Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Health Tips for August 26

Health Tip: When Your Child Worries

No one is immune from worry -- even children. So it's important for parents to help them deal with their concerns in healthy ways.

The Nemours Foundation offers these suggestions to help put your child's worries to rest:

* Take time to talk about what's worrying your child.
* Listen carefully to what your child has to say, and explain that you understand and are concerned. Offer reassurance about what's bothering your child, and offer comfort.
* Help your child figure out a solution to the problem, but don't try to remedy the entire situation yourself.
* Help your child keep things in perspective, and explain that problems are often temporary.
* Show your child how to react to concerns by being a good role model.

Health Tip: Feeling Thirsty?

An occasional glass of water should satisfy most cases of thirst. But if it seems like you're excessively thirsty all the time, it may be a sign of a serious health problem.

Here are common causes of excessive thirst, courtesy of the U.S. National Library of Medicine:

* Significant blood loss or loss of body fluids, caused by an underlying health condition.
* Diabetes or diabetes insipidus.
* A side effect of certain drugs, including anticholinergics, demeclocycline, diuretics or phenothiazines.
* Significant loss of water or salt, possibly caused by not drinking enough water, profuse sweating, diarrhea or vomiting.

No comments: