Health Blog Yankiki

Are you experiencing dry mouth, black tongue, bad breath or some other odd oral conditions? Here are somethings your mouth will reveal about your health:

Translucent Teeth

If you notice that your teeth are a bit translucent, you might also be suffering from acid reflux. It is a condition where the acid from your tummy regurgitates back to your throat or all the way up to your mouth. Acid reflux is often triggered by heavy lifting, eating some spicy food, or lying down to soon after eating. Through the course of time the acid may erode the enamel of the teeth.

Chipped Teeth

If you notice your choppers are chipped, then you might be suffering from teeth grinding or bruxism. This condition is often due to too stress. To avoid clenching, you need to address the stress and integrate exercise and other relaxing activities into your lifestyle. You can also contact your dentist so you can have a mouth guard that can protect your teeth while your are sleeping.

Dry mouth

Dry mouth may mean that you are suffering from Sjogren’s syndrome where your body cannot produce enough tears or saliva. With this disease, your body actually attacks your own cells and the saliva glands and tear glands are damaged in the long run. A dry mouth can lead to more cavities. Your doctor can conduct tests to confirm the illness and may prescribe medications to address the problem.

Halitosis

If bad breath is quite persistent even after you have flossed and brushed, then you may have to look into other factors that might be causing it like diabetes. When you have diabetes the body does not have enough insulin to process the glucose. Without the sufficient amount of glucose, the body tries to break down fat and turn them into ketones, which may contribute to the bad breath.

Do you have the feeling that you are moving a lot, doing a lot but you are not burning enough calories. Below are some tips to help you catapult that metabolism to a higher level:

Go for proteins

According to nutritionists, you to to pick proteins. They are the building blocks of our muscles. The more muscle you have, the more calories you will burn up. You should aim for at least 46 grams of protein everyday.

Get rid of stress

You need to deal with stress. It is impossible to remove all your worries in one snap but what is important is knowing how to relax and deal with the real problems. Too much stress means too much cortisol in your body. The higher levels of stress hormones changes how your body deals with fat. More stress may lead to bigger belly fat. Aside from re-organizing your life, you can try to join yoga classes. Other exercises like tai chi and quiet time for meditation also lowers the levels of cortisol.

Do a lot of cardio

A high intensity cardio workout can increase your metabolism by more than a third than usual up to fourteen hours after exercise.

Lift some weights

As we grow older, our muscle mass starts to decrease. Exercise physiologists say that you need to lift weights, build on the mass that you need so you can also keep your metabolism higher. After you cardio workout, follow it up with half an hour of strengthening exercises.

Reconditioned secondhand stairlifts are great options for those on a tight budget.

If you feel like exercising or need to train for a marathon, your old bike might be all that you need to start things right. Rolling on the road on these two-wheel ride can help you burn as much as 500 calories an hour. If you want to get more out of biking, here are some practical tips for you:

Tune-up your bike

If your bicycle has been on hybernation for quite a while, you need to tune it up. Like the pro cyclists, you need to check the wheels, brakes, and its steering system. Clean it up and you will be good to go.

Safety

Be safe. Like when you are driving a car, follow the traffic rules, avoid cars, and know your lane. If you are approaching a stopped vehicle, be sure to have enough distance in case a door suddenly opens. Do not forget to bring your phone, ID, and a good helmet.

Technique

Practice and perfect your pedaling technique. Speed up and power up plus make sure you have a smooth motion when pulling and pushing the pedals. The right motion will make sure that you are using the right muscles and will also give you the bulked up legs and thighs.

Strengthen your legs

If you want to rev up your biking routine, you need to strengthen your legs. You can improve the strength of your lower extremities by warming up for about 15 minutes and then lowering the gear of your bike and push the pedal for about 10 minutes more. You can then move to a medium gear for about 10 minutes. You can repeat this sequence for about three times during your routine.

Bike with friends

If you think you will be bored biking alone, then you can invite or join friends who share the same passion for biking. You can also join groups so aside from exercising, you meet new friends.

In the United States, about $300 billion were spent for prescription medicines last year. This translates to half of the adult population taking a pill last month and about a third of them regularly taking two prescribed drugs or even more. No doubt that these medicines may save lives but they may also mask symptoms and because of that you really do not get to fix the real cause of the health problem.

