dander, air pollution, dust, and chemical fumes. Most of these impurities can exist in the home. Using an air filter can decrease or eliminate the triggers of asthma. Air purifiers for the home are effective at eliminating not only particles but also odors and fumes.

No matter what substance triggers your asthma attack, an air filter is going to make a great difference. Air filters work by removing particles from the air, and trapping them. Once the filter collects the particles, you will be able to breathe air that is much purer and cleaner.

There are a number of different air filters on the market. There are air purifiers that can be installed to filter air in a single room and filters that can be connected to the air conditioning or heating system of the home. Many experts recommend a HEPA (High Efficiency Particulate Air) grade air cleaner to filter out such contaminants as pollen, mold spores, pet dander, and dust mites.

Air purifiers with a HEPA filter have been proven to trap 99.97 to 99.99% of particles and microns from the air. Filtering these impurities out of indoor air will lessen the severity or eliminate asthma symptoms. The American Lung Association recommends a HEPA air filter purifier for bedrooms of asthma patients. According to the Mayo clinic, “an air particle filter is ideal for household ventilation systems.” The Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America (AAFA) and the British Allergy Foundation recommend the use of ionic filters and HEPA filters.

Asthmatics can experience an attack at any time. There are usually a set of triggers that cause an attack. Most of these triggers can be found in indoor air. If air purifiers are used, indoor air can be cleaned of impurities and make the air safer for an asthma sufferer to breathe.

Air purifiers are a necessity for households with family members who suffer from asthma. The best way to benefit from air filters is to put one in your bedroom, as well as any of the other rooms in which you spend a good amount of your time. Whether you or a person you’re living with suffers from mild to severe asthma, air purifiers may be the best health solution for your home.

The American Cancer Society states that the Global Perspective has found that 30-40 percent of cancers can be linked to diet. Some people avoid eating a cancer preventing diet by using the excuse? Everything we eat causes cancer?. That really isn?t a true statement. There are many foods that can be included in the diet that will help prevent cancer. Having a varied diet that plant-based will help prevent cancer. Plant based foods include the following:

Grains, Vegetables, Fruits, Legumes Of course diet alone will not prevent cancer. Maintaining a healthy weight and exercising regularly will also help prevent some cancers. How does eating Italian fit into a diet designed to prevent cancer? Italian food has many plant-based dishes and the sauces are full of plant-based ingredients. One example is Italian tomato sauce (aka spaghetti sauce) that is used for a base for many Italian dishes.

Tomato sauces not only have tomatoes, but may also have spinach, peppers, and onions. There are many herbs in an Italian tomato sauce to give the sauce flavor. Italian tomato sauce is often served over pasta, which is made from grain so it also fits into a cancer preventing diet. Some of the Italian dishes that are plant based and can be included in a cancer prevention diets:  Lasagna , Egg Plant parmesan , Manicotti , Ravioli , Antipasto, Stuffed shells.

Many Italian sauces and Italian dishes that include meat can be made without meat (vegetarian) to be a healthier meal choice. Extra vegetable can be added to any Italian sauce to add variety and add more cancer preventing ingredients. Also, though it will change the taste, tofu can be used instead of ricotta cheese. Another variation to make Italian food even healthier is to use pastas that are made with whole grains. Homemade Italian food will not need preservatives and chemicals, so it will be a healthy addition to any diet. Not everyone has the time or skills to prepare and cook Italian food, so they will need to find a good Italian restaurant near their home. For those who live in the Miami or Davis, Florida area, Italian food can be enjoyed at Mama Jennie?s Italian Restaurant. It can be eaten in their Italian restaurant or ordered as take out to eat at home.

There is no getting round it – panic attacks are horrendous and can leave you feeling confused, depressed and absolutely isolated. It may not feel like it but you are not alone – innumerable people suffer from these attacks and, like you, are asking questions such as ‘why is this happening to me?‘. They are seeking panic help but do not know where to find it.

Why Do Panic Attacks Happen?

