Category: Health

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This Is Why You Should Stop Cleaning Your Ears with Cotton Swabs

You’re probably aware that using cotton swabs like Q-tips to clean your ears can cause infection or injury to your ear canal or eardrum, but this latest case out of Australia might be the thing that actually gets you to stop.

A 37-year-old woman who claimed that she cleaned her ears using a Q-tip every single night found blood on the swab, prompting a trip to the doctor.

There, she learned that her overuse of the product had caused an infection deep inside her ear canal – one that caused the skull bone behind the ear to thin out and put her at risk for permanent hearing loss.

Now, even though cases like hers (and worse) have been documented, using the swabs to clean your ears once a month or so is unlikely to cause any kind of repetitive-use damage.

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Just Qtips. #qtips #light #random

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That said, there’s really no reason you need to stick swabs down there at all.

Human ears are self-cleaning, partly due to the fluid properties of the wax you’re trying to remove. If you do feel as if you’re experiencing issues due to a buildup, that harmless condition can be easily and safely treated without using Q-tips at all.

Basically, the upside of having a nice, dry, clean-feeling ear doesn’t outweigh the potential risks, which range from trauma to infection via the introduction of external pathogens. And trust me, “pathogen” is not something you want in close proximity with your brain and vestibular system.

This goes double for children, who landed in the emergency room over 263,000 times in 2017 after cotton-swab-related injuries. That’s 36 kids a day.

“This highlights the misconception that adults and children need to clean the ear canal in the home setting,” advises Dr. Kris Jatana, a pediatric ear, nose, and throat surgeon. “While cotton-tipped applicators may seem harmless, there are certainly a lot of potential risks t using them to clean the ears.”

If you need another reason to dump Q-tips, they’re also terrible for the environment. Most are made of plastic and aren’t biodegradable, meaning that they contribute to the massive problem of plastic waste and pollution impacting the entire world (and killing all the fish and turtles and whales!).

Just say no, people. A little earwax never hurt anyone.

The post This Is Why You Should Stop Cleaning Your Ears with Cotton Swabs appeared first on UberFacts.

Posted on

This Is Why You Should Stop Cleaning Your Ears with Cotton Swabs

You’re probably aware that using cotton swabs like Q-tips to clean your ears can cause infection or injury to your ear canal or eardrum, but this latest case out of Australia might be the thing that actually gets you to stop.

A 37-year-old woman who claimed that she cleaned her ears using a Q-tip every single night found blood on the swab, prompting a trip to the doctor.

There, she learned that her overuse of the product had caused an infection deep inside her ear canal – one that caused the skull bone behind the ear to thin out and put her at risk for permanent hearing loss.

Now, even though cases like hers (and worse) have been documented, using the swabs to clean your ears once a month or so is unlikely to cause any kind of repetitive-use damage.

View this post on Instagram

Just Qtips. #qtips #light #random

A post shared by Elle Aye (@laaveena) on

That said, there’s really no reason you need to stick swabs down there at all.

Human ears are self-cleaning, partly due to the fluid properties of the wax you’re trying to remove. If you do feel as if you’re experiencing issues due to a buildup, that harmless condition can be easily and safely treated without using Q-tips at all.

Basically, the upside of having a nice, dry, clean-feeling ear doesn’t outweigh the potential risks, which range from trauma to infection via the introduction of external pathogens. And trust me, “pathogen” is not something you want in close proximity with your brain and vestibular system.

This goes double for children, who landed in the emergency room over 263,000 times in 2017 after cotton-swab-related injuries. That’s 36 kids a day.

“This highlights the misconception that adults and children need to clean the ear canal in the home setting,” advises Dr. Kris Jatana, a pediatric ear, nose, and throat surgeon. “While cotton-tipped applicators may seem harmless, there are certainly a lot of potential risks t using them to clean the ears.”

If you need another reason to dump Q-tips, they’re also terrible for the environment. Most are made of plastic and aren’t biodegradable, meaning that they contribute to the massive problem of plastic waste and pollution impacting the entire world (and killing all the fish and turtles and whales!).

Just say no, people. A little earwax never hurt anyone.

The post This Is Why You Should Stop Cleaning Your Ears with Cotton Swabs appeared first on UberFacts.

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A New Cavity Vaccine Could Save Kids from Discomfort and Their Parents from Spending Money

Many of us know what it feels like to get a cavity and go through the unpleasant process of getting it filled. And for many, the first cavities occur during childhood.

So while the discomfort was ours, the bill belonged to our parents.

