6 Foods That Weaken Bones

Salt

Salt saps calcium from the bones, weakening them over time. For every 2,300 milligrams of sodium you take in, you lose about 40 milligrams of calcium, dietitians say. One study compared postmenopausal women who ate a high-salt diet with those who didn't, and the ones who ate a lot of salt lost more bone minerals. Our American diet is unusually salt-heavy; most of us ingest double the 2,300 milligrams of salt we should get in a day, according to the 2005 federal dietary guidelines.
What to do: The quickest, most efficient way to cut salt intake is to avoid processed foods. Research shows that most Americans get 75 percent of their sodium not from table salt but from processed food. Key foods to avoid include processed and deli meats, frozen meals, canned soup, pizza, fast food such as burgers and fries, and canned vegetables.

Soft Drinks

Soft drinks pose a double-whammy danger to bones. The fizziness in carbonated drinks often comes from phosphoric acid, which ups the rate at which calcium is excreted in the urine. Meanwhile, of course, soft drinks fill you up and satisfy your thirst without providing any of the nutrients you might get from milk or juice.
What to do: When you're tempted to reach for a cola, instead try milk, calcium- and vitamin D-fortified orange juice, or a fruit smoothie made with yogurt. Or just drink water when you're thirsty, and eat a diet high in bone-building nutrients.

Caffeine

The numbers for caffeine aren't as bad as for salt, but caffeine's action is similar, leaching calcium from bones. For every 100 milligrams of caffeine (the amount in a small to medium-sized cup of coffee), you lose 6 milligrams of calcium. That's not a lot, but it can become a problem if you tend to substitute caffeine-containing drinks like iced tea and coffee for beverages that are healthy for bones, like milk and fortified juice.

What to do: Limit yourself to one or two cups of coffee in the morning, then switch to other drinks that don't have caffeine's bone-sapping action. Adding milk to your coffee helps to offset the problem, of course.

Vitamin A

In the case of vitamin A, recent research is proving that you really can get too much of a good thing. Found in eggs, full-fat dairy, liver, and vitamin-fortified foods, vitamin A is important for vision and the immune system. But the American diet is naturally high in vitamin A, and most multivitamins also contain vitamin A. So it's possible to get much more than the recommended allotment of 5,000 IUs (international units) a day—which many experts think is too high anyway.

Postmenopausal women, in particular, seem to be susceptible to vitamin A overload. Studies show that women whose intake was higher than 5,000 IUs had more than double the fracture rate of women whose intake was less than 1,600 IUs a day.

What to do: Switch to low-fat or nonfat dairy products only, and eat egg whites rather than whole eggs (all the vitamin A is in the yolk). Also check your multivitamin, and if it's high in vitamin A, switch to one that isn't.

Alcohol

Think of alcohol as a calcium-blocker; it prevents the bone-building minerals you eat from being absorbed. And heavy drinking disrupts the bone remodeling process by preventing osteoblasts, the bone-building cells, from doing their job. So not only do bones become weaker, but when you do suffer a fracture, alcohol can interfere with healing.

What to do: Limit your drinking to one drink a day, whether that's wine, beer, or hard alcohol.

Hydrogenated Oils

Recent studies have found that the process of hydrogenation, which turns liquid vegetable oil into the solid oils used in commercial baking, destroys the vitamin K naturally found in the oils. Vitamin K is essential for strong bones, and vegetable oils such as canola and olive oil are the second-best dietary source of this key nutrient, after green leafy vegetables. However, the amounts of vitamin K we're talking about are tiny here—one tablespoon of canola oil has 20 micrograms of K, and one tablespoon of olive oil has 6 micrograms, as compared with 120 micrograms in a serving of spinach.

What to do: If you're eating your greens, you don't need to worry about this too much. If you're a big lover of baked goods like muffins and cookies, bake at home using canola oil when possible, and read labels to avoid hydrogenated oils

source:health.msn.com

How to Break a Bad Habit

Who needs willpower? You can ditch any undesirable behavior with these easy mental tricks.

From SELF

I’m addicted to the tube

The quit tip

Consider what you're sacrificing. My impulse to stare at the screen feels as natural to me as breathing, as many habits do. Although this type of reflexive action can be crucial when you need to make a lightning—fast judgment call (friend or foe?), it can backfire when it leads to a less beneficial choice (my watching The Real Housewives of New Jersey). It's essentially a default behavior, a rut I've fallen into that has persisted because it takes too much energy to change, explains Wray Herbert, author of On Second Thought. To stop, he suggests that I consciously think about what valuable resource the behavior is costing me. "We're naturally inclined to value what's scarce," he says. That's easy—with two young sons in the mix, it's my free time.

Did it work?

Like a charm! Whenever I had an urge to channel—surf, I pondered whether random flipping was truly how I wanted to spend my spare minutes. After three days, I was ticked off at myself for giving up the chance to do something I loved (lose myself in a good book) for something I didn't care about (watching a show for the fifth time). Midway through the week, after zoning in front of Real Housewives, I powered off and picked up a novel I'd long been meaning to finish. A month later, I've cut my TV time by a quarter.

I say yes when I mean no

The quit tip

Become more aware. For me, saying yes is the path of least resistance—usually, I'm nodding before someone has even finished an inconvenient request. So I signed up for a week of emails from HabitChanger.com, a site that uses cognitive-behavioral techniques to change semiautomatic habits. Specifically, you get a barrage of cheerleading or instructional texts and messages designed to interrupt your impulse. The hope is that once you become more tuned in to your typical behavior, you can change the way you respond.

Did it work?

