How healthy

Canine-911!

2013-08-19T11:59:00.001-07:00

Fantastic Conversions And Easy Promotion - Save Your Dogs's Life By Learning Simple Canine First Aid And Healthcare Saving $$$ Off Vet's Bills. Great Product Reviews

“Discover A Book About Dogs That Will Save Your Dog's Life
And Save $$$s off your Vet’s Bills!”

" ...92% of Dogs Will Experience A Life-Threatening Emergency During Their Lifetime"

Don't Risk It! – Discover The Easy First Aid Secrets That WillSAVE YOUR DOG'S LIFE...

*"Most Dogs Die From Illness and Injury Than From Old-Age. YOUR ACTION In The Next Five Critical Minutes Could Mean The Difference Between THEIR Life And DEATH..."*

OVER 51,310 COPIES HAVE ALREADY SAVED
THE LIVES OF MANY BELOVED COMPANIONS!

"Canine-911 is a must-have, must-read book for any dog owner. Canine CPR, first-aid, burns, poisoning, electrocution can happen on any day and the right response done right away can make all the difference. Keep a copy in your kennel...It really is a great book."
www.dogster.com

Dear Fellow Dog Lover,

My name is Rebecca Prince and if you will allow me just a few minutes of your time I will share with you essential knowledge that will save your dog’s life - and yet most dog owners don't know it.
How would YOU feel if a simple thing YOU COULD HAVE DONE would have saved your beloved dog's life, if only you had known it? How would YOU feel if your dog died from something that could easily have been prevented or treated, but wasn’t …because you didn’t know how?
Twice as many dogs die from injury, accident or illness than die from old-age, and what YOU know or don’t know can mean the difference between THEIRlife and death.

The first five minutes after your dog becomes ill or gets injured are the most critical - Don't find yourself watching your dog die from something that could have been prevented or treated if only you had the knowledge to do something about it! Wouldn't you want to do all in your power to keep your dog safe and healthy?

This is a book about dogs you can't afford NOT to have...

"...having read your fantastic book, I knew immediately how to react when Charlie started choking. He has fully recovered but could have died if I had been unaware of the danger and how to treat him. Our vet, Roger praised my quick actions and now recommends your book to all his clients." Jeff Martin. Lynn MA

"Canine-911!"

"Canine-911!" is a book about dogs that is full of such vital information, we would recommend every dog owner has a copy of this book handy at all times. Your dog's life may depend on it."
www.ohmydogsupplies.com

Written in plain, easy-to-understand English - with no complicated instructions - this information could prove vital to your pet's life. It's extremely user friendly with all the information laid out in a clear, concise way so that you can find what you need -when you need it!

Millions of dogs die each year from accidents and injuries. The truth is that many of these deaths could have been prevented if only their owners had taken a very short time to know what to do in an emergency. It has been estimated that 92% of all pets will experience some type of severe emergency situation over the course of their lifetime.

Now you can use a breakthrough new book about dogs health, written for dog owners, detailing step-by-step canine first aid and healthcare.

Of course, First Aid is no substitute for trained veterinary care, but even the best vet in the world will not be able to save your dog if he dies before you get professional medical attention.

Too many dogs are dying as a result of owners that didn’t invest a short time to learn basic canine First Aid, how to tell if their dog is unwell or learn exactly what their dog needs. Millions of pets are dying - through their owners ignorance! Would YOU let your dog be one of them?

Make Sure That YOUR Dog Is Not One Of The Unfortunate Ones Whose Owner Didn't Know How To Help Them In Emergencies Or How To Identify The Early Signs Of Illness

Ask yourself these questions:

Would YOU know what to do if your dog was choking?
Would YOU know what to do if your dog was bleeding?
Would YOU know what to do if your dog was suffering from shock?
Would YOU know what to do if your dog was bitten?
Would YOU know what to do if your dog's leg was broken?
Would YOU know what to do if your dog was suffering from heatstroke?
And in all of the above would YOU know what NOT TO DO?

You owe it to your dog to have this information NOW. When your dog is dying and you can't save them because you don't know how, it will be too late. Can you see how important it is to have this knowledge?

There are fundamental mistakes that many dog owners make that can cause severe suffering in their pets, but thanks to our super-easy guide, made for regular people who are complete novices it will take you just a short time to learn what these are, and to gain the knowledge that can save the life of your pet - it will mean that they can continue to be your trusted companion for a very long time to come.

*"Fantastic! – every dog owner should have one."*
www.bowzer.biz

Your dog can't tell you if something is wrong, so it is up to you to have this knowledge yourself - It Is YOUR Responsibility!

"Your book has given me the knowledge and confidence to understand and treat minor ailments at home without running to the vet everytime. As well as saving my goldie, you have saved loads off my vet's bill. Sincere thanks." Emily Jarvis, La Jolla CA

Order Now From Amazon.com

Or download electronically for Kindle, E-Reader or PDFCLICK HERE

The death of a pet is a terrible thing to have to deal with. Unless you have been through it yourself no-one else can understand your pain.

After having lived with dogs for sixty-five years, Konrad Lorenz, the great expert on animal behavior, said: "It is one of the cruelties of this world that the longevity of our dogs is shorter than ours."
The reason behind this great sadness is that there is no another living animal that is so similar to us, that treats us with such great affection, never betrays us, and loves us unconditionally.
It is your responsibility to return this love, by providing only the best care for your dog. You can only do this by caring properly for them, having an increased awareness of their needs and problems, and by having the confidence and knowledge to understand their injuries and illnesses and give them the necessary treatment. You now have this knowledge.

"Rebecca, I am utterly convinced that you have saved McFly's life. I was able to react immediately when he got caught in razor wire and was losing a lot of blood. It was only through knowing what to do from Canine 911 that I was able to treat him until we could get him to the animal hospital. My vet said that without my initial treatment McFly could have died. He is now as happy and healthy as a Cocker should be. I can't thank you enough." Daniel Reid, Sydney NSW

"Canine-911!" lets you have the insider information to give emergency First Aid, to correctly look after your pet, and to identify early stages of illness. Without this knowledge your pet may well become one of the unfortunate dogs that suffers severe pain and an early death through their owners lack of knowledge.

"Canine-911!" is perfect for both beginners and advanced dog owners too! It's a book about dogs written in plain English and detailed in bite-size chunks so you can easily read, understand and apply these vital First Aid secrets, regardless of experience.

Remember - Your Pet's Health is YOUR Responsibility!

Please do not make the mistake of waiting too long before you act! You need to have this information to hand BEFORE your dog has an emergency YOU have to deal with!

*"Canine-911! provides all dog owners with a knowledgeable guide that could help save your dog's life.* This book is very easy to understand and offers extensive information accessible at the tip of your fingers. All this information is crucial to owning a puppy, and could help you in a time of need. The DailyPuppy.com recommends "Canine-911!" to all our members!"
www.DailyPuppy.com

Because emergencies happen every day, I want as many people as possible to benefit from my experience and research and to gain the essential knowledge that will save the life of their pet.

"Canine-911!" is your step-by-step survival guide to the most common medical emergencies that you will face as a dog owner, so that you have the confidence to react promptly and effectively, treat injuries, ease pain, and even save your pet's life...

In "Canine-911!" You Will Discover:

	What to do if your dog stops breathing, if your dog is choking or their heart stops (this one piece of information alone can save the life of your dog)

	How to deal with fractures and broken bones

	How to treat your dog for shock - (Shock is the cause of most deaths following an accident - discover exactly what to do to ensure that your pet survives)

	Bleeding wounds (How to stop bleeding fast and effectively)

	The 3 most common reasons for visiting your veterinarian - how you can diagnose these ailments and treat them easily at home (this alone will save you $$$)

	The perfect body temperature, heart beat and respiration ranges for your dog and how to check them. (With this information you can spot illness or trauma while there's still time to prevent your dog's death)

	Which common canine condition is the cause of many stress, aggression and behavioral problems - (how to recognise it and the simple way to cure it)

	The common household and garden plants that are DEADLY to your dog

	The two extremes of temperature, heatstroke and hypothermia. (How you should immediately respond - and what you SHOULDN'T do).

	The common viruses that will kill your dog and what you can do to prevent them

	The food items you should never, ever feed your dog, that can cause sickness at best and death at worst

	What to do if your dog is poisoned (What you need to do- and the WORST thing you can do).

In addition you get almost 140 pages of tips, treatments, essential information and secrets most dog owners will never know. "Canine-911!" will show you how to save your dog's life in emergencies and is a comprehensive book about your dog's health, happiness and vitality without which you could unknowingly cause your beloved pet's early death.

If you already own a dog or are thinking of getting a dog then "Canine-911!" is the next thing you should get.

Order Now From Amazon.com

Can't Wait? Click Here For Instant Access!

Download electronically for Kindle, E-Reader or PDFCLICK HERE

"...every (now very occassional) time we go to the vet she is amazed at what good shape he is in. His allergies have now completely cleared up and his coat once dry and patchy is simply beautiful. I love my dog and want to care for him the best I can. Thank you for making this possible." Carol Richards. Cirencester UK

Do NOT allow your pet to suffer needlessly

Acting now may be the most important decision of your dog's life!

Rebecca Prince

Your best-friend trusts you to do all in your power so the two of you are together for many years to come - are you honoring that trust?

CLICK HERE to download Canine-911! for Kindle, E-Reader or PDF

New Natural Health And Wellness Product Launch - Earn 50 % Commission

2013-08-19T11:54:00.002-07:00

The Total Health and Wellness Guide is the "TOOL"
that allows you to TAKE CHARGE of your Health!

It is YOUR...

Natural Disease
Prevention Plan

Natural Healing
Program

Natural Weight Loss Product

The time is now to add healing or prevention to your life!!

Research shows that the human body's ability to function in a healthy way rests on its ability to stay in balance. The body has to maintain a delicate balance of fluids, chemicals, living organisms and energy. Since all of the body's cells are interconnected and interdependent, a loss of pH balance can lead to serious health consequences!

pH and the Body's Cells

Various parts of the human body have different optimal pH levels. The saliva and blood for instance are neutral but the gastric juices inside the stomach are very acidic with a pH of about 1.5. which helps the stomach to perform its functions optimally. However, when the pH inside the human body is lower than it should be approximately 6.9 being too acidic, the human body becomes a breeding ground for Cancer and other diseases to flourish!!

HOW?

The Total Health and Wellness Guide will give you the best of all you need to achieve less acid levels in the human body and a more alkaline state or healthy pH balance.

Research has proven that a 7.5 pH level in the human body is the optimum level and gives you the best alkaline condition in the body!

Research has also shown that cancer cells die in water that is higher in alkaline levels and the conclusion is that the human body is at least 75% water and if we are at a pH level of 7.0 -7.5 - cancer cells will die in our bodies as well!!

PREVENTION - PREVENTION - PREVENTION - is our best medication!!!

		WHY?
		The sick get sicker as we ingest unnatural prescribed medicines that 1) treat only the symptoms of disease, 2) puts harmful ingredients into our bodies, and 3) generate new illnesses and side effects.

THESE ARE FACTS - SCIENTIFICALLY PROVEN...

...and the team at the Total Health and Wellness Guide have completed 9 months of diligent research to create this 7-step guide and it can be yours for a ridiculously low price.

BELOW IS YOUR 7-STEP GUIDE TO TOTAL HEALTH AND WELLNESS

The first step in alkalizing your body is a healthy mindset. The question then is how does one develop a healthy mindset? A healthy mind is developed by creating and maintaining a regular practice of sustained relaxation and focused meditation thus producing balance within your emotional and mental life. Step 1 offers a program created in three parts.


Part 1 :	Part one will teach you to master the art of relaxation.
Part 2 :	Part two is created to bring you into a high degree of "peace of mind".
Part 3 :	Part three will help you master the art of meditation.

	As a bonus we have also included the most relaxing meditation music designed specifically to fit this program.


	Though our team made this item number two it could have easily been the number one item in the Total Health and Wellness Guide. Drinking half of your body weight in ounces of alkaline water is one of the best things you can do to raise the pH level in your body. Our team has discovered a water system that naturally removes harmful pathogens and toxins including sodium fluoride while carefully preserving the natural and beneficial minerals that other water treatment technologies like reverse osmosis, and other alkaline water systems can strip away. This water system also creates natural alkaline pH levels that other water systems do artificially through electricity, creating the risk for harmful side effects. People drinking this water have reported : Stabilized blood sugar levels, decreasing insulin requirements Improvements in both high and low blood pressure Clearer vision Reduced allergy symptoms Less headaches Glowing skin


	You can never experience total health and wellness until you have rid your body of all toxins that invade your body on a daily basis from your intake of toxic infused ingredients in your foods and beverages, and your exposure to poisonous elements inside and outside of your homes. The team at Total Health and Wellness Guide has discovered the best body cleansing program that you can do easily with basic ingredients you may already have on your grocery list. This program detoxifies and de-acidifies your entire body to the cellular levels where other detox systems fail to do.


		Proper Eating
		Contrary to popular belief, all fruits and vegetables are not good for all people. Some meats, fish and poultry are good for some but harmful to others. There are three unique factors of eating which determine what foods you should and should not eat. Eating according to these three unique factors will: make you feel better in your overall health and well being create a highly alkalized condition in your body higher energy levels, clearer vision blood sugar levels balanced, sharper thinking and improved memory and a long list of other health benefits. Step 4 includes a solid scale for you to know which foods you should and should not eat based on the three unique factors.


		Food Preparation
		Believe it or not, how you prepare your food and what is in your food is critical in maintaining total health and wellness. Everything you need to prepare your food in the healthiest way possible and to keep all the foods life giving properties in-tact, are in this section of the Total Health and Wellness Guide for you to begin implementing a healthy way of preparing your food. This section of the Total Health and Wellness Guide also includes information you need in order to know and identify harmful foods and food additives and how to avoid them.


	Everyone should be aware of the importance of good sleeping patterns. Good sleeping patterns will afford you: less stress in your life, mental physical and emotional well-being, sharper and clearer thinking, rejuvenationof the bodies organs & systems, and a host of other benefits. Proper sleep is an undisputed requirement for everyone's life. Step 5 includes the most comprehensive guide that teaches the proper sleeping patterns to create a healthier you.

	Once you have all of the above in tow, it is time for you to implement a daily routine of exercise to keep your body functioning at optimum levels by: Reducing acid levels is the body! Building muscle while eliminating fat. Making the mind and internal organs function at their peak. Raises Seratonin (the feel good hormone that the brain produces) levels in the body. Adding years to your life. Step 6 includes a dynamic 7 day workout video series showing you a wide range of full body exercises that you can do from the comfort of your own home.


	An organized and well time-managed life can save your life. A life that has organization and time management challenges will be a life that operates under added levels of stress which causes acid levels to increase in the body. Step 7 includes the best time management video series as well as organization material that is worth the price of this entire guide alone.

CONGRATULATIONS!!!!

The 7-steps to the Total Health and Wellness Guide is now complete and now you are well on your way to having less levels of acid in your body and increase levels of alkaline which will decrease your chances immensely for developing cancer and other diseases as well as reversing any illness in your body that you may already have acquired!!

THERE'S MORE...

However, you must maintain the quality of your health and the higher levels of alkaline you have created in your body through a proper maintenance program. Our team has put together a maintenance program that consists of three sub steps, which you will find easy to implement.


	Eating all your fruits and vegetables and drinking water is only part of the formula in maintaining your total health and wellness. You will have to eat pounds of fruits and vegetables to get the necessary nutrients your body needs to function properly. Substep 1 has the perfect outlet for you to get the entire gamut of all-natural vitamin, mineral supplements that you will need but also at wholesale price. NEVER PAY FULL PRICE AGAIN! You will save $100's of dollars a year.


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	BONUS 2 is targeted to those with more than a few extra pounds. It is a natural weight loss program that is easy to implement into your daily routine that complements the Total Health and Wellness Guide in helping you get to your desired weight.


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	HURRAY !!

	The Total Health and Wellness Guide is now complete. This guide was originally priced for $299.00. But we at the Total Health and Wellness Guide are not selling this unique opportunity to you for that price.
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This is a digital product. Once purchased you will have access to download all the products. You will need to download all components during this visit.

If you have any questions regarding the guide, you can contact us and we would be happy to answer any inquiries you might have.


1)	This Product will be delivered via direct download links organized as was presented in the 7 steps presented.

2)	The time for each component to be delivered will range between several seconds to several minutes with the largest file taking as long as 4 minutes.

DISCLAIMER: Everybody's body is different, you should consult with your doctor to find out if the above mentioned information is right for you and pursue with caution. In no way shape or form are we at Total Health and Wellness Guide advocating the discontinuation of any medical treatment until you have consulted with your doctor or health care practitioner. We the individuals at Total Health and Wellness Guide hold no responsibility for your results either positive or negative and the information above is to serve as information only and require your direct research and judgment for your own Total Health and Wellness. The results of the research that the Total Health and Wellness Guide team have put together have not been evaluated by the FDA so they should not be construed as medical proof OR ADVICE AND YOU AGREE THAT YOU ARE DOING THE TOTAL HEALTH AND WELLNESS GUIDE ON YOUR OWN FREE WILL AND YOU ARE RESPONIBBLE FOR THE RESULTS OF THE PROGRAM BOTH POSITIVE OR NEGATIVE AND THE TEAM OF THE TOTAL HEALTH AND WELLNESS GUIDE ARE NOT!

Richardson Cancer Diet By Dr. Janet Hull

2013-08-19T11:32:00.002-07:00

The Richardson Cancer Prevention Diet

Hi. I am Dr. Janet Starr Hull. At this website I introduce you to the late Dr. John Richardson, M.D. and his pioneering work in the alternative cancer industry. I revived Dr. Richardson's cancer prevention program in the Richardson Cancer Prevention Diet. This book combines Dr. Richardson's case histories, philosophies, and approach to cancer prevention, along with "old-fashioned" dietary principles that may save your health or help the life of someone you love.

Dr. Richardson's dietary plan rediscovered medical history. In the 1960's he revealed:

Cyanide-containing vitamin B 17 arrested, enclosed, and even prevented cancer
A lack of digestive enzymes was a major contributing factor at the root of cancer

"Instead of patients spending their final days or years butchered in surgical theaters or micro-waved in chemotherapy and radiation rooms," Dr. Richardson wrote in 1977, "I have witnessed my patients experiencing an improved quality of life and enjoyment in their remaining time."

What You Will Learn From The Cancer Prevention Diet:

Info about Dr. Richardson and his pioneering work into alternative cancer treatments

What natural foods and vitamins help your body fight cancer

Nutritional recommendations to maintain a healthy life

Case histories of people who have "cured" their cancer

What The Richardson Cancer Diet is NOT About

A claim to "cure" cancer

A replacement for your current doctor or cancer treatment

A one-shot solution to rid your body of illness and disease

The Richardson Cancer Prevention Diet is an excellent resource to inform you of the natural foods and supplements that can assist your body in maintaining a healthy lifestyle, and in reducing the stress, fear, and anxiety of cancer.

