How to Avoid Headaches

· Keep track of when, where and why you get headaches. If you find out what triggers a headache, try to stay away from it.

· Note early symptoms and try to abort a headache in its earliest stages (e. g., take pain medicine such as acetaminophen right away).

· Exercise at least two or three times a week. This helps keep headaches away.

· Avoid foods and drinks that give you a headache.

Foods That Can Cause Headaches

· Alcoholic beverages, especially red wine

· Aspartame (the artificial sweetener in NutraSweet)

· Bananas

· Coffee, tea, cola and other drinks with caffeine

· Chocolate

· Cured meats

· Grapefruits, oranges and other citrus fruit

· Hot dogs, ham and other cured meats

· Food additives (e. g., MSG)

· Hard cheeses such as aged cheddar or provolone

· Nuts

· Onions

· Sour cream

· Vinegar

When You Have a Headache

· Rest in a dark, quiet room with your eyes closed.

· Rub the base of you head with your thumbs. Start under your ears and work back. Rub your temples, too.

· Take a hot bath.

· Put a cold washcloth over your eyes.

· Take aspirin, acetaminophen, ibuprofen or naproxen sodium right away. Painkillers work best when the headache start.

NB Do not give aspirin or any medication containing salicylates to anyone 19 year of age or younger, unless directed by a physician, due to its association with Reye’s syndrome, a potentially fatal condition.

· Relax. Try thinking of a calm, happy place. Breathe slowly and deeply.

Serious Illnesses

Doctor believe smoking is the major cause of lung cancer.

A new study by the National Cancer Institute suggests that, contrary to the contentions of environmental activists, environmental hazards have little to do with cancer.

Bruce Ames, director of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences Center at the University of California at Berkley, said the real causes of cancer are smoking; not eating enough fruits and vegetables; chronic infections such as hepatitis (which can lead to liver cancer); genetic factors, and hormone problems. Pollution, in his view, “appears to account for less than 1 percent of human cancer.”

He had a heart attack and died almost immediately.

Hepatitis is a liver disease.

Asthma (chest illness causing breathing problems) has become more common.

NB Illness and disease are often used in the same way, but disease is used for a serious condition caused by an infection e.g. a liver disease. Illness is a more general word.

Write down the main symptom or symptoms for these conditions.

1 a cold: ……2 flu: ……3 hay fever: ……4 a hangover: ……5 diarrhea: …..6 asthma: …

Describe your own health and any health problems you have.

Date: 2016-01-03; view: 1134