Partly. A peppering of four or five missives every day for a week (the program is normally 42 days; I did a modified version) made me much more aware of my tendency to sabotage myself. I got an especially relevant email on a day when I'd agreed to take my sons to visit my parents 90 minutes away, stop at Costco to do the family shopping and drive home in time to make it to a book group (for which I hadn't finished the book). "Eliminate the word should from your vocabulary," the message instructed. "Replace it with would like to." I wish I'd read it a day earlier, when I could have said, "I'd like to&but I can't," to one or more of the above activities. Maybe next time!

I’m Starbucks’s best customer

The quit tip

Zen out. Simple meditation exercises, such as noticing your breath, can help you get off autopilot, says Martine Batchelor, author of Let Go: A Buddhist Guide to Breaking Free of Habits. She tells me to notice what I see, hear, smell and touch as I head out on the street: "Before you leave home, be aware of your hand on the stroller," she says. She also tells me to bring something to sip, because I associate Starbucks with a drink.

"The two main elements of meditation—concentration and inquiry—are key to getting control of your actions," Batchelor explains. "Concentration helps because every time you come back to your breath, your body, a mantra or whatever your meditation is, you dissolve the habit's power," she notes. Inquiry, she tells me, is what follows. "It's like a beam of light," she says. "Normally, you find yourself at Starbucks before you think about it. With inquiry, you notice the details of the experience, you take the time to observe when and how the habit arises, and you become a little more aware that you don't want to do it."

Did it work?

Absolutely. The first morning, I head out the door armed with an iced tea I made at home. Then I look down at my son's hair through the plastic moonroof of the stroller and feel the roughness of the foam handle. As I watch my son fidgeting with his sunglasses, I savor the sweetness of my iced tea. With all the things I'm noticing, I become aware of this stunning fact: I don't feel like going into Starbucks. I try to intuit why I'm normally drawn to the store. It's a treat, I realize. Or it was. What it has become is an expensive habit that I no longer have to indulge, especially with all the other things capturing my attention. I steer the stroller away and keep going, past four more Starbucks. I don't stop at any. It's as if a string has been cut. I'm finally free.

10 Bizarre Home Cures That Really Work

Ease pesky health issues with vodka, pencils and more.

Compiled by Lauren Gelman, Prevention

Content provided by:

Of course there are some health staples you should never be without—bandages or OTC pain relievers come to mind. But you can treat or cure a surprising number of minor ailments with these unexpected household objects and foods.
Next time you burn your tongue on piping hot pizza or come down with an unshakeable case of hiccups, keep these tips from The Big Doctors Book of Home Remedies in mind:

Home cure: Vodka
Use it for: Foot odor
If your feet smell less than swell, wipe them down with a vodka-soaked washcloth to get rid of the stench. It’s the same principle as rubbing alcohol (which works equally well if you’d rather drink your Grey Goose). Vodka contains alcohol, which is antiseptic and drying, so it destroys odor-causing fungus and bacteria and dries out the moisture that lets these organisms grow.
16 Surprising things that make you smell

Home cure: Pencil
Use it for: Headaches
When you’re stressed or anxious, you subconsciously clench your jaw and teeth; this strains the muscle that connects your jaw to your temples and can trigger a tension headache. A solution: “Put a pencil between your teeth but don’t bite,” says Fred Sheftell, M.D., director of the New England Center for Headache in Stamford, Conn. You automatically relax your jaw muscle to do this, which can prevent the pain.
The best natural remedies for pain

Home cure: Yogurt
Use it for: Bad breath
Preliminary research shows that the live bacteria in yogurt can suppress levels of bad breath–causing bacteria. “Good” bugs in yogurt may crowd out the “bad” stink-causing bacteria or create an unhealthy environment for it, says John C. Moon, DDS, a cosmetic and general dentist in Half Moon Bay, Calif.
13 strange body quirks explained

Home cure: Listerine
Use it for: Blisters
The classic breath freshener—and powerful antiseptic—can also do a number on blisters. Moisten a cotton ball with Listerine and dab it on your blister three times a day until the area dries out and no longer hurts, says Janet Maccaro, Ph.D., CNC, a holistic nutritionist and certified nutrition consultant in Scottsdale, Ariz.
5 ways to prevent blisters

Home cure: Tennis ball
Use it for: Achy feet
For an easy, free mini massage that stretches and soothes your arches, slip off your shoes and roll each foot over a tennis ball, golf ball or soup can for a minute or two. To cool throbbing feet, roll them over a bottle of frozen water.
Tips to prevent foot aches and pains

Home cure: Sugar
Use it for: Hiccups
A teaspoon of sugar swallowed dry can stop hiccups in minutes, says Andre Dubois, M.D., Ph.D., a professor of medicine in the emerging infectious diseases graduate program at Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Md. The sugar is believed to modify the nerve muscles that would otherwise tell the muscles in the diaphragm to contract spasmodically and contribute to hiccups.
10 weird body clues you shouldn’t ignore

Home cure: Olives or lemons
Use it for: Motion sickness
Motion sickness causes you to produce excess saliva, which can make you nauseated, some doctors say. Compounds in olives called tannins dry out your mouth and can help soothe the queasies. Pop a couple at the first hint of nausea; sucking on a lemon can also do the trick.
Shop smart with these healthy food picks

Home cure: Vegetable oil
Use it for: Brittle nails
In order to really fix dry nails, you have to address the problem of too little moisture. In addition to using hand lotion regularly, try this nighttime treatment from dermatologist Dee Anna Glaser, M.D.: Before you go to bed, apply vegetable oil to your hands, then put on vinyl gloves or wrap your hands in plastic wrap to keep the oil off your bedding. The hand coverings force the oil to penetrate your skin, preventing your hands and nails from getting too dry.
10 money-saving beauty tricks

