Whatever the situation, we’re intrigued by eye contact. Eye contact increases our pulse rate, decreases our dishonesty factor (we lie less often), increases our adherence to rules and norms and helps us to attend to subtle social cues. In this Covid-19-world there’s a vast array of rapidly changing information. If we attend to relevant information we’re better able to assess our environment and make appropriate personal decisions. We’ve all been there, albeit for just a brief moment, as we unexpectedly…..
American Nurse, a journal of the American Nurses Association, (June 2020 Vol. 15. 6, p 21) introduces us to the words of Florence Nightingale: “No amount of medical knowledge will lessen the accountability for nurses to do what nurses do; that is, manage the environment to promote positive life processes.” This includes the 24-hour, 7-day-a-week nature of the work, which affects nurses’ health and well-being, including nutrition, particularly when working night shift according to an article by Sharon Tucker, PhD,…..
Estimates vary, but experts suggest that more than 5.5 million Americans, most of them age 65 or older, may have dementia caused by Alzheimer’s (NIH fact sheet 6/17/2020), (www.nih.gov). Combining more healthy lifestyle behaviors was associated with a substantially lower risk for Alzheimer’s disease in a study that included data from nearly 3,000 research participants. Those who adhered to four or all of the five specified healthy behaviors were found to have a 60% lower risk of Alzheimer’s. The behaviors…..
Accurately estimating biological age has tremendous value according to Adam Alonzi’s recent article entitled “Gauge Your Age: Epigenetics and the Future of Medicine.” Smoking, drinking, stress, chronic infection, and major depression can all measurably accelerate the aging process as gauged by the epigenetic clock (Gao,2016; Gassen, 2017; Horvath, 2015; Rosen, 2018; Han; 2018). Fear of transmitting, or acquiring, the virus that causes COVID-19 even if you or the other person is asymptomatic has been a strong driver of widespread compliance…..
I seem to have my thoughts in two worlds: healthcare and writing. In reviewing my paperwork I uncovered an outline compiled for a presentation. It’s relevant to both composition and our current battle with COVID-19. I’m naive, But I Can Learn Writing About it is The Easy Part Block Out The ‘White Noise’ Organize Advertise Every Day – Write Something Learn From People Who Are Successful Accept Objective Feedback With an Open Mind We may be NAIVE about not only…..
Everyone is sequestered during this time of uncertainty. We as humans are helping each other in many ways to weather the unpredictable future. Using all of the parameters of social distancing and medical awareness we can offer helping hands to our fellow man. We can carry groceries to someone who can’t grocery shop for themselves. Using our nimble hands to clean house for a person who has arthritis is a kind gesture. Helping an elderly person with gardening by carrying…..
National Nurses Day is designated to fall on the birthday of Florence Nightingale, whose birthday was May 12, 1820, and she is looked to as the foundational philosopher of modern nursing (Costco Connection May/2020). National Nurses Week begins May 6 with National Nurses Day and culminates with International Nurses Day on May 12. This is the most appropriate time to say thank you to not only nurses but all healthcare personnel for their tireless dedication at keeping us all safe…..
Walk – to move on foot at a natural unhurried gait. According to Merriam- Webster’s Dictionary and Thesaurus many other words accompany this small word – pace, trek, amble, saunter, stroll, wander, hobble, mince, tiptoe, swagger, lumber, shuffle, prance, nip, trip, etc,. So, whether you saunter, amble, or swagger when you take your daily walk during this quarantine time it’s important that you spend some time looking at the area that you walk through. There may be springtime flowers blooming…..
“Credentials are a form of communication. We’ve all seen multiple streams of initials after nurses’ names.” This was written by Jennifer Mensik, Ph.D., RN, NEA-BC, FAAN in an article What’s the Right Way to List Your Nursing Credentials? (Nurse.com West 2018). On today’s front lines of battling coronavirus COVID-19, the fight requires all ‘hands on deck.’ Using our medical resources is paramount in combating COVID-19. Obviously, it’s the use of all medical personnel that’s going to help ensure that some…..
