Health and Wellness articles
12/17/23
De-Stress
What is the issue? Stress is a day-to-day factor that we all have to face. There's no way around stress. If you find out how to minimize stressors and bring down tension it may make your life easier. Among the best ways to cut down stress is performing stretch exercises. With this in mind we can give a few helpful tips to teach you to reduce stress. When you do regular workouts, you're working to boost energy, rest sounder, boost self-respect, etc.
Stress is the leading cause of assorted sicknesses, and nowadays stress is becoming one of the biggest killers in the world. The first thing you have to be cognizant of is the signs of stress. Recognizing the signs may help you fight back and win the battle.
When you feel highly strung, edgy, or restlessness is taking charge, most likely you're stressed. Sensitiveness, pessimistic thinking, and taking offense to what other people say to you are signs of tension.
If you're jerking nervously, biting your nails, pulling hair, or wiggling the knees you likely are feeling stress. Nausea, irregularity, diarrhea, excessive smoking, depending upon alcohol or drugs are all signs of stress. When you begin to feel cranky frequently and your patience is thin, you're walking around stressed. Frequently the irritability moves to uptight feelings, tension, and belligerent or obsessive-compulsive behaviors.
When you draw a blank frequently, discover it difficult to concentrate, your brain is overwhelmed with thoughts, feel disconnected, are not able to think clearly, you're most likely stressed. Tiredness and overpowering feelings of pressure are signs. As well, it may include, low self-respect, anxiety, panic attacks, anger, bitterness, crying for nothing, moodiness, nightmares, and inability to express joy.
When you feel stressed, you might experience tension of the muscles and tiredness. You'll likely experience back, head, shoulder, and neck pain. Your eyes might feel tired and the muscles may twitch, particularly around the corners of your eyes. Frequently the jaw feels stiff, while the mouth feels dry. The palms of the hands may feel sweaty, while the fingers will feel frigid. You might experience heartburn and indigestion frequently, as well as bladder and urinary issues. You might likewise experience trembling of the heart, weight gain or loss, headaches, colds, hyperventilation, etc.
Among the ways to bring down stress is to comprehend the principals of eating a balanced diet. Cutting back stress is crucial. It's crucial to eat 3 balanced meals every day, or spread the meals out to 5 small portions every day. When eating you ought to avoid eating quickly, preferably take your time and let the food process in the gastrointestinal system. Include 5 helpings of fruits and veggies in your daily plan. Drinking a glass of water one-half an hour prior to and after meals may help you maintain weight.
Regular work outs will help you relax, rest well, raise your energy while raising your self-regard and confidence. You’ll look and feel great. A general schedule ought to include daily activities for twenty to thirty minutes. If you've problems getting moving, begin slowly and gradually work into a full routine.
Posture is crucial. Before you begin a workout always check your posture, which ought to be aligned. Keeping it straight may help you avoid bone related disease and encourage better breathing, which relieves stress. It will further relaxation, better confidence, as well as make you look younger, in shape, and slimmer. It will likewise raise energy and vitality, which is crucial.
Attempt to turn in at the same time every night. Sleep will cut down stress. Modify your bedroom if you discover it hard to sleep. A change may make you feel more relaxed. Keep the room dark and hushed when you're sleeping. Make certain that your mattress and pillow fits your posture and makes you feel relaxed. Don't utilize caffeine, smoke, or drink before retiring. You are able to work out an hour before bedtime to get tired. If you frequently rouse during the night and discover it hard to sleep, get out of bed and read a book.
Train your brain to think only during wake hours, to loosen up and think positive. Attempt to center on one task at a time, which will encourage memory and relaxation. Try not to fret, rather do something about it.
Your mental attitude plays a huge part. When you've a positive outlook or attitude it moves you to accomplish your goals and plans.
Stretching exercises and meditation call for proper breathing. Breathe naturally while working out, meditating etc. Get aware of your breathing and practice breathing properly. This will help you unwind. Stretching may help to flex the joints, which encourages strong muscles. Stretching will open the air passages and help you to feel at ease.
