Healthpratical Tips:10 Healthy Habits for a Longer Life

December 22, 2008

Here are some practical habits we can acquire to be healthy. Try this list and share it with a friend.

1.) Eat six small meals a day. Most nutritionists recommend that we eat six small meals a day. For example, you can have a light breakfast at 7 a.m., light snack (a banana or an apple) at 10 a.m., lunch at 12 noon, snack at 4 p.m., dinner at 7p.m., and bedtime snack (tea and cookies) at 9 p.m. This schedule will help reduce sudden surges in your blood sugar. It will also prevent you from overeating because of hunger. It’s easier for the digestion, too, and can prevent stomach ulcers from missed meals. Eat several times a day, but just a little. A banana or an apple can be considered a snack already.

2.) Drink 10 glasses of water. Doctors have to tell patients again and again the importance of drinking enough water a day. But it seems many patients, especially women, don’t listen. Drinking water can prevent kidney infections, kidney stones, migraine headaches, and constipation. My wife, who only drinks three to four glasses of water a day, learned a painful lesson. She developed severe back pains from kidney stones. Now, she drinks a whole lot more. And did you know that water can prevent wrinkles and make your skin soft and glowing? Drink water for beauty, health, and long life. It’s the best advice, so take it.

3.) Rest at least eight hours a day. Sleeping and resting is the best way to boost your energies. If you feel tired, take a 15-minute rest to replenish your strength. At night, try to go for eight hours of sleep. If you can’t sleep, just lying in bed and thinking happy thoughts can relax your mind and body, too. It’s not as good as sleep, but it’s the next best thing.

4.) Climb one to two flights of stairs. Exercise for your health. Moderate exercise has been proven to prevent diabetes and obesity, and reduce arthritis. If your office is just on the second or third floor, use the stairs. It’s good for your heart and your joints. It also helps you get some exercise in between your work. As you grow older, try to avoid high-impact exercises like basketball and badminton. Swimming, taichi, walking, and climbing stairs are gentler for the body.

5.) Live a clean life. By “clean” living, we mean not just physically clean. We should also try to avoid unhealthy behavior like smoking, drinking alcohol, using illicit drugs, engaging in risky sex, and gorging on fatty foods. Smoking kills. Alcohol destroys brain cells. You may have tried them, but it doesn’t get you anywhere. So why continue the habit? Avoid risky habits and prolong your life.

6.) Be a veggie and fruit lover. You are what you eat. And the healthiest foods out there are vegetables and fruits. Green leafy vegetables, such as cabbage, pechay, kangkong, camote tops (talbos), and spinach, contain so many vitamins, minerals, and beneficial plant chemicals. Vegetables can prevent heart disease, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, bowel problems, irritable bowel syndrome, various bowel cancers, and kidney stones. Eat veggies every day.

For the healthiest fruits, we have bananas, apples, carrots, tomatoes, and citrus fruits. Bananas are rich in potassium, vitamin B6. and folic acid. Likewise, tomatoes have high amounts of antioxidants, including lycopene. Citrus fruits like suha (pomelo) and dalandan are teeming with healthy vitamin C.

7.) Laugh 15 minutes a day. Laughter is, indeed, the best medicine. A study from the University of California Irvine College of Medicine reports that after watching a funny video, the viewers’ mood improved dramatically. Depression and anger dropped by 98 percent, fatigue fell by 87 percent, and tension was reduced by 61 percent.

What happens inside our body when we laugh? The level of stress hormones, called cortisol, decreases, and the good hormones, called endorphins, increase. Endorphins are natural substances in the body that make you happy and boost your immune system.

8.) Be enthusiastic about your work. Choose a job you love, and you’ll never have to work a day in your life. Try to find ways to enjoy your line of work. A nurse’s job can be messy and tiring, but at least you are caring for someone. A secretary’s job may be just about setting appointments, but without her diligence, the boss would never be as successful. Be creative. Think long-term. What does your job really mean to you? An enthusiastic attitude can make a difference.

