Browse >
Home / Archive: August 2008
Nail-biting (onychophagia) is a common stress-relieving habit. You may bite your nails in times of stress or excitement, or in times of boredom or inactivity. It can also be a learned behavior from family members. Nail-biting is the most common of the typical “nervous habits,” which include thumb-sucking, nose-picking, hair-twisting or -pulling, tooth-grinding, and picking at skin.
You may bite your nails without realizing you are doing it. You might be involved in another activity, such as reading, watching television, or talking on the phone, and bite your nails without thinking about it.
Nail-biting includes biting the cuticle and soft tissue surrounding the nail as well as biting the nail itself.
Who bites their nails?
People of all ages bite their nails.1
- About 50% of children between the ages of 10 and 18 bite their nails at one time or another. Nail-biting occurs most often as teens are going through puberty changes.
- About 23% of young adults, ages 18 to 22 years, bite their nails.
- Only a small number of other adults bite their nails. Most people stop biting their nails on their own by age 30. About 10% of men over the age of 30 bite their nails.
- Boys bite their nails more often than girls after age 10.
Nail-biting may occur with other body-focused repetitive behaviors (BFRB) such as hair-pulling or skin-picking.
What treatments are available for nail-biting?
Several treatment measures may help you stop biting your nails. Some focus on behavior changes and some focus on physical barriers to nail-biting.
- Keep your nails trimmed and filed. Taking care of your nails can help reduce your nail-biting habit and encourage you to keep your nails attractive.
- Have a manicure regularly or use nail polish. Men can use a clear polish. Wearing artificial nails may stop you from biting your nails and protect them as they grow out.
- Try stress-management techniques if you bite your nails because you are anxious or stressed.
- Paint a bitter-tasting polish, such as CONTROL-IT or Thum, on your nails. The awful taste will remind you to stop every time you start to bite your nails.
- Try substituting another activity, such as drawing or writing or squeezing a stress ball or Silly Putty, when you find yourself biting your nails. If you keep a record of nail-biting, you will become more aware of the times when you bite your nails and be able to stop the habit.
- Wear gloves, adhesive bandages, or colored stickers whenever possible to remind you not to bite your nails.
- Snap a rubber band on the inside of your wrist when you start to bite your nails so you have a negative physical response to nail-biting.
Children may bite their nails more often when they are having problems at school or with friends. Talk with your child or his or her teacher about any new stress at school. Children are more likely to stop biting their nails when they understand what may trigger it. It is also important for your child to help choose a treatment method so he or she can use the treatment successfully.
What problems can develop from nail-biting?
Nail-biting can cause your fingertips to be red and sore and your cuticles to bleed. Nail-biting also increases your risk for infections around your nailbeds and in your mouth. Dental problems and infections of the gums can be caused by nail-biting.
Long-term nail-biting can also interfere with normal nail growth and cause deformed nails.
Rarely, nail-biting may be a symptom of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). OCD symptoms are usually treated with medications.
A recent article suggested that there might be a downside to lip gloss’s shiny benefits: Much like a magnifying glass, those goopy glosses can actually focus more of the sun’s rays on lips. So is there any truth to the claim? Yes, there is — but this story also serves as a great reminder of how easy it is to prevent this kind of damage.
Lips do not have sebum glands so they don’t naturally produce oil like skin does — the result is that lips can quickly become dry. Even more importantly, though, lips don’t benefit from any of the natural protection of sebum, which makes them more susceptible to sun damage. The result? The degeneration of collagen and elastin — which leads to a loss of lip fullness and increased lines — and an increased risk of skin cancer.
The trouble is, many people only treat lips’ dryness without considering the issue of sun damage. And what the article above has underscored is that shiny lip glosses can actually intensify the sun’s rays — slather it on without also considering SPF, and you’re doing your pout a great disservice. For that matter, leave your lips entirely bare in the sun, and you’re not much better off
But there is an easy solution: Use a lip gloss that includes SPF! Devoted to a particular sunscreen-free brand? Then pick up any number of inexpensive lip balms with sunscreen and reapply often. That way, you can use whatever lipstick or gloss you love and still protect your lips. Bonus points if you use a balm, gloss, or lipstick that also includes vitamin E, which is both a rich moisturizer and a powerful antioxidant that can fight whatever sun damage you do incur.
Wishing you great skin!
