Cervical cancer is a serious disease that kills thousands of women every year. It’s estimated 13,240 women will be diagnosed with cervical cancer in the U.S. and 4,170 women will die as a result of cervical cancer this year. Fortunately, more awareness of cervical cancer and its risks helped incidence rates drop by 50 percent between 1975 and 2014. To increase awareness even more, January was named Cervical Health Awareness Month. Cervical Cancer: Are You At-Risk? You should be aware of the following major risk factors linked to cervical cancer: History of cervical cancer – If you or someone you are directly related to (mother or sister) has had cervical cancer, then you’re more at-risk. HPV – HPV is typically a harmless and temporary infection, yet it’s also the most common cause of cervical cancer. Anyone can get an HPV infection through sex, and most people never know they’re infected. Oral birth control – Long-term oral birth control pill use can increase your risk of cervical cancer. Poor diet – A diet lacking in vitamins A, C, E, and carotene can increase your risk of cervical cancer, as will being overweight. Smoking – Women who smoke are twice as likely to get cervical women than those who do not. Three or more pregnancies – The risk of cervical cancer increases if you’ve had three or more full-term pregnancies. Getting Screened for Cervical Cancer You should make sure to get screened regularly for cervical cancer, especially if you are at-risk. You can get screened with a Pap test as well as with pelvic exams, colposcopies, and biopsies. If you are sexually active, then you should be tested for HPV as well. An HPV vaccine is available, although it needs to be administered before an infection occurs and only protects against the most common strains (there are 13 types that can lead to cervical cancer). Make sure you get screened for cervical cancer and visit The Benefits Store for more women’s health tips today. #cervicalcancerawareness #cervicalcancerscreening

Getting a good night’s rest is vital to having enough energy for the next day. But that’s not the only reason you should get plenty of sleep. Your body needs sleep in order to rest and remain healthy. However, a recent study revealed that not only is not getting enough sleep detrimental to the brain, getting too much sleep can be as well. The Sleep Study The study was published in the academic journal Sleep, and included an online survey completed by over 40,000 subjects around the world. In addition to the survey, they were asked to complete a series of tests of reasoning, memory, and verbal skills. According to the results, they found subjects who slept an average of 7 to eight hours every night performed better on these tests than those sleeping fewer or more hours. Other conclusions researchers were able to draw from the study included: Around 50 percent of the subjects revealed that they slept less than 6.3 hours a night. The amount of sleep associated with the best performance on the tests was the same for all ages. Short-term memory skills appeared to be unaffected by either too little or too much sleep. Reasoning and verbal skills were very much affected by the amount of sleep a subject had. Subjects who slept more than usual the night before taking the test did better than those who either slept their usual amount or slept less than usual. How Much Sleep Do I Need? Doctors have been saying for years that people should get at least 7 to eight hours of sleep every night, and it turns out they are right. Recently published research has indicated that less than seven hours or more than eight hours of sleep can affect the brain’s ability to function at an optimal level the next day. Make sure you get the proper amount of sleep every night. For more information about sleep or general health tips, be sure to visit us online at The Benefits Store today. #GettingEnoughSleep #howmuchsleep #sleep #SleepAwareness

Practicing mindfulness may seem like some sort of a new-age form of meditation, but it’s much more than just that. Mindfulness is a way to improve your health. You improve your mood by promoting positive thinking. It can reduce stress, anxiety, and depression. Explore familiar objects – Study objects you take for granted, such as your toothbrush. Really look at the details. Try to identify something about it you didn’t notice before. The more aware you become of your surroundings, the more you’ll appreciate them. Pay attention to your breathing – Sit in a quiet place where you can focus on your breathing. Pay attention as your breath moves in and out of your body. Notice how air goes in and out of your nostrils and how your abdomen expands and contracts with every breath. Try not to let your mind wander, focusing completely on how you are breathing. This is a form of meditation that can help reduce stress and anxiety by helping to relax your body. Sharpen your senses – Get something small to eat, like a raisin or a raspberry. Explore its texture, look at its color and detail, and smell it. Then taste it and chew it slowly and deliberately. Pay attention to how its taste changes. Avoid the impulse to chew fast and swallow it right away. This process can help you become more aware of what you’re eating and allow you to appreciate something that you usually take for granted. Pay attention to conversation – When you talk with others, sincerely focus on what they’re saying so you can better understand what they mean without judging them. Practicing mindfulness isn’t difficult, either. It’s the act of being intensely aware of what you’re feeling or sensing at every moment without interpreting or judging those feelings or senses. Here are four ways you can increase mindfulness: Use these four methods to increase your mindfulness so you can reduce your tension, worry, and depression. For more health tips on how to reduce stress and anxiety, be sure to visit us at The Benefits Store today.

