health

Mount A Laptop To An Exercise Bike So You Can Sweat While You Work

By Meg Marco on February 8, 2010 4:48 PM 0 views
If you're stuck to a computer all day and are getting fat because of it, you might consider making yourself a laptop shelf for your exercise bike. Apparently it's not that difficult. Whether or not it'll make you lose weight - that remains to be seen. More »

22 Comments

Who Keeps Pooping In My Bags Of Salad?!

By Chris Walters on February 3, 2010 12:28 PM 0 views
In my household, there's an ongoing argument about whether bagged salad can be eaten straight from the bag, or whether it should be washed first, or why did we buy this bag of salad instead of more beer. When not championing beer, I've always come down on the don't-bother-washing side, but I might finally agree to change my food prep habits after this recent Consumer Reports study that says 39% of bagged salads are contaminated with bacteria. More »

87 Comments

Mass Homeopathic Overdose Planned For Tomorrow!

By Chris Walters on January 29, 2010 6:57 PM 0 views

(Goldmund100)

In a little less than 12 hours, over 300 skeptics throughout the U.K. will protest the homeopathic medicine industry there by deliberately overdosing on full bottles of homeopathic pills, which technically don't contain any molecules of the active ingredient. The group's goal is to highlight the fact that homeopathic cures are about as scientifically valid as your horoscope. I'm all for stunts, but don't they know that they'll likely suffer from the memory of an OD? That's how this stuff works, you know. More »

132 Comments

Protect Yourself From Unexpected Fees At Medical Clinics

By Chris Walters on January 27, 2010 6:17 PM 0 views

(Photo: sun dazed)

An anonymous reader wrote to us to ask what he should do about unexpected bills from a medical clinic. He chose the clinic precisely because he can't afford hospital bills in the hundreds of dollars, and was led to believe that there'd be no out-of-pocket cost. It turns out there was. More »

133 Comments

Wash Your New Clothes In Case Someone Wore Them And Returned Them

By Chris Walters on January 21, 2010 3:59 PM 10019 views

(Photo: Robert S. Donovan)

Okay, honestly this sort of stuff doesn't really bother me, but if you're a neat freak or just enjoy making gross-out faces when it comes to biology, remember to always wash your new clothes before you wear them. Good Morning America tested some new blouses, pants, a jacket, and underwear to see what sort of grime they could find. Here's a tease about the results: the term "vaginal organisms" is mentioned at one point. More »

90 Comments

Your Medical Records: Ask For Them!

By Chris Walters on January 18, 2010 10:07 AM 3950 views

(Photo: brykmantra)

Hospitals can be slow to respond for health records, writes CNN, which can cause serious problems if you're moving a patient from one facility to another. Here are steps from that article on how to make sure you get your data as quickly as possible. More »

36 Comments

Want A Cheap Way To Stay Fit? Buy A Pedometer

By Chris Walters on January 11, 2010 4:19 PM 4024 views

(Photo: how_long_it_takes)

The Los Angeles Times says that people tend to get weirdly fixated on pedometers when they have them, and will try harder to hit their daily activity goals. A San Diego State University professor tells the paper, "We don't know why exactly, but keeping a number, a prompt, in our consciousness on a regular basis is important, and that's why pedometers are superior to other methods. It's on you all the time." More »

41 Comments

Study Shows High Fructose Corn Syrup May Cause Obesity, Diabetes, Heart Disease

By Laura Northrup on December 17, 2009 12:45 PM 19108 views

Photo: Muffet

A University of California study on human subjects seems to indicate what food activists have long believed: high fructose corn syrup has special qualities which cause humans to pork up like animals in a feed lot. Oh, and it also may help cause life-threatening chronic diseases. The study was small, but frightening. More »

189 Comments

NYC Anti-Soda Commercial Shows Man Drinking Tall Glass Of Fat

By Chris Walters on December 15, 2009 11:15 AM 0 views

(Cat head: mathias-erhart)

No. You do not want to watch this video. Just promise the New York City Department of Health people that you won't drink sugary soda so much. Then we'll all be healthier, happier people, and nobody has to watch this video. (Video is embedded below.) More »

103 Comments

Should Rob Complain About His Bad Kroger Pharmacy Experience?

