Archive for the ‘Keeping Healthy’ Category

How to Prevent Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness When Exercising

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Posted 29 Oct 2011 — by admin
Category Diseases and Conditions, Health Procedures, Keeping Healthy

Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness or DOMS is described as muscle pain that occurs 12-48 hours after the muscles were subjected to vigorous exercise. It can be more frequently experienced when you exercise at a particular intensity that the body is not yet used to, like when you initiate a new exercise regimen or when you progress your usual exercise to a heightened intensity or duration.

The reason why you experience DOMS is because of microscopic tearing of the smaller components of your muscles called muscle fibers. Aside from the tearing, swelling can also occur at the muscle fibers, causing you to experience muscle pain. Studies say that the greater the intensity of exercise, the greater will the microscopic tearing be, and so it also follows that the soreness of the muscles will be of a greater extent. There are studies that further say that eccentric or lengthening contractions of muscles are more likely to cause DOMS. Examples of activities that require eccentric muscle contractions are slowly lowering of weights after you have lifted it and the downward motion that you perform during squats and push-ups.

Although DOMS can largely cause discomfort, rest assured that it is a normal phenomenon. It is actually expected that when you subject the muscles to strenuous exercise, DOMS will eventually occur in a few days. However, there are measures that you can do to prevent the occurrence of DOMS. To avoid the discomfort of having that dull, aching type of pain days after you exercise, follow these three important measures:

  • Include a warm-up exercise for at least 10-15 minutes before your actual exercise regimen.

Gentle stretching of your muscles prior to your high intensity exercise can lower the tendency for you to experience DOMS. When you stretch prior to exercise, the muscles get more prepared for the actual exercise regimen.

  • Perform a cool-down exercise for at least 10-15 minutes after the actual exercise regimen.

Having a cool-down exercise after vigorous exercise, rather than suddenly stopping, can help in preventing the occurrence of DOMS. Cool-down can be in a form of gentle stretching or low-intensity activities such as walking or marching in place.

  • Progress your exercise gradually, not drastically.

With regards to progression of exercise, follow the ten percent rule. Progress the duration or intensity of your exercise only by ten percent a week. Also, be aware not to make sudden changes to your exercise regimen.

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Different Stress Relievers That You Should Learn About

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Posted 27 Oct 2011 — by admin
Category Alternative Medicine, Diseases and Conditions, Health Procedures, Home Remedies, Keeping Healthy

Most lifestyles today are full of deadlines, hectic schedules or quotas. That is why stress is a common experience for most of us today. The fact that some people consider stress as a natural thing is not a good idea. This is because, people might not be aware of how much stress is creeping into their systems and affecting their health. When stress becomes chronic without you doing anything about it, it may greatly affect your mental, physical and social health. This is why; stress relievers must be learned by you before stress takes its toll on your body.

Studies say that a large percentage of primary care consultation to physicians is due to stress-related issues. Come to think of it, these medical consultations could have been minimized if people know how to deal with stress on their own. If you think you are stressed now, you should learn some techniques that are known to be effective stress relievers. Do not let stress damage your health and well-being. You should do something about it now!

Find time to exit from the pressures of your daily routine. Try these different stress relievers and save yourself from the long-term adverse effects of stress.

  • Studies reveal that quiet reflection is one of the most effective stress relievers. This is done by stopping for a while, despite how fast paced the day is, and just think of thoughts that will be relaxing to you. It may be in a form of imagination of a serene place or reminiscing on a favorite memory. Studies further say that doing this for 10-20 minutes is the most effective duration that will help you relieve your stress.
  • Make a to-do list in chronological order based on the weight of priority of the tasks. To-do lists are also very effective stress relievers. Not only will they help you organize the things that you have to do, they will also decrease your tendency to mind-race. After you have listed the things that you should do in a day, cut your list into half. This means that you need only to do the “top priority tasks” in a span of one day.
  • Have a regular exercise regimen. Exercise helps your body to release the happy hormones called endorphins. These hormones are proven by many studies to reduce stress. In addition to this, endorphins cause a positive or euphoric feeling in the body that can help you have a renewed feeling of energy that will help you cope with the daily hassles that you will encounter.
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Coping with Stress through Natural Means

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Posted 23 Oct 2011 — by admin
Category Alternative Medicine, Home Remedies, Keeping Healthy

Coping with stress using natural methods is quite easy if people become aware of it. Here are ways you can cope with stress.

