What to do when a child's weight is below what is healthy for their age
What to do if your child appears to be underweight
If you are unsure whether your child needs to gain weight, consult with your doctor before beginning any weight-gain efforts. It is certainly likely that your child's weight is perfectly normal. Given that one in every five children in the United States is obese and another one in every six is overweight, it's understandable for a parent to believe their child is underweight in comparison. Checking your child's body mass index, a measurement based on height and weight that is used for children aged 2 and older, is one approach to determining if their weight is healthy.
Losing weight or being underweight might be a sign of a medical or emotional issue, so discuss your worries with your doctor. They may want to see your child determine whether any evaluations are required. If your child is under the age of two, it is very important that you consult with your doctor regarding weight concerns and strictly adhere to their recommendations.
Choosing nutritious foods for a youngster who needs to gain weight
If your child is over the age of two and the doctor believes that gaining weight is a good idea, the best way to go about it is to use nutritious foods and healthy practices.
Three strategies for encouraging healthy weight gain:
Make sure you feed your child three times daily, which includes breakfast, lunch, and dinner, as well as two nutritious snacks (mid-morning and mid-afternoon). You can give your child a light snack if she or he finishes breakfast early. You want them to be truly hungry when you feed them, so try to limit their access to snacks and liquids between meals.
Provide nutritious, high-calorie foods. Consider nutritious fats and proteins. Some examples are:
Boil pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, nut butter, and nuts.
Hummus
Olive oil and vegetable oil
Avocados
Meat
Whole milk, heavy cream, and cream cheese
Whole grains, such as whole-wheat bread and granola sweetened with juice,
Make the meal more delicious and nutritious by considering ways to add calories every time you make a meal or snack. For instance, you may add additional oil, butter, or cheese to pasta or nut butter to apple slices or toast.
Why is play important in the early years of life?
The brain's neural network expands by more than a million connections in the first few years of life. Additionally, these neuronal connections are made more effective by pruning. These procedures actually contribute to the development of the brain and help mold how it works for the remainder of the child's life. This is influenced by biology, primarily genetics, but also by a child's upbringing and experiences.
With attentive care, babies and kids flourish. The Harvard Center on the Developing Child coined the phrase "serve and return" to characterize this situation. Back-and-forth exchanges in which the child and carer respond to and engage with each other in a caring, loving way are the foundation of a healthy brain and a content child who will have a higher likelihood of developing into a healthy, content, capable, and successful adult.
One of the best methods to provide responsive care is through play. To increase the advantages of playing:
- Bring all of your focus. Put down the phone and avoid multitasking.
- Being reciprocal The "serve and return" component is this. You want to encourage interaction between newborns and their carers, even when they are little. The goal is to incorporate responsiveness into the play; it doesn't have to be reciprocal in an equal sense—you might be speaking in complete phrases while your baby is only smiling or cooing.
- Be aware of developmental milestones. Your child will be able to participate fully, and you will be able to support their growth at the same time.
Parents can get some fantastic suggestions and handouts from the Center for the Developing Child about certain games to play with their kids at various ages.
Children as young as 6 months and 9 months are acquiring the basics of the language, including mimicry. Additionally, they are beginning to learn how to move and explore their surroundings.
For this age group, try some of these games:
Play patty-cake or peek-a-boo.
Play games where you hide toys under a blanket, then you must "discover" them, or you can let the baby do it.
Have back-and-forth conversations. The infant may only make the sounds "ma" or "ba." You can respond by making the same noise or by acting as though your child is speaking ("You are silent! Really? Explain further! ").
Play imitation games. For instance, if your kid sticks out their tongue, copy them. Older infants will be able to imitate sounds like clapping or hammering, and they will like it when adults replicate those sounds with them.
Sing along to songs featuring motions, such as "Itsy Bitsy Spider" or "Trot, Trot to Boston."
Play simple games with objects, like dumping them and saying "boom" or putting toys in a bucket and taking them out.
