The cruel truth about secondhand smoke
When the tabloids expose famous moms and dads — such as Kate Winslet, Barack Obama, Salma Hayek — as smokers, they seem to think it will shock the nation. But alas, that’s not the case. In fact, it’s incredibly common for parents to expose their children to secondhand smoke.
New data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reveals that fully 30 per cent of nonsmoking kids ages 3-17 are assaulted (make no mistake, that’s what it is!) with the toxic pollution from secondhand cigarettes, cigars and pipes. Children under age 11 are most likely to be exposed. Amazingly, the report also found that exposure to SHS affects around 25 per cent of kids who do NOT live in a home with a smoker. They encounter SHS in friends’ and relatives’ homes, on playgrounds and in vehicles and restaurants.
SHS puts youngsters at increased risk for sudden infant death syndrome, more frequent and severe asthma attacks, stunted growth and ear infections as well as bronchitis and pneumonia. Plus, we know SHS ups adults’ risk of lung cancer, heart attack and stroke; so it may speed up a kid’s development of these life-threatening conditions.
Moms and dads: Quit smoking if you smoke (go to smokefree.gov or sharecare.com for advice and support) and help your kids understand how dangerous exposure to SHS is when they’re out and about. Tip: Making sure you never smoke in the house doesn’t help! Thirdhand smoke on your clothes and embedded in the car and backyard furniture is toxic, too!
WHY INTERMITTENT FASTING IS SO GOOD FOR YOU AND HOW TO DO IT
You can argue about whether 1949’s animated movie “Fast and Furry-ous” (it debuted Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner) is better or worse — or more or less real — than Vin Diesel’s 2001-2017 “Fast and Furious” series. But there’s no longer any argument about what makes intermittent fasting so furiously, er, seriously, good for you.
According to researchers at Mount Sinai Precision Immunology Institute in New York, intermittent fasting reduces the release of pro-inflammatory immune cells called monocytes, and puts those that are already circulating in your bloodstream to sleep! That tamps down your risk for — or eases symptoms of — chronic health problems such as inflammatory bowel disease, cancer, high blood pressure and prediabetes.
This is a trick that a lot of folks can benefit from. Research shows that Americans have an increasing amount of these tissue-damaging monocytes in their blood because of a high-fat, highsugar, additive-laced diet, a lack of exercise and obesity. So, here’s what the Cleveland Clinic and Dr. Mike recommend in his book “What to Eat When”:
1. Eat your day’s worth of food during the first eight hours you’re up — say, from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. or 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. This is much better for weight loss and heart health than alternate day fasting.
2. The 8:16 (eight hours eating, 16 hours fasting) pattern is more effective than a 12:12 intermittent fasting pattern when it comes to helping normalize blood sugar and insulin levels if you have prediabetes and normalizing blood pressure if you have pre-high blood pressure.
3. The really good news: Eating 8:16 reduces nighttime hunger more than other fasting patterns!
WALKING THE DOG AND FRACTURE RISK
Many NBA players have been known to “walk the dog,” but LeBron James may have done the definitive stroll in 2013, when playing for the Miami Heat. He spent more than 10 seconds gently pushing the ball down the court with his foot before picking it up and taking his team to victory with 36 points, 11 assists and eight rebounds.
But sometimes, walking the dog is risky. Fast-forward to March 2019, when LeBron tried it as an L.A. Laker. He kicked the ball out of bounds, fracturing his already fragile relationship with the L.A. fans, as the team sank below .500.
It seems lots of other people have learned how easy it is to fracture something while walking the dog! Researchers found that from 2004 to 2017, there was a 163-per-cent increase in the number of folks who had to go to the emergency room because they were tripped up and fractured a bone while dog walking. Overall, half the injuries were fractures on the upper body, but for folks 65 and older, hip fractures were the most frequent break, accounting for 17 per cent of all cases. This is particularly risky, because, among seniors, 30 per cent of hip fractures lead to death, as they can cause a cascade of problems related to immobility.
Walking the dog is great for your health, so make sure you stay safe. Use an adjustable leash that’s six feet or less in length; pay attention — no texting and walking; and train your animal to obey commands such as “heel” and “sit.”
THE SCIENCE AND SENSIBILITY OF A GOOD SOAK IN THE TUB
In 2010’s “Hot Tub Time Machine,” John Cusack, Rob Corddry and Craig Robinson play three bummed-out friends who go to a ski resort. When they juice up their hot tub’s controls (don’t ask) with an illegal Russian energy drink called Chernobly, it transports them back to 1986. Not exactly the relaxing soak they were expecting. But there’s no reason why you can’t indulge in the benefits of a good soak in the here and now — and fall asleep faster and enjoy better sleep quality.
A new analysis of the power of baths, published in Sleep Medicine Reviews, found that getting a good soak one to two hours before bedtime in a warm, but not too hot, tub actually lowers your core body temperature by expelling heat through your extremities. In the evening, that happens naturally (if all is working right) and encourages sleep. Your core temperature then rises in the morning, acting as a natural alarm clock. The bath simply makes sure that process works for you.
The optimal water temperature: 104 F to 109 F. A good temperature for a cup of coffee is 140 F, so it’s considerably cooler than that! And you don’t have to soak until your fingertips wrinkle; the researchers say 10 minutes will do the trick.