Before beginning exercise, you might want to use meditation. Meditation helps to clear your mind and implement positive thinking. You have to practice centering your attention while doing meditation. Some individuals want to listen to soft sounds, while others center better on objects. Mediation is enlightenment of the spiritual mind. When you meditate right you practice straight posture, breathing, centering, and attitude. Practicing meditation will promote awareness, as well as encourage relaxation. When the mind and body loosen up, it boosts health, life span, and happiness.
09/26/23
Get Moving
Exercise is fast being advocated as being the saving element that can put the human body back on tract and performing at its optimum.
Anyone and everyone needs to have some sort of exercise regimen designed to be consistent for a set period of time that is routinely executed. As there are a multitude of exercise regiments available, all one needs to do is to find one that is most suited to one’s needs and lifestyle.
Consulting people who are trained in this field is also another option that can be explored as they will be better equipped to give the necessary advice.
It should be noted at this point that having an exercise routine does not necessarily mean having to incur cost, which a feature most people are weary of.
Simple exercises can be done without fancy equipment or in fancy environments. Some exercises are considered all round and complete forms as it addresses all the muscles of the human body without the unnecessary stress.
The most popular of which is swimming, while others may include daily walks, stretches like yoga, simple breathing exercises, participating in games and many others.
The idea here is to do something that does not require just sitting around but instead working up muscle strength by some form of motion that is not strenuous.
09/17/23
Accept It
When one takes a serious light of the gift of life and acknowledges that this gift is worth looking after, then and only then can serious consideration be given to all the various aspects that positively contribute to the consistent wellness of the individual.
In accepting the fact that the individual has the right to live, areas like good nutrition, hygiene, exercise, diet, good sleep or rest patters and many other related elements should be taken into consideration always.
If done with a positive mindset, most people will find these beneficial adjustments to be anything but rigid. Enjoying a variety of diverse yet healthy dietary list is not limited to boring and tasteless menus but instead allows the individual to be open to exploring new ideas.
Keeping the healthy balance is what is important to ensuring wellness. A large part of the challenge is the mindset and when this is tuned to the wellness need than half the battle is won.
In today’s world where diseases are mutating at a frighteningly fast pace, everyone should take the quest to stay healthy and disease free seriously and acknowledge that it is really a basic right of an individual. In doing so, the need for self preservation becomes foremost in the mindset, thus creating the subconscious need to be alert and vigilant to always making the right choices.
09/11/23
An Introduction To Interval Training
Interval training is the best workout for fat burning, where you need to alternate between a short burst of hard exercise and a short period of easy recovery. For example, after a 3-5 minute warm-up of moderate cardio, you'd do 1 minute at a slightly harder than normal cardio pace and then bring the intensity down to a cool-down pace for 1 minute. Alternate back and forth 6 times and then do a 3 minute cool-down. That is what interval training is all about. It's short, fast, and effective.
Studies have shown that interval training offers higher fat burning and weight loss than normal, slow cardio. In fact, not only does interval training work better for fat burning, but the interval training workouts are much shorter and require far less workout time than normal cardio workouts. However, many are reluctant to switch from ineffective cardio to fat burning intervals as according to exercise machines (which are not even 100% accurate), higher amount of calories is burned with the old way. They are also hung-up on the marathon mentality of always having an elevated heart-rate, which they think is the most important component of a fat burning workout. But that is not true. Instead, the most important workout factor is how much "WORK" is done. If you increase the intensity of the work, as you do in interval training, then you will do more work and put more stress on the muscles. Heart rate goes up and then comes way back down during recovery. By doing so, more fat is burned. What one should know is that the heart rate need not stay constant for 30 minutes for that to happen.
One of the biggest problem many have with interval training is that they do not rest enough during the recovery period. Because they are addicted to an elevated heart rate, they skimp on the recovery, by either exercising too hard or recovering too little. This leads to a decrease in the intensity used in the work interval and that might lead to less total work or total fat burning done in that session.
