Podcast #23

Welcome to this edition of Your Health, and to our first edition of 2008! I'm Neal Linkon with Aurora Health Care in Wisconsin, and this program is just one more thing we do to try to keep you and your loved ones healthy.  In this edition, we'll look at the devastating problem of adolescent drug and alcohol abuse.  We'll give you some tips to help you stick with that New Year's resolution to exercise more. And we'll dig into some myths about sneezing.

Ask any parent who has had to deal with the heartbreak of a son or daughter who is abusing drugs or alcohol. It can be devastating. And if you can believe the news media, it's becoming more common. But there is hope.  I spoke with Paul Zenisek, a counselor who specializes in helping teens beat drugs and alcohol, about what can be done:

<interview transcript not available>

To learn more about Paul's background, go to www.Aurora.org/Paul. To learn more about these issues and where you can get help, go to www.Aurora.org/Abuse.

It's that time of year again—champagne flows, balls drop, and New Year's resolutions have been made.

Resolutions run the gamut—from quitting smoking or being more productive at work to eating more vegetables or losing 10 pounds. A majority of resolutions, though, seem to revolve around exercise. People often pledge to start an exercise program, get back on track with a program they resolved to start last year, or raise the intensity of their current exercise program. Unfortunately, many of these good intentions don't last past February.

Do you make the same fitness resolutions year after year? Here's some advice on making your exercise goals attainable and sustainable in the New Year.

Laurie, a 29-year-old editor, was exercising six to seven days a week, seeing no improvement, and starting to burn out. After talking with a trainer, Laurie realized that her program needed revitalization. Her current routine consisted of climbing on the StairMaster everyday and lifting weights on Nautilus machines three times a week.

The personal trainer pointed out that Laurie's workout was stale. He encouraged her to incorporate different exercises and taught her how to work with free weights. She started playing basketball again, going to step aerobics and kick boxing classes, and even began lap swimming. She asks herself what she feels like doing each day, rather than dragging herself to the StairMaster.

Reworking Laurie's exercise program paid off. Within six months she lost 10 pounds and has kept the weight off for almost four years. More importantly though, she has stuck with her exercise program.

Here are six more tips to help you stay on track. And they can be applied to any type of resolution, not just exercise.

1. Write it down -- To get a clear understanding of your resolution, write out the specifics of your new workout plan. Include all the details—how many times a week you want to work out, which days, what types of exercises you plan to do, and what your goals are. Continue to document your progress throughout the year to gauge how it's going and if you've been successful.
2. Be active with friends -- Meet a friend to go for a walk or inline skating or biking or hiking or play racquetball... The options are endless.
3. Do it for yourself -- Make a resolution because you really want to—not to please someone else. Regular exercise will make you look better, but it will also make you feel better.
4. Set realistic goals -- If you have never run a day in your life, don't decide to become a marathon runner by February. Instead, start with a goal you can accomplish, such as running three or four miles. Once you've attained your first goal, you'll be motivated to reach for a new, tougher goal.
5. Be specific -- Give yourself detailed guidelines with specific dates, times, and/or amounts. Don't just say "I want to lift more weight." Instead, determine how much you want to increase by and in what time frame. Pick a specific road race, triathlon or charity race to participate in.
6. Reward yourself for success -- If you've kept to your exercise schedule all month, splurge on a new pair of athletic shoes. Or maybe you hit a specific weight-lifting goal—treat yourself to dinner out with a good friend. However you do it, be sure to pat yourself on the back for a job well done.

Sneezing is your nose's involuntary response to a nasal irritation. But traditions and myths abound concerning sneezing, and many are rooted in cultural beliefs about the power of a sneeze. “God bless you,” for example, may have originated with the belief that your soul left your body when you sneezed and that evil spirits could enter unless a blessing was bestowed upon you. Or, that your heart stopped momentarily during a sneeze, essentially killing you for an instant, so you needed to be blessed.

One rational explanation for the exaggerated attention paid toward sneezing comes from the 6th Century, when the Black Plague killed half the population of Europe. Sneezing was a symptom of the disease, and was viewed as a sign of death. People thus began to say “bless you” in hopes that the sneezer would not succumb to the infection, or, some say, as a final blessing.

Because sneezing is a common phenomenon and rarely harmful, little research has been conducted to demystify the sneezing experience. However, observational evidence, anecdotes, and a few studies provide insight into some common beliefs – and myths -- about sneezing.

Does your heart stop beating when you sneeze?

Although it may seem that your heart takes a break during a sneeze, this is actually not the case. When you first inhale before sneezing, the pressure in your chest increases. Then, as you exhale forcefully during the sneeze the pressure drops. Alterations in blood flow to your heart produced by these pressure changes can affect the heart rate. However, the electrical activity in the heart marches on unimpeded–you remain very much alive throughout your sneeze!

Is it impossible to keep your eyes open during a sneeze?

Because most people's natural reflex is to close their eyes when they sneeze, it is a common belief that blinking while sneezing is necessary. In fact, the nerves that go to your eyes and nose are closely connected, and stimulating one could conceivably generate a response in the other. However, there is no real reason that your eyes must be shut when you are sneezing, and some people are actually capable of keeping their eyes open during a sneeze.

Is it true that if you do keep your eyes open during a sneeze, they will pop out of your head?

Not true. The few people who can naturally keep their eyes open while sneezing manage to keep them firmly inside their head. Also, holding your eyes open with your fingers when you sneeze has not been reported to cause serious eye problems. Most importantly, there is no physical mechanism involved in a sneeze that could make your eyes pop out. While blood pressure behind the eyes may increase slightly during a sneeze, this small, brief force is nowhere near enough to dislodge them from their boney sockets. This is a good thing, since your eyelids would probably be incapable of holding your eyeballs in if a sneeze was actually strong enough to dislodge them.

Can sneezing after having sex prevent pregnancy?

This is one of the many myths about preventing pregnancy. The theory behind the sneezing idea is that if a sneeze is powerful enough to shoot mucus out of one's nose, it must be strong enough to expel the semen from a woman's vagina after sexual intercourse. However, although some semen may be expelled after a very powerful sneeze, even the most outrageous sneezing fit wouldn't get rid of enough semen to provide reliable contraception.

Does looking at bright lights make some people sneeze?

According to one study, approximately 30% of people suffer from so-called “photic sneezing” triggered by looking at a bright light. The response seems to be acquired rather than inherited, and for most people it is not a consistent phenomenon (they won't sneeze every time they look at the sun). The cause of photic sneezing is still unknown, but some researchers speculate that bright light triggers the nerves involved in sneezing by stimulating the retina or pupil, or by causing the person to squint. In susceptible people, such stimulation crosses the nerve signals that normally induce a sneeze. Photic sneezing can't hurt you, and it may actually help when you feel a sneeze coming on and want to get it over with!

If you hold in a sneeze, can it damage your hearing?

When you sneeze, the air that you expel is estimated to be traveling at around 100 miles per hour. Trying to hold in such a strong force (by pinching your nose, for example) pushes the air into the Eustachian tube, which connects to the middle ear and eardrum. Redirecting a sneeze like that could theoretically result in a ruptured eardrum and loss of hearing, which would be expected to resolve as long as the practice isn't repeated. This is different than holding back an impending sneeze from occurring in the first place, for which there is no known associated harm.

Although many superstitions associate sneezing with danger or even death, sneezing is just a natural reflex, much like itching and tearing. Most of the rumors about sneezing are not true. Your heart does not stop, people can sneeze with their eyes open, and pregnancies can and do occur despite a sexually active sneezer's best efforts. There is at least one useful truth to be found among all these sneezing myths: once you do it there's no turning back. If you block a sneeze, you may not be able to hear your much deserved “God bless you.”

That's it for this edition of Your Health.  Happy 2008, and if we can help you in any way, or if you have suggestions for future editions, please let us know at Internet@aurora.org. I'm Neal Linkon, and thanks for listening.