They’re incredibly important, yet so many people take them for granted—our teeth. A healthy smile is an important part of your overall health since your teeth are such an important and useful part of your body.

It’s crucial that you practice proper oral care, by following these habits.

Always Brush Before Bed

Dentists recommend brushing your teeth three times a day to ensure you remove harmful buildup. However, not everyone manages to make it to three, which isn’t the end of the world. Yet, if there’s one of these three brushing times that you absolutely can’t get away with skipping, it’s nighttime.

At night, your teeth have all of the food that you ate throughout the day, and also germs that cause bad breath. When you go to bed without brushing you’re allowing all of that to sit on your teeth for the duration of however long you sleep, which is usually about 8 hours. Yuck!

Visit Your Dentist

Brushing your teeth daily is already a great step towards overall tooth health. However, there are some things that a toothbrush simply can’t do. It’s important that you see a dentist regularly to get cleanings and address dental issues.

Sometimes despite our best efforts to brush, we still develop cavities. Unfortunately, this is just the way things are. A dentist can help us identify these cavities, and fill them as soon as possible so they don’t turn into something more serious like a root canal.

Floss

Despite having the best toothbrush on the market, there are crevices and cracks in your mouth that even the best toothbrush can’t touch. In addition to brushing, you should make sure that you floss.

Flossing won’t just reduce your risk of developing cavities, but it can significantly improve your breath. There are all sorts of germs and bacteria lurking in between your teeth, and flossing can get rid of that. If you notice that your breath still isn’t entirely fresh even after brushing, then pull out the floss and you’ll notice a big difference.

Avoid Sugar

There are plenty of things that are less than ideal for your health. However, most health professionals agree that one of the worst things for you is sugar and your dentist feels the same. The less sugar you eat, the healthier your teeth will be, as sugar eats away at your tooth enamel.

If you do eat sugar, make sure that you brush your teeth after. One of the worst things you can do is eat sticky candy which leaves behind residue on your teeth and is the perfect recipe for cavities.

Avoid Acidic Foods

In addition to sugary foods, acidic foods are also your teeth’s worst enemy. From coffee to citrus fruits, limit the number of acidic beverages and foods you consume, and your tooth enamel will greatly thank you for it!

If you’re a woman who tries to stay healthy, you may exercise several times per week, watch what you eat and get 7-9 hours of sleep each night. But are you listening to your lungs?

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), a leading cause of disability and death in the United States, takes an especially heavy toll on women. You may think problems like shortness of breath, frequent coughs or wheezing are just signs of getting older, but it’s important to pay attention to these symptoms and discuss them with your doctor.

COPD is a serious lung disease that causes breathing problems and worsens over time. It has often been considered a man’s disease. Yet more women than men have been diagnosed with COPD in the past decade, and over the past 20 years more women have died from it, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Women tend to develop COPD earlier in life than men and are more likely to have severe symptoms and be hospitalized with the disease. The good news? According to the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, there are steps you can take to reduce your risk for COPD.

Don’t Smoke

You probably already know cigarette smoking is harmful – but did you know that women may be more vulnerable to the effects of smoking? Women who smoke tend to get COPD at younger ages and with less cigarettes smoked than men. COPD is the leading cause of death among U.S. women smokers.

If you do smoke, it’s never too late to quit.

If you thought vaping was a healthy alternative to smoking, think again. Researchers are still learning about the long-term health effects of e-cigarettes, but they may contain as many, if not more, harmful chemicals than tobacco cigarettes.

Avoid Pollutants

Among people with COPD who have never smoked, most are women. Women may be more vulnerable to indoor and outdoor air pollution. Women’s smaller lungs and airways mean the same amount of inhaled pollutants may cause more damage.

Working in places like nail salons, hair salons or dry cleaners can expose you to harmful chemicals. If you’re exposed to chemical fumes at your job, talk to your employer about ways to limit exposure. Better ventilation and wearing a mask can help.

Stay Current on Vaccines

People at risk for COPD are more likely to have serious problems resulting from some vaccine-preventable diseases. Ask a health care provider about getting vaccinated against the flu, pneumococcal disease and COVID-19.

Talk to Your Doctor About COPD

Women with COPD tend to be diagnosed later than men when the disease is more severe and treatments are less effective. If you think you could be at risk, or you are having symptoms, bring it up with your health care provider. Treatment can ease symptoms and improve your ability to exercise.

Learn More to Breathe Better

Find more information on COPD from NHLBI’s Learn More Breathe Better program at copd.nhlbi.nih.gov.

Young athletes who participate in multidirectional sports, instead of specializing in a unidirectional sport like running, can build stronger bones that may be at less risk for bone injuries as adults, according to a new study from Indiana University researchers.

Published in the American College of Sports Medicine’s Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, the study examined Division I and II female cross country runners, who often experience bone stress injuries like stress fractures. The researchers found that athletes who ran and participated in sports that require movement in many directions – such as basketball or soccer – when younger had better bone structure and strength than those who solely ran, swam or cycled.

As a result, the study’s findings support recommendations that athletes delay specialization in running and play multi-directional sports when younger to build a more robust skeleton – and potentially prevent bone stress injuries.

Media kit: Access video interview with Stuart Warden

“Our data shows that playing multidirectional sports when younger versus specializing in one sport, such as running, decreased a person’s bone injury risk by developing a bigger, stronger skeleton,” said Stuart Warden, associate dean for research and Chancellor’s Professor in the IU School of Health and Human Sciences at IUPUI. “There is a common misperception that kids need to specialize in a single sport to succeed at higher levels. However, recent data indicate that athletes who specialize at a young age are at a greater risk of an overuse injury and are less likely to progress to higher levels of competition.”

Historically, Warden said, researchers have examined the bone’s mass – how much bone a person has – to determine how healthy their skeleton will be through life. But in previous studies, Warden and his colleagues found that as a person ages, both mass and size are equally important.

In the current study, the researchers used high-resolution imaging to assess the shin bone near the ankle and bones in the feet where bone stress injuries frequently occur in runners. They found that the athletes who participated in both running and multidirectional sports when younger had 10 to 20 percent greater bone strength than athletes who solely ran.

“Our research shows that the runners who played multidirectional sports when younger had stronger bones as collegiate athletes, which puts them at less risk for bone stress injuries including stress fractures,” Warden said. “We want to ensure people have better, stronger bones as they grow, become adolescents and go through life. Specializing in one sport at too young of an age means they are more likely to get injured and not make it at the collegiate and professional levels.”

Warden said that anyone who oversees a junior athlete or team – whether that be parents, coaches or trainers – should think twice about pushing them to specialize in one area too early. To allow for proper growth and development to occur, he recommends young athletes not specialize until at least their freshman year of high school. For athletes who already play multidirectional sports, he said it is important that they take time off for rest and recovery during the year, which can improve both bone strength and performance.

Additional authors on the study were Austin Sventeckis, Ph.D. student, and Robyn Fuchs, associate professor, of the IU School of Health and Human Sciences at IUPUI, and Rachel Surowiec of the School of Engineering and Technology at IUPUI.