10 Holiday Health Hazards to Avoid

The holiday season is meant to be a time for unwinding with your close friends and family. However, this season does not come without its own set of particular hazards, which could lead to devastating consequences. In order to stay safe this holiday season, make sure to avoid the following hazards:

1. Shopping woes
With any shopping trip, you need to pay attention to just how much weight you carry. Going from one shop to the next with several bags could wear you down and cause a backache. "This is not the time to be a superhero," according to a certified family physician. "Take breaks so you're not standing on your feet the entire day."
2. Food poisoning
With every year that passes, approximately 48 million people are sent to the hospital due to foodborne diseases, according to the doctors. During the holiday season, you must be mindful of preparing meat, poultry, seafood, and eggs especially, she says. Use separate cutting boards to avoid the spread of bacteria, and ensure that ground meat is cooked to 160 degrees, whole meat gets to at least 145 degrees, and chicken should reach 165 degrees.

3. Poisonous plants
Hold the mistletoe and holly if you plan to have pets and small kids around during the holidays. Both of these plants can be highly toxic, and pine cones and falling berries can also pose a significant choking hazard. Your best bet is to ensure that nobody smaller than a holly bush gets near any seasonal plants this year.
4. Choking
Almost 3,000 people in the USA die each year from choking, and since you're eating more during the holidays than usual, you had better chew your chestnut pudding and pumpkin pie well. To avoid choking on food, take smaller bites, chew slowly and carefully, and avoid distractions while eating. You should also be wary of high-risk foods, such as hot dogs, grapes, candy with nuts, and hard fruits and vegetables.

5. Heart attacks
The holiday season is the worst time of year for heart issues, with heart-related deaths peaking in late December and early January. Holiday stress, heavy meals, ignoring chest pain, skipping medication, and understaffed hospitals are all triggers for a heart attack. Be aware of your body and enjoy everything in moderation to stay safe.
6. Flammable Christmas trees
Every year, over 400 residential fires start due to Christmas trees, which result in as many as 40 deaths and 100 injuries. Despite the fact that Christmas trees cause the fewest holiday-related fires, they actually account for the largest percentage of deaths, according to a report. The safest tree you could ever purchase is a flame-resistant artificial one.

7. Toy packaging
It may sound odd, but every year around 6,000 people in the USA visit the emergency room with injuries from attempting to pry, slice, or stab open gifts encased in hard plastic or which are held down with loads of metal twist ties. To prevent this, never allow your children to open their gifts unsupervised.
8. Sleep problems
A good night's rest is often the first thing that ends up being sacrificed to the altar of holiday festivities. However, losing sleep can lower immunity, lead to weight gain, increase stress, and even raise your risk for depression and car accidents. You won't regret making sleep a priority. 

9. Weight gain
Christmas cookies, late-night leftover ham sandwiches, and eggnog can all add up to at least an extra pound each year. What's more, studies suggest that you never really end up shedding it all before swimsuit season rolls around, so you should try your best to eat mindfully during the holiday season.
10. Stress
"Stress around the holidays can be worse than other times because people tend to over-commit themselves," she says . Women especially find the holidays challenging. Researchers discovered that 44% of women reported increased stress during the holiday season compared to only 31% of men. If you feel yourself getting overwhelmed, don't shy away from getting some help.

THIS IS ONLY FOR INFORMATION, ALWAYS CONSULT YOU PHYSICIAN BEFORE HAVING ANY PARTICULAR FOOD/ MEDICATION/EXERCISE/OTHER REMEDIES.                                                                                
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Second-Hand Plastic Toys Contain Toxic Elements That May Harm Your Child

Findings of a new study have revealed that plastic used in some second-hand toys may pose health hazards to children and does not meet safety guidelines.

Toxic Elements In Second-Hand Toys

In a new study published,  researchers tested 200 used plastic toys in thrift shops, nurseries, and homes for hazardous elements.

Using X-ray fluorescence technology to analyze these toys, which include trains, cars, figures, and puzzles, the researcher found that 20 of about 200 second-hand plastic toys tested had traces of nine elements, which include barium, bromine, cadmium, chromium, antimony, lead, and selenium. Some had concentrations that are too high to meet safety standards.

Potential Health Effects On Children

The elements can be chronically toxic if children are exposed to them at low levels over an extended period of time.

