Motion

The human body is designed for movement. The joints allow motion to occur. Joints are freely movable when adequately hydrated and muscles relaxed. There is an absence of inflammatory cells when the joints move the way they are designed. Simply stated, a body in motion stays in motion.

Lack of joint movement causes inflammation, stiff, achy joints and pain upon movement. Simply put, a body at rest stays at rest. The less you do the less your body will do. Smoking, over eating, ingesting high fat, high sodium, high sugar foods, lack of exercise will cause the body to be sluggish. Therefore causing stiff, achy joints. The more sedentary the body is the more likely inflammation occurs. Demand something of your body or your body will demand of less of you.

By ignoring your health, your health will eventually go away. So will you.
Take an interest in your health.

Smart choices,

Trisha M. Pacenti RN,BSN
www.nurseinsagent.com

National Geographic

What is Cancer? What goes wrong?

Any living creature- from homo sabians  to our beloved pets can be afflicted with cancer. Cancer can show up on any internal organ and outside on the skin. There is damage to the genes that control cell division and growth. Cells become cancerous as a result of mutations. Cancer is not an infection. 

No two cancers are alike. Your cancer is unique to you. It's your cells that become corrupt during the division process. The drugs available to treat cancer are mass produced to cover a blanket of cancers. Which is why some people may not be "cured" . They don't respond as  favorable as others may. Ca cells are corrupt and vulnerable and cannot ward off virus's like normal cells.

Genetic damage accumulates over time which is why you see many cancers develop later in life. Environmental pollutants, hereditary factors, exposure to radiation and cigarette smoke will cause mutations. Cancerous cells grow into abnormal tissues  known as masses.
When cancer cells spread through the body this is called metastasis. Any kind of cell can become cancerous. No one is immune. 

Good health,
Trisha M. Pacenti RN, BSN
www.nurseinsagent.com

Life Insurance is a must have

Final expense insurance is life insurance with a specific need. Final expenses largely make up funeral expenses. Your funeral is the very last expense you will incur. Having the money readily available to your family is part of estate planning. Final expense programs are estate planning.

Today you are in the best of health you will be. Purchasing now will qualify you for the best rate available at your current age. Life insurance is the least expensive insurance and offers the most value added benefit. If you are on a fixed income, chances are your beneficiary is too. Life insurance is protecting the beneficiary from financial catastrophe.

Life insurance is different than pre-need plans offered by funeral homes. Case scenario:  you purchase a life insurance policy with a face value of $10,000.  After only 1 premium payment, you become a victim of a fatal car accident or suffer a fatal cardiac arrest. The full value of $10,000 is available immediately to your beneficiary. The policy you took out in your estate planning is ready to be put to work. You have protected your beneficiary from facing a financial crisis.

Now, lets look at a pre-need plan. During your meeting with your funeral director he sells you a $10,000 pre-need plan with a monthly premium of for example, $54.00. After only 1 premium payment you become a victim in a fatal car accident or suffer a sudden cardiac arrest. Your beneficiary is now responsible for paying $9,946.00 plus any and all accrued interest. Funeral homes are in the business to make money. They provide a service for a fee paid by you, the consumer. They will demand payment or provide a less desirable and cheapest funeral with whatever funds you can spare. If your family is cash strapped, where will that money come from? If you have outstanding bills that need to be paid, where will your beneficiary get that money? You have created a full financial crisis for your loved ones that they may never financially recover from. 

Procrastinating just adds to higher premium payments and not being prepared. Death does not wait. It is going to happen.  Funeral expenses are at an all time high and are expected to increase. Say you have enough money in the bank to cover a $10,000 funeral bill. In the interim, you suffer from a debilitating car accident or a mild heart attack. Your major medical insurance will pay the doctor and hospital, but you will have co-pays, prescription, fuel and household bills to pay. If you are on a limited income, you will burn through that $10,000 bank account. Leaving you with not enough money to pay funeral expenses when the time comes. By proscratinating, you have gained nothing. 

Estate planning is simple and easy to do. Just take the time and do it.

