20 Friday Dec 2019
Posted in Intelligence for Your Life
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Acupressure, cold, cold and flu, Connie Sellecca, conniesellecca, flu, intelligence for your life, intelligenceforyourlife, virus, viruses
Tap your chest!
There’s an acupressure point in the middle of the breastbone – at about where your third rib would be. Gently tap that point for a minute every couple of hours. Eastern medicine experts say it’ll trigger the thymus gland to produce more T-cells, which are the cells that help our immune system find and attack viruses.
17 Thursday Oct 2019
Posted in Intelligence for Your Life
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bacteria, Connie Sellecca, conniesellecca, gargle, gargle with salt water, intelligence for your life, intelligenceforyourlife, salt, sore throat, virus
Start gargling with salt water now. Salt is anti-bacterial – so gargling will reduce the chances of bacteria or a virus latching onto you by 25%. So mix a half-teaspoon of salt in warm water and gargle a couple times a day.
03 Tuesday Sep 2019
Posted in Intelligence for Your Life
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back in school, Connie Sellecca, conniesellecca, germs, intelligence for your life, intelligenceforyourlife, sick, virus, viruses, wash your hands
…they’ll be bringing home more than homework. They’ll also be bringing home the germs and viruses they pick up their friends. According to Dr. Mehmet Oz, there’s a spike in illnesses among kids every Fall. So, remind your kids to wash their hands frequently. Research shows that kids who wash their hands at least four times a day at school end up being absent fewer days.
22 Wednesday Aug 2018
Posted in Intelligence for Your Life
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chickenpox, Connie Sellecca, conniesellecca, intelligence for your life, intelligenceforyourlife, shingles, shingles shot, shingles virus, virus
Don’t get it too soon! The shingles rash is triggered by remnants of the virus that gave you chickenpox – and it’s incredibly painful. But Dr. Maria Nagel, a neurologist at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, says you’re less likely to have an outbreak when you’re younger, and your immune system is stronger. And if you get the shingles shot before age 60, you might not be protected down the road, when you’re much more likely to develop the rash – and your risk of complications are much higher. Bottom line: Don’t ask your doctor for the shingles shot until after you turn 60.
30 Wednesday May 2018
Posted in Intelligence for Your Life
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cold, Connie Sellecca, conniesellecca, contamination, flu, germs, ill, intelligence for your life, intelligenceforyourlife, kleenex, sick, sneeze, sneezing, tissues, virus
If you’re sick – and you’ve been using the same tissue to blow your nose all morning – is that a problem? Well, according to Dr. Wendy Bennett, an internist from Johns Hopkins, that ratty tissue won’t hurt you – but it could hurt those around you. Because each time you touch the tissue, you’re touching your germy mucus – and wherever your hands land afterward will be contaminated with your virus. So grab a new tissue. Or sneeze into your elbow, since that’s less likely to touch other surfaces or people.
22 Tuesday May 2018
Posted in Intelligence for Your Life
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Connie Sellecca, conniesellecca, cough, coughing, flu, germs, infection, intelligence for your life, intelligenceforyourlife, laugh, laughing, sing, singing, sneeze, sneezing, virus, whistle
We know that coughing and sneezing spreads germs. Now, researchers say, so do singing, whistling and laughing!
Virologists at Singapore’s National University Hospital say singing produces an even stronger, “more penetrating plume of infection” than coughing. How do they know? Because the researchers used a gigantic mirror and high-speed camera to watch the splatter of saliva… and they figured out exactly how far those flu droplets flew when someone was singing!
So what’s the point of this research? Researchers can apply it to how far apart hospital beds need to be to prevent airborne infection. But for us, we should steer clear of strangers who are whistling on their way to work – and maybe avoid close contact with singers on karaoke night! Keep a minimum distance of 20 feet… and know that viral droplets can stay suspended in the air for up to 10 minutes.
19 Friday Jan 2018
Posted in Intelligence for Your Life
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bacteria, cell, cell phone, cellphone, Connie Sellecca, conniesellecca, germs, get sick, ill, intelligence for your life, intelligenceforyourlife, phone, sickness, Stanford, Stanford University, virus
If your partner – or best friend – is sick, don’t let them borrow your phone. Or if you do, clean it first before you use it again. Gadgets with glass touch screens carry 18 times more bacteria than a toilet’s flush handle! And a recent Stanford University study found that if you put a virus on a glass surface, at least 30% of that virus will end up on your fingertips!
06 Friday Oct 2017
Posted in Intelligence for Your Life
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bath tub, bathtub, cold, cold & flu, Connie Sellecca, conniesellecca, core temperature, flu, hot bath, hot tub, intelligence for your life, intelligenceforyourlife, New York Nasal and Sinus Center, virus
If you catch a cold, here’s how to get over it faster: Take a hot bath. Researchers at the New York Nasal and Sinus Center found soaking for 20-minutes a day in a hot bath can shorten a cold by four days. That’s because viruses are heat-sensitive – so raising your core temperature helps kill them off faster.
21 Wednesday Jun 2017
Posted in Intelligence for Your Life
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Connie Sellecca, conniesellecca, fun, germs, health benefits, immune boost, immune system, immunity, in utero, intelligence for your life, intelligenceforyourlife, kiss, kiss your partner, kissing, Microbiome, virus
Kiss your partner! According to the journal Microbiome, just 10 seconds of kissing can transfer 80 million germs from one person’s mouth to another’s. It sounds gross, but the health benefits are huge. Because when we’re exposed to other people’s germs, it helps us build immunity to those new germs. In fact, kissing could help protect a couple’s future babies from being infected in utero from viruses.
06 Monday Mar 2017
Posted in Intelligence for Your Life
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bacteria, Connie Sellecca, conniesellecca, germs, illness, infection, intelligence for your life, intelligenceforyourlife, lip balm, petri-dish, virus
The kind you have to put your finger in each time your lips get dry? Well, microbiologists want you to know those adorable lip balm pots are bacteria bombs that can lead to infection. Dr. Elaine Larson is an infectious disease researcher at Columbia University. And she says every time you dip into that pot, your finger could be transferring bacteria, viruses, and all kinds of illness-causing microorganisms to your lip balm – essentially turning it into a petri-dish.