When did choosing skin-care products get so complicated? I want to make sure my skin looks great, but I don’t want to spend hours trying to figure out how (or waste money choosing stuff that doesn’t work). I’m lucky enough to have a team of beauty editors who can answer my questions and steer me to the right products.
My editors are full of useful information, including these quick tips for every skin type:
Got dry skin? I do, and this super simple tip works great for me: Wear a night cream for day. Formulas meant to be applied before bed usually contain the most hydrating ingredients. If you’re seeing flakes or your skin just feels parched, go for the big guns, even in the a.m. (Night creams don’t protect from the sun, though, so you’ll want to follow with a sunscreen.)
To find out the night cream voted the best by SELF readers, plus the winners in pretty much every other category, go to Self.com’s Healthy Beauty Awards shopping list.
Is your skin sensitive? If so (and a reported 40 percent of Americans believe theirs is), you might find that sunscreen stings. To guard against that, smooth on a lotion with antioxidants before you apply your sun protector. It creates an irritation-preventing barrier.
Are you trying to control oily/combo skin? Wash your skin at the sink, not in the shower. The steam from the shower can swell the skin’s top layers, trapping bacteria and oil. Bonus: Sudsing up in front of a mirror ensures you cover every oily prone area; your hair and jaw lines, for instance, often get neglected.
What is menopause? What is perimenopause?
Menopause is the point in a woman’s life when she has not had a menstrual period for 1 year. Menopause marks the end of the childbearing years. It is sometimes called “the change of life.”
Related Articles
- Should I use estrogen replacement therapy (ERT) after a hysterectomy and oophorectomy?
- Managing hot flashes
» More menopause Articles
For most women, menopause happens around age 50, but every woman’s body has its own timeline. Some women stop having periods in their mid-40s. Others continue well into their 50s.
Perimenopause is the process of change that leads up to menopause. It can start as early as your late 30s or as late as your early 50s. How long perimenopause lasts varies, but it usually lasts from 2 to 8 years. You may have irregular periods or other symptoms during this time.
Menopause is a natural part of growing older. You don’t need treatment for it unless your symptoms bother you. But it’s a good idea to learn all you can about menopause. Knowing what to expect can help you stay as healthy as possible during this new phase of your life.
What causes menopause?
Normal changes in your reproductive and hormone systems cause menopause. As your egg supply ages, your body begins to ovulate less often. This causes your hormone levels to go up and down unevenly (fluctuate), causing changes in your periods and other symptoms. In time, estrogen and progesterone levels drop enough that the menstrual cycle stops.
Some medical treatments can cause your periods to stop before age 40. Having your ovaries removed, radiation therapy, or chemotherapy can trigger early menopause.
What are the symptoms?
Common symptoms include:
- Irregular periods. Some women have light periods. Others have heavy bleeding. Your menstrual cycle may be longer or shorter, or you may skip periods.
- Hot flashes.
- Trouble sleeping (insomnia).
- Emotional changes. Some women have mood swings or feel grouchy, depressed, or worried.
- Headaches.
- Feeling that your heart is beating too fast or unevenly (palpitations).
- Problems with remembering or thinking clearly.
- Vaginal dryness.
Some women have only a few mild symptoms. Others have severe symptoms that disrupt their sleep and daily lives.
Symptoms tend to last or get worse the first year or more after menopause. Over time, hormones even out at low levels, and many symptoms improve or go away. Then you can enjoy being free from periods and birth control concerns.
Do you need tests to diagnose menopause?
You don’t need to be tested to see if you have started perimenopause or reached menopause. You and your doctor will most likely be able to tell based on irregular periods and other symptoms.
If you have heavy, irregular periods, your doctor may want to do tests to rule out a serious cause of the bleeding. Heavy bleeding may be a normal sign of perimenopause. But it can also be caused by infection, disease, or a pregnancy problem.
You may not need to see your doctor about menopause symptoms. But it is important to keep up your annual physical exams. Your risks for heart disease, cancer, and bone thinning (osteoporosis) increase after menopause. At your yearly visits, your doctor can check your overall health and recommend testing as needed.
Do you need treatment?
Menopause is a natural part of growing older. You don’t need treatment for it unless your symptoms bother you. But if your symptoms are upsetting or uncomfortable, you don’t have to suffer through them. There are treatments that can help.