Here are some of the most prescribed drugs and some of the natural remedies that you can use as alternatives:

Pain Killers

Pain killers like acetamnophen, hydrocodone, or more popularly known under brands like Vicodin are the most prescribed drugs in the United States. In 2011 about 131 million prescriptions for these drugs were issued by doctors to address sports injuries, dental surgeries among others.

Pain can really affect our functions but popping a pill does not address the problem. Instead go to an expert who can help you solve the root cause of your pain. Alternative medicine experts like acupuncturist and chiropractors may help you remedy the painful episodes.

Anti-Cholesterol drugs

Drugs like statins like Zocor or Lipitor are used to address high levels of cholesterol in our system. Around forty five million prescriptions are being made every year so patients can purchase these drugs. The statins block certain enzymes so the liver will not produce cholesterol that we do not need.

The number one solution to this is to change your eating habits and your diet. There are foods like garlic, olive oil, red wine, and oats which can help lower the levels of bad cholesterol and increase the production of good cholesterol. Dark chocolate is also a great alternative to taking statins.

Anti hypertension drugs

Almost 150 million prescriptions were written so patients can purchase amlodipine besylate or zestril to fight high blood pressure. Ask your doctor to guide you so you can take certain supplements which will allow you to cut back on your use of anti hypertension drugs.

You can up your intake of magnesium and potassium to help with your hypertension. There are also certain supplements like Coenzyme Q10 and other antioxidants which you can take to lower your blood pressure as they help dilate your blood vessels.

A new study suggests that women who experience difficulty getting pregnant have a higher risk of havin heart disease later on in life. According to the study, women who do not get pregnant within five years but who eventually get pregnant is 19% more prone to have a heart problem compared to those who got pregnant without any problems.

The proponents want to be clear though that it is still unclear how subfertility makes one more prone to cardiovascular problems. It still needs to be established what in subfertility makes women more prone to cardiac problems.

The researchers looked into the causes of a long road to pregnancy and factor in thyroid problems, obesity, and menstrual period irregularities. Women who have polycystic ovaries also tend to develop high cholesterol levels, hypertension, and increased level of blood sugar which are all contributing factors to heart problems.

The experts also looked into previous studies on subfertility and its connection to heart disease done previously. One study done to more than 860,000 women in Sweden between the early 1980’s thru 2005 looked into subfertility and heart disease in these women who might have been hospitalized or had a stroke, heart failure, or heart attack.

In the previous study, about 3,300 subjects ended up having heart problems. The number of heart disease cases on this population of subjects was also higher on those who encountered difficulty getting pregnant compared to those who did not have fertility problems.

The study was also able to conclude that subfertile women who got pregnant in 4 years or even less are not more prone to heart diseases. The higher risk is not that significant but the researchers suggest that women should seek consult and have regular checkups.

It is quite frightening how WALL-E, the animated picture, might have foreseen the future of humans. In the film by Pixar, humans have turned to obese slobs dependent on all the available technology and just spend all day sitting down in front of screens.

A recent study suggests that we might be really heading that way somehow. The study reveals that it is possible that 552 million individuals will have diabetes about twenty years from now. Today around 366 million individuals are suffering from either type I diabetes or type II diabetes. And because people tend to gorge on high calorie foods and maintaining a couch potato lifestyle, around 10% more of the global population might add to this number.

Perhaps majority of us will not pay too much attention about this scary forecast with a lot of us saying that we will cross the bridge if ever we are diagnosed with diabetes. The thought of having diabetes might be less daunting than the thought of cancer but we might be misjudging the situation.

In the United States, around 180,000 people die every year because of diabetes. The expenses because of diabetes are also astounding. Projection on medical expenses and loss in productivity of diabetes, heart disease, and cancer in combo can cost around $$47 trillion thru 2030.

A lot of money can be saved if we put focus on means to prevent diabetes. We do not have to look into prescribed medicines but just like heart disease, diabetes type 2 can also be prevented. The simplest way is by leading a more active lifestyle and following a healthier diet.

Fighting diabetes though entails everyone to work together. The governments must make healthier food options more affordable. Health insurance companies must also somehow rewards efforts of patients to preempt the problem like by attending yoga or consulting a naturopathic doctor.

It is a big battle really when you look at the picture. Either we start early or be ready for a really big problem in the future.

Kids of women who had a bout of depression or anxiety during her pregnancy has a higher risk of having asthma according to a new study.

