Today is World AIDS Day

Why we need health care reform: Deb’s Story: An American Health Insurance Tale

Reddit: What exactly is Obamacare and what did it change? - the PPACA explained in easy-to-understand language and terms. A must-read!

Popcorn may be the perfect snack food and the hull fragments in particular are "nutritional gold nuggets".

Why are the ranks of nearsighted people growing?

Today is the Japanese-American Day of Remembrance. It is the 69th anniversary of Executive Order 9066 which set in motion the internment of 110,000 Japanese Americans to "War Relocation Camps" in response to Imperial Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor. There were many camps through the United States, including Heart Mountain in Wyoming and Granada in southeast Colorado.

What Ah-choo! can do for you.

Experts at the University of Chicago think that sleep could be a secret weapon for people trying to drop pounds. In one small study, overweight dieters who slept 8 1/2 hours per night over two weeks lost 56 percent more body fat than those who got only 5 1/2 hours of sleep each night. The researchers think sleep deprivation may cause a spike in the appetite-stimulating hormone ghrelin.

Some background on the two doctors who are treating Rep. Gabrielle Giffords at a Tucson hospital. They're interesting in their own right.

By the year 2020 three out of four Americans will be overweight or obese according to recent projections.

Walking is man's best medicine.
--Hippocrates, the Father of Medicine (460-377 BCE)

Wearing flip-flops? Watch your step!

"Unfortunately, these shoes have no significant orthopedic support for the foot and the ankle. And of course, as Leonardo da Vinci taught us, the foot and ankle is the most important part of the body cause it makes contact with the body first. If the shock is not absorbed appropriately from the ground — it gets transmitted to other parts of the body. So what'll happen — it'll start as a foot issue, and then it will go to the lower leg, the hip, the knee, the back,"
--says the Director of Foot & Ankle Service at a NY hospital.

On this day 55 years ago, Lyndon Johnson signed the Social Security Act of 1965. This law created Medicare and Medicaid, public health insurance for elderly people and for low-income families. It was controversial, but the controversy was nothing new — by the time LBJ signed the bill on this day in 1965, the national health care debate had been going on for well over half a century, since the early 1900s.

I had a colonoscopy procedure done today.It had been 10 years since my last one, and the preparation materials that you have to drink beforehand are much less horrible tasting now.. The procedure itself is mostly a blur since you are given a "sedative cocktail" to relax you.
I got a good report.

The new captain jumped from the cockpit, fully dressed, and sprinted through the water. A former lifeguard, he kept his eyes on his victim as he headed straight for the owners who were swimming between their anchored sportfisher and the beach. “I think he thinks you’re drowning,” the husband said to his wife. They had been splashing each other and she had screamed but now they were just standing, neck-deep on the sand bar. “We’re fine, what is he doing?” she asked, a little annoyed. “We’re fine!” the husband yelled, waving him off, but his captain kept swimming hard. ”Move!” he barked as he sprinted between the stunned owners. Directly behind them, not ten feet away, their nine-year-old daughter was drowning. Safely above the surface in the arms of the captain, she burst into tears, “Daddy!”

How did this captain know, from fifty feet away, what the father couldn’t recognize from just ten?

Drowning Doesn’t Look Like Drowning

Five surprising salt sources in food.
Young, healthy people should consume only 1 teaspoon of salt a day; middle-aged and older people even less.

This post removed by request of onlineschools.org site owner

An unusually high pollen count this year is being called a "perfect storm" of allergic conditions.

Could you really be Bored to Death?

Cutting salt in food would save thousands of lives.

Since 1960, the average turkey has gained 11 pounds while the average American man has gained 28 pounds. Chart: Weights of the average American turkey and human male ~ via Factlets

I was able to get my H1N1 flu shot yesterday through my doctor's office.

How the H1N1 vaccine is made

It sounds so simple as to be innocuous, a throwaway line in public-health warnings about swine flu. But one of the most powerful weapons against the new H1N1 virus is summed up in a three-word phrase you first heard from your mother: wash your hands.

