Category Archives: Eliminating Health Disparities Initiative (MN Dept. of Health)

ANXIETY DISORDERS

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We will all experience anxiety, for example, speaking in front of large groups can make us anxious, however that anxiety can also motivate us to prepare and practice. Driving in heavy traffic is another common source of anxiety, but it helps us stay alert to avoid accidents.

However, when feelings of intense fear and distress become too overwhelming and they prevent us from doing everyday activities, an anxiety disorder may be the cause.

Anxiety disorders are the most common mental health concern in the United States. Over 40 million adults in the U.S. have an anxiety disorder, and about 7% of children aged 3-17 experience issues with anxiety each year. Most people develop anxiety symptoms before the age of 21. In this article you will learn about anxiety symptoms, types of anxiety, causes of anxiety, diagnosis and treatments for anxiety.

Read more about Anxiety Disorders at: https://www.nami.org/About-Mental-Illness/Mental-Health-Conditions/Anxiety-Disorders

Mental Well-being Matters

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Mental well-being is about your quality of life: realizing your abilities, dealing with day to day stress, have meaningful relationships, working and contributing to family and community.

About 80% of us struggle with mental wellbeing at some point, whether we have a mental illness or not. Common challenges and signs include: ▪ Lack of a sense of purpose ▪ Regularly stressed from daily pressures ▪ Lack of a good social support system ▪ Lack of housing or employment ▪ Experiencing social exclusion

Life Implications Poor mental well-being is linked with higher rates of: ▪ Injury ▪ Disability ▪ Chronic disease ▪ Job productivity ▪ Criminal justice involvement ▪ Life expectancy ▪ Lifetime Mental Illness

 

Culturally Important For groups that have experienced oppression, moving toward optimal mental well-being is an important goal. This struggle is fueled by historical and current collective trauma and injustice, which must be addressed to achieve mental well-being.

Tools and Tips

  • Develop relationships with people who are caring, supportive, emotionally healthy and safe. This is critical at every stage of life. Join a group. Get your child a mentor. Invest in your friendships.
  • Develop skills to manage stress and to engage in your world. Learn about your unique strengths and passions. Use them! Volunteer. Develop a gratitude practice, guided imagery, mindfulness, yoga, or other centering activity. 
  • Find hope and connection often found through community, culture, and faith is powerful. Cultivate connections that are important to you.
  • Connect with nature to reduce stress and improve attention. Walk outside. Play outside. Protect and expand green spaces near your home, daycare, and work.
  • Sleep, exercise, and eat healthy Good choices for overall health also matters for mental well-being. Our bodies and brains are connected; our physical and mental well-being are linked.
  • Organize Get active in your community. Almost every government and business decision impacts our mental well-being. Decisions can influence inclusion or availability of key mental well-being ingredients. While you’re at it, you will build and model self-determination and self-efficacy, key social and emotional health skills.

For more mental well-being resources go to MN Dept. of Health’s Mental Health Promotions (https://www.health.state.mn.us/divs/cfh/t opic/mentalhealth/).

World Stroke Day

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On Oct 29, 2016, it is recognize as World Stroke Day to bring awareness and provide information on what people can do.

stroke-info

http://www.strokeassociation.org/

“Responding quickly can be the difference between recovery and disability, or even death. Luckily, stroke is largely treatable when you know the signs and act fast. A few seconds could save a life, possibly your own.” – http://www.strokeassociation.org/

What are the signs of stroke?

  • Numbness in the face and arms
  • lack of coordination
  • trouble speaking or understanding

fast

http://www.strokeassociation.org/

Call 911 right away if notice the signs of someone having stroke.

National Childhood Obesity Awareness Month

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September is National Childhood Obesity Awareness Month and it’s all about promoting healthier lifestyle and spreading awareness of obesity among children. It’s important to become more educated about your health so that you can better understand the benefits of leading a healthier lifestyle and the risks of making poorer health decisions. Also, the goal is to not only educate yourself, but those around you; your family, friends, peers, and more! Positive influence can make a difference in people’s perspective on living whether it is being healthier, exercising or going out more, or simply having a more positive outlook.

