Many words have the same meaning and can be used in the same sense, like sadness and depression, anger and rage, etc. But does that mean these words express the same emotion? There are key differences between words like these. Although many people use sad and depressed in the same sense, it is generally discouraged because it minimizes the effects of the validity and seriousness of the condition ‘Depression’. But is it the same for words like joy and happiness? Although movies like ‘Inside Out’ show that joy is responsible for happiness, is it true?

What is Joy?

Joy is a deep, enduring emotion that arises from a sense of meaning, purpose, and connection. It's a feeling of contentment and fulfilment that often stems from internal factors like personal values, beliefs, and relationships. Joy can be experienced even in the midst of challenges and adversity. You can acknowledge joy even during hard times in your life as it is a complex emotion.

What is Happiness?

Happiness is a more fleeting emotion that is often triggered by external factors, such as positive experiences, achievements, or pleasurable sensations. It's a temporary state of well-being that can vary in intensity and duration. It is a spontaneous emotion you feel because of one situation or the other like seeing a puppy brings you a lot of happiness.

What is the big difference?

The key difference between the two is that they are different experiences. Experts say that happiness is sometimes here and sometimes not. Like the example given above, when you see a puppy you feel really happy and fulfilled until it leaves, while joy is sustained. You would say, ‘This brings me a profound sense of joy!’ in situations like you get to keep a puppy and take care of it! According to researchers' joy comes with a sense of fulfilment from a sustained and external relationship like raising a child or creating long-lasting friendships.

Another way to explain this is that happiness happens when something unintentional happens that surprises you and makes you happy. That is why there are many people who always say you should do spontaneous things in life because you never know what may bring you happiness in your life!

While joy is more of a developed emotion that is cultivated through self-aware practices. Basically knowing what makes you feel at peace and gives you a sense of duty while making you feel ‘happy’, is joy! People use these things as a coping mechanism as well, they will intentionally do things that they know will help them feel better and bring them ‘joy’ like volunteering with animals or spending time reading a book they love.

Can You Feel These Emotions Together?

Experts say that it is possible to feel these two emotions together in different scenarios. Not only can you feel joy and happiness together, but you can also feel sadness with joy. The thing you may need to practice is, not feeling overwhelmed with these emotions and developing the skill of identifying multiple emotions at one time. There are many people who are active caregivers to their loved ones. While they may feel joy at the fact that they are being useful and taking care of their loved one, they can also feel sad about their condition and stressed about their situation.

While no emotion is permanent in life, you can work towards things that make you happy and bring you joy always!

Pets are one of the best additions to families. While their form of communication may be different, they grow to share a special bond with us. Pets are recommended by many specialists, healthcare professionals, people who work with children development etc. While you may have come across many ‘why you should become a pet parent’ or ‘how your pets help children develop’ articles, one must make sure they check all potential points before making the leap.

Becoming a pet parent is a big deal, not just as a financial commitment, but it will also affect different aspects of your life like your social life, your professional life etc. Another aspect one should be aware of is the role it could play in affecting your child’s health. If you are wondering about pet hair and dander allergies, they are the least of your worries. There are other things that you should take precautions against and ensure proper steps, which will not only keep your kid safe, but also the pet, happy and healthy.

Pets Can Help Us Tackle Loneliness

According to the Journal of Advanced Pediatrics and Child Health traditional pets can lessen loneliness and quickly improve mental wellness in humans. While much focus has been on adults, newer research highlights the potential positive effects of pet ownership on children's emotional, cognitive, behavioral, educational, and social growth. However, this growth also comes with risks.

Even though pets are great, they can also bring germs into the house. Kids are more likely to get sick from these germs than adults. This is because kids might not have all their shots yet and their bodies aren't as good at fighting off sickness. Also, kids might get bitten by a pet they know because they have lots of energy and do things that can make the animal feel like it needs to protect itself.

Common Pet and Common Germs

Most people in America have "regular" pets like dogs and cats. We love them like furry friends, but they can carry germs that can make kids sick. Dogs, especially, can spread different kinds of bacteria that parents should know about, like Campylobacter jejuni, Clostridium difficile, and Pasteurella.

If you have a puppy, there's a higher chance of getting a germ called Campylobacter jejuni. It's not always the dog's fault, though. Dogs often get this germ from eating leftover food from the kitchen. Then, the dog can pass it on to the child. Kids who get this might have diarrhea, fever, and stomach pain. Sometimes, the germ can get into the blood after the stomach problems start. Usually, the body fights it off quickly. But if a child has a weak immune system, the sickness might come back.

When dogs lick or "kiss" kids, they can easily pass on Clostridium difficile. This germ can also cause diarrhea and stomach cramps because it makes a big part of the gut swollen.

Dogs and cats have Pasteurella germs in their noses and throats. If a dog or cat scratches a child, these germs can get in. The most common problem is a skin infection called cellulitis. Sometimes, it can also cause infections in the brain, bones, or lungs.

