Tag: care

Take out your smartphone and scroll through your photos.
We’ll wait. Notice anything?

If you’re seeing dozens of pictures of yourself, you’re a selfie addict, and we’re sorry to break it to you, but that’s not such a good thing. In recent years, researchers have carried out several selfie-centric studies, and for the most part, the results aren’t great for selfie aficionados.
For starters, nobody wants to see them.
In a study titled “The Selfie Paradox,” researchers from Ludwig-Maximilians-University in Munich, Germany, shed light on the “contradictory phenomenon of selfies and their psychological value.”

The researchers, Sarah Diefenback and Lara Christoforakos, examined how people who take selfies are perceived by themselves and their peers.
“Taking, posting, and viewing selfies has become a daily habit for many,” they acknowledged in the study’s abstract. At the same time, research revealed that selfies often evoke criticism and disrespect and are associated with non-authenticity and narcissism.
Diefenback and Christoforakos found that people view selfie-takers as “narcissistic” but judge their own selfies as “more authentic and self-ironic.”

To put it another way, while you might think that you’re being clever and mocking the whole selfie trend, other people will see your photo for what it likely is: a typical selfie. All this makes for a strange paradox, since nobody seems to like selfies, but most of us keep posting them.
“Taking peoples’ statements literally, selfies should have never become as popular as they actually are,” the researchers wrote.

Not only that, but selfie viewing might harm your self-esteem.

Two graduate students at Penn State University studied the psychological effects of selfie viewing.

As the researchers noted, “neither selfie nor groupie posting behavior was associated with self-esteem or life satisfaction.” In other words, posting pictures online—whether they’re selfies or groupies—doesn’t indicate anything particular about your self-esteem or life satisfaction.

If you’re still addicted to taking selfies, though, we’ve got a bit of good news.

Scientists have also been working to figure out how to take the perfect selfie. A study published in the journal Frontiers in Psychology asked 172 people to rate 14 faces shown from different perspectives.

Researchers Tobias M. Schneider and Claus-Christian Carbon found that camera positioning plays a big role in our perception. The faces rated most attractive appeared to be tilted to the right by about 15 degrees. When participants viewed faces tilted 30 or more degrees to the left, they were more likely to rate the photos as sympathetic and intelligent.
That means that if you want to take an attractive photo, show more of the right side of your face. If you’re trying to take a selfie to show how smart you are, show more of your left side.
However, the researchers noted that their results are far from conclusive—and that’s really the case with all of these selfie studies.
“Taking selfies is now becoming a standard human habit,” wrote Schneider and Carbon in their selfie study. “However, as a social phenomenon, research is still in the fledgling stage and the scientific framework is sparse.”

Ever since I learned I was expecting my first child, I have fallen into a pattern I swore I would avoid—I always put my needs last.

It isn’t really uncommon behavior for a mom, of course. It starts when we are first pregnant. We’re staring at the price tag of countless baby necessities—from the crib to the hundreds and hundreds of diapers we will use in their first year, and suddenly we start deciding our needs can be put aside.

Here’s what I’ve learned about putting your needs last—it doesn’t actually benefit your children in any way. You may feel like you are doing them a favor, but you know that tired cliché about putting on your oxygen mask first when the plane is going down? Well, it is completely true.

Trust me, I’ve put my needs last countless times only to discover it depletes my ability to care for my kids well.

So we’re challenging you to do things differently this time around. Quit ignoring your needs and wants and instead decide to take care of yourself during your pregnancy. Pregnancy is difficult enough as it is; moms don’t need to sacrifice unnecessarily and make things harder than they need to be.

Here are a few things pregnant moms can actually use, straight from expectant and new moms just like you.

A Morning Habit That Will Keep You and Baby Healthy

Taking a daily prenatal vitamin isn’t optional advice from your doctor, this little habit is important for keeping both you and your baby healthy. You’re growing a person!

So it makes sense that you might need a little extra help to keep your energy high and make sure both your and your baby’s needs are being met.

There are a lot of prenatals out there, so when you are picking one out, you will want to be sure it has a few basic ingredients. Vitamins A, C,

on Amazon, and if your swelling is really giving you trouble, your doctor may be able to recommend medical-grade stockings to make life more bearable while you wait for Baby’s arrival.

Fight off Stretch Marks One Massage at a Time.

