Reading Time: 3 minutes Being outdoors is part of day-to-day life in the summer, but you need to be smart about your sun exposure. You may experience nothing more than a tan, but more serious skin effects can occur such as sunburn, sun-aged skin, and even skin cancer. Skin cancer is the most common of all cancers in Canada, […] Read more
Guide Health: Smart sun exposure
Avoiding repeated exposure to harmful UV rays can help you avoid serious skin damage
Guide Health: Drugs and pregnancy: To take or not to take?
List any medications you are taking and discuss with your doctor prior to conception
Reading Time: 2 minutes For pregnant women, taking drugs can be a real concern. They may need the drug to control or treat a condition, but there can be a balancing act between their health and their baby’s safety. It is estimated that two to three per cent of babies are born with birth defects which can range from […] Read more
Guide Health: Reducing your risk of hearing loss
Hearing loss does increase with age, but that doesn’t mean it’s inevitable. These steps can help provide lifelong hearing protection
Reading Time: 3 minutes The number of times you say “Pardon me” may be the only sign you have that your hearing has gradually lessened. It happens with age, but even so, it’s important to recognize there are steps you can take to reduce your risk and to maximize your hearing. About 10 per cent of all Canadians have […] Read more
Guide Health: Topical corticosteroids — use them wisely
Before opting for topical corticosteroids, be sure to check for any environmental factors that may be causing your rash
Reading Time: 3 minutes Steroids in the body are normally produced by your pituitary gland and regulate your body’s growth and functioning. They have a common carbon-based structure and range from substances like estrogen and testosterone to cortisol and prednisone. First identified in the late 1850s, oral formulations were developed by 1933 and topical versions by 1973. Topical corticosteroids […] Read more
Guide Health: Eye drops — just a little drop will do it!
Reading Time: 3 minutes If you’ve ever had to use an eye drop, or if you do use eye drops regularly, it is important to use them properly to get the most benefit. Keeping your eyes healthy is a lifelong activity, and using eye drops correctly is a key component. Eyesight is a valuable, irreplaceable sense. Even so, however, […] Read more
Guide Health: Are you at risk for tuberculosis?
The risk of contracting tuberculosis is small, however, about 1,600 new cases are reported in Canada each year
Reading Time: 3 minutes Often simply called TB, tuberculosis also used to be called “consumption” and you are probably familiar with the symptoms from movies and books. These symptoms include a long-lasting cough, chest pain, coughing up blood, and weakness. In 1926, health reports cited tuberculosis as the cause of one out of every 13 deaths. Historically, it was […] Read more
Guide Health: When does a bloody nose become worrisome?
Trauma to the nose is usually the cause, but certain medications can also make nosebleeds more easily occur
Reading Time: 2 minutes A nosebleed can be both bothersome and alarming, even if you don’t know its technical name is epistaxis. Most people have at least one nosebleed between the ages of three and 30. Children younger than three usually do not have nosebleeds because they do not often experience nasal damage, and older people may have nosebleeds […] Read more
Guide Health: Watch your balance while on sleep medications
Benzodiazepines used for sleeplessness and anxiety can make you prone to falling
Reading Time: 3 minutes Benzodiazepines are a large group of drugs that work through the nervous system to reduce anxiety and alleviate sleeplessness. Common members include diazepam, oxazepam, lorazepam, temazepam and alzprazolam. First discovered in the 1950s, they were observed to have “taming” effects on several animal species, with the effects in monkeys leading to clinical trials in humans. […] Read more
Guide Health: Helping the medicine go down
Trouble swallowing that pill or capsule? Here's a few tips that may make it easier
Reading Time: 2 minutes Lack of medication adherence (that is, taking your medication as you should) is called “the other drug problem.” It’s thought that one in four people fail to take their prescribed medication, with half doing so because they struggle with compliance to their medication regime. Some don’t take their prescriptions because of drug side-effects. Others may […] Read more
Guide Health: Smart use of antibiotics
Guide Health: Use your prescription as intended so it's fully effective
Reading Time: 3 minutes With the discovery of penicillin by Alexander Fleming in 1928, people were able to effectively treat diseases that once killed them. While this marked the birth of modern antibiotics, the actual use of a substance derived from one living organism (i.e. mould on bread) to kill another living organism (i.e. a bacterial infection) is considerably […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
