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The Link Between Happiness and Health
The Link Between Happiness and Health ( Guest Blog by NurseRegistry) “Laughter is the best medicine.” It’s a common expression, but does it carry any weight? According to current research, happiness and health seem to go hand in hand. When a person is happy, they are more likely to be healthy. And when a person is healthy, they are more likely to be happy. The link between happiness and health may be controversial at times; although they are not directly related, they are definitely correlated. Happiness in the Brain Positive emotions can activate reward pathways in the...
Healthy Food, Happy Kids, Bright Futures
The school year has finally started, and many parents are facing the renewed challenge of deciding what to pack in their children’s lunches and how to provide healthy snacks at home to keep their kids functioning optimally and feeling healthy. Your fear of your child’s eating habits isn’t wasted. Providing the right foods for your kids is exceptionally important, especially when they’re very young. Kids who get the right balance of nutrients and calories have more energy and sharper thinking skills than their malnourished peers. The right foods can also help even out kids’...
5 Ways a Lack of Sleep Impacts Your Brain
“Enjoy the honey heavy dew of slumber.” Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar certainly had a different view of sleep than modern day Americans, who are more likely to fight off sleep with digital devices and talk of “too much to do.” Sleep has become a vice - a relic of a time gone by that’s no longer relevant to the modern worker. Unfortunately, this view of sleep as something to be avoided seems to forget the extremely important function of sleep in our lives. We spend roughly one-third of our lives asleep. Proper sleep contributes to our ability to focus, maintain a healthy weight,...
The Forgotten Caregivers: Is Elder Care Our Next Big Crisis?
When dual income families have a baby, either one spouse stays home or they hire childcare. But what happens when they now also have to care for aging parents? For the first time in America’s sprawling history, we are facing a caregiving crisis for an entire generation. Men and women are waiting longer to start their families and their elderly parents are running out of pensions and savings. This combination is leaving many people in their “sandwich years” (between children and parents) in a time when both healthcare and childcare costs are skyrocketing and wages are remaining...
Flu 101: Everything You Need To Know About The Flu Vaccine in 2017
History of flu If you have ever been caught off guard by the flu, you know how much it can wreak havoc on your life. The flu virus changes every year and there is no way to know in advance how brutal the strain will be. Massive flu epidemics cause large outbreaks with many casualties, as was the case with the bird flu in the late 1990s and SARS in 2003. To prevent infection, the best plan is to get an annual flu shot. The CDC estimates that the 2015-2016 flu vaccine prevented 5-million cases of the flu and 71,000 hospitalizations. With that in mind, we urge you to get your flu...
Fasting: Health Deprivation or Food For Your Brain?
People in cultures all over the world have been fasting for years. Almost every religion encourages fasting as part of its ritual practice, and the use of modified fasting, like a juice cleanse or a temporary raw diet, are part of many conventional diets. But what are the long-term effects of dieting on the average person? If you restrict your caloric intake, are your body and brain able to get the nutrients they need to flourish? And will you someday regret that week off of traditional foods? Lucky for people all over the world, research has proven time and again that, for an...
How Caffeine Could Extend Your Life
Are you a caffeine lover? Do you have more than one cup every day? Do you get a headache if you wait too long for your fix in the morning? If so, rest easy; you’re not alone. Approximately 54% of Americans drink coffee every day, and the average person drinks 3.1 cups per day. All in all, the U.S. population consumes about 400 million cups of coffee each year. And we don’t just like our coffee; we love it. In fact, 49% of people say they’d rather give up their cell phone for a month than give up their morning cup of joe. If you count yourself among the 52% of us who’d rather...
Math Brain: How to Help Your Kids Succeed
Does your child have math brain? When you were a kid, did teachers or other adults tell you that you were gifted in math? Maybe you were on the other side of the coin and teachers said you didn’t have a knack for it? This notion that some kids have natural math abilities and others don’t is one of the most widespread myths about education, and it’s a myth that has been passed down for generations. Jo Boaler gave a fantastic lecture discussing this issue. In her lecture, she talks about brain plasticity, or the brain’s natural ability to form new neural pathways and create new...
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