Category: Health

Nobody chooses to be disabled. They are just born that way and have to live with it. Working with disabled kids at a charity center has taught me that. Kids who are living with cerebral palsy, autism or any other disability whether physical or mental handicap did not wish to be that way. They just found themselves like that.

Parents would never wish disability on their kids too. They just find that they have them. While most feel embarrassed and conscious about the whole thing, they can work their way to accept how things are and find support groups where other parents have kids with a similar disability and encourage each other so as to live positively.

Toilet Adaptations for Disabled Children

Out of the many challenges that disabled kids might have, I have found that toilet to be the main obstacle. Some of the obstacles include:

• Disabled kids not being able to wipe their bums really well and going about with a bad odor
• Disabled kids not being able to quickly access the washroom when they feel the urge to do so
• The kids feeling uncomfortable using lowered toilet seats
• Disabled kids not having space to keep their wheelchairs

Wiping Aids for Those Unable to Reach their Butts

Toileting becomes a challenge because some kids are either unable to take themselves to the latrine unless they are wheeled by someone else. Others will have trouble removing their clothes when they get to the toilet so they would need someone to help out or else wear diapers which could be causing embarrassment. Others will have trouble wiping because they are challenged in terms of fine motor skills.

In such cases, they would either require some extension tools to reach their bums in case their arms are too short or end up having to use bidets to wash off after emptying their bowels. If the child is not able to adequately wipe, they could also make use of flushable wet wipes which do a good job in leaving the bum fresh and well sanitized without any fecal odor.

Portable Commode Toilets for Children who are disabled

Other solutions could be the use of commodes which have been extensively used by people who are on wheelchairs. We have highly campaigned them as the best portable toilets for the disabled at home. Some of the commodes at amazon are so chic and fly that they could double up as seats other than being toilet equipment.

In such cases, the disabled person using it would comfortably have it as their seat in class since when they feel the urge to relieve themselves, they would simply do it there without having to get on the wheelchair and asking people to take them to a washroom.

Raising Toilet seats for Disabled Kids

The use of raised toilet seats has also been employed in cases where the kid got handicapped in an accident and bending to sit on low toilet seats causes untold agony and pain. It could be avoided especially when they are complaining of knee, hip, or back pains. Other than that, we have seen the ADA toilet height being a highly recommended adaptation for toilets for disabled.

The ADA toilet height recommendation states that a toilet needs to be about 17 to 19 inches, which is relatively raised as compared to other standard toilet seats. Standard toilets that I have found in the local stores are at 15 inches which is a little bit low.

Having Sufficient Space in the Toilet for the Wheelchair

A disabled person would also need to use a toilet which is in such a way that there is enough space to keep the wheelchair inside the toilet. In our center, we are very careful to make sure that we meet this space. All our toilets are big enough so that a wheelchair would fit in without compromising on the comfort of the child on it.

For most cat owners, flea control is a regular and scary process they have to undertake.

Fleas put the health of your cat at risk and promote spreading skin infections, in addition to causing it to have continuous itching.

However, you must maintain top safety for yourself and your pet when applying your best flea treatment for cats.

So, let’s get started!

How to Apply Advantage II Cat Flea Treatment – Step by Step

But first, what’s this Advantage II? Well, by definition, Advantage II is a monthly topical flea control product that’s designed for kittens (>=8 years) and adult cats.

Advantage II contains 2 key active ingredients; (1) Imidacloprid (damages the fleas’ nervous system of existing fleas). The other ingredient is (2) Pyriproxyfen (kills flea eggs, larvae and adults – being an insect growth regulator).

Step 1: Cut Open the Protective Packaging

Check the products weight range as outlined on the label instructions to determine whether you’ll use the 4 or 6 packs.

Now, cut open that protect packing over the Advantage II flea treatment and get out the tube. Next, hold the Advantage II tube in the upright position but, for safety, let it be away from the face of any humans including yourself.

To satisfy the guidelines by Companion Animal Parasite Council, we recommend an-all-year-round flea control schedule. This will keep your cat comfortable and healthy.

Step 2: Open the Advantage II Safely

Next, now open the Advantage II tube by first pulling its cap, turn it around and finally puncturing the tube.

