Rather than being a step on the way to getting a good tan, most Australians now recognise that sunburn can cause permanent damage, resulting in premature aging, pigment disorders and skin cancer, and should be avoided at all times. For details on sunburn avoidance and discussion on the questions surrounding the use of sunscreen creams, see the entry on skin cancer.

Despite the warnings, few of us can say that we have never been sunburnt, although the severity of the burning varies greatly depending on skin type and the degree of ultraviolet exposure. Mild sunburn results in hot and sore redness of the skin which, in most people, turns into a tan within days. Tanning is the skin’s natural response to ultraviolet radiation and results from the production of more of the dark skin pigment, melanin, to protect against further radiation. Opinions vary as to whether a small degree of tanning, acquired gradually, should be encouraged to offer protection against serious burning. A severe case of sunburn will be extremely painful, can lead to dehydration, blistering of the skin and the loss of the outer skin layers through peeling.

Generally speaking, you can treat sunburn as you treat any other burns to the skin and special care should be given to ensuring the patient drinks plenty of fluids. Begin with a long cool bath or shower and apply the gel of the Aloe vera liberally over the affected area, being careful not to break the blisters. The gel is soothing and mildly antiseptic. Creams or poultices of calendula (marigold), camomile, comfrey leaves or St John’s Wort are calming and will promote healing. Many people also advocate the external and internal use of Vitamin E to help the body repair the damaged tissue. Traditional home remedies for sunburn include the application of slightly acidic substances like diluted vinegar and sliced tomato. Cold tea is also effective for relieving the heat and pain. The patient should dress in soft loose clothing and avoid further sun exposure of any kind until the skin has fully healed.

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Sleep apnea is the condition in which people frequently stop breathing at night for a disturbingly long time. Each episode ends in a burst of snoring. Because this occurs many times a night, it can interfere significantly with the brain’s oxygen supply and result in morning headaches, drowsiness, and the need for many naps during the day. Ultimately, high blood pressure, heart failure, and intellectual deterioration may supervene.

This condition is due to laxity and flabbiness of tissues at the back of the throat. When the person is sleeping, this allows the tongue to fall back into the throat and cause choking. A surefire way of curing sleep apnea is to operate and create a false opening into the windpipe (tracheotomy) below the site of blockage. This, however, is disfiguring and renders the patient more than usually prone to serious chest infection.

In a safer operation, loose, redundant tissue at the back of the throat, including the tonsils and part of the soft palate, are removed, making the upper airway larger and not so prone to become blocked during sleep. A recent article in the Archives of Internal Medicine (141:990) supports this method of treating sleep apnea, citing a marked reduction in the number of episodes of sleep apnea that have been reported in adults whose enlarged tonsils were removed.

However, this is a painful operation and every effort should first be made to help the sleep apnea victim by non-operative means. One easy way of doing so is described in the Southern Medical Journal (79:1061). It points out that sleep apnea is like ordinary snoring in that it is unlikely to occur unless the victim sleeps on his back. The trick, then, is to keep the sleeper on his side and stop him from rolling onto his back. This can often be done by sewing a tennis ball onto the back of the victim’s pajama jacket.

One other point to make on the subject of sleep apnea is that sedatives and alcohol tend to aggravate the problem. Therefore avoidance of sedatives and alcohol is important if you are treating this problem.

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Symptoms: Swollen lymph nodes, rash on face, spreading to body, low-grade fever, slight loss of appetite, slight redness of throat and whites of eyes

Home care: Give aspirin or paracetamol to relieve fever. Keep your child isolated from pregnant women.

Precautions

-    Rubella, or German measles, contracted during the first three months of pregnancy presents a 50-50 chance of damage to the unborn baby. Before trying to become pregnant, a woman should be tested to find out if she is immune to rubella. If she is not immune, she should be vaccinated at least three months before trying to become pregnant.

-    A pregnant woman who has been exposed to rubella should consult an obstetrician immediately.

-    Remember that a pregnant woman, who is immune to rubella, because she had the disease earlier or has been immunized against it, will not pass rubella to her unborn child by being exposed to the disease.

-    All children should be immunized against rubella.

