My colleagues and I have our differences but we definitely agree on one thing – we have all gained weight over the past year. Perhaps it is due to the nature of the job – we lead sedentary lives. More probably, it is due to the fact that we all love to eat together and we do so a lot. In any case, I realized that the weight gain has affected some more than others.
There is this woman who is a good friend and she really has gained a lot of weight, so much so that she is trying out all sorts of things. At first, we just took things lightly and even teased her some. That is, until we all realized the emotional involvement when it comes to weight matters.
Gaining weight or losing weight – both ...
During my vacation a couple of weeks ago, I met some new friends from various countries. Several of them were from North America while one was from Europe. We had the chance to have dinner together and I realized some things while we ate. We had ordered a big meal – we didn’t know that the servings were going to be that big!
As we ate, I noticed that the guys from North America started wolfing down the food while the guy from Europe took his time. The discussion eventually touched on eating habits. The guy from Europe explained that in his country, they took meals leisurely and would sit down for hours at the dinner table. On the other hand, the guys from across the ocean noted that though this is also done in ...
We’ve been hearing things about Google’s latest project, Google Health, for quite some time now. It was not till Monday of this week, however, that the service was launched for the use of the general public. So what is Google Health all about?
Here is what the
Google Bloggers have to say:
It's been a busy week for the Google Health team. Last week we announced our partnership and pilot with the Cleveland Clinic. This week, the team has been at the HIMSS (Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society) conference in Orlando, Florida, where Eric Schmidt gave the closing keynote. Eric's keynote marks the first time we've talked publicly about the product we've been designing and building. His talk also offered a deeper view into our overall health strategy.
Google Health aims to solve an urgent need that dovetails with ...
As mentioned in the previous post, back pain is not a disease in itself, it is usually indicative of some other underlying problem. The truth is that many episodes of back pain disappear within a few weeks – that is the good news. The bad news is that back pain can – and has – baffled doctors for a long time. The key, however, to managing back pain is to identify what is causing it. Here are some of the
most common causes of back pain.
Muscle strain
Have you ever slipped in the bathroom? Or maybe as you were walking on slippery floors? Whatever might have caused some muscle strain, it could be the source of your back pain. Sometimes, you may not even remember the incident that strained your back muscles and you’ll just feel the ...
Up to 90% of all Americans experience back pain at some point in their lives. If you have ever experienced back pain, you know how inconvenient it can be. Pain in the lower back is even more painful. The thing about low back pain is that it is normally a disease in itself. Instead, it is usually indicative of another condition.
This is the start of a short series on back pain. The reason behind this is that I have had lower back pains for a week. I have always had back problems but I have not experienced this kind of pain before and it is seriously hampering my activities. I have been on pain killers for the past few days and even if they do alleviate the pain, it is not totally gone. ...
If you have been paying attention to the ads on many web sites and blogs today, you probably have noticed that many of them pertain to colon cleansing or colon irrigation. I certainly have seen a lot of them recently. This has prompted me to look this thing up and find out if it really has health benefits. After all, if many people are interested in it, it should count for something, right?
What is colon cleansing anyway? It is basically a process wherein your bowels are cleansed thoroughly by ingesting supplements that will loosen and remove build up in your colon. As a result, you would have to do number 2 a lot.
Proponents of colon cleansing believe that the process has a lot of health benefits. These range from removing toxins from the ...
Party people may be familiar with a nightclub drug called Special K. This drug is actually a horse tranquilizer also known as Ketamine. Researchers have published their findings in the Archives of General Psychiatry and claim that Special K could actually help treat people who suffer from depression.
How does the drug work?
Reuters reports:
Ketamine restores to normal the orbifrontal cortex, an area of the brain located above the eyes that is overactive in depressed people.
The area is believed to be responsible for feelings of guilt, dread, apprehension and physical reactions such as a racing heart, said Bill Deakin, who led the study.
"The study results have given us a completely novel way of treating depression and a new avenue of understanding depression," said Deakin, a neuroscientist at the University of Manchester.
I would say that this is heartening news, especially to ...
Next on
Dr. Mao’s list is the use of unbleached paper products. His rationale behind this tip:
Paper products are not naturally white. All white paper products are bleached with chemicals that leave behind a harmful residue of dioxin, a known carcinogen. This residue is found in coffee filters, diapers, lunch bags, napkins, paper towels, tissues and toilet paper. When dioxin enters the landfill as waste, it leaches into the soil, contaminating groundwater.
Sounds good to me. Wouldn’t it feel a bit strange having toilet paper that is not white? Come to think of it, I don’t really see those products in the supermarket all that much. However, the idea of using unbleached paper products – visual aesthetics aside – is a very good one. The question is whether or not these can easily be found where we ...
Is it really? Well, according to
Dr. Mao over at Yahoo Health, this is quite true. He also presents some practical things that we could all do to help the environment and be healthier at the same time. Seeing as we have just recently celebrated Earth Day, this topic is quite appropriate, don’t you think? Let’s take a look at some of Dr. Mao’s suggestions.
Less Plastic, More Health
Lightweight, durable and versatile, plastic is everywhere in our modern world; this is bad news for the environment and our health.
He lists down a lot of things at home which are made of plastic. This prompted me to look through some of my things and he is right! Heck, even this
laptop I am using has a lot of plastic parts. So what’s bad about plastic?
According ...
