gethealthy

Are you or someone you know a sexsomniac?  What is a sexsomniac?  Well basically it is someone who desires to have sex while they are asleep and often attempt to have sex or perform sexual acts while fully asleep.

The first time Angie realized her boyfriend was a sexsomniac she was about 25 years old.  Her peaceful sleep interrupted by her boyfriend’s aggressively wandering hands.  She had no idea he was asleep and because he seemed more aggresive than usual, she just assumed he really wanter her now!

Feeling flattered by this, she went along with what happened.  At one point she even climbed on tom of him.  However in the morning to her dismay he complained because she had “woken him up for sex.”  She assumes now that he was asleep until she climbed on top because he does not recall any of it.

Sexsomnia, also known as sleep sex, is a term that entails 11 different sex-related sleep disorders.   Many of these do not occur in people without other types of sleep disorders.  In fact, many never know they even have it until a bed mate, roomate, or family member tells them.

Many people who live with sexsomniacs learn to live with the condition or may not even mind.  However for some, they may feel as though they are being violated because they cannot control the sleeping person.  This condition has even been brough to court.  A Canadian man was recently acquitted on sexual assault charges.  The man allegedly climbed on top of a girl that was passed out on his couch, he claimed sexsomnia as his defense.  However, the acquittal was recently overturned.

Another key in reducing the risk of cancer or reducing the formation of cancer is to switch to a plant based diet.  One main area to focus on is switching your red meat consumption to seafood or the complete switch to an all plant based diet.  You want to try to get as close to totally plant based as you can.

• Lay off the Red Meat - Switch to Seafood: It has been proven by watching populations that those who eat less red meat and fat in their diet have a lower risk of developing colon cancer.  You can still consume some red meat, but choose to make it an accent to a plant based dish. Combining an unhealthier meat with vegetables and grains like a stir-fry or pasta.

• In 1976, researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health began to study the role that diet plays in the formation of colon cancer.  They also set out to test theories that had been suggested by other studies.  Researchers studied 88,000 healthy women age 34-59.

The discovered:

1.  Women who consumed beef, pork, or lamb as a main dish daily, had a 2.5 times higher risk of developing colon cancer than those who consumed those meats only once a month.
2. The amount of animal fat present in a person’s diet is directly linked to the risk of developing colon cancer.
3.  Eating red meats and especially processed meats was greatly linked with an increased risk of developing colon cancer.  However, eating meats such as fish and chicken has shown a decreased risk.
4. The amount of fiber a person consumes is directly linked with the risk of developing colon cancer.

• In another 14 year study of 16,000 Swedish men and women it was discovered that foods such as beef and lamb are associated with the highest risk of colon cancer.
• Red meat itself can be carcinogenic, but how it is prepared can add to the risk of cancer.  Grilling red meats under high heat like searing or flame-cooking to a well-done consistency can cause the meat to release carcinogens into the meat called heterocyclicamines, which cause damage to cellular DNA.  A better choice for cooking meats is to use poaching, stewing, microwaving, slow-cooking, or low-heat cooking.

• Throw out the meat and eat your plants!  Some of the most interesting research regarding the link between diet and cancer are ones where people ate a plant-based diet. People who commonly eat a plant-based diet like vegetarians and Seventh Day Adventists have a very low risk of cancer.  The reason that foods derived from plants have a lower incidence of cancer causing agents is due to 3 health-promoting factors: plants contain less fat, more fiber, and more phytonutrients.  Aside from offering fiber; legumes have anticancer properties called protease inhibitors; shown to reduce the growth of cancer of the breast, colon, and skin cancer.

• Eat more Soy: There are many reasons for eating soy.  Soy is  a better choice for a source of protein. Also, soy contains phytonutrients which prevent the growth of new blood vessels that tumors need to survive. Soy also protects the colon by blocking bile acids that can have carcinogenic effects.  Another element in soy are isoflavones, that help regulate sex hormones that could reduce your risk of breast or prostate cancer. Studies have shown that women in America whose diets are low in soy products are 4xs more likely to die as a result of breast cancer than Japanese women whose diets are filled with soy.  Soy also appears to protect against other types of cancer such as; lung, rectal, colon, stomach, prostate, and breast.

1. One serving of soy (1/2 cup cooked soybeans, tofu, tempeh, one cup soy milk) each day can reduce your cancer risk.
2.  Read up on how your soy products are manufactured.  You want to ensure that they use a water extraction process and not an alcohol extraction process because it removes genistein from the soy.

