Pharmas Health And Medical Blog » Healthy Living

Tech Trouble causing Computer Stress Syndrome

Shue — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 18:47:41 +0000

Frequent glitches and problems with the computers are causing a lot of problems among the new generation. It has be called the computer stress symdrome. It is common to have problems with the software and hardware and this causes unnecessary stress and related issues among people. A lot of work does not get done due to the increased dependance on computers. The general feeling is that of frustration. This can have a very strong effect on the emotional balance of the person. He will get irritated and angry much more easily.

Technical anxiety is also part of the process. This is the tension of dealing with matters which we are not converstant with. This leads to an increase in blood pressure and stress levels. These are not good for the body and the mind. Comupter Stress Syndrome is one of the leading causes of nervous break downs as they help in increasing the stress levels.

Find out more from the source site.

Chicken Soup For High Blood Pressure

Shue — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 08:52:13 +0000

The commonly prepared chicken soup comes highly reccomended as an effective cure for the common cold. This information has actually become a common home remedy. But today, Some studies have shown that it is very effective for the control of high blood pressure too. A Japanese researcher from Nippon Meat Packers has said that the chicken breasts contain certain collagen protiens which are very similar to the ACE inhibitors. These are the best known anti blood pressure ingredients used currently. There are some disadvantages to this. The collagen cannot be extracted for large scale use in medicines.

This means that chicken soup is the only way in which we can get this collagen. There is a lot of research which is going on to see the long term effects of these proteins through which we can understand the effect it has on blood pressure. If the results are positive, then we can all be rest assured that there is a savory way of controlling blood pressure.

Pepsico Develops New Shape for Salt

Shue — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 17:56:14 +0000

In a stunning move, Pepsico has developed a new shape for sodium chloride crystals that the company hopes will allow it to reduce salt by 25 percent in its Lay’s Classic potato chips.
This comes as a response to a new FDA initiative to reduce the amount of salt in food:
The government intends to work with the food industry and health experts to reduce sodium gradually over a period of years to adjust the American palate to a less salty diet, according to FDA sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the initiative has not been formally announced.
….”This is a 10-year program,” said one source. “This is not rolling off a log. We’re talking about a comprehensive phase down of a widely used ingredient. We’re talking about embedded tastes in a whole generation of people.”
This news has come as a welcome surprise to many people. The methodology behind this concept may not be entirely clear at the moment, but more and more people are in favor of healthier foods. Most people suspect that the minor difference in taste, if any, may not even be noticeable.

For more visit the source article.

Household Dust Bacteria May Determine If Child Is Asthmatic or not

Shue — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 19:07:01 +0000

Scientists have found that bacterial populations that exist in household dust could well be the determining factor in whether or not a child in the household develops asthma or not. This research is set to be published in the April 2010 issue of the journal Applied and Environmental Microbiology.
Recent studies have been finding that household dust is a rich source of many different types of bacteria, although they have not been extensively studied so far.
Asthma has risen drastically in the last decade and some are attributing the increase to an altered immune response triggered by exposure to evolving microbial communities. Farms and day care centers are associated with asthma prevention due to high levels of microbial exposure, while actions that reduce bacterial populations in the home may actually increase allergy development.

“These results provide the first evidence that the dominant bacterial populations in household dust are significantly influenced by environmental variables such as domestic animals and day care attendance,” say the researchers. “Further, the dominant bacterial populations are significantly correlated to asthma-related outcomes, supporting the hypothesis that the types of microorganisms present in homes in early life may play key roles in the development of childhood asthma.”

For more read on.

Smoking Counteracts Benefits of Moderate Drinking on Stroke Risks

Shue — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 19:05:06 +0000

According to research that will be presented as part of the late-breaking science program at the American Academy of Neurology’s 62nd Annual Meeting in Toronto, April 10 – 17, 2010, any beneficial effects that can be expected from moderate drinking on stroke risks is counteracted by cigarette smoking.
Scientists followed the drinking and smoking habits of 22,524 people in the United Kingdom who were between the ages of 39 and 79 and did not have a history of heart attack or stroke at the start of the study. During the 12-year study, 864 strokes occurred.

“Our findings could have public health implications in that we appear to have a clearer understanding of the dangers of combining smoking and moderate drinking on overall stroke risk,” according to Yangmei Li, MPhil, with the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom.
“While heavy alcohol consumption is considered to increase the risk of stroke, the relationship between light to moderate drinking and stroke has varied considerably among studies,” said Li. “It’s possibly these conflicting results could be explained by the interaction between cigarette smoking and alcohol on stroke risk.” This reinforces the evidence that smoking not only increases stroke risk on its own but may additionally affect adversely how other lifestyle factors may relate to stroke risk.

For more information check the source article.

