Ways to avoid infections at the gym

As much as I'd enjoy the view in an NFL locker room, after reading the latest news on Staphylococcus infections in football players, I will pass up any forthcoming invitations. As this ESPN.com story nicely summarizes, the Cleveland Browns's Kellen Winslow is only the latest player to develop an infection from staph, which usually sits harmlessly on our skin but can turn dangerous when it gets into our bodies via a cut or scrape.

Other high school, college, and pro athletes in sports including wrestling and baseball have also come down with staph infections in recent years, in some cases the potentially deadly strain that is immune to antibiotics. It's not always clear where these and other infections originate, but athletes are at risk because they tend to get nicks and cuts, to have skin-to-skin contact with teammates and opponents, and to share equipment and towels.

That doesn't give you another excuse to hit the snooze button rather than working out, however. Doctors say the benefits of exercise far outweigh the small chance of acquiring staph or another infection at the gym or in the course of your fitness routine. And, they say, you can take some common-sense steps to protect yourself:

Make sure the equipment is clean. Most exercisers won't have a lot of intimate contact with other gym-goers. But they will use the same exercise balls, spinning bikes, and weight machines. Gyms are supposed to regularly clean off the equipment, but you should take your own precautions.

"Emphasize hygiene as much as you can," says Richard Wenzel, chair of the Department of Internal Medicine at Virginia Commonwealth University and expert on antibiotic-resistant infections. Wiping a machine off with a hand towel is not sufficient. Many gyms have their own disposable wipe dispensers. If yours doesn't, you can buy your own wipes; anything with at least 60 per cent alcohol is ideal.

In this case, sharing is not always best. Don't use someone else's towel. In some cases, you may also get more peace of mind by purchasing your own basic equipment, like yoga mats, which, when not regularly cleaned, have been anecdotally linked to bacterial, fungal, and viral infections.

Shower right after you exercise

Don't wait around in your sweaty clothes if you've been using common equipment or participating in a contact sport, advises Neil Fishman, director of Health Care Epidemiology and Infection Control at the University of Pennsylvania Health Care System. (It's OK to answer your E-mails before showering if you've been out for a run or something else that doesn't involved shared equipment or contact.) Don't use a communal bar of soap; either bring your own or use the gym's liquid soap.

While you're in there, wear flip-flops or shower shoes. While staph gets the headlines, the fungal infection known as athlete's foot is still a pain. Protect yourself by keeping your feet off the communal shower floor and carefully drying off your tootsies afterwards. Oh, and in case you were wondering (I actually wasn't when I stumbled upon this discussion), peeing on your foot in the shower does not fend off athlete's foot or other germs.

Think twice about the sauna or the whirlpool if you have a cut, scrape, or bad bruise.

Chlorine in regular pools will kill many bugs (with the exception of a few, like Cryptosporidium, that can be ingested by gulping water). But a couple of microbes thrive in hot water, says Fishman. A form of folliculitis caused by a bacterium called Pseudomonas aeruginosa can also give you a rash that the CDC calls "hot tub rash" and is more colorfully known as "hot tub buns." To help prevent it, shower after you use the hot tub.

Don't ignore symptoms

Whether or not you've worked out lately, pay attention to a scratch, bruise, or cut that becomes red, hot, or tender, says Fishman. The greatest risk, he adds, comes not from a particular machine at the gym, but the tendency to ignore an infection until it's progressed to something serious.

It's Men'seasy to overlook the importance of emotional health. However, the fact that British men between the ages of 15 and 34 are more likely.

Men's den:

Tackling depression

Depression affects about one in five men at some time in our lives. But what does being 'depressed' really mean? When is being down a sign of illness, rather than normal sadness, frustration, anger or stress? There are a few pointers. First, doctors don't consider depression to be 'clinical' - meaning an illness in need of treatment - unless symptoms have lasted for more than two weeks.

This kind of depression is caused by changed brain and body chemistry, which doesn't happen overnight. In fact, depression often comes on so slowly that many men have difficulty noticing the change.

Although depression is technically a mental illness, many of the symptoms of depression are actually physical. Depressed people find it difficult to get to sleep, or to feel rested when they wake. Waking through the night, or waking far too early in the morning, is quite a strong sign of depression.

Depressed people have little energy, and they often find it difficult to motivate themselves to do anything. Appetite and interest in food diminishes, and many people lose weight. Aches and pains and a general physical malaise are also very common.

Thinking is affected too. For example, it can be difficult to concentrate, so that it's impossible to follow a TV programme all the way through. Even short newspaper articles are a struggle, and few depressed people can manage to read novels, even if this is something they used to enjoy.

Memory also suffers, so that it's hard (for example) to remember phone numbers, and easy to forget important things at work.

