One video takes a look at the ways superheroes fight recreational water illness at the pool.

Everybody in the pool! Not so fast, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). You might think a dip in the pool is a great way to get some healthy exercise this summer, but sometimes what’s lurking in the water isn’t healthy at all. To educate the public about recreational water illnesses—icky sicknesses caused by germs in places where people swim—the CDC is holding a video contest. Five finalists have been chosen, and you can vote for the winner!

Each video puts a different spin on the four main messages about healthy swimming that the CDC would like people to know:

Another video follows the (fictional) Recreational Water Illness Police on a case.

• You can protect yourself and other swimmers from recreational water illnesses.
• Chlorine, a chemical used to keep the water in most pools clean, doesn’t kill all germs instantly.
• Never go swimming when you have diarrhea. Germs from gastrointestinal sickness can get in the water and make other people sick.
• Always keep pool water out of your mouth. Any germs in the water can, if swallowed,  make you sick.

It’s too late to create your own video for the contest (but that doesn’t mean you can’t make one anyway!), but you can vote for one of the five finalists through Friday, July 22. Visit healthyswimming.challenge.gov/submissions to view each of the 60-second videos, vote for your favorite, and learn more about keeping healthy at the pool. The winning video is scheduled to be announced Monday, July 25.

The agency is getting a lot of attention this week for using a fictional takeover by the undead as an example of the sort of disaster that you can, in fact, be prepared for. “If you’re ready for a zombie apocalypse, then you’re ready for any emergency,” their materials say.

In all seriousness, however, this creative move by the nation’s public health authorities was prompted, according to The Washington Post, by the fact that May 22-28 is National Hurricane Preparedness Week. In years that hurricanes and tropical storms are active, those storms can disrupt the lives of many Americans along the Eastern Seaboard and Gulf coast. Preparing a handy disaster supplies kit now, rather than rushing at the last minute to try and round up supplies, can help if you need to get to a safe place or if a storm means you are stuck at home for a while.

Wet summer storms aren’t the only emergencies for which a kit can come in handy. Find a complete list of items to keep in a disaster preparedness kit here, and learn more about advance planning for emergencies from several government agencies at www.ready.gov.

We’ll post here periodically over the summer and will be back in the fall with even more health teaching ideas, news, and more for you and your students.

Don’t forget, there’s more online for magazine subscribers right now, including bonus reproducible work sheets (one for each feature article in every issue), the year-end index, and of course the monthly digital edition for use on interactive whiteboards, projectors, and computers. Log in at www.weeklyreader.com/SubscriberOnly (all you need is your account number, printed on the back of your Teacher’s Guide) for all those things and more.

Still need to renew or subscribe for next year? You can do that at www.weeklyreader.com/pubstore or call our Customer Service department at 1-800-446-3355.

And if you have the time, please take our year-end surveys to help us make the magazines even better. CHKids subscribers, your survey is at www.surveymonkey.com/s/chkids2011. CHTeens subscribers, yours is at www.surveymonkey.com/s/CHTeens2011.

Thanks again! Have a healthy and happy summer.
–The staff of Current Health

For three days, starting at 4 p.m. on Tuesday, April 26, an updated version of Shakespeare’s classic comedy will be presented on Facebook. The story will unfold through status updates, comments, videos, and more. Teachers, students, parents, and Shakespeare fans everywhere can “like” all the characters’ fan pages and participate as the play is performed live in their Facebook news feeds! It’s an exciting way to experience Shakespeare, as well as a perfect opportunity to open up class discussions about cyberbullying and social aggression.

Go to www.weeklyreader.com/ado to learn more, and to “like” READ magazine, project collaborator The Ophelia Project, and all the characters in the play. Then, on April 26, 27, and 28, enjoy the performance!

