At week 9, only two months into pregnancy, a baby’s hands and fingers are developed. At this point the baby is only around 1.2 inches in size, and has its own faint heartbeat. Now, picture that developing baby with a cigarette between its tiny fingers. When mothers choose to smoke during their pregnancies, they might as well put cigarettes right into the hands of their unborn infants. According to The Western Journal of Medicine, “throughout the past decade, smoking has remained the single most

People with diabetes do not get to pick and choose when they want to deal with it. Diabetes is an ongoing disease that requires 24/7 work. But does having diabetes stop people from living their life to the fullest? There are probably many different answers to that question. According to Ginger Vieira, the author of, “Dealing with Diabetes Burnout,” on a daily basis, she tries to balance three things: diabetes, life, and happiness. Diabetes occurs when the pancreas is unable to produce enough

The American Red Cross reports that although an estimated 38 percent of the U.S. population is eligible to donate blood, less than 10 percent of that eligible population actually donate each year. Donations at high school and college blood drives account for as much as 20 percent of the supply during the school year, but during the summer months, these donors are not as accessible. When vacations disrupt other regular donors’ schedules, we are faced with a summer blood shortage. Despite many

When I ask my health communication students to describe what childbirth is like, based on what they have seen on TV, they mention dramatic deliveries, perfectly clean newborns and instantly skinny mothers. The unrealistic images my students are describing are a result of cultivation theory. The more we see something depicted, the more we believe that is the reality, especially if we don’t have any real experience to compare it to. Watching medical shows can be problematic when fans develop a

If someone near you collapsed right now, would you be able to perform CPR? How about open heart surgery? This example is used by Heather Williams, a Substance Abuse Specialist at Cape Girardeau’s Community Counseling Center as she begins training a new group of Mental Health First Aid students. I’m Brooke Hildebrand Clubbs, Director of Health Communication at Southeast Missouri State University and I recently became one of the one million people who have completed a Mental Health First Aid

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, since the pre-vaccine era, there has been more than a 99% decrease in mumps cases in the United States. However, outbreaks can occur when people are in a crowded environment. Here on our campus, we recently had a mumps outbreak, with 54 confirmed cases. What are the mumps and how did they make a comeback in Cape Girardeau? Newsweek reported in February of this year that the mumps virus targets the central nervous system, which is why

"My pain is invisible, so is the pain you inflict when you don’t believe me." This quote, shared by Fibromyalgia News Today was well received by its readers, who claimed it very accurately reflected their daily struggles. May 12 is Fibromyalgia Awareness Day. The National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases defines fibromyalgia as “a disorder that causes muscle pain and fatigue. People with fibromyalgia have pain and tenderness throughout the body. “ Symptoms include

You sometimes hear students talking about how they will never use algebra in real life. Well, I don’t frequently diagram sentences or play badminton, but that doesn’t mean the time I spent in school on these activities wasn’t worthwhile. It’s National Physical Fitness and Sports Month. If you stopped thinking about participating in physical fitness and sports when you last closed your high school gym locker, it might be time to reconsider. American leaders realized fitness was vital for our

"Oh, you hate your job? Why didn't you say so? There's a support group for that. It's called everybody, and they meet at the bar." Comedian Drew Carey’s gallows’ humor aside, we spend half our waking hours at work and our jobs can affect our health. Whether we are unhappy because of the workplace environment or we experience actual physical dangers at work, we might bring home mental and physical effects in addition to our paycheck. The American Psychological Association states that constant

The World Health Organization (WHO) defines environment, as it relates to health, as “all the physical, chemical, and biological factors external to a person, and all the related behaviors. ”Environmental health consists of preventing or controlling disease, injury, and disability related to the interactions between people and their environment. As we approach Earth Day, it seems like a good time to look at how our health is affected by the environment. Globally, nearly 25 percent of all deaths