• Time to Change Your Oil: You want to shift towards using more oils that are rich in omega-3 fatty acids due to their anti-cancer properties.  It has been shown that supplementing the diet with fish oil will cause fewer colorectal tumors. Oils found in fish and flaxseed work to produce phytochemicals which help fight cancer.  Flaxseed also contains another phytonutrient, lignan; which helps to fight cancer.  Your best bet is to ensure your diet contains more omega-3 than omega-6. Great sources of omega-3s are coldwater oily fish like salmon and tuna.
  Flaxseed or flaxseed oil is another great source of omega-3’s.  You will want to reduce the amount of vegetable oils you consume because they contain large amounts of omega-6 fatty acids. Another important type of oil is monounsaturated oil, like olive oil.  These oils also play a role in the prevention of cancer. In populations where the consumption of olive oil is rich, there is a lower incidence of cancer.  In fact, Greek women who consume a diet rich in olive oil have a very low risk for breast cancer. One study on oils discovered a connection between the amount of hydrogenated oils a woman consumes to the incidence of breast cancer.  It is always best to avoid trans fats, hydrogenated oils, partially-hydrogenated oils, and saturated fats.

This is the second part of the five part series on the anti-cancer diet.  It is unfortunate the lack of emphasis on the importance of a healthy diet in America.  I used to conduct surveys and one project I did was for when the FDA was preparing to alter the food guide pyramid.  I got to call people and ask them a myriad of questions pertaining to their health and what they knew about proper health and health terms.  Needless to say, I was shocked at the amount of people who knew nothing….and I mean nothing about a healthy diet.  Most of them had no idea how to read a nutrition label or what any of that information even meant.

Anyhow….today we are going to start off with the importance of fiber and fruits and vegetables in the diet.

It is important to Increase your Fiber Intake: In many studies between food and cancer there is unmistakable evidence that there is a relation between a high fiber diet and  a lower incidence of colorectal cancer.  Fiber is important it works to move carcinogens and general waste through intestines faster.  This means that carcinogens spend less time contacting the intestinal walls.  If the intestines have less exposure to the carcinogens the risk for cancer is lower.

Fiber also binds carcinogens together, to keep them from touching the intestinal wall.  Fiber is also important for absorbing bile acids, which prevents them from reacting with bacteria to create fecapentanes, which are the cancerous particles that are created by rotting food laying within the colon.   There are approximately 20 of these substances that can mutate cells in the colon, turning them into cancerous cells.

Fiber also promotes the development of healthy bacteria within the intestines.  These healthy bacteria  push out the unhealthy bacteria.  A diet high in fiber appears to be protective against cancer in those with a hereditary risk of having precancerous colorectal polyps. In a recent study, people with a high risk for getting colorectal cancer, ate 13 grams of wheat bran fiber every day for 8 weeks, exhibited a decrease in growth of precancerous cells in the colon.

A high fiber diet has also shown to reduce the risk of breast cancer.  It works to bind estrogen in the bowels, reducing the effect the estrogen can have on breast tissue cells.

Based on important findings, it is suggested that you consume no less than 25 grams of fiber per day.  The best sources for anticancer fiber are: wheat bran, kidney beans, garbanzo beans,  navy beans, whole wheat, whole grains, legumes, whole grain bread, and prunes.

EAT YOUR FRUITS AND VEGGIES:  Hundreds of studies that were exploring the link between diet and cancer have concluded that consuming more fruits and vegetables can reduce the risk for a variety of cancers.   Consuming more fruits and vegetables can also lessen your desire for fatty foods, which can increase the risk of cancer.  In addition, plants also contain a substance called phytochemicals. These substances may be helpful in your bodies ability to fight cancer.  There are 5 major classes of compounds that can be found in fruits and vegetables that are natural carcinogen blocking agents:

Phenols, Indols,Flavones, Cumines, an Isothiocyanates.

These substances help prevent carcinogens from getting to critical target sites inside a cells.

The type of vegetables most noted for their importance in reducing the risk of cancer are the cruciferous vegetables: broccoli,  cabbage, brussel sprouts, mustard greens, kale, and cauliflower.  This particular class of vegetables contain 3 biochemicals that protect against cancer: sulforaphane, which helps boost the immune system and blocks enzymes that attract carcinogens to healthy cells; nitrosamines, which prevent the creation of carcinogens in the intestines; and indoles, which reduce the risk of breast cancer.  It has been estimated that eating large amounts of cruciferious vegetables could lessen the risk of developing breast and colon cancer by 40%.

Would you believe me if I said there is an anti-cancer diet.  This diet helps prevent, heal, and keep cancer in remission.  According to Dr. Bill Sears, there is a diet that can do all of these things.  Below I will go over the first part of the elements to the diet and how it works.

BASIC PRINCIPLES:

• Maintain a diet low in total fat as well as very low in saturated fats.

1. There are 2 ways that fat contributes to cancer.  Tumor cells require low density lipoproteins to grow. So eating a diet low in LDL may keep cancer cells from growing.
2. Consuming fat stimulates the production of bile.  If a large amount of bile is allowed to sit in the intestines it will be converted into apcholic acid, a carcinogen or cancer causing agent.

