sanjeevanii: Identifying heart disease symptoms can save your life.

sanjeevanii: Identifying heart disease symptoms can save your life.

Reptiles, Amphibians, and Salmonella...............Did you know that reptiles and amphibians like turtles, lizards, and frogs ca

Turtles, frogs, iguanas, snakes, geckos, horned toads, salamanders, and chameleons are colorful, quiet, and often kept as pets. Reptiles and amphibians frequently carry a germ called Salmonella that can cause serious illness in people. Although many people think that Salmonella infections are caused only by contaminated food, these germs can also be caught by handling animals, including reptiles or amphibians.Salmonella infections can also result from having contact with reptile or amphibian environments, including the water from containers or aquariums where they live.
Salmonella can make people sick with diarrhea, vomiting, fever, and/or abdominal cramps. Sometimes, people can become so sick from a Salmonellainfection that they have to go to the hospital. Young children, elderly persons, and those with weakened immune systems are more likely to develop severe illness from the infection. When severe illness occurs,Salmonella may spread from the intestines to the bloodstream and then to other body sites and can cause death unless the person is treated promptly with antibiotics.
Young children are at increased risk for Salmonella infection because their immune systems are still developing and because they are more likely than others to put their fingers or other items into their mouths. Therefore, families with children aged 5 years or younger in the home should avoid keeping reptiles or amphibians as pets.
How do people get Salmonella infections from reptiles and amphibians?
Reptiles and amphibians might have Salmonella germs on their bodies even when they appear healthy and clean. The germs can also get on cages, aquariums, terrariums, the water reptiles and amphibians live or swim in, and other containers that house them. Anything that reptiles and amphibians touch should be considered possibly contaminated with Salmonella. When you touch reptiles and amphibians, the germs can get on your hands or clothing. It is important to wash your hands immediately after touching animals, or anything in the area where they live and roam, including water from containers or aquariums, because the germs on your hands can easily spread to other people or things.

How do I reduce the risk of Salmonella infection from reptiles and amphibians?

• Wash your hands thoroughly with soap and warm water immediately after touching a reptile or amphibian, or anything in the area where they live and roam. Use hand sanitizer if soap and water are not readily available.
• Adults should always supervise hand washing for young children.
• Do not let children younger than 5 years of age handle or touch reptiles or amphibians, or anything in the area where they live and roam, including water from containers or aquariums.
• Keep reptiles and amphibians out of homes with children younger than 5 years old or people with weakened immune systems.
• Reptiles and amphibians should not be kept in child care centers, nursery schools, or other facilities with children younger than 5 years old.
• Do not touch your mouth after handling reptiles or amphibians and do not eat or drink around these animals.
• Do not let reptiles or amphibians roam freely throughout the house or in areas where food or drink is prepared, served, or stored, such as kitchens, pantries, or outdoor patios.
• Habitats and their contents should be carefully cleaned outside of the home. Use disposable gloves when cleaning and do not dispose of water in sinks used for food preparation or for obtaining drinking water.
• Do not bathe animals or their habitats in your kitchen sink. If bathtubs are used for these purposes, they should be thoroughly cleaned afterward. Use bleach to disinfect a tub or other place where reptile or amphibian habitats are cleaned.
• Wash any clothing the reptile or amphibian might have touched.
• Use soap or a disinfectant to thoroughly clean any surfaces that have been in contact with reptiles or amphibians.

Parenting: Dealing With the Bedtime Struggle-------- Do your kids resist going to bed? Put the nightly pushback to rest.

The answer couldn't be clearer when it comes to kids' health, despite their protests to the contrary. Sleep is one of the most valuable gifts you can give your children. Sleep provides the brain with much-needed time to recharge, store information, and even solve problems. It helps boost the body's immune system as well. Lack of sleep can cause crankiness and anxiety, and has been linked to obesity and higherbody mass index (BMI) in children.

