Health Habits

Getting your child vaccinated is the best way to protect them from different kinds of diseases. Vaccines are available nowadays for almost all the diseases, like Measles, Mumps, Pertussis, Diphtheria, Poliomyelitis, Rubella, Hib and others. To protect your child from getting affected by these life threatening diseases is a must and it is advisable that you leave no stone unturned in getting your child vaccinated.

According to David Butler-Jones, the Chief Public Health Officer of Canada, the vaccination programs have managed to save the lives of many children over the last 50 years. For example, immunization has brought down the number of children suffering from measles by approximately 99.9%.

Tags: immunization, Immunization advantages, immunizations for children

Kids between the ages one to three years need an average 12- 14 hours of sleep. Three to five years old require 11 to 13 hours, while school children between five and twelve need 10 -11 hours of sleep. Kids from 12 years, up to eighteen can manage with 8 – 9 hours of sleep.

• An enjoyable, but low-key and predictable bed-time routine makes the kid feel secure and helps him to fall asleep easily.
• A cozy bedroom, where the child can feel safe and secure is conducive to proper sleeping habits. A cool, dark and comfortable room is ideal for your child. The television or computer should not be kept in the child’s bedroom as this might interfere with his sleeping patterns.

Tags: Healthy Habits, healthy habits for life, healthy living

With the summers here, it is extremely important that you protect your child from getting dehydrated. Providing your child with drinks like juices, sports drinks, energy drinks and pop plays an important role here. However, providing a drink is not a difficult task. The challenge is to provide them with the right kind of drink.

Kids heat up faster due to a high skin surface-body weight ratio, unlike adults. According to Sue Mah (a Toronto-based dietitian), “An eight-year-old may produce as much as 30 percent more heat than an adult. As a result, kids are at a greater risk for overheating and dehydration.” Besides, overweight and obese children are more prone to dehydration due to the fat, whose insulating effect raises the core temperature fast.

Tags: dry skin, healthy hydrates, healthy hydration

Action plan

• It is important that parents grab every opportunity to get some physical exercise for their kids. A ten minutes here, and twenty minutes there can go a long way to help him. Simply asking your kid to help you rake the lawn, or playing hide-and-seek with him, playing the music and dancing to it – all qualify as exercise, and they can be easily achieved too.
• Help your kids to sign up in some sports. It will not only promote his self-confidence and self esteem, but will also keep him active and healthy.
• Encourage your child to walk or ride his bike to his school, instead of driving him everywhere.

Tags: good health habits, health habits, health tips

You must have heard people say that one should not swim immediately after having food or that any kind of sunglasses will protect your eyes from the sun’s rays. Well, in case you believe in these, then just wait reconsider your thoughts. The following theories as suggested by various experts might just change your ideas.

The myth about sunglasses:

Not all sunglasses protect your eyes from the harmful UV rays of the sun. Besides, the belief that darker lenses protect our eyes more is also false. According to optometrist Tervor Pilipchuk, glasses that have darker lenses but are unable to protect your eyes from the sun, do more harm than one can think of. In fact, they allow your pupil to dilate because of which more UV rays enter your eyes. So, before giving that smart pair of glasses to your child think twice.

Tags: health facts, health myths, health myths and facts

A negative habit once formed, becomes one of the hardest things to break and requires a truly focused and dedicated approach if one is to change back to his earlier state. As such, it becomes extremely important that children are helped to acquire good habits as early as possible. Indeed the younger minds are more conducive to forming habits easily and thus it is always easier to teach them to learn good habits, so that later in their life they do not end up snacking on a candy bar or a bag of potato chips, or talk with their mouths open. Following are some tips that shall help you to instill healthy, good habits in your child, where both of you can have fun, instead of making the whole process tedious and frustrating.

Tags: breaking habits, eating habits, habits

With the world becoming more and more aware about environmental issues and protecting the environment, it becomes important that each of us plays our role to ensure a safe healthy environment for our future generation.

You can start from your home itself. There are numerous ways to turn your home into an environment friendly place. You house can be segregated into three categories which include:

§  Cooling and heating

§  Household wastes

§  Appliances and lighting

The little changes that can make a big difference are as follows:

You can use ceiling fans instead of air-conditioners to cool the room temperature. It helps you to save money.

Tags: eco house, environment at home, environmental home

You always wanted your family to remain healthy and in perfect shape. In this quest of yours, you try to ensure that everyone eats a well-balanced meal, exercises regularly and maintains a healthy lifestyle. Probably you are not that successful in your venture.

Well, don’t worry! The experts have come with a total of six fabulous ways to ensure that you and your family stay in the “pink of health”. By sticking to these pointers you can ensure the well-being of yourself and the entire family in an easy manner.

1). Incorporate some simple physical activity. You can walk your children to school or go for long walks in the evening. Play some outdoor games with them in your backyard, like tennis or even skateboarding.

Tags: happyfamily, healthy happy, healthy happy life