Category: Health

RioVida Networks feels passionate about health and easy access to important health information. Both, new breakthroughs, as well as ancient and old remedies.

  • Basic trust in parents is essential for healthy child development.

    Photo by Filios Sazeides
    This boy trusts his father completely.  Photo by Filios Sazeides, www.unsplash.com

    Basic trust that develops through interaction between parents and children is the foundation of a purposeful and content life.  Without trust life is not worth living.  When children are in a trusting environment they learn to relax, count on the people around them,  trust in themselves and trust in their ability to overcome obstacles.  For that reason it is important for kids to learn to trust in the people around them.  This is also the reason betrayal of basic trust, or interruption due to abandonment during early childhood while the essential first trust is build, is so very damaging to the psyche.

    Father-daughter duo Dave and Claire Crosby

    In our modern lives people are not  always available to children. There is  work, travel .  Experts know that being responsive to children’s needs is the Nr. 1 important thing that can done for them.  Their psychological make-up and their outlook during the rest of their lives depends on their ability to know that when they reach their most trusted adults and that they we will be there when needed.  Erik Erikson and Jean Piaget to of the most formidable child psychologists teach that trust in self cannot happen without this basic trust. When kids are able to trust that their parents will respond to their every need they develop this “basic trust” or ‘Urvertrauen” is formed. Without this basic trust a person will develop “basic mistrust.”

    The only way a parent can help a child find that basic positive outlook on life it to respond to their children  in  realtime.  Technology can have a positive or negative effect on our lives.  We can become distracted or we can use the technology the be there for our kids. The choice is ours.

    Smartwatches are a solution that will allow us to stay in touch with those who are most important to us.  We can created phone trees of trusted adults and create a digital circle of love with Family Assistant Apps and Vigilints Kids Smartwatches are a potential for parents to stay connected, regardless of how busy life gets.

  • Check in with your friends and family. Make sure they feel loved.

    Photo of Older Lady by Aris Sfakianakis
    Photo of Older Lady by Aris Sfakianakis

    We are apparently living in a loneliness epidemic.  Over the past 80 years our culture has changed a lot and over the past 30 years industrialized nations  may have lost our cultural bearing.

    I learn recently of a lady in Japan who died and only after her corps smelled terrible did the neighbors realize that she had passed.  In Japan they have a word for “dying alone,” they call it  Kodokushi.  Several hundred thousand people pass away, without a relative or friend who cares about them.  I thought it was terrible and I was shocked that a nation of over 100 Million people would not care for their families or neighbors.   Then I found out that over 45 Million people in quasi “First World Nations”  are lonely.  That doesn’t sound very  “first world.”  It is embarrassing and a sign we need to rethink our lives.

    Recently I joined the marketing effort of Vigilint Biosensors, a company that has designed affordable smart watches that allow parents to check in on and communicate with their children and loved ones.  The Vigilint Family Assistant is an app that you can download that links to the kids or elderly parents Vigilint Smartwatches.  When I started reading up on the topic I couldn’t believe it.  OMG.  It is a world wide epidemic.  Apparently over 40% of people in the US report that they are feeling lonely.  And experts think that the actual number is higher.  How can that be?

    Loneliness is deadly.  Literally.  First of all it doesn’t feel very nice.  Remember how you felt when your first girl friend or boy friend didn’t call you back for several hours, when you first started dating and you were not sure whether they really loved you yet?   That feeling.  It feels like that.  Most unhealthy.

