Health

• Students, anxious about final exams, seem less stressed and more focused

• Elderly residents in assisted living facilities are less solitary, more engaged and active …

• Alzheimer’s patients find comfort and feel calmer…

• Children, struggling with reading, become more relaxed and receptive…

What’s the common denominator? All of these individuals are benefiting from a visit with a PAWS for People pet therapy team.

PAWS for People is a nonprofit volunteer organization that provides one-on-one animal-assisted therapy to children and adults with physical, social and emotional challenges.

Sarah – she’s feral, the boys love her, and she’s fertile. For several years, she has blessed my backyard with litters of kittens birthed somewhere in the city and presented to me for feeding.
Nine lives go quickly here, but Sarah has beaten all odds, outliving her own broods that have died in traffic or that have simply disappeared. Sarah has been around for a while.

Parenthood…it’s one of the most difficult jobs any of us can hold. The people who choose to take on this monumental task are committing decades of their lives, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year—to being parents. Regardless of all of the other roles and responsibilities in their lives, being a parent becomes a large part of their identity. Through all of the trials and tribulations that come with raising children, their parent’s lives become less focused on their marriage and more focused on the lives of their children.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), outdoor air pollution may be the 9th leading cause of death and disability in the world. Hearing that around 3 million people die from contaminated air worldwide each year makes me want to gasp (or actually avoid gasping). Science clearly links air pollution to many diseases such as cancer, heart disease, stroke, asthma, and liver disease. It even has been shown to increase the risk of diabetes. Since avoiding air is not an option for more than a minute or so, how can you help yourself remain healthy in a polluted world?

What is not as commonly known are the cognitive benefits of exercise, especially for those with ADHD. In fact, studies have shown that aerobic activity has provided some with ADHD the same benefits as stimulant medications. Many have been able to work with their physician to adjust their medication when following a consistent fitness routine.

A National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism review of research studies from at least 20 countries around the world demonstrate a 20- to 40-percent lower coronary heart disease (CHD) incidence among drinkers compared to nondrinkers. It asserts that "The totality of evidence on moderate alcohol and CHD supports a judgment of a cause-effect relationship... There are cardioprotective benefits associated with responsible, moderate alcohol intake."

Let’s face it. Looking up at the sparkling night sky simply can’t compete with the magnetic draw of looking down at your smartphone. Handheld devices have become so much a part of our lives they may soon be sandwiched somewhere between food and shelter as top human necessities. Unfortunately, there are many negative health consequences resulting from this excessive act of bowing one’s head, especially when it comes to those most addicted: teenagers!
If you fear I am going to declare that everybody needs to stop using smartphones, I will provide an answer in the exotic language of the common American teen: “Seriously? Why are you being SOOO mean? STOP!!! You don’t get it! Leave ME alone... don’t talk to me!” (Followed by the distinct sound of a bedroom door slamming shut.) Two minutes later, “what’s for dinner?”

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has reported that “nearly 800,000 Americans die each year from heart disease, stroke, and other cardiovascular diseases, accounting for one in every three deaths. About one in every six U.S. healthcare dollars is spent on cardiovascular disease.”
Cardiovascular disease is largely preventable, despite misconceptions. Through lifestyle and health management it is possible to promote and even restore healthy heart function. Appropriate nutrition and fun, sweaty, activities (exercise) can significantly reduce chances for a heart related problem.

Approximately 20 years ago I received a telephone call from a physician in California. He was interested in speaking with me about my treatment of cancer with high doses of ascorbic acid (Vitamin C). He had heard from the manufacturer who produces the intravenous form of Vitamin C that I was utilizing this treatment in animals with cancer.

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We are taught to strive for balance. How many times have you sworn that you’ll do better, be better, and “get more balance” in your life?  Google “living a balanced life” and you’ll find over 8 million results in only .92 seconds so I’d say it’s something people are really interested in. If that weren’t true there wouldn’t be books, blogs, coaching events, and Facebook posts galore about “ how to achieve balance.” This isn’t another one of those articles.  This article isn’t a “5 steps to a completely balanced, perfect, unobtainable life.” It’s designed to ask a few questions, maybe raise a few more and spark a healthy conversation about what we are all looking for. 

