Archive for March, 2008

Is Body Mass Index (BMI) an Effective Way to Measure Obesity?

The other night I was watching Jamie Oliver’s Eat To Save Your Life where a selection of slightly over-weight to morbidly obese people were shown what eating the wrong foods are doing to their bodies.

For one of the demonstrations three men (one slightly over-weight, one obese and one morbidly obese) went through a test to see who was the fittest. It appeared that the obese man (who happened to be vegetarian) was the fittest out of the three.

So they went on to give each man a CAT scan to measure the fat inside their bodies. The surprising thing is that the obese vegetarian had considerably less fat than either of the other two men. The reason was that he also had a lot of muscle from playing rugby.

What is Body Mass Index (BMI) and How is it Calculated?

To determine the level of obesity for the show, BMI was calculated. BMI is calculated using your height and weight to give you an indication of how healthy you are. You then compare your score to those on a chart to determine whether you are over-weight or not.

The problem is that it doesn’t take into consideration muscle. People who work out at the gym, work in a manual trade or play sports will receive a high BMI score suggesting they are overweight. When in fact they are perfectly healthy.

What Alternatives Are There?

Because very few of us will ever get the opportunity to have a CAT scan purely for the purpose of finding out how much fat there is in our bodies, we need to look at some alternative for calculating our body fat percentage.

Calipers – This is the traditional method which you can have done by a professional in your local gym or do yourself at home. You use the callipers to measure how much fat you have under the skin (subcutaneous fat). The measurements are then put into an equation to provide you with the percentage.

If you want to do this at home the suggested calipers to use are by Accu-Measure as they have been recommended by Body-for-LIFE, EAS, & World Natural Bodybuilding Federation.

Although this is fairly accurate method of finding out the amount of fat in your body, it’s not 100%. The reason is that as we get older we produce more internal fat around our organs and calipers cannot measure this.

Weighing Scales – There are special scales that you can easily buy which emit a Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis (BIA). Don’t worry it’s totally harmless. It calculates the density of fat in your body by passing an electrical current through you. These currents pass through bone and muscles much more easily than fat, so the more resistance the currents experience, the less fat you have.

BMI may help give an indication to health but it has some serious flaws which make it worthless if you have a lot of muscle. Although callipers and BIA weighing scales are not 100% accurate they are a lot better and do allow you to chart changes and see the progress you are making. Many people who go to the gym to loose weight become disheartened when they don’t see any changes on regular scales. This is because although they are loosing fat, they are also are gaining muscle which weighs more.

There are certainly plenty of people who need to lose weight out there so it’s no surprise that there are weight loss camps popping up all over the place.  Most people tend to think of their appearance but of course there is a lot going on under the surface of your body that you can’t see with the naked eye.  However you should also know that there are some disorders that cause weight loss so you should be careful about this too.  There are many who enjoy going to weight loss clubs such as Weight Watchers but remember, if you stop going chances are you will become even fatter than you are now.

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Sleep Apnea Treatment Options

Because sleep is so incredibly important to everyone, it’s essential that you look into all the different methods of getting a better night sleep.  If you have sleap apnea this is a condition which you can control as long as you are aware of how.  There are many sources of information on how to treat sleep apnea and these can include books and you GP.  Although there are many websites on health you should always seek advice from the best possible sources.  There are many websites with info written by people who have no real knowledge on the topic.

If you have very loud snoring you might think that you have sleep apnea but this isn’t necessarily the case which if why it’s important to talk to your doctor for a diagnosis.  Although snoring is often linked to apnea they don’t always have to go with each other.  If you think you are suffering from sleep apnea and you have a sleeping partner, that partner can help you make an initial diagnosis.

If you have a sleeping partner you should ask them if they would be so kind as to write down the number of times your breathing is interrupted during the night.  This is not very difficult because sleep apnea sufferers will either stop breathing or will make gasping, choking or snorting sounds when you try and get your breath back to normal.  Making notes about your snoring is also helpful. You can also get a tape recorder and put it on ‘Record’ while you sleep.

Normally sleep apnea occurs in men who are over 40 years old and are also overweight.  For those who fit this category and have other sleep apnea symptoms, it’s likely that the doctor will suspect that the problem is sleep apnea.  If in doubt, your doctor can look for obstructions in the nose and mouth and examine your throat and nose using either an endoscopy or an X-ray. A CT scan of the neck and head is another diagnosis tool.

If there is at all any doubts about what the problem is then spending a night in a specially set up sleep centre will allow your sleeping patterns to be monitored effectively.