As your baby grows, so will your belly, stretching your skin unlike it has ever been stretched before. Rapid growth can create stretch marks in many women. In some cases they’re genetic and unavoidable, but in many instances there are things you can do to keep them from becoming too extreme.

With the number of products on the market bragging about their ability to keep stretch marks at bay, it’s hard to know which creams are worth the money.

The secret to avoiding stretch marks is all about vitamin E, which helps the skin stay elastic so it can adapt to all of that growth. And even if you are genetically prone to stretch marks, a good lotion or cream will also help you keep your skin from getting itchy around those marks.

“Palmer’s Cocoa Butter Formula With Vitamin E,” Larson suggested. “I used it every night before bed during pregnancy; I was never itchy and…no stretch marks!”

Accommodate Your Growing Belly Without Breaking the Bank.

One little-known secret of pregnancy is just how expensive maternity clothes can be. It seems like the clothes made for expectant moms are the only items that never go on sale—and at their regular price, they’re significantly pricier than conventional items.

Buying a whole new wardrobe during pregnancy simply isn’t affordable for a lot of moms, and that’s why this product really rocks. The Bellaband by Ingrid & Isabel is a thick elastic band you can slide over your unbuttoned jeans.

With the help of this band, you might be able to wear your pre-pregnancy jeans throughout your pregnancy, so all you need to purchase are some cute maternity tops and a comfy pair of sweatpants.

A Little Extra Love for Your Aching Feet

As the end of your pregnancy draws near, you’re going to notice just how sore your feet are and how hard it is to bend over and lace up your shoes. Make getting dressed in the morning a little easier with a couple of pairs of comfortable slip-on shoes.

During the colder months, a lot of moms love these ballet flats made specifically for pregnancy. They slip right on and have an aloe-infused insole for extra comfort. There are also summer options, like this cute wedge sandal. Of course, when the last weeks of your pregnancy roll around, you just might have to break out bigger shoes depending on how much swelling you experience.

“I had to straight up buy a pair of men’s flip flops by the end of my summer pregnancy,” mom Jessica Hoffman confessed.

Here’s hoping this list of pregnancy essentials will inspire you to take care of your changing body. It’s your baby’s home for more than nine months, and when your new little one arrives, it will provide the nutrition and comfort they need to thrive.

Do yourself and your baby a favor and make getting rest and staying healthy your number one priority.

You wouldn’t think that the sponge sitting in your kitchen sink could make you sick—but it can. The whole purpose of a sponge is to soak things up, and that includes soaking up bacteria.

Past claims that you can disinfect these handheld scrubbers have been proven false. So if you have a sponge lurking in your kitchen, you probably want to get rid of it.

Your microwave won’t save you.

Sponges are a cheap and convenient product for household cleaning. There’s no inherent issue when using them, but over time, you might develop a problem. Some websites will say you can kill a sponge’s bacteria by tossing it in a dishwasher or zapping it in a microwave. Science disagrees.

A study conducted by Markus Egert and researchers of Furtwangen University in Germany found that household sponges are definitely grosser than we think. The researchers took sponges from 14 different homes, collected samples from the top and bottom of each one, then used genetic sequencing to determine what type of microbes could be found in the cracks and crevices we rub on our dishes.

A Motherload of Bacteria

According to the research, “A total of … 9 phyla, 17 classes, 35 orders, 73 families and 118 genera” of bacteria were discovered on the sponges.

In layman’s terms: That’s a lot of microorganisms. A particularly nasty bacterium called Moraxellacea was there in force. That’s a bug that’s commonly found on human skin, and it’s responsible for making your dirty laundry smell. That’s gross, but it probably won’t make you sick. But the researchers found other strains that were closely related to disease-causing microbes.

A few of the volunteers said they did regularly clean their sponges, but research found this made no difference in the bacteria population. However, the “cleaner” sponges did contain more of the bacteria linked to diseases. So when you pull that sponge out of the microwave, you’re potentially risking your health more than if you had left it alone.

Cleaning vs. Disinfecting

The sponge may be a lost cause, but you can at least be sure the rest of your kitchen isn’t teeming with germs. This sounds simple, but first you need to know the difference between cleaning and disinfection.

Cleaning involves wiping up grease, food residue, or any other visible spills. Although cleaning makes a kitchen look nice, it also basically just smears bacteria from surface to surface. Disinfecting kills bacteria, viruses, or parasites that could be lurking on the surfaces of your home.

