May Is Busy with Health Observances

I haven't checked to see if May is the busiest month when it comes to health observances, but if it's not, it's way up there. Do campaigns for specific causes have any impact on you? I have a personal interest in this because of Sepsis Alliance, which brought about Sepsis Awareness Month this past  September.

Anyway, for the busy month of May, this is what I found for the United States:

Arthritis Awareness  Month

Better Hearing and Speech Month

Global Employee Health and Fitness Month

Healthy Vision Month

Hepatitis Awareness Month

Lupus Awareness Month 

Melanoma/Skin Cancer Detection and Prevention Month^®

Mental Health Month

National Asthma and Allergy Awareness Month

National Celiac Disease Awareness Month 

National High Blood Pressure Education Month

National Mediterranean Diet Month

National Osteoporosis Awareness and Prevention Month

National Physical Fitness and Sports Month 

National Toxic Encephalopathy and Chemical Injury Awareness Month 

Ultraviolet Awareness Month

And then there are weekly observances:

May 6 to 12

Children's Mental Health Awareness Week

North American Occupational Safety and Health Week

National Stuttering Awareness Week

Air Quality Awareness Week 

May 13 to 19

Food Allergy Awareness Week

National Alcohol and Other Drug-Related Birth Defects Awareness Week

National Women's Health Week

May 14 to 18

National Neuropathy Awareness Week

May 21 to 27

Recreational Water Illness and Injury Prevention Week

And now for the daily observances

May 12: Cornelia de Lange Syndrome Awarenesss Day

May 14: National Women's Check-Up Day

May 18: HIV Vaccine Awareness Day

May 19: Hepatitis Testing Day

May 20: National Asian and Pacific Islander HIV/AIDS Awareness Day

and World Autoimmune Arthritis Day

May 25: Heat Safety Awareness Week

May 30: National Senior Health & Fitness Day

May 31: World No Tobacco Day

Are there any here that surprise you?

Skin cancer in the news again

I know that the chances are pretty high that there are least a couple of readers who use tanning beds or who tan deeply in the sun – I like to think that most don’t. However, in a new study, there are still high school students who ignore all the messages and continue to use tanning beds. To me, tanning beds are akin to cigarettes. Both are terribly dangerous and can cause death.

In palliative care, I looked after people who were dying of skin cancer. I know people personally who died of skin cancer. I also know people who are at very high risk of it. The fact that my generation and higher is seeing a lot of skin cancer isn’t surprising to me. After all, we did go out in the sun as kids and, especially if you are fair like me, we got burned, burned, and burned again. I had burns so bad that they are treated in hospital emergencies if a kid gets them now. Huge blisters on my shoulders and nights and days of agony because I couldn’t lie down or move without being in a lot of pain. And the dehydration that went along with it. Miserable, it was so miserable.

But now that we know how dangerous it is, why is it that people don’t listen? It must be part of that it will never happen to me syndrome. People don’t step into the path of a truck that is barrelling down the street because the results are instant. But they don’t mind paying for the privilege of being under a light that will change the colour of their skin and increase their chances of developing skin cancer because it won’t happen for several years to come. Or, they take the free route and lie baking under the sun. According to Statistics Canada, there will be approximately 4600 new cases of melanoma in Canada in 2007; there will be 900 deaths of melanoma in Canada in 2007. According the National Cancer Institute of the US National Institutes of health, there will be approximately 59.940 new cases of melanoma in the US in 2007 and 8100 deaths from melanoma in that same time period.

I’m not against sunshine. A previous blog entry was about how I felt that we were going overboard by not going out in the sun. But going out for 20 or 30 minutes to get some sunshine and to get its benefits isn’t the same as lying in the sun for hours to get that perfect tan. There is no perfect tan.

News for Today:
Over-the-counter diet drug recalled
Looming obesity epidemic requires action: experts
Too fat? Common virus may be to blame: study
High alcohol consumption increases stroke risk, Tulane study says
Survey reveals disparities in skin cancer knowledge, protection among high school students
Americans Using Painkillers More Than Ever

The Vitamin D Buzz

Vitamin D is all over the news. A new study has found that increased doses of daily vitamin D could decrease the chances of developing certain cancers, such as colorectal and breast cancers. In fact, they found a 60% of cancer incidence.