Home cure: Peppermint or cinnamon gum
Use it for: The stress of a traffic-packed commute
In a NASA-funded study, scientists from Wheeling Jesuit University monitored the responses of 25 college students during simulated driving scenarios. The volunteers reported that peppermint lowered their feelings of fatigue or anxiety by 20 percent. Peppermint and cinnamon each decreased frustration by 25 percent, increased alertness by 30 percent and made the ride seem 30 percent shorter. Not a gum or candy person? Buy peppermint or cinnamon aromatherapy diffusers for the car.
7 super spices for your health

Home cure: Apple
Use it for: Whiter teeth
Crunchy fruits and vegetables act as little toothbrushes when you chew them; they have a natural cleansing action that works on tooth enamel to remove stains. In particular, “apples have a gentle malic acid that also helps dissolve stains,” says Jennifer Jabow, DDS, of Park 56 Dental in New York City.
Surprising habits that protect your teeth

URL: http://health.msn.com/ssprint.aspx?cp-documentid=100249904&imageindex=2

Sleep Like A Baby

Follow this advice to get better rest and wake up refreshed.
By Ellen Mazo and the Editors of Prevention

Follow these tips to help ensure that your time between the sheets leaves you feeling refreshed and renewed:

Make breakfast your heaviest meal of the day.

Digesting food takes energy, so if you eat a heavy meal late in the day, your body will have to work hard to digest it while you're trying to go to sleep. Many people sleep better if they have protein at breakfast and lunch, and a light dinner with some carbohydrates.

Cut back on the sleep robbers.

Cut out caffeine after 2 p.m., and refrain from drinking alcohol within three hours of bedtime. You may become drowsy after a couple of glasses of wine, but too much alcohol will make you wake up frequently during the night. In addition, although coffee is the most obvious source of caffeine, don't forget that there's also caffeine in colas, chocolate, tea, and some medications.

Go toward the light.

Get outside when it's sunny, or at least turn on the lights at home in the morning. This will help you reset your awake-sleep cycle.

Drink like a fish.

Even mild dehydration—losing as little as 1/2 cup of body water—could turn into low-grade chronic fatigue. Drink eight to 10 eight-ounce glasses of water a day, and add four to six more glasses when you exercise. To prevent unnecessary trips to the bathroom at night, empty your bladder before going to sleep, and don't drink more than 4 ounces within an hour of going to bed.

Exercise earlier in the day.

Regular exercise first energizes, then relaxes you. So if you start doing calisthenics or aerobics right before bed, nerve-stimulating hormones will be released and will raise your body's core temperature, preventing you from falling asleep. Exercise—but do it earlier in the day.

Walk into sleep.

You don't have to walk far to get sleep-enhancing benefits. People who walked at least six blocks a day at a normal pace were one-third less likely to have trouble sleeping, according to one study of more than 700 men and women. Those who picked up the pace had even better sleeping habits. You get the same benefits with walking that you'd get by taking sleep medication—but without the medication's side effects, such as grogginess, increased snoring, risk of sleep apnea, and possible addiction.

Take a nap.

It's okay to nap, especially if you didn't sleep well last night. Research has found that people who nap for 15 minutes feel more alert and less sleepy, even after a bad night's sleep.

Go to bed only when you're sleepy.

If you can't fall asleep within 15 to 20 minutes, get up and leave your bedroom. Go into the living room and read until you're tired again. Or sit in a chair and think pleasant thoughts: a dream vacation, standing by a waterfall. This should help calm you so that you can return to bed and sleep.

Move the television out of your bedroom.

Your bed and bedroom are for sleep and sex. That's it. No reading. No talking on the telephone. No worrying.

Create a sleep schedule and stick to it.

You may not be able to go to bed at the same time every night, but you can establish a regular wake-up time. Get up at the same time every morning, even on weekends.

Watch your nighttime posture.

For a restful night, try these strategies:

• Relieve lower-back pressure by putting a pillow under your knees. The pillow comfortably flexes your lower spine.
• Try a pillow made with down instead of a foam pillow. You want a pillow that is low enough to support your head without flexing your neck, to avoid neck and shoulder aches. Orthopedic pillows with a scooped-out hollow for your head help support the neck and can also be helpful, especially if you have chronic neck problems.
• Put enough blankets on your bed to stay warm. You may otherwise unconsciously curl up to keep warm, which can leave you with a sore back.
• Allow yourself enough room to be able to move your arms and legs and roll over during the night. This is a natural way to prevent your joints from getting stiff.

Take special measures when you're on the night shift.

You weren't designed to work the night shift, or rotating shifts, but you may have no choice. So, here are some tips for when you must work while everyone else is asleep:

Use bright lights to mimic daylight, to keep you awake.

Try to stay on the same shift, but if you must rotate, do it by the clock: from days to afternoons to nights.

If you can't sleep when you get home in the morning, don't force it. Wait till early afternoon when you have an energy dip.

Try an herbal soother.

Instead of sleeping pills, you might want to try valerian, an herb that can improve your quality of sleep without leaving you feeling groggy the next morning. You need to allow about 2 weeks for valerian to build up in your system. Try taking between 150 and 300 milligrams at bedtime as needed, but give yourself a break now and then to allow your sleep patterns to develop without help. You don't have to buy the more expensive valerian supplements that have other ingredients or herbs.

10 Things You Didn't Know About You

The human body is a great, sweaty, fluid-filled machine, moving and mixing chemicals with precision and coordination, making everything from memories to mucus. Here we explore some of the complex, beautiful or just plain gross mysteries of how you function.

