Are You Using Too Much Disinfectant?

One question that has popped up during the coronavirus pandemic is whether it’s bad to disinfect. Does getting rid of germs around the house weaken your immune system?

Protect Your Health Without Going to Extremes

According to many health professionals, the idea that your immune system suffers in a clean home is just a myth. There’s no reason to think that cleaning and disinfecting are bad for your family. Keeping your kitchen clean, vacuuming carpets, dusting furniture and disinfecting bathroom surfaces are all good for staying healthy.

It is possible to overdo disinfecting, but the risks are different from what you think. Disinfecting too much is dangerous because of the side effects of the cleaning chemicals you use, not because of your immune system.

Keep Disinfectant Chemicals Away From Your Skin and Food

At the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, calls to poison control centers in the U.S. increased by 20% practically overnight. Some families exposed themselves to serious health problems by using disinfectants in dangerous ways:

  • Never wash food with bleach or other disinfectants

  • Never apply disinfectant chemicals to your bare skin

  • Never breathe chemical vapors on purpose

  • Never gargle with any type of cleaning chemical

  • Never soak clothing in disinfectants or use chemicals in your washing machine

Disinfectants are only designed for cleaning hard surfaces.

Be Balanced With Hand Sanitizer

Alcohol-based hand sanitizer can be a lifesaver when you’re at the supermarket or in public, but you should be careful not to overuse it. Too much sanitizer can irritate your skin or trigger eczema. If possible, avoid sanitizers that contain antibiotics such as triclosan.

At work and home, go with soap and water. Many antibacterial soaps have hydrating agents that keep your hands from drying out.

Follow Safety Tips When Using Disinfectants

How can you stay safe and keep your family safe when using disinfectants? These tips can help protect you:

  • Follow label directions: Many people think that if the bottle says one capful, then two capfuls are twice as effective. A stronger concentration doesn’t improve cleaning! All it does is potentially expose you to skin irritation and other health problems.
  • Wear gloves: Many cleaning and disinfecting products can be absorbed into your skin. The best way to protect yourself is to wear gloves when wiping down countertops or cleaning bathroom surfaces.
  • Open a window: You have to be careful not to breathe cleaning chemicals. Make sure there is adequate ventilation, either by opening a window or turning on your exhaust fan.

Be especially careful with bleach. Never use bleach directly. Always dilute it according to label directions, and wear gloves.

Never Mix Disinfectant Chemicals

One of the most dangerous situations is when people try to mix different cleaning chemicals. Here is a complete list of things never to mix:

  • Vinegar

  • Hydrogen peroxide

  • Bleach

  • Ammonia

  • Rubbing alcohol

  • Acids

These chemicals produce toxic vapors if you mix them. This can lead to breathing problems, chemical burns or even death.

Disinfect Safely

There’s no need to go crazy with disinfectant most of the time. Of course, if someone in your family is sick, it’s OK to clean more frequently than normal.

Clean the surfaces that you touch the most, such as faucets, door handles, light switches and appliances. Wipe down tables, desks and dressers. Keep your kitchen and bathroom especially clean, and wash your hands when you come home with antibacterial soap and water.

Is It Good Or Bad To Eat Something Before Bedtime?

It’s amazing how many different opinions people have about eating before bed. Some people say it’s great for dealing with insomnia and others warn that it’s the reason you have trouble sleeping in the first place. What’s the truth?

Does Eating Before Bed Affect Your Sleep Quality?

If you have trouble sleeping at night, eating a lot of food before bedtime may be the reason why. Men are affected by this, but women are affected even more:

  • Making it harder to fall asleep
  • Waking you up in the middle of the night
  • Interrupting normal sleep cycles
  • Decreasing the amount of time you spend in restful sleep

It's important to emphasize that sleep issues are mainly caused by foods that are high in fat, sugar or calories. Snacking on potato chips, ice cream, nachos, pizza or pie — or eating a big meal right before bed — can definitely affect sleep quality.

