
Avocado nutrition: Health benefits and easy recipes

Swimming lessons save lives: What parents should know

Preventing and treating iliotibial (IT) band syndrome: Tips for pain-free movement

Wildfires: How to cope when smoke affects air quality and health

What can magnesium do for you and how much do you need?

Dry socket: Preventing and treating a painful condition that can occur after tooth extraction

What happens during sleep � and how to improve it

How is metastatic prostate cancer detected and treated in men over 70?

Could biofeedback help your migraines?

What is autism spectrum disorder?
Men's Health Archive
Articles
Possible link between shoulder problems and heart disease risk
Shoulder pain appears to be associated with risk factors for heart disease. Researchers found that people with the most heart disease risk factors, like high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and diabetes, were almost five times more likely to also have shoulder trouble.
Is there hope for leg cramp sufferers?
Despite the lack of a universally recognized therapy for nighttime leg cramps, a few approaches may be worth trying.
Image: Monkey Business Images/Thinkstock
Few things are more jarring to a night's sleep than shooting calf pains. If you have nocturnal leg cramps, you have lots of company. Although they can strike people at any time of life, they become more common with age. Among people over 60, almost half report having leg cramps, a third say they are awakened by cramps at night, and 15% report weekly episodes.
What causes leg cramps?
Preventing cramps
There are no FDA-approved medications for leg cramps, and the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force hasn't issued guidelines for treating them. However, the American Academy of Neurology (AAN) has issued the following advice on common therapies, based on scientific evidence of effectiveness.
Stretching exercises. The AAN says that there are not enough data to say for sure that stretching helps reduce the frequency of muscle cramps. That doesn't mean that the exercises are ineffective or harmful, and doing them can help contribute to the flexibility of your legs.
Quinine. There is solid evidence that quinine and quinine derivatives are effective in reducing the frequency of muscle cramps, although the magnitude of benefit is small. However, quinine is out-of-bounds for most people. The FDA has issued repeated warnings against using quinine (which is approved only to treat certain types of malaria) to prevent or treat leg cramps because it may cause serious side effects, including bleeding and kidney damage. Although doctors can still prescribe quinine, it is recommended only when cramps are disabling and when the person can be carefully monitored for side effects.
Vitamin B complex. There is some evidence that taking a daily capsule containing eight B vitamins—B1 (thiamine), B2 (riboflavin), B3 (niacin), B5 (pantothenic acid), B6, B7 (biotin), B9 (folate), and B12—may prevent cramps.
Calcium-channel blockers. Evidence indicates that one calcium-channel blocker—diltiazem (Cardizem, Dilacor XR)—is possibly effective.
Ineffective therapies. The AAN found enough evidence to indicate that magnesium supplements and gabapentin (Neurontin) aren't likely to help.
Other remediesIn situations like nighttime leg cramps, where there are no widely accepted treatments, unproven remedies may be worth a try. The following are low-risk and have enthusiastic proponents.
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Look on the bright side and maybe even live longer
Studies suggest that adopting a sunnier outlook may improve your health and even extend your life.
Image: © lzf /Thinkstock
In these turbulent times, it's sometimes a struggle to maintain a glass-half-full view of life. But if you can, it may serve you well. A growing body of research links optimism—a sense that all will be well—to a lower risk for mental or physical health issues and to better odds of a longer life.
One of the largest such studies was led by researchers Dr. Kaitlin Hagan and Dr. Eric Kim at Harvard's T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Their team analyzed data from 70,000 women in the Nurses' Health Study who, in 2004, had answered questions about how they viewed their futures
White wine linked to higher risk of certain melanomas
Data from more than 200,000 people indicates that the risk of developing melanoma increases by 13% for every glass of white wine consumed per day. Drinking beer, red wine, or liquor was not associated with increased risk.
Emergencies and First Aid - Bleeding
Bleeding
While a minor cut will eventually stop bleeding, a severe injury may require elevation and direct pressure on the wound. The goals of first-aid treatment are to control bleeding and prevent infection. If disposable surgical gloves are readily available, use them.
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Emergencies and First Aid - Birth of the Placenta
Birth of the Placenta
The placenta, which has provided the fetus with nourishment, is attached to the umbilical cord and is delivered about 20 minutes after the baby. Do not pull on the cord; delivery of the placenta occurs on its own. You can help by gently massaging the womanÂ’s lower abdomen. The uterus will feel like a hard round mass.
Massaging the abdomen helps the uterus contract, which also helps stop bleeding. After the placenta is delivered, place it in a plastic bag to take with the woman and baby to the hospital. It is normal for more bleeding to occur after delivery of the placenta. Continue gently massaging the womanÂ’s lower abdomen.
Emergencies and First Aid - Butterfly Bandage
Butterfly Bandage
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Emergencies and First Aid - Direct Pressure to Stop Bleeding
Direct Pressure to Stop Bleeding
A wound that is deep, bleeding heavily, or has blood spurting from it (caused by bleeding from an artery), may not clot and may not stop bleeding.
Immediate care
Call out for someone to get help, or call 911 yourself. Elevate the wound and apply direct pressure.
When You Visit Your Doctor - Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia (BPH)
Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia (BPH), or Enlarged Prostate
Questions to Discuss With Your Doctor:
- Over the past month, how often have you had a sensation of not emptying your bladder completely after you finished urinating?
- Over the past month, how often have you had to urinate again less than two hours after you finished urinating?
- Over the past month, how often have you found you stopped and started again several times when you urinated?
- Over the past month, how often have you found it difficult to postpone urination?
- Over the past month, how often have you had a weak urinary stream?
- Over the past month, how often have you had to push or strain to begin urination?
- Over the past month, how many times did you most typically get up to urinate from the time you went to bed at night until the time you got up in the morning?
- If you were to spend the rest of your life with your urinary condition just the way it is now, how would you feel about that?
- Have you had blood in your urine, or urinary tract infections?
- Have you ever had surgery on your prostate, bladder, or kidneys?
- Do you have gastrointestinal problems such as diverticulitis or constipation?
- Do you have diabetes?
- Does anyone in your family have diabetes?
- Have you been unusually thirsty or had unintentional weight loss?
- Have you ever had a stroke or nervous system disease?
- Have you ever had a back injury or back surgery?
- What medications are you taking (prescription and over-the-counter)?
- What do you know about medical and surgical treatment options used in the treatment of benign prostatic enlargement?
- Do you know the side effects that can occur with medications?
- Do you know the complications associated with surgery?
- Do you know how much benefit you can expect from each type of treatment?
- Do you know the risks of waiting, and doing nothing at all?
Your Doctor Might Examine the Following Body Structures or Functions:
- Abdominal examination
- Neurological examination
- Digital rectal examination
- Genital examination
Your Doctor Might Order the Following Lab Test or Studies:
- Urinalysis (for glucose, red blood cells, white blood cells, and bacteria)
- Blood tests (for kidney function and prostate-specific antigen or PSA)
- Cystoscopy
- Ultrasound of the bladder after you urinate (post void residual)
- Ultrasound of the kidneys
- Pelvic CT scan

Avocado nutrition: Health benefits and easy recipes

Swimming lessons save lives: What parents should know

Preventing and treating iliotibial (IT) band syndrome: Tips for pain-free movement

Wildfires: How to cope when smoke affects air quality and health

What can magnesium do for you and how much do you need?

Dry socket: Preventing and treating a painful condition that can occur after tooth extraction

What happens during sleep � and how to improve it

How is metastatic prostate cancer detected and treated in men over 70?

Could biofeedback help your migraines?

What is autism spectrum disorder?
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