FitSugar

Enjoy Fireworks - Save Your Ears

FitSugar — Mon, 04 Jul 2011 00:29:05 PDT

Fourth of July is right around the corner, and that means fireworks! Like a kid, I look forward to the colorful starbursts streaming across the sky. I do, however, hate to rain on your Independence Day parade: as spectacular as they are, the booming sounds that accompany the sparkling visuals can really damage your ears. Noise-induced hearing loss is as real as your mama's cherry pie. Once damaged, the sensitive hair cells of the inner ear never regenerate and can't be repaired, creating permanent hearing loss here.

For a point of reference, here are some common Summer sounds and their decibel (dB) levels:

Rustling leaves: 10 decibels
A whisper: 20 dB
Humming of a fridge: 40 dB
A conversation: 60 dB
Busy street traffic: 70 dB
Vacuum cleaner: 80 dB
Lawn mower: 90 dB
A large orchestra: 98 dB

See how fireworks and other loud noises measure up.

DrSugar Explains How Easy It Is to Lose Your Hearing

DrSugar — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 00:35:49 PDT

DrSugar is in the house! This week she's teaching us all how to protect our hearing.

Ever wonder if listening to your portable music player of choice could be detrimental to your hearing? New research, published in the International Journal of Audiology and reported by WebMD, suggests that up to one-fourth of college students may have evidence of early hearing loss and that it's possible that portable music players may play a role.

The researchers made this discovery after recruiting college students with normal hearing for a study on whether the use of portable music players can lead to temporary hearing loss. Several of the students who reported normal hearing were actually found to have signs of hearing loss when tested formally. To learn more about hearing loss and its possible correlation to portable music players, keep reading!

Fireworks and Your Delicate Ears

FitSugar — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 03:31:20 PDT

I'm ready to celebrate the Fourth of July, but must admit I am not a fan of the noise that accompanies fireworks - lovely as they may be. Those booming sounds can really damage the delicate structures in your ears; once they're damaged, they never regenerate and can't be repaired. This condition is known as noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL). The loss is permanent and may cause impaired hearing or total loss of hearing down the road.

NIHL can be caused by one exposure to a loud noise such as an explosion, or by regular exposure over an extended period of time. If you continuously experience sounds over 85 decibels (dB) then a hearing aid may be in your future. Check out how some common sounds compare:

Rustling leaves: 10 dB
A whisper: 20 dB
Humming of a fridge: 40 dB
A conversation: 60 dB
Busy street traffic: 70 dB
Vacuum cleaner: 80 dB
Lawn mower: 90 dB
A large orchestra: 98 dB

To see how fireworks measure up

read more. Fireworks for spectators 800 feet away: 88 to 126 dB Fireworks for spectators 10 feet away: 155 dB Front row of a rock concert: 110 dB Military jet takeoff: 140 dB Motorcycles, firecrackers, small firearms: 120 to 150 dB So when it comes to ear safety, it's best to enjoy a fireworks display from far away. If you're serious about preventing ear damage, pick up some foam or silicone earplugs. They sell them at most drug stores for less than $5. I know they're not exactly the most fashionable things to sport, but I'd rather wear these for 20 minutes than hearing aids for the rest of my life.

Love Fireworks? Invest in Earplugs

FitSugar — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 11:00:00 PDT

Fourth of July means fireworks! I don't want to rain on your parade (since the Fourth is often celebrated with parades, too), but the loud pops and bangs of fireworks can cause serious hearing damage.

When the delicate structures in your ear called hair cells - sensory cells located in your inner ears responsible for converting sound energy into electrical signals - are damaged, they never regenerate and cannot be repaired. This condition is known as noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL). The loss is permanent and may cause impaired hearing or total loss of hearing down the road.

NIHL can be cause by one exposure to a loud noise such as an explosion, or by regular exposure over an extended period of time. If you continuously experience sounds over 85 decibels then a hearing aid may be in your future. Check out how some common sounds compare:

Rustling leaves: 10 dB
A whisper: 20 dB
Humming of a fridge: 40 dB
A conversation: 60 dB
Busy street traffic: 70 dB
Vacuum cleaner: 80 dB
Lawn mower: 90 dB
A large orchestra: 98 dB

To see how fireworks compare

read more. Fireworks for spectators 800 feet away: 88 to 126 dB Fireworks for spectators 10 feet away: 155 dB Front row of a rock concert: 110 dB Military jet takeoff: 140 dB Motorcycles, firecrackers, small firearms: 120 to 150 dB So when it comes to ears safety, watching a public display from afar is your best bet. If you're serious about preventing ear damage, pick up some foam or silicone ear plugs. They sell them at most drug stores for less than $5. I know they're not exactly the most fashionable thing to sport, but I'd rather wear these for 20 minutes than lose my sense of hearing forever. Source

Another Reason to Quit Smoking: Hearing Problems

FitSugar — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 12:30:00 PST

Maybe you or someone close to you is thinking of quitting smoking. All I can say is: Go for it! Quitting smoking is a win-win situation; it puts more money in your pocket and more air in your lungs. Plus, it is one of the most important things you can do for your overall health. No joke!

It turns out that there is yet another reason to give up smokes: It could affect your hearing. A recent study performed by Yale University found that teenagers who smoked, or who were exposed to smoke, had difficulty focusing and interpreting sounds amid other distractions. Brain scans show alterations in brain matter responsible for transmitting messages, so researchers believe that nicotine is responsible for creating changes in the structure of the brain matter.

If you are still looking for motivation, check out all these reasons to quit smoking. The list will surely make you think twice the next time you light up.

Source

Uh Oh! Watch Out For These 12 IRS Audit Red Flags

Kiplinger — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 15:06:09 PST

We're thrilled to present this smart Kiplinger story here on Savvy!

