3 Reasons Not to Sleep With Your Phone in the Bed

Ever fall asleep while Insta-scrolling on your smartphone—or purposely leave it on your bed while you snooze? You’re not alone: 44% of cell phone owners have snoozed with their phone next to their bed to make sure they didn’t miss any crucial calls or texts, according to the Pew Internet Project. But while you may have good intentions, snuggling up to your phone could be hazardous to your health. Here’s why:

You could set your pillow on fire
A Texas teen recently woke up to a burning smell. The cause? Her Samsung Galaxy S4, which was under her pillow, had partially melted and it scorched her sheets and mattress, too. More specifically, it seems like a non-Samsung replacement phone battery was to blame: the phone’s instruction manual warns against using incompatible cell phone batteries and chargers. The manual also notes that there’s a risk of a fire if the gadget is covered by bedding or other thick material. Bottom line: Stick to phone accessories from the original manufacturer, and don’t leave your cell on your bed.

3 Reasons Not to Sleep With Your Phone in the Bed

You could keep yourself awake
Cell phones (and tablets, TVs, and other gadgets with LED screens) give off what’s known as blue light—a type that studies suggest can inhibit the production of the sleep-inducing hormone melatonin and disrupt our circadian rhythms. This may be because blue light emits wavelengths similar to daylight, which can make our bodies think it’s daytime, at any time. To fall asleep when you want (and need) to, power down all electronics two hours before bedtime. Better yet, keep your phone and laptop in another room while you slumber.

The health risks of cell phones are murky
There’s been no research that proves cell phone use causes cancer; in fact, the links to any kind of health risk aren’t yet clear. In general, cell phones are said to give off such small doses of electromagnetic radiation—which is also emitted from X-rays and microwaves and can lead to tumor growth in high amounts—that they’re perfectly safe to handle. Still, the World Health Organization warned in 2011 that usage may be possibly carcinogenic to humans, especially in children, whose scalps and skulls are thinner than adults’, and more vulnerable to radiation. So if you’re at all worried about the possible cancer risk, try to text instead of call, hold the phone away from your ear, or use an earpiece or the speakerphone setting as much as possible—and definitely don’t sleep with the phone next to your head.

Source: health

Chilled Avocado Soup

  • Prep Time: 15 minutes
  • Yield: Makes 4 servings (serving size: 1 cup)

Nutritional Information

  • Calories per serving: 194
  • Fat per serving: 16g
  • Saturated fat per serving: 3g
  • Monounsaturated fat per serving: 10g
  • Polyunsaturated fat per serving: 2g
  • Protein per serving: 3g
  • Carbohydrates per serving: 14g
  • Fiber per serving: 7g
  • Cholesterol per serving: 3mg
  • Iron per serving: 1mg
  • Sodium per serving: 396mg
  • Calcium per serving:58mg

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Ingredients

  • 2 ripe peeled avocados
  • 1 1/2 cups vegetable broth
  • 1 (4-ounce) can or jar chopped green chiles
  • 1/2 cup whole milk
  • 1 tablespoon lime juice
  • 3/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
  • Fresh cilantro and/or crushed tortilla chips for garnish

Preparation

1. Cut the avocados in half, and remove the pits.
2. Spoon avocado into a blender, add the remaining ingredients (except garnish), and puree until creamy. Chill the soup for up to 2 hours before serving, or serve immediately. Cover leftovers with plastic wrap, refrigerate, and use within 2 days.

Source: health

Interesting Combination for Fruit Salad

Sometimes we think that some combinations of ingredients are inappropriate and the result will be plate with no taste. But you will know for sure only if you try! Never troy away an idea before you makes and tastes the recipe. Here is one fruit salad as a combination of cherries with tropical fruits.

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Ingredients: (quantities as you wish)

  • cherries (without seeds)
  • bananas
  • kiwis
  • coconut flour
  • lemon juice

Preparation:

  • In one bowl put the wash and cut in half cherries
  • Add peeled and cut in pieces bananas
  • Add peeled and cut in pieces kiwis
  • Drizzle with lemon juice (if you consume the salad immediately, you do not need to use lemon juice- it is app to your choice)
  • Mix it all well and drizzle with coconut flour.