9.) Have a lifetime partner. Statistics show that married persons live longer than single persons. If you have someone to share your burdens with, it will lessen your stress. Single persons living alone may have no one to attend to them in case of an emergency. To compensate for the lack of social support, single persons can acquire a circle of close relatives and friends.

10.) Share your blessings. In President Bill Clinton’s book Giving, he explains the whys and the hows of giving. Give big or give small, and the benefits will come back to you. Similarly, Prof. Peggy Thoits’ study at the Vanderbilt University showed that people who volunteered and helped others had higher levels of happiness, self-esteem, and better physical health. If you want to receive P2,000 worth of health and happiness, try donating P2,000 to your favorite charity. Helping the poor and the sick will surely give you a different high. It may not make you live longer, but it can surely make life worth living.

Source: http://philstar.com

Thing to Know About Lack of Sleep

December 6, 2008

With an ever-increasing number of studies finding a direct connection between sleep deprivation and weight gain, it’s difficult to deny the cause-and-effect relationship. People who get at least seven hours of sleep per night tend to have less body fat than people who don’t. There are, of course, other factors involved in determining who becomes overweight and who doesn’t, like food intake, exercise and genes. But sleep is a more integral of the process than most people realize. In a study involving 9,000 people between 1982 and 1984 (NHANES I), researchers found that people who averaged six hours of sleep per night were 27 percent more likely to be overweight than their seven-to-nine hour counterparts; and those averaging five hours of sleep per night were 73 percent more likely to be overweight.

Many people who are sleep deprived don’t even know it. Lots of us think there’s quite a bit of give in how much sleep a person needs to be healthy and well functioning, but most researchers disagree, putting seven hours as the minimum for all except the very young and the very old. Besides straight numbers, there are a couple of ways to tell if you’re sleep deprived, including:

• Are you typically drowsy during a good portion of the day, especially the morning?
• Are you falling asleep at night in a couple of minutes?

Most non-sleep-deprived people take about 15 minutes to fall asleep at night. Chronic sleepiness and a nearly-instant state of sleep when you get into bed are good indicators that you’re not getting enough

If you are sleep deprived, there are some obvious tie-ins to obesity, like chronic sleepiness making physical activity unlikely. But there are also a number of things going on in your body that could contribute to weight gain. In scientific studies, the most commonly cited effects of sleep deprivation are hormonal disturbances, specifically involving the hormones leptin and ghrelin.

When you don’t get enough sleep, your body has too little leptin and too much ghrelin.

Tips to Stay Healthy For the Holidays

‘Tips for the season to beat sickness (not to mention tiredness, stress, or other holiday downers). Fortunately, you can stay well and have a good time even if everyone else is falling apart.

Follow these 5 tips to boost your body’s defenses:

1. Fend off germs. Family gatherings, airports and travel stops, shopping malls, even the library during finals week — they’re all places germs like to mingle. So protect yourself: Get a flu vaccine and wash your hands a lot. The holidays are all about sharing, but some things you’ll want to keep to yourself: forks, spoons, and drinking utensils. People can be contagious before they know they’re sick, so even just a sip from someone’s drink puts his or her germs in your body.

1. Eat healthy and be merry. Holiday foods can be high in calories and low on the nutrition you need to battle germs and boost energy. Make it a priority to eat five or more fruits and vegetables a day (choose the whole fruit instead of juice so you feel full longer and avoid added sugar). Carry an apple or a bag of baby carrots so you always have a healthy snack available. And don’t give your exercise routine a holiday. Exercise gives you energy in addition to burning calories.

1. Chill. “Can I afford it?” “Will it be perfect?” Even things we look forward to, like parties or gifts, can come with worries attached. If you feel stressed out, stop what you’re doing for just a moment. Take five deep breaths — all-the-way-down-to-your-belly deep. Concentrate on each breath as you inhale and exhale. Walk over to a window and look out at the sky. Then go back to what you were doing, realizing that holiday drama will happen. Just hope it leaves you with some great stories to tell.