Panic attacks are the result of a build up of tension and anxiety. Perhaps you have been through a traumatic experience which caused you obvious stress but somehow your body ‘forgot’ to switch off and continued in its stress mode. This build-up of adrenalin (the hormone responsible for your body’s anxiety response) being produced when it isn’t needed can cause an over-reaction of panic symptoms that leads your body to react physically and mentally. Your heart starts racing and your throat tightens which makes it difficult for you to breathe. You start to shake and tremble – in fact it’s as if you are being faced with an immense trauma when there is absolutely no real reason for it. Your body has no control and it gets so bad that you believe you are going mad or even that you are dying.

Some people suffer one attack and then never have another one; others have repeated episodes and this is then diagnosed as panic disorder. Remember that this is through no fault of your own – it is an illness that many people suffer from but it is an illness with a very high rate of recovery.

Where To Find the Answers You Need

If you suffer from panic issues then the first thing to do is to seek professional help. Your local doctor can refer you to a specialist who is trained in treating illnesses that have panic as a major symptom. They will either prescribe medication, therapy or a combination of both.

Professional assistance, however, is not the only way to get panic help. Numerous sites on the web have different programmes you can follow which may give you the added boost you need when following any professional advice. Perhaps the thought of taking medication scares you as you know about the inevitable side effects and withdrawal symptoms. If this is so then a sensible treatment to consider could be holistic medicine where all remedies are natural and do not ravage the body. As well as the web there are also many self-help books which give tips and remedies on controlling panic and the resulting physical effects.

It must be remembered that each person suffering from panic attacks is a case unique to themselves and therefore each one should be treated differently. No matter what method you try be it drugs, therapy, homeopathy or some other alternative way, the answers are out there. People are always ready to help you if you take the plunge and ask. Seek background knowledge either from books, pamphlets, or on the net. Then armed with this information you will know more about all the options open to you.

At one point in time, many considered a golden sun kissed body a sign of beauty. Yet, along with this beauty, it has since been learned, can come a very costly price. Overexposure or prolonged exposure to the sun can cause skin cancer. However, being able to recognize skin warning signs is a valuable skill whether or not you consider yourself to be at high risk or not from sun exposure. This form of cancer is not always directly related to UV rays. Other factors contribute to cancerous growths on the skin.

Like most other cancers, the quicker that skin cancer is detected and treated the better. Therefore, it is essential to examine your skin periodically for any new or unusual blemishes, moles, freckles or sores. One of the earliest skin cancer warning signs includes a mole or freckle that grows, changes color, or changes shape. These growths can vary from brown to black to translucent. Another alert are any wounds that do not heal or remain irritated. These should be checked by a doctor immediately. Brown or red spots that are often dismissed as skin pigment discoloration can also lead to cancer of the skin. Watch for scaling or rough textures in these areas.

Early skin cancer warning signs are often dismissed due to the fact that most people have multiple different types of moles, birthmarks, and freckles. Many contribute these to aging rather than skin cancer. They typically do not follow up with medical consultation early. They either fear hearing the worst and put off the doctor visit, simply do not take time to make an appointment, or are ashamed of visiting the doctor resulting in over reaction to a blemish.

It is always best to have a spot checked and learn that it is benign than to wait and later discover that you have cancer on your skin. Skin cancer comes in many different forms. It is impossible to diagnosis a spot as malignant or begin based on your other spots or the spots of friends. Never let skin cancer warning signs go unattended or unchecked thoroughly by a doctor before dismissing them as a common freckle, mole, or sign of aging.

Although some spots may not be actual cancer on your skin, they can be indications that one should be more cautious about watching for other skin cancer warning signs. For example, dysplastic naevi, larger irregular moles, are not cancerous but they do often mean that you are more prone to melanoma. Sunspots are also indicators that a person could be at higher risk for cancer on the skin.