The first step is to have a healthy lifestyle. This can help reduce symptoms and also lower your risk of heart disease and other long-term problems related to aging.
- Make a special effort to eat well. Choose a heart-healthy diet that is low in saturated fat and includes plenty of fish, fruits, vegetables, beans, and high-fiber grains and breads.
- Include plenty of calcium in your diet to help your bones stay strong. Get 1,200 mg a day after age 50 (plus at least 400 IU of vitamin D to help your body use the calcium). Low- or nonfat dairy products are a great source of calcium.
- Get regular exercise. Exercise can help you manage your weight, keep your heart and bones strong, and lift your mood.
- Limit caffeine, alcohol, and stress. These things can make symptoms worse. Avoiding them may help you sleep better.
- If you smoke, stop. Quitting smoking can reduce hot flashes and long-term health risks.
If lifestyle changes are not enough to relieve your symptoms, you can try other measures, such as:
- Meditative breathing exercise (called paced respiration). Studies have shown that it can help reduce hot flashes and emotional symptoms.1, 2
- Black cohosh. This herb may prevent or relieve symptoms. But experts don’t know if it is safe to use for longer than 6 months, and you should not take it if there is a chance you could be pregnant. If you plan to try black cohosh, talk to your doctor about how to take it safely.
- Soy (isoflavones). Some women feel that eating lots of soy helps even out their menopause symptoms. It may also help keep your bones strong after menopause.3
- Yoga or biofeedback to help reduce stress. High stress is likely to make your symptoms worse.
If you have severe symptoms, you may want to ask your doctor about prescription medicines. Choices include:
- Low-dose birth control pills before menopause.
- Low-dose hormone replacement therapy (HRT) after menopause.
- Antidepressants.
- A medicine called clonidine (Catapres) that is usually used to treat high blood pressure.
All medicines for menopause symptoms have possible risks or side effects. A very small number of women develop serious health problems when taking hormone therapy. Be sure to talk to your doctor about your possible health risks before you start a treatment for menopause symptoms.
Remember, it is still possible to become pregnant until you reach menopause. To prevent an unwanted pregnancy, keep using birth control until you have not had a period for 1 full year.
I know what you’re thinking: How can I possibly lose weight by lying down? Believe me, as the type of person who likes to squeeze the most out of every second of each day, I was skeptical, too. But the research that supports the connection between getting a good night’s sleep and fitting into your favorite jeans is pretty convincing.
In a study of more than 68,000 women, those who slept seven hours a night weighed 5.5 pounds less than women who slept five hours or less. Turns out, ample shut-eye encourages your body to produce more of the fullness hormone leptin and less of the hunger hormone ghrelin. Plus, catching zzz’s helps curb anxiety and depression, both of which can be a tripwire for emotional eating. Insufficient rest can even compromise moral judgment, according to the journal Sleep.
Now, aiming to hit the sack early and actually doing it are two different things. There are always a million and one excuses to stay awake (I tend to read way past my bedtime). Try these tips to help you catch up on your zzzzzz’s.
- Instead of trying to adhere to a strict lights-out policy every night, aim to get in bed early at least one night per week.
- Ease yourself into your slumber session with a bath.
- Eating a carb-based mini-meal of no more than 200 calories 45 minutes before drifting off can raise serotonin levels, helping you relax and sleep well. Try a whole-wheat English muffin with a tablespoon of honey or a cup of instant oatmeal with 1/4 cup of chopped apple.
Sometimes it’s a burden being a woman, and cervical cancer is one reason why that’s so. Cervical cancer affects 16,000 women in the United States each year, and early detection is a challenge since the disease often lacks any noticeable symptoms.
Would you suspect cervical cancer if you had some spotting or some pain in the lower abdomen, back, or legs? And these rather generic symptoms are only felt after the illness has reached an advanced stage. Unfortunately, advanced cervical cancer does not always respond to medical or surgical treatment. All in all, quite a bum disease.
But the good news is, you needn’t fall prey to cervical cancer, because the treatments are many and highly effective if the disease is detected early.
Cervical cancer is most often caused by a viral infection with one of several strains of the human papillomavirus (HPV). Surprisingly, researchers are discovering that many cancers are associated with viral infections, so it’s important to take steps to protect yourself from all sexually transmitted infections, this one included.
