HEALTH AND WELLNESS

                                        When I get dressed, my wife checks that the colors I choose match, says Michael. At breakfast she selects a piece of fruit for me because I can’t see if the fruit is ripe. At work I can’t always see where to click on the computer screen, since items are often distinguished by color. When I’m driving, red and green traffic lights appear the same to me, so I observe whether the illuminated light is on top or on the bottom. Horizontal lights, however, can present a problem.                                                                   HOW DO WE SEE COLORS Light from object passes through the CORNEA and the LENS and is focused on the RETINA. THE RETINA contains CONE CELLS and ROD CELLS. Together they give the full range of vision. THE CONE CELLS are sensitive to RED, GREEN, OR BLUE light. The OPTIC NERVE carries visual impulses to the brain. The image is inverted but corrected later by the brain.                         

                             Sometimes one’s symptoms may indicate a serious sleep disorder. Chronic insomnia, which last more than a month, is often related to more serious problems, including depression. Chronic insomnia may also be a symptom of a serious physical ailment.                                                                          [A] SLEEP APNEA Ronaldo suffered from excessive daytime sleepiness. When he drove the family car, his wife had to watch him carefully, as he tended to lapse into momentary blackouts, which he rarely recalled. He snored loudly and irregularly every night and at times violently jerked himself awake, gasping for breath. Erratic, heavy apnea snoring is not to be confused with the occasional light, rhythmic snoring of many sleepers –the major detriment of which is that others in the same bedroom are kept awake. Ronaldo had the classic symptoms of sleep apnea. Apnea literally means “no breath.” An episode of sleep apnea may

                               It was a lovely day in summer afternoon, and 16-years old Lucy has been roller-skating in a public park in New York, U.S.A. suddenly the park seemed deserted, and she decided to leave. As she sat near her family’s minivan removing her skates, a stranger approached her. With the chilling words “I‘ve got a knife! Shut up or I’ll kill you!” he demanded sex, grabbed Lucy, and tried to shove her inside the minivan. She screamed as loud as she could, but that did not stop the attack. “I felt so utterly helpless,” Lucy recalled later. “Like a bug versus giant. But I kept screaming and struggling. Finally, I called out to God, ‘please don’t let this happen tom!” That seemed to startle the attacker, who suddenly released her and fled the scene. As the would-be rapist got into his car, Lucy locked herself in her van, trembling. Grabbing the cell phone, she forced herself to be calm. She called the police and gave an accurate description of the

             Most of the problems are caused by lack of oxygen. Because the atmospheric pressure is lower the higher you go, at 2,000 meters above sea level, a given volume of air contains some 20 percent less oxygen, and at 4,000 meters, air contains 40 percent less oxygen. Lack of oxygen affects most of your bodily functions. Your muscles can do less work, your nervous system can take less stress, and your digestive system cannot handle fat as well. Normally when your body needs more oxygen, you automatically breathe more heavily and fill the need. Then why doesn’t this happen when you arrive at a high altitude? Just how your body controls your rate of breathing is a wonder that is not completely understood. But when you exert yourself, heavy breathing is not triggered simply by lack of oxygen. Rather, the carbon dioxide buildup in the blood produced by the muscle activity seems to be a key factor in making you breathe more. You do breathe more heavily