QUOTATIONS

Just because you're not sick doesn't mean you're healthy

If you don't take care of your body, where are you going to live?

"The only way to keep your health is to eat what you don't want, drink what you don't like, and do what you'd rather not." ~Mark Twain

"A good laugh and a long sleep are the best cures in the doctor's book."

Quotes about Death

ANECDOTES

Kidney stones rated worst pain, but treatment illustrates the medical wisdom that for every problem there is a simple, obvious, easily understood solution - which is 100% wrong: kidney stones are calcium, so the 'obvious' answer is to avoid calcium in diet - in fact opposite: if have lots of calcium in (natural) diet, you get less kidney stones (but no effect if get calcium from pills)

Men with stronger muscles from regular weight training are up to 40 per cent less likely to die from cancer than men who do not pump iron, according to new research.

Like all conspiracy theorists, the anti-vaxers seem to jump through some monstrous mental hoops in order to cling to their treasured idea that vaccines are evil. In one fell swoop they implicate the entire worldwide healthcare profession, the CDC, the WHO, the health authorities of every government in the world in some grand conspiracy, and to what aim is this sinister worldwide cabal supposed to be dedicated? Make a whole generation of autistic kids? It's either that or they do not trust the overwhelming majority of healthcare professionals, immunologists etc to do their jobs properly - and instead listen to lone, discredited quacks like Andrew Wakefield.

Exercise is some boring shit. There are people who have made millions by coming up with something to make boring, repetitive motions just a little bit more entertaining, like those goofy goose-step elliptical machines or big bouncing balls. It is you doing the same things over and over again, till your body gets tired of them and starts to eat itself in exhaustion. There is nothing pleasant about the process unless you can find an enjoyable strenuous activity that has the side-effect of making you lose weight. Sex, or pick-up basketball, or walking the streets looking for prostitutes, or running from Wal-Mart security, are more entertaining that your usual thing.

Economist mag ran obit for Japanese guy who died 2010, aged 93, who survived both atomic bombs. He was working in Hiroshima when first dropped, suffered burns to upper body and face, ruptured eardrums and burnt off all hair. Went home to Nagasaki, where they bombed him again.

Smell test for Altzheimers - first smell you lose is strawberry; then smoke, soap and cloves

In Bedlam patients were treated by taking "the bath of surprise". The patient would walk a plank in which a hole was cleverly concealed. One step too far and, splash, the lunatic fell into the freezing cold water.

105 year old woman died, of natural causes, in British nursing home having smoked 15 cigs a day since 15 - she also had notoriously unhealthy eating habits - often asking for sugar in her soup - she was cremated holding pack of her favourite B & H

Whatever therapy used, 1/3 get better, 1/3 improve a little and 1/3 no improvement - it isn't the therapy itself that works, it's the mental dynamics of the doctor/patient interaction

One of the most useful health technologies is a cheap pedometer, because carrying one motivates people to walk more

Warren Buffett has never smoked or drunk alcohol. He is, at 78, extremely healthy. One of his homilies to college students is about imagining that a genie appears to you at 16 and offers you a car of your choice. There's only one catch; this is the last car you're ever going to get. "I would read the manual about five times. I would always keep it garaged. If there was the least little dent or scratch, I'd get it fixed right away because I wouldn't want it rusting. I would baby that car because it would have to last a lifetime. That's exactly the position you are in concerning your mind and body."

Cancer unknown in catatonics (people who have completely withdrawn from society and its expectations) similarly much lower rates among mentally handicapped.

Airlines make fewer mistakes handling baggage than hospitals make dispensing drugs

Anecdotes about Health

ARTICLES

What these citizens - members of what has come to be called the sceptic movement - had demonstrated was not a miracle, but that overdosing on homeopathic medicine can do you no harm and that the reason for this is the same reason that it can do you no good. It's because homeopathy does nothing - it doesn't work. Never has, never will. The 'science' on which it is based is flawed (in fact, it's ridiculous) and any benefit that people imagine they get from the treatment is a placebo effect. Homeopathic Medicine

At any given time, one of every 20 hospital patients has a hospital-acquired infection, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.This leads to an estimated 99,000 deaths in the U.S. each year and up to $33 billion in preventable health care costs. Hospital Infections