By Chris Walters on December 11, 2009 5:02 PM 10416 views

(Photo: mcsquishee)

Rob's local Kroger pharmacy screwed up the prescription on his kid's TamiFlu. Rob caught the error before any harm was done, and he's not the confrontational type. In fact, he's wondering whether he should just drop the whole matter. Here's your chance to convince him otherwise. More »

87 Comments

How To Make Sure Your Next Plastic Surgery Is Safe

By Chris Walters on December 10, 2009 4:26 PM 7055 views

(Photo: ramsey everydaypants)

If you're dumb, you forget that plastic surgery is surgery with an extra word in front of it, a doctor tells CNN in their article on getting nip/tucked safely. As with any surgery, there's no real way to make it completely safe, but here are five tips from their article that you should follow to improve your odds. In fact, they're probably good tips for any kind of surgical procedure. More »

33 Comments

5 Questions To Make A Doc's Head Explode

By Ben Popken on December 2, 2009 10:30 AM 17029 views
Regence Blue Cross Blue Shield has a microsite game called "Resist The System" where if you ask too many questions the health care receptionist's head explode.
69 Comments

New Study Suggests Drug Ads Ineffective, But Expensive For Consumers

By Chris Walters on November 30, 2009 1:32 PM 3256 views

(Photo: formatbrain)

Researchers at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver looked at sales figures and prices for the blood thinner Plavix after direct-to-consumer advertising started in 2001. What they found was that the campaign was largely ineffective at increasing prescribing rates, but that the price of the drug shot up 12% almost immediately to cover the cost of the marketing campaign. More »

50 Comments

1936 Thanksgiving Camel Ad: Smoke After Each Course!

By Meg Marco on November 25, 2009 3:39 PM 69453 views

(Photo:LIFE)

This advertisement for Camel cigarettes appeared in the November 23, 1936 edition of LIFE magazine. It earnestly demands that you smoke a Camel after each course of Thanksgiving dinner -- "for digestion's sake." More »

38 Comments

You Can Make Your Own Liquid Tamiflu At Home

By Laura Northrup on November 12, 2009 6:59 PM 34920 views

G.'s young son was recently ill with H1N1, but no pharmacy in the city where he lives had liquid Tamiflu in stock. (Even the federal government released its stockpile not long ago.) He writes that nearly every pharmacy he called turned him down. Then he learned that the liquid can be made from Tamiflu capsules by pharmacists, or even by parents at home. Why didn't the pharmacy staff, or his doctor, tell him this?  More »

116 Comments

BPA Linked To Erectile Dysfunction

By Meg Marco on November 11, 2009 11:49 PM 7144 views

Here's some bad news for people who like functional erections, Health.com says that a new study has linked erectile dysfunction to the controversial chemical BPA.  More »

40 Comments

Quickly Find Nearby Flu Shots With Google Maps

By Ben Popken on November 11, 2009 5:33 PM 4582 views

Want to quickly and easily know where you can get a flu shot nearby?   More »

58 Comments

Walmart Refunds For Dead Frog Found In Salad

By Ben Popken on November 6, 2009 6:15 PM 7254 views

"Oh my God, I see eyes!" screamed Carla Hill after opening a bag of greens from Walmart.  More »

90 Comments

Skinny Toddlers Also Can't Get Insurance?

By Chris Walters on October 22, 2009 4:28 PM 9697 views

We guess we should have seen this one coming. After news broke of the uninsurable fat baby last week, MSNBC found a similar case on the other end of the spectrum. A Colorado family with a 22-pound two-year-old says that United HealthCare told them their daughter Aislin is too small to qualify for insurance under their guidelines.  More »

233 Comments

Tiny Turtles Spread Joy, Salmonella

By Chris Walters on October 19, 2009 6:03 PM 4185 views

Turtles remain a popular pet with kids. In 1975 the U.S. banned the sale of ones smaller than 4 inches, but the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) estimates almost 2 million were being kept as pets as of 2006. They're also responsible for one of the slowest outbreaks of salmonella we've seen in recent years.  More »

86 Comments
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