We’ve all heard that drinking 8 glasses of water a day can keep us healthy. It seems a little excessive though. An article from the November 2002 American Journal of Physiology explained the lack of evidence behind this popular notion.

The truth is that to stay healthy, your intake of water needs to be enough to replace the amount lost through perspiration, excretion, and other bodily functions. However, the amount lost per day is different for everyone.

Research suggests that we also get water from the foods we eat and our daily drinks—juice, milk, and decaffeinated beverages. Try drinking diluted fruit juice, tea, sparking water and purified water.

The simple rule of thumb for water intake is to make sure that your urine looks like water. Urine should not appear dark yellow or golden brown as this is a sign of dehydration.

To stay hydrated, you should drink water with each meal and between meals. Be sure to drink water before, during and after you exercise. Try to substitute sparkling water for alcoholic beverages at social gatherings.

Although it’s rare, it is possible that you could be drinking too much water. Drinking too much water can lead to water intoxication, an electrolyte imbalance where cells swell up with excess fluid. Your kidneys are unable to excrete the excess water and electrolytes in your blood become diluted. This results in hypoatremia or low sodium levels in the blood.

You doctor or dietician can help you determine the water intake level that’s right for you.

–Nolan

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I always thought that cracked heels (or heel fissures) meant that I was in desperate need of moisturizer. However, cracked heels are more of a foot care maintenance problem. Heel fissures can also appear due to a deficiency in vitamins, minerals, zinc and omega-3 fatty acids.

Cracked heels occur when the thickened skin becomes very dry and splits due to the pressure of standing or walking. Some people, like me, have dry skin (xerosis) which makes them more likely to develop cracks. Cracks in the skin can occur around the rim of the heel and the web of your toes. Cracked heels can occur on one or both feet, but usually affect both feet.

It’s important to pay attention to the condition of your feet and not to neglect them. If the cracks in your heels start to bleed, you could develop an infection.

Risk Factors

Some common risk factors for cracked heels include:

• Standing for prolonged periods of time, especially on hard floors
• Skin conditions such as eczema or psoriasis
• Being overweight which increases the pressure on the fat tissue under your heel
• Wearing open back shoes which causes the fat beneath your heel to expand sideways and increases the pressure to crack
• Certain medical conditions that cause dry skin—psoriasis, athlete’s foot, thyroid disease, diabetes

Cracked Heels Symptoms

The most common symptoms include:

• Peeling and flaking of skin
• Skin feels tight and painful
• Skin appears yellow or brown and may become inflamed due to itching and scratching
• Dry skin becomes thick and hard, usually around the edges of the heels
• Feet become painful when walking
• Discomfort is increased when walking barefoot, in thin sole shoes or open back shoes
• Bleeding may occur if the cracks are deep
• Dry and cracked skin is prone to bacteria and fungal infections which can cause serious problems

Home remedies for Cracked Heels

• Try an oil-based moisturizer 2 times a day. You can even use shortening or hydrogenated vegetable oil after you wash your feet. After applying cream or shortening, put on some thick socks and leave them on overnight. You will see results in a few days.
• Use a pumice stone to reduce the thickness of the hardened skin.
• Apply banana pulp to the cracked skin, leave on for 10 minutes and wash it clean.
• Melt paraffin wax and mix it with some mustard oil. Put this mixture on the dry or cracked area of your heels and rinse it off in the morning. Using this method for 15 days can provide you with desirable results.
• Cracked heels can occur due to a deficiency of vitamins, minerals, zinc and omega-3 fatty acids. Omega-3 fatty acids are not produced naturally by the body and need to be ingested from either food or supplements. You can find omega-3 fatty acids in flax seeds, cold water fish and purslane herb.

Warning:
Do not try to cut off the hard skin with a razor blade or scissors—you will increase your risk of infection.

Foot Care Tips

• Always keep your feet clean and free of dirt
• Exercise your feet on a daily basis
• Wash, moisturize and exfoliate your feet regularly
• Check your feet for any changes in condition
• Try not to walk barefoot

—Nolan

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Who doesn’t like a fluffy, sweet, cuddly kitty cat? Ailurophobes don’t, that’s who, and I happen to be one. People understand a fear of snakes or a fear of spiders, neither of which happen to bother me. But tell them you’re a cat phobic and you can hear their jaw hit the floor, followed by disbelieving uncontrolled laughter.

