Medical Health

Hiking Etiquette

dvdmaxwell — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 15:53:25 +0000

If you join a hiking group you will, of course, meet people from a variety of places and backgrounds. And you will usually meet them early in the morning and then carpool to the trailhead, which is fine when your fellow passengers are courteous enough to refrain from riding along when they have bad colds [...]

H1N1 Swine Flu News

dvdmaxwell — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 00:17:37 +0000

If your local news stations announce that H1N1 vaccinations are available at special clinics in your area, make sure you double check the facts. This last weekend in the Phoenix, Arizona, area one news station stated that H1N1 vaccinations were available for children and pregnant women at about 15 clinics. Another evening news program provided the [...]

Top Brands: Hiking Boots

dvdmaxwell — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 18:04:26 +0000

A hiking acquaintance asked me, “A friend of mine just emailed and asked who else, other than Merrell, makes a sturdy hiking boot. Since you seemed to know all the brands, what would be your advice?” I emailed her my answer: Boots: I like Merrell, Danner, Vasque, and Columbia brands (and maybe Lowa). I have found that [...]

Beware of Advice from Meetup.com Members

dvdmaxwell — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 20:47:52 +0000

If you join a Meetup.com activity, let’s say a hiking group, and you hear the members giving out impromptu advice regarding survival, health, injury, etc., make sure you consult a professional, too, or at least do some reading. You might find that at a monthly hikers’ meeting, an attractive know-it-all is showing you a stretching [...]

Desert Cotton

dvdmaxwell — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 17:30:34 +0000

In a previous post I talked about wearing cotton in hot deserts (see Cotton for the Grand Canyon). Now I would like to point out that in the Arizona desert beginning in September, you should carry a survival blanket and a lightweight polyester fleece shirt or jacket (and maybe even some silk-weight long underwear) if [...]

Rupert Sheldrake and the Presence of the Past

dvdmaxwell — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 16:57:46 +0000

In his book, The Presence of the Past. Morphic Resonance & the Habits of Nature, Rupert Sheldrake presents a valuable review of the science, religion, and philosophy of origins and change, and he gives us a promising twist on the theory of evolution. He makes field theory and the all-pervading power of habit come alive [...]

Tart Cherries May Help Sleep

dvdmaxwell — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 17:54:36 +0000

AOL Travel has an interesting short article about how tart cherries may help fight jet lag. The cherries contain small amounts of melatonin, a hormone that co-regulates sleep patterns. AOL: Tart Cherries

Quit Sit-on-your-bottom Activities

dvdmaxwell — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 02:55:44 +0000

Quit spending money sitting down. Everybody wants your dollars and cents, and they want you to spend it in a chair–at concerts, movies, restaurants, ballets, musicals, coffee shops, meditation groups . . . Stay on your feet. Go for a walk or a hike. Lift weights while you watch the news. Find a good deal [...]

Technorati Claim

dvdmaxwell — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 22:45:17 +0000

69z7qvxgud In order to get indexed by the Technorati web site and search engine, I must place the code shown above in a post on the front page of this blog. Once they have properly indexed my blog, I can remove this post. However, their spider/software seems slow to respond in a correct and productive manner.

Shoshone Point, Grand Canyon

dvdmaxwell — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 05:10:07 +0000

Shoshone Point is a great spot for watching clouds and the way their shadows move across the canyon like wild beasts of prey. Talked to a ranger in the Shoshone Point parking lot. He said that he had met his wife at Indian Gardens (she was hiking through), that Indian Gardens was home (though he [...]

A Fish and Vegetable Diet

dvdmaxwell — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 16:52:34 +0000

We have heard about low-fat diets, gluten-free diets, vegetarian diets, and other approaches to healthy eating. Perhaps the best low-fat diet is not only gluten free, it’s grain free. Grains tend to cause weight-gain problems, and grains can irritate your intestinal walls, resulting in inflammation and irritable bowels. (I have read that after 50, we [...]

Hiking and Backpacking Gear

dvdmaxwell — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 22:42:22 +0000

As I have said numerous times, I take supplements (see the disclaimers and warnings listed at the bottom of Spinach, Greens, and Eye Health). Rather than listing the supplements in my posts, I have listed them in the sidebar on the far right. I do not expect you to buy these items, but the Amazon [...]

Free Medical Advertising

dvdmaxwell — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 17:27:00 +0000

Looking for places to advertise your health-related web sites and products for free? Here is a short list of free advertising sites: Local and National Advertising Free Advertising Links http://fuelspace.com/more-free-advertising/

Blood Tests Away From Home

dvdmaxwell — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 19:05:51 +0000

If you must have blood tests every 4 to 8 weeks while you are away from home, then compare what the lab provides with what your doctor requires. Your doctor might ask for a series of individual tests, but the lab might include all those tests in one package. The package of tests is [...]

Joint Stress and Bone Bruising

dvdmaxwell — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 16:17:06 +0000

I was telling my brother that when a joint starts clicking (when he feels the bones in the neck, spine, hip, or knee, etc., click on one another or clunk by one another), he should change his position in such a way that the “clicking” and “clunking” goes away. I’m not talking about an occasional [...]

C-Reactive Protein

dvdmaxwell — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 22:53:01 +0000

Most of us have our cholesterol and other lipids checked every year. You might also ask your doctor to order a test for c-reactive protein, a measure of inflammation. However, my family doctor says that the c-reactive protein test is no longer in vogue and that the results would not alter the [...]

Green Tea Extract, Niacin, and Liver Stress

dvdmaxwell — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 14:53:51 +0000

If you are taking a prescription medicine that is known to stress the liver, then you should be very careful about taking supplements such as green tea extract and niacin. Both green tea extract and niacin can be hard on the liver. In fact my doctor says that most herbs and herbal extracts can elevate [...]

Spinach, Greens, and Eye Health

dvdmaxwell — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 22:35:06 +0000

My optometrist always tells me to eat lots of spinach, that studies conducted in the American Southeast indicate that individuals who eat the most greens are less likely to suffer from macular degeneration later in life. Now The State newspaper has come out with an article called “For eye health, eat spinach like Popeye,” in [...]

Does Soap Irritate Your Skin?

dvdmaxwell — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 15:41:41 +0000

My mother told me that liquid bath soaps leave a film on the skin that can lead to irritation. She said to switch to Dove bar soap. Now that I use Dove for Sensitive Skin, a hypoallergenic fragrance-free bar soap with moisturizing cream, my skin no longer feels dry, scratchy and irritated after a shower. I [...]

Macular Degeneration and Lasik Surgery

dvdmaxwell — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 16:28:46 +0000

For up-to-date news about age-related blindness and macular degeneration, see the Macular Degeneration News page, and for links to web sites, clinics, and doctors specializing in macular degeneration, see the Macular Degeneration Links page. You will also find daily health news on the new Macular Degeneration News Blog. lasik.lastmed.com presents the latest news pertaining to Lasik surgery [...]