With Soap and Water or Sanitizer, a Cleaning That Can Stave Off the Flu

My allergies have been driving me crazy the past few weeks - much worse than they've been in years. I'm wondering if it has to do with the wet summer we had and more things are growing than during the drought years we've had. A quick check on pollen.com for the area shows pollen levels are high, including my old enemy ragweed. Time to stock up on tissues!

Some researchers have proposed that the sharp rise in asthma and allergy cases over the past century stems, unexpectedly, from living too clean. The idea is that routine exposure to harmless microorganisms in the environment—soil bacteria, for instance—trains our immune systems to ignore benign molecules like pollen or the dandruff on a neighbor’s dog. Taking this “hygiene hypothesis” in an even more surprising direction, recent studies indicate that treatment with a specific soil bacterium, Mycobacterium vaccae, may be able to alleviate depression.

Discover Magazine: Is Dirt the New Prozac?

Colorado is the thinnest state in the nation.

Star anise--the cure for swine flu? NOT!

A new study finds that 1 in 5 four-year-olds are obese.

The secrets in Lincoln's DNA.

Red vs Blue This is about the brain, not about politics.

December 1st is World AIDS Day

Nap without guilt.

Stand Up 2 Cancer
Quote from Newsweek magazine regarding how we are losing the war against cancer:

Cancer is on track to kill 565,650 people in the United States this year--more than 1,500 a day, equivalent to three jumbo jets crashing and killing everyone aboard 365 days a year.

Not surprisingly, the shoes you wear may be bad for your feet. Flip flops, the summer favorite, can lead to plantar fasciitis. Learn more here

For the past couple months I've been suffering through Piriformis syndrome, which is a pinching of the sciatic nerve in my right leg. At first I thought it was a strained muscle, but after experiencing cramping, leg-ling pain, and difficulity walking, I finally got the proper diagnosis. However, modern medical systems being what they are, it took a week to get into the doctor, a week to try an initial cure (stretching), and another 10 days to get an appointment with a physical therapist. Today I was supposed to go in for my first session, but my insurance doesn't cover the therapist my insurance said I should go to (I'm on Kaiser), so I've had to make a new appointment with a Kaiser-specific therapist. The soonest they can see me? June 2nd. Two more weeks of suffering...

Today, April 25th is World Malaria Day. 3000 children PER DAY die from malaria.

InfoGraphic: Why High Heels are Bad for a Woman's Body.

Bad thinking kills when it comes to health. The reasons are legion, but one stands out in particular: the anti-vaccination crowd...

10 Habits of Highly Effective Brains

Today is World AIDS Day

While 17 percent of Coloradans have no medical insurance - about 790,000 people - U.S. Census Bureau figures show that more than three times as many have no dental coverage.

A quarter of all third-graders in the state have untreated dental decay, figures show.

The consequences go beyond the achy jaw or gap-toothed smile, Paulson said.

We visit the dentist twice a year, and have ever since the kids were toddlers. They have a good relationship with their dentist and have had very, very few cavities.

Scientists believe they have finally discovered the purpose of the appendix. It produces "good " germs!

I had one of these pet turtles when I was a teen. I even had the plastic palm-tree aquarium! I'm not sure whether it's good or bad that they are now making a comeback.

I've got a cold. I feel miserable.

Cameo had it.

Sarah had it.

Ben (so far) has avoided getting it.

Fortunately, it should pass soon - maybe in time for the weekend?

I recently purchased an exercise bike and, after Andrew came and assembled it for me, I have been gradually increasing my time riding it. This is one of the recommended forms of exercise for rehabilitating a knee after surgery. It's also good for raisi

Today is the one-year anniversary of my knee replacement surgery.

Today is World AIDS Day. Google has a special link to {product red} with information about the many companies that are selling red products and then donating profits to Bono's campaign to combat AIDS in Af

My allergies have been going haywire this month - itchy eyes, headache, and sneezing. Oh, the sneezing. I haven't sneezed this much in YEARS. Hopefully whatever's growing will die off soon, especally since Posted by Jason to Health 

ShovelGlove - Functional Sledgehammer Exercise in 14 minute's time. This may become my main exercise routine, although I have been trying to take a half hour walk every day, too.