Daily Dose of Common Sense

It is estimated that 30 million Americans visit tanning salons each year to get brown without the sun. Just how unwise is this? A new study has found that using tanning beds can quadruple your chance of skin cancer. Regardless of your age, the risk of cancer goes up with the frequency at which you indoor tan.

People, really? 30 million folks in this country haven’t heard the news yet? Even before this study, the information on tanning beds and skin cancer was in the news for years. If you’re this out of the loop, I’m sure a few juries could use you.

The FDA is recommending that children under eighteen be barred from using tanning beds unless they have parental consent. Yeah, give kids yet another reason to get a fake I.D. Instead, why not make each person who wants to use a tanning bed watch this slideshow beforehand?

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Here is a stairwell sign that was found in the Bronx. While the grammar isn’t much to cheer about, you’ve gotta love the message!

[Thanks to Viveca G. for the photo!]

A 604 lb. woman living in New Jersey says it would be a “fantasy” to be the world’s fattest woman, which would mean weighing 1,000 lbs. She’s only 42 and has a 3-year old daughter. To supplement her $750-a-week grocery bill, she has a web site where men can watch her eat fast food.

“When you have a 3-year-old daughter and you’re trying to run a household, things like this tend to be a fantasy,” Simpson told The Post today.

Yes, quite the fantasy. CRAZY fantasy. Does this woman have no one in her life that can teach her the serious health consequences of being so overweight? Does she not want to be around to watch her daughter grow up, and possibly have grandchildren? Also, what quality of life can she give her daughter when, admittedly, she can only move 20 ft. on her own without a break.

It all reminds me of The Simpsons episode where Homer wants to gain weight. He wants to be fat enough to be considered disabled, which would allow him to work from home. As Dr. Nick Rivera advises him, use Pop-Tarts instead of bread….

Via PatsPapers

There are tens of millions of workers in the U.S. who do not receive any paid sick leave. That means that about 40% of Americans either have to work while ill or take the hit to their paychecks. For people living paycheck-to-paycheck, this usually means sucking it up, taking some cold medication, and heading to work. And you know who’s catching what they have? Everyone else.

This is one reason that public officials are very worried about this flu season. Many of the workers in this category are waiters, child care employees, office temps, and cashiers. They’re handling your food, your kids, and your money. That means germs are spreading at the speed of light.

You can hardly blame John/Julie Q. Worker who doesn’t get sick leave. Yes, he/she should stay home but what if he/she fears being fired, or can’t afford to take the pay hit? And, you can hardly blame struggling Small Q. Business, who can’t afford to pay workers for not working. But, businesses should at least help sick workers make up the hours lost with additional hours later on.

So, shame on bigger companies like Wal-Mart (who can afford sick leave) for not treating this issue with the seriousness it deserves.

Workers at many retailers and restaurants say their employers’ policies discourage them from calling in sick. At Wal-Mart, when employees miss one or more days because of illness or other reasons, they generally get a demerit point. Once employees obtain four points over a six-month period, they begin receiving warnings that can lead to dismissal.

In addition, when Wal-Mart employees call in sick, their first day off is not a paid sick day (although workers can use a vacation day or personal day), but the second and third days are paid. The policy is meant to keep workers who are not actually sick from taking a day off to, say, go fishing.

Paul Hotchkiss, a support manager at a Wal-Mart store in Hastings, Minn., said the point system pressured him to report to work two weeks ago even though he had swine flu.

Forcing people to come to work sick only gets other workers sick. Offices are notorious germ factories, even outside of flu season.

A recent study found the average office desk contains 20,961 germs per square inch! The worst hot spots for germs? Phones, computer keyboards, and computer mice. If not cleaned regularly, they are a great breeding place for viruses that cause colds and flu.

Also, don’t forget about communal bathrooms, the office coffeepot, microwaves, and water coolers. Gossip isn’t the only thing being exchanged in these places. Germs are also traded on any commonly touched surfaces.

