Exploring Common Myths About Arthritis

First, let’s get the facts about arthritis before we delve into the most common myths. According to the National Arthritis Foundation, one in five people, or 46 million Americans suffer with some form of arthritis. Arthritis isn’t just one disease. In fact, there are more than 100 different forms of arthritis. It’s really a group of conditions which involve damage to the joints of the body. The most common form is osteoarthritis. This condition is caused by either the result of trauma to the joint, infection of the joint - or age. Other forms of arthritis include: rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, and autoimmune disease.

Expert Advice: Bad Skin Day?

QUESTION: Whenever I get too little sleep or have a stressful day, my skin looks awful. What can I do to perk it up on bad days?

ANSWER: Some say the eyes are the windows to your soul, but beauty insiders know that your skin is the window to your state of mind! When we're anxious, stressed out, running low on sleep, or otherwise down, our skin responds. Circulation hits a slump, robbing our cheeks of their rosiness; hormones kick in, causing an odd pimple to pop up unexpectedly; and thin-skinned areas seem to become more so, making dark circles and shadows look prominent. The result: Not only do we feel less than great, we look it, too.

Exercise-Induced Sniffles: Do You Get Them?

Today, over at FitSugar, the gals are blogging about the connection between working out and runny noses. Apparently, it's a real condition that affects lots of athletes--and regular people, too (you?). More on the fitness sniffles after the jump ...

According to FitSugar: "The condition is called exercise-induced rhinitis, and it's actually pretty common among athletes. I know it sounds strange, but for some people, working out can trigger congestion, sinus pain, runny nose, headaches, itchy eyes, asthma, hives, and in rare cases, even anaphylaxis. Exercise itself can be the sole trigger, but sometimes it's the combination of exercise plus another trigger such as pollen or cold weather that produces symptoms."

Exercise Curbs Diabetes

Physical activity -- even taking a short walk, can lower the risk for developing diabetes and heart disease, a new study says.

Writing in The Journal of the American Medical Association, researchers at the University of South Carolina say non-vigorous physical activity as well as vigorous scheduled exercise can cut the risk of the debilitating disease by heightening the body's insulin sensitivity.

The scientists looked at more than 1,460 men and women ranging in age from 40 to 69 years. All the subjects had glucose tolerance ranging from normal to mild non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus.

The researchers' findings indicate that habitual exercise, while not necessarily as intense or vigorous as running or working out on exercise machines, can be beneficial. This is true for lowering the risk for diabetes and also for cardiovascular disease. The benefits, they say, "may be considerable because interventions could be designed that incorporate an already common and presumably acceptable behavior [walking] that is inexpensive and accessible to large segments of the population."

Exercise and Your Mental Health

Mental health refers to more than the absence of psychological disease -- it is a continuum and includes growth toward optimum personal potential. Mental health is also a broad concept and includes aspects like depression, anxiety, mood states, cognitive performance and sleep patterns.

Feelings of anxiety decrease immediately after exercise and can be reduced with a short burst (five to 10 minutes) of exercise. The effect can last for 24 hours and the longer the duration of the exercise sessions, the better the effect.

The type of the exercise does not appear to be crucial, but the shorter the duration of the exercise, the more important it is to work up at least a sweat when you exercise. Longer-lasting results are found among people who stick to exercise regimes for at least 10 weeks.If you want to reduce anxiety, competitive exercise or sports that require a high amount of skill like tennis and golf is probably not a good choice. Examples of suitable sports are cycling, running, yoga, 10-pin bowling, tramping, pilates, bowling, rowing and kayaking.

Excess Weight Without the Health Risks?

WASHINGTON -- For as long as we can remember, we've all heard about the health dangers of excess weight. Especially the connection between obesity and heart disease or diabetes. But what if you could be fat but avoid heart disease or diabetes?

Scientists trying to break the fat-and-disease link increasingly say inflammation is the key. Reduce inflammation and you can avoid many of these common illnesses.

In the quest to prove it, a major study is under way testing whether an anti-inflammatory drug -- an old, cheap cousin of aspirin -- can fight the Type 2 diabetes spurred by obesity.

And intriguing new research illustrates how those yellow globs of fat lurking under the skin are more than a storage site for extra calories. They're a toxic neighborhood where inflammation appears to be born.

Everything Is Bad for Us: Now Researchers Take Aim at ... Sunscreen!

