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Can Playing Video Games Really Make You Healthy?

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We all know that to stay healthy, once must stay active aside from eating right. Also, a sedentary lifestyle that most of us lead nowadays make us prone to developing ailments or predispose us to obesity because of the lack of movement our body needs in order to stay fit and healthy. There is no shortcut to health and wellness. Living healthily may look uncool compared to what the cool kids do these days, which is to hang out in posh and expensive cafes and eat in all the best food spots in town. A small minority are obsessed with video games, though, especially the males. They spend a great deal of time playing with games for hours on end and often binge eat on unhealthy foods that are convenient to eat like takeouts, pizza, burgers, fries, chips, and soda.

Playing with video games is obviously not a good way to boost your health as you sit for hours just glued to the screen but it seems that we have been mistaken all along because it can actually be put to good use. The truth is, people who are obsessed with video games are in their teens or are young adults with raging hormones. It means they are likely to have sexual contact but are the least educated when it comes to sexual health. With the help of this new video game technology, …

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Sleep Loss Caused Trains To Collide

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Human beings have needs. Some are luxuries while many are basic necessities that we all need in order to live. Aside from food, clothing, and shelter, sleep is also a basic need that makes us function well in society. Aside from its restorative properties, one feels better and more alert after a good night’s sleep. Whether you are still a young child, a student, or an adult with work and other responsibilities, sleep is crucial in enabling us to do things efficiently most of the time. Unfortunately, because of the many distractions that we now have in the form of smartphones, other tech gadgets, and the mere existence of the web, we continually lose sleep day in and day out because of our own doing.

Meanwhile, some suffer from more serious and troublesome medical conditions like sleep disorders and the outcome may at times be disastrous. One of the most recent tragedy is the collision of two NY trains that resulted in the death of one individual and injuring over 100 passengers of the unfortunate trains. According to investigations, undiagnosed sleep apnea is the culprit why such a misfortune happened.

Two commuter train crashes in the New York City metropolitan area are being blamed on undiagnosed sleep apnea, according to an announcement yesterday from the National Transportation Safety Board. Investigations have determined that the conductors in both accidents—a September 2016 New Jersey Transit

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Advocating For Mental Health

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Life is not easy but you learn to cope. However, there are people who have a hard time doing that. These people end up hurting/ cutting or starving themselves, bottling up their emotions leading to depression and even taking their own lives when nothing else works.

Being mentally healthy is important to not only function like a normal human being but to also keep your head above the problems you are facing. There are days that will really be too bad where you just want to curl up in bed and do nothing but eventually, you have to face reality and move on. That is the only way to live and thrive in this world we live in. It’s never easy but you got to keep trying.

Spending three months in a hospital bed is a tough pill to swallow for anyone. It’s even more difficult when your anxiety kicks into high gear.

Joe Bietola has been anxious all his life. It came to a head when he fractured his leg, and was sent to Hotel-Dieu Grace Healthcare for several weeks. Confined to a room, unable to get around on his own, Bietola’s anxiousness only got worse as each day passed. He described it like being a zombie in bed.

People cope differently. While we may all put up a good front on our social media accounts, deep down we are hiding our …

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How Instagram Messes Up With Your Mental Health

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Social media brought out the narcissist in us. The word “selfie” was eventually recognized by most dictionaries because people loved taking their photos and posting it on social media. While initially, photos reminded us of important milestones in our lives, too much picture taking has bordered into the extreme. Many people post their every move on social media, which isn’t entirely necessary as not everyone is interested in every detail of their lives.

Another issue with social media is how you only show off the good side of your life. It gives others the impression that your life is perfect. It’s very apparent with the social network, Instagram. They even coined the term “Instagram-worthy or IG-worthy photos” when posting pictures on this channel because most posts describe perfection in a picture. Others get insecure that their lives aren’t as glamorous as their friends and start doubting their self-worth. That’s when Instagram became more of a curse rather than a blessing.