Skin cancer is a serious disease that needs immediate attention by a specialist. However, if caught early enough, this cancer can be successfully treated. The key to containing and ridding your skin of cancer is recognizing the skin cancer warning signs that indicate you may have more than a common skin blemish

Over recent years, much of what was known about type 2 diabetes has been turned upside down. What is now known is so much more powerful… now there is an understanding of the real cause.

So how does type 2 diabetes start… often the first symptom is fatigue. You lost your spark. From there you noticed you were visiting the bathroom often, passing excessive amounts of urine. Thirst comes next, you find yourself drinking so much more water or fluids generally. What really is happening in your body is sugar is not able to move from your bloodstream into your cells. From that small problem comes so many others.

• Glucose or sugar is an energy source for your body. It supplies power to everything you do, from thinking to moving. So when it is unable to enter your cells, they become tired and you have no energy.
• The sugar from your bloodstream is then filtered through your kidneys, and in an attempt to excrete this high amount of blood sugar, large amounts of fluid are used. This fluid is pulled from your body and is why you make so many trips to the bathroom and why you feel dehydrated.
• Naturally you then feel very thirsty.

Therefore:

• fatigue
• frequent urination
• dehydration and thirst

are all symptoms of the one problem. Sugar being unable to enter your cells. you now have high blood sugar levels and high insulin levels. A provisional diagnosis of type 2 diabetes is made if you have these symptoms plus blood sugar levels of 126 mg/dl (7 mmol/l) or higher after fasting for eight hours. Your health care provider will then follow up with an oral glucose tolerance test or challenge, and if your level is shown to be 200 mg/dl (11 mmol/l) or higher two hours later… a definite diagnosis of type 2 diabetes is made. A normal glucose tolerance test value is less than 140 mg/dl (7.8 mmol/l).

A diagnosis of type 2 diabetes means the insulin in your body is no longer doing it’s job… it is unable to open the doors of your cells to allow sugar to enter. Your pancreas continues to produce more insulin in an attempt to fix this problem… it tries to overcome the resistance.

Treatment for type 2 diabetes.

• sometimes includes medications
• always includes a healthy eating plan in order for you to lose weight and reduce your blood sugar levels
• should include an increase in physical activity on a daily basis
• can include naturally occurring substances such as chromium and cinnamon

Learning all you can about type 2 diabetes and making a commitment to living a healthy lifestyle will reduce your risk of serious health complications.

Acne is a type of skin problem that is quite common these days. As it leaves behind dark spots and patches on the face of the person, it is seen as the major cause of concern for almost all age group people.Though it is possible to cure acne through acne skin treatment, still it can be controlled to a very large extent by adopting various other useful measures also. Four most important measures that can help in getting rid of this problem are outlined as follows.

1. Increase water consumption: By increasing the water consumption, the growth of pimples can be controlled easily. It is generally advisable to have at least 8 glasses of water to reduce the impact of this problem. As water is considered best in getting away the harmful toxins from the body, so it is very effective in curing or minimizing the effect of this skin problem.
2. Avoid sweating: Excessive sweating is another reason for the occurrence of this skin problem. Hence, in order to avoid pimples, care should be taken to cleanse the face as many times as possible. However, care should be taken to cleanse the face gently as scrubbing can make the spots darken and can increase the troubles.
3. Go for a healthy diet: With other things, a healthy diet also plays a very important role in getting rid of the problem of acne. If you like to eat junk food, then you need to change your eating habit as it is considered as another main cause responsible for this problem.
4. Use clean towel: Often many people use any cloth to clean their face. This practice is wrong and another reason responsible for the occurrence of pimples. It is very important to apply only the clean towel or a clean tissue on the face as it helps in reducing this problem.

So take care of the above mentioned measures and then go for acne skin treatment to ensure best results.

Far from being a totally unwanted substance in the body as many would probably believe, cholesterol is in fact an important constituent of certain bodily hormones such as estrogen and testosterone, and of cell membranes. In other words, cholesterol is actually something that is required and which performs vital functions within our bodies.