This Alternative Cancer Diet Provides:

Nutritional recommendations that you can share with your doctor, family and friends
A healthy, natural way of eating for all ages
Information about the proper supplements needed to prevent cancer and aid in cancer recovery

Often times today, the foods that we eat are filled with toxic elements that can create "negative" health symptoms and cancer. When you become aware of the benefits of natural foods, you can change your diet to experience wellness.

The Richardson Cancer Prevention Diet is a safe aid to any cancer treatment you are currently receiving. If you don't have cancer, or if you have had cancer in the past, the Richardson Cancer Prevention Diet is a perfect resource to help maintain a natural, healthy lifestyle while supporting your body's immune system.

How Does The Cancer Prevention Diet Work?

The Richardson Cancer Prevention Diet uses specific vitamins and minerals from natural foods, plus digestive enzymes, to aide in the prevention of cancer and in cancer recovery - vitamins such as B15 and B17.

Dr. Richardson never stopped believing that it is not the cancer that kills, but the breakdown of the body's own defense mechanism. If the body's pancreatic enzymes and vitamin and mineral levels are adequate, according to Dr. Richardson, the immune system can actually help keep cancerous cells in check.

Who Should Use The Richardson Cancer Prevention Diet?

Anyone with or without cancer should learn about The Richardson Cancer Prevention Diet. This eating program offers sound nutritional advice for everyone of all ages. It is even safe for your pets.

What Is B17?

Vitamin B17 is a natural cyanide-containing compound that gives up its cyanide content only in the presence of a particular enzyme group called beta glucosidase. Miraculously, this enzyme group is found almost exclusively in cancer tissue, which results in the cancer's failure to survive the cyanide. There are no known harmful side effects of B17, and the cyanide in B17 does not affect non-cancerous cells.

Where Can I Find Vitamin B17?

Fruits are exceptionally high in B17, some fruits are higher than others. Wild varieties are higher in nutrients than crossbred varieties. For example, wild chokecherries, cranberries, and crabapples are much higher in B17 than their hybrid counterparts. A list of foods containing B17 and resources to purchase B17 are provided in The Richardson Cancer Prevention Diet book.

Chapter 1: The Richardson Cancer Prevention Diet
Chapter 2: Cancer Prevention Tools
Chapter 3: The Little Cyanide Cookbook
Chapter 4: Morale Food
Chapter 5: Nutrition Case Histories
Resources: Additional Resources and Further Reading

About Dr. Janet Hull and The Richardson Cancer Prevention Diet

In 1991, Dr. Janet Hull was diagnosed with an incurable case of Grave's Disease. She elected to cure herself using nutrition, and succeeded within thirty days. During her research into her Grave's Disease and holistic healing methodologies, Dr. Hull discovered Dr. Richardson's cancer diet and was intrigued.

She located the original research from which Dr. Richardson first gained his medical knowledge, along with exploring further "The Richardson Diet." After digging through a number of esteemed, vintage medical journals, she located Richardson's son and uncovered the rare, original documents outlining Dr. Richardson's dietary plan. It turned out she rediscovered medical history and now shares that history with you. Read more about Dr. Hull here.

The Richardson Cancer Prevention Diet is an affective, easy, and safe way to help your body resist modern diseases. The Richardson Cancer Prevention Diet will help you restore your health, gain energy, and purify your body, mind, and spirit.

Eliminate beliefs about the Fever.

2012-10-30T10:09:00.007-07:00

       Mary E. Frank, a professor at the University of California. In San Francisco. Say that what you think about Fever may hurt you have here is a misunderstanding six aspects of her illuminating in the book "Bottom Line Health"

1.temperature is usually 37.0 degrees Celsius
at Actually, all natural body temperature is slightly different. And temperature may also vary by time of day. Or when you are older.

2. Fever means infection always
no. Something other than an infection can cause your body temperature increases as dehydration symptoms of hormone imbalance and cancer

3. you should always take medicine to treat fever.
totally different. Because fever is a natural defense. Some doctors and was advised to leave it as is. Just remember to drink plenty of water if the temperature exceeds 40 degrees (for adults) are gradually taking to treat

4. Aspirin is the drug of choice for treatment of fever
medicines are sold in pharmacies, such as aspirin or a Zeta amino Stephen works equally well with children but should not be used.

5. If you have a fever, you are contagious
if you have a fever. It does not mean that you are contagious. And when you are contagious. You may not have a fever or a fever, do not take the approach that you should stay away from others or not.

6.Every honest thermometer temperature.
actually thermometer's mercury. Followed by a digital double that ... Lisa.

How To Make Your Own Muesli – It’s Stupid Easy

2012-10-25T10:53:00.003-07:00

I’ve explained before that muesli is my favorite alternative to traditional breakfast cereal. It’s minimally processed, has no added sugar and when made properly is quite tasty. The only problem is that these are features that food companies hate, because most people won’t buy it. This makes it difficult to find muesli, particularly a high-quality version at a reasonable price.

Luckily it’s stupid easy to make your own muesli. Doing it yourself is also a lot cheaper and lets you customize your mix to your preferences. All you need is some rolled grains (oats or a mixed cereal like I use here) and an assortment of nuts and dried fruits of your choosing—you don’t need a real recipe.

In the mix above I chose a 5 grain cereal that I found at my local market. I picked up a simple nut mix of roasted and lightly salted nuts, some extra hazelnuts (because I love them), some golden raisins and some dried currants. It turned out AWESOME, way better than the expensive stuff I normally buy.

I used to always eat my muesli mixed with a little plain yogurt, but these days I’ve preferred to just pour a little in a bowl, add some water and microwave it for 2 minutes. It comes out like the tastiest oatmeal you’ve ever had. I sprinkle a little cinnamon on top, and maybe add a splash of almond milk and it is amazing. If you’re still acclimating to the lack of sugar in muesli, you can try stirring in a spoonful of peanut butter, low sugar jam or a drizzle of honey.

Lastly, I love these POP containers by OXO. They come in a bunch of different sizes and shapes, and do a great job of keeping foods fresh. I use them to store all my beans, lentils, grains, dried chilies and other pantry items.

Thanks to Kevin Rose and Glenn McElhose for help with filming and editing.

http://summertomato.com

Better Than Pasta Subtitutes: Summer Squash Noodle Recipe and Video

2012-10-25T10:51:00.003-07:00

Squash Pasta

Recently a reader asked:

“Any tips on pasta substitutes? (I did read your post about howwhole grain/whole wheat pasta isn’t really a whole lot better than regular pasta).”

Pasta and noodles can be tricky if you’re trying to lose weight and get healthy. Though some people consider Italian pasta (made from semolina flour) to be a low glycemic index food, in my experience frequent pasta consumption will start the scale moving slowly upward.

I love pasta, but eat it sparingly.

Luckily I have found a noodle substitute that I absolutely adore, and it’s even faster than boiling water.

Although I was shocked at how delicious this turned out, I was even more amazed at how easy it was to prepare. All you need is some summer squash, a vegetable peeler and a bowl (optional). Cook the noodles by quickly sautéing them with a little olive oil and Kosher salt.

You can use any sauce you like. I modified the simple tomato sauce recipe from Cook’s Illustrated.

Summer Squash Pasta & Simple Tomato Sauce

Ingredients:

2-4 summer squash such as zucchini
1 14 oz. can diced tomatoes
1 medium fresh tomato
2 cloves of garlic
~10 leaves fresh basil
extra virgin olive oil
salt

First run your garlic through a garlic press and place into a small bowl or cup. Add 1 tbsp warm water to the garlic, stir and set aside.

Next drain your tomatoes and reserve the liquid. Dice your fresh tomato into half inch cubes.

Chop your basil. Leaves such as mint and basil are easiest to cut if you chiffonade them by stacking the leaves on top of each other and rolling them lengthwise like a cigarette. From there they are easy to cut into thin strips.

In a pan heat 2 tbsp of olive oil and add the garlic. Cook until fragrant but not brown, about one minute. Add the canned tomatoes and simmer until sauce starts to thicken, about 8 minutes.

While the sauce is simmering, peel squash as shown in the video. Saute the squash ribbons in olive oil on medium heat. Sprinkle with salt and sauté for no more than 2 minutes. Do not allow them to brown or soften. Noodles should be brightly colored and al dente. Remove from pan and set aside.

When sauce starts to thicken, add fresh tomatoes and basil. Add some reserved tomato liquid if it becomes too thick to work with. Cook sauce another 3 minutes or so and salt to taste.

Toss your sauce with squash noodles and serve immediately.

How else do you like to eat squash pasta?

This post and video are pretty old, but this is still one of my all-time favorite recipes. Originally published July 29, 2009.

Better Than Butternut: Roasted Delicata Squash Recipe

2012-10-25T10:49:00.001-07:00

Roasted Delicata Squash

I have a confession to make: I should have posted this recipe a long time ago.

It has been over a year since I discovered delicata squash, and I instantly fell in love. But let me start at the beginning.

Like most people, I hadn’t heard of delicata squash before, but was a big fan of butternut. Butternut squash tastes rich and sweet, and has a wonderful texture. It’s also very filling, and is a fantastic substitute for more starchy carbohydrates.

But anyone who has tried to cook with butternut squash knows it isn’t easy to work with. Butternut squash are huge, have a tough outer skin and take longer than most vegetables to cook through.

Lazy people don’t cook butternut squash. And I came to accept the fact that I am one of those people.

But last winter everything changed. Somewhere around the blogosphere I heard that not all winter squash require peeling. To me the difficult (and sometimes painful) peeling is the hardest part of cooking winter squash, so I was instantly intrigued about the possibility of alternatives.

I was delighted to learn the beautiful green Japanese “pumpkin” kabocha squash don’t require peeling (woohoo!). I also discovered delicata.

Delicata Squash

Delicata are much smaller than most winter squash, making them substantially easier to get home from the market and more amenable to the needs of a small household. More important, delicata squash are a cinch to clean, cut and cook, making them any winter squash lover’s dream.

Did I mention their flavor is even richer and their texture more creamy than butternut?

I prefer to roast my delicata squash in a metal pan, allowing the outer edges to brown and caramelize. While a Pyrex or ceramic pan will also work, I’ve found that I get better browning when I use metal to cook in. Foil will likely give you the same effect, but I haven’t tried.

The caramelization creates an almost sweet potato like flavor. Fans call the recipe my “squash fries,” even though they are baked in the oven. Needless to say I make this recipe all the time.

Roasted Delicata Squash Recipe

Serves 2-4 as a side dish

Ingredients:

2-4 delicata squash, depending on size (~1.5 lbs)
2 tbsp olive oil
salt to taste

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Clean the delicata squash by running under warm water and scrubbing away dirt with your hands. If there are any hard spots on the squash, you can scrape them off with a butter knife.

With a sharp knife, cut delicata in half lengthwise. This should be easy and not require any crazy hacking. With a spoon scoop out the seeds and discard (you can save these and prepare them like pumpkin seeds if you wish). Cut each delicata half into 1/2 inch segments, creating moon-shaped pieces that have slight bumps around the curve.

Arrange the pieces in a single layer in a metal baking pan and coat in 2 tbsp olive oil. Too much oil can make the squash soggy. Salt gently. It’s okay if the pieces are a little crowded, but try to maximize the surface area of the squash touching the pan. The browning only occurs where the squash and pan meet.

Place in oven and roast 10 minutes. Using a spatula (I use tongs for most veggies, but delicata squash are easily squished and hold up better if you don’t pinch them) turn the squash in the pan so that the light sides are now touching the pan and the brown sides are facing upward.

Continue roasting, turning every 7-10 minutes until both sides of the squash pieces are golden brown and the texture is creamy to the teeth all the way through, about 25-30 minutes. Adjust salt.

Serve as a side dish with the rest of your dinner.

http://summertomato.com

Farmers Market Update: Minneapolis

2012-10-25T10:47:00.001-07:00

Mills City Farmers Market

Bruce Bradley is a former processed food marketer turned food advocate and author. After working at some of the world’s largest food companies, Bruce now blogs about the tricks, traps, and tools big food marketers use to get you eating more and more processed food.

His first book, FAT PROFITS, has just been published. It’s a thriller about a corrupt food company that will stop at nothing to fatten its profits and become a Wall Street darling. Who knew food could be so dangerous? To learn more about Bruce Bradley you can visit his blog, follow him on Twitter @authorbruce, or check him out on Facebook.

Farmers Market Update: Mill City Farmers Market in Minneapolis, Minnesota

On the shores of the mighty Mississippi wedged between the Mill City Museum, the historic Stone Arch Bridge, and Minneapolis’ Guthrie Theatre, something amazing pops up every Saturday from mid-May until the last weekend in October: the Mill City Farmers Market. Although it’s not the largest farmers market in the Twin Cities, it’s definitely one of the best. With an inspiring mission “to support local, sustainable and organic agriculture, increasing economic opportunities for farmers, urban youth, small businesses and food artisans,” a visit to the Mill City Farmers Market makes you feel better about the world you live in.

German Band

Entertainment abounds at the Mill City Farmers Market. Each week there’s a different theme, live music, and product demos. This week’s theme was Oktoberfest and featured a beer garden serving a variety of Lift Bridge beers and a German band playing some bierhaus classics.

Flowers

Adding brilliant, jewel-like colors to the market, flower bouquets and cockscomb filled one vendor’s booth. If you haven’t been to a farmers market in a while, you definitely need to give it a try. It’s not just about produce anymore.

Corn

Of course it’s always good to see some of the classics like corn. There’s nothing better than fresh corn on the cob, and it’s one of my son’s favorites. I especially enjoyed the sign on Nistler’s corn stand: no GMOs, no fungicides, and “worms, yep.” I’ll gladly take a little worm damage to the tip of the cob (which can easily be cut off) in exchange for GMO-free, pesticide-free corn. And I found it refreshing how honest and upfront all the vendors were about their products. In contrast to many of the big food companies that peddle their processed foods in grocery stores, these folks had nothing to hide.

Tomatoes

A tomato is just a tomato, right? NO! I spotted over twelve different varieties during my visit. One vendor was sampling a tomato that was so juicy that I dripped it all over my pants. Oh, well. It was definitely worth the taste. With fall temperatures already getting below freezing in some parts of Minnesota, these beauties won’t last long, so I grabbed several.

Cukes

It’s always fun to discover new treasures, and the Mill City Farmers Market had several. Although sour lemon cucumbers and tomatillos have been in my kitchen many times, this was my first time trying a Mexican sour gherkin cucumber. These little guys are the size of a grape tomato but look like a tiny watermelon and pack a sour punch. Mmm, mmm, delicious!

Beans and Delicata

Two more favorites in my family are classic green beans and delicata squash. These organic veggies were just picked yesterday. You just can’t beat this kind of freshness.

Winter Squash

I love squashes of all kinds, and the butternut, sweet dumpling, and carnival varieties are on my go-to list in the fall. Butternut squash soup is a personal favorite, and carnival squash makes an easy and delicious side dish. Just split them down the middle and bake with a touch of butter, maple syrup and a grind of fresh pepper.

Taters and Carrots

Beautiful root vegetables were all over the market as well. One vendor was sampling their carrots and they were amazingly sweet and crunchy. Despite wanting to buy some, I passed since I still have plenty of potatoes and carrots leftover from my summer CSA share.

Apples

Probably one of my favorite parts of fall is apple picking. I grew up in Florida, and apple picking just wasn’t an option (although we did have some amazing orange, key lime, and lemon trees in our yard). My family hasn’t had a chance to make it out to the orchards yet, so I enjoyed sampling a couple different varieties. It’s hard to beat the crisp, juicy white flesh of macintosh apples, so I picked up a bag. There’s nothing like the perfection of an apple for a great, portable snack.

Pumpkin

With October here, ’tis the season for pumpkins and squashes. I loved how this booth not only featured the classic pumpkin, but also shared some great information about varieties of squash you might ordinarily be afraid to try. With my bag already pretty full, I opted for a smaller pie pumpkin. Not only will it add some fall color to our home, but it will make some wonderful pumpkin bread or cookies.

Mushroom Kit

Beyond the traditional fare, The Mill City Farmers Market has some very cool surprises that you don’t find at most farmers markets. This mushroom kit was one of them. Sold by Cherry Tree House Mushrooms, each kit includes an fungi innoculated piece of wood that will grow fresh mushrooms for you right in your backyard. I enjoyed learning all about the process but wasn’t quite up to the adventure that day. Fear not, if you’re not up for growing your own, Cherry Tree House also has fresh and dried mushrooms available for sale.

Buffalo

Wild Idea Buffalo also had a booth at the market. I’ve had a chance to try their products before, and they are delicious—a lot like beef but with a little sweeter, earthier flavor. 100% grass-fed and American Humane Certified, Wild Idea Buffalo roam free on over 100,000 acres in South Dakota, just as nature intended. Lower in fat and cholesterol than boneless skinless chicken, and high in omega-3′s like salmon, Wild Idea Buffalo proves that if you choose to eat meat, there are alternatives out there you can feel good about.

Purchases

And here’s what I bought (mostly pictured above):

Delicata squash (for my favorite Summer Tomato recipe—Darya’s Roasted Delicata Squash. It is simply AMAZING!)
Green Beans
MacIntosh Apples - Amador Hill Farm at WEI (Women’s Environmental Institute)
Butternut squash - Amador Hill Farm
Pumpkin - Nistler Farms
Corn (not pictured) - Nistler Farms
Tomatoes, onion, eggplant, and red peppers

What did you find today at the market?

http://summertomato.com

My Weekly Workout

2012-10-25T10:45:00.000-07:00

Food is by far my favorite thing to write about, but exercise is another essential component of my healthstyle and many readers have asked me to share my weekly routine.

To be honest, however, I have avoided posting my workout regimen for several reasons. First, I am not a trainer and this is in no way intended as a training program for anyone. These exercises are just what work for me and you should not assume they will work for you as well. I also worry that some fitness snobs will come out of the woodwork and accuse me of doing everything wrong, a criticism I have no interest in refuting or discussing.

That being said I have been a consistent gym goer for the past 18 years and feel very comfortable in the weight room.

My routine has changed over the years, but I am very happy with my current fitness level. At 30, I feel confident saying I’m in the best shape of my life and it feels awesome.