Advantage II will thus treat existing fleas on the cat while also preventing the incidence of another infestation. Further, the treatment will prevent the occurrence of skin conditions such as flea allergy dermatitis.

Step 3: Apply Advantage II on Cat’s Coat

Finally, now slowly part that hair that’s at the base of your cat’s skull until you can clearly see the pet’s skin. Next, squeeze the Advantage II tube to apply the flea treatment on the skin at one spot at the base of the cat’s skull.

Doing this will ensure that there are no excess Advantage II chemicals that the cat would lick or get it into its eyes.

Next, make sure that you empty the whole tube containing the Advantage II by applying appropriate pressure while lifting it away.

Don’t apply Advantage II carelessness on your cat’s hair as this would not give you the good results.

Step 4: Precaution – Consult You Veterinary

Well, ensure that you consult your veterinary if your cat has other unique needs that would affect the flea control process or the pet’s health.

For example, talk to the veterinary if you’ll be flea treating nursing, pregnant, sick, aged, or debilitated cat.

Further, don’t use the Advantage II for cats to flea treat other pets or animals including cats. This could lead to dangerous poisonous and fatal occurrences.

Conclusion

Advantage II for cats is a great pesticide if used correctly and safely – as I’ve described above. Remember to follow all the product label instructions and don’t use this treatment on dogs or other animals besides cats.

It’s common for athletes to feel pain on their Achilles tendon immediately after waking up – a condition known as Achilles tendonitis. So, you’d ask why does this happen? Well, positioning and injury are two key reasons why the Achilles tendon might hurt immediately you wake up.

For persons that take part in very engaging physical activity or sports, they could experience overuse tendinopathy. This kind of injury in athletes results in tendon’s fibers getting micro-tears. Therefore, when they wake up, stretching their shortened calf muscles would cause pain on the Achilles tendon.

Achilles tendon Structure

So, what’s the anatomical structure of the Achilles tendon? It’s made up of bundled connective tissues linking the heel bone to soleus and gastrocnemius to enable running and walking.

The soleus and gastrocnemius produce the power the foot requires to lift off and move toes when walking or jumping.

Causes and symptoms of Achilles tendonitis

Strenuous activity such as excessive jumping or running can cause an Achilles tendon injury. Also, a sudden jump in the exercise intensity or having tight calf muscles may trigger Achilles tendinopathy.

Also, running or jumping on uneven surfaces or with regular shoes may also trigger the growth of the condition.

The symptoms to consider when starting treatments are pain or stiffness after extended inactivity or when you wake up.  Further, when you’re walking or running, you may feel pain along the Achilles tendon or on your heel.

Another system is that you’ll feel pain when walking an inclined surface or climbing on stairs. It’s also important to note that the presence of warmth, swelling, and pain around the Achilles tendon may signify an inflammation.

Treatment options – Achilles tendonitis

1. Rest

The first step towards healing and rehabilitation your injured Achilles tendon is reducing the amount and intensity of unnecessary movement. This will allow you ankle and foot to rest and thus enhance recovery of the Achilles tendon.

If symptoms persist, you should visit your doctor for a proper diagnosis. For example, the physician may prescribe RICE therapy – which incorporates Rest, ICE, Compression, and finally Elevation.

2. Orthotic devices

Wedges or shoe insert may help in raising your heel slightly and thus reduce pain and straining on your Achilles tendon. Further, the best running shoes for Achilles tendonitis and shoe insert offers required cushioning and thus reduce the level of weight landing on the Achilles tendon.

3. Exercises

Strengthening exercises and stretching, as prescribed by your physical therapists, can promote healing of your Achilles tendon and nearby structures.

For example, most physical therapists will prescribe “eccentric” exercises for your Achilles tendon injury. In this specific exercise, you’ll slowly let down some weight following its raise, which assists heal continuous Achilles injury.

4. Surgery

This must not come early; it will need to be your last fallback treatment method. It’s most helpful if the Achilles tendon is torn or when the rest and other exercises do not produce the required results.

You physical will thus prescribe surgery on your Achilles tendon to correct the tear, abnormally and hence the pain. But first, it’s important to undertake necessary x-ray and MRI scans before the doctor conducts the surgery.

