Category Archives: Health

Soft Tacos

We love to have uncommon food sometimes, not just rice + viand, a Filipino staple during meals.

Soft tacos or Tortilla Wraps is just about right for this family with three children who are also open to have a variety of food served:

Head over to my food blog to see how these Soft Tacos or Tortilla Wraps are prepared.

Snoring and Obstructive Sleep Apnea

Do you snore?

Ask your spouse or a family member if you snore when you sleep.

If you so snore, let it be known that snoring signals obstructive sleep apnea, a common sleep disorder. This may lead to weight gain, high blood pressure and/or cardiovascular diseases.

People all over the world experience this condition called obstructive sleep apnea. It has potentially life-threatening effects when undiagnosed. Obstructive sleep apnea impairs a person’s ability to reach deep and restful phases of sleep.

It is a disorder where a person asleep stops breathing. It comes from the Greek word “apnea,” which means “without breath.”

When a person sleeps, all muscles of his body relax including the soft tissues at the rear of the throat. As this area becomes more flaccid, the tissues collapse into the space meant for air to pass through, making a person with sleep apnea stop breathing during sleep, as often as hundred times an hour, causing inadequate oxygen supply in the body.

With each apnea, the brain receives a signal to awaken the person so he can resume breathing. This may result in a snorting, choking, or gasping sound. Snoring, on the other hand, is the sound made as air passes through the narrowed airway.

The following are some of the effects of having obstructive sleep apnea:

  • fatigue
  • daytime sleepiness
  • increased chances of accidents

These conditions may be associated with obstructive sleep apnea:

  • high blood pressure
  • arrhythmia
  • stroke
  • heart failure

 

The following are helpful to maintain a healthy lifestyle:

  • healthy diet
  • exercise
  • enough sleep from 6 – 8 hours

Do you need help with snoring, whether yours or a loved one’s?

To help sleep apnea sufferers, the Asian Hospital Medical Center (AHMC) provides treatments to reduce socially unacceptable snoring to treatment of obstructive sleep apnea.

AHMC has a Sleep Laboratory with a comprehensive range of diagnostic tools and treatment procedures to help sleep apnea sufferers. It is located on the 9th Floor Wing B of the hospital and operates 5 days a week, 24 hours a day.

For inquiries and scheduling of sleep study procedures, call Asian Hospital and Medical Center’s Pulmonary Services at 876-5815 or 771-9000 local 1936.

BOYSEN KNOxOUT : Project EDSA

Boysen KNOxOUT Air-cleaning paint has done it again.

Boysen KNOxOUT paints were used in the 4th installment of Boysen KNOxOUT Project EDSA at the Taft Station of the MRT and LRT. Click here for a map of the place. 

Boysen KNOxOUT Project EDSA

Commissioned to do a 1000 sqm artwork was Singapore-born and London-based artist Erika Tan. The artwork using Boysen KNOxOUT air cleaning paints is expected to clean out toxic noxious fumes from around 8000 vehicles that ply the area on a day to day basis.

Pastel and white KNOxOUT paints were used and the artwork was in the form of the pollution statistics: bar charts, graphical lines, and comparative data were “painted” on the pillars along EDSA/Tramo.

Erika Tan

Taking the lead from the EDSA/Boysen project itself, I wanted to approach the work in the spirit of a merging of visual and the transformation,” noted Erika. “As we visually transform an area thick with commuters and their fumes, we also through the technology of paint, clean it.”

Some things to note regarding the pollution in Metro Manila:

  • In Metro Manila alone, air pollution causes 14 avoidable deaths per day (about 5000 premature deaths a year, as tabulated by the World Bank and the DENR).
  • The numbers seem to be steadily increasing—in 2008, the WHO Burden of Disease said that deaths attributable to air pollution rose up to 11,012.
  • This statistic, alongside Pollution Levels in Metro Manila Cities (June 2006-2008), Sectoral emissions of CO2 emissions from fuel combustion (2002), Increase in vehicle registrations in the Philippines (1983-2009) and Estimates of health impact and costs in four cities for 2010 Data (Metro Manila, Davao, Cebu, Baguio) were some of the data sources used by Erika.

_______________________

About ErikaTan:

Erika Tan studied Social Anthropology and Archaeology at Kings College, Cambridge and Film Directing at The Beijing Film Academy, followed by an M.A in Fine Art at Central Saint Martins School of Art, London. Evolving from her interest in anthropology and the moving image, Tan’s work is often informed by specific cultural, geographical or physical contexts; exploring different media to create situations that excite, provoke, question, confront and invite comments from an audience.

 

If You are Out of the Loop

Families and loved ones usually avoid talking about problems their members are having.

There are those who either deny that there is a problem or acknowledge that there is but do not inform friends and other distant relatives. These friends and distant relatives would be surprised to know that there has been checked-ins at alcohol and drug rehab centers that they didn’t know. At times they may feel left-out specially if they know they can help.

For others, it would be just a “need to know” basis to avoid negative talks and negative impressions. Makes sense.

Nutrition and Family Economics

I have always believed that a healthy family has more chances of having a better quality of life than a not-so-healthy family.

Nutrition and Economics

Why?

  • a healthy family do not get sick often and are not prone to having absences at work and from school
  • a healthy family that do not regularly get sick save up on hospital bills, medications and loss of income
  • a healthy family can engage in activities that will even make them stronger and healthier

Perhaps you have heard of the saying: “An ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure”. Now why would you want to “waste” your money on medication and doctor’s fees when you can use less than that amount you have to shell out in getting healthier choices, having a better lifestyle and getting the right nutrition from the right kinds of food that will not give you the chance to make you obese?

Would you rather spend your hard-earned money on medicating your physical  symptoms (which by the way, if you are sick, you won’t be able to do the work you are supposed to do) or would you rather spend your hard-earned money with things that will make you healthier?

The choice is yours.

More reading materials here on Family Economic and Nutrition.