Therefore, the quality and intensity of the work interval should play important role when doing interval training. This is to say the only time exercising is mainly done during the work interval. On the other hand, during the recovery interval , one should go as slow as possible without stopping. This allows your heart rate to recover and for you to be prepared to work really hard in your next work interval. So an interval training workout is a time of extremes. You should be going at a 8/10 or 9/10 intensity level in the work interval, and dropping down to a 3/10 in the recovery period. To give you a perspective, a normal 30 minute cardio workout would be considered a 6/10 intensity level. Try it out yourself!
09/03/23
Wellness Terminology
There are many words today associated with wellness. Many of those terms are new for readers, and some of the terms are interchangeable between fitness, wellness, and health. So let’s take a minute to explain some of the terms you may see from time to time.
Wellness itself is defined as the condition of good physical and mental health, especially when maintained by proper diet, exercise, and habits.
Meditation, an exercise recommended for everyone, but especially those of use with hectic, stressful lifestyles, is defined as an engagement in contemplation, especially of a spiritual or devotional nature. Meditation has been shown to be an effective method of lowering blood pressure, relieving stress, and promoting overall good health, by simply reflecting upon our day, and finding happiness within ourselves.
Fitness refers to the condition of our physical body and mental fitness would of course be addressing our mental state. Often we will join and participate in fitness centers that provide personal trainers, and stationary fitness equipment. There are numerous pieces of equipment available that perform many different exercises to address specific areas of the body. The best time to learn about this equipment is during the orientation session of the fitness center you have chosen.
Exercise covers a lot of ground. There are so many forms of exercise that we can only try to cover some of the more popular and well-defined programs. There are aerobic programs that focus on heart rate and your cardio health. There are water aerobics that again focus on your heart health. Weight training and free weights are used for building muscle mass and sculpting the body. Walking is one of the best exercises available, as it doesn’t jar our bodies, but uses all parts for toning and building heart rate. Running, swimming, jogging, and skiing are all forms of exercise, but not recommended for the novice.
Your nutritional needs refer to the physical supplements of vitamins, minerals and calories needed in order for you to sustain optimum physical health. Much discussion is centered on this topic right now, because our nation faces obesity problems of epidemic proportions.
Alternative therapies refer to the alternative medicine options such as chiropractic care, acupuncture, herbal cures, and holistic medicine. Of the examples given here, chiropractic and acupuncture are becoming more widely accepted as complements to the traditional form of western medicine. Studies are conducted often that support the evidence that chiropractic care and acupuncture are effective forms of medicine.
Herbal cleansing and healing are terms used by many of the natural healers to describe what ingestion of certain herbal combinations can provide for the body in the effort to bring it back to optimal health, or to sustain optimal health.
Today wellness is used not only in conjunction with health and fitness, but also wellness of the mind, body, and spirit. There is an ever increasing movement among the health conscious citizens, that wellness should include not only our physical being, but our mental and spiritual health. The only true form of wellness must include the entire person
08/27/23
The Quality of Life: Is Health Important?
As a matter of course, all responsible persons should take the time to educate themselves, and their children, about the benefits of healthy eating. Learning to eat for life in a health conscious way is one of the best guarantees for a long and fulfilling life. The quality of our lives is as important as the quantity to most individuals, but because of debilitating disease, we are often forced to make a decision and choose between quality and quantity.
Thanks to the advances in modern medicine, the average person’s life span now exceeds seventy years. If you stop to think, that’s quite a long time to walk around on this earth. Along with the wonderful life expectancy increases, however, have the detrimental effects of overeating and unhealthy eating. It seems that as we advance in one area, we regress in others.
The issue of obesity brings this debate to the forefront, what kind of quality life can someone who can barely walk because of their weight have? The first question I always ask, is how did we get here? How did we go from one of the most physically fit nations, to just wallowing in our weight? I believe the answer lies in our lack of education about the weight gaining process, and a lack of concern about our children learning how to eat and exercise correctly.
Today, we must determine how much nourishment we need, how much physical exercise we need, and how best to accomplish those ends. Calorie needs, nutritional needs, physical needs, and education about those needs now is information we should all understand, at least as it applies to our individual self. If you will visit your local doctor, library, or fitness center, there is massive amounts of information available to help educate and to help you make good health choices, no matter what the age group.
