XLPharmacy Discusses Risky Behavior

We all want to age gracefully and maintain a healthy body. But to do this, discipline is key and avoiding risky behaviors is essential. A risky behavior is anything that increases your risk of a disabling disease or death. So there are some obvious things: driving too fast, driving while intoxicated, unprotected sex or frequent non-mutually monogamous sex, drinking too much. One could even say that a risky behavior is eating too much saturated fat or not doing physical activities. So you can go the full range.

Another dangerous habit is cigarette smoking. What's predictable with tobacco is it ages your arteries. When we say "ages your arteries" that means heart disease, stroke, memory loss, most impotence and decay in orgasm quality, and even wrinkling of the skin. Although one drink can provide some healthy benefits, drinking too much alcohol can be hazardous to your health. When you get to over three drinks a day, you're aging yourself. Not only do you damage to your cells of your brain, your neurons of your brain, but you also expose yourself to a lot of other risky behaviors.

Making sure that you are practicing responsible sexual behavior is crucial. Sexually transmitted diseases are socioeconomically equal-opportunity infection. And everyone is at risk for it. So that's why it is responsible to use condoms wisely and every time. Once hooked on a high-risk behavior it's not easy to stop. But there are steps that can lead you in the right direction. It's very tough to quit any of the high-risk behaviors without a social support structure and without a serious plan. Aging is inevitable, but if you want to hold on to your youth, be good to your body and curb risky behaviors.

Risky Behavior Video
Adapted from materials provided by
ScienceDaily.com

Taking Your Medications Safely

Prescription medications save lives and help improve the quality of life for many people. But medicines can also pose a danger when they are not used correctly.

Prescription drug errors are a major problem and potentially touch the lives of all Americans. By one estimate, there are about a quarter of a million medication errors committed per year in the outpatient setting alone.

Errors can be relatively insignificant: minor side effects that a patient wasn't warned about. Or more serious: A patient may end up taking the wrong medication, or the wrong dose, or no medicine at all.

The biggest cause of prescription drug errors, is a lack of communication. And that's a lack of communication between physicians and nurses, physicians and patients and families, patients and families and patients and nurses.

That's why experts say: Ask lots of questions. It's the first item on a medicine safety checklist prepared by the US government's Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

Many people are reluctant to ask questions, because it's very, very clear that doctors and all healthcare professionals are very pressed for time these days. Oftentimes, people, think of a question after they leave, and then it's not really clear who to call.

Often doctors don't know all the medicines a patient is taking. So the second item on the safety checklist is: Bring them in.

Watch the Video here!

XLPharmacy Canada