Health & WellnessS


Alarm Clock

This aspect of sleep quality has a surprising connection to dementia


PsyBlog
Mon, 06 Mar 2017 20:40 UTC
woman sleeping
© Getty images
Changes in sleep quality are linked to dementia.

People who sleep more than 9 hours a night have double the risk of developing dementia, new research reports.

Those sleeping longer also have lower brain volumes.

The exception was well-educated people, Professor Sudha Seshadri, a study author, explained:

"Participants without a high school degree who sleep for more than 9 hours each night had six times the risk of developing dementia in 10 years as compared to participants who slept for less.

These results suggest that being highly educated may protect against dementia in the presence of long sleep duration."
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Attention

Increasing bird flu incidents so far in 2017

Dennis Normile
Science
Mon, 06 Mar 2017 16:49 UTC
quarantine researcher checks on a chicken
© CHINA STRINGER NETWORK/REUTERS/NewscomA quarantine researcher checks on a chicken at a poultry farm in Hubei province in China earlier this month.
An avian influenza virus that emerged in 2013 is suddenly spreading widely in China, causing a sharp spike in human infections and deaths. Last month alone it sickened 192 people, killing 79, according to an announcement this week by China's National Health and Family Planning Commission in Beijing.

The surge in human cases is cause for alarm, says Guan Yi, an expert in emerging viral diseases at the University of Hong Kong in China. "We are facing the largest pandemic threat in the last 100 years," he says.

As of 16 January, the cumulative toll from H7N9 was 918 laboratory-confirmed human infections and 359 deaths, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Despite its high mortality rate, H7N9 had gotten less attention of late than two other new strains—H5N8 and H5N6—that have spread swiftly, killing or forcing authorities to cull millions of poultry. But so far, H5N8 has apparently not infected people; H5N6 has caused 14 human infections and six deaths.
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Health

Information on killer prescription drugs is buried

Jon Rappoport
No More Fake News
Mon, 06 Mar 2017 16:38 UTC
drugs and money
© Dees Illustration
Every once in a while, an analysis that explodes confidence in the medical system surfaces.

It might appear as a newspaper article, or a review published in a medical journal.

Its fate is always the same. It sinks like a stone in a dark lake. As if it never happened.

Months or years later, people who read the original article begin to doubt their own memory. "Did I really read that? If I had, surely other articles would have been written. There would have been uproar..."

No. It's par for the press to bury uncomfortable stories and give them a quick death. It's another form of censorship.

For example:

The citation is: BMJ June 7, 2012 (BMJ 2012;344:e3989) "Anticoagulants cause the most serious adverse events, finds US analysis." Author, Jeanne Lenzer.

Lenzer refers to a report by the Institute for Safe Medication Practices: "It calculated that in 2011 prescription drugs were associated with two to four million people in the US experiencing 'serious, disabling, or fatal injuries, including 128,000 deaths.'"

Comment: See also:

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Bacon n Eggs

Eat together: Have a healthier family

Helen Lammers-Helps
Country Guide
Fri, 03 Mar 2017 18:50 UTC
20 years of research proves that sitting down to eat together is good for body, brain and mental health

Family dinner
© Thinkstock
Here is one thing you can do that will help your kids succeed in school and life, and it's as simple as making it a habit to eat together as a family. It sounds too good to be true, but true is exactly what it is.

That's according to Dr. Anne Fishel, a family therapist in Cambridge, Massachusetts, who should know. The author of Home for Dinner, Fishel literally wrote the book on healthy family meals.

Comment: It's sad that people have to be taught to prioritize mealtime with their children. Also see:Home-cooked meals eaten without digital distractions linked to less obesity

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Megaphone

The world protests on behalf of vaccine-injured children

Christina England
Green Med Info
Sat, 04 Mar 2017 15:36 UTC
vaccine protester
Around the world, parents, grandparents and caregivers are protesting in anger against the dangerous vaccinations they believe are killing their children.

One such protest, spearheaded by Sallie O. Elkordy, is taking place on Sunday, March 5, 2017. Ms. Elkordy explained in her blog, brightfuture83, that this walk, aptly named the "Empty Stroller Walk" because protesters have been asked to walk while pushing an empty stroller, was originally the idea of a grieving grandmother, Sherry Frady, who tragically lost her granddaughter, Bella, following her eight-week routine vaccinations.

Speaking live on The Mary and Sallie show, Mrs. Frady told listeners about the death of her granddaughter in the hope that others may learn from their experiences.

Mrs. Frady began the show by explaining to listeners that before her granddaughter's eight-week vaccinations, Bella was a healthy baby girl. Sadly, this was about to change.

Comment: Another recent vaccine protest: Angry parents in Colombia shut down schools, lock gates in protest, over 1,000 cases of HPV vaccine injuries in Bolivarense municipality

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Laptop

Toxic screens: Children are being hospitalized for sleep disorders as technology keeps them awake at night

Stephen Walter
The Telegraph
Sat, 04 Mar 2017 18:12 UTC
glow kids, children technology, sleep disorders
© Getty
Three times as many children under 14 are being admitted into hospital with sleeping disorders than ten years ago as technology keeps many awake at night.

Households where both parents work are also pushing bedtimes later, with a lack of sleep raising fears of poor school performance and later life health woes.

It puts children at greater risk of developing mental health issues, catching viruses and becoming obese, according to past research. Studies have also linked a lack of sleep to low levels of emotional control.