Instagram is the most detrimental social networking app for young people’s mental health, followed closely by Snapchat, according to a new report by the Royal Society for Public Health (RSPH) in the UK.

Their study, #StatusofMind, surveyed almost 1500 young people aged 14 to 24 on how certain social media platforms impact health and wellbeing issues such as anxiety, depression, self-identity and body image.

YouTube was found to have the most positive

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An Addict’s Life: Is Help Available?

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Addiction affects people of all walks of life in America. From the youth to the elderly, whether you are a man, a woman, or gay, rich or poor, educated or not, there are different forms of addiction that plague addicts and dominates their lives. Addiction often pertains to vices – smoking, alcohol, prohibited/recreational drugs and even to medicines such as painkillers – but most prominent of all is drugs, leaving people unable to function normally in its absence but more so when they are high.

The lives of these addicts are crippled and devoid of opportunities to start anew. But in as much as we loathe addiction, there are fewer stigmas surrounding it, but it is still there. Help is now available if they only learn to acknowledge that they need help in the first place.

“You know, man, I’m in this place where part of me hesitates to tell my story because of concerns about reputation and my business and all that, but at the same time, this is just who I am. It’s who I am to want to help people. That’s what this is about. Addiction doesn’t have the stigma that it had ten years ago, but it still has a stigma. A lot of people think that it’s a moral failure, and it might be that with some people, I don’t know. That was part of it for me.

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Feeling Sick And Lonely

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Loneliness not only affects a person’s emotions but the physical health as well. It is not surprising to see people develop physical symptoms when they are anxious or depressed. Palpitations, sweating, headaches etc. are just examples of your emotions getting the best of you.

So, why is it that people are more prone to illness when their morale is low? Well, I guess it has to do with your immunity. Your immune system can better fight off infections when your spirits are up rather than when you are feeling depressed. So, you are more likely to catch a common cold when you feel sad and lonely.

Suffering through a cold is annoying enough, but if you’re lonely, you’re likely to feel even worse, according to Rice University researchers.

A study led by Rice psychologist Chris Fagundes and graduate student Angie LeRoy indicated people who feel lonely are more prone to report that their cold symptoms are more severe than those who have stronger social networks.

“Loneliness puts people at risk for premature mortality and all kinds of other physical illnesses,” LeRoy said. “But nothing had been done to look at an acute but temporary illness that we’re all vulnerable to, like the common cold.”

The study is the subject of a paper published this week in Health Psychology.

The researchers drew a distinction between feeling lonely and actual social isolation.

(Via: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/03/170330092831.htm)…

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Fighting The Stigma Of Mental Illness

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In most societies, talking about mental illness is a major taboo. People are not just comfortable discussing any of these controversial health conditions most of us know so little about. But what is really so distressing when discussing issues that are innate to all humans? If we get sick physiologically because of many factors, the same thing can happen to our mental state. After all, we are not robots and we have feelings that get hurt too.

Our psychological, emotional and social well-being comprises our mental health. How we feel, think, act and respond to stress are affected by all these factors. Whether you are a young child or an older adult, it is important to take care of your mental health at every stage of your life because various external factors like biological agents, life experiences, and a family history of a mental disease can put you at higher risk of developing a mental illness over time. A healthy mental state can help you cope with all the challenges you face in life, whether big or small, and the failure to cope often leads to mental illness.

Nicola talks openly about her battle with schizophrenia in a bid to help other people understand the illness better. A few years ago she became an ambassador for See Change, the National Mental Health Stigma Reduction Partnership, and will be speaking about the condition when

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Staying Fit And Healthy In The Era of Social Media

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People were more active back then. The absence of too much technology prompted people to do things on their own when they can’t rely on a gadget or two to wash their dishes, heat their food or research their homework. Everything was done by scratch. And people led more active lives too. People actually go out of the house to keep themselves entertained since nothing much is on TV and they didn’t have a smartphone to fiddle with.

