VitalityHouse Health Articles

Horseback Riding a Major Cause of Recreational Brain Trauma

July 31, 2007 on 1:07 pm | In Brain Injury News | Comments Off With the recent increased media attention being paid to the National Football League and the controversy over the care of it's players suffering from traumatic brain injuries, many may be surprised to learn that football is not the leading sport in which brain injuries are suffered.

Helmets and seat belts lower risk of damage to the brain

July 30, 2007 on 1:02 pm | In Brain Injury News | Comments Off According to the Think First National Injury Prevention Foundation, traumatic brain injury causes 20 times more disabilities than AIDS, breast cancer, spinal cord injuries and multiple sclerosis combined. An estimated 1,165,000 children will require hospitalization following a traumatic brain injury, while one in 10 will live with moderate to severe impairments.

World Congress Receives Endorsement from Portuguese Government

July 27, 2007 on 2:06 pm | In Brain Injury News | Comments Off The International Brain Injury Association is pleased to announce that the Portuguese Ministry of Health has officially endorsed the Seventh World Congress on Brain Injury, scheduled for April 9-12, 2008, in Lisbon, Portugal.

Fat Friends

July 27, 2007 on 1:00 pm | In Uncategorized | Comments Off

Recent research from New England (a study of 12,000 people) shows that when your friends get fatter it's likely that you will too.

It's not just a general trend in the population towards putting on weight - if your friends keep themselves in trim you're more likely to stay slim as well.

It makes sense in a lot of ways - after all if you are always eating out with your friends and they all have dessert and multiple drinks - what do you do? You'll likely go with the trend. And you don't feel too conspicuous putting on weight if everyone in your social group is carrying extra pounds too. There's safety in numbers.

Of course if your friends socialize at the gym and eat a light lunch together that's what you're going to do too. And you'll feel more ashamed if you're the only one who can't squeeze into a regular pair of jeans and have to go into the size for larger folk than when others in your group of friends are looking at the plus size rails too.

But the question is, do you choose your friends subconsciously so that you can eat too much or do you eat too much because of who your friends are? And do your friends sabotage (subconsciously or not) your attempts to lose weight so that they still have the comfort of being surrounded by equally large buddies? It could go very deep this one ...

The latest diet advice: don't hang around with fat people - Independent Online Edition > Health

Girl, 12, dies from softball head injury

July 26, 2007 on 2:17 pm | In Brain Injury News | Comments Off Maggie Hilbrands, a 12-year old Grand Rapids, Michigan softball player died yesterday after being struck in the head with a ball during practice on Tuesday. The ball struck her head, producing a brain injury that caused her heart to temporarily stop, and she never regained consciousness.