Good health,
Trisha M. Pacenti RN,BSN
www.nurseinsagent.com

Insurance has a place in life

Why have it?  If you have a family who depends on your paycheck for financial survival, then that is the foremost reason why you should have it. You are protecting your family's financial health after your death. The life insurance proceeds are transferred to your family tax free. The life insurance company you don't like and complain about will suddenly be loved once your family receives their check upon your death.

Your family will be able to pay death related expenses in addition to current and future bills. Life insurance allows you to invest in protection for very little cost. It is the least expensive, value added insurance available. There is no one reason for anyone to go without it. Premiums are low cost and those on a fixed budget can afford it. 

Who else should have it? Anyone who is breathing. The need for life insurance is there. Someone will be burdened by the cost of your death. Having a life policy in place, even a low face amount just to cover death related expenses, is sufficient. The time to buy a life policy is now. Today is the youngest and healthiest you will be. Locking in premiums at your current age and before your next birthday, will ensure you are getting the lowest price possible.

The age of discussing death as a taboo topic is over. Procrastinating and denying own mortality is costly to everyone. By failing to prepare you a preparing to fail.

Good health,
Trisha M. Pacenti RN,BSN
www.nurseinsagent.com

Healthy sun-kissed glow. Or is it?

No doubt the warmth of the sun does feel good to us. The glow it provides to the skin does look healthy in the short term. With that said, significance of short term doesn't matter. It is the long term that has the most significant  effect on your skin.  When the short term, aesthetic effect of the healthy glow is gone, will you see the damaged skin left behind. Exposure to sun causes dryness, wrinkles and age spots on our faces. Using the appropriate sun block protection and limiting sun-exposure on a daily basis is key to maintaining a youthful, true healthy glow to the face. Dryness, freckles and wrinkles pave the way to looking older than what you are.

We falsely associate a sun kissed glowing complexion with good health. But in reality, the tan that your seeing is skin damage. The sun's UV rays penetrate the skin damaging not only the top layer of skin but the deep fibers in the skin called elastin and collagen. When these fibers break down, the skin begins to sag, cause lines, stretch, and lose its ability to go back into place after stretching. This damage is irreversible. The skin bruises more easily taking longer to heal. Sun damage also causes
the dilation of small blood vessels under the skin.

Recently the FDA elevated tanning booths: I prefer to call them tanning coffins, from a low to moderate risk of causing skin cancer to moderate to high risk of causing skin cancer. Going to the tanning salon to get a base tan isn't any safer than going outside for a natural tan. You are just unwisely overdosing on UV rays. As you age, the sun damaged skin will definitely show later in life. What you do today determines your health later in life.

Walking to the car and driving in the car exposes your skin to enough UV rays to cause damage. Applying sun block year round will limit the amount of UV rays penetrating the skin.
If you spend a great deal of time outside during peak hours, you are at risk of the suns damaging effects. It is wise to use sun block, wear long sleeve shirts and a hat. Re-apply sun block as needed.

Taking time to care for your skin is part of living a healthy lifestyle.

Good health,

Trisha M. Pacenti RN,BSN
www.nurseinsagent.com

Hyperhidorsis. What is it?

If you experience excessive sweating this is called  hyperhidrosis.  In individuals with hyperhidrosis, the autonomic stimulation of sweat glands are hyperactive. Perspiration is controlled by the autonomic nervous system and it is a normal bodily function. The autonomic nervous system is located in the brain that controls the involuntary movement of the body. Movements we have no conscious control over.

We have sweat glands widely dispersed throughout the body. But a great deal more under the breasts, hands, groin, armpits, genital area and feet. Which explains why we sweat more in those areas. Facial blushing is also a symptom of hyperhidrosis. Perspiring is a normal physiologic response of the body when the core body temperature rises. Perspiring is the body's way of cooling down it's core temperature. Stressful situations will stimulate the autonomic nervous system which increases sweat production by the glands in highly concentrated areas, such as in the hands.

For most people, perspiring is not a problem. However, in individuals with hyperhidrosis the autonomic nervous system in response to stress is hyperactive. For these individuals, shaking someone's hand can be embarrassing. The physiologic response of the autonomic nervous system to exercise or high temperature is normal. It is estimated 1% of adults suffer from hyperhidrosis. Excessive sweating begins in childhood and increases in severity into adulthood. Both men and women are affected equally.

