Published on: 09 April 2021
Last Updated on: 27 December 2024
The preferred alcoholic beverage for millions over the world has strong health benefits. Yes, you read that right. As compared to other forms of alcoholic beverages, beer is healthier, has a positive impact on your body, and allows you to keep critical illnesses at bay.
For a very long time, scientific studies and health studies have shown how beer drinkers tend to live longer, have better cognitive abilities, and lowers stress.
While a lot of reports state that wine has several anti-oxidants, the same can be said for beer as well. Its core ingredients are hops and barley, both of which are known for their anti-oxidant properties.
In the following section, we take help from experts at Melvin Brewing to try and understand how beneficial beer is for your health.
Beer has a Positive Impact on the Mental Health of an Individual:
The natural properties of beer allow it to be a great agent for helping improve the mood. In other words, it helps majorly in lowering stress levels, reduces anxiety, and prevents people from getting into depression.
The same cannot be said about harder alcoholic beverages like whiskey, vodka, rum, or gin.
It should be pointed out that the above observation has been pointed out in the case of moderate drinkers. Heavy drinking is likely to reverse this and add to additional stresses and pressures.
However, if you are drinking socially, with friends or colleagues once or twice a week in moderation, you can experience lesser fatigue levels and a more productive brain.
Beer is Great for your Kidney and Helps Lowers Cholesterol:
Studies have shown how drinking beer prevents the risks of kidney stones. Experts have pointed out that beer has a natural filtration process when it goes inside the body. This helps it remove any internal impurities and allows the same to be excreted out of the body through urine.
As we have already mentioned, beer contains natural fibers like hops and barley. These fibers play a positive role in the reduction of LDL or bad levels of cholesterol. Fibre has been known to have several positive effects on the human body. It helps with maintaining blood sugar levels and controls cholesterol levels within the body.
However, heavy drinking is likely to have the reverse effects as it reduces the body’s power to naturally absorb minerals and vitamins that come from dietary sources.
Does Beer Help Improve Memory Focus and Brain Functions?
According to the American Journal of Epidemiology, moderate drinking of beer promotes cognitive abilities. Why? Because hops, the major ingredient in beer has a property called ‘Xanthohumol’. This chemical is a proven agent that prevents brain and memory degradation.
Similarly, historically, advanced civilization has attributed drinking to improving brain focus, attention, output, and productivity. Beer has selectively been seen to boost the retention power of the brain in many research subjects.
Again, it should be pointed out that we are talking about drinking in moderate doses and not heavy ones. The positive effects can only be experienced if the individuals are drinking beer in moderate doses of one or two glasses per week.
The Final Word:
You would be surprised as we were when we first came across the positive health benefits of beer drinking. We tried to dig deeper and found that medical experts did not want to publicize the same for fear that this would act as a license to give drinkers the right to drink more.
To conclude, beer has several positives, but only when it is consumed at moderate levels. If you are looking to add to the list of benefits, might we suggest you use the comments section and add to the list of health benefits of drinking beer?
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Is there anything more miraculous and joyful than carrying a piece of you for nine straight months? But pregnancy is certainly not a journey full of roses. From consuming the right diet to limiting exercise, there is so much to consider. But out of all, eating right during pregnancy is mega important.
It is really vital for nurturing a healthy baby and mama. But with so many pregnancy nutrition rules, it can get kind of confusing and overwhelming fast! Well, guess what, here is a guide that will take you through the 5 essential nutrients every expecting mother should consume in the right amount.
So, let’s get started…
Prenatal Vitamins: What Are Those?
In simple terms, prenatal vitamins refer to multivitamins for expecting mothers. In comparison to a usual multivitamin, the former has more nutrients that might make the pregnancy healthier. Usually, the medical professional assisting you will prescribe it, but if he doesn’t, you can always buy it from stores with a prescription.
The human body uses minerals, vitamins, and other nutrients present in food to stay healthy and strong. At the time of pregnancy, as we all know, the mother passes down all necessary nutrients to her embryo. Thus, your body asks for more vitamins when you are pregnant. That is exactly the job of prenatal vitamins.
Which Nutrients Are Most Important For A Perfect Maternal Health?
