“There is nothing permanent except change.” So wrote Heraclitus, the Greek philosopher, some 2,500 years ago. He was big on reason and logic, but he was smart enough to also know that each coin has two sides. In other words, life is full of opposites. As such, the polar opposites of “permanence” and “change” sort of require each other. Thinking of his wise words, I wondered how he might feel about the troubles we all have developing healthy habits.

Who among us doesn’t have something that they do that isn’t exactly healthy? (Goodness knows I do.) Everyone has habits or “lazinesses” that we’ve developed over time which have led us into doing things which are against our own best health interests. Too much chocolate, pop, sugary drinks, junk and/or fast foods; too much alcohol; smoking; driving too fast; sleeping too little; too much computer or T.V. time; etc…the list goes on and on of things which we know are unhealthy, yet which many of us still find hard to stop. (more…)

Hal was puffing pretty hard when he came through the back kitchen door. He walked over to the cupboards, grabbed a glass, and went to the fridge to grab the water pitcher. He poured a tall glass and drank it thristily. “A healthy habits app a day keeps the doctor away,” he muttered as he looked at his phone.

Sal, who was sitting at their small kitchen table looked up from his cereal bowl and asked, “Don’t you mean an apple a day? That’s what keeps the doctor away.”

“Well, yeah, that too,” replied Hal between breaths. “But, I was talking about my new app. It’s all about making me get better at healthy habits. Here…see?” Hal pressed a couple of buttons on his phone before turning it toward Sal. (more…)

How many times have you seen those signs in restaurant or other public restrooms saying “All Employees Must Wash Hands Before Returning to Work”? This is a very important thing to help fight the spread of germs. But, for truly good germ fighting power, it should say that they must “Wash AND Dry” their hands.

Why? Because according to scientists at the University of Auckland, New Zealand, it isn’t just the washing that helps. They looked at how many germs were spread when people touched different stuff – skin, food, utensils – after washing their hands with and without good drying. If hands were dried really well after washing, the number of germs that they spread shrank by 94 to 99%. It is about 1,000 times safer if you dry your hands well after washing them than if you leave them wet or damp! (more…)

“Whoa, there, Mister Clean. Where do ya think you’re going with that germ load?” asked Hal.

Sal, his hand just inches from the bathroom door of Johnny Balboa’s Famous Italian Pizzaria and Popcorn Parlor, Sal’s favorite restaurant. Sal turned with a frown and said, “Back to my chili con carne pizza, of course. Why?”

“Not with those hands, little bro,” answered Hal.

Sal looked at his hands, both palms turned up, flipped them over, and said, “They’re the only hands I got, Hal.” (more…)

Kids grow. Geez, that’s not much of a story, huh? It isn’t, but where kids’ bones grow, a special area called the growth plate, is maybe something many people don’t know much about. These growth plates are really important when it comes to broken bones – also known as fractures – in kids. Here’s a little serving on growth plates to help you understand why.

As I mentioned, kids grow, and their bones must grow to help make that happen. But bones – and we’re talking about the long bones here, like leg, arm, and finger bones – grow at a special place near their ends. This place is like a little slice through the bone that is filled with cartilage. (Cartilage is a “connective” tissue in the body, softer than bone, but more firm than muscle. The stiff parts of your ears and the lower part, the wiggly part, of your nose are good examples.) It’s in these cartilage zones where new bone is made that allows long bones to get longer. (more…)

Lying in a bed, careening down hilly Topdown Drive with one broken leg tied up in traction is not exactly what Hal had planned to do today. How he got there is still a bit of a mystery. (Well, it’s a mystery to most of us…you know, normal people who try to avoid doing dumb things that cause pain.)

It all started just like any other day…well, any other day that a kid finds himself lying in bed with his broken leg in a cast tied up to some contraption to help it heal right and not hurt so much. (OK, so it wasn’t like most other days.)

Hal had broken his left tibia. That’s the bigger of the two bones in his lower leg, the one in the front that most people call their shin bone. Turns out that trying to ride a bicycle on top of two skateboards down the very steep Topdown Drive isn’t such a good idea, especially when there are cars around. Who knew? (more…)