1. Exercise

Exercising would help release those harmful substances accumulating in your system. When you sweat it out, unwanted substances are excreted through your sweat, urine, stool and breath.

2. Do breathing exercises

“Breath in and breathe out” exercises are excellent to relieve stress. Inhale with all your force using your nose and then exhale forcefully using your mouth and nose simultaneously. You could also take this opportunity to meditate.

3. Be an optimist

This is the most important thing to manage stress. When you look at things positively, the less stressed out you will be. This is because you spend your time worrying about unnecessary things.

Have a positive outlook in life, exercise and meditate. These three would definitely reduce your stress and allow you to enjoy life as you should. Coping with stress is a doable goal.

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Reducing Stress in the Workplace

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Posted 08 Sep 2011 — by admin
Category Keeping Healthy, Workplace health practices

You can reduce stress in the workplace through the following  steps.

1. Work  in  an ergonomically  safe  place

Your table and chair should be appropriate or your height,  weight and leg length. You should be seated comfortably with your feet touching the floor and not hanging from your chair.  The back rest of your chair should fit snugly into your back. This  would reduce  your stress because discomfort can lead to lots of stress.  When you”re comfortable you can also stay safe.

2. Remove all sources of destruction

If you’re not comfortable with music around you, then get rid of it. Each person has his own preferences. Some persons could work more with soft music piped in, but many people want silence when working.

3. List your activities for the day

You may want to write down a checklist for the day, listing your priorities first. Having a list would also make sure you performed the most important tasks first. As you finish one task, you can cross it out until you’re done with your list. This practice would reduce stress because you know exactly what to do next.

4. Be organized

In any office work that you do, be organized. Being organized will avoid catching up with last minute deadlines, which could cause great stress. Aside from organizing your work, you should also organize your working area. Be sure you know where each item is kept. Labeling folders would help a lot in organizing your files.

Reducing stress in the workplace will depend much on you. You know what stresses you out at work, so devise a means to avoid or prevent their occurrence.

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Common Sources of Stress

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Posted 06 Apr 2011 — by admin
Category Diseases and Conditions, Health Procedures, Keeping Healthy

The world you live in has continuous demands from you. Whether you are working or you are still in school, the stressors come in different ways. Although stress may be good, too much of it can also be a bad sign. Thus, it is recommended that you at least minimize them. The best way to reduce the stress in your life is to be aware of their common sources.

Interpersonal Relationships

Maintaining a good interpersonal relationship with the significant people around you entails effort and time. The key in keeping the harmony with your family and friends is an open line of communication. Generally, simple misunderstandings can lead to big arguments if you do not communicate well.

Life Adjustment

If your body is accustomed to your daily routine, changing your regular schedule can cause significant stress in your life. If you have been used in working, enjoying financial abundance, and physical wellness, a sudden change in these situations can put pressure to you. Loss of employment, economic crisis and illness require life adjustment. If you are not ready for these and you lose support from your family, you might end up feeling depressed.

Because changes are constant in life, you need to be ready for them. The best way to prepare for the adverse situations is by keeping an intact interpersonal relationship with others

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Anti-Aging Regimens to Age Gracefully

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Posted 02 Apr 2011 — by admin
Category Keeping Healthy

Aging is a dreaded stage by many people especially for women. They relate old age with wrinkles, dry skin and white hair. If there is a magic product that can stop the aging process, for sure, this secret will go flying off the shelves within minutes. As a product of the constant search of man to delay the process, there are some anti-aging regimens that are highly recommended for all enthusiasts.

Get Foods High in Anti-Oxidants

According to some researches, free radicals speed up the aging process. The chemicals are the result of the constant pollution in the environment. To reduce its adverse effect in the body, you need to take more anti-oxidants. This comes in a variety of fruits and vegetables. Some examples are berries, legumes, nuts and seeds, cereals and spices.

