Music Can Help You Sleep

Well, according to an article on Netscape, it's now proven that music can help you fall asleep. Does this actually surprise anyone?

Child Obesity

For the most part as mankind has progressed the average life expectancy has gone up with each generation. That trend, however, is now in check do to the increasing prevalence of child obesity. Some authorities are now saying it is likely that todays generation of children may live as much as five years less than their parents. Deseases related to obesity like type 2 diabetes, heart disease, kidney failure, and cancer are all factors in this projection. One doctor stated in this article that we are in the quiet before the storm. Basically he is saying that because of the growing amount of obese children in this country we are soon to be faced with an epidemic of health care problems resulting from a mass number of the population suffering from the effects of a life time of being extremely over weight. The problem is so real and so bad that some people are worried a huge increases in government health care expenses while others are saying it is so bad that the government will save a ton in social security payouts because people are going to die so quickly. To me this just means that we as health educators need to get serious when it comes to our physical fitness units and treat it as important as other classroom health topics like mental health.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/17/health/17obese.html

Brush Your Teeth!

It is important for parents to introduce brushing their teeth early on in childhood. It starts even before an infant grows teeth. Before the teeth have come in, clean the mouth of the infant by washing the gums with a damp towel or gauze pad to clean. When a child reaches 24 months it is time for them to start brushing their teeth. However, they will need help until they reach the age of 7 or 8. When toddlers start brushing, only have them use a small amount of paste. So they do not swallow the toothpaste. Teach them to brush in a circular motion. Only brush small groups of teeth at a time and always brush at least twice a day. When deciding which toothpaste to use, pick the one with fluoride in it. Fluoride is the most crucial ingredient, also it is helpful if you use ADA approved paste.
This site is helpful for not only health educators, but for all people especially those who are parents. Everyone needs to brush their teeth, yet not everyone knows the correct way to do so.
www.ipch.org

Asthma Alarm

Research has found that more children than ever are suffering from asthma. The reason for the recent uproar of asthma is primarily because there are more obese and out of shape kids than ever before. Being overweight is a contributor to asthma sufferers, alone with poor nutritional diets. Researchers discovered that 70% of elementary kids go home and watch TV or play video games for at least 3 hours a day. This is extremely different from 20 years ago when children were know to go out and play games and do recreational activities until sun down when their parents made them come home. Well, times have certainly changed! It is important for parents to restrict how many hours of television their children watch. It is also recommended that parents get out of the house and participate in activities with their children. This will not only help their children's health but their own too, as well as help the children- parent relationship.
www.time.com

Home Drug Testing

Home drug testing is more convenient for parents now than ever. Drug testing is common place at most work sites, so why not in your home? It is very important for parents to know how they can drug test their kids in order to prevent addiction and possible death. It is also important for kids to know the possibilities of getting caught. Knowing how easy you can get caught doing drugs may help them to not do them at all. The type of drug testing varies depending on the type of drug being used. You can test through urine, hair, saliva, or blood samples. However, results can be altered by stopping consumption a period of time before the test. The hair test is more expensive and detects use of drugs over a long period of time. It requires the sample of at least a diameter of a pencil. This method does not detect whether or not you have used in the last week. Saliva is another method that is unobstursive and the most convenient of all methods. The blood test is the most obtrusive, most accurate, and most costly of the methods.
Drug testing is important for all health educators to know. Drug use is grow in among teens and it is our duty to stop the increase of substance abuse. Drug testing methods is also important for all business owner to know. It is crucial to test employees for substance abuse to help the company morale.
www5.kidsource.com

Just milk is not enough!

Research has found that just increasing the amount of calcium intake for children is not enough. We need to find others ways along with milk to increase our intake. Having a cup of fortified orange juice, two-thirds cup of tofu, broccoli, all can be beneficial to strengthening our bones. One of the most important things to know is that exercise is crucial to our youths bone strength. Our children need to be active.

This information is so important to our students and ourselves because this will have an impact on their happiness ten years after they have graduated. Knowing this updated information on my subject I'll be able to put more emphasis on it's importance in class. I want my students to be healthy and strong and teaching them that drinking milk along with being active produce strong bones I'll have hopefully influnced them to take care of themselves.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/HEALTH/diet.fitness/03/07/milk.bones.reut/index.html

No more addiction!!!

In our society there are still millions of people who smoke. Even when many want to quick and improve their health, they are unable to because of their addiction. That is why in Connecticut researchers are finding a drug that will combat the awful addiction of nicotine and give those who want to stop smoking, a chance that is realistic. Researchers have found that nicotine attaches to certain brain receptor sites which send the body the cravings. What researchers have found is a drug called Varenicline that will attach to the same site and cause the body not to have the cravings and desire to smoke. If this can happen millions of people can improve their health and be a lot happier.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/HEALTH/conditions/03/08/antismoking.pill.ap/index.html