General Health Articles

In the News Disease Prevention through Immunization– Part I

Every August, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) observes the National Immunization Awareness Month (NIAM) to highlight the importance of routine vaccination for people of all ages.

This month, we highlight the diseases that have become obsolete (or nearly obsolete) due to vaccinations.

• Polio - Polio is a crippling and potentially deadly infectious disease that is caused by poliovirus. The virus spreads from person to person and can invade an infected person’s brain and spinal cord, causing paralysis. Polio was eliminated in the United States with vaccination, and continued use of polio vaccine has kept this country polio-free.
• Tetanus – Tetanus causes painful muscle stiffness and and lockjaw. It can be fatal. Parents used to warn kids about tetanus every time we scratched, scraped, poked, or sliced ourselves on something metal. Nowadays, the tetanus vaccine is part of a disease-fighting vaccine called DTaP, which provides protection against tetanus, diphtheria, and pertussis (whooping cough).
• The Flu (Influenza) - Flu is a respiratory illness caused by the influenza virus that infects the nose, throat, and lungs. Flu can affect people differently based on their immune system, age, and health. Every year in the United States, otherwise healthy children are hospitalized or die from flu complications. The best way to protect babies against flu is for the mother to get a flu vaccine during pregnancy and for all caregivers and close contacts of the infant to be vaccinated. Everyone 6 months and older needs a flu vaccine every year.

(Continued in Part II…)

Healthy Living: Five Ways Your Smart Phone Can Make You Healthier

It is 2023 and nearly everyone has a smart phone nowadays. There are so many apps and programs that you can now download to your phone to help you reach your fitness and health goals. 

While this seems like an easy thing to do – just download an app – there is much more involved in getting the most out of your smart phone to become healthier. 

Here are five ways that your smart phone can make you healthier. 

1. Set up healthy appointments on your phone. Use the remind or alarm function on your phone to help you set healthy reminders – like take your medication, get to spin class, go to bed early and take the stairs and not the elevator on your lunch break.
2. Use your timer. We have learned since we were little that we should brush our teeth for 2 minutes, but do you? Use your timer to achieve these types of goals. You can use your timer to figure out how long tasks take so that you can also better prioritize your time, causing less stress.
3. Track your progress. Sure, you downloaded that fitness tracker on your phone, but are you using it? Commit to a particular app and actually use it. Basic features include tracking your steps, counting your calories, and helping you to get a handle on your blood pressure.
4. Eat Healthy. There are quite a few apps that you can download that can help you to be a better label reader and track your food intake.
5. Motivate yourself. Customize your alarms to give you that gentle nudge that you need to motivate yourself. A “Get to the gym if you want to fit in that dress” message alarm is more motivating than a beeping alarm.

Prevention 101: Soothe Your Sunburn

Let’s face it, no matter how lathered up you are or how cautious you are this summer, at some point you may slip up and end up with a pretty nasty (and painful) sunburn.  Here are some easy ways for you to soothe the painful effects of sunburn:

• Take some aspirin to reduce redness and ease some pain.
• Cortisone creams, if applied within 6 hours of the burn, provide some relief.
• Pure aloe Vera gel can help cool down your skin and relieve discomfort.
• Avoid additional sun exposure while your skin heals.
• Chill and blend cucumber slices to create a cucumber paste to apply to your burned skin.
• Apply an ice compress, but not directly to the burned area to help constrict your skin’s capillaries.

Summer 101: Naturally Heal Your Sunburn

We have all been there before – a long day at the beach or outdoors turns our skin into a pretty bad case of sunburn!  Instead of dealing with the affects for a few days or even a week after the burn, we offer these natural ways to help your skin heal and to help you feel better in no time.

Of course, there are plenty of sunburn treatment lotions out on the market, but anything that contains a high amount of vitamin E or contains aloe vera will help to alleviate the pain of sunburn.  The vitamin E and aloe vera add nutrients to the skin that UV rays have unbalanced.  The aloe vera also cools your skin, helping to reduce the pain. 

You may also find some good sunburn treatments right in your kitchen cabinet.  Vinegar, mustard, yogurt, tomatoes, and avocado all contain that extra vitamin E that will help to cool your skin.

Healthy Living - Benefits of Massage Therapy

For more than 125 years, experts have been researching the benefits of massage therapy, and besides the obvious stress-free feeling that people have following a massage, there are plenty of other benefits to this ancient healing procedure.

One major benefit of massage therapy that researchers have found is that people who get massages on a regular basis have noticed a decrease in their blood pressure.  

Massages also help to alleviate the pain of those who suffer from migraine headaches. 

Massage can also: reduce your heart rate, increase blood circulation and lymph flow, relax your muscles, improve your range of motion, and increase endorphins. Some other physical benefits of massage therapy include relieving muscle tension and stiffness, alleviating discomfort during pregnancy, reducing muscle spasms, promoting deeper and easier breathing, enhancing the health and nourishment of your skin, and improving your posture. 

Massage therapy, while a physical act, is not all about physical benefits.  There are plenty of mental benefits that having a massage can give you. 

Some of these mental benefits include promoting mental alertness, relieving mental stress, reducing levels of anxiety, improving motor skills, creating   body awareness, and fostering a feeling of wellbeing. 

While this article only touches on a few benefits of massage therapy, both physical and mental, there are plenty more out there that researchers are learning about every day. 

So, go pamper yourself!