General Health

Some of you may remember your mom buying you Lunchables to take to school. You know, the little DIY kits with everything from crackers and meat and cheese, to little pizzas. When you think of “processed food,” Lunchables should immediately come to mind. What’s for lunch? CHEMICALS! But now there is a (slightly) healthier option for busy moms and dads who struggle to find time to pack their kids’ lunches: Organic Lunchables.
A little bit healthier. Emphasis on “a little bit.”

The U.K.’s National Health Service (NHS) has announced that it will ban homeopathy and herbal medicine in order to save £250 million ($325 million) a year, calling the healing methods a “misuse of scarce funds.” They are among dozens of medicines which officials said should not be funded by the health service. [1]
NHS has spent hundreds of thousands of pounds on homeopathic treatment, which it now says “is a placebo” and a waste of money that could be spent on “treatments that work.”

Coffee and naps: a couple of the most glorious things on Earth for many people. You don’t really associate the 2, but they both share 1 thing in common – each can give you an energy boost. Combine them and you might just have the most amazing snooze of your life. Coffee nap here we come.

There are few things worse than lying awake in bed, staring at the clock, knowing your alarm is going to go off in a few hours, and you’re still wide awake. Insomnia can be a never-ending cycle of constantly worrying yourself awake, night after night. A lack of sleep can make anyone feel terrible, emotionally and physically, but it’s especially troublesome for breast cancer survivors.

I’m sure I don’t have to tell you how easy it is to gain a few pounds – or how difficult it can be to lose it! Five pounds might seem like little more than a nuisance, but a recent study indicates that packing on just a few pounds can increase your chances of developing heart failure. [1]
A little weight gain can lead to a lot of health problems because packing on pounds can alter the structure of the heart and its ability to pump blood.

Researchers at the Google-linked science company Verily are in the process of releasing 20 million sterile mosquitoes into the Fresno County, California, area in an attempt to actually stop the disease-carrying menaces from breeding. [1]

A study in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) suggests that a pregnant woman can reduce her risk of needing a caesarean section, or C-section, by around 10% by doing 2 simple things: eating healthy and staying active. Not terribly surprising, is it?

People pee in swimming pools – that probably doesn’t come as a shock to you. You tuck it in the back of your mind when you go swimming; but you when you accidentally swallow a mouthful of pool water, you know you’re getting more than H2O and chlorine. Well, there’s another threat lurking in public swimming pools. It’s a diarrhea-inducing parasite called cryptosporidium, and federal officials said back in May that cases of the bug are on the rise.
Source: CDC

When it comes to beating cancer, Americans are beginning to see some positive numbers. The latest annual report on the status of cancer in the U.S. shows that cancer death rates decreased by over 1.5% for men, women, and children; and survival rates for early and late-stage diseases “significantly improved.” But are these figures good enough? [1]

A small study by researchers in Spain finds that dangerous germs are lurking on playgrounds. [1]
For the study, a team of scientists tested sandboxes and searched for Clostridium difficile, or C. diff. They found it alright, and it was the drug-resistant variety.