Stressed-Out Parents Plus Pollution Boost Asthma Risk

By Denise Mann

MONDAY, July 20, 2009 (Health.com) — There may be a reason why children’s asthma rates are so high in urban areas. Youngsters with stressed-out parents and exposure to air pollution have a higher risk of asthma, according to a study in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

“The new study raises some questions about why stress-plus-pollution leads to worse problems than either alone,” says Harold J. Farber, MD, an associate professor of the pediatric pulmonary section at Baylor College of Medicine and Texas Children Hospital, in Houston, and the author of Control Your Child’s Asthma. “Why is it that this combination is somewhat more toxic than either alone?”

In the United States, about 22 million people—including 6 million children—have asthma. City-dwelling children have about a 22% to 45% higher risk of developing asthma than their peers living elsewhere.

In the new study, a research team led by Rob S. McConnell, MD, a professor of preventive medicine at the Keck Institute of Medicine at the University of Southern California at Los Angeles, tracked 2,497 children from the region. The children were ages 5 to 9 and had no history of asthma or wheezing.

Children with stressed-out parents who lived around high levels of traffic-related pollution were at a higher risk of developing asthma during the three-year study period than children without stressed parents. Stressed parents tend to have children who report more stress too, but the researchers did not measure the children’s stress levels. Parents were considered stressed if they said their lives were unpredictable, uncontrollable, and overwhelming.

what is lung cancel ?

Cancer is a class of diseases characterized by out-of-control cell growth, and lung cancer occurs when this uncontrolled cell growth begins in one or both lungs. Rather than developing into healthy, normal lung tissue, these abnormal cells continue dividing and form lumps or masses of tissue called tumors. Tumors interfere with the main function of the lung, which is to provide the bloodstream with oxygen to be carried to the entire body. If a tumor stays in one spot and demonstrates limited growth, it is generally considered to be benign.

More dangerous, or malignant, tumors form when the cancer cells migrate to other parts of the body through the blood or lymph system. When a tumor successfully spreads to other parts of the body and grows, invading and destroying other healthy tissues, it is said to have metastasized. This process itself is called metastasis, and the result is a more serious condition that is very difficult to treat.

Lung cancer is called "primary" if the cancer originates in the lungs and "secondary" if it originates elsewhere in the body but has metastasized to the lungs. These two types are considered different cancers from diagnostic and treatment perspectives.

In 2007, about 15% of all cancer diagnoses and 29% of all cancer deaths were due to lung cancer. It is the number one cause of death from cancer every year and the second most diagnosed after breast and prostate cancers (for women and men, respectively). Lung cancer is usually found in older persons because it develops over a long period of time.

ASTHMA CAN BE SCARY

Asthma can be scary and quite dangerous if it is not kept in control by the person afflicted with the disease. Asthma, if not kept in check, can lead to serious complications with breathing and may even result in death.

There are many different triggers that cause one to have an asthma attack. The majority of asthma attacks are caused by allergens, pet dander, dust, mold, cold or hot weather, moist air, cigarette smoke, exercise and sometimes even stress. Asthma is a condition that can be kept in control by taking medicines such as Singulair, Zyrtec, Advair, Proventil and Serevent.
Medicines don't always work though. Sometimes asthma is so difficult to control in a person's lungs that they need to receive allergy shots on a regular basis to keep the triggers from affecting their body. Patients with asthma should always remember one thing; always keep a rescue inhaler within reach. Rescue inhalers are different from the everyday inhalers that asthma patients use. A rescue inhaler is used only in an emergency. When an asthma sufferer feels their lungs constricting or has been coughing more often, they will take a puff from their rescue inhaler for relief.

Asthma causes a constriction of the lungs, inflammation of the lungs, and an added buildup of mucus within the lungs. All of this brings about shortness of breath, coughing, and wheezing. Many patients that suffer from asthma use nebulizer treatments more than once a week for severe cases. The nebulizer is a type of breathing machine that is filled with asthma medicine in liquid form. The liquid is then vaporized and the patient breathes inhales the vapor into their lungs. The vaporized medicine helps reopen the patient's airwaves and dries up the mucus.

Not all asthma patients suffer from it on a daily basis. A lot of asthma patients have exercise induced asthma. This is asthma that only affects those who are exercising. Exercise induced asthma doesn't always occur during the workout. Many asthma attacks related to exercise occur well after the workout is complete.

Many patients with asthma, but not all, also suffer from sleep apnea. Sleep apnea is a condition that affects patients while attempting to sleep. Sleep apnea is when a patient has pauses or lapses in their breathing pattern while they are sleeping. This causes them to wake up startled and takes away from their daily rest needs. Sleep apnea is treated with the use of a CPAP. A CPAP is a breathing machine that aides respiratory ventilation. Asthma patients who also suffer from sleep apnea have found it easier to breath when the sleep apnea is diagnosed and treated. Sleep apnea can also be considered a trigger for asthma attacks.

