As I write this, more than 12,500 firefighters are battling 1,088 fires across Northern California - and windy weather over the weekend could make the situation even worse.
"It is increasing almost hourly," said Carol Jolley of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, as reported by USA Today. "We have so many fires... There's a logistical problem just getting to them."
The fires have consumed 159,000 acres so far.
A 100-mile endurance foot race in Northern California had to be cancelled because of air pollution.
"I've been working for this agency for 22 years, and I've never seen a level of pollution this high," said Andy Goodrich, director of the Air Quality Management Division of the Washoe District Health Department in Reno.
Residents in polluted areas are urged to limit outdoor activities and stay indoors as much as possible.
Christina Ragsdale, spokeswoman for the Sacramento Metropolitan Air Quality Management District, said, "We've got more than 1,000 fires burning. No matter what direction the wind is blowing, we're going to be getting some smoke from the fires."
If you live in an area affected by the fires, wear a mask if you must go outdoors, especially if you have a respiratory condition like asthma.
Air purifiers will eliminate polluted air if it's getting inside your home or office.
In the video above, Dr. Joseph Mercola explains that UVB rays from sunlight produce vitamin D in the skin. Sunlight is the ideal source for vitamin D. See Sunlight Exposure, Allergies & Asthma to learn about the role of vitamin D in allergic disease.
Most sunscreens block beneficial UVB rays, but many do not filter harmful UVA rays.
On top of that, most sunscreens contain toxic chemicals. Octylmethocycinnamate (OMC) is in 90 percent of sunscreens, and when it is exposed to sunlight, it undergoes a chemical reaction that makes it extremely toxic!
Besides OMC, Dr. Mercola warns that the following chemicals have been found to easily penetrate your blood stream:
When choosing a sunscreen, Dr. Mercola advises to "make sure it's screening for UVA and doesn't have these toxic chemicals - because otherwise, you are defeating the purpose and actually making the situation worse."
Vanicream Sunscreen is a safe, non-toxic sunscreen that blocks both UVA and UVB rays.
In a new book titled "Healthy Child, Healthy World," Michelle Obama calls for increased efforts at asthma education and prevention.
The book contains contributions by Gwyneth Paltrow, Brooke Shields, and Tom Hanks, as well as Obama's essay "On Having a Child with Asthma" - and it recommends air purifiers from our website.
Michelle and Barack Obama's daughter Malia suffers from asthma, and they do everything they can to keep their house dust-free and dander-free. When the Obama family decided to enter the Presidential race, they made a deal that their daughters could get a dog. After some research, the parents opted for a hypoallergenic dog - a soft-coated, Wheaten terrier - that does not trigger Malia's asthma.
"Parents of children with asthma need to know how to reduce the chances of an attack, how to treat an attack if it happens, and when to go to the hospital," writes Obama. "Irritants and allergens in the air, such as smoke, dust mites, pet dander, cockroaches, mold, and pollen, can make attacks more likely. So parents who have children with asthma should keep houses clean of potential triggers.
"But that's not all of it. The number of children with asthma has more than doubled since the 1980s, and this epidemic disproportionately affects minority communities. As a society, we need to help parents in the inner city live in clean environments that aren't dangerous to their children's health.
"From my experience in health care, I know that a lot of what contributes to the crisis is people not taking adequate care of themselves on the front end. In addition to living in unhealthy communities, our children eat poorly and exercise less than they should. They spend more time indoors, in front of the TV, where so many other asthma triggers reside. All of this together weakens their immune systems. So we need to make our children's environments healthier.
"Less than four cents of every health-care dollar is spent on prevention and public health. Our health-care system has become a disease-care system and the time for change is well overdue."
I hate vacuuming. My girlfriend has two long-haired cats, and the hair gets everywhere. (And, yes, I am allergic.)
We've had an older Dyson DC14 Animal vacuum for the past couple of years, but I recently got the chance to try out a new Dyson DC25 vacuum. It was great! It was so much lighter than the Dyson Animal - without any loss of suction.
The Dyson DC25 vacuum is only 16 pounds, and it has The Ball technology exclusive to Dyson, so it offers unprecented cleaning reach. I thoroughly vacuumed every inch of the carpet without having to move furniture or even strain my wrist. The ball allows the vacuum to tilt and twist like some sort of enlightened yogi vac. It even cleans that little crevice right next to the wall - amazing edge cleaning. The Dyson DC25 vacuum almost makes vacuuming fun.
I'd like to follow-up on my post about the Top 10 Dirtiest Hotels in the U.S. At the end of the post, I asked you to share your experiences about dirty hotel rooms.
Little did I know that I would soon be attacked by a bedbug in an upscale hotel in Las Vegas! See My Totally Gross Hotel Bedbug Experience to read my whole story.
