Health Tips

The chances that you'll pick up an infection in a public pool are pretty low,but it can happen.Chlorine is a potent disinfectant,but it doesn't instantly kill every swimmers.If one of those bugs survives long enough to sneak into your system,you might get sick.The most common pool borne ailments is diarrhoea,usually triggered by germs from infected kids who aren't potty-trained(unfortunately,swim diapers aren't that effective).Keep yourself healthy by making sure that you don't swallow any water;even one accidental gulp could allow these germs to set up shop in your digestive system.Find out how often the chlorine level is checked.Better still,find a swim facility that has a separate children's area with its own filtration system...an anodyne makes you feel good

Primary headaches are not associated with any serious underlying conditions.Secondary headaches are due to some serious medical condition.

Tension headache is the most common primary headache.Starts at the back of the head or upper neck as tightness or pressure.Can also be around the eye.

Migraine is the second most common primary headache.The intense,throbbing pain at the temples may be accompained by nausea and sensitivity to light and sound.About 60 percent of patients may have post headache symptoms like drowsing,fatigue,irritability and depression.

Cluster headache is very rare.Lasts for weeks or months,separated by pain-free periods of months or years.Can cause severe pain around or behind one eye.The affected eye may become red,inflammed and watery.The nose on the affected side may become congested and runny.Seen more in males.

Secondary headaches are more serious.common cause:brain tumour,bleeding in the brain,infections or eye problems.

A team at Oxford University has based its findings on an experiment in which 12 Roman catholics and 12 atheists were "tortured" with electric shocks as they studied two paintings - Virgin Mary and Leonardo da Vinci's Lady With An Ermine.

The subjects spent half-an-hour inside an MRI scanner, receiving a series of 20 electric shocks in four sessions and each time they had to rate how much it hurt on a scale of 0 to 100 as they looked at the paintings.

The researchers hoped that the face of the Virgin Mary would induce a religious state of mind in the believers, while da Vinci's painting was chosen because it did not look dissimilar and would be calming.

The scientists found that the Catholics seemed to be able to block out much of the pain.

And, using the latest brain-scanning techniques, they also discovered that the Catholics were able to activate part of the brain associated with conditioning experience of pain, the Daily Mail reported.

However, there was no such brain activity among the atheists whose pain and anxiety levels stayed roughly the same.

The Catholics said that looking at the painting of the Virgin Mary made them feel "safe", "taken care of" and "calmed down and peaceful".

More significantly, they reported feeling 12% less pain after viewing the religious image than after looking at the Leonardo.

The Rt Rev Tom Wright, the Anglican Bishop of Durham, welcomed the research, saying: "The practice of faith should, and in many cases does, alter the person you are. It can affect the patterns of your brain and your emotions. So it comes as no surprise to me that this experiment has reached such conclusions."

Don't assume that "natural" estrogens are a safer way to relieve hot flashes than hormone replacement therapy(HRT).Dubbed "natural" because most are synthesized from soybean's or wild yams,these are chemically similar to human estrogen; the forms include estradiol,estrone, and estriol.Though often effective against hot flashes,their long-term safety has not been tested.Like HRT,these estrogens may also increase the risk of breast cancer,blood clots and heart attacks.

Mental and cognitive abilities of adults start fading nearly 15years before their death.A Swedish study analysed 288 non-demented people rom age 70 until death and found that their perceptual speed,or the ability to quickly compare figures,started to decline about 15 years before their death.The drop in spatial ability and verbal skills started about eight years before death.Contributing factors included heart disease, lack of physical and mental activity,and early stages of dementia.A change in verbal ability might be a marker for degeneration in health in older people..

Vitamin B12 may protect the brain against shrinkage,cognitive,decline, and memory loss.Oxford university researchers assessed the brain volume of 107 healthy adults,aged between 61 and 87, and checked their vitamin B12 levels over a period of time.Participants who entered the study withlow levels of vitamin B12 saw a greater decrease in brain volume, and those with vitamin B12 levels above normal were six times less likely to have brain shrinkage..

High blood levels of homocysteine- a substance known to boost the risk of heart attack and stroke - may also foretell a higher risk of bone fractures. Two studies in the New England Journal of Medicine found that older adults with high homocysteine levels were far more likely to break a bone than those with low levels of the amino acid.
For men, the risk was almost four times as high, and for women it was nearly double. Made naturally by the body, homocysteine is a breakdown product of protein. Researchers suspect that excess homo cysteine might disrupt the formation of collagen, the protein-rich "glue" found in bones and other connective tissues.
Without sufficient folic acid, and vitamins B12 and B6,homocysteine tends to accumulate in the body.
Researchers urge people to get plenty of B vitamins in their diet - for their bones, hearts, and minds. Good sources include green, leafy vegetables; legumes; wholewheat bread and cereals eggs; and poultry. For added reassurance, take a daily multivitamin that contains the recommended intake of 400 micrograms of folic acid.