1. Beat the blues. Holiday depression doesn’t just happen in songs. For some people, it’s seasonal, brought on by shorter days, longer nights, and colder weather. Other people are going through difficult life events like a breakup or a move. If you feel down, go outside, even if it’s cold where you live. Sunlight and exercise are great mood lifters. Try a seasonal activity to put you in the holiday spirit, like ice skating or neighborhood carol singing. And don’t hesitate to talk to someone you trust, like a parent or teacher, about how you’re feeling.

1. Get some Z’s. Getting 8½ to 9 hours of sleep a night during the holidays can help strengthen your immune system, give you more energy, and make you less vulnerable to stress.

One of the top things to do for your health is to get out and have fun. Forget about the tough stuff for a while (except for your safety, of course — be sure someone knows where you are and watch out for drunk drivers).

Laugh and enjoy yourself — the holidays only come once a year.

Treat Your Gout with this 6 Relief Suggestions

November 30, 2008

The most common symptom of gout, which afflicts about three-quarters of gout sufferers, is excruciating pain in the joint at the base of the big toe. However, joints in other parts of the body including the feet, hands, wrists, knees, shoulders, and elbows are fair game for gout attacks. Joints can become so swollen and inflamed that the patient develops a fever and chills.

Gout comes on very suddenly, produces severe pain, and usually lasts three to five days if untreated. However, flare-ups frequently recur and last even longer.

There are several conditions that can result in gout, but the primary cause is an abnormally high level of uric acid in the blood, either from the body’s producing too much or from the body’s not excreting it properly. Gout is more common in men than in women, possibly because the female body eliminates uric acid more efficiently. The disease often strikes middle-aged males, especially men who are overweight and drink too much alcohol. But healthy people can develop gout, too. For instance, allowing yourself to become severely dehydrated may trigger an attack.

Although gout produces brutal pain, it is rarely life-threatening. However, the condition requires proper diagnosis and treatment by a doctor, who can rule out other causes of joint pain and prescribe effective medications. Once you’ve seen your physician, however, there are a few things you should do on your own.

1. Don’t put any weight on the joint. This usually means staying off your feet as much as possible until the episode subsides. Any pressure you put on the joint will increase the pain and possibly damage the area further.

2. Keep the joint elevated. Let gravity help reduce inflammation by slowing the rush of blood to the gout inflicted joint.

3. Immobilize the joint. The less you move the joint, the better it will feel. Simply lying still will help, though you may want to build a splint for the injured joint. Ask your doctor how, or consult a first-aid guide.

4. Take a nonprescription anti-inflammatory. Inflammation causes swelling, which worsens pain. Both ibuprofen and aspirin are anti-inflammatories, but when taken at low levels, aspirin may actually make the pain worse, so reach for the ibuprofen when treating gout.

5. Avoid icing or heating the area. Unlike other types of pain, gout doesn’t respond well to heat or ice therapy.

6. Wear comfortable shoes. For gout sufferers, styles that offer a lot of room for the toes are the best choice.

Want to Know About Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STDs)? Read This…

November 21, 2008

STDs are more than just an embarrassment. They’re a serious health problem. If untreated, some STDs can cause permanent damage, such as infertility (the inability to have a baby) and even death (in the case of HIV/AIDS).

How STDs Spread

One reason STDs spread is because people think they need to have sexual intercourse to become infected. That’s wrong. A person can get some STDs, like herpes or genital warts, through skin-to-skin contact with an infected area or sore. Another myth about STDs is that you can’t get them if you have oral or anal sex. That’s also wrong because the viruses or bacteria that cause STDs can enter the body through tiny cuts or tears in the mouth and anus, as well as the genitals.

STDs also spread easily because you can’t tell whether someone has an infection. In fact, some people with STDs don’t even know that they have them. These people are in danger of passing an infection on to their sex partners without even realizing it.

Some of the things that increase a person’s chances of getting an STD are:

• Sexual activity at a young age. The younger a person starts having sex, the greater his or her chances of becoming infected with an STD.
• Lots of sex partners. People who have sexual contact — not just intercourse, but any form of intimate activity — with many different partners are more at risk than those who stay with the same partner.
• Unprotected sex. Latex condoms are the only form of birth control that reduce your risk of getting an STD. Spermicides, diaphragms, and other birth control methods may help prevent pregnancy, but they don’t protect a person against STDs.