If you are diagnosed with sleep apnea then it is likely that the method of treatment suggested to you will be the use of the CPAP or Continuous Positive Airway Pressure machine.  The machine is set up in such a way that there is a mask which has a plastic tube that is several feet in length.  The mask will be positioned over your nose and/or mouth and as you sleep, you will be given a constant supply of pressurized air given through the tube and this allows the airway to be kept open.

Another method is a surgical one and this involved removing the tissue from your nose, mouth or throat which is the source of the problem.  Some patients may even find that their jaws need to be reconstructed.

If you are the sort of person who doesn’t like the idea of surgery or medication then there are ways that you can treat yourself once you have been diagnosed with sleep apnea.  We all know that being overweight is not healthy and with the case of sleep apnea, this is very true.  If you lose 10% of your bodyweight you will make a considerable difference to your sleeping.  Another two things you should do, both for sleep apnea and general health, is to stop or limit your smoking and alcohol intake.  Sedatives are another thing that you should avoid taking. In addition, you should get yourself on a regular sleep schedule, one in which you can sleep during nighttime hours. If you prefer sleeping on your back, it’s time to switch to sleeping on your side.

You can also buy mouth pieces which help a lot of people with sleep apnea and they allow your airways to be opened and they realign your jaw or tongue.

There is no such thing as the perfect treatment so looking at all the different methods and discussing it with your doctor will allow you to choose which method you want yourself.  The simplest sleep apnea remedies will obviously be to lose weight and cut out cigarettes and alcohol.  Not only will you get a much better sleep but you’ll also feel healthier in general.

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Treatment of Conjunctivitis

If you want to know what conjunctivitis is then you will discover that it has to do with mucous membrane that covers your eyelid and the white part of your eye, this is called the conjunctiva.  It becomes inflamed which isn’t very nice for you. If you are unlucky enough to have Conjunctivitis it is probably going to be one of the two main types.  Quite often you will call Conjunctivitis pink eye instead as this is what a lot of people call it.  You get pink eye because of bacteria or a viral infection or even a bad reaction to an allergy.

We don’t realize how important our eyes are until something happens to them.  There are so many different types of eye condition and it can really affect the way we live our lives.  However Conjunctivitis is probably not the worst sort of eye condition you can get.  If you have infected eyes then the Conjunctivitis is caused by bacteria.  This sort is very contagious and is usually spread with the germs on your hands.  If you get allergies then the Conjunctivitis will be because of seasonal allergies which is the most likely cause.

Suffering from Conjunctivitis is not all that nice and is certainly not something you are going to want to have for the rest of your life.  It can really make you very unhappy and you’ll not feel like doing things you might normally want to do.  This is why you should look for Conjunctivitis treatments.  Although you should also try and prevent it happening in the first place.  Conjunctivitis isn’t a nice condition so preventing it occurring will mean you don’t have to think about the different treatments.  Be careful about facial products and cosmetics you use on your face.  These products can act as irritants to your eyes and this is what causes Conjunctivitis.  The good thing is that you don’t have to worry about transferring the condition to other people as both irritant Conjunctivitis and allergic Conjunctivitis aren’t contagios so you don’t need to worry about passing it to your friends and family.

Symptoms of Conjunctivitis

If you have or think you might have conjunctivitis then you will want to know if you have it or not.  In order to be able to do this you should have a basic understanding of what the symptoms of conjunctivitis is.  If you aren’t sure, always contact your doctor as there might be other things wrong that you didn’t realize.  Infected Conjunctivitis tends to give the sufferer watery and sticky eyes, they also feel gritty and feel as if they’ve been somehow glued together when you first wake up in the morning.

Another one of the symptoms include a little bit of soreness.  The part of the eye that is normally white will also become red or pink, which is why Conjunctivitis has earned the nickname ‘pink eye’.  Quite often you will notice that Conjunctivitis often flares up with the onset of a common cold.  You might also find yourself having a runny nose, sore throat and even a mild fever.

If you have developed the allergic form of Conjunctivitis then you will notice that your eyelids are puffy and eyes are itchy.  There might even be some sort of discharge from the eyes which can be white, ropy or watery.