Content provided by: Live Science

Your stomach secretes corrosive acid

There's one dangerous liquid no airport security can confiscate from you: It's in your gut. Your stomach cells secrete hydrochloric acid, a corrosive compound used to treat metals in the industrial world. It can pickle steel, but mucous lining the stomach wall keeps this poisonous liquid safely in the digestive system, breaking down lunch.

Body position affects your memory

Can't remember your anniversary, hubby? Try getting down on one knee. Memories are highly embodied in our senses. A scent or sound may evoke a distant episode from one's childhood. The connections can be obvious (a bicycle bell makes you remember your old paper route) or inscrutable. A scientific study helps decipher some of this embodiment. An article in the January 2007 issue of Cognition reports that episodes from your past are remembered faster and better while in a body position similar to the pose struck during the event.

Bones break (down) to balance minerals

In addition to supporting the bag of organs and muscles that is our body, bones help regulate our calcium levels. Bones contain both phosphorus and calcium, the latter of which is needed by muscles and nerves. If the element is in short supply, certain hormones will cause bones to break down, upping calcium levels in the body until the appropriate extracellular concentration is reached.

Much of a meal is food for thought

Though it makes up only 2 percent of our total body weight, the brain demands 20 percent of the body's oxygen and calories. To keep our noggin well-stocked with resources, three major cerebral arteries are constantly pumping in oxygen. A blockage or break in any of them starves brain cells of the energy they require to function, impairing the functions controlled by the affected region. This is a stroke.

Thousands of eggs unused by ovaries

The average adolescent girl has 34,000 underdeveloped egg follicles, although only 350 or so mature during her life (at the rate of about one per month). When a woman reaches her late 40s or early 50s, the monthly menstrual cycle that controls her hormone levels and readies ova for insemination ceases. Her ovaries have been producing less and less estrogen, inciting physical and emotional changes across her body. Her underdeveloped egg follicles begin to fail to release ova as regularly as before; the unused egg follicles then deteriorate. With no potential pregnancy on the horizon, the brain can stop managing the release of ova.

Puberty reshapes brain structure, makes for missed curfews

We know that hormone-fueled changes in the body are necessary to encourage growth and ready the body for reproduction. But why is adolescence so emotionally unpleasant? Hormones like testosterone actually influence the development of neurons in the brain, and the changes made to brain structure have many behavioral consequences. Expect emotional awkwardness, apathy and poor decision-making skills as regions in the frontal cortex mature.

Cell hairs move mucus

Most cells in our bodies sport hair-like organelles called cilia that help out with a variety of functions, from digestion to hearing. In the nose, cilia help to drain mucus from the nasal cavity down to the throat. Cold weather slows down the draining process, causing a mucus backup that can leave you with snotty sleeves. Swollen nasal membranes or condensation can also cause a stuffed schnozzle.

Big brains cause cramped mouths

Evolution isn't perfect. If it were, we might have wings instead of wisdom teeth. Sometimes useless features stick around in a species simply because they're not doing much harm. But wisdom teeth weren't always a cash crop for oral surgeons. Long ago, they served as a useful third set of meat-mashing molars. But as our brains grew, our jawbone structure changed, leaving us with expensively overcrowded mouths.

The world laughs with you

Just as watching someone yawn can induce the behavior in yourself, recent evidence suggests that laughter is a social cue for mimicry. Hearing a laugh actually stimulates the brain region associated with facial movements. Mimicry plays an important role in social interaction. Cues like sneezing, laughing, crying and yawning may be ways of creating strong social bonds within a group.

Your skin has four colors

All skin, without coloring, would appear creamy white. Blood vessels near the surface add a blush of red. A yellow pigment also tints the canvas. Lastly, sepia-toned melanin, created in response to ultraviolet rays, appears black in large amounts. These four hues mix in different proportions to create the skin colors of all the peoples of Earth.

After Removal of 6 Vital Organs, Hope for Little Girl

7-year-old girl was released from hospital today after major abdominal surgery.

from: MSN Health

Heather McNamara is a lively and funny 7-year old who looks as carefree as any other girl her age. Nothing in her cheerful demeanor betrays that Heather underwent a risky procedure little more than a month ago, in which surgeons removed six of her vital organs and a tumor the size of a baseball. Today, Heather looked happy and untroubled upon being released from the hospital.

In a 23-hour procedure in early February, surgeons had to take out the young girl's small and large intestines, liver, pancreas, spleen and stomach so they could remove the myofibroblastic tumor, which was intertwined with her vital organs and major blood vessels. The surgery, which was only the second of its kind and the first one performed on a child, appears successful.

Heather's liver and small and large intestines were re-implanted, but her stomach, pancreas and spleen were too damaged to be saved. Instead of a stomach, Heather now has an intestinal pouch to hold food. Daily insulin injections and digestive enzymes will allow her to live without a pancreas. Without a spleen, she may be more susceptible to infections.

Smiling brightly, Heather appeared with her family at a news conference today at New York–Presbyterian Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital, where the surgery was performed. She said she was looking forward to going home and playing with her sister, and her dog, Angel.

The 7-year old girl, who looks like a little angel herself, gave an optimistic message to anyone who's sick, or has a child who's sick: "There is hope."

My twins were born TWO days apart

By Lucy Laing -- from www.mirror.co.uk

When Hayley Phillips gave birth to Ryan at 29 weeks, she expected his twin Lewis to put in an appearance soon afterwards, but she was in for a long wait.

When Hayley Phillips gave birth to her son Ryan 11 weeks early on her bathroom floor, she assumed his twin brother was on his way.

But by the time she got to hospital to give birth to the second baby her contractions had stopped as though she’d finished giving birth.

And it wasn’t until almost three days later that Hayley finally had her second

boy, Lewis.

“The doctors had never seen anything like it before,” says Hayley. “My body just shut down after giving birth to Ryan.

