If you, or someone in your family, smokes and you have children, then it is important to ensure that they are not the recipients of , which is classified as a known human (Group A) carcinogen by the U.S.

Environmental Protection Agency. Secondhand smoke is scientifically correlated with a range of illnesses from asthma to cancer to heart disease, and it is even more damaging to children whose lungs and immune systems are still developing. Given the statistics, the less exposure your kids have, the better.

Steps

1. Stop smoking. If you or anyone else in your home smokes, the most effective way to prevent harm to the kids is to quit (or persuade the resident smoker to quit) as soon as possible. It is a hard habit to break but look at just some of the benefits you get for stopping:
   • Healthier kids, less respiratory illness (and fewer medical bills) for you and for them,
   • Clean home environment, no yellowing paintwork, no odors.
   • Cleaner, healthier teeth & gums, which can save you from having work done at the dentist.
   • Cleaner upholstery, curtains, and mirrors.
   • No cost of cigarettes.
   • No chance of household fire from a cigarette or of cigarette burns.
2. Smoke outdoors. Make it a rule to never smoke inside the home, even in the middle of winter. Indoor smoke builds up and anyone in proximity to that smoke is a target of the carcinogenic chemicals and respiratory irritants cigarette smoke contains. The chemical particles also fall onto the household furniture, upholstery and walls, and continue to emit potentially damaging chemicals long after the cigarette is extinguished, not to mention the stale odor of tobacco smoke. But, standing on your driveway and lighting up will be bad for people who pass by, and smoke in the yard can easily go over walls and fences. However, smoking outdoors is always the best choice, because the smoke will naturally disappear much faster outdoors than indoors. Smoking in your home is similar to smoking in a car with the windows rolled up, except that the effects are more instant in a car rather than more long term in a home.
3. Never smoke in the car. It is never okay to smoke in a car when you have kids, even when your kids are not in the car with you, because the smoke residue lingers and off-gases whenever the kids are in the car. Rolling down a window helps some, but can blow the smoke directly into your kids’ faces.
4. Ask guests to light up outdoors. It is your home and you have a right to a smoke-free environment. Be polite but firm and let the guests know that because of the kids, there is a strict “no indoor smoking” policy in place.
5. Keep the kids away from public places where smoking is concentrated. If you do not live in an area with laws banning smoking in restaurants, find the restaurants that voluntarily ban smoking when you take your kids out to eat. This also applies to concerts, shows, entertainment places, and anywhere that smokers feel comfortable lighting up. Be aware that even where smoking is banned indoors, many places still permit smoking on outdoor patios. Keep the kids away from tables of smokers or take them indoors.
6. Ask babysitters not to smoke. This can be difficult, especially if you are asking grandparents or friends to babysit, but you must be firm for the sake of your children’s health.
7. Make alternative arrangements. If you work or follow hobbies in a place that permits smoking, and you need to take your child there for any amount of time, make sure that your child is not exposed to the smoke of others in this environment. If you cannot manage this, make alternative arrangements.

Tips

• Air fresheners only mask the scent of cigarette smoke – they do not remove it. Filters suck up the odor, but all the harmful chemicals will still be lingering, undetectable but still harmful.
• Remember what secondhand smoke exposes children to. Would you allow your children to consume or inhale arsenic, lead, mercury, DDT, acetone, ammonia, formaldehyde, cyanide, or carbon monoxide? These are the chemicals found in secondhand smoke. They may not be visible, but they are there. When inhaled even in small amounts on a regular basis, they can cause significant damage to a developing body. Secondhand smoke causes 3,400 cases of lung cancer each year and 22,000 to 70,000 heart disease in adult non-smokers in the US each year (American Lung Association).
• If you slipped and smoked in your car or indoors, vacuum thoroughly and clean out the car or the room by wiping down furniture, car upholstery, etc. and leave the windows wide open to let in fresh air. Empty all ashtrays and put the garbage bag outside. The amount of extra cleaning effort might help to convince you that it is just easier not to smoke in the first place.
• Change the air filter in your car if you smoke in it. They will contain the smoke smell and make it worse when you turn on your heat or A/C.