Source: healthoffered

Here’s Why Cinnamon Is Necessary For Every Woman

A study conducted at Columbia University in New York, came to a conclusion that women with polycystic ovaries, which consumed the spice every day, rebalanced their menstrual cycle within six months than those who took placebo. Some of them also became pregnant during this period. – See more at:

“Scientists have long been trying to find a natural or homeopathic medicine for polycystic ovarian syndrome”, said the author of the research Dr. Daniel Kort, and added: “With this research we found that a seemingly simple spice can be a solution for women suffering from polycystic ovarian syndrome.”

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It is estimated that 5-10% of women worldwide suffer from polycystic ovarian syndrome. In America that number is estimated at 5 million. The symptoms of this syndrome are irregular periods, infertility, as well as acne and hair growth on the face.

Scientists believe that cinnamon, except for polycystic ovaries, can affect the body so as to improve the body’s ability to process glucose and insulin.

In China, Japan and Far East countries, women who are unable to stay pregnant consume cinnamon powder with half a teaspoon of honey and add it to chewing gum so that they can consume a little bit of it all day. If you don’t prefer this way, simply rub this mixture over your gums several times a day.
Source: for healthy lifestyle

3 Warning Signs That Your Body is Dehydrated

You do not need to be an expert to recognize the signs of dehydration, but is sometimes so difficult to understand the reason of the current malaise and bad condition.

Dehydration is a shock to your body and can lead to many complications. It often happens that some people think that they are not dehydrated because they don’t have the feeling of thirst, but there are signs that we will introduce to you right now.

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Dehydration is one of the most common obstacles to the exercises, but also when you’re not compensate fluid that you have lose through sweating and urination. This is the reason why doctors always advise to drink plenty of water.

Here are most common signs that your body is dehydrated:

Headache

The body loses fluid constantly and with it essential salts that are responsible for the blood count. The more fluid you lose; lower blood pressure falls and causes less oxygen to the brain. Hence the occurrence of headaches and the intensity varies depending on how much water you lose.

Yellow urine

You cannot miss to notice when your urine is very yellow, and it is a sure sign that the salt concentration is higher than normal. This yellow color is a sign for a large concentration of harmful substances and that you should increase the intake of water, but be careful, experts say that also urine shouldn’t be transparent.

Constipation

Water helps to expel harmful substances through the colon. When there is no water as should be, it is logical to have constipation. Food is a long time retained in the intestines, and therefore can’t be excluded and bloating.

Source: for health benefits

The Cure For Cancer Found 65 Years Ago, While Pharmacists Keep Quiet

For the first time, vitamin B17 began being promoted as medicine against cancer in early the 1950’s by Dr. Ernst Krebs. The theory about the treatment of cancer with the help of vitamin B17 is based on the fact that according to Krebs, cancer is a disease that is caused by inadequate intake of vitamins and minerals that are needed in the body.

The fact is that today the modern man is exposed far more to this disease as opposed to primitive cultures in the past. Dr. Krebs as a possible explanation says that old tribes had very different habits related to nutrition. For example, representative of the tribe Hunza, have an intake of 250 to 3000 milligrams of vitamin B17, as opposed to the average American or European, who through industrial processed food eats intakes barely 2 milligrams of the vitamin daily.

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The Hunza tribe is an old tribe based in Northern Pakistan. Members of the tribe live over 100 years and the disease cancer is completely unknown to them. The reason for this is the fact that this tribe feeds on apricot seeds daily, it is their most abundant fruit and is part of their daily diet.

Up until his death in 1996, Dr. Krebs argued that by increasing the daily dose of vitamin B17, the risk of getting sick from cancer would be reduced significantly by 100%.

Now you know the secret, so eat apricot seeds because they contain the highest concentration of vitamin B17.

Source: for healthy life style

Little Risk: Ebola’s Just One Flight Away, But Risk is Low

The Ebola virus, which has infected two U.S. humanitarian workers in Liberia, is only a short plane ride from any city on Earth. But federal health officials say it’s not a big worry for most Americans.

Ebola is causing the worst outbreak ever seen right now, in three West African countries — Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea. It’s infected at least 1,200 people and killed more than 670 of them. Among those infected are a doctor working with the charity group Samaritan’s Purse, and a colleague working with a related group called Serving In Mission.