Arsenic is a toxin linked to developmental defects, neurotoxicity, skin lesions, cardiovascular conditions, and even cancer. Cadmium is a hormone disruptor associated with breast cancer. 

Exposure to lead can jeopardize the brain and the nervous system.

Children who put these toys in their mouth could be exposed to greater amount of toxins. All the toys tested for the study were small enough to be chewed by children.

"Previously used toys has the potential to create a legacy of chemical contamination for younger children," the researcher said.

The worst offenders were found to be yellow, red, and black plastics. The researcher noted the Lego bricks from the '70s and '80 are among those found to have high levels of toxic chemicals. The researcher said that toys were not tested in those days, but they are handed down.

Consumers Need To Be Aware Of Risks

Second-hand toys make an attractive option for families because they can be handed down by friends or relatives. They are also priced cheaply at charity stores, flea markets, and the internet.

The researcher said that with lack of regulation to cover the resale and recycling of older toys, consumers should at least be aware of the potential harms these toys pose to children.

"While there is no retroactive regulation on second-hand toys, consumers should be aware that old, mouthable, plastic items may present a source of hazardous element exposure to infants," the researcher wrote in his report.

Another potential danger of buying second-hand toy is the possibility of buying items that have been recalled in the past.

"Avoid buying used toys that have no packaging or that are missing some type of label or brand identification, without which it might be difficult or impossible to tell if the toy has been recalled," researcher advised.

THIS IS ONLY FOR INFORMATION, ALWAYS CONSULT YOU PHYSICIAN BEFORE HAVING ANY PARTICULAR FOOD/ MEDICATION/EXERCISE/OTHER REMEDIES.    

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Dream loss due to sleep deprivation is a 'silent' health hazard

A new study has labelled dream loss due to sleep deprivation as a ‘silent’ public health hazard.

Various factors have been studied by researchers that cause rapid eye movement (REM) sleep and dream loss. Typical sleep follows a pattern in which deeper, non-REM sleep is prioritised by the body.

People experience dreaming only later in the night and into the early morning during REM sleep.

The study  also claims that this silent epidemic of dream loss may contribute to depression.

“We are at least as dream-deprived as we are sleep-deprived. Many of our health concerns attributed to sleep loss actually result from REM sleep deprivation", said an assistant professor.

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Cleanliness could be a health hazard, researcher says

Providing clean water to everyone on the planet has been a major health goal for decades, but scientists have warned that while it reduces the chance of catching a deadly disease it could also increase the risk of asthma.

Speaking at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Boston, Dr Brett Finlay suggested the obsession with hygiene could even be turning some beneficial bacteria found in the human gut into “endangered species”.

In a study in Canada, the researchers had found the presence of four types of bacteria in the gut of babies less than 100 days old seemed to prevent them from developing asthma in later life.

They then decided to see if the same was true for children elsewhere in the world and settled on Ecuador, where about 10 per cent of children have asthma, for their next study.

They found the same protective effect of the four bugs, but also two unexpected factors that increased the risk of the condition: a particular type of yeast in the gut and access to a clean water supply.

Dr Finley, of British Columbia University, said: “Ironically the kids with clean water had a higher risk of asthma. 

“I guess it makes sense [because of the lower levels of bacteria] but I must admit we were surprised to see that. You’d think clean water is good for the world.”

The hygiene hypothesis has emerged as one reason to explain the rise of asthma and allergies in the developed world.

But despite this Dr Finlay, author of the book Let Them Eat Dirt, said too many people still felt the need to kill bugs and urged them to throw away their anti-bacterial wipes.

“I would say we’re suffering from a hygiene hangover. We have cleaned the world up too much,” he said.

“Maybe these microbes are actually an endangered species — your great grandkids are going to have different microbes than you do.

“There are people biobanking things — I’m not suggesting you should biobank your poop now and give it to your grandkids …. I don’t know … I worry we have got too clean and we have got to ease off a little bit.

“We have evolved with these microbe all along.

“I do think we have to rethink this absolute war on all microbes — ‘kill them all, carpet bomb them’ — I think that’s wrong.”

However, he stressed there were benefits to being clean.

“Hygiene works — we have got rid of infectious diseases, no doubt about it, but this is a consequence of that,” he said.

“Certain microbes fix one condition but make another worse … so it’s complex.”

While the role of gut microbes in human health is now widely accepted, Dr Finlay said when they first suggested a link between their make-up and asthma “people thought we were from Mars”.

