Health care

Archive for March, 2010

By John H. Sklare, Ed.D, Lifescript Personal Coach
Today I would like to address the idea of resilience, the ability to recover from or adjust easily to misfortune or change. You probably understand how important this quality is for living a happy life in today’s volatile world. We’re all dealing with a lot of change, disappointment and misfortune, so it’s imperative that one learns to deal with the realities of a fast-moving and ever-changing world.

With that said, how’s your resilience? Are you able to quickly get on your feet, recover and move forward when misfortune or change knocks you on your backside? Or, once confronted with this kind of situation, do you just lie quietly on the mat and wait for the ref to count to ten? If you tend to lie on the mat, I suggest you make today the day you change that behavior. Boosting your resilience will improve your life in more ways than you can imagine. So if you find yourself in the middle of that 10 count today, I say get up and get on with it!

Wishing You Great Health,
Dr. John H. Sklare
www.innerdiet.com

Are you dating the wrong person? Got an unhealthy addiction? Need motivational advice? Email your question! Ask Dr. Sklare

Relationship troubles? Ask Dr. V

Need fitness advice? Ask Jorge Cruise

Got a diet dilemma? Ask Joel Marion

What’s in your stars? Ask the Saturn Sisters

Check out Health Bistro for more healthy food for thought. See what Lifescript editors are talking about and get the skinny on latest news. Share it with your friends (it’s free to sign up!), and bookmark it so you don’t miss a single juicy post!

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By John H. Sklare, Ed.D, Lifescript Personal Coach
Technology can be a wonderful thing; it allows us to perform tasks quicker, organize things better and gather vast amounts of information in a heartbeat. I appreciate and take advantage of technology in most areas of my life. However, there’s one area that I would like to focus on today where I believe technology is creating an issue… your penmanship, or personal style of handwriting.

With the onset of email, Twitter and all other forms of electronic messaging these days, we’re losing contact with the beauty, emotion and personal touch that handwriting delivers. I don’t know about you, but I love getting a handwritten card or letter in the mail. When was the last time you sent a personally handwritten message to someone dear to you? I recommend you send someone one today before your personal penmanship goes under. Perhaps today is the perfect day to start writing this ship!

Wishing You Great Health,
Dr. John H. Sklare
www.innerdiet.com

Are you dating the wrong person? Got an unhealthy addiction? Need motivational advice? Email your question! Ask Dr. Sklare

Relationship troubles? Ask Dr. V

Need fitness advice? Ask Jorge Cruise

Got a diet dilemma? Ask Joel Marion

What’s in your stars? Ask the Saturn Sisters

Check out Health Bistro for more healthy food for thought. See what Lifescript editors are talking about and get the skinny on latest news. Share it with your friends (it’s free to sign up!), and bookmark it so you don’t miss a single juicy post!

Talk to us on Facebook and Twitter!

By Edward C. Geehr, M.D., Lifescript Chief Medical Officer

Remember when your parents told you that sitting too close to the TV was bad for your eyes? Well watching too much boob tube may be even worse for your health.

It’s no surprise that TV and computer time are contributing to the current obesity epidemic. Americans watch about 5 hours of TV a day, averaging over 150 hours each month. Add to that additional time in front of the computer. No doubt, we’ve become an increasingly sedentary culture.

Those who fit in some exercise each week figure they are counteracting their time spent vegging out in front of a screen, right?

Not necessarily.

We know there are lots of good reasons to exercise: weight management, improved mood, cardiovascular health, lowered risk of diabetes and osteoporosis, improved energy levels, better sleep, improved sex life, reduced cancer risk, elevated good cholesterol, and even improved brain function. Now, an alarming new study determined that even for regular exercisers, the risk of death increased the more TV they watched.

Published in the American Heart Association journal Circulation, the study tracked 8,800 people for an average of 6.6 years to compare health outcomes with self-reported TV viewing times. The participants averaged 50 years of age and 30-45 minutes of exercise per day. After six years of follow-up, 284 participants died, including 87 from cardiovascular disease and 125 from cancer.

Risk of death for those who averaged less than 2 hours of TV time per day was compared to the risk resulting from each additional hour of viewing time; results were adjusted for factors such as age, sex, waist circumference, and exercise. For those who boob-tubed greater than 2 and less than 4 hours, the increased risk of death from all causes was 13% higher, compared to those who watched TV more. If participants logged greater than 4 hours a day, their risk increased by 46% compared to TV-watchers clocking less than 2 hours. Compared to all causes, cardiovascular disease was the most likely cause of death.