Before you go bonkers, let’s break it down to the essential nutrients preggos really need more of. Here are 5 all-star vitamins and minerals to help maintain tip-top maternal health:
The VIP Folate
Alright, all you soon-to-be mamas, listen up. Folate (aka folic acid) should be topping your prenatal vitamin rockstar list. This essential B vitamin helps prevent major birth defects of the baby's brain and spine when taken before conception and in early pregnancy. We're talking about the next level vital for fetal development.
Folate also helps produce new cells, so mama needs extra to accommodate a growing babe. Most docs recommend women start supplementing 400-800 mcg of folate at least a month before pregnancy. But hey, better late than never, if you're already pregnant, try to achieve optimal maternal health with a Specialist Obstetrician!
Supercharged Iron
Fun fact: A developing fetus needs lots of mineral iron to form their blood supply and other tissues. So, in turn, mama needs way more iron to share with baby! When you're expecting, your iron needs to jump by up to 50%.
Unfortunately, the vitamin C in my OJ every morning doesn't cut it. Most mamas-to-be need an additional iron supplement of 30-60 mg on top of a balanced diet. Too little iron during pregnancy zaps your energy and can lead to stuff like anemia. No one wants that! So, rev up on iron-rich foods plus a prenatal vitamin to stay energized.
The Calcium Extravaganza
Did you know baby needs around 30 grams of calcium just to build their tiny growing skeleton? Well, they have to get that supply from somewhere! The calcium in Mama's body works overtime during pregnancy to help form the baby's bones and teeth.
That's why pregnant women need around 1,000 mg of calcium per day. Goodbye, plain almond milk, hello, extra cheesy pizza! Jokes aside, ensure you get adequate calcium from dairy, leafy greens, supplements, or all of the above. Your wee one will thank you for strong bones.
Omega-3s For Winning
You've probably heard omega-3 fatty acids are clutch for heart and brain health. Well, it turns out they’re essential for a baby’s development, too. These healthy fats help build a baby’s nervous system and retinal tissues. They’re also linked to lower risks of preterm births and postpartum depression.
That’s why experts recommend at least 250–300 mg of omega-3s like DHA daily for expecting mothers. Load up on fatty fish, nuts, and seeds - or just grab a fish oil supplement as an insurance policy to meet your levels. Consider omega-3s a must for both of your well-being.
The Magical Magnesium
Don't sleep on the mineral magnesium during pregnancy! It plays a role in so many vital stuff: bone growth, regulating blood pressure, aiding enzymes and metabolism, and muscle and nerve function. Oh, and helping build DNA and RNA. NBD!
Unfortunately, the typical Western diet often lacks enough magnesium. Pregnant women need at least 350–400 mg daily from food and supplements. Get your fill from dark leafy greens, nuts, whole grains, yogurt, and more magnesium-rich sources. Your body and babe will thank you!
Mamas, Take Care Of Your Mental Health Too…
You are already doing so much, make sure to sit back and relax. Pregnancy might seem like a 9-month-long journey, but trust us when we say it passes in the blink of an eye. All those days will be missed by you later. So, make sure to take care of your mental health too.
Surround yourself with positive people, listen to calm music, and avoid taking too much stress. Post-partum depression is inevitable, but you can always be cheerful in your approaches when the baby is growing inside you.
Eat whatever satisfies your soul, but make sure that it doesn’t have a negative impact on your baby. Your emotional strength is responsible for your physical strength, too. So, ensure to keep both of them balanced, positive, and cherishing.
Conclusion
There you have it, mamas - the crème de la crème nutrients for staying healthy during pregnancy! Prioritizing these all-star vitamins and minerals ensures you and your growing baby get all the key building blocks you need. Consult your doctor and add any supplements needed for optimal levels.
Your nutrient intake matters more than ever before – so eat well for two! With this, it's a wrap on this comprehensive guide. But you will get to know more if you want to. Keep reading my articles, as they have a lot of beneficial information for my readers. Also, if you find this article helpful, do not forget to share your comments below.
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Meals That Matter: The Best Foods And The Ways They Make You Fit
Any Adult Gerontology Nurse Practitioner (AGNP), or individual considering moving into this booming area, will probably be aware that it involves more than supporting patients through short term illnesses or meeting their needs in a hospital or nursing home.
