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nurture by nature Stinging nettle
As beautiful as that weather is (or should be) in April, spring can be a time some people dread. Allergy sufferers' eyes begin to itch and noses begin to run, and the chronic sneezing and incessant itching in their throats sends them back inside.
More than 50 million Americans suffer from allergies, according to the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease. For many people, over-the-counter meds just don't seem to do the trick. But what if the cure for your allergies was just as natural as the flowers that cause them?
Photo courtesy of Smabs Sputter/flickr.com
Alleviate your allergies: Singing nettle can help those itchy eyes and runny noses for allergy sufferers.
Tyra Crouch, wellness manager at The Community Mercantile, says the plant stinging nettle is her No. I choice to relieve the itchy eyes and runny nose that come with the changing seasons.
"Internally, nettle helps to balance out your histamines. I take a lot in the spring and summer to get rid of my itchy eyes and runny nose." Crouch says.
The plant is native to the Midwest region and comes in a pill form at most wellness centers and natural grocery stores. Nettle can reduce the amount of histamine the body produces when
it responds to an allergen. By balancing out your histamines, the nettle relieves the most common of allergy symptoms.
— Megan Weltner
That's DISGUSTING Handkerchiefs
My grandfather used to carry the same handkerchief around every time I saw him. When I was younger, he would even wipe my face with it. My mother would always give the same repulsed look, staring in disbelief that my grandfather would think to clean off my face with the same piece of cloth he had been blowing snot into for the past three weeks.
However, handkerchiefs have been making a comeback recently because they are more environmentally friendly than tissues. But Charles Gerwick, emergency physician in Overland Park, says the health risks of keeping a handkerchief outweighs the green benefits.
Photo illustration by Megan Weltner
"Cold viruses and bacteria are present in the secretions that you clear from your nose. These viruses live on the handkerchief and then you go and touch other surfaces or people and they contract the virus." Gerwick says. "Handkerchiefs are a reservoir for the virus to live and replicate."
**Illustration by Megan Wettern**
Wipe away the day, Urea. The virus repeatedly can spread and multiply viruses and germs.
After you use a handkerchief, it is covered in the viruses or bacteria that secrete from your nose. When you then stuff it back into your pocket, the viruses and bacteria are now
not only on your hands but in your pocket.
Each time you reach in and out of your pocket to grab the hanky, you are covering your hands in bacteria and viruses from your snot. So unless you are going to wash your hands and hanky with antibacterial soap after each use, better just stick to the tissues.
Megan Weltner
Good for you Sleeping with Bad for you the light on
In most college students younger years, and maybe even in recent years, sleeping with the light on was a necessity. Turns out, sleeping with the light on can screw up your sleep cycle.
Light, including sunlight and artificial light, affects our bodies in different ways. When it's bright, light signals transfer from our eyes to suprachiasmatic nuclei, which are made up of tiny brain cells, and promote wakefulness. In a darker environment, our brains produce the hormone melatonin, which triggers sleep. Certain exposures to light and dark in a day maintains our circadian rhythms.
Sleeping in a bright room can make it harder to fall asleep and prevent our circadian rhythms from working properly, says Gary Carder, registered respiratory therapist at Pulmonary and Sleep Associates in Topeka. The supra chiasmatic nucleus controls our body's biological clock. Exposure to too much light during the night confuses our body's day/night cycle, Carder says.
Photo by Sachiko Miyakawa
Nighty night: Sleeping with the lights off promotes a better sleeping environment because darker environments help the brain produce sleep-aiding hormones.
He recommends making a bedroom as dark as possible when sleeping. If you sleep during the daytime, shutting off a bedroom from the sunlight will make it easier to fall asleep.
VERDICT: BAD FOR YOU
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April 16,2009
— Sachiko Miyakawa