A few points to start:

I work out 3-5 days a week and start every session with half hour of cardio. The only thing that keeps me out of the gym is scheduling conflicts. I love exercise.
I almost always workout with a partner–a male nearly double my size–and our workouts are approximately the same (obviously using different weights).
We rotate cardio equipment between treadmill (either running or brisk walking at a steep incline), stationary bike and elliptical machine, trying not to repeat the same exercise 2 days in a row.
For strength training we focus on 2 or 3 muscle groups per day, and try to get through all the major muscle groups twice in a week (but I’ll settle for one time per week if that’s all I can fit in).
I do an abdominal workout every time I’m at the gym, rotating through a few different exercises throughout the week.
I always wear gloves when I weight train to avoid callousy man hands. (BTW, these aren’t hot on men either). They also make me look tough while I’m lifting.
I try to do my lifting slowly and controlled in both directions of the movement. But sometimes I forget.
For most of these exercises we use free weights, but once every week or two we’ll use the machines to mix it up.
In addition to my weight training sessions, I make an effort to walk extensively each day. According to my Fitbit pedometer I take between 8,000 and 17,000 steps per day (this includes my workout). This is intentional and I do it for both stress relief and fitness purposes.

On any given training day we do two or three of the following sets of exercises after our cardio workout. If we anticipate being able to workout every weekday, we will use the last two days of the week to push harder and complete the entire set in just 2 days.

Muscle Groups

Shoulders

My shoulder workout consists of shoulder presses and lateral raises in a superset (each exercise back-to-back, then rest). I do 3 sets of ~12 reps using dumbbells.

Biceps

My only bicep exercise is dumbell curls. I alternate each arm and do 3 sets of 20. I superset my bicep workout with lunges, still holding the dumbbells.

Triceps

I do tricep workouts on the cables using the rope attachment. We do supersets of bent-over tricep extensions and tricep push downs.

Back

I use specific cable machines for back exercises. We superset cable seated rows and cable pulldowns, usually 3 sets of ~12. For lower back I do lifts using the Roman chair, usually holding a single 10-pound barbell weight to my chest.

Chest

For chest we superset bench presses (I just use the 45-pound bar) and flies using dumbbells. For these I’m happy to get through 3 sets of 10.

Legs

I’m not fond of the quadricep and hamstring equipment at my gym (my partner uses them), so I only use the machines for V-squats and hip extensions. I do 3 sets of 20, and superset if the gym isn’t too busy.

Abs

Each day we rotate between the various abdominal equipment we find in the gym. This usually includes hanging leg raises, incline crunches and a few others.

Final Thoughts

As a female I was reluctant to begin almost every one of these weight training exercises, besides abs.

Nervous, I started with biceps and triceps, then shoulders and back. I gave myself a 6-month trial period and said if I thought I was getting too “bulky” at that point I would stop. The opposite happened and I became more adventurous in the weight room.

Six months later I reluctantly worked chest exercises into my routine and was again pleased with the results. I only recently started my leg workouts and, again, was blown away by the unexpected awesomeness of the transformation.

I became stronger, thinner and my clothes looked better after each exercise I added to my regimen. From my perspective, strength training is infinitely more rewarding than running marathons.

Has weight training helped you reach your health and fitness goals?

http://summertomato.com

Why I use the “S” word

2012-10-25T10:43:00.003-07:00

Photo by Charlotte Astrid

In response to last week’s post How To Eat Dessert And Still Stay Skinny, I got an email from a reader asking why I use the word “skinny” when it undermines my message of health:

“I’ve been following your blog etc for a few months now. I love it and have shared your posts widely…. Unfortunately, your emphasis on being “skinny” really puts me off, not just in this article but in your bio and elsewhere in your writings.

To me, and folks in my world, to value “skinny-ness” is to encourage excessive — and often obsessive — emphasis on body size without regard to health. This dangerous message is everywhere in our society, and not consistent with the rest of your message. Do you see how this undermines your credibility — despite your academic credentials?

Please consider changing your language from “skinny” to “a healthy weight.” I don’t think this is just semantic.”

This is a very important point, and I want to thank the reader again for bring up her concerns. Since I’m sure there are at least a few of you with the same question, I wanted to share my response:

“Thanks for writing, I really appreciate your input. I totally get your point, but there are a few reasons I make the word choices that I do.

First, I’d guess that given your stance the reason you enjoy Summer Tomato at all is that I actually do make a concerted effort to not use the words “skinny” or “thin” in the text of my articles, particularly when I talk about goals and motivation. (My bio is a different story, I was intentionally trying to illustrate the thoughts of a chronic dieter.)

But I do occasionally use these words in headlines. The reason is that one of the major categories of people I’m hoping to win over with my message is dieters. I want them to focus on being healthy and stop dieting.

The problem is, to get their attention in the first place I need to speak their language. The word skinny rings bells with these people and draws them in, and then my message is different from what they expect and that’s how changes are made.

The phrase “healthy weight” does not even come close to bringing in the click throughs as the word skinny, which I’ve seen in my Facebook and Twitter traffic analytics. I’m less interested in preaching to the choir then helping lost people find a new way to live.

Another important point is that I feel the phrase “healthy weight” has been greatly over-used and has come to mean something a little bigger than it should. Sadly, the latest statistics suggest many overweight people believe they are a healthy weight, simply because the average has been so skewed in the upward direction over the past 20 years.

Health is definitely my message, but I’m very careful to not let people off the hook just because they are the same size as their friends and family.

I’m walking a very tight rope with my message balancing health, weight loss and quality of life, and I’m acutely aware of the power of words. I hope you understand that to make the biggest impact I need to reach the people who need me the most, even if sometimes it comes off as less academic and more mainstream.

My hope is that I’m in a position to bridge these two worlds and get diet trends headed in the right direction again.”

To be clear, I read a lot of great blogs that do preach to the choir, and Ishare them here regularly.

But one of the best things about the Summer Tomato community is that it includes people from all walks of life, from young college students frustrated with their bodies to baby boomers and academics with more letters after their names than in them. We also have foodies trying to balance their love of food and need for health, and geeks just trying to get fit enough to beat their friends at Kinect.

Most people that come to Summer Tomato for the first time don’t know that the solution to all these goals is the same. My main mission here is to help people see that healthy habits (not dieting) is what makes you both thin and healthy, and provide you with the tools to create a healthstyle that works for you.

I hope one day these points will be obvious to everyone, but in the meantime my experience has shown me that the best way to capture someone’s attention is with the promise of looking great and eating amazing food.

I was happy to get a sweet reply back from this reader signed,

Even a bigger fan than before,

R

What do you think about the “S” word?

http://summertomato.com

Truth and Marketing: Why Sliced Bread Was Never A Great Invention

2012-10-25T10:41:00.003-07:00

Photo by mattburns.co.uk

Food marketers have been at it for nearly a century. They’re saving us time, making it ever easier for us to consume their products, and all they ask in return is to charge us a little extra for the “convenience.” Bless their hearts.

When pressed, most of us will acknowledge that the top priority of food marketers is not to make our lives easier or tastier, but to get us to eat (and spend) more. What’s truly remarkable is that despite knowing this, we still parrot and defend their ideas as ardently as if we’d thought of them ourselves.

Do you really believe Krispy Kreme makes the best doughnuts, Ben & Jerry’s makes the best ice cream or life is impossibly difficult without pre-sliced bread? My guess is you probably do, or at least did at some point.

But the reality is none of these things are true, and that we think they are is just a sign of brilliant marketing.

Food isn’t like other products. There are people who buy every single gadget that Apple creates, and if Apple started making twice as many products per year those people would still buy them all. But humans can only eat so much food, which makes it difficult for food companies to expand their market and be competitive.

Enter “added value.”

Sliced bread, instant oatmeal and single serving Go-gurt are all examples of foods designed to be easier to eat. And companies correctly assume that we are happy to pay more for the free time these conveniences allot us.

But does this freedom really make our lives better?

I would never argue that time doesn’t have value. Though I think there is a strong case for slowing down and taking time to eat mindfully, I certainly see the appeal of fast and portable food. As a PhD student, writer and website owner I know what it means to be busy.

But convenience is not the only thing you get when marketers sell you on their products. You also eat more, and you eat worse.

Because sliced bread is easier to eat, people tend to eat more of it, along with whatever they choose to put on top. Additionally, since real bread quickly becomes stale when cut into smaller pieces food companies have had to find new (non-ecofriendly) packaging and add preservatives, dough conditioners and other chemicals to keep breads soft.

The ingredient list on a loaf of Wonder Bread is truly remarkable:

Wheat Flour, Water, High Fructose Corn Syrup or Sugar, Yeast, Contains 2% or Less of: Ferrous Sulfate (Iron), B Vitamins (Niacin, Thiamine Mononitrate (B1), Riboflavin (B2), Folic Acid), Barley Malt, Soybean Oil, Salt, Calcium Carbonate (Ingredient in Excess of Amount Present in Regular Enriched White Bread), Wheat Gluten, Dough Conditioners (Sodium Stearoyl Lactylate, Mono and Diglycerides, Calcium Dioxide, Datem and/or Azodicarbonamide) Vitamin D3. Calcium Sulfate, Vinegar, Yeast Nutrients (Monocalcium Phosphate, Dicalcium Phosphate, Ammonium Sulfate, Ammonium Phosphate and/or Ammonium Chloride) Cornstarch, Wheat Starch, Soy Flour, Whey, Calcium Propionate (to Retain Freshness), Soy Lecithin.

In contrast the bread I buy at Acme, my local bakery, is made of flour, water, yeast and salt. Special loaves may contain olives or herbs, but you get the general idea.

I have to cut it myself and it doesn’t last long if I leave it on the counter (it freezes absolutely beautifully), but the bread at Acme is also some of the best tasting bread I’ve had in my life.

Are you shocked that my Acme loaf costs around $2, while Wonder Bread costs close to $4?

I don’t eat much bread, because it is not particularly healthy. But I enjoy burgers, pizza, sandwiches, naan and other traditional foods way too much to cut it out completely. Reasonable quantities of bread can easily be incorporated into a healthy diet, particularly if you exercise regularly. But bread is not health food and eating as little as you’re comfortable with is generally a good idea.

We do not need unhealthy foods to be more convenient or less expensive. And if you’re going to put health aside and eat them anyway they should also taste absolutely amazing, not good or even pretty good.

Does pre-sliced bread really make the cut? I don’t think so.

Sliced bread was never a great invention, it was great marketing. ”The best thing since sliced bread” was derived from an ad campaign claiming it’s invention was “the greatest forward step in the baking industry since bread was wrapped.”

The phrase may be perfect for describing brilliant marketing (“The best added value campaign since sliced bread”) but do we really need to continue propagating the message that low-quality convenience food is the best invention of the past 100 years?

If we want a true benchmark for greatness, maybe we should change it to “the greatest thing since the iPhone.”

Just for fun, here’s a video of Seth Godin’s TED talk about marketing and the sliced bread campaign.

How great is your bread?

Gone Bananas? Why I Don’t Eat America’s Favorite Fruit

2012-10-25T10:40:00.001-07:00

Photo by Crystl

No, I don’t eat bananas. Not really anyway.

It’s not that I don’t like the taste, I actually really enjoy them (particularly with ice cream). Nor do I actively avoid bananas—I’d eat homemade banana cream pie any day of the week, and in Thailand I noshed on the small red finger bananas sold at the local markets. But I don’t buy bananas in the US, and given a choice I’d almost always opt for something else.

While this probably sounds strange to some of you, if you stop and think about the way I live and shop it’s easy to see how this idiosyncratic habit evolved.

I do the majority of my grocery shopping (~80%) at the farmers market, and as you might expect bananas aren’t common in San Francisco. The one or two brick and mortar stores I shop at for the rest of my food here in the city are nothing like your typical supermarkets. Like the farmers market these stores carry local, seasonal food almost exclusively (did I mention I love San Francisco?), and if they carry bananas I’ve never noticed them.

So the main reason I don’t buy bananas is logistical: they don’t exist here.

Honestly for me that’s enough of a reason to focus on the rest of the produce the season has to offer—there’s always more beautiful fruit than I could possibly eat (even in the winter), why do I need bananas too? But when you pause and reflect on why this makes me strange, you start to realize that there are deeper issues with our most popular fruit that make them less than an ideal snack.

The vast majority of bananas sold in the US are grown in Latin Amercia by a handful of countries including Panama, Honduras and Costa Rica. In these places bananas are grown year round, are harvested while unripe, then shipped in special refrigerated compartments until they reach their destination weeks later. The fruit is then exposed to ethylene gas which causes it to ripen and turn their characteristic bright yellow (a different shade than their natural dull yellow when tree-ripened).

Though not genetically modified (yet), all commercial bananas are genetically identical clones grown in monocultures. While this makes the product extremely consistent, it also leaves it vulnerable to disease since cross-breeding cannot confer any protective benefit. Before 1960, the most prevalent commercial banana variety was ‘Gros Michel.’ However, these bananas were wiped out by the fungal Panama disease, forcing farmers to adopt a new variety.

Now all commercial bananas are the Cavendish variety, which was chosen for shelf life and shipping rather than flavor. Cavendish bananas are not immune to infection, however. An extremely virulent strain of Panama disease known as TR4 has threatened Cavendish bananas in Southeast Asia and Australia, and scientists believe TR4 will likely reach Latin American banana plantations soon. There is no variety currently considered a viable replacement for Cavendish, and bananas may be gone from supermarket shelves in our lifetimes. As I hinted above, companies are working to genetically modify the bananas to be resistant to TR4.

Even worse than monoculture ag destroying a commodity that millions of people depend on for their livelihoods, the large banana companies in Latin America (Dole and Chiquita) have a history of mind-boggling corruption. The term “banana republic” describes corrupt countries where the political system favors large agriculture corporations over public welfare. I had trouble finding information on the current state of the banana business and its politics, but there is little indication that things have improved.

But what about nutrition? Am I missing out? Bananas are famously high in potassium, but so are all the green leafy vegetables that make up a huge portion of my diet. Commercial bananas are indeed a good source of several nutrients, however they are also one of the most calorie dense fruits due to their high sugar content. There’s nothing in bananas that you can’t get from other foods, and lower calorie fruits may be a better choice if you eat them often or are watching your weight.

Despite these concerns, there are plenty of valid reasons to continue eating bananas. Just don’t let anyone call you crazy if you choose to skip them.

What are your thoughts on bananas? B-A-N-A-N-A-S!

11 Proven Ways To Get Kids To Eat More Vegetables

2012-10-25T10:36:00.001-07:00

Photo by woodleywonderworks

Adults can be absurdly stubborn about eating their vegetables. But when it comes to picky eating, children take the cake.

I don’t have children myself, but many people have asked me for tips to get their kids eating healthier. So for the past few months I’ve been reading the scientific literature and talking to parents around the world to uncover the secrets of getting kids to eat their greens.

The good news is it is not impossible. The bad news is that it requires consistency and persistance from the parents, and it won’t be easy. But if you’re willing to stick to your guns, you should come out triumphant in the end.

11 Proven Ways To Get Kids To Eat More Vegetables

1. Set an example

By far the best predictor of a child’s eating behavior is the eating patterns of her parents. If vegetables and healthy foods are relegated to an afterthought in your household, it’s tough to expect your kids to take to them. Kids eat what they know, and they won’t ask for a special meal if they do not know it is an option.

2. Make food fun

Kids love to play make believe. They also love games. Broccoli can be intimidating to a kid hoping for macaroni and cheese. But if he is a dinosaur who needs to eat five miniature trees in order to outrun a tyrannosaurus rex, suddenly those florets are a lot more interesting. Relating healthy food to fun things the child already loves and turning it into a game is a great way to get a few bites of greens down the hatch.

3. Get them involved

Children are more invested in a meal if they help with its preparation. Taking your kids with you to the farmers market or grocery store and letting them pick one or two things to cook for dinner can make them far more excited to eat it later. Better yet, start a garden and teach them how to plant and harvest their own. Letting them clean carrots, snap beans, mix the dressing and set the table gives them a sense of pride and makes them more enthusiastic and cooperative at meal time.

4. Enforce the “one bite rule”

Research consistently shows that children who have initially rejected a food must be exposed to it at least 8-10 times for the food to be accepted. Many parents have had success with the “one bite rule,” requiring the child to try at least one solid mouthful of a rejected food whenever it is served. After enough exposures the food will be more familiar to the child and usually they begin to rate it more favorably.

5. Don’t force them to finish

One bite is different from finishing your plate. One of the biggest misconceptions among parents is that forcing their child to eat a food she doesn’t like will get her to change her behavior. However, fighting and punishments create a negative meal experience, and the child will learn to associate food with the bad feelings. Negative food experiences have the opposite of the desired effect and actually increase picky eating tendencies. Require one bite, but try not to start a fight.

6. Reward good behavior

On the other side of the coin, creating positive food experiences can decrease picky eating tendencies. Research has shown that rewarding a child for trying one bite of a rejected food with things like stickers makes it easier for them to try the food. They are also more likely to rate the food positively in the future.

7. Understand their values

Children don’t see the world as adults do, and as a result they have very different values. They could care less about health—most kids they’re invincible—so telling them a food is healthy is unlikely to get you very far. On the other hand, most children feel limited by their size and wish to be bigger and stronger. Explaining that broccoli “helps you grow” is therefore more effective than, “it’s healthy” or “because I said so.”

8. Offer diverse food colors

One thing you have working in your favor is that children like colorful foods. You can expose them to more colors by adding more vegetables to their plates. While adults tend to like flavors mingled together, children often prefer them separate. So you may have better luck making separate vegetable dishes instead of a big, mono-color casserole.

9. Arrange food in patterns on the plate

Another reason to cook different vegetables separately is that children love when their food is designed into patterns on their plate. Unlike adults, who prefer foods clumped near each other in the center of the plate, kids like their food separated into piles around the perimeter. If you shape it into a heart or smiley face, they’ll like it even more. This is another way to make food fun.

10. Use butter, garlic and bacon

There’s nothing wrong with adding additional flavors to vegetables to make them more appealing to children. For a picky child, the most important thing is that he gets comfortable and familiar with the rejected food. If that means serving it along with something you know he’ll enjoy, like cheese or bacon, that’s fine. I encourage you to use ingredients that are as close to real food (minimally processed without strange chemicals) as possible, but children can handle a few extra calories, especially if it helps them learn to enjoy spinach.

11. Keep at it

Some children will be more difficult than others, and will require more effort and patience. It’s important to realize, however, that the habits they develop at a young age will remain with them long into adulthood. For your sake and theirs, it is worth solving picky eating problems as soon as possible. Continue to set a good example, create fun, positive experiences around food, let them help in the kitchen, enforce the one bite rule and do anything else you can to keep exposing them, in a pleasant way, to the healthy foods they reject. Your persistence will pay off.

How do you get your kids to eat healthy?

by http://summertomato.com

Top 10 iPhone Apps For Healthy Living

2012-10-25T10:32:00.000-07:00

Healthy living and technology don’t often walk hand in hand. However, with the rise of the iPhone’s popularity, tech experts around the world are putting their cerebral skills to practical use for leading a healthy life. Here are the 10 best iPhone apps for healthy living.