What can you do?

First and foremost, change sponges regularly.

“From a long-term perspective, sponge sanitation methods appear not sufficient to effectively reduce the bacterial load in kitchen sponges and might even increase the shares of [disease-linked] bacteria. We therefore rather suggest a regular (and easily affordable) replacement of kitchen sponges, for example, on a weekly basis,” wrote Egert.

The way you wash and dry kitchen items can also help reduce bacteria growth. It’s a good idea to keep strong disinfectant cleaners, like bleach, around the house to use frequently when cleaning.

The EPA offers a list of registered disinfectants if you’re wondering what products to use. Oh, and if you’re worried about chemical residue in your home, vinegar and baking soda kill certain types of microbes—just not as effectively as bleach.

An Idaho Power technician found himself not in, but near, hot water in the sweltering heat of his work truck earlier this summer.

Dioni Amuchastegui was taking a lunch break in his truck when he noticed something peculiar. The Idaho Power professional explained what happened in a

and University of Cincinnati have researched the effects of heat on water bottles. Unfortunately, the results don’t look good for people who regularly leave plastic bottles in their cars.

In both studies, scientists found that exposure to heat can significantly increase the volume of the potentially harmful chemical bisphenol A (BPA) that is released into the water by plastics.

“There is a large body of scientific evidence demonstrating the harmful effects of very small amounts of BPA in laboratory and animal studies, but little clinical evidence related to humans,” Dr. Scott Belcher of the University of Cincinnati explained to Science Daily.

Don’t get too comfortable. Belcher continued, “There is a very strong suspicion in the scientific community, however, that this chemical has harmful effects on humans.”

University of Florida soil and water science professor Lena Ma observed various brands of water that were stored in hot places for a month. When stored for four weeks at temperatures close to 150 degrees, the volume of BPA released increased more than tenfold.

A month straight of extreme temperatures may seem impossible.

But it doesn’t have to be 150 degrees outside for your car to feel the heat. A 2003 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study noted that the average car warms up more than 43 degrees within an hour of being parked in the sun.

And it’s not just disposable, sealed bottled water than can be dangerous. Dr. Belcher studied hot water’s effect on Nalgene bottles and similar products and found that with cool or room-temperature water, the amount of BPA released from these bottles was not particularly startling. When those same bottles were exposed to boiling water, though, “the speed of release was 15 to 55 times faster.”

If you need a refresher on the boiling point of water, it’s 212 degrees. The water in the video, of course, hit 213. The takeaway is clear: Unless you want to risk setting your car on fire and being exposed to potentially harmful chemicals, always take your water bottle inside with you.

Wonder Woman is 2017’s top-grossing summer movie, raking in

researches and advocates for “gender balance” and “challenging stereotypes” on screen.

In 2016,

of the book. “Join her on an amazing journey to discover what it would be like to be the President of the United States of America.”

It looks like Ashley has more than a couple of strong female role models to look up to.

An important closing note: The value of representation is not just a gender thing. Having positive role models from all underrepresented communities is vitally important to helping us create a more equitable world.

Anyone who has ever had a bad head cold can certainly relate to this spell found in the Ebers Papyrus, an ancient Egyptian medical text:

“May you flow out, catarrh, son of catarrh, who breaks the bones, who destroys the skull, who hacks in the marrow, who causes the seven openings in the head to ache.”

The Egyptians, like many other ancient cultures, thought that illness was caused by an angry deity or perhaps was a supernatural punishment for one’s actions. Spells, incantations, and magic were typically used to cure disease.

Fortunately, today’s doctors rely on science and modern medicine, but our ancestors believed diseases were caused by some pretty bizarre stuff.

1. Where’s your sense of humor?

The humors—blood, black bile, yellow bile, and phlegm—aren’t the worst team of superhero names you’ve ever heard. As early as the third century, people believed these four physical qualities controlled the body.

Hippocrates (you know, the reason doctors take the Hippocratic Oath) rejected the then-pervasive notion that disease and illness were caused by deities and magic. Hippocrates was on the right track, because he believed that disease started within the body. His theory of humoral balance, however, definitely missed the mark.

He proposed that the body was balanced by four fluids, or humors. The humors were associated with both the fundamental elements of earth, wind, fire, and air as well as the four seasons. Disease, Hippocrates proposed, occurred when the humors were out of whack.