I don’t know why this phobia kicked in. I was the kid that took in all sorts of wild strays in the neighborhood, cats among them. I just know that once it kicked in, it got much worse before it got better. Kittens don’t jolt this irrational fear into gear, but stray cats will definitely do it. Once I get to know certain cats, they don’t bother me at all.

Cat owners think that if they inform me they have a de-clawed cat it will make all the difference in my comfort level, which ranges from outright panic to calm and attentive. I’m sometimes even able to pet the lovable felines. What they don’t understand is it’s an IRRATIONAL fear. I don’t care if the cats have no claws (front or back) and no teeth—cats just simply freak me out. They’re sneaky, and when they sense my fear, they tease me mercilessly (almost as bad as their owners!)

What is Ailurophobia?

Ailurophobia is simply the fear of cats. Not a dislike, mind you, although fear of cats and a dislike of cats may coincide within the same individual.

Like most phobias, the sufferer of Ailurophobia may not even be able to tell you what it is about cats that causes them to break out into a cold sweat, their heart to beat rapidly, or that leaves them positively panicky in the presence of a cat. Cats may just simply freak them out. They seem sneaky and sadistic to the phobic.

Some ailurophobes may have had an activating event, like a cat attack, to put the fear into motion, but even with an initial event, the individual would already have a predisposition to anxiety which may or may not manifest into a phobia.

Cats are drawn to people who don’t like them mainly because they don’t make contact with the cat, avoiding eye contact, which puts the cat at ease. The more the ailurophobe ignores the cat; the more the lap looks comfortable, calming and inviting. So cats aren’t merely being mischievous and wicked by making a b-line for the ailurophobe, they just feel comforted. That isn’t true for all kitty cats—I have been helplessly terrorized by a rascally cat while the owner laughed hysterically at the cat’s new and apparently hilarious behavior, which only caused me to feel that much more vulnerable and ill at ease. I wasted no time in excusing myself from their home, never to return. (Seriously, it was that bad)

What can be done for Ailurophobes?

As with all phobias, desensitization seems to be the only cure. To overcome fear, one must walk through it. There doesn’t seem to be an exception here. The key is to take it one cat at time, one situation at a time. When becoming desensitized to being around cats, make sure you have an understanding and trusted friend or professional with you. Having someone to talk you through the anxiety, panic and fear will greatly aid in the desensitization process. Having someone tease you and aggravate you will only harden or exacerbate the phobia, causing the anxiety to increase.

Each time you are exposed to cats, and can calmly walk through the fear, it gets easier and easier. The phobia itself may never go away, but you won’t find it intolerable and unbearable to be around cats. Initial hesitation will fade into indifference or amicability instead of bounding into full blown panic and terror.

-Anne

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My eyebrows were never horrible. I mean I don’t look like a female version of Andy Rooney or anything. That would be rather frightening.

My brows were a little on the thick side and dark so a few years ago I decided that I would tweeze them. There were a few times where I went tweeze crazy and plucked more hair than I intended. Luckily, the hair grew back but I needed to find out more information so that I wouldn’t end up with crazy brows.

The Truth about Tweezing

If used by an inexperienced person, tweezers can cause damage to the blood vessels around the hair follicle. Other issues can occur such as tearing of the skin or poking small holes in the skin. So it’s important to know the proper steps to take for tweezing and if you’re still uncertain, consult your cosmetologist or aesthetician for more information.

Tweezing is great for removing small amounts of unwanted facial hair. You can take years off your look with just a little eyebrow shaping and maintenance.

Tweezing Treatment

Prep work

1. Make sure your tweezers are clean and sharp every time you tweeze. If you’re going to tweeze regularly, you may want to buy a pair of professional tweezers.
2. Always…always, disinfect the tips of your tweezer in rubbing alcohol.
3. Clean and/or exfoliate your face with a gentle scrub. Rinse with a hot washcloth to loosen hair follicles.
4. Reduce pain by numbing the area beforehand with any of the following—ice (I recommend this one), teething gel, or toothache gel (Orajel, Anbesol).
5. Soften the hair with conditioner or shaving cream.
6. Be sure to tweeze near a window with a lot of light coming in or under bright light.