1. Locavore

$2.99

For anyone who is serious about sourcing locally produced food, then Locavore is an essential purchase. Not only does it recommend local farmers markets depending on your location, it informs you of food that is in season or coming into season near you. Locavore provides links to Wikipedia sites that show you details of the fruit or vegetable that you are interested in as well as a link to Epicurious recipes that show you how to turn your healthy food into delicious meals. Also, the in-app updates from Twitter and Satisfaction mean you can trade information with other foodies and sway recipes and health food tips.

iPhone Screenshots

2. iFitness

$1.99

The iFitness app is essentially a pocket sized personal trainer, who only charges you a one off fee of $1.99 and never gives you a guilt trip for missing a training session. Offering comprehensive routines and exercise programs aimed at working out a particular muscle group, iFitness also provides a detailed diagram of the human body so that you can determine which area it is that you want to train. There are personalized exercises for various sports, such as the ‘Basketball Conditioning Routine’ that shows you a set of exercises aimed at improving the muscle groups to help make you an NBA contender. The routines can be done anywhere and everywhere, using anything from free weights to office chairs for the ‘Business Travel Workout’. By keeping a personalised log of your workouts as well as a BMI Calculator and weight monitor, this app is the ultimate workout buddy.

3. Fooducate

Free

This App is a true triumph of technology in the land of the supermarket. By using the Fooducate app, your iPhone is able to quickly scan the barcodes on food packaging, which gives you a detailed analysis of the nutritional content of the food, and enables you to make an informed decision as to whether to shove it in your shopping cart or your mouth. If the food contains trans fats, controversial food colourings or anything else that the manufacturers may want to keep hidden from you, then Fooducate will highlight it and let you know what you are about to put into your body. On top of this, Fooducate also provides preferable alternatives if the food you scan is not to the highest of standards. If you are a busy parent who doesn’t have the time to browse the local farmers markets and has to shop at the supermarket, then this is the app for you.

iPhone Screenshots

4. Whole Foods Market Recipes

Free

Whole Foods Market Recipes is a great app for those of you who like to experiment in the kitchen, while not compromising on the health and nutrition. It shows you where your nearest Whole Foods Market is, then allows you to search for recipes by ingredients or dietary types including gluten-free, vegetarian/vegan or low fat. All of the nutritional information are listed alongside the ingredients, all of which are natural and organic. The recipes include easy to follow cooking instructions that really do produce tasty meals. A nifty little function allows you to search for recipes based on what you already have in your fridge, meaning that you can build a meal around what you already have in the house.

Screenshots

iPhone iPad

5. Veg Out

$2.99

Vegetarianism is becoming more mainstream every day, the only problem is trying to find a decent veggie restaurant when you’re out and about. If you have felt this pain then Veg Out is the app for you. By utilizing Google Maps technology, Veg Out directs the hungry vegetarian to the nearest veggie eatery, all with user-rated star rankings, where their favorite meat-free dishes await.

6. Runkeeper Pro

Free

This is the ultimate running app, as it uses Google Maps to help plan routes on which you can put heel to the pavement and give your body a work out in the fresh air. Incredibly easy to use, Runkeeper Pro keeps track of how far you have run, your average speed, the current pace that you are running at and how many calories you have burned during your journey. You can use all the regular applications on your iPhone such as its iPod and camera functions without having to pause the app, meaning your jog around the block can be sound tracked and photo-documented. A great way to keep track of your personal running goals, Runkeeper Pro really is a valuable tool for any aspiring runners.

iPhone Screenshots

7. Good Food Near You

Free

Building on Veg Out’s idea of locating veggie-friendly restaurants in your surroundings, Good Food Near You takes things one step further and tells you what the healthiest menu option is in restaurants dotted around your proximity. It will tell you exactly how much fat is in the average burrito in your local Mexican takeaway, or the number of calories are awaiting you in that seafood special in the nearest Thai restaurant. This is probably not an app to take out on birthdays or special occasions, but can help you eat healthily when you’re on the go.

8. Yoga Trainer Pro

$1.99

For centuries yogis have been leading a healthy, spiritual lifestyle through this fascinating and all-encompassing form of exercise. From beginner poses to advanced sets of training, Yoga Trainer Pro teaches you a variety of stretches and breathing exercises that not only improve your overall fitness and health, but also allows you to practice yoga anytime, anywhere you want at a fraction of the price of yoga classes. The step-by-step guides include photos and voice alerts to talk you through each pose, letting you learn at your own pace. With popular yoga routines and techniques including Pranayama, Meditation and Astanga, this app will have you bending and breathing, but never breaking, in next to no time.

iPhone Screenshots

9. WaterWorks (not yet available in US)

$1.99

By setting your target amount of water intake for the day, WaterWorks reminds you how much H2O you have to ingest to meet your goal before the end of the day. Through consistent reminders to stay hydrated, this simple little app is a Godsend to those of us who live life on the go and often forget the simplest of tasks, like drinking enough water. You can set up your own water containers and their respective sizes, (in litres, gallons, ounces, etc), so that you know exactly how much water it is that you are drinking throughout the day.

10. Food Additives 2

$3.99

Food Additives 2, lets you know the lowdown on which additives are in your food and which are particularly detrimental to your health–whether you suffer from a long list of ailments or are as fit as a fiddle. By inputting the additive name or number that should be listed on the back of any food that you are buying from a supermarket or local shop, Food Additives 2 will show you the origin of the substance such as fish, animal, plant etc., its general use and functionality. It will also tell you any known or potential side effects that the additive may cause, the maximum or recommended daily intake and any dietary restrictions that the additive may fall under.

Screenshots

iPhone iPad

Well, there we have it guys, 10 iPhone Apps that actually help you lead a healthy life. Consider a few of these next time you’re squinting at a screen and trying to conquer the next level Angry Birds. Remember, these Apps will only work if you use them everyday, so no cheating and “forgetting” your iPhone charger!

What are your favorite healthy living apps?

To see Darya’s favorite apps follow her on Chomp

by David Harfield

How To Avoid Getting Sick In Flu Season

2012-10-25T10:18:00.000-07:00

By Leonid Mamchenkov

It’s weird for me to even write this, but it has been nearly 3 years since I’ve had any illness.

Seriously, not even a cold.

Like most people, I used to get a cold once or twice a year. And every few years I would get a nasty flu that would keep me in bed for days.

That’s just life, I assumed.

Or is it?

Since I’ve been taking better care of myself I really haven’t gotten sick at all. While I would love to attribute this streak of robust health to my vegetable-filled diet and subsequently invincible immune system, there are likely other factors that play important roles in keeping me healthy.

Some of these tips I picked up by seeing first-hand in the lab how easily germs are transmitted and propagated. Others I learned by trial and error. But over the years I’ve seen much of this advice confirmed by scientific data.

These are my top 10 tips (in order) that I attribute to helping me avoid and conquer illness.

Top 10 Tips To Prevent Cold and Flu

Wash your hands. You get sick for one reason and one reason only: germs. Bacteria and viruses make you ill by finding a way into your body through physical contact. Don’t let them get you. Since most of your contact with the world happens through your hands, washing them can stop germs from making the leap from contaminated surfaces to inside your body. Bacteria especially grow and proliferate very easily, so simply touching a lot of different things can spread them all over the stuff you work with daily. Hand washing is especially important after riding public transportation, moving from one environment to another and before eating or preparing food. Thisreview study on hygiene and illness agrees.
Don’t touch your face. Even if your hands are relatively clean, chances are some germs will find a way to survive there. But these parasites will only compromise your health if they can get into your body. The easiest place to transmit illness is through mucous membranes such as your eyes, mouth and nose. Keep your hands away from your face (and food) and make it difficult for germs to find you.
Avoid sick people. Germs are everywhere, but they are particularly concentrated in people who are sick. Keep these people away from you and disinfect everything they touch. I especially recommend avoiding anyone who regularly works with children (aka little disease factories) like teachers and pediatricians. Sorry guys, you’re contagious!
Don’t eat group food. In flu season, I completely avoid large party dips that involve dipping directly into the bowl rather than scooping with a clean spoon onto individual plates. Why? People may use the hand they just sneezed in to turn a chip around a few times until they find the perfect dipping angle. That means they are adding their nasty germs directly into the salsa. Yuck.
Get enough sleep. Although I haven’t actually gotten sick, there have been times when I felt as though I might come down with something (this last weekend for instance). One of the best ways I found to avoid getting seriously sick is to get extra sleep for a few days. Recently this recommendation was backed up by some hard science on sleep and illness.
Don’t drink alcohol. Another way to avoid coming down with something serious if you are starting to get sick is to skip on drinking for a few days. According to one study drinking large amounts affects your immune system, making it weaker for 24 hours.
Hydrate. When your body is fighting an illness your immune system is working overtime. Make sure it has everything it needs to function at its best, including plenty of water.
Skip a workout. If you feel like you might be getting sick but aren’t sure, don’t go to the gym. Your body needs all its extra resources to fend off whatever virus or bacteria you’ve been exposed to, so save all the energy you’ve got.
Eat well. You may be disinclined to eat if you aren’t feeling well, but be sure that whatever you do manage to get down is nutritious and healthy. It’s not a good idea to eat foods that induce inflammation (simple sugars and starches) when your body is already weakened.
Take your vitamins. One of the most consistent things I’ve noticed that correlates with my health is how often I take my multivitamin and vitamin D. I take a food-based multivitamin from Megafood. Many people are vitamin D deficient, so it is worth getting your levels checked even if you live in a sunny area. To keep mine in a healthy range I take 2,000-4,000 IU vitamin D3 (Carlson), depending on the season.

Since someone will probably ask, no I do not get flu shots. I have nothing against them, but as you can imagine a painful injection to prevent illnesses I don’t get is not a huge priority for me. I may regret this someday.

Also, I do not take echinacea. Every rigorous analysis I’ve seen says it doesn’t work, and it has never been effective for me. Take it if you like, but probably any benefit you get is due to the placebo effect.

How do you avoid cold and flu?

Originally published Sept 28, 2009. Full disclosure, since writing this I had a brief spell of pneumonia in the summer of 2010 that I seemed to catch from my boyfriend. It was apparently a very virulent strain, since pneumonia is not typically contagious. I’ve not been sick since.

Quit Smoking Mobile App

2012-10-25T08:10:00.002-07:00

MYQUIT COACH - DARE TO QUIT SMOKING MOBILE APP

The LIVESTRONG.COM MyQuit Coach application allows you to design a personalized plan to help you quit smoking. Through this intuitive iPhone app, you'll evaluate your current status, set attainable goals and adjust preferences according to your needs. You'll have the option to choose to quit smoking right away or gradually decrease your daily nicotine intake. Personalized inspirational photos, motivational tips and progress charts will keep you on track while achievement badges will reward you for progress. And you're not alone with a built in social support circle and the ability to update your Facebook and Twitter as friends cheer you on.

The LIVESTRONG.COM MyQuit Coach application has been reviewed by smoking cessation specialist Dr. Jonathan Foulds, nicotine addiction specialist Dr. Dorothy Hatsukami, psychologist Dr. Belisa Vranich and cardiologist and internist Dr. Leslie Saxon.

FEATURES

Personalized quitting plan
Upload your own personalized motivations
Track your daily consumption and allowance
Optional budget alerts and reminders
Earn badges and awards
View charts of your usage history by date and time

SCREENSHOTS

VIDEO

Insomnia in Older Adults

2012-10-25T02:43:00.001-07:00

TIPS FOR SLEEPING BETTER AS YOU AGE

As we age we often experience normal changes in our sleeping patterns. We may become sleepier earlier, wake up earlier, and enjoy less deep sleep. However, disturbed sleep, waking up tired every day, and other symptoms of insomnia arenot a normal part of aging. Sleep is just as important to our physical and emotional health in our senior years as it was when we were younger. These tips can help you overcome age-related sleep problems and get a good night’s rest.

The importance of sleep for older adults

No matter what your age, sleeping well is essential to your physical health and emotional well-being. For seniors, a good night’s sleep is especially important because it helps improve concentration and memory formation, allows your body to repair any cell damage that occurred during the day, and refreshes your immune system, which in turn helps to prevent disease.

Many physicians consider sleep to be a barometer of a person’s health, like taking their temperature. Older adults who don’t sleep well are more likely to suffer from depression, attention and memory problems, and excessive daytime sleepiness. They’re also likely to suffer more nighttime falls, have increased sensitivity to pain, and use more prescription or over-the-counter sleep aids. Insufficient sleep can also lead to many serious health problems in older adults, including an increased risk of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, weight problems, and breast cancer in women.

How many hours of sleep do older adults need?

While sleep requirements vary from person to person, most healthy adults tend to require between 7.5 to 9 hours of sleep per night to function at their best. A recent study by the National Institutes of Health suggests that healthy older people may require about 1.5 hours less sleep than younger adults, an average of 7.5 hours per night. The study indicates that seniors sleep less even when given the opportunity for more sleep because of age-related changes in the ability to fall asleep and remain asleep.

While the results of the study may not be conclusive, it’s important to focus more on how you feel following a night’s sleep rather than the specific number of hours you spend asleep. Quality is as important as quantity. Some seniors mistakenly believe they have a sleeping problem because they go to bed expecting to be asleep for 8 or 9 hours a night, and may even needlessly start using medications to help them sleep more. Frequently waking up not feeling rested or feeling tired during the day are better indications that you’re not getting enough sleep at night and may have a sleep problem that needs to be addressed.

How to sleep well tip 1: Understand how sleep changes as you age

Some changes in your sleep are natural as you age. Your body produces lower levels of growth hormone, so you’ll likely experience a decrease in slow wave or deep sleep, and less melatonin often means more fragmented sleep (more rapid sleep cycles) and more awakenings between sleep cycles. As your circadian rhythm (the internal clock that tells you when to sleep and when to wake up) changes, you may also find yourself wanting to go to sleep earlier in the evening and waking up earlier in the morning. If you don't adjust your bedtimes to these changes, you may find that you have difficulty falling and staying asleep.

Older adults also tend to wake up more often during the night. Consequently, you may have to spend longer in bed at night to get the hours of sleep you need, or you may have to make up the shortfall by taking a nap during the day. In most cases, such sleep changes are normal and don’t indicate a sleep problem.

Sleep problems not related to age

At any age, it’s common to experience occasional sleep problems. However, if you experience any of the following symptoms on a regular basis, you may be dealing with a sleep disorder:

Have trouble falling asleep even though you feel tired
Have trouble getting back to sleep when awakened
Don’t feel refreshed after a night’s sleep
Feel irritable or sleepy during the day
Have difficulty staying awake when sitting still, watching television, or driving
Have difficulty concentrating during the day
Rely on sleeping pills or alcohol to fall asleep
Have trouble controlling your emotions

How to sleep well tip 2: Identify sleep disorders and sleep problems

Many cases of insomnia are caused by underlying but very treatable causes. While emotional issues such as stress, anxiety, and depression can cause insomnia, the most common causes in seniors are a poor sleep environment and poor sleep and daytime habits. Try to identify all possible causes of your insomnia. Once you figure out the root cause, you can tailor treatment accordingly.

Are you under a lot of stress?
Are you depressed? Do you feel emotionally flat or hopeless?
Do you struggle with chronic feelings of anxiety or worry?
Have you recently gone through a traumatic experience?
Are you taking any medications that might be affecting your sleep?
Do you have any health problems that may be interfering with sleep?

Common causes of insomnia and sleep problems in older adults

The most common causes of insomnia and sleep problems in older adults include:

Poor sleep habits and sleep environment. Examples of poor sleep habits are irregular sleep hours, consumption of alcohol before bedtime, and falling asleep with the TV on.
Pain or medical illness. Pain can keep you from sleeping well. In addition, many health conditions such as a frequent need to urinate, arthritis, asthma, diabetes mellitus, osteoporosis, nighttime heartburn, menopause, and Alzheimer's can interfere with sleep.
Medications. Seniors tend to take more medications than younger people. Combinations of drugs, as well as the side-effects of individual drugs, can impair sleep or even stimulate wakefulness.
Lack of exercise. If you are too sedentary, you may not feel sleepy or feel sleepy all of the time. Regular aerobic exercise during the day, at least 3 hours before bedtime, can promote good sleep.
Psychological stress or psychological disorders. Significant life changes like the death of a loved one or moving from a family home can cause stress. Anxiety or sadness can also keep you awake, which can, in turn, cause more anxiety or depression.
Sleep disorders. Restless Legs Syndrome (RLS) and sleep-disordered breathing such as snoring and sleep apnea occur more frequently in older adults.
Learned response. People with a legitimate cause for having trouble sleeping—after suffering a loss, for example—may lie in bed and try to force themselves to sleep. Eventually their bodies learn not to sleep. Even after your original reason for sleep disruption has passed, the learned response of not sleeping can remain.

How to sleep well tip 3: Improve sleep habits to overcome sleep problems

Poor sleep habits, including a poor sleep environment and poor daytime habits, can be the main causes of sleep problems and low-quality sleep in seniors. In many cases, older adults develop these poor sleep habits over a lifetime but find they create more and more problems as they age. Fortunately, these habits are easy to improve.

Improve daytime habits for better sleep

Be engaged. Social activities, family, and work can keep your activity level up and prepare your body for a good night’s sleep. Try volunteering, joining a seniors’ group, or taking an adult education class.
Improve your mood. A more positive mood and outlook can reduce sleep problems. Find someone you can talk to, preferably face-to-face, about your problems and worries.
Exercise regularly. Exercise releases endorphins that can boost mood and reduce stress, depression, and anxiety.
Expose yourself to sunlight. Bright sunlight helps regulate melatonin and your sleep-wake cycles. Try to get at least two hours of sunlight a day. Keep curtains and shades open during the day, move your favorite chair to a sunny spot, or consider using a light therapy box to simulate daylight.
Limit caffeine, alcohol, and nicotine. All are stimulants and interfere with the quality of your sleep.

Encourage better sleep at night

Naturally boost your melatonin levels. Artificial lights at night can suppress your body’s production of melatonin, the hormone that makes you sleepy. Use low-wattage bulbs where safe to do so, and turn off the TV and computer at least one hour before bed.
Don’t read from a backlit device at night (such as an iPad). If you use a portable electronic device to read, use an eReader that is not backlit, i.e. one that requires an additional light source such as a soft bedside lamp.
Make sure your bedroom is quiet, dark, and cool, and your bed is comfortable. Noise, light, and heat can cause sleep problems. Try using an eye mask to help block out light.
Use your bedroom only for sleep and sex. By not working, watching TV, or using your computer in bed, you’ll come to associate the bedroom with sleep alone, so when you get into bed your brain and body get a strong signal that it’s time to nod off.
Move bedroom clocks out of view. Anxiously watching the minutes tick by when you can’t sleep is a surefire recipe for insomnia. Light emitted from a clock, telephone or other device can also disrupt your sleep.

