Leading Hands Through Technology

Are you looking to improve your health? Have your new year’s resolutions expired by now? Find out how to turn your focus around on your health by visiting Positive Health Wellness. The site features diets, nutrition, recipes, fitness, beauty, pain relief and awesome info graphics. I found one interested info graphic on the benefits of drinking pickle juice and another on three day sugar detox to improve your health. If you are ready to find new techniques to get back on the wagon – then look no further – check out this site.

https://www.positivehealthwellness.com/

How do you keep your heart healthy? The heart is your most important muscle. You may not think about it but if you do some basic things, you can keep it on track. Try these tips from the Cleveland Clinic.

1. Know Your Numbers – Know you BMI
2. Just Move – 15-30 exercise a day
3. Find Exercises You Like – try ones you can do solo
4. Make a Plan – write down nutrition and excercise goals
5. Skip the Supplements – get nutrients from natural sources
6. Try Mediterranean – the diet has most scientific data
7. Think Balanced – 50 vegetables, 25 protein, 25 carbohydrates
8. Watch Calories & Portions – watch daily intake a binge is OK

Did you know that ten people a day drown in the US? Drowning is the leading cause of unintentional death for children under 5. Drowning is preventable. Have you considered signing your child up for swimming lessons?

This month’s featured nonprofit is the USA Swimming Foundation’s Make a Splash initiative. It is a national child-focused water safety campaign which aims to provide the opportunity for every child in America to learn to swim. Olympic athletes visit local establishments to raise awareness of water safety and the importance of swimming lessons.

For more information on this nonprofit, please follow the link below.
usaswimmingfoundation.org/makeasplash

Have you crossed over to the yoga life? Are you constantly looking for more ways to continue doing yoga on your own? Below are some online resources where you can take classes and read articles about yoga!

• http://www.yogaglo.com – Online yoga for every level, wherever you are for $18.00/month
• http://www.yogainternational.com – Empower your practice and your life with online yoga resources, articles and videos $14.00/month
• http://www.yogajournal.com -Articles and video about yoga and the yoga Lifestyle – 9 issues of magazine for $13.95

Do you need to find a nursing home for a family member and live in Ohio? If so, Ohio Long Term Care Consumer Guide has extremely helpful reports, including family and resident satisfaction surveys. This website is no substitute for an actual visit and detailed conversation with people at the facility, however it does provide a strong starting point. It helped a friend find out where there may be problemsand choose between three places for their mom.

http://ltc.ohio.gov/

Is a loved one in need of a nursing home? Did you know the U.S. Government’s Medicare website offers a free nursing home comparison tool? The site notes, “Nursing Home Compare allows consumers to compare information about nursing homes. It contains quality of care information on every Medicare- and Medicaid-certified nursing home in the country, including over 15,000 nationwide.” When you land on this page, enter in the ZIP code or the city you are looking for. Listings will then appear and you can compare ratings. The information on the site isn’t an advertisement and should be considered carefully. Please talk to your healthcare provider before making any decisions – the site is merely a guide.

Nursing Home Compare
https://www.medicare.gov/nursinghomecompare/

The brain is the most complex biological structure in the known universe. Researchers are trying to figure out what makes it tick. You can now explore their amazing brain research on a public website.

BrainFacts.org was established an authoritative source of information about the brain and nervous system for the public and leading neuroscientists from around the world contribute to research to it. The site features exciting new discoveries, continuing profound unknowns, and critical implications for individuals, families, and societies about our mind. The site is an initiative of The Kavli Foundation, the Gatsby Charitable Foundation, and the Society for Neuroscience, all leading global nonprofit organizations working to advance brain research.

Learn something new about your mind.
http://www.brainfacts.org/

1 in 6 teens has noise-induced hearing loss from loud sounds. Teen hearing loss has increased 30 percent in the last decade. As little as 10 seconds at a loud stadium or concert can cause permanent hearing damage. What are you doing to make sure your child doesn’t suffer hearing loss?

Ways to prevent hearing loss
1. Step away from sound source
2. Turn down volume
3. Wear ear plugs

Find out more about the Listen Carefully Movement. My mom suffered from hearing loss so I saw first hand how not being able to hear can dramatically impact your life. Protect your hearing as much as you can!

http://www.listencarefully.org/heard

Are you making a resolution to improve your health in the new year? There always seems to be some report highlighted by health professionals that states curbing back your dependence on technology will improve it. However what if technology had nothing to do with it? I recently saw an article in the Akron Children’s Hospital newsletter that lists 5 simple steps of improving health and I thought they provided a good basis for a healthy new year.

5 steps to improve health:
1) 150 minutes of exercise a week
2) Use the right fuel – use choosemyplate.com
3) Sleep well by getting 6-10 hours a day
4) Screen yourself for cancer regularly
5) Manage stress – take moment to take deep breathe and celebrate success

I hope these five steps inspire you as much as they have for me. Happy new year!

Did you know a new part of the human body was found recently? The part is found in the eye and it’s called the Dua.

According the Popsci article, “Dua’s layer sits at the back of the cornea, which previously had only five known layers. Dua and his colleagues discovered the new body part by injecting air into the corneas of eyes that had been donated for research and using an electron microscope to scan each separated layer.”

The article continued to say, “The researchers now believe that a tear in Dua’s layer is the cause of corneal hydrops, a disorder that leads to fluid buildup in the cornea. According to Dua, knowledge of the new layer could dramatically improve outcomes for patients undergoing corneal grafts and transplants.”

So if you believe there is nothing left to explore, then use this discovery as inspiration. Please read the full article with the link below.

http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2013-06/new-body-part-discovered-human-eye