Most couples don't have sex from sheer exhaustion!

As a married man I wasn't surprised to see that the #1 reason couples don't have sex is just sheer exhaustion. At the end of the day, after I clean the kitchen, load the dishwasher, read the kids their bedtime story, load up the dryer, and give my daughter her required 5 hugs and kisses I am tired. I've been married for 13 years and intimate lovemaking takes a backseat to sleep quite often.

Luckily I don't have insomnia. I'm very active, I play tennis, I'm a runner, and I'm a Crossfitter. My body hits the bed and I'm out within a minute typically. I wanted to share this info graphic, some great info!!


Via: Canada Drug Center

Bed Bugs vs Dust Mites - what you need to know!

The key to remember when dealing with these is two things:
Bed bugs = bad
Dust Mites = good

Dust mites just eat the dead skin cells we leave behind. I have no problem with that.

Bed bugs on the other hand are evil. They are like microscopic mosqitoes that suck your blood in the middle of the night. The easiest way to kill these in a mattress is just to buy a plastic full zip cover and they eventually die. After being encased in a plastic mattress cover for a few days they stop moving and "look" lifless BUT it actually can take up to 12 months for them to die completely and never come back again. Here's a great inforgraphic on the little critters.


Via: Allergy Asthma Technology

What are the advantages of a Nursing Degree Online?

            With more and more classrooms moving to the Worldwide Web, it may be tempting to sign up for an online class to get a nursing degree from your house. Online classes offer many advantages, such as freedom for scheduling, being able to work from home, and being able to work at your own pace. Online classes also come with disadvantages, as well. Since they are virtual, you have no physical school or physical teacher. If you need help with something, nobody is there to help guide you in person. In addition to not being able to receive help, you don’t receive hands-on instruction either.

Is an online nursing degree right for you?

            Nursing is a hands-on skill, which means you need to be able to use the dummies in the class, use nursing props, practice scenarios, and have physical interactions to learn how to become a nurse. At the University of Phoenix, the online nursing program will cost you $21,000 per year, which is comparable to any university with in-school classes.

            I personally do not recommend getting a nursing degree online. Taking several online classes myself (mostly math, English, and some other hands-off classes), I do not recommend virtual learning. I feel that you put forth more effort to learn less. After my online classes, I retained none of the information because I was learning in my living room. I recommend (especially for nursing) taking the classes at an actual college, in person, with a professor.

           Of course, I understand that oitside of the course work, all nursing students will be required to complete a certain number of clinical hours, during which they must work at a health care facility in a situation similar to an internship. This experience helps nursing students gain firsthand knowledge of what it is like to interact with patients and other health care professionals. Distance higher education combined with some traditional learning (blended or hybrid learning) is the most effective, better than only online and pure classroom.

Thier is no doubt that the demand for registered nurses is stronger than ever as the health care industry expands rapidly to meet the needs of an aging baby boomer population.

If you are a working RN, you do not have energy to travel to school, complete assignments and still provide quality care to your patients. For some, thought of having to cut back, or even stop working to attend school is frightening. Not working means deferring old loans, taking on new ones and letting the debt pile up until you finish school, without earning in the process. Scheduling for nurses can fluctuate and an online degree means you can be flexible with your work, home and school life so you keep your job and your sanity!

The top 3 programs are from the following three  online colleges:

•  Kaplan College
• American Sentinel University
• University of Phoenix Online

The outlook for nursing continues to be optimistic per the Bureau of Labor Statistics-

Registered nurses (RNs) constitute the largest healthcare occupation, with 2.6 million jobs.

About 60 percent of RN jobs are in hospitals.

The three typical educational paths to registered nursing are a bachelor's degree, an associate degree, and a diploma from an approved nursing program; advanced practice nurses—clinical nurse specialists, nurse anesthetists, nurse-midwives, and nurse practitioners—need a master’s degree.

Overall job opportunities are expected to be excellent, but may vary by employment and geographic setting; some employers report difficulty in attracting and retaining an adequate number of RNs.

What are your views on getting an online degree in Nursing?  What were the procs and cons for you?

Why Kids Are Not Exercising At Day Care

Children are naturally active, which means when given the space and freedom, they will play without hesitation. So why aren’t children exercising outdoors at day care? About 75 percent of preschool-aged kids go to a day care facility for most of the day while their parents are working. While at day care, those children spend 70 to 83 percent of their time indoors. Dr. Kristen Copeland, a pediatrician at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, has been trying to figure out why day care teachers are not allowing the kids to play outdoors. From her research, she has learned that day care administrators think that playing outdoors risks injuries and is too dangerous without parental supervision. She also learned that many preschools do not have proper playground equipment due to the cost. Some teachers even go far enough to blame poor weather or the children’s unfit clothing for not playing outdoors.