Rubella, or German measles, is one of the mildest contagious diseases of childhood. However, it can damage the unborn baby of a pregnant woman who contracts the disease. Women who contract rubella during the first three months of pregnancy have a 50-50 chance of delivering an infant who has cataracts, a cleft palate, heart problems, or who is permanently deaf or mentally retarded.

Rubella is caused by a specific virus and can be transmitted by direct contact with an infected person or by contact with articles contaminated by urine, stool, or secretions from the nose or throat of the infected person. The incubation period – the time it takes for symptoms to develop once a person has been exposed to rubella – is 14 to 21 days. One attack provides lifelong immunity.

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Most of us are infinitely more familiar with the symptoms of a Big Mac attack than a brain attack, also known as a stroke. In fact, one study found that 27 percent of the general public didn’t know a single warning sign of stroke, whereas the craving for beef, though hard to describe, often ends with a visit to your favorite grease pit.

If you want to be a card-carrying death defter, it’s imperative that you bone up your knowledge about stroke – the nation’s third leading killer. The brain cells and life you save could be your own. “The majority of stroke sufferers do not get to the hospital within the three-hour time frame we need to help them,” says Fletcher McDowell, M.D., professor of neurology at Cornell University Medical College in New York City and president of the Burke Medical Research Group in White Plains, New York. “If you get treatment within that time period, medication may reverse the stroke process or limit its extent.”

Part of the problem is that some consider stroke an old person’s disease. Guess again. While most stroke victims are over age 65, nearly 30 percent are under 65. “It can happen at any age,” says LaRoy Penix, M.D., assistant professor of neurology at the University Of Kentucky College Of Medicine in Lexington, and faculty associate at the Sanders-Brown stroke program, also at the university. “We have a child here now who had a stroke at the age of 12.”

The brain of a stroke victim tells the story. In the most common scenario, an ischemic stroke, an artery leading to the brain has been blocked by a blood clot. Whether blood flow is blocked by a clot or fatty plaque-the same mixture of cholesterol and other debris that can cause heart attacks-the result is the same. Starved of blood, oxygen, and other vital nutrients for even a few minutes, brain cells begin to die, Dr. McDowell says.

When this occurs you’re likely to get some signs that something is seriously wrong: sudden loss of vision in one eye; weakness, numbness, or tingling on one side of the body; difficulty speaking or understanding what people are saying; trouble walking; severe dizziness; or unsteadiness. It’s a list you’ll want to remember: One study found that 52 percent of stroke patients were unaware they were experiencing a stroke.

“These may be warning signs that the circulation in the brain is not working right and you are at risk for stroke and should seek medical attention,” says Dr. Ralph Sacco of the National Stroke Association.

The sooner you seek it, the better. Statistics show that most stroke victims don’t report to an emergency room until more than 24 hours after their first symptoms-many hours too late for the best possible treatment. Make it in time and chances are good that the doctors will give you what’s called a clot-buster to try to dissolve the blockage and get the blood flowing again, Dr. Sacco says.

If blood flow isn’t restored, entire regions of your brain can die. And since these different regions are responsible for various bodily functions- memory, vision, and so on-the shutdown results in familiar forms of disability. Someone who suffers a small stroke, for example, might temporarily lose the use of the muscles in one side of his face. More widespread damage to a key area of the brain can have even more devastating results. “If the area controlling motor function is damaged, for example, that can cause paralysis. Or if that area controls vision, then there’s vision loss,” Dr. Sacco says.

What, you may ask, are the main culprits in this debilitating, and often deadly, scenario? In addition to plaque buildup or clots, often it’s years of high blood pressure-literally the pressure caused by blood on arterial walls-that cause “hardening of the arteries to the brain, small-vessel clogging, or particles blocking arteries,” Dr. Sacco says. In fact, high blood pressure is the single most important controllable stroke risk factor. And, of course, anything that helps keep your arteries and blood vessels clear-such as eating less saturated fat and more fiber, losing weight, and lowering your cholesterol-will go a long way in helping you avoid not only stroke but heart disease as well. In fact, reducing your risk for heart disease will also reduce your likelihood of a stroke.