Who is at risk?
Nobody is totally safe from Conjunctivitis and because there are so many different causes it can be pretty difficult to prevent.  Always make sure that you do your best not to pass it onto anyone if you have the contagious variety.  I know that it’s very difficult, but make sure that you don’t rub your infected eyes as it will make matters worse and only provide very temporary relief.  Make sure you wash your hands well and often so that you kill the germs and bacteria as you don’t want these nasties to rub off on anyone else.  It’s amazing how much bacteria can spread when it’s on your hands.

allergic conjunctivitis treatment  Some people have a history of allergies and hay fever is probably one of the most common types of allergy.  If you often get allergies then you will find yourself at an increased risk of allergic conjunctivitis.  Avoid drinking wine as this has histamines in it.

infectious conjunctivitis treatment  When you have Infective Conjunctivitis with the pink eye then you will probably also have a cold which makes your problems with your eyes easier to detect.  In addition a person with known allergies knows whether or not they have allergic Conjunctivitis.

Treatment for infective Conjunctivitis that is caused by bacteria includes the antibiotic ointment or antibiotic drops will help a lot.  For viral infections the condition is normally allowed to go its course and heal itself, in the same way you would allow a cold to go away on its own.  Generally however, it is difficult to determine whether infective Conjunctivitis has resulted from bacteria or a virus so oftentimes, no treatment is prescribed.

No matter what type of conjunctiviis you have always be very strict with your hygiene by cleaning your eyes and hands with warm soapy water.  Always use your own towels and never allow any other member of your family to share them otherwise the problem may pass onto them.  The same goes with pillows.  If you are a contact lens wearer then make sure you don’t wearer them until the problem with your conjunctivitis has passed.

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Sleep Apnea Symptoms

Did you know that approximately 18 million Americans suffer from a sleeping disorder called apnea? Apnea is a health condition which affects your breathing and it interrupts your breathing whilst you are asleep. These interruptions to your sleep can last for anywhere between 10 and 60 seconds, sometimes for even longer.

Obviously not being able to breath is a very serious condition and can severely affect your health. In order to be able to resume normal breathing, your brain has to wake up. The cycle of breathing disruption/brain awakening can repeat hundreds of times during a single sleep period.

When your body has to deal with sleep apnea, you will find that it gets deprived on sleep as well as oxygen. This situation will only get worse with time, unless you look for treatments. Many health problems can arise with sleep apnea including cardiovascular disease and high blood pressure. Sleep apnea can become so severe that it could endanger your life.

Symptoms of Apnea – If you feel that you are groggy through the day then this could well be because of sleep apnea. If you keep finding yourself falling asleep during the day this can also be because of sleep apnea. This makes sense since a person with sleep apnea does not ever fall into a deep sleep.

There are many more symptoms to sleep apnea than just feeling tired and falling asleep all the time. When you are sleeping you may also sweat profusely, gasp and choke plus snore very loudly. You may also find yourself waking up suddenly during the night as your body gasps for breath.

When you are trying to work and concentrate you may find that it’s very difficult to do this because your concentration has gone and your memory suffers. Sleep apnea can also cause morning headaches and a sore throat or dry mouth upon awakening. With lack of sleep you can find that your attention span isn’t what it used to be and your judgement will become impaired. Mood swings along with depression can also be present along with weight gain and impotence.

If you don’t have your sleep apnea treated that you will then run the risk of causing driving related or machinery related accidents and you won’t be able to carry out certain tasks the way you would normally be able to. This obviously is putting your own life at risk along with the lives of other people. So if you suspect that you have sleep apnea, always contact your doctor as it isn’t just your own health you have to worry about.

Interestingly, the word apnea is a Greek word which means “without breath.” In one type of sleep apnea, the muscles inside the windpipe located at the back of the throat soften and as they soften, they relax, causing a blockage inside this airway.

Your muscle in the windpipe are what support the tongue, tonsils or uvula and these parts of your body can cause blockages too. When a blockage happens you will not be able to get enough supply of air entering. This most common form of sleep apnea is referred to as OSA or Obstructed Sleep Apnea.

Central Apnea Symptoms – A much less common type of sleep apnea is Central Sleep Apnea and with this type of apnea you actually don’t sufer from a blockage. Instead the problem originates from the brain as it isn’t able to send the necessary messages which tell the muscles how to work so that they can keep your breathing properly. Blocked airways and loss of brain control can also occur simultaneously resulting in a form of sleep apnea called Mixed Apnea.

There are a number of factors which can be responsible fro sleep apnia. Typically the most at risk category are men over the age of 40. Obesity is also something which doesn’t help and is often an aggravating factor along with alcohol, smoking and the use of sedatives. An irregular sleep schedule, a family history, nasal congestion, snoring and problems with the adenoids, tonsils, septum, tongue, chin, vocal cords and much more can all add to sleep apnea.

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