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Ebola has also been carried outside the region, by a traveler on a flight that ended in Lagos, Nigeria — a mega city of 21 million people. The traveler, a Liberian citizen named Patrick Sawyer, was isolated soon after he collapsed, and he later died.

It’s the first time this virus has moved by jet, even though public health experts love to warn that any disease is just a flight away from anywhere with an airport.

But it’s unlikely to come as far as the U.S., the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says.

“Ebola poses little risk to the U.S. general population,” Stephan Monroe of CDC’s National Center for Emerging & Zoonotic Infectious Diseases told reporters in a conference call. It’s because you have to be in direct contact with someone who is ill to become infected.

“Transmission is through direct contact with the bodily fluids of an infected person,” Monroe said. That includes vomit, blood or diarrhea. “Individuals who are not symptomatic are not contagious,” he said.

The incubation period can last for as long as 21 days, meaning it can take 21 days for someone to develop symptoms after being in contact with an infected person. So in theory, someone could be infected and get on a plane to travel to the U.S. before he or she got sick. But the odds of this are low.

Liberia closed some borders over the weekend to help control the spread of the virus, but the World Health Organization doesn’t recommend any travel restrictions yet. Liberia left its airport in Monrovia open, as well as major border crossings where there are facilities to watch for people with possible symptoms of Ebola, which include fever and vomiting.

There’s no need to control travel in and out of the U.S. CDC says. It has quarantine stations in major airports and agents can forcibly isolate or quarantine people with symptoms of Ebola and other diseases such as cholera, tuberculosis, plague or bird flu.

Careful questioning can usually rule out a disease such as Ebola. In this case, it would be asking people if they’ve been to West Africa in recent weeks or in close contact with someone who had been and who was ill.

U.S. health experts pulled this off with MERS — the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome virus, which was carried into the country twice by travelers, both of whom recovered fully without infecting anybody else.

“The likelihood of this spreading out of West Africa is very low,” Monroe said. While it’s possible someone ill could get on a plane, they couldn’t spread the virus to someone who just happened to be sitting nearby. “It is very unlikely they would be able to spread disease to their fellow passengers,” Monroe said. CDC worries more about airborne viruses such as measles, which can spread silently.

“People are not infectious prior to becoming symptomatic,” he stressed. And once in the U.S., doctors should isolate a patient quickly. “We are fairly confident that the standard of care in the U.S. would prevent much of the transmission of the virus were to show up here,” Monroe said.

“We do not anticipate this will spread in the US if an infected person is hospitalized here but we are taking action now by alerting healthcare workers in the US and reminding them how to isolate and test suspected patients while following strict infection control procedures.” CDC Director Dr. Tom Frieden added in a statment.

Experience in Africa shows those who become infected have been caring for a patient with Ebola, or preparing the body for burial, both of which can bring then into contact with body fluids. Accidental needle sticks have also infected scientists and health care workers.

But Ebola, like any virus, is tricky. They can all look the same — people have fever, they feel terrible and they may be throwing up. Only about half of all Ebola cases show the bleeding that so frightened people, and that’s only in very advanced cases.

So the standard is the same with any infectious disease. People showing symptoms such as fever, cough or vomiting should be isolated as soon as they come into a medical facility, and all staff who come into contact should be gloved, gowned and masked.

Just to be sure, CDC has issued a “level 2” alert, which cautions people in the affected region to avoid contact with anyone who seems infected.

CDC also issued a health alert, a reminder to doctors in the U.S. “Ebola virus disease poses little risk to the U.S. general population at this time. However, U.S. healthcare workers are advised to be alert for signs and symptoms of Ebola virus disease in patients with compatible illness who have a recent (within 21 days) travel history to countries where the outbreak is occurring, and should consider isolation of those patients meeting these criteria, pending diagnostic testing,” it reads.

Source: nbcnews

Spanking the gray matter out of our kids

How to discipline the next generation is a hotly debated topic. In 2012, a national survey showed more than half of women and three-quarters of men in the United States believe a child sometimes needs a “good hard spanking.”

Science tells a different story. Researchers say physical punishment actually alters the brain — not only in an “I’m traumatized” kind of way but also in an “I literally have less gray matter in my brain” kind of way.

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“Exposing children to HCP (harsh corporal punishment) may have detrimental effects on trajectories of brain development,” one 2009 study concluded.

