Research Blog : health

Maintain Your Brain

wag.mado@evpl — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 17:58:00 GMT

Are you committed to keeping your mind healthy and active? Do you sometimes wonder if your memory is as good as it should be? Or, would you just like to have some fun using your brain?

Next week, the EVPL’s Savvy Seniors Series will feature “Maintain Your Brain” presented by JoAnna Weiss from the Alzheimer’s Association. We will have some fun exercising our brains. And, information will be provided on how to keep your brain healthy, some of the age-related changes we all can expect, as well as when you may need to talk with your doctor.

The program will be held on Thursday March 31 at Central Library in the Large Group Room on second floor at 2:00 PM.

Come join us!

This program is part of the new Savvy Seniors Series and is free and open to the public. Click here for a full list of upcoming programs.

Questions about what the new Health Care Act means to you?...Part 1

SuDocQueen@evpl — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 20:36:00 GMT

True, a lot of people and lawmakers still want to end, or make changes to, last year's Health Care act, so who knows what will happen to it in the future, but for now parts of it are up, operational, and affecting individuals' lives. It is those operational parts I want to address here. The federal government has created a new website to help people understand and utilize the new act, www.healthcare.gov.

I started writing this blog with the expectation that I would review the enitre site at once, but as you may have guessed from the "Part 1" in my title, I found that impossible. The site covers so much information that I decided this blog would deal with everything but how to find insurance coverage. So, if that's all you are interested in, keep an eye out for Part 2 coming soon. However, I really hope you read on. You will learn about the new law, how it affects you, and you will get good advice about insurance coverage and other health topics.

The home page offers direct access to a plethora of health-related information. Toward the bottom is a video about using the site to find insurance coverage. There are links to the page's social media accounts. The site's blog posts are located in an obvious box just about the video link and they have an RSS feed. And, just to the left of the blogs is a nice "Five Things To Know" set of links. The five colored boxes at the top of the page are the most direct links to the site's deeper information.

We're saving the first box for Part 2. The second box, "Learn About Prevention" includes links to deeper pages as well as links that take the user beyond the healthcare.gov's website. The outside links sends the user to healthfinder.gov, another gateway to tons of information on healthy living, -- that site would have to be a blog all its own -- and the national initiative to solve childhood obesity. The links that lead to deeper into the healthcare.gov's website deal with the preventative services people need depending on their age and sex (notice the information is available in Spanish as well) and what preventative services insurance companies are supposed to cover under the new health care law.

The third box "Compare Care Quality" allows you to compare hospitals, nursing homes, home health care agencies, or dialysis facilities. The page where you choose which subject to search is still on healthcare.gov, but you are sent to medicare.gov for the actual searches (healthcare.gov sensibly chose not to reinvent the wheel). Depending on which subject you're searching you can search by city, state, or zip code, and the nursing home search also allows you to set a miles radius on the search. I used my grandmother's zip code each time, and was impressed with the extensive and detailed results. It was nice to know the nursing home we used when she broke her leg was a five star home. Along with all the good information from the searches, each subject's search page offers additional links to useful information on what to consider and what to ask when choosing care.

The fourth one, "Understand The Law." Strives to help people do just that, understand the new law. The main page offers a brief introductory video. Below the video are links to further information for seniors, special interest groups, and coverage options for those with pre-existing conditions. When you click on one of these links you're taken to a new page with in-depth information and more links to additional information on the topic. As you explore the topics, note that the deeper yellow of the "Understand the Law" tab, extends across the page in a bar. Within that deeper yellow bar are other links, sub-links so to speak. Note that there is always a little carrot sign below the "sub-link" you're currently on, to help orient you to where you are in the broad "Understand the Law" topic. Clear as mud? The "Timeline: What's Changing and When" link is pretty neat. It is a moveable timeline that shows you each change that has already taken place to health care as well as the expected dates of the rest of the changes up to 2015. "About The Law" strives to explain the law, offers the full PDF of the law, or separate links to each section of the law, and a chronological breakdown of the major portions of the law. "Provisions" addresses each major facet of the law, while "In Focus" and "Initiatives" discuss the issues the law is meant to address.

