Five Top Health Links for April

There have been a number of interesting health stories on the web in April. Kind hearted souls that we are, we thought that we would post a few of post five of our favourites. Hopefully there will be something of interest to you.

• 25 things you probably didn't know about your body and health - Great fun article from MSN Health and Fitness. There are bound to be some facts on here that will amaze you - for example, did you know that Baking Soda can help whiten teeth?
• Drinking Hot tea linked to Cancer/Walnuts may help prevent it - we've had a couple of 'good food', 'bad food' stories over the past couple of weeks, these two were two of the more intriguing.
• USA Today: Young adults health worse than 10-15 years ago - worrying report on the poor state of health of the 50 million 18-29 year olds in America. Research from the National Centre of Health Statistics suggests that about one-third of this age group are obese, and 30% do not have health insurance. Would these statistics be relatively similar in the UK?
• An outgoing nature could help you live longer - On a lighter note is this inspirational post from Health.com stating that being open and outgoing can help to mange stress and increase life expectancy. Cheer up - its good for you!
• Bacon Sandwiches can help cure hangovers - Researchers from Newcastle University have claimed that eating a Bacon Sandwich after a night out can help by "boosting the level of amines - which clear the head". Elin Roberts told Marie Claire:

  ‘Food doesn't soak up the alcohol but it does increase your metabolism helping you deal with the after-effects of over indulgence. So food will often help you feel better.‘Bread is high in carbohydrates and bacon is full of protein, which breaks down into amino acids. Your body needs these amino acids, so eating them will make you feel good.’
  

  
  

Thats five of our top April health links, if you have any stories that you have come across please leave a comment!

MRSA Questions and Resources

The hospital bug MRSA is a big concern for many prospective hospital patients. Amongst the main questions that many people have are:

Why did the MRSA hospital bug become so dangerous?

The infection of ordinary Staphylococcal bacteria (which nearly all of us have living on our skin and membranes of our nose and throats) mutated and became resistant to available antibiotics. Hospital patients being weaker, older and sicker than the general population are more vulnerable to MRSA infection. Cramped conditions in hospitals are an ideal environment for the transmission of infections such as MRSA, which can easily be spread by hospital staff who fail to wash their hands at regular intervals.

If hospitals just need cleaned them to get rid of MRSA why dont they do it?

MRSA, amongst other hospital bacteria, has become resistant to methicillin and other antibiotics used in hospital cleaning products, making it very difficult to treat. In the past, skin cleaning amongst hospital staff has been infrequent and ineffective, facilitating the spread of MRSA and other superbugs. However, the NHS is making efforts to counter the spread of hospital bugs by educating it’s staff through its Clean, Safe Care campaign.

Those wishing to discover more about MRSA can find some excellent MRSA resources on the web, including:

• The NHS website, which has expert insight into the infection
  
• A simple guide to MRSA from the Department of Health
  
• MRSA UK website has a great deal of insight and information

Could hospitals be doing more to tackle MRSA infection?, let us know your opinion.

Top 10 Health Top 10 Lists

Lists are one of the most popular article types on the internet. They seem to be everywhere, and we are as guilty as anyone else of using the list format. The List format is so widely used as it is offers and concise and fun way to impart information. Our main topic of health has its fair share of lists and we thought that we would highlight ten of our favourite top 10 lists with a health-related slant.

1. 10 Things I've Learned From Grocery Shopping on a Budget - A great list from Wisebread that should act as an inspiration to your next shopping trip. Amongst the best advice is "It's true that a lot of the cheap food is unhealthy. But a lot of the healthy food is cheap."
2. Top 10 Antioxidant Foods - Diet.com contains a wealth of food related lists, and this is one of the more interesting of them. Antioxidant foods are vital to our diets - this list explains exactly why.
3. 10 High-Tech Health Breakthroughs Coming Soon to Your Body - Popular Mechanics is a fascinating website with facts and insight into every subject imaginable. This list details sme of the medical innovations that we can expect in the near future, including Targeted Delivery and Magnetic Brain Stimulation.
4. Top 10 Bad Things That Are Good For You - This list from Livescience.com provides comfort for those who like to enjoy life a little. The list includes some of your favourites - Beer, Coffee, Red Wine and Chocolate and why consuming them in moderation can be beneficial to your health.
5. 10 best foods for your heart - Nice top 10 list from CNN with foods that are good for your heart - Oatmeal, Salmon, Olive Oil, Nuts and Berries all recieve a mention.
6. Top 10 truth about superfoods - Channel 4 health list on the truth behind so called Superfoods.
7. Top 10 Anti-Cancer Superfoods -
8. Top ten places to de-stress - More of a travel story from shape.com but pertinent nonetheless - we all need a break from time to time - these are the best places to get away from it all.
9. Top 10 beauty foods - These are the foods that will keep you looking young and fill you with vitality.
10. Top 10 Health Trends of 2009 - The Doctors TV with a guide to what the big trends in health could be in 2009 including 'Oxygen in a can' and 'Maggot Therapy' - we don't fancy that much!