Harsh corporal punishment in the study was defined as at least one spanking a month for more than three years, frequently done with objects such as a belt or paddle. Researchers found children who were regularly spanked had less gray matter in certain areas of the prefrontal cortex that have been linked to depression, addiction and other mental health disorders, the study authors say.

The researchers also found “significant correlations” between the amount of gray matter in these brain regions and the children’s performance on an IQ test

Several other studies support these findings. A 2010 study published in Pediatrics found that frequent — more than twice in the previous month — spanking when a child was 3 was linked to an increased risk for higher levels of child aggression when the child was 5.

Another, from the Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment and Trauma, found that corporal punishment doled out from the mother was independently related to a decrease in cognitive ability relative to other children. Corporal punishment had the largest effect on children 5 to 9.

Behind all this science-speak is the sobering fact that corporal punishment is damaging to children. That gray matter we’ve been spanking out of them? It’s the key to the brain’s ability to learn self-control.

“The more gray matter you have in the decision-making, thought-processing part of your brain (the prefrontal cortex), the better your ability to evaluate rewards and consequences,” write the authors of a 2011 study that appeared in the Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience.

The sad irony is that the more you physically punish your kids for their lack of self-control, the less they have. They learn how to be controlled by external forces (parents, teachers, bosses), but when the boss isn’t looking, then what?
Elizabeth Gershoff, an associate professor at the University of Texas at Austin, has been studying corporal punishment for 15 years, and is known as the leading researcher on spanking in the United States today. Over the years, Gershoff has done a systematic review of the hundreds of studies on the effects of corporal punishment.

“There’s no study that I’ve ever done that’s found a positive consequence of spanking,” Gershoff said. “Most of us will stop what we’re doing if somebody hits us, but that doesn’t mean we’ve learned why somebody hit us, or what we should be doing instead, which is the real motive behind discipline.”
Initially it was believed that spanking, at the very least, was associated with immediate compliance in children, and that parental warmth would buffer any harmful effects.

But the finding that spanking produced compliance “was overly influenced by one study,” Gershoff said; it turns out spanking “doesn’t make your kids better behaved. You think it does. … It doesn’t.”

What is spanking associated with? Aggression. Delinquency. Mental health problems. And something called “hostile attribution bias,” which causes children, essentially, to expect people to be mean to them.

This bias makes the world feel especially hostile. In turn, children are on edge and ready to be hostile back. Over time, across cultures and ethnicities, the findings are consistent: Spanking is doing real, measurable damage to the brains of our children.

And yet in 19 states, Gershoff notes, it is still legal for schools to paddle children.
For those thinking, “I was spanked, and I turned out fine,” or, “I spank my kids and they’re great!” consider that you don’t know who you would be or how your children would behave in a world without spanking.

Source: CNN

College students build bionic arm for 6-year-old, free of charge

An engineering student at University of Central Florida is making a six-year-old’s dream of being a normal kid, come true, by creating a new bionic arm.

The trick? All of the parts were made by a 3D printer.

UCF engineering student Albert Moreno has dreamed of making amazing things since he was 6-years old.

And he’s seen some truly amazing things during his time in the university’s engineering school.

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“I’ve seen… the most incredible particle accelerators um… giant lasers… and incredible machines… ah… experiment halls,” said Moreno.

6-year old Alex Pring, on the other hand, just dreams of being a normal kid.

He was born with only half a right arm.

“He was like 2 or 3 the first time he realized. He was in preschool and they were showing him sames and differents. And he was just sitting in the car and he looked down and goes, my arms are different. And I said ‘What do you mean?’ And he goes, ‘I don’t have a hand,'” said his Mother Alyson.

Alex has even had issues with kids in school making comments about his arm, saying things like he was bitten by a shark or an alligator, or hit by a car.

And that’s where their two storylines come together. Alex’s mom was looking for someone she could get help from for her son, and Albert was looking for someone he could give help to, with all the amazing things he’s learned in school.

Albert Moreno created the team, at UCF, that created the arm.

It works with electrodes attached to his bicep.

When he flexes, his hand clinches.

Alex took to it quickly.

And after just a few fittings, he can throw a ball with the hand, and also write like any other kid.

“When he would hold the paper he’d have to turn his whole body to hold the paper. And they were worried that if he was taking a test for a long period of time he would hurt his back,” his mother said.

