By: Kathy Hubbard. With a goal to provide both employers and employees with important information to help keep eyes safe and healthy at work, Prevent Blindness each year declares March as Workplace Eye Wellness Month. They estimate that 20,000 workers sustain eye injuries each year, and the frightening statistic is that 90 percent of them could have been avoided with proper eye protection or precautions.
By: Kathy Hubbard. Muscle tension dysphonia (MTD) is a change in the sound or feel of your voice due to excessive muscle tension in and around the voice box, and globus sensation is when you feel like there’s something stuck in your throat. Muscle tension dysphonia often happens to singers, preachers and teachers. But it can happen to anyone. Johns Hopkins Medicine describes the voice as becoming rough, hoarse, gravelly, raspy, weak, breathy, airy or only a whisper.
By: Kathy Hubbard. Children often go through phases of picky eating. We’ve all been there either with our own children, a friend, or ourselves. But a person whose diet is so limited it leads to medical, nutritional, and/or psychosocial problems, might be suffering from Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID).
By: Kathy Hubbard. Mike Brown’s unmistakable voice reported local news for Blue Sky Broadcasting for thirty years. I would often run into him when I was covering for an absent Bee reporter. When I heard that he and Tami Feyen, director of Bonner General Community Hospice, had talked and that Mike had agreed to let the public hear his story, I couldn’t resist asking if it could fill today’s space. This is Mike Brown’s story:
By: Kathy Hubbard. Unless you have one that isn’t functioning properly, you probably haven’t given any thought to your thyroid gland today. Well, that’s about to change because it’s Thyroid Awareness Month. The thyroid gland is butterfly-shaped and found at the front of your neck, right under your voice box. It weighs between 20 and 60 grams. It is a vital hormone producing gland and plays a major role in metabolism, growth and development of your body.
By: Kathy Hubbard. Let’s be clear, there’s a big difference between having the winter blues and seasonal depression. People often say that they suffer from seasonal affective disorder (SAD), but now that I’m reading about the signs and symptoms of this mental health disorder as described in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5-TR), I wonder if it’s true.
By: Kathy Hubbard. With the holidays in the rear-view mirror, now comes the season for coughing, sneezing, aching and wheezing. Yes folks, it’s Virus Season here in Bonner County. And, I don’t know about you, but just about everyone I know is currently suffering from a virus of some sort. In the past I would warn you about flu season and encourage you to get a flu shot. Now, besides that inoculation, there are more we should be thinking about getting. If you haven’t had a COVID booster, it’s time. If you haven’t had an RSV shot, it may be time for that one, too.
By: Kathy Hubbard. Dry January has nothing to do with expected precipitation. It’s the annual campaign, started in 2013 in the UK, that challenges moderate drinkers to give up alcohol for the thirty-one days of January. Why would you do that? Because studies have shown that there are positive physiological effects to be gained from taking part in Dry January.
By: Kathy Hubbard. Whatever you’re celebrating today, I hope it makes you happy. That’s because people who are happy typically have a positive, optimistic outlook on life. And tapping into the power of positive thinking can make you healthier and live longer.
By: Kathy Hubbard. Your left foot contains 26 bones, 33 joints, 107 ligaments and 19 muscles. Double that to include your right one. And what we do to the two of them is nothing short of pure abuse. We cram them into all styles of shoes. We walk around 75,000 miles on them before we’re fifty. We stand on them for long periods of time and they take us running, pedaling, skiing, and dancing while bearing our total weight throughout it all.
By: Kathy Hubbard. Heartburn, in its true sense, has nothing to do with your heart. It’s a painful burning feeling that starts in your sternum and travels up into your throat. Pregnancy, certain foods, alcohol and some drugs can cause it. If it happens occasionally, it’s probably nothing to worry about. But if it occurs a couple of times a week or more, it might be gastroesophageal reflux disease, aka GERD.
By: Kathy Hubbard. A 2023 survey by the American Psychological Association found that 89 percent of U.S. adults feel stressed during the holiday season, with 41 percent reporting higher stress levels compared to other times of the year. The National Alliance on Mental Illness states that 64 percent of those living with mental illness feel that their conditions worsened this time of year.
Bonner General Health is a 25-bed Critical Access Hospital and healthcare network of outpatient clinics and services serving Sandpoint and the surrounding region.
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