Thats ten of our top ten health lists - if you know of any health related lists that we should be aware of then please get in touch with us.

Health tips from YouTube

Many of my friends often scoff at YouTube as being full of pointless videos of teenagers partaking in ridiculous activities. It has taken a great deal of coercion to bring them round to the fact that YouTube actually features some very useful healthy living videos. Therefore, in a further effort to reach out to them, i thought that it would be a valuable exercise to post a few examples of health videos that i have come accross on YouTube. There are thousands of videos covering a diverse range of health-related topics: food and nutrition, excerise and fitness, private health insurance and everything in-between - these are just indications of what is out there.

100 Life Saving Health Food Tips - some great advice on this little video, there may be something that surprises you!

"Health Food" vs. Healthy Food -- How to read labels

Health and Exercise Tips - This is one in a large series of videos with some excellent fitness tips.

Hope you found something of interest - if there are any health videos that i may have missed out please get in touch and i can update the post.

Do You Need Vision Insurance?

Vision insurance, plus health insurance plan regularly. Most have been providing health insurance coverage for the unexpected injuries and illnesses. Vision of additional insurance, but is also available. Compared with accident coverage, vision insurance benefits are offered health insurance for eye care routine preventive screening, and other services at the eye doctor can gently rub in reducing costs. This type of insurance is ideal for families or businesses and is usually as a group. If your family is genetically predisposed to have an evil eye, it is recommended preventive care. For companies wishing to invest in their employees have a good eye, as pilots, designers, writers, programmers, illustrators, and so on, the vision of the insurance group is invaluable.

Where to get vision insurance

Group vision insurance can be obtained through associations, businesses, schools, neighborhoods, or government programs such as Medicare or Medicaid. As individuals, you can buy your own vision benefit plan health insurance companies. Overview of the value of insurance benefits are tied to health insurance, choice of provider organizations (PPOs), organizations and health maintenance (HMO). They have a contract, and affiliated with the network's vision is managed care (ie, hospitals and eye doctors) who provide care to insured care of customers.

Vision insurance benefits

When you get the added value of the vision insurance, you will have access to a network provider of eye care, including ophthalmologists and optometrists, optical laboratory, stores, and LASIK / PRK Surgeons. It will also have access to routine eye checkups and preventive eye care services at reduced levels. In general, the basic view of the insurance services, including annual eye exams, dilation, the lens, optical lens, contact lenses, and LASIK and PRK vision correction at discounted rates. Services provided by the network service provider is clear from cheaper services received from providers who are not part of the network. One of the best things about getting treatment in the network is that most of the health insurance companies apply the standards and quality of the mechanism in selecting service providers. This way you be sure that the eye doctor or eye surgery center and you can trust.

Vision insurance plans in accordance

Normally when you get a vision insurance plan, you can choose from one of the benefits package or discount plan. Benefits in the package, typically pay a premium or annual fee in exchange for care of the eyes. Akan have annual deductibles and co-payment each time you access the service. A discount plan, on the other hand, gives you access to services for the care of eyes on the discount rate once you pay the fee or premium and annual deductible. Both types of plans can be adjusted in accordance with the requirements, either as individuals or as a group. Cost of insurance vision

Cost of insurance depends on the vision of program design and services are available. Monthly prices ranging from less than one U.S. dollars to twelve dollars, franchise less than a dollar thirty-five dollars, and co-payment of ten dollars for every fifteen dollars for the service network.

Aged between 40 and 74? - Get ready for a health MOT

UK Government to indroduce health checks

If you are aged between 40 and 74 and live in England then you should have recieved your invitation from the government to take part in a free health check. This mass testing programme is being introduced to asses the levels of risk that people may have when it comes to the 'big four' of Heart Disease, Stroke, Kidney Disease and Diabetes.

Five yearly check ups

These health checks are to take place every five years. Tests that will be undertaken include measuring weight, cholesterol levels, levels of sugar in their blood and blood pressure. In addition, patients will be also asked if they have any family-inherited medical issues and whether they have smoked at any point in their life.