Other, subtler, changes in thinking can be harder to spot. For example, people find that minor setbacks - things they would usually shrug off - seem devastating. Problems in one area generalise, so that they seem to affect every aspect of life. In severe depression, people can feel that they're useless; that their lives are a waste of time; or that they must have been guilty of something terrible. A few people hear voices that aren't really there (hallucinations).

It's very common to feel you can't face the day, to wish you didn't have to wake up in the morning, or even to feel like ending it all. Suicidal thoughts like this are a frightening symptom. Fortunately, most people don't act on them.

But there is some good news in all this despondency. Paradoxically, the worse depressive symptoms are, the more likely the sufferer is to get better with treatment. GPs are able to prescribe antidepressants, which aren't addictive, aren't usually sedating, and which begin to work in two to four weeks.

Psychological treatments such as counselling or cognitive behavioural therapy can be very effective, not only in healing depression, but also in preventing the illness from coming back. These 'talking treatments' work well alongside medicine. Thinking about suicide is one of the common symptoms of depression. These thoughts are 'the illness speaking': they aren't logical or sensible, and not how you'd usually think.

Thoughts of harming yourself can be hard to get rid of if you're on your own. Try to be with people (even if you're feeling rotten and not saying very much).

Confiding in someone about suicidal thoughts doesn't make it more likely that you'll act on them. If possible, try to let someone know how you feel.

"I'm going through a rough patch" can be enough - you don't necessarily need to say more.

Try to distract yourself if the thoughts become too much: go for a walk, listen to music, or watch TV.

Make sure you avoid alcohol or drugs - although they can ease some of the tension, they also make it much more likely that you'll act impulsively, or will not be aware of what you are doing.

[You and your baby]

by Dr. Viith Vidyavibushana,

Consultant Gynaecologist, Castle Street Hospital for Women

Saga of an egg

Ovum is the female counterpart which contains all the genetic material required for the beginning of a new life. Therefore the egg contains half of the genetic material that we inherit from our parents. Eggs are produced from a structure called ovaries which are situated in the lower part of your cavity of tummy. The other half of the genetic material will come from the male sperm, which make the full genetic composition of the new life. These special cells required for reproduction (Egg and the sperm) originate from cells called 'germ cells' and eggs and sperms have half of the genetic material of a normal cell. Therefore, has to be a process of division of those special cells (germ cells) to give half of the material into this special cells (sperm and egg).

Do you know that the ovum or the egg you release every month starts its division even before your birth? By the end of the 12th week of life inside the womb early eggs are formed. And then they multiply in number, and at about 20th week of life inside the womb there are about seven million eggs in the ovary. Thereafter, these cells die spontaneously and number goes down steadily. At the time of birth it reaches seven hundred thousand to two million. Approximately at the time of birth, these eggs start dividing in order to give half of the genetic material in to future eggs destined to make a new life. These dividing cells then enter a resting phase until puberty.

During childhood majority of eggs dies spontaneously and at the time of puberty a female has about four hundred thousand eggs in both ovaries.

During entire reproductive life fewer than five hundred eggs will be released and the number of children in a family would be the number of eggs used.

The first day of menstrual bleeding is the first day of your menstrual cycle. Under the influence of hormones released by the brain, few eggs start to mature from day one (these growing eggs are known as "Follicles"). After few days one follicle becomes dominant and on the 14th day of the menstrual cycle this dominant follicle in the ovary will rupture and release the egg in to the cavity of the tummy. This egg will be caught by the "Fimbria" (Finger like projections at the end of the fallopian tube) and transported in to the fallopian tube. Since the life span of an egg is 24 hours It has to be fertilized before it dies. Therefore you would understand that a 35 years old lady releases an egg which has been arrested in division 35 years ago!

Majority of women who have regular menstrual cycles release an egg regularly. If you have lower abdominal pain in the middle part of your menstrual cycle (Mid cycle pain around 14th day of menstrual cycle) it is a good indicator of ovulation. When the egg is released in to the cavity of the tummy following rupture of the dominant follicle from the ovary, there will be little bleeding from the ovary. This gives rise to this mid-cycle pain. However not all women get this symptom.

The most simple and reliable test is an internal Ultrasound scan (trans vaginal scan-TVS) done at about 12th day of your menstrual cycle .On this day, the dominant follicle which is going to rupture and release an egg will be seen. Another test to check if you have ovulated is to check your body temperature regularly before getting up from the bed. If you have ovulated your body temperature will rise and special thermometers have to be used to detect this minute rise and therefore it is not practical.

Another test is to check your blood progesterone (a hormone released by the ovary after release of an egg) levels on day 21 of the menstrual cycle. In majority of women a rise of this can be demonstrated but it is not as accurate as monitoring the follicles by an Ultrasound scan.