How do you do that? Pretty simply, but you’ll have some important choices to make because some of the most effective protection strategies go counter to popular perceptions about sex and sexual satisfaction.
- Delay becoming sexually active. The younger a woman starts having sex, the more likely she is to contract the papillomavirus and develop this cancer later on in life. And this includes not only intercourse but also touching because some STIs are passed on in this.way.
- Minimize the number of sexual partners. You can’t choose safe partners based on appearances. Those with the particular strains of HPV that cause cervical cancer typically don’t have the obvious skin changes that some other types of HPV are known for, such as genital warts. Statistically speaking, the more sexual encounters you have, the more likely you are to get exposed to HPV, along with other STIs. Condoms are helpful but not infallible when it comes to blocking HPV transmission.
- Get vaccinated for HPV, preferably before you become sexually active. Interestingly, many infections with HPV are overcome by a woman’s own immune system without any help from the vaccine. And after she gets vaccinated, her immune system is then programmed to recognize and fight off HPV exposures even more efficiently, lessening her chances of developing a chronic infection and possibly developing cancer. This vaccine is approved for girls as young as age 9.
- Get screened regularly by means of the good ol’ Pap smear. Over the past 50 years or so, the humble Pap smear has reduced the mortality associated with cervical cancer by a whopping 70 percent. Sure, getting a Pap is a minor inconvenience - but one that’s well worth the hassle if it helps you avoid a diagnosis of late-stage cancer! You should start getting Paps 3 years after starting sexual activity, or by age 21, whichever comes first, and the Pap should generally be repeated every year thereafter. Women over 30 who are in a long-term, monogamous relationship can consider spacing out their Paps to once every 3 years if they’ve had repeatedly normal Paps and negative HPV testing.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Researchers have identified what they see as the leading cause of inherited colorectal cancer — a genetic abnormality that makes a person about nine times more likely to get the disease.
This trait may explain at least 10 percent and perhaps 15 to 20 percent of colorectal cancer cases, according to Ohio State University’s Dr. Albert de la Chapelle, who helped lead the study published in the journal Science on Thursday.
The researchers said in the future a simple blood test should be able to identify people with the trait so they can be screened regularly to catch colon and rectal cancer early when it is most treatable.
“We have identified what appears to be the main cause of inherited colorectal cancer,” Dr. Boris Pasche of Northwestern University and Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Illinois, who also helped lead the study, said in a telephone interview.
Colorectal cancer is the fourth most common type of cancer in men and the third most common in women worldwide, according to the American Cancer Society. Globally, about 1.2 million cases of colorectal cancer are diagnosed annually and the disease kills about 630,000 people, the organization said.
Experts believe that about a third of colorectal cancer cases are caused by genetics. Other risk factors include a diet high in fat and calories and low in fiber, obesity, a sedentary lifestyle, heavy drinking and smoking.
The study involved 242 people in central Ohio with colorectal cancer and 195 people who did not have it.
They found that people who had an abnormality related to a gene called TGFBR1 were 8.7 times as likely to develop colorectal cancer than those who did not have the trait.
“This makes it a strong risk factor,” de la Chapelle said.
COMMON TRAIT
Previous research had linked TGFBR1 to colorectal cancer risk, and the new study assessed the degree to which this abnormality in the gene increased one’s risk.
The study indicates that 10 to 21 percent of people with colorectal cancer and 1 to 3 percent of the general population have the trait, which runs in families, de la Chapelle said.
The gene normally inhibits cell growth and also is involved in regulating the immune system, Pasche said.
Like other genes, people inherit two copies, one from the mother and the other from the father. But in people with this particular variation, one of the copies is less active than it should be, and this reduced activity may encourage colorectal cancer development.
The discovery is important because it could help identify people at high risk to ensure they get regular screening with methods such as colonoscopy and sigmoidoscopy that can find abnormal growths in the large intestine, the researchers said.
If caught early, colorectal cancer often can be cured but is usually fatal if it becomes advanced.
Pasche said a blood test for the trait could be available perhaps within a couple of years.
“People with known risk — those who have had a polyp or those who have a family member with colorectal cancer — should be tested for this trait. If it is found, it raises a red flag suggesting intensified surveillance, which in turn is likely to save lives,” de la Chapelle said by e-mail.
Previous research had identified other genetic traits that caused some cases of inherited colorectal cancer, but combined they accounted for only about 5 percent of cases.
