Back To Basics By Dr. Evelyn Higgins

Call me "old fashioned," but there are some things in life, which just stand the test of time and consistently prove to be habits of winners. As a country, we are looking at some very tough economic times. Our leaders are calling us to get back to basics. That is because basics work. Habits are developed at a very early age, and some habits are very good for us and prove beneficial in our life and some habits are negative, extremely negative. A habit as simple as a family dinner can have major lifelong effects. The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University has consistently found that children who have frequent family dinners are less likely to use marijuana, tobacco and drink alcohol. Personally, and professionally, I have found that to be true as well. At a time when our nation is in need of some serious back to basics in every aspect of our culture, nothing could resonate more clearly to the family unit that the need, that's right, the need for children to have dinner with their family. [more...]

A Nation of Overly Medicated Consumers By Dr. Evelyn Higgins

Consumer Reports has some new information in their October issue advising people who suffer from frequent headaches to talk to their doctors before reaching into their medicine cabinets. Overuse of prescription and over-the-counter pain medications can in fact make headaches worse. They go on to say that consumers inadvertently create their own headaches. CR tells us that people tend not to think of headaches remedies, especially those they can buy without a prescription, as "serious" drugs. It even says that the headache can even be made worse and result in "medication overuse headaches," which affect up to two thirds of patients who seek help in headache treatment centers. Why is it that we are willing to spend unlimited amounts of money and lives on drugs but prevention is a foreign thought process? We truly are a nation of consumers, but at what cost? [more...]