Protect yourself from the Sun

The harmful UV ray from the sun is the major culprit of the ugly signs of old age. If you want to look younger from your actual age, avoid extreme exposure to the sun especially during peak hours. If you must stay outdoors, use sun block with high SPF and wear glasses. There are several products that contain sun screen protection in the market. You just have to choose based on your skin type.

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Enhancing Brain Power by Lifestyle Modification

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Posted 27 Mar 2011 — by admin
Category Health Procedures, Home Remedies, Keeping Healthy

In today’s very competitive world wherein brain power is a major element for somebody to be on top, it is important to enhance the brain’s maximum potential. In school or even in the corporate arena, brain power is one big asset that is good to invest on. Furthermore, knowing that studies about aging say that our brain functioning slows down as we age, we must aim for keeping our brain healthy while we are still young, to diminish the rate of decline of brain power during old age.

Before learning how to enhance brain power, it is more important to know how to protect our brain from decline. As the saying goes, “first, do no harm”. The two most important measures in preventing brain power decline are avoiding frequent alcohol intake and quitting smoking. Alcohol has very harmful effects to the brain. It kills neurons, which are the cells found on the brain. These neurons are classified as permanent cells. Thus, they are types of cells that do not regenerate once they die. The more you take alcohol, the more neurons are killed and thus, the more decline in brain power can occur. On the other hand, smoking increases nicotine in the body. Nicotine causes our blood vessels to constrict, which may cause a decrease blood supply to the brain.

Enhancing our brain power is ideally a multi-factorial approach which narrows down to one idea: living a healthy lifestyle. When we say “living a healthy lifestyle”, it all includes regular exercise, balanced diet, enough sleep and having just the right amount of stress. These are all very basic, but also indeed very ideal. And we all know that in this very busy world, some cannot afford to exercise three to four times a week or even to sleep eight hours a day. But definitely, even the busiest of people love to eat. It is suggested now that we can eat different types of food that can enhance brain power.

Food that are rich in omega-3 fatty acids, like fish and walnuts, are said to be brain enhancers because omega-3 fatty acids help maintain a good blood supply to the brain by keeping its blood vessels clear. Foods that are rich in antioxidants are also good for the brain because they decrease the free radicals in the brain. Examples of food rich in antioxidants are guavas, blueberries and dark chocolate. Dark chocolate also has caffeine, which is a natural brain stimulant. Caffeine is good for the brain if taken in regulated amounts. Lastly, since glucose is the major fuel that makes the brain work, foods that are rich in carbohydrates are also advised. Take note however that these are complex carbohydrates, so that a steady, not a fluctuating blood sugar supply is given to the brain. Examples of complex carbohydrates are whole grain bread, brown rice and oats.

One should invest on enhancing brain power now. It could be done by lifestyle modification.

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Coping With ADHD

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Posted 26 Mar 2011 — by admin
Category Diseases and Conditions, Health Procedures, Keeping Healthy

ADHD
Image Credit: Tiyok

It is important for parents and teachers to learn about ways in coping with ADHD. It is a fact that ADHD can hinder the maximum learning potential of a child in school. This is of great concern to those parties who are interested in the child’s education, which would be mostly the child’s parents and teachers.

It would be a great deal of waste if the child is by nature intelligent, and could have achieved much, but because of his inability to focus and impulsivity (brought about by having ADHD), he would not be able to develop his maximum potential.

Thus, these tips on coping with ADHD would be really valuable to be able to improve the ability of the child to grasp his lessons in school even amidst ADHD.

Behavior modification is one of the most effective strategies in coping with ADHD. The following techniques of coping with ADHD are all behavior modification strategies:

1.      Use of reward & consequence

-          Educators can swear for the effectiveness of the use of positive or negative consequences  either to reinforce positive behavior or to correct negative behavior.

-          For example, a child can be given verbal praises when he was able to accomplish a given task.  On the other hand, he can be given reprimands or simple punishments for not remaining on his seat during classroom discussion.

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2.      Repetition when giving instructions

-          This strategy on coping with ADHD is especially effective for children that get low scores on exams not because of not knowing the answer, but because of not following exam instructions. Even with difficulty in focusing on something, a child can find it easier to follow instructions when it is repeated by the teacher for several times.