Why then, are we constantly told that we need to cut down our cholesterol levels? It is because our bodies actually manufacture all the cholesterol that they need. Cholesterol only becomes a problem for us when we consume it in excessive quantities. About three quarters of the cholesterol in our blood is manufactured by our bodies.

Your liver is extremely sensitive to your cholesterol requirement, so if you consume a somewhat greater quantity of it at some point, your body will manufacture a somewhat lesser quantity to keep the overall level in balance. A problem only arises when you consume so much that the ability of your body to properly balance the quantity is compromised.

The average individual requires something under about 14 grams of fat per day to enable them to acquire their requirement of essential fatty acids, but in the United States the average daily consumption is at least eight times that amount. That is, the average daily consumption is greater than 112 grams when only about 14 grams are required. This excess builds up in the arteries and sets in train a health time bomb in the bodies of the individuals concerned.

Epidemiological studies have demonstrated that cholesterol levels and blood pressure levels increase in proportion to the amount of saturated fat and cholesterol consumed. This results in an increased risk of coronary heart disease, and in fact if you eat excessive quantities of saturated fat and cholesterol and your blood pressure and cholesterol levels still do not rise all that much, you are still at a greater risk of suffering from coronary heart disease.

Cholesterol is commonly divided into two groups: good and bad.

• The good cholesterol is high density lipoprotein (HDL)
• The bad cholesterol is low density lipoprotein (LDL)

The so called good cholesterol shifts cholesterol from the artery walls and back to the liver, whereas the bad cholesterol keeps the cholesterol in the bloodstream which results in the arteries becoming clogged up with deposits. To reduce your levels of LDL limit the quantity of saturated fat that you consume and increase the quantity of fibre that you consume by eating such things as oatmeal and other whole grains as well as peas and beans and fruits. Psyllium is considered to be a very good food for reducing LDL as well. To raise your HDL levels you need to lose excessive weight and get moderate amounts of exercise, and try to have a supplement of a gram or so of Omega 3 fatty acid per day.

Animal products and processed foods are the most risky foods to consume in excess in terms of saturated fat content. It has been demonstrated that those who consume a low fat vegetarian diet maintain low levels of blood pressure, low blood cholesterol levels and low rates of heart disease.

With the growing popularity of laser eye surgery and surgical eye repairs, more and more people are growing more confident about their eyes. They worry less about straining them, and may even neglect basic optical hygiene when it comes to caring for contact lenses because they believe that anything that goes wrong with their eyesight can be fairly easily repaired.

In many cases, they’re right. However, with every surgery comes a risk, and not all people are even candidates for Lasik eye surgery. Instead of banking on an uncertainty, take precautions now that will help protect your eyes from the natural and unnatural perils that you subject them to each day.

By using natural measures and methods now, you significantly decrease the likelihood that you will ever need optical surgery at all.

• Stop smoking. Smoking dramatically increases your odds of developing cataracts as you age. The single best thing that you can do for your eyes “and really, for the rest of your body as well ” is to give up this perilous and unpleasant habit.
• Wear sunglasses. Exposure to UV rays can destroy your color vision and make it nearly impossible to distinguish between related colors. This not only impacts your ability to appreciate the beauty of the world, but it also seriously impacts your ability to see contrasts, which can make driving and even walking or running very dangerous as it hurts your depth perception.
• Feed your eyes a healthy, balanced diet. Most people do not realize how important nutrition is to eyesight.

However, simply getting the appropriate amounts of zinc, beta-carotene and omega 3 fatty acids can increase your eyes’ resistance to age-related deterioration and to external infections.

While you can probably get enough zinc and beta-carotene in your diet just by adding some turkey and orange fruits or vegetables like carrots and cantaloupe, omega 3 presents something of a difficulty.

In order to get full benefits from this essential nutrient, you need a lot of it, but it can be hard to work a sufficient amount (and by sufficient, I mean literal pounds!) of fatty fish into your daily routine. Most people opt for a daily omega 3 supplement so that they do not have to change their entire eating lifestyle and run the risk of smelling, well, fishy.

