The Caduceus (Kerykeion in Greek) is a winged staff with two snakes wrapped around it. It was an ancient astrological symbol of commerce and is associated with the Greek god Hermes, the messenger for the gods, conductor of the dead and protector of merchants and thieves.

The Asclepius Rod, is an ancient Greek symbol associated with astrology and with healing the sick through medicine. The Caduceus and The Rod of Asclepius are often used interchangeably. The Rod of Asclepius symbolizes the healing arts by combining the serpent, and the figure-eight shape the number eight; which is important to the practitioners of judicial astrology.

In the seventh century, the caduceus came to be associated with a precursor of medicine, based on the Hermetic astrological principles of using the planets and stars to heal the sick.

To learn more visit http://www.squidoo.com/caduceus

Since their introduction in the United States in 1991, colorful swirling Ribbons have quickly spread. They have wrapped their tendrils around the world to become lasting cultural icons of awareness, unity, support and hope.
Awareness Ribbon Color Meanings

Black= Melanoma Cancer, Sleep Disorders.

Blue (Navy) = Arthritis, Colon Cancer, Down’s Syndrome, Osteoporosis, Osteogenesis Imperfecta, Child Abuse, Dysautonomia, Hystiocytosis, Erb’s Palsy, Ankylosing Spondylitis, Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS), Dystonia, Interstitial Cystitis, Bracial Plexus Injury, Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV), Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Alopecia, Reyes Syndrome

Blue (Light) = Prostate Cancer, Men’s Health and Behcet’s Disease.

Blue Pin Stripe = ALS (Lou Gehrig’s Disease)

Burgundy = Myeloma, Hospice Care, Sepsis, APS (Antiphospholipid Antibody Syndrome), FVL, Thrombophilia, Headaches and to support the Permanently Disabled.

Gold = Childhood Cancer and COPD.

Green = Celiac Disease, Transplants, Depression (both Adults and Children), Bipolar Disorder, Mental Health or Illness, Eye Injuries, Tourette’s Syndrome, Bone Marrow Transplants and Donation, Fanconi’s Syndrome, Glaucoma, Leukemia, Fibrodysplasia Ossificans, Kidney Cancer or Kidney Disease, Neural Tube Defects, Mitochondrial Disease, Cerebral Palsy and to support Stem Cell Research

Gray = Asthma, Juvenile Diabetes and Brain Tumors.

Orange = Hunger, Leukemia, Self Injury, Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy, Skin Cancer (with a sun in the center of the loop), Addiction Recovery

Lavender = All Cancers (general cancer awareness), Epilepsy, Hypokalemic Periodic Paralysis, Rett Syndrome

Purple = Pancreatic Cancer, Chron’s Disease and Colitis, Cystic Fibrosis, Leimyosarcoma, Macular Degeneration, Sjogren’s Syndrome, Fibromyalgia, Lupus, Sarcoidosis, Thyroid Cancer, ADD, ADHD, Alzheimer’s, Cancer Survivors (this is a general color that anyone who has survived cancer can wear), Chronic Pain, and Domestic Violence

Pink = Breast Cancer, Birth Parents, Cleft Palate

Pink/Blue = Prematurity, Birth Defects, Infertility, SIDS, Support for those who have had a Miscarriage

Puzzle = Autism.

Red = Aids/HIV, MDS & Aplastic Anemia, Substance and Drug Abuse (includes inhalants), MADD, DARE, Heart Disease, Wolff-Parkinson-White Syndrome (WPW), Pro-life, Hypertension, Evans Syndrome

Silver = Parkinson’s Disease

Teal = Ovarian, Cervical, Uterine (all gynecological) Cancers, Sexual Abuse, Myasthenia Gravis and Panic Attacks.

White = Lung Cancer, Diabetes, Adoption, Bone Cancer, Osteoporosis, Scoliosis, Support and Remembrance for Victims of Terrorism, Blindness and Holocaust Remembrance

Yellow = Bladder and Testicular Cancer , Liver Disease, Hydrocephalus, Suicide Prevention, Down Syndrome and it represents Hope.

More Ribbons

Wear BLUE, is a program designed to raise awareness of men’s health issues within your community, while at the same time raising money for The Men’s Health Network.

The Network is a national non-profit organization, whose mission is to reach men and their families, where they live, work, play, and pray with health prevention messages, tools, screening programs, educational materials, advocacy opportunities, and patient support.

To participate in this effort, please visit Wear Blue.Org for more information on how you can help!

Learn more at National Men’s Health Week

According to The American Legacy Foundation, despite increased awareness about the dangers of smoking in recent years, 46 million adult Americans still smoke. This widespread use of tobacco is not only having expected long-term effects on the health of smokers but also more immediate effects on America’s children.

Passive exposure to secondhand smoke, also called environmental tobacco smoke (ETS), puts young people at risk for serious health consequences, including low birth weight, sudden infant death syndrome, asthma and ear infections. While the health consequences are devastating, the foundation’s report also details the significant economic costs of treating children with smoking-related illnesses.