TIPS:

• Eat less total fat: limit your fat intake to no more than 20% of your total food calories. So if you usually eat 2,500 calories/day, fat should not provide any more than 500 calories. This would translate to about 55g of fat per day.
• Eat the right fat: If you are eating the wrong kind of fat you may be doing more damage than eating too much fat in general.  Researchers noticed that the incidence of most cancers is far less in some cultures that consume a high-fat diet like Eskimos and Mediterraneans.  However, the key is in the fat they do consume.  Eskimos consume a diet rich in seafood that is packed with omega 3 fatty acids and the Mediterranean people consume a high-fat diet that is plant-based but high in monounsaturated oils.  This means that some types of fat do not lead to cancer but may actually have anticancer properties:

1. Unsaturated fats derived from plants like legumes
2. Monounsaturated fats found in vegetable oil, olive oil, and canola oil. * *
3. Omega 3 Fatty Acids found in seafood like salmon and tuna
4. Omega 3 and 6 Fatty Acids found in oils like flaxseed, pumpkin seed, canola, soybean, walnut, safflower, sunflower, sesame, and virgin olive oils.*

*Greek women who consume a diet high in olive oil often have a low incidence of breast cancer.
* A study conducted in 1998 illustrated that men who consume less fat from animals and more from vegetables were at less risk for prostate cancer.
* However when vegetable oils are heated at high temperatures it can alter fatty acids rendering them carcinogenic.  Extra virgin olive oil as well as peanut oil work best for cooking, but remember to stir often to prevent burning.

STUDIES AND RESEARCH:

• In animal based experiments it was shown that animals that received a fish-oil supplement developed less colorectal tumors.
• Omega 3 Fatty acids  are the most heart-healthy fats and may have anticancer properties.
• Eskimo women who consume a large amount of omega 3 fatty acids have a lower incidence of breast cancer.

Avoid bad fats:

• It is important to strictly avoid fats and oils high in saturated fats like palm, palm kernel, coconut, and cottonseed.
• You also want to avoid all hydrogenated fats.  These fats are also referred to as Trans fats, they have been chemically altered changing them from unsaturated to saturated fats. These fats have a hydrogen molecule added to them, possibly making them carcinogenic.  The hydrogen molecule interrupts the normal cell metabolism in the body, setting the stage for cancerous changes in cells.  Be sure to read the labels, if a food contains anything hydrogenated, partially hydrogenated, or has trans fats leave it on the shelf.

Have you heard of Clostridium difficile?  If not, you may want to read up on it.  This serious and life threatening bacteria is becoming increasingly  more common in American hospitals than was previously thought.

Clostridium difficile Infection of (CDI) can cause diarrhea and many other more serious intestinal conditions.  It is estimated that it may be affecting 13 out of every 1,000 hospital patients in America. The rate of infection for this condition is 6.5 to 20 times greater than was previously thought.  This should alert healthcare workers about the importance of better hygiene and to use more caution when issuing antibiotics.

It is estimated that 7,200 hospital patients in America have CDI every day.  This rate will only increase as the population continues to age and become weaker.  CDI can be quite dangerous; in some people they may only have diarrhea but some may experience bowel perforation that requires surgery, shock, or even death.

Today I’m altering from my traditional post to reflect on the meaning of Thanksgiving.

When I think of Thanksgiving I fondly reminisce the family gatherings we used to have.  As the years pass, our gathering have dwindled.  It is scarce that we see each other at all.
When I was young, we would either gather at my grandparent’s house or at my aunt’s house.  We would pull out the large table and make all the traditional American Thanksgiving dishes.

Our layout often featured an array of common and uncommon dishes; turkey, ham, potatoe salad, mashed potatoes, rolls, stuffed mushrooms, shrimp, and an array of desserts.

Now the family is sparse and no one comes to dinner.   The tables are bare and all that is left are the memories.   THE MEMORIES are what I treasure most.  To remember the closeness we once had, the togetherness we felt, and the sense of belonging.

Most of those feelings have faded and we meerly wait for the  inevitalbe it seems…………..

A new study released information that those who live with smokers are more likely to live in a home with unhealthy foods.  About 17% of children who live in smoking homes do not get enough healthy food and about 26% of adults had an unhealthy diet when living with a smoker.

Researchers from the NY University School of Medicine and Bellevue Hospital center have concluded that when living in a smoking household; children and adults are more likely to be underfed than those who do not live with a smoker.  The results of this study were published in the journal Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine in the November 3rd edition.This experiment examined 8,817 homes.  Those who lived in the home were either smoking adults living with children ages 17 or under or non-smoking adults who lived with smoking adults.  Each home was analyzed for a 3 year period from 1999 - 2000.  These home were found to have less food available for those in the home than homes of non-smokers.

