Health Tip: Remember to Take Your Medicine
Many medications should be taken at the same time every day, both to ensure their effectiveness and so that you remember to take them.
The American Heart Association offers these suggestions to help keep you on schedule:
- Make taking your medication a part of your daily routine, as you would brushing your teeth.
- Take your medicine while performing another daily activity, such as having breakfast.
- Use a daily pill box to organize and track when you've taken your medication.
- Track taking your medication on a calendar, and mark off the day afterward.
- Use a white board to keep track of when you've taken your medication.
- Ask a family member or friend to remind you each day.
Health Tip: Help Stop Thumbsucking
Many children suck their thumbs, but it can cause dental problems if children continue to suck their thumb beyond age 4.
Most children stop on their own, but continued thumbsucking could be a sign of a behavioral problem, such as anxiety or depression.
The U.S. National Library of Medicine offers these suggestions to help your child quit the habit:
- Ask your pediatrician about having your child use a thumb guard.
- Apply a bitter-tasting material on your child's thumb. But always check with the child's doctor to make sure it's safe.
- Make a deal with your child. If he or she agrees to stop sucking the thumb, offer a reward.
- Offer praise and attention when you notice that your child isn't thumbsucking.
- If your child's teeth have been affected by thumbsucking, talk to the child's dentist about what can be done to correct it.
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