After all, people get sick and die from nuclear radiation, right? And weather systems can blow all of that toxic air over the Pacific Ocean to the United States, right? A qualified “yes” to the first question, and “no” to the second. The Japanese government quickly evacuated the area around the Fukushima reactors, so most people in the area won’t be harmed. (The workers trying hard to contain the damage and prevent a nuclear meltdown are another story; they have probably been exposed at times to very high levels of radiation.)

Long-term, scientists aren’t sure what lies ahead for people living near the quake-damaged plants. After the 1986 meltdown of the Chernobyl nuclear reactor in the Ukraine, some residents developed cancer, cardiovascular problems, and birth defects in offspring. At the moment, though, the Fukushima situation seems less severe than Chernobyl and more along the lines of the 1979 Three Mile Island nuclear accident in Pennsylvania; health problems didn’t spike after that.

But as far as harming people living along the West Coast, scientists aren’t very concerned. The ocean is so vast that the radiation will likely dissipate long before it reaches this country’s shores. However, the crisis is causing U.S. officials to take a good hard look at nuclear plants in this country, and any risks they may pose to people living nearby.

So, on to the questions that may be posed by your students. Don’t remember much from the last physics class you took years ago? No problem. Check out these resources for help explaining the situation to your class:

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s page on radiation and health

CBS News has put together a slideshow, Radiation danger Q&A: What you need to know

The medical journal Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness has a special, free online supplement about nuclear threats

Check out the University of Michigan–based Health Physics Society’s guide to radiation risk, including everyday sources such as cell phones, electric power lines, and medical scans

Photo Credit: Mark Baker/AP Images

These frightening statistics come courtesy of a survey from Consumer Reports magazine. On March 7, U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood visited the magazine’s offices to talk about the problem, and how it can be solved. The intervention can’t come too soon—last year in this country, distracted driving claimed the lives of 5,474 people.

The timing of this news couldn’t be more perfect. If you’re a Current Health Teens subscriber, you likely have on your desk a copy of our March 2011 issue, which features a story on this very topic called “DN’T TXT N DRV.” We hope you’ll work the timeliness of the U.S. Department of Transportation/Consumer Reports initiative into any lessons you develop using the article.

You’ll also want to check out the Web links in the Teacher’s Guide. You can add to them this new one announced by LaHood: distraction.gov. It’s chock full of distracted driving teaching tools, such as tearful testimonials from survivors, games, statistics, and other materials you can use in class.

We hope that you’ll use all of these resources, including CH, to drive home to your students that driving while texting or talking on a handheld cell phone is downright dangerous.

Photo Credit: Sean Locke/iStock

Two-thirds of Indiana’s House approved of bill 1399, which now goes before the state’s Senate. If it passes, then as of July 1, 2011, students who are homeschooled—and others in private schools that haven’t been accredited—could participate in their local public school’s teams. To be eligible, the students would have to pass a nationally recognized test and the majority of their classes.The Tennessee measure wasn’t put forth by state lawmakers. Instead, the Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association proposed a change to its bylaws that would permit homeschooled students to join local public school sports teams. But it wouldn’t force school districts to accept the arrangement. It still needs a second vote of approval; if that’s given, the policy would go into effect this fall.

No one in either case is arguing against homeschooled students’ ability to play sports, or the value to them of doing so. Proponents of an Alabama law note that Heisman Trophy–winning quarterback Tim Tebow, who now plays with the NFL’s Denver Broncos, was homeschooled but played on his local high school’s team. Without that chance, they say, he might never have been recruited to a top-notch college football program and thus never have been able to take his skills to the pros.

Some people think homeschooled students don’t have a place on public school teams, though. Bob Cox, the commissioner of Indiana’s High School Athletic Association, worries that spots might be taken from students who actually attend the schools. And drawing homeschooled athletes onto public schools’ teams may be a death knell for homeschool sports groups, some of which turn out terrific athletes.

It’s worth noting that nearly half of states either already have these type of rules in place, or are considering them. What do you think of your state’s and school district’s policies? In an era of widespread hand-wringing about obesity and lack of physical fitness, does encouraging homeschooled teens to compete with their public school neighbors make good public health sense? How might both sides of the issue come together to create a compromise that’s fair for all students? Let us know in the comments!

