The Kissing Disease

Pucker up and get a handle on mononucleosis.

One of the most dreaded diseases of the teen years, mononucleosis (a.k.a. mono) can knock a young person out of school for days, weeks, or even months at a time. While nicknamed the “kissing disease,” mono is not a status symbol anyone wants. So how can you keep your teens from winding up with this mouth-watering disease?

Read on to get the inside scoop on mono to find out.

Mouth to Mouth

For the most part, mono is passed via close contact and saliva. As kissing results in close contact and the exchange of saliva, dating puts your kids at increased risk for mono. But that doesn’t mean you have to prohibit dating until they move out of the house. Because while it typically plagues teenagers, mono can affect kissers of any age or stage of life.

The most common cause of mono is the presence of the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV). However, other viruses can result in the passing of mono. So if you want to totally protect your teen from the virus, you’ll need to run a gamut of health tests on his or her potential boyfriend or girlfriend.

Sick and Tired

With mono, it’s common for the tonsils and the lymph nodes in the front and back of the neck to swell. Additionally, your child may suffer a skin rash or his or her spleen or liver may hurt when pushed. But these signs are often only recognized after other telltale symptoms have been around a while.

Some of the symptoms that should cause you to suspect mono include the following:

• nosebleeds
• general drowsiness and fatigue
• loss of appetite
• coughing
• headaches
• feeling short of breath
• sore throat
• fever
• chest pain
• sensitivity to light

Get Over It

If mono is suspected, a couple medical tests are required for definitive diagnosis. Once the diagnosis is determined, mono treatment is rather unexciting. While it may be tempting to try out some newfangled treatments, the best-proven care for mono is to rest, drink lots of fluids, take over-the-counter medication for fever or pain relief, and gargle warm salt water to fight a sore throat.

In most cases, a mono-induced fever will go away within 10 days, while fatigue sticks around for a few weeks. Occasionally, however, mono can last for months at a time and has the potential to result in a ruptured spleen, bacterial infection of the throat, seizures, hepatitis, and other serious conditions. Hence why early diagnosis and treatment is critical.

Step Aside

Even better than lying around for a couple weeks while mono moves along is avoiding it altogether. Fortunately, avoiding mono is fairly simple. It just takes a little bit of awareness and willingness to follow common sense.

What can be done to sidestep mononucleosis? Never share drinks, food, or utensils with others – even if the person has never suffered from mono. Don’t snuggle with or kiss someone who has suffered from mono-like symptoms in the last few days. And wash your hands regularly, no matter if you’re hanging around the house by yourself or going out with friends.

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Putting the Brakes on Gas

Clearing the air on this uncomfortable and odiferous condition.

It’s embarrassing. It’s painful. It’s loud, quiet, odorless and overpoweringly smelly. It’s also completely normal. In fact, the average Joe or Jo has the need to pass gas approximately 14 times every day – that’s about one time for every hour you’re awake.

Unfortunately, the normalcy of gas doesn’t make it any more pleasant to experience. Feel that you release more gas than is normal, or wish you could cut your 14 episodes of flatulence a day down a bit?

Drink Different

One of the reasons you may be experiencing more gas than you’d like is your choice of drink. If you get lots of soda or other fizzy drinks in your daily diet, the bubbles may feel good going down, but they can also contribute to bubbles in your belly, which translate to gas and bloating.

Want to fix your liquid-based gas problems? Then you’ll need to change your drinking ways. Instead of soda, go with good old-fashioned water. Or if you want to beef up your bones, grab a glass of milk. Just be careful, as being lactose intolerant can bring on the same gas, pains, and embarrassment you’re trying to overcome.

Eat Right

At the same time you change your drinking habits, you may need to do the same with your food. Because as wonderful as a big, juicy hamburger may look, the grease and fat in it can easily lead to gas and gas pains. Ditto with your favorite Mexican dishes and a number of other foods. But to make your diet gas-proof, you’ll need to pay attention to how your body responds to various foods. Once you determine what foods bring on gas, avoid them. Or get ready to gas it up afterward.

And in case you’re wondering, your choice of food isn’t the only factor determining whether your food will leave you breaking wind when dinner is finished. The speed at which you eat and how well you chew your food also factor into your level of gassiness. For minimum gas effect following a meal, eat slowly and chew your food thoroughly. This prevents you from the bloating and gas that result from ingesting excessive air while eating.

Let ‘Er Rip

While holding in gas may prevent a little bit of temporary embarrassment, it can eventually lead to some painful bloating. The result of not letting gas pass and instead building up in your intestines and stomach, bloating doesn’t just make you feel fuller. It can also be painful. Depending on how long you keep the gas in, the pain can be a dull, manageable pain, or it can be sharp and severe.

Thankfully, all it normally takes to get rid of the pain is to relax and let the gas go its merry way. In the event you’ve been suffering gas pains that don’t go away when you pass gas, a good bowel movement should do the trick. Having problems on top of the toilet? Eat foods that are rich in fiber and get plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables to help your digestive tract empty out.

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Most Effective Exercises

Most Effective Exercises

During your exercise routine, you may find yourself wasting time and sitting around on occasion. At other times, you’re focused and working nonstop. Whatever kind of day you’re having at the gym, it’s important that the exercises you perform do their job well. Otherwise, you could spend countless hours without ever getting the full benefit you seek.