There are many ways to be healthier and it doesn’t mean you have to be limited in your choices. Whatever your health goal is, try some of these tips:

  • Try to include more fruits & veggies into your diet! Having a healthy diet includes a mix of all kinds of food that can offer your body nutrients. Also, a bonus is that you can eat a variety of things without getting bored of the same diet routine.
  • Cook your own food! Cooking your own food can be time consuming but have no worries, there are tons of recipe out there that is quick, healthy, and easy to make. With this, you know what you are consuming and you can better control your portions.
  • Exercise is important, but don’t stress over it! If find that you don’t like a tpye of exercise, try something else. The great thing about it is that there are many things that you can do to stay active. Daily things such as cleaning your house, going on a stroll to deliver mail, or walking up and down the stairs rigorously. It’s up to you to determine which workout is best for your schedule and body.

Other social media links listed down below!

  • Learn how one grocer in West Virginia is helping improve the health of customers by stocking toys that promote physical activity and healthy snacks in the checkout lane. http://bit.ly/2aiwILe – #NCOAM
  • Learn how you can take part in the effort to encourage more children in your community to be physically active and eat a healthy diet. http://bit.ly/1pirD0j – #NCOAM
  • Addressing obesity requires the support of communities. This National Childhood Obesity Awareness Month, learn how state and local organizations can create a supportive environment to promote healthy behaviors that prevent obesity. http://bit.ly/1JS8YIE – #NCOAM

Twitter Movements!

  • @letsmove – The First Lady’s initiative dedicated to solving the challenge of childhood obesity.
  • @CDCObesity – CDC’s Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Obesity
  • @ACSMNews – The American College of Sports Medicine. Official sponsor of National Childhood Obesity Awareness Month.

Info provided above belong to rightful owner.

American Heart Month

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“February is American Heart Month. Talk to your doctor about #hearthealth” – www.cdc.gov

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Original image belongs to www.storybird.com.

February is dedicated to sharing the awareness of taking care of our hearts. The path to a healthy lifestyle is always a continuous journey so positive choices you make now will benefit you in the long run. If you don’t know where to start, here are some tips on how to:

  • The easiest place to start is to eat healthier foods. Your food intake has a direct impact on your heart, especially on your cholesterol level. Tip: Avoid drinking sugary or fizzy drinks such as juice and pop. Many American’s are obese because of their diet of high fat, sugar, and salt.
  • Balance your meal! Eating healthier is easier than said so what can try first is to substitute unhealthy food for healthier alternatives. For example, if you like sweet snacks like chocolates, gummies, and such, switch it out with ripe fruits! And it is okay to indulge in your cravings once in a while.
  • Exercise regularly, not extensively. If you try to maintain a exercise schedule with healthy eating, you’ll lose weight more effectively and maintain your health/weight. Doing intense work out one or twice a week is better than doing it often because your body needs time to relax, rebuild, and reenergize.
  • Want to know what kind of fruits & veggies are in the winter season:
    • dates, kale, passion fruit, oranges, turnips, leeks
    • For more info on what’s in season, click here!

 

October 6: Join Us on Twitter for a Chat on Breast Cancer Awareness‏

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October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Join the conversation on Twitter this Tuesday October 6th at 1 PM (ET). We’ll be discussing prevention, warning signs and more. The chat will be in English and Spanish.

Join @USAgov on October 6 for a chat on Breast Cancer Awareness

Follow the hashtag #SaludTues to submit questions in advance or join the conversation on Tuesday. You can also follow these Twitter accounts for more information: @USAgov@GobiernoUSA, @FDAWomen @FDAenEspanol and @SaludToday.

Credits belong to rightful owners.

National Childhood Obesity Awareness Month and Fruits & Veggies

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“One in 3 children in the United States is overweight or obese. Childhood obesity puts kids at risk for health problems that were once seen only in adults, like type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, and heart disease.” – http://healthfinder.gov/
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Children obesity is a real problem and still exist. There are reasons why obesity is still common in the U.S. Such as organic and healthy food tend to be more expensive so lower income families tend to buy lower quality food. Fast food and high calorie snacks are very cheap to buy and widely available everywhere. And many people are still not informed or knowledgeable on how food can affect their health. As much as it is a financial and informative issue, it is also a mental struggle. People have to change the way they think about food within themselves, their family, their friends, and so on.
But no worries, obesity can be prevented! September is the National Childhood Obesity Awareness Month and organizations hope to spread the word of helping others! Here are so helpful resources that you can use and please share with others on social media:
National Childhood Obesity Awareness Month
Fruits and Veggies – More Matters Month

reTHINK Your Drink

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“In an effort to get people and places to choose healthier beverages, the Minneapolis Health eDepartment has launched the reTHINK campaign. The new campaign aims to help people to understand how beverages make up a significant part of their diet, and what people drink can either positively or negatively impact their mind and body. Experts have identified sugary drinks as the single largest contributor of calories and added sugars to the U.S. diet.” – http://www.cdc.gov/

Sweeteners that add calories to a beverage go by many different names and are not always obvious to anyone looking at the ingredients list. Some common caloric sweeteners are listed below. If these appear in the ingredients list of your favorite beverage, you are drinking a sugar-sweetened beverage.