Warnings

• The surgeon general states that there is NO safe level of exposure to secondhand smoke. Short exposures to second hand smoke can cause blood platelets to become stickier, damage the lining of blood vessels, decrease coronary flow velocity reserves, and reduce heart rate variability, potentially increasing the risk of heart attack (American Lung Association).
• Kids exposed to cigarette smoke can get severe bronchial and other respiratory illnesses, and have an increased exposure to carcinogens, which can trigger cancer. Young bodies are far more vulnerable to cell mutation triggered by secondhand smoke as they are growing. But, that does not make adults completely immune to secondhand smoke either.
• Cigarette smoke contains around 4000 chemicals, a number of which are known carcinogens.

source:www.healthexpertadvice.org/advice/Childhood-Health/Protect-Your-Kids-from-Secondhand-Smoke-133.htm

Many of us have a phobia – an extreme or irrational fear – of something. Most of the time we can live with such fears, but in some cases they can take over a person’s life. Luckily, help is at hand.

What is a phobia?

A phobia is an intense fear or feeling of anxiety that occurs only in a particular situation that frightens you.

This might be something as seemingly logical as a fear of heights, or as illogical as a fear of the colour green. At other times you don’t feel anxious. For example, if you have a phobia of spiders (as millions of people do), you only feel anxious when there’s a spider around, otherwise you feel fine.

About one in ten people has a significant phobia, although few people seek treatment.

People develop phobias to all sorts of things. Each phobia has its own name. Some (of a very long list) include:

* Musophobia – fear of mice
* Peladophobia – fear of bald people
* Amathophobia – fear of dust
* Pnigophobia – fear of choking or smothering
* Maieusiophobia – fear of childbirth
* Homichlophobia – fear of fog
* Arachibutyrophobia – fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of the mouth

Phobias make people avoid situations they know will make them anxious, but this can make the phobia worse. A person’s life can become increasingly dominated by the precautions they take to avoid a situation they fear. You may know there’s no real danger and you may feel embarrassed by your fear, but you’re still unable to control it. It’s better to confront your fears, even if it’s in a very careful way or with the help of a trained therapist.

A phobia is more likely to go away if it began after a distressing or traumatic event.

What’s the treatment?

Cognitive behavioural therapy – a ‘talking treatment’ where you learn all about the thing or situation you are scared of and how to change your behaviour – has a high success rate in phobias. Your GP can refer you.

For a more detailed look at phobias and the effect they can have, go to the Mental health site.

This article was last medically reviewed by Dr Trisha Macnair in August 2007.

source: www.bbc.co.uk/health/emotional_health/mental_health/mind_phobias.shtml

US researchers writing in a leading journal concluded that a new form of pelleted tobacco product that in some cases looks like candy could poison children and lure young people into nicotine addiction.

You can read about the study, by researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Northern Ohio Poison Control Center and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), online in the 19 April ahead of print issue of Pediatrics.

Last year, RJ Reynolds, one the biggest tobacco companies in the US, started market testing a new pelleted product made with finely ground tobacco flavoured with mint or cinnamon that dissolves in the mouth like breath mints.
The product, called Camel Orbs, contains 1 mg of nicotine per pellet, which is about the same as that contained in the average nicotine lozenge marketed to people trying to quit smoking.

However, according to a CNN news report, Orbs, and other products in the range, Camel Strips (0.6 mg nicotine per strip) and Sticks (3.1 mg nicotine per strip) appear to be a new trend in the tobacco industry to create smokeless nicotine products that people can use in places where it is no longer legal to smoke, like bars and restaurants.

1 mg of nicotine is enough to make a small child feel nausea and vomit, said the researchers, who in their background information stressed that one of the biggest causes of poisoning that leads to calls to poison control centers throughout the US is babies and children swallowing tobacco products. The figures for 2007 show over 6,700 reported cases of tobacco-related poisoning among children aged 5 and under.

A poison control center in Portland, Oregon has already reported a case where a three-year old ingested an Orbs pellet. The center is in a region where the tobacco product is being test marketed.

