Sunday - Relaxing? How Do You Relax?

A big part of being healthy is knowing how to relax. Do you know how to relax?

Taking time for yourself is important, but in today's busy world, how many of us really do take that time to slow down? What do you like to do and wish you had more time for?

I love to quilt. Yes, I made this one, and many more. Did I mention I love to quilt? ;-) To me, hand quilting is very soothing. I can do it while I'm watching television, listening to music, listening to an audiobook or just while I'm pondering life. All is good. Until I jab the needle in my finger, as I did the other day. A small poke is ok, a jab is not. Ouch. But, aside from those few jabs, while I am quilting, I am in my happy place.

I also like to read - and napping is always good. ;-)

Would you like to share what makes you happy, what makes you take time for yourself?

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?

May Is Healthy Vision Month

Our vision is precious but it's often something that we take for granted until it doesn't work properly anymore. How well do you take care of your eyes?

Regular eye exams are a must, particularly if eye disease runs in your family. Initial eye visits should be done when children are young in order to detect any vision problems before they become a hindrance at school. Not being able to see the front of the class or computer screen can seriously hamper learning.

National Eye Institute, 
National Institutes of Health

Most doctors recommend annual eye checks for healthy children - it's best to check with your own healthcare provider to see what is best for your family. Don't wait until your child is ready for school - the American Optometric Association recommends that children have their first eye exam at age 6 months. Adults should ask their healthcare provider what time frame is right for them.



The eye exam:

The optometrist or ophthalmologist will look directly into the child's eye to see if there are any obvious abnormalities and may apply eye drops that will dilate the pupil (make it larger), so the back of the eye can be seen. As the children get older, they will be asked to take distance tests, to identify objects or letters on the eye chart, to see how well they can see things that are far away.

If the appointment is the first one with this particular doctor, he or she may do a colour-blind test. This involves the child looking at some pictures of mosaics and in the mosaics are some numbers that are a different colour. People who are colour blind will not be able to see the numbers. Another test that could be done are photos that have a 3-D look to them. The child is asked to try to pick up the object in the book.

Eye health

The regular eye exam, which continues into adulthood, is only one part of your eye health. To keep your eyes healthy, you have to take care of them, just as any other part of your body. This means protecting them when playing sports, doing any tasks where objects may break off or shoot into the air, wearing sunglasses and brimmed hats, and eating a healthy diet. By the way - even children should wear sunglasses. The sun's damage to the eyes is cumulative - it adds up. By wearing sunglasses in childhood, the sun doesn't get a chance to cause damage.

Eye disease

We all know people who are near-sighted (myopia) or far-sighted (presbyopia) - or both - but what does that mean? Near-sighted people can see things that are close up; far-sighted people can see things that are far away.

Cataracts

Cataracts are inevitable if we live long enough. A cataract is the clouding over of the eye's lens. If it is thick enough that it is causing vision loss, this can be corrected with surgery. Excessive sunlight exposure helps speed cataract formation.

Age-related macular degeneration


AMD is a common older age onset eye disease. There are two forms, dry and wet AMD. The center part of the eye, the macula, is destroyed and you lose your central vision first. If it does not stop, the vision loss moves outward to the edges. As our population ages, we are seeing more AMD.

National Eye Institute
NIH

Glaucoma

Glaucoma is caused by pressure behind the eye and can lead to blindness. Currently, some eye drops can keep the pressure in check for some people, but it is essential to use the drops regularly as prescribed. As well, many medications cannot be used by people who have glaucoma, including over-the-counter medications. If you have glaucoma, always check with your pharmacist before taking any new medications - prescription or not.






There are many other ways your eyes can become damaged, but prevention is the key. You can find more information at the National Eye Institute, along with several documents on different eye issues.


Does eye disease run in your family? My mother has wet AMD, so I do worry about that from time to time. While you can't diagnose yourself, a good tool to use if you are concerned about AMD is the Amsler Grid. By looking at it, you will see if the lines look as straight as they should. Check out the AMD.org to see how you can download a grid.

Texting and Driving - Who Would Think It's a Good Idea?

I missed May 1st's Stop The Texts Day, but it's never too late to try to stop a behaviour that is killing and maiming so many people. Even one accident from texting is too many.

Before we talk about driving and texting, how many times have you seen someone walking and texting who bumped into a post, tripped on a sidewalk, or fell on the stairs? I have. I've seen people walking and texting walk right into traffic, forcing the drivers to slam on their brakes. I've seen texting people walk into oncoming pedestrians. And that's just walking, folks. That's just walking.

Think about it. Driving takes concentration. You need to look at what is in front of you - in fact, that's the most important part of driving, right? You need to see where you are going. When you learn how to drive, you learn how to use your mirrors by very quickly darting your eyes to the mirror and then back to the road. Every second you are not looking straight ahead is a second that something can be happening in front of you that you don't notice.

So, think about texting. It takes much longer than a split second to text. Therefore, your eyes are off the road for more than that split second. What can happen during that time? A car in front of you may have slowed down or stopped; a child or animal may have run into the road; you may have approached a stop sign or red light; or you may veer off course. And these are just a few examples.

I know that many young drivers of today have been brought up (for the most part) with a phone in their hand, but this problem is not restricted to younger drivers. I've seen people my age (50) doing the same thing. I've never been able to understand what is so very important that the message cannot wait for the few minutes it would take to find a place to pull over.

So, how can we make people understand that this is not acceptable? The people who are texting know that they shouldn't be. It's impossible for them not to know, just like people know they shouldn't drive drunk. But people who text and drive suffer from "nothing will happen to me" syndrome, and they are sure that they can handle it. Until someone is killed. Someone innocent who happened to get in their way.

What are your suggestions? How do you think we can get people to think smart and stop texting while driving?

A Quebec woman died earlier this year as she was texting and driving. Maybe this may help bring the point home to people who aren't yet convinced of its dangers:
Man releases final text chat with girlfriend, warns against texting and driving