“I nursed Ryan for nearly three days before I finally went into labour again.”

Hayley, 31, a team manager for a bank, and her fiance Craig Selbee, 31, a bank manager, had been thrilled to discover they were expecting twin boys.

“We were so excited when the doctors told me I was pregnant with twins at my first scan, and then that they were both boys at the second scan,” she says.

The pregnancy went smoothly until at 29 weeks, in August last year, Hayley went into labour.

“We were at home one evening when I felt a sharp pain,” she says.

“I went upstairs to the bathroom and felt the sudden urge to push. It all happened so quickly.

“One minute I was watching TV, the next I was on the bathroom floor giving birth.”

Hayley and baby Ryan, who weighed 2lb 14oz, were taken to hospital where doctors expected her to give birth to her second twin in minutes.

But as hours ticked by, there was still no Lewis. “As I arrived at the hospital the labour pains had disappeared and it felt like I’d never even given birth,” recalls Hayley.

“Three hours later the doctors examined me and they told me that the contractions had stopped.

“They couldn’t understand it, as usually when one twin is born, the other quickly follows.”

The following day, Hayley still hadn’t gone back into labour. Craig and Hayley filled the hours waiting by tiny Ryan’s incubator.

“I still had this huge pregnancy bump and we were looking at Ryan in his incubator,” she says.

“Lewis was in no hurry to make his appearance.

“We’d told all our family and friends the good news, that Ryan had been born.

“None of them could believe I was still pregnant with Lewis.”

Concerned for Lewis’s well-being, doctors arranged for a scan.

“I’d been used to having scans and seeing my womb jam-packed with the twins, vying for room,’

says Hayley.

‘But now there Lewis was, wriggling around all by himself. It just looked like he was making the most of the extra space. He was almost doing somersaults.”

Despite her joy at seeing Lewis was thriving, she admits looking at the his image on the monitor was strange.

“During the scan, I was holding a photo of Ryan in his incubator,” she says.

“I kept glancing down at the picture and then up at the scan of Lewis and it was weird. I wanted my twins to be together again, like they were supposed to be.”

Hayley and Craig weren’t the only ones to be surprised by this unusual situation – medical staff at Sunderland Hospital were equally stunned.

“The sonographer told me she’d never come across such a long wait,” she says.

Hayley wasn’t allowed to remove Ryan’s umbilical cord or breast-feed him because doctors feared either could trigger a premature second labour.

So Hayley had to endure the discomfort until she finally went into labour the next day, and Lewis appeared weighing 3Ib 3oz, after a six-hour labour – 51 hours after his brother.

“It was such a relief,” says Hayley. However, the twins were still not able to be together as, although Ryan was doing well enough to be moved on to a low dependency ward in the neonatal unit, Lewis needed more intense

treatment.

“He had to be ventilated for three weeks as he needed four operations as his lungs weren’t properly developed,” says Hayley.

“At one point, the doctors had to put him in a coma so that his lungs could heal.

“It was very traumatic. I began to wonder when our twins would ever actually be together.”

The boys finally met after five weeks when Lewis was moved into the same ward as Ryan – and Hayley and Craig were able to cuddle their babies together.

“It was such an amazing feeling being able to hold both my boys, one in each arm,” says Hayley. “It was a dream come true and brought a tear to my eye.”

Another milestone moment came a week later when the twins were both finally strong enough to be taken out of their incubators and dressed.

“Until that point they’d only been able to wear vests and nappies but at six weeks we were able to dress them in matching blue Tigger outfits,” says Hayley. And after two months they were strong enough to go home.

“The day we were finally allowed to walk them out of hospital was the best day ever,” says Craig.

Now the boys are six months old and doing well.

“They both have heart murmurs but that’s common with premature babies and they’re having regular check-ups,” says Hayley.

“They’re both around 14lbs, which is fine considering they should really only be three months old, as they were 11 weeks premature.”

The non-identical twins not only have different birthdays – two days apart – but different star signs, too. Ryan is Leo and Lewis Virgo.

“It means their personalities will be very different, although I think we can already guess that Lewis will be the laid-back twin,” laughs Hayley.

“We’ll celebrate their joint birthday on the day in between both their birth dates, and then they can still have a party together.”

The couple are relieved they can now put their sons’ traumatic entrance into the world behind them.

“Looking back, those eight weeks were the worst time of our lives because our emotions were all over the place,” says Craig.

“But Hayley and I love each other so much we were able to get through it. The boys were all that mattered.”

Hayley says that when the twins are older, she and Craig will tell them all about their extraordinary birth.

“And this experience hasn’t put us off having more children,” she says.

“I’m just wary about having another set of twins!”

A spokeswoman for the Twins and Multiple Births Association said: “This is rare – we have come across cases where twins were born apart, but the gap has always been less than two days.

“It may have been her body protecting the second twin, as 29 weeks is very early to be born.

“After the first twin arrived, her body may have shut down to give the second twin longer in the womb.”

Reason for yawning and whether it is infectious

Q. What is the reason for yawning? And why is it considered infectious? Why do the ears appear to have become deaf during yawn?

A. First two questions are certainly difficult because even the experts do not have convincing explanations. Explanation of the third question, however, is quite simple. The process of hearing commences with the vibration of the eardrums. In order to allow the eardrums to vibrate freely it is essential that there is equal air pressure on both the sides of the eardrums. So Nature has arranged for as much air pressure on the inner side of the eardrums as the air pressure prevailing on the outer side to keep the eardrums neutral. When a person yawns, the internal muscles of the ears contract increasing the pressure from the inner side which in turn pushes the eardrums somewhat outward. Now in the outward dilated condition of the eardrums the sound waves are not able to vibrate the eardrums and so the sound is not heard till the eardrums come back in their original position.

