Marla Ahlgrimm: Insomnia More Than Sleeplessness

Sleep is a basic human need that, according to Marla Ahlgrimm, is vital to the brain and the body. More than 40 million Americans suffer from chronic sleep disorders. Insomnia is one of the most common and is characterized by difficulty falling or staying asleep.

Marla Ahlgrimm claims that people with insomnia usually experience one or more of the following:

• Fatigue
• Difficulty concentrating
• Mood changes
• Decreased work or school performance
• Low energy

There are three forms of insomnia: transient, acute, and chronic.

Transient insomnia lasts from a few days up to a week. Some causes include:

• Excessive worry
• Short-term stress (A few examples cited by Marla Ahlgrimm include an upcoming exam, arguments with a significant other, or criticism at work)
• Excitement
• Sleeping in an unfamiliar place
• Jetlag
• Illness
• Relationship problems

Marla Ahlgrimm | Summer Swim Safety

Summer is near, and that means swim season. According to Marla Ahlgrimm, safety should be everyone’s #1 priority, even more so than whether or not we fit into those itsy bitsy bikinis. Here are a few swim safety tips compiled by the women’s health expert.

Don’t swim in cloudy water.

Marla Ahlgrimm says that there are many reasons to avoid pools with cloudy water. First are the germs. A cloudy or milky-looking swimming pool has not been properly disinfected. If the water is not crystal clear, the equipment has not been maintained in there are of germs, viruses, and bacteria waiting for you to take a dive. Further, dirty water makes it considerably more difficult to see to the bottom of the pool. This is dangerous, and Marla Ahlgrimm notes that people have died in swimming pools and gone undiscovered for several hours or days because the other swimmers simply could not see that there was a problem.

Marla Ahlgrimm | The Endocrine System and You

Your hormones are important, says Marla Ahlgrimm. So much so that your endocrine system – a series of glands that produce hormones – has a role in your health from top to bottom throughout your entire life. Here, Ahlgrimm answers a few questions on the topic.

Q: What, exactly, does the endocrine system do?

Marla Ahlgrimm: The endocrine system is made up of many different glands. These glands push hormones throughout the body via the bloodstream. Once there, they can be distributed where they’re needed. These hormones are crucial to reproductive and metabolic development. They work with other hormones to affect mood, physical growth, and organ function.

Marla Ahlgrimm: Skip the Added Salt

Salt is used to both stabilize foods and to improve taste. And it’s impossible to avoid short of raising your own food and cooking each meal yourself. However, according to Marla Ahlgrimm, women especially should pay attention to their salt intake as it can affect the body in surprising ways.

Marla Ahlgrimm explains that sodium is an element essential to the human body. In fact, we need around 200 mg each day to support healthy system operations. But the average American consumes more than 3400 mg of salt each day of the week. The problem is not in the salt we add after cooking. The vast majority of our sodium overload comes from processed foods and those preserved with salt.

Fluid imbalance

The human body is naturally designed to maintain a balance of fluids, sodium, and potassium. Marla Ahlgrimm explains that when it has too much water, the body uses a process called osmosis to remove the excess fluid. These fluids are then transported to the kidneys and then bladder. When you eat too much salt, your body naturally keeps water in the blood to help dilute the excess of sodium. The most significant problem that can arise from an abnormal increase in blood volume is high blood pressure.

Minerals are Magnificent | Marla Ahlgrimm

We hear a lot about vitamins and minerals, says Marla Ahlgrimm, but how much do you know about the latter? While many minerals, such as calcium, are fairly well known others, including sodium, copper, and phosphorous remain a mystery to most. Considering that the body needs minerals to work properly, it’s important to have a basic understanding of what they do and how they work. Keep reading his Ahlgrimm answers a few common questions about minerals.

Q: What are the different kinds of minerals?

Marla Ahlgrimm: There are trace minerals, which are those you need in very small amounts, and macrominerals, those the body requires a higher volume. Calcium, potassium, and magnesium are examples of macrominerals. Cobalt, iron, manganese, and iodine are essential trace minerals.

Marla Ahlgrimm | Men Vs. Women: The Difference is in the Details

Human males and females are remarkably similar, says Marla Ahlgrimm. But there are a few distinctions that separate the sexes, and the reasons behind them aren’t always clear.

According to Marla Ahlgrimm, human women have full breasts continually from puberty until death. This is vastly different than most species, where the female only has large breasts when pregnant and nursing. Men, however, are flat at the sternum. It’s theorized that women remain chesty to attract a mate ready to reproduce. Men still have nipples because the gene that decides if an embryo is male or female doesn’t kick in until later in prenatal development. Essentially, we are all the same until a few weeks into gestation.

Marla Ahlgrimm | Family History Matters

When you talk with your doctor for the first time, the office will likely ask you about your family health history. If you can’t answer these questions, you may be putting yourself at risk, says retired pharmacist Marla Ahlgrimm. Your family history is an integral part of who you are and can tell a lot about your health.

Q: How does my family history play a part in my health?

Marla Ahlgrimm: You inherit genes from both your mother and father, who inherited their genes from their mother and father and so on until the beginning of time. You can think of yourself as a puzzle made up of pieces from dozens of other people, including your parents and grandparents. You inherit physical traits, such as height and skin color, but you can also inherit diseases. Knowing your family history up to about your great-grandparents can help you gauge your risk for hemophilia, Huntington’s disease, Alzheimer’s, and much more.