It provides a financial safety net – If you experience a disability as a result of an illness or disability that prevents you from being able to work, long-term disability insurance can help to cover as much as 50 to 60 percent of your income. In fact, some policies will continue to cover you for as long as you can’t work due to your disability until you reach the age of 65. Long-term disabilities are common – A lot of people think they don’t need long-term disability insurance because they believe the chances of becoming disabled are slim. However, according to the Social Security Administration, as many as 25 percent of people who are currently 20 years old will end up being disabled before they reach their 67th birthday. Many employers do not provide long-term disability coverage – Many people simply take whatever insurance plan their employer offers. However, only 41 percent of employers offer long-term disability insurance, even though group plans only cost an average of $256 a year. Additionally, many employers are offering the coverage as a voluntary benefit, which means that employees must pay for this premium themselves. Benefits are tax-free – Employees that end up paying for long-term disability coverage themselves using after-tax dollars, their benefits will be tax-free should they ever need to use their coverage as a result of a disability. This can make voluntary coverage beneficial to employees, but unfortunately, many employees skip the extra cost thinking that the coverage isn’t needed. These are four reasons why long-term disability insurance is something that everyone should consider purchasing. For more advice or news concerning health insurance, be sure to visit us at The Benefits Store today.

Long-Term Care Statistics The following are a few statistics that you should know about long-term care: According to the National Family Caregivers Association, roughly 78 percent of adults that receive care at home depend on friends and family as their only source of care. There are around 45 million informal caregivers in the U.S. and, according to the AARP, the typical caregiver is a woman that’s on average 46 years old. According to the National Alliance for Caregiving, caregivers spend around 26 hours a week providing care for a loved one. The Center of American Progress revealed that 41 percent of family caregivers had to take a leave of absence to provide care for a loved one, with 37 percent having to switch from full-time to part-time. According to the Volunteers of America, 29 percent of caregivers use their own savings to provide their loved ones with the long-term care they need. Who Needs Long-Term Care? More and more people are requiring long-term care because they are living longer than before. A hundred years ago, the average American life expectancy was only 47. It’s now 78. As far as demographics go, more women need long-term care than men. Around 3 out of four assisted living residents are women and almost twice as many women over 65 are receiving long-term care at home than men. This is in part because women tend to live longer. The average length of the long-term care a person needs is around three years, according to the National Center for Health Statistics. Because of this, it’s important to plan for the possibility of long-term care to avoid financial problems. For more health information and advice, be sure to visit us at The Benefits Store today. #LongTermCare #LongTermCareAwarenessMonth

The Immune System Works Like a Butterfly A virus spreads by replicating itself within a host cell. The immune system has intricate mechanisms in place that help to defend against both common viruses and emerging viruses. Researchers studied the process in which RIG-I (an immune protein) searches for viral RNAs. Once the RIG-I finds a viral RNA, it activates the antiviral response of the cell in which it was found. A butterfly constantly flutters to and from anything that looks like a flower. Like a butterfly, the RIG-I immune receptor constantly investigates the RNAs in the cell in order to identify viral RNAs. Essentially, RIG-I (and butterflies) are involved in a continuous cycle of association and disassociation. Once the RIG-I discovers a viral RNA, it stops its search and signals its multiple molecules to gather on the viral RNA, which in turn, activates the antiviral response of the cell. RIG-I immune receptors are supposed to move on if they do not identify viral RNAs. However, an autoimmune disorder known as Singleton-Merton syndrome interrupts this process. Instead of moving on to other RNAs, mutated versions of the immune receptors remain and become trapped in the RNAs, causing abnormal immune responses. The research revealing the details of this process could potentially be used to leverage RIG-I immune receptors in both antiviral and cancer therapies. Stay up-to-date on all the latest health-related discoveries and news by visiting us at The Benefits Store today. #ImmuneProtein