Returning to the different colored boxes, the last one, "Information For You," is helpful when you just want to know how the law affects your individual situation. For example, if you have a family of four, you're not going to be as interested in how the law affects seniors or individuals. When you mouse over the tab, a drop down menu will appear and you'll choose your "subject": individual, family with children, senior, etc. For most of the choices, this brings up the page customized to your interest. For a couple of them you'll have to make additional choices. Several of the pages open with an available video. All of them include an additional list of links on the left, a blue box on the right were you can start immediately researching coverage, and a set of links on the right that essential reword some of the links from the left. Also note that you can change the "situation" you're researching at any time. The "Information For You" tab is set up just like the "Understand The Law" tab. Once you've made your original choice, you can always look just below the tab and see links to the other possible situations. Clicking on any of them will take you to the new page.

Lastly, at the very bottom of the main page are stripped down links: to much of the information covered on the page above, to other sources like www.usa.gov, to information on accessibility for the disabled to the site's information, and to information on the viewers used on the site. Wow, I hope you managed to stay with me through this whole blog! And keep checking back for part, hopefully up within the next week.

Red Cross Heat Wave Safety Checklist

Shh_ImReading@evpl — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 23:22:00 GMT

With the hot, hot weather we've been having recently, I've been wondering about first aid for heat-related health problems. I've had first aid training in the past, but I wanted to make sure I'd know what to do now if someone near me seemed to be having trouble with the heat. I went to http://www.redcross.org/ and typed HEAT into the search box. I found a Heat Waves checklist with information about the symptoms and care for heat cramps, heat exhaustion and heat stroke. There is even a one-page PDF Heat Wave Safety Checklist that is perfect for printing. I hung one on the refrigerator in the room where staff members here take breaks.

Link for Heat Wave Safety Checklist easy to print PDF

You'll find more information like this on the Preparedness Fast Facts page.

Evansville's small claim to fame in the 1918 Great Pandemic & a tip for 2009 flu clinics in Evansville

SuDocQueen@evpl — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 21:07:00 GMT

Thanks to a very interesting question today, I discovered a surprising fact. Evansville was involved in Indiana's first official report on the Spanish influenza. According to http://1918.pandemicflu.gov/your_state/indiana.htm, in the "first official report from the state...officials reported that an epidemic had developed in Evansville beginning in the last week of September." By October, "state officials were forced to admit that 'the disease has been reported from a number of places' in the state," but Evansville carries the distinction of being the first city in Indiana to be officially stricken with the epidemic. I don't know whether you consider that good or bad, but I certainly found it surprising to learn that our city had a specific place in the history of the Great Pandemic.

I also found the website fascinating. Coming from The Office of the Public Health Service Historian, the site offers a good overview of the Pandemic in the United States -- be sure to always click on "more"; each general topic only shows the tip of information being offered. One can get a snapshot picture of average life in the US in 1918 as well as detailed information on the Pandemic's effects in each state; for example Indiana officially reported 154,600 cases while historians and epidemiologists now believe the count was closer to 350,000 cases. Along with bibliographies for books and websites, biographies on people central to the Pandemic, and examples of media resources from the time it's a very comprehensive picture of the 1918 Pandemic.

If you're more interested in the current flu situation, the site's main page also includes a link to www.pandemicflu.gov. That site helpfully pops up in a new window so you can continue browsing the historical information as well. One last discovery I have to mention, while browsing the current flu site, I discovered that the Vanderburgh County Health Department offers email notification for H1N1 Vaccination clinics! The notification comes through a catch-all category called "special events," so who knows what kind of notices a person may receive later on, but it could be worth not having to constantly check the department website or listen to the news all the time.

November is National Diabetes Month

SuDocQueen@evpl — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 18:07:00 GMT

Considering the prevalance of diabetes in America today, I suspect the disease has touched many, many families in the Evansville and tri-state area. It is certainly a topic near and dear to my heart since I have had family members and friends afflicted with both Type 1 and Type II. For those who have never encountered diabetes, or those newly diagnosed, it can be a frightening disease. So what better time to learn more about the disease than during the month dedicated to it?

