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Amanda Merck

Merck completed her MPH with a concentration in Physical Activity and Health. She curates content for Salud America! (@SaludAmerica), a Latino childhood obesity prevention project based at the Institute for Health Promotion Research at UT Health San Antonio. She focuses on the latest research, resources, and stories related to policy, systems, and environmental changes to enhance equitable access to safe places for kids and families to walk, bike, and play.

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Articles by Amanda Merck

8 Jobs that Can Harm Your Heart


Heartache

Eight professions are among the most challenging to a person's heart health—salesperson, administrative support staff, police officers and firefighters, transportation/material movers, a grocery/consumer store employee—according to new research, CNN reports. American Heart Association researchers studies health habits of over 5,500 people age 45 or older who did not have a history of heart disease or stroke. The habits include: blood pressure, blood sugar, cholesterol, fitness levels, diet, smoking, and obesity. Most salespeople surveyed were determined to have poor eating habits (68%) and poor cholesterol levels (69%). Of administrative staff, less than 21% met recommended physical activity standards. Despite the fitness standards of many police and fire departments, ...

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Why Junk Food Cravings Increase After a Sleepless Night


Sleepless Night junk food

Not getting enough sleep at nights may be causing your junk food cravings, according to a  study. After scanning 23 young adults after a normal night’s sleep and after a sleepless night researchers at UC Berkeley found “impaired activity in the sleep-deprived brain’s frontal lobe, which governs complex decision-making, but increased activity in deeper brain centers that respond to rewards. Moreover, the participants favored unhealthy snack and junk foods when they were sleep deprived.” “What we have discovered is that high-level brain regions required for complex judgments and decisions become blunted by a lack of sleep, while more primal brain structures that control motivation and desire are amplified,” said Matthew Walker, a UC Berkeley professor of psychology and ...

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What to Do When You Hear: “You Have a Cavity.”


cavity dentist dental

SaludToday Guest Blogger Jefferson Dental Clinics "You have a cavity." You've probably heard this exact phrase from your dentist about your teeth. What should you do? First, bone up on what cavities are. "Demineralization" is the process of how tooth enamel loses minerals. Tooth enamel is comprised of a pattern of minerals and when they are lost, gaps in the pattern form that eventually widen and deepen as minerals are lost faster than the rate of rebuilding occurs. A common misconception is that sugar itself erodes tooth enamel; however, the sugars simply act as a food for the bacteria. The bacteria produce lactic acid, which erodes the enamel when it is left to settle onto teeth. Can you see or feel a cavity? If you’ve ever had a cavity, particularly a deep one, you may ...

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Teacher Helps Get Water Safety Classes for Students with Special Needs



Linda Joseph, a special needs teacher in Florida, with some of the highest drowning rates in the country, wanted to make sure her students could swim and weren’t afraid of the water. As someone who values whole-child health, Joseph knows that water safety boosts confidence and opens doors to many water-based physical activities and associated brain and body benefits. She went to a nearby pool for information and learned about and enrolled her students in free water safety education lessons through SWIM Central. Fear of Drowning is High in Florida  Linda Joseph, a special needs teacher at Lauderdale Lakes Middle School, in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. (13.7% Latino), lost both of her parents to a drowning accident when she was 16. She became fearful of water and didn’t learn ...

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Drowning Prevention Leaders Teach Water Safety to Kids Under 5 in Florida



In the past 15 years, the drowning rate of school-age children in Broward County, Fla., has plummeted thanks in part to SWIM Central, a program that provides free water safety education classes and transportation for public school children. However, drowning rates remain the No. 1 cause of death among children younger than 5. SWIM Central’s manager and primary funder, the Children’s Services Council, teamed up to develop a voucher program for parents to get their children under 5 into water safety education classes for free or very low cost. Drowning is No.1 Killer in South Florida  Cindy Arenberg Seltzer and Jay Sanford have long been advocates for water safety education for children in Broward County, Fla. (27.5% Latino). Seltzer is president and CEO of the ...

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Dr. Deborah Parra-Medina: Researcher Continues Blazing Leadership Trail


Deborah Parra-Medina

Dr. Deborah Parra-Medina, a health researcher at the Institute for Health Promotion Research (IHPR) at UT Health San Antonio, recently became a national research fellow and is co-leading regional health education centers in South Texas. Parra-Medina was named a Fellow by the American Academy of Health Behavior (AAHB), a national group of researchers who apply study results to improve public health. Fellows are selected for their significant contributions to advancing health behavior knowledge, as well as a strong record of scientific investigations, publications, and presentations. She is being recognized at the AAHB’s scientific meeting Feb. 21-24, 2016, in Florida. Parra-Medina also recently became co-director of the South Texas Area Heath Education Centers (AHEC) Program in ...

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Neighborhood Leaders Push San Antonio for More Walkable Streetscape with ‘Place Changing’ Campaign



Nicolas Rivard and Allison Hu, urban designers in San Antonio and members of Dignowity Hill Neighborhood Association, learned about an upcoming street construction project that lacks walkable streetscape elements in their neighborhood. They saw this an an opportunity. The urban designers mobilized community members to get involved and request walkable streetscape elements, and the city responded by adding street trees, separated sidewalks, and landscaping. Today, through their recent project, Place Changing, the designers use “participatory design” processes to build planning literacy and equip residents with strategies to continue to get involved in city planning and development projects. Walkability Low in East San Antonio Neighborhood Nicolas Rivard and Allison Hu, urban ...

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Street Trees and Health in Urban Areas


street trees

Improving health isn't limited to the doctor's office or to a lab. Quite the opposite, in fact. The zip code you grow up in is a better predictor of your health than your genetics. This is due to non-medical drivers of health that influence health behaviors. Take street trees, for example. A recent study, on neighborhood green space and health, found that street trees have numerous economic and health benefits. Exposure to green spaces can reduce sedentary time, promote physical activity, and reduce blood pressure, which is important for communities that are impacted by the non-medical drivers of health, because they often lack aesthetically pleasing active spaces, yet are burdened by increased rates of obesity, cancer, and chronic diseases like diabetes. "We find that ...

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#SaludTues TEETHchat 2/9/16: Why Dental Health is Critical for Kids


dental health brushing teeth

Some kids have high rates of dental cavities at certain age groups. This is bad news because poor dental health can not only lead to gum disease and early tooth loss, but it also can affect overall health, causing pain, influencing learning abilities, and producing low self-esteem. For February’s National Children’s Dental Health Month, join the #SaludTues Tweetchat on Feb. 9, 2016, to tweet about tips, innovative strategies, and programs to improve dental health among all kids to break down barriers and boost overall health: WHAT: #SaludTues Tweetchat: “Why Dental Health is Critical for Kids?” TIME/DATE: 1-2 p.m. ET (Noon-1 p.m. CT), Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2016 WHERE: On Twitter with hashtag #SaludTues HOST: @SaludAmerica CO-HOSTS: Jefferson Dental Clinics ...

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