Do you have Asthma?

As of September 2008, 22 million people have asthma; 6 million of them are children. Have you ever been checked for it? Asthma is a chronic disease many people suffer from; a lot of people have it and don't even know. It can affect people of all ages, but often starts during childhood. The difference between a person with asthma to a person without is their airways. The purpose of airways is to pump air in and out of the lungs. When a person has asthma there airway is inflamed and often very sensitive. Since the airway is so sensitive a person with asthma will have a strong reaction to certain stimulus.

Some stimuli can be: poor air quality, cigarette smoke, pollen, food allergies, smog, mould, perfumes, some medicines, hormonal changes, cleaning products, dust, stress and exercise.

So what do you do if you have asthma? Prevention is key. Find out what triggers your asthma and avoid it. For example if cat hair, or cleaning products make you wheeze or cough.... avoid it! Another was to control asthma is by using an inhaler; it helps with the wheezing and coughing.

Websites:
http://www.emedicinehealth.com/asthma/article_em.htm
http://www.bbc.co.uk/health/conditions/asthma1.shtml

Videos:
http://www.blogger.com/Understanding%20Asthma

Mobile Phone Dermatitis???

Ever get a rash on your ear? I haven't, but if you have, it could be due to your cell phone! Never thought of that, did you? It could be due to nickel on the surface of your phone. Nickel is a metallic chemical element which is found on the periodic table. The national skin center isn't sure what causes the allergy, but people who are hairdressers, nurses or bankers are more susceptible to the allergy. It looks like any other rash, red and itchy. Usually people notice this rash if you take off a watch or bracelet of some sort and it’s red due to irritation. That is the first sign of the allergy. The body parts most likely to obtain this rash are face, ears, neck, wrist and hands. The rash can become infected if it is not treated properly.

1 in 10 people obtain rashes from long use on their cell phones due to their nickel allergy. If this happens you need to get a new cell phone! To know if your cell phone has nickel in it or not you need to order a kit and test it! Its simple; all you do is dip a Q tip in the solution provided and, if it turns pink, you have nickel in your phone. If for some reason you can't get a new cell phone you can put something over it, use speaker phone or use the head phones they give you. If you do get the rash, all you need to do is get some hydrocortisone and it'll take it right away. The best thing to do is to prevent it once you know you have the allergy. So, if you get a rash near the ear you use your cell phone the most, don't panic, it's easy to treat and very preventable.

Here are some websites; the last one also has a movie.
http://www.blogger.com/Cell%20phone%20allergy?

http://www.blogger.com/National%20Skin%20Center

http://www.blogger.com/Are%20you%20allergic%20to%20your%20cell%20phone

Having a lazy teen could cause more than obesity

We often talk about how much time teenagers and children spend on the couch. We're mostly concerned about their activity levels in fear of them becoming overweight or even obese. Who knew inactivity could also lead to behavioral issues. Now it’s not saying that every child or teenager who spends time in front of the TV will have behavioral issues, just the ones who don't exercise at all. I must say I myself spend a good deal watching TV and movies when I go home, so why do I not have behavioral issues? Answer for me personally is because I'm a collegiate cross country runner; therefore, exercise is not a problem in the least.

In a recent study of children and teens at ages 9-11 the children in the study were moving around for about an hour a day. At age 15, however, only 31% of those surveyed met the guidelines of the government for moving about an hour a day. Just 17% exercised on weekends! In a study I found of over 7,000 teenagers, boys who reported less than 1 hour of activity a week had more symptoms of anxiety, depression and withdrawal than boys who met the guidelines. Inactive girls also had problems with anxiety and depression. Also inactive girls were more likely than the inactive boys to say they had sleeping issues and rule-breaking issues. Also they found that less active teenagers have more social and attention problems.

So why do teenagers become so lazy when only a couple years earlier they couldn't get enough of running around outside playing kickball? Well, here are a couple reasons they no longer have recess after elementary school, and they don’t have a lot of opportunity for spontaneous exercise, and of course, TV and video games are a huge role in the inactivity of teens.So now the question is how do you fix it? Not so hard to figure out the answer, is it? Get those teens out of the house! Sign them up for after school sports or just get them interested in something!

Newstory
Kids&Health