Health & Well-Being

Here are the four rules for staying healthy, courtesy of Time magazine:

• #1: Learn “hands-only” CPR. New guidelines from the American Heart Association make it easier to perform CPR. How? Because everyone is now advised to begin CPR with chest compressions, and skip mouth-to-mouth resuscitations - unless they’re dealing with a drowning victim. Studies show that doing only chest compressions works just as well to jump-start someone’s heart as doing the full version of CPR.
• The next new rule for good health: Don’t overdo the vitamin D. Experts at the Institute of Medicine say that most us get enough vitamin D through natural sources – like our diet and sunlight. For strong bones, adults should take no more than 600 International Units of vitamin D a day, along with 1,000 milligrams of calcium.
• Good health also means knowing for sure if you’re allergic to certain foods. Experts say that 90 percent of kids who are diagnosed with allergies to milk, eggs and peanuts are not allergic at all. They simply have food sensitivities. To distinguish between the two, new standard medical guidelines state that a food allergy must be measured by a blood test and contain four factors - including a definite reaction to a food - like intestinal problems, difficulty breathing, or a rash.
• One final rule for good health: Get at least two-and-a-half hours of moderate to vigorous exercise every week, which is critical for a healthy heart and to lose weight. Know this: You’ve got to stick with it. Losing weight through exercise alone can take a year or longer.