MS Maze

The MEDCottage, or so called “Granny Pod,” is being marketed as “family managed health care as an alternative to long-term care facilities.”

The 12 foot by 24 foot portable, modular “medical home,” unveiled this past July, can be purchased or leased and placed on the caregiving family’s property. The homes are equipped with health monitoring equipment and lifts to assist people who have problems with mobility.

Read this post and see the poll results:

The ‘Granny Pod’ Alternative

Image used under Creative Commons License via Flickr with thanks to eflon

Having an affectionate sister is good for you.

Young teens who have a sister feel less lonely, unloved, guilty, self-conscious, and fearful. A recent story in USA TODAY reported on a study of siblings by researchers from Brigham Young University. The study found that regardless of age, gender, or age differences, affectionate siblings have positive influences on each other, but that having a sister prevents depression more than having a brother.

Siblings also have twice as much influence than parents when it comes to performing good deeds for others, and it comes as no surprise that hostility between siblings has a negative effect.

That got me to thinking about my own big sister and her influence on me as a young girl…

Read the story:

The Sister Effect

Some have tons of trash in their home. Some have no bed on which to sleep or no kitchen in which to prepare decent meals. They are extreme hoarders.

Imagine a home so loaded with possessions and trash that rescue workers can’t make their way in without drilling a hole in the roof. Or having to crawl through self-made tunnels to move around your own house.

That is the grim reality for hoarders — people who accumulate possessions and/or trash and cannot bring themselves to part with anything. Exact numbers are unknown, but it is estimated that up to 1.2 million people in the U.S suffer from compulsive hoarding.

Hoarding takes many forms, from the collection of newspapers and magazines to what most of us would consider to be garbage, with piles of boxes, bags, collectibles, trash, and stuff… accumulating and spreading throughout the home and property.

Animal hoarders… Reality TV hoarders… It’s the opposite of healthy and green living. Read the article:

Extreme Hoarders: The Peril of Possessions

Image Credit: fairfaxcounty.gov

Oh, go ahead. Have a good cry. You’ll feel better.

It has been said that laughter is the best medicine, but crying can also be very cathartic.

Judith Orloff, M.D., author of Emotional Freedom: Liberate Yourself From Negative Emotions and Transform Your Life, writes, “For over 20 years as physician, I’ve witnessed time and again the healing power of tears. Tears are your body’s release valve for stress, sadness, grief, anxiety and frustration.” In a Huffington Post article, Dr. Orloff says she actually encourages her patients to cry.

Read this post in its entirety:

The Healing Power of Tears

“Patience is not passive; on the contrary, it is active; it is concentrated strength.” – Edward G. Bulwer-Lytton

As a child walking to school, I irritated my fellow walkers with my quick pace and stubborn refusal to walk at a normal speed. As a young adult I could barely contain my displeasure with slow walkers, slow talkers, slow-moving cashiers, hesitant drivers, etc. Wherever I went, I was surround by the slow-moving masses who were impeding my progress.

Read this post in its entirety:

The Concentrated Strength of Patience

Image from PhotoXpress.com

Do you recognize disability when you see it?

Last week’s post about an able-bodied woman using a handicapped parking space, then suing over the ticket she received, resulted in spirited conversation in the comments section.

It’s an emotional topic for a lot of people, not the least of whom are those who have the legal right to use the specially marked spaces, but who have an invisible disability. Judgements are often made based on nothing more than appearance.

Read this post in its entirety:

Savoring the Privilege of Walking

Image credit: PhotoXpress.com

Remember the joy of being a child and the simple pleasure of rolling around in the grass, discovering flowers, and climbing trees?

A child growing up in the big city might not, but you can help a city child experience the power and the beauty of nature this summer… and it will only take a moment of your time…

Read this post in its entirety:

Help a City Child Experience Nature

Photo: photoxpress.com

I like the idea of different endings rather than failures. Very few things in my life have actually turned out the way I envisioned, but most of them have turned out well. Some have turned out even better than I dared hope.