A recent study found that pet dogs provide valuable social support for kids when they’re stressed, according to a study by researchers from the University of Florida, who were among the first to document stress-buffering effects of pets for children.

Summer and warm (hot) weather are upon us shortly. This means a few extra precautions for our furry friends.

SUN PROTECTION:
We protect ourselves from the harmful rays of the sun and should do the same for our pets. Animals can get sunburn, too! Apply small amount of pediatric SPF 30 to pale nose tips and bridges of noses, and ear tips. White animals, especially, are prone to melanomas on their ear (pinna tips) and eyelids when exposed to harsh summer sun for long periods of time. Animals that are coated and are shaved for the summer may need sun protection on their backs until their fur grows back, for at least a month or so.

As recently as a few years ago, that was the default. But now pretty much everyone agrees it’s a bad idea, because some of the more than $230 billion worth of prescription drugs used by Americans every year will make it through the sewage treatment process and into the waterways. (The FDA still recommends flushing OxyContin, Percocet, morphine, and a couple of dozen other drugs so kids and pets can’t fish them out of the trash.

“Welcome. And congratulations. I am delighted that you could make it. Getting here wasn’t easy, I know. In fact, I suspect it was a little tougher than you realize,” writes Bill Bryson in his introduction to A Short History of Nearly Everything (Random House, NY, 2003).


Trillions of Uncomplaining Atoms

“To Begin with, for you to be here now trillions of drifting atoms had somehow to assemble in an intricate and intriguingly obliging manner to create you. It’s an arrangement so specialized and particular that it has never been tried before and will only exist this once. For the next many years (we hope) these tiny ‘particles’ will uncomplainingly engage in all the billions of deft, cooperative efforts necessary to keep you intact and let you experience the supremely agreeable but generally underappreciated state known as existence.”

Technology has worked its way into every aspect of daily life. Technology has impacted everything from health to toys to “Infinity and Beyond.” The researchers of the future may consider our generation as an evolution point where smart phone and person have become one. Through sites like Twitter and Facebook, never ending conversations have been started about everything under the sun, as well as the sun. Trends come and go daily; one thing that was popular a week ago will be lost and forgotten one week later or less. In this article, we are going to be covering a topic that is near and dear to me, Beer. For American’s Friday

If we could see the miracle of a single flower clearly,
our whole life would change.”
—Buddha

When we realize the real cause of disease in our own personality is within our control, we can fearlessly move forward knowing the remedy lies within us. Dr. Edward Bach had a vision for the future physician when he created his flower remedy therapies (known as Bach Flower remedies). “So the physician of the future will have two great aims: the first will be to assist the patient to a knowledge of himself and to point out to him the fundamental mistakes he may be making. Such a physician will have to be a great student of the laws governing humanity and of human nature itself, so that he may recognize in all who come to him those elements that are causing a conflict between the soul and personality.”

Do you feel like your knee is hanging on by a string? Wonder how you’re supposed to get through life (let alone walk 10 feet) when your knee is swollen, painful and unstable? Having suffered from a sports-related injury that left me in chronic pain for years, I believe my experience, personal struggle and quest for alternative solutions can offer you hope for dealing with your own knee problems without surgery or excessive medication.
First, there are important facts to address about most knee problems to address before a long-term solution can be obtained:
The underlying cause is often not within the knee (think of the chicken and the egg)

"Women are taught to look for lumps, but my “lump” was better described as a firmness, more akin to superficial inflammation than an embedded lump.  Women are told to have a mammogram to investigate abnormalities, but radiologists told me that my abnormality looked normal on the screen.  Women are told to visit with a surgeon to inquire about a biopsy, but my first surgeon told me that a biopsy was not needed because I did not have cancer.  After 18 months with an undiagnosed firmness, and at my spouse’s urging, I made an appointment with a new surgeon who was willing to perform a biopsy.  Within two days of the biopsy I had the answer of IBC. If I hadn’t been so persistent in seeking a diagnosis, where would I be now?  I was my own best advocate toward getting the help I needed."