It’s "summertime, and the livin' is easy." But for kids, life during summer can be downright sweltering. Many activities—ball games, tennis clinics, band camp, and football training—take place during this hot season, and everyone is at risk for dehydration and heat illness when exposed to sun, high temperatures, and humidity.
However, children are at a greater risk because a child’s body surface makes up a much greater proportion of his overall weight compared to an adult. So before you send your youngster out to play, follow these tips and guidelines.
Treatment
Getting your child out of the sun and to a cool place is the first line of defense if heat exhaustion occurs. Your child should take off excess clothing and bulky equipment, and drink plenty of chilled water. Apply cool, wet towels to the skin or have your child sit in a cool shower.
Prevention is the Key!
The good thing is that heat illnesses aren’t inevitable. A little prevention goes a long way:
Get Acclimated The first line of defense against dehydration in children is slowly getting them acclimated to the summer heat and humidity. Spending time outdoors, playing in the heat, riding bikes, running, jogging, playing ball, and doing yard work will build up their bodies to handle the heat. Allow for regular breaks and encourage them to drink plenty of fluids.
Drink Make sure your child drinks plenty of cool, plain water or sports drinks to stay completely hydrated. Regular breaks to drink fluids should be scheduled, even if your child is not thirsty. Regular fruit juice and soft drinks do NOT re-hydrate the body because they don't contain the right amounts of sugar and electrolytes.
What About Sports Drinks? Sports drinks can be used to keep your child hydrated. In fact, children will often drink more because of the taste. However NOT ALL SPORTS DRINKS ARE CREATED EQUAL. Do not be fooled by fancy packaging and wording. Check the label and select a sports drink that meets these guidelines for active children:
Eight ounces of a sports drink should contain at least 100 milligrams of sodium and at least 28 milligrams of potassium. It should also be non-carbonated.
How hot is too hot?
A growing number of athletic programs are developing guidelines to determine when it is too hot to practice. In fact, many are restricting outdoor practice based on the heat index and temperature.
Cigarettes, cigars, and pipe tobacco are made from dried tobacco leaves, and ingredients are added for flavor and to make smoking more pleasant. The smoke from these products is a complex mixture of chemicals produced by the burning of tobacco and its additives. Tobacco smoke is made up of more than 7,000 chemicals, including over 70 known to cause cancer (carcinogens). Some of these substances cause heart and lung diseases, too, and all of them can be deadly. You might be surprised to know some of the chemicals found in tobacco smoke include:
Tobacco smoke also contains tar and the poison gases carbon monoxide and nitrogen oxide. The ingredient that produces the effect people are looking for is nicotine, an addictive drug and one of the harshest chemicals in tobacco smoke.
The tobacco leaves used to make cigarettes and cigars contain radioactive materials; the amount depends on the soil the plants were grown in and fertilizers used. But this means that the smoke contains small amounts of radioactive material, too, which smokers take into their lungs as they inhale. These radioactive particles build up in the lungs, and over time can mean a big dose of radiation. This may be another key factor in smokers getting lung cancer.
“Traditionally, fat and sugar are used as a preservative in the food industry for many years as this is what gives these products a long shelf life. Some brands of meat burgers, for instance, can be preserved in the frozen state for up to four years. Any processed or packaged food with a shelf life of more than three months is likely to have trans fat in it. The worst kind of product that contains trans fat are processed sausages, which mothers lovingly feed their children [as a snack or part of a meal]. They have a good percentage of trans fatty acids and as a staple food for children are highly avoidable.”
- Dr. Juliot Vinolia Rajarathinam
Clinical Dietitian and Consultant Nutritionist,
GULF NEWS HEALTH, July 5, 2015.
It takes approximately 20 minutes from the time you start eating for your brain to send out signals of fullness. Leisurely eating allows ample time to trigger the signal from your brain that you are full. And feeling full translates into eating less.
The prostate gland is a walnut sized gland situated below the bladder in men, surrounding the urethra or tube which carries urine and semen out through the penis. Its main function is to add volume to the semen. It can be affected by infection, benign enlargement as a normal part of ageing or cancer.
After 50 it is one of the most common cancers in men and may affect 1 in 7 men over all. The incidence increases with age but in general 1 in 14 men aged 65 and 1 in 5 men aged over 75 can have prostate cancer. It is a slow growing disease and many elderly men with prostate cancer may ultimately die of other age related illness rather than prostate cancer. Also this slow natural history makes it possible to provide long lasting cure when it is diagnosed and treated early.
Although the actual cause of prostate cancer is unknown it is well recognized that:
It has no relationship with increased or decreased sexual activity and ejaculation !!!!.
Previous vasectomy does not increase the risk!!!!
In early curable stages there may be no symptoms.
It can present as obstructive urinary symptoms such as hesitancy, poor stream, incomplete feeling of bladder emptying or complete blockage of urine.
It can present with irritative urinary symptoms like burning sensation, frequent urination, feeling of urgency to urinate or waking up frequently at night to pass urine.
When it spreads outside the prostate it can cause blockage of the tubes from the kidneys resulting in kidney failure, constipation and back or bone pain due to spread to the bones.
Hence a urological examination is mandated whenever these occur or once every 2 years from age 50 onwards.
Confined to less than half the gland. (Curable)
Involves more than half the gland but confined to its margins. (Curable)
Extends beyond the margins of the gland. ( Long term disease control is still possible)
Spread to distant organs like lymph glands, bone, liver,lungs.(Not curable but still better survival than other cancers of similar stage)
Poor sitting and standing ergonomics are the commonest causes for back pain, neck pain and headache.
Poor neck posture for prolonged period of time causes a classic tension across the shoulders, sometimes down the middle of upper back, up to the neck.
A forward head posture is the commonest cause for such pains. A forward head posture can eventually damage neck and upper stretches as they bend and rub at angles they were not built for. Doing some stretches in between long hours will release tension on the neck and will make you feel better. Maintaining a good posture, doing stretches in between long hours of work and proper exercises will reduce incidents of neck pain.
Separate and straighten your fingers until tension of a stretch is felt. Relax, then bent your fingers at the knuckles and hold for 10 seconds. Repeat stretch once more.
Studies show that one in four children has vision problems and half of parents with children 12 or younger have not taken their child to an eye doctor. most often, vision screening programs at schools pick up the most common problems. Eye doctors recommend to start getting eye exams at the age of six months. This is usually done by the qualified pediatricians with a few simple tests to make sure the baby's vision is tracking properly, that light is getting through to the retina and that there is no evidence of the eyes crossing.
Even if their eyes are fine, they should be seen again at 3 years old, and once more before they start first grade.
Doctors stress that parents should talk to the child's doctor if they suspect a vision problem. It is said that, if vision problem is detected early, i.e at the age of 3 or 4 years, children's eye conditions are very treatable. But if (eye diseases) are not caught until children are 8 or 9 years old, they may not have good vision for the rest of their lives.