To help your routines always leave you with results, be sure to include some of the most effective exercises ever created. Without further ado, please welcome the best exercises your body will ever perform.

# 5: Cross-Country Skiing

Pushing your entire body to its limits, cross-country skiing develops the muscles in nearly ever region of your person, while challenging your will to either grow stronger or die. As useful as cross-country skiing is, there is a downside: it is only possible in certain areas of the world and can’t be replicated well in the gym. Because of this, cross-country skiing will never be top on the list.

# 4: Elbow and Toe Planks

Recommended by many and given the golden thumbs up by research, performing the plank exercise on your elbows and toes is an extraordinarily effective exercise. Working the back and abdominals and building endurance in both, planks will get your muscles in great shape, without you even having to move a muscle. If you’re unfamiliar with planks, the first step is to get on the floor facedown. With your forearms resting on the ground, support your weight with your elbows and your toes. The rest of your body should be in a straight line, from your shoulders down to your feet. Try to hold the position for up to one minute and repeat three to five times. It may sound simple, but the burning sensation that accompanies this exercise tells another tale.

# 3: Squats

Coming in at number three are squats. Yes, they’re old-fashioned, they don’t require high-tech equipment, and they look kind of funny. In spite of this, squats are one of the best exercises available for your body. The benefit of squats comes because of the range of muscles the exercise works out. Whereas many weight-lifting exercises focus on a single muscle, squats pull in multiple leg muscles, including the various muscles in the buttocks, hamstrings, and quadriceps.

#2: Push-ups

Like squats, push-ups can build many parts of your body at one time. From your biceps and chest to your shoulders and triceps to your core, push-ups give your upper body a workout that cannot be matched by other more specific exercises. In the event you find regular old push-ups a little too elementary for your taste, you can always up the difficulty level by performing them with only one hand on the ground or by doing them in a handstand position, resting your feet on the wall overhead for balance. For an even greater challenge, have someone sit on your back while you perform push-ups.

#1: Walking

Taking the top spot of the most useful exercises you’ll ever perform is the tried-and-true (and rather simple) exercise of walking. Easy for beginners and beneficial for the healthiest of health nuts, walking gets your body moving and can result in the loss of as many as 500 calories during an hour-long walk. As if that weren’t enough to convince you of its efficiency, walking can be done anywhere, any time, in any kind of weather. Simply provide the walking shoes and the will to get a little exercise, and walking will take care of the rest.

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Hurricane Irene Weather Update:

Memorial Park Maplewood

I hope everyone experienced minimum flooding and power outages during the storm. All camps were canceled on Sunday. We will resume camp on Monday August 29 in Memorial Park Maplewood.

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It Does the Brain Good

Understanding the brain-tastic benefits of exercise.

Your chest gets bigger. Your heart works more efficiently. You feel better and enjoy improved confidence. But working at the gym doesn’t just offer benefits to your physique. According to various sources around the globe, physical exercise offers some pretty impressive benefits for what is arguably one of your most important organs: your brain. In fact, some insist that the real benefits of exercise are how it affects your brain’s ability to work – not the improved appearance of efficiency of your body.

What can a little exercise do for your noggin? Read on to find out.

Boost Your Brain Energy

Unless you’re a superhuman, you’ve probably had some of those days during which your brain simply doesn’t want to work. Did you know you can probably exercise your way out of these brain-dead moments? That’s right. By getting the blood pumping in your body, you increase the blood flow in your brain, which helps it function better, ultimately getting your brain back on track to do all the thinking your life requires. Next time you feel your brain slowing down, skip the energy drink and do a few jumping jacks or push-ups.

Jump the Funk

Ever been in a mental funk that keeps getting you down? Next time that happens, ask yourself when you last worked out. More than likely, it’s been a while. Get your brain into happy gear and get out of your mental funk by hitting the gym. Otherwise, you’ll be waiting for a good attitude to make its way to you. With a hard workout, you can essentially force your body to start producing happy vibes to your brain. So stop moping around and hit the gym. Your brain will appreciate the good vibes you send its way, and your overall demeanor will improve as a result.

Stop Being Anxious

When you have a lot going on and little time to take care of it, it’s a natural response to be anxious. Unfortunately, anxiety does very little to help you get your to-do list completed. So why not kick the anxiety altogether with a trip to the gym? You may think you don’t have time to run a mile or two on the treadmill, but doing so has the potential to get rid of your anxiety, which will ultimately help you complete your list of tasks with greater poise and skill than would have otherwise been possible.

Improve Concentration

It’s not always easy to stay on task. With the many rabbit holes afforded by the Internet, your coworker who always has another joke to tell you, and your family wanting your attention for anything and everything, it can seem impossible to stay focused on a task until it is completed. With exercise, your brain is given the gift of focus. With each repetition in the gym, you have to constantly pay attention to form and technique, which translates to improved focusing ability elsewhere. Exercise also helps you get over the need to go do something, which is another way to improve your focus.

Grow Your Brain

Want to stimulate your brain to grow its processing abilities? Better build some exercise into your daily routine. While it is unclear exactly how it happens, researchers have found that exercise creates neurons in the brain.

Responsible for transferring information through your brain, neurons are most useful in large numbers. Therefore, growing more neurons via exercise gives your brain more ability to transmit and process information, giving you the upper hand when faced with tough questions or dilemmas that require right thinking.

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