When you select a fish oil supplements, make sure that it has been scientifically evaluated and certified toxin free. Many omega 3 supplements made from commercial fish like tuna and may contain traces of mercury because the FDA allows low levels of this toxic heavy metal to be left in these fish.

If you can, opt for a salmon based omega 3 fish oil instead because salmon are raised in clearer, cleaner waters than other game fish.

Mesothelioma is a serious disease that mainly affects those who have been exposed to asbestos. At the early stage, it is very difficult to identify mesothelioma disease, this disease only identified only when its symptoms appear. This can be more to whom those are not aware of its symptoms.

Mesothelioma can affect important parts of body such as organs, including the heart, abdomen and lungs. This disease can cause cancer of these parts if proper treatment is not taken on time. Malignant tumor is one of such mesothelioma disease which can obstruct body’s normal functioning. As a result, pleural mesothelioma might cause a tumor to obstruct the air passage causing difficulty breathing. Pleural mesothelioma might cause fluid to build in the lungs which not only makes it hard to breathe but can also cause significant chest pain.

If any symptom of mesothelioma is found in you then it is necessary to check up yourself to a doctor to be sure. A doctor has a number of tools to correctly diagnose mesothelioma or determine if your symptoms are due to another condition. In the diagnosis stage of mesothelioma, your doctor will start by examining the affected area with a MRI, CT-scan or even just an X-ray. If mesothelioma is found after the preliminary treatment, a medical oncologist will then perform a biopsy to make sure. A biopsy is performed in order to collect a small tissue-sample which does involve minor surgery.

There are two major factors on which mesothelioma treatmentis dependent: where the cancer is located and how far it has progressed. The types of mesothelioma treatment can, generally, be classified into the three categories of surgery, radiation therapy and chemotherapy.

• Surgery for mesothelioma involves removing all or part of the affected organs along with the lining that surrounds them.
• Radiation therapy is another common treatment for mesothelioma. The cancer is exposed to radiation either from a machine that radiates high-energy rays or from radioactive materials that are encased and inserted next to cancerous tissue in order to shrink it. This is often combined with chemotherapy. When treating mesothelioma, chemotherapy is generally administered by way of an IV. However, researchers are looking into the effectiveness of injecting directly into the affected area.
• Chemotherapy is almost never the sole treatment for mesothelioma. Instead, it is often combined with both radiation therapy and surgery to help control the cancerous cells from multiplying and spreading. Treatment that combines chemotherapy, radiation and surgery is called tri-modality therapy and is the most effective, as well as the most invasive, care available today for those who suffer from mesothelioma.

Anorexia is an eating disorder problem that mostly occurs in younger people. This often takes place during one’s pubescent years. An anorexic individual usually refrain from ingesting something or eating just a tiny fraction of food, as their response to weight gaining. There are about ten percent of anorexic males, while the rest are females. There is a theory that backs up that people who’s suffering from anorexia are the ones who particularly view themselves in a negative way, most especially when weight is the topic. In reality, to everybody, they look as thin as a paper, but for them, things are different as they still see themselves as overweight.

This eating disorder is just like most disorders out there today, this problem also poses a great risk to one’s health, and has its own and unique symptoms. One of the main causes for concern is the severe inconsistency in one’s weight in comparison to one’s height and age. Some of its tell tale signs do include the inability to dine in public, one’s having an odd menstrual cycle, and one who is obsessed about his/her calorie intakes. Said symptoms can manifest in a lot of different ways, which ranges from physical problems to psychological problems.

There is no exact cause of this eating disorder that has already been found. However, there is an ongoing research that somehow has pointed its finger at how our world shows our teens what the exact image or body must be (through models, actresses, etc.). It is also knows that psychological factors plays a big part in one’s having an anorexia, this is coupled with abuse and other family dysfunction. This type of disorder does not necessarily require hospitalization, except for those who are already suffering from severe anorexia where one’s organs are beginning to fail. Recovery can be obtained for those who seek for help at its early stage.