Now, scientists at the Chinese Academy of Sciences are working on perfecting a “cavity vaccine” that could put an end to both.

It hasn’t been approved for human trials, but the developers hope that it could defend kids’ teeth from developing cavities in the first place.

Cavities are caused by acid erosion, which can be battled by mixing the bacteria that emits the acid with proteins that protect enamel from being eaten away. No one is immune to cavities, though some people are more prone to getting them (no matter how meticulously they care for their teeth) because of the shape of their teeth or their diet. Often whether you’re prone to cavities or not is a product of socioeconomic status.

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A sustainable lifestyle for a new generation. 🌿⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Um die DENTTABS Zahnputz-Tabletten für die Einführung in Deutschlands größter Drogeriemarktkette wettbewerbsfähig zu machen, unterstützen wir die Marke ganzheitlich bei der Neupositionierung in den Bereichen Digital, Brand und Campaign. 💪🏼⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ #newmanagency #newmarketing #newman #digitalagentur #brandmarketing #kampagne #marketingagentur #zahnputztabletten #ökologisch #plastikfrei #nachhaltig #bestboutiqueoffice #grafic_art #graphic_design #graphicinspiration #artwork #digitaldesign #dentalmarketing #ecofriendly #zerowaste #noplastic #sustainableliving #zerowasteliving #teethcleaning #nachhaltigkeit #gogreen #zahnpasta #toothbrushing #zahncreme #toothtabs

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Cavities are the most common ailment in children and can cost around $2000 to maintain over a person’s life – a hefty price tag for parents already struggling to make ends meet.

If you’re searching for ways to mitigate cavities in your house pre-vaccine, then look no further than the sugar content in the foods you and your kids eat. As high-sugar foods break down, they release that cavity-causing acid and can start to cause decay within 20 minutes of touching your teeth.

But since avoiding sugar or brushing your teeth every half-hour doesn’t seem particularly realistic, here’s hoping that cavity vaccine passes into human trials and onto shelves sooner rather than later!

We could all use the break.

The post A New Cavity Vaccine Could Save Kids from Discomfort and Their Parents from Spending Money appeared first on UberFacts.

Posted on

A New Cavity Vaccine Could Save Kids from Discomfort and Their Parents from Spending Money

Many of us know what it feels like to get a cavity and go through the unpleasant process of getting it filled. And for many, the first cavities occur during childhood.

So while the discomfort was ours, the bill belonged to our parents.

Now, scientists at the Chinese Academy of Sciences are working on perfecting a “cavity vaccine” that could put an end to both.

It hasn’t been approved for human trials, but the developers hope that it could defend kids’ teeth from developing cavities in the first place.

Cavities are caused by acid erosion, which can be battled by mixing the bacteria that emits the acid with proteins that protect enamel from being eaten away. No one is immune to cavities, though some people are more prone to getting them (no matter how meticulously they care for their teeth) because of the shape of their teeth or their diet. Often whether you’re prone to cavities or not is a product of socioeconomic status.

View this post on Instagram

A sustainable lifestyle for a new generation. 🌿⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Um die DENTTABS Zahnputz-Tabletten für die Einführung in Deutschlands größter Drogeriemarktkette wettbewerbsfähig zu machen, unterstützen wir die Marke ganzheitlich bei der Neupositionierung in den Bereichen Digital, Brand und Campaign. 💪🏼⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ #newmanagency #newmarketing #newman #digitalagentur #brandmarketing #kampagne #marketingagentur #zahnputztabletten #ökologisch #plastikfrei #nachhaltig #bestboutiqueoffice #grafic_art #graphic_design #graphicinspiration #artwork #digitaldesign #dentalmarketing #ecofriendly #zerowaste #noplastic #sustainableliving #zerowasteliving #teethcleaning #nachhaltigkeit #gogreen #zahnpasta #toothbrushing #zahncreme #toothtabs

A post shared by NEWMAN AGENCY (@newman__agency) on

Cavities are the most common ailment in children and can cost around $2000 to maintain over a person’s life – a hefty price tag for parents already struggling to make ends meet.

If you’re searching for ways to mitigate cavities in your house pre-vaccine, then look no further than the sugar content in the foods you and your kids eat. As high-sugar foods break down, they release that cavity-causing acid and can start to cause decay within 20 minutes of touching your teeth.

But since avoiding sugar or brushing your teeth every half-hour doesn’t seem particularly realistic, here’s hoping that cavity vaccine passes into human trials and onto shelves sooner rather than later!