Lead author and director of the Tobacco Control Research Program at HSPH, Professor Gregory Connolly, told the media that the introduction of these new products could be disastrous for public health, particularly for infants and adolescents.

Connolly said that while the product might be described as a “tobacco” product, to a four-year old child it looks like candy.

“Nicotine is a highly addictive drug and to make it look like a piece of candy is recklessly playing with the health of children,” said Connolly.

The researchers also noted that intentional use of smokeless tobacco products among adolescents went up 6 per cent per year from 2002 to 2006.

For the study the researchers worked out how much nicotine, based on median body weight, children would have to ingest to experience symptoms of poisoning:

• A one-year old child could get mild to moderate symptoms of poisoning from 8 to 14 Orbs, 14 Strips or 3 Sticks, while ingesting 10 to 17 Orbs, 17 Strips or 3 to 4 Sticks, could cause severe poisoning and death.
• A four-year old child could get mild to moderate symptoms of poisoning from 13 to 21 Orbs, 14 Strips or 4 Sticks, while ingesting 16 to 27 Orbs, 27 Strips or 5 Sticks, could cause severe poisoning and death.

The manufacturer argues that the packaging is child resistant, but the researchers said that adults could leave them lying around opened, and that this together, with their appealing candy-like appearance and flavoring, increases the chances that children will ingest them.

In an interview reported by CNN, Reynolds spokesman David Howard, said he didn’t think Camel Orbs looked “at all” like Tic Tac mints.

Howard stressed that the product was marketed to adults and came in child-resistant containers, and said it was unfair to criticize a product because of its flavoring, and pointed to smoking cessation aids like Nicogum. Besides, nearly every household has products that can poison children, such as cleaning products, medicines, health and beauty products, he said.

But that is not the point, commented one expert, who said children will be influenced by the behavior of the adults they observe.

Dr Jonathan P Winickoff, a Harvard medical professor and chairman of the American Academy of Pediatrics Tobacco Consortium, told CNN that, the last time he checked, he didn’t see adults going around “drinking toilet bowl cleanser in front of their kids”.

Winickoff also commented that accidental poisoning of young children was no the only cause for concern, intentional use by kids and teenagers was likely to be another public health problem from introduction of dissolvable nicotine products.

He said teenagers will look at the products and think they are harmless, and not realize they are exposing their brains to nicotine and priming themselves to become nicotine addicts.

“If teens ended up using smokeless product because they are attracted to candy flavors and they end up getting addicted to nicotine, the public health benefit of smokeless tobacco is neutralized,” said Winickoff, who was not involved in the study.

source: www.medicalnewstoday.com

If more women quit smoking before they became pregnant, it would save infant lives, concludes a new study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Despite a decline over the past decade in the number of women who smoke during pregnancy, smoking is still a major cause of newborn deaths, early births and babies born with low birth weight.

“We know about half of women quit when they find out that they are pregnant, but a lot of women are still smoking during pregnancy,” said Patricia Dietz, DrPh, lead study investigator.

The study appears online and in the July issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

Dietz and co-investigators examined data from the US Linked Birth/Infant Death Data Set, which included all 3.3 million births of single babies that occurred in the United States (with the exception of California) during 2002. About 11.5 percent of babies, or 386,000, had mothers who smoked during pregnancy.

Researchers determined that prenatal smoking caused 5 percent to 8 percent of premature births and 13 percent to 19 percent of cases of low birth weight in babies carried to full term. Of infants who died, 5 percent to 7 percent of preterm-related deaths and 23 percent to 34 percent of deaths caused by sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) might have been preventable if the mother had not smoked before pregnancy.

In addition, the researchers wrote that if all women quit smoking during pregnancy, it could cut health care costs by about $232 million every year – and improve overall health for both mothers and children.

“The percentage of SIDS deaths that might be avoided with smoking cessation is a significant number,” said Diane Ashton, M.D., deputy medical director of the March of Dimes. “For women who smoke and are considering pregnancy, we strongly recommend that they get preconception counseling for smoking cessation.”