Bedbugs have become a big problem in recent years, especially in hot spots for international travel like Las Vegas, New York, and Atlanta. Always check your bed for signs of bedbugs. I also recommend taking Allergy Armor allergy bedding for added protection.
Watch this report from Good Morning America to learn more about bedbugs and other health hazards in hotel rooms:
Oh, and by the way, do not drink from the glasses in hotel rooms! See this I-team video to learn why:
A team of Atlanta Journal Constitution readers reviewed our Allergy Armor Ultra pillow covers in the Better Health section of the June 18 newspaper.
Robby Cantrell of Cumming, GA, said, "After using Allergy Armor pillowcases for a few nights, it was hard for me to know if the pillowcase had really done much. So when I mentioned my inability to really rate the product to my wife, she informed me that during allergy season I tend to breathe hard or snore, but since using the pillowcase, all of that has stopped."
Note that it takes more than a few days for an Allergy Armor pillow cover to drastically reduce the dust mite population in your pillow; it normally takes two weeks to a month. When you zip up the pillow cover, you trap any dust mites inside and cut them off from their food supply (which is primarily your dead skin).
Another reviewer, Kristine Galinis of Atlanta, GA, was not experiencing any allergy symptoms at the time of the review, and she normally suffers from seasonal allergies only during the spring, but she "will continue to use [the pillow cover] in hopes of preventing or taming any future allergy-related problems."
The final reviewer, Rosalyn Jordan of Fayetteville, GA, slept directly on the pillow cover instead of placing her regular pillowcase over the Allergy Armor cover, and she complained that it was hard to adjust against her head. She also compared it to sleeping on a polyester leisure suit. The pillow cover is indeed made from microfiber polyester, but when used properly, it is imperceptible beneath your regular pillowcase.
This guest blog post comes from Danielle Grilli of rVita.com:
Throughout my childhood I watched my brother suffer miserably from allergies. Every year, as summer rolled around, he literally couldn’t be around "anything that grows outside" without his eyes swelling completely shut. It was so sad, and still, I felt pretty charmed. Lucky for me, I was untouched by this particular genetic predisposition; that is, I was untouched until I moved into the city three years ago, at which point I began to experience stretches of days when my eyes became watery and blurry, my brain fuzzy, and my breathing restricted to an alarming degree. I didn’t realize what it was until a naturopathic doctor very plainly told me that I was allergic to smog. Nice.
Of course there are many pharmaceutical options available for individuals suffering from allergies, but I have never been a pharmaceutical kind of person. For some reason, the idea of taking a pill which has innumerable side effects is just not appealing to me. I’m sensitive to pharmaceuticals, and it seems every time I take one, I fall victim to one sort of rare and unpleasant side effect or another. The Naturopath I was seeing at the time suggested I try using a neti pot and taking butterbur. I did and it worked.
These, however, are not the only natural, clinically proven options available to the unfortunates suffer from allergies. Along with Butterbur and nasal irrigation, Bromelain, has also proven to be an effective treatment for allergies. In fact, multiple human trials have shown that Bromelain, which is a group of enzymes extracted from pineapple, effectively breaks down fibrin in the body, helping to reduce the body’s allergic response. In addition, Bromelain thins mucus, allowing it to drain more easily. Lastly, this supplement has been shown to reduce the duration of the inflammatory response following nasal procedures by over 70%.
For me, this is all good news. I’d hate to think that I only have 2 choices: suffer from allergies or take a pharmaceutical and wait to see what sort of side effects I get to deal with. So you see, my friends, there are other options, they are natural, and you know what? They work!!
References
1. rVita: Alternative Medicine 2. Seltzer AP. Adjunctive use of bromelains in sinusitis: a controlled study. EENT Monthly 1967;46:1281-8. 3. Taub SJ. The use of Ananase in sinusitis—a study of 60 patients. EENT Monthly 1966;45:96-8. 4. Ryan RE. A double-blind clinical evaluation of bromelains in the treatment of acute sinusitis. Headache 1967;7:13-7. 5. Taub SJ. The use of bromelains in sinusitis: a double-blind clinical evaluation. EENT Monthly 1967;46:361-5. 6. Seltzer AP. Minimizing post-operative edema and ecchymoses by the use of an oral enzyme preparation (bromelain). EENT Monthly 1962;41:813-7.
Seed Newsvine
In a new book titled "Healthy Child, Healthy World," Michelle Obama calls for increased efforts at asthma education and prevention.
Little did I know that I would soon be attacked by a bedbug in an upscale hotel in Las Vegas! See 
A team of Atlanta Journal Constitution readers reviewed our 