We could all use the break.

The post A New Cavity Vaccine Could Save Kids from Discomfort and Their Parents from Spending Money appeared first on UberFacts.

Posted on

A New Cavity Vaccine Could Save Kids from Discomfort and Their Parents from Spending Money

Many of us know what it feels like to get a cavity and go through the unpleasant process of getting it filled. And for many, the first cavities occur during childhood.

So while the discomfort was ours, the bill belonged to our parents.

Now, scientists at the Chinese Academy of Sciences are working on perfecting a “cavity vaccine” that could put an end to both.

It hasn’t been approved for human trials, but the developers hope that it could defend kids’ teeth from developing cavities in the first place.

Cavities are caused by acid erosion, which can be battled by mixing the bacteria that emits the acid with proteins that protect enamel from being eaten away. No one is immune to cavities, though some people are more prone to getting them (no matter how meticulously they care for their teeth) because of the shape of their teeth or their diet. Often whether you’re prone to cavities or not is a product of socioeconomic status.

View this post on Instagram

A sustainable lifestyle for a new generation. 🌿⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Um die DENTTABS Zahnputz-Tabletten für die Einführung in Deutschlands größter Drogeriemarktkette wettbewerbsfähig zu machen, unterstützen wir die Marke ganzheitlich bei der Neupositionierung in den Bereichen Digital, Brand und Campaign. 💪🏼⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ #newmanagency #newmarketing #newman #digitalagentur #brandmarketing #kampagne #marketingagentur #zahnputztabletten #ökologisch #plastikfrei #nachhaltig #bestboutiqueoffice #grafic_art #graphic_design #graphicinspiration #artwork #digitaldesign #dentalmarketing #ecofriendly #zerowaste #noplastic #sustainableliving #zerowasteliving #teethcleaning #nachhaltigkeit #gogreen #zahnpasta #toothbrushing #zahncreme #toothtabs

A post shared by NEWMAN AGENCY (@newman__agency) on

Cavities are the most common ailment in children and can cost around $2000 to maintain over a person’s life – a hefty price tag for parents already struggling to make ends meet.

If you’re searching for ways to mitigate cavities in your house pre-vaccine, then look no further than the sugar content in the foods you and your kids eat. As high-sugar foods break down, they release that cavity-causing acid and can start to cause decay within 20 minutes of touching your teeth.

But since avoiding sugar or brushing your teeth every half-hour doesn’t seem particularly realistic, here’s hoping that cavity vaccine passes into human trials and onto shelves sooner rather than later!

We could all use the break.

The post A New Cavity Vaccine Could Save Kids from Discomfort and Their Parents from Spending Money appeared first on UberFacts.

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Amazon Employees Are Suspiciously Tweeting About Their Amazing Work Conditions

In years past, Amazon has been in the news for having unfit working conditions for many of their employees, especially employees working in their call and fulfillment centers (FC).

According to NewsWeek, “An undercover investigation in the United Kingdom revealed that warehouse employees resort to urinating in bottles and trash cans around the warehouse so that they won’t miss their strict time targets.”

Photo Credit: Unsplash, Daniel Eledut

Insane.

For obvious reason, Amazon has been on a mission to squash these so-called rumors, so they turned to their “FC Ambassadors” for help. These employees are on a team that posts on Twitter and social media about how much they enjoy working with Amazon.

While the retail juggernaut insists these people are real and speaking their true minds, Twitter followers smelled something fishy. Many were curious about the strangely stilted language being used. This FC Ambassador mission started over a year ago, and since then there has been some serious backlash.

One Twitter user wrote:

Here are some Amazon FC Ambassadors doing their thing…or not…who knows?

Are these people even real?

An Amazon spokesperson said,

“FC ambassadors are employees who work in our FCs and share facts based on their personal experience. It’s important that we do a good job educating people about the actual environment inside our fulfillment centers, and the FC ambassador program is a big part of that along with the FC tours we provide.

Thousands of guests across the world have come to see for themselves what it’s like to work inside one of our FCs. If you haven’t visited, we recommend it.”

But Twitter folks aren’t having it.

You get the point. As a way to combat this further, Amazon has been offering FC tours for anyone who would like to check it out. You can follow #AmazonFCTour for more on that. In the meantime, we can all sit back and watch this unfold.

The post Amazon Employees Are Suspiciously Tweeting About Their Amazing Work Conditions appeared first on UberFacts.