Collagen is the most abundant protein in our bodies. It is found in our skin, muscles, tendons, and ligaments. Collagen is a multi-amino acid protein composed of glycine, proline, hydroxyproline, and arginine. It is responsible for our skin's strength and flexibility.
As we get older, our bodies naturally make less collagen. This can cause wrinkles, skin that sags, and even pain in the joints. When we see these signs that our bodies aren't making as much collagen, many of us turn to products that contain collagen.
It can also come from the scales of fish or the shells of eggs. It is mostly made from the connective tissue of cows. Marine collagen is made by fish and other sea creatures. Collagen is made from animal waste by taking the connective tissue and grinding it into a fine powder.
After processing, collagen can be found in dietary supplements, lotions, and other cosmetics. It was first used in beauty products. When people saw results from using collagen in beauty products, it became popular as a supplement.
What is vegan collagen?
A vegan collagen is a cruelty-free option. Vegan collagen is still in its early phases of development and is frequently manufactured from a kind of yeast known as Pichia pastoris.
P. pastoris is the most efficient and widely used microorganism for the production of high-quality vegan collagen supplements.
It is hard to find a vegan collagen supplement right now. Most likely, you'll find a vegan collagen booster instead. Most vegan collagen supplements have words like "collagen boost" or "collagen builder" on the label. These boosters and builders have ingredients that help your body make more collagen on its own.Even though vegan supplements that you take by mouth are harder to find, there are a lot of vegan collagen beauty products available. When looking for a vegan product, always check the label and list of ingredients to make sure it has a vegan certification and hasn't been tested on animals.
What is the cause of collagen loss?
Many things can speed up the loss of collagen in our bodies. Ageing causes us to lose collagen, but the environment and how we live our lives can also make us lose collagen.
Ultraviolet (UV) rays from the sun damage the skin and, over time, make the skin less able to make collagen. One reason you should always wear sunscreen is because of this.
Collagen has an effect on our bones, too. As we get older, the collagen in our bones becomes less reliable, which makes our bones weaker.
Other lifestyle choices, like smoking cigarettes, drinking alcohol, or eating too much added sugar or ultra-processed foods, can hurt collagen production and the body's ability to repair itself.
Collagen Production
Our bodies make collagen on their own. Even though vegans don't need collagen supplements, there doesn't seem to be any reason not to take them. Before adding to or changing your supplement routine, you should always talk to your doctor or nurse.
Increasing the amount of protein you eat may help your body make more collagen. Eating a variety of proteins throughout the day makes sure that your body gets the amino acids it needs to keep making collagen. Healthy adults should try to get at least 0.8 grammes of protein per kilogramme of body weight per day, or 36 grammes of protein per pound.
Consider adding these and other plant-based proteins to your vegan diet to meet your nutritional needs and help your body make collagen naturally:
Tofu
Nuts and Seeds from Quinoa
Legumes, all varieties
Beans, all varieties
Collagen Boosters
Collagen boosters are foods that help your body make more of its own collagen. When added to plant-based proteins, these boosters may help the body make more collagen. Even though more research needs to be done in this area, vitamin C, amino acids, copper, and antioxidants may help vegans build collagen.
Vitamin C
One of the most important things for making collagen is vitamin C. It helps connective tissue repair and heal. 3 It also helps protect cells from damage caused by free radicals because it is a powerful antioxidant. Our bodies cannot make vitamin C, so we must get it from our diet.
Vitamin C is a vitamin that dissolves in water and can be found in many fruits and vegetables. Some good vegan places to get vitamin C are:
Oranges
Kale
Broccoli, Kiwi, Strawberries
Amino Acids
Collagen can also be made with the help of amino acids from plant-based proteins. Proteins in our bodies are made up of amino acids.
Collagen can't be made without proline, which is an amino acid. Soybeans, cabbage, and mushrooms all have proline in them. Another amino acid that helps the body make collagen is glycine. It can be found in pumpkin seeds, soybeans, and spirulina.