The reason for yawning and infecting others into yawning is still a subject of research, but some aspects have been understood in the course of research on the subject. When a person is tired at the end of the day his muscles relax and the rate of breathing also slows down automatically. An adult person requires about 6 liters air per minute. About 15% of this quantity is consumed by the brain alone. It takes about 0.85 liter blood per minute to feed the oxygen in this air to the nerve cells of the brain. As the rate of breathing slows down the brain feels suffocation for the want of oxygen and sends ‘public’ signal to the lungs to take a deep breath in the form of yawn. The yawn which follows lasts about 5.5 seconds. And if the brain is not satisfied with one yawn then some more yawns may follow. Repeated yawn are also a signal of approaching sleep. When asleep the body does not require much oxygen and also gets the rest it needs. Therefore, one does not yawn as much during the day time as late in the evening or in the night except when studying or compelled against will to do some boring task!

The researchers have not arrived at the conclusive explanation of why yawning is infectious. However, there is an interesting hypothesis. The control center for yawning in the brain sends signals for yawn on identifying fatigue, inertia, sleepiness or boredom. When we see somebody yawning this visual hint stimulates our brain to identify our own tiredness etc. if it has not already done and to send signal to lungs for yawning – and there it is! Yawn…!

Finally, an interesting piece of information: Whether during the day time or night most of the paratroopers of the army or the adventurous sky divers invariably yawn once or twice before jumping out of the plane to exercise muscles of the ears to be in readiness for low air pressure outside the aircraft.

from: thescitechjournal.blogspot.com

Hand-Washing

Hand-washing is a simple and effective way to help prevent diseases, such as colds, flu, and food poisoning.

When to wash your hands

Washing hands:

• Often, especially during cold and flu (influenza) season, can reduce your risk of catching or spreading a cold or the flu.
• Before and after preparing or serving food reduces your risk of catching or spreading bacteria that cause food poisoning. Be especially careful to wash before and after preparing poultry, raw eggs, meat, or seafood.
• After going to the bathroom or changing diapers reduces your risk of catching or spreading infectious diseases such as salmonella or hepatitis A.

Wash your hands after:

• Touching bare human body parts other than clean hands and clean, exposed parts of your arms.
• Using the bathroom.
• Coughing, sneezing, or using a handkerchief or disposable tissue.
• Eating, drinking, or using tobacco (for example, smoking).
• Handling soiled kitchen utensils or equipment.
• Handling other soiled or contaminated utensils or equipment.
• Handling or preparing foods, especially after touching raw meat, poultry, fish, shellfish, or eggs.
• Changing diapers, handling garbage, using the phone, shaking hands, or playing with pets.

Proper hand-washing

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommend the following steps for handwashing:

1. Wash your hands with hot running water and soap. Children should use warm running water.
2. Rub your hands together for at least 20 seconds.
3. Pay special attention to your wrists, the backs of your hands, between your fingers, and under your fingernails.
4. Leave the water running while you dry your hands on a paper towel.
5. Use the paper towel as a barrier between the faucet and your clean hands when you turn off the water.

If soap and water are not available, use gel hand sanitizers or alcohol-based hand wipes containing 60% to 90% ethyl alcohol or isopropanol. Most supermarkets and drugstores carry these products. Carry one or both with you when you travel, and keep them in your car or purse.

If using the gel sanitizer, rub your hands until the gel is dry. You don't need to use water. The alcohol in the gel kills the germs on your hands

from yahoo health

7 Ways to boost your metabolicrate and lose weight

Being fit and healthy isn’t just about six-pack abs or buns of steel. It means losing fat and staying lean, not losing weight and staying thin. The safest path towards physical fitness is through your metabolism.

Boost your metabolic rate or the amount of energy spent in a given time so the next time you sit in front of the television, you are burning 100 calories, instead of just one. With a simple tweak in your lifestyle, you can improve your health significantly and obtain the body you’ve always wanted.

1. Meal Time Management

When you sleep, your metabolism slows down too. It will only resume its normal rate after your next meal. If you skip breakfast, your body burns only a few calories so you still have enough energy to survive until your next meal. On the other hand, eating a solid 350-calorie breakfast revs up your metabolic rate instantly and maintains that pace throughout the day.

Load up your breakfast with high-fiber carbohydrates, such as whole grain cereals, egg whites and fruits. Compared to fats, it takes some time before your body absorbs these carbs. This is good because you won’t get hungry easily and avoid overeating during meals.

Likewise, avoid any midnight snacks, especially right before bedtime. Since you don’t do any physical activity in your sleep, food becomes fat instead of energy. Go light on your dinner and reserve the bulk of your appetite for the next day.

2. Eat All Day

Consume five to six small meals rather than three large plates each day to keep your metabolism active. Despite how odd this strategy seems, it helps you avoid an empty stomach and considerably improves your digestion. Contrary to popular belief, not eating after six pm does not make you lose more weight. You can savor a healthy meal until three hours before you hit the sack.

Eat a small meal every three to four hours. For your lunch and dinner, add more protein sources like chicken, tuna, fish and legumes. Protein is even harder to break down than fats and carbohydrates. Your body will certainly burn a few calories getting rid of them. Grab a combination of yogurt, fruit and low fat food as snack.

3. Spice Up Your Life

Add a pinch of pepper to your noontime tofu or dinner soup. Spices temporarily heighten your resting metabolic rate by releasing more stress hormones like adrenaline. More jalapeno and cayenne peppers mean more burned calories.

Making your meal extra spicy also tends to make you feel stuffed faster even if you’ve only consumed half your plate. Don’t forget to maintain a low-fat meal before ordering a box of Indian curry or Bicol Express.