The humors were also the original personality test. Each humor was associated with a certain temperament that defined a person’s personality. If you had too much black bile in your body, for example, you were thought to be extremely melancholy. Since black bile was associated with cold, dry weather and the earth element, melancholy individuals might have been sent to the seaside (a warm, wet climate) to cheer up and restore bodily balance.

This idea of the humors persisted well into the 19th century. Even Shakespeare relied heavily on humoral theory for character development in his plays. It was only in the late 1800s, as scientists discovered the bacteria and germs that caused certain diseases, that humoral theory fell out of favor.

2. Feeling sick? Blame Santa’s helpers.

Modern-day depictions show elves as being childlike, mischievous creatures like Santa’s helpers. Most early European cultures would disagree with this cute depiction. Instead, they saw elves as godlike creatures who had the power both to cause disease and restore health.

In particular, elves were thought to cause sudden illness by shooting invisible arrows into people and cattle, commonly called “elfshot.” Understandably, it’s pretty hard to protect against invisible arrows. In Scotland, people wore amulets and arrow charms to protect themselves from elfshot.

Elves were also largely thought responsible for infant illness. Ancient Europeans believed that elves would steal healthy babies, replacing them with an identical elf child, or changeling. When the baby became sick, parents suspected their child was a changeling.

To confirm their suspicions, parents would boil eggs in the presence of the baby, and if the baby laughed, cooed, or startled in surprise, their true changeling nature was revealed. Often, the parents would try to get their human baby back, but if they failed, they’d “give” the changeling back to the elves.

3. Ladies, beware the wandering womb.

I’ve never been happie
r to be a modern woman. As early as Plato’s day, doctors (all men, of course) believed the cause of most women’s illnesses to be a pesky case of wandering womb, which is exactly what it sounds like.

Our ancestors believed that the barren uterus would roam all over the body, causing any number of pains and diseases. These ailments were tidily summed up in one word: hysteria, derived from the Greek word for womb.

To recover from hysteria, women were advised to “lure the womb” back to its place in the body with fragrant scents, or better yet, by giving the womb a job to do and getting pregnant.

By the Middle Ages, doctors agreed that the womb did not, in fact, wander around the body. But they still believed hysteria to be an exclusively female disease. The most common cure was for ladies to receive specially administered “massages” to relieve the nervousness associated with hysteria. No wonder women back in the day loved going to the doctor!

4. Divine intervention isn’t always a good thing.

Ever wondered why we say “bless you” after a sneeze? Our ancestors believed that even the benign act of sneezing was something much more sinister.

A common belief was that sneezing could accidentally release your soul from your body. Others believed that the devil or other evil spirits could enter the body after a sneeze and steal your soul. And still others believed that the heart actually stopped beating for a moment during a sneeze.

The cure?

Saying “bless you” as quickly as possible to provide divine protection after a sneeze.

In addition to sneezes, our ancestors believed divinities were responsible for all kinds of illnesses. Mental illness, for example, was thought to be the result of demonic possession across several different cultures.

Starting in biblical times, our ancestors believed that physical skin disorders, like leprosy, were divine punishment for sin and bad behavior. During the Middle Ages, especially, people with leprosy were thought to be contagious, and were outcasts in society. They were made to give up their possessions, wear special clothing, and ring bells announcing their presence.

Treatment for leprosy was varied. Because people believed they were being punished by God, many sought a cure in the Church, while others turned to the modern (for the time) practice of humoral balance to cure the disease.

On the flipside, in ancient Greek culture seizures and epilepsy were thought to be the result of divine visitation and were often associated with being powerful. Although it has long been thought that Julius Caesar had epilepsy, historians now think he may have suffered from a genetic condition or mini-strokes and played up the epilepsy to make himself more powerful. Unfortunately, that plan really backfired for Caesar.

By the Middle Ages, feelings had changed, and people who suffered epileptic seizures were treated as outcasts, similar to people with leprosy.

There was one sure way to cure disease caused by the divine: the royal touch.

Throughout history, people have believed that royalty were divinely ordained to be leaders. As such, they had the power to heal with just the touch of their hand.

5. Blame it on Saturn.

In the 1300s, the Black Death ravaged Europe, reducing the total population by a third. The devastating plague that affected Europe was actually a result of
bacterial infection from fleas and rats, but medieval scholars believed that the planets were to blame.

