How Oxygen Can Repair Brain Damage

How Oxygen Can Repair Brain Damage

Scott Ridl

We already know how important oxygen is to your whole body, but just how important is it? It’s a fact that your brain only accounts ...

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How Oxygen Can Repair Brain Damage

How Oxygen Can Repair Brain Damage

We already know how important oxygen is to your whole body, but just how important is it? It’s a fact that your brain only accounts for 3% of your body mass, but it uses about 20% of the oxygen you bring through your bloodstream. It needs to be able to do many things, so naturally, it needs plenty of oxygen. It’s very appropriate to call oxygen “brain fuel”.

When you are focusing on something, such as work or activities like reading or driving, your brain uses even more oxygen at one time. It makes you want to breathe much deeper – maybe it will help you figure out your budget for the coming month?

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Scott Ridl
A Guide to Allergy Medicine Ingredients 2013

A Guide to Allergy Medicine Ingredients 2013

Scott Ridl

It’s a beautiful sunny day in spring or fall, and you’re compelled to open the windows in your home to let that delicious, fresh air ...

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A Guide to Allergy Medicine Ingredients 2013

A Guide to Allergy Medicine Ingredients 2013

It’s a beautiful sunny day in spring or fall, and you’re compelled to open the windows in your home to let that delicious, fresh air into your home. It can only be a good thing, right? If you are one of the estimated 36 million people in the United States who suffer from seasonal allergies, this can be the worst thing you can do at that moment in time. Pollen allergies are common, also known as “hay fever” as well as allergies to the mold spores that can run rampant in spring and fall.

Outdoor allergies can be hard to avoid, especially if you have a more severe reaction to pollens and molds. Sometimes taking allergy medications, either prescribed or over the counter, can be your only relief. When allergies are severe, they can interfere with your job, your hobbies, pleasures and how much sleep you get at night.

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Scott Ridl
Getting a Better Nights Sleep With COPD

Getting a Better Nights Sleep With COPD

Scott Ridl

Losing sleep is one of the unfortunate effects of COPD, and one that can cause more problems down the road if you ignore it. Sleep ...

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Getting a Better Nights Sleep With COPD

Getting a Better Nights Sleep With COPD

Losing sleep is one of the unfortunate effects of COPD, and one that can cause more problems down the road if you ignore it. Sleep is extremely important to every aspect of health, especially our immune systems. You do most of your recuperating and healing during sleep. If you have recently suffered even a mild exacerbation, you’re likely to feel even more worn down and in need of a good nights rest.

If you are able to get the amount of sleep you need on a regular basis, your immune system will work the way it’s supposed to, which will help prevent the illnesses that are responsible for most COPD exacerbations.

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Scott Ridl
Share your COPD and Oxygen Therapy Experiences with Others

Share your COPD and Oxygen Therapy Experiences with Others

Scott Ridl

When people find out that they or a loved one has been diagnosed with a chronic disease such as COPD, they tend to start learning ...

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Share your COPD and Oxygen Therapy Experiences with Others

Share your COPD and Oxygen Therapy Experiences with Others

When people find out that they or a loved one has been diagnosed with a chronic disease such as COPD, they tend to start learning as much about it as they can. They might go to the library or buy books on the subject, or take to the internet and search for as much information as they can find.

People will often search for ways to combat the disease with medicines or alternative means. They will have many questions, and sometimes the best person to answer them is, is someone who has plenty of personal experience with the disease and its treatments.

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Scott Ridl
Cow's Milk and Soy Milk – Comparing the Benefits for Those With COPD

Cow’s Milk and Soy Milk – Comparing the Benefits for Those With COPD

Scott Ridl

Milk is something everyone should be drinking in one form or another. Sometimes it’s not enough to only eat cheese or rely on other dairy ...

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Cow’s Milk and Soy Milk – Comparing the Benefits for Those With COPD

Cow's Milk and Soy Milk – Comparing the Benefits for Those With COPD

Milk is something everyone should be drinking in one form or another. Sometimes it’s not enough to only eat cheese or rely on other dairy foods. According to the USDA (United States Department of Agriculture), if you want to get the full nutritional benefits of dairy, you should be drinking three, 8-ounce glasses of milk per day.

Proteins, calcium and the amino acids our bodies need are plentiful in cows milk. If you have COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease), you have an even more significant need for the nutritional value of dairy. Your body has to work harder to breathe, so you burn up more energy. You might notice that you or someone else had lost a considerable amount of weight shortly before they were diagnosed with the disease. Your body burns more calories and uses up more nutrients to get the job done.

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Scott Ridl
Can Lung Function Be Improved After COPD Diagnosis?

Can Lung Function Be Improved After COPD Diagnosis?