Not a problem anymore.

Oh by the way, Albert’s team did not make the arm using traditional machines.

The team made the arm with 3D printers and common off the shelf gears.

Normal prosthetic arms can run tens of thousands of dollars.

Alex’s new arm?

“Close to $350,” said Moreno.

Albert and his team did not do this for class credit, and they will not sell the arms.

Instead, they’ll make the plans available free for any parent who needs them.

“We have a responsibility to do this. With these degrees in engineering… if we can’t be helping people with it… then what are they worth?” said Moreno.

That’s the kind of thinking that changes lives.

Source: Foxnews

How Texas man survived 1,000 killer bees

Municipal worker who got stung by an estimated 1,000 bees while mowing a park lawn on Thursday (July 24) was in stable condition. So how did he survive the buzzing attack?

Turns out, the man’s attackers probably Africanized honeybees, according to the local fire department are not as deadly as their name may suggest. To be lethal, the bees would likely have had to sting the man several hundred more times, experts say. In addition, the victim seems not to have been allergic to the bees. (The bees also stung two other workers who tried to help the man.)

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Not-so-killer bees

Africanized honeybees, or “killer bees,” have been in the United States since about 1990, according to May Berenbaum, head of the department of entomology at the University of Illinois. But despite their dramatic nickname, these insects aren’t that deadly.

An estimated 40 people in the United States die every year from stings by hymenoptera species. That group of insects includes some 150,000 species of bees (and killer bees), wasps, ants and other bugs, Berenbaum said.

It’s hard to pin down specific data on the number of people attacked annually in the United States by Africanized honeybees: As Berenbaum explained, this is partly because not all attacks are reported and partly because, oftentimes, people aren’t quite sure what stung them.

Furthermore, it’s difficult to pin the blame on a particular species of bee in instances of injuries or deaths caused by insects, because some species dont leave any telltale evidence. While honeybee stingers stay behind in the body of the victim, many species take their stingers with them after attacking, Berenbaum explained.

Fierce defenders

Though Africanized honeybees don’t always attack, when they do, the results can be devastating. While the victim of Thursday’s attack in Wichita Falls, Texas, survived the incident, not all killer bee victims have been as lucky.

Last year in Waco, Texas, about three hours south of Wichita Falls, an estimated 40,000 Africanized honeybees attacked a local farmer who was mowing a neighbor’s pasture with tractor.  Larry Goodwin, 62, sustained more than 3,000 stings before collapsing to the ground. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

The number of stings that Goodwin sustained likely caused his unfortunate death, Berenbaum explained. The average person can sustain 10 bee stings per pound of body weight, both Berenbaum and the U.S. Department of Agriculture note. As such, 500 stings might be enough to kill a child, but the 1,000 stings suffered by the man in Wichita Falls did not deliver a lethal dose of venom, given his body weight.

“With honeybees, in particular, the venom isn’t really designed to kill. It’s designed to educate basically, to drive away an enemy and make sure the enemy doesn’t repeat the threat,” Berenbaum told

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Unfortunately for the victims of killer bee attacks, the insects aren’t very good at distinguishing between a true threat and an accidental nudge from a noisy mower. Africanized honeybees are extremely protective of their hive and brood, much more so than European honeybees. And their “home turf” is much larger than that of their calmer cousins. About 100 yards (91 meters), or the length of a four-lane highway, is usually a safe distance from these insects, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

In addition to number of stings, other factors also play roles in determining a person’s chances of surviving a killer bee attack. These include the general health of the victims, and their weight and sensitivity to bee venom.

Furthermore, people who are allergic to bee stings can experience a severe physiological reaction after just one sting, Berenbaum said.

Called anaphylactic shock, this severe allergic reaction can prove lethal for some people attacked by bees. Berenbaum describes anaphylaxis as an “immune response running amuck,” and while she said that everyone is likely to experience some kind of allergic reaction to bee venom, only some individuals experience anaphylactic shock.

Allergic to bees or not, anyone who encounters a swarm of these defensive insects should “run away,” she said. “And don’t zigzag. That serpentine move you see in movies all the time just slows you down.”

Berenbaum also advises killer-bee targets not to jump into a pool or other body of water, which you might also have seen in movies. As she explained, the bees will just be waiting for you when you come up for a breath of air.

Source: Foxnews