The question raised in the title of this article, would have a resounding YES as the answer. The life you choose to lead, no matter what your field of interest, your level of education, or your level of income, your life is tremendously affected by your health. Maintaining your health is one of the most important things you can do as an individual to enjoy what time you have on this earth. It is also one of the most important things you can do for you family. As we become an older population, and our life expectancy increases, do we want to become burdens on our children? Or do we want our time with our children in our retirement years to be something we and they have enjoyed?
There are so many things to do in life that allow us to enjoy the fruits of our labor. All of these options can be cut short if we haven’t taken the time to take care of ourselves.
Quality is as important as quantity. Education of the healthy choices we can make, making the right health choices, and then living life to the fullest should be the ultimate goal of every person alive.
Speaking of education, before we can make really effective choices, we need to have a complete comprehension of the subject at hand.
08/19/23
Nutrition? What You Need to Know
While you already know it's crucial to consume a healthy diet, you may find it harder to sort through all of the information about nutrition and nutrient choices. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention has composed a variety of resources to assist you in starting healthier eating habits.
You may have grown up with the "Basic 4": dairy group, meat group, grain group, and the fruits and vegetables group. As nutrition science has altered, so have these food groups.
What are the basic food groups?
Foods are grouped together when they share similar nutritional properties. Depending on the plan you choose, you might find the food groups arranged with some slight differences. For instance, My Pyramid has a meat and beans group rather than a meat, poultry, and fish group. Here are some examples of a regular diet so you may remain healthy.
Grain: whole meal bread and rolls, whole meal pasta, English muffin, pocket bread, bagel, cereals, grits, rolled oats, brown rice, unseasoned pretzels and popcorn.
Fruit: apricots, apples, bananas, dates, grapes, orange, grapefruits, grapefruit juice, mango, melon, peach, pineapple, raisins, strawberries, tangerines, and a hundred percent fruit juice.
Veggies: carrots, broccoli, collards, green beans, peas, kale, limas, potato, spinach plant, squash, tomato, sweet potatoes.
Nonfat or Low-Fat Dairy: nonfat (skim) or low-fat (1%) milk or buttermilk, nonfat, low-fat, or reduced-fat cheese, nonfat or low-fat regular or frozen yogurt.
Lean Meats and domestic fowl: beef cattle, fowl, pork, game meats, fish, shellfish. Choose only lean; cut away visible fats; broil, roast, or poach; cut skin from poultry.
Nuts and Seeds: almond, filberts, mixed nuts, peanut, walnut, sunflower seeds, peanut butter, kidney beans, lentils, split pea. A healthy eating plan will establish you how much you require from each nutrient group to remain inside your calorie demands and promote great health. A levelheaded eating plan may also help you learn.
How many calories you require every day.
How much of each food equals a portion.
How to arrive at healthy choices in each food group.
Get moving to release feel-good chemicals
The reason exercise is so effective in squashing stress is fairly simple. Exercise causes your body to produce more endorphins, which are neurotransmitters that boost your mood. Movement also combats elevated levels of the stress hormone cortisol while improving blood flow.
Jessica Honig, a clinical social worker in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, said exercise empowers her clients because they realize that, through movement, they hold the key to reset and lessen their stress. “It’s also one of the best ways to pause — to break up or revive energy from a spiraling, unproductive mindset,” she said.
What types of exercise are best? While studies show aerobic exercise, such as swimming, running, dancing and boxing, may be the most efficient at getting mood-boosting endorphins rushing through your body, gentler forms of physical activity work, too. Think yoga, strength training and walking. In addition, sometimes less is more.
“What we’re seeing from the data,” Choi said, “is you actually need to move less than the recommended guidelines to see positive effects on mood.”
Since stress loads may change weekly or even daily, Scrivener said it can be helpful to alter your exercise based on your mood. Feeling a cheery 8 on a scale of 1 to 10? Then go for a run. Barely hitting a 3? Opt for something gentle. “This could be a 15-minute stretch followed by a light cycle for 15 minutes, or a 30-minute swim followed by a sauna session,” he said.
How Does Detoxifying Help With Fitness
Utilized for 100s of years by many cultures round the Earth - including Chinese medicine organizations - detoxification is about purifying and nurturing the body from the deep down. By ridding your body of toxins, then giving your body sound nutrients, detoxifying may assist in protecting you from disease and renew your ability to continue optimum health.