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Students Are Overdosing from Eating Too Much…Tuna

We live in strange times – college kids eating so much of the cheapest food they can find that they’re winding up needing medical intervention they can’t afford.

Tuna, in case you fall into this category of unaware, contains the heavy metal mercury, which is toxic in fairly small quantities. It also accumulates in the body, which means that eating too much, too close together can result in mercury poisoning, which shows up as poor cognitive function, blindness, and impaired lung function.

Researchers out of the University of California, Santa Cruz published a study in Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry that revealed many collage students are unaware of the issues with eating too much tuna – and they’re eating a lot, based on the mercury levels in their bodies.

54% of students reported eating tuna at least three times per week, a frequency that exceeds the maximum dose of methylmercury that the EPA calls “safe.” 7% of students surveyed reported eating more than 20 meals a week that contained tuna, and the tests on their hair revealed mercury that rose to “a level of concern.”

Wow. I mean, that’s a lot of tuna.

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This salad is the only reason I got out of bed today

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The lead researcher was inspired to conduct the study after hearing her students talk about how much tuna they ate.

“I’ve been dumbfounded when students have told me they eat tuna every day. Their lack of knowledge about the risk of exposure to mercury is surprising.”

Over 99% of the study participants reported low knowledge and low confidence in their survey answers regarding the potential danger and toxicity of tuna – they thought it was safe to eat 2 or 3 times the amount of tuna deemed “safe” (which is just two to three servings per week).

“It’s not a large sample size, but only 1 out of 107 students surveyed had a high level of knowledge as well as confidence in that knowledge.”

The kids in the study hadn’t yet reached alarming levels of mercury exposure, but they were at a point where it was recommended that they limit what they were eating.

The team worked with UCSC administrators and the dining hall to put up signs that will hopefully educate students about how much tuna to eat in the future.

And now you know.

The post Students Are Overdosing from Eating Too Much…Tuna appeared first on UberFacts.

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Scientists Are Starting to Understand the Real Dangers of Vaping

It’s hard, even in places that have banned cigarettes, to make it through a meal or a movie without a fruity-smelling cloud emanating from somewhere in the room. Have you noticed that?

And it’s very hard to convince anyone who loves vaping (or is addicted) that they should be more cautious with a technology that’s too new to have been thoroughly studied by health professionals in the field.

Smoking during the teen years is especially harmful to a still-growing brain – studies have previously shown that if a person can hold off smoking until they’re in their 20s, the chances of getting addicted reduce drastically. And while fewer teens than ever are trying traditional cigarettes, a disturbingly high – and growing – number of kids are vaping.

“Nicotine mimics the chemicals that brain cells use to communicate with each other and causes the brain to reconfigure itself. The nicotine molecule is shaped a lot like acetylcholine, which the nervous system uses to communicate, so it fakes out and overstimulates the nervous system. This rewiring of the brain is bad for adults, but it’s especially bad for young people because until around age 26, the brain is still developing. When you start messing up normal communication between nerves as the system is still being built, the adaptations are a lot more permanent.”

21% of high schoolers report using e-cigarettes. In 2011, that number was only 1.5%.

4.9% of middle schoolers are vaping, up from just .6% in 2011.

So, the problem is not only growing at an alarming rate, but levels of kids who are addicted to nicotine are reaching levels that should concern everyone, says Dr. Stanton Glantz.

“Our understanding of e-cigarettes is still accumulating, but at this point, we are pretty confident that e-cigarettes are at least two-thirds to three-fourths as bad as cigarettes. And remember, cigarettes are pretty horrible. Vaping is like, instead of jumping out the 40th story of a building, you’re jumping out of the 30th story.”

We’re starting to see evidence of this showing up in the news from around the country, too.

This summer, 8 Wisconsin teens were hospitalized with serious lung damage – some of whom found themselves on ventilators in the ICU – due to their vaping habits. A few weeks later, 4 Minnesota kids spent weeks in the hospital battling vaping-related lung troubles, after which the state’s public health department issued an official warning against the use of e-cigs.

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Then, an 18-year-old Florida student’s lung collapsed after regular JUUL use, and the FDA reports that they’ve received 127 reports of seizures and other neurological symptoms also related to vaping over the past 10 years. And there has now officially been a death caused by lung illness linked to vaping.

None of these types of issues were seen with traditional cigarettes – so what’s different about vaporized nicotine?

Cigarettes contain 69 known carcinogens, but the juice needed to get a nicotine buzz from an e-cig isn’t harmless – it also contains an assortment of chemicals that go straight into your lungs (and then into the air) that scientists are starting to realize can be as harmful (if not more).