Keep a regular bedtime routine for better sleep

Maintain a consistent sleep schedule. Go to bed and wake up at the same times every day, even on weekends.
Block out snoring. If snoring is keeping you up, try ear plugs, a white-noise machine, or separate bedrooms.
Go to bed earlier. Adjust your bedtime to match when you feel like going to bed, even if that’s earlier than it used to be.
Develop bedtime rituals. A soothing ritual, like taking a bath or playing music will help you wind down. Relaxation and stress management techniques, such as deep breathing and progressive muscle relaxation, take some practice but their benefits can be substantial.
Limit your use of sleeping aids and sleeping pills. Many sleep aids have side-effects and are not meant for long-term use. Although it may be tempting to continue using them, they are crutches that only address the symptoms not the causes of insomnia. In fact, sleeping pills can often make insomnia worse in the long run. Therefore, it’s best to limit sleeping pills to situations where a person’s health or safety is threatened.
Combine sex and sleep. Sex and physical intimacy, such as hugging and massage, can lead to restful sleep.

Can napping help with sleep problems?

People are biologically programmed to sleep not only for a long period in the middle of the night but also for a short period in the middle of the day. Naps can enhance visual, motor, and spatial skills, and have even been shown to decrease the risk of coronary heart disease. So, if you don’t feel fully alert during the day, a nap may be just what you need. For many people, taking a brief nap can provide the needed energy to perform fully for the rest of the day. Experiment with napping to see if it helps you.

Some tips for good napping:

Short – Naps as short as five minutes can improve alertness and certain memory processes. Most people benefit from limiting naps to 15-45 minutes. You may feel groggy and unable to concentrate after a longer nap.
Early – Nap early in the afternoon. Napping too late in the day may disrupt your nighttime sleep.
Comfortable – Try to nap in a comfortable environment preferably with limited light and noise.

How to sleep well tip 4: Use diet and exercise to overcome sleep problems

To promote good sleep, pay particular attention to your pre-bedtime diet.

Bedtime Diet Tips to Improve Sleep
Limit caffeine late in the day	Avoid caffeine (from coffee, tea, soft drinks and chocolate) late in the day.
Avoid alcohol before bedtime	Don’t use alcohol as a sleeping aid. It might seem to make you sleepy, but will disrupt your sleep.
Satisfy your hunger prior to bed	Have a light snack such as crackers, cereal and milk, or yogurt or warm milk.
Avoid big meals or spicy foods just before bedtime	Large or spicy meals may lead to indigestion or discomfort. Try to eat a modest-size dinner at least three hours before bedtime.
Minimize liquid intake before sleep	Limit what you drink within the hour and a half before bedtime.

The importance of regular exercise in overcoming sleep problems

Exercise releases chemicals in your body that promote more restful sleep. There are four main types of exercise:

Endurance activities, such as walking, swimming, or riding a bike, increase your heart rate and breathing to improve the health of your heart and circulatory system.
Strength exercises build muscle tissue and reduce age-related muscle loss.
Stretching exercises keep your body limber and flexible, allowing a greater range of motion in your senior years.
Balance exercises build leg muscles to reduce the chances of a fall.

While seniors need some of each type of exercise, studies have shown that participating in moderate endurance (aerobic) activity can have the greatest impact on improving sleep.

Aerobic exercise helps older adults sleep better

A recent study by Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University found that aerobic exercise resulted in the most dramatic improvement in patients' reported quality of sleep, including sleep duration, on middle-aged and older adults with a diagnosis of insomnia.

The participants, aged 55 and up, exercised for two 20-minute sessions four times per week or one 30-to-40-minute session four times per week. Participants worked at 75 percent of their maximum heart rate on at least two activities including walking or using a stationary bicycle or treadmill. The regular aerobic exercise improved the participants' sleep quality from a diagnosis of poor sleeper to good sleeper. They also reported fewer depressive symptoms, more vitality, and less daytime sleepiness.

Source: National Sleep Foundation

Adding exercise to your life does not necessarily mean signing up for a gym membership. There are countless activities you can do to increase strength, improve aerobic capacity, burn calories, and prepare yourself for a good night’s sleep at the end of the day. Always consult your doctor before embarking on any new fitness program.

Swim/Water Exercises – Swimming laps is a gentle way to build up fitness and is great for sore joints or weak muscles. Many community and YMCA pools have swim programs just for older adults, as well as water-based exercise classes such as water aerobics.
Dance – If you love to move to music, go dancing or take a dance class. Dance classes are also a great way to extend your social network.
Take up lawn bowling, bocce, or pétanque – Variations on throwing a ball on an earthen or grassy court are gentle ways to exercise. The more you walk, and the brisker the pace, the more aerobic benefit you’ll experience.
Golf – Golf is a form of exercise that requires precise, strong movement of particular parts of your body, but which doesn’t require vigorous movement. Walking can be an added aerobic bonus to your game.
Cycle or run – If you are in good shape, you can run and bicycle until late in life. Both can be done outdoors or on a stationary bike or treadmill.

If you have mobility issues, you can exercise from one position, either standing, sitting, or lying down.

How to sleep well tip 5: Reduce mental stress to overcome sleep problems

Stress and anxiety can easily get in the way of a good night’s sleep. Everyone has worries and lists of things to do, but it is important to teach yourself to let go of these thoughts when it’s time to sleep.

Keep a journal to record worries and concerns before you retire.
On your to-do list, check off tasks accomplished for the day, list your goals for tomorrow, and then let go!
Listen to calming music.
Read a book that makes you feel relaxed.
Get a massage from a friend or partner.
Use a relaxation technique to prepare your body for sleep.
Seek opportunities to talk with a friend or therapist about what is troubling you.

Getting back to sleep at night

It’s normal to wake briefly during the night but if you’re having trouble falling back asleep, the following tips may help:

Don’t stress. Try not to stress over the fact that you can’t get back to sleep, because that very stress encourages your body to stay awake. Focus on the feelings and sensations in your body instead.
Make relaxation your goal, not sleep. Try a relaxation technique such as deep breathing or meditation, which can be done without getting out of bed. Remind yourself that although they’re not a replacement for sleep, rest and relaxation still help rejuvenate your body.
Do a quiet, non-stimulating activity. If you’ve been awake for more than 15 minutes, try getting out of bed and doing a non-stimulating activity, such as reading a book. Keep the lights dim so as not to cue your body clock that it’s time to wake up, and avoid TV and computer screens.
Postpone worrying. If you wake during the night feeling anxious about something, make a brief note of it on paper and postpone worrying about it until the next day when you are fresh and it will be easier to resolve.

How to sleep well tip 6: Talking to your doctor about sleep problems and sleep disorders

If your own attempts to solve your sleep problems are unsuccessful, your doctor may be able to help with sleep problems due to:

A sleep disorder
Medication side-effects or interactions
Medical conditions or illnesses
Pain

Bring with you a sleep diary. Include when you use alcohol, caffeine, and nicotine, and keep track of your medications, exercise, lifestyle changes, and recent stresses. Above all, don’t expect to sleep poorly as you age. Just as younger adults can solve their sleep problems, so can you
.

http://www.helpguide.org

Sleeping Pills, Natural Sleep Aids & Medications

2012-10-25T02:41:00.005-07:00

WHAT’S BEST FOR YOU?

It’s the middle of the night, and you’re staring at the bedroom ceiling, thinking about work, or bills, or the kids. Sleep just won’t come, so you reach for a sleeping pill, But s leeping pills and sleep aids vary in safety and effectiveness and are rarely meant for more than short-term use. Persistent insomnia is usually a symptom of an underlying medical or psychological problem that cannot be treated with sleeping pills. Instead, learn about safer and more effective ways to end sleepless nights.

This information is not intended to be a substitute for medical advice. Consult your physician before taking any sleep medications, discontinuing their use, or changing the prescribed dosage.

Are sleep aids, sleeping pills, or medications right for you?

In general, sleeping pills and sleep medications are most effective when used sparingly for short-term situations, such as traveling across time zones or recovering from a medical procedure. Sometimes sleep aids and medications are used briefly at the beginning of behavioral treatment for insomnia, especially if the sleep deprivation has been severe. If sleeping pills are used over the long term, they are best used “as needed” instead of on a daily basis, in order to avoid dependence and tolerance. Working with your healthcare professional is essential to ensure you get the maximum benefit and can safely monitor potential side effects.

The trouble with sleeping pills, over-the-counter (OTC) sleep aids & medications

The idea of a pill that can instantly solve your sleep problems is very appealing. Unfortunately, sleeping pills don't cure the underlying cause of insomnia, and in fact can often make the problem worse in the long run. Concerns about the use of both over-the-counter (OTC) and prescription sleep aids include:

Side effects. Side effects can be severe and include prolonged drowsiness the next day, confusion, forgetfulness and dry mouth.
Drug tolerance. You may have to take more and more of the sleep aid for it to work, which in turn can lead to more side effects.
Drug dependence. You may come to rely on sleeping pills to sleep, and will be unable to sleep or have even worse sleep without them.
Withdrawal symptoms. If you stop the medication abruptly, you may have withdrawal symptoms, such as nausea, sweating and shaking.
Drug interactions. Sleeping pills can interact with other medications. This can worsen side effects and be dangerous, especially with prescription painkillers and other sedatives.
Rebound insomnia. If you need to stop taking sleeping pills, sometimes the insomnia can become even worse than before.
Masking an underlying problem. There may be an underlying medical or mental disorder, or even a sleep disorder, causing your insomnia that can’t be treated with sleeping pills.

Side effects of sleep aids and sleeping pills

All prescription sleeping pills have side effects, which can vary depending on the specific drug, the dosage, and how long the drug lasts in your system. Common side effects include headache, muscle aches, constipation, dry mouth, daytime sleepiness, trouble concentrating, dizziness, unsteadiness, and rebound insomnia.

Some serious risks of sleeping pills

Sedative-hypnotic drug products (benzodiazepines and non-benzodiazepines) can cause severe allergic reaction, facial swelling, memory lapses, hallucinations, and complex sleep-related behaviors. These may include sleep-walking, sleep-driving (driving while not fully awake, with no memory of the event) and sleep-eating (eating in the middle of the night with no recollection, often resulting in weight-gain). If you experience any unusual sleep-related behavior, consult your doctor immediately.

Over-the-counter (OTC) sleep aids and sleeping pills

The main ingredient of over-the-counter sleeping pills is an antihistamine. Antihistamines are generally taken for allergies, hay fever and common cold symptoms, in brand name medication such as Benadryl. However, histamine, a chemical messenger in the brain, promotes wakefulness, so antihistamine has the effect of making some patients feel sleepy. While the positive effects have not been substantiated through research, the side effects, such as drowsiness the following day, can be common and severe.

Common OTC sleep medications include:

Diphenhydramine (found in brand names like Nytol, Sominex, Sleepinal, Compoz)

Doxylamine (brand names such as Unisom, Nighttime Sleep Aid)

Some other OTC sleep aids combine antihistamines with the pain reliever Acetaminophen (found in brand names like Tylenol PM and Aspirin-Free Anacin PM). Others, such as NyQuil, combine antihistamines with alcohol.

OTC sleep aids are meant to be used for short term insomnia only. Sleep experts generally advise against the use of over-the-counter (OTC) sleep aids because of side-effects, questions about their effectiveness, and lack of information about their safety over the long-term.

Side effects of OTC sleep aids and sleeping pills

The antihistamines used in OTC sleep aids can produce common side effects, some of them severe. As with any medication, it is advisable to consult your doctor before taking over-the-counter sleep aids. This is especially important if you have glaucoma, trouble urinating due to an enlarged prostate gland, or a breathing problem such as emphysema or chronic bronchitis. Talk to your doctor if you're currently taking an antidepressant such as a monoamine oxidase inhibitor (MAOI) or did so as recently as two weeks ago. Also check with your doctor first if you take any other drugs for depression or Parkinson's disease. Women who breast-feed should avoid OTC sleep aids.

Common side effects of OTC sleep aids and sleeping pills

Moderate to severe drowsiness the next day
Dizziness and forgetfulness
Clumsiness, feeling off balance

Constipation and urinary retention
Blurred vision
Dry mouth and throat

Prescription sleeping pills and sleep medications

There are several different types of prescription sleeping pills. These medications are classified as sedative hypnotics. In general, the medications act by working on receptors in the brain to slow down the nervous system. Some medications are used more for inducing sleep, while others are used for staying asleep. Some last longer than others in your system (a longer half life), and some have a higher risk of becoming habit forming.

Benzodiazepine sedative hypnotic sleeping pills

Benzodiazepines are the oldest class of sleep medications still commonly in use. Benzodiazepines as a group are thought to have a higher risk of dependence than other insomnia sedative hypnotics. All are classified as controlled substances. Primarily used to treat anxiety disorders, benzodiazepines approved to treat insomnia include estazolam (brand name ProSom), flurazepam (Dalmane), quazepam (Doral), temazepam (Restoril), and triazolam (Halcion).

Drawbacks to benzodiazepine sleeping pills

You can become both physically and psychologically dependent on the sleep medication. You may believe that you can’t sleep without it, and actually experience physical withdrawal symptoms like anxiety and rebound insomnia.
Sleeping pills can lose their effectiveness if used on a nightly basis, because the brain receptors become less sensitive to their effects. In as little as three to four weeks, benzodiazepines can become no more effective than a sugar pill.
The overall quality of your sleep can be reduced, with less restorative deep sleep and dream sleep.
You may experience next day cognitive slowing and drowsiness (the hangover effect), which may be even greater than from sleep deprivation.
Even if the medication is effective while taking it, insomnia returns once it is stopped.

Non-benzodiazepine sedative hypnotic sleeping pills

Some newer medications don’t have the same chemical structure as a benzodiazepine, but act on the same area in the brain. They are thought to have fewer side effects, and less risk of dependency, but are still considered controlled substances. They include zalepon (Sonata), zolpidem (Ambien), and eszopiclone (Lunesta), which has been tested for longer-term use, up to six months.

Drawbacks to non-benzodiazepine sleeping pills

Generally, non-benzodiazepines have fewer drawbacks than benzodiazepines, but that doesn’t make them suitable for everyone. Some may find this type of sleep medication ineffective at helping them sleep, while the long-term effects remain unknown. Side-effects include:

Morning grogginess
Drug tolerance
Rebound insomnia
Headaches, dizziness, nausea, difficulty swallowing or breathing
In some cases, dangerous sleep-related behaviors such as sleep-walking, sleep-driving, and sleep-eating
New or worsening depression; suicidal thoughts or actions

Melatonin receptor agonist hypnotic sleeping pills

Ramelton (Rozerem) is the newest type of sleep medication and works by mimicking the sleep regulation hormone melatonin. It has little risk of physical dependency but does have side effects. It is used for sleep onset problems and is not effective for problems in staying asleep.

Ramelteon’s most common side effect is dizziness. It may also worsen symptoms of depression and should not be used by those with severe liver damage.

Antidepressants used as sleeping pills

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has not approved antidepressants for the treatment of insomnia, nor has their use been proven effective in treating sleeplessness. However, some physicians believe insomnia is related to depression. As with all depression medication, there is a small but significant risk of suicidal thoughts or worsening of depression, particularly in children and adolescents.

Guidelines for using sleeping pills, sleep aids & medications

If you decide to try sleeping pills, sleep aids, or sleep medications, talk to your doctor about:

Other medications you are taking, including non-prescription medications such as pain relievers and allergy medicines, as well as herbal supplements. Combining medications can be very dangerous.
Specific instructions for decreasing and/or terminating use. In some cases, stopping medication abruptly can cause uncomfortable side effects and even rebound insomnia.
Using the medications intermittently, rather than nightly, in order to decrease the negative side effects and to increase the sleeping pills’ efficiency when you do use them. This is not appropriate with all medications, as some cause withdrawal symptoms when stopped abruptly.
Other medical conditions you have. Some sleep medications can have serious side effects for people with medical problems such as high blood pressure, liver problems, glaucoma, depression, and breathing difficulties.

Important tips when taking sleeping pills

When taking sleeping pills, sleep aids, or sleep medications, remember to:

Only take a sleeping pill when you will have enough time to get a full night of sleep (7 to 8 hours). Otherwise you may feel very drowsy the next day.
Carefully read the package insert that comes with your medication. Pay careful attention to the potential side effects.
Never drink alcohol near the time when you take a sleeping pill. Not only will alcohol disrupt your sleep even more, it can interact dangerously with the sleeping pill.
Never drive a car or operate machinery after taking a sleeping pill. Especially when you first start taking a new sleep aid, as you may not know how it will affect you.
Follow directions closely, starting with a very small dose and increasing gradually, according to the doctor’s schedule. Find out whether you should take your medication with or without food. For some medications, certain foods must be avoided.

Herbal sleeping pills and natural sleep aids

Many people with insomnia choose herbal remedies for treatment, although their effectiveness is unclear. Some remedies, such as lemon balm or chamomile tea are generally harmless. However, others can have more serious side effects and can interfere with prescribed medications, which can be dangerous. St. John’s Wort, for example, can limit the effectiveness of many prescribed medications such as blood thinners, birth control pills, and some anticancer medications. Check with your healthcare professional if you are trying a herbal remedy.

Herbal sleep aids

There are several herbs thought to help sleep, including chamomile, valerian root, kava kava, lemon balm, passionflower, lavender, and St. John’s Wort. Many people drink chamomile tea for its gentle sedative properties, although it may cause allergic reactions in those with plant or pollen allergies. While there is some data showing valerian to be useful for insomnia, at high doses it can cause vivid dreams, blurred vision, changes in heart rhythm, and excitability.

Melatonin as a sleep aid

Melatonin is a naturally occurring hormone that increases at night. It is triggered by dark and levels remain elevated throughout the night until suppressed by the light of morning. However, most studies have found melatonin to be no more beneficial than a sugar pill (placebo). Some positive results have been shown in helping jet lag and night shift workers, but simple exposure to light at the right time might be just as effective.

Tryptophan and L-tryptophan as sleep aids

Tryptophan is a basic amino acid used in the formation of the chemical messenger serotonin, a substance in the brain that helps tell your body to sleep. L-tryptophan is a common byproduct of tryptophan, which the body can change into serotonin. Some studies have shown that L-tryptophan can help people fall asleep faster. Results, however, have been inconsistent.

Alternatives to sleeping pills, sleep aids & medications

Research has shown that changing your sleep environment and bedtime behaviors is one of the most effective ways to combat insomnia. Even if you decide to use sleeping pills or medications in the short-term, experts recommend making changes in your lifestyle and bedtime behavior as a long-term remedy to sleep problems. Behavioral and environmental changes can have more of a positive impact on sleep than sleeping pills, sleep aids, or other medications, without the risk of side effects or dependence.

Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) as an alternative to sleeping pills

Many people complain that frustrating, negative thoughts and worries prevent them from sleeping at night. Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) is a form of psychotherapy that treats problems by modifying dysfunctional or destructive thoughts, emotions and patterns of behavior. CBT is a relatively simple treatment that can improve sleep by changing your behavior before bedtime as well as changing the ways of thinking that keep you from falling asleep. It also focuses on improving relaxation skills and changing lifestyle habits that affect sleeping patterns.