To be honest, it had slipped my mind that November was National Diabetes Month until I got an email update from www.usa.gov talking about it -- check out www.usa.gov's website to find out about all the great email updates and RSS feeds people can sign-up for. The email included a great link to their FAQ section on diabetes. That section in turn offers several ways to get information on diabetes. They include phone, address, and email for the National Diabetes Information Clearinghouse as well as several links for different websites like National Diabetes Information Clearinghouse, National Diabetes Education Program, and the American Diabetes Association.

You can find even more online information from www.usa.gov by browsing or keyword searching from the website's main page. To browse, scroll down the main page until you see "Health and Nutrition." Clicking will take you to a further breakdown of the subject. Scroll down to "Health Topics A-Z" and click. Then click on "D" and scroll down until you get to "Diabetes." You'll see about twelve different topics on diabetes from diabetes and pregnancy to diabetic diet, kidney problems or even nerve problems. Each topic leads to great information from Medline Plus that includes additional links on things like prevention, related issues, and research as well as links to videos, tutorials, and pictures where available.

You can also do a keyword search on diabetes by typing the term into the search box at the top of www.usa.gov's main screen. You'll get a results page reminiscent of Google but without all the extraneous hits from questionable websites. The neatest part of the results page is the topic breakdown on the left-hand side of the page. The topic list is a breakdown of the search results into individual topics. The numbers in parenthesis indicate how many hits your search had under that topic, and the plus button to the right indicates that the topic can be broken down even farther. Clicking on the plus button will show that further breakdown while clicking on the topic itself will change the results list to the hits for just that topic. Also, take a look at the Agencies breakdown. If you didn't know, www.usa.gov searches state as well as federal websites. Looking at "Agencies" will give you a concise picture of the places your results are coming from. For example my "diabetes" search showed that the majority of my results came from the National Institutes of Health, but if you click to see "All" results for Agencies, you can scroll down and discover that Indiana has a page on diabetes coming from the IHS Division of Diabetes Treatment and Prevention.

If you're not on information overload yet, or if you prefer your information in a more tangible format, EVPL has an amazing collection of print material on diabetes ranging from books on the disease, complications, and diet to cookbooks for the diabetic. My simple keyword search using the term diabetes then limiting to books turned up over 400 books. Or, if you'd like to see magazine articles you can go back to the computer, go to our databases, and select a general database like Masterfile Premier, (see it under our list of "Popular Databases" or find it through our "Alphabetical Sequence") and do a keyword search for articles on diabetes. You can also choose "Category Sequence" and click on Health and Medicine to see a list of databases that will narrow your search to just medical journals.

World Vegetarian Day & Vegetarian Awareness Month

Shh_ImReading@evpl — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 16:06:00 GMT

A friend just let me know that TODAY is World Vegetarian Day! It turns out the whole month of October is Vegetarian Awareness Month! Have you ever considered going vegetarian or vegan? Maybe you could try it out this month. Why not try something new? Look for vegetarian options at the Fall Festival next week, for example. Yes, there really are vegetarian options at the Fall Festival! EVPL has lots of books on making the change to vegetarianism and many, many vegetarian cookbooks. There is a whole world of meat-free options out there; it's not all tofu! Then again, don't be scared of tofu. Remember, you have to try it to know you don't like it.

Ready, set, GO VEGETARIAN!

Are you a vegetarian or vegan? Tell us in the comments what resource(s) helped you make the transition, even it's just the title of your favorite cookbook!

Up-To-Date H1N1 and Flu Information Available Now!

Bufkinite@evpl — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 21:09:00 GMT

As public concern about pandemic H1N1 and the upcoming flu season continues to grow, the medical and nursing editors from both EBSCO Publishing and the Gale Group have responded by offering the latest scientifically verified flu-related information available for free.

These free flu information resources are available in the following ways:

To access EBSCO's information, click here.
To access Gale Group's information on the science and history of H1N1, click here.
To access Gale Groups up-to-the-minute global news on H1N1, click here.

This free flu information will be continually updated, so please check both of these sites often, and feel free to share, post, and email a link to this blog post to your colleagues, family and friends.

Do you stand in front of your closet every morning wondering what will fit, not what do I want to wear?

