Cause Your Health Counts

Part of your federal tax dollars go to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to support a vast variety of research studies among a group of federal research agencies as well as NIH grants to medical centers and universities. NIH is a branch of the federal government’s Department of Health and Human Services and NIH alone has some 18,000 employees. NIH coordinates research into health issues affecting the American public through 27 institutes, each devoted to research in a particular health area, plus other offices and centers.

The most familiar institute is the National Cancer Institute (NCI), which has the goals to develop techniques for curing cancers with valid treatments, was developed in 1937. NCI also seeks out solutions for managing those cancers that currently can’t be cured and researches the prevention of cancer. Another prominent research branch of NIH, called the National Institute of Mental Health, focuses the study of mental illnesses and basic research about the brain and human behavior.
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Did you know that as many as 30 to 50% of cancer patients undergoing treatment experience pain? Plus, for the patients in advanced stages of cancer, 70 to 90% experience pain as result of the cancer. Why should patients put up with this pain when treatments and other solutions exist? An exploration of the cancer patient’s options may bring surprisingly wonderful relief.

What is pain and how does pain surface in cancer? When the brain receives a message from the nerves about a problem, the body wants to react to whatever is causing the damage. Different treatments bring about different pain signals. For instance, in chemotherapy, the cancerous cells are being killed and this action may signal pain. The damaging force of pain may trigger chronic pain, which is a major stressor attacking the entire person’s well-being from the body to the mind. Another version of pain is breakthrough pain. This style of pain spikes and temporarily increases the dose of pain. Pain does not have to exist and 95% of cancer patients find relief from prescription drugs and other methods.
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With all the medical advancements we have heard of in recent years, we should have a lot of healthy people in our society. There are thousands of treatments and medications to help practically every medical condition known to man. There are even new discoveries being made every day. So why is it that we still have cancer, heart disease and diabetes so common in our day?

Each generation learns new and better ways to care for their bodies and their health. We learn new ways to improve our health and take care of ourselves. So why is it that health costs are rising and more and more people seem to be getting sick? It seems that with all this knowledge, we would have smarter and healthier people but still almost every person you meet has a health problem.
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If you are a wheelchair user yourself, or if you have been asked to assist someone in a wheelchair, some basic hints will help you to assure maximum comfort and safety. There are many specific needs attached to people who are suddenly confined to a wheelchair because of changes in the personal or environmental circumstances in their lives. You may want to familiarize yourself with these in case such times arise for you or for someone you need to assist. Here are some considerations which you might have to keep in mind in these circumstances.

Any one who enjoys sitting outside on a nice, sunny day will have to take extra precautions if they are confined to a wheelchair for any length of time. Just putting a bit of sunscreen on will not do it. There are certain materials used in the construction of wheelchairs that do not do well when exposed to direct sunlight. The metal and plastic on a wheelchair can become hot and cause burns, so you should keep a wheelchair in the shade in order to avoid injury.
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Sleep disorders hit about 36% of the American population. Grogginess isn’t the only side effect of not getting a good night’s rest ~ lack of sleep puts some people at risk for developing diabetes. This can start a vicious circle whereby people with diabetes have a harder time getting a good night’s sleep. Many doctors recommend natural ways, such as changing one’s sleeping environment and changing bad habits, to get over sleep disorders. When diabetics use these techniques, they often find that they can sleep better and even reduce their diabetes.

Diabetes and sleep disturbances go hand in hand, according to studies by National Institute of Mental Health and American Diabetes Association. Basically, since diabetes changes how your body processes insulin, people with diabetes have metabolisms that aren’t well balanced. (To back up, insulin is a hormone that converts starch and sugar into energy.) Awakening un-refreshed from a night’s sleep
tends to trigger the body to miscalculate how much insulin should be produced. Also, when the body’s glucose (sugar) levels are off, the body tends to not respond well to sleep and quality is compromised.
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Most of us find that almost eight hours of sleep provides us with sufficient rest. At times, though, it is difficult to fall asleep. This inability to sleep readily can be due to anxiety, depression, excitement, a sleep disorder, or environmental disturbances such as a dog barking, traffic noise, and the like.

If you would like to get to sleep sooner and stay asleep longer, these tips might be able to help:

BUY an all natural herbal sleep mix that helps soothe nerves.

1. Have your last heavy or major meal of the day no later than six pm. A heavy meal that is greasy or has high sugar content can make your stomach do extra work and keep you awake. If you must eat in the late evening, have a light snack of some veggies, fruit, or a little cereal and milk. This will keep your digestive from overworking when you should be sleeping.
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You want to live long and to be healthy for the rest of your life. Therefore a healthy eating is exactly what your body needs for being in shape and to be sure you don’t get any disease. There are some diseases which are generic and you get them without taking care of your eating habits. Diabetes, lung cancer or heart disease are affections that can be prevented with healthy eating, a proper diet.

We are offering you a list of foods that will help your life and increase your health, be it mind of body.

~ Boron - for the bones - is a mineral used for calcium absorption. It’s women that need it very much because of the enhanced activity of the estrogen cells to help the formation of bones. It can be found in grapes, pears, apples, peas, broccoli, peanuts or raisins.
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Junk food is a common term used for any food that is consider to be unhealthy and has low or poor nutritional value. Examples of junk food may include, but are not limited to hamburgers, pizza, candy, soda and salty foods like potato chips and French fries.

A diet rich in junk food is not recommended by various government and non-profit health organizations. The term has been used by many different groups over the years including opponents of fast food industries and environmentalists.

Junk food nevertheless remains very popular because it is relatively cheap to manufacture, easy to purchase, is convenient to consume, and has a lot of flavor because of its typically high fat, sodium, or sugar content. Its nutritional value is very high in empty calories. Junk food also may contain numerous food additives, which are used to enhance flavor, adjust texture, alter color, and prevent spoilage. For this reason many junk foods are also convenient in that they have very long shelf lives and often do not require any kind of refrigeration.
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The modern Western world focuses on primarily physical health, to the exclusion of emotional, mental and spiritual health. But people are slowly realizing that all these dimensions are interrelated. That is the reason why many people today, even in the West are turning to practices from the ancient Eastern cultures to help them achieve better health.

Tai chi, yoga, ayurveda, acupuncture and many other ancient practices focus on not just physical health but also the spiritual, mental, and emotional health of a person. The East has long based its healing practices on the understanding that we are much more than just our physical bodies, and that our spirit, mind and emotions play an important role in our health and well being. People in the West are slowly recognizing the veracity of such a view and these days, many are turning to ancient practices from the East to help them feel better.
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Nutrition refers to the foods and substances we need to consume on a daily basis to maintain a healthy body. Nutrition has become increasingly important for many people since the USDA began its effort to determine what is good for us and what might be dangerous for us to eat. We as individuals also have a responsibility for our own nutrition, however. We need to learn how to nurture ourselves and to keep our bodies healthy and functioning at their highest levels.

We can determine our nutritional needs by becoming educated about what our individual and family needs are. We can then use that knowledge when we purchase, prepare, and consume different foods.

It is often the case that we need more in the way of vitamins and minerals than we do calories. In most cases, we choose to consume manufactured vitamins and minerals to help us fill this gap. Actions such as these represent a part of our nutritional knowledge, but gaining a comprehensive understanding of the nutrition spectrum takes time. There are so many elements in the body, and all of them are included in different quantities.
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