As a rule, the older a patient gets, the more likely they are to experience chronic health complications which interfere with their day-to-day tasks. For much of history, such patients were written off, encouraged to take to their beds and be supported entirely by others, doing very little. They often didn’t live very long. But all that changed on account of one remarkable nurse, Dorothea Orem, whose legacy continues to shape the nursing profession today. This article examines her groundbreaking self-care deficit theory and looks at how AGNPs might use it for their nursing career.
Dorothea Orem
Dorothea Orem was born in Baltimore in 1914 and studied nursing in the late 1930s. This was a time when nursing schools were still a new phenomenon and there was a lot of experimental thinking in the nascent profession. Though she spent time on the wards as a staff nurse, she also worked as an administrator and consultant over the course of her career, spending her later years focusing on theory.
A naturally focused and attentive person, she soon began recording observations about the patients she worked with, leading to her self-care deficit theory of nursing, for which she strongly advocated for her entire life. It was theory which, in its early years, transformed the way nurses thought about patients and their duties. It laid the foundations for nursing today.
Universal Self-Care Requisites
Orem’s theory recognizes eight universal self-care requisites, or SCRs. Here, universal refers to things every human needs, regardless of circumstance. Air is needed for respiration. Water is needed to maintain a healthy level of hydration. Food is needed to maintain healthy energy levels and prevent starvation. Elimination or toileting, a polite way of referring to the expulsion of urine and feces from the body, is required too.
In addition to these four things, Orem posits that every patient needs a balance of physical activity and rest. Everyone needs social interaction, but also some alone time. People need to manage their lives to avoid or remove hazards, and, finally, they need to promote normality. This means that they need to achieve and maintain a way of living and relating to the world which is normal for them as individuals and does not involve psychosis.
Health Deviation Self-Care Requisites
When patients are recovering from injury or illness, or living with a chronic illness or disability, they can be described as experiencing a health deviation. This is not pejorative – it simply establishes that they differ from the norm. Health deviations are more common in older demographics, as they have additional self-care requisites.
These requisites include following doctors’ instructions (taking medicine on time), identifying problems caused by their conditions and attending to them effectively (sitting down until a dizzy spell passes), and knowing when and how to seek help from a caregiver or healthcare professional.
It is also important that these patients can understand and accept that their bodies have changed and can adjust psychologically to cope with it.
What Is A Self-Care Deficit?
A self-care deficit occurs when people are no longer able to carry out basic tasks. This can be because a disability makes them physically impossible to perform, or a number of other reasons. For example, some people get so overwhelmed by the way their bodies have changed that they stop trying to live. This doesn’t mean that they don’t deserve sympathy – it is an understandable response to an extreme situation – but it might mean that there is potential for improvement.
For some people, self-care deficits are permanent or are likely to worsen due to progressive illnesses. For others, however, they can be temporary, even in extreme old age. Self-care deficits stemming from a broken arm, for example, will normally dissipate after the arm heals, but this is less likely if the patient has learned to feel helpless in the meantime.
Assessment, Diagnosis, And Implementation
When using Orem’s theory, nurses have three steps to work through. The first is undertaken during the initial assessment of a new patient and involves identifying any self-care deficits. These are not always obvious from looking at a patient and the process may require gentle but persistent questioning. Some people may be embarrassed and hesitant to talk if they are unable to care for themselves.
The second involves full diagnosis of the deficits, including establishing causes. The third step is to draw up a treatment plan based on these diagnoses. In her work, Orem stressed the importance of recognizing that every patient is a unique individual, so there is no one-size-fits-all approach to this type of planning. In each case, AGNPs will need to work with the patient to establish the most effective way forward.
Five Ways Nurses Can Help
There are five strategies nurses can use to address self-care deficits when establishing patient care plans:
For the most severely incapacitated patients, it may be necessary to perform actions on their behalf, such as washing or dressing them.
Patients struggling mentally or who lack confidence can be guided through actions, ideally to the point of independence.
Patients can be taught new ways of approaching day to day tasks which make them easier to accomplish, such as taking a break to have a shower in the afternoon if it is too hard to find the energy at other times.
