The Health Blog

So you’ve forgotten where you put your room keys, trouble recalling the name of someone you met previously, and you can’t remember why you opened the refrigerator? At times everyone has problems remembering.

I am one of those having memory lapses. I always forget where I put my stethoscope. I even lost my first one - I must have left it at the ER, at the nurse’s station, or at the patient’s room, I don’t know. I only had my notebook in my hand but couldn’t recall where my stethoscope go. A friend of mine, was consoling me and gave me a good advice: “Always put the important things first.” Since then, I always make sure that the stethoscope has my first hold when leaving a place.

So how to remember what you usually forget?

1. Names. When you meet someone, repeat the person’s name aloud as soon as you can. Say, “Nice to meet you, Jack.” Then look closely at him and repeat his name silently to yourself 10 times.

2. Numbers. Break long numbers down into meaningful chunks. For instance, checking account number 1048630, is easier to remember if you think of it as 10:48 (time for midmorning break) and 6:30 (dinner time). You can also associate numbers with special dates such as you birthday or anniversary.

3. Shopping lists. Visualize your house with a giant version of each item in various rooms: a huge egg in the kitchen, a big loaf of bread in the bedroom, etc. When shopping, mentally scan your house to recall your list. But the best technique still is doing your shopping list.

I visited my dentist today and while waiting for my turn, I killed the time browsing on some dental magazines. And I found a great article about oral hygiene - talking about how to brush and floss properly.

Plaque-covered teeth, inflamed gum, and smelly breath are due to poor oral hygiene. Hence, the importance of cleaning your teeth as soon as these appear or erupt in the oral cavity to achieve zero cavity.

Correct tooth brushing and flossing are the most effective mechanical defenses against gum disease and halitosis (smelly breath).

Here’s how to brush properly:

1. Employ a circular brushig motion at a 45-degree angle and move from the outside to the inside of the teeth.

2. Brush using upward stroke for lower teeth and downward stroke for upper teeth.

3. Pay particular attention to the chewing surfaces and in-between teeth.

4. Avoid the back-and-forth motion. It may cause your gums to recede and irritate the roots and surfaces of your teeth.

5. Brush at least twice a day for a full three to four minutes - the average song length. So why not tun on your radio while brushing?

6. Brush your tongue or you may use a tongue scraper.

A Look at the Common Medical Causes of Fatigue in Women

Do you always feel tired, physically and emotionally? There maybe several reasons why you always have fatigue. In women, the most common medical causes include:

1. Anemia, which is caused by lack of iron in the blood. This is the primary medical explanation for fatigue in women of childbearing age. The most common cause of anemia in women is iron-deficiency anemia (IDA), a condition in which blood lacks adequate healthy red blood cells, which carry oxygen to tissues. IDA is due to insufficient iron. Your body needs the element iron to make hemoglobin, a substance in red blood cells that enables them to carry oxygen.

How do you know if you have IDA?
Aside from fatigue, it may present as inflammation or soreness of your tongue, brittle nails, unusual cravings for non-nutritive substances, such as ice, dirt or pure starch and poor appetite. This type of anemia is corrected through iron supplements. It’s always advisable to see your doctor before taking any medications. MayoClinic

Your physician may run blood tests two know if you have anemia. It’s not seen in the blood pressure, as misconceived by others.

A recent study found out that subjects who reported sleeping five or fewer hours each night were significantly more likely to have diabetes over the follow-up period compared to subjects who reported sleeping seven hours. These findings held true even after the researchers adjusted for variables such as physical activity, depression, alcohol consumption, ethnicity, education, marital status, age, obesity and history of hypertension.

So here are some tips on getting a good night sleep to help you avoid diabetes:

1. Follow a consistent bedtime routine.
2. Establish a relaxing setting at bedtime.
3. Get a full night’s sleep every night.
4. Avoid foods or drinks that contain caffeine, as well as any medicine that has a stimulant, prior to bedtime.
5. Do not go to bed hungry, but don’t eat a big meal before bedtime either.
6. Avoid any rigorous exercise within six hours of your bedtime.
7. Make your bedroom quiet, dark and a little bit cool.
8. Get up at the same time every morning.

Eliminate risk factors. Know your risk, which one can be changed and which are not.

Risk factors that you can change include some diseases. If you can control the disease, you may lower your risk for stroke. Controllable risk factors include:

• High blood pressure (hypertension). High blood pressure is the second most important stroke risk factor after age.
• Diabetes. Having diabetes doubles your risk for stroke because of the circulation problems associated with the disease. 2
• High cholesterol. High cholesterol can lead to coronary artery disease and heart attack, which can damage the heart muscle and increase your risk for stroke.
• Other heart conditions, such as atrial fibrillation, endocarditis, heart valve conditions, or cardiomyopathy.
• Smoking. Daily cigarette smoking can increase the risk of stroke 2½ times.
• Lack of physical activity.

