Health : 10 Things That Can Sabotage Your Weight Loss

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10 Things That Can Sabotage Your Weight Loss Posted: 28 Apr 2011 01:18 PM PDT

Health Buzz: U.S. Air Quality Better, But Still Unhealthy Posted: 28 Apr 2011 09:22 AM PDT Report: Half of Americans Breathe Unhealthy, Polluted Air Half of Americans live in areas with unhealthy levels of air pollution. So suggests an annual report that identifies the cities with the foulest and cleanest air, released Wednesday by the American Lung Association. Los Angeles remains the smoggiest metro area in the country, though it has improved significantly over the past decade, according to the report, which is based on data from the Environmental Protection Agency. Bakersfield, Calif., has the worst pollution in terms of pollutants that are airborne particles such as soot and ash—and more than 50,000 of the city's 800,000 residents have asthma. The 25 smoggiest cities all saw improvements in air quality over the last year, but the lung association warns that exposure to air pollution remains a serious problem that can cause coughing and wheezing, respiratory illnesses, heart attacks, and strokes. "This is not an environmentalist's concern," Erin Mendenhall of the advocacy group Breathe Utah told The Salt Lake Tribune. "It should be everyone's concern. It affects babies and old people, and everyone in between. We're all breathing. We're all affected." 4 Ways to Stay Safe on 'Ozone-Alert' Days Air Pollution: 6 Steps You Can Take to Protect Your Health How to Have an Allergy-Free Hotel Stay  In a nod to the 40 million Americans with allergies and asthma, a growing number of hotels are unveiling hypoallergenic rooms—eliminating bothersome dust mites, mold, and mildew spores. Last year, Hyatt Hotels launched Respire by Hyatt, an initiative that calls for 2,000 hypoallergenic rooms at 125 of its properties nationwide by year's end. The rooms, already offered at more than 70 of the chain's hotels, cost an extra $20 to $30 a night. "When you travel, you don't know what you're walking into. You don't know the environment, and you can't tweak it to make yourself comfortable like you can at home," says Brian Brault, CEO of Pure Solutions, a New York-based company that's converting rooms at Hyatt and other chains. "Any new living space will create problems for people with allergies." Indeed, one night in a hotel room can lead to swollen eyes, a clogged nose, and a scratchy throat—symptoms that tend to dampen the traveling experience. Exactly what counts as a hypoallergenic room, however, varies. Some hotels are taking steps to become more allergy-friendly, by adding air purifiers, replacing drapes with blinds, or ripping out carpet in favor of hardwood floor, while others, like Hyatt, are going all out to make rooms allergy-free. [Read more: How to Have an Allergy-Free Hotel Stay.] Cold or Allergy? How to Tell the Difference 6 Common Indoor Allergy Triggers and How to Avoid Them Too Noisy at Work? Watch Out for Heart Risks An invisible, tasteless and odorless pollutant may be affecting your health, and no, you're not inhaling it. Turns out noise pollution may increase your risk of heart problems. Research published last year in the journal Occupational and Environmental Medicine shows that those who work in noisy environments have a higher prevalence of chest pain, heart attacks, heart disease and high blood pressure. Researchers at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada, found that workers in noisy professions (defined as a volume at which they had to raise their voices to be heard), had two to three times the likelihood of having a heart problem compared to those who worked in quieter places. The study, which included more than 6,000 survey participants, found that 3.6 percent of workers who said they worked around noise developed heart disease compared to 2.4 percent of workers who said they didn't. The study author Wenqi Gan, an environmental-health expert at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, speculates that excessive noise can be considerably stressful, triggering the release of hormones like cortisol and adrenaline, which constrict arteries and reduce blood supply to the heart. That's "cause for concern," he says. Any environmental noise pollution—like a continuous barrage of garbage trucks barreling down the street outside your apartment window or airplanes zooming overhead—could potentially have similar detrimental health effects. The World Health Organization along with grassroots organizations like NoiseOFF have sounded alarm bells about risks associated with stress-provoking noise. These include difficulties communicating due to hearing impairment, sleep disturbances, or digestive problems, excessive fatigue, irritability, mental-health disorders and high blood pressure. Of course, there's also the obvious hearing loss you may experience from being exposed to excessively harsh volumes in the workplace or during leisure time (like blasting the iPod), according to the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. [Read more: Too Noisy at Work? Watch Out for Heart Risks.] Relax! Stress, if Managed, Can Be Good For You 3 Ways to Protect Your Teen from Hearing Loss This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

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