If you get sick leave, USE IT. If you don’t, lobby your bosses and companies for better sick policies. This flu season, we may need all the help we can get.

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The New York Times does a good job of calling Bill Maher to task for his ignorance and misinformation on the flu vaccine. Maher hosts a chat show on HBO and is usually known for his political commentary. But, lately he’s been spending a lot of time leading people astray about vaccines and the H1N1 virus.

He [Maher] said he did not believe that healthy people were vulnerable to dying from the new H1N1 virus. This contradicts statements from the World Health Organization and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that young, healthy people from ages 5 to 24 appear particularly vulnerable to this flu. About a third of the 76 children who have died of H1N1 since April have had no underlying health problems.

Here is Maher getting schooled by Dr. Bill Frist, a heart surgeon.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tB5DLf1Qt78&feature=player_embedded

Do not listen to talk show hosts when considering your safety and health. Please talk to doctors and other health professionals. He may have a big mouth, but Maher may not be right. Get the facts for yourself.

A Japanese company has produced a business suit that it claims will protect the wearer form contracting the H1N1 virus.

According to the company:

The suit is coated with the chemical titanium dioxide, which reacts to light to break down and kill the virus when it comes into contact with it.

Well, it’s nice that your clothing won’t contact the virus. But, if you know anything about how viruses are transmitted, this suit won’t solve your problem. The special fabric isn’t going to prevent your hands, face, neck, or head from coming into contact with H1N1.

Unless you wear it over your head. If you do, I suggest cutting out some eye holes first.

[Thanks, Gizmodo!]

As few as 25 years ago, neuroscientists stuck firmly to the belief that as we aged our brains became fixed and static–hence the saying, you can’t teach an old dog new tricks. However, new research is saying otherwise. Enter the relatively new concept of brain plasticity and the related practice of brain fitness.

In the simplest terms, brain plasticity is the brain’s capacity for continuous physical, chemical and functional change. Brain fitness is the purposeful exercising of our gray matter to keep it engaged and healthy.

And, while brain plasticity has bona-fide roots and application in the neuroscientific community, brain fitness seems to be a new ‘it thing’ for some quacky websites, books, training seminars, and even diets. The Wikipedia entry for brain fitness notes, “The term is virtually never used in the scientific literature, but is commonly used in the context of self-help books and commercial products.” But, if you wade through the brain fitness drivel, essentially the premise is use it or lose it. Moreover, how you use it is equally important.

One source lists the following the ideal components of brain fitness activities:

• They should teach you something new.
• They should be challenging.
• They should be progressive.
• They should engage your great brain processing systems.
• They should be rewarding. (My personal favorite.)
• They should be novel or surprising.

And there you have it. In order to maintain our brain health and take advantage of the newfound concept of brain plasticity, we need to continually engage our noggins in new and challenging ways.

Hmmm. I don’t think I need a website or seminar to tell me that.

A new weight-loss device puts a spin on the term “comfort food.” A doctor has invented a postage-stamp sized patch that is surgically adhered to a person’s tongue. The patch makes eating painful, and the patient is forced to go on an all-liquid diet to gain nutrients.

The creator claims patients lose as much as twenty pounds in one month. Um, yeah. That’s what we would expect when someone has to drink caesar salad milkshakes and steak smoothies for thirty days. Mmmmmmmmmm….steak smoothies.

I sure hope anyone considering this mumbo jumbo realizes that the results won’t last. What happens when you return to real food? You’re back to your original weight, I’d wager. And, how can you talk with this thing sewn onto your tongue? If it makes eating painful, it’s probably not fun to talk, either. But, hey, if you want to sound like Cindy Brady in your staff meetings, then be my guest. For a real glimpse, check out the photo of the patch’s application.

Losing weight isn’t easy, and people are always looking for a quick fix. Unless you need to fit in your Oscar gown, I think this is just a way to torture yourself for a month.