Some risk factors, however, can’t be changed. Risk factors that you cannot change include:

• Age. The risk for stroke increases with age. Most strokes occur in people older than 65.
• Race. African Americans and Hispanics have a higher risk than people of other races.
• Gender. Stroke is more common in men than women. However, at older ages, more women than men have strokes. At all ages, more women than men die of stroke.
• Family history. The risk for stroke is greater if a parent, brother, or sister has had a stroke or transient ischemic attack (TIA).
  Prior history of stroke or TIA. About 14% of people who have a stroke have another stroke within 1 year.

I have amblyopia and my consultant in ophthalmology said that I can have a LASIK treatment to correct it.

What should I consider before undergoing LASIK treatment

Risk-taking: One requirement before LASIK treatment is conditioning yourself to undergo the procedure. There are unavoidable complications in a percentage of patients, and there are no long-term data available for current procedures.

Costs: This procedure is costly. One has to have adequate monetary funds for the procedure itself, the preoperative and postoperative medications. Most medical insurance will not pay for refractive surgery, so cost could be an issue.

Sports and Activity: People who actively participate in contact sports like boxing, wrestling, martial arts or other activities in which blows to the face and eyes are a normal occurrence are not good candidates for the treatment. In my case, I was a member of a Karate-do club but since I entered medical school, I had to stop.

During Valentines day or the heart’s season, the one food we all think of is chocolate. Indeed, this is one of the healthy foods you could give your loved ones this Valentines Day.

Recent researches reported that cocoa and other chocolates may keep high blood pressure down, your blood flowing and your heart healthy. Thus, eating flavonoid-rich foods will reduce your risk of cardiovascular disease.

One study found that a substance in cocoa helps the body process nitric oxide (NO) which is a compound critical for healthy blood flow and blood pressure. Another study found that flavonols in cocoa prevent fat-like substances in the bloodstream from oxidizing and clogging the arteries, and make blood platelets less likely to stick together and cause clots.

A bottle of red wine is also a good choice. Red wines contain antioxidants, which act like as protective shield, preventing the oxidation process whereby reactive particles known as “free radicals” cause damage to healthy cells. For the moderate drinker, drinking one to two glasses of wine daily, the antioxidants in red wine offer some protection against heart disease.

The medical and behavioral references stated it. Anxiety disorders cannot be prevented. But there are ways you can do to control or lessen symptoms.

1. Reduce caffeine intake. Dr. James Lee, a psychiatrist at Duke University said that “moderate caffeine consumption makes a person react like he/she is having a very stressful day. If you combine the effects of real stress with the artificial boost in stress hormones that comes from caffeine then you have compounded the effects considerably”.

2. Proper breathing is the trick. Breathing can decrease heart rate, blood pressure, and increase circulation. To do a proper breathing, inhale fully and then, without pausing, exhale slowly.

3. Practice relaxation and meditation.

4. Exercise daily and eat a healthy, balanced diet.

Are you overweight? Have you tried to lose weight with diet and exercise, but failed? Are you concerned about your health? If so, you are definitely not alone. Worldwide, more and more people are struggling with obesity and it’s health consequences. As people search for help with weight loss, many are considering weight loss surgery. One of the most promising
surgical options is laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding, also known as
lap band surgery.

Lap band surgery is a weight loss procedure that helps a person lose weight by limiting the amount of food that can be eaten at any one time and increasing the feeling of fullness after eating only a small amount of food. Lap band patients will not only eat less but will also learn new eating habits as they adopt a lap-band diet.

During surgery, small slits are cut into the body and the surgeon places a silicone ring, known as a lap band or gastric band, around the stomach opening. The band creates a new small stomach pouch and reduces the size of the opening to the main stomach area, slowing the digestion process. It is considered a safer and less drastic alternative to gastric bypass surgery
because it does not involve cutting the stomach and intestines or rerouting the digestive tract.

Do you prefer fast foods? Well, you have to refrain eating more now. A new study finds out that the typical Western diet increases the risk of heart disease and diabetes.

Indulging in a typical Western diet of burgers, fries, and diet soda boosts your risk of getting heart disease and diabetes, a study shows.

This study found out that just two burger patties a day and one daily diet soda substantially boost the risk of getting metabolic syndrome, which in turn increases the risk of heart disease and diabetes.

Their findings:
1. The Western diet increased risk by about 18% overall of getting metabolic syndrome over nine years

2. Those who ate two or more servings of meat a day, or about two burger patties, boosted their risk by 26% compared with those who only ate meat twice a week.

3. Diet soda, one can a day, increased risk by 34%.

A new study finds out. This study was a follow up on previous researchers on the effects of coffee, caffeine particularly, on expectant mothers. Previous studies suggest that drinking just a couple cups of coffee a day doesn’t pose much of a threat. However, the latest research proves this these findings wrong.

The study founds out that women who said they drank more than two cups of coffee per day had nearly double the risk of miscarriage compared with women who consumed no caffeine.