Archive for July, 2010
We all know the detrimental health affects that can be experienced when someone is dealing with grief in their life. There’ve been many studies that have shown a specific correlation between a poor state of mental well-being and an increased risk for decreased state of physical well-being. This potential decrease take a physical well-being can be addressed by focusing on methods to cope with the whenever grief you may be experiencing in your life as outlined by the American Academy of Family Physicians:
· Communicate with others about what you’re feeling, and don’t be afraid to ask loved ones for help.
· Try to stay on top of daily responsibilities to avoid falling behind and feeling overwhelmed.
· Try to get regular exercise, eat healthy foods and get plenty of sleep.
· Don’t drink alcohol, which ultimately can make you feel more depressed.
· Push yourself to return to your regular routine as quickly as possible.
· Avoid making major decisions just after a loss.
· Allow yourself to feel the typical symptoms of grief, which may include sadness, crying, anger and numbness.
BCBCNC has a great checklist that can be found by following this link that outlines why depression is a serious health problem and what you can do about it. The list and information provided is a great resource, and a great place to begin if you suspect that you, or a loved one, might be suffering from depression.
| General Health | No Comments »
Eye diseases such as age-related macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy may have just met their newest enemy in the form of the humble grape. It seems that the much talked about compounds known as Resveratrol, which is found in red wine and grapes, now has some scientific evidence to back up its ability to inhibit the growth of new blood vessels in the eye. This type of blood vessel growth is associated with the eye diseases like the aforementioned age-related macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy.
According to health.yahoo.net research has shown the beneficial effects of resveratrol:
“Previous research has shown that resveratrol can decrease the effects of agingand act as an anti-cancer agent. In this new study, researchers found that resveratrol inhibits harmful blood vessel growth in the eye. They also identified the specific pathway through which the compound achieves this effect and found that specific inhibitors could reverse the angiogenesis-blocking power of resveratrol.
The study appears in the July issue of the American Journal of Pathology”
Of course anything that’s good for the health of your eyes is ultimately good for the health of your body. Health insurance providers such as Blue Cross NC know the importance of overall health and well being, so this study should be of great interest to the Health community as a whole. If you find this study to be interesting that I suggest you do more research on resveratrol, as there have been many very interesting studies done on this one particular compound.
| General Health | No Comments »
It’s no secret that family Physicians seem to be few and far between these days. With a greater number of medical students deciding to specialize in a specific area of medicine it was beginning to seem as though the era of the family Physician was coming to an end. To combat the shortage of primary care Physicians the Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina (BCBSNC) Foundation has announced a $1.18 million grant that will benefit the North Carolina Academy of Family Physicians Foundation. This grant is specifically aimed to provide a greater number of family Physicians to North Carolinians by encouraging more medical students to pursue a career to that end.
“Communities across North Carolina work hard to attract quality physicians to provide primary care for our citizens,” said Brad Wilson, chairman of the BCBSNC Foundation. “However, we are already faced with a national shortage of primary care physicians, and the recently passed health care reform legislation will mean an increase in the number of folks seeking care. We hope that through this initiative, North Carolina medical students will receive the help and incentive they need to make a commitment to family medicine.” (BCBSNC Newsroom)
The money will, in part, benefit the Family Medicine Interest and Scholars Program which again aims at increasing the number of medical students looking to go into primary care. Thanks to BCBSNC all North Carolinians may benefit in the near future from an increase in primary care Physicians, which again goes to show the importance not only of family Physicians but also of Insurance in general to local communities.
| Health Insurance News | No Comments »
With all of the talk about healthcare lately it’s important to take a step back and look at the real value of having health coverage. We all know the individual benefits of carrying Health Insurance, but aside from the personal level what good does it do the community as a whole to have individuals who are carrying insurance? This question can partially be answered by recent inquiry by the Springfield Health Commission who “spent the last ten months assembling data to help find to a solution for those in need of health insurance or at least, health care.” According to KMSU.org the findings of the Springfield Health Commission were clear in at least one area:
“Dr. Daniel Sontheimer, a member of the board of directors for the Commission, says if there is one thing to take away from the report, it’s that the lack of dental coverage for those with Medicaid and those without insurance is creating a strain on the emergency care system.”
Of course these findings are really nothing surprising. It really goes without saying that people who lack Health Insurance tend to use the emergency room as a major resource to treat all kinds of maladies. In this light the Springfield Health Commission’s report makes perfect sense and goes a long way to let people know the benefits of carrying Health Insurance. This need for Health Insurance is not isolated to one single part of the country but is also applicable here in North Carolina, which is why Carolina Blue Cross can provide a vital service to not only to individuals in North Carolina but really to the community as a whole.
| Health Insurance News | No Comments »
We all know that as an adult you’re taking a risk by not having Health Insurance, but what does it mean for the children of our country if they go uninsured? Besides the obvious reason to carry Health Insurance, which is the ultimate benefit that it can have on one’s health and life expectancy, there are indeed other reasons to carry insurance, especially on your child. Childrenshealthcampaign.org lists the following reasons as benefits to children who carry Health Insurance:
1. Children with insurance are more likely to have a usual
source of care.
2. Children with insurance are more likely to have access to
preventive care.
3. Children with insurance get the health care services they
need.
4. Insuring children will help close the racial disparities gap.
5. Health insurance helps improve social and emotional
development.
6. Insured children are better equipped to do well in school.
With the recent Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2009 BCBSNC has new guidelines addressing health benefits for children that may be of interest, but the evidence is clearly there that having children who are covered by Health Insurance is always a good idea.
In the above stated six benefits for having children carry Health Insurance we can see that the stage is being set for a healthy adult life. The word healthy not only implies physical health, but it can also clearly be seen from the above that a child’s mental well-being can be greatly and positively affected through Health Care coverage.
| Children's Health | No Comments »