Germs More Common with Cats

While both dogs and cats can give kids Pasteurella, some germs are more likely to come from cats. One common one is Toxoplasma gondii. Kids usually get it by eating or swallowing something that has cat poop in it. This can happen easily because kids are curious and might touch the cat's litter box. The sickness feels like the flu, with fever, swollen glands, body aches, and feeling tired.

Cats also often carry Bartonella germs, which they get from fleas or from other sick cats. Many healthy cats, especially kittens, have this in their blood. If a child gets Bartonella, they might have swollen and sore glands a week or two after being around a cat, a scab where the germ got in, and sometimes heart problems. Kids under 15 get sick most often, but it's also important to watch out if a child has a weak immune system.

Animals can naturally have germs that can pass to kids, especially those with weak immune systems. It's important for parents to know the signs of these illnesses and the germs that their pets might carry, especially if they have young children at home.

You may have heard cancer survivor stories and how they inspired people through their journey. They fought and are now living proof of what ‘coming out stronger’ looks like.

Linda Burchett, 75 years old, this year celebrates the 10 years of being cancer free, explaining how she is the ‘encourager’, who 'encourages’ people to never give up on their hopes. For her, the cancer diagnosis started off as a mere indigestion-like symptom. " I thought I was having indigestion, and the pain had started radiating through to my back. I asked my husband to google heart attacks in women because I thought maybe that was what was happening." Upon their arrival at the doctors, she was diagnosed with pancreatitis. Having prior experience with this condition through her daughter, Linda was familiar with the diagnostic process, which included an endoscopic ultrasound.

Unexpected Cancer Revelation

During the ultrasound, the doctor expressed a low expectation of finding anything significant, a sentiment Linda shared. However, within 24 hours, she received the unexpected news that she had pancreatic cancer. Despite this serious diagnosis, Linda, who describes herself as having a naturally calm and peaceful disposition, calmly anticipated surgery as the next step, believing the tumor would be removed and life would continue normally.

But things didn't go as planned for Linda. “It (the cancer mass) was going to be removed, and life would go on. Well, that changed. About four or five days before the surgery the surgeon said your mesenteric artery is 80% compromised so the surgery is not possible.” Because of this, the doctors couldn't do the surgery. The conversation quickly changed, and the surgeon asked Linda where she wanted to have her chemotherapy treatment. Linda said that the chemotherapy made her feel very sick all the time, which was a difficult experience for her to go through on a daily basis.

New Hopes For Recovery And Treatments

Even though the chemotherapy was hard, Linda had something wonderful to look forward to. About a month after she was diagnosed with cancer, she found out that she was going to have a grandchild.

This news gave her a strong reason to keep fighting and to want to live so she could spend time with her new grandchild. The chemotherapy actually helped shrink the tumors enough that the doctors could try the Whipple surgery after all, but they needed a vascular surgeon to be there during the operation to help.

What Is Whipple Surgery?

According to the Whipple Procedure (Pancreaticoduodenectomy, the Whipple surgery, also called pancreaticoduodenectomy, is the main operation doctors use to take out tumors in the pancreas. If doctors can remove the tumor with surgery, it gives the best chance to control all kinds of pancreatic cancer for a long time. The Whipple surgery is a big and complicated operation because it involves taking out and putting back together a large part of the digestive system.

The recovery following the Whipple surgery was far from straightforward. What was anticipated to be four weeks of daily radiation and chemotherapy was complicated by an infected port, dangerously low blood pressure, high temperatures, and low white blood cell counts. This extended her recovery period to approximately three months. During this intense time, Linda, a lifelong Christian, found herself drawing immense strength and comfort from her deepened connection with God.

Milestone And New Hope For Life

Linda had her first scan that showed no signs of cancer on October 15th. The very next day, October 16th, her grandson was born. It was the happiest week of her life – being cancer-free and becoming a grandmother.

After she recovered, Linda would go back to the place where she had her treatments to encourage other people who were still going through it. She felt that because she had so many problems during her own treatment, she could really understand what they were experiencing. She said that no one there had gone through anything she hadn't also been through.

“This is not a journey for you to take by yourself.” she encouraged people to reach out to their loved ones and not to lose hope. “Because of being able to bless other people that's what I really want to accomplish to make connections with other people going through this journey and I'm just enjoying and celebrating every day.”

Symptoms of Pancreatic Cancer

The American Cancer Society explains that pancreatic cancer may not cause signs and symptoms, by the time you do notice something different, it could have grown quite large and spread outside the pancreas. Here are some symptoms of it you should know.