So how can this be? What is it about watching TV that creates such risk even among those who exercise? Study researchers feel that it’s not the loss of vigorous exercise that’s the issue. After all, study participants had regular vigorous exercise. Rather, it’s the lack of moving around experienced in our daily activities – which is lost in front of the TV – that increases risk for death. It seems humans weren’t designed to sink inert into a couch for hours on end staring at a point in space.

One clue comes from an emerging field of research. Prolonged periods of inactivity appear to affect how the body processes fats. An enzyme that removes fat from the blood and converts it to fuel shuts down within hours of cessation of activity. Consequently, fat accumulates in the blood where it can damage the lining of our arteries. It’s possible that simple periodic moving around, getting the muscles moving and picking up our heart rate may provide some measure of protection from this shut down in fat processing.

So if you can’t give up the tube, then make sure you get up and occasionally shuffle about to get the blood flowing. Of course, you can always try to replace TV time with something a bit more active and productive.

See All House Calls by Dr. Geehr.

By Edward C. Geehr, M.D., Lifescript Chief Medical Officer
Have you or your child ever experienced a full-blown allergic reaction to food? It’s called anaphylaxis, where the skin flushes, the face swells, the heart races, breathing becomes labored and the throat starts to close off. Unless epinephrine is promptly injected, unconsciousness and even death may ensue.

People with food allergies are vigilant about what they eat. So it’s no wonder that parents whose children have food allergies want to know which foods are sensitizers and which are safe.

For about 5% of young children and 3%-4% of adults living in Western countries, food-induced allergic reactions lead to a variety of health problems. These include skin rashes, abdominal cramping and diarrhea, chronic cough, wheezing, and other disorders including anaphylaxis. Most any food can trigger an allergic response, but those responsible for the most significant reactions include milk, egg, peanut, tree nuts shellfish, wheat, and soy. Surprisingly, allergy to additives and preservatives is relatively uncommon.

Most food allergies diminish as we age. About 80% of egg and milk allergies resolve by the age of 16. But only 20% of peanut, tree nut, and shellfish allergies resolve by that age. The prevalence of milk, egg, peanut, and tree nut allergy in infants and children is 2.5, 1.5, 1, and 0.5%, respectively. Whereas in adults, the allergy prevalence drops to 0.3, 0.2, 0.6, and 0.6%, respectively. Peanut allergies seem more persistent over time, and even if successfully suppressed through therapy, can reemerge over time.

Unfortunately, the most common tests for food allergy may not be able to pinpoint which food is causing a person’s adverse reaction, leading to over-diagnosis or misdiagnosis in some instances. Blood tests are used to measure the level of antibodies, called immunoglobulin E (IgE), we make to a particular food. But the presence of IgE doesn’t always mean that a person will have an allergic reaction to the food triggering the IgE response.

Skin testing is thought to be more predictive: A small amount of the food allergen is poked into the skin with a needle. If there’s swelling and redness of a certain amount, the test is positive. But as with elevated IgE levels, it doesn’t mean the person will develop allergic symptoms to the food. This can make it difficult for parents to determine what foods to withhold from their children.

A sampling of blood and skin testing from 2005-2006 found that 12% of U.S. children were sensitive to milk, 9% to peanuts, 7% to egg, and 5% to shrimp. However, many experts believe that as few as one-tenth of those children will have an allergic reaction to those foods. So how can you be sure of your child’s risk to specific foods?

The most reliable test is a food challenge under highly controlled circumstances given to children over the age of three. Administered in a doctor’s office or hospital with life support equipment, foods are typically given orally in capsule form with the identity blinded to the patient, with some placebo capsules included. One by one, over the course of several hours, the capsules are consumed and the child is closely observed for signs of allergic reaction. A negative response may lead to food challenge by a full-sized portion of the food in question.

Of course, not every adverse reaction to food represents an allergic reaction. The food may have been spoiled, or the child might be lactose intolerant or have other digestive disorders. If you suspect your child has a food allergy, consult a specialist to decide on the proper approach to diagnosis, diet modification and even therapy.

See All House Calls by Dr. Geehr.