Copper is an important part of collagen because it helps make red blood cells, bones, and the fibres that hold tissues together. It can be found in beans, lentils, nuts, seeds, and dark leafy greens.
Antioxidants are all important for making collagen because they keep your cells healthy and protect them from damage caused by free radicals. Blueberries, goji berries, and acai berries are all good plant-based sources of antioxidants.
Lifesaving screening tests include Pap smears and blood pressure checks. They are able to detect diseases that you have no reason to think are present. Early identification may allow for the treatment of the disease while it is still treatable and before irreversible complications develop.
Some screening tests prevent the disease for which they were developed. For instance, colonoscopies and Pap smears can detect precancerous abnormalities that can be treated to prevent their growth and transformation into cancer. And each year in the United States, missed screening tests contribute to thousands of preventable deaths. A new study on Pap smears reveals that the benefits diminish after a certain point. And many of us might benefit from a greater grasp of the limitations of screening and how specialists determine when individuals should stop undergoing routine screening tests.
Even the most effective screening tests have limits. It is able to miss the disease it is designed to detect (false-negative results). Or, it may produce anomalous outcomes when no disease is present (false-positive results).
Importantly, as people age, both life expectancy and screening advantages tend to diminish. Numerous illnesses found by routine screenings, such as prostate cancer and cervical cancer, generally present problems only after a period of time. A person in their 80s is more likely to pass away from another deadly ailment than from cervical cancer or prostate cancer. Moreover, many diseases, such as cervical cancer, become less prevalent with age.
As a result, many screening tests are no longer suggested indefinitely. At some point in your life, your doctor may inform you that you no longer need to repeat a screening test, even if you've grown accustomed to it.
Looking after your health is one of the most important investments of your time. In the midst of the ongoing cost-of-living crisis, staying positive can feel tricky – and many Brits have been struggling with money worries on top of existing mental health issues. In fact, at least one in six people report having a mental health problem each week in England.
While it’s always best to seek professional advice if you’ve been struggling for a while, there are numerous proactive steps that could help you feel a little bit better on a day-to-day basis. From raking a gentle stroll to spending quality time with friends, small things can make a big difference.
How to improve and maintain your mental health
Look after your physical health first
If you’ve been unfortunate enough to have an accident, it’s important to give your body the time and rest it needs to recover from a personal injury of any type.
People often say that pregnancy is a time of happiness and excitement, which is true for many people. It is hard to ignore the health risks and fears that can come up from some vulnerable patients getting a positive pregnancy test.
In the United States, just being pregnant poses serious short-term and long-term health risks, with the most serious pregnancy-related problems of any developed country, and about 700 people die every year as a result. This health problem affects women of color and low-income women the most. In fact, Black women are three times more likely to die from pregnancy-related complications than white women.
From a health point of view, what makes pregnancy extremely difficult?
Pregnancy is like a long-term stress test that puts a lot of strain on the body's systems and creates new health risks. It changes how the kidneys, lungs, and heart work. It also changes the immune system and the way the body uses energy by affecting many organs. It gets more blood to all parts of the body. People who already have high blood pressure, diabetes, or other health problems will be hurt more by this. Furthermore, pregnancy can aggravate mental health issues like depression and anxiety, exacerbating the symptoms.
Two health problems that are specific to pregnancy are:
Preeclampsia. This can lead to high blood pressure and damage to the kidneys, liver, and brain, among other organs. Just being pregnant puts more pressure on the heart and blood vessels. According to the Preeclampsia Foundation, having a preeclampsia pregnancy more than triples a person's lifetime risk of having a heart attack or stroke. Preeclampsia is more likely to happen if you are younger than 18 or older than 40, have an autoimmune disease (like lupus), already have high blood pressure, or had preeclampsia in a previous pregnancy.
Too much blood loss after birth (postpartum hemorrhage). Even though some things put people at a higher risk, any birth, even those with no problems, can cause a hemorrhage.