AGNPs can focus on the patient’s environment, making it easier for them to carry out self-care activities, such as suggesting kitchen gadgets to reduce the physical effort involved in preparing meals.
Finally, AGNPs can train a family caregiver to provide appropriate support.
These five strategies involve numerous actions, skills, and tools that nurses can use. Patients may need particular assistance with the following tasks.
Helping With Eating
Patients should always be encouraged to do as much for themselves as is reasonably possible. When it comes to eating, nurses should start with encouragement. Many older people lose their appetite and don’t feel motivated to eat, especially when it requires effort. So, an AGNP can point out that they have more energy when they manage to eat regular meals.
If the patient can get food to their mouth by themselves, nurses should resist the temptation to assist, even if they sometimes drop the food. Instead, nurses can reassure them that this is not uncommon and all they need to do is take a little more time. Nurses should also be alert to the possibility of choking issues and arrange X-rays if concerned. If some food proves difficult to eat, they can discuss the possibility of dietary adjustments.
Helping With Toileting
Nurses should reassure patients that, awkward as they may feel, there is nothing to be embarrassed about. The nurse must ensure they can transfer on and off the toilet safely and consider options like raising the height of the seat or installing grab. If there is a risk of falling, AGNPs may suggest bedpans for use when no caregiver is present. If adult diapers are needed, nurses should ensure that patients know how and when to change them (even if they are not soiled) and how to protect their skin against rashes or bruises caused by wearing them. Finally, nurses can also discuss medical options for softening stools or speeding up or slowing down digestive transit.
Helping With Dressing And Grooming
A balance must be struck between helping patients be more independent in dressing and grooming themselves and enabling them to maintain a style or standard of appearance that is natural for them. Some older men prefer to be clean shaven but end up growing beards because it is easier to trim a beard than it is to shave safely and neatly, for example. Some clothing options can be easier to get into than others, depending on a patient’s particular mobility difficulties. Simple devices such as a stick with a hook on the end can make adjusting the back of a garment or doing up a zip much easier. Nurses should pay particular attention to footwear to make sure patients can stand or walk safely.
Reducing Hazards
Whether a nurse is helping a patient to move around and complete self-care tasks in a hospital ward, a care home, or their own home, they must always pay attention to hazard prevention. Hazards can include mess, a layout created without regard for disability, or other people or pets moving around. Nurses can start by ensuring that the patient is aware of the risks and can recognize dangerous situations.
They should discuss simple measures like installing handrails or changing routines to make it easier to keep the area tidy. Nurses can also ensure that the patient can summon help if something goes wrong, by persuading them to install an alarm system or carry a charged mobile phone at all times, for example.
Care With Communication
Often, older patients who have self-care deficits also have difficulty with communication, whether due to physical or cognitive disability. Depending on their lifestyle in recent years, they may also be unfamiliar with modern technologies, but shy about admitting this. It is important for nurses to make sure that when they are addressing issues around essential needs, the patient understand them properly and vice versa.
It can be helpful to use pictures in communication, which are often available in support materials. When meeting a patient in the place they are going to be living, the nurse and patient can explore it together (in stages, if necessary) so both parties can directly identify issues.
Seeing Each Patient As An Individual
An essential tenet of Orem’s theory is that patients must be treated as individuals. This increases the chance that they will stick to treatment plans, as well as directly improving their psychological wellbeing.
Any nurse that’s interested in Orem’s theory and is considering joining this field will be looking into gerontology nurse practitioner programs online. The best courses place a lot of emphasis on adaptability and on learning how to manage different types of patients in different environments. The program at the University of Indianapolis, for example, encourages students to develop the patience and listening skills essential to getting to know patients and making them a part of the process. This communication and relationship building is essential to developing plans which will really benefit patients over the long term. The course at the University of Indianapolis is an eight-semester program designed for working nurses, involving part-time study and an intensive clinical placement.
The Nursing Profession Continues To Benefit
Thanks to Orem and her self-care deficit theory, patients are no longer left to waste away as they begin to struggle with old age. Generations of nurses who have practiced this theory have observed that, even in later life, patients can often improve and regain their self- care abilities with the right support. Advances in assistive technologies continue to make this even easier.