Specialists fear the problem could worsen unless it is addressed now, and believe moves should be made to tackle it on the public health agenda.

Comment: It's not just sleep loss - unlimited access to screens is causing an epidemic of psychiatric symptoms among children and teenagers. Research has found that excessive screen exposure can neurologically damage a child's brain much in the same way that a cocaine addiction can - kids who are continuously exposed to tech screens showed higher rates of substance abuse, stress, poor academics and depression.

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Health

Lyme is 'All in Your Head' - A Wake-up Call to Mental Health Professionals

Lori Dennis
Mad in America
Sat, 04 Mar 2017 08:51 UTC
lyme madness
Every day, in doctors' offices across the US—as well as in Canada, the UK, Ireland, Amsterdam, Australia, Sweden, in 80 countries and on every continent—chronic Lyme disease sufferers are being told that their debilitating, destructive, multi-systemic illness is nothing more than a small nuisance condition that is really just 'all in their head'.

For more than forty years, mainstream medicine has kept chronic Lyme disease in the shadows. The disease itself, as well as the political machinations of this disease, plunges sufferers down a complicated, confusing, and terrifying abyss—a black hole of personal anguish, conflicting medical views, widespread corruption, and unrelenting health care navigation.

Today, chronic Lyme disease has reached pandemic proportions, with a grossly underreported 300,000 cases in the US alone, and millions suffering worldwide. This is a critical time for mental health professionals to step up for the sake of millions who are chronically ill, infirm and medically abandoned.

As mainstream medicine continues to turn its back, invalidating, denying, ignoring and even mocking the sufferers of this very real chronic illness, the mental health profession has a moral and ethical obligation to create a system of care for those who are sick and dying, who are without medical support and are left to struggle entirely on their own. What we desperately need is a wake-up call to psychiatrists and all mental health care providers, asking you to become educated about this infectious disease and be aware that it must be used as a differential diagnosis.

Comment: Lyme disease sufferers go through a living hell, not recognized for suffering the from the actual disease they have and often being accused of having a psychological disorder or "faking it". Listen to The Health & Wellness Show: A Close Look at Lyme Disease (transcript available), where we take a deep look at this mysterious and devastating disease.

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Heart

The bountiful benefits of bone broth: A comprehensive guide

Chris Kresser
Chris Kresser
Tue, 21 Feb 2017 00:12 UTC
Traditional cooking uses meat bones as a base for delicious stock because it is the secret to cooking great recipes. But it's also incredibly nutritious and has scores of health benefits. Read on to learn more about bone broth and why you should make it a staple in your diet.

gelatin bone broth
The Weston A. Price Foundation and advocates of the Paleo and Primal lifestyles favor bone broth for its wide array of nutrients that are difficult to find in any other food source. Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride has made bone and meat stock the foundation of the GAPS protocol because of its ability to heal and seal the gut lining and reduce overgrowth of harmful microbes. Chicken broth has also been suggested to reduce the migration of immune cells during illness. These are just some of the many reasons to love bone broth.

Comment:

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Info

Donkey milk to the rescue for children with milk allergies

Giovanna Fleitas
Digital Journal
Sat, 04 Mar 2017 03:48 UTC
Riding a Donkey
© Christian Miranda/AFPSevere food allergies kept Fiorella Fuentes from stomaching her formula leaving her near starving until her desperate mother Carolina (R) was advised to give her donkey milk.
When severe food allergies kept Fiorella Fuentes from stomaching her formula -- leaving the infant on the brink of starvation -- her desperate mother turned to a curious source of sustenance: donkey milk.

At a donkey farm near Santiago, Fiorella -- now three years old -- rides one of the animals with help from her mother Carolina, who today works in distributing the unusual milk that saved her daughter.

"It was a miracle," she says. "Fiorella -- who vomited 36 times a day with formulas -- did not vomit again after her first taste of donkey milk."

Carolina describes visiting one specialist after another looking for a solution to her daughter's severe food allergy, a fruitless effort until one doctor finally recommended donkey milk.

"The feeling of desperate mothers and fathers, of not knowing what to feed your child, is the worst in the world," she said. "When I found the solution to my daughter's diet, it was the best."

Carolina's experience got her thinking about how to help mothers unable to breastfeed. She now distributes about 40 liters (10 gallons) of donkey milk a day out of her house, a business that is starting to expand.
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Question

Are GMO potatoes already here?

Daisy Luther
Natural Blaze
Fri, 03 Mar 2017 17:34 UTC
GMO potatoes
If you prefer to avoid genetically modified foods, here's another one to avoid. GMO potatoes will be joining GMO apples at a store near you very soon - if they aren't there already.

Last week, the FDA added their approval (again) to that of the EPA, giving the go-ahead for these potatoes to be planted this spring for harvest in the fall.

The rollout of the spuds has been cloaked in a fair bit of secrecy. Generally, one would expect something "new and improved" to be presented via a high-budget advertising campaign, press releases, and a giant hurrah. But, since marketers know that the public doesn't really want anyone messing with the genetics of their favorite root vegetable, they've just sort of snuck them into the food supply.


Comment: Dept. of Agriculture proudly approves GMO taters


Back in 2015 the FDA assessed and passed genetically modified potatoes as safe for human consumption. These potatoes are known by their trade name, Innate and so far three varieties have been assessed. They are Ranger Russet, Russet Burbank, and Atlantic, produced by J.R. Simplot Company. (source)

The claims of the modified potatoes are that:
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