IN FRATERNAM MEAM: WHAT'S UP WITH THAT?

IN FRATERNAM MEAM

Tuesday, August 02, 2005

WHAT'S UP WITH THAT?

I ate tons this weekend. Now, Monday, the scales says I gained five pounds. Can that be?
It's highly unlikely, says Liz Applegate, Ph.D., a professor of nutrition at the University of California at Davis: "That would mean you ate an extra 17,5000 calories -- which is a whole lot of beer, fries and ice cream. Most of the gain is probably fluid retention from eating more food, and more salty or greasy meals That usual. Alcohol can also add water weight."
Her advice: Give it a few days and your weight should even out. In the meantime, eat a little extra fiber to help clear your system.
"And hey, stop weighing yourself on Monday!" says Applegate. "If you must, eat until Wednesday to get a more realistic picture of what weight, if any, you've gained."

How come my eye sometimes twitches uncontrollably?
the technical terms for your spasms is eyelid myokymmia, and while it sounds serious, it's not. "Twitching of the eye -- usually the lower lid -- is very common. Almost everyone experiences it at some point in their lives", says Neil R. Miller, MD professor of Opthalmology, neurology and neurosurgery at the John Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore. It's often caused by too much caffeine or too little sleep, both if which can irritate the nerves in your face and cause the surrounding muscles to twitch. The spasms generally vanish within a few seconds or minutes, but if yours persists or keep recurring, limit the amount of coffee or soda you drink and get more shut-eye.

What causes my stomach to growl (loudly) when I'm not even hungry?
"There's actually a name for those gurgles --borborygmi",
says Sunanda Kane, M.D. an assistant professor of medicine at the University of Chicago and a gastrointestinal specialist. (Even the experts thinks the term is funny: "My husband uses it as his fantasy baseball league name", laughs Kane).
The noise is caused by microspasms of the nerve endings that feed into the nerve endings that feel into the small intestine and cause the organ to contract and growl -- a reaction that can be brought on by the mere thought or sight of food
"Your brain is the first tool of digestion", says Dr. Kane, "Even daydreaming about chocolate or your upcoming dinner out --hungry or not -- can bring on these reflexes". Taking sips of water can often squelch the noise (putting anything in your mouth causes the pattern of contractions to change and pipe down, says Dr. Kane.

I used to drink like a fish and feel fine. Now if I have only two cocktails I get a hangover. What gives?
"There's a paradoxical aspect to drinking," says Howard Worman, M.D. a liver specialist and associate professor of medicine at Columbia University in New York City. "When you stop drinking heavily, your body loses its ability to metabolize alcohol efficiently -- which, by the ways is a healthy sign. But when you have even one or two drinks again, you end up feeling worse".
Drink size matters too, said Dr. Worman. Today's martini, for example is often more than twice the size ones our parents sipped. So what you think is two cocktails may be more than four.

Now and then I get a quick stabbing pain in my chest -- like I'm having a mini heart attack. What is it?
First of all, not all chest pain, is a heart attack, which "is less of a stabbing pain and more of an intense pressure," says Nieca Goldberg, M.D., chief of women's cardiac care of Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City. "People often say a heart attack feels like an elephant sitting on your chest. You're unable to take a deep breath and you feel light-headed." I you ever have those symptoms, or experience sudden, sharp chest pain with shortness of breaths, call 911. But you can relax about the pain you're describing .If it lasts just a few seconds, it's most likely from a strained muscle. Said Dr. Goldberg. Muscles between your ribs can get inflames dues to exercise, a coughing fit or just the stain of daily movements, causing this fleeing pain.

Why are some orgasms so much better than others?
"Because orgasm 'size' is hugely mental,", says Laura Berman, Ph.D. director of the Berman Center, a clinic for women's sexual health in Chicago. "If you're feeling particularly amorous or have just returned from a romantic evening out, for example, you will probably have a more powerful orgasm -- the anticipation or buildup has been longer, so the contractions that happen when you climax will be more intense", Also, the mental and physical buildup that comes from having a lot of foreplay, says Berman, can bring on a more toe-curling orgasm.

Why is yawning contagious?
Let's start with a few facts: Yawning is human instinct -- something you've probably been doing since you were in the womb, says Robert R. Provine, Ph.D. a professor of psychology at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. Just thinking or reading bout it can produce the gape mouthed state -- which his research shows lasts for six seconds, on average. The old theories about what causes yawning -- such as the need for more oxygen -- have been debunked and Provine says experts still don't know what purpose it serves. Contagious yawning may synchronize behavioural or physiological changes in a group of people. For example, long before alarm clocks existed -- we're talking caveman days here -- yawning may have sent the message that it was time for bed. A study at the State University of New York in Albany furthers the idea of yawning as communication. Researchers found that people who readily caught the yawning bug tend to score higher on tests of empathy than those less apt to open up on cue, suggesting that yawning may be a way to better relate to others.

I often discover mystery bruises I don't remember getting. What's going on?
A bruise happens when a small amount of blood leaks out from your capillaries (tiny blood vessels in your body) due to some sort of trauma, says Jeanne Lusher, M.D., professor of hematology at Wayne State University in Detroit. For some it takes a memorable bonk to produce a bruise. But other people bruise easily, so even a tiny ding -- one you might not remember -- will do it.
Also, if you've got high tolerance for pain, your brain may not register a bump -- even a big one. All of this is perfectly normal. However, if you notice multiple marks on hard to hurt places, like your stomach or back, says Dr. Lusher, see your doctor to rule out a more serious problem, like blood or autoimmune disorder.

What are those tiny white blotches on my fingernails?
They're usually a gisn of part trauma to your finger or nail --from banging it on the edge of your desk or getting it caught in a door, says Karyn Grossman, M.D. a dermatologist in Los Angeles. Such injuries cause a small area of the nail bed to become loosened and appear white. You notice them because they stick around for up to three months until your nail grows out.

(abstracted from Health and BodyBook Healt Bulletin)

posted by infraternam meam @ 2:26 AM

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