Our plans for the weekend took a sudden veer to the boring side. Our foster dog became very sick on Friday and was coughing non-stop. We took her back to the kennel for medical care and discovered that 6 other dogs, as well, had gotten ill at the same time. They have some type of kennel cough from which their vaccinations did not protect them. All the sick dogs are being fostered out to keep the illness from spreading throughout the kennel.
Rin has been on antibiotics since to hopefully prevent pneumonia, and is doing much better now. She is eating and playing again, and her cough is much improved.
We had hoped to make a weekend trip, but obviously couldn't take a sick dog anywhere, especially a contagious sick dog. We didn't even attend our run-group because we didn't want to leave her alone, and couldn't take her.
So we had a quiet boring weekend of watching rented DVDs, reading, and catching up on sleep. I guess we all need those types of unexpected weekends sometimes to rest up.
Did you know that Americans are a sleepy group? Our sleep deficit runs about 25-30 hours on average at any given time. Not only is this a health hazard, but it impairs performance just like being intoxicated. An Australian study showed that 24 hours without sleep is equivalent to a blood-alcohol content of 0.1% (0.08% is legally drunk in most U.S. states).
Inadequate sleep consequences include:
1. Impaired immune function.
2. Impaired cognitive function.
3. Increased snacking and appetite.
4. Weight gain, impaired insulin function, increased risk of diabetes.
5. Increased inflammation, cholesterol, and hypertension.
6. Decreased appearance.
7. Increased emotional reactivity.
8. Increased risk of death.
(source, Dr. Joel Fuhrman's blog at http://www.diseaseproof.com/)
Sweet dreams.
A good laugh and a long sleep are the best cures in the doctor's book.
Irish proverb.
Looking together in the same direction.
Sea otters hold hands while they sleep so they don't drift apart.
No comments:
Post a Comment