Do Certain Foods Make You Sleepy?

The good news is that not all foods are bad for bedtime. In fact, some are great for falling asleep. Foods containing tryptophan, serotonin or melatonin can help you unwind, feel calm, and sleep better. Here are my favorite nighttime superstars:

  • Kiwi slices
  • Tart cherries/tart cherry juice
  • Almonds
  • Milk
  • Oatmeal
  • Bananas
  • Chamomile tea
  • Passionflower tea
  • Valerian root tea

I'm serious. Eat a kiwi before bed for a week and let me know how it goes. I didn’t believe it either, but it works wonders!

Does Nighttime Snacking Make You Gain Weight?

Some people gain a LOT of weight when they eat at night. Others actually lose weight! Why the difference?

It all comes down to portion control and calories. If you know you get hungry around bedtime, making yourself a healthy turkey sandwich an hour or so before bed won’t add to your waistline. In fact, it may help you eat more balanced meals the next day.

Some people like to eat a bowl of cereal, some fruit, or Greek yogurt. I prefer grabbing a portion of mozzarella cheese or some nuts.

Does a Healthy Diet Help You Sleep Better?

Do you remember how amazing you felt the last time you woke up completely refreshed? That’s how sleep is supposed to be all the time, but stress and health problems get in the way.

A healthy diet supports good sleep by giving the body has enough nutrients to produce lots of sleep hormones. Fiber, potassium, calcium, magnesium, vitamin D and antioxidants are all needed. Omega-3 fatty acids increase production of melatonin, the brain chemical that controls your sleep cycle.

To get plenty of omega-3s, add fresh fish (tuna, salmon, mackerel, sardines, etc.) to your diet a couple of times a week, or take a supplement. Eating a Mediterranean diet with lots of fresh veggies, fruit, olive oil and lean meats can be a great help, too.

Do You Really Need To Worry About Sleep Quality?

Your body doesn't start to repair itself at night until stage three of sleep (deep sleep). Stage four (REM sleep) is essential for brain health and memory. What this means is that waking up at night makes you miss out on health benefits.

That’s why you feel exhausted, sore or irritable. It’s why you have trouble concentrating or remembering. Your immune system suffers, too.

Falling and staying asleep is no joke. This is a pillow fight you need to win!

The Significance And Advantages Of Stress Journaling

Stress is a constant companion. Nearly every day, the body and mind find something to tense up or worry about. Understanding how and why stress affects you is an insightful exercise, but the only way to get to the bottom of your anxiety and worry is to track it like you would steps.

Obviously, tracking stress is not as straightforward as tracking steps. While wearable devices can alert you to stress waves in your body or increased heart rates, those tools do little to help you understand the moment.

The most beneficial tool you can use to track your stress is a journal. However, do not treat it like a regular journal. You want to come at the writing process more stoically, analytically. For example, write down the date and time of your stressful experience, even as it is happening. Take note of how you are feeling; try to be specific. Additionally, write down everything that is happening and did happen before the start of the stress attack.

By restricting emotional responses, you can begin to look at your problem logically. Most likely, as you continue stress journaling, you will notice one or several recurring characteristics of the events, providing a potential diagnosis or cause of the stress events. Having such realizations provides a roadmap to managing stress and can offer several distinct advantages.

Improved Self-Awareness

Stress and anxiety often separate the individual from experiences. For example, if hit with a significant amount of pressure or an anxiety attack at work, the individual often feels unable to focus or continue with work. The same can happen if stressed outside of work at a family event. Your mind locks in on the stress and does not allow you to enjoy or interact with family or the occasion.

By committing to a stress diary or journal, you can free up space in your mind, allowing yourself to take charge of your feelings and life. After some experience with your journal, you will likely find you are more in-tune with your emotions and aware of your surroundings.