• Fatigue or abnormal weakness
• Jaundice (yellowing of skin and eyes)
• Dark urine
• Light-colored or greasy stools
• Itchy skin
• Weight loss and poor appetite
• Belly or back pain
• Nausea and vomiting
• Gallbladder or liver enlargement
• Blood clots
• New-onset or poorly controlled diabetes

More than 200 million smartwatches were sold worldwide alone in 2023, with millions of users counting on these wrist-worn devices not only for convenience—but for lifesaving alerts. As wearable health technology advances, smartwatches have become the daily companion in monitoring heart rate, blood oxygen, and even irregular rhythms. But since cardiovascular disease is still the top killer globally, a pressing question arises: Can your smartwatch really sense and even prevent a heart attack before it's too late?

While these gadgets promise to track pivotal indicators such as atrial fibrillation and fluctuations in blood pressure, their potential to foretell acute cardiac events continues to be an area of research. As technology brands compete to make medical features intelligent, the reality falls where innovation, clinical science, and what your smartwatch can practically do converge.

Smartwatches no longer simply exist as fashionable add-ons or productivity devices they are quickly emerging as frontline contenders in the early diagnosis of health issues, most notably heart-related ailments but how much can you really trust your smartwatch when it comes to life-threatening conditions such as a heart attack?

Smartwatches have developed at breakneck speed from basic step counters to high-tech wearable health trackers. The most widely used brands today have a set of tools that specifically track cardiovascular health. Features now include continuous monitoring of heart rate, heart rhythm monitoring, blood oxygen saturation, and even blood pressure in some versions.

How this is made possible is a technology known as photoplethysmography (PPG) — an optical sensor technique relying on LED light to measure changes in blood volume in the microvascular bed in the skin. As your heart beats, the sensor measures the change in reflection of light, providing information on your heart rhythm, rate, and at times, even your blood oxygenation levels.

Besides, certain smartwatches have single-lead electrocardiogram (ECG) features that give a better heart rhythm analysis and aid in detecting atrial fibrillation (AFib) — a precursor to stroke and heart failure.

Are Smartwatches Effective in Identifying Heart Attacks?

This is the most urgent query and the response isn't quite simple.

The short answer is, not yet. Although smartwatches are capable of detecting some warning signs and arrhythmias in the heart, they are not yet capable of diagnosing a heart attack in real-time with medical-grade accuracy. A heart attack (myocardial infarction) happens when blood supply to a region of the heart is obstructed, typically by a blood clot. Identification of this demands high-resolution and multi-lead ECGs, laboratory tests, and imaging — diagnostics well out of the capabilities of consumer-level wearables.

Dr. Peter Libby, a Harvard-affiliated Brigham and Women's Hospital cardiologist, describes in press release, "This technology is more a proof-of-principle rather than something that's clinically useful." His comments came after a small study discovered that ECG recordings from wearables can replicate hospital ECG equipment but with some limitations.

Simply, smartwatches can alert you to warning signs like an excessively high heart rate when you're resting, or symptoms matching AFib but cannot verify a heart attack. Nor can they substitute for immediate medical assessment.

What are the Benefits of Smartwatches?

Smartwatches are worth their price when it comes to real-time tracking and long-term heart care. Their potential to identify silent atrial fibrillation that may cause strokes or heart failure is noteworthy. Models that have been cleared by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for detecting AFib are recognized for their use in enabling users to access appropriate medical attention in a timely manner.

Companies such as Apple, Samsung, Fitbit, Google, and Withings have incorporated both PPG and ECG technologies. Some of them also provide tracking for blood oxygen saturation and blood pressure, thus adding to their functionality as personal health assistants.

However, it’s critical to understand that smartwatches operate under limitations — they provide preliminary insights, not definitive diagnoses. The data they collect can be shared with healthcare providers, enabling better-informed consultations, but they should never be used as a sole source of medical judgment.

As smartwatches get increasingly sophisticated, there is an increasing threat of false reassurance. Individuals might take "normal" readings as a go-ahead to put off medical intervention during true cardiac attacks. False alarms, on the other hand, can also cause undue stress and result in overtesting.

A balanced strategy is important. Experts suggest using smartwatches as an ancillary device, not a substitute for professional attention. If you have symptoms such as chest pain, difficulty in breathing, or inexplicable weakness — no matter what your smartwatch shows — get yourself medically checked.

How AI, Predictive Analytics Will Help In Medical Integration

The wearable technology future looks bright. Future developments in machine learning and artificial intelligence will seek to make smartwatches' predictive power stronger. These technologies can review trends over time, identify discrepancies, and even warn users before signs appear.

In addition, partnerships between medical institutions and technology companies might soon lead to equipment that is not only cleared by the FDA but clinically proven for more sophisticated diagnostics. We're close to an era when smartwatches might help prevent cardiovascular events — but that vision comes with aggressive testing, medical supervision, and regulatory clearance.

Smartwatches are precious health devices in this day and age of digitization, allowing users to be connected with their own well-being. In heart health, they provide actionable data and early detection that can lead to quicker medical attention.

In the detection or diagnosis of heart attacks, technology is lagging behind. Though the devices may lead to greater awareness and useful data, they must never be used in place of a doctor's know-how or emergency medical response.