SuDocQueen@evpl — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 14:55:00 GMT

Here's my dirty little secret; I've been doing that all summer. To look at me no one would say I have a weight problem, but thanks to sports injuries and other medical issues this summer, I've been sidelined from my normal active lifestyle. Sprawling on the chaise lounge and reading instead of chasing a fuzzy green ball across the tennis court and doing yard work has been a surprisingly enjoyable change. Unfortunately, I didn't change my eating habits along with my reduction in activity and the inches have been creeping on. Every morning when I reach for the elastic waist pants I tell myself 'this is it, gotta cut back', but each night I eat my healthy, delicious, home-grown cherry tomatoes, and still reach for the French Fried Onion rings (ever get one of those big bags from one of the warehouse stores?). Since even my "fat cloths" are getting tight, it's time to get serious.

Counting calories and making a point of skipping the junk food is the best way to do that, but that can be boring (yeah, like that's an excuse -- but what can I say). Doing the right thing can be easier when it's also fun, and I know just the place to go www.mypyramid.gov. Be prepared for a near information overload. Designed and run by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the site's main page has so many links to useful information that you hardly know where to start. There are waaay too many of them for me to go through here, but I do want to tell you about my favorite, www.mypyramidtracker.gov.

You start out by telling the Tracker your age, weight, and height (why fudge? No one but the computer will know and if you don't tell the truth, later you won't get an accurate breakdown of what nutrition you need). Next you're asked to list all the foods you ate for the day, then the number of servings. After that the Tracker will analyze your intake for the day and shoot you to a page where you can choice to see if you met the 2005 Dietary Guidelines -- they use cute little emoticons as well as showing you the amount you actually ate and the amount that is recommended; you can see your nutrient breakdown for the day -- you get your total calories consumed along with a breakdown of your fats, proteins, and vitamins; you get "Pyramid stats" which show you graphically whether you got your recommended daily amount of milk, meat, veggies, grains, etc; and lastly you can view your "healthy eating history by day, month, up to a year -- this is assuming you've registered and have faithfully input your eating habits for a while.

Registration is free or you can use "check it out" daily without registering. I think the benefit of registering is that you can save your information for at least a year in order to track how well you're doing. Plus, you won't be able to access your "check it out" information from the whole day if you don't use the same computer all day -- no adding breakfast and lunch at your work computer then going home and adding dinner. You'd have to start from scratch adding your entire food intake for the whole day. Frankly, I think the benefits of seeing how your eating habits change over time is well worth the registration.

Plusses and minuses of the Tracker...well, today I couldn't find Velveeta sliced cheese, so I had to compensate with the next best thing (American/cheddar cheese, processed), but I could choose one slice as my serving size. Plus, I could add plain M&M's and select as few as 10 pieces as my serving size! The Tracker strives to offer a huge range of foods to choose from, from simple foods like bananas to restaurant food like McD's Big Mac. And they have very flexible serving sizes, from a whole apple (and you can even choose large or medium) to a slice as a serving size. My only real quibble is that they don't show you the calories for your individual foods. I like to know how many calories those 10 M&Ms are verses one (or two) Hershey's Kisses so I know which food choice will be cheaper calorie-wise when I'm limiting my sweets intake.

I won't bore you with the anal way I figure that out on my own, but I will tell you about a book that I absolutely love "The Calorie King Calorie Fat and Carbohydrate Counter" (613.23 CALOR 2009). I looked up M&Ms in the book, and it actually told me how many calories there were in one M&M! Okay, okay it only told me the calories for the plain M&M. It didn't go on and do the same for the peanut, almond, or peanut butter, but I was still impressed. Plus, it not only tells you the calories, it also gives the fat and carbohydrate counts. The book covers the normal basic foods -- like meat, breads, fruits veggies, etc -- and an amazing array of sweets (like M&Ms) as well as a huge section on restaurant foods. I found the Outback, O-Charley's, Sizzler, Red Lobster along with the usual suspects like McDonalds, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell. Starbucks was even in there. Do you really want to know how many calories your favorite frappuccino are costing you?

If all our copies of Calorie King are checked out, there's always the Reference copy you can use here, or you can try any of these other calorie counting books.

I'd like to talk more about www.mypyramid.gov but if I do that, this'll become a novel rather than a blog -- it's already leaning in that direction -- so just check it out on your own. If you have any questions on using it, pipe up here or give us a call at Reference!