Release of Trauma

A stress journal is a safe place to acknowledge hard truths. Many experts recommend using such journals to write about traumatic events, fully exploring all emotions.

The writing process engages both hemispheres of the brain. In doing so, journaling helps to integrate the experience in the mind, making it more palatable for the individual without overwhelming them.

Proven Health Benefits of Stress Journaling

Researchers are only now beginning to scratch the surface of the many health benefits of journaling. For example, many experts already suspected writing could counteract the adverse effects of stress. Still, through more studies, researchers are showing incredible proof of improved cognitive functioning, strengthened immune system response, and decreases arthritis, asthma, and other health condition symptoms.

Various Journals and Track Methods

You are not only limited to tracking stress and anxiety. While stress journals are excellent tools, many experts also recommend gratitude journals, emotional release diaries, and personal planning or bullet journals. But, primarily, any diary or writing exercise that allows you to vent and focus on your life has shown significant benefits for mental health and growth.

Have you ever used a stress journal or any other mindfulness practices?

Alcohol and Dementia: Is There a Link Between the Two?

It is well documented that alcohol has several adverse effects on both short- and long-term health. While organ damage is the most prevalent effect of long-term and excessive alcohol consumption, recent studies indicate there may also be a link between alcohol and dementia. However, the link is tenuous, and its strength depends on how much alcohol an individual consumes on a weekly basis.

Whether you’re a drinker or a non-drinker, or if you worry about your alcohol use, it may be helpful to understand how alcohol affects the brain. With an understanding of the link, you may gain the knowledge and motivation necessary to change your lifestyle for the better.

Is Alcohol Consumption a Risk Factor for Dementia?

Alcohol can be a risk factor for dementia, but it’s not always. Excessive alcohol consumption over a considerable length of time has been known to contribute to brain damage and eventual dementia. Per multiple studies from both the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence and Alzheimer’s Disease International, individuals who binge drink or drink heavily on a regular basis are more likely to develop Alzheimer’s or other forms of dementia than their moderately-drinking counterparts.

That said, there are no conclusive studies that show that, when consumed in moderation, alcohol increases one’s risk for dementia. Neither, however, is there evidence that suggests that moderate alcohol use protects the brain against damage and memory loss.

What Do These Conclusions Mean for You?

Unfortunately, the conclusions don’t tell you much. If you drink alcohol moderately, researchers don’t necessarily urge you to stop — at least, if your goal is to reduce your risk of dementia. Neither, however, do they encourage non-drinkers to start. The only thing researchers can safely conclude from existing findings is that, if you tend to drink heavily, your brain health may benefit by cutting back.

What Is “Moderate” Alcohol Consumption?

If you enjoy your nightly glass of wine or evening cocktail, you may worry that your alcohol use falls out of the “moderate” category and leans more toward “heavy.” Before you start to panic, know that “moderate” alcohol use is a generous term. Women who drink moderately consume one to 14 units of alcohol per week. Men who drink moderately consume one to 21 units of alcohol in the same amount of time.

Note that a unit does not refer to a single drink. Rather, a unit of alcohol is measured by the amount of pure alcohol in a given volume. For an idea of how much alcohol may be in your favorite beverage, consider the following:

  • One glass (175 mL) of wine is two units.
  • A single shot of spirits, such as vodka, whiskey or rum is one unit.
  • A single pint of low-alcohol beer or cider (3.6% or lower) is two units.
  • A single pint of high-alcohol beer or cider (5.2%) is three units.

What this means is that if you drink a single glass of wine a night or two cocktails per night, your alcohol consumption falls within the moderate range, and that your future brain health is likely A-okay.

What Should You Take Away From This Information?

The most conclusive findings indicate that excessive alcohol consumption does increase one’s risk of developing dementia later in life. That said, if you are to take anything away from this information, it is that you should keep your alcohol use in the fair to moderate range. If you struggle to do that, it may be best for your current and long-term health to cut alcohol out of your life entirely, at least for the time being.