Being Obese and the Challenge of Butt Wiping

Now being obese is no joke. It usually has physical and psychological implications on you. You will for example be stopped from walking into an elevator when only two more people are needed because you are just too heavy that the damn elevator will start making its noisy, irritating beep to indicate that it is overloaded. But the worst are the psychological effects it has on you. Obese people find that they are unable to do basic hygiene tasks such as wiping their butts because their arms seem to have shrunk.

And it is not that the arms are shrunken. No, they are normal size but because of the distance that the arms have to travel before they get to your behind, then it seems that the butt is way too far. In this post, we look at the bottom buddy toilet tissue aid, a personal hygiene item that has come to change this narrative.

Before the bottom buddy, if you were obese, you would have to ask your caregiver to come help you wipe your butt. And it is very embarrassing because the caregiver gets to see your ass. Picture it that the caregiver in question is a beautiful damsel or maybe an old woman.

Now, who wants this to be happening to them? Your guess is as good as mine; nobody. Now, because getting your bottom checked and wiped by that caregiver was too embarrassing, you would have to go around smelling like a hog. And your ass would never get clean because some of the shit debris would be left on your butt hair.

Features of the bottom buddy toilet tissue aid

• The bottom buddy comes with a small, rounded head attached to an 11” handle.
• The handle has a button which you use to hold and release tissue paper.
• It comes with a carrying pouch so that if you were travelling, you could always do so with it discretely without every Tom, Dick and Harry knowing that you have trouble wiping your butt and therefore need an assistive device.

How to use the bottom buddy

• Using this assistive wiping device is easy peasy. You only need to get enough rolls of toilet paper wrapped around the head of the tool.
• Reach out to your perineal area and wipe it clean with the wrapped head.
• Release the filthy tissue paper by a simple press on the button.
• Clean the bottom buddy with warm water plus soap or some disinfectants so as to kill germs.
• Dry it and keep it in its pouch for use another time.

What I loved about the bottom buddy

• The buddy restores your personal dignity whereby you are able to empty your bowels in privacy and also wipe your bum without having to call in another person.

What I did not like about the bottom buddy toilet tissue aid

• Although a great product, I found that the bottom buddy had its own set of downsides. For one, you could only use it to wipe your butt. How about those people who have other problems such as reaching their backs so as to wash?

They would have to buy a back scrubber, right? There are other products such as the 4-in-one butt scrubber and the freedom wand which could do all these tasks and are therefore a better fit as compared to the bottom buddy.

Lower back pain is a common injury among runners, particularly beginners. Evidently, the rate of injuries in running supersedes those in any other exercise.

But why are there more injuries in running? Well, it’s commonly accepted that running is a high-impact exercise. Therefore, you’ll need to be the right best athletic shoes for lower back pain to avoid inflating the injury rate through promoting unnatural stride mechanics leading to unnecessary strains.

If your running shoes are overbuilt as opposed to minimal shoes, then you’ll definitely get an injury in your lower back. However, there are other factors that increase the rate of injury of the lower back among runners.

Factors that Increase Lower Back Injury Rate

Body weight

Despite that stretching exercises do not increase the injury rate among runners; body weight has been documented to contribute significantly.  Notably, heavy runners had a high chance of getting running related injuries.

But why? Heavy runners tend to have it rough in balancing their weight, running impact and footwear in their different runs. Therefore, it becomes very easy to hurt your lower back pain when excessive stress from running impact lands on your spine.

Sedentary life

Well, maybe you run sometimes and take a break to resume your sedentary life. Therefore, it’s critical to lead a highly active life outside your regular running or exercise hours.

For example, it won’t make sense to run for 30 minutes and like idling for the rest of the 23 hours without taking on active exercises such as walking on staircases as opposed to taking the elevator when going to upper floors.

Therefore, being active will hinder postural and muscular imbalances that would trigger joint instability and hence injury to your lower back.

Running on hard surfaces

Well, you might hurt your back more if you run on pavement for long as opposed to running on dirt. Notably, you should run on soft surfaces more until you are able to comfortably run using the minimalist shoes. Therefore, you’ll experience a more injury-free run when you run on dirt roads.

Running over long distances when you have not practiced well enough can also hurt your back. However, your body could also be built to run faster even over the long distances and yet experience fewer injuries to your lower back.