[Via Pat's Papers]

We use water every day without thinking about it. In fact, we can’t live without it. As you’ve probably heard at some point, we can survive for a few weeks without food but only a few days without water. Although water may seem abundant to people in developed countries, globally speaking, potable water is an extremely limited resource.

In fact, lack of access to clean water claims 4 million lives a year–roughly the population of Los Angeles.

So while more fortunate folks don’t have to think about water consumption, just a few quick facts may provide the incentive we all need to think about water as a resource, and to use it accordingly.

• Every 15 seconds, a child dies from a water-related disease.
• The water and sanitation crisis claims more lives through disease than any war claims through guns.
• A five-minute shower in an American household will use more water than a person living in a developing world will use in a whole day.
• It takes over 2,900 gallons of water to produce a pound of coffee.
• On average, women in Africa and Asia have to walk 3.7 miles to collect water.

It’s unrealistic to think that few alarming factoids will immediately impact our daily water consumption.

Or, is it?

If every person in the United States chose just one way to save 1 gallon of water each day, we would conserve 307,183,727 gallons per day.

Pretty impressive, don’t you think?

To see water footprints check out this chart:
http://awesome.good.is/transparency/web/trans0309walkthisway.html

To educate yourself about the global water crisis:
http://water.org/

To find ways that might work for you to reduce your water consumption:
http://www.wateruseitwisely.com/100-ways-to-conserve/index.php

Photo courtesy of Flickr: darkpatator

The milk in your fridge has passed its expiration date, but you drink it anyway. The deli meat “use by” date has gone by, but the meat smells okay enough for a sandwich. In a bad economy, everyone is looking to make things stretch further, which could include the food in your fridge or pantry. In fact, Listeria poisonings in the British elderly are on the rise, presumably because of a depression-era reluctance to let anything go to waste. Learning about food expiration dates and the language used on products can help you determine when to eat it or when to throw it away.

The Lingo

• Expiration Date: This is the last date a product can be used or consumed. After this date, it’s proceed at your own risk.
• “Sell By” Date: This date tells the store how long to display the product for sale. This date is stamped by the manufacturer as a guide for when the product is at its maximum quality. For some time after this date, the product is still edible. However, it just might not be as fresh.
• “Best if Used By” Date: This is similar to the “sell by” date. Used as a measure for maximum quality, not as an expiration date.
• “Born on” Date: This is the date the product was manufactured. Generally, this date is found on beer, which can lose quality after three months.

People throw out a lot of good food because they don’t understand the dates and terminology that manufacturers use. While it’s better to be safe than sorry, you can make your grocery bill stretch further by knowing how to handle your food. Here is a great chart of Food Storage Guidelines from Gourmet Sleuth.

The experts all agree to let common sense prevail. If it smells bad, or is questionable, throw it away. Here are some quick guidelines:

Perishable Meats, Fish, Seafood – pay attention to sell by dates. For best quality it is best to buy those products before the sell by date particularly with meats, poultry and seafood. That being said, many of these products are still edible for several days after that date. See the chart.

Dairy products - Liquids such as milk and cream are more perishable than solid products like sour cream, yogurt and cheese. See our “how long to keep” list for more specifics.

Canned Goods – because the dating conventions on most canned goods are “obscured” I use a basic rule of thumb to rotate out my canned good stock within 1 year. Exceptions: if the top looks “bulged” or darkened or rusty I toss it out. Many canned goods are fine past one year but start to pick up a “canned” taste and quality does degrade.

Dry Goods – Flour, sugar, salt, etc.  These products do not expire and even the quality is not severely impacted with age. Exception: if the product has a high oil content it can go rancid (like rice). Just give it a sniff. It if smells rancid, toss it. Also products like baking powder lose their potency so keep this rotated approximately every 6 months.

Photo courtesy of Flickr: danksy.