Home and Kitchen

When it comes to your health, I’m a firm believer that it’s very important to be proactive. It’s a lesson that I learned due to the fact that my mother died at a young age (56) because she didn’t take her diabetes as seriously as she should have. As a kid, I remember numerous occasions finding her during a low sugar episode. During these scary times, I would have to mix sugar with orange juice and coax her to drink it. Not happy memories for sure… As a result, it was not hard for me to make drastic changes in my own life, when I learned almost 3 years ago that I was also a diabetic. I keep a close eye on my glucose levels using a inexpensive glucose monitor so that hopefully I will never require medication to control my disease. Besides health monitors for diabetes, there are home use devices for measuring blood pressure, cholesterol and today I’m going to tell you about The ReadMyHeart 100. This handheld device from DailyCare BioMedical can measure your heart’s electrical activity.

Looking for a solution to stop the rattle-your-windows-snorer sleeping next to you? Do you need a Father’s Day gift that also rewards your Mom? Then, you might want to take a look at Hivox’ SnoreStopper. This innovative device is worn like a watch. When you start to snore, it produces a 5-second electronic impulse on your wrist, resulting in the snorer to reposition and stop snoring. The distributor claims that within 3 weeks, the SnoreStopper naturally coaches your body to snore less. To test this claim, Hivox graciously sent me a sample to review.

We all know or remember seeing someone at one time or another that has worn a medical alert ID bracelet or necklace. I think I vaguely recall my Dad buying one for my Mom when she was first diagnosed with Diabetes. These days you don’t really see people wearing this method of medical identification. I don’t know if they are
just considered old fashioned or if the companies that make them have stopped promoting them. That’s why I was
intrigued when the folks at CWI Medical asked me if I would review the MedicTag.

Light therapy devices seem to be gaining in popularity these days. Having just reviewed the Litebook Elite, I was happy to take a look at the Verilux HappyLite Ultra Mini – a similar product. Unlike the Litebook, the HappyLite is not really a travel device as it does not have a rechargeable battery. It is better suited to remaining plugged in and on your desk.

This time of year I always tend to feel a little blah. It’s not surprising due to the fact that the winter months here in Indiana can be cold (it is 13 degrees here today), damp (it’s snowing right now too) and gloomy. I get up and go to work while it’s still dark outside, then come home and sit in my basement office working on reviews all evening. That leaves pretty much no time to soak up any natural light. For some people, these winter doldrums can turn into S.A.D. (Seasonal Affective Disorder). While I don’t think I actually suffer with that particular problem, I didn’t turn down a review of the Litebook Elite when it was offered to me.