Therefore, ensure you consider your body capacity for running and the surfaces where you’ll be running and they could affect your running capacity.

Conclusion

In conclusion, athletic running shoes will have a significant effect on the amount of injuries you get on your lower back. However, there are additional factors that escalate the occurrence of such injuries. For example, running on concrete surfaces when you are not ready can trigger lower back injury.

Further, overweight runners must take caution as their weight could be a factor in increasing running injuries. Further, high-impact running with the wrong shoes will increase your chances of injuring your lower back. Adopting the right shoes, and running surfaces will ensure you get a good balance of forces landing on your spine, joints and muscles.

A large number of Americans run to manage their weight gain. However, not all the runners achieve their weight loss targets. But, how is it possible that an exercises activity burning co much calories end up not dropping the require weight?

Well, this is mainly because most of the runners do their running, and its related activities, the wrong way. In this post, I cover all the errors that runners make.

Over training and wrong shoes

It’s a common thought that running more, with the right shoes, will enable you to lose more pounds – well maybe not. Over training could actually lead to unwanted injuries that can hurt your weight loss journey. Probably, you say that you just added a single mile every week.

Wearing the wrong shoes for heavy/plus-sized female runners can increase the impact of the aggregated miles over time and hence harm your joints and muscles.

Further, while you’re overt-raining with limited weight loss, you could experience depression and frustration. Such a situation usually results in emotional drinking and eating – which is bad for weight loss.

On the contract, running for weight loss should be long-term and steady – ensure you wear the best running shoes for heavy female runners. This allows you to slowly build up your speed and mileage while reducing chances of injury.

Slow running speed

Well, we recommend that you gradually build your speed and mileage over time. However, running with limited effort will allow you to lose fats but you’ll not burn a significant amount of calories for needed weight loss.

Therefore, if your target for running is losing weight, then you’ll need to increase your pace. This will stress your body but will burn additional calories too. However, you can also increase the incline intervals and speed (for about 12 minutes) for your runs – if you’re the short distance kind of runner.

Avoiding strength training

To build lean muscle, you’ll need to be an all-around workout person – including resistance training. Therefore, strength training must be in your workout plan, to complement your regular running schedule. Notably, rigorous running is effective in burning calories but will not help build lean muscle.

Therefore, include resistance training exercises such as training the different muscle groups for 2-3 days every week. This can be accomplished through undertaking multi-joint and compound exercises (like squats or deadlifts) to work out many muscle groups.

Overeating

The number of calories you lose an hour’s time of rigorous training can be gained back in just a minute of consuming dark chocolate. Therefore, while managing your weight through running, it’s important to control your eating habits to avoid reversing your workout gains.

Notably, you’ll need to keep your weekly food log in order to effectively manage your weight loss journey while running. The logs will help you learn how fast or slow the eating habits enhance or erode your weight loss journey.  For example, you might notice that you’ll need to do away with the post-running meal. Notably, as a runner, you’ll not require a recovery meal as you don’t lose a significant amount of calories – may be only about 530 calories.

Reaping similar runs

Notably, your body can adapt to your regular running pattern and device a way of losing the least amount of calories while at it. Therefore, if you’ll be running at the same pace and via a similar route, you might end up losing fewer calories than you’d expect.

Therefore, alter the running routine by changing your speed or going to the more hilly terrain. Further, you can carry a backpack or put on a weighted vest. This ensures that your body does not adapt to a specific physiological routine that would eventually reduce the amount of weight loss.

Conclusion

In conclusion, in addition to developing a running routine, you’ll need to create a weekly food log, a varying running routine and terrain, adopting a faster running speed, and avoid overt-raining as it can result in unnecessary injuries. Ensure that you sport that perfect shoe for running and one that has the appropriate cushioning and breathability.

You can also adopt wearable running trackers to enable you to determine the number of steps you’ve taken each week – either when running or on your regular walks.

Maybe you’ve recently seen some fleas jumping up and down; probably it hopped from your cat or dog to your feet. So, you are asking “how do I get rid of fleas in my house?” Let’s get down to effective flea control methods. But facts first: The fleas you see around the house are a mere 7% of the total population of fleas you are rearing… well not breeding practically.