The foundation found that, in 2001, tobacco’s effects on children included:

• Nearly 300,000 pediatric asthma cases costing the nation more than $236 million
• More than 99,000 cases of ear infections costing the nation nearly $49 million
• More than 26,000 low birth weight births costing the nation more than $300 million
• 263 cases of sudden infant death syndrome

“Smokers know that their addiction is harmful, but they predict that their smoking will hurt only themselves, and they think that will happen years down the road,” said the foundation’s President and CEO Cheryl Healton, Dr. PH. “This research shows us that tobacco isn’t just killing years down the road. It is killing today, and its silent, innocent victims are children.”

The foundation and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) outlined three immediate steps smokers can take for their children’s health:

· Make your home smoke free

· Keep your car smoke free

· Stop smoking for your children

“Parents need to stop smoking for their children – not only are children who live in smoke-filled environments more likely to get sick but they are also more likely to smoke as an adult than their peers,” said Dana Best, MD, MPH, FAAP, AAP Committee on Environmental Health. “An important first step to help parents quit smoking is learning about the smoking cessation resources in their community. The more parents know about the process of quitting the more likely parents are to succeed.”

A small reduction in tobacco smoke exposure would spare thousands of children from devastating health problems. In this report the foundation found that if states were to reduce children’s exposure to secondhand smoke by one percentage point, the national outlook would be:

• 2,263 fewer low birth weight births and an associated health care cost savings of nearly $27 million
• 21 fewer smoking-attributable sudden infant death syndrome deaths
• 19,077 fewer cases of asthma and an associated savings of more than $15 million
• 6,755 fewer ear infections cases with savings of more than $3 million

If you need help quitting please call your local QuitLine.

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Symbols can act in two ways:

First, they can be used to focus and project your own personal energy. Second, a symbol can function as a magnifier and transmitter, in order to bring various energy forces into your everyday life.

1. Circle: The Circle is one of the most potent symbols. It represents Eternity, Completion, Unity, the Universe, Perfection and the Sacred Female.

2. Triangle: The Triangle relates to the combined power of the Body, Mind and Spirit; Mother, Father and Child; and of the Past, Present and Future.

3. Square: The Square represents the four elements- Wind, Water, Fire and Earth – and the four directions.

4. Pentacle (Five-Pointed Star-pointing up): Represents the four basic elements (Wind, Water, Earth and Fire), with the 5th point representing the Spirit. The pentagram is a powerful sign, used for protection from dark forces.

5. Infinity: The symbol for infinity looks like the number eight laid on its side. In ancient India and Tibet, it represented Perfection, Dualism, and Unity between male and female. In the occult tarot, it’s linked to magic and represents equilibrium or the balance of various forces. This is a very powerful and cosmic symbol to use in your home.

Sources: Sacred Space, by Denise Linn (Ballentine Wellspring, 1995)
Picture: The Three Gongs of Initiation -AllPosters.com

There are symbols found in the human unconscious that mean similar things to all of us. By understanding these symbols, it is possible to analyze our dreams and to learn from them.

Various life experiences influence the interpretation of these symbols, thus each individual’s dream is unique in both context and analysis. These common images, symbols and definitions are designed to assist in your analysis.

Remembering Your Dreams
“A dream which is not interpreted is like a letter which is not read.” ~The Talmud

There are a number of ways to remember our dreams to uncover their obscured meaning. Many experts will tell you to talk to yourself during the stage between waking and sleeping. Tell yourself, to remember your dreams. If it doesn’t work immediately, keep repeating the suggestion each night.

According to dream researchers, if you develop a habit of recording your dreams, in time you will gain a clearer vision of your life and your development in the past, present and future.

It is helpful to do some research on the various methods of dream work or dream analysis to focus your mind as well. After you begin to remember your dreams, it is important to record them immediately after waking. The longer you wait to record your dreams, the fewer details you will retain.

Learn more at Dream Symbols and Meanings

What You Should Know

Studies show that when children’s exercise and fitness needs are met, children are more able to learn and achieve.

Given the growing epidemic of obesity and the link between physical activity and academic performance, parents and schools must work together to make quality daily physical education a priority in schools and to give children more opportunities to be physically active throughout the school day.

Unfortunately, the trend is that children are becoming less physically active:

1. In 1969, 42 percent of children ages 5 to 18 walked or biked to school; in 2001, only 16 percent did.

2. Almost all public elementary schools schedule physical education for their students, but only 17 to 22 percent (depending on grade level) provide physical education on a daily basis.

3. About two-thirds of young people in grades 9 to 12 are not engaged in recommended levels of physical activity. Daily participation in high school physical education classes dropped from 42 percent in 1991 to 33 percent in 2005.

4. In 2005, only about half of students in grades 9 to 12 attended physical education classes on one or more days in an average week when they were in school.

5. In 2005, more than a third of high schoolers reported watching three or more hours of television per day on an average school day.

This inactivity is not only harming children’s health but affecting children’s academic success. Physical activity improves children’s academic performance.