This led the Canadian Cancer Society to recommend that all Canadian adults take 1000 international units (UI) of vitamin D during the darker winter months. There has been a rush on vitamin D at the stores. The Montreal Gazette reported today that several city pharmacies were wiped out of their vitamin D supply. I don’t know, last time I checked, it’s June and sunny a good part of the day. A good *free* way to get vitamin D is to get it from the sun.

I take a regular multivitamin and there are 400 IU of vitamin D in the brand I take. I try to get out in the sun, walking the dog, gardening or sitting and reading the morning paper, and eat foods that have vitamin D in them. In the winter, I try to make a point of getting out on sunny days and expose my face to the sun for a bit, just for the sheer joy of feeling sunshine because I’m one of those people who has a hard time when the days are too grey.

Sunscreen has its place and I’m against the sun tanning that lots of people still do. I have blonde hair, very fair skin and green/yellow eyes. In other words, when I was a kid, I burned and burned and burned so many times, I couldn’t keep track. But, I also was never for the constant slathering of the highest SPF sunscreen available. We need the sun. For example, Canada has one of the highest rates of multiple sclerosis in the world. Northern countries have much higher rates than countries in the south, which don’t have the short grey days we have. Is it connected to the sun? No fool-proof connection has been made yet, but it sure sounds suspicious to me. The sun is vital and, like almost everything, we went way too far the other way, from worshipping the sun to being terrified of it. While skin cancer is frightening, we can prevent it without totally eliminating the sun from our lives. With my pale, easily burned skin, I still spent 45 minutes this morning outside in the sun gardening, without sunscreen. I made sure I was in and out of the shade and I never stayed in the sun for more than 5 minutes straight. If I go outside in the sun again today, I will put on sunscreen because my skin was exposed to enough sun today. But tomorrow, I’ll likely try to spend at least a half hour enjoying the sun.

And, in the winter, I’ll increase my dose of vitamin D to 1000 IU until the summer sun rolls around again.

Sunshine, lollipops, and rainbows everywhere....

Too much of a good thing or nothing at all. That seems to be the way we live today. We find out that something isn’t good for us, so we ban it completely – only to find out that we do need it or can enjoy it, but just in moderate quantities.

Take the sun, for instance. Skin cancer is a reality. We can’t deny that. But we also can’t stay out of the sun completely because we need the sun. We need the vitamin D that the sun provides to us. This article, Vitamin D, gives a good overview of what the sun really does for us and why we need it.

Studies over the past few years have shown how important this vitamin is. In 2007, the American Journal of Preventative Medicine published a study that concluded 10 to 15 minutes in the sun plus 2,000 international units (IU) of vitamin D and a healthy diet could reduce the incidence of colorectal cancer by two-thirds. The rate of breast cancer also seemed to decrease significantly.

In December 2006, another study found that the incidence of multiple sclerosis seemed to decrease in patients with higher levels of vitamin D. There are other benefits too. In 2004, researchers undertook a preliminary study in which they found that children who were exposed to regular sunlight had fewer colds than their counterparts who didn’t get that exposure.

Of course, we still need to be careful. We have to remember that too much of a good thing may not be good. Don’t stay in the sun too long, don’t get yourself sunburned and use common sense.
And now, for those who are interested, a wrap of up my birthday yesterday:
I couldn't have asked for a better day. What's better than spending a great day outside, getting exercise and sunshine?

I'm not a great golfer. I only learned 3 years ago and I don't think it will ever be a passion, but I enjoy it because it's getting outside and walking, forcing me to relax and enjoy the sunshine. A couple that we're friends with are avid golfers and my husband has been golfing since he was a teen. So, by learning, I get to spend time with them too.

And yesterday, for the first time ever, I actually golfed a real game. I have tried over the past few years, but I just wasn't good enough to be able to keep a score throughout the 18 holes. But something happened yesterday and I *played*. I scored 135, which isn't a good score, but it is a score and I'm happy with it. I am thrilled with some of my hits and drives and it was just plain fun.

The weather was *perfect*. On Friday, it was a very hot day and we wouldn't have been comfortable playing, but the weather yesterday was perfect with a beautiful breeze.

And then dinner in my favourite restaurant was outstanding. Shrimp in whiskey sauce, atlantic salmon in herb butter, topped off with a spanish coffee. It was so good.
Today? Back to reality. But with a relaxed smile on my face.

I'm blessed.

Today’s news:
Mumps hits navy

Good Monday morning!