The Rise in Cost of Generic Drugs Even generic heart medications and antibiotics are increasing in price, according to the USC study. More generic drugs are beginning to double in price year-over-year. In 2007, only one percent of generic drugs doubled in price from the previous year. In 2013, 4.39 percent of generic drugs doubled in price. One of the reasons there has been such a sharp spike is due to a new strategy employed by manufacturers to enter therapeutic areas that have little competition. They then raise their prices significantly. This has led to outrage amongst the public, especially about medicines that patients need to stay alive. It has led to many questions from critics concerning whether the generic drugs’ market is still effective. Generic drugs not only take up 90 percent of the prescriptions that are filled throughout the country, but they’ve historically been available at lower costs that even decreased over time. The study revealed that even though the prices for most generic drugs actually declined from 2007 to 2013, the number of generic drugs that doubled in price during that time period grew 400%. It was found that the cause behind these increases mostly had to do more with a lack of competition than a shortage in supply. Patients’ out-of-pocket costs have not increased as a direct result of increased generic drug costs. However, that could change if insurers respond to continually increasing prices by raising premiums. To stay up-to-date with all of the latest health news, be sure to visit us at The Benefits Store today. #GenericDrugMarket

The Impact of 2017-2018 Flu Season Among those that died as a result of the flu last year, 180 of them were children, most of whom were not vaccinated. In fact, it’s estimated that more than 40 percent of American children did not get vaccinated for the flu last year. The number of children between the ages of six months and four years that weren’t vaccinated increased as well. Besides the surprisingly high death toll, the flu caused serious enough problems that 900,000 people were hospitalized as a result. Although the flu season lasted from October to May, it was in November that the virus began to really have a huge effect. In fact, last year’s flu season was the first to be considered “high severity” for people of all ages. The Importance of a Flu Vaccination Getting a flu vaccination every year is the responsible thing to do. Not only will you protect yourself from getting the flu, but you’ll help prevent the virus from being spread to others. Some inoculated people may get the flu but it may not have a big impact on their health. Their bodies may be able to fight it off within a week or so. However, if they aren’t vaccinated, they could spread it to others and cause them more serious health problems. It’s particularly important for the elderly, children, pregnant women, and adults who have chronic health problems to get their flu shots. Because different strains of the flu spread every year, it’s also important that you get your flu shot before every flu season. Flu vaccinations are not lifetime vaccinations. For more information about the upcoming flu season or to stay on top of all health-related news, visit us at the Benefits Store today. #FluVaccination #FluVaccine

How Bacteria in the Nose Affects Cold Symptoms Researchers studied 152 participants by analyzing their nasal bacteria. The participants were studied before and after being infected with the same cold virus. It was determined that participants who had the most Staphylococcus bacteria in their noses suffered the most severe cold symptoms. The mix of bacteria in their noses was also linked to how much of the virus was in their body. This means that the background bacterial pattern in the participants’ noses influenced how they reacted to the virus and how sick they got. While these findings are certainly interesting, they don’t prove a cause-and-effect relationship between the type of bacteria in a person’s nose and the severity of symptoms. This is because there are also environmental characteristics that can influence the severity of cold symptoms. For example, you could be exposed to pollution or have certain allergies that could differentiate your symptoms. Can Probiotics Lessen Cold Symptoms? During the study, participants were given probiotics to determine whether beneficial bacteria could help reduce their cold symptoms or affect the composition of the bacteria in their noses. According to the results, the probiotics had no effect on either the symptoms or the bacteria, nor did it affect the microbiomes in the stomach. Even though the probiotics didn’t work, understanding the potential link between nasal bacteria and cold symptoms could lead to improved cold relief medications. The researchers are currently considering using probiotics in a nasal spray, a more direct approach that could have a positive effect. Stay up-to-date on all of the latest health-related news, especially during the flu season. Visit us at The Benefits Store today. #coldsymptoms