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3.      Providing frequent verbal feedback

-          Attention span is frequently shorter on a child with ADHD, that is why when given a task, it is helpful to prompt the child with frequent verbal feedback to make sure that the child is able to follow through the instruction of the task. Verbal feedback can also be used in motivating the child to finish a task when the teacher observes that the child seems to be losing his interest or attention towards the task.

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4.      Use of routines

-          This is another strategy of coping with ADHD that addresses a child’s carelessness with regards to details of everyday activities. Forgetfulness about simple details is one common problem of children with ADHD. If a routine is practiced daily, the child has a lesser tendency to forget small details regarding everyday tasks.

5.      Teach the child to organize his things

-          Children with ADHD have the tendency to lose things such as school supplies or even toys. Organizing his things into how they are placed in his room decreases the tendency for the child to forget where his things are.

6.      Use planners, lists, written reminders or posted notes

-          Planners can help in organizing the schedule of upcoming activities like assignments or tests. This can improve the child’s anticipation and preparation for such activities. Lists, written reminders and posted notes can help the child to be always “on track” of the tasks that he has to accomplish.

7.      Breaking down long, complicated tasks into a series or short, simple tasks

-          A child with ADHD will usually get easily exhausted with longer tasks. If the task is broken down into a series of small tasks, each small task accomplished can give a sense of achievement to the child and thus, will increase the child’s eagerness to accomplish the task.

It is a rule of thumb in special education that “no two children are alike”. These strategies in coping with ADHD may be effective for one but may not work for the other. However, the above mentioned techniques in coping with ADHD may be tried by parents because these techniques has been tried and proven to increase the ability of a child to focus on school lessons and activities.

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Skin Perfection with Nature’s Best

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Posted 25 Mar 2011 — by admin
Category Health Procedures, Keeping Healthy

Naturally occurring products do not cause serious side effects as artificial products do. Natural foods are better than processed ones; natural creams are better than heavily scented ones. Natural ingredients are best because they do not produce allergies.  They also do not alter the body’s metabolism that may cause illness.

On the other hand, most artificial products contain components that can cause lots of allergies and could also be hazardous to health. Many of these artificial creams and skin make-ups sometimes cause skin allergies, and in some cases, even more serious side effects.   Caution is recommended when trying out a new product.

This is where Nature’s Best comes in.  It offers skin perfection, natural products that are free from major artificial components. These products are hypoallergenic, effective and reliable. The day cream is a good method to remove black heads and white heads, and to make the skin cleaner and creamier. It contains natural substances that eliminate destructive toxins. This day cream are also affordable.

The night cream has the same natural action as the day cream. You do not have to worry about destructive substances touching your skin.

You may also want to eliminate those eye bags and laugh lines around your eyes with the eye serum. Pamper yourself by ensuring that you get the most out of the natural skin products provided by Nature’s Best.

A healthy, glowing skin reflects a healthy lifestyle and a healthy body.

Aside from the skin products, there are countless of safe products you can use. Be smart and picky about what product to promote and purchase. Always read the labels and ascertain that you do not have allergies to the components.

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The Secrets of a Youthful Skin

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Posted 23 Mar 2011 — by admin
Category Health Procedures, Home Remedies, Keeping Healthy

Youthful skin is the dream of majority of people, especially women. Even when aging cannot be prevented, a person can still do some magic to hide his actual age. With the advancement of technology and the full-blast research on anti-aging regimens, there are no more reasons for you to look ugly when you reach old age. Here are the things you can do.

Vitamin-Enriched Products

The skin, like the rest of the body, lives well with sufficient vitamins and minerals. When you buy your regular skin products, go for the vitamin-enriched. This is now the trend in skin care. Manufacturers incorporate vitamins in almost all beauty products. If you still live with your old makeup and night creams, it is time to switch and adapt the youthful changes.

Go for Organics

Unlike chemicals, organic products come from all natural ingredients that do not harm the skin. If you want to maintain the youthfulness of your skin, organically manufactured products are highly recommended.

Maintain a Happy Disposition in Life

The last key in maintaining a great looking skin that is not available anywhere is your happy disposition in life. Since you cannot remove all the stress, just learn to live with it. Keep smiling and you will feel happier and more beautiful.

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