Asthma, whether bronchial or nocturnal, is a dangerous and often deadly condition if it is not treated properly. When kept under control, asthma will not be a hindrance to the patient and the patient will be able to resume their normal activities of enjoy the outdoors and owning a pet. As soon as symptoms such as shortness of breath, wheezing and excessive coughing occur, asthma patients should use their rescue inhaler or consult their physician. It could mean the difference between life and death.

Heart Disease and Cancer Account For More Than 50% of All Men's Deaths In 2002

Look Closely: nearly the same lifestyle changes improve your chances of fighting the leading two causes of death

In 2002, 1,199,264 American men died. Nearly 80 percent of them died of heart disease or one of the nine other leading causes of death among American men.

Here's a snapshot of the 10 leading killers of American men in 2002:

Rank	Cause	% of male deaths
1	Heart disease	28.4
2	Cancer	24.1
3	Unintentional injuries	5.8
4	Stroke	5.2
5	Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)	5.1
6	Diabetes	2.8
7	Influenza and pneumonia	2.4
8	Suicide	2.1
9	Kidney disease	1.6
10	Chronic liver disease and cirrhosis	1.5
Total	79

Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2004

In 2002, 718,450 men died of heart disease and cancer. Here is what you can do about it.

You can reduce your risk of heart disease by making healthier lifestyle choices and getting appropriate treatment for other conditions that can damage your heart, such as high cholesterol, diabetes and high blood pressure. Some preventive measures you can take:

• Don't smoke or use other tobacco products.
• Eat a varied diet, rich in fruits, vegetables, and low-fat foods.
• Maintain a healthy weight.
• Get at least 30 minutes of exercise most days of the week.
• Keep your cholesterol levels in normal ranges.
• Control your blood sugar if you have diabetes.
• Control your blood pressure.

THE FOOD OBSESSION

"how current attitudes put modern women at risk from life threatening disorders"

More than 90 percent of the nations food budget is spent by a women.

Despite the fact that often the star cooks are men, most of the country food is cooked and served by woman.
Woman maked the proportion of those who suffer from the puzzling, and potencially life threatening, psychological disorders loosely refered to as "eating illness".

Many women appear obsessed with the subject of food.
Newspapers , magazines and other media deal exhaustedly with the subject of female diet and the female shape. Why is this? Because when people look at the women they opten look at the body first.

Research has repeatedly shown that it is a women who stared at other women's bodies, Women who always judge other women how should be shape their bodies?
And women whose obsess themselves with the question of food and its relationship with fat.

I can think of why we as sex have such an uneasy relationship with food.

Some of this reason are built in to us, part of the way our bodies are made and function. Some are relics of our ancient history, and some are part and parcel of deep-seated political ideas and attitudes.

Food is central of all of us, but to women even more so- because we are not just ourselves made of food; we are food for others. We create a new human beings out of ourselves and our bodies is the source of our survival and growth to those new human beings once we have made them.

So, we are ambivalent about food- we give it and take it, we use it and create it and where this sort of doubling exists, there is inevitably deep inner confusion. And that means that are attitudes to food must be different from those of men.

But there is more to it than just our reproductive differences. We are the 20th century daughters of prehistoric food gatherers.

Everytime a picture of a luscious "homemade" pie appears on the tv screen, we are made to respond at a gut level- the respond we do, at pocket level.

Woman haved been brainwashed into thinking that the way they look is the most important thing about them. Not the way they think, or behave, or feel or hope. The way they look. And here into equation comes fahion. The currently admired look, By both men and women, Is the emaciated one.

But it was not until 60 years ago that thinness became all the range.

The extras ordinary thing about our present era is not so much that women who are gaunt to the point of being positively cadaverous are regarded as beautiful, but that we all care so much about beauty.

We become a visually dominated society. Almost everything now is offered to us in a visual form.

But why have women allowed themselves to deminished to mere images?

We are being made to believe that unless we conform to these modern ideals we are not simply unbeautiful but positively useless, unfeminine, despicable, in some way, even repulsive,.Never mind that we may have wit and intelligence warmth and compassion, humor and empathy.

The real tragedy is that the ideal to which we are being asked to aspire is almost unachievable by normal mature woman. The girl who has barely left her childhood behind and who has the small breast and hallow belly of the virgin may be able, if she reduces her food intake to below her normal needs (enough to enable her normal growth and daily activity, that is) to maintain the ideal look for a few years even up to 30's.

But after that if she does the natural thing and becomes sexually active and has babies she will change.
To become a suicidally depressed because we are what we are is absurd. Yet that is what many women do.
All this would be bad enough if we were dealing only with feelings about beauty and fashion linked with food. But we are not. We are dealing with something even more explosive: love.

To feed a baby is to be loved. and this link between food and love lies deeply inside all of us , all our lives, because it is the firstm experience of love we ever have..
It's true of both sexes, but women particularly are affected by their special feeding role. So, women will equate the giving and taking of food with love much more readily than men will.

Add to this need for food-based comfort the awful pressures there are on women to be thin and fashionable and you will see vividly why it is that so many women develop eating disorders.