Monday, December 16, 2013

Could you pass a US citizenship test?

Could you pass a US citizenship test?



If you think this short quiz is hard, then you'd be in trouble with the real citizenship test, which contains 100 questions and isn't multiple choice. 1 in 3 actual Americans can't pass it.


Sunday, December 1, 2013

rapid heartbeat? Anxiety perhaps or a HEART ATTACK-see signs you must learn to live

What is a rapid heartbeat?

A rapid heartbeat, also called tachycardia, is a condition in which the heart is beating fast, generally more than 100 beats per minute for an adult. A rapid heartbeat can be normal, or it can result from a disease, disorder or other harmful condition.

The rate at which your heart beats varies continuously, rising and falling in response to many conditions and situations. For example, your heart rate will rise during strenuous activity in order to ensure that all the cells of the body receive sufficient amounts of oxygen-rich blood. The heartbeat may also become faster in response to stressful situations or when you are in pain. Your heartbeat is normally lower during periods of relaxation or sleep. The average adult resting heart rate falls within the range of 60 to 80 beats per minute.The heart pumps blood to the lungs and the rest of the body by contracting its four chambers. The two upper chambers are called atria and the two lower chambers are called ventricles. The sinus node, a small group of cells in your right atrium, transmits an electrical impulse through the heart, causing the atria to contract. The impulse travels through the ventricles, enabling them to contract and pump blood throughout the body. The number of times the heart beats per minute is called the heart rate. The rate of these contractions is determined by nerve impulses and hormones in the blood..


Your heart rate is affected by many factors, including age, general physical condition, aerobic conditioning, and altitude. Infants and children normally have a more rapid heartbeat than adults. A rapid heartbeat can also be caused by many diseases, disorders and conditions, such as heart disease, congenital heart defects, and hyperthyroidism.
Treatment of an abnormally rapid heartbeat varies depending on the specific type of underlying heart rhythm, its underlying cause, your age and medical history, and other factors.

Types of rapid heartbeats

A rapid heartbeat (tachycardia) is a type of cardiac arrhythmia. There are a variety of types of rapid cardiac arrhythmias:
  • Atrial fibrillation (AF) is caused by an irregular, rapid quivering of the atria, the upper chambers of the heart. AF can result in ineffective pumping of blood, pooling of blood in the atria, and the formation of blood clots.
  • Sinus tachycardia is a rapid, regular heartbeat that is over 100 beats per minute in adults. Sinus tachycardia may be normal in many cases and occurs as a response to many common conditions, such as exercise, stress, caffeine, illness, pain, or medication side effects.
  • Supraventricular tachycardia (SVT)is an extremely rapid heart rhythm that can compromise blood flow to the body if it is not treated rapidly. While anyone can develop SVT, it is more common in children. SVT is often intermittent, meaning that it comes and goes over time. Episodes may last from several minutes to several hours.
  • Ventricular tachycardia (VT) originates in the ventricles, the lower chambers of the heart. VT is life threatening because the heart contracts before filling with enough blood, resulting in an inadequate blood flow to the brain and other parts of the body. In many cases, this rapidly leads to loss of consciousness and the need for cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and advanced life-saving measures. VT can be caused by a variety of conditions, such as heart disease.
Certain types of rapid heartbeats or cardiac arrhythmias are serious or immediately life threatening.Seek immediate medical care (call 911) if you think that you, or someone you are with, have a rapid heartbeat with dizziness, fainting, or change in alertness, chest pain, or shortness of breath.
SYMPTOMS

What other symptoms might occur with a rapid heartbeat?

A rapid heartbeat may occur with or without noticeable symptoms, which can vary depending on the underlying cause. If you know how to take your own pulse, you will generally feel a rapid pulse at the wrist with a rapid heartbeat. However, in some types of serious rapid heartbeats, such as atrial fibrillation, it may be difficult to feel and count an accurate pulse because the heart is not pumping blood effectively enough to produce a strong pulse

anxiety

Cold and flu season is here cure it naturally



There is an endless list of natural approaches which people use to prevent or treat colds and flu, but not all have clinical evidence behind them. The following supplements, however, have shown an ability to help prevent or shorten a cold in most studies, and, in the case of vitamin D, to even reduce the risk of flu and pneumonia when it is used to correct a vitamin deficiency. In each case, you need to take the right supplement, at the right time, and in the right way to have the best chance of success. As I have said on the Dr. Oz Show in the past, you don’t always get what you want with dietary supplements, but my top picks, based on ConsumerLab.com’s latest tests, are listed below.

