On Wednesday Massachusetts state public health officials announced students will be required to get the influenza vaccine. The mandate includes anyone six months of age or older who attend child care, pre-school, kindergarten, K-12, as well as colleges and universities.

The flu shot requirement is intended to reduce flu-related illness in order to reduce respiratory illnesses during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a press release from the Department of Public Health.

This requirement is in addition to existing vaccine requirements for students in school in Massachusetts.

Students will be expected to have received a flu vaccine by December 31. Exceptions include those with medical or religious exemptions and those who homeschool or participate only with distance learning.

Related: How To Detoxify and Heal From Vaccinations – For Adults and Children

Many parents are against the new mandate, others are in favor of it, but regardless your child must get the flu vaccine by December 31 of this year in order to return to school January 1. This mandate includes elementary and secondary students who are using a remote education model, they will not be exempt.

“Every year, thousands of people of all ages are affected by influenza, leading to many hospitalizations and deaths,” said Dr. Larry Madoff, Medical Director, DPH’s Bureau of Infectious Disease and Laboratory Sciences. “It is more important now than ever to get a flu vaccine because flu symptoms are very similar to those of COVID-19 and preventing the flu will save lives and preserve healthcare resources.”

22WWLP

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Data from a recent study shows that young men between ages 18-24 are having less sex than years previous. From 2000 to 2018, around one in three U.S men between the ages of 18 to 24 in the study reported no sexual activity within the previous year.

Additionally, there was a decrease in sexual activity in men and women ages 25-34, although not as drastic as men age 18-24. Data was collected from 10,000 men and women between the ages of 18-44. Between 2016-2018, 16.5% of respondents reported less sexual activity compared to 9.5% of respondents reporting less sexual activity between 2000-2002.

There are now many more choices of things to do in the late evening than there once were and fewer opportunities to initiate sexual activity if both partners are engrossed in social media, electronic gaming, or binge watching.

-Jean Twenge, department of psychology in San Diego State University 

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The decrease in sexual activity is likely due to a number of factors. Likely factors include increased usage of social media and electronic gaming, as well as the stress of managing work and intimate relationships.

Men with lower income, or who were unemployed, along with both male and female students were more likely to be less sexually active. Unmarried women, as well as gay men, saw no notable decline in sexual activity.

Given a preference for men of higher socioeconomic status and the larger number of college-educated women than men, some young men may find it difficult to form heterosexual relationships, the researchers note.

–Young U.S. men having a lot less sex in the 21st century, study shows

A new study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) Cardiology has found that nearly 80 percent of COVID patients sustained heart damage.

The research was conducted by Germany’s University Hospital Frankfurt. Researchers examined the MRI scans of 100 patients who were diagnosed with COVID-19. Most of the patients were said to be otherwise healthy and in their 40s and 50s.

More than three out of four of the patients showed heart muscle damage with an MRI test.

In some patients, the heart may be “in serious trouble as a part of COVID-19 disease,” Dr. Valentina Puntmann of University Hospital Frankfurt told Reuters. Among 100 patients ages 45 to 53, “a considerable majority” – 78 – had inflammation in the heart muscle and lining. Sixty-seven had recovered at home while 33 had required hospitalization. Half of the former patients were more than two months out since their diagnosis at the time of the MRI. Thirty-six patients reported ongoing shortness of breath and general exhaustion, and 71 had blood markers of heart muscle damage. Compared with similar people who had not had COVID-19, the recently recovered patients’ hearts pumped more weakly and displayed other risk factors for heart failure. Puntmann suspects the abnormalities are signs of permanent problems. “While we do not have direct evidence for late consequences yet, such as the development of heart failure … it is quite possible that in a few years, this burden will be enormous based on what we have learned from other viral conditions that similarly affect the heart,” she said. (JAMA & JAMA)

Yahoo News

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The other day, I went to the grocery store with my little brother. While loading the car, I turned around, shut the trunk, and in a lapse of judgment, took my eyes off of my 4-year-old brother and accidentally hit his head with the trunk of the car. He had leaned his head forward to look inside the trunk and I had not noticed. 