Be Wary of the Dog Flu People with dogs should be careful about where they take them during flu season. Because the dog flu can easily spread from one dog to another through barks, coughs and sneezes, taking a pet to areas like dog parks, doggie daycares and kennels can increase the risk of exposure to the dog flu. Dog flu is a serious respiratory illness, but there are medications that can be prescribed to help your dog recover. Rest and good nutrition will be beneficial as well. However, dog flu can sometimes be difficult to identify because the symptoms are so similar to kennel cough. Some of the common signs of dog flu include a fever, green discharge from the eyes and nose, a cough that doesn’t go away, lethargy and a decrease in appetite. When dogs get the flu, they should be kept away from other dogs as well as animals in general, since the H3N2 virus can spread among all kinds of animals. While some dog owners won’t want to keep their pets away from the dog park just because it’s flu season, they should be sure to keep their dogs at home if they exhibit any symptoms. Otherwise, there’s a risk that if your dog does have the dog flu, it will spread it to other dogs. Additionally, dogs should also be protected from humans who have the flu, since dogs can contract human strains of the flu. Everyone should make an effort to take care of themselves during the flu season, but they shouldn’t forget about their dogs. For all the latest health news, visit us at The Benefits Store today. #DogFlu

The Importance of Eye Sports Safety While you’ll want to do everything you can to prevent injuries such as broken bones, those will often heal with time. An eye injury can potentially be permanent and can result in a permanent disability that can greatly compromise your quality of life. It’s why you should take extra precautions to protect against fractured eye sockets, scratched corneas, and vision loss while playing sports. All it takes is a wayward baseball or tennis ball, or even a flailing elbow or finger, to cause a serious eye injury. Types of Sports Safety Equipment for the Eyes There are different types of sports safety equipment to protect the eyes depending on the sport. The following are a few examples of the types of gear you should wear for each sport to help protect your eyes: Football – For football, you should wear a full face guard along with an eye guard. Football is a full-contact sport, which means that you could easily injure your eyes during a tackle. Hockey – Not only is hockey a full-contact sport, a fast-moving puck can easily fracture an eye socket, which is why you should wear a wire or polycarbonate mask. Tennis – For tennis, goggles will help protect against wayward tennis balls. Basketball – It’s not uncommon to get hit with a flailing hand or elbow while playing basketball, so wear goggles. Baseball – When batting, you should wear a face guard along with goggles or eye guards to protect against wayward pitches. Use sports safety equipment to protect your eyes. For more physical safety tips, be sure to visit us at The Benefits Store today. #SportsSafety

How Observational Learning Works Everything you learn on a day-to-day basis is through observation. This is because learning through experience isn’t always possible. For example, learning what not to eat because it’s poisonous and will kill you is not something you can learn through experience, but only through observation. The brain circuit responsible for observational learning is different from the network that’s used to learn from firsthand experiences. The observational learning circuit of the brain actually relies on information from a part of the brain that’s responsible for interpreting social cues. This circuit was discovered as a result of brain scanning studies. Previous studies identified two parts of the brain known as the ACC (Anterior Cingulate Cortex) and the BLA (Basolateral Amygdala) that became active when an individual was watching someone else. It’s the ACC that helps to interpret social cues, while the BLA helps the individual process emotions. The way they work together to create observational learning was discovered through studies performed using mice. The reaction of mice watching other mice receive shocks in response to certain cues was recorded. The mice that did not receive the shock would still develop fear when confronted with that same cue later on. Essentially, researchers found that the ACC becomes more active when you experience something happening to someone else. The information gathered by the ACC is sent to the BLA, which then forms an association between the cue and what happened. Observational learning is one of the main ways that we learn, and researchers recently figured out what makes observational learning possible within our brains. For all the latest scientific news and updates, be sure to visit us at The Benefits Store today. #ObservationalLearning