What is equally exciting is that this patient data will be added to a universal database that can be aggregated by powerful search engines like Google and constantly fed into new trials and experiments -speeding up our understanding of which drugs work best for which people. The database might show, for example, that people with a particular genetic profile respond to one type of cancer treatment but not another. As more people anonymously add their health data, this database would become more and more effective as a tool for preventive medicine. The Future

From dementia and diabetes to high blood pressure - no pill protects us against ill health like exercise does. Exercise - The Magic Pill

.... headaches can be cured by sex. It is just one of the many health benefits derived from frequent sexual activity, says Dr Hiestand, formerly from Dunedin. The 46-year-old Las Vegas resident has made a career out of giving doctor's orders more agreeable than most. Health Benefits of Sex

"People do take supplements because they want to make sure they're getting the nutrients their bodies require. They act as an insurance policy to make sure your body's getting the right number of nutrients." Yet, just like the gulled purchasers of the banks' identity theft policies, we don't need that 'insurance'. Except in rare cases - such as vegans or some expectant mothers - we get easily enough of the vitamins we need from the food we eat. Vitamin Tablets Are Bad For You

Kill cancer with fever?

Paying people small sums of money to be healthy can change their lifestyles even over the long term, an overview of research has concluded. As little as $3 in cash or vouchers made people much more likely to quit smoking, take more exercise or get vaccinated, according to analysis which tells the Government that payments may be a useful addition to the behavioural change toolkit. Nudge

More Articles on Health

BOOKS

Consider the contents of the bedroom: It has been calculated that if your pillow is six years old (which is the average age for a pillow), one-tenth of its weight will be made up of sloughed skin, living and dead mites, and mite dung. At Home: A Short History of Private Life.

The book's principal focus is the alarming shortcomings of the pharmaceutical industry - the diet drugs and antidepressants that have caused deaths; the cholesterol-lowering statins that may not be as effective as we have been led to believe; the bisphosphonate drugs that are of limited value in tackling the osteoporosis-related bone fractures they are meant to prevent. Bad Pharma

Hospitals replacing door handles, bathroom taps etc, with ones made of brass to counter MRSA bacteria. On stainless steel surfaces, bacteria remain active for days, but on brass they die within 5 hours (on pure copper, 30 minutes). Also effective with flu viruses and c. difficile. Brain Fuel

In 16th Century London, 1/5 children died before 1st birthday, and another 1/5 died before 5th. Even until 10, death rates high. From 10 to 40, people were relatively healthy, but then death cd come knocking at any stage. Only half the population lived to 25. Shock of Gray

If trying to get rid of germs on your hand, temperature of water makes no difference. What counts is how vigorously you scrub your hands. In fact, the temperature needed to kill the bacteria is over 80 degrees C. If the water is hot enough to kill bacteria, it will scald you. And paper towels are by far best way to dry your hands - using a hot air dryer usually increases the number of bacteria on your hands, because they provide a nice warm, moist place for bacteria to live. Curious and Curiouser

Most of today's human diseases originated from our livestock. We are the descendants of the survivors - those who evolved resistance, or at least tolerance, to the animal diseases. But unprotected New World populations devastated by new diseases when settlers arrived.

After the original disruption of humans catching animal diseases, eventually reach an equilibrium where microbe and host populations tolerate each other. The most susceptible die quickly, don't pass on their genes, and the most virulent form of the disease kills its host too quickly for the microbe to be passed on. So less susceptible hosts and less virulent diseases evolve in tandem. Diseases and Human Evolution

A 100% guaranteed way to quit smoking (Stephen King SS) Quitters Inc

More Books about Health

WISDOM of the CROWD

Letters and Forums

Prostate Screening, Paracetamol, Fresh Air and Sunshine, Ebola, Young Blood, Head Transplants, Genetic Repairs, Faecal Transplants, Fitbits and Health Monitors, Britain's National Health Service

More Letters about Health

SONGS
Songs - the poetry of modern life

Ooh eeh ooh ah ah ting tang wallawalla bingbang
Ooh eeh ooh ah ah ting tang wallawalla bingbang
Ooh eeh ooh ah ah ting tang wallawalla bingbang
Ooh eeh ooh ah ah ting tang wallawalla bingbang

More Medicine Themed Songs

LIMERICKS

There once was a surgeon named Fife,
Who did fabulous things with his knife.
But one day he said 'Foul!'
As he cut through some bowel,
And now he must find a new life.

More Doctor and Health Limericks

IMAGES

CARTOONS

AMAs