health
Keeping your mind and body in check - popular topics in health and medicine to maintain a long and healthy life.
The C Word
When I woke up on October 21, 2012, I had no idea that my life was about to change for the worst. Before I begin to tell you my story, we must first go back a couple of years. Seventh grade summer going into the eighth grade, I was at my all time high playing softball every weekend and practicing every day. It was 2011 and I was a catcher so I was used to hard work. Life was good and free and I was enjoying my youth. Everything seemed perfect until one day, I noticed a lump on my throat. No biggie, like I said, I was a catcher. I was used to swollen lymph nodes because dust was constantly being thrown in my face. Usually, it would go away after a day or two, but not this lump. This lump grew.
By Taylor Barry8 years ago in Longevity
The Cons of Smoking Cigarettes for Smokers
Smoking cigarettes not only smells bad, but it is just as bad for you. The smell that lingers causing secondhand smoke that they banned from bars and restaurants is something to avoid. Ever wondered just how bad it is for your lungs and bodies or others around you every time you go on a smoke break? It's worse than some people think or like to admit. Every cigarette that you smoke takes away seven minutes of your lifetime. Doesn't sound like much, but if you do the math it adds up like it's black tar that builds up in your lungs. If you smoke one pack a day for a year that's 33 days out of your life and $2,920 dollars out of your pocket.
By Ruby Estelle 8 years ago in Longevity
What It's Like to Live With POTS
Upon standing, the body naturally disperses your blood to your legs and your belly, which causes low blood pressure because there is less blood flowing back into your heart. In the normal, healthy human body, baroreceptors near your heart and in the arteries of your neck sense this low pressure. In return, these receptors send a signal to your brain to make your heart beat faster and pump more blood, which stabilizes your blood pressure. POTS, which stands for Postural (obviously the position of your body whether it be standing, sitting, or laying) Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome, is a form of low blood pressure that occurs when you sit up and stand from a laying down position.
By emily green8 years ago in Longevity
What is Type One Diabetes?
I was late this morning. Not because my car broke down, not because my alarm didn't go off.I was late this morning for attempting to avoid hospitalization.Hi, my name is Raven Yule, and I have an autoimmune disease called Type One Diabetes. No, wait, don't click away. This isn't your average "diabetes." I didn't "give this to myself," I didn't "have a bad diet."Type ONE diabetes is an autoimmune disease. That means my autoimmune system attacked my pancreas (the organ that produces insulin—the thing you need to live) and killed it. Simple, yet not at all.I don't expect you to already know everything, unless you have a loved one with TD1 (That's the cool name that us TD1's like more). In the world, there are only about three million of us, whereas there's about forty million people with type two diabetes. Yeah, don't feel bad for not knowing what it is. I didn't know either when I was diagnosed.But, to be fair, I was just a kid. It's the morning of my tenth birthday. I wake up just a normal kid. Unaware that, by nighttime, I wouldn't be such a normal kid anymore. As I walk into the kitchen, I see the giant chocolate cake my mother has baked me and all the birthday balloons.I admit, I don't remember much of the day, other then a large breakfast and asking for seconds.Before dinner, my mother walks in as I'm changing. Immediately she's on the phone with the doctors and has an appointment ready. I complain and ask why on my birthday do I have to go get a check up. She tells me it's probably nothing, but I've lost a lot of weight even though I've been eating a lot. What she didn't tell me was how she could count every rib, or every spine notch.
By Raven Yule8 years ago in Longevity
What's Wrong With Your Diet?
This article is meant to shed some light on what goes on inside our bodies when we consume sugar and why it's so hard to shake. There will also be some alternative diet suggestions that are fairly simple to implement. All you will need is the info provided and a little will power.
By Milestone Media8 years ago in Longevity
My Thyroid Journey
I was always bigger than the kids my age up till high school. I was an early bloomer what can I say? I wasn't the smallest kid my age weight wise. That all changed the summer going into my freshman year. I went from 185 lbs to 110 lbs in less than a month. I didn't think anything of it at that time honestly, I was just excited to finally be small like the rest of my friends. I went from being the most fat to the smallest and that, in my eyes as a teenage girl, was the greatest thing in the world!
By Kaitlin Bryant8 years ago in Longevity
The Science Behind BCAAs
I get asked all the time, “What supplements should I take?” If I have ever talked with you, or you’ve looked around our site, you will see the supplements I always recommend, that I refer to as, the essentials. The essentials are a multi-vitamin, fish oils, and a quality protein. These aren’t supplements that I consider to be for a specific goal, but rather a part of essential living, hence the name. They will benefit you in all terms of health, wellness, and metabolism. Now, there are supplements I recommend that will aid in specific goals and performance. The number one supplement that will enhance any training program, goal, or level of performance, is branch chain amino acids or BCAAs.
By Kevin Armentrout8 years ago in Longevity
Living with a Chromosome Disorder
What makes me want to write about my son’s chromosome disorder? At the moment, it’s to bring awareness. While I write this, I just comforted Gray out of a really nasty night terror, which can happen for even a typical child. But for him it’s a bit different. He just woke up out of the sleepy haze of his morning dose of anti-anxiety medicine. I hate the side effects of the drug, but with my son, you control the anxiety, you control the seizures. He’s gone seizure-free for the most part for over a year. But then you have to deal with the backlash of the nasties that pop up now that the seizures and anxiety are controlled.
By Leann McCoy8 years ago in Longevity
