Archive for May, 2012

What You Can Eat When You Are Down: The Different Types of Food that Help Relieve Stress

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Posted 09 May 2012 — by admin
Category Home Remedies, Keeping Healthy

Stress is not an uncommon experience in today’s fast paced world. When one is stressed, his or her mental and emotional balance can be disrupted. If the type of stress you are experiencing reaches to chronic level, it might also affect even your physical health. No doubt, stress has to be combated as soon as possible.

That is why, there are many protocols done by different people just to fight stress. Good thing, there are simple ways to win over stress. By just simply opening your fridge and choosing the right type of food, you may be able to reduce the levels of stress that you are encountering now. What you have to know are those foods that help relieve stress.

Foods that help relieve stress are surprisingly easily available. You may have them in your household without even knowing that they are the ones that can greatly help you in fighting your stress. Only a few people know that stress can be reduced by just simply modifying your diet. Furthermore, only a few people know what foods could help relieve stress.

Start to eat right for you to feel right. Here is a list of foods that help relieve stress. Make sure to include them in your grocery list to help boost your mental fitness

  • Bright colored fruits and vegetables

These are included among the foods that help relieve stress because they are very rich in Vitamin C. Vitamin C boosts your immune system which helps your body cope up with the stressful situations and helps to protect your body from getting ill when you feel really stressed. In addition to this, Vitamin C also helps in fighting free radicals in the body.

  • Asparagus

This is also one of the most effective among the foods that help relieve stress because it contains folic acid that helps your body to release serotonin. Serotonin is a neurotransmitter that helps you to have a positive mood.

  • Milk

It helps you have a good sleep, which can make you feel relaxed and rejuvenated. Milk is one of the highly advised foods that help relieve stress because it is rich in antioxidants that can also fight those free radicals in your body.

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Is It Safe to Have Sex During Pregnancy?

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Posted 05 May 2012 — by admin
Category Health Procedures, Keeping Healthy

By the time that you have found out that you were pregnant, you must have been very excited about the fact of having a new baby. It is usual for expectant mothers to assure that every single thing that they do will be safe for her and for her developing baby.

It might have crossed your mind if it is safe to have sex during pregnancy. Intimacy between you and your partner is important to both of you. However, you must also assure that if you engage in sex during pregnancy, it will not harm your child.

When health professionals such as obstetricians-gynecologists are being sought for advice regarding sex during pregnancy, they can discuss many factors related to the changes that occur to a woman’s body during the course of her pregnancy.

First, they say that the fluctuating hormonal levels occurring during pregnancy can influence a woman’s desire to engage in sex during pregnancy. Some women reportedly lose their desire to engage in sex during pregnancy, especially during the last months of their pregnancy, when their bodies enlarge and there are positions that are awkward to do because of the enlarging belly.

If this is the case for you, it is important that you establish open communication with your partner that you might just find other ways to express your intimacy other than sexual intercourse.

Another thing that medical professionals can discuss with you about sex during pregnancy is the importance of knowing if your pregnancy has low-risk or high-risk for complications. If you have low-risk for complications, then you can be assured that you it is safe for you to have sex during pregnancy.

Rest assured that for low-risk pregnancies, the fetus cannot be harmed by sex during pregnancy because it is protected by the amniotic sac and the muscles of the uterus.

However, if you find out that you are at a high-risk for complications, then you must decide to abstain from sex during pregnancy. The following are signs that you have a high-risk pregnancy:

  • Having multiple fetuses
  • Having an incompetent cervix, wherein the cervix of the uterus is weak and prematurely dilates
  • Experiencing unexplained uterine cramps, vaginal bleeding or abnormal vaginal discharge
  • History of previous miscarriages or threatened abortions
  • Placenta previa

You can discuss your concerns about sex during pregnancy further with your medical doctor for you to be properly advised if your pregnancy is low-risk or high-risk and for you to be educated on the positions that will be more appropriate for you.