Normally, astrology foretold omens and predicted the future but was rarely believed to be the cause of disease. In the case of the Black Death, however, contemporary scholars thought that a perfect alignment of Saturn, Jupiter, and Uranus caused the outbreak.

Unlike the commoners who believed the plague to be a caused by God, these scholars were attempting to explain the deadly outbreak scientifically. The planetary alignment, scholars theorized, basically caused a perfect storm of widespread humoral imbalance.

You’d think that 300 years later, scholars and doctors would have made some medical breakthroughs to prevent another plague outbreak.

But things hadn’t changed much by the 1600s, when the plague once again spread like wildfire throughout Europe. This time, Saturn got a pass, and instead deadly vapors in the air were blamed for the epidemic.

Our ancestors still may not have understood why the plague made a comeback, but the second time around, doctors had a treatment plan: collecting farts in a jar.

The one thing doctors wish their patients would stop doing?

Googling their symptoms.

Doctors always encounter that one patient on every rotation. You know, the patient who spent five minutes on Google and is convinced they know more than the doctor, who spent years in medical school and residency to become a healthcare expert.

Although doctors actually like it when their patients are informed, the problem arises when patients demand extensive, invasive testing and treatments based on solely on internet research.

Cardiologist Dr. Ami Bhatt explains:

“While it’s always important for patients to be informed, the most important facet of these advances in information dissemination is patient and physician engagement. …Oftentimes, the information a patient finds is not even relevant to their specific situation. This has happened to me as a doctor and as a patient.

“Unfortunately, information taken out of context can be frightening and confusing. In this era where time for the doctor and patient to connect in person is limited, we need physicians to have the time to communicate with their patients about what they are learning.”

Cyberchondriacs aren’t even the worst patients. The doctors of Reddit reveal the most annoying things patients can do.

“Eating before surgery. Not only will it most likely cancel your surgery and screw up the schedule you risk vomiting into your lungs which can kill you.”–propofolme

Eating before surgery falls into both the “annoying” and “dangerous” categories. Contrary to what a hungry patient might believe, doctors do not want to torture you. You shouldn’t eat several hours prior to surgery because of the risk of aspiration, in which the contents of the stomach empty into the lungs while you’re under anesthesia.

Aspiration can cause major complications during surgery. If your doctor or anesthesiologist tells you not to eat prior to surgery, stay strong and avoid the temptation to chow down before a trip to the operating room.

“You do NOT need antibiotics for your cold. If you have some infection that requires antibiotics, take the entire dose. Don’t stop taking them when you feel better, and hoard the remainders for the next time you think you’re getting sick.”–pm_me_baby_pig_pics

A recent study suggested that patients may not need to finish a whole course of antibiotics for medication to be effective. But most doctors agree that there just isn’t enough evidence to support this claim and that patients should absolutely finish the whole course of antibiotics they are prescribed.

Antibiotics are only effective against bacterial infection. If you have a virus, antibiotics won’t work.

If you are prescribed antibiotics for a bacterial infection, you may begin to feel better within a couple of days of starting treatment, but that doesn’t mean the infection has been eliminated.

The infection could come back, leading to another round of antibiotics, which can build up a resistance to antibiotic treatment over time. If you develop immunity to certain antibiotics, they may not work the next time you get sick.

“Constantly telling me how much they hate the dentist. I GET IT. IT’S NOT FUN HERE.”–rspkt3

Your dentist is aware that having a root canal is no fun. Your dentist also knows that if you don’t have one, you risk getting a serious infection that could literally spread through your entire body. So think twice before telling your dentist how much you hate sitting in their chair.

Want to spend less time in the dentist’s chair? Prevention is key. Dentists recommend regular brushing and flossing, getting plenty of calcium, and limiting caffeinated beverages to keep teeth healthy.

“Complain about being in the worst abdominal pain imaginable then eat hot wings.”–ptolemaeus_II

If your doctor believes you are in the most excruciating pain of your life, they will do everything they can to stop that pain. 

When you exaggerate, you run the risk of unnecessary testing (which might cause more pain than you’re currently in). In addition, doctors can’t truly gauge your symptoms if you’re fibbing about them.

A nurse in New York reiterates, “If you’re happily texting and laughing with your friends until the second you spot me walking into your room, I’m not going to believe that your pain is a ten out of ten.”

