It used to be that group classes at gyms were broken into a few small categories -- men/women, high intensity/low impact and so forth. But gyms have started to offer special classes that are designed to benefit much smaller groups. Most recently, gyms are offering classes designed for people with certain conditions or illnesses.

Osteoporosis, cancer, and cardiovascular conditions are just a few of the health problems gyms are starting to target. Depending on the condition, the classes may aim to improve the symptoms and/or reduce risk factors for recurrence.

If you have a specific condition, talk to one of the trainers at your gym. (Or call a local gym if you don't have a membership.) Even if they don't have condition-specific classes scheduled yet, they may have other gym-goers who are interested. In the meantime, a trainer can design a program that works specifically for your health needs.

Source

At some point, most people have tried, or at least considered, a cure they thought unorthodox. I have a friend who swears you can stop hiccupping if you say, "One!" after the first hiccup. Go ahead, try it -- it doesn't work for me, but you never know.

Men's Health has come up with six seemingly crazy cures that they swear are effective. Suffer from sleep apnea? Trying to quit smoking? Click through the gallery and see if there's a cure for your ailment -- what do you have to lose?

Source

It sounds odd that kids in their early teens are having heart attacks, but it's been documented many times. The surprising thing is that most of these rare cases have nothing to do with risk factors like obesity, family history, high blood pressure or unhealthy cholesterol levels.

The cause? A rare but serious heart spasm that briefly cuts off the blood supply, triggering a heart attack. Adults can experience the problem as well, but when it shows up in kids it is particularly surprising and I would guess not addressed appropriately in many cases.

Have you brushed off the "my chest hurts" explanation from your child? While heart attacks are not always the end result here, signs like that are a red flag -- to parents and teachers especially.

Source

Any obsessive music fan can tell you that they love music because something about a certain chord, melody or lyric can make them incredibly happy or calm or relaxed. Music is one of the -- if not the only -- universal languages. Anyone anywhere can move to a beat. It can lift your mood when you're sad and act as company or reassurance when you're lonely.

Is it surprising then that music is increasingly being used as part of a normal course of treatment for a number of ailments? As the American Music Therapy Association website states, music can be useful in a range of ways when working with patients. It can help kids dealing with an illness to express their feelings, it can improve communication, it can help a patient manage pain and reduce stress -- as Jessica mentions here, a recent study shows that patients who listen to music while undergoing a colonoscopy needed less sedation.

So what do you think? Is it best to just stick with a typical medical course of treatments and rehabilitation when dealing with an illness or is there some validity to the idea that music helps with healing?

Source

Is your breath reaching people before your words? Has a dear friend or family member politely leaned into you to tell you that you have bad breath? The first thing you do is cup your hand to your mouth and blow in it to check your breath. Instead keep a pack of gum in your pocket or purse and pop it into your mouth. Chewing gum after a meal, when you can't brush your teeth, will freshen your breath and the chewing action of the gum mixed with your saliva will clean your teeth.

Two other helpful hints to keep bad breath at large is to lightly brush your tongue after you are finished cleaning your teeth. Your tongue holds a ton of bacteria that can get rather smelly. Drink your daily requirement of water. Water is a cure for practically everything including bad breath. By keeping yourself well hydrated, your bad breath will surely reduce.

In some cases bad breath may be the sign of a local infection in the respiratory tract, chronic sinusitis, postnasal drip, chronic bronchitis, diabetes, gastrointestinal disturbance, liver or kidney ailment. If your dentist determines that your mouth is healthy, you may be referred to your family doctor or a specialist to determine the cause of bad breath.

Source