The study had 279 Hispanic and black women as subjects and the findings further confirms an earlier study involving white families that concluded kids are susceptible to risks linked to asthma prenatally.

Around 70% of mothers reported that they had depression or anxiety during their pregnancy and their kids had some wheezing even before the age of 5. The lead expert from New York City emphasized the importance of the findings as maternal depression affects the respiratory health of the child, and so necessary interventions may be implemented or recommended.

The team pointed to common symptoms of asthma as coughing especially at night, wheezing while breathing, difficulty breathing, and chest colds. If kids experience these symptoms regularly, parents should bring them to an allergist to be evaluated and properly treated.

Symptoms of asthma in kids may range from simple coughing lasting for a few days or may even last for weeks then a sudden respiratory emergency. Doctors can give the right treatment for this so kids can sleep well at night and also not miss school.

A recent study reveals that moms who work are less likely to suffer from depression compared to stay-at-home mommies.

Moms who work but keep unrealistic expectations about family and work expectatcions and do not cut themselves some slack are more likely to have worse bouts of depression compared to their more relaxed counterparts.

The survey involved 1,600 women in the US who are married who had children and are enlisted on a survey called National Longitudinal Survey of Youth.

The women were asked for their opinions when they were between 22 thru 30 years old about outdated statements about family and work and how women balance their responsibilities. The level of depression among these women were measured when they reached forty years old.

The study revealed that women who worked part time or full time had lower risks to suffer from depression compared to moms who are stay-at-home parents. Some symptoms of depression includes lack of concentration, being sad and restless, loneliness, problem sleeping, or having difficulties starting the day.

The study drives at the mismatch of the expectations of women on their abilities to balance work and family. It also points out that women who work still manage most of the household chores and take care of their kids.

The study also points out that women who have realistic work-family goals and expectations are most likely to end up with husbands who will help them with the family responsibilities. The realistic expectations also help these women to be less depressed.

Having the supermom complex will not help address the issues but delegation of work and letting your family help will help ease the depression.

People suffering from depression for quite some time may actually benefit from receiving talk therapy when treatment like antidepressants is not working.

In the United States alone, 15 million people suffer from some form of depression every year according to the National Institute for Mental Health. Most of this patients are treated with drugs rather than being guided through talk therapies. About 50% of this population does not improve even with regular intake of anti-depressants.

Instead of the usual approach of switching to other anti-depressants if the first attempt does not work, the proponents of the study evaluated the effects of talk therapy to these people suffering from major depression.

A randomized trial was done with subjects randomly chosen to receive only anti-depressants and another group taking medicine in combination with talk therapy. The results reveal that talk therapy patients improved significantly compared to those who were only taking medicines.

The study also pointed out that not all people can get access to talk therapy because  of the price. Taking prescribed anti-depressants is a lot cheaper compared to receiving talk therapy. Monthly averages for fluoxetine only cost $19, sertraline goes for $26, while citalopram costs $35. In the short term, talk therapy would cost more. Another issue will be the lack of insurance coverage that does not have a tight belt on receiving sufficient help for a better mental health.

In the long-term, talk therapy is really worth the dollars. Talk therapies may only last for several months while those who benefit from anti-depressant drugs may need to take them for a life time.

Another chemotherapy drug which helps treat breast cancer in its advanced stages was made recently from sea sponge. According to reports, this drug helped extend the lives of women who are suffering from metastatic breast cancer up to two and a half months. The drug, known as erubulin, was presented during the recent meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology which was held in Chicago.

The study’s author, Dr. Christopher Twelves, said that there is a big need for these therapies as they significantly improve the survival rate of breast cancer patients. This particular drug (Erubulin) happens to target the mechanisms which make cells divide. Previous agents used to treat breast cancer did not do this.

More than 750 women suffering from advanced breast cancer were randomly chosen for this clinical study. This included patients who have been previously treated using other therapies to treat their cancer. According to the study’s findings, there was a 23% improvement in survival when erubulin was taken. Compared to the average survival of 10.7 months using conventional treatments, patients who were given erubulin lived for another 13 months.

While erubulin can lengthen the survival period of women with metastatic breast cancer, there is no proof yet that it can actually cure the cancer. An expert in the meeting also cautioned that not all women who underwent the said clinical trial had access to other drugs released in the past years. Because the controlled group was also chosen randomly, the findings might not be that accurate.