But you should know that flea has a life cycle that allows the flea eggs and larvae to hides in areas such as crack and crevices. And, that’s the most challenging flea stages to kill. Therefore, as you aim to control the fleas go for a solution that will kill both the adult and pre-adult fleas.

Step by step flea control

Kills fleas in the house

Fleas will hide in the places you’d not imagine such as under carpets, undersides of your furniture, in dirty laundry, baseboards, and maybe even in cabinets. Therefore, the first step is to thoroughly clean the house to remove the flea debris, their eggs, and larvae….at least to the best you can.

Clean the wood floors and tiles well. Vacuum the house thoroughly and remove & clean the dirty linen and furniture covers. Clean the carpet of any flea eggs debris to remove even the eggs. Notably, more fleas will be in the dark and cluttered areas, such as garage corners, and thus you should clean such areas in the house.

Dispose of the vacuum bags that you use to avoid flea re-infestation. Notably, the vibration in the vacuum makes the larvae to change their stages and hence into contact with the pesticides you are using.

Next, using this best fogger for fleas, treat your house to clear out all that massive flea infestation in the house. The process will require that trigger the aerosol cans and leave the house with all human beings and pets for about 2 hours. Consider the area of fogging recommend on the aerosol cans, which could add up to maybe 4-5 cans for large rooms.  Remember to close the doors and windows before setting off the pesticide cans.

Next, treat you Furry friends

While outside waiting for the fogger to work and settle, it’s time to flea treat your pets. Fleas will cause an allergic reaction and host parasitic tapeworms, which causes discomfort and illness in your poet. Therefore, the first step is to kills the fleas, their eggs and larvae on you’re the cats and dogs. Use a flea shampoo to bathe the pet. Further, give the pet some flea medication for prevention purposes.

Clean the pet’s linen using a suitable control such as borax. Also, expose the beddings to light as this will make the larvae to change stages, which make them easy to kill. Also, clean the pet’s toys as they’ll also host some fleas and their eggs.

Treat the yard

Flea will hide in many places on your yard waiting to jump onto your legs or your pet and move into the house. Therefore, use a yard flea spray to kill the fleas before they land on your clothes or shoes.

Note: You’ll need to vacuum the house every day for 7 days after the first treatment. Further, repeat the flea treatment after 2 weeks to ensure the fleas do not re-infest.

Final thoughts on how to get rid of fleas

Killing fleas in your house must be a comprehensive plan that involves treating the pets, their bedding, the hidden places and the open floor. Take all the precautionary measures to avoid poisoning the human beings in the household or your pets.

Among the most important appliances to have in your home is an air purifier. There are many reasons why you need to have an air purifier installed in your home. Most of these are associated with health. For example, if you or your loved ones suffer from allergies, an air purifier will go a long way in ensuring you live a more comfortable life. Selecting an air purifier, however, is not an easy task.

By removing particles such as dust, dander, pollen, select airborne chemicals and gases from the air in your house, allergic reactions will be kept at bay. An air purifier with a HEPA filter captures up to 99.97% of all allergens floating around. Getting the best vacuum for pet hair can also help you fight allergens even better.

There are numerous air purifier manufacturers. These include Philips, Levoit, GermGuardian, Coway and Winix, just to mention a few. When searching for the best air purifier, it would be quite tasking to identify which one suits your needs and your home. That’s why we have carefully selected some important aspects that you need to consider before settling on a particular model.

Factors to consider when selecting an air purifier for your home

There are many factors to consider before you select the perfect air purifier for your home or office. Some of the most important considerations that we tend to ignore are:

i) Air purifier size

When we mention size, we are not just talking about the actual size of the equipment. The size we are referring to is the room size. How big of a room can your potential air purifier serve efficiently?

Well, all air purifiers have a designated maximum room size they can clean. So, before buying one, please check if the one you intend to buy can clean the entire room. For example, the Coway Airmega 400S and 300S cover up to 1,560 square feet. On the other hand, the Winix WAC9500 only covers a maximum of 283 square feet.

Therefore, if your room is 1400 sq. ft. for instance, buying the Winix WAC9500 would only guarantee that you go back to the store for a replacement.

ii) Noise

Another factor you must consider is the noise level of the particular air cleaner you want to buy. Because air purifiers use a fan in conjunction with a carbon or HEPA filter, there will always be some noise.

