5 ways to avoid a cold

It's true that the common cold is highly contagious—spurred by more than 100 viruses that are spread when inhaled or picked up from tainted surfaces and rubbed into an eye or the mouth or a nostril. But beyond frequent hand washing, there are a number of ways that people can raise their immunity:

1. Catch more zzzz's. A study published today in the Archives of Internal Medicine confirms what Mom has been saying all along: You need more sleep. After exposing healthy volunteers to a cold virus, researchers found that those who slept fewer than seven hours a night were about three times as likely to become ill as those who, on average, snoozed for eight hours or more. And even minor habitual sleep upsets (such as difficulty dozing off, or waking up throughout the night) had an impact; participants who lost just 2 to 8 percent of their total sleep time—that's about 10 to 38 minutes for an eight-hour sleeper—had nearly four times the risk of getting sick compared with those who fell asleep quickly and slept soundly.

"That's the really striking issue in this study," says Sheldon Cohen, the Carnegie Mellon University professor of psychology who led the new research, "that even relatively small disturbances in your sleep have a pretty big impact on your susceptibility to getting a cold." The ideal: falling asleep within 10 minutes of when head hits pillow.

2. De-stress. People under persistent stress, lasting a month or more, are more likely to get ill when exposed to cold viruses than people who aren't, according to Cohen's prior research. Marital strife, ongoing conflict with family members or friends, unemployment, having a job that's not commensurate with one's abilities—all seem to wear down resistance to colds, says Cohen, and the risk increases the longer these "stressors" last. A taxing day or week, for example, doesn't seem to make a difference. While Cohen admits that it's not so easy to defeat chronic stress, people might benefit from trying meditation, for example.

3. Expand your social life. Cohen's group has also found that people with diverse social networks—meaning they have lots of different types of social relationships—have better immunity to cold germs than those with narrow social circles. That's in line with a body of evidence showing that socially connected folks tend to live longer than those who are isolated, says Cohen. While some experts have argued that it's the quality of relationships, not the quantity of relationships, that counts, Cohen says his data indicate that these factors are pretty interchangeable. Mingling with more than, say, a spouse may do a body good.

4. Exercise. Aside from helping people stay fit, exercise has been shown to bolster the immune system, says William Schaffner, chair of the department of preventive medicine at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine and a spokesperson for the Infectious Diseases Society of America. Moreover, modest data suggest that exercise may actually help cold sufferers feel better quicker, he says.

5. Don't bother with echinacea. A 2005 study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, found that echinacea extracts—three distinct preparations of the stuff—didn't keep participants exposed to a cold virus from becoming ill, nor did they help ease their symptoms compared with a placebo. "Those of us who are in medicine and public-health science think that question has now been put to rest," says Schaffner. While some herbal enthusiasts may argue that the study didn't cover every preparation or dosage, Schaffner considers the case closed: "I certainly am now quite convinced that echinacea is not useful in trying to prevent a cold."

Source : http://health.usnews.com/health-news/family-health/articles/2009/01/12/7-tips-on-fighting-off-a-cold

California Bans Tanning Beds for Under 18

California girls who dream about the sun-kissed skin glorified in song by Katy Perry will have to wait until they turn 18 before they can get the effect from tanning beds under a new first-in-the-nation law.

Gov. Jerry Brown announced Sunday that he had signed into law a bill that prevents children under 18 from using the popular tanning method. The law takes effect Jan. 1.

Although Texas has banned the use of tanning beds for children under 16, SB746 bill makes California the first state to set a higher age limit. Thirty other states also have some age restrictions on the use, said the bill's author, state Sen. Ted Lieu.

Under current law, children 14 and under in California already cannot use the beds, but those ages 15 to 17 can do so with permission from their parents. Illinois, New York, Ohio and Rhode Island have considered an age limit similar to California's, but have yet to enact them, said the Democrat from Torrance, Calif.

The ban will hurt businesses, many of them owned by women, said the Indoor Tanning Association. About 5 percent to 10 percent of its members' customers are under 18, the industry group noted.

The organization said tanning salons already are regulated by the state Department of Consumer Affairs and the federal Food and Drug Administration – regulations it called the most stringent in the nation.

But Lieu and other ban supporters said the higher age limit is needed because skin damage caused by the type of radiation used in tanning beds often leads to melanoma, which is skin cancer that can be fatal. Lieu said early tanning by children can increase the risk.

They also say that avid tanning is particularly popular in the state, especially in affluent areas of Southern California. Lieu pointed out there are more tanning salons in Los Angeles County than Starbucks coffee shops or McDonald's fast food restaurants.

"Girls in affluent California communities especially are surrounded by the message that being tanned all year round is cool," Christina Clarke, of the Cancer Prevention Institute of California, said in a recent statement supporting Lieu's bill. "Pop music star Katy Perry is even singing about it."

Lieu also cited a recent Stanford Cancer Institute-backed study that showed higher melanoma rates among girls and young women in areas of higher income.

Supporters said better education was also needed to counter practices that can lead to skin damage and melanoma. The measure was sponsored by the California Society of Dermatology and Dermatological Surgery and the AIM at Melanoma Foundation, and backed by other medical organizations and health insurers.

Lieu, in a statement praising Brown's decision, called skin cancer "a rising epidemic and the leading cause of cancer death for women".

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/09/california-bans-tanning-beds_n_1002589.html

Super Greens = Super Food

My personal encounter using Super greens began during a time i was detoxing and cleansing my body. I had a minumum of one scoop three times each day whilst battling cancer. As soon as I observed the fact that a healing crisis (the body expelling toxins causes flu like symptoms) was occurring, I elevated the quantity of super greens to accelerate this process. This mixture of super green foods really helped me restore nutritional harmony, mental stability and improve my body's defence mechanism. I pursue to take a minimum of four scoops each day to keep up an increased degree of overall health.

The numerous reported benefits of super green foods derive from scientific studys, the clinical results of health care professionals as well as the reports of real men and women.

Over 35 billion years ago, a lot of these green food algae’s were the initial form of photosynthetic life. Spirulina as well as its cousins are frequently referred to as “whole foods” or “green super foods” given that they include a comprehensive nutritionary profile.

The substances in super greens such as spirulina, chlorella, wheatgrass and barley grass are examples of the simplest and most effective sources for nutrition obtainable. These ancient seaweeds and grasses can be located all over the globe, and their use as a source of powerful nutrition is among the most ancient plant/human associations on Earth.

Super greens are packed full of antioxidants. Antioxidants, nature’s warriors against free radicals, that play a role in disease and the aging process, are located in the majority of plant life as phytonutrients. Phytonutrients guard plants from the harmful toxins and oxidative damage that may shorten their life expectancy. Because green super foods are entire plants, not specific supplements, they will possess large amounts of these phytonutrients, thus conferring the plants’ antioxidant properties on to their consumers.

The actual elements in Super greens seem to possess a chelating (heavy metal-cleansing) behavior inside the body. This interesting component of the chlorophyll in super foods seems to behave as a magnet for toxic compounds inside the body, essentially pulling them to its self and neutralizing them. This is particularly efficient for heavy metals in your body, and spirulina and chlorella, in specific, are powerful blood purifiers.