The IRS audits only slightly more than 1% of all individual tax returns annually. The agency doesn't have enough personnel and resources to examine each and every tax return filed during a year. So the odds are pretty low that your return will be picked for review. And, of course, the only reason filers should worry about an audit is if they are fudging on their taxes.

However, the chances of being audited or otherwise hearing from the IRS increase depending upon various factors, including your income level, whether you omitted income, the types of deductions or losses you claimed, the business in which you're engaged and whether you own foreign assets. Math errors may draw IRS inquiry, but they'll rarely lead to a full-blown exam. Although there's no sure way to avoid an IRS audit, you should be aware of red flags that could increase your chances of drawing unwanted attention from the IRS.

1. Making too much money

Although the overall individual audit rate is about 1.11%, the odds increase dramatically for higher-income filers. IRS statistics show that people with incomes of $200,000 or higher had an audit rate of 3.93%, or one out of slightly more than every 25 returns. Report $1 million or more of income? There's a one-in-eight chance your return will be audited. The audit rate drops significantly for filers making less than $200,000: Only 1.02% of such returns were audited during 2011, and the vast majority of these exams were conducted by mail. We're not saying you should try to make less money - everyone wants to be a millionaire. Just understand that the more income shown on your return, the more likely it is that you'll be hearing from the IRS.

Read on for more red flags.

Do Popular Weight-Loss Diets Work?

Shape — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 04:15:48 PST

We are excited to share one of our fave stories from Shape here on FitSugar.

There's a mountain of evidence that suggests that fad diets don't function as permanent weight-loss solutions. So why do we continue to flock toward them when we know they're not very effective? After rounding up the top 10 searched diet plans on Yahoo! and noticing that almost every single one was a fad diet (such as the Atkins Diet, or HCG Diet), we wanted to know more about why we're drawn to these popular diet plans. So we went to Holly Herrington, a Registered Dietitian at the Center for Lifestyle Medicine at the Northwestern University Medical Faculty Foundation to get her take on these plans and whether they really work for weight loss.

Find out what - if any - fad diets work after the break.

The Burning Question: Is Doing a Detox a Good Idea?

Health — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 04:12:46 PST

We are pumped to share one of our favorite stories from Health.com here on our site.

Cleanses have become a "celeb trend", but are they really safe?
By Health.com

NO: It's risky — and you don't need it.
Glenn Braunstein, MD, professor and chairman, department of medicine, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles

Our bodies have built-in detoxifiers.
The liver, the kidneys, and the colon are naturally designed to remove toxins and eliminate them through our waste, so there's no need for additional help.

A (Safe!) Jump-Start Cleanse

It's potentially harmful.
Many extreme programs, like fasting, juice diets, and the Master Cleanse, can leave the body weak and devoid of vital nutrients, like protein and essential vitamins, even if you do them for a short time. Colonics — which flush the colon with warm water to remove a supposed buildup of waste there — carry the risk of dehydration, infection, and even perforation of the colon wall.

Diet Tricks the Pros Tell Their Friends

Detoxes can create more toxins.
Plans that severely restrict food can cause the body to burn fat for fuel. Burning large amounts of fat releases chemicals called ketones into the blood — and a buildup of these can cause bad breath, loss of appetite, nausea, and in rare cases, coma or death.

Keep reading to hear the argument for detox cleanses.

The No-Diet Trick to Reducing Belly Fat

Shape — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 04:07:27 PST

We are excited to share one of our fave stories from Shape here on FitSugar. This week Shape turns to Cynthia Sass, a registered dietitian with master's degrees in both nutrition science and public health.

In a new study published in the Journal of Obesity, researchers at the University of California, San Francisco found that mastering mindful eating and reducing stress effectively prevented weight gain, even without dieting, and that the women who experienced the greatest reduction in stress lost the most belly fat. In a nutshell, mindful eating is about being aware of your eating patterns and thoughts rather than acting on autopilot.

In this study, 24 of the 47 stressed, overweight or obese women were randomly assigned to practice mindfulness, while the other 23 served as a control group. The mindful group participated in weekly sessions for nine weeks, which included an intense meditation retreat, stress reduction, learning to recognize hunger and fullness, and become more aware of taste. They were asked to spend 30 minutes a day meditating and practicing mindful eating. These women experienced significant reductions in cortisol, a stress hormone linked to an increased appetite and more belly fat, and were able to maintain their body weight while reducing belly fat. In contrast, the women in the control group continued to put on pounds and saw no reduction in cortisol.

If you're like a lot of my one-on-one clients you may be thinking, "I don't have 30 minutes a day to meditate!" I hear you. But in my private practice I have found that a little mindfulness goes a long way. Check out my previous post about how practicing eating slowly, even just once in a while, can help raise your eating antennae. You can even practice by eating chocolate!

Learn more about how chocolate helps with losing weight after the break!

Grey's Anatomy Rundown, "Dark Was the Night"

Diana Nguyen — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 23:50:22 PST

It's a critical time for our favorite doctors this week on Grey's Anatomy, as more than one cast member faces a life-threatening situation. In the last episode we left Henry coughing up blood, and this week his fate is in the hands of Seattle Grace's finest, but you may be surprised to find out who performs Henry's surgery. Meanwhile, Callie and Jackson's careers are on the line, as Teddy tries to save their patient after post-surgery complications.

After several weeks of waiting, Meredith and Derek finally get word about Zola, and sadly, it looks like the results are not in their favor. However, this story line is completely overshadowed by all the heartbreaking events that lead to more than one surprising death. It's a tear-jerking, emotional roller coaster of an episode that left me at the edge of my seat. Were you along for the ride? Let's break it down!