    Apparently it is genuinely unhealthy to feel lonely.  Vivek Murty, who served as the 19th Surgeon General in the US, shared that one of his more shocking experiences as SG was loneliness:  “I met middle and high school students in urban and rural areas who turned to violence, drugs, and gangs to ease the pain of their loneliness. I sat with mothers and fathers who had lost sons and daughters to drug overdoses and were struggling to cope alone because of the unfortunate stigma surrounding addiction.”  He went on to say: “During my years caring for patients, the most common pathology I saw was not heart disease or diabetes; it was loneliness. The elderly man who came to our hospital every few weeks seeking relief from chronic pain was also looking for human connection: He was lonely. The middle-aged woman battling advanced HIV who had no one to call to inform that she was sick: She was lonely too. I found that loneliness was often in the background of clinical illness, contributing to disease and making it harder for patients to cope and heal. ” (1)

    Vigilint Biosensors has been created by a bunch of highly successful Silicon Valley Semiconductor engineers, who created microchips for mobile phones that measure vital signs. Is the person moving, is the person where they are supposed to be? It also allows you to talk to them through their affordable VB wrist watch. They will not lose their phone, since it is tied around their wrist.  Brilliant I say!

    And apparently it not only reduces the stress of the parent, it also reduces the stress in the kids and the elderlies.  Social connections are so vital to our health. Apparently stress increases the cortisol level which is some kind of hormone in our bodies.  Loneliness increases the stress hormone called cortisol very much.  This causes inflammation which according to Time Magazine is responsible for stress-related difficulties including obesity, diabetes, metabolic disorders, heart diseases and other disorders. (2)

    So this weekend, hug your mom, your grandmother, your dad and your kids, and make sure you check in with your neighbors.  Apparently for young and old  loneliness is an epidemic and nearly every second person feels lonely.  Smile, say hello and ask:  “How do you do.”  And mean it.  Increasing your social circle may be the best medicine against:  “Kodokushi.”   And I am sure you agree, none of us want to have that.

    Instead talk with your family regularly.  Even if they are all grown, talk at least once a week, but more often if possible that is the only way you have enough time for a genuine relationship. Only regular contact let’s you know what is going on in their lives and for them to know what is going on in yours.  Bob Black once wrote a great tagline:  “Reach out and touch someone.”  If you can’t do it physically, do with via a text and even better a conversation.

    There are plenty of people to call.  The New York times claimed that about one-third of Americans older than 65 now live alone, and half of those over 85 do.  Loneliness can be fixed.  We need to reintroduce the concept of TLC and talk to each other.   I love the quote that Vigilint Biosensors execs use:

    Vigilint Biosensors is about moving people from the Internet of Things to the Internet of Caring. 

    Love that!  Happy trails and if you feel lonely reach out.  Call someone you haven’t talk with in a while. Remind them of the good times you had.  You will be surprised how happy it will make them to get your call after all these years.  Tell them you remember them and you feel good about your memories.  It works. 

  • Positive Kids and Parents Interactions assure healthy Brain Development

    Hawkeye Smartwatches with Vigilint Family Assistant App
    Hawkeye Smartwatches with Vigilint Family Assistant App
    Science shows that the more parents interact with their children the happier their lives will turn out.

    Talking, writing, encouraging, hugging and interaction with your children in their formative years, is not just good parenting skills. It set them on a path for the rest of their lives. The Harvard Child Development Science findings show that the ability to communicate with parents literally shapes the biology of children’s brains’ architecture. The reciprocal relationships of “Serve and Return” back and forth interaction is crucial for good parenting to maximize your child’s cognitive functions, emotionally support and social competence. As a result, the kids have increased learning capabilities. Healthy development in the early years is the foundation of everything that a child learns and how the child learns, how healthy the child will be throughout their life.

    Protect, Encourage and Communicate with Your Children

    These good parenting skills help parents guide communications to provide a sense of independence in their kids as well as helping be more assured. Hawkeye smartwatches for kids inform, protect and reassure parents/caregivers by allowing access to their kids and the ability to provide guidance every time it is needed. The fun Hawkeye Smartwatches bluetooth kid-to-kid communication enables a child to talk to their friends ‘walkie-talkie’ style. Hawkeye Smartwatches also offer a step tracker feature which kids love, as they compare their physical activities with their friends during recess.

    Modern tools like Vigilint Family Assistant help working parents stay in touch with their kids via calls, chat and the ability to guide the kids 24/7.  Kids have access to parents each time they need their parents’ input and feedback.