  • High-fructose corn syrup
  • Fructose
  • Fruit juice concentrates
  • Honey
  • Sugar
  • Syrup
  • Corn syrup
  • Sucrose
  • Dextrose

Here are some tips to find what is in your drinks:

  • Look at the nutritional facts that are usually on the side or back of the products. It gives information on how much a product contain sugar, sodium, and calories, etc. Make sure that you are aware of how much you consume throughout the day whether it is foods or drinks. You don’t want to exceed your daily calorie intake or waste it on unhealthy food.
  • Drink water instead of sugary and carbonated drinks. There are many benefits to drinking water. Water helps your body flush out waste, keep your body hydrated, maintain bowel movements, and more. It doesn’t have any calories and can help you lose weight. Don’t substitute water with anything, drink water!
  • When ordering drinks, go for less! Less is more and more satisfying. Whether it’s ordering smoothies, coffees, shakes, etc., get it in small, if possible kid size. If you get it in a smaller size, you won’t feel as bad eating it, you’ll save money, and won’t have the urge to finish the entire drink especially if it’s in a large size.
  • Sodium intake is another thing to watch out for. Too much sodium can lead to heart related accidents and diseases, high blood pressures, stroke, and more. “Based on a 2013 phone survey of more than 180,000 adults across 26 states, DC and Puerto Rico, CDC research reveals that just over half of U.S. adults reported taking action to watch or reduce sodium intake – while one in five say they have received professional medical advice to reduce sodium intake.” http://www.cdc.gov/

Facts & info belong to http://www.cdc.gov/.

AMA Radio Talk Show (2012) – Korean

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AMA Radio Talk Show – Korean

Date recorded: 2/22/2012 Wed 5:00 pm

Host: Sungho Park

Guest: InSook Jung, ChunYoung Park, KyungSoon Shin, JungHae Oh, MoonSup Kang

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Sungho (SH): Introduced self, REACH program, and Asia Media Access

InSook (IS): Introduced self – She has lived in Minnesota for 36 years and been retired.

ChunYoung (CY): Introduced self – He immigrated to Minnesota in 1936.

KyungSoon (KS): Introduced self – She has lived in Minnesota for 30 years.

JungHae (JH): Introduced self – She has lived in Minnesota for 30 years. She is a restaurant owner in downtown in Minneapolis.

MoonSup (MS): Introduced self – He has lived in the U.S for 36 years and been retired.

SH: Introduced today three questions – 1. What are the three most important factors for a healthy Korean community in Minnesota? 2. What are the three most important health issues in a Korean community in Minnesota? 3. What are the three most risky behaviors against a healthy Korean community in Minnesota?

SH: What are the three most important factors for a healthy Korean community in Minnesota?

IS: Strong family relationship, healthy life style, and religious or spiritual values are the three most important factors. Strong family relationship can improve our community in many ways like low crime rate, child education, safe neighborhoods, etc. Keeping healthy life style will be helpful for our community to become healthy. Religious values are the most important one.

SH: I agree with that strong family relationship is one of the three most important factors. When one’s home is happy, all goes well.

CY: Overall atmosphere in Minnesota is very active. Because of cold weather, Caucasian is majority in the population. There are many professional jobs in Minnesota. Many Koreans in Minnesota have professional jobs. Also, high education standard is one of characteristics of Minnesota. A good educational environment is the most important factor, too.

KS: I agree with Mrs. Jung’s opinion. Strong family relationship is important. Religious belief supports for our healthy life. Korean church is supporting immigrants to be adapted to the U.S. Healthy life style will be built in a way volunteering to community and caring other neighborhoods by a religious belief.

MS: The most important thing is to understand a culture of America and social system. Since there are many difference between the cultures in Korea and America, understanding them will be very helpful for us to be adapted in the U.S. Also, solving language problem will help since it is much effective way to understand the America culture by learning the language.

SH: We can think religious belief, strong family relationship, and understanding America culture are the three most important factors for a healthy Korean community in Minnesota.

SH: Are you satisfied with the health care system in Korean community?

SH: Student insurance does not cover many common health problems like dental problems.