4. Calorie Counting

Nobody likes crunch numbers, especially during meals. However, calorie counting is a great way to monitor your fitness level. Remember that your body will always try to normalize your system, including your weight. If you start reducing 1,000 calories from your diet, your body responds by slowing down your metabolism because it assumes that you are starving.

There is no golden rule in determining the ideal amount of calories you need to take. This isn’t exact science so reduce your calorie intake in moderation and never do anything drastic to your diet.

5. Drink Water

Despite how simple this sounds, many people take drinking water for granted. Metabolism needs water to digest food. If you want to speed up your metabolic rate, you need to drink more water. Drink at least eight glasses or two liters of water a day and add an extra cup or two if you do heavy exercises.

Skip the cocktail or beer during meals. Water, not alcohol, makes up roughly 60% of your body. Liquor also causes people to eat more. When you drink, your body burns the alcohol first while the rest of your meal becomes nothing more than fat. Now you know how a beer belly is formed.

6. Do Sweat It

No physical fitness program is complete without the right amount of exercise. Nobody wants to do it but everybody needs it. Lifting weights greatly increases your metabolic rate, even when you aren’t doing anything. If you have enough muscle density, you can burn at least 100 calories by watching television alone.

Diet and exercise go together like Crockett and Tubbs. They are absolutely essential to your health and fitness. Muscle burns more calories than fat, while running endlessly in place won’t get you far either. Combine cardiovascular activities with intense strength workouts to lose fat quickly. The weight you lose must be from fat, not muscles.

7. Relax, Rest and Retire

Finally, something easy! Getting ample sleep of at least seven hours is also an integral part of obtaining physical fitness. If your sleeping pattern is messed up, your body doesn’t function properly. If your body is tired, it doesn’t have enough energy to burn calories.

When you don’t sleep, you get stressed easily. When this happens, your body releases a wave of stress hormones that increases your appetite and produces more fat. If you exercise regularly and have a normal diet, getting a good night’s sleep shouldn’t be a problem.

Win the battle of the bulge by incorporating these simple adjustments to your daily routine. Attaining physical fitness should never be a chore. Instead, use it as motivation so you could add a little more pizzazz to your daily experiences and get the most out of life.

From: lifehackery.com

9 Common Health Myths Debunked

Myth: A high-fiber diet will prevent colon cancer

Not even if you eat a pine tree, cones and all. Research published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute showed that no matter how much fiber study subjects ate--from 10 grams a day to 27--it did nothing to reduce their risk of recurrence of precancerous polyps. "The fiber hypothesis dates from an old epidemiological study," says James E. Allison, M.D., a professor of medicine at the University of California at San Francisco. "It was presumed that the shorter intestinal transit time accompanying a high-fiber diet decreased a person's exposure to potential carcinogens."

Reality check: Despite the myth, keep eating a high-fiber diet (it can help lower cholesterol and prevent diabetes), but don't count on it to cancer-proof your colon. For that, you need folic acid. Studies have shown that this B vitamin significantly lowers a man's risk of colon cancer, with research from Louisiana State University linking it to a 60 percent reduction. If your multivitamin (or cereal) doesn't contain at least 400 micrograms of folic acid, buy one that does.

Myth: A soy burger is healthier than a beef burger

Here's the problem: Soy, in all its forms, contains phytoestrogens--that is, plant estrogens. And while having some of the female hormone in our bodies is okay, and even normal, having high amounts of the plant version isn't. In fact, Australian researchers found that men who consumed a soy-rich diet had significantly lower testosterone levels than beef eaters. And as for red meat's artery-clogging reputation, a study published in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition showed that eating lean beef can help to lower LDL cholesterol levels while increasing HDL levels.

Reality check: At only 10 percent fat, ground round is the leanest hamburger meat at the market. It also has the potential to taste the worst, since less fat generally means less flavor. Stick with ground chuck, which, with 15 percent fat, still qualifies as lean. And make sure you pick a package with little "juice" pooled in the Styrofoam tray. "It comes from water in the protein molecules called 'free water,' which is released over time," says Mike De La Zerda, Ph.D., beef-quality manager for the Texas Beef Council. "The more free water that has drained into the package, the less juicy your burgers will be."

Myth: Ginkgo biloba will improve your memory

This popular herbal supplement gained a reputation as a smart pill after certain medical studies suggested that it could improve brain function. And it does--in Alzheimer's patients. In healthy people, "we found no evidence that ginkgo has any effect on memory or cognitive function," says Paul R. Solomon, Ph.D., director of the memory clinic at Southwestern Vermont Medical Center. In a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, Solomon's research team debunked the myth when they found that the people taking Ginkgo biloba for 6 weeks did no better on 14 tests of learning, memory, attention, and concentration than those taking a placebo. "There is nothing in our research to justify taking ginkgo," says Solomon.

Reality check: Go take a nap -- one that lasts 10 minutes. Australian researchers studied the effects of three naps of differing lengths and found that the people who grabbed 10 minutes of shut-eye concentrated better and had more-accurate memories than the rest. Still feel addled? See your doctor. You could be suffering from sleep apnea, a nighttime breathing disorder that deprives your brain of restorative REM sleep.

Myth: Antibacterial soap is better than regular soap for beating germs

Like antitank missiles and antimatter rays, antibacterial soap just sounds more destructive than, say, Dove. Thing is, the germs don't know the difference. In a study sponsored by the National Institutes of Health, researchers asked 222 New York City housewives (who better, right?) to wash their hands with either antibacterial hand soap or regular soap. Then, on two separate occasions, bacterial cultures were taken from the women's hands, but the results were exactly the same: "We found that antibacterial soaps provide no added value," explains Elaine Larson, Ph.D., R.N., the study's lead author. Even more worrisome, washing exclusively with an antibacterial soap can cause bacteria to become resistant to the soap's germ-killing ingredient.

