Health Detection
It's not too much of an exaggeration to say, Your environment is your health. So to improve your health condition, see that your family's environment is a healthy one.
Of course, your environment isn't the only factor influencing your body health. Genes play an important role, too, as your kids are sure to tell you. But, sorry, you can't choose your parents. You and your family can, on the other hand, do a lot about your personal environment-your surroundings, your exposures, your diet and your health habits-to extend your life and to improve your fitness and appearance.
For an example of how society has improved health by environmental action, you have to look no further than our protected reservoirs and water disinfection plants. The purification of city water supplies has been the most significant reason that the average life span has very nearly doubled over the past century or so. Millions and millions of us live longer and better because of clean water and because our country and industries have reduced our exposures to lead and other substances.
In addition to the environments we share, each of us has his or her own personal environment. Our personal environments can greatly influence our lifespans and how healthy we feel and are. Here are simple but important steps that you and your family can take-health-wise-about your environment.
20 Easy Steps to Personal Environmental Health Now
A health guide from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences
1. Read the label on house and garden chemicals.
Before you point that spray can, get your spectacles out and see if the directions or warnings have changed. They do, frequently. In fact, before you even buy a household or garden chemical, you can compare labels to be sure you're buying the safest product for your intended use. (You also may decide a bug-less, weed-less lawn isn't all that important.) Note whether a product is for inside or outside use, and what protections-rubber gloves, respirators and such-are needed. What does the product do to birds, dogs and barefoot children?
Read the labels for dry-cleaning solutions and other household chemicals, too. If a label says, "Open windows and ventilate," there's a reason. Likewise, read drug labels for warnings, and food labels for ingredients that don't agree with you, as well as to avoid excess calories and fat.
Labels have recently been added to some arts and craft supplies regarding ingredients posing a cancer risk. Charcoal has a new warning label.
Prescription and non-prescription drugs often get new warning labels when a new risk shows up during use.
Food labels were reformed in 1993 to be more informative about fats and calories. A reprint, "Food Label Close-Up," tells how to make best use of the new food label format. To have it sent to you, call your nearest Food and Drug Administration office listed in the U.S. section of your telephone book.
2. Turn down the volume.
While occasional loud noises may just reduce your hearing temporarily, continuous exposures or very loud noises can cause permanent damage. Musicians know about efficient ear plugs that extend the life of their ears and perhaps their professional lives as well. You can buy them for your teens and for yourself. (You never know when your church is going to decide to do a production of "Jesus Christ, Superstar.")
In addition to loud music, firecrackers and small arms fire, if close enough, can damage hearing, immediately or over time. That is, hearing may decline and/or there may be ringing, buzzing or roaring in the ears or head.
3. Put a carbon monoxide alarm in your home.
Carbon monoxide from cars in garages, space heaters and other home heating sources can be deadly. You need one or more smoke alarms, frequently checked of course, but they won't alert you to CO. For that, you need at least one carbon monoxide alarm. A few dollars, a trip to the hardware and a few minutes' installation are all you need to forestall a possible tragedy.
4. Grow plants.
Plants, including house plants, are not only nice to look at, there's evidence they clean pollutants from the air.
5. Put drugs, drain openers, and vitamins out of kids' reach.
The iron-containing vitamins that many women take, as well as prescription and nonprescription drugs like aspirin or other pain relievers can kill kids who think they're candy. Lock them up (we don't mean the kids but-) or put them out of reach. Same with paint thinners, detergents, drain openers and other yard and home chemicals.
6. Know the hazards of your job.
Wherever you and your family members work there are risks. They may be physical, like falling off a ladder or lifting heavy packages, or chemical risks from petroleum products and solvents. In other occupations, computer use and other repetitive tasks pose risks of carpal tunnel syndrome. Identify the risks of your work and take the necessary precautions-whether a particular respirator, gloves, goggles or a particular posture.
You say you work at home? Work is work. You can fall, spill corrosives on your skin or breathe toxic fumes, if you're not careful-and there may not be anyone around to help. When it comes to work accidents, you're not home free.
7. See if that 'cold' might be an allergy.
You may think Johnny gets a lot of colds, but he may be allergic to dust mites, your cat, the pollen from trees, or cockroaches. Plastic mattress and pillow covers, an exterminator and the elimination of dust-holders like curtains and rugs in your bedroom may help. Or, if it's trees and pollen that get to you, air conditioning and air filters may provide relief.
The allergy may affect only one person in the family. (Being allergic means reacting to substances that don't bother most other people.) The substance you react to can be natural substances such as molds or various manufactured chemicals. Asthma is often provoked by reactions to such substances.
8. Remember that lakes and streams aren't always pure.
A crystal-clear stream or lake may be a nice place to wade or swim but may harbor bacteria that can turn your stomach inside out. When you and your family walk in the wild, take along your own drinking water or a disinfection kit.
To avoid waterborne diseases in less-developed countries, you may need to avoid tap water (even ice cubes) and to stick to bottled water, to cooked foods or to fruit that you peel yourself, such as bananas or oranges.
9. Watch for lead, a continuing threat.
A lot has been done to reduce our contact with the mind- and body-destroying lead in our environment. Lead-added paints and gasolines are a bad memory. (Lead content in paint was greatly reduced in the 1950s. Later, in 1978, the addition of lead was eliminated.) But there remain many deteriorating, pre-1950 buildings with flaking lead paint that contaminates the ground and ends up on children's hands and toys as dust. Your family may track in lead dust from a demolition site down the street.
If there's a chance a child in your family is being exposed to lead, a simple blood test can alert you before lead poisoning causes significant learning and behavior problems. More than one fifth of African-American children living in housing built before 1946 have elevated blood lead levels.
Even low doses of lead can affect a child's development-causing problems with learning, remembering and concentrating. Keep the toddlers away from lead by cleaning up the flakes and dust regularly and either carefully removing the source or walling it in.
Good nutrition, including plenty of milk products and other sources of calcium, may offer some protection from lead. Occasional high-level lead poisonings still occur from craft-style lead-glazed pottery cups and dishes. Questionable products are best used for display, rather than food or drink.
10. Test for radon.
Radon is a gas you can't smell in your home, but you can test for it. A naturally occurring gas that seeps out of rocks and soils, it comes from uranium buried in the earth and is itself radioactive.
There is evidence of an elevated lung cancer risk among miners exposed to radon, especially miners who smoke. Radon also seeps into homes and collects in varying amounts. To assess the possible danger, the Institute of Medicine convened a panel of experts to review the data. These experts said the lung cancer risk from radon in homes is small compared to that from tobacco products. Of about 160,000 annual lung cancer deaths, radon-related deaths were estimated to probably total 15,400 to 21,800, mostly because of a synergism between smoking and radon. Fewer than 3,000 deaths were estimated as being radon-related among nonsmokers. But, say, smokers are people too.