CBT vs. sleeping pills

A recent study at Harvard Medical School found that cognitive behavior therapy (CBT), including relaxation exercises and the adoption of good sleep habits, was more effective at treating chronic insomnia than prescription sleep medication. It produced the greatest changes in patients’ ability to fall asleep and stay asleep, and the benefits remained even a year after treatment ended.

Source: National Institutes of Health (NIH)

Relaxation techniques as an alternative to sleeping pills

Relaxation techniques that can relieve stress and help you sleep include simple meditation practices, progressive muscle relaxation, yoga, tai chi, and the use of deep breathing. With a little practice, these skills can help you unwind at bedtime and improve your sleep better than a sleeping pill or sleep aid. Try:

A relaxing bedtime routine. Focus on quiet, soothing activities, such as reading, gentle yoga, or listening to soft music before bed. Keep the lights low to naturally boost melatonin.
Abdominal breathing. Most of us don’t breathe as deeply as we should. When we breathe deeply and fully, involving not only the chest, but also the belly, lower back, and ribcage, it can actually help the part of our nervous system that controls relaxation. Close your eyes and try taking deep, slow breaths, making each breath even deeper than the last. Breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth. Make each exhale a little longer than each inhale.
Progressive muscle relaxation is easier than it sounds. Lie down or make yourself comfortable. Starting with your feet, tense the muscles as tightly as you can. Hold for a count of 10, then relax. Continue to do this for every muscle group in your body, working your way up from your feet to the top of your head.

Exercise as an alternative to sleeping pills

Studies have shown that exercise during the day can improve sleep at night. When we exercise we experience a significant rise in body temperature, followed a few hours later by a significant drop. This drop in body temperature makes it easier for us to fall asleep and stay asleep. The best time to exercise is late afternoon or early evening, rather than just before bed.

Aerobic exercises are the best to combat insomnia as they increase the amount of oxygen that reaches the blood. Try exercise such as jogging, walking briskly, using a stationary bike or treadmill, dancing, or jumping rope. Check with your doctor first to make sure you are healthy enough for physical activity and remember to stretch before and after your workouts.

How much exercise will improve sleep?

One study by Stanford University of Medicine researchers concluded that people who performed regular, moderately-intense aerobic exercise for 30 to 40 minutes four times a week, slept almost an hour longer than those who did no exercise at all. As well as enjoying better quality sleep, the exercisers were also able to cut the time it took to fall asleep by half.

Source: National Institutes of Healt
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How to Stop Snoring

2012-10-25T02:40:00.002-07:00

CURES, REMEDIES, AND TIPS FOR YOU AND YOUR PARTNER

Just about everyone snores occasionally, but if snoring happens frequently it can affect the quantity and quality of your sleep and that of other family members. Snoring can lead to poor sleep and daytime fatigue, irritability, and increased health problems. If your snoring keeps your partner awake, it can also create major relationship problems. Thankfully, sleeping in separate bedrooms isn’t the only remedy for snoring. There are many other effective solutions available.

The causes of snoring: Identify the cause to find the cure

On the same day, one person can sneeze from allergies while another person sneezes from a bad cold. Snoring is like that. In other words, not all snoring is the same. Everyone snores for different reasons. When you get to the bottom of why you snore, then you can find the right solutions to a quieter, deeper sleep.

People who snore often have too much throat and nasal tissue, or “floppy” tissue that is more prone to vibrate. The position of your tongue can also get in the way of smooth breathing. Evaluating how and when you snore will help you pinpoint whether the cause of your snoring is within your control or not. The good news is that no matter how and when you snore, there are solutions to making your snoring better.

Where does the snoring sound come from?

Snoring happens when you can't move air freely through your nose and mouth during sleep. It’s caused by a narrowing of your airway, either from poor sleep posture or abnormalities of the soft tissues in your throat. A narrow airway gets in the way of smooth breathing and creates the sound of snoring.

Common causes of snoring

Age. As you reach middle age and beyond, your throat becomes narrower, and the muscle tone in your throat decreases.
The way you’re built. Men have narrower air passages than women and are more likely to snore. A narrow throat, a cleft palate, enlarged adenoids, and other physical attributes that contribute to snoring are often hereditary.
Nasal and sinus problems. Blocked airways make inhalation difficult and create a vacuum in the throat, leading to snoring.
Being overweight or out of shape. Fatty tissue and poor muscle tone contribute to snoring.
Alcohol, smoking, and medications. Alcohol intake, smoking, and certain medications can increase muscle relaxation leading to more snoring.
Sleep posture. Sleeping flat on your back causes the flesh of your throat to relax and block the airway.

Is it just snoring or sleep apnea?

Snoring could indicate sleep apnea, a potentially life-threatening condition that requires medical attention. Sleep apnea is a breathing obstruction, causing the sleeper to keep waking up to begin breathing again. Normal snoring doesn’t interfere with the quality of your sleep as much as sleep apnea, so if you’re suffering from extreme fatigue and sleepiness during the day, your problem may be more than just snoring.

Don’t let snoring damage your relationship

Is snoring causing a rift in your relationship? No matter how much you love each other, lack of sleep or poor quality sleep from frequent snoring can strain a relationship as well as put your partner’s health at risk.

When snoring is a problem, relationship tension can grow in the following ways:

Sleeping alone. If you or your partner snores, you might decide to sleep alone. That only makes for a lack of physical intimacy and a strained relationship. And if you’re the one snoring, you might feel lonely, isolated, and frustrated about something you feel you have no control over.
Snoring spats. It’s common to be irritable when lack of sleep is an issue. But try reining in your frustration. Remember, you want to attack the snoring problem—not your sleep partner.
Partner resentment. When a non-snorer feels they do everything possible to sleep through the night (ear-plugs, noise-machines, etc.) but their partner does nothing to combat their own snoring, it can lead to resentment. Working as a team to find a snoring cure can prevent future fights.

If you value your relationship, make it your priority to find a snoring cure so you can both sleep soundly. Working together to stop snoring can even be an opportunity to improve the quality of your bond and become more deeply connected.

Communicating with a partner who snores

So you love everything about your partner…except their snoring. It’s normal. Even the most patient amongst us will draw the line at sleep deprivation. But no matter how much sleep you lose due to someone snoring, it’s important to handle the problem sensitively. Remember that your partner likely feels vulnerable and even a little embarrassed about his or her snoring.

Time your talk carefully. Avoid middle of the night or early morning discussions when you’re feeling exhausted.
Keep in mind it’s not intentional. Although it’s easy to feel like a victim when you lose sleep, remember that your partner isn’t keeping you awake on purpose.
Avoid lashing out. Sure, sleep deprivation is aggravating and can be damaging to your health, but try your best to approach the problem in a non-confrontational way.
Beware of bitterness. Make sure that latching onto snoring is not an outlet for other hidden resentments you’re harboring.
Use humor and playfulness to bring up the subject of snoring without hurting your partner’s feelings. Laughing about it can ease tension. Just make sure it doesn’t turn into too much teasing.

Dealing with complaints about your snoring

It’s common to be caught off guard—not to mention a little hurt—when a partner complains about your snoring. After all, you probably didn’t even realize it was happening. And although it might seem silly that snoring can cause such relationship turmoil, it’s a common and a very real problem. If you dismiss your partner’s concerns and refuse to try to solve your snoring problem, you’re sending a clear message to your partner that you don’t care about their needs.
Keep the following in mind as you and your partner work together to find a solution to your snoring:

Snoring is a physical issue. It’s nothing to be embarrassed about. Like a pulled muscle or a common cold, improving the condition is in your hands.
Avoid taking it personally. Try not to take your partner’s frustration as a personal critique or attack. Your partner loves you, just not the snoring.
Take your partner seriously. Avoid minimizing complaints. Lack of sleep is a health hazard and can make your partner feel miserable all day.
Make it clear that you prioritize the relationship. If you and your partner have this understanding, you’ll both do what it takes to find a cure for the snoring.
Address inappropriate behavior. Although sleep deprivation can lead to moodiness and irritability, let your partner know that it’s not okay for them to throw an elbow jab or snap at you when you’re snoring.

Finding the right snoring cures, solutions, and remedies

There are so many bizarre anti-snoring devices available on the market, with more being added all the time, that finding the right solution for your snoring can seem like a daunting task. Unfortunately, many of these unusual devices are unproven or work by simply keeping you awake at night. There are, however, plenty of proven techniques that can help you to stop snoring. Not every remedy is right for every person, though, so it may require some patience, some lifestyle changes, and a willingness to experiment with different solutions to finally put a stop to your snoring.

The first step to solving a snoring problem is to find the cause of your snoring. Enlist your non-snoring sleep partner to help you keep a sleep diary to monitor your snoring. Observing patterns in your snoring can often help pinpoint the reasons why you snore, what makes it worse, and how to go about stopping your snoring.

How you snore reveals why you snore

It’s crucial to note to the different ways you sleep and snore. Sleep positions reveal a lot, and figuring out how you snore can reveal why you snore. When you know why you snore, you can get closer to a cure.

Closed-mouth snoring may indicate a problem with your tongue.
Open-mouth snoring may be related to the tissues in your throat.
Snoring when sleeping on your back is probably mild snoring – improved sleep habits and lifestyle changes may be effective cures.
Snoring in all sleep positions can mean your snoring is more severe and may require a more comprehensive treatment.

Self-help cures to stop snoring

There are many things you can do on your own to help stop snoring. Home remedies and lifestyle changes can go a long way in resolving the problem.

Lifestyle changes to stop snoring

Lose weight. Losing even a little bit of weight can reduce fatty tissue in the back of the throat and decrease or even stop snoring.
Exercise can also help to stop snoring. Working out to tone your arms, legs, and abs, for example, also leads to toning the muscles in your throat, which in turn can lead to less snoring.
Quit smoking. If you smoke, your chances of snoring are high. Smoking causes airways to be blocked by irritating the membranes in the nose and throat.
Avoid alcohol, sleeping pills, and sedatives, especially before bedtime, because they relax the muscles in the throat and interfere with breathing. Talk to your doctor about any prescription medications you’re taking, as some encourage a deeper level of sleep which can make snoring worse.
Establish regular sleep patterns. Create a bedtime ritual with your partner and stick to it. Hitting the sack in a routine way together can help you sleep better and often minimize snoring.

Bedtime remedies to help you stop snoring

Clear nasal passages. Having a stuffy nose makes inhalation difficult and creates a vacuum in your throat, which in turn leads to snoring. You can do it naturally with a neti pot or try nasal decongestants or nasal strips to help you breathe more easily while sleeping.
Keep bedroom air moist with a humidifier. Dry air can irritate membranes in the nose and throat.
Reposition. Elevating your head four inches may ease breathing and encourage your tongue and jaw to move forward. There are specially designed pillows available to help prevent snoring by making sure your neck muscles are not crimped.
Avoid caffeine and heavy meals within two hours of going to bed, especially dairy products and soymilk.
Sleep on your side. Avoid sleeping on your back, as gravity makes it more likely for your tongue and soft tissues to drop and obstruct your airway.

Stop Snoring Solution: The tennis ball trick

Is sleeping on your back causing you to snore? If so, try the tennis ball trick. Sleep with a tennis ball (or similar sized ball) attached to the back of a pajama top or t-shirt. (You can sew or safety-pin a sock to the back of the pajama top, then put a tennis ball in it.) The tennis ball is uncomfortable if you lie on your back, and you will respond by turning on your side. Or wedge a pillow stuffed with tennis balls behind your back. Soon you will develop side-sleeping as a habit and not need the tennis balls.

Throat exercises to stop snoring

Practiced for 30 minutes a day, throat exercises can be an effective way to reduce or stop snoring. Repeatedly pronouncing certain vowel sounds and curling the tongue in specific ways can strengthen muscles in the upper respiratory tract and thereby reduce snoring.

Try the following exercises to stop snoring. Start slow and gradually increase the number of sets you do. In some cases, you may be able to combine the exercises with other activities, such as commuting to work, walking your dog, working out, or taking a shower.

Repeat each vowel (a-e-i-o-u) out loud for three minutes a few times a day.
Place the tip of your tongue behind your top front teeth. Slide your tongue backwards for 3 minutes a day.
Close your mouth and purse your lips. Hold for 30 seconds.
With mouth open, move jaw to the right and hold for 30 seconds. Repeat on left side.
With mouth open, contract the muscle at the back of your throat repeatedly for 30 seconds. Tip: Look in the mirror to see the uvula (“the hanging ball”) move up and down.

Alternative remedies for snoring

Singing – Singing can increase muscle control in the throat and soft palate, reducing snoring caused by lax muscles.
Playing the didgeridoo – Thinking of taking up a new instrument? Studies show that learning to play a didgeridoo (native Australian wind instrument) can strengthen the soft palate and throat, reducing snoring.

Medical cures and treatments for snoring

If you’ve tried the self-help solutions to stop snoring without success, don’t give up hope. Medical cures and treatments could make all the difference. New advances in the treatment of snoring are being made all the time and the various devices available to stop snoring are becoming more and more effective and comfortable. So even if your doctor recommends something that in the past you found to be uncomfortable or ineffective at stopping your snoring, that doesn’t mean the same will be true now.

Medical cures for snoring

If your own efforts to stop snoring do not help, consult your physician or an otolaryngologist (an ear, nose, and throat doctor, otherwise known as an ENT). If you choose to try a dental appliance for your snoring, you will need to see a dentist specializing in these devices.

Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP). To keep your airway open during sleep, a machine at your bedside blows pressurized air into a mask that you wear over your nose or face.
Dental appliances, oral devices, and lower jaw-positioners often resemble an athlete’s mouth guard. They help open your airway by bringing your lower jaw or your tongue forward during sleep.
Traditional surgery such as Uvulopalatopharyngoplasty (UPPP), Thermal Ablation Palatoplasty (TAP), tonsillectomy, and adenoidectomy, increase the size of your airway by surgically removing tissues or correcting abnormalities. The Pillar procedure is also an effective surgery in which small plastic implants are inserted into the soft palate. Scar tissue grows around the implants, stiffening the soft palate, which stops vibrations that cause snoring.
New developments. Laser-assisted uvulopalatoplasty (LAUP) and somnoplasty remove parts of the soft palate to reduce snoring using lasers or radiofrequency signals. These newer remedies may require further study.

When to see a doctor about snoring

Snoring can sometimes be a warning sign of a more serious problem. A doctor should evaluate someone who snores for any underlying medical conditions, other sleeping disorders such as sleep apnea, or any sleep-related breathing problems. Call your doctor if you and your sleep partner have noticed any of the following red flags:

You snore loudly and heavily and are tired during the day.
You stop breathing, gasp, or choke during sleep.
You fall asleep at inappropriate times, such as during a conversation or a meal.

To rule out a more serious problem, a physician may refer you to a sleep specialist for a home-based sleep test using a portable monitor or an overnight stay at a sleep clinic. If these sleep studies conclude that the snoring is not related to any sleeping or breathing disorders, you can discuss different treatment options to stop the snoring

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How Much Sleep Do You Need?

2012-10-25T02:39:00.000-07:00

SLEEP CYCLES & STAGES, LACK OF SLEEP, AND GETTING THE HOURS YOU NEED

When you’re scrambling to meet the demands of modern life, cutting back on sleep can seem like the only answer. Who can afford to spend so much time sleeping? The truth is you can’t afford not to. Even minimal sleep loss takes a toll on your mood, energy, and ability to handle stress. Learn how to determine your nightly sleep needs and what you can do to bounce back from chronic sleep loss and get on a healthy sleep schedule.

The power of sleep

Can’t Sleep?

Read about insomnia causes, cures, and treatments

Many of us want to sleep as little as possible—or feel like we have to. There are so many things that seem more interesting or important than getting a few more hours of sleep. But just as exercise and nutrition are essential for optimal health and happiness, so is sleep. The quality of your sleep directly affects the quality of your waking life, including your mental sharpness, productivity, emotional balance, creativity, physical vitality, and even your weight. No other activity delivers so many benefits with so little effort!

Understanding sleep

Sleep isn’t merely a time when your body and brain shut off. While you rest, your brain stays busy, overseeing a wide variety of biological maintenance tasks that keep you running in top condition and prepare you for the day ahead. Without enough hours of restorative sleep, you’re like a car in need of an oil change. You won’t be able to work, learn, create, and communicate at a level even close to your true potential. Regularly skimp on “service” and you’re headed for a major mental and physical breakdown.

It’s not just the number of hours in bed that is important—it’s the quality of those hours of sleep. If you’re giving yourself plenty of time for sleep, but you’re still having trouble waking up in the morning or staying alert all day, you may not be spending enough time in the different stages of sleep—especially deep sleep and REM sleep. By understanding how the sleep cycles work and the factors that can lead to those cycles being disrupted, you’ll be able to start getting both the quantity and the quality of sleep you need.

The sleep-wake cycle

Your internal 24-hour sleep-wake cycle, otherwise known as biological clock or circadian rhythm, is regulated by processes in the brain that respond to how long you’ve been awake and the changes between light and dark. At night, your body responds to the loss of daylight by producing melatonin, a hormone that makes you sleepy. During the day, sunlight triggers the brain to inhibit melatonin production so you feel awake and alert.

This sleep-wake cycle can be disrupted by factors such as nightshift work, traveling across time zones, or irregular sleeping patterns, leaving you feeling groggy, disoriented, and sleepy at inconvenient times. The production of melatonin can also be thrown off when you’re deprived of sunlight during the day or exposed to too much artificial light at night, disrupting the sleep-wake cycle and preventing you from getting the sleep you need.

Myths and Facts about Sleep

Myth 1: Getting just 1 hour less sleep per night won’t affect your daytime functioning. You may not be noticeably sleepy during the day. But even slightly less sleep can affect your ability to think properly and respond quickly, and compromise your cardiovascular health, energy balance, and ability to fight infections.

Myth 2: Your body adjusts quickly to different sleep schedules. Most people can reset their biological clock, but only by appropriately timed cues—and even then, by 1–2 hours per day at best. Consequently, it can take more than a week to adjust after traveling across several time zones or switching to the night shift.

Myth 3: Extra sleep at night can cure you of problems with excessive daytime fatigue. Not only is the quantity of sleep important but also the quality of sleep. Some people sleep 8 or 9 hours a night but don’t feel well rested when they wake up because the quality of their sleep is poor.

Myth 4: You can make up for lost sleep during the week by sleeping more on the weekends.Although this sleeping pattern will help relieve part of a sleep debt, it will not completely make up for the lack of sleep. Furthermore, sleeping later on the weekends can affect your sleep-wake cycle so that it is much harder to go to sleep at the right time on Sunday nights and get up early on Monday mornings.

Adapted from: Your Guide to Healthy Sleep (PDF) The National Institutes of Health

How many hours of sleep do you need?