The Health Care Reform Act turmoil

SuDocQueen@evpl — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 17:33:00 GMT

Opinions and concerns abound about this issue, sometimes to the point that the facts get obscured. Can I separate all the facts from the fiction? Nope, I can be duped and sucked in as easily as the next person. But I can tell you where to go to form your own opinions undiluted by anyone else with an agenda. Thomas from the Library of Congress is an excellent site for following legislation and the workings of Congress. As a matter of fact, Thomas has made it easy for people right now. You don't even have to search for the House's health care bill. They've put up a direct link on the very front of their website. From that link, you can then read a summary of the bill, see what Committees it's been referred to, see who is sponsoring it, and read the bill word for word yourself. Be warned, the bill's over 1,000 pages long and very dense to read! That doesn't mean I think it's not worth reading; I'm just saying don't expect to skim through it on your lunch hour unless you belong to Mensa. :)

You can also get some very useful links from Congressman Brad Ellsworth's "Online Office." He has the PDF of the full bill, just as Thomas does, but he additionally has links to the committee work being done on the bill.

And while we're talking Congressmen, if you want to share your opinion, do you know who to share yours with? Indiana's Senators are Evan Bayh and Richard Lugar, while Evansville's Congressman is Brad Ellsworth.

Lastly, here's on other place I like to go when I'm inundated with opinions, http://factcheck.org/. They appear non-partisan to me. They've debunked pro and con statements surrounding the health care debate. And, their website/services don't exist solely for the health care debate (it just looks that way right now :). Take a look at their Archives or Ask Factcheck to see some of the other political issues they address.

Beat the Heat by Coming to EVPL!

PotionsMaster@evpl — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 15:26:00 GMT

This is the second day of a Heat Advisory for this area. Sure, we all feel drained and listless, not to mention that any kind of physical movement makes a person break out into sweat. But especially in the Ohio River Valley heat can cause more problems than sticky underarms. People especially at risk are the elderly, young children, and anybody who must work outside. Check the Weather Channel and weather.com for updates and further information. Here's what to watch for:

Severe Sunburns: It might not seem like a major heat related health issue, but it is. When the skin is reddened and burned, it loses the ability to drain heat away from the core of the body; blood that runs close to the surface in order to cool down isn't able to because the skin itself is overheated! Have you ever seen some poor fellow who looks like a boiled lobster after a day on the beach? That's a severe sunburn. The peeling that will happen will be spectacular. Hope that poor person doesn't wind up with sun poisoning and blisters from the burn.

How to Treat: Their best bet is to stay out of the sun in a cool spot, keep applying that aloe vera gel, and to keep hydrated. (Keeping hydrated will be a theme.)

Heat Exhaustion: This term gets bandied around alot with 'Heat Stroke', but they are not interchangable words for the same thing. Symptoms of heat exhaustion are weakness, nausea, heavy sweating, fainting, clammy and cold skin (do not be fooled! Cold skin does NOT mean cool internal temperatures!), and for those who are medically inclined to check the pulse, it will be weak and thready. This is actually a mild form of shock. Heat exhaustion can occur when working outside for extended periods of time when the weather is hot and humid. If not recognized and treated appropriately, it can and probably will lead up to heat stroke.

How to Treat: Get out of the sun, drink cool water (not ice cold), loosen clothing, rest for the remainder of the day, and stay away from protein-heavy foods. Ice water will feel like a kick in the gut and might cause cramping, while foods laden with protein (cheese, meat, milk, the like) will cause blood to flow to the intestinal tract and kick up the core body temperature in order to digest. High internal temperatures are what we are trying to avoid. Call the doctor if vomitting happens.

Heat Stroke: It's no joke. Seriously. The body shuts down your internal air conditioning unit, in short. The body ceases to sweat, and that can cause the internal temperature to skyrocket to deadly temperatures. The heat can rise so high, it is possible to cause brain damage. (If you think a sunburn feels like you're cooking, be thankful you have not experienced this kind of heat.) Look for red, hot and dry skin, throbbing headache, strong, fast pulse, dizziness, confusion, nausea, and worst: unconsciousness. If not treated immediately, death can occur within 10-15 minutes.