One study followed hundreds of children from ages 3 to 7. The researchers found that each additional hour of sleep reduced the likelihood of a child being overweight at age 7 by 61%. Another study of more than 15,000 teens showed that teens with later bedtimes and fewer hours of sleep were more likely to become depressed and have thoughts of suicide. Lack of sleep also affects kids' performance at school -- plenty of research backs that up, too.

So how do you fight the nightly pushback? Most important, set a routine. Try to have the same events occur at the same place, same time each night. Second, no matter what your kids' ages, from preschool through high school, turn off all TVs, video game consoles, and digital devices at least an hour before bedtime. For young children, give them a bath, have them brush their teeth, and then read them a bedtime story.

Be patient. Change may not happen right away. After a few days of these new rules, my kids looked forward to bedtime and the storybooks that came with it. And guess what? At 8:15, with the twins tucked in bed, I kicked back and got some "me" time -- perfect for unwinding before my own bedtime.

How to Help Your Child Sleep

Need help encouraging your children to get a good night's sleep? Consider these tips.

• Know how much sleep your child needs daily. It varies by age. Three- to 5-year-olds need 11 to 13 hours daily. Kids ages 5 to 12 require 10 to 11 hours each day. Teenagers between the ages of 12 and 18 need at least 8.5 hours.
• Help your child unwind. Talk about her day and anything she may be worried about. Stress can interfere with sleep.
• See that your child is active. Aim for 60 minutes of daily activity, but if that sounds overwhelming, start small -- maybe 15 minutes. Outside playtime during the day is ideal.
• Prepare well-balanced dinners. If hunger strikes near bedtime, offer a small snack with carbohydrates and a little bit of protein, such as a few crackers with peanut butter and a small glass of milk.

Identifying heart disease symptoms can save your life.

The dramatic scene is familiar in the movies and on TV: The man clutches his chest and somebody screams, “He’s having a heart attack!”  Though we’ve all seen that Bollywood depiction unfold, it’s important to be aware that heart attack is just one kind of heart disease.

Heart disease is a general term for several problems that, together, kill more Indians than anything else. Identifying symptoms early can help you recognize an emergency or take action to prevent a larger health crisis, 

More than one in three adults have one or more of the damaging conditions associated with heart disease. Many of these conditions are related to plaque buildup in the walls of the arteries, or atherosclerosis, which makes it harder for blood to flow and creating a risk for heart attack or stroke.

Things to Look Out For

• Sudden chest pain could be a sign of a heart attack, but there are other warning signs as well. You might also feel pain or discomfort in one or both arms, the back, neck, jaw or stomach. Or you might have shortness of breath, a cold sweat, nausea or lightheadedness.
• And, although in the movies it’s typically an overweight man having a heart attack, heart disease is the No. 1 killer of women, too. As with men, women’s most common heart attack symptom is chest pain or discomfort. But women may also experience other common symptoms, particularly shortness of breath, nausea, vomiting and back or jaw pain.

• Chest pain during exercise or other physical exertion, called angina, is a common symptom of chronic coronary artery disease (CAD). 

 If you are experiencing heart palpitations or angina, make an appointment to speak to your doctor, If you are having a heart attack, it’s important to “get to the hospital within minutes,”

• Excessive, acute shortness of breath that is persistent is a heart attack warning sign, but it could indicate other heart problems. Such breathlessness during exercise or other physical exertion may point to problem with the heart valves. When the heart valves aren’t working properly, either not opening wide enough (stenosis), or not closing properly (mitral valve prolapse), they can prevent the heart from pumping efficiently and can create a risk for infection. Shortness of breath may also be caused when the heart muscle becomes inflamed and weakened, and doesn’t contract well – called cardiomyopathy.

How to Avoid Heart Disease RiskThe good news about heart disease is that it can often be prevented through lifestyle choices. Avoiding these risk factors can go a long way: 

• Smoking
• High cholesterol
• High blood pressure
• Diabetes
• Obesity
• Lack of physical activity
• Age is another risk factor: Men older than 55 and women older than 60 face increased risks. But otherwise, there is much you can do to avoid heart disease.

 “The only risk factor you can’t control is age,