Simply, detoxification implies purifying the blood. It does this principally by getting rid of impurities from the blood in the liver, where toxins are processed for excretion. The body likewise does away with toxins through the kidneys, bowels, lungs, lymph and skin. When this scheme is compromised, impurities are not decently filtered out and each cell in the body is adversely impacted.
A detox plan may help the body's natural cleanup process by:
1) Giving the organs a rest with fasting;
2) Getting the liver to force toxins from the body;
3) Elevating elimination through the bowels, kidneys and skin;
4) Bettering circulation of the blood; and
5) Fueling the body with sound nutrients. You ought to detox at least one time a year. A light detoxifying plan is generally safe; as a matter of fact, scientific fields of study show that a detox is beneficial for health.
You ought to be heedful if you are a nursing mom, youngster, and patients with chronic degenerative diseases, cancer or TB. Confer with your healthcare practitioner if you've questions about whether detoxing is proper for you.
At the start, lighten your toxin load. Do away with intoxicants, coffee, smokes, sugars and saturated fats, all of which act as toxins in the system and are obstacles to the process. Minimize utilization of chemical-based home cleaners and personal healthcare products (cleaners, shampoos, deodorants and toothpastes), and replace with natural alternatives.
A different hindrance to healthiness is tenseness, which sets up your body to release stress endocrines into your system. While these endocrines may supply the "adrenaline rush" to pull ahead in a race or meet a deadline, in great amounts they create toxins and slow up detoxification enzymes in the liver. So, it's a great idea to detoxify nerve-racking life situations along with detoxifying your body. Yoga and meditation are easy and effective ways to remedy stress by resetting your physical and mental responses to the inevitable tension life will bring.
There are a lot of detoxification programs, contingent on your personal needs. A lot of programs abide by a 7-day schedule as this calls for fasting on liquids for 2 days, accompanied by a carefully planned 5 day dieting to let the digestive system rest. Supplements, herbs, work outs, and practices like dry-skin brushing and hydrotherapy are proposed to enhance circulation.
A three -seven-day juice fast (consuming only fresh fruit and veggie juices and water) is also an effective way to expel toxins. Cleansing supplement packages are another choice, which typically contain fiber, vitamins, herbs and minerals. There are numerous dependable products on the market, with simple to follow directions. A routine of drinking only water one day every week is an ancient practice of numerous cultures.
After a detoxification program, you are able to cleanse your body every day through diet, supplements and life-style changes.
1. Consume plenty of fiber, including brown rice and organically farmed fresh fruits and veggies. Beetroots, radishes, artichoke plants, cabbage, broccoli, spirulina, chlorella, and seaweed are fantabulous detoxifying foods.
2. Cleanse and protect the liver by taking herbs like dandelion root, burdock and milk thistle, and consuming green tea.
3. Consume vitamin C, which helps the body bring forth glutathione, a liver compound that dispels toxins.
4. Consume at least two quarts of water every day.
5. Take a breath deeply to let oxygen circulate more completely throughout your system.
6. Metamorphose stress by stressing favorable emotions.
7. Exercise hydrotherapy by taking a really warm shower for 5 minutes, letting the water run over your back. Follow up with cold water for thirty seconds. Do this 3 times, and then get to bed for a half-hour.
8. Perspire in a sauna so your body may do away with wastes through sweat.
9. Dry-brush your skin or attempt detoxifying patches or detox foot baths to take out toxins through your pores. Special brushes are available at natural products shops.
10. What is the most significant way to detoxify? Yoga or jump roping is great. One hour every day. Likewise attempt qigong, a martial-arts based training system that includes workouts specifically for detoxifying or cleansing. Make sure to consult with your physician before beginning any regime.
How To Breathe Properly For Good Health
Breathing is such a primary function for our survival that can be used to reduce stress and stimulate good health. Notice that your breath is fast, short and shallow when u are angry, fearful or under stress and how you naturally take deeper, slower and longer breaths when you are in peaceful and relaxed state. This