Health and Wellness Content Spotlight: The Week of May 29, 2006

The 19th annual World No Tobacco Day will occur on May 31, 2006. Local governments, agencies, community groups, and corporations throughout the United States and in a few other countries will be sponsoring events and distributing information to try to raise awareness about the harmful effects that tobacco use has on the health of users and on the community as a whole.

I chose to write about World No Tobacco Day for my featured article this week, and as I was reading though the articles published in the Health and Wellness section this week, I was pleased to find an excellently written article by AC content producer D. Howard which explores essays written about the addictive nature of smoking and whether a smoker has the free will to consent to the harmful behavior. In his own essay, entitled “Important Information About Smoking,” D. Howard picks apart the arguments of the writers and offers his own opinions on the issue. Whether you agree with his conclusions about the nature of smoking addiction and the question of consent, or not, I think you will enjoy reading this intelligent, thoughtful, and very timely piece.

Life is moving pretty quickly these days. Are you finding yourself feeling stressed out? Believe me, I can relate. I moved the clinic I run to a new site this week, and I am feeling about as strung out as I can imagine feeling. As I perused the week’s submissions to Health and Wellness, I happily came across the article “Stress Relief from Biofeedback,” written by content producer Maisah Robinson, Ph.D. As a proponent complementary medicine and natural solutions to health care concerns wherever possible, I have long been a big believer in the use of biofeedback for a number of health issues, and have used it myself for the treatment and prevention of migraine headaches. I think that a lot of people can benefit from Dr. Robinson’s article, which clearly explains the mechanism of biofeedback, gives a little history of the techniques utilized in biofeedback therapy, and includes resources for finding a qualified therapist in your area.

Of course, for the reduction of stress, there is always help to be found in our good old buddy: the hot bath. AC content producer Tina Samuels has written an article that teaches readers how to create their own homemade bath salts in a variety of fragrances in her article “A Sampling of Bath Salt Recipes.” Whether your preference is something simple and calming, like lavender or lemon scented salts, something more exotic, like “Brazilian Rain Forest Bath Salts,” or more specific, like “Super Calming Bath Salts,” Tina’s got a concoction for you, with seven recipes to choose from. However, if you’re looking for something a little bubblier, you might want to look into her earlier article “Making Your Own Bubble Bath Mixes.”

I love reviewing the content submissions for the Health and Wellness category. There is so much to learn from the articles in this diverse section. If you’ve written something you think deserves a place in the Health and Wellness Content Spotlight, or if you’ve come across a particularly eye catching piece of writing by another Associated Content CP, please feel free to post a link in the “Health and Wellness” folder in the forum, or send me a message from my CP page. I do my best to get a look at all the week’s submissions, but there is such a large amount of quality content, and I welcome your input about articles that deserve a second read.