The Strange Psychology Of Stress And Burnout

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You shouldn't underestimate the positive power of having a degree of stress in your life. Identifying the tipping point, where stress turns to burnout, is the key.

Five Small Hygiene Steps For Big Change

The Global Hygiene Council has made a video that shows five small steps to help reduce preventable infections and improve the health of children worldwide.



YouTube link

(thanks Mike)

The Real-Life Diseases That Spread The Vampire Myth

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Diseases were frightening things before the age of medical science. Plagues and epidemics could appear without warning and cause death and misery. Other diseases - perhaps passed on by animals or from genes lying dormant in their own bodies - could cause ailments that defied explanation.

People turned instead to the supernatural. Some of these diseases helped spawn one of the most enduring and widespread monster myths in civilisation - the vampire.

Did People In The Middle Ages Take Baths?

It is often thought that medieval men and women did not care too much about personal hygiene or keeping clean. However, a closer look shows that baths and bathing were actually quite common in the Middle Ages, but in a different way than one might expect.

(via Everlasting Blort)

Does Ginger Ale Help Nausea?

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The short answer is yes. There are many amazing benefits of having ginger when you are feeling nausea. It directly aids digestion process with the help of secretion of digestive enzymes in mouth, stomach and intestines.

Ginger ale relaxes stomach muscles with phenols found in it, helps in the proper functioning of nervous system and obstructs chemo-receptors that put a stop on the urge to vomit.

10 Insanely Dangerous Places To Live

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When many people think of dangerous places, they often just think of nothing more than violent crime, and the cities where it occurs frequently. While some of these cities are quite dangerous, there are many other dangers one can live with.

Extreme weather, hostile wildlife, potentially fatal daily commutes, and other dangerous conditions are just some of the worst ways your day, or your life, can be ruined.

The Benefits Of Going Bald

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For as long as men have had access to mirrors, they've been fretting about their scalps getting lonely. According to a 2009 survey by the International Society of Hair Restoration Surgery, almost 60% of men would rather have a full head of hair than money or friends.

There's mounting evidence that bare heads aren’t a spectacular evolutionary accident after all. Bald men are seen as more intelligent, dominant and of high status; their shiny scalps may help them to seduce women or even save lives.

15 Curious Quack Remedies From The Age Of Patent Medicine

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Traveling salesmen and pharmacies packed with colorful bottles claimed to have all the medical cures for what ailed you in the 19th century, although the contents of their remedies were more likely to be opiates or snake oil than any scientifically sound healing.

The era of patent medicine was a response to the shortcomings of medicine at the time, which often relied on questionable treatments like bloodletting and purging.

Which Item In The Bathroom Has The Most Germs?

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Which item in your bathroom carries the most germs? No, it's not the toilet. Toilet paper? No. The most likely candidate for most of us is our toothbrush.

The First Ever Stethoscope Was A Simple Wooden Tube

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At the Necker Hospital in Paris, Dr. René Laennec stood at the bedside of a female patient who complained of heart trouble. To better understand this woman's ailment, the doctor had limited options. This was 1816, and the standard procedure involved putting one's ear against a patient's chest to hear the heart and lungs.

But instead of placing his ear on her chest, he rolled a piece of paper into a tube, and put it between his ear and the woman's heart. Laennec found that the telescope-shaped instrument amplified the sound of the beating heart and respiring lungs. The stethoscope was born.

Why Paper Cuts Hurt So Much

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Paper seems completely harmless, but anybody who has refilled a photocopier or thumbed too quickly through a book knows that this humble material harbours a deep, dark secret. Deployed properly, it can be a serious weapon: paper cuts are just the worst.

Sing Your Way To Health And Happiness

An infographic packed with information about the benefits of singing. The infographic includes information about the physical benefits, the psychological benefits, benefits of singing for children and benefits of singing for the elderly.

Why Do We Wake Up Stiff In The Mornings? Scientists Discover The Answer

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Scientists have discovered why we wake up stiff in the morning - because our body's natural ibuprofen has not kicked in yet. Researchers revealed the reason our limbs can feel rigid and achy when we rise is because the body's biological clock suppresses anti-inflammatory proteins during sleep.

49 Health 'Facts' You've Been Told That Are Totally Wrong

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Carrots give you night vision. Swimming after eating will give you cramps. You need to drink eight glasses of water a day. Organic food is more nutritious and free of pesticides. Wrong!

Who hasn't shared these and other amazing-sounding notions about about health and the human body, only to feel embarrassed later on - when you find out the information was inaccurate or flat-out wrong? It's time to put an end to these alluring myths, misconceptions, and inaccuracies passed down through the ages.

10 Weird Epidemics That Remain A Mystery

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In the last 200 years or so, humanity has made great strides in the development of medicine and medical technology. Despite this, there are still many plagues and pandemics, both from centuries ago and from the modern era, that confuse or frustrate our understanding of medicine.

Some can only be explained as outbreaks of hysteria or mass hallucinations brought on by intense social pressures. Others are even more mysterious, lacking any sort of logic or reason. Here is a list of 10 plagues, which have baffled and bewildered the doctors of the past and present alike.

Matchsticks Once Sickened And Deformed Women And Children

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Matchstick making was incredibly popular in 19th century England, with hundreds of factories spread across the country. For 12 to 16 hours a day, workers dipped treated wood into a phosphorus concoction, then dried and cut the sticks into matches.

Recently, anthropologists studying the skeleton of a young teenager discovered that the bones appear to show the physical hallmarks of phosphorus poisoning.

The Most Effective Way To Wash Your Hands - According To Science

Keeping our hands clean is the best way to prevent the spread of infections, so it's surprising to learn that the Centers for Disease Control and the World Health Organization disagree on how to do it right. A new study shows that the six-step hand-washing technique promoted by the WHO is the better option.

Researchers from Glasgow Caledonian University have shown that the WHO's six-step hand hygiene practice is superior to the CDC's three-step protocol. If you didn't think it was possible to get really absurdly nerdy about hand washing, get ready.

Sulabh International Museum Of Toilets

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In a quiet courtyard in the suburbs of New Delhi, inside a low-slung concrete building, the assistant curator and guides of Sulabh International Museum of Toilets eagerly awaits for visitors. Hygiene and sanitation is one of India's most pressing issues.

An astonishing 60% of the country's 1.2 billion people do not have access to safe and private toilets. Dr. Bindeshwar Pathak, a humanitarian and social worker, introduced pay-to-use public toilets in a small village in Patna, Bihar. At first the people laughed at his idea, but now over 15 million people across the country use public toilets constructed by Sulabh International, a non-profit he founded.

11 Foods That Can Help You Sleep Better

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Trying to get more shut-eye? Take a look at your diet. Eating the right foods in the hours before you hit the hay may help you fall asleep faster and even improve the quality of your sleep. Here's your get-sleepy grocery list, and remember to stop noshing two hours before bedtime to give your body enough time to properly digest.

Why Does Scratching Make You Itch More?

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Hell is an itch that can't be scratched. Dante understood this. In his Inferno, he describes a ditch in the Eighth Circle of Hell where alchemists, counterfeiters, and liars are subjected to the burn of an eternal itch.

The good news is that most earthly itches are in fact scratchable. Physical itchiness is usually a temporary sensation. But while most itching resolves on its own, 10 percent of people suffer from some form of chronic itch during their lives. Scratching may provide temporary relief, but it also promotes more intense itching, which makes you scratch harder.