Suffering from allergies? Here's a simple solution that might really please you: Don't make your bed in the morning.

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My sister has high blood pressure. While lifestyle choices and medication keep her blood pressure in healthy ranges she can't seem to shake the edema. Despite her best efforts, her feet and ankles remain swollen and puffy. While my blood pressure is within healthy range, as soon as the weather gets hot and humid, I'm dealing with swollen feet, too.

Our bodies are designed to move water through our systems. Edema is a condition where excess fluid is retained between cells. There are many reasons you may have edema including immobility, pregnancy, heat/humidity, medications, high blood pressure, trauma, and kidney disease. If you have swollen feet, take heart. There are plenty of things you can do:

• Elevate your legs above heart level. You can use a leg wedge to raise your legs up while sleeping.
• Wear support socks.
  
• Increase your activity -- walking is a perfect exercise for helping edema.
• Avoid standing or sitting in one place for a long time. (If you are sitting for a while, try raising your feet up a bit.)
• Ask your doctor if a short-term course of diuretics would be advisable.
• If you're on high blood pressure medication, talk to your doctor about possibly modifying your medications. (Do not make any changes without speaking to your doctor.)
• Drink plenty of water.

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Wondering what your chances of catching the flu are today? Check the weather.

The popular weather site AccuWeather (www.accuweather.com) offers health-related information based on weather conditions. Here's a look at just a few of them:

Dropping pressure and high humidity can mean sinus headaches for some people. This is because sinus headaches typically occur on cool (but not always freezing) and damp days, when colds are being spread and the pressure is in flux.

Steady pressure and low humidity can affect people who suffer from asthma. Despite the fact that pollen counts are lower in winter months, asthma attacks are almost just as frequent. Cold outdoor air and dry indoor heat may aggravate symptoms.

Dropping pressure and high humidity can cause arthritis sufferers to experience joint pain. Cold temperatures and moisture can lead to swelling of the joints, irritating nerves and making symptoms worse.

Visit AccuWeather today for your own health forecast.

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Mold can be truly sickening, especially if you have a respiratory illness like Asthma. A healthy home is essential to a healthy lifestyle, so courtesy of Everyday Health, here are some ways to keep mold out of your home:

• Make sure to dry hard surfaces thoroughly after cleaning them
• If absorbent materials have mold (think carpets and fabrics), you should replace them
• Fix leaky plumbing
• Keep drip pans in the air conditioner, fridge and dehumidifier clean
• Use the exhaust fans in your bathroom and kitchen when showering, cooking or using the dishwasher
• Vent your dryer outside

How do you keep your home mold-free?

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When temperatures get as hot as they were this past weekend in the Midwest (upper nineties and into the triple digits) the weather man ends up talking more about the heat index it seems than anything else. So how hot is too hot, especially when it comes to the heat index measurement? Obviously it depends on what you want to do outdoors, but you may be surprised at how quickly the heat index can climb to dangerous levels.

According to the National Weather Service the heat index starts to become hazardous at 104º, but it's extremely dangerous once it gets to 126º. Sound impossibly hot? Not really -- just a temperature of 92º combined with a relative humidity of 85% will get you there. Here in Iowa that's at least half the summer -- be careful out there!

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It's that time of year when every woman's beauty nemesis rears its ugly head: humidity. We all know it, and we all know what it does to our hair -- especially curly hair. Try these tips next time steamy weather threatens to ruin your do:

• After washing and conditioning, use your fingers to twist hair into curls
• Finger comb hair -- no brushes!
• Don't handle your hair, especially not when it's dry
• Keep humidity from seeping in by using moisturizing shampoo and conditioner
• Use products for your hair type
• Try a curl activating product, a.k.a. 'voluminizer'
• Curl your hair with hot rollers or a curling iron to clearly define them
• Get the right haircut. Believe it or not stylists can give you a cut designed to minimize frizz

My hair has a mind of its own and I fight frizz pretty much all the time! My ultimate "nothing is working!" solution? Ponytail!

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Here are some healthy home cooling tips that help you use less energy and save money on your utility bill this summer while trying to cool your house during the hottest months of the year.

1. Dry air feels cooler than moist air. Moist air raises humidity factors. So by running a dehumidifier in the house it not only will cut down on mold but it will make it feel cooler.

2. On very hot days, you can save energy by closing the fresh air intake on your unit. Cooling fresh, warm outside air requires more electricity than re-cooling the air that is already circulating in your home.

3. On hot summer days, the temperature in your attic can range from 100 to 150 degrees. Improving the ventilation or increasing the insulation in your attic will lower the temperature of the entire house and make your air conditioner's job a lot easier. Also installing an attic fan that is controlled by a thermostat to exhaust the hot air out of your attic will improve the comfort of your home.

4. You can save on cooling costs by avoiding cooling rooms that are not occupied. Keep the doors shut to those rooms and close off the vents.

5. We all like to come home to a nice cool house after a long days work but why run the air conditioner all day. Special automatic timers for air conditioners are available that will turn the unit on before you arrive home.

6. Regular maintenance will insure that your air conditioner operates efficiently throughout the summer. Changing the filters once a month keeps it flowing and cooling better. You can also check your owner's guide to find out how to safely clean the condenser coils and fins on the outside of the unit.

7. Keep the doors going outside shut to keep cool air in.

8. Keep shades or blinds closed on the side of the house where the sun is shining in.

Allergy season is coming into full bloom with spring. Medicines help treat allergy symptoms once they strike, but here are a few hints that can help you prevent symptoms altogether. It is time for that good spring cleaning for your home and your nasal passages that should be put into your everyday routine.

The fresh air is great in the spring tempting us to open our windows and let that cross breeze flow through the house. But if you or your spouse or child are an allergy sufferer you should keep those windows closed and use air conditioning if you're allergic to pollen. Don't use fans since they can stir up dust. Filter the air. There are many brands of air filtration systems that you can put in individual rooms to help filter allergens out of the air. One helpful hint is to cover your air conditioning vents with cheesecloth to filter pollen and use high efficiency particulate air filters. Clean air filters or replace them frequently, once or twice a month. This not only cuts down on allergies but also the electric bill. Clean your home air ducts at least once a year. Keep the humidity in your house below 50 percent to prevent mold growth by using dehumidifiers and especially in the basement where mold is more likely to collect. Be sure to clean your dehumidifiers and filtration systems once a week also. Wash your bedding every week in hot water and vacuum twice a week. If you have indoor pets you should vacuum 4 times a week to cut down on animal dander and also bathe your pets often. Most important is don't allow smoking in your home.

Now that we have cleaned up your home, here is one helpful hint to clean up your nasal passages. Nettie Pots are great for cleaning out the sinus areas. A Nettie Pot is a small ceramic, long spouted, teapot where you put a simple salt and warm water solution and poor into your nose with your head tilted to one side. This flushes out all kinds of stuff. Be sure to do both nostrils.