Nowadays, people can’t get enough of social media. It borders on an addiction/ obsession already. And as we become more dependent and obsessed with technology, the less time we have to move around and take care of our physical health. Even sleep is compromised as you stay up late at night to keep yourself updated on the happenings on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram. As a result, our physical health deteriorates and obesity is becoming a global issue. People these days have no time to engage in actual sports but they play all sorts of games on their smartphones, tablets, and computers.

You just won a big game with your team and one way to commemorate the victory is by posting a video of the celebration on your Instagram or Snapchat. Should you post?

You just lost a big game with your team and one way of venting is to post your frustrations on Facebook or

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Medical Professionals Are Not Happy With GOP Health Proposal

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We can’t deny that major changes are taking place in the country today. With the change in the political climate, we can expect that more changes are still coming our way in the months and years to come. It has been evident ever since the new president took oath and assumed the presidency.

The passage of new bills concerning health care is just as controversial as Trump’s immigration and trade policies. Obamacare has been in place for the last two terms. Various medical personnel all over the country are not thrilled with the current administration’s efforts at repealing it and eventually getting it replaced. Bloomberg.com got it covered:

The Republican plan to replace Obamacare has a health problem.

On Wednesday, the U.S.’s biggest advocacy group for doctors came out against House Republicans’ legislation, while the insurance lobby expressed concerns with the bill, adding to growing opposition from the country’s top trade groups for physicians and hospitals who worry that it will leave more people uninsured or with limited coverage.

In a letter to Congress, the American Medical Association said it “cannot support the AHCA as it is currently written,” referring to the American Health Care Act, as the Republican proposal to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act is named. The association calls itself the largest physician advocacy group in the country, and backed the nomination of Tom Price as President Donald

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Snoring Indicates More Serious Health Problems

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We all just want to sleep after a long day at work or at school. You can’t wait but to hit the sack and get some well-deserved snooze and recharge for the next day. But getting a good night’s sleep is not always possible with the many distractions in our life right now – and I’m not just referring to surfing the internet until the wee hours of the morning.

A lot of people snore. And it can deprive you of a much-needed sleep as it does to your spouse. But if snoring does not just prevent you from sleeping but also leaves you feeling exhausted in the morning, then it is not just a simple case of snoring but a more serious condition known as sleep apnea.

Medical professionals reveal that snoring indicates more serious health issues.

Annoying and more often than not, disruptive, snoring is the most common problem affecting more than 90 million Americans of both genders and all ages.

The National Sleep Foundation says 37 million Americans snore on a regular basis.

More than an annoyance, snoring is body’s way of telling you something is wrong, according to doctors. It has many causes and the trick is to find out why you snore, which is difficult.

Patients diagnosed with sleep apnea snores.

Sleep Apnea happens when the person actually stops breathing briefly during sleep. It’s a condition doctors said

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Benefits Of Legalizing Cannabis

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You’ve probably heard a greater deal about cannabis now than you did in previous years. Well, it is true. The reason is that with the promising benefits offered mainly by medical cannabis, it has opened up a whole new possibilities for the cannabis industry as a whole. Now, people of all walks of life are giving marijuana the time of day because they often see it on the news and the talks about legalizing it has raised awareness of its existence to people who never cared about this once-taboo substance. The thing is that many people are already aware of cannabis but didn’t mind it thinking it is an illegal substance that will do you no good. Meanwhile, those who already use it buy it from the black market because first off, it is illegal, and you won’t be able to find a legit store selling it anywhere near you.

Aside from being beneficial to one’s health, cannabis is a major market commodity these days. Along with the rise of CBD-rich cannabis that lacks the psychoactive properties commonly found in the marijuana of yesteryears and in the recreational marijuana of today, medical cannabis contains a high amount of CBD, a cannabidiol responsible for the many health benefits cannabis users now enjoy. There is a catch though. People with certain conditions are the only ones allowed to use medical marijuana, so get yourself checked …

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