Another very common health hazard in public beauty shops are tinea (fungus) infection of the scalp, fingernails and toenails from unsanitary (contaminated) hair and nail clippers and cuticle cutters. And the infection could be serious. Thoroughly washing with diluted chlorine detergent the combs, shaving razors, nail clippers, cuticle removers, brushes, and all other instruments, and using fungicidal solution soaking agents could prevent the infections and its spread among clients.

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Does orgasm prolong life? The answer appears to be yes. A study conducted in 1997 and published in the British Medical Journal, involving 918 men aged 45 to 59, who were monitored for up for ten years, revealed that "those who ejaculated less than once a month were twice as likely to die during the study than men who had orgasm at least twice a week." In another report, sex was found to have some degree of protection from prostate cancer, all other lifestyle factors being equal. Sex also reduces stress and produces endogenous secretion of "happy hormones" in our body, which lessen depression and even strengthens the immune system. The more you know about the human body and its mind-boggling intricate physiology, the more you marvel at its creation and "complicatedly simple perfection," which no man-made machine, no matter how sophisticated, can equal or even come close to.

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Most of us think of dust as purely "inanimate" particles that fly around and settle on furniture and floors. With them are dust mites, which are microscopic bugs (Dermatophagoides farinae), actually alive and crawling, whose prime "habitat" is our bed. A normally used mattress may hold as many as 100,000 to ten million dust mites, and a 2-year old mattress may have ten percent of its weight from dead mites and their droppings inside it. Gross! Yuck!

Dust mites have claws and almost look like crabs, and thrive mainly on dander from human and animal skin shedding. Upholstery and floor rugs also abound with dust mites. A 3-foot square of carpeting can contain as many as 100,000 dust mites, and each one of them excretes around 20 waste droppings each day. The protein in this dust mite "feces" is one of the major causes of allergies among us, and allergies have been confirmed by several medical investigations to be the cause of the majority of cases of childhood asthma (known medically as atopic asthma), which is hereditary.

After reading all this, don't you feel the urge to scratch yourself and take a shower at least once a day, and really clean your beds and pillows, carpets, etc.?

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What is an allergy? An allergic response is actually an over-reaction-hypersensitivity to allergens around us and an overproduction of IgE (immunoglobulin E) produced by our immune system. At least 80 percent of patients with bronchial asthma have hay fever, otherwise termed allergic rhinitis, which is actually the most common cause of atopic asthma in children.

Allergies lead to symptoms and signs like skin rash, stomach cramps and diarrhea in some cases, or even severe anaphylactic (fall in blood pressure and shock in extreme cases, which could be fatal). I lost a fellow cardiac surgeon, who had a history of asthma, to anaphylactic shock from eating food with monosodium glutamate or "vetsin," (a flavor enhancer used for cooking) while he was in Nice, France, attending a medical meeting some years ago. A 20-year-old asthmatic daughter of a pediatrician in California died of anaphylactic reaction after visiting a horse barn, and the young wife of another colleague died of bronchial asthmatic attack while driving to the hospital for treatment, after using up her bronchodilator-inhaler. These are the severe forms of allergies, and, I am sure, there are millions of similar sad stories around the world.

Nowadays we have medications, spray and inhalers that can prevent allergies and asthmatic attacks. But as we have always emphasized in this column, prevention is the best "therapy" for practically all human ills afflicting us, and that "treatment" is only second best as an option. For those with asthma, we suggest consultation with their physician, who might recommend some medications or inhalers for them to carry in their person, as a prophylactic or emergency therapeutic measure.

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Talking about body reaction to our environment, one simple but very important thing we can do whenever we use hair spray, or any chemical sprays around the house, is to hold our breath and leave the area for a few minutes after spraying. This will prevent us from inhaling the chemically contaminated ambient air, which can cause not only allergies but lung diseases, or possibly even cancers. Some of these common household chemicals are Lysol sprays, Chlorox or Zonrox, muriatic acid, floor and tile cleaners, sink and oven sprays, and dozen others. A room contaminated with the smell of fresh paint is likewise harmful. Even car and room deodorizers are unhealthy, especially for children. In essence, any chemicals or fumes that contaminate the air we breathe or anything that adversely affects the purity of natural air composition, is hazardous to our health.