AHRQ Encourages Spanish Speakers to Become More Active Partners in Their Care

AHRQ has launched a new Spanish-language campaign “Toma las Riendas” (“Take the reins”), a nationwide effort to encourage Hispanics to take control of their health and explore treatment options. Ten organizations - including the National Hispanic Medical Association, Latino Student Medical Association, National Association of Hispanic Elderly, National Latina Health Network, Telemundo and the National Center for Farmworkers Health - are partnering with AHRQ to promote AHRQ's Spanish-language, evidence-based resources.
AHRQ's Effective Health Program now has more than 20 free, Spanish-language publications that provide information about common conditions, including diabetes, heart disease, and depression. Patient guides are available online at http://effectivehealthcare.ahrq.gov/index.cfm/informacion-en-espanol/. To order print copies, email the AHRQ Publications Clearninghouse at ahrqpubs@ahrq.gov or call 1-800-358-9295.
For other AHRQ Spanish-language consumer tools, go to www.ahrq.gov/consumer/espanoix.htm. You can also follow AHRQ in Spanish on Facebook at www.facebook.com/AHRQehc.espanol

Sleep is Good for Health: what do we know about Hispanics?

Many people are not fully aware of the importance of sleep on health. Sleep is more than just making your body rests. Our body needs sleep as it needs food or air to breath for survival. Most adults need 7 to 9 hours of sleep each night to function at their best (sleep time in children is longer than adults). Keeping a regular schedule for bedtime with proper sleep duration are good habits that everyone should try to follow; however, many people still believe they can skip bedtime or sleep less hours without consequences. Based in a survey that was conducted in 12 states across the US, the Center of Disease Control (CDC) reported that 35% of adults sleep less than 7 hours; this of course is below the minimum time recommended. So, why is sleep important to keep you healthy? In recent years, researchers have found more evidence of how sleep problems may have adverse health outcomes. For Instance, many studies show that a chronic lack of sleep increases your risk of obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular diseases. Furthermore, the CDC has stated sleep insufficiency is an important public health problem now because it is linked to motor vehicle crashes, industrial disasters, medical and other occupational errors. Thus, if you are not having enough sleep then you must learn how to take care of yourself.
However, it is not known to what extent inadequate sleep and lack of sleep affects the health of Hispanics as well as the health of non-Hispanics, said Dr. Jose Loredo in a medical article published in 2010. There is very little sleep research in Hispanics living in the U.S. Most sleep research has been done in Non-Hispanic White population and to a lesser extent in African Americans. The good news is that a large study, the Hispanic Community Health Study (SOL-Study of Latinos) is underway to assess risk of snoring and insomnia in 16,000 adult Hispanics/Latinos nationwide. As part of the SOL study, an ancillary study called “Sueño” is still enrolling SOL participants in Chicago and the three other Field Centers. “”Sueño” assesses the impact of Sleep Habits with Cardiovascular Risk Factors and other adverse health outcomes in Hispanic Americans. Marcos Herbas, the Project Coordinator for the Sueño study in Chicago, is very pleased with the response of participants to this study. “I would like to thank each one of them. Their participation is great not only for themselves but also for future generations.” said Marcos. With time, results of SOL study would help know more about what kind of sleep-related health issues Hispanics are dealing with in their daily life.

Are you looking for good health information?

Few days ago, I was having a conversation with a colleague about how Hispanics look online for health information. Of course this was very fruitful conversation, so I would like to share somewhat I found interesting. Even though the Pew Hispanic Center reported in 2010 that Hispanics are less than Whites and a little bit behind of African Americans to access the Internet, Hispanics are learning to use computers as much as are getting into other latest tech devices like smart cellphones, tablets, etc. It is possible that the number of Hispanics accessing the internet is growing now and it seems that there is a trend that Hispanics are more interested in navigating websites to get useful information for their everyday lives. If someone has a health problem, taking a look at websites could help a lot because it is supposed you will find your answers unless you get wrong or very limited information. Here it is my point. Are you always getting good health information when you visit websites? Probably you would say yes if you are browsing in English only. However, Spanish speaker rarely can find the right or good information because there is limited health information in Spanish from most of reliable websites created in the US.
I have good news for Hispanics who are browsing on websites for health information; the US Department of Health and Human Services has a very useful website that has also a Spanish version. You can google it: www.healthfinder.gov and that is all. You can navigate this website not only for general information on health but also to look for resources and advice. For example I found a small box where you can put your age and your sex, then click on a button and you start receiving a lot of specific information on your health care according to your age and sex, which is very important.
Try it. I am sure you are going to like this website.