June 15-21, 2011 - Original Health Articles

Ghrelin: The Hunger Hormone

Your stomach produces a hormone called ghrelin, which stimulates your appetite and encourages you to eat. That's a good thing for some people, not so good for others. Here's what researchers know about this mysterious chemical messenger that appears to have such a profound and direct effect on one's ability to lose weight.

How to Handle Arthritis-Related Bone Spurs

Bone spurs, although they may sound like something that spontaneously occurs, actually arise over time. They're smooth overgrowths of normal bone that can occur anywhere on your body, although they're commonly found on the spine, hips, knees, shoulders, and neck.

7 Daily Must-Dos for Retirees

Now that your working life is behind you, it's time to pay attention to the rest of your life. You've got extra time now, and you want to make the most of it. Whether you've dedicated yourself to living healthily all these years or put your health on the back burner, it's never too late to form good habits.

Are Breast Implants Linked to Lymphoma?

You may have heard news reports that breast implants cause lymphoma, and if you have implants, you might be concerned. The short answer is, you needn't be. Breast Implants and Cancer Risk Since 1992, up to two million women in the U.S. and up to 10 million worldwide have had breast implants, either for cosmetic reasons or following breast cancer surgery.

Is It Still a Workout If You Don't Sweat?

Working up a sweat is good for you, but what if you're not one to perspire during exercise? Can you still consider it to be an effective workout? The answer is "yes!"  Most people sweat more during a high-intensity workout than a gentle stroll in the park.

Exercising Before Bed: Harmful or Helpful?

Exercising before bed: Will it keep you up or put you to sleep? Although many experts encourage exercise earlier in the day to help you fall asleep easier at night, those in the know say that an evening workout might just work out for you. Overall, exercise has been proven to improve sleep quality in people who have insomnia as well as those who don't have serious sleep problems.

Can Sublingual Immunotherapy Ease Your Allergies?

Wish there was a magic formula that could make your allergies go away? While no medication can completely erase your immune system's response to allergens, a form of treatment called sublingual immunotherapy may provide some welcome relief. Sublingual immunotherapy is available as tablets or drops that you place under your tongue to build up your body's tolerance to allergens.

How Depression Affects Your Sleep

Although a few short nights can make us cranky and irritable, generally our mood returns to normal once we've resumed our regular sleeping routine. For individuals who struggle with depression, however, insomnia can be a chronic problem. The symptoms of depression and insomnia overlap and there's a direct relationship between the two.

The Language of Love: 6 Tips for Better Communication

You love your partner, and can't quite imagine life without him. Yet when the two of you are together, it's all too easy to fall into the pattern of criticizing, berating, and belittling, with each of you feeling wronged by the other. No wonder it sometimes feels like the two of you are oceans apart when it comes to intimacy.

How Does Stress Affect Your Brain?

You're a smart person. So why, when you're under the most stress, does it seem your brain shuts down and your intelligence disappears? You know stress causes numerous physical problems and even serious disease. But did you know that prolonged or extreme stress might also impair your mental faculties, leaving you feeling.

Can Your Immune System Make Asthma Worse?

In recent years the medical community has come clean about a dirty little secret: good hygiene can be a bad thing. In fact, some scientists believe that the growing number of people being diagnosed with asthma is caused by the effects of over-cleanliness on the immune system.

Is a Heart Stent Right for You?

If you're experiencing shortness of breath and chest pain (angina) and your doctor says the cause is due to blockages in your heart arteries, she may recommend angioplasty with stenting. During an angioplasty procedure, a tiny balloon is inserted in the affected artery or arteries through a catheter that's placed in an artery, typically in the groin.

Is the Western Diet to Blame for Type 2 Diabetes?

When Canadian physician Kevin Patterson worked as doctor at the Canadian Combat Surgical Hospital in Kandahar, Afghanistan, he came to realize that the Afghans he treated had very different body types from the Canadians he typically cared for back in his homeland.

What Color Is Your Bedroom?

If you are sensitive to your environment, the color of your curtains, your rug, your bedding and the walls that surround you can influence how you feel when you're trying to relax before falling asleep. The psychological effects of color have not been studied extensively and the results of those studies performed have not always been consistent.

Should You Take Digestive Enzymes?

If you've ever experienced indigestion, bloating, gas, stomach pain, or diarrhea, it may be because you have a shortage of digestive enzymes, which assist the body in breaking down food. Enzymes are secreted along the gastrointestinal tract where food is broken down, allowing nutrients to be absorbed by the blood.

What is Exercise-Induced Anaphylaxis?

If you're one of the few people who suffer from exercise-induced anaphylaxis, participating in strenuous activities can put your health at serious risk. While this form of severe allergy reaction is quite rare, researchers believe that a particular food allergy could be to blame for setting the problem into gear.

What Does the Polypill Promise?

If you haven't heard about the polypill yet, chances are you will soon. Research is showing that a once-a-day single pill that combines aspirin, blood pressure, and cholesterol drugs to reduce heart disease risk and treat the problem once it develops may be safe and effective.

Anxiety From a Diabetes Diagnosis

Getting diagnosed with diabetes is a life-altering event. Suddenly, you're looking at a chronic condition that has potentially serious, long-term complications and that requires you to rethink the way you look at eating, at exercising, and at the way you live your life.

Can Dogs Sniff Out Cancer?

You may have heard stories about someone's four-legged companion saving his life by alerting him to an impending health crisis, such as an epileptic seizure or heart attack. Dogs may be man's best friend in cancer detection as well. In several different studies, dogs have detected cancer at a high rate of accuracy.

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