(Editing by Maggie Fox and Vicki Allen)
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Combination treatment for type 2 diabetes using two classes of drugs — metformin and sulfonylureas — may increase the risk of hospitalization for cardiovascular disease and mortality, according to a report in the current issue of Diabetes Care.
Researchers came to this conclusion after an analysis of pooled data from nine large observational studies.
“The paper highlights a real dilemma we have today in diabetes treatment,” senior investigator Dr. Vivian A. Fonseca told Reuters Health. “We have drugs that lower glucose but we seem to run into problems over time with improving outcomes — particularly cardiovascular outcomes.”
“A big question,” he added, “is whether it is due to the disease or the drugs increasing cardiovascular risk.”
To help answer that question, Fonseca of Tulane University School of Medicine, New Orleans, and colleagues performed a review of data from more than 101,000 study participants, about one quarter of whom received combination therapy with metformin and sulfonylurea. The other patients were treated with one of these agents or diet therapy.
In the combination group, the risk of mortality from any cause was increased by 19 percent and by 29 percent for cardiovascular mortality. There were no statistically significant differences, however, when compared with the mortality rates in the other groups.
However, the combined end-point of death or hospitalization due to cardiovascular disease was increased by 43 percent in the group on combination therapy, which was significantly greater than in the other groups.
“So it appears,” continued Fonseca, “that there is some increased risk with this combination that is the most widely used diabetes treatment of two drugs that are cheap and generic.”
Our findings, he concluded, “clearly demonstrate that further studies are needed not only to assess the association of combination therapy of metformin and sulfonylurea with all-cause and/or cardiovascular mortality, but also to understand the potential underlying mechanism of its effects.”
SOURCE: Diabetes Care, August 2008.
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - People who are both obese and have diabetes are highly likely to develop heart disease during their lifetime, a new study shows.
Researchers found that of more than 3,400 adults in a long-running U.S. heart study, women who were obese and diabetic had a nearly 80 percent chance of developing heart disease at some point. For their male counterparts, that figure was nearly 90 percent.
Lifetime risk was based on the likelihood that a 50-year-old would develop heart disease in the next 30 years.
Obesity and diabetes commonly go hand-in-hand. The new findings, published in the journal Diabetes Care, show that diabetes on its own significantly raises the lifetime risk of heart disease, and that obesity worsens the situation.
Dr. Caroline S. Fox of the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute in Bethesda, Maryland, and her colleagues the lifetime heart disease risk of normal-weight women who did not have diabetes was 34 percent. The risk for normal-weight women with diabetes was 55 percent.
Among obese women, those who did not have diabetes had a 47 percent chance of developing heart disease, while the risk for those with diabetes was 79 percent.
The pattern was similar for men, with a lifetime heart disease risk of 49 percent among normal-weight, non-diabetic men, and a 77 percent risk for normal-weight men with diabetes. Obese men without diabetes had a 67 percent lifetime heart disease risk, while the risk for obese diabetic men was 87 percent.
The number of Americans with diabetes is expected to rise to 48.3 million by 2050, the researchers note, and heart disease due to diabetes appears to already be on the rise.
“This trend may continue to worsen if current trajectories do not change,” they warn.
SOURCE: Diabetes Care, August 2008.
FRIDAY, Aug. 15 (HealthDay News) — A new drug therapy may help cut down on the lung function loss experienced by patients with moderate to severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), a new study says.
According to the second August issue of American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, a combination of salmeterol, a β-agonist, and fluticasone propiniate, an inhaled cortical steroid, proved a successful therapy in a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial conducted in 42 countries.
“Pharmacotherapy with salmeterol plus fluticasone propionate, or the components, reduces the rate of decline on [lung function] in patients with moderate to severe COPD, thus slowing disease progression,” study author Dr. Bartolome R. Celli, a professor at Tufts University School of Medicine, said in a news release issued by the journal’s publisher. “To date, smoking cessation is the only intervention that has conclusively been shown to alter the rate of decline in [lung function].”
Celli said this is the first demonstration of an effective drug therapy in COPD.
The rate of lung function decline was similar despite variables such as sex, age, ethnicity and body-mass index.
“Although treatment did not abolish the accelerated decline in lung function [that occurs with COPD], it did ameliorate it substantially,” Celli wrote.
Next Page »
