Health Tips

Healthy eating is a challenge in our busy society. It is much more convenient to grab something at a fast food establishment and go! That is not the healthiest way to feed our bodies. It is best to eat a balanced diet. The Department of Agriculture offers a great deal of information on proper diet. It is even age specific and offers great ideas to promote a healthy lifestyle.

Would you believe that evaluating the way the mind and body relate to each other is significant enough to form a study? Well, it is!

Psychoneuroimmunology, which studies the mind-body relationship, has offer up scientific evidence of the effect of your train of thought on your body’s functionality. Essentially, the way we think can and does affect the way we feel.
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Stroke is a blockage of a blood vessel that supplies the brain. Stroke is the third leading cause of death, behind only heart disease and cancer. Each year in the United States 730,000 people suffer a stroke and each year approximately 150,000 of those stroke sufferers die.

There is still, unfortunately, a great deal of misunderstanding about the causes and risks for stroke by the American public. For example, a lot of people believe that stroke only strikes elderly people. In reality, a stroke can strike anybody, at any age. Many people also think that stroke occurs in the heart. Actually, stroke occurs in the brain.
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There are two basic types of lung cancer: non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and small cell lung cancer (SCLC). The type of lung cancer is important because it affects how the disease is treated. Most cases of lung cancer are NSCLC, which generally grows more slowly than SCLC.

Both lung cancer types can be very difficult to treat. By the time patients report symptoms, the disease has often spread to other parts of the body. Common symptoms of lung cancer include persistent cough (often called “smoker’s cough”), breathing problems, blood in sputum, pneumonia and respiratory infections, chest pain, weight loss and fatigue.

When lung cancer is suspected, diagnostic tests such as ultrasound, MRI, CAT scans and PET scans can be useful to assess how far tumors have spread. Bone scans may be performed to determine metastasis to the bones. Needle biopsy is performed to obtain a sample of the cells for microscopic examination.
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Gout is a painful form of arthritis that affects the joints. It most often occurs in middle-age, overweight men who consume large amounts of meat, eggs and other foods that are high in nucleic acid. Men are more prone to having gout than women. Women may be protected from gout by the female hormone estrogen. Men start building uric acid levels during puberty.

However, uric acid does not start accumulating in women until after menopause. Gout attacks are very painful and are caused by too much uric acid (a waste product of the kidneys), which forms crystals in the joint fluid. Certain medicines may also cause gout, such as diuretics, niacin, low doses of aspirin, cyclosporine and some drugs used to treat cancer.

A gout attack usually occurs very suddenly. It often starts at night in the joint. The joint becomes red, feels hot and is painful. Various joints may also be affected by gout. Pain and swelling can last for several days. Frequent gout attacks over many years can lead to tophi, which are soft tissue swellings caused by uric acid crystals. Gout sufferers are also at risk for kidney disease or kidney stones.
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