Health Tips

Cleaning your ears

• Clean your ears with extra care. Wipe the outer ear with a washcloth or tissue. Do not put anything into your ear smaller than your elbow. Do not use Q-tips, bobby pins or sharp pointed objects to clean your ears. These objects may injure the ear canal or eardrum.
• Earwax is the ear’s mechanism for self cleaning. If you have a build-up of wax that is blocking your hearing, see your ear physician to have it removed.
• If you experience itching or pain in your ears, consult with your ear physician to determine the appropriate treatment.
• If you have pierced ears, clean your earrings and earlobes regularly with rubbing alcohol.

Illness and Medications

• Reduce the risk of ear infections by treating upper respiratory infections promptly.
• Some illnesses and medical conditions can affect your hearing. If you experience sudden hearing loss or persistent noise in your ears or head, see an ear physician immediately.
• Drainage from the ear is not normal and should be evaluated promptly.
• Some medications can affect hearing. Take medications only as directed, and consult your physician if you experience unusual hearing, balance symptoms, or ringing in the ears.

Noise

• At home or work, wear hearing protection during exposure to loud levels of noise. This includes mowing the lawn, leaf blowing or using power tools. By law, a noisy work environment will require the use of hearing protection.
• When using stereos and home theater systems, avoid excessive volume. If you think it is too loud, it probably is.
• When using personal sound systems, the volume should be comfortable. If someone else can hear what you are listening to, the volume is too high. Remove the headphones from time to time to give your ears a rest.
• Wear earplugs at rock concerts, nightclubs and motor sporting events.
• Keep automobile sound systems at sensible volumes. This can help you avoid hearing damage and allow you to hear and yield to emergency vehicles.

Safety Issues

• Always wear a helmet when you bike, ski, and roller blade or in any other activity that puts you at risk for head and ear injuries.
• If you scuba dive, learn and practice proper underwater techniques to avoid potentially damaging changes in pressure inside your ears.
• When flying in an airplane, swallow and yawn frequently when the plane is ascending and descending to equalize pressure in your ears. If you have an upper respiratory problem such as a cold or sinus infection, take a decongestant a few hours before descending, or use a decongestant spray just prior to descent and on landing.
• Earplugs with special filters can be purchased to help equalize air pressure in ears during air travel.

General Care

• Have your ears checked regularly by your primary care physician and your hearing checked regularly by an audiologist. Consult an ear physician as necessary.
• When outdoors in sunny weather, remember to use a sunscreen on your ears.
• If you notice unusual bumps or scaly areas on the exterior ear, consult your physician immediately.
• Know the warning signs of hearing loss:
  • Difficulty hearing conversations, especially in the presence of background noise
  • Frequently asking others to repeat what they have said
  • Misunderstanding what other people say and answering inappropriately
  • Difficulty hearing on the telephone
  • Requiring the television or radio volume to be louder than others in the room prefer
  • Feeling that people are mumbling or have marbles in their mouth when they talk
  • Difficulty hearing environmental sounds, such as birds chirping
  • Agreeing, nodding your head, or smiling during conversations when you are not sure what has been said
  • Withdrawing from conversations and social situations because it is too difficult to hear
  • Reading lips so you can try to follow what people are saying
  • Straining to hear or keep up with conversations
  • Noise within your ears or head called tinnitus not caused by an external sound source
• See an ear physician immediately if you injure your ears, experience ear pain, or notice changes in your ears or hearing.

Nail Damage and Prevention:

1. The simplest way to avoid nail damage is to wear gloves.
2. If you can’t wear gloves, you could at least use a long handled mop-this allows you to keep your hands off water and your nails will definitely benefit.

3. If you do get your hands wet, remember to rinse them well and dry them carefully after the work is done.
4. Then apply ample amounts of a moisturizing cream.
5. You must also take certain other precautions:
A. Use a pencil to operate the dial;
B.Use a tin-opener to open tins;
C.Use gardening gloves;
D.Avoid contact with strong chemicals;
E.Use moisturizers liberally.
6. Wear Polish-It works as a barrier for your nails and use acetone-free nail polish remover.
7. File in one direction only-Filing back and forth is bad because this frays and weakens the nails. File your nails in one direction only for the best results.
8. Keep your nails short.
9. Manicure after a bath. It is best to do your manicure after a bath because your nails are soft.