To find out more about the supplements you’re taking, ConsumerLab is offering a 24-hour free pass to Dr. Oz viewers. Visit ConsumerLab.com/DoctorOz now and get immediate access to ConsumerLab.com’s unbiased testing of echinacea, zinc, and vitamin D supplements. (This list may change over time based on the latest results shared by ConsumerLab.com on Dr. Oz.) Remember to let your doctor know if you take or are planning to take any supplements. Some may interact with medications and nutrients.,
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Echinacea 
Echinacea has a long history of use for treating respiratory infections. It’s not well understood how it works, but several studies show that echinacea can help you get over a cold faster and reduce symptoms.
My top picks are: 
  1. Swanson Superior Herbs Elderberry Echinacea Goldenseal Immune Complex 
  2. Gaia Herbs Echinacea Supreme Liquid 
  3. A. Vogel Echinaforce
You need to be extra careful when choosing supplements with echinacea. Some herbal formulas list echinacea as part of a "blend" or "proprietary formula," but fail to specify the amount or type of echinacea. All three of the products above list the right amount of extract from the types of echinacea which have been well studied.
The Swanson and Gaia products have also been checked by ConsumerLab.com to be sure they're not contaminated with heavy metals, microbes and chlorinated pesticides. They also include ingredients, such as elderberry in the Swanson product, which may further help with colds. The A. Vogel product has not yet been tested by ConsumerLab.com, but a clinical study published after we completed our tests found it to reduce the number of cold episodes and their duration by 26% if taken throughout the cold season.
You should start using echinacea at the first sign of a cold, taking a total of about 900 mg of extract divided into two or three doses per day for one to two weeks. Echinacea should not be given to children under 12 and has not been well studied for use by pregnant or breastfeeding women. People taking immunosuppressants or with progressive systemic diseases like tuberculosis or multiple sclerosis or autoimmune conditions should consult a doctor before use.

Zinc
Zinc can be helpful for colds in two ways: First, your immune system needs zinc, so you want to be sure you’re not deficient – which is not uncommon in older people. Second, when taken as a lozenge, zinc works on the throat and can reduce the duration and severity of cold symptoms. However, when used to treat a cold, zinc has to act directly on your throat where it may kill viruses. Just swallowing or even chewing a zinc supplement defeats the purpose. In fact, getting too much zinc may actually reduce your immunity.

ConsumerLab.com found the following three supplements contained the zinc they claimed without unwanted contamination from lead, a heavy metal which sometimes contaminates mineral supplements. Cold-Eeze has been clinically tested and found to work, providing 13.3 mg of zinc per lozenge and proper instructions on how it should be used. The ZAND lozenge has about half the zinc as Cold-Eeze, although it includes herbs which may be soothing on the throat. The last product is a zinc pill which would only be appropriate for treating zinc deficiency diagnosed by your doctor.
  1. Cold-Eeze Homeopathic Cold Remedy
  2. Zand Lemon Zinc Herbal Lozenge
  3. Vitamin World Chelated Zinc 50 mg
The Cold-Eeze lozenge should be taken at the first sign of a cold and allowed to dissolve in the mouth every two hours during the day. The lozenges should not be taken one after the other like candy, and should not be used for more than a week because the total daily dose of zinc is fairly high and would be unsafe if taken for too long. Note that recommended dosing may be different for children and pregnant women.

Vitamin D

Taking vitamin D is unlikely to help people who are not deficient in it. However, when vitamin D is given to people who are deficient, which is the case for as much as 40% of Americans, it does amazing things including reducing the risk of the flu and respiratory infections, including pneumonia. You’re more likely to be deficient if you don’t get out in the sun much (or if your extremities are totally covered with clothing or sunscreen when you do) and don’t consume much dairy or other foods with vitamin D. People with dark skin, the elderly, and those who are obese are more likely to be deficient.

You also don’t want to overdo it with vitamin D and, unfortunately, our tests have found some popular supplements to contain as much as 80% more vitamin D than listed. ConsumerLab has found the following to contain what they claim, plus, the dosage is moderate, they’re easy to take, and they cost just one to three cents per day.
  1. Vitacost Baby D’s (400 IU per drop)
  2. Source Naturals Vitamin D-3 Drops (400 IU per drop)
  3. Spring Valley (Wal-Mart) D-3 (1,000 IU per soft gel)
The Baby D drops have no taste and it’s easy to add one or two drops (400 IU to 800 IU) to a food or beverage. By taking vitamin D with food, particularly those with fats or oils, you increase its absorption by as much as 50%. For people who normally don’t get enough vitamin D, 400 IU to 1000 IU daily may be needed year-round, and even higher amounts may be required to initially get levels up, such as 2,000 IU per day for several weeks – but check with your doctor. Ideally, your blood plasma level of vitamin D (25-hydroxyvitamin D) should be 20 to 30 ng/mL. Each 100 IU should boost your level by 1 ng/mL, although, if you are obese, 200 IU is required for the same rise, as vitamin D is fat soluble. There is growing evidence that some of the benefits of vitamin D start being lost as levels rise past 35 ng/mL and may not be safe above 50 ng/mL. People with hypercalcemia or hypercalciuria as well as heart disease should be particularly sure to consult their doctor before use.

More details about echinacea, zinc, and vitamin D supplements, including test results for many brands not mentioned above, are included in ConsumerLab.com’s online reports, which you can access for a limited time with 24-hour pass for Dr. Oz viewers atConsumerLab.com/DoctorOz.