Reality check: If you want to commit germicide with regular soap, take your time. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends scrubbing for at least 15 seconds. And pay particular attention to the area under and around your fingernails. "This is where most bacteria tend to collect," says Howard Donsky, M.D., a clinical instructor of dermatology at the University of Rochester. For those times when your hands aren't visibly dirty, you can use an alcohol-based hand-sanitizer gel. Squirt out a dollop and rub it on for 30 seconds. Repeat.

Myth: The higher the SPF of a sunscreen, the better

To a point. "There is a property of diminishing returns at work," says Martin Weinstock, M.D., Ph.D., director of the American Cancer Society's skin-cancer advisory group. Here are the numbers: SPF-15 sunscreens block 93.3 percent of the sun's burning ultraviolet rays, compared with SPF-30 products, which block 96.7 percent. But making the leap to SPF-45 offers only an additional 1 percent of protection (97.8 percent total), and SPF-60, just 0.5 percent more than that (98.3).

Reality check: You don't need 1 percent more protection. Unless you have a family history of skin cancer or look like the prototypical burner -- fair skin, red or blond hair, green or blue eyes, and freckles -- "reapplying SPF-30 throughout the day is the best you can do, as long as you're really slathering it on," says Dr. Weinstock. Just as important, make sure the bottle contains Parsol 1789 (a.k.a. avobenzone), zinc oxide, or micronized titanium dioxide; these compounds will block dangerous UVA rays that some sunscreens let through.

Myth: Only women get breast cancer

Men don't have breasts, per se. Therefore, men shouldn't get breast cancer. But we do, to the tune of 1,500 new cases a year (with 400 men dying of the disease annually). "The biggest problem is that most men, and even many doctors, don't recognize it," says Sharon H. Giordano, M.D., a professor of breast oncology at the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Texas. "Men will dismiss a lump, while a woman knows exactly what it is." Nor do men understand the three major risk factors: age (60 years or older), family history of the disease (male or female relatives), and obesity (the extra tonnage messes with a man's hormone levels).

Reality check: Having even one risk factor is reason enough to do a quick self -exam every 3 months. When you're in the shower, "feel under the nipple and across the chest with the tips of your fingers, looking for any unusual lumps," says Dr. Giordano. "The lump will feel small and hard, like a knot or pea." And, lump or no lump, if you have any discharge or bleeding from the nipple, ask your doctor for a referral to a specialist in male breast cancer.

Myth: Aerobic exercise is the only workout that will keep your heart healthy

Despite what the Dupont heirs would have us think (they hold the patent on Lycra), pumping iron may also prevent a coronary. In a recent Harvard study of 44,000 men, researchers found that the men who weight-trained for 30 minutes or more a week had a 23 percent lower risk of heart disease than those who didn't lift at all. "Weight training increases your muscle mass and your resting metabolic rate, both of which contribute to a decreased risk of heart disease," says Mihaela Tanasescu, M.D., one of the study authors. "It also leads to better glucose control and decreased insulin resistance, which further reduce the risk to your heart."

Reality check: If you're lifting for life insurance, make sure your workout is high intensity (one way to do this is to try supersets--pairing two exercises that work different muscle groups). In the same Harvard study, the researchers noted that increasing the intensity of an exercise also reduced the risk of heart disease. "This increase was independent of the type of training," says Dr. Tanasescu, "and although we didn't study it, I suspect that weight training for longer than 30 minutes a week would be of additional benefit."

Myth: A PSA of 4 or higher means prostate cancer

That's the health myth some urologists have led us to believe. "Most men think elevated PSA levels can only mean prostate cancer," says William Catalona, M.D., a professor of urology at Washington University in St. Louis. "But any trauma or inflammation can cause PSA to leak into the surrounding tissue [of the prostate], where it is picked up in the bloodstream." In fact, everything from a bacterial infection to a long bicycle ride can cause a minor jump in your PSA level.

Reality check: PSA scores between 4 and 10 fall into a diagnostic gray zone, where, until recently, the only way to confirm the presence of cancer was with a biopsy. Now, however, doctors can follow up with a complexed PSA (cPSA) or percent-free PSA exam, tests that, according to Dr. Catalona, measure different molecular forms of PSA. "It's the best way to determine whether your PSA is elevated due to cancer or a benign condition." If your PSA is even 2.5, ask your urologist for a cPSA or percent-free PSA exam.

Myth: Only old men develop Alzheimer's disease

Forget the myths about Alzheimer's disease. Each year, 5 percent of its four million victims are younger than 60 years of age. It's called early-onset Alzheimer's disease, and it even strikes men in their 30s and 40s. "The symptoms are no different from those of late-onset Alzheimer's disease," says Bill Thies, Ph.D., vice president of medical and scientific affairs for the Alzheimer's Association. "The main difference is that people afflicted with early-onset Alzheimer's are still working and trying to support a family."

Reality check: "The biggest risk factor is a strong family history [of late- or early-onset Alzheimer's]," says Thies. Have an afflicted relative? Now's the time to see a neurologist about genetic testing. If it turns out that you have one of the three known trigger genes, you might want to start taking that Ginkgo biloba or, even better, drinking an occasional glass of red wine. In a study published in the journal Neurology, researchers discovered that people who drank wine just once a month were half as likely to develop Alzheimer's disease as those who didn't raise a glass at all. Why red wine rather than white? It's much higher in flavonoids--the compounds scientists believe confer the brain-saving effect.

From: MSN Health