How to Treat: Call 911. Then try to cool the body any way possible, as fast as possible: strip the clothing, give a sponge bath with cool water, run a fan on the person's body. If outdoors, move victim to shade, strip clothing, and run water from a hose on the body. DO NOT GIVE FLUIDS.

So what can a person do to avoid these terrible health risks? First step is come to the library! Two words: Air Conditioning. This is especially helpful if you do not have air conditioning in your own home. Even if you only come for a few hours, when you go back out into the heat, your body will be able to handle the stress of it a bit better.

Second step: Hydrate yourself. If your body does not have enough moisture for it to sweat, you are on the fast track for heat stroke. Sweating cools the body by evaporating beads of moisture off of the skin. This is the first air conditioning the world knew about, and one of the most effective and environmentally safe ones, too. (Some people's noses might disagree, though!) After air wicks away the sweat, the skin is cooled, which cools the blood in the vessels close to the skin. The cooled blood then circulates around the body, cooling the internal temperatures, and then bringing more hot blood back to the skin in order to become cooler again. It's a beautiful system. The more water you drink, the easier it is for your blood to flow, as well. And it all relates back to making your sweating system more efficient.

Step three: whether you have electric air conditioning or not, keep those electric fans on and that air moving. Moving air evaporates water faster than stagnant air. This is why if you are sweating profusely it feels so good to stand in front of a fan. It's ok to talk into the fan, too, if you're alone...it distorts your voice and you can pretend to be an alien or an announcer. Other tips are to keep your front door and drapes closed; sun coming in through a window can increase the temperature in your house, wilt your plants, and make your AC and fans work harder. Closing the drapes will help your electric bill stay somewhat lower.

If you absolutely must go out, here are a few tips. Wear light colored, light fabric, loose clothing. Light colors in the spectrum bounce sun rays off and away, as opposed to dark colors, which absorb. This is why people with black, dark brown, and navy blue colored cars always have every window and door open in the parking lot when they first open them up in the summer. (I am one of those silly people...my car is black.) Central Library does have an underground parking level to for those who don't want to bake their car seats.

Slow down and don't over exert yourself, particularly in the middle of the day. This is a great excuse to anybody: "I must slow down and not exert myself, especially in the middle of the day, on a day like today; the heat index is says it feels like blah blah degrees, and I don't want to risk getting heat exhaustion. Let's go to the Library and get out of this heat." This next tip should be a no-brainer, but people do forget: wear sunscreen. Preferably with a high SPF. Getting a sunburn is uncomfortable and we've already been over why else it is bad.

Last tip; no prizes for those who can guess what it is: HYDRATE. Drink cool water, or Gatorade/Powerade/Vitamin Water, but especially WATER. This cannot be stressed enough. The body is 70% water and most Americans are chronically dehydrated. People find that if they take a sip or two of water during the day instead of reaching for a snack, that water is what their body wanted in the first place anyway. People confuse 'thirst' with 'hunger', mainly because you feel 'empty' with both.

The Cup and Chaucer here at Central has a cooler full of drinks for those who would like a refreshing thirst-quencher while they are enjoying the comfortable chairs and cool air when in the stacks. Who knows? By the time you finish your book, the heat advisory might be over. And you'll know exactly where to go when the next one pops up.

New Webzine Looks at Area Lifestyle Trends

potentate@evpl — Tue, 12 May 2009 14:55:00 GMT

Evansville Intelligencer is a new webzine launched in April 2009 with content on area health, dining, society, natural and architectural sites, and politics. It's free, easy to use, and readers may comment on the posts.

The Best Medicine

wag.mado@evpl — Thu, 07 May 2009 21:56:00 GMT

Every three weeks we have a Lobby Book Display at Central Library on a different theme or topic. Some topics are naturally more popular than others. However, "Laugh Out Loud" in the month of March was such a favorite that we found it difficult to keep books on the display. The books were fiction and nonfiction titles that were generally written to make people laugh.

Now, I've always known about the importance of laughter since I first saw the "Laughter is the Best Medicine" section in Reader's Digest as a child. And as an adult, I learned about the psychology of laughter while studying Norman Cousins in my college psychology classes and later in a cancer support group I attended. But none of this prepared me for the speed at which those humorous books flew off the book display.