When I was younger, my mother was a single mom and had to go to work. That means that I had to go to a day care facility during the day when my mother was not home. At my day care, they had multiple sets of playground equipment outdoors including tunnels, swings, slides, ladders, bridges and all sorts of fun toys. In the rare case of a bloody knee or scraped elbow, they would help the child and give them a band-aid. Children playing on the playground is definitely not a hazard.

A local day care called Kid’s Discovery Learning Center has a white bus that they parade the children around with on field trips. I’ve seen them at CiCi’s Pizza, but they probably go to many other places over forty-five miles away just for a meal… Day cares have the funds, they just do not want to use it on a playground for the students.

Many People Leaving Medical School Before Time Is Up, Settling For RN

With the populating rising, the need for hospitals and doctors is on the rise. College, medical school, then internships… Becoming a doctor can get pricy and drawn out. In the United States of America, you need a four-year Bachelor in Science degree from a college or university to get into any medical school. When in medical school, it takes four years to become what is considered a MD (Medical Doctor). This is what is considered a “general” doctor and you can now get a job at a doctors’ office or become what is known as a “family doctor.” Many people are dropping out of medical school after two years and becoming what is considered an RN (Registered Nurse). As an RN, you could get a job as a school nurse, a nurse at a local doctors’ office, or a hospital nurse. Since so many people are quitting after four years of college and two years of medical school (six years of schooling after high school), the amount of nurses is high, which means job opportunities are low. After taking loans for college and medical school, not being able to get a job is the last thing any new RN wants.

Becoming a medical doctor only takes two more years of medical school. If you are interested in becoming a specialized doctor, such as a pediatrician, it will take approximately three years of residency. The first year of residency is commonly known as “internship,” and you will basically be helping out other pediatricians and learning the way around. To become a specialized doctor, it will take approximately eleven years of schooling.

Only determined and special people can make it all the way to a specialized medical career. If you are considering becoming a doctor, consider the amount of schooling, costs, and determination it will take to enter the career. Many loans will have to be taken out, many late-night studying will have to be done, and the average age of becoming a doctor is around 29 years old.

More Teens Are Using Synthetic Marijuana, Less Using Tobacco

Nearly one in every nine high school students has tried a synthetic drug made to mimic marijuana. The drugs, “K2” and “Spice” being popular ones, are still dangerous. Monitoring the Future, the nation’s most popular survey from the University of Michigan regarding teenage drug use, found that 11.4% of high school students experiment with synthetic drugs nationwide. The drugs are often packaged as potpourri or herbal incense and sold in stores. United States officials are trying to outlaw over sixteen different synthetic drugs from the country. Proving that these drugs are dangerous, the U.S. Poison Control received 5,741 calls about synthetic drugs in the first ten months of 2011 alone. Most synthetic drugs have the same consequences as the real deal, but teenagers do not realize this. Although high school students use these dangerous drugs, tobacco and alcohol use is at an all-time low since 1975. Students are instructed of the dangers of alcohol and smoking tobacco, but not so much about synthetic drugs. High school kids use fake drugs, marijuana, and other illegal drugs more so than tobacco and alcoholic drinks.

I think that something needs to be done as soon as possible about drug use in the United States. Drugs do nothing good for the country or general human population. High school students in particular focus only on drugs instead of school work and their future. Since more students are using hardcore drugs such as marijuana instead of tobacco (which is still dangerous), the U.S. is becoming a drug-filled place. If U.S. officials aren’t going to do anything about these drugs, they should at least charge a tax on the drug to help the country out of their debt problems.

Hormones Can Lead To Diet Failure

                 Asking anyone who has tried to lose weight can tell you… It’s difficult. It’s not always lack of willpower that causes you to not be able to lose the weight. Sometimes, it’s your hormones. Research out of New England Journal of Medicine shows that your hormones that are related to appetite can trigger your body not to lose weight. In the study, 50 overweight and obese people went on a low-calorie diet for 10 weeks.

                  Ghrelin is the hormone that tells your body to eat. Leptin tells the body to stop eating. Evolutionarily speaking, these two hormones are supposed to stop people from becoming obese, but they have done just the opposite. Lots of people are lacking the hormone leptin and just continue to eat. Researchers are coming to an agreement that gaining weight is avoidable, but for most, it’s inevitable.

                  You can’t lose tons of weight by simply dieting alone. The main ingredient to a healthy weight is exercise. Most Americans (women in particular) think that if they follow a certain diet plan and take pills that artificially insert leptin into the body, that they will lose weight. This is not true. Eating healthy (lean meats, vegetables, and cutting back on carbs and sugars) and exercise can truly lead to a healthy weight. You can’t lose 10 pounds a week, and often times weight doesn’t define fitness. Losing fat is what you want to think in your mind, not losing weight. Fat can be visibly seen, weight cannot. Everyone weighs differently and the way your body carries weight can vary. Exercise alone or dieting alone cannot lead to success. You must combine to two to be successful.