Category: Health

Echinacea Prevents colds

Echinacea is a good herb to use to fight off colds, it’s remarkably successful at prevention according to new research. The herb apparently improves the body’s immune system, but researchers don’t know exactly how it works yet. Echinacea can reduce incidences of colds by 65%, even more powerful when taken vitamin C!

Researchers, led by Dr Craig Coleman from the University of Connecticut School of Pharmacy, combined the results of 14 different studies on Echinacea’s anti-cold properties.

In one of the 14 studies the researchers reviewed, echinacea was taken alongside vitamin C. This combination reduced cold incidence by 86%.

Urban Farm Towers

farming

Urban farming is not a new idea, it’s such a great idea that it is often forgotten though. A solution to transporting food and improving urban air quality is literally under our feet, and can soon be over our heads. There is an ever growing need for using buildings in cities as farms and more companies are now behind the idea. Skyscrapers as farms just sounds cool!

Not to mention locally-grown produce for the residents of central London, Manhattan and Tokyo, eliminating the environmental costs of transport (with fresher lettuces to boot).
Skyscraper farms can operate year-round with artificial lighting, so, on average, one indoor acre is the equivalent to between four and six outdoors, and companies are vying to reap the financial rewards that come from this increased efficiency.

Via Tree Hugger

Cuddle or Kudos Stress Away

We all deal with stress in our own way, but new research has come out that suggests that men and women have different ways that they like to get support when dealing with stress. Women like affectionate human contact when they are under stress while men like to hear how good they think they are.

From Wired Berries:

In other words, women need cuddles and men need kudos. We may have instinctively guessed as much, but now we have some scientific proof. You’ll both be set if you have him hold you close while you whisper sweet words of encouragement in his ear.

LifeStraw for Clean Water

lifestraw

Newsweek is running a story with an accompanying video about the the LifeStraw -a $3 gadget that cleans water. Regular readers here will remember that we covered the LifeStraw back in OCtober when LifeStraw was doing preliminary tests.

Most of the LifeStraw’s users will never drink anything fancier than plain water through the device. But its impact on their lives can’t be overstated. More than 1 billion people worldwide lack access to safe drinking water, and 6,000 people die each day of waterborne diseases like typhoid, cholera and dysentery. In regions like sub-Saharan Africa, half of most people’s water consumption takes place outside the home—either while they’re working, or walking to and from school. Vestergaard Frandsen S.A.—which also produces mosquito nets and plastic sheeting coated with insecticide to fend off malaria—hopes that the $3 LifeStraw will drastically lessen their chances of getting sick.

Cut Risk of Getting Gout be Drinking Coffee

Apparently drinking coffee lowers your risk of getting the gout. I’m going out for some coffee right now!

In this study, American and Canadian researchers tracked almost 46,000 men for 12 years. The men were ages 40 to 75 at the start of the study and had no history of gout.

The researchers found that men who drank six or more cups of coffee a day were 59 percent less likely to develop gout than those who never drank coffee, while the risk was 40 percent lower for men who drank four to five cups a day.