Pamper Yourself-Manicure & Pedicure:

Cosmetics to Disguise Nail Defects:
If your nails are deformed, the first thing to do is to visit your dermatologist-a number of nail problems are temporary and improve as the new nail appears and only a very few are permanent. The appearance of your nails can also be improved considerably by the use of cosmetics-for instance, ordinary nail enamel can camouflage a number of nail defects. A broken or split nail can be mended using what are called nail-mending fluids. To do this, a piece of thin tissue is placed over the crack or break in the nail. The nail mending fluid is then applied. When the product dries and sets, the nail can be painted with the nail enamel.

Common Nail Problems:

1. Brittle Nails:
Brittle nails and flaking of nails are very common due to excessive dryness of the nail plate. The nail plate is made up of dead keratin cells held together by a natural glue of fats and water. Any loss of fats and water causes the cells to separate and results in flaking and brittleness of the nails.
A.Many of our domestic chores remove the natural fats from the nails resulting in brittle nails, so do wear gloves.
B.Nail polish removers also have a dehydrating effect. If you have brittle nails avoid removing your nail polish too frequently. You can use a colorless polish or a base-coat or a top-coat, because then you can keep touching it up quite happily, without having to use the remover very frequently.
C.Regular massage around the nail-base with cream can have a good effect on brittle nails.
2. Hangnails: Hangnails are tears in the skin of the nailfolds and the cuticle. The cuticle and the nail folds have a tendency to stick to the nail plate as it grows forward; the stretched cuticle may eventually tear. Sometimes the skin of the nail folds also cracks, particularly if it is dry. Nervous nail biting habits, chewing nails, and picking the cuticle all encourage the development of hangnails.
A. To avoid such conditions, keep the cuticles soft by massaging in creams and regularly loosening it from the nail-plate.
B.Clip off existing hangnails.
C.Avoid pulling off slivers as this can be very painful and can even cause infection of the nailfolds.
3. In-Growing Toe-Nails: If the toenail is not cut properly, it penetrates into the nail-fold as it grows, causing redness, swelling and pain.
A. Don’t cut them too short;
B.Don’t ever cut down the side of the nail;
C.Always follow the shape of the toe;
D.Once the pain has started, try to push the nail-fold away from the sharp edge of the skin.
4. Fungal Infections of the Nail (under nail fungus): When fungus infects the nails, they become thickened, broken and discoloured.Fungal infection can be easily treated- griseofulvin is given for milder infection and ketoconazole for more severe types-but let your doctor treat you.

The dry and cold winter can be very damaging to your hair. Hair easily becomes dry during this time of year from the dry indoor heating and the dry cold weather outside. Proper preventative steps need to be taken during this seasons to ensure that your hair does not get damaged.

Do not shampoo your hair too often. One of the most common mistakes people make is shampooing their hair too often. In cold weather, both the hair and scalp dry out more easily. Try not to shampoo your hair more than once a day.
Use the right type of products. The type of products you use on your hair will make a big difference in the overall health of your hair. Ask your hair stylist which type of product is best for your hair type.
Dealing with Static. An easy way to combat static is to spray a small amount of hair spray on your hairbrush when you are done styling and brush it through from top to bottom.
Do not overuse your hairdryer. Overusing your hairdryer will contribute to dry damaged hair. Try to blow dry your hair as little as possible. When you use your hairdryer, try using the ‘cool’ setting. Drying your hair with cool air may take a little longer but it will do less damage to your hair.
How to treat dry and brittle hair. A leave-in conditioner will work wonders for dry and brittle hair.

Other tips

*Wear a scarf, hat or cap to protect your hair from the cold and wind, but make sure that it’s not so tight that it will restrict circulation in your scalp.
* Lock in hair moisture by running your hair through cold water.
*Limit your use of “hot” items on your hair such as a blow dryers and curling irons.
*Avoid taking hot showers or washing your hair in hot water, use warm or cool water instead, the heat can dry out and/or damage your hair and skin.
*Try using a dry shampoo if you need to wash out your hair, one dry shampoo you can use is baby powder, simply sprinkle some onto your hair and use a comb to comb it off.