Usually symptoms are mild and not disabling. Sweaty palms is the most common manifestation and the most socially disturbing. This can psychologically impact the person's ability to interact effectively in social situations. Hyperhidrosis can also have embarrassing effects with your partner in intimate situations.

If are experiencing excessive sweating even under normal circumstances, you can seed help from a Dermatologist. There are creams, antiperspirants, etc to help treat the symptoms.

Good health,

Trisha M. Pacenti RN,BSN
www.nurseinagent.com

The increasing size of waistlines

Article taken directly from MSN.com

 

LONDON (AP) — Almost a third of the world is now fat, and no country has been able to curb obesity rates in the last three decades, according to a new global analysis.

 

Researchers found more than 2 billion people worldwide are now overweight or obese. The highest rates were in the Middle East and North Africa, where nearly 60 percent of men and 65 percent of women are heavy. The U.S. has about 13 percent of the world's fat population, a greater percentage than any other country. China and India combined have about 15 percent.

"It's pretty grim," said Christopher Murray of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington, who led the study. He and colleagues reviewed more than 1,700 studies covering 188 countries from 1980 to 2013. "When we realized that not a single country has had a significant decline in obesity, that tells you how hard a challenge this is."

AP Photo: Kirsty Wigglesworth, FILE

In this file photo dated Wednesday, Oct. 17, 2007, an overweight person eats in London, 

 

Murray said there was a strong link between income and obesity; as people get richer, their waistlines also tend to start bulging. He said scientists have noticed accompanying spikes in diabetes and that rates of cancers linked to weight, like pancreatic cancer, are also rising.
The new report was paid for by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and published online Thursday in the journal, Lancet.

Last week, the World Health Organization established a high-level commission tasked with ending childhood obesity.

"Our children are getting fatter," Dr. Margaret Chan, WHO's director-general, said bluntly during a speech at the agency's annual meeting in Geneva. "Parts of the world are quite literally eating themselves to death." Earlier this year, WHO said that no more than 5 percent of your daily calories should come from sugar.

"Modernization has not been good for health," said Syed Shah, an obesity expert at United Arab Emirates University, who found obesity rates have jumped five times in the last 20 years even in a handful of remote Himalayan villages in Pakistan. His research was presented this week at a conference in Bulgaria. "Years ago, people had to walk for hours if they wanted to make a phone call," he said. "Now everyone has a cellphone."

Overweight total tops 2.1bn globally

 

 

Shah also said the villagers no longer have to rely on their own farms for food.
"There are roads for (companies) to bring in their processed foods and the people don't have to slaughter their own animals for meat and oil," he said. "No one knew about Coke and Pepsi 20 years ago. Now it's everywhere."

In Britain, the independent health watchdog issued new advice on Wednesday recommending heavy people be sent to free weight-loss classes to drop about 3 percent of their weight, reasoning that losing just a few pounds improves health and is more realistic. About two in three adults in the U.K. are overweight, making it the fattest country in Western Europe.

"This is not something where you can just wake up one morning and say, 'I am going to lose 10 pounds,'" said Mike Kelly, the agency's public health director, in a statement. "It takes resolve and it takes encouragement." End of article.

While in the midst of consuming mass quantities of food during the day every day for months and years at a time, consider those individuals who have not eaten. Consider the less fortunate adults who are unable to provide the daily caloric necessities for their children and therefore wonder if they have enough money to pay for the food their undernourished bodies desperately need.

After you have overindulged, remember those children here in the United States and world-wide who go about their day feeling hungry and weak because their bodies lack nourishment. Remember the same children who then go to bed on an empty stomach and get a poor night sleep because the hunger pangs are keeping from a quality sleep. And the scenario repeats daily.

Personal accountability is needed in addition to "it takes resolve and encouragement" in weight loss.

Being stick thin is not a requirement to living a healthy lifestyle. A fair amount of daily exercise and healthy food choices is all that is needed.

Consult with your doctor in making lifestyle changes for a healthy you.

Trisha M. Pacenti RN,BSN
www.nurseinsagent.com