Most of the time, a person with health problems can still have a safe pregnancy. Still, if you already have a disease like heart disease or diabetes, you are more likely to have complications and die. More women are getting pregnant later in life, which makes it more likely that they already have heart disease. Large, multidisciplinary teams of health professionals are now often needed to care for pregnant women with complex cardiac needs or other health conditions. This wasn't always the case in the past.
Unintended pregnancy rates are high.
In the United States, almost half of all pregnancies are not planned. In some cases, this means that a pregnancy is wanted in the future, and in other cases, it means that a pregnancy is not wanted.
Why do so many people get pregnant when they don't want to? Nine out of ten sexually active women who don't want to get pregnant say they use some kind of birth control. Of course, not every method of birth control is very good. If you only use condoms, 13 out of 100 people will get pregnant in a year, while up to 23 out of 100 people will get pregnant if you also use other methods to figure out your fertility.
Replacement parts for the eyes must have seemed unthinkable in the past. Currently, if a cataract clouds the inner lens of the eye, a routine procedure to replace it with an artificial lens restores vision.
However, what happens if the outer lens of the eye (the cornea) is injured or infected? You can also have that replaced. "It's not as prevalent as cataract surgery, but around age 50, many people develop corneal disorders and may need a corneal transplant."
According to the Eye Bank Association of America, over 49,000 corneal transplants happened in the United States in 2021.
What exactly is the cornea?
The cornea is a clear tissue dome that covers the iris and pupil in the front of each eye. It acts as a windscreen to protect the delicate eye mechanism behind it and focuses light onto the retina, which sends impulses that the brain turns into images (your vision).
To focus and view well, a windscreen and camera lens are required. However, numerous things can go wrong within the cornea's five layers of tissue. This can make it difficult to see and hinder your ability to read, drive, work, and complete other daily tasks.
How does a corneal injury develop?
It may result from a variety of factors, including:
Accidental injuries, such as a fall: "Falls are a leading cause of patients presenting with acute eye damage." The cornea might be easily destroyed if it is poked.
Vision loss can be caused by serious corneal infections or genetic diseases such as Fuchs' endothelial dystrophy.
What treatment options exist for corneal damage?
Treatment for a cornea depends on the nature of the problem and the extent of the damage. It is a methodical technique. Occasionally, using specialized contact lenses or taking drugs helps reduce corneal swelling or scarring.
When corneal damage cannot be repaired, surgeons can replace one or a few layers (a partial-thickness transplant) or the entire cornea (a full-thickness transplant) (a full-thickness transplant).
The great majority of corneal transplants are obtained and processed by eye banks across the United States. In certain circumstances, such as when repeated transplants fail, an artificial cornea may be used. After corneal surgery, recovery can take up to a year.
Many people agree that taking small amounts of psychedelics can improve your mood, creativity, focus, productivity, and ability to understand other people. Or could the benefits be a result of what people expect? This means that most people who take a pill every day with the firm belief that it will make them happier and smarter will feel happier and smarter, no matter what's in the pill.
The inability to define microdosing for any psychedelic substance in a single, universally accepted way makes it difficult to conduct consistent research. One definition is about 1/5 to 1/20 of a dose used for recreation. (This is true based on anecdotal evidence; a medium-strength dose of psilocybin is 2 to 3 grams of dried mushrooms, and a microdose is usually around 0.3 grams.) One problem is that mushrooms are not regulated outside of clinical trials, so their strength can vary a lot. This isn't an exact science. In the same way, LSD is a substance that can't be seen, smelled, or tasted. It usually comes in the form of a liquid or a piece of paper that can be put under the tongue.
Since it is illegal and not regulated, there is no good way to know how much you are taking unless you get it from a very trustworthy source. LSD is a very strong drug that stays in your body for a long time. You don't want to take more than you're supposed to. Also, psychedelics like psilocybin and LSD can cause physiological tolerance. This could mean that even if microdosing does help, staying at the same dose might not be as helpful.
