National Health Observances for July ..................................1

Better Safe: A Pain in the Gut ...............................................2

Day in Day out: Do Social Ties Affect our Health .................4

Take Charge: The Power of Your Pancreas ...........................6

To Your Health: Managing Diabetes for Life.........................8

Inspiration..............................................................................10

DIGITALONEHEALTH AND BENEFITS

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JULY 2017

Healthy People Newsletter

National Health Observances

JULY | 2017

Cord Blood Awareness Month Cleft and Craniofacial Awareness and Prevention Month

Fireworks Safety Month Group B Strep Awareness Month

Juvenile Arthritis Awareness Month Park and Recreation Month

UV Safety Month Hepatitis Day (28th)

A sick feeling washes over you: nausea, stomach cramps, headache and fever. Vomiting and diarrhea may soon follow. The symptoms are familiar to anyone who’s had the flu, but there may be another culprit—food that’s gone bad.

Food-borne illness, or “food poisoning,” usually comes from eating food tainted with bacteria or their toxins.

Food-borne illness, or “food poisoning,” usually comes from eating food tainted with bacteria or their toxins. Other types of microbes—like viruses or parasites—can also be behind food poisoning. People have long known that raw meat, poultry and eggs can harbor disease-causing microbes. But in recent years even fresh fruits and vegetables have caused headline-making outbreaks of food-borne illness.

Fortunately, most cases of food poisoning aren’t life threatening. You usually recover after a few days of misery. But children, the elderly and people with weakened immune systems are at more serious risk.

COMMON T YPES OF FOOD POISONING

Food poisoning can cause debilitating abdominal pain, nausea, headache, fatigue, vomiting, diarrhea and dehydration. Symptoms usually appear several hours to several days after eating tainted food, depending on the microbe. For example, Salmonella bacteria—a common source of food-borne disease—usually cause illness 12 hours to 3 days after ingestion, with symptoms lasting about 4-7 days.

Noroviruses are another major cause of food-borne illness. Found in the vomit or stool of infected people, noroviruses can live in food and on surfaces. Careful hand-washing helps prevent the spread of these highly contagious viruses.

A PAIN IN THE GUTRecognize and Prevent Food Poisoning

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Some microbes are especially deadly. Listeria monocytogenes—a bacterium found in some ready-to-eat and raw foods—has caused the majority of food-related deaths in the U.S. in recent years. Listeria is unusual because it can grow and multiply even at refrigerator temperatures. E. coli bacteria have been responsible for many highlypublicized outbreaks of food-borne disease caused bycontaminated vegetables or undercooked hamburgers.

HOW TO FIGHT IT

You can take an active role in fighting food poisoning. Thorough washing and proper cooking eliminates many disease-causing microbes. The most common way to treat food poisoning is to drink plenty of fluids. The sickness usually subsides within a few days. Contact your doctor, though, if you develop signs of severe dehydration, such as dry mouth, less urination or increased heart rate, or if you develop signs of shock, like weak or rapid pulse, clammy skin or chest pain.

PREVENTING FOOD POISONING

» Wash your hands with hot, soapy water before andafter touching food.

» Keep kitchen items, like utensils, countertops andcutting boards, clean.

» Keep raw meat, poultry or seafood and their juicesaway from cooked and ready-to-eat foods.

» Never defrost food on the kitchen counter. Use therefrigerator, cold running water or a microwave oven.

» Keep cold food cold and hot food hot.

» Cook food thoroughly and at a high enoughtemperature to kill harmful bacteria.

» Refrigerate food within 2 hours after cooking. Set yourrefrigerator at 40°F or lower and your freezer at 0°F.

Cuddles, kisses, and caring conversations. These are key ingredients of our close relationships. Scientists are finding that our links to others can have powerful effects on our health. Whether with romantic partners, family, friends, neighbors, or others, social connections can influence our biology and well-being.

Wide-ranging research suggests that strong social ties are linked to a longer life. In contrast, loneliness and social isolation are linked to poorer health, depression, and increased risk of early death.

Studies have found that having a variety of social relationships may help reduce stress and heart-related risks. Such connections might improve your ability to fight off germs or give you a more positive outlook on life. Physical contact—from hand-holding to sex—can trigger release of hormones and brain chemicals that not only make us feel great but also have other biological benefits.

