Today we want to tell you about a new problem sweeping the nation, it's not the swine flu and it's not an addiction to Twilight books but something far more dangerous; IOS.

What is this?

Information Overload Syndrome is a condition affecting business people everywhere. It is, apprently, the result of trying to manage 281 Exabytes (that's eighteen zeros) of non-stop information that comes in form of emails, attachments, text messages, thought-starters and FYIs. As a result, sufferers of IOS will find accomplishing the simplest of everyday tasks nearly impossible.

The problem we are facing is that the human brain can only hold so much information in a logical order at any given time, leaving many important things, like your credit card's due date, to slip into the ether.

Avoiding Information Overload Syndrome won't be easy but the folks at Xerox want to give one WalletPop reader a chance to kick start their fight against IOS with a $400 Spafinder gift certificate. How do you get this? You watch the video below and leave a comment to be entered for the sweepstakes. We'll take entries from July 1 until July 27. See below for rules.

As part of my participation in the personal finance bloggers weight loss challenge I decided to investigate what weight loss expenses I could pay for with my Health Savings Account (HSA).

The short answer is no, you can't use your health savings account to cover the cost of getting in shape but there are a few exceptions.

After taking my most pressing question, "Is the fact that my doctor told me I should lose weight at my last appointment enough to make a weight loss class eligible to be paid by my health savings account?" to several experts I asked Fred Adams, "The HSA Expert", to give it to me straight.

Do you have a tattoo? Have you ever wanted one? Having our bodies adorned with "skin art" is a very personal choice, and one which should not be taken lightly. I myself have a very nice tattoo on my upper left arm which features the heads of five of nature's big cats. It's a one-of-a-kind piece, it has significant meaning to me, and I'm really quite proud of it.

Generally speaking, we take our tattoos to the grave with us. Unfortunately, a poor choice of tattoo parlors could make that trip happen prematurely. Although it may not seem like it, tattooing is a considerably invasive procedure, involving fairly significant trauma to one of our body's major defense systems.

Tattoo recipients in Edmonton, Canada have received a sharp wake-up call regarding the seriousness of being careful when choosing a tattoo or piercing artist. A long-standing tattoo shop there has recently been closed, due to concerns over its nonchalant health and cleanliness standards.

The results of scientific surveys are a blogger's bread and butter, and occasionally a source of amusement. In the past few weeks, two studies looking at the relationship between living near fast food outlets and obesity have come to polar opposite conclusions.

A study led by John Spence of the University of Alberta, Canada, created a metric by adding together the number of fast-food and convenience store outlets within half a mile of a person's house and dividing it by the total of supermarkets and specialty food stores. For example, within half mile of my house are four fast food outlets and three convenience stores, or 10 total. There are three groceries.

By comparing this 'Retail Food Environment Index", or RFEI, of an individual against his/her weight, researchers were able to show that crap food proximity and obesity were positively linked.

Wal-Mart does pretty much everything well, or at least according to plan. So the news it's backing off the expansion of in-store medical clinics offers up a rare Wal-Mart failure.

Wal-Mart had planned to open 400 clinics by next year, but as of February had just 31, and that's down from 78 the year before, according to Business Week Magazine.

When in-store clinics started popping up some years ago, it seemed like a genius idea, for both patients and the retailer. As a person who works for herself and occasionally gets sick, I am one of those casting about for a place to get quality treatment for a reasonable fee.

Selenium for prostate health? We've heard that claim for Bayer Healthcare's One A Day Men's 50+ Advantage, which also cites ingredients lycopene, vitamin E and zinc as contributors to a happy prostate.

New research, however, has shown that supplementing the intake of selenium and Vitamin E will not prevent or reduce the chances of prostate cancer.

Ironically, the study results did find a higher than average number of cancer victims among the subjects taking Vitamin E, although no direct link was claimed. The study also found that selenium and Vitamin E had no impact on the incidence of lung or colorectal cancers. The study, funded by the National Cancer Institute, was carried out by the Southwest Oncology Group. Over eight years, 35,000 men participated in the study.

"Won't somebody please think of the children?"

Those words, whined facetiously by a religious female character on the TV show "The Simpsons," were taken to heart recently by California's highest ranking labor official -- who might possibly have nothing better to do than make a situation where there probably isn't one.

Utilizing a strict, if not forced, interpretation of California labor law, the office of Labor Commissioner Angela Bradstreet has issued four initial citations against RadarOnline.com, for its efforts in reporting updates on the lives of Octo-mom Nadya Suleman and her 14 children.

According to statements quoted by LATimes.com, Labor Commissioner Bradstreet feels that she has sufficient reason to believe the octuplets have been, or could be, mistreated as actors.

Whenever I sensed the beginnings of a cold, I stuck a Zicam nasal swab up my nose and immediately began to feel better. My mom, who swore by Zicam, recommended them to me three years ago when, during a road trip through the Pacific Northwest coast, my husband started sneezing and coughing.

Determined not to get sick and intent on fully savoring the taste of salmon, berry pie and microbrew beer that only Oregon and Washington can serve up, I jammed those swabs up my nasal cavities every two hours and breathed deeply. Besides a little runny nose, I avoided my cranky husband's cold and ate to my heart's content.