Increase In Soda Prices Makes Us Healthier

Shue — Sat, 03 Apr 2010 18:15:56 +0000

New research claims that proposed taxes on soda prices which will lead to rise in their prices may actually be beneficial to our health.
The study collected food intake data from 12,123 young adults for the 20 years. The researchers found that with every 10 percent increase in the price of a two-liter bottle, people consumed 7 percent fewer calories from soda. Additionally, they also took in fewer calories over all.
When the increase was even larger- $1 for a two-liter bottle of soda, comparable to a proposed tax in Philadelphia- the number of calories consumed by people dropped by 124 calories a day. This also led to a 2 pound weight reduction and reduced risk for pre-diabetes.
The study’s lead author, Barry M. Popkin, an obesity specialist at the Gillings School of Global Public Health at the University of North Carolina, said the study would help answer an important question.
“You always know that if you reduce the cost or increase the cost of something, consumption of that item will change,” Dr. Popkin said. “What we don’t know is whether you will buy something equally bad or worse. In this case, we found that people would get healthier.”

More Sleep More Important Than Quality Sleep For Elderly

Shue — Sat, 27 Mar 2010 14:15:28 +0000

It has long been a common myth that the elderly do not need as much sleep as younger people. However, this myth is being challenged and overthrown by a study conducted at University of California San Diego. The study reveals that the amount of sleep the elderly get is quite important when it comes to memory and other cognitive processing activities. What’s not as important as we age is the quality of sleep we get.
Sleep quality doesn’t have much effect on seniors — but it does matter to younger adults:
Sleep quality seemed to have no effect on performance, Drummond said. “For older adults, the absolute minutes of sleep they got last night has a significant influence on performance today,” he said.
On the other hand, in younger folks, the quality of sleep, and not the total amount, affected memory the next day, Drummond found. Young adults who slept in consolidated chunks performed better and had higher brain activity in certain regions than those who woke up frequently during the night, regardless of total minutes slept.

“Sleep last night does impact performance and brain function today, and it does so differently depending on whether you’re in your mid-20s versus your mid-60s,” he said. “Older adults need to get a certain amount of sleep. Young adults need to get that sleep in a consolidated chunk.”

Canadian Researchers Claim Love Gets Stronger With Age

Shue — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 16:09:55 +0000

Canadian researchers have claimed that older couples are more in love and lead satisfying sex lives compared to most other people.
Persons older than 65 obtained the highest scores of 119 and 120 points on the Spanier Dyadic Adjustment Scale, which measures couples’ happiness, compared to the Canadian average of 114.
“It’s a significant difference,” said Gilles Trudel, a psychology professor at the University of Quebec in Montreal (UQAM).

The scale takes into account not only sexual satisfaction among the couples, but also how well they communicated, functioned together in general, and their cohesion. Researchers questioned 508 couples all from Quebec and all already pensioners, most aged over 65.
Trudel admits that the fact that divorced couples were not included in the study could account for its optimistic results, as this left only results from happy older couples.
Alternately, he theorized that couples after they retire have much more time to spend together and do things couples do, “like a second honeymoon.”
However, in some other cases, retirement can have the reverse effect: with more time on their hands, marital problems that remained latent during many years focused on career or child-rearing suddenly surface.

For more visit the source site.

Severe Sleep Apnea Reduces Frequency Of Nightmare Recall

Shue — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 16:04:56 +0000

Patients with severe obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) report a significantly lower frequency of nightmares than patients with mild or no sleep apnea, indicating that OSA suppresses the cognitive experience of nightmare recall, according to a study published in the Feb. 15 issue of the ‘Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine’.

According to principal investigator Jim Pagel, M.S., M.D., associate clinical professor at the University of Colorado Medical School system and director of the Sleep Disorders Center of Southern Colorado in Pueblo, the decline in frequency of nightmare recall may be attributed to the sleep fragmentation that is caused by OSA. This leads to a reduction in the amount of rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, which is the sleep stage when nightmares generally occur.

“The results were somewhat surprising, since nightmares are frequently reported by patients with sleep apnea,” said Pagel. “It is plausible that patients who successfully utilize continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) therapy see an increase in the frequency of nightmares, as treatment increases the amount of REM sleep per night.”
The authors noted that the study clearly demonstrates that increasingly severe OSA has a much greater negative effect on reported nightmare recall frequency than it does on reported dream recall.

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Ways in which you can Avoid Irritable Bowel Syndrome

Shue — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 10:24:19 +0000

Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is the most common gut condition. Patients experience heavy spasms and powerful contractions in the bowel as a result of stimuli which normally shouldn’t be a problem such as eating. It can occur at any age but is most prevalent among people between the age of 25 and 45. Women tend to be more susceptible to the condition than men. Symptoms of IBS include feelings of incomplete emptying of the rectum, bloating, abdominal pain and wind, passing mucus when you open the bowel, diarrhoea and/or constipation, nausea and vomiting, stress, depression and anxiety.

The cause of IBS is not exactly known, but patients have a sensitive colon, which means they need to be careful about what they eat. To keep your chances of developing the condition down, here are some habits you can pick:

-   Include adequate amounts of fiber in your diet.
-   Avoid eating large meals. Opt for smaller amounts eaten frequently.
-   Cut down on the amount of fat you eat. Limit your intake of high-fat foods such as diary milk; se skimmed milk instead. You can also boil or steam food instead of frying.
-   Eat more soluble fiber, found in potatoes, vegetables, some fruits, dried beans, barley and oats.

You should also minimize stress. When you experience the above symptoms, it’s always advisable to see a doctor.

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