Given these sobering statistics, why do some women continue to smoke during pregnancy?

“Studies have shown that these women may be dealing with a lot of stress, such as economic hardship, or they might be dealing with depression or other mental health issues,” Dietz said. “Most of them are living with other smokers that make it difficult to quit. They may be living in communities where it’s acceptable to smoke – where everyone is smoking. So it’s really complex.”

“This is an addiction,” Ashton said. “If pregnancy could cure addiction then none of these issues would be a problem. During pregnancy, women tend to be a little more highly motivated to address their addictions, but a lot of it depends on the level of readiness of the individual.”

source: www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/191126.php

Allopurinol has been available for the last 40 years to treat gout

A drug commonly used to treat gout can also relieve angina, researchers say.

Allopurinol is inexpensive compared with some other angina drugs and appears to work by reducing the energy needs of the heart, the Lancet reports.

The severe chest pain of angina occurs when the heart muscle is deprived of blood – and therefore oxygen.

The Dundee University study involving 65 angina patients found those on allopurinol could exercise for longer without getting chest pain.

Common problem

Angina affects about two million people in the UK and is the most common symptom of heart disease.

It substantially reduces quality of life, with one in three patients with chronic stable angina having an angina “attack” at least once a week.

Effective treatments already exist, but for some patients they may not work and for others they can be too expensive.

” It’s helpful for doctors to have another option to turn to for patients who don’t respond well to existing drugs – Professor Peter Weissberg Medical director of the British Heart Foundation “

Professor Allan Struthers and his team believe allopurinol could plug this gap.

They told the Lancet journal: “On the basis of our results, allopurinol is a useful anti-ischaemic treatment option in patients with angina that has the advantage of being inexpensive, well tolerated and safe in the long term.

“The precise place of allopurinol in the management of angina pectoris now needs to be explored further, but this drug might be especially appealing for use in developing countries where coronary artery disease is rapidly increasing in frequency and where access to expensive drugs or invasive treatments (angioplasty and bypass surgery) is often restricted.”

The researchers suspect that allopurinol blocks an enzyme called xanthine oxidase, which in turn reduces the energy used by the heart in each beat or “stroke”.

In their small study, those who received allopurinol treatment as opposed to a placebo were able to walk for 25% longer before they complained of chest pain.

Electrical recordings of the heart showed that allopurinol enabled the heart to work for longer before showing signs of oxygen starvation.

Prof Peter Weissberg, medical director of the British Heart Foundation, said the findings were promising.

“Allopurinol has been used to treat gout for decades, so we know it’s safe and it’s relatively cheap.

“There are several effective medicines out there for controlling angina, but it’s helpful for doctors to have another option to turn to for patients who don’t respond well to existing drugs.”

He said people with angina should continue taking medicines as prescribed and talk to their doctor if they have any concerns.

“What is exciting is that it looks as if allopurinol may work by protecting the heart from oxygen starvation.

“If that is the case, then it raises the possibility that it could help the heart in other situations as well, such as after a heart attack.”

source: www.news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/10254759.stm

American scientists say they have developed a vaccine which has prevented breast cancer from developing in mice.

The researchers – whose findings are published in the journal, Nature Medicine – are now planning to conduct trials of the drug in humans.

But they warn that it could be some years before the vaccine is widely available.

The immunologist who led the research says the vaccine targets a protein found in most breast tumours.

Vincent Tuohy, from the Cleveland Clinic Learner Research Institute, said: “We believe that this vaccine will someday be used to prevent breast cancer in adult women in the same way that vaccines have prevented many childhood diseases.

Unique challenge

“If it works in humans the way it works in mice, this will be monumental. We could eliminate breast cancer.”

In the study, genetically cancer-prone mice were vaccinated – half with a vaccine containing á-lactalbumin and half with a vaccine that did not contain the antigen.

None of the mice vaccinated with á-lactalbumin developed breast cancer, while all of the other mice did.

The US has approved two cancer-prevention vaccines, one against cervical cancer and one against liver cancer.