I picked my brother up and put him on the hood of the car as I examined his injury and tried to decide what to do. A store employee had seen the whole thing happen and offered him some ice. I quickly thanked him and took the ice, holding it to my brother’s head as I thought to myself, “Are you even supposed to ice injuries?” I took the ice to appease onlookers, but found myself, as I have with so many things in the past year, wondering if that was, in fact, the right thing to do. The more I learn about health the more I learn that most things I thought I knew were not true.

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After telling my dad about the whole thing, he confirmed that ice was in fact, not necessary or desirable in most cases. So, when should you use ice? 

As far as temporary pain relief, icing an injury is better for your health than taking something like ibuprofen or Tylenol. In some cases, it may be beneficial to ice. For example, when you need to avoid swelling and inflammation for mobility reasons like sports events where one has to continue participating, ice makes sense. A pitcher, for instance, may need to ice their shoulder in order to numb pain and prevent swelling so they have the mobility to continue pitching. However, once the event is over, it’s better off to the body heal naturally without ice.

When we injure ourselves, the body’s response is typically inflammation, swelling, and pain. During inflammation, blood clots form, and vessels constrict to stem the flow of blood from damaged tissue, while healthier vessels signal the body to get to work repairing the damage. Local nerve endings become more sensitive as a way of letting the body know what it should and should not do. 

All these responses are very natural and necessary. However, when we ice injuries, we slow blood flow to the area and prevent inflammation and swelling. In other words, ice can slow down the healing process.

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While many people still learn the “RICE” method in school, today the doctor who wrote the RICE method no longer recommends it. 

When I wrote my best-selling Sportsmedicine Book in 1978, I coined the term RICE (Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation) for the treatment of athletic injuries (Little Brown and Co., page 94). Ice has been a standard treatment for injuries and sore muscles because it helps to relieve pain caused by injured tissue. Coaches have used my “RICE” guideline for decades, but now it appears that both Ice and complete Rest may delay healing, instead of helping.

Why Ice Delays Recovery -Dr.mirkin.com

Additionally, many pro-ice studies are based on anecdotal and/or circumstantial evidence while many other studies have come to inconclusive results on cryogenic therapy. One study done in 2008 by the Emergency Medicine Journal came to the conclusion “There is insufficient evidence to suggest that cryotherapy improves clinical outcome in the management of soft tissue injuries.” Another study done by The Journal of Athletic Training, in 2012 found similar results saying “Insufficient evidence is available from randomized controlled trials to determine the relative effectiveness of RICE therapy for acute ankle sprains in adults.”

Next time you injure yourself, in most situations, you’ll likely be better off letting the body do its thing without the interference of ice.

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A new study from the Environmental Working Group found glyphosate, Bayer’s controversial weed-killer, in nearly 90% of non-organic chickpea and hummus samples tested and was also detected in several organic brands as well. The organization tested 37 different conventional samples and 18 organic samples. All but two of the organic samples contained detectable levels of glyphosate.

Beans, peas and lentils are a nutritious, affordable source of protein and an important part of the American diet…These excellent foods would be much better without glyphosate. Toxic weedkiller should never be allowed to contaminate these products, or any other foods, that millions of American families eat every day.”

Olga V. Naidenko, Ph.D., EWG’s vice president for science investigations.

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Of the samples tested, a conventional dry chickpea sample had the highest levels of glyphosate. Whole Foods Market Original Hummus has the highest tested levels among the hummus sample, with over 2,000 parts per billion. Other hummus samples with notable amounts of glyphosate detected were three samples of Sabra Classic Hummus, Sabra Roasted Pine Nut Hummus, two samples of Whole Foods Market Original Hummus, Whole Foods Market organic-label Original Hummus, Cava Traditional Hummus, and two samples of Harris Teeter Fresh Foods Market Traditional Artisan Hummus. The hummus and chickpeas for the study were purchased at a range of grocery stores in Washington D.C., San Francisco, and New York City.