“These microbes in the gut are setting the immune system up and different parts of the body talk to each other,” he said.

But now research was increasingly pointing to the role of fungi like yeast in the gut and even “the other elephant in the room”, viruses.

“This is just a wake-up call — we have to think about more than bacteria,” he said.

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What to Eat & What To Avoid when you've cancer

Milk causes the body to produce mucus, especially in the
                  gastro-intestinal tract. Cancer feeds on mucus. By cutting
                  off milk and substituting with unsweetened soy milk cancer
                  cells are being starved.


Cancer cells thrive in an acid environment. A meat-based
                  diet is acidic and it is best to eat fish, and a little other 
                  meat, like chicken. Meat also contains livestock
                  antibiotics, growth hormones and parasites, which are all
                  harmful, especially to people with cancer.


A diet made of 80% fresh vegetables and juice, whole
                grains, seeds, nuts and a little fruits help put the body into
                an alkaline environment. About 20% can be from cooked
                food including beans. Fresh vegetable juices provide live
                enzymes that are easily absorbed and reach down to
                cellular levels within 15 minutes to nourish and enhance
                growth of healthy cells. To obtain live enzymes for building
                healthy cells try and drink fresh vegetable juice (most
                vegetables including bean sprouts) and eat some raw
                vegetables 2 or 3 times a day. Enzymes are destroyed at
                temperatures of 104 degrees F (40 degrees C)..

           Avoid coffee, tea, and chocolate, which have high
                caffeine. Green tea is a better alternative and has cancer
                fighting properties. Water-best to drink purified water, or
                filtered, to avoid known toxins and heavy metals in tap
                water. Distilled water is acidic, avoid it.

            Meat protein is difficult to digest and requires a lot of
                  digestive enzymes. Undigested meat remaining in the
                  intestines becomes putrefied and leads to more toxic
                  buildup.

            Cancer cell walls have a tough protein covering. By
                       refraining from or eating less meat it frees more  
                  enzymes to attack the protein walls of cancer cells and
                  allows the body's killer cells to destroy the cancer cells.

            Some supplements build up the immune system
                  (IP6, Flor-ssence, Essiac, anti-oxidants, vitamins, minerals,
                  EFAs etc.) to enable the bodies own killer cells to destroy
                  cancer cells.. Other supplements like vitamin E are known
                  to cause apoptosis, or programmed cell death, the body's
                  normal method of disposing of damaged, unwanted, or
                  unneeded cells.

            Cancer is a disease of the mind, body, and spirit.
                  A proactive and positive spirit will help the cancer warrior
                 be a survivor. Anger, un-forgiveness and bitterness put
                 the body into a stressful and acidic environment. Learn to
                 have a loving and forgiving spirit. Learn to relax and enjoy
                 life.

            Cancer cells cannot thrive in an oxygenated
                  environment. Exercising daily, and deep breathing help  to
                  get more oxygen down to the cellular level. Oxygen
                  therapy is another means employed to destroy cancer
                  cells.

           1. No plastic containers in micro.

           2. No water bottles in freezer.

           3. No plastic wrap in microwave..

           Dioxin chemicals cause cancer, especially breast cancer. Dioxins are highly poisonous to the cells of our bodies. Don't freeze your plastic bottles with water in them as this releases dioxins from the plastic. Recently, Dr Edward Fujimoto, Wellness Program Manager at Castle Hospital , was on a TV program to explain this health hazard. He talked about dioxins and how bad they are for us. He said that we should not be heating our food in the microwave using plastic containers. This especially applies to foods that contain fat. He said that the combination of fat, high heat, and plastics releases dioxin into the food and ultimately into the cells of the body. Instead, he recommends using glass, such as Corning Ware, Pyrex or ceramic containers for heating food. You get the same results, only without the dioxin. So such things as TV dinners, instant ramen and soups, etc., should be removed from the container and heated in something else. Paper isn't bad but you don't know what is in the paper. It's just safer to use tempered glass, Corning Ware, etc. He reminded us that a while ago some of the fast food restaurants moved away from the foam containers to paper The dioxin problem is one of the reasons.

          
           Plastic wrap, such as Saran, is just as dangerous when placed over foods to be cooked in the microwave. As the food is nuked, the high heat causes poisonous toxins to actually melt out of the plastic wrap and drip into the food. Cover food with a paper towel instead.