WHAT SCIENCE SAYS ABOUT MARRIAGE

Marriage is one of the most-studied social bonds. “For many people, marriage is their most important relationship. And the evidence is very strong that marriage is generally good for health,” says Dr. Janice Kiecolt-Glaser, an expert on health and relationships at Ohio State University. “But if a relationship isn’t going well, it could have significant health-related consequences.”

“But if a relationship isn’t going well, it could have significant health-related consequences.”

Married couples tend to live longer and have better heart health than unmarried couples. Studies have found that when one spouse improves his or her health behaviors—

DO SOCIAL TIES AFFECT OUR HEALTH? Exploring the Biology of Relationships

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such as by exercising, drinking or smoking less, or getting a flu shot—the other spouse is likely to do so, too.

When marriages are full of conflict, though, such health benefits may shrink. Couples with the “double-whammy” of hostile marriages and depression may also be at risk for weight problems. After eating a high-fat meal and discussing a difficult topic, these troubled couples tended to burn fewer calories than less hostile counterparts. “The metabolism in these couples was slower in ways that could account for weight gain across time,” Kiecolt-Glaser says. Compared to the kinder couples, the distressed spouses had signs of more fat storage and other risks for heart disease.

The quality of a marriage—whether supportive or hostile—may be especially important to the health of

older couples. Dr. Hui Liu at Michigan State University studied data on the health and sexuality of more than 2,200 older people, ages 57 to 85. Good marriage quality, she found, is linked to reduced risk of developing cardiovascular disease, while bad marriage quality is tied to increased risk, particularly in women. “The association between marriage quality and heart health becomes increasingly strong at older ages,” Liu says.

Other types of relationships are important, too. These can include friends, family, neighbors, co-workers, clubs, and religious groups. Studies have found that people who have larger and more diverse types of social ties tend to live longer. They also tend to have better physical and mental health than people with fewer such relationships. Social support may be especially protective during difficult times.

MAKING CONNECTIONS

Social connections might help protect health and lengthen life. Look for ways to get involved with others:

» Join a group focused on a favoritehobby, such as reading, hiking, painting,or wood carving.

» Take a class in yoga, tai chi, or anothernew physical activity.

» Help with gardening at a communitygarden or park.

» Volunteer at a school, library, hospital,or place of worship.

» Join a local community group or findother ways to get involved in things youcare about.

How much you eat alters more than your waistline. It also affects your body’s organs, starting with your pancreas. With each bite, your pancreas must release enough digestive juices and hormones for you to benefit from the food you eat. Putting too much stress on your pancreas—by too much eating, drinking, or smoking—can cause serious health issues.

The pancreas lies behind your stomach. It’s surrounded by the intestines, liver, and gallbladder. These neighboring organs work together to help you digest your food.

“The pancreas produces a variety of enzymes to help break down the carbohydrates, proteins, and fats in your diet into smaller elements that are more easily used for energy,” says Dr. Dana Andersen, a pancreatic specialist at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). “It also produces specialized hormones that travel through the blood and help regulate a variety of body functions.”

The best known hormone produced by the pancreas is insulin. Insulin controls how much sugar, or glucose, is taken up by your body’s cells. If the insulin-producing cells in the pancreas are damaged, diabetes may arise. Type 2 diabetes occurs when the pancreas can’t produce enough insulin to handle the sugar in your blood. Obesity worsens type 2 diabetes.

THE POWER OF YOUR PANCREAS Keep Your Digestive Juices Flowing

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“Obesity can make your body less sensitive to insulin, so it takes more insulin to achieve the same metabolic work. That puts more stress on the pancreas,” Andersen says. “Just losing 5 or 10 pounds can help the pancreas to work more efficiently.”

“Just losing 5 or 10 pounds can help the pancreas to work more efficiently.”

High levels of fat in the blood can also lead to inflammation of the pancreas, or pancreatitis, which can be chronic or acute. With chronic pancreatitis, the inflammation doesn’t heal and gets worse over time. Eventually, it can lead to permanent damage.

Acute pancreatitis occurs suddenly and is very painful. It usually resolves in a few days with treatment. In severe cases, bleeding and permanent tissue damage may occur. The most common causes of acute pancreatitis are gallstones and heavy alcohol use. Gallstones are small, pebble-like substances made of hardened bile (a liquid produced by the liver to digest fat). Other causes of acute pancreatitis include abdominal trauma, medications, and infections.