The lower the speed of the fan, the less noisy the purifier will be. The good thing is that most come with controls for fan speed, ranging from low, medium, high, turbo to automatic. So, depending on the time of day, you can set the fan speed accordingly. For example, I would set mine at low speed when sleeping.

iii) Energy consumption

Thirdly, it is always important to minimize power consumption when using any electrical appliance. If your home has a dishwasher, a washing machine, a refrigerator and the like, adding another power-heavy equipment will only skyrocket your bills.

It is, therefore, important to check that the air purifier you want to buy has the Energy Star rating. This is a guarantee that it uses the least energy possible while doing its job efficiently.

iv) Warranty & Customer Support

Most air purifiers are expensive to buy and maintain. So, you need to be sure that the manufacturer offers a warranty for the appliance and its parts. You also need to know how long the warranty is so that you can use it any time you need to replace defective parts before the period expires.

Also, good customer service is key. A manufacturer who has a reliable website with clear ways of getting help would be preferred. The company must have a customer service number or an email address at least. You may need to read reviews of the product to get an insight on how long they take to address issues.

For a more detailed review of the top air purifiers in the market in 2018, please check out this best air purifier review.

A healthy lifestyle is the dream of everyone. No one wants to get bedridden, simply because they did not try and get out of the comfort zone. Getting a bug, or an infection is understandable, but getting back pains, or overweight-related ailments may be pointed back to you. That is why you need to start running.

While it is definitely not easy to have that discipline to wake up early every day for a morning run, or to go to the gym consistently, we need to push ourselves. Today, I will outline the benefits of running on overall body fitness.

10 reasons why you need to start running

• You can do it anywhere
• You get to meet new people and form partnerships
• Savings- you don’t need a lot of investment to start off
• Less visits to the doctor
• Push your self-esteem to a new level
• Boost your memory
• Acquire a natural glow
• Get stronger – both your muscles and bones
• Better sleep
• Improve your hearts health

There are many reasons to include running in your daily fitness routine. However, I have selected the 10 most important. They are pretty straight forward, unless you require more details. Feel free to ask in the comments section and I will happily elaborate.

Lastly, you need to get yourself a smartwatch to help you track your fitness levels. Apart from getting notifications, smartwatches such as the Samsung Gear S3 will help you live a better, healthier lifestyle. You will be able to track your steps, distance covered as well as calories burned. Also, you can monitor your sleeping pattern to ensure that you sleep better. This Samsung Gear S3 Review will guide you on what to expect of an ideal smartwatch for fitness tracking. In case you have an additional benefit of running, please let me know so I can add it to the list.

What are the Benefits of Exercising Regularly? I am sure you have heard this so many times. You have to get up on your feet and exercise. You have to try. I know it’s hard for many people, myself included. However, we have no choice. Depending on your current age, weight, sex, health status and time available, you can pick a variety of exercises.

There are many forms of exercising, ranging from walking to heavy weight lifting. Nonetheless, you need to engage you doctor before undertaking heavy exercise. What I mean is, going to the gym to lift weights should not be done just for the sake of it. Ensure that your doctor gives you a guideline. For example, you could lift a weight so heavy that you strain your muscles, or even break bones! I have seen it happen, and it is not the best sight.

In the current technology driven world, you do not even need to go with your buddy for exercise sessions. This means you no longer have than excuse of having no partner. You can buy a smartwatch and get on with it. You can check out the Samsung Gear S3 Review as an elaborate guide of what you get by buying a smartwatch.

Other than exercising to build your muscles up, there are many other benefits you get.

Benefits of exercising regularly

i) Better memory: Getting more energy and oxygen to your brain during exercise will certainly help you remember stuff better.

ii) Better posture: Exercising you back and neck muscles will ensure you have that great posture you always desire

iii) High confidence: Exercising regularly will get you in shape. This will make you more confident while facing other people

iv) Better sleep: If you have problems sleeping, going to the gym, running or even walking will help you turn that around

v) Better sex: Regular exercise will ensure that you satisfy your partner time and again. Who wouldn’t want that now?

In conclusion, it goes without saying that you need to exercise more. Whether it is just walking or even weight lifting, ensure you do what suits your body. Practice makes perfect. Do not expect overnight change, but gradual improvement in your overall well-being.