Ask Anything Archive Answers to your most pressing body and health questions here.
November Health News
Drinking your eight glasses of water a day just got a lot more interesting; piercing leads to problems; a link between stress and puberty; and IM-ing the dangers of indoor tanning
Helpful Hint
Soda and sugary drinks: out. Water: in. We know, we got the memo, too. But sometimes we feel like a fish when we're trying to down our eight glasses a day of H2O. It can get, well, boring. So when we were tipped off by our friends at style.com about Hint water, which is natural, subtly flavored and contains no sugar, artificial sweeteners, preservatives or calories, we were totally pumped. It was created by a mom who realized her kids liked drinking water with a slice of fruit in it, but couldn't find anything that simple on store shelves. Hint comes in eight yummy flavors (like lime, pear, apple or the odd-sounding-but-very-tasty cucumber) that make drinking water more enjoyable. Of course, we're not the only ones downing the delicious beverage. One school in Massapequa, New York, recently replaced its vending machine beverages with Hint water, too. Check out the line for yourself at www.drinkhint.com.
Piercing Problems
Got crazy, stabbing pains in your head, but no clue why? Maybe your tongue piercing is to blame. According to a recent article in the Journal of the American Medical Association, an Italian teen went to doctors, complaining about serious, severe pain. Her docs were stumped as to the cause, and strong painkillers didn't resolve the issue, but when she removed her metal stud from her tongue, her symptoms cleared up. It turns out that the stud had irritated a nerve in her mouth, leading to her pain. Though her case is a rare one, problems from tongue piercings aren't uncommon, says an article on Yahoo News. People who pierce their tongues risk suffering from tetanus, heart infections, brain abscess, chipped teeth and receding gums. So, you may want to think twice before getting such a sensitive part of your body pierced. We think it's a trend better left in the early '90s, but if you must, must, must do it, then make sure you see a professional, experienced and licensed piercer who can also teach you about the absolute necessity of keeping it clean and free of germs. Mouth infections are nasty — and dangerous.
IM-ing About Tanning
On an average day, more than 1 million Americans tan in tanning salons. Alarmed by these statistics, the American Academy of Dermatology has rolled out a new public service advertisement campaign to teach people about the dangers of tanning beds, which include premature aging and skin cancer. The ads are aimed at teens and young women, who make up 70% of tanning salon clients, and it uses IM as its theme to drive the point home. The ads, which will be seen online, on TV, in print, and heard over the radio, point out that indoor tanning lamps emit UVA and UVB radiation at levels that are far higher than the sun. The ads also show how using them can increase your odds of getting skin cancer, including melanoma, the deadliest form of the disease. So, as the ads say, "B Safe. DGT." Check out aad.org for more info on indoor tanning and how to treat your skin well.
Can Stress Lead to Puberty?
British researchers believe that they've found a link between the onset of puberty and the amount of stress in a kid's life. Researchers from Liverpool John Moores University Centre for Public Health point to traumatic events, like parents' separating or divorcing, or having an absentee dad, as a reason people to go through puberty earlier in life. The age kids go through puberty has been dropping over the last 150 years, and some of the reasons for that are good: particularly better nutrition, as well as certain other public health measures. However, puberty can be sparked by stressful events in a young adult's life, too. The problem with that, the scientists say, is that often there's a gap between physical puberty (where your body goes through changes) and social puberty (when you're able to make more mature decisions for yourself). So, if your body is ready and your maturity isn't, you may not always have all the info you need to make smart choices.