Genetic disorders of the pancreas and certain autoimmune disorders can also lead to pancreatitis. But in nearly half of cases, the cause is unknown—a condition known as idiopathic pancreatitis.

ARE YOU AT RISK?

Tracking your family’s medical history can help you learn if you’re at risk for pancreatic problems. “It’s always a good idea to tell your doctor if there’s been a family history of pancreatic disease,” Andersen says. “That may not sound like much, but to a doctor it’s very important information.”

Knowledge of family health history is especially important for possible early detection of pancreatic cancer, which usually has no symptoms in its early stages. When caught early, pancreatic cancer may be curable with surgery. But most patients with pancreatic cancer aren’t diagnosed until more advanced stages, when the chances for survival are low.

PANCREAS PROBLEMS?

Talk to your doctor if you have any of these symptoms of pancreatitis:

» abdominal pain

» nausea

» vomiting

» fever

» rapid pulse

» unexplained weight loss

» diarrhea

» oily stools

Each year, 1.7 million Americans, ages 20 and up, are diagnosed with diabetes. People with diabetes have high levels of blood glucose (also called blood sugar). If left undiagnosed or untreated, diabetes can lead to heart disease, stroke, kidney disease, blindness, and other health problems. That’s why it’s important to manage your diabetes ABCs: A1C (blood glucose), blood pressure, and cholesterol. The following 4 steps are a good start.

Step 1: Learn about diabetes.

There are three main types of diabetes:

Type 1 diabetes – Your body does not make insulin. This is a problem because you need insulin to take the sugar (glucose) from the foods you eat and turn it into energy for your body. You need to take insulin every day to live.

Type 2 diabetes – Your body does not make or use insulin well. You may need to take pills or insulin to help control your diabetes. Type 2 is the most common type of diabetes.

Gestational (jest-TAY-shun-al) diabetes – Some women get this kind of diabetes when they are pregnant. Most of the time, it goes away after the baby is born. But even if it goes away, these women and their children have a greater chance of getting diabetes later in life.

If you’ve got diabetes, you need to make healthy food choices, move more every day, stay at a healthy weight, and take recommended medicines even when you feel good.

Step 2: Talk to your health care team about how to manage your A1C, blood pressure, and cholesterol. Know your ABC goals, and track your progress.

MANAGING DIABETES FOR LIFE

Each year, 1.7 million americans, ages 20 and up, are diagnosed with diabetes.

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Step 3: Learn how to live with diabetes. You may have heard people say they have “a touch of diabetes” or that their “sugar is a little high.” These words suggest that diabetes is not a serious disease. That is not correct. Diabetes is serious, but you can learn to manage it.

People with diabetes need to make healthy food choices, stay at a healthy weight, move more every day, and take their medicine even when they feel good. It’s a lot to do. It’s not easy, but it’s worth it!

It is common to feel overwhelmed, sad, or angry when you are living with diabetes. You may know the steps you should take to stay healthy, but have trouble sticking with your plan over time. This section has tips on how to cope with your diabetes, eat well, and be active.

Cope with your diabetes.

Stress can raise your blood sugar. Learn ways to lower your stress. Try deep breathing, gardening, taking a walk, meditating, working on your hobby, or listening to your favorite music.

Ask for help if you feel down. A mental health counselor, support group, member of the clergy, friend, or family member who will listen to your concerns may help you feel better.

EAT WELL .

» Make a diabetes meal plan with help from your healthcare team.

» Choose foods that are lower in calories, saturated fat,trans fat, sugar, and salt.

» Eat foods with more fiber, such as whole grain cereals,breads, crackers, rice, or pasta.

» Choose foods such as fruits, vegetables, whole grains,bread and cereals, and low-fat or skim milk andcheese.

» Drink water instead of juice and regular soda.

BE ACTIVE .

» Set a goal to be more active most days of the week.Start slow by taking 10 minute walks, 3 times a day.

» Twice a week, work to increase your muscle strength.Use stretch bands, do yoga, heavy gardening (diggingand planting with tools), or try push-ups.

» Stay at or get to a healthy weight by using your mealplan and moving more.

Step 4: Get routine care to stay healthy. See your health care team at least twice a year to find and treat any problems early. Once each year, be sure to get a dilated eye exam and a complete foot exam.