A recent study has shown that after undergoing gender reassignment surgery, transgender people were less likely to experience depression, anxiety, or suicidal thoughts than before surgery. Their improvement in mental state can still be seen, and oftentimes continues to increase several years post-op. Gender reassignment surgery is generally considered the last step for treatment of gender dysphoria. Before surgery patients take feminizing or masculinizing hormones to adjust external sexual features, but the hormones did not have the same effect on mental health as the surgery did.

Howard Lipin/The San Diego Union-Tribune

Many transsexual, transgender, and gender-nonconforming individuals find comfort with their gender identity, role, and expression without surgery,” but for others, surgery is essential and medically necessary to alleviate their gender dysphoria,

Sex-reassignment surgery yields long-term mental health benefits, study finds

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Gender incongruent people within the study were six times more likely than the general population to visit doctors for mood and or anxiety disorders, three times more likely to be prescribed antidepressants, and six times as likely to be hospitalized for suicide attempts. These mental health problems diminished and continued to diminish the longer it had been since patients underwent surgery. The likelihood of treatment of an anxiety or mood disorder reduced 8% each year post-op for up to 10 years. Transgender people are still more in need of mental health care compared to the rest of the population, the research team suggests this is partly based on stigma, economic inequality, and victimization.

In today’s society, it’s proven to be much harder for the younger generation to accomplish things the older generation seemed to have an easy time with. Buying a house, finding a job, and now, staying skinny, are all significantly harder than they were in decades past.

A study done in 2016 by the Obesity Research and Clinical Practice journal shows that adults today have to work out more and eat less than adults 20-30 years ago to maintain the same weight. The study examined the diets of 36,400 Americans from 1971 to 2008 and the physical activity of 14,419 Americans between 1988 and 2006. The data showed that people in 2006 taking in the same number of calories and the same nutrients, as well as working out the same amount as someone in 1988 would have a BMI that was around 2.33 points higher.

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While the data shows that people today are heavier, it also shows that there are environmental changes that make it much harder to maintain the same weight as someone in decades past.

Unfortunately, while the mainstream media appears to be catching up to us, they’re not there yet. The study and another article that covered the study pointed towards numerous possibilities for our newfound weight gain but neglected to mention some of the more important ones.

Just what those other changes might be, though, are still a matter of hypothesis. In an interview, Kuk proffered three different factors that might be making it harder for adults today to stay thin.

Why It Was Easier to Be Skinny in the 1980s

First, the article points to chemicals that people are more regularly exposed to than they were in decades past. People are more widely exposed to pesticides, flame retardants, food packaging, and other chemicals that could be altering our hormonal process and the way we gain and maintain weight. While this is true, they don’t go into many of the more important toxins and chemicals that are causing weight gain, like vaccines. Data has shown a direct correlation between increases in vaccination and and weight gain.

Additionally, the study points to the use of prescription drugs which has rapidly increased since the ’70s. Prozac, the first blockbuster SSRI, came out in 1988. Antidepressants are one of the most commonly prescribed drugs today and are frequently linked to weight gain.

Lastly, the article talks about an increase in meat consumption as a cause of weight gain. Americans consume more meat than they did in the ’80s, and meat is more commonly treated with growth hormones and antibiotics. The article neglects to mention that most meat that comes from factory farms is raised on corn as opposed to grasses and other healthier alternatives.

While the article links antibiotics in animals to weight gain, it does not link an increase in human antibiotics to weight gain. Antibiotics destroy important gut bacteria that make it harder to maintain a healthy weight. The article suggests that our gut microbiome has “somehow changed” between the 1980s, and now without pointing out what might cause changes in gut health. Additionally, the article does not point to a rise in refined sugar, high fructose corn syrup, or glyphosate as reasons for our weight gain.

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