Have you ever struggled through a stressful week where tight deadlines made you grouchy, disagreements with family produced anxiety, and the number of bills in the mailbox made you blue? Then, Saturday finally arrives...and so does a big canker sore on the inside of your cheek. Could these events be connected? Certainly, the Mayo Clinic states that emotional stress can be one of the causes of these mouth ulcers. Stress is also listed as a contributing factor to cold sores and acne. But can your

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

"In January, people do crazy, desperate things to get thin fast," says Dr. Linda Bacon, a nutrition professor at the City College of San Francisco, California. Experts recommend starting with small changes to your diet. Maybe now would be a good time to try that. Today is the last day of National Nutrition Month. The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics states the theme for 2017 has been "Put Your Best Fork Forward", which acts as a reminder that each bite counts. Making just small shifts in our

Sir Walter Scott wrote, “I have sometimes thought of the final cause of dogs having such short lives and I am quite satisfied it is in compassion to the human race; for if we suffer so much in losing a dog after an acquaintance of ten or twelve years, what would it be if they were to live double that time?” I think most dog owners would agree with this statement. Today is National Puppy Day. Adopting a puppy can often be the beginning of a beautiful friendship, that has health benefits as well.

Remember when the Scarecrow in the Wizard of Oz sang about how wonderful life would be if he only had a brain? Most of us, ironically, don’t give a lot of thought to our brains. It’s Brain Awareness Week. Oh, sure, you might be aware that you have a brain, but the purpose of this global campaign is to increase public awareness of the progress and benefits of brain research. According to The Society for Neuroscience, the human brain is a spongy three pound mass of tissue and the most complex

What would we do without our smartphones? We can look up news and weather in seconds, access friends via social media, take pictures, and cover them in bacteria! Most mobile phones are teeming with germs. The Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, or APIC, states the kinds of illnesses you could get from germs on a phone are the types you get from touching surfaces and then touching your eyes, nose and mouth. You can pick up colds, flu, and gastrointestinal and

Butt. Bottom. Poop. Do I have your attention? No, I’m not trying to get your backseat listeners to laugh at potty humor. I am trying to raise your awareness that it is Colorectal Cancer Month. Colorectal cancer, or colon cancer, occurs in the colon or rectum. According to the Colon Cancer Alliance, this disease takes the lives of more than 50,000 people every year. Colon cancer is the third most common cancer in the US, and the second leading cause of cancer death. According to the Prevent

Would you believe that Finland has lowered its infant mortality rate from 65 out of 1,000 babies to one of the lowest in the world--and now has some of the happiest mothers in the world---because they put their babies in boxes? Baby boxes, or boxinettes, are now being given out at some U.S. Hospitals, including some in our listening area, to help reduce Sudden Infant Death Syndrome or SIDS, as well as accidental smothering. A helpful acronym to remember for safe sleep is B-A-B-Y: B is for Back :

The British comedian Jo Brand once remarked, “anything is good if it is made of chocolate.” But can anything made of chocolate also be good for you? Would you like to feel less guilty about the chocolates you ate on Valentine’s Day? Chocolate can be good for you, or at least the plant compounds called cocoa flavonoids can be, but there are just as many caveats as health benefits. The chocolate needs to be dark and processed in such a way that doesn’t diminish the power of its flavenols, which

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