According to the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN), “Moral distress is “knowing the right thing to do but being in a situation in which it is nearly impossible to do it.” Nurses are fighting under moral distress on the front lines caring for patients dealing with COVID-19. State, local, and federal health officials are continuously monitoring and responding to an on-going outbreak of Coronavirus Disease. Cases have been identified globally, including within the United States. COVID-19 spreads person-to-person among…..
Our Brain Power (Brin Powr) has incredible potential unless it isn’t working to its full capacity. According to WebMD.com your brain uses 20% of our body’s oxygen and calories. This idea aligns with the fact that there are 86 billion nerve cells in the brain. A brain impulse travels from one nerve cell to another at 268 mph – faster than a race car. Our brain can hold 1 petabyte of memory which is about the same storage capacity as…..
Elizabeth Scott, Ph.D., who co-directs the Center for Hygiene and Health in Home and Community at Simmons University in Boston, reminds us that we can’t necessarily control what we touch or who else touched it but we can look after our own hands. Other than frequent hand washing, wearing a mask and social distancing, smart, safe grocery shopping may be an additional, effective prevention strategy against COVID-19. Certain foods, especially fruits that contain abundant bioactive compounds, are shown to modify…..
A powerful weapon against germs is in the palm of our hands when we use soap and water correctly to wash our hands. An article by WebMD (March 6, 2020) reminds us that we can’t necessarily control what we touch or who else touches it but we can look after our own hands. Correct handwashing hits germs on two fronts: physically removing germs and viruses from our hands and then it bursts open any outer coating the agent may have……
This is a period of decision making not only for the world and our country but each of us, personally. Often our decisions are subjective – based on how we feel. Sometimes our decisions are objective – based on proved scientific research. Usually, it’s a combination of both feelings and facts. So, as we are embroiled in a pandemic world of coronavirus COVID-19, opportunities present for all of us to reflect on personal choices. Information is available to keep us…..
According to health organizations, emerging viral infections are a major threat to global public health. COVID-19, which appeared in December in Wuhan, China and spread quickly around the world, is actually a type of coronavirus (CoV) – one that is similar to SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV, all which attack the respiratory system and derive from animal origin. (A Look Into the Epigenetice of a Coronavirus Infection – March 10, 2020). Since these new viruses are able to mutate quickly in humans…..
The Arthritis Foundation has some ‘Heart Healthy‘ tips for Valentine’s Day. Healthy and Delicious Valentine Treat Cooking breakfast in bed for your valentine or maybe breakfast for dinner? Look no further than delicious and healthy fluffy flax pancakes. Top with a fruit compote for a decadent and delicious Valentine’s Day treat for you and a special someone. Cupid and Arthritis: Real Talk on Relationships When you have arthritis, romance may be the last thing on your mind. But research shows…..
You have about 300% as much liver as you need according to Dr. Neha Pathak the Medical Editor at WebMD.com. Currently, only about 4% of liver transplants are done with living donors who give about 40% of their liver to someone in need. This means that you can safely donate up to two-thirds of your liver to another person. The part of your liver that is removed will grow back in about 8 weeks. Dr. Sylvester Black, a liver transplant…..
Alzheimer’s disease accounts for 60% of dementia and it’s fatal. 40% with early-onset Alzheimer’s exhibit apathy about their life and condition. Dementia is a nonreversible decline in mental function – it’s an umbrella term under which Alzheimer’s falls. 14 million – the number of American’s expected to have Alzheimer’s by 2050. To be called dementia, the disorder must be severe enough to interfere with daily life according to Constantine George Lyketsos, M.D., director of the Johns Hopkins Memory and Alzheimer’s…..
Alzheimer’s disease is a degenerative brain disease characterized by progressive mental deterioration and memory loss. (Merrian-Webster’s Dictionary and Thesaurus.) When I read this statement a quote comes to mind. “O, what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive!” Walter Scott may not have been thinking of Alzheimer’s when he coined the phrase. Unfortunately, and ironically, this quote seems appropriate for Alzheimer’s, especially when referring to the tangles forming in our brains from the accumulation of dead…..
Mr. Columbus discovered the perfect foods. All you need to do is reach out and take them. What a wonderful set up for you. Christopher finds lucious, ripe fruits dripping with sticky juice, a colorful array of healthy vegetables, prime sources of protein, choice selections of digestible fiber and clear, clean drinkable water. Ummm, my mouth is watering and I’m drooling just thinking about the abundance of choices. I’m not sure how the idea of fast foods and extra-large, sugary…..
