Your Health
More and more people are trying to live a healthy life today. We are better informed of the consequences of no exercise and overeating.
We must be our own health advocates and check on blood pressure and glucose levels.

Lung Disease

We think that we are being protected by state and federal governments against harmful substances in our air and water. This is not always the case. Each state has different laws and many of these laws are on the books because of the dominant industries which have big money to lobby for their own interests and not necessarily in the best interest of the public.

These laws are being changed in Kentucky.

Tobacco in Kentucky has been a big influence on the ill health of Kentuckians by promoting smoking and not promoting clean air in work areas enough. Kentucky has the highest rate of lung disease in America.

Please refer to KET.org Fighting to Breathe for in depth details.

Just like the general population is not aware that their blood pressure is too high and not being aware that they are borderline diabetic not enough people are being checked to see if they have lung cancer. Even non-smokers get cancer. Kentucky is one state that offers free screening for qualified candidates who are or were smokers.

https://www.lung.org/policy-advocacy/take-action/lung-action-network

Non-smokers may get cancer if their homes are being infiltrated with Radon. A house may test positive for Radon, but next door may not. It can seep into an individual house undetected and not necessarily a whole neighbourhood.

Radon Testing Kits are free in Logan County and can be borrowed from the Library in Russellville.

Radon is quite prevalent in Logan County, is very harmful and can cause lung disease. The testing kit will show you if you have Radon in your home and if the level is dangerous.

https://chfs.ky.gov/agencies/dph/dphps/emb/Pages/radon.aspx

Check with your local Public Health where you live to see what screening and aid is available to you and your friends and family to help you prevent another health hazard.

Healthy Habits

Is being healthy going to cost a lot of money?

Do you need to pay someone to go on a diet?

Do you need to pay a personal trainer?

Do you need to pay someone to stop putting cigarettes in your mouth?

Do you need to pay someone to go for a walk?

Do you need to pay someone to block out advertisements on television?

Healthy Habits are steps we all know and can easily fit into our lives.

There is no one size fits all.

Each person has to prioritize what to include in their routine based on its importance.

Good health is a gift – don’t squander it.

The chances are very good that you were born with everything you need for a long and healthy life. Things only start to go wrong when we ourselves are in charge of putting things in our mouths and not using the equipment we came with.

Most people recognize if they are overweight or have shortness of breath, but having type II diabetes or high blood pressure is harder to detect. Ask your doctor to check your glucose level in blood tests and get the doctor to alert you if you are pre-diabetic. Many people are and do not have any idea of how dangerous that is AND how easy that is to reverse. Check your blood pressure every chance you get; with your own blood pressure cuff or at the pharmacy. Preventing these issues is easier and cheaper than a cure.

Parents, television*, society* and our culture* all contribute to the deterioration of our health, but eventually it is up to each of us to use another piece of our basic equipment – our brain.

We usually don’t pay attention to this until we are older, but we need to start living more healthfully at the latest by middle age. Get into a mindset of ignoring advertisements* for unhealthy food. Get into the habit of walking, exercising and interacting with people.

Think of that wonderful gift you have – that fit and trim body that doesn’t need a variety of pills to keep it operating smoothly.

Other people can’t walk up a flight of stairs – but you can and do at every opportunity as well as going for a brisque walk of about 2 miles every other day.

Other people wheeze and get out of breath, but you do not because you never smoked cigarettes or have stopped spending money on that health hazard.

Other people can’t fit into neat fashionable garments – but you can because you ate healthy unprocessed food, did not get fat and now can show off your youthful enviable physique. Baggy track suits don’t get many compliments. Rolly-polly stops being cute at 5 years old.

Other people have to take pills to combat diabetes or high blood pressure, but you don’t because you recognized that you had to stop eating sugar, carbohydrates and processed foods.

Being influenced by television, family and our peers is much more difficult and that is where our superior brain comes in. Use it to be sensible and healthy.

Insomnia - Coming Soon

Diabetes Undiagnosed
The Diabetes Epidemic

Diabetes is one of the most debilitating chronic diseases, affecting over 30 million people in the U.S. Another 84 million have prediabetes, meaning their blood sugar level is elevated above the normal range but not enough to receive a diagnosis of diabetes.

In Kentucky, about 13 percent of the adult population has diabetes, according to 2017 statistics cited in the latest Kentucky Diabetes Report from the state’s Cabinet for Health and Services.

About 10 percent of adults have been told they have prediabetes. The rates for both diabetes and prediabetes are rising in Kentucky, and the situation is urgent – because 25 percent of people with diabetes and 90 percent of people with prediabetes don’t know they have it.

Prediabetes is a precursor to Type 2 diabetes. A very high percentage of people with Prediabetes go on to have Type 2 diabetes.

With proper care and lifestyle changes, both Type 1 diabetes and the more common Type 2 can be managed.

Additionally, persons diagnosed with prediabetes can make permanent lifestyle changes, like improving their diet and starting to exercise, that can either prevent diabetes or delay its onset.

In Undiagnosed: The Diabetes Epidemic, health champions around the state are reaching out to Kentuckians through churches, civic organizations, health departments, groceries, and through the internet to spread the word about preventing diabetes. The program was funded in part by a grant from the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky.

“When you think about the burden of diabetes, it’s not just the number, but it’s the things that diabetes can bring with it,” says Dr. Ann Albright, PhD, RDN, director of the Division of Diabetes Translation at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “Diabetes is a leading cause of amputation, blindness, and kidney failure.”

https://www.ket.org./program/undiagnosed-the-diabetes-epidemic/

Diabetes occurs when the body produces too much blood sugar, or glucose (sugar), which normally is distributed to organ and tissue cells as a source of energy. In Type 1 diabetes, the body’s immune system attacks the production of insulin, a hormone that controls the amount of glucose in the blood. In Type 2 diabetes, the body becomes resistant to insulin.