Help Your Children Chill Out Overscheduling. Rushed families. High parental expectations. Goading from peers. Getting into the best college. Whew! Today's kids face enormous stress. Kids must cope with all the issues, such as violence or global warming, that stress out adults. They must also handle additional stresses added by their parents and the media. The normal stresses of childhood are compounded by the pressure to succeed, whether it is at play or in academics. Media and advertisements reinforce ...

Hearing Hazards in Everyday Life According to the National Institute on Deafness and other Communication Disorders nearly 28 million Americans are experiencing hearing loss, and 500,000 to 750,000 suffer with severe hearing loss or deafness. It doesn't take a thunderous rock concert to cause noise-induced hearing loss. Any repeated high-volume experiences or one-shot booms can damage the delicate nerve cells of your inner ear. And once damaged, these cells do not--we repeat, do NOT--grow back. A good ru...

Symptoms of Heart Attacks in Women Heart attacks, also known as myocardial infarctions or "MIs", often feel different to a woman than to a man. Women are more likely than men to have "silent" or unrecognized heart attacks. Not all heart attacks begin with sudden, crushing chest pain, the way they are often shown in the movies and on TV. Heart attack symptoms may be severe from the start, or they may be mild at first, and then gradually worsen. Women are more likely than men to have nausea, pain high up ...

Women, Alcohol, and Drugs: The Risks Are Higher As a woman, your body is much more sensitive to the effects of alcohol and more easily damaged than a man’s body. Because women have less water in their body than men, alcohol doesn't dilute as much and more of it gets absorbed into the blood. Women also tend to be smaller. That’s why women suffer greater physical damage and often become more intoxicated than men when they drink identical amounts of alcohol. In addition, women metabolize alcohol less effic...

Hope for Macular Degeneration There is no cure for age-related macular degeneration (AMD) at this time, but treatment can slow progression of the disease and new treatments are in development. People who lose their central vision to macular degeneration can often be helped by low-vision specialists. With the help of special low-vision devices, such as magnifying devices, large-print reading materials, or closed-circuit computers, people with macular degeneration can learn to use their remaining vision. ...

Picking Snacks for Picky Eaters Snacking isn't bad for kids. Nutrition experts agree that a wide assortment of healthy snacks, served in moderation, can be an essential part of a child's diet. Children need calories from food for energy, and vitamins and minerals to foster healthy growth and development. Snacks can provide kids with up to 20 percent of their daily energy and nutrient needs. It's all in the balance Is your child a picky eater? As you may know, kids are notoriously finicky. One minute the...

Air Bags: Not for Children A car with an air bag is considered safer than a car without one. But for children under 13 years old, air bags can be dangerous. In fact, no child younger than 13 or under 65 pounds should sit in the front seat of a car equipped with passenger-side air bags, according to both the Department of Transportation and the National Transportation Safety Board. The safest place for children is in the center of the back seat, using a lap-and-shoulder seat belt or a child's safety seat...

Finding the Best Day Care for Your Child Day care for your children is a fact of life if both parents work. But not all day-care options are good for your child. If you're just starting to look, first, decide which type of child care best suits your situation. Hiring a baby sitter in your home or taking your child to the home of someone who watches a few children may be convenient or more economical, but your best bet may be a group or center setting. Things to think about Before you make a decision on ...

Six Symptoms You Should Never Ignore Some people rush to the doctor's office every time they feel a little ill. Others try to tough it out and hope the problem will go away. In either case, there are some symptoms no one should ignore. Many health problems do take care of themselves over time, but some symptoms may indicate the possibility of a serious condition and should be evaluated immediately by a health care provider. To determine if something could be serious, look for changes in the way your bod...

When the Immune System Chooses the Wrong Target Your symptoms are vague: a feeling of fatigue; some tingling in arms or legs that comes and goes; aching muscles; perhaps a headache. Are you sick? Or are you just imagining that something's wrong? Many women who have reported these symptoms to their doctor have been dismissed as hypochondriacs or suffering from anxiety. But the real diagnosis is much more subtle, at least at first. Those symptoms may indicate one of a host of autoimmune diseases such as l...