JH: Costs of a private health insurance are high. Some of Koreans are still working to pay their health insurance. We have a private health insurance before 65 years. We need to have a solution for this.

BREAK

SH: Welcome back to our discussion. We start at the second question. What are the three most health issues in a Korean community in Minnesota?

MS: Many Koreans usually do not exercise. This life style will cause high blood pressure and cardiac disorders.

SH: I think regular exercise is very important. When I regularly exercised, I felt less fatigue.

CY: Because of cold weather in Minnesota, there are many winner sport events. However, many Koreans do not participate.

IS: There are many fitness centers in Minnesota. Our environmental conditions for exercise are good. Therefore, their will of exercise is important.

SH: The health issue that is the most important in the Korean community was health problem caused by lack of exercise.

SH: What detail efforts do you think that can improve community health?

IS: We can make an exercise group or regular meeting. Every one encourages each other. Also, if there is someone who can lead the exercise group or meeting, it will be better.

SH: I heard annually there is a Korea shorts event in Minnesota. It is a great way to encourage people to exercise.

MS: However, only few people participate in the event. Many people do not participate. This is a problem. Although we make many sports events, only few people will participate. We need more participation. I think generally Koreans do not tend to participate in public events. To encourage people to participate, we need to make our events more interesting and well-prepared.

SH: We can think health problems associated with lack of exercise. As a solution, we can organize exercise group or make regular meetings for exercise. To encourage people to participate in the events, the agency needs to make well-prepared and interesting sports events.

BREAK

SH: We are back. Welcome back to our discussion. What are the three most risky behaviors against a healthy Korean community in Minnesota?

JH: Bad eating habits and lack of exercise are the most risky behaviors against a healthy Korean community in Minnesota. In my case, sometime I skip meals and overeat at late night since I am very busy on my business. I know exercise is important and I need to exercise, but it is difficult to afford my time for exercise. I think if we work together like in a group and encourage each other, it help improve our health.

KS: I think exercising together is a good idea. After exercising, I feel less fatigue. Our family try to eat healthy foods like fruits and vegetables.

SH: I agree with that these two behaviors are the most risky behaviors against a healthy Korean community in Minnesota. I want to add another factor. Smoking might be one of the most risky behaviors. Surprisingly many students are smoking while few seniors and middle-aged males are smoking. It is a problem since the students will be following generation in the Korean community. What efforts do we think that can reduce the smoking population?

JH: Smoking is addiction. Their will of quitting smoking is more important than social regulations. Despite of very cold weather, many heavy smokers smoke outside since they cannot smoke inside a building.

SH: I think so. In my school, there are many programs for quitting smoking. However, very few smokers participate.

IS: Also, there are some gamble problems. I was some of cases. Some people have gambling debts and some of them are in bankruptcy.

SH: How do we prevent and solve these problems? Can you educate them?

IS: We already have the program for quitting smoking and gamble problems, but they do not participate in those programs.

MS: We really need their participation. Moreover, we need to get their interest.

IS: Currently, there is no specialist for these matters. If there are enough specialists who can make more effective program, it will be really helpful. We need them.

SH: Okay, that sounds like the biggest reason is their will. Bad eating habit, lack of exercise, smoking, and gamble problems are caused by lack of their will. Also, as the solution and prevention, we think making programs for these problems with specialists in those fields.

SH: We discussed today all questions and could see that religious belief, strong family life, and understanding America culture are the three most important factors for a healthy Korean community in Minnesota. Also, the most important health issue in the community was health problems associated with lack of exercise. As a solution, we can organize exercise group or make regular meetings for exercise. To encourage people to participate in the events, the agency needs to make well-prepared and interesting sports events. From the third question, we could know bad eating habit, lack of exercise, smoking, and gamble problems can be considered as the most risky behaviors against the healthy community. Also, as the solution and prevention, we think making programs for these problems with specialists in those fields.

SH: It was great time to discuss about our current life condition. Thank you for your participation today, again.

Guests: Thank you!

What Causes Cancer? A shocking truth..

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What Causes Cancer? A shocking truth..

written by Beatrice
 cancer-lambert_2469736b

I was shocked the first time I heard how and WHY cancer happened. I was also surprised that the medical doctors I have met throughout this journey never explained to me WHY cancer happens at the first place, because we need to know the WHY to get to the prevention/improvement.

This 8 minute video by Shafin de Zane explains well the cancer happens at the first place because our cells are trying to protect itself by mutating, otherwise it would die because it is swimming in a sea of toxins. And also, it shares how cancer can be prevented quite easily. Please do watch this and share with others!