Health Services - University of the Incarnate Word

Current Health Issues

HEALTHY GOALS FOR WOMEN

Physicians have outlined goals for women to maintain good health. The following goals will provide standards to meet in making positive lifestyle changes:

Total Cholesterol: < 200mg/dL
LDL (bad cholesterol) < 130 mg/dL. If you have heart disease of diabetes <110mg/dL
Triglycerides: < 150mg/dL
Blood Pressure: < 120/80
Fasting Blood Sugar: < 110mg/dL
Body Mass Index: < 25
Waist Circumference: < 35 inches
Exercise: At least 30 minutes most days of the week.
Eat a balanced diet with special emphasis on fruits, vegetables, whole grain products, legumes, nuts, fish, poultry and lean meats.
Don’t smoke, if you do—STOP!
Schedule regular visits with your doctor.
COPING WITH THE FLU

While there is no cure for flu, there are practical things you can do to ease your symptoms and speed your recovery:
- Stay home and get plenty of rest. Call your work, or send a text to your professor letting them know you are sick with flu like symptoms. Curl up with a good textbook and get a head start on that term paper that’s coming due!
- Drink plenty of fluids. Fluids will hydrate you and help to thin those thick respiratory secretions so you can bring them out.
- Feeling achy? Over the counter non-steroidal anti-inflammatorys such as Tylenol®, Motrin®, or Aleve® will help to relieve aches and fever associated with the flu.
- Although some doctors disagree on the effectiveness of cough medicines, over the counter preparations are available to help suppress a cough. Look for one with an expectorant to help thin the thick mucus so you can more easily expel it.
- Sitting in a warm, steamy ‘London-foggy’ bathroom for 20 minute periods will help to open and soothe your airway. Stay away from the hot water so you don’t get burned.
- Eat chicken soup. It is a potent mucus stimulant. Load it with pepper, hot curry powder or other spices to open your sinuses and help to improve your breathing. If you have allergies to these foods, avoid them!
- Run the humidifier-warm moist air can help ease congestion and coughing.
- Saline sprays and throat lozenges will help with nasal congestion and scratchy throats. The saline placed several drops at a time in each nostril (one nostril at a time) will have both running clear in short order. The lozenges will help coat a scratchy throat.
- Flu drugs like Tamilflu® are most effective at the onset of illness, and are usually prescribed for a period of about five days. Influenza is caused by a virus. Antibiotics are not effective against viruses.