Friday, April 3

HEALTH

A Neurologist Explains – Why Daylight Saving Time Is Unhealthy
SLEEP

A Neurologist Explains – Why Daylight Saving Time Is Unhealthy

As people in the U.S. prepare to turn their clocks ahead one hour in mid-March, I find myself bracing for the annual ritual of media stories about the disruptions to daily routines caused by switching from standard time to daylight saving time. About a third of Americans say they don’t look forward to these twice-yearly time changes. An overwhelming 63% to 16% majority would like to eliminate them completely. But the effects go beyond simple inconvenience. Researchers are discovering that “springing ahead” each March is connected with serious negative health effects. I’m a professor of neurology and pediatrics at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee, and the director of our sleep division. In a 2020 commentary for the journal JAMA Neurology, my co-authors and I r...
Free Soul Food Recipes Breaking New Ground
NUTRITION

Free Soul Food Recipes Breaking New Ground

Free soul food recipes continue to break new ground. While more health experts are complaining about the high calorie, salt and fat content in soul food, more websites are heading the call for healthier recipes. The huge (pardon the pun) problems with obesity is blamed on the high fat and calorie content in much of the food we eat. To respond to this growing demand, more soul food recipe publishers, websites and restaurants are offering healthier recipes. The response? A growing resurgence in the popularity of this southern cuisine. An added bonus is attracting the interest of new people to this southern comfort food. Examples of Healthy Changes Examples of healthier changes is replacing many of the high fat seasonings, such as fat back, ham hocks and bacon drippings. These traditional ...
Things You’ll Never Hear A Slim, Chic And Savvy Woman Say
SELF-CARE

Things You’ll Never Hear A Slim, Chic And Savvy Woman Say

I've spent years studying French women, as well as other naturally slim people, and there's a method to their "slimness," but it's probably not what you think. It doesn't involve dieting and deprivation. It's an attitude, personal style, a way of looking at the world, and it starts from within. While diet programs and other approaches keep you focused on your "weight problem," the French approach to living a slim lifestyle is probably counter intuitive to what you've been taught. From the countryside of Provence to the bistros of Paris, I've paid close attention to the attitudes and behaviors of slim, chic and savvy women. Their approach to food, weight and life is very different than the "no pain, no gain" mindset of the American culture. Instead, their mindset is rooted in pleasure and...
Problem With Excessive Sweating – This Will Help
SELF-CARE

Problem With Excessive Sweating – This Will Help

If you suffer from embarrassing underarm wetness it is quite possible that you are looking for any and every possible method to stop excessive sweating. Gone are the days when this trait was accepted as an undisputed though certainly unwelcome fact of life. In today's society you are expected not to have this particular problem. If you have it though, there have been few options open to you in the past other than trying yet another brand of deodorant and/or antiperspirant. Dealing with the Anxiety of Excessive Sweating Whether you want to call it perspiration or sweat there is nothing genteel about it in excess. In fact, you will probably invest a great deal of time and effort towards your efforts to quit or break this pattern with very few results. It is important to remember that sweat...
Is Chocolate The Temptation Of Sin
NUTRITION

Is Chocolate The Temptation Of Sin

Temptation lives across the street in a two story contemporary building where the chocolatier resides. His passion and zest for cocoa makes his heartstrings sing. His lust for creating passion drives him each day back into the boiling cauldrons. Melting and mixing the exquisite aromas flutter into the air wafting out into the streets below. Mouths salivate as their nostrils pick up the sweet scent sliding by on the airfoils of the day. Imaginations fire up pondering the delicate treats the chocolatier has conjured up for the display. He has no menu but there are plenty of pictures hanging around taunting and teasing every patron's brain. The cocoa is mixed, pounded and patted, melted and shaped, then sprinkled, and swirled until it is molded into chocolate treats. The treats come out in ...
Less Paranoia And Anxiety? – Can Delta-8 THC Provide Some Of The Benefits Of Pot
SELF-CARE

Less Paranoia And Anxiety? – Can Delta-8 THC Provide Some Of The Benefits Of Pot

Over the past year, you may have seen something called delta-8 THC or “delta 8” appear in convenience stores and pharmacies alongside CBD gummies, oils and lotions. Delta-8 THC is a hemp-derived compound that’s closely related to delta-9 THC – what’s commonly called THC and is the psychoactive component of cannabis that’s responsible for the high that users feel. Like garden variety marijuana, delta-8 THC can be vaped or eaten. However, it’s rarely smoked. Anecdotally, its fans swear by its benefits – that it helps with relaxation and pain relief without intense highs that can veer into anxiety or paranoia. Yet there’s been a dearth of research on this compound. As public health scholars, we decided to conduct the first survey of delta-8 THC users to find out who was using it, why they ...
What’s Lurking Under Your Fingernails?
SELF-CARE

What’s Lurking Under Your Fingernails?

In the spring of 1997, I spent a wonderful day with Dr Omar Amin in Phoenix, Arizona. Dr Amin is one of the most respected and sought-after parasitologists in the world and runs the Parasitology Center Inc in Scottsdale, Arizona. He gave me a copy of his paper 'Understanding Parasites' in which there was a sentence that has always stuck in my mind: "A recent inspection of an expensive restaurant in Los Angeles showed that 100% of all employees (not just servers) had fecal matter under their nails". Fecal matter and disease (particularly parasites) generally go together. With our cities offering cuisine from increasingly exotic regions of the world, this carries a higher incidence of parasite-borne diseases, especially if these regional foods are undercooked or even raw: Dutch herring, st...
My Battle With The Fat Monster
SELF-CARE

My Battle With The Fat Monster

Who is the Fat Monster you say? Well if you have a fat problem then you will know him very well. He is the one who is always telling you to eat. He calls your name from the fridge. He tells you to turn into the donut shop when you are driving to work. And he is the one who tells you, you are too tired to exercise. How can you fight the Fat Monster? The first thing you must do is become aware of him on a "real" level. You can talk to him. Don't be afraid. You can tell him who is the BOSS! You can even yell at him if you want to. As a matter of fact you should yell at him. You should yell loud and often. Tell him you are the one in charge from now on! You are the one calling the shots and you refuse to listen to him anymore! Tell him to stop calling your name and to get out of your frig. Te...
Regular Fitness Tips To Keep You Healthy And Fit
SELF-CARE

Regular Fitness Tips To Keep You Healthy And Fit

Staying fit and healthy is a great way to improve your overall health and mental stability. It's a regular struggle for most people to stay fit. With a few motivation and practices, you easily can maintain your physical and mental fitness for years long. You will feel great once you take a step forward towards getting in perfect shape. A lot of people tend to spend their whole day eating all junks and watching TV. This is not encouraging when you are thinking of starting regular exercise to enhance your general health condition. Here, we've summed up a few effective tips to keep your body healthy and fit. Exercise daily: Come up with a daily schedule of exercise for at least an hour a day. Don't need to get yourself exhausted from running, cardio or HIIT workout sessions. You must includ...
The Colors Of Poop
SELF-CARE

The Colors Of Poop

Why is my poop brown? Curious Kids is a series for children of all ages. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to curiouskidsus@theconversation.com. Why is my poop brown? – Ethan J., age 9, Potomac, Maryland Three-quarters of your poop consists of water and most of the rest is food your body didn’t digest. Once it exits the digestive system, poop is usually a shade of brown, regardless of the appearance of whatever you’ve had to eat and drink, because it contains a chemical your body makes. That chemical, stercobilin, is a product of the breakdown of hemoglobin – an iron-containing protein in red blood cells that allows oxygen to be transported around the body. Without sercobilin, your poop would probably look pale or even white. That’s because most of t...