Assesing the risk

When these tests have been completed, patients will be given an overview of their health status. The level of risk will be indicated and any course of action that needed to be taken in order to combat these symptoms will be suggested. Those at lower-risk are to be provided general healthy living advice, they may also be given a dietary plan. Higher risk patients will be prescribed statins (Cholesterol/Blood Pressure lowering drugs).

Preventing the major diseases

The Department of Health hopes that the health checks will save 650 lives a year and prevent up to 1,600 heart attacks and strokes. A reduction of 4,000 fewer people developing diabetes annually is also a target.

The medical tests are likely to be run from GP surgeries, health centres and pharmacies. It is hoped that they may be offered in supermarkets to target those people who are perhaps not registered with a doctor. The government has said that it expects a 75% take up of the scheme.

All this is obviously going to require a great deal of administration, and its thought that the scheme will be fully operational by the year 2013. It may be some time after that that you recieve your first check up. This leaves plenty of time to adjust your diet and get in shape!.

Benecol Smart Chews, Caramel, 120-Count Soft Chews

Product Features

* Start to lower your cholesterol in as little as 2 weeks with Benecol Smart Chews

* Contains plant stanol esters, which are proven to reduce your LDL, or "bad" cholesterol

* May be used by those taking statin medications for additional cholesterol lowering

* Enjoy 2-4 delicious caramel chews twice a day with meals

* More than 25 clinical studies validate the safety of plant stanol esters

Ingredients

Ingredients: Sugar, Corn Syrup, Plant Stanol Esters, Nonfat Milk, less than 2% of Caramel Color, Soy Lecithin, Salt, Natural and Artificial Flavors, and Yellow 6.

Enjoy the heart-healthy benefits of Benecol® Caramel Smart Chews.

Benecol® Smart Chews are a delicious, convenient, and safe way to help lower cholesterol. Each soft chew contains just 20 calories, while also containing 0.85 grams of plant stanol esters, an ingredient proven to reduce cholesterol when taken twice a day.

Available in a delicious creamy caramel flavor, the chews are individually wrapped, and come in a convenient, 120-count resealable pouch. Take one to two great-tasting soft chews twice a day with meals or snacks and start lowering your cholesterol in as little as two weeks. Only available online, each chew provides one serving and and four grams of carbohydrates, and they can be used by those taking statin medication for additional cholesterol reduction.

You already know that some cholesterol is good and some is bad. But did you know that there are clear guidelines for cholesterol levels for average Americans and newly established guidelines for high-risk patients?

Cholesterol is:

* Produced by the liver and other organs and also furnished in the diet through such food as meats, poultry, fish and dairy products.

* Required by the body to insulate nerves, make cell membranes, and produce certain hormones.

* Carried through the body by lipoproteins in the blood.

Homedics SBM-300H Therapist Select Shiatsu PLUS Massaging Cushion with Heat

Homedics' Shiatsu Massage Cushion turns any chair into a Shiatsu massage chair. Never in your life will you experience a more invigorating massage; you'll actually feel as if a massage therapist is hidden inside the massage cushion. A state-of-the-art moving dual massage mechanism travels up and down your back, melting away tension, muscle pain and fatigue. Need to pinpoint that exact ache? With Shiatsu Plus spot massage, you can do just that! And, at the touch of a button, adjust the width of the massage rollers custom for your body. You're going to wish you never had to get up. In fact, it's so good that Consumers Digest has awarded the SBM-300H a Best Buy award.

When you find that ideal spot, you can hold the massage to help work out the even the tightest knots, thanks to the integrated Spot Shiatsu system. An adjustable width setting for Rolling Massage lets you adjust the massage rollers on either side of the spine for a custom-tailored experience. Meanwhile, in-seat massage offers an invigorating vibration massage that aims to increase circulation.

The SBM-300H comes with six programs: full, lower, or upper back in Shiatsu, plus a rolling massage for each of the three modes. The SBM-300H's integrated strapping system attaches easily to most home and office chairs.

The Shiatsu massaging cushion helps you enjoy state of the art relaxation....your way. This cushion features a programmable control with 6 different programs and a moving dual massage mechanism. The shiatsu rolling massage and soothing heat travel up and down the back. The 30-second heat up is perfect for penetrating those sore muscles and the soft spot shiatsu targets just the area that aches. The width control adjusts to conform to your body so you can create your own customized massage. This massaging cushion easily fits most chairs and comes with a demonstration feature that shows you how to melt away tension, muscle pain and fatigue.