However, these vaccines target viruses – the human papillomavirus (HPV) and the Hepatitis B virus (HBV) – not cancer formation itself.

In terms of developing a preventive vaccine, cancer presents problems not posed by viruses – while viruses are recognised as foreign invaders by the immune system, cancer is not.

Cancer is an over-development of the body’s own cells. Trying to vaccinate against this cell over-growth would effectively be vaccinating against the recipient’s own body, destroying healthy tissue.

Caitlin Palframan, of charity Breakthrough Breast Cancer, said: “This research could have important implications for how we might prevent breast cancer in the future.

“However, this is an early stage study, and we look forward to seeing the results of large-scale clinical trials to find out if this vaccine would be safe and effective in humans.”

She added there were already steps women could take to reduce the risk of breast cancer, including reducing alcohol consumption, maintaining a healthy weight and taking regular exercise.

Cancer Research UK’s professor of oncology, Robert Hawkins, said: “This very early study describes an interesting approach to the prevention of breast cancer.

“It will be several years before this vaccine can be tested fully to assess its safety and effectiveness as a way to stop the disease developing in women.”

Breast cancer is the most common cancer in the UK, affecting more than 45,500 women every year.

THE UK’s first national sleep survey has found that Aberdeen is bottom of the league when it comes to getting a good night’s rest.

The Great British Sleep Survey, conducted by Professor Colin Espie, director of the University of Glasgow Sleep Centre, found the average sleep satisfaction score for Aberdonians was only 62 per cent.

Dundee was second bottom at 65 per cent followed by Falkirk and Stirling scoring 67 per cent. Glasgow came top for sleep satisfaction at a respectable 75 per cent followed by Edinburgh at 69 per cent.

The research data from the survey into the sleep patterns of the adult population, which still has three months to run, will be used to develop new, non-drug treatments to help people sleep better.

Research shows around a third of British adults suffer from insomnia, with current thinking now increasingly linking it to emotional problems in sufferers’ daytime lives. Researchers want to encourage as many people as possible to take a confidential five-minute online questionnaire survey which provides them with their own percentage score and individual tailored sleep profile.

The survey will also examine individual post code areas, socioeconomic and age groups and differences between men and women’s sleeping patterns.

Professor Espie, a clinical psychologist, said good sleep should be recognised as being important to health in the same way campaigns linked good diet to combating obesity.

“Sleep is a fundamental life process, just like eating and drinking, yet many people have poor sleep and suffer the consequences. Sleep is life’s refuelling station. When we sleep well we generally feel well.”

Professor Espie said people going to their GPs complaining they can’t sleep are often suffering from underlying problems manifesting themselves as sleep problems. “People will go to their GP and say: ‘I don’t sleep well at night.’ But as often as not they are not making the connection between what is happening in their daytime lives.”

Researchers have been unable to identify why Aberdeen residents appear to be the worst sleepers in the country. Theories include the colder climate in the chilly North-east, but the researchers insist it could be other factors, such as higher stress levels among the local population.

Professor Espie, along with a number of specialists, supports using cognitive behavioural therapy which encourages people to think differently about their problems. The sleep survey will also move on to look at how depression, anxiety and stress affect sleep.

A study published in this month’s British Journal of General Practice found patients initially tried to resolve insomnia themselves, before consulting a GP as a last resort, expecting to be prescribed medication.

The conclusion, based on focus group interviews with patients, GPs and nurses, was that practitioners need to empathise, elicit patients’ beliefs and expectations, assess sleep better, and offer a range of treatments, including cognitive and behavioural therapies, tailored to individual needs.

Source: www.news.scotsman.com/health/Aberdeen-bottom-of-good-sleep.6314183.jp

College is of the most difficult times of your life, and probably the issue of losing weight should be the least of your problems.

However, maintaining a healthy weight during college is quite important because your weight implies how healthy you are overall. During college, you enter the mass living communities, like dormitories, where illness spreads fast, and keeping a healthy weight will help prevent you from catching some of these diseases, as well as help prevent disease later in life.

