Where you live has an incredible amount to do with how healthy and happy you are. Research shows Latinos and low-income families lack access to healthy food options, active spaces, and healthy school environments—which impact an area’s culture of health. So how healthy and happy are heavily Latino states? Gallup recently surveyed 177,000 Americans and ranked every state in terms of its citizens’ “personal contentment” or happiness. Rankings were based on financial stability, physical health, and community involvement. New Mexico, California, Texas, and Arizona—the four most heavily Latino U.S. states—ranked well, at No. 20, 13, 10, and 7, respectively, in terms of happiest, healthiest residents. Hawaii (9.9% Latino) ranked No. 1. Hawaii reported low obesity ...
Stress often factors in as a huge burden on the health of many Americans, including much of the Latino population. A survey by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation found that health concerns – either an existing illness or disease or the financial costs associated with needing medical care – are serious causes of stress for many people. Yes, stress is everywhere. However, some people in some cities experience less stress in the U.S. The financial website SmartAsset recently examined positive and negative factors in 500 cities (with populations of 67,500 or more) in the country to determine the stress level citizens face. Positive factors include the rate of physical activity in the cities and the average hours of sleep; negative factors include hours of work per week and ...
Already the largest and still-growing U.S. racial/ethnic minority, Latinos are a diverse people with distinct differences in origin, language use, and family characteristics. But what are the true Latino family dynamics? New research has confirmed what many already knew about Latino families: they are tightly-knit, resilient, and generally stable, according to a new report by the National Research Center on Hispanic Children & Families. The report, La Familia: Latino Families Strong and Stable, Despite Limited Resources, is among the first to give the complete “breakdown” of Latino households, examining data about mothers, fathers, and children. It indicates, after analyzing data available through 2010, that "Latino families have many of the traits children need to ...
There are often preconceived notions in regards to Latinos and their family dynamics. Already the country’s largest racial/ethnic minority group, which is expected to grow exponentially in the coming years, Latinos represent a diverse group of people with distinct differences depending on where they are from and the language they use. New research has confirmed what many already knew about Latino families: they are tightly-knit, resilient, and generally stable. The National Research Center on Hispanic Children & Families has recently released a new brief series entitled “La Familia: Latino Families Strong and Stable, Despite Limited Resources.” The series is one of the first ever to give the complete “breakdown” of Latino households, examining data about mothers, ...
Did you know this week is National Eating Disorders Awareness week? An increasing amount of Latino and other minority populations deal with "disordered eating"—restrained, compulsive or binge eating and an associated loss of control—in different ways depending on their culture. Let’s use #SaludTues on Feb. 28, 2017, to tweet about #EatingDisorders, their impact on Latinos, and info, resources, and tips how to promote healthy eating patterns for all! WHAT: #SaludTues Tweetchat: “Let’s Talk #EatingDisorders”
DATE/TIME: 1-2 p.m. ET (Noon-1 p.m. CT), Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2017
WHERE: On Twitter with hashtag #SaludTues
HOST: @SaludAmerica
CO-HOSTS: @EDCoalition We’ll open the floor to your stories and experiences as we explore: What are some signs of ...
Researchers from Johns Hopkins University recently identified a “culturally sensitive” set of tools that can be applied by pediatricians to help them screen Latino patients for mental health symptoms. Anxiety, depression, and aggression are some of the mental health issues that plague many Latinos and often go undiagnosed and untreated. The tools, which are freely available, and take less than 10 minutes to use are in Spanish and can help assess a wide range of emotional and behavioral problems among Latino kids. The investigators from Johns Hopkins encourage primary care pediatricians to consider utilizing four mental health screening tools: he Pediatric Symptom Checklist (PSC)-17-question version, the PSC-35-question version, the pictorial PSC-35, and the Strengths and ...
Mental health is one of the most important issue in all of healthcare. Anxiety and depression are just two of the more common mental health issues that affect millions of people. In recent years, Latino mental health has become an issue focused on my health agencies across the country. A new study has found that certain policies may be exacerbating Latino mental health concerns American Latinos living in states with more “exclusionary” immigration policies report higher rates of “psychological distress” than those living in states with more liberal immigration laws. “Obviously, not all immigrants are Latinos, nor are all Latinos immigrants,” said a research team led by Mark Hatzenbuehler of Columbia University in the journal Social Science and Medicine. In order to ...
Stress is a leading cause for health concern for many Americans, including large numbers of Latinos. One of the greatest stressors plaguing Latino families has to do with finances. In an effort to alleviate financial issues, more and more people – including Latinos – are turning to payday loans, the Center for American Progress reports. According to the Pew Charitable Trust, nearly 12 million people each year turn to payday loans. These quick fix infusions of money regularly lead to the person receiving the loan going into hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars of additional debt furthering stress. According to the National Council of La Raza (NCLR), Latinos are more likely than the general population to use a payday loan. In order to reduce health disparities, it is ...
Can stress negate the benefits of a healthy diet? Our lifestyle can influence our health and the power of stress can hurt change our bodies in a myriad of ways. According to recent research, stress can ultra metabolism, making the body become inflamed no matter if you are eating healthy foods or unhealthy foods. Janice Kiecolt-Glaser, researcher, and director of the Institute for Behavioral Medicine Research at the Ohio State University told NPR the more healthful meal was no better in terms of its impact on inflammation. The stress that was causing the inflammation in the bodies of the women studied was not life-threatening, but more about feeling in control. Inflammation in the body over long periods of time are linked to higher risks of cardiovascular disease, some ...