This means that each home lacked access to enough food in a socially acceptable way year round.  This was measured using the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Security Survey Module, which is a scale that measures how often a home cannot supply children with food that they desire, how many meals are skipped by the children, and how man of them go to bed hungry.
The study concluded that 23% of the households analyzed that had children had at least one smoking adult, and it revealed a higher percentage of smokers in the low-income ranges at 32%.

Were you aware that one of the most common birth defects is a heart defect and it is the leading cause of birth-related deaths.   In America approximately 35,000 infants or 1 out of every 125 are born every year with a heart defect.  One of the most common heart defects is a valve defect; either the valve is narrow, blocked, or does not close in a normal fashion making it difficult for blood to flow smoothly though it.  Sometimes these valves cannot be fixed via surgery and must be replaced by either using new ones from human or animal sources or by making one from an artificial material.

These replacements can be a lifesaver, however the valves do not grow or develop with the children, which requires the receiver to be subject to multiple surgeries to remove old smaller valves and replace them with larger ones.

This may soon come to an end as German scientist predict within the next 7 years they can produce a new heart valve for children born with valve defects that would grow with the child.  It would be produced by utilizing stem cells collected during birth, taken from the child’s own umbilical cord blood.

Facing what now seems like an inevitable recession, American’s budgets are being stretched more than ever, medical costs being no exception.   Many Americans, who at one time didn’t have to worry about how to pay for health insurance are now finding it to be a larger chunk of their income than it once was.

Families USA released a report recently that states that healthcare premiums in the United States are raising at a faster rate than income.  Since 2000, the average cost for family insurance has increased 78% and went from $6,672 to $12,078 in 2007.  However, income has only increased by 15% over the 7 year period according to the U.S. Census Bureau.  This of course means that many people who could afford health insurance at one time are now no longer able to afford it.  Currently, there are 45 million people in America who are uninsured simply because they cannot afford it.

With the price of other regular costs such as gas and food rising, healthcare is being cast aside because cost must be cut somewhere.  This may mean missing a much needed examination or test, not filling a prescription, or rationing dosages of prescribed medications, or even not going to the doctor at all.  In a recent poll conducted by the Kaiser Foundation, about 50% of those who responded admitted to avoiding a necessary health care treatment due to the costs involved.
It seems American companies are continuing to pass extra healthcare costs to the employee. It  also seems as though American workers are facing a triple whammy.  As healthcare premiums rise, business’ are passing more costs onto the employee, and because there is an increase in the cost to the employer they are holding back on wage increases.

When you need urgent, serious, or specialized care most people go to the nearest hospital. It is usually a goal for the health care community to work in tandem to provide patients with the best care possible and hospitals are an integral part of that network.

Generally hospitals are ranked by city or state, but rarely on a country basis, due to the difficulty of assembling information.  However, U.S. News recently released a list of hospitals ranked on a national basis and they have done so annually for almost 20 years.

The most recent report,  assembled by RTI International, looked at statistics for 5,453 hospitals.  Of those, 170 scored high enough to make an appearance on the specialty ranking list, but only 10 made their “honor roll”.  This means they ranked near the top in about 6 of 16 specialties.

To reach the high standards for the “honor roll,” a hospital must meet one out of 3 requirements: membership in the Council of Teaching Hospitals, affiliation with a medical school, or have available 6 of the 13 technologies like.  Unfortunately about 2/3 of all hospitals surveyed could not meet those standards.

In addition to the rankings for specialties, U.S. News also assigned a score from 0-100 that was made up of 3 components: reputation, death rate, and care-related factors such as nursing and patient services.  So if a hospital made the “honor roll” they exceeded standard levels for care.

The List

1. Johns Hopkins Hospital - 30 points in 15 specialties.

2. Mayo Clinic - 28 points in 15 specialties

3. UCLA - 25 points in 14 specialties

4. Cleveland Clinic - 25 points in 13 specialties

5. Massachussets General Hospital

6. NY Presbyterian University Hospital

7. UCSF Medical Center

8. Brigham and Women’s Hospital

9. Duke University Medical Center

10. Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania

11. University of Washington Medical Center, Seattle

12.  Barnes Jewish Hospital Washington University

Outside of the top 12, but still on the Honor Roll were:

13. University of Michigan Hospitals and Health Centers in Ann Arbor

14.  University of Pittsburgh Medical Center

15. Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville

16.  Stanford Hospital and Clinics in California

17. University of Chicago Medical Center

18. Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles

19. Yale-New Haven Hospital in Connecticut

Hospitals that ranked the highest on the list will generally have the best surgeons and professionals in the United States. The top ranked hospitals are also able to handle urgent and extreme medical cases utilizing the newest technology and will have the most recent options available to the patient.