Average Sleep Needs
Age	Hours
Newborns (0-2 months)	12 - 18
Infants (3 months to 1 year)	14 - 15
Toddlers (1 to 3 years)	12 - 14
Preschoolers (3 to 5 years)	11 - 13
School-aged children (5 to 12 years)	10 - 11
Teens and preteens (12 to 18 years)	8.5 - 10
Adults (18+)	7.5 - 9

According to the National Institutes of Health, the average adult sleeps less than 7 hours per night. In today’s fast-paced society, 6 or 7 hours of sleep may sound pretty good. In reality, it’s a recipe for chronic sleep deprivation.

While sleep requirements vary slightly from person to person, most healthy adults need between 7.5 to 9 hours of sleep per night to function at their best.Children and teens need even more (see box at right). And despite the notion that our sleep needs decrease with age, older people still need at least 7.5 to 8 hours of sleep. Since older adults often have trouble sleeping this long at night, daytime naps can help fill in the gap.

Sleep needs and peak performance

There is a big difference between the amount of sleep you can get by on and the amount you need to function optimally. Just because you’re able to operate on 7 hours of sleep doesn’t mean you wouldn’t feel a lot better and get more done if you spent an extra hour or two in bed. The best way to figure out if you’re meeting your sleep needs is to evaluate how you feel as you go about your day. If you’re logging enough hours, you’ll feel energetic and alert all day long, from the moment you wake up until your regular bedtime.

Think six hours of sleep is enough?

Think again. Researchers at the University of California, San Francisco discovered that some people have a gene that enables them to do well on 6 hours of sleep a night. But the gene is very rare, appearing in less than 3% of the population. For the other 97% of us, six hours doesn’t come close to cutting it.

Signs and symptoms of sleep deprivation and lack of sleep

If you’re getting less than eight hours of sleep each night, chances are you’re sleep deprived. What’s more, you probably have no idea just how much lack of sleep is affecting you.

How is it possible to be sleep deprived without knowing it? Most of the signs of sleep deprivation are much more subtle than falling face first into your dinner plate. Furthermore, if you’ve made a habit of skimping on sleep, you may not even remember what it feels like to be wide-awake, fully alert, and firing on all cylinders. It feels normal to get sleepy when you’re in a boring meeting, struggle through the afternoon slump, or doze off after dinner. But the truth is that it’s only “normal” if you’re sleep deprived.

You may be sleep deprived if you...

Need an alarm clock in order to wake up on time
Rely on the snooze button
Have a hard time getting out of bed in the morning
Feel sluggish in the afternoon
Get sleepy in meetings, lectures, or warm rooms

Get drowsy after heavy meals or when driving
Need to nap to get through the day
Fall asleep while watching TV or relaxing in the evening
Feel the need to sleep in on weekends
Fall asleep within five minutes of going to bed

While it may seem like losing sleep isn’t such a big deal, sleep deprivation has a wide range of negative effects that go way beyond daytime drowsiness.

The effects of sleep deprivation and chronic lack of sleep

Fatigue, lethargy, and lack of motivation
Moodiness and irritability
Reduced creativity and problem-solving skills
Inability to cope with stress
Reduced immunity; frequent colds and infections

Concentration and memory problems
Weight gain
Impaired motor skills and increased risk of accidents
Difficulty making decisions
Increased risk of diabetes, heart disease, and other health problems

Is lack of sleep affecting your performance?

Lack of sleep affects your judgment, coordination, and reaction times. In fact, sleep deprivation can affect you just as much as being drunk.

Try the Sheep Dash test in the Resources section below to see how well rested you really are.

Stages of sleep: REM sleep and non-REM sleep stages

All sleep is not created equal. Sleep unfolds in a series of recurring sleep stages that are very different from one another in terms of what’s happening beneath the surface. From deep sleep to dreaming sleep, they are all vital for your body and mind. Each stage of sleep plays a different part in preparing you for the day ahead.

There are two main types of sleep:

Non-REM (NREM) sleep consists of four stages of sleep, each deeper than the last.
REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep is when you do most active dreaming. Your eyes actually move back and forth during this stage, which is why it is called Rapid Eye Movement sleep.

The Stages of Sleep
Non-REM sleep
Stage N1 (Transition to sleep) – This stage lasts about five minutes. Eyes move slowly under the eyelids, muscle activity slows down, and you are easily awakened.
Stage N2 (Light sleep) – This is the first stage of true sleep, lasting from 10 to 25 minutes. Eye movement stops, heart rate slows, and body temperature decreases.
Stage N3 (Deep sleep) – You’re difficult to awaken, and if you are awakened, you do not adjust immediately and often feel groggy and disoriented for several minutes. In this deepest stage of sleep, brain waves are extremely slow. Blood flow is directed away from the brain and towards the muscles, restoring physical energy.
REM sleep
REM sleep (Dream sleep) – About 70 to 90 minutes after falling asleep, you enter REM sleep, where dreaming occurs. Eyes move rapidly. Breathing is shallow. Heart rate and blood pressure increase. Arm and leg muscles are paralyzed.

The sleep cycle: Understanding the architecture of sleep

You may think that once you go to bed, you soon fall into a deep sleep that lasts for most of the night, progressing back into light sleep in the morning when it’s time to wake up. In reality, the sleep cycle is a lot more complicated.

When you chart the sleep stages over the course of the night, the result looks like a city skyline—which is why it is called "sleep architecture"

During the night, your sleep follows a predictable pattern, moving back and forth between deep restorative sleep (deep sleep) and more alert stages and dreaming (REM sleep). Together, the stages of REM and non-REM sleep form a complete sleep cycle. Each cycle typically lasts about 90 minutes and repeats four to six times over the course of a night.

The amount of time you spend in each stage of sleep changes as the night progresses. For example, most deep sleep occurs in the first half of the night. Later in the night, your REM sleep stages become longer, alternating with light Stage 2 sleep. This is why if you are sensitive to waking up in the middle of the night, it is probably in the early morning hours, not immediately after going to bed.

Having a hard time getting up when your alarm goes off?

Even if you’ve enjoyed a full night’s sleep, getting out of bed can be difficult if your alarm goes off when you’re in the middle of deep sleep (stage N3). If you want to make mornings less painful—or if you know you only have a limited time for sleep—try setting a wake-up time that’s a multiple of 90 minutes, the length of the average sleep cycle. For example, if you go to bed at 10 p.m., set your alarm for 5:30 (a total of 7 ½ hours of sleep) instead of 6:00 or 6:30. You may feel more refreshed at 5:30 than with another 30 to 60 minutes of sleep because you’re getting up at the end of a sleep cycle when your body and brain are already close to wakefulness.

The importance of deep sleep and REM sleep

Getting good, restorative sleep is not just a matter of spending enough hours in bed. The amount of time you spend in each of the stages of sleep matters. A normal adult spends approximately 50 percent of total sleep time in stage 2 sleep, 20 percent in REM sleep, and 30 percent in the remaining stages, including deep sleep.

Each stage of sleep in the sleep cycle offers benefits to the sleeper. However, deep sleep (stages 3 and 4) and REM sleep are particularly important.

Deep sleep

The most damaging effects of sleep deprivation are from inadequate deep sleep. Deep sleep is a time when the body repairs itself and builds up energy for the day ahead. It plays a major role in maintaining your health, stimulating growth and development, repairing muscles and tissues, and boosting your immune system. In order to wake up energized and refreshed, getting quality deep sleep is key. Factors that can lead to poor or inadequate deep sleep include:

Being woken during the night. (by outside noise, for example, or in order to care for a crying baby)
Working night shifts or swing shifts. Getting quality deep sleep during the day can be difficult, due to light and excess noise.
Smoking or drinking in the evening. Substances like alcohol and nicotine can disrupt deep sleep. It’s best to limit them before bed.

REM sleep

Just as deep sleep renews the body, REM sleep renews the mind. REM sleep plays a key role in learning and memory. During REM sleep, your brain consolidates and processes the information you’ve learned during the day, forms neural connections that strengthen memory, and replenishes its supply of neurotransmitters, including feel-good chemicals such as serotonin and dopamine that boost your mood during the day.

To get more mind and mood-boosting REM sleep, try sleeping an extra 30 minutes to an hour in the morning, when REM sleep stages are longer. Improving your overall sleep will also increase your REM sleep. If you aren’t getting enough deep sleep, your body will try to make it up first, at the expense of REM sleep.

Paying off your sleep debt

Sleep debt is the difference between the amount of sleep you need and the hours you actually get. Every time you sacrifice on sleep, you add to the debt. Eventually, the debt will have to be repaid. It won’t go away on its own. If you lose an hour of sleep, you must make up that extra hour somewhere down the line in order to bring your “account” back into balance.

Sleeping in on the weekends isn’t enough!

Many of us try to repay our sleep debt by sleeping in on the weekends. But as it turns out, bouncing back from chronic lack of sleep isn’t that easy. One or two solid nights of sleep aren’t enough to pay off a long-term debt. While extra sleep can give you a temporary boost (for example, you may feel great on Monday morning after a relaxing weekend), your performance and energy will drop back down as the day wears on.

Tips for getting and staying out of sleep debt

While you can’t pay off sleep debt in a night or even a weekend, with a little effort and planning, you can get back on track.

Aim for at least 7.5 hours of sleep every night. Make sure you don’t fall farther in debt by blocking off enough time for sleep each night. Consistency is the key.
Settle short-term sleep debt with an extra hour or two per night. If you lost 10 hours of sleep, pay the debt back in nightly one or two-hour installments.
Keep a sleep diary. Record when you go to bed, when you get up, your total hours of sleep, and how you feel during the day. As you keep track of your sleep, you’ll discover your natural patterns and get to know your sleep needs.
Take a sleep vacation to pay off a long-term sleep debt. Pick a two-week period when you have a flexible schedule. Go to bed at the same time every night and allow yourself to sleep until you wake up naturally. No alarm clocks! If you continue to keep the same bedtime and wake up naturally, you’ll eventually dig your way out of debt and arrive at the sleep schedule that’s ideal for you.
Make sleep a priority. Just as you schedule time for work and other commitments, you should schedule enough time for sleep. Instead of cutting back on sleep in order to tackle the rest of your daily tasks, put sleep at the top of your to-do list
.

http://www.helpguide.org

How to Sleep Better

2012-10-25T02:37:00.005-07:00

TIPS FOR GETTING A GOOD NIGHT’S SLEEP

How you feel during your waking hours hinges on how well you sleep at night. Similarly, the cure for sleep difficulties can often be found in your daily routine. Your sleep schedule, bedtime habits, and day–to–day lifestyle choices can make an enormous difference to the quality of your nightly rest. The following sleep tips will help you optimize your nightly rest so you can be productive, mentally sharp, emotionally balanced, and full of energy all day long.

The secret to getting good sleep every night

Good sleep strategies are essential to deep, restorative sleep you can count on, night after night. By learning to avoid common enemies of sleep and trying out a variety of healthy sleep-promoting techniques, you can discover your personal prescription to a good night’s rest.

The key is to experiment. What works for some might not work as well for others. It’s important to find the sleep strategies that work best for you.

The first step to improving the quality of your rest is finding out how much sleep you need. How much sleep is enough? While sleep requirements vary slightly from person to person, most healthy adults need at least 8 hours of sleep each night to function at their best.

How to sleep better tip 1: Keep a regular sleep schedule

Getting back in sync with your body’s natural sleep–wake cycle—your circadian rhythm—is one of the most important strategies for achieving good sleep. If you keep a regular sleep schedule, going to bed and getting up at the same time each day, you will feel much more refreshed and energized than if you sleep the same number of hours at different times. This holds true even if you alter your sleep schedule by only an hour or two. Consistency is important.

Set a regular bedtime. Go to bed at the same time every night. Choose a time when you normally feel tired, so that you don’t toss and turn. Try not to break this routine on weekends when it may be tempting to stay up late. If you want to change your bedtime, help your body adjust by making the change in small daily increments, such as 15 minutes earlier or later each day.
Wake up at the same time every day. If you’re getting enough sleep, you should wake up naturally without an alarm. If you need an alarm clock to wake up on time, you may need to set an earlier bedtime. As with your bedtime, try to maintain your regular wake–time even on weekends.
Nap to make up for lost sleep. If you need to make up for a few lost hours, opt for a daytime nap rather than sleeping late. This strategy allows you to pay off your sleep debt without disturbing your natural sleep–wake rhythm, which often backfires in insomnia and throws you off for days.
Be smart about napping. While taking a nap can be a great way to recharge, especially for older adults, it can make insomnia worse. If insomnia is a problem for you, consider eliminating napping. If you must nap, do it in the early afternoon, and limit it to thirty minutes.
Fight after–dinner drowsiness. If you find yourself getting sleepy way before your bedtime, get off the couch and do something mildly stimulating to avoid falling asleep, such as washing the dishes, calling a friend, or getting clothes ready for the next day. If you give in to the drowsiness, you may wake up later in the night and have trouble getting back to sleep.

Discovering your optimal sleep schedule

Find a period of time (a week or two should do) when you are free to experiment with different sleep and wake times. Go to bed at the same time every night and allow yourself to sleep until you wake up naturally. No alarm clocks! If you’re sleep deprived, it may take a few weeks to fully recover. But as you go to bed and get up at the same time, you’ll eventually land on the natural sleep schedule that works best for you.

How to sleep better tip 2: Naturally regulate your sleep-wake cycle

Melatonin is a naturally occurring hormone that helps regulate your sleep-wake cycle. Melatonin production is controlled by light exposure. Your brain should secrete more in the evening, when it’s dark, to make you sleepy, and less during the day when it’s light and you want to stay awake and alert. However, many aspects of modern life can disrupt your body’s natural production of melatonin and with it your sleep-wake cycle.

Spending long days in an office away from natural light, for example, can impact your daytime wakefulness and make your brain sleepy. Then bright lights at night—especially from hours spent in front of the TV or computer screen—can suppress your body’s production of melatonin and make it harder to sleep. However, there are ways for you to naturally regulate your sleep-wake cycle, boost your body’s production of melatonin, and keep your brain on a healthy schedule.

Increase light exposure during the day

Remove your sunglasses in the morning and let light onto your face.
Spend more time outside during daylight. Try to take your work breaks outside in sunlight, exercise outside, or walk your dog during the day instead of at night.
Let as much light into your home/workspace as possible. Keep curtains and blinds open during the day, move your desk closer to the window.
If necessary, use a light therapy box. A light therapy box can simulate sunshine and can be especially useful during short winter days when there’s limited daylight.

Boost melatonin production at night

Turn off your television and computer. Many people use the television to fall asleep or relax at the end of the day. Not only does the light suppress melatonin production, but television can actually stimulate the mind, rather than relaxing it. Try listening to music or audio books instead, or practicing relaxation exercises. If your favorite TV show is on late at night, record it for viewing earlier in the day.
Don’t read from a backlit device at night (such as an iPad). If you use a portable electronic device to read, use an eReader that is not backlit, i.e. one that requires an additional light source such as a bedside lamp.
Change your light bulbs. Avoid bright lights before bed, use low-wattage bulbs instead.
When it’s time to sleep, make sure the room is dark. The darker it is, the better you’ll sleep. Cover electrical displays, use heavy curtains or shades to block light from windows, or try an eye mask to cover your eyes.
Use a flashlight to go to the bathroom at night. As long as it’s safe to do so, keep the light to a minimum so it will be easier to go back to sleep.

How to sleep better tip 3: Create a relaxing bedtime routine

If you make a consistent effort to relax and unwind before bed, you will sleep easier and more deeply. A peaceful bedtime routine sends a powerful signal to your brain that it’s time to wind down and let go of the day’s stresses.

Make your bedroom more sleep friendly

Keep noise down. If you can’t avoid or eliminate noise from barking dogs, loud neighbors, city traffic, or other people in your household, try masking it with a fan, recordings of soothing sounds, or white noise. You can buy a special sound machine or generate your own white noise by setting your radio between stations. Earplugs may also help.
Keep your room cool. The temperature of your bedroom also affects sleep. Most people sleep best in a slightly cool room (around 65° F or 18° C) with adequate ventilation. A bedroom that is too hot or too cold can interfere with quality sleep.
Make sure your bed is comfortable. You should have enough room to stretch and turn comfortably. If you often wake up with a sore back or an aching neck, you may need to invest in a new mattress or a try a different pillow. Experiment with different levels of mattress firmness, foam or egg crate toppers, and pillows that provide more support.

Reserve your bed for sleeping and sex

If you associate your bed with events like work or errands, it will be harder to wind down at night. Use your bed only for sleep and sex. That way, when you go to bed, your body gets a powerful cue: it’s time to nod off.

Relaxing bedtime rituals to try

Read a book or magazine by a soft light
Take a warm bath
Listen to soft music
Do some easy stretches

Wind down with a favorite hobby
Listen to books on tape
Make simple preparations for the next day

How to sleep better tip 4: Eat right and get regular exercise

Your daytime eating and exercise habits play a role in how well you sleep. It’s particularly important to watch what you put in your body in the hours leading up to your bedtime.

Stay away from big meals at night. Try to make dinnertime earlier in the evening, and avoid heavy, rich foods within two hours of bed. Fatty foods take a lot of work for your stomach to digest and may keep you up. Also be cautious when it comes to spicy or acidic foods in the evening, as they can cause stomach trouble and heartburn.
Avoid alcohol before bed. Many people think that a nightcap before bed will help them sleep. While it may make you fall asleep faster, alcohol reduces your sleep quality, waking you up later in the night. To avoid this effect, so stay away from alcohol in the hours before bed.
Cut down on caffeine. You might be surprised to know that caffeine can cause sleep problems up to ten to twelve hours after drinking it! Consider eliminating caffeine after lunch or cutting back your overall intake.
Avoid drinking too many liquids in the evening. Drinking lots of water, juice, tea, or other fluids may result in frequent bathroom trips throughout the night. Caffeinated drinks, which act as diuretics, only make things worse.
Quit smoking. Smoking causes sleep troubles in numerous ways. Nicotine is a stimulant, which disrupts sleep. Additionally, smokers actually experience nicotine withdrawal as the night progresses, making it hard to sleep.

If you’re hungry at bedtime

For some people, a light snack before bed can help promote sleep. When you pair tryptophan–containing foods with carbohydrates, it may help calm the brain and allow you to sleep better. For others, eating before bed can lead to indigestion and make sleeping more difficult. Experiment with your food habits to determine your optimum evening meals and snacks. If you need a bedtime snack, try:

Half a turkey sandwich
A small bowl of whole–grain, low–sugar cereal

Granola with low–fat milk or yogurt
A banana

You’ll also sleep more deeply if you exercise regularly. You don’t have to be a star athlete to reap the benefits—as little as twenty to thirty minutes of daily activity helps. And you don’t need to do all thirty minutes in one session. You can break it up into five minutes here, ten minutes there, and still get the benefits. Try a brisk walk, a bicycle ride, or even gardening or housework.

