Archives for August 2009

The next time you take your children to the doctor for an ear ache or injury, it's probably a good idea to get their blood-pressure taken, advises Dr. Sheldon Tobe.

As a spokesman for the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada and father of a 10-year-old daughter, Tobe says there's more reason than ever to worry about the rising level of hypertension in Canadian children.

"They're consuming way too much salt," Tobe says. And excessive salt is already responsible for an estimated one million hypertension cases in Canada.

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A Kids Health Fair will be held Saturday from 10 a.m. to noon at the Country Club Mall. The event is sponsored by Maryland Physicians Care and will feature the CHIPS Program, the Maryland Physicians Care Healthy Groove Bus, the local Masonic lodges’ CHIPS Child Identification Program, along with HRDC programs, including Head Start, Home Energy, Adult Day Care and the Senior Center; Big Brothers and Big Sisters; Family Crisis Resource Center; Allegany County Health Department; Allegany College of Maryland’s Nursing program; and the Western Maryland Health System’s Wellness Center, which will sponsor a “Stacking Contest” in Center Court.

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In the days before computers and video games, children spent much of their after-school time outdoors at the playground, riding their bikes and playing sports with friends. The result was a generation of kids who grew up active and healthy.

Today, digital distractions give youngsters plenty of reasons not to go outside. A recent study found that youths ages 8 to 18 spend more than six hours a day using electronic media, as much as 45 hours per week.

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Illinois' top education and health officials have issued a "Dear Parent" letter recommending seasonal flu vaccinations for all school children in the state. The letter also urges parents to get their kids vaccinated against the H1N1 flu virus when that vaccine becomes available this fall.

It's aimed at parents of children in the state's nearly 4,000 public K-through-12 schools, plus private schools. The letter is posted online in English and Spanish, signed by state Education Superintendent Christopher Koch (COOK) and Department of Public Health Director Dr. Damon Arnold. They're urging schools to include it in back-to-school materials for parents. The letter urges parents to talk to their doctors or local health department about where to obtain flu shots or nasal spray vaccines, although many schools eventually will offer them.

The next time you take your children to the doctor for an ear ache or injury, it's probably a good idea to get their blood-pressure taken, advises Dr. Sheldon Tobe.

As a spokesman for the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada and father of a 10-year-old daughter, Tobe says there's more reason than ever to worry about the rising level of hypertension in Canadian children.

"They're consuming way too much salt," Tobe says. And excessive salt is already responsible for an estimated one million hypertension cases in Canada.

Read the complete story

The trouble with a healthy diet for kids is, unless you are already eating healthy yourself, it's more effort for you to provide. Because the same foods that make up a healthy diet for adults can be for kids, too.

A little friend of my daughter recently had a dance recital we attended. I was horrified to see how many overweight kids there were. When I was in school (many years ago!), there were so few children that were overweight. What's happened?

Yes, in no small part, I do believe it's due to a lack of a healthy diet for kids. I know, I know, we all ate a lot of sugar and food coloring, etc, when we were kids. But the planet was a cleaner, healthier place back then. Water, air, pesticides, herbicides, growth hormones/antibiotics in meat, well, it all contributes to a toxic sludge that is over what the body can easily flush out on its own. And then you add the "new and improved" preservatives in food (although I'm now being told by commercial "mind control" that high fructose corn syrup is good for me! What am I, an idiot?) Anyway, the FDA even is now on board with recommendations for NINE servings of fruits and vegetables a day. If you eat just three meals per day, can you do the math on that? Your meals are mostly fruits and vegetables, the way it should be. But, how many people do you know who are coming anywhere close to that? Do you and your kids eat that way?

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Federal health officials have a simple message for college students who experience flulike symptoms this fall: Stay in your room.

They recommend that students who live in the dorms and can't leave campus should get a "flu buddy" to help them with tasks.

The higher-education guidelines for the H1N1 "swine flu" were released today as universities across the nation get ready to begin the fall semester. Arizona's three state universities begin classes Monday, and thousands of students are already moving into residence halls.

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The next time you take your children to the doctor for an ear ache or injury, it's probably a good idea to get their blood-pressure taken, advises Dr. Sheldon Tobe.

As a spokesman for the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada and father of a 10-year-old daughter, Tobe says there's more reason than ever to worry about the rising level of hypertension in Canadian children. "They're consuming way too much salt," Tobe says. And excessive salt is already responsible for an estimated one million hypertension cases in Canada.

It's not the family salt shaker that's the problem for kids: "Eighty per cent of the salt in our diets comes from fast foods and processed foods," he notes. Some foods that don't sound particularly salty have more sodium per serving than potato chips.

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Thousands of unimmunised children could be sent home from school in a measles outbreak, says the Health Ministry, which has invoked special powers to deal with a looming epidemic.

Chief child health adviser Pat Tuohy said there was growing concern that an epidemic was brewing, with the number of measles cases so far this year already seven times the total number of cases last year.

Health Ministry figures suggest up to 23 per cent of schoolchildren (174,000) have no immunity to measles.

Nationally, there have been 145 confirmed or probable cases reported since May 30, including 14 people taken to hospital. Canterbury has been hardest hit, with more than 100 cases, but the virus is spreading in Auckland, with 18 confirmed cases, and isolated cases in other regions.

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The American Heart Association
Less than 60 percent of adults are physically active on a regular basis. And 25 percent aren't active at all.
Inactive people have a higher risk of heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure and obesity. So to build a family based on healthy habits, it's up to you to set the tone at home. How? Do something. Do anything. Do less "nothing." There are countless ways that families can have fun and get physically active. And your kids' 60 minutes of physical activity each day don't need to be completed all at once. Just help them get moderate and vigorous activity for 10 or 15 minutes several times throughout the day.

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