Scott Ridl

Just because you’ve been diagnosed with COPD, doesn’t mean you should go ahead and give up on your lungs. Your lungs have been damaged over ...

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Can Lung Function Be Improved After COPD Diagnosis?

Can Lung Function Be Improved After COPD Diagnosis?

Just because you’ve been diagnosed with COPD, doesn’t mean you should go ahead and give up on your lungs. Your lungs have been damaged over time, and most likely, you won’t be able to get them back to that of a person who has never smoked. Depending on the severity of your condition, however, you might be able to improve your lung function enough so that you won’t need to use oxygen therapy as often, or your doctor might find it safe to lower the dosage on your medication.

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Scott Ridl
Healthy Ways to Make Your House Smell Good Without Pollutants

Healthy Ways to Make Your House Smell Good Without Pollutants

Scott Ridl

Maybe you’ve just gone to the store for something to freshen up the air in your home. Keeping windows closed over the winter can make ...

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Healthy Ways to Make Your House Smell Good Without Pollutants

Healthy Ways to Make Your House Smell Good Without Pollutants

Maybe you’ve just gone to the store for something to freshen up the air in your home. Keeping windows closed over the winter can make a house start to smell a little musty or stale, so naturally you want to make it smell better for guests, as well as your own pleasure.

You may have picked up some scented candles, which are perfectly safe as long as you keep them away from flammable materials, right? Unfortunately, most candles aren’t as safe as you think. Scented sprays contain chemicals that can irritate your lungs and even cause exacerbations in people with COPD or other chronic lung diseases.

People who do not have chronic lung diseases shouldn’t be breathing the things in most home air fresheners, and they aren’t good for the environment in general. Luckily, there are other things you can use as healthy alternatives to common home air fresheners.

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Scott Ridl
How a Grandparent Can Talk to Kids About the Dangers of Smoking

How a Grandparent Can Talk to Kids About the Dangers of Smoking

Scott Ridl

As a senior, you are likely already wiser and an excellent source of personal experience and information that you can offer to your grandkids, or ...

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How a Grandparent Can Talk to Kids About the Dangers of Smoking

How a Grandparent Can Talk to Kids About the Dangers of Smoking

As a senior, you are likely already wiser and an excellent source of personal experience and information that you can offer to your grandkids, or too young people in general. As someone with COPD, who might need to use oxygen therapy on a regular basis, you can use your experience with this to convince them about the dangers of smoking. If you can get them to stop while they are young or prevent them from lighting their first cigarette, you’ve just saved them from the higher possibility that they will deal with this chronic disease later on.

It can be hard to get through to young people. Many young people, as well as adults, believe that they are indestructible and that could never happen to them. As a living example, however, you can help them by using these tips.

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Scott Ridl
What You Need to Know About Dust Mites and COPD

What You Need to Know About Dust Mites and COPD

Scott Ridl

Maybe you’ve stopped smoking and you’re using your medications and oxygen therapy the way you’re supposed to. You’ve started to make sure you’re getting the ...

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What You Need to Know About Dust Mites and COPD

What You Need to Know About Dust Mites and COPD

Maybe you’ve stopped smoking and you’re using your medications and oxygen therapy the way you’re supposed to. You’ve started to make sure you’re getting the right nutrition, and you’ve even started to incorporate light exercise into your daily routine. For some reason, however, you’re having a hard time breathing, especially at night and in the morning. If you’re also sneezing and experiencing other symptoms of a respiratory-affected allergy, dust mites are the likely culprit.

Dust mites are microscopic arachnids that live in dust and eat the dead skin cells that we shed. Seniors are among the age groups most sensitive to dust mite and dust allergies, and at least 20 million Americans experience allergy symptoms due to dust mites.

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Scott Ridl
Oxygen Therapy Accessories That Make Your Day Easier

Oxygen Therapy Accessories That Make Your Day Easier

Scott Ridl

You have your home or portable oxygen concentrator and your days have already gotten easier because of the convenience of the machines themselves. Here are ...

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Oxygen Therapy Accessories That Make Your Day Easier

Oxygen Therapy Accessories That Make Your Day Easier

You have your home or portable oxygen concentrator and your days have already gotten easier because of the convenience of the machines themselves. Here are three things that you will likely need to get if you have some sort of oxygen concentrator.

A Handheld Portable Pulse Oximeter

If you are out and about or feeling a little sick or run down at home, you can use a pulse oximeter to check your blood oxygen level as well as your heart rate. This has the same function as the one that is hooked up to a machine at the hospital or doctor’s office, only without the need for cords and a machine on a stand. You would place your finger inside the pulse oximeter, and the reading would show up on the digital screen.

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Scott Ridl