advice
Answering all of your health, wellness, fitness, and personal questions.
Listening Fatigue
I am sitting in a lecture hall, trying desperately to concentrate. Seemingly outside of my control, my mind wanders. I pull my focus back on my professor, only for my mind to start wandering again mere minutes or seconds later. Taking notes only makes my lack of concentration worse. With my head down, I cannot rely on lipreading to understand what the professor is saying. I miss a few words. Then a few more. Soon, I am several sentences behind what the professor is saying, desperately trying to catch up. The constant push and pull with my waning attention span and the struggle to understand what the professor is saying while attempting to fill in the blanks of half heard sentences leaves me exhausted. At the end of the two hour class period, I feel reprieved but it doesn't last long. Too reserved to draw attention to my hearing loss by asking the professor to repeat themselves, I muddle through the rest of the day. Labs are the best part since they involve hands on learning and not as much listening. I go home feeling exhausted, too tired to study until many hours later. The administration is of little help since their suggestion at an academic review is for me to tape record the class, not an ideal solution for someone who depends on lip reading for comprehension. A few attempts at using a tape recorder leave me frustrated since I can't understand what is being said when I playback the tape. I soon give up and continue to muddle through my classes. I blame myself for my short attention span, believing that if I concentrated harder, I would do better in school.
By Jenny Beck7 years ago in Longevity
Hypothyroid Prisoner: The Rant Many People Think
If you are like any of the 12% of Americans living with a form of thyroid disease then you are very well aware of your daily struggles just to get out of bed in the morning. You understand not knowing when to take your Armor, Nature or various forms of synthroid (levo), antithyroids. Unfortunately for my hyperthyroid friends this will more be about us slow thyroid people (hypothyroid). We are referred to as fat and lazy most days.
By Kimberly LU7 years ago in Longevity
Supplements?
Almost everyone I know takes some sort of vitamin or supplement. I hear debates about this all the time, especially in my field. I hear people say that supplements are the worst and that you should avoid them at all costs. I also hear people say that they need their supplements to function and that they wouldn’t be able to live without it. After all this back and forth, I can understand why it seems impossible to find the right answer. But there has to be an answer somewhere correct? Surely there’s a mad scientist deep in a cave someplace that has come up with a solution and is hiding it from us. There must be. Right?
By Rowan Flores7 years ago in Longevity
5 Ways to De-Stress When You Are Short on Time
STRESS, a six-letter word that nearly all Americans struggle with. Stress can be very... well, stressful! It is not easy to cope with and can potentially lead to medical issues down the road. (Trust me, I know!) Being a person that constantly deals with stress from things like work, friends, family, marriage or relationships here are my five tips for you to de-stress yourself when you only have a short amount of time.
By Kendall Cardoza7 years ago in Longevity
Essential Tremor
Introduction Essential tremor—also referred to as “ET”—is considered to be both the most common of movement disorders and neurological conditions. Additionally, this is the most common underlying cause of tremors in individuals. There are several names by which this condition is referred. These include “hereditary tremor,” “benign essential tremor,” and “familial tremor.” In the medical community, the term “essential” means that the symptom identified does not have a known underlying cause. The term “tremor” is used to describe a rhythmic, involuntary shaking of a body part. While the hands are commonly the most impacted, the head, the legs, as well as the trunk of the body may be impacted, too. Additionally, a tremor may affect the voice.
By Angela Shiflett7 years ago in Longevity
Tips on Becoming a Smart Ass for People Who Live with an Invisible Illness
The majority of people who live with a health condition do not appear as if they do. Having an invisible illness means that you walk around in the mall, window shopping. Sales associates ask if you need any help finding anything, you politely say “I’m okay, thanks.” You go to work and pretend to love your job and your coworkers, like everyone else in the work world. You get pissed off in traffic and beep your horn at someone who doesn’t use their turn signal. You go out for a drink with your girlfriends and laugh hysterically. You cook dinner for your family and tuck your kids into bed at night and kiss them on the forehead. You blend in with the rest of society even though you have this “secret” you are carrying with you every single day. It’s not apparent that you live with chronic pain, nobody can see your insulin pump under your shirt. They can’t see that you have a pace maker or, like me, can’t tell that I have left sided blindness (Homonymous Hemianopsia). You typically stay at home when you are in so much pain that you can’t physically move your body without crying, when you have a migraine which is a side effect of your traumatic brain injury, when a seizure has taken all your energy that morning, or when you can’t catch your breath because you’re having a bad heart day.
By Jennie Carr7 years ago in Longevity
