“Yazdani: Avoiding sickness in a college environment | Opinion - Oregon Daily Emerald” plus 3 more

“Yazdani: Avoiding sickness in a college environment | Opinion - Oregon Daily Emerald” plus 3 more

Yazdani: Avoiding sickness in a college environment | Opinion - Oregon Daily Emerald

Posted: 31 Oct 2019 06:00 AM PDT

With sickness pervading campus, catching a cold can seem inevitable. Many students interact with friends or colleagues who have already caught the flu. Small places such as dorms and small flats, often thronged with people, can facilitate the spread of sickness. As a result, you may feel healthy one day but a mess the next.

However, sickness is not inevitable. Daily habits, ranging from exercise to nutrition to stress management can help ward off sickness. If you hope to stave off that likely cold, you should exercise frequently, include more fruits and fish in your diet and reduce your stress. 

Sufficient exercise can stop a sickness in its tracks. A study by the British Journal of Sports Medicine suggests that aerobic exercise can at least ward off a cold. The study recorded the Upper Respiratory Tract Infection (URTI) of 1002 participants for 12 weeks. Subjects were split into those who exercise five days or greater weekly and those who exercise a day per week or fewer. The results found that active participants were sick for only five days within the 12 weeks, while the inactive were sick for nearly nine days. 

Experts found that more exercise strengthened the immune systems of the participants. Although this four day difference may seem negligible, it means fewer sick days overall, and you ought to exercise either way. The National Health Service urges those aged 19 to 64 to work out daily, consisting of both aerobic and strength exercises to stay healthy. 

It would be a travesty if food went undiscussed on sickness.

Although they should not be the only measures taken to combating sickness, eating fruits, vegetables and fish can reduce the likelihood of sickness. Carrots and sweet potatoes, for instance, are flush with beta-carotene, which converts to Vitamin A when consumed. Vitamin A is crucial in bolstering the immune system. Similarly, apples can protect the immune system. According to a University of Illinois study, the soluble fiber found in apples and nuts can strengthen the immune system. Fatty fish, such as salmon and tuna, can control inflammation, thus bolstering the immune system. 

In addition to a robust diet and ample exercise, one should focus on stress management such as meditation to help ward off a cold. The American Psychological Association cites a meta analysis which found that stress of any significant duration from a few days to years result in "all aspects of immunity going downhill." 

Given the pernicious effects of stress on the immune system, it is imperative to moderate it. The American Institute of Stress advises victims a range of solutions, from increasing exercise to trying meditation. Meditation offers a myriad of benefits and can be done in several ways such as with Spiritual Meditation or Transcendental Meditation. A 2013 study involving 1295 participants by Dr. Orme Johnson found transcendental meditation to significantly reduce stress. If stress hurts the immune system and meditation can reduce stress, one should try practicing meditation to drive away sickness.

By incorporating more fruits, vegetables and fish in your diet as well as regularly exercising and checking your stress, you can lower your chances of catching a cold. Even though these tips are easier said than done, you should approach each of them one step at a time. 

A Strange New Culprit Behind Eating Disorders - James Moore

Posted: 19 Oct 2019 12:00 AM PDT

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CPD: Hot topics in prescribing - part 2 | Feature - Pulse

Posted: 31 Oct 2019 10:31 AM PDT

Learning Objectives

This module will take you through some hot topics in the area of prescribing, including:

  • The guidance on treating coughs and colds
  • When to prescribe OTC medication
  • Prescribing pregabalin

Author

Dr Toni Hazell is a GP in North London

Case study 1 - Miss A

Miss A is a two-year-old girl who is brought in by her mother as she has a runny nose and a cough. You notice that this is the seventh such presentation in the last year and that each time she has been given appropriate advice for a viral upper respiratory tract infection and a prescription for paracetamol. Examining Miss A there is nothing of concern to find and you explain, again, about the self-limiting nature of viral infections. Before she leaves, Miss A's mother asks you for a prescription of paracetamol. You explain that it is available over the counter and she looks surprised to be asked to buy it, asking why she can't have a prescription, which would be free, given that she pays her taxes. You feel that the phrase 'and I pay your salary' may not be far from her lips.

Which of the following is true about the prescribing of medicines that are available over the counter?

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PTSD nearly doubles risk for infections - Futurity: Research News

Posted: 16 Oct 2019 12:00 AM PDT

Having PTSD nearly doubles a person's risk of infections, according to new research.

The study find that PTSD affects infection risks for men and women differently, having, for example, more of an effect on a woman's risk of urinary tract infection and a man's risk of skin infection.

"Our study adds to the growing evidence suggesting that PTSD and chronic severe stress are damaging for physical health," says Tammy Jiang, a doctoral candidate at Boston University who led the study.

The researchers used Danish national records to look at the health histories of every Danish-born Danish citizen who received a PTSD diagnosis from 1995 through 2011, and matched each person with a comparison group of Danes of the same sex and age. While previous studies have looked at the relationship between PTSD and one or two diseases, in this study the researchers looked at the Danes' histories of hospital care for 28 different kinds of infections.

After adjusting for other physical and mental health diagnoses and for marriage/registered partnership, the researchers found that people with PTSD were 1.8 times as likely to have any infection as those without PTSD. This ranged from being 1.3 times as likely to have meningitis, to 1.7 times as likely to have influenza, to 2.7 times as likely to have viral hepatitis.

Next, the researchers compared men and women with PTSD. A previous study found no relationship between the sex of a person with PTSD and risk of upper respiratory infection, but the new study shows that having PTSD had more of an effect on a woman's risk of upper respiratory infection—and several other kinds of infection, most notably urinary tract infection—than a man's risk. Having PTSD also had more of an effect on a man's risk of certain other kinds of infection, most notably skin infection.

The story appears in the journal Epidemiology. Additional coauthors are from Boston University, Aarhus University Hospital in Denmark, the University of Vermont, and Emory University.

Source: Michelle Samuels for Boston University

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