Poll of top holiday season gripes

Many Americans citizens have a Grinch-like attitude toward being nice around the holidays, finds a new survey by Consumer Reports. In the poll, “having to be nice” ranked among the top 10 things people dread this time of year. Worries about weight gain also ranked in the top 10. The seasonal pressure to be pleasant was the tenth most common complaint in a recent telephone survey of 1,013 adults across the country.

The poll found that 15% of the adults questioned, or an estimated 35 million Americans, can’t stand having to be nice during the holidays. And that can add even more stress to an already hectic holiday season. When people were asked what they dreaded most about the holidays, crowds and long lines topped the list; 68% ranked them as their biggest beefs this time of year. The poll was done by the Consumer Reports National Research Center in early November, weeks before the holiday decorations, music, and shopping deluge began. It tried to gauge the mood of Americans to the upcoming holiday celebrations.

Dealing with mobs of people and waiting in line at stores or in mall parking lots made the top spot on the poll holiday gripe list. But two other common complaints tied for second place, gaining weight and going into debt. Thirty-seven percent of those surveyed worried about their expanding waistlines from feasting on holiday goodies and slacking off on exercise; 37% also worried about going into debt. Shopping for presents ranked fourth, and traveling to see family or attend parties ranked fifth among holiday hassles. Whether it’s getting into the season’s spirit, disliking the commercialism, or searching for the perfect gift that brings out your inner Scrooge, here is a list of the top things. See where your own holiday pet peeves rank. From fist to last, Crowds and long lines (68%), Gaining weight (37%), Getting into debt (37%), Gift shopping (28%), Traveling (25%), Seeing certain relatives (24%), Seasonal music (23%), Disappointing gifts (19%), Having to attend holiday parties or events (16%), Having to be nice (15%), Holiday tipping (12%).

http://www.webmd.com/balance/news/20111202/weight-gain-need-to-be-nice-are-holiday-season-gripes

ALLERGY OVER THE COUNTER MEDICINE

The Right Over-the-Counter Medicine to treat Allergic Symptoms

Over the Counter (OTC) medicine is kind of drugs that can be purchased without prescription from the doctor. It is usually used to treat common illness that does not require any specific healthcare. The examples of diseases are pain and aches. The others are some common sickness like tooth decay, flu, cold, migraine or headaches. People take this over the counter medicine since it is easy to get and not too expensive. Yet allergy is a different case, it differs from other common sickness that has the clear symptoms. Since there are many kinds of allergy with some similar symptoms differ by a slightly specific symptom. Therefore, we need to recognize and understand our symptoms in order to choose the right allergy over the counter medicine. There are many available allergy over the counter medicine sold, but the most common allergy over the counter medicine used are antihistamines and decongestants.
Allergies are when the immune system’s response to unsafe substance. The allergy can be in the form of pollen and if it reaches the membranes in your nose, your nose might become irritated and swollen causing you to sneeze, or having a runny nose, headache, etc. some other effects can cause your eyes watering and itchy. If you are allergic to something that comes into contact with your skin, you might get hives or a rash. That is why taking the right allergy over the counter medicine for your symptoms is important. If fact that there is no cure for any allergy symptoms, however the allergy over the counter medicine mentioned previously is usually taken only to ease the annoying symptoms like sneezing and runny nose.
Antihistamines have been used for years to treat allergy symptoms. It is used to reduce the allergic symptom related to the nose. This allergy over the counter medicine blocks the histamine that causes your nose itchy and swollen. The other OTC medicine is Decongestants. It shrinks swollen nasal tissues and blood vessels to relieve nasal swelling, congestion, mucus secretion, and redness. Both of the drug has side effects which are dizziness and drowsiness, while decongestants may cause insomnia and irritability in urination flow
Taking OTC medicines still has risks. If you’re pregnant, talk to your doctor before taking any medicines. It is important to take medicines correctly. Thing to remember is that more medicine does not necessarily mean better. Knowing the symptom will be a better way to select allergy over the counter medicine. Also, by not taking it over the dose will help the improvement of next allergy over the counter medicine.

Afrin Side Effects

Watch out for Afrin Side Effects

Suffering a nasal congestion is really uncomfortable for people because it affects their breathing. Never mind that it is caused by allergy, deviated septum, chronic sinus infections, polyps or only extreme cold, once people have this problem, they tend to look for effective and immediate medicine to relief their pain. For this reason, people like to use nasal decongestant spray since they work directly to relief the pain from its source. One of the well known over the counter product for this kind of medication is Afrin. Many people like to use Afrin because it can relieve their nasal congestion very quickly. However, only few people know that there are some Afrin side effects that can cause more impairment to their nasal congestion problem.

Like other nasal decongestant sprays, Afrin works by making the blood vessels and spongy tissue inside the nose to recoil, but it is only for a temporary time. After a few hours, the blood vessel and spongy tissue will spring back bigger than before it was recoiled and cause more serious nasal congestion than before. Nonetheless, many people have not understood this Afrin side effect and often go back using the spray which of course will give nothing except a continuing cycle of nasal congestion. This is the most serious problem of Afrin side effects because the more times we repeat using it the more serious nasal congestion problems we will get.

Another side effect of Afrin is that it can increase the heart rate and blood pressure of the users. People with heart problem and blood pressure problem are the first people who must avoid using Afrin because of this side effect. One more effect is that it can also cause urinary problem. Therefore, it can be concluded that this spray is bad not only for our congestion problem but also for our overall health.

There are some other ways to relief nasal congestion if we want to avoid Afrin side effects. Among of them are by using saline spray, and neti pot. Old fashioned as it is, neti pot is a good solution which we can do easily and without so much bad effects. You can have neti pot with hot shower more than once a day for many days and it is no problem, unlike Afrin which cannot be taken for more than three days at a time. It is true that neti pot can only irrigate your nasal congestion and cannot cure infection, but it can give you the same relief you are looking for, as well as prevent your self from Afrin side effects.