Hands heavy with dirt, disease, and devilish deed doers touch our lives every day. According to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report, (10/2018) handwashing with soap could protect about 1 out of every 3 young children who get sick with diarrhea and almost 1 out of 5 young children with respiratory infections like pneumonia. Feces (poop) from people or animals is an important source of germs like Salmonella, E.coli 0157, and norovirus that cause diarrhea, and it can…..
Our personal credit cards may be straining after this holiday gift-giving season but according to new research reported on the Nightly Business Report, (12/12/2019) 137 million people face financial hardship in 2019 due to medical debt. An increased number of patients are paying off medical bills with their credit cards. According to CompareCards.com, 33% are in debt due to medical bills. 60% used a credit card because they had no other way to pay 15% owe $1 thousand – $5…..
The hustle and bustle of holiday shopping bring out unique shoppers. The joy of the holidays can be overshadowed by the stress of shopping. Stress often disrupts our sleep pattern and can have a negative impact on our immune system. With this in mind, there are a few holiday shoppers to be aware as you forge ahead to stay healthy and happy this holiday season. There’s bruising Bubba who always barges in front of the line. Who can forget elegant…..
A recent article in American Nurse Today (Nov. 2019 Vol.14 #11 p.6-11) written by Eloise Theisen MSN, AGPCNP-BC, and Eileen Konieczny, RN, BCPA outlines the long history that cannabis has taken for medicine and spiritual use. Currently, 33 states, the District of Columbia, Guam and Puerto allow medical cannabis use under specific qualifying conditions, and 11 states (and the District of Columbia) allow adult recreational use. The endocannabinoid system maintains homeostasis which makes it a unique target for medical applications……
Boxing is a competitive sport in which Oscar De La Hoya excels. He retires and enters the International Boxing Hall of Fame holding six boxing titles: Featherweight, Lightweight, Super Lightweight, Welterweight, Super Welterweight, and Middleweight. Oscar gives a television interview with Dan Patrick on “Undeniable” in which he discusses his ability to switch from a fierce-contender fighting attitude inside the boxing ring to a likable guy outside the fighting arena. Competing at the Middleweight level gave Oscar an overreach for…..
Puppies are born with the instinct to make eye contact with humans. Dogs understand the significance of where we look and where we point to relay a command. Dogs learn by watching us. It’s not only what we say but what we do that garners a response from dogs. Just as dogs respond to eye contact our bodies respond to our daily routines. The seasons are changing from summer to autumn and since we’re looking toward the holidays it’s important…..
As a writer, I’m always thinking about words and as a nurse, I’m always thinking about bodies the two ideas seem to go together. Each of these entities has individual parts that contribute to making the whole a better unit yet if we take each part away from the whole the unit rearranges and doesn’t function. Books and bodies, each is a sum of the whole – a person needs to read the signs of their body to determine the…..
Microbiome (mikro . biom) – This medical term has it’s first known use in 1952. It’s the ecological community of commensal, symbiotic and pathogenic microorganisms that literally share our body space. Joshua Lederberg coined the term arguing the importance of microorganisms inhabiting the human body in health and disease. Simply, it’s the bugs that live on or in us. The bacteria, fungi, and viruses that inhabit a particular environment and especially the collection of microorganisms living on our body number about…..
Watching someone communicate using a hand-held telephone is like viewing a magicians’ sleight-of-hand skeletal manipulation – the fingers cradle the phone while the thumbs frantically hop across a neon-lit screen resembling adrenalin-infused high jumpers. My definition of Thumbdriving is the skillful art of using your thumbs repeatedly to tap visual buttons on the smooth surface of a functioning electronic device with the goal of producing a retrievable text message. Young children do it, teenagers do it, adults do it and…..
Just like our bodies are made to move, being healthy is dynamic. When was the last time that you made a health mistake? Did you correct yourself harshly or grant yourself a free pass? Often when we’re trying to achieve our healthiest selves we hold ourselves to a level of perfection that’s impossible to reach. Imagine that you’re a work in progress – you’re not done with yourself!!! Medical literature and research give us some measurable goals to observe along…..