A recent study shows that mediterranean diet that is rich in fruits and vegetables, cooked in olive oil, may prevent Type 2 Diabetes by up to 83%. The finding is, however, from just a preliminary study as more studies need to be done with larger groups of people.

The finding is not surprising as olive oil is already known to help reduce blood sugar and lower blood pressure.

For the full report on this study, go here.

The Center for Disease Control (CDC) of USA recommends that people above 60 years of age be given the vaccine against shingles. It is estimated that the vaccine can reduce the risk of shingles in those above 60 by 50%.

Shingles present as vesicular rashes on the body, usually along the path of a nerve. It happens in those who had a history of chicken pox when the chicken pox virus, varicella zoster, does not get totally eliminated. Instead, the virus continues to survive in the nervous system. When the patient becomes depressed immunely, usually as a result of old age or certain diseases, it appears as shingles.

For more on this story, click here.

A recent study has found that vitamin D deficiency in breast cancer patients increases the risk of metastasis. Apparently, breast cancer patients with vitamin D deficiency has a 94% risk of spread and a 73% risk of death compared to those without the deficiency. Moreover, researchers found that more than 75% of patients with breast cancer have vitamin D deficiency at the time of diagnosis.

These findings may lead to a new look at the role vitamin D plays in the development and/or prevention of breast cancer.

For the full report on this story, click here.

It seems that whenever the economy gets worse, there are more and more people who have sleepless nights. Their minds are too active and alert thinking about their problems and looking for solutions. This makes it difficult for the mind to calm down and relaxes enough to fall asleep.

Do you have insomnia too? Do you have:

• difficulty falling asleep?
• the habit of waking up in the middle of the night and not being able to get back to sleep?
• disturbed sleep throughout the night?
• the feeling that you’ve not actually slept when you wake up in the morning?

If you answer “yes” to any of the above, here’s a solution to your sleep problem that does not require you to take medicine. That’s right! No pills in the form of sleeping pills, anxiolytics or hypnotics are necessary.

This solution requires only that you listen to some soothing music. However, these are no ordinary music. There are specially made with the latest in sound technology - using binaural beats as a form of brainwave entrainment - to gradually lead your brainwaves to a natural sleep state.

Yes, it can be that easy!

Are you curious to know more? Well, just click on this link to learn more. 

Babies and infants are now routinely given vaccines against meningitis. So far, 3 types of vaccines are available against childhood meningitis - H. influenza, pneumococcal and meningitis c. Vaccine for Meningitis B, which causes the most cases of meningitis, has so far not been available, until now.

A preliminary study on the use of a new vaccine against meningitis b has shown promising result. However, more studies need to be done for its true benefits to be realised.

For the full report, click here.

The practice of using beta blockers to reduce the risk of heart problems during surgery may actually do more harm than good, according to a recent study.

Although not a widely held practice, some surgeons use beta blockers to reduce the risk of a heart attack during surgery. However, a new Canadian study shows that those patient given beta blockers during surgery may have increased risk of death and stroke instead.

The study only looked at those patients given high dose beta blockers prior to surgery as a prevention against heart attack and not for patients who were already on long term beta blockers.

For more details, read the full report here.

Did you know that air pollution raises the risk of blood clot?

For some time now, we’ve known that breathing in polluted air from traffic fumes increases the risk of heart disease and stroke. Now a new study shows that it also increases the risk of getting a deep vein thrombosis - blood clot in the legs.

As more and more studies show the danger of pollution to our health and the health of this only planet we call home, we have to each make a conscious decision to change our lifestyles and preferences in order to reduce pollution.

For the full report on the risk of blood clot due to air pollution, click here.

It looks like everyone is into blogging these days. That’s not surprising, really. Everyone has an opinion, and given a chance, everyone would like to share his or her opinion. That’s freedom of expression for you.

But as Spiderman knows, “with great power comes great responsibility”. We should always bear this in mind when we think, speak or act - and now when we write. They say the pen is mightier than the sword and many governments of the day are beginning to find out the truth of this statement. Beware! Freedom is coming, whether you like it or not.

This site, though, is not political. Neither is it for gossips. This site is for health - mental emotional and physical, and dare we say, also spiritual?

This is the first entry for this blog. If you want to take a look at how we look like before this blog, click here.