Read this post in its entirety:

Not a Failure, but a Different Ending

Photo courtesy of Wendy Booker

“My mission ended very differently than I had expected, but I did not fail. I have attempted Everest twice. I took multiple sclerosis (MS) to the highest it would allow me to go. As the medical staff at base camp have documented, the bar has been set. I am a mountaineer, an adventurer, an explorer. And I’m not done yet.” – Wendy Booker, May 2010

Wendy Booker was on a mission to be the first person with MS to climb The Seven Summits — the highest mountains on each continent. Although she has been unable to conquer Everest physically, she has most definitely conquered it in spirit.

Read this post in its entirety:

Wendy Booker, Mountain Climber with MS: “I’m Not Done Yet”

Photo courtesy of Wendy Booker

A streak of vanity? Guilty as charged. Foolishly attempting to live up to the narrow standard of beauty set by our culture? Not on your life. Not when I was 20 years old, and certainly not now that I am 50.

Do you ever get the feeling that somewhere out there is a mold of what a woman should look like… and that what you see in the mirror bears no resemblance to that mold? However our standards of beauty have come together, I’m not falling for it.

Read this post in its entirety:

Are you worshiping at the altar of physical beauty?

Photo: copyright PhotoXpress.com

College students are less empathetic than college students of the past. At least that’s what University of Michigan researchers have concluded.

The meta-analysis combined the results of 72 different studies of American college students that were conducted between 1979 and 2009 and involved 14,000 college students. Today’s students were found to possess about 40 percent less empathy than students of 20 or 30 years ago, with the biggest drop coming after the year 2000.

Who or what is to blame for the apparent loss of empathy? After all, the study participants are the offspring of those more empathetic college kids from the 70’s and 80’s…

Read: Are We Losing Our Empathy?

Photo: http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1108380

When life drops a mountain in front of you, you can give up or you can forge a path around it. Edward Janus chooses the path every time.

“In my own little way, I am trying to help the disabled and others with my online activism.”

Don’t let him kid you — Edward Janus does nothing in a “little way.” You see, when it comes to matters of disability, Edward knows of what he speaks. He has cerebral palsy, is almost completely deaf, and has endured multiple surgeries on his cervical spinal column (neck). Infections lead to having both legs amputated in 1997.

Find out more about this truly amazing online activist… what drives him… his successes and his hopes for the future…

Read: Edward Janus, Passionate Online Activism at its Finest

Photo courtesy of Edward Janus and WebCamp One LLC

Pets are good for you.

Most people who have a pet don’t need scientific proof. Their own experiences are enough to confirm that the bond between humans and pets is enormously beneficial to physical and emotional health. The unconditional affection of a pet calms, soothes, and enhances the feeling of well-being.

Here I was, just beginning to draft an article about the health benefits of pets, when a Facebook friend posted the following message

Read: How Pets Raise Spirits and Improve Health

Photo Copyright WebCampOne LLC

My friend and fellow Care2 writer, Steve Williams, chose to share a very personal story as we approach the International Day Against Homophobia.

Whether it is homophobia or something else that has come between you and a loved one, please take the time to read this. If you have a heart, you can’t help but be deeply moved.

Thank you, Steve, for your raw honesty.

Read: We Didn’t Speak, and Now We Can’t

Photo used under the Creative Commons Attribution License, with thanks to Batega.

Forget the gym. If you want to elevate your mood and self-esteem while exercising, think green… and blue.

In a previous article, Walking Your Way to a Healthier Mind, Body, and Soul, I wrote that walking outside is a good way to calm and declutter your mind and let your thoughts roam freely. A recently published study by Jules Pretty and Jo Barton of the University of Essex (U.K.), as reported by the Environmental Science & Technology Journal, says that there is evidence to support the claim that green exercise — that is physical activity in the presence of nature — leads to positive short and long-term health outcomes.

Read this post in its entirety:

Improve Mood and Self-Esteem in Minutes with Green Exercise

Photo Copyright WebCamp One LLC