Does it ever seem like everything you eat, touch or breathe might have some cancer-causing or unhealthy consequence? Scientific research is great, but sometimes it can be a little anxiety-causing, you know? Take this new study that's underway. The hypothesis: Sunscreen could cause cancer. Details...

First we're told to slather our bods in sunscreen to protect ourselves from skin cancer. But wait, could that sunscreen be ... dangerous?! A group of scientists in Europe have been given a large grant to research whether the nanoparticles (code for tiny, molecule-sized ingredients) in sunscreen could cause brain damage related to Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases. Swell.

Eat to Beat Heart Disease

Studies show that following a Mediterranean- or Asian-style diet can reduce the risk of dying of heart disease. Some food for thought:

Mediterranean Basics

Lentils: A large-scale study from Tulane University of nearly 10,000 men and women found that those who ate legumes at least four times a week cut their risk of developing cardiovascular disease by 22 percent. "Beans like easy-to-prepare lentils lead the pack in terms of foods rich in soluble fiber, which has been proven to lower levels of LDL, or 'bad' cholesterol," explains Janet Brill, Ph.D., R.D., author of Cholesterol Down (Crown Publishing Group, 2006). They are also digested slowly -- which helps to balance blood-glucose levels.

Eat Smart During the Holidays

You can enjoy holiday treats and still zip up your jeans if you're careful. Health experts at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore have some good ideas on how to do it.

Lorraine Giangrandi of the Hopkins Weight Management Center says if you love holiday pies, enjoy the pie filling, but forego the crust -- you'll cut out a lot of calories that way. If you're baking the pie, use a graham cracker crust and get the same effect.

To cut fat out of cakes, replace half the butter or oil in the recipe with applesauce. To enhance the flavor of turkey or other meats without adding fat, use fresh herb rubs or chutneys instead of gravy.

Eat Grapes, Stay Healthy

A little fresh-fruit snack may put you on the fast track to better blood flow.

People in a study experienced better blood flow in their brachial arteries just three hours after eating the equivalent of one and a quarter cups of grapes. At 60 calories a delicious cup, that's a pretty juicy deal.

Many Benefits

The blood flow benefits were even better after three weeks of consistent eating.

Researchers think it may be the antioxidants in grapes that help keep blood vessels relaxed and blood flowing freely.

In fact, grapes may even help protect your blood vessels from fatty meals -- something that normally does immediate, transient damage. And early animal research suggests that something in grapes may help protect your blood pressure from salty foods, too. But more research is still on.

Cialis soft tabs- Empowering Male sexual health

Not long ago, men were considered to be old horses (no pun intended) as far as sex was concerned once they crossed 50 years. Not any more, today modern medicine has progressed to such a level that men are not only expected to be physically active, but are also expected to be sexually active, well past their prime.

That is why, men’s health in middle age is so important today. Most men probably are not aware of the strong relationship between remaining fit and good male sexual health.

Good male sexual health is defined as the ability to perform satisfactory sexual intercourse which is satisfying to both the man and his partner and enhances their overall psychological feeling of well being.

Eat and Stay Thin?

The dream of anyone with a weight problem is to eat to their heart and stomach's content without adding the avoirdupois. Researchers say that day may not be far off -- and that genetics could provide the answer.

Scientists at Montreal's McGill University say they have discovered a gene that seems to control the way in which the body burns up food. They are convinced that drugs can be developed to switch this gene off, thus enabling us to gobble up our food with no fear of the weighty consequences.

With the gene made inactive, it would make little difference to the body, whether it was taking in cottage cheese or chocolate chip cookies -- and tasteless skimmed milk could go down the drain in favor of the full-cream stuff. More importantly, researchers say, a drug to control this gene could offer hope to millions of sufferers of diabetes.

Easy Tilapia Recipes

If you are looking for some easy tilapia recipes, then you have landed on the right page. Scroll down for some yummy recipes.

Tilapia is a fresh water fish which survives in warm temperatures. Tilapia is a vegetarian fish and grows quite fast. Being vegetarian, the mercury levels in this fish are low. The tilapia fish is also low in fats, low in sodium and the tilapia calories are also low. These nutritional facts combined with the fact that this fish is easy to cook, make this fish desirable. Needless to say the recipes made from this fish also taste great. Without further ado, let me introduce you some easy tilapia recipes so that you and your family can enjoy this nutritious fish too.