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For thousands of years, vinegar has held distinction as a medicinal, culinary and household aid. In 400 ÂÑ, Hippocrates recommended drinking a vinegar solution to reduce symptoms of the common cold. “Thieves’ vinegar” is reputed to date from the 14th century, when thieves would wash with vinegar to protect themselves from the Plague when robbing the homes of helpless sufferers. In America, vinegar has been used since the time of the Revolutionary War to clean wounds.

More recently, vinegar is making a comeback as a medical treatment and a gourmet culinary specialty. Proponents tout vinegar as a cure for all types of ailments, including life-threatening conditions, such as cancer, high blood pressure, kidney disease and asthma. Although these claims are false, vinegar is, in fact, a very useful natural medicine.

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Spend time together. For at least five minutes a day, sit or lie together—just the two of you. Cuddle. Talk. Let your bodies synchronize.

Listen more, talk less. Ironically, good relationships involve little talk. Partners communicate via their own private language—subtle body movements, gestures, expressions and a sense of connection that arises only between lovers who grow ever closer as a result of sharing crises.

Do something special for your partner. If you spend your days apart, call periodically during the day and say something like, “Honey, I’ve been thinking about you. I can’t wait to see you.”

If necessary, set an alarm clock to go off periodically to remind you to place the call.

You come to feel love by behaving lovingly, so even the simplest acts of connection can translate to intense sexual feelings.

Have sex only when it feels “right.” Trust your senses. If you rely on your “sex sense” for a month, you’ll soon see that when you do have sex, it is more fulfilling and sensual.

Seduce your partner. Instead of dressing up in a sexy cos-tume—as sex therapists often recommend—use “brain power.”

Send your partner mental “messages” all day long. At night, lie still in bed and send him/her more “sex waves.” You’ll be surprised at how seductive your own brain can be.

Fantasize about your partner. Put on some sensual music and he in bed with your eyes closed. Use your brain—not a vibrator or your hand—and envision yourself making love to your partner.

You may become aroused—even experience orgasm—but mental sex can be surprisingly fulfilling even if you don’t.

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Diet. Exercise. Stress. We have come a long way in understanding how much the way we live affects our health. Recently, another essential term has been added to the mind-body mix—the spirit.

Our awakening to the role that religious faith can play in health and disease raises a big new question. How can this important dimension be integrated into health care?

Dr. Harold Koenig, one of the country’s leading experts in the field of spirituality and health care, answers questions about the relationship between health and spirituality…

Is there scientific evidence that religion is good for your health?

Dozens of studies support the idea that religiously involved people live longer. One Duke University study of more than 4,000 men and women found that religious observance—attending services weekly—reduced the risk of dying over a period of six years by more than 25%.

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dream: As with falling, there are two main types of dreams about flying without an airplane. In one type, you’re having no trouble. In another, you confront problems along the way—perhaps you’re being pursued…must dodge trees…or you forget how to fly midflight.

meaning: Those who dream of flying without problems tend to be highly intelligent people who have outlets for their creativity. They see themselves as going beyond normal limits, and the dreams are an expression of their feelings of achievement.

Flying dreams that feature impediments suggest that there are people, things or parts of yourself that you believe prevent you from putting your abilities to use.

what you can do: If there are difficulties in your flying dreams, reflect on the obstacles you may be facing, but don’t dwell on them. Say to yourself that they may slow you down, but they won’t stop you.

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These poses are especially beneficial if you work at a desk.

Sun pose. Stand with feet together. As you inhale, raise your arms from the side until they’re overhead. Look upward. Exhale as you bend from the waist. Reach as far forward as you comfortably can, and grasp your ankles, calves or knees.

Hold for a moment, then inhale as you return to an upright position, raising arms to the side until they’re overhead. Lower arms in a circle as you exhale. Repeat twice.

Baby pose. Sit on your feet. Slowly bend forward until your head approaches the floor. Let your arms rest at your sides with elbows bent. Hold for at least one minute.

Corpse pose. Lie on your back with feet slightly apart and arms at sides, palms up. Close your eyes. Relax your entire body, paying particular attention to the face and stomach. Rest for at least one minute.

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