The right support, focused on facilitating and encouraging independence, enables seniors to go on living satisfying lives on their own terms for much longer. Even when they need extensive practical support, giving them more control helps to maintain their morale and ability to navigate the final chapter of their lives. In the process of providing this support, AGNPs also get what they really want; to see their patients thrive, no matter what they must overcome to achieve it.
Additionals:
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How Does Children’s Health Impact Parental Lifestyle?
As the weather once again turns colder, most of us are thinking of ways to keep ourselves warm. Whether it is warm clothes, fixing up the furnace in your home, or something entirely else, we all appreciate the warmth and the need to keep warm.
Cancer patients are among the most sensitive people, which is why it is natural to wonder whether the cold affects them in any particular way. We reached out to cancer treatment researchers at Odonate Therapeutics to learn a bit more.
Why cancer Patients Are Sensitive?
In order to understand why people combating cancer may be more susceptible to external influences, cold temperatures included, it is helpful to remember what cancer treatment involves.
The standard fare treatment for cancer is chemotherapy which is often complemented with radiation treatment. That means that their immune systems are quite strained as it is and should not be pushed further.
Hypothermia Is a Real Risk
Cancer treatment can have many side effects, which include anemia and dehydration, among other things. These two conditions in particular make the organism far less capable of combating the cold.
In essence, that means that a cancer patient may be less capable of maintaining body heat. Fortunately, there is one simple way to ensure that cancer patients are safe from the negative effects of the colder weather – keeping them warm.
This includes making sure they are properly dressed for the weather, as well as that their homes are nice and warm when they return from their treatment sessions.
Frostbites Can Also Occur
Whereas most people would be aware of the cold because their body will naturally tell them, some cancer patients may be denied that. Certain cancer medications may cause what is known as peripheral neuropathy. This neuropathy affects the digits and can spread to affect hands and feet.
Without being able to tell how cold you are, you may not react in time and get yourself to warmth. After prolonged exposure to cold, the skin and the tissue underneath can become damaged, causing frostbite.
Neuropathy Can Cause Falls
Apart from damaging the cold receptors, neuropathies can also affect a person’s sense of balance. The unsteadiness can quite easily result in a fall if the person is not tended to carefully. Even though falls can affect anyone, and cause quite a lot of pain, they can be particularly nasty to some cancer patients.
More specifically, leukemia patients who have low platelet levels in their blood. This component of blood helps the wounds heal by creating clots. Cancer patients whose platelet levels are low cannot heal wounds properly, making even smaller injuries potentially dangerous.
Cold Weather Ushers the Flu Season
Seasonal illnesses such as the flu and the common cold typically spike with the colder weather. Most people stay indoors, they interact with other people and can easily get ill.
Cancer patients can be quite susceptible to those types of illnesses because their immune system is suppressed by the medication and can be completely destroyed by radiation therapy.
Keeping cancer patients from contracting these common diseases can be a struggle, but it is vital.
COVID 19 Complicates Things
No roundup of issues that negatively affect people in 2020 would be complete without the ever-present COVID-19. This illness has affected millions of people across the world and taken quite a few lives.
Due to the nature of the illness, it is most damaging to those who are already fighting another illness. Just like with the flu and the cold, COVID-19 can quickly infect a cancer patient and do a lot of damage.
Cancer patients need to focus on the most important battle in their lives- defeating cancer. They need all the help and the support they can get from their loved ones. Keeping them safe from the cold weather and everything it brings is just another step in their fight for recovery.
Read Also:
How to sleep better when you have cancer
The natural properties of beer allow it to be a great agent for helping improve the mood. In other words, it helps majorly in lowering stress levels, reduces anxiety, and prevents people from getting into depression.
The same cannot be said about harder alcoholic beverages like whiskey, vodka, rum, or gin.
It should be pointed out that the above observation has been pointed out in the case of moderate drinkers. Heavy drinking is likely to reverse this and add to additional stresses and pressures.
However, if you are drinking socially, with friends or colleagues once or twice a week in moderation, you can experience lesser fatigue levels and a more productive brain.
