Breast Cancer Awareness Month

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, reminding women of the importance of self-examination. In India, one in 38 urban women and one in 98 rural women face the risk of developing the disease, according to the National Cancer Registry Programme. Knowing how your breasts normally look and feel enables you to notice differences more quickly. Most changes are benign, but early detection can make your treatment more effective. Consult your doctor immediately if you notice any of the following:

• A lump or thickening in your breast that feels different from the rest of the breast tissue.
  
• Any changes in the shape of the breast or any puckering or dimpling of the skin.
  
• A discharge from the nipple or a rash around it.
  
• A pulling in of the nipple.
  
• Constant pain in one part of your breast or in your armpit.
  
• Change in the size of a breast.
  
• Swelling under your armpit or around your collarbone.

For more advice, or for locating screening facilities near you, speak to your gynecologist or GP. » Continue reading

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Reading & Riding

Make that six-hour drive a better ride with a best seller -- even if you're a queasy, not an easy, rider. So says G. Richard Holt, an ear surgeon who's helped pilots dealt with motion sickness. Sit in the front seat. Hold the book at eye level, Holt says, Look up every five minutes to get a fix on the horizon. Wear wraparound sunglasses to block out objects flashing by your side window that can throw your balance out of whack. Drink water, and pump your legs often to keep blood from pooling. » Continue reading

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To Err Is Human....

...to forgive is a valuable gift to yourself, according to Stanford University psychologist Carl Thoresen. His team has built a six session group treatment to help people forgive. A study of 259 adults who took part saw stress, anger and sympotoms such as headaches and stomach upsets go way down, compared with a control group. Positive effects remained six months later.

Forgiveness doesn't mean forgetting or condoning offences, or even reconciling with the offender, Thoresen says. It means giving up the right to be angry. The programme emphasizes:

• Shifting rigid personal "rules" for how people should behave to "preferences," and accepting no adult can control another.
  
• Seeing the hurtful incident from a neutral viewpoint.
  
• Moving from blame to understanding, and then moving on.

Also read
Healing Power of Forgiveness
» Continue reading

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Reining In a Spending Spouse

You're a saver but your efforts are undermined by a spending spouse. Friendly ways to discuss your mate's freewheeling habits:

Choose your moments. Avoid weeknights, when everyone's rushed and tired. Try weekend mornings.

Don't point fingers. Putting a spouse on the defensive leads to friction. "Saying 'We need to look at our savings' is a far better opener than 'You're bleeding us dry,'" says Financial Planner Victoria Collins.

Focus on goals. Rather than argue over spending, says Collins, review targets such as your kids' education and retirement.

Discuss big expenses. Agree to discuss in advance any planned expense that's over a certain limit you set. Setting a limit will force both of you to think before spending on items you really want.

Keep it going. Each month, spend a little time reviewing the progress you've made so far. Your spending spouse needs to see that the cutbacks were worth it. » Continue reading

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Put down those needles and rub me

If low-back pain has you down, this news should help: A recent study found that massage handily beat acupuncture in easing people's suffering. Drawing on group health insurance members, US researchers from the Group Health Cooperative and the Harvard Medical School assigned 262 people with low-back pain to traditional Chinese medical acupuncture or to massage. (A third group was given educational materials.)
Ten weeks later, 74 percent of patients getting massage scored their treatment as very helpful, compared with just 46 percent of acupuncture patients. A year later, those who received massage had fewer symptoms than the acupuncture group, plus they had greater mobility and needed fewer pain relievers.

So if you have lower back pain, find a good massage therapist. » Continue reading

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Healing Power of Sleep

Losing sleep can hobble reflexes and fog the mind. Study volunteers deprived of just a couple of hours for a few nights in a row have slowed reaction times and faltering concentration. The consequences can be deadly. Lack of sleep causes innumerable road accidents each year.

A sound sleep seems to be key to a healthy heart. "As soon as people drift off, levels of hormones that stimulate the sympathetic nervous system during the waking hours, called catecholamines, begin to ebb," says research psychiatrist Michael Irwin. The result: Blood pressure falls. Heart rate slows. Blood vessels relax, making it easier for blood to flow. "Our hearts, in other words, get a much deserved rest," says Irwin.

Not so when study subjects are deprived of sleep. Catecholamine levels can actually climb, making the heart work harder than normal -- risky.

Sleeplessness can knock the stuffing out of the body's immune defenses as well. Immune cells may be responsible for commanding sleep, in fact. And when we don't obey their orders, our germ-fighting cells begin to stumble.

One or two nights of bad sleep probably don't pose much danger. "However, chronic sleep deprivation might," says neuroscientist Carol Everson. She found that when rats are sleep deprived over a three-week period, bacteria that normally reside in the gut begin to spread to organs and the bloodstream, making the animals ill. Death can result. "That's worrying because their basic biological needs are lot like ours," says Everson.

How much sleep do you need to steer clear of trouble?
The experts' advice is to aim for seven to nine hours a night. If you find yourself tossing and turning, cut out coffee, tea, cola and alcohol too. If you still have trouble sleeping, talk to your doctor.

Also read
Healing Power of Laughter
Healing Power of Forgiveness
Healing Power of Music » Continue reading

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Home and energy savings

How much do you pay for wasted energy each year? Start saving now with each of these home appliances:

Fridge: Reduce door openings. Running it on 'low' or 'mid' cool, especially in colder weather, saves power. If it's an old fridge, have the door checked for costly air-leaks.

AC: "An AC is best installed under an outside shade or parapet," says Mili Majumdar of Delhi's Tata Energy Research Institute (TERI). It works much like its cousin, the fridge, so have all open gaps around windows, lofts and around the AC itself sealed off. Control sunlight with curtains or blinds. Keep the AC's exhaust shut. Setting its thermostat 'high' can be wasteful.

Washing machine: Reduce your weekly wash cycles by loading the machine to capacity. Front-loaders use less power and water than top-loaders. "A heater can consume five times more power," points out Dr V.B.Bhatia, professor of physics at Delhi University. Use the heater only for very soiled clothes and don't set it above 50ºC. A good detergent often eliminates the need for a hot-wash.

Lights: Tubes give much more light than bulbs of the same wattage. Hate their stark-white light? The new yellowish tubes mimic bulbs.

Fans: Switch to electronic regulators. They waste much less energy.

Iron: Dampen bone-dry clothes or use a steam-iron -- to finish faster," says Prof Bhatia.

Oven: Three cakes baked together doesn't use up much more power than baking just one.

Pressure cooker: After it starts to whistle, turn the flame down to "low," says TERI's Majumdar. This original PC is a home's best energy saver -- cook with it as far as possible. » Continue reading

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