Photo Credit: iStock

These beverages aim to boost energy with caffeine, guarana, yohimbine, and other chemicals. Because they’re marketed as “nutritional supplements,” the drinks aren’t subject to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s rules for food or drugs. That also means that no recommended levels have been established, so right now there’s not enough information to say how much kids and teens can safely drink.

That’s important because energy drinks aren’t side-effect free. According to the study, nearly one-fourth of caffeine-poisoning reports involve people in the 6-to-19 years age range. The risk seems to be higher for kids and teens who have diabetes, heart problems, seizure disorders, mood or behavior conditions, or take medications that interact with the drinks’ ingredients. In extreme cases, people who consume too much of these beverages have suffered organ damage, heart problems, seizures, and even death. While the drinks don’t qualify for lethal-weapon status for most teens, they’re not without risk.

While this study doesn’t answer some key questions—Which ingredients seem to be the worst offenders? Should energy drink sales to kids and teens be regulated or banned?—it raises awareness of a potential problem. (The study goes on to mention the combination of energy drinks with alcohol, which is a known problem; look for an article on this topic in the April/May 2011 issue of Current Health Teens). The American Academy of Pediatrics reportedly is working on guidelines, but in the meantime doctors are urged to raise the topic with their young patients, and sports physicals ought to screen for energy drink consumption.

It makes great classroom fodder, too. Start a discussion with your students about why some of them drink these beverages, and any physical or mental effects they’ve noticed. You might also encourage the class to consider how these products are marketed squarely to them, for example by sports teams; there are many media-literacy resources you can turn to for inspiration. Advanced students might even consider why these products are unregulated, and whether they should be. A lively classroom discussion about health—now that’s something we can all drink to!

Photo Credit: Paul J Richards/AFP/Getty Images

Under the new guidelines, most people should limit their sodium intake to 2,300 milligrams per day, with a lower cap for African Americans; those with diabetes, hypertension, or long-term kidney problems; and anyone age 51 or older.Chances are that many of your students are consuming more than this amount. Steer them to the Mayo Clinic to help them self-assess their sodium intake. How can they lower that number? Putting down the salt shaker is a good way to start. But most sodium people consume is already in food—everything from breakfast cereals to bread to soup. So the USDA will be leaning on food purveyors to provide healthier choices for consumers.

Another big push in the guidelines is to get people off of SoFAS. While plenty of exercise is definitely encouraged, in this case the acronym refers to Solid Fats and Added Sugars. That means trading healthy oils (such as canola or olive) for ingredients such as butter that are chock full of saturated fat. (The USDA thinks saturated fats should account for no more than 10 percent of calories consumed.) To find out which foods are saturated fat bombs, visit the University of Maryland Medical Center’s helpful guide. And for the skinny on added sugars, check out the American Heart Association’s great explanation and tips.

Dold, a 26-year-old economics student from Stuttgart, Germany, did his ascending the hard way—on foot. He was the winner of the 34th annual Empire State Building Run-Up race. Participants have to propel themselves up 1,576 steps. That’s like running one-fifth of a mile—vertically! Dold accomplished this feat in 10 minutes and 10 seconds, making him the first person ever to win the event for six straight years.

Dold wasn’t alone in pushing his endurance to the limit. The first woman to cross the finish line, with a time of 13 minutes and three seconds, was 24-year-old Alice McNamara from Australia. About 400 other racers took part, including former pro baseball player Darryl Strawberry.

Staircase racing can be fun and a great workout! It’s excellent for aerobic fitness, what with all the heart-pumping action. And it’s a good way to build muscle strength. Check out Current Health’s attempt to tackle our own 18-story building’s stairs, and some ways other folks have made the exercise enjoyable.  If you and your class want to try the Empire State Building Run-up next year, talk to the New York Road Runners Club!

Photo Credit: Getty Images