Martin's Must-Reads

Martin's Must-Reads

By Betty Martin, Mark MartinArtsBooks
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Martin's Must-Reads episodes

  • To Your Health: Weather’s Effect on Health
    As the seasons change, and the daily temperatures fluctuate wildly, we often hear the weather blamed for illness. But does going from warm to cold and back again actually have anything to do with whether we get sick? The answer is...well, maybe. While scientists have long insisted that it is a virus that makes you sick, not the weather, several recent studies have found that the weather might help that virus get a foothold. First, different viruses flourish in different weather. If we have the
    2 min
  • To Your Health: Do Daily Multivitamins Have Health Benefits?
    If, like the majority of Americans, you take a daily multivitamin to make up for a suboptimal diet and promote wellness, you may want to change your routine. Because so many Americans take dietary supplements, the National Institutes of Health has spent up to $300 million to study their health effects. They found that in randomized clinical trials, most of the supplements failed to demonstrate a significant benefit. The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force has concluded that the current evidence
    2 min
  • To Your Health: Endometriosis
    That time of the month. A visit from your friend. The curse. Aunt Flo. There are so many euphemisms for menstruation that sometimes women and girls get the message they really shouldn’t mention it. Perhaps that’s why one of the mottos of the Endometriosis Association is “Let’s Talk About It.” March is National Endometriosis Awareness Month. The condition gets its name from the word endometrium, the tissue that normally lines the uterus or womb. Endometriosis happens when this tissue grows
    2 min
  • To Your Health: Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month
    Colorectal cancer is the second-leading cause of cancer death in the United States. To catch those typically slow-growing malignancies early, when they can often be cured, most doctors' groups recommend colorectal cancer screening starting at age 50. Despite the high cure rate when colon cancer is caught early, only two-thirds of Americans over 50 get screened. March is Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month. Because many people shy away from the invasive colonoscopy, The American Cancer Society has
    2 min
  • To Your Health: Eating Disorders Awareness Week
    The Missouri Eating Disorders Association states, “an estimated 575,000 Missourians suffer from a serious eating disorder.” This is National Eating Disorders Awareness Week. Some people may see eating disorders as phases, fads or lifestyle choices, but they’re actually serious mental disorders which are recognized by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. Eating disorders affect people physically, psychologically and socially and can have life-threatening consequences. Eating
    2 min
  • To Your Health: Teen Dating Violence Awareness
    It might start off seeming like the comments come from a caring place. “Please don’t wear that shirt when we go out. I love you so much, I can’t stand it when other guys look at you.” But soon, it escalates to verbal and physical abuse or digital dating abuse, where one partner reads the other’s text messages and wants access to the passwords for their e-mail and social media profiles. February is teen dating violence awareness month. The National Institute of Justice defines teen dating
    2 min
  • To Your Health: Congenital Heart Defect Awareness
    Ten fingers, ten toes and one perfect heart. This is Congenital Heart Defect Awareness Week. Congenital heart defects are heart conditions that a baby is born with. These conditions can affect the heart’s shape, how it works, or both. According to the March of Dimes, congenital heart defects are the most common types of birth defects. Nearly 1 in 100 babies is born with a heart defect in the United States each year. About 4,800 babies each year are born with Critical Congenital Heart Disease.
    2 min
  • To Your Health: Winter Blues
    Did you go to a New Year’s Eve Party? Can you believe that happened THIS MONTH? The month of January can tend to drag on. The holiday fun is over. It’s cold, there’s less daylight and the landscape is bleak. But, how can you tell the difference between “the winter blues” and something more serious? Depressive Disorder with Seasonal Onset, previously known as Season al Affective Disorder, is listed as a subtype of depression within the DSM-V, the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and
    2 min
  • To Your Health: ADHD
    Most healthy children are inattentive, hyperactive or impulsive at one time or another. However, The Corsini Encyclopedia of Psychology and Behavioral Science defines Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) as being characterized by persistent and chronic inattention and/or excessive motor restlessness and impulsivity. I have seen some of my students at Southeast struggle with this condition as they adapt to college life. The American Academy of Pediatrics provides specific guidelines
    2 min
  • To Your Health: Frostbite Can Cause Permanent Damage
    At Christmastime, Jack Frost nipping at your nose sounds cute. When you are shoveling snow in January, you worry about meeting his ugly cousin, frostbite. While hypothermia, the lowering of core body temperature, is deadly, frostbite---freezing of the skin and underlying tissues--- can cause permanent tissue damage, as well as lead to amputation and disability. The Mayo Clinic reports there are three stages of frostbite. Frostnip, the first stage of frostbite, doesn't cause permanent skin damage
    2 min

About Martin's Must-Reads

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There are one million new books published each year. With so many books and so little time, where do you begin to find your next must-read? There’s the New York Times Bestseller list, the Goodreads…