Issue Date: May 25, 2008
Cut breast cancer risk
We all know that exercise can improve our health, but finding time for activity can be tough. The good news: It takes as little as 30 minutes a week to realize major benefits.
In a recently released multinational study, researchers revealed that exercising 30 to 150 minutes a week greatly reduced a woman's risk of developing breast cancer. "The prevalence of breast cancer in the exercise group was 50% lower than in the group of women who did not exercise," says Luke Ratnasinghe, lead researcher in the study. "And it was 70% lower among African-Americans."
Exercise proved to be effective at reducing risk across various racial groups. "It also reduced risk for different types of breast cancer -- even aggressive types," Ratnasinghe says.
The study also showed that exercising more than 150 minutes a week didn't reduce risk of the disease any further.
Go to top
How to tell bugs to buzz off
Avoiding summer bugs is no picnic.
|
Summertime pests are more than a nuisance. "Many can inflict painful bites or stings, while others carry and can transmit harmful diseases," says entomologist Ron Harrison, director of Orkin's Training Center. Here is his advice on two major types of pests.
Stingers: Bees, wasps, fire ants
These are the most dangerous summer pests, Harrison says. Why? "So many people get stung, and more people die from severe allergic reactions to their stings than from snake bites every year." Yellow jackets and hornets are part of the wasp family, attack when provoked, sting repeatedly and even attract their buddies to the area. Bees are generally less aggressive. Fire ants will bite and sting when they are disturbed.
Prevention tips: Before doing chores outside, check your property for nests. See any activity? Wait to do chores on another day. If you see a fire ant mound, do not disturb it.
If a "stinger" enters your car, open the window so it can get out. Try to stay calm.
Pour canned beverages into see-through cups; wasps seek sweets and may crawl into an open can.
Create a diversion: Put cups of soda or a protein source at a distance from the picnic table.
If stung, squeeze out venom immediately, then wash and disinfect with antibiotic ointment.
Biters: Mosquitoes, ticks
Mosquitoes spread illnesses such as West Nile virus, but ticks are our No. 1 transmitter of disease, Harrison says. Skeeters prefer blondes and enjoy sweat and perfume. Ticks are far less picky and will dine on anyone's blood, passing Lyme disease, Rocky Mountain spotted fever, babesiosis, relapsing fever and tularemia on to their victims.
Prevention tips
Use a repellent with DEET (sparingly for kids and not for babies under 2 months, per the American Academy of Pediatrics).
Wear socks pulled over the hems of your pant legs.
Remove standing water; check buckets, tires and birdbaths.
Check pets for ticks.
Prune shrubs.
Go to top
Recycle for charity
Give back by recycling yogurt containers.
|
If you need more of a reason to recycle (beyond saving the planet), many organizations now are offering the opportunity to give back while you, well, give back. Here are a few ways:
Yogurt cups aren't accepted for recycling in every town, so Stonyfield Farm Yogurt teamed up with TerraCycle to collect its used containers and reuse them as planting pots. Schools or charities get 2 cents to 5 cents per container, depending on its size. Sign up at terracycle.net/brigades.
In 12 U.S. states, kids can collect plastic shopping bags, recycle them and earn money for their school through Wal-Mart's Kids Recycling Challenge (kidsrecyclingchallenge.com). Enroll by Aug. 1 for the 2008-09 school year.
Cell Phones for Soldiers was started by a teenage brother-and-sister team from Massachusetts in 2004 to give soldiers prepaid phone cards so that they could call home more frequently. The charity (CellPhonesforSoldiers.com) accepts your old cellphones, sells them to a recycler and uses the money to buy cards for the troops.
Go to top
Job hunting alert
Only use a job-search site that posts its privacy policy on its website, and read it carefully.
|
Posting your résumé online can help you land a new job fast. But job hunting sites are also one of the newest breeding grounds for identity thieves. Here are some tips from the advocacy group Privacy Rights Clearinghouse.
Limit yourself to sites that mask your contact info. Your full name, address, phone number and other data should be left off your online résumé. Employers must get your permission to see details. (If you do go with an "unmasked" site, use a temporary e-mail address.)
Be alert to sketchy offers. Identity thieves may e-mail you with a "great" opportunity, then ask for personal information. Ignore any e-mail that asks for money or your ID.
Never e-mail your Social Security number to a potential employer. Except for some government jobs, employers don't need it until well into the hiring process.
Make sure that you can delete your résumé once you get hired. Some sites may keep your information archived, legally, for years.
|