Some people prefer to schedule exercise in the morning or early afternoon as exercising too late in the day can stimulate the body, raising its temperature. Even if you prefer not to exercise vigorously at night, don’t feel glued to the couch, though. Relaxing exercises such as yoga or gentle stretching can help promote sleep.

How to sleep better tip 5: Get anxiety and stress in check

Do you find yourself unable to sleep or waking up night after night? Residual stress, worry, and anger from your day can make it very difficult to sleep well. When you wake up or can’t get to sleep, take note of what seems to be the recurring theme. That will help you figure out what you need to do to get your stress and anger under control during the day.

If you can’t stop yourself from worrying, especially about things outside your control, you need to learn how to manage your thoughts. For example, you can learn to evaluate your worries to see if they’re truly realistic and learn to replace irrational fears with more productive thoughts. Even counting sheep is more productive than worrying at bedtime.

If the stress of managing work, family, or school is keeping you awake, you need help with stress management. By learning how to manage your time effectively, handle stress in a productive way, and maintain a calm, positive outlook, you’ll be able to sleep better at night.

Relaxation techniques for better sleep

Relaxation is beneficial for everyone, but especially for those struggling with sleep. Practicing relaxation techniques before bed is a great way to wind down, calm the mind, and prepare for sleep. Some simple relaxation techniques include:

Deep breathing. Close your eyes—and try taking deep, slow breaths—making each breath even deeper than the last.
Progressive muscle relaxation. Starting at your toes, tense all the muscles as tightly as you can, then completely relax. Work your way up from your feet to the top of your head.
Visualizing a peaceful, restful place. Close your eyes and imagine a place or activity that is calming and peaceful for you. Concentrate on how relaxed this place or activity makes you feel.

How to sleep better tip 6: Ways to get back to sleep

It’s normal to wake briefly during the night. In fact, a good sleeper won’t even remember it. But if you’re waking up during the night and having trouble falling back asleep, the following tips may help.

Stay out of your head. The key to getting back to sleep is continuing to cue your body for sleep, so remain in bed in a relaxed position. Hard as it may be, try not to stress over the fact that you’re awake or your inability to fall asleep again, because that very stress and anxiety encourages your body to stay awake. A good way to stay out of your head is to focus on the feelings and sensations in your body.
Make relaxation your goal, not sleep. If you are finding it hard to fall back asleep, try a relaxation technique such as visualization, deep breathing, or meditation, which can be done without even getting out of bed. Remind yourself that although they’re not a replacement for sleep, rest and relaxation still help rejuvenate your body.
Do a quiet, non-stimulating activity. If you’ve been awake for more than 15 minutes, try getting out of bed and doing a quiet, non-stimulating activity, such as reading a book. Keep the lights dim so as not to cue your body clock that it’s time to wake up. Also avoid screens of any kind—computers, TV, cell phones, iPads—as the type of light they emit is stimulating to the brain. A light snack or herbal tea might help relax you, but be careful not to eat so much that your body begins to expect a meal at that time of the day.
Postpone worrying and brainstorming. If you wake during the night feeling anxious about something, make a brief note of it on paper and postpone worrying about it until the next day when you are fresh and it will be easier to resolve. Similarly, if a brainstorm or great idea is keeping you awake, make a note of it on paper and fall back to sleep knowing you’ll be much more productive and creative after a good night’s rest.

How to sleep better tip 7: Cope with shift work sleep disorder

A disrupted sleep schedule caused by working nights or irregular shifts can lead to sleepiness in the work place, affect your mood, energy, and concentration, and increase your risk of accidents, injuries, and work-related mistakes. Shift workers tend to suffer from two problems: sleeping at home during the day and staying awake at work during the night. To avoid or limit these problems:

Limit the number of night or irregular shifts you work in a row to prevent sleep deprivation from mounting up. If that’s not possible, avoid rotating shifts frequently so you can maintain the same sleep schedule.
Avoid a long commute as reduces sleep time. Also, the more time you spend traveling home in daylight, the more awake you’ll become and the harder you’ll find it to get to sleep.
Drink caffeinated drinks early in your shift, but avoid them close to bedtime.
Take frequent breaks and use them to move around as much as possible – take a walk, stretch, even exercise if possible.
Adjust your sleep-wake schedule and your body’s natural production of melatonin. Expose yourself to bright light when you wake up at night, use bright lamps or daylight-simulation bulbs in your workplace, and then wear dark glasses on your journey home to block out sunlight and encourage sleepiness.
Eliminate noise and light from your bedroom during the day. Use blackout curtains or an eye mask, turn off the phone, and use ear plugs or a soothing sound machine to block out daytime noise.
Make sleep a priority at the weekends or on your days off so you can pay off your sleep debt.

How to sleep better tip 8: Know when to see a sleep doctor

If you’ve tried the tips above, but are still struggling with sleep problems, you may have a sleep disorder that requires professional treatment. Consider scheduling a visit with a sleep doctor if, despite your best efforts at self–help, you are still troubled by any of the following symptoms:

Persistent daytime sleepiness or fatigue
Loud snoring accompanied by pauses in breathing
Difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep
Unrefreshing sleep
Frequent morning headaches

Crawling sensations in your legs or arms at night
Inability to move while falling asleep or waking up
Physically acting out dreams during sleep
Falling asleep at inappropriate time
s

http://www.helpguide.org

Healthy Drinks

2012-10-25T02:33:00.000-07:00

Water is best to quench your thirst. Skip the sugary drinks, and go easy on the milk and juice.

There are many options for what to drink, but without a doubt, water is the best choice: It's calorie-free, and it's as easy to find as the nearest tap.

Drinks that are loaded with sugar are the worst choice: They provide lots of calories and virtually no other nutrients. Drinking them routinely can lead to weight gain and increase the risk of type 2 diabetes.

Other drinks have pros and cons, but in moderation, can fit into a healthy diet:

Coffee and tea: These are calorie-free, as long as you don't load up on the sugar and cream. They are safe for most people and may even have some health benefits.
Artificially sweetened drinks: These have no calories—a plus—but their long-term effects on weight and health are unknown, so it's best to limit them, if you drink them at all.
100% fruit juice: Fruit juice has vitamins, but it is high in calories, so stick to no more than a small glass (four to six ounces) a day.
Milk: Milk is also high in calories, so there's no need to drink more than a glass or two of low fat or skim milk a day, and less is fine, if you get your calcium from other sources.
Alcohol: Alcohol is both a tonic and a poison, and the difference lies in the dose and the person drinking it; moderation is key.

Read why it's time to focus on healthier drinks—and what steps consumers, beverage makers, and the government can take to promote healthy drinking.

Check out our handy guide to the amount of calories and sugar in soda, juice, and other popular drinks.

Read about healthy beverage guidelines developed by an expert panel.

Read more about why sugary drinks are not good for you, and why diet drinks are not the best alternative.

Read about the City of Boston's sugary drink ban on city-owned property.

Read about the risks and benefits of alcohol.

Read about calcium, milk, and bone health.

Read about coffee and health.

Read why Harvard's new Healthy Eating Plate recommends drinking water, coffee, or tea, limiting milk/dairy (1-2 servings per day) and juice (1 small glass/day), and avoiding sugary drinks.

http://www.hsph.harvard.edu

A Science-ish guide to searching health info on the web

2012-10-23T21:49:00.001-07:00

You’re achy, slightly feverish, and that rash you’ve had on your back for a week hasn’t gone away. In a haze, you log online to peruseWebMD. After all, you’re a pretty savvy researcher, even a nerd, and you just want to find out what might be ailing you.

POW! WAM! BAM! The suggestions about the causes of your symptoms cascade over you like a tsunami of anxiety. Syphillis! Lyme disease! Dengue Fever! All are equally plausible, according to Dr. Google. Even though you know the Internet has a tendency to tell you that you have cancer when you really have a cold, your heart begins to race, your cheeks flush, and you start imagining what your friends will say at your funeral.

In many ways, the Internet has leveled the playing field between health-care providers and patients, and the questions we ask Google about our health woes are probably more honest than the ones we’d ever dare ask our doctors.

Yet searching the web for health advice can make us sick. In a new study looking at what the Internet says about sleep recommendations for infants, researchers Googled 13 search phrases about the kinds of issues worried new parents might look up. They found that less than half of the first 100 hits that appeared for each search provided quality information. (Government websites were the most accurate, followed by organizational, interest group, and news websites; retail and product review sites were the least accurate of all.) As Dr. Gerd Gigerenzer, an international crusader for better health information for patients, put it, “There are many sites that want to persuade or sell, rather than inform patients. The Internet is filled with misleading information.”

Still, other studies show that most of us turn to the Net for health advice. It’s now one of the most popularonline activities. And we sometimes believe what we read, even letting those Google results inform important decisions about our health.

Now, Science-ish would never suggest forgoing online search or turning back to the days of blind deference to doctors. As Hilda Bastian, a health commentator and knowledge translator, pointed out, what we find online isn’t necessarily all bad, especially compared to other resources we might trust. Take, for example, Wikipedia: several health-related studies have revealed that crowd-sourced Wiki info can be as accurate as medical textbooks. “Making a bunch of appointments with doctors wouldn’t get you 100 per cent accurate information either,” Bastian wrote in an email. “It’s all about being evidence-based, which is extremely skill- and resource-intensive, whether it’s a website, health-care practitioner, guideline or anything else.”

Even without a degree in evidence-based medicine, there are alternatives to panic-stricken run-ins with Dr. Google. Here’s a Science-ish compendium of useful, accurate health sites:

Cochrane Consumer Network
Find reader-friendly interpretations of patient-important Cochrane systematic reviews. (Systematic reviews are key resources because they summarize all the best available clinical research on a health-care topic, and summaries of evidence are generally less prone to bias and can tell us more than single studies. Read more about why here and here.)

Health-evidence.ca
This site gathers sound reviews about health, published from 1985 to the present, and appraises their quality on a 10-point scale.

Mayo Clinic
With guides to wellness and diseases, this is a good starting point for easily accessible information about your health.

Medline Plus
Produced by the National Library of Medicine in the U.S., this is an easy-to-navigate resource for your health questions, with information about the latest medical research and treatments.

NHS Choices
Run by the National Health Service in the U.K., this site is a source of accessible advice, including explanatory videos, about every health question you can imagine

Patient Decision Aids
A project of the Ottawa Research Institute, this site has tools that help people balance evidence, treatment options, and values in making their health-care decisions. (You can browse through other decision-making resources here.)

PubMed Health
This site specializes in reviews of “clinical effectiveness research”—or studies that answer the question of “What works?” in medicine. More easy-to-read summaries and consumer information here, too.

Trip Database
Though it’s geared toward health-care professionals, this clinical search tool can be patient-friendly.Science-ish likes it because it has high-quality health evidence that is regularly updated and conveniently organized by type.

U.S. Preventive Services Task Force
This is the online home of the independent evidence-based medicine gurus who regularly overturn conventional wisdom about health. (Ie. routine prostate-cancer screening may do more harm than good after all.) The section geared toward consumers and patients is a trove of useful information.

Good luck!

Consumerism affected by menstrual cycle

2012-10-23T21:48:00.001-07:00

Tom Kelley/Getty - modified by macleans.ca

A woman’s menstrual cycle can affect her weight, mood and willingness to openly yell, “Oh, my God, does anyone have a tampon!?” in a bathroom when caught without one. But it turns out that it may affect other aspects of her life, too.

According to a new study from Concordia University, the menstrual cycle can affect other aspects of life too, specifically how you consume everything from clothing to burgers.

The study comes from Concordia’s Research Chair in Evolutionary Behavioral Sciences and Darwinian Consumption, Gad Saad, and his doctoral student and co-author, Eric Stenstrom. Gaad is also the author ofThe Evolutionary Bases of Consumption.

Fifty-nine female participants were chosen and over 35 days, they kept detailed diaries on their clothing choices, calorie consumption, purchases, and “beautification behaviors,” including attention paid to hair and makeup.

The study analyzed the daily responses to survey items, including when each participant wore clothes that attracted sexual attention, how long she spent making herself beautiful, and whether she ate food high in calories. The researchers found that there was an increase in appearance-related behaviors during the fertile days of a woman’s cycle.

The infertile phase, however, is when the women in the study peaked in their craving and consumption of high-calorie foods, not to mention peaking in their food purchases.

Finally, research that shows us what many women would attest to from their own experience.

But the researchers offer a more scientific explanation for these behaviors than the generic “I’m on my period so it’s okay that I put this entire pizza in my mouth.”

“Women consume more calories during the luteal [infertile] phase because they’ve evolved psychological and physiological mechanism that favoured non-mating-related activities like food foraging,” Saad says. “These consumption behaviors take place without women’s conscious awareness of how hormonal fluctuations affect their choices as consumers.”

Although this may make women feel like a slave to evolutionary desires (or give us a perfectly good reason to buy self-tanners and French fries), Saad says it could lead to consumption-related apps for women. For example, if a woman’s iPhone alerts her that she shouldn’t go grocery shopping since she’s on day 23 of her cycle, she’ll be aware of how her biology affects her consumption.

Another possible advantage: a scientific excuse to eat everything for a week out of every 28 days. Not that one was really needed anyway.

Should we make surgeons get tested for HIV, hep B and hep C?

2012-10-23T21:47:00.001-07:00

Petr Josek/Reuters

When patients go into the hospital for a surgery, it’s next to a miracle they ever leave the building unscathed. It’s not that hospital administrators and health professionals don’t do their best to protect patients—they do. But with the incredible complexity of surgeries and modern hospital systems, the intricate pathways of care, there are infinite possibilities for things to go wrong.

In the media, we tend to focus on the risks related to hospital-acquired infections or the wild pre-checklistdays. But there’s another danger that isn’t talked about much outside of medical circles: getting a blood-borne infection, such as HIV, hep C and hep B, from your health-care provider.

Precautions are taken at every turn to make sure diseases aren’t transmitted from doctor or nurse to patient—and vice versa. And the risk of transmission is remote. Extremely, utterly, almost infinitesimally remote. To give you a sense, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, the occupational risk of infection with hep C after a needlestick injury or cut is less than two per cent. That’s somewhere between the risks related to HIV (less than one per cent) and hepatitis B (six to 30 per cent, though surgeons working today would be vaccinated for hep B).

In Canada there have been no documented cases of physicians transmitting hep C or HIV to patients since modern antiviral therapies came on the scene to treat blood-borne pathogens and doctors started implementing what’s known as “universal precautions”—or avoiding contact with patients’ bodily fluids by using gloves, gowns and masks. There has been one reported case of hep B transmission, but it occurred before antivirals and universal precautions. Worldwide, the documented number of health-care worker to patient transmissions of blood-borne infections since 1991 has been “exceedingly low.”

Yet, provincial medical regulators in Canada are targeting blood-borne pathogens in surgeons. The College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario just introduced a new policy that asks surgeons—and those who assist in surgery—to report if they have been tested for the blood-borne pathogens hep B, hep C, and HIV in the last year.

Why are they doing this? According to CPSO council president Dr. Robert Byrick, because “physicians were not testing regularly when only the ethical obligation was presented to them.”

As I wrote in a magazine feature for Maclean’s last week, doctors don’t like this policy. “We’re very skeptical of the change,” said Hamilton, Ont. surgeon Dr. Andre Lamy. Not only is the requirement an infringement on his individual rights and privacy, he said, but there’s little science to back it up. “In the last 10 to 15 years, there’s no evidence that shows patients are at risk.” Even the CPSO acknowledged that “the appropriate frequency of testing was uncertain.” A number of health-related bodies—including the Canadian Medical Association, and the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control in the U.S.—recommend against mandatory testing of doctors. In addition, it’s well-known that health-care workers are at a much greater risk of exposure to blood-borne disease than patients. Does this mean all patients should be screened? What would be done with the sick ones?

For surgeons who test positive and may have to stop working, there’s little support in place. As Dr. Lamy put it, “If I get infected, will the college take care of me? The answer is no.” He continued: “I would have to quit practicing. I don’t know what I would do.” That’s why some observers note that asking doctors to report on their health to their licensing bodies may actually encourage mis- or under-reporting.

Still, should medical regulators ignore the risk—however small—that infected doctors and nurses pose to patients? We know that health-care workers do sustain needle-stick injuries at work. According to onestudy of U.S. teaching hospitals in 1990, injuries happened in 6.9 per cent of the surgical procedures examined. As well, the sharp object that injured the surgeon went back into patients’ wounds in 32 per cent of cases.

That’s why there’s near universal agreement that surgeons specifically—along with other health-care providers who face similar occupational hazards—should know their serological status for their own health and the health of patients. As Dr. Mary Vearncombe, medical director of infection prevention and control at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, explained: “If they are positive for any one of those pathogens (HIV, hep B, or hep C), they should seek guidance with regard to their practice in terms of minimizing any possible risk to the patient. There are things you can do in terms of how you practice to minimize risks—like double-gloving and managing how you handle sharps.” Yet, according to at least one medical regulator (the CPSO), surgeons aren’t voluntarily lining up to be screened. In fact, according to some of the surgeonsScience-ish spoke to, they are downright avoiding it.

So this raises the question: is there a better way to manage the risks related to transmitting blood-borne pathogens to patients in the operating room?

Dr. John Haggie, president of the Canadian Medical Association, thinks it makes sense to set-up up a fund—a sort of insurance—to protect doctors who need to step away from the scalpel because of an infectious disease. This would mean they wouldn’t be left to choose between their livelihood and their health as well as that of their patients.

From the patient’s perspective, Sholom Glouberman, president of the Patients’ Association of Canada, suggested that, in the name of informed consent, we ask infected doctors to disclose their status to patients and leave it up to them to choose whether to go under their knife instead of leaving decisions about who can practice to the colleges. The risk of infection is so remote, he added, “If it’s a doctor the patient knows and trusts, they would probably prefer to continue to see him or her, rather than going to someone else.”

The other option would be to follow Quebec’s lead. The Quebec college does not mandate screening of doctors because, they say, it’s “medically unnecessary and potentially harmful.” But if physicians who get screened test positive, they go to the Blood-Borne Infection Risk Assessment Unit. There, scientists making evidence-based decisions—independently from the college—figure out the best course of action for infected doctors, free from the legal considerations provincial medical-regulators face.

Another good idea would be to standardize policies around how infected surgeons are treated by the colleges. At an annual meeting of provincial medical regulators in June, Science-ish learned that infected doctors across this country have been managed quite variably, and that there are also regional discrepancies in policies regarding blood-borne pathogens. If processes were more clear and transparent, maybe surgeons would be less afraid to disclose their status, or at least get tested.

In their healing work, physicians have also been vectors for disease, sometimes acquiring infections on the job. It’s an occupational hazard. But we’ve come a long way since the days before hand-washing or even the early hours of AIDS, when it was known as Gay-related immune deficiency disorder. College policies should reflect these advances in science, or figure out how to protect doctors who test positive in mandatory screening.

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