Maybe it was Zicam or maybe it was just force of will, but now I'll have to part from my gel-covered nose swabs and toss them in the trash. According to the Food and Drug Administration, I need to find another cold remedy. Yesterday, it issued a warning to people to stop using Zicam products because they can cause anosmia, or the loss of one's sense of smell. The FDA has received more than 130 reports from people experiencing anosmia after using Zicam.

Faced with decreasing revenues from the global recession and higher health care premiums, many small businesses are opting to completely drop health coverage for their employees.

From 1993, the number of small businesses offering health insurance has dropped more than 20% to the current level of 38%.

With health coverage currently at the top of the political agenda, many Americans are faced with a rude awakening. Many people simply cannot afford family private plans that can exceed $20,000 per year.

But don't despair: Here are some useful tips for small businesses and employees when faced with this situation:

Small Businesses

• Offer some type of credit or bonus if you decide to drop health coverage. This extra cash can help your employee transition to a new health plan.

Let's all please take just a moment and look around ourselves. How far do we have to look to find something made with plastic?

In truth, we don't even have to look away from our computer monitors to complete the exercise. The plastic is there -- and it's laughing at us.

Uganda's leading Web site, New Vision, has published a report which outlines the drastic government sanctions being placed upon plastics there. Basically put, in Uganda, single use plastic is being outlawed.

Effective January 2010, people who are caught utilizing certain consumer plastics in Uganda could face fines in excess of $1,000 and jail time of up to three years, or both.

In addition to making plastic a contraband item, the government of Uganda has told the manufacturers of consumer plastics there to shut down and pack up their operations.

Evidently however, the government hasn't yet determined what actions to take regarding imported plastics such as those which arrive as wrapping for clothing items. Under consideration is a requirement that these items be unwrapped at point of entry, similar to the practice which is employed by Uganda's neighbor, Rwanda.

The plastic upon which we consumers have become so mindlessly dependent, now threatens the health of each and every one of us. In fact, it threatens the health of our entire beloved planet. You see, once discarded, plastic doesn't just go away. It does not readily biodegrade. It hangs around like a stray dog we made the mistake of feeding. It packs into landfills, fouls our waterways, and contaminates our landscape.

Women are having a tougher time with the financial crisis and are more likely to struggle to stay on top of their finances, according to a new report. Twice as many women (68%) as men (32%) sought help with their finances between January 1 and April 30, says Financial Finesse, a financial education company. Financial Finesse reviewed calls to its financial helpline service that is available to over 500,000 employees at more than 300 organizations, as well as usage of its online learning center.

Financial Finesse found that women who called the helpline were more likely to be behind with their bills than men. About 74% of women said they paid their bills on time, compared with 90% of men. Also, 43% of calls from women were about debt, compared with 36% of calls from men. About 29% of the women who called about debt were dealing with serious issues, such as how to avoid foreclosure or bankruptcy, or whether or not to borrow money from a retirement plan.

"When I looked at the research I was pretty shocked when we pulled these numbers to see how women are behind," says Nancy L. Anderson, CFP, a resident financial planner for Financial Finesse. Anderson says most of the women falling behind financially were still employed, although some had been laid off or had a spouse who had lost a job. But many of the female callers were more focused on helping others, which didn't help with their own financial situation.

The markets responded last week to the outbreak of swine flu that started in Mexico and expanded to the U.S and now it is officially a pandemic.

Swine flu has reached 74 countries, infecting nearly 29,000 people and now has been declared unstoppable. Experts are watching the Southern Hemisphere to see what the incidence will be this summer, yet, to date, the spread has not slowed.

What is amazing to me is how complacent and unconcerned most folks are. They report to me that people die every year of the flu, what is the big deal? I have heard a least a dozen people say the media has overblown the whole thing to which I reply, "No, they haven't."

This flu is particularly worrisome. It is a combination of avian, swine and human flu that has mutated to become contagious between people. This combination has not happened before and we do not have resistance to it.

Currently, tax-free health benefits from employers are the largest tax break in the nation. The estimated 2010 cost of this tax advantage is $155 billion and is projected to increase to $924 billion by 2014, according to the White House office of Management and Budget.

Note that these costs are just estimated potential revenue gains if the Treasury were to tax employer health insurance benefits.

Tax writing committees in Congress are busy drafting a plan that will place a cap on these tax breaks that currently benefit high income employees with top notch insurance policies. Their plan will call for these individuals to pay taxes on part of their received benefits. Congress plans to unveil this health care proposal next week.

CVS Pharmacy's propensity to sell expired products has led to a $975,000 settlement with California and an agreement to give $2 coupons to customers who find expired products on the shelves.

California Attorney General Edmund G. Brown Jr. began investigating CVS last year and found the chain was routinely selling expired baby food, formula, dairy and over-the-counter medications.

Some examples provided by the Attorney General include: Gerber's Vanilla Custard, 11 months expired; Bright Beginnings Ultra Baby Formula, 3 months expired; and Gerber Baby Food Oatmeal with Applesauce and Bananas, 2 months expired.

It's a battlefield in your mouth. Everything is after the health of your teeth, it seems. But take heart: In what it claims will protect tooth enamel from acid attacks in everyday food and drinks, Crest is giving away samples of Crest Pro-Health Enamel Shield Toothpaste.

Crest also sells a toothbrush and rinse designed to protect your teeth's enamel.

Just fill out a short online survey to get the free sample, which should arrive in four weeks.