How to Tweeze Your Eyebrows

1. Grab a pencil and hold it vertically along the side of your nose. Your eyebrow should begin at the outside edge of the pencil. If you leave more space, it will widen close-set eyes.
2. Now take your pencil and hold it to the outside of your eye. This point is where your eyebrow should end.
3. Brush your eyebrow hairs in the direction of natural growth.
4. You can use an eye shadow pencil to draw your desired shape beforehand.
5. Tweeze under the brow first and pluck in the direction of the growth.
6. Find the hair you want to tweeze and pull the skin taut to prevent excess pulling. When using the tweezers be sure to pull the hair gently but with a quick and smooth motion. Do not yank out the hair. Only pluck one hair at a time and keep checking in the mirror to make sure that both brows are even.
7. After you tweeze, use cool, wet tea bags to soothe in eye area. Your can also use aloe vera gel or an astringent to soothe irritated skin.

Tips

• DO NOT OVERTWEEZE! Be sure to continuously look in the mirror as you tweeze so that you’ll still have eyebrows left.
• Avoid plucking your eyebrows 1-2 days before (or 1-2 days after) your menstrual cycle because you may feel more pain at this time.
• Don’t drop your tweezers! This can dull the point. Keep your tweezers in a storage tube or pouch to avoid damage.
• Do not use your eyebrow tweezers for removing delicate nose hair. By adhering to this rule, you’ll reduce your risk for infection.
• Use a special tweezer for ingrown hairs and/or splinters.
• If you get crazy brows like I do (especially in the morning), you can use a brow gel to keep your eyebrows in place all day. You can also use clear mascara or a little hairspray to keep stray hairs in place.

-Nolan

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We’re not talking about the chill you get in the middle of winter when you’ve forgotten to wear your gloves. This is a kind of chill provoked by hardcore illness and infection. If you’ve had the flu, you’ve most likely experienced chills and then a fever soon afterward. Even in the middle of summer as your body temperature begins to climb due to the sudden onset of illness, you can still feel cold.

Why do you get the chills when you’re sick?

To fight infection, your body lights a fire to burn pathogens away. As your body’s internal thermostat is set higher for optimal infection-stomping status, your body feels cold. In response to this chill, your muscles throw themselves into a series of contractions in an effort to reclaim a warm and cozy feeling. This rapid flexing of muscles makes you shake and shiver, and your body temperature shoots up for the fight!

Causes of body chills

Just some of the common causes of chills include:

• Influenza
• Pneumonia
• Meningitis
• Strep throat
• Food poisoning
• Other bacterial or viral infections

Home remedies for chills

Chills usually subside on their own once a fever is maintained and then later broken when your bodily thermostat resets. However, there are some things you can do to make yourself or a person wracked with chills a little more comfortable.

Mix a tablespoon of honey and a squeeze of lemon into a warm glass of water. Don’t down it in one shot though; take time to sip and let it warm you from the inside.

If you’re caring for someone with chills, try sponging the body with warm water. The warmth will dilate blood vessels and help regain a lost sense of warmth.

Keep yourself hydrated. Drink plenty of water or 100% natural juice. Avoid sugary drinks as these will dehydrate you more.

In the vein of keeping yourself hydrated, don’t reach for the nearest bottle of cognac. Alcohol offers only a false sense of warmth and dehydrates your body further. The Saint Bernard is a liar!

Don’t overexert yourself. In fact, stay in bed! Chills are your body’s sign to you that something is wrong. If you walk around, your body riddled with chills, you will only prolong the symptoms.

If your chills are severe or if your fever reaches above 104 degrees and will not go down with the help of aspirin, ibuprofen or acetaminophen, see a doctor right away.

QUICK FACT: Never give children under the age 18 aspirin as they run the risk of developing Reye’s syndrome.

–Magdalena

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