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Natural Remedies to Back Pain

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Posted 03 May 2012 — by admin
Category Alternative Medicine, Health Procedures, Home Remedies, Keeping Healthy

By: Alleluia Reyes, PTRP

Back pain, either acute or chronic causes much discomfort and may disrupt a person’s functional ability. Many people who complain of back pain also complain that it decreases their productivity at work, with some people even opting to take a day off just to rest their painful backs. If you are experiencing back pain, it will be more practical for you to learn about the natural remedies to back pain so that you will know how to ease yourself even at the comfort of your own home.

Furthermore, you need not purchase many different medications just to relieve your back pain once you have tried the different available natural remedies to back pain. The following is a list of the most effective natural remedies to back pain. Most of these remedies are cost-effective, easily available and as effective as pharmacological treatment.

Back Exercises

There are particular exercises for the back that helps to relieve back pain. These exercises have components that either stretch the tight muscles of your back or strengthen your core muscles. These are both important in maintaining a healthy back. Thus, these exercises are considered as natural remedies to back pain because they can assure that your back muscles have a lesser tendency to experience pain and injury even during activity.

Cold compress

When your back pain is acute, you can apply cold compress for an analgesic effect. You may use ice chips placed in plastic bags and cover it with a thin towel. Applying it on the area that is painful for 5-15 minutes can also be one of the very effective natural remedies to back pain.

Hot compress

This is effective for the chronic types of back pain. Hot compress is one of the natural remedies to back pain because it can provide muscle relaxation to the muscles of your back. It also has a natural soothing effect that can help relieve you from aches and muscle spasms. You can use a heating pad if you have purchased one or you may simply use a towel dipped in hot water. You may apply the hot compress on the affected area for around 20-25 minutes.

Massage

This is one of the natural remedies to back pain that is considered as a favorite to many. Massaging the area that is painful can also relax the muscles and provide immediate relief to the back. Make sure to apply oil or lotion over the skin when massaging the muscles so as to prevent discomfort caused by friction on the skin as you massage the muscles underneath.

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Methods of Coping with Stress in the Workplace

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Posted 02 May 2012 — by admin
Category Alternative Medicine, Keeping Healthy

Coping with stress is very important especially if you think that your workplace is your major stressor. Your job is a big part of your existence that is why this is one aspect of your life that you should be able to handle with positivity despite the hassles and challenges that it brings.

The Workplace as source of stress

Though the workplace is a common source of stressful events, you must make ways of coping with stress so that you can still maintain a feeling of enjoying your job. It is very important to do so because your job productivity, professional relationships and self-fulfillment can be greatly affected by how you feel towards your work.

Another important reason why you should learn ways of coping with stress is for you to be able to prevent its adverse psychological and physical effects. Stress is highly linked to psychological problems such as severe anxiety, mood swings, depression and feelings of worthlessness.

It is also common that people who are stressed also experience physical manifestations such as chronic muscle pains, frequent headaches, gastrointestinal disturbances, breathing difficulties and sleep disturbances.

Management of stress

If stress is not managed immediately, it might even cause you more severe health problems in the long run such as having a weak immune system or having a higher risk for cancers. That is why, if you do not want to reach to a point of having all these manifestations, you should make ways of coping with stress now!

Different people have different ways of coping with stress. This is because a person’s personality and previous life experiences can affect the way a person handles stress. Some people are more tolerant to particular stressors in the workplace while other people may get easily stressed.

If you think you are one of those people who are stressed with your current work situation, you must try to make ways of coping with stress.

The following methods can be effective to help you in coping with stress:

  • Take care of your personal health. By paying close attention to your health, you can make sure that you are physically and emotionally ready to handle any demands of the type of work that you have.
  • Practice proper time management. People who are stressed usually complain of having a lack of time to do a large bulk of work. To prevent this, it might help if you make a priority list of things that you have to do and accomplish each task on your list based on how you prioritized items.
  • Prevent a feeling of being burned out. To do this, you must not neglect the other things that you love to do. You must still take time to do your hobbies for you to be relaxed and be ready to face the challenges of your job for the day.
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