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Make Your Halloween a Hoot, Not a Howl
< Oct. 24, 2007 > -- Some simple safety measures can help ensure a happy Halloween for both children and adults, according to experts at Prevent Blindness America, a nonprofit organization based in Chicago, and other organizations.
"We can keep Halloween safe for everyone by taking a few easy precautions," Daniel D. Garrett, the group's senior vice president, says. "Our vision can be compromised by costume accessories, make-up, or simply by being out at night without proper lighting."
Most of the time people use makeup without a problem, but there is no guarantee. The following tips can help prevent rashes, swollen eyelids, or other injuries.
Prevent Blindness America offers the following eye safety tips:
Do not wear costumes or accessories such as masks, wigs, hats, or eye patches that block vision. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) also states that decorating your face with face paint allows you to see better than if you wear a mask.
Use only hypoallergenic or non-toxic makeup. Adults should apply it to children and remove it with cold cream or eye makeup remover instead of soap.
False eyelashes and costume makeup can also irritate eyes. Follow directions on how to apply and remove them safely. The FDA cautions that if the product has a label that states not to use it near your eyes, believe it.
If your trick-or-treater tends to be allergic, you may want to pretest the paint or makeup on the skin a couple days before Halloween to check for an allergic reaction.
Make sure that shoes fit well and that costumes are short enough to prevent tripping and falling.
Adults should chaperone their children. Only go to homes you are familiar with and that have the lights on.
Check all trick-or-treat items. Toys or novelty items should be inspected to determine whether they pose a choking hazard to young children.
The FDA also gives additional Halloween tips:
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When children bring their bags home, check their treats for any unusual appearance, colors, tiny pinholes, or tears in wrappers. Throw away anything that looks suspicious.
Homeowners can help make Halloween safer for distracted trick-or-treaters by keeping pets who may become frightened or too excited away from youngsters.
You can also try using battery powered jack o'lanterns instead of a candle. If you do use candles, place them well away from the trick-or-treaters.
Consider healthy food snacks instead of 100 percent sugary treats. Things like packaged crackers with cheese, fruit rolls, and low-fat popcorn may be a welcome alternative. Non-food treats may be given as well. Plastic rings, pencils, stickers, erasers or coins are options.
Children can enjoy Halloween in other ways than the traditional house-to-house trick-or-treating. Some neighborhoods offer a special event where children can play games, have their faces painted, and receive treats.
You may also check into community events at shopping malls or churches. Or consider bringing the fun to a local retirement home or senior center.
If you have specific health questions about Halloween safety, be sure to contact your physician for more information.
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Just in time for Halloween, researchers are releasing new data that show darkness increases the impact of social stress. The article is published in Biological Psychiatry.
As children and adults alike gear up for the anticipation and excitement of the “spooky” holiday, this study helps to better understand our inherent fear of the dark.
Dr. Grillon and colleagues at the National Institute of Mental Health sought to examine whether stress increases unconditioned fear in humans.
To do this, they measured the startle reflex of healthy volunteers in either light or dark conditions, and after either a socially stressful situation of public speaking, or after a period of relaxation.
The startle response is a sensitive tool for measuring anxiety levels. In this study, anxiety was measured when volunteers were presented with white noise stimuli via headphones.
The authors found that the startle response was boosted when the volunteers were in complete darkness, and this effect was more pronounced after the stressor.
Dr. Christian Grillon, lead author on the project, explains, “Because stress has been linked to the precipitation of emotional disturbances, sometimes to a pathological level, it is important to understand how stress affects our brain and behavior.”
He adds, “We report that a mild acute stressor increases subsequent experimental anxiety in healthy subjects. The demonstration of stress-induced anxiety in the laboratory is important because it provides information about how stress alters nervous system function.”
Dr. John H. Krystal, Editor of Biological Psychiatry, comments, “The authors show that social stress and darkness interact to increase the startle response. The refinement of this research method may help us to understand how threatening contexts and stressful social interactions interact at a mechanistic level to contribute to anxiety disorders."
Although this work is performed to further the scientific community’s understanding of anxiety disorders, nearly all of us have felt scared or anxious in the dark at one time or another.
So, the next time you check for monsters in the closet before climbing into bed, or when you peer into the dark bushes before your next “trick-or-treat,” just remember that it is normal to jump when someone shouts “Boo!”
Always consult your physician for more information.
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