INSAF

Dealing With Tummy Troubles Your "gut" is the series of organs — mouth, esophagus, stomach, small intestine, and colon — that transform the food you eat into the nutrients your body needs to live and to thrive.If you've ever had an upset stomach, constipation, heartburn or gas, you know how sensitive the gut can be. These "gut reactions" can be painful, disruptive, and sometimes embarrassing. Yet according to experts at the Harvard Medical School, you can achieve a calmer coexistence with your digestive system by preventing and treating the most common troublemakers, including acid reflux, functional dyspepsia, irritable bowel syndrome, constipation, diarrhea, and excessive gas. Take heartburn, for example. It's the key symptom of gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), the most common digestive malady. Heartburn can be painful and frightening, especially when it mimics a heart attack, and serious health problems can result if th

The United States has more storage facilities than McDonald's. Why? Because we have too much stuff. By Howard Mansfield

Bed rest, once a key part of treating back pain, has a limited role in healing sore backs. In very small doses, bed rest can give you a break when standing or sitting causes severe pain. Too much may make back pain worse. Here is how to do bed rest “right.” To get the most from staying in bed, limit the time you are lying down to a few hours at a time, and for no longer than a day or two. You can rest on a bed or sofa, in any comfortable position. To ease the strain on your back, try putting pillows under your head and between your knees when lying on your side, under your knees when lying on your back, or under your hips when lying on your stomach. These positions reduce forces that sitting or standing impose on the back — especially on the disks, ligaments, and muscles. An extended period of bed rest isn’t helpful for moderate back strain at any stage of therapy. While your back may feel a little better in the short term, too much time in bed can trigger other problems. Muscl