Just about the time I was preparing the book display, I heard that the economic recession was having an effect on the demand for humorous speakers.

Then, about two weeks ago came a news story regarding a new scientific study by Dr. Lee Berk which shows that "mirthful laughter" can raise good cholesterol, reduce inflammation and reduce levels of three detrimental stress hormones in high risk diabetic patients. And, according to a 2006 study by Dr. Berk, just the anticipation of laughter can boost health-protecting hormones and reduce potentially harmful ones.

Next, I discovered that May 3 was World Laughter Day and that it was being promoted by a group who practices Laughter Yoga. Who knew!

So, this got me thinking. Are people attracted to humorous things because they feel better just thinking about that funny stuff? Do they subconsciously know that a laugh is just what they need to get them through these stressful times we live in? Well, I think so.

So my proposition is this: Why not pull a humorous book or movie off the shelf every time you visit the library. Hold it in your hand and look at it often. Even if you don't ever get around to reading it or watching it, just the anticipation alone should be enough to make you feel better. And if you do read or watch it, just think of all those health-protecting chemicals that will be floating around inside you for the next 12 to 24 hours.

Swine flu information

googler@evpl — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 17:21:00 GMT

Most of what you need to know about the current swine flu situation can be found on two websites. The Centers for Disease Control manages this site, which has all the latest news, information about the disease's symptoms and prevention, and links to other sources. The Department of Health and Human Services manages this site, also packed full of useful information (including historical information on flu epidemics).

Both sites have RSS feeds linked on their sites, and you can find their Twitter feeds under BirdFluGov (despite the account name, it does include swine flu information) and CDCemergency.

For the latest news stories, another Twitter feed is the San Jose Mercury News, which maintains a feed specifically for swine flu stories. (For a general news feed with plenty of flu updates, I use Breaking News.)

You may be interested in the swine flu outbreak map, a Google Maps mashup. This purports to show every known instance of swine flu around the world (of the current outbreak). The map also provides information on the current state of the ill person.

Even for those who don't live in New York, the New York State Department of Health has a very informative site on swine flu. And finally, you might want to keep an eye on the Indiana Department of Health's website.

Do Not Flush!

wag.mado@evpl — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 00:28:00 GMT

You may remember a time when it was common practice to flush outdated/unused medications down the toilet. Well, that practice has caused some disturbing consequences resulting in the FDA promoting guidelines on proper disposal of drugs. There are still a few drugs that should be flushed, but the majority are to be disposed of following specific guidelines in order to safeguard life and protect the envioronment.

If you want to dispose of things once a year, you can always take your unused meds and other toxic substances to "Tox Away Day" at Robert's Stadium on September 12, 2009. A list of environmental pollutants can be found on the City of Evansville's website along with the hours they will be accepting materials for disposal. Tox Away Day is for Vanderburgh and Posey County residents only.

Maybe you are interested in learning more about what type of pollutants are making their way into our water. If so, you can listen to NPR's Fresh Air for April 20, 2009 where Pulitzer Prize winning journalist, Hendrick Smith reports that disturbing chemicals from our everyday activities are showing up in water supplies around the globe. He is interviewed by Terry Gross to promote PBS's Frontline - Poisoned Waters, which airs on Tuesday April 21, 2009.

Since protecting our environment can seem like a monumental task, many people decide to start with small basic steps and gradually add something new each year. As Earth Day approaches this week, maybe each of us can add one thing to our daily routine which would help lessen the burden on our beautiful planet. And, what a better time to do it than now.

Natasha's lesson saves Ohio girl

googler@evpl — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 21:02:00 GMT

Natasha Richardson's recent death from a head injury may have you asking yourself, when does a head injury require medical attention? That's a very good question. This article, about a seven-year-old girl who experienced an epidural hematoma but had no symptoms for two days, gives a list of what to watch for after someone has suffered a head injury. Symptoms such as dizziness, vomiting, headache and confusion, and sudden changes in symptoms, are the red flags.

And you'll also be happy to know that the little's girls parents, alerted to the dangers of head injury by a news report about Natasha, were able to get her to a doctor in time, and she's fine now.