    Hawkeye Smartwatches and the Vigilint Family Assistant app allow parents to create custom SafeZones™. The moment the child moves out of the SafeZone™, parents are alerted.  Imagine you are cooking and the kids are on the playground, park, afternoon program.  Knowing exactly where your child is  a major comfort for both parents and kids.

    Each watch holds up to 20 parent-selected numbers that children can call. Kids are able to speak to their siblings and close friends through a direct kid-to-kid “walkie-talkie” connection. The more parents and kids communicate the less stress they have due to wondering and worrying. Relaxed parents enjoy happier and more confident kids that have a better, healthy and smarter life.

    Source:  Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University and www.vigilintbiosensors.com/

     

  • Get tested! You need to ask for this test, since it is hardly ever done.

    Courtesy https://www.heartmath.org/
    Courtesy https://www.heartmath.org/

    Meditation and Mindfulness works to improve health. Our attitudes affect our sleep, hormones and blood pressure.

    A study by the Endocrine Society shows that losing as little as 30 minutes of sleep over the course of 12 months can increase obesity risk by 17% and insulin resistance by 39%. “Sleep deprivation impairs good metabolic balance,” says Elissa Epel, PhD, a professor in the department of psychiatry at the University of California, San Francisco.

    Without effective screening, common hormonal causes of high blood pressure, such as the disorder termed “primary aldosteronism”, often go undiagnosed and untreated. This can leave individuals with these conditions at greater risk of developing cardiovascular disease, renal disease leading to dialysis or even dying.

    High blood pressure, also known as hypertension, affects one in four American adults, according to the Scientific Statement. In about 15 percent of these cases, high blood pressure is caused by hormone, kidney or other disorders. The rate can be as high as 50 percent among children and 30 percent among young adults.

    “Without appropriate lab tests, some common endocrine disorders are nearly indistinguishable from a routine case of hypertension,” said Endocrine Society Past President William F. Young, Jr., M.D., M.Sc., of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., and the chair of the task force that authored the Society’s Scientific Statement. “Screening for underlying causes of high blood pressure can save lives. This new resource offers healthcare providers valuable guidance on when to suspect a hormone disorder and how to test for it.”

    Hypertension can be the first sign of any of 15 endocrine disorders. The endocrine system produces and controls hormones—the chemical messengers that govern growth, reproduction, metabolism, breathing and other essential bodily functions. Potential causes of high blood pressure can include tumors that produce adrenal hormones such as aldosterone and adrenaline, thyroid disorders, obstructive sleep apnea, or acromegaly, a rare condition where excess growth hormone builds up in the bloodstream. The Scientific Statement delves into the number of people affected by the 15 endocrine disorders and the screening process for these disorders.

    The most common endocrine cause of high blood pressure is primary aldosteronism. Primary aldosteronism occurs when the adrenal glands—the small glands located on the top of each kidney—produce too much of the hormone aldosterone. This causes a build-up of aldosterone, which normally balances blood levels of sodium and potassium. The resulting excess sodium can raise blood pressure levels.

    “Healthcare providers should consider primary aldosteronism screening for most people who have hypertension,” Young said. “The condition can be easily treated and often cured when it is diagnosed. Early detection also reverses the elevated risk of cardiovascular events and kidney failure in this population.”

    Other authors of the statement include: David A. Calhoun of the University of Alabama at Birmingham in Birmingham, Ala.; Jacques W.M. Lenders of Radboud University Medical Centre in Nijmegen, the Netherlands, and University Hospital Carl Gustav Carus, Technische Universität in Dresden, Germany; Michael Stowasser of the University of Queensland School of Medicine, Greenslopes Private Hospital and Princess Alexandra Hospital in Queensland, Australia; and Stephen C. Textor of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn.

    The statement, “Screening for Endocrine Hypertension: An Endocrine Society Scientific Statement,” was published online in the Society’s journal Endocrine Reviews at https://academic.oup.com/edrv/article/38/2/103/3104343/Screening-for-Endocrine-Hypertension-An-Endocrine. The statement was published in the April issue of Endocrine Reviews.