The first step to weight loss in college is to avoid junk food and choose healthy eating. While you might be tempted to trade in your water for a beer or your salad for a slice of greasy pizza, doing this too often can ruin any weight loss plans you may have. When you first begin attending college, check out what kinds of healthy choices are available at the local student cafeteria and what kinds of healthy choices are available from restaurants in the area. It is also a good idea to invest in a small refrigerator so that you can keep low-fat snacks, like yogurt and carrots, on hand. This will also keep you away from grabbing a snack at the vending machines.

Another step to keep yourself in shape, or lose weight if that’s what you need, is to find out how and when you can work out. You may be quite tired at the end of the day and fell like you don’t even need a work out, but if you head to the gym, you’ll feel and look better. Most schools have a free gym accessible to students or, at the very least, offer gym membership discounts to near locations.

Weight loss in college needs however some planning. Friends can help you out as well. Seek friends with healthy eating habits and find partners for working out together at the gym. Make sure that you plan properly your time to eat and exercise, no matter how busy you may be. Plan out your weekend with activities that don’t include smoking or drinking massive amounts of alcohol. Keep an eye on special promotions from health groups at school, or even consider joining one.

source: www.healthadvices.org/weight-loss/148.php

Whenever you think of a beautiful face the first thing that comes to your mind is radiant and glowing skin isn’t it? All of us want beautiful skin but forget to follow some simple tips to get healthy skin.

People wonder why they don’t have beautiful skin like their friends. It is easy to believe that beautiful skin is a gift of those costly products which your friend use and which you can’t afford. But you need to get rid of this misconception.

You can not get beautiful skin over night by using some expensive creams. The secret behind glowing skin is a healthy lifestyle. Here are a few tips that will help you to get healthy and radiant skin.

Drink Enough Water:

The first condition for having a beautiful skin is to drink a lot of water. You should drink at least 8 to 10 glasses of water per day to keep your skin hydrated and young. Water helps your body to discharge all toxic elements from your body which keeps your healthy.

Eat Healthy Food:

In order to get beautiful skin it is necessary that you avoid those junk foods even if they are very tasty. You don’t need to ignore chocolates forever. Having a chocolate once in a blue moon is fine but don’t make it a habit. Replace those pizzas and pastries with fresh fruits and vegetables. Fruits and vegetables contain minerals, anti oxidants and vitamins needed for your skin. If you are alcoholic or addicted to smoking you need to quit these habits for a healthier lifestyle.

Use Natural Face Care Products:

Yes it is true that some face care products are good for your skin but you should select natural skin care products. Don’t be fooled by the glamorous TV ads because the products shown there contain chemicals harmful for your skin. So never go for cheap products. Natural products may be expensive but they are worth of buying.

source: www.gethealthadvice.net/healthy-skin/essential-tips-for-healthy-beautiful-skin.html

Sex is taboo. That’s been told and hinted ad nauseum since school days. Talking or discussing sexual issues have been insurmountable barriers in conservative communities and families.

Add to that a total lack of proper sex education in schools and colleges, and there you have a whole crop of gross misconceptions about sex, and irrational fears and apprehensions emanating from it. There are instances where such fears and misconceptions even lead to serious psychological problems that end up affecting one’s sexual health. Needless to say, all this only contributes to discomfort in mingling with the opposite gender.

It is widely accepted and assumed that unnatural sexual traits, or for that matter a complete lack of interest in sexual matters are all symptoms of a person who lacks sex education. Since there are no proper, formal channels for imparting sex education to teenagers and youth, incomplete and information often results in unanswered questions, unclarified doubts and unwanted consequences.

To have a normal and healthy sex life, it’s important to shed social inhibitions attached to the subject and acquire complete knowledge. This Sex Guide contains important facts and information about essential matters pertaining to sex, with a specific focus on both the genders. Get answers to some basic questions related to sex, intimacy, sexual hygiene and tips for maintaining a healthy sexual relationship with your partner. Explore the Sex Guide for a healthier sex life !

source: www.health.indiamart.com/sexguide/