6. Studies show that providing more time for physical activity (by reducing class time for academics) can lead to improved test scores, particularly in the area of mathematics.

Physical activity programs have also been linked to stronger academic achievement, increased concentration, and improved reading and writing
test scores.

8. Children who have daily physical education classes exhibit better attendance and have a more positive attitude about school.

9. Children who spend less time in other subjects in order to allow for regular physical education have been shown to do equally well or better in academic classes.

Adapted in part, with permission, from Action for Healthy Kids, “Building the Argument: The Need for Physical Education and Physical Activity in Our Schools,” www.ActionForHealthyKids.org.

Eating breakfast is an important part of powering-up your body for the day. Eating a balanced breakfast can help keep your family alert, improve mood and reduce mid-morning food cravings.

We spend the majority of our waking hours at work, therefore the workplace is an excellent venue to begin focusing on prevention and wellness.

Half of all mortality in the U.S. is linked to changeable behavioral factors such as smoking, poor diet, alcohol use, physical inactivity and careless accidents. Yet less than 5% of the total health care burden is spent on reducing these risks.

Wellness programs can effectively engage employees in health care decision making and encourage them to take a proactive role in improving their health status.

Using workplace driven initiatives and incentives to promote healthy lifestyles, holds great promise for improving employee and dependent health as well as stabilizing overall health care costs in the United States.

Last week was National Breastfeeding Awareness Week. Now is an appropriate time to revisit this important topic.

from the National Women’s Health Report: Women & Pregnancy

When Amber McCracken, 32, had her first child three years ago, she was all set to breastfeed. She figured it was a perfectly natural process that would come easily. Instead, she had such a terrible time with it that she gave up before her daughter was six weeks old.

“Because I couldn’t provide my first child with the important nourishment of breast milk, I felt like a failure as a mom even before I left the hospital,” she notes. What so many women don’t realize, Ms. McCracken now knows, is that breastfeeding must be learned–by both mother and child.

Nonetheless, American women are getting better at breastfeeding. A 2001 survey found that nearly 70 percent of babies are breastfed in the hospital; about 46 percent exclusively breastfed. Six months later, 33 percent of babies were still breastfed, 17 percent receiving breast milk only.

Those figures, part of the Ross Mothers Laboratory Survey (RMLS), which has been tracking breastfeeding in the U.S. since 1954, represent a record high, say researchers. Even better–groups that were historically less likely to breastfeed, such as women who are African-American, younger and those with only a high school education, also showed significant increases.

But it’s taken a lot of work to get there, the RMLS researchers note. They attribute increases to programs such as the peer counseling programs that target low-income women, and the Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative, a joint effort by UNICEF and the World Health Organization. Hospitals in the initiative agree not to accept free or low-cost breast milk substitutes, feeding bottles or nipples, and implement 10 specific steps to support successful breastfeeding.

What these and other programs like them show, says Michelle Collins, CNM, a certified nurse midwife at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, TN, is that there’s a lot of preparation to breastfeeding. “It’s not as simple as putting the baby on the breast, and it goes smoothly from there.” She also notes that while the 70 percent figure nationwide looks good, the figures differ dramatically throughout the country. In southern Illinois where she used to live, for instance, barely one in three new mothers tried nursing and half quit by six weeks.

“It’s a cultural thing,” she says. “If your mom didn’t breastfeed you, you probably won’t breastfeed your baby, because your mother may not be as supportive of you nursing.” Having a support system–whether your family, husband or friends–is also critical, she says.

Just as important is learning how to breastfeed. That involves everything from how to hold the baby and how often to feed the baby, to how to tell if the baby is getting enough milk (hint: wet diapers and weight gain). It also means being prepared for problems, like breast infections or sore nipples. In fact, the most common reasons for stopping breastfeeding are sore nipples, not having enough milk, problems with the baby nursing or feeling that the baby wasn’t getting enough to eat.

All those problems can be addressed by a certified lactation consultant, which most maternity wards and some pediatric groups have, notes Ms. Collins. “And expect that it’s a learning process,” she says. “It may take a good two weeks before you feel comfortable.”

Ms. McCracken knows that now. “I was so disappointed to miss out on one of the first opportunities to bond with my baby,” she says of her first pregnancy. She’s pregnant again, however, and hopes now that she knows more about breastfeeding her attempts to nurse will be successful. “I’m hopeful I have that chance again.”

Resources

International Lactation Consultant Association
919-861-5577
www.ilca.org
Provides database of lactation consultants by zip code who provide breastfeeding support and information.

La Leche League
847-519-7730
www.lalecheleague.org
Provides breastfeeding support and educational materials.

National Association for Postpartum Care Services
1-800-453-6852
www.napcs.org
Offers national database of contacts to assist with practical responsibilities and personal needs of families during the post-delivery period.

© 2006 National Women’s Health Resource Center, Inc. (NWHRC) All rights reserved. Reprinted with permission from the NWHRC. 1-877-986-9472 (toll-free). On the Web at: www.healthywomen.org.