Although not as dramatic as foot binding, we can’t say that we don’t do harmful things to our bodies anymore, all in the name of beauty. Just look at the precarious high heels that many women wear that are known to cause problems like hammertoes and bunions.

Believe it or not though, it’s not just shoes. Doctors are discovering that even tight, so-called skinny jeans can cause pain and nerve damage. The tight clothing presses on a nerve that goes down through the groin and into the leg, causing numbness and/or pain. To understand how this happens, click on the TV screen below to watch a CBS news clip where Dr. Jennifer Ashton discusses what can happen:

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Post from: Blisstree

Is Your Style Causing You Pain?

Benjamin’s family has had a history of what she calls “preventable diseases,” and even remarked that the reason her family couldn’t be there was because they all had struggled and lost to things like high blood pressure, diabetes, and lung cancer. This background will no doubt make her that much more determined to spread the word for us all to take care of ourselves.

Image: sxc.hu.

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Obama’s Choice for Surgeon General

Rolling your own cigarettes is something that gives you a bit of control, you may think, and it may save money as the end result can be less expensive while limiting the amount of extra stuff added by the cigarette companies. But the researchers discovered that although the rolled cigarettes may be cheaper, they aren’t any safer.

According to this article, Roll-your-own Cigarettes As Deadly As Ready Mades ,

There were no differences in the concentrations of the toxins between manufactured and RYO [roll your own] cigarette smokers even when age, sex, body mass index, puffing behaviour and nicotine exposure were taken into account.

Another important finding is that women tended to have higher levels of toxins in their body, regardless of if they smoked store-bought cigarettes or they rolled their own.

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image courtesy PhotoXpress.com

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Rolling Your Cigs Just as Bad as Buying

Pillows are often bought quickly, by feel in a store. But when you bring that pillow home, is it really as comfortable as you thought it would be? Is it right for your particular style of sleeping?

After years of not being able to find a comfortable pillow, I finally found one by pure chance. I was traveling back from North Carolina and we stayed in a hotel in PA. The pillows were - to me - the most comfortable ones I’d ever used in my life. As soon as we got home, I went on line and ordered two. They weren’t cheap, but they made my quality of sleep much, much better.

But how do you know if your sleep position is making you uncomfortable during the day and if so, what can you do about it? This article, Sleep On It , is very informative. The author writes about the different sleep positions and the stretching you can do in the morning to help alleviate tightness or discomfort that may have developed overnight.

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Sleep Positions, Stretching May Reduce Pain

But, while people - politicians, ethicists, and just about everyone - debate it, others are finding themselves in the position of having to make that decision, with or without legal blessing. This is what Sir Edward Downes, a renowned conductor, and his wife Joan did after traveling from their home in the United Kingdom to an assisted suicide clinic in Switzerland.

Sir Edward was almost blind and deaf and Mrs. Downes had terminal cancer. The couple had been married for 54 years. They ended their lives, dying hand-in-hand with their adult children at their side.

The Downes’ and their family had to make the trip because assisted suicide, the way they chose to end their lives, is not legal in the United Kingdom. You can read the story of their  in this article, Musician and wife commit suicide.

What do you think? Should it be legal? Do you think it’s a good idea? Or is it a slippery slope to who knows what?

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.Image courtesy PhotoXpress.com

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UK Couple Commit Assisted Suicide

One of the complications caused by gastric bypass surgery is the change in the bacterial flora of the stomach - the natural bacteria that you need to stay healthy. Researchers studied 44 patients who had had the bypass and who were given either probiotics or a placebo.

The results showed that after 6 months, the patients who had taken the probiotics did better than those who didn’t. They also lost weight more quickly than the patients who didn’t take probiotics, but eventually, that group did catch up in weight loss.

The abstact of the study is available at the journal’s website .

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Probiotics Help Gastric Bypass Surgery

One of the people I always wondered about was Michael Jackson. He only admitted to two nose jobs, but it was obvious that couldn’t be true. I think denying the work he had done only made the public that much more curious. Since he was someone that really transformed his entire appearance, it seemed silly to deny it.

Of course, part of it is self-esteem and privacy. To put it bluntly, it’s none of our business. Celebs don’t have to tell the truth, because it’s really no one’s concern but their own. Still, it certainly is refreshing when they do.

Now that Michael Jackson has passed, his doctor has spoken out about his surgeries. Surprisingly, he confirmed that Michael did have a severe case of vitiligo. For some reason, this is one thing I always wondered about since it was obvious he was lying about the nose jobs, I just assumed he was lying about the vitiligo. (The dangers of lying.)

Michael, rest his soul, sought to get a certain kind of physical perfection through plastic surgery. It’s been confirmed by this doctor that, “He came in approximately every two months. It was about 10 to 12 surgeries in two years, while I was there.” The doctor continues by saying he “had multiple nose jobs, cheek implants and he had a cleft put in his chin. He had eyelid surgery … You name it he had it.” He also says Michael had far too many surgeries, trying to correct things that didn’t need correcting.

Image: Zuma Press

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Michael Jackson’s Plastic Surgeries

heart disease is the leading cause of death among women over 65. American women are 4 to 6 times more likely to die of heart disease than of breast cancer. Heart disease kills more women over 65 than all cancers combined.

To watch a video on how women need to be more aware of their risk of heart disease, click on this TV screen:

And to watch a video on coronary heart disease itself, click on this TV screen:

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Video Tuesday: Women and Heart Disease

Add one to the Duh Study File:

According to researchers in Oklahoma, children burn triple the number of calories if they’re playing a video game that requires moving about - such as some of the Nintendo Wii system games, than they do while sitting still and watching television.

These findings were published in the August issue of the medical journal Pediatrics.

While playing the games aren’t the same as getting outside and getting some good activity going, such as bike riding or playing tag, they may have their place in situations where children may not be able to go outside, such as when the weather is bad.

That being said though - the games must be active and likely shouldn’t be used as a replacement for real exercise.

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A Duh Study: Active Video Games Better…

I mentioned it, at one point, to my daughter who felt I was just being crotchety, but when I heard that she (RR) was having problems, I really wasn’t surprised. What did surprise me was how long she went before she did have the surgery.

Vocal cords are something we take for granted. We’re born, we make sounds, make our vocal cords vibrate and we’re on our way to communicating with others. But for many people, something happens to those cords and communicating through sound becomes more complex.

The cords aren’t really cords, but two bands of tough tissue found at the top of your trachea. When they vibrate and air passes, this results in sound. Normally, this works well. But some people, such as singers, use their vocal cords so much that they can become damaged. They can also be damaged through smoking or inhaling certain types of chemicals, as well as excessive shouting and even coughing.

The problems may range from polyps (growths of tissue) on the cords to paralysis.

If you find your voice becoming hoarse or raspy and it doesn’t seem to be getting any better, it’s best you get this checked by your doctor. You might be sent to an ear, nose and throat specialist, called an otolaryngologist, who may be able to diagnose and treat the problem.

Treatment usually begins with conservative management - resting your voice, for example. You could be sent for vocal coaching, helping you use your vocal cords in another manner. Or, surgery may be needed.

It seems that in Rachel Ray’s case, there was a benign cyst on her vocal cords, a cyst that is not cancerous. This was removed by surgery. According to People Magazine, she must now rest her voice for a week.

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Image: Newscom.com

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Rachel Ray: Vocal Cord Surgery