Preventing and Treating STDs

As with many other diseases, prevention is key. It’s much easier to prevent STDs than to treat them. The only way to completely prevent STDs is to abstain from all types of sexual contact. If someone is going to have sex, the best way to reduce the chance of getting an STD is by using a condom.

People who are considering having sex should get regular gynecological or male genital examinations. There are two reasons for this. First, these exams give doctors a chance to teach people about STDs and protecting themselves. And second, regular exams give doctors more opportunities to check for STDs while they’re still in their earliest, most treatable stage.

In order for these exams and visits to the doctor to be helpful, people need to tell their doctors if they are thinking about having sex or if they have already started having sex. This is true for all types of sex — oral, vaginal, and anal.

Don’t let embarrassment at the thought of having an STD keep you from seeking medical attention. Waiting to see a doctor may allow a disease to progress and cause more damage. If you think you may have an STD, or if you have had a partner who may have an STD, you should see a doctor right away.

If you don’t have a doctor or prefer not to see your family doctor, you may be able to find a local clinic in your area where you can get an exam confidentially. Some national and local organizations operate STD hotlines staffed by trained specialists who can answer your questions and provide referrals. Calls to these hotlines are confidential. One hotline you can call for information is the National STD Hotline at 1-800-227-8922.

Not all infections in the genitals are caused by STDs. Sometimes people can get symptoms that seem very like those of STDs, even though they’ve never had sex. For girls, a yeast infection can easily be confused with an STD. Guys may worry about bumps on the penis that turn out to be pimples or irritated hair follicles. That’s why it’s important to see a doctor if you ever have questions about your sexual health.

Loud noise is Unhealthy

October 24, 2008

Makis Tsapogas, a professor of surgery and adviser to the World Health Organization, explains that “Noise is one of life’s great stressors. When you’re exposed to loud noises, your blood vessels constrict and less blood flows to the organs.”

The woman behind the launching of United Kingdom’s Right to Peace and Quiet campaign, Valerie Gibson, even compares noise to passive smoking. She said, “People aren’t aware that noise is affecting them, but their health deteriorates.”

Dutch researchers also found out that people living on noisy streets suffer more high blood pressure than those in quieter areas. According to them, noise can cause people to get angry more easily, and provoke depression and organic diseases particularly when under stressful situations. Younger people are more at risk. It was reported that mothers who lived near airports bore more premature and underweight babies.

The researchers also agree that noise from traffic, night clubs, building firms, lively restaurants, discos and even background music – is enough to make some people’s muscles tense, their pupils dilate, their heartbeat increase, their arteries constrict and their blood cholesterol and adrenalin levels rise. Too much exposure to noise can also cause deafness.

But are there ways of coping with this environmental nuisance? Jenny Colebourne, director of the healing center in central Athens, suggest a therapy which deepens concentration: meditation.

Also, we can simply relax and concentrate on other more pleasant activities.

Give Your Old Loved Ones the Best Home Care and Assistance

October 17, 2008

Our elders and old loved ones have shared their love, support and moments of happiness with us when we are yet but little children in their laps. Several years before they reached old age, to borrow the words of Sir Walter Scott as “reaching the other side of the hill,” our parents and grandparents played with us in the park, helped us with our school works, and sacrificed most of their time to provide the things we need in life until we learned to fly and took roots on the ground. With these love and sacrifices they have given us, it is but fitting and proper that we repay them.

Reciprocate the love and sacrifices of our elders by giving them the best care that they deserve. They deserve nothing but the best now that they have already reached their twilight years. Make every moment of their stay with us a perfect moment. What a better way to show this kind of care than to give them company even in our absence, giving them the best meals, lending a hand to them in simple tasks like walking, grooming and bathing. All these show of care and love are possible even while at work. Choose the best homecare in Crown Point Indiana. The perfect place where genuine care and loving assistance can be provided to your elderly loved ones is found only at a homecare in Crown Point Indiana.