Instead, be honest with your doctor. If you’re not in that much pain, but you know something isn’t right, a good doctor will still take you just as seriously.

“Coming into the emergency department to be seen while eating a bag of chips or stopping for fast food prior to coming. This place is for EMERGENCIES. If you were able to stop for food beforehand you don’t need to be seen.”–noentic

People misuse the emergency room for a number of reasons. Patients don’t have a regular primary care physicians. Cyberchondria fuels health fears that just can’t wait. The emergency room is always open, etc.

Packed emergency rooms lead to long wait times, and patients can rack up pricey bills for routine services. If you are considering a trip to the emergency room, check to see if your situation is truly an emergency. 

If not, consider a trip to the local urgent care instead.

Urgent care doctors can treat just about anything and will also let you know if your symptoms warrant further investigation in the emergency room.

“Showing up late to an early morning appointment—you ever wonder why your doctor is always late? It’s because the first appointment showed up 30 minutes late, has two extra problems to talk about, and by the time your appointment comes, we are 45 minutes behind. I don’t mind the extra problems—in fact, I want to know these things—I do care about you. But please consider other people.”–DrBearcut

Doctors do work on a very strict schedule. It might seem like no big deal to show up five minutes late for an appointment, but by the end of the day, doctors could be hours behind.

When your doctor asks you to show up 15 minutes prior to an appointment, it’s common courtesy to be there on time. By showing up on time, you give your doctor plenty of time to devote to your care, as well as that of other patients.

“Being hostile to doctors and nurses does not result in better medical care for you or your loved one.”–littlespoot

Instead of berating a doctor for your or a loved one’s pain, try to understand their position.

Doctors worry about whether they made the right call for every single patient in their care.

Sure, they knew what they were
getting into when they chose their profession, but doctors are people too.

Some doctors work extraordinarily long shifts—often 24 to 48 hours at a time—caring for a whole caseload of sick patients. A kind word to your doctor will go a lot farther than an angry tirade.

Likewise, don’t complain about other doctors you’ve previously seen. As Dr. Allen Roberts explains, “Your complaints about your prior doctor will not endear you to us. The more you say, the less we want to deal with you.”

Your doctors might be colleagues or friends. Even if they aren’t, complaining about previously medical care tells your current provider you’ll most likely complain about their care too.

Your furry friend might not just be a cute companion.

Research has shown time and time again that owning a dog can reduce a person’s stress and lower their blood pressure. When your most excited superfan greets you every day, your body has no choice but to relax.

Even the act of petting less affable animals—namely, turtles and rabbits—calmed participants in a 2003 study. The authors of a literature review of 69 scientific studies explained that interacting with animals increases oxytocin, a hormone that helps humans interact socially, tolerate pain, and reduce stress levels.

There’s plenty of evidence that dogs boost oxytocin production in humans. In fact, scientists found that simply gazing into the eyes of a pet dog increased oxytocin concentrations in both the owner and the dog. That helps explain why we feel so good simply cuddling with our pups, but new research indicates that dogs do even more to promote our well-being.

Two new studies found that dog ownership was associated with higher activity levels.

Researchers from the University of East Anglia and Centre for Diet and Activity Research studied data from the EPIC Norfolk cohort study, which tracks the health of thousands of Brits. The scientists found that dog ownership led to a much more active lifestyle.

Project lead Andy Jones said, “We were amazed to find that dog walkers were on average more physically active and spent less time sitting on the coldest, wettest, and darkest days than non-dog owners were on long, sunny, and warm summer days.”

Apparently, gazing into your dog’s eyes not only increases your oxytocin levels but also convinces you to get off the couch—even when it’s raining. On average dog owners spent about 30 minutes less per day sitting.

A smaller study confirmed the positive impact of dogs on an active life. The authors tracked 43 dog owners and 43 non-dog owners and found that the dog owners walked 20 minutes more per day on average.

The authors concluded that dog ownership could be a useful tool for increasing physical activity in older adults. Even if someone didn’t want the commitment of owning a dog, volunteering at a pet shelter could motivate them to walk more regularly.

Of course, every relationship has downsides, and the human-dog partnership is no exception.

A 2017 study published in Zoonoses and Public Health found that owning a dog increased a person’s likelihood of encountering ticks. Because ticks carry disease-causing microorganisms, increased risk of contact with ticks translates to a higher chance of contracting a tick-borne disease.

