Author: St. Elizabeth Healthcare

Looking for ways to show your support for local veterans this month? We found several organizations and initiatives you can take part in to give back and show your gratitude. Volunteering is a great way to make another person’s day better and teach younger family members the importance of saying “thank you” to our active military and veterans. Give your time or treasure Compass Retreat Center: helps welcome veterans to civilian life after their service ends. The organization offers programs, retreats, support groups and a sense of community for service members to heal and reconnect with other veterans, their friends…

You might think someone who is under hospice care would be confined to a bed. But that’s not necessarily so. Taking care of someone in hospice is about keeping the patient comfortable and maintaining the patient’s quality of life, not just end of life. Hospice provides care and support ““  both emotional and spiritual ““ to people in the last stages of a serious illness. It’s a specialized kind of care for those facing a life-limiting illness, not just cancer as some people think. But it also helps the family manage the details of caring for the seriously ill. People…

You know the right music can give your high-intensity workout a boost. But you may not know why ““ or how to improve your personal playlist. So, how does it work? Your body naturally responds to music rhythms, which you can use to your advantage. During an aerobic workout, your target heart rate should be around 170-190 BPM, which means the songs on your workout playlist should also be 170-190 BPM. For less intense workouts, like walking, songs with 120-140 BPM are ideal. Create your playlist Craft a playlist with music you already own or access apps and websites that…

We’ve all experienced those moments when we can’t recall the name of someone or something that we absolutely know we know. Most of us have gone on a scavenger hunt for our misplaced keys. From experience, it’s terrifying when I’m driving on autopilot and then suddenly reach my destination without realizing I was nearly there. These episodes are referenced by a variety of names: memory lapses, brain fog, senior moments, and in my family”brain farts. There are a variety of potential contributing factors to such episodes, such as: Sleep deprivation Stress Medications Chemotherapy Vitamin and nutritional deficiencies Disease processes…

The math is simple. This is how many grams of sugar you consume if you drink an average of one 12-ounce can of Coke, Pepsi or Mountain Dew each week/year: Coke: 273 grams of sugar per week, 14,196 per year Pepsi: 287 per week, 14,924 per year Mountain Dew: 323 per week, 16,817 per year “There is often so much emphasis on what people eat that what they drink can get lost,” says Angel Hall, practice manager at the St. Elizabeth Physicians Regional Diabetes Center in Covington, Ky. “Intake of sugary beverages can be among the greatest contributors to diabetes.…

Do you find yourself eating the same frozen entrees over and over at lunch? Or maybe you try to eat healthier so you reheat leftovers each day from the night before? Do your salads or sandwiches prepared at home look miserable and soggy at the office? Well it’s time to put down your plastic fork, turn off the microwave and throw away that wet lettuce. Bon Appétit has introduced 15 new ways for you to upgrade your lunch hour. These tips include actual recipes for easy lunchtime meals as well as tips to transport and enjoy your meal. If your…

Have you gotten used to the time change? You may have, but your kids may still be adjusting. And, with all that Halloween candy around your house, sugar may also be interfering with a good night’s sleep. If you’re struggling to get your kids back to a regular sleep schedule, here are a few helpful tips from Huffington Post: Monitor what your child eats before bed. Dark chocolate and soda are loaded with caffeine, which can keep your little one awake. If you know how your child will react to an increase in sugar, you can decide when to cut…

Are your kids begging to eat their Halloween candy nonstop? Enjoying a piece of candy here and there allows kids to be kids, but, gorging on candy for weeks is not healthy. According to NPR, you can get rid of excess candy while teaching your kids a valuable lesson. The Halloween Candy Buyback program was founded by a dentist in Wisconsin to buy back candy from kids in his practice and ship it to U.S. armed forces overseas as part of Operation Gratitude care packages. Word has spread and currently more than 2,500 dentists and orthodontists participate nationwide. If you…

Tea is one of the most popular drinks in the world, second only to water. However, only one in five American adults drink tea. Are we missing something? The most current research on tea and coffee indicates they are equally beneficial for us. In the U.S., caffeinated coffee is the way most of us start our day and how we give ourselves an afternoon boost. We may switch to decaffeinated coffee in the evening, but it is uncommon for us to switch completely to tea. But, is one better for you? Both contain antioxidants that protect healthy tissue from free…

Whether you realized or not, you have experienced inflammation in some form ““ perhaps as sunburn, a head cold or an infected cut. Inflammation is one of our body’s many amazing methods of self-preservation, and acute inflammation protects and heals the body after an injury or infection. It is a normal response that sends increased blood flow filled with germ-fighting cells to an area and triggers other healing responses to occur simultaneously. Unfortunately, many of us have also experienced chronic inflammation that can manifest as autoimmune disorders like psoriasis, rheumatoid arthritis and Crohn’s disease. New research is leading scientists to…