The fact that kids are getting “nic sick” – experiencing nausea, headaches, lightheadedness, and vomiting, none of which was a side effect of traditional cigarettes – seems to point to the fact that the nicotine in e-cigs is ultra concentrated.

Stantz explains how and why these findings are possible – and super concerning.

“Free-base nicotine, which you get in a cigarette and an older-generation e-cigarette, is very alkaline and hard to inhale, so it triggers a gag reflex, which limits the amount of nicotine per puff. Juul transitioned to nicotine salt and added some acid to the e-liquid to make it less alkaline, as well as adding flavors. When you put all that together, it is much easier to inhale, so Juul devices deliver a much higher dose per puff.”

Setting aside the increased nicotine content there are more reasons that, even though they contain fewer known carcinogens than regular cigs, the e-cig vapor is just as dangerous.

“It consists of ultrafine particles that are about 100 times smaller than a human hair. These particles include acrolein and formaldehyde, as well as diacetyl, cinnamaldehyde, and other flavorants that are fine to eat but not to inhale as fine particles.”

In fact, Harvard researchers have discovered that diacetyl and its chemical cousin 2,3-pentanedione – found in 90 percent of e-cigarettes tested – do damage to the cilia lining the lungs and airways, which increases the risks of asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

“E-cigarettes also include heavy metals like lead and silica. Their wicks often have silica, and when they wear out, you can get little particles of silica in the lungs, which is very harmful. Additionally, e-cigarettes disable normal functioning of macrophages, cells within the lungs that gobble up bacteria and other infectious agents we breathe in. When you disable them, you are more prone to infections.”

Like smoking old-school cigarettes, vaping also puts people at risk for cardiovascular issues, like heart disease, heart attacks, and strokes.

So, even though Glantz estimated that e-cigs are around 75% as harmful as smoking regular cigs, even he doesn’t think that number will stay the same as more research surfaces.

“With the data we should have about 3 or 4 years from now, I think we’ll find that e-cigarettes are equally as bad or worse in terms of overall health risks.”

Just say no, y’all, and if your kids are vaping or think it’s cool, please step in. It’s not harmless, and as with everything this big, bad world throws at your teen, it’s your job to help them mitigate as many risks as possible.

And vaping is a big one.

The post Scientists Are Starting to Understand the Real Dangers of Vaping appeared first on UberFacts.

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5 Tips to Be the Healthiest You

Everyone wants to be living their best life, which usually entails living their healthiest life. The key to having consistently good health is by practicing “lifestyle medicine.” Lifestyle medicine can encompass everything from regular exercise, stress management, and simple changes to your diet. By making simple adjustments to your day-to-day life, you can make significant improvements to your overall health. Here are 5 tips to help you get started. 1. Focus on the Positive Sometimes life can get you down. A series of unfortunate events can pile relentlessly on top of each other. When this happens, a good habit to

The post 5 Tips to Be the Healthiest You appeared first on Factual Facts.

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A Man Karaoked so Hard He Collapsed His Lung

You really have to admire people who put themselves out there on karaoke night. I mean, what’s the point of grabbing the mic and getting up there if you’re not going to give it your all, right?

Right.

Buuuttttt, that said, you probably want to avoid collapsing your lung in the process, eh?

Image Credit: Pixabay

Apparently, a 65-year-old Chinese man named Wang managed to do just that after attempting to hit a particularly intense high note, reports the South China Morning Post.

This came after singing 10 high-pitched songs in a row, so perhaps that was a contributing factor? Although I’ve honestly never heard of anyone collapsing their lungs from singing before.

The man experienced chest pains and breathlessness before deciding to take a trip to the ER.

Image Credit: Pixabay

“I was very excited in the heat of the moment and after singing a few songs with very high notes, I found myself having breathing difficulties,” he confessed.

The doctor in the emergency room said that the collapsed lung was due to “high lung pressure caused by singing high notes.”

A collapsed lung occurs when a hole or a puncture in the lunch results in air leaking into the space between the lung and chest wall. The air can build up and increase pressure in the chest cavity, which obviously causes some serious problems.

Though it’s unusual, collapsed lungs can occur basically out of the blue, but chest injuries are most often to blame.

No word on whether his age or physical condition had anything to do with the incident, but you might want to take it easy during your next karaoke session.

Just in case…

The post A Man Karaoked so Hard He Collapsed His Lung appeared first on UberFacts.