It’s a stat holiday here: Victoria Day. Unless you’re in Quebec where it’s called Patriot’s day or something like that. Figures we have to be different. :-) When I worked as a nurse, I worked so many stat holidays that I still can’t believe that I’m not working them now. It’s an odd feeling. I am still doing some writing and editing today though since I took Friday to work at the Wellness clinic. I don't consider it going to work though. I just take it easy, go talk with the family when they're around, take breaks, stuff like that. Kind of a working holiday day, if that makes any sense.

A few weeks ago, I wrote a piece on skin and sun safety for Momtreal.ca and, since we’re at the beginning of the summer season, I thought it would be good to rerun it here. Many people know a lot about protecting your skin these days, but for some of us, a refresher never hurts.

Sun Safety 101
Ah, the sun is here. Spring has arrived and the temperatures are climbing. Parents and kids alike are busting to get outside and enjoy the beautiful weather. However, gone are the days when we would go outside for hours on end, only to return home with yet another sunburn. Our mothers would slather on the Noxzema® and we’d live through the peeling skin, rarely learning our lesson and end up getting burned again. These sunburns of our childhood have left many of us with a legacy of dry, tough skin and, for some, skin cancer. We now know that we can’t let our kids get burned the way we did and that it can take as few as 15 minutes to be burned.

Weather reports now offer UV indexes as a way to tell us how strong the sun will be. Using the UV indexes is a good way to decide on your daily activities and when you’re going to be outside.

In North America, the UV index is from 0 to 10:

0 – 2: This is low and the risk of skin being burned is low. Sunscreen isn’t needed.
3 – 7: Skin can burn and the higher the level, the faster it can burn. Sunscreen and protection are needed.
8 – 10: The UV index is very high and the risk of being burned is high. Use extra protection.

The UV index can go higher than 10 in the tropics.

The sun is strongest between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m., so it’s best to limit sun exposure during that period. And don’t forget that sun rays can still get through clouds. Some children are burnt badly on cloudy days. Sun rays can also bounce off sand and water, so be sure to protect yourself there too.

As sunscreens appeared on the market, they came in varying SPFs or sun protection factors, from 15 on up. Which number you choose is up to you, but it’s important not to fall into a false sense of security if you choose a higher number. Generally, people with paler skin tend to choose the higher number SPFs. It’s important to make sure that you are using a broad spectrum sunscreen, one that will filter out both ultraviolet A and B rays.

When using sunscreen, be sure that it’s evenly applied all over the skin. Pay extra attention to areas like behind the knees and the top of the feet. These sections are easily missed. If areas of skin are missed, the resulting burn in that strip or spot can be very painful. Some sunscreens for children come with a colour that is obvious while the lotion being applied and then the colour fades away. Some also come in spray form rather than lotion.

Many of us don’t think about it too far in advance, but sunscreen should be applied about a half hour before it’s needed. Try to remember to apply the sunscreen 20 to 30 minutes before going outside. Re-apply sunscreen after your child has been in water or if he or she is sweating a lot, and waterproof sunscreen needs to be re-applied at least every 2 hours.

Sunscreen isn’t usually recommended for babies under 6 months old, however, the American Academy of Pediatrics has recommended that it’s not harmful to apply sunscreen to small areas of skin such as the face or the back of the neck and hands.

To keep your baby safe from the sun:
Keep your baby in the shade as much as possible.
Dress your baby in lightweight clothes that cover the arms and legs.
Use a hat with a brim and that can cover the back of the neck.

Babies over 6 months old can have sunscreen applied, using at least 15 SPF. It’s still a good idea to cover your baby as much as possible with light-weight clothing and be sure that your baby has a well-covering hat. Some children start wearing sunglasses at this age. Too much sun exposure to the eyes can cause damage, so sunglasses are a good idea. Look for sunglasses that cover as much of the eye area as possible. They should also block UVA and UVB rays as much as possible.

Remember, if your child looks pink now, he or she is burning. The redness can take up to 12 hours to show. Don’t let the skin get to that stage because it’s getting damaged from the sun’s rays.

While it may seem like a lot to remember, applying sunscreen and being sun cautious can become a quick routine. If it’s a part of life, matter-of-fact, it becomes as natural as putting on hats and mittens in the winter. Don’t stay inside all summer; enjoy the weather and the sun safely.