Another hazard of dog ownership is the increased likelihood of falling. Boisterous dogs cause as estimated 76,437 fall injuries per year (cats, either through their nonchalance or relatively lower weight, cause just over 10,000 fall injuries).

We don’t recommend basing pet ownership decisions on health benefits or drawbacks. Still, it’s interesting to know how big of an effect pets have pets have on our well-being. From gazing at us to guilting us off the couch, dogs help improve our health. Just beware of ticks and falling.

Americans are totally addicted to their cell phones. According to the 2015

of batteries overheating, 26 included phones caused burns, and 55 caused property damage.

While news outlets have given the Galaxy Note 7 a lot of airtime because of its issue, other phones also create serious fire risks.

In June 2017, the Newton, New Hampshire Fire Department

, therefore the movement of electrons through the wires of your charger to your device causes it to warm up. While the generation of heat is unavoidable, some circumstances can make it downright dangerous.

Charging anything in bed becomes dangerous when the heat has nowhere to go. Pillows and blankets stifle air flow, allowing your phone to keep getting hotter and hotter. Under certain circumstances, this heat can cause a charger or battery to fail and burn its surroundings.

Don’t Get Burned

In addition to leaving your phone on a nightstand while charging, there are

running in the background of your phone. Background apps are an extra stress on the hardware and will drain your battery. It’s also a good idea to give your phone a break every so often. Take it easy on your phone, and you shouldn’t have any problems, but no matter what you do, don’t charge the thing when it’s under your pillow.

Take it easy on your phone, and you shouldn’t have any problems. No matter what you do though, don’t charge the thing when it’s under your pillow.

Ever notice strange bruises appearing for no obvious reason?

You’re not alone. Unexplained bruises can make you feel like you’re going insane; you’ll run through dozens of possibilities, but you won’t be able to figure out where you picked up the injury.

Did I hit my leg against something on the way to work? Am I literally punching myself in the arm while I sleep?
The real question, of course, is why this doesn’t seem to happen as much to men. Women pick up bruises much more easily, according to dermatologist Jeffrey Benabio, MD, FAAD. Most of these bruises occur on the legs and buttocks.

There are a few reasons for the strange discrepancy.

First, we’ll need to understand bruising, or we’ll be cruising for a….well, let’s just leave the bad wordplay for another time.
Bruises occur when blood leaks into the tissues just below the surface of the skin (try not to think too hard about that). The skin consists of three layers: the epidermis (outer layer), dermis (middle layer), and hypodermis (lowest layer).

The hypodermis mostly consists of fat, while the dermis contains capillaries and sweat glands. The epidermis is the visible layer of the skin. Bruising can occur through any layer, but the deeper the bruise, the darker the color.
With this in mind, there are a few reasons why women are more susceptible to bruising than men. Several studies have shown that oral contraceptives can inhibit coagulation, likely because estrogen plays some role in the process. It’s therefore not too much of a stretch to suggest that estrogen might affect bruising in a significant way.

But basic biology probably plays a bigger role. As Dr. Benabio notes on his blog, women typically have thinner skin than men (and no, we don’t mean emotionally). They also have a higher concentration of fat in certain areas, including the legs.
Finally, women and men have structurally different skin. Male skin has a thick collagen layer, which may hold the blood vessels in place more securely, reducing bruising.

To limit the effects of bruising, you need to take quick action.

The UK’s National Health Service recommends cooling the affected area with a cold compress. You should also keep the affected area (usually a leg) elevated, which prevents the blood from pooling. After a few days, switch to warm compresses to help the bruise heal.

You should also make sure that you’re getting sufficient nutrition; deficiencies of vitamins B12, C, K, and folic acid can contribute to unexplained bruising.
“Eat plenty of blueberries or broccoli for vitamin K; citrus for vitamin C; eggs, dairy, meat, or fish for vitamin B12; and leafy green vegetables for folic acid,” Dr. Benabio writes. “All of these vitamins are needed for good blood clotting and healing.

One more important note: If you consistently see unexplained bruises forming, see your physician. Bruising can indicate bleeding disorders and certain chronic inflammatory conditions, so you should make sure that you’re otherwise healthy.
If you’re on birth control, your doctor may also suggest different medications to lessen the effect. For most women, however, the occasional unexplained bruise isn’t anything to worry about.