Obesity is a major risk factor for the development of type 2 diabetes.    The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimate that 25.8 million people or 8.3% of the U.S. population has diabetes.   Of U.S. residents aged 65 years and older, 10.9 million, or 26.9% had diabetes in 2010.  In a study published last year, the CDC projected that as many as 1 in 3 U.S. adults could have diabetes [...] Read More »

Truckers are today’s cowboys. Modern vagabonds and roamers who sacrifice significant amounts of time away from home and hearth to do their job, hauling freight and people across the continent. Like their nomadic predecessors, truckers have good reason to sing the blues—a work environment that involves long hours, bad food and irregular sleep brings with it a host of health risks. Some say these [...] Read More »

For some the arrival of fall is a time of abundance, warmth and fond childhood memories.  For others, the shortening days, chilly mornings and impending long winter might bring on symptoms of Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD).   According to iTriage, symptoms for SAD include depression, anxiety, fatigue, social withdrawal, overeating, oversleeping and the loss in things one might normally enjoy. Symptoms [...] Read More »

Administrative assistant by day, body piercer by night, Tara Woodard lives a double life in the Brandenton, Florida area. Though she has been piercing since 2006, Woodard feels she is unable to get them herself. “While facial piercing would help my career as a piercer, it hinders one’s career in the professional world where it is not openly accepted,” she explains. “Also…facial piercings, [...] Read More »

“Il faut souffrir pour être belle,” an old French saying warns. One must suffer to be beautiful. Some people subject themselves to strict diets in the pursuit of beauty, some go under the knife, and some…stretch their ears. As far as body modification goes, stretching your ears is pretty painless. The process involves enlarging the diameter of an ear lobe piercing by gradually inserting larger [...] Read More »

My hometown of Portland, Oregon is a tattoo town, a city populated by human canvasses. Your surly waiter has a Chinese character on his arm. Your nurturing second grade teacher sports a red tulip on her wrist. And your office boss will sweat in long-sleeved shirts all summer to hide the colorful pin-up girl that adorns his bicep. Mike Allebach would be at home in Portland. His arms are covered in [...] Read More »

When it comes to traveling, remembering to pack the cell phone charger and unplug the coffee pot before heading out the door isn’t always our top concern. A recent study found that 40% of adults surveyed said that what worried them most if they became sick or injured while traveling was getting the right medical attention. 40% of U.S. mobile consumers over age 18 own a smartphone, and that number [...] Read More »

College life can be stressful. Unfortunately, suicide is the second leading cause of death for college students after car accidents and occurs twice as often in men than in women. The transition of new living arrangements, responsibilities, and the uncertainty of a new routine can trigger an emotional roller coaster for some students while leaving others unphased. A study by the American College Health [...] Read More »

College life is a time for new friends, new living arrangements, new experiences and new threats.   The first lesson to learn in college is how to be safe on and around your campus. The Basics: Reduce the risk of becoming a victim of theft or assault by remembering to lock your doors (even just to go down the hall to the laundry room), keeping valuables (laptops, ipods, etc) out of plain site, close [...] Read More »

When I was in kindergarten, I found a tick on my neck. After showing my teacher, who turned a lovely shade of kelly green, I was then escorted to the nurse’s office. Fran, the nurse, picked the tick out of my neck with tweezers while I chattered happily about my weekend and my new tiger fish. As I jabbered away, I was blissfully unaware that the parasite Fran was removing from my neck could carry [...] Read More »