Category Archives: Health

If you are curious about vitamins, supplement or prescription drugs or just want to lean more about certain diseases or conditions, you’ll find what you are looking for here.

CDC Provides Guidance for Visiting Beaches and Pools

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) provide guidance for unvaccinated people who are visiting beaches and pools. This information was updated on February 19, 2021. According to the CDC, the COVID-19 virus is thought to spread mostly person-to-person, by respiratory droplets released when an infected person coughs, sneezes, or talks, These droplets can land in the mouths or noses of people who are nearby or possibly be inhaled into the lungs. The virus might also spread to hands from a contaminated surface and then to the nose, mouth, or possibly eyes. Infected people can spread the virus whether … Continue reading →

How are Your Kids Coping with Quarantine?

Many states issued “stay at home” orders during the COVID-19 pandemic. The purpose, of course, was to slow the spread of the virus by encouraging people to stay at home. The virus is still out there, and quarantine efforts can return if cases go up again. Children and teens are experiencing a variety of reactions to being quarantined. WebMD mentioned 14-year-old “Grace” (not her real name) who said she noticed that she felt more relaxed than usual after one week in quarantine. “Grace” attributes this change to having her school-related stress reduced with online classes just two days a week, … Continue reading →

How to Cope with Quarantine Fatigue

You and your family may have been under “stay at home” orders since the middle of March 2020. Hopefully, you have all been washing your hands correctly (and often), and maintaining at least six feet of distance between you and the other people while grocery shopping. You followed the recommendation to wear cloth masks when you are outside. The goal is to slow the spread of the COVID-19 virus. Since then, some people have started feeling what is being called quarantine fatigue. According to psychotherapist Paul Hokemeyer, PhD, quarantine fatigue stems from that emotional exhaustion the COVID-19 pandemic has placed … Continue reading →

CDC Recommends Kids 2 and Older Wear Cloth Face Masks

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that children who are two-years-old and older wear cloth face masks. It may not be easy, at first, to get little ones to wear the cloth face masks. But there are things parents can do to make the masks less scary. CDC says: Children 2 years and older should wear a cloth face covering their nose and mouth when in the community setting. This is an additional public health measure people should take to reduce the spread of COVID-19 in addition to (not instead of) social distancing, frequent hand cleaning and other … Continue reading →

CDC Recommends Wearing Cloth Masks Outside

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that people wear cloth masks while in public settings where other social distancing measures are difficult to manage – for example in grocery stores and pharmacies. This advice is recommended for everyone, and especially those that are in an area of significant community based transmission of COVID-19. The CDC states that they now know from recent studies that a significant portion of individuals with coronavirus lack symptoms (also called “asymptomatic”). Those people can – unknowingly – spread the virus to others before showing symptoms. The purpose of wearing a cloth mask … Continue reading →

Social Distancing Helps Prevent Spread of Coronavirus

Social distancing is a term you have probably heard many times during the coronavirus pandemic. But, what does social distancing mean, and how does it work? The Public Health Department of Santa Clara Valley Health and Hospital System has good information about social distancing. It states: “Social distancing is a term applied to actions that are taken by Public Health officials to stop or slow down the spread of a highly contagious disease.” Social distancing measures are taken to restrict when and where people can gather to stop or slow the spread of infectious diseases. Social distancing measures include limiting … Continue reading →

How to Disinfect Your Home from Coronavirus

Has someone in your family been diagnosed with coronavirus? There are things you can do to disinfect your home if someone has coronavirus. A healthy person, who does not have the virus, should do the disinfecting. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommend the following: Wear disposable gloves to clean and disinfect. Clean surfaces using soap and water. Practice routine cleaning of frequently touched surfaces. Those surfaces include: tables, doorknobs, light switches, countertops, handles, desks, phones, keyboards, toilets, faucets, sinks, etc. To disinfect your home, the CDC recommends using diluted household bleach solutions (if appropriate to the surface … Continue reading →

Normal Body Weight Can Hide Eating Disorders

A study led by researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine and the University of California-San Francisco found that teens and young adults with atypical anorexia can have normal body weights and still be dangerously ill. The research is the largest, most comprehensive assessment to date of normal-weight adolescents with atypical anorexia. Anorexia Nervosa is an eating disorder characterized by weight loss (or lack of appropriate weight gain in growing children); difficulties maintaining an appropriate body weight for height, age, and stature; and, in many individuals, disordered body image. People with anorexia generally restrict the number of calories and … Continue reading →

Back-To-School Vaccines are Important

Back-To-School means more than shopping for pencils and backpacks. It also means it is time for your child to get the necessary vaccinations. Doing so not only protects your child from preventable illnesses, it also helps protect your community. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has advice that can help students stay healthy during the school year. One of those recommendations includes back-to-school vaccinations.  Some schools will require that parents provide a certificate of immunization on order for their child to attend school. Parents should contact their child’s school and find out what their rules regarding vaccination are. … Continue reading →

Danish Study Finds MMR Vaccine NOT Associated with Risk of Autism

A Danish study found that the measles vaccine does not cause autism, not even in children who are considered to be high risk because they have a sibling who has autism. This study adds to the scientific research that contradicts the debunked paper done by Andrew Wakefield. The study is titled: “Measles, Mumps, Rubella Vaccinations and Autism: A Nationwide Cohort Study”. It was done by Anders Hviid, Dr. MedSci; Jørgen Vinsløv Hansen, Ph.D; Morten Frisch, DrMedSci; and Mads Melbye, DrMedSci. The objective of the study was: To evaluate whether the MMR vaccine increases the risk for autism in children, subgroups of … Continue reading →