But what occurs after sunset? Many people with chronic pain agree with some studies that suggest that chronic pain is worse at night.
What causes chronic pain?
Chronic pain is described as pain that persists for at least two to three months, frequently long after the initial injury or sickness has healed. The discomfort could possibly persist indefinitely. It can affect a single joint or muscle, or it can exclusively impact certain parts of the body, such as the neck and back. Diffuse, persistent pain may result from diseases like fibromyalgia or arthritis.
Chronic pain can range from a dull ache to pain that shoots, searing, stabs, or feels like an electric shock, as well as tingling and numbness.
Why does chronic pain sometimes get worse at night?
There are a number of reasons why pain may get worse at night. Hormones may play a significant role. The anti-inflammatory hormone cortisol is produced least frequently at night.
Additionally, recent studies have raised the possibility that pain may have a circadian rhythm similar to the 24-hour internal clock that governs our sleep-wake cycle. This helps to explain why some people frequently experience more pain at particular times, such as at night, according to Slawsby.
There is never a good time for chronic pain, but the night is particularly bad since it interferes with sleep. Lack of sleep impairs our capacity to control discomfort. And those who have chronic pain frequently experience sleep issues. The majority of patients who are diagnosed with insomnia, the most prevalent sleep disorder, experience chronic pain.
Sleep loss brought on by insomnia can boost the release of cytokines, which are involved in the body's inflammatory response and increase pain sensitivity.
Getting the rest you require if nighttime pain is a problem
Trying these methods may help you sleep better if nighttime pain has been keeping you awake.
Do a relaxing ritual before going to bed.
The health of everyone is increasingly threatened by climate change. As emergency care practitioners in Australia and the United States, we and our international colleagues are already observing the effects of climate change on the patients we meet.
However, a greater number of us will experience climatic emergencies, such as flooding, fires, and severe weather. And when the time comes, we may all take proactive steps to safeguard our health. Here are some things to be aware of and take action on.
What impact is climate change having on health?
People are turning to emergency rooms as a result of a variety of climate-related health issues, including heat exhaustion and heat stroke, air pollution-related asthma, infectious diseases linked to flooding, and shifting biomes that cause ticks, mosquitoes, and other pests to relocate. Hurricanes, wildfires, tornadoes, and floods often make the news because of the physical and mental damage they cause.
Many people find themselves suddenly without access to their regular healthcare providers and pharmacies, sometimes for extended periods of time. Individuals with complicated medical conditions, children, the elderly, people with disabilities, members of marginalised groups, and residents of disadvantaged regions frequently bear the brunt of the costs of extreme weather.
For instance, a woman recently visited an emergency room in Adelaide, Australia, complaining of a headache, weariness, and nausea—all signs of heat exhaustion—on a day when the temperature reached 110 degrees Fahrenheit. She explained to the medical staff that she had just walked two hours in the heat to get food because she didn't have a car or transportation. The only way she had to get food for her family was to venture outside, despite the media's health cautions that day telling her to stay indoors where it was cool. Well-intentioned public health warnings do little to lower the risk of sickness during harsh weather for this woman and many others. Access to housing, transportation, and other socioeconomic variables that put people at risk of poor health outcomes must be addressed in order to achieve safe and equitable health outcomes.
Extreme weather is a factor in widespread problems with health and safety.
Extreme weather linked to climate change is increasingly resulting in sporadic access to medical care, which increases the risk of later sickness and death. Extreme weather can disrupt vital infrastructure, such as the electrical grid, making it impossible for people who depend on home medical equipment to use it. A dialysis centre or emergency department may close as a result, and care may be provided more slowly in institutions that remain open.
People who are displaced as a result of a fire or hurricane may find it difficult to access medical care or essential medications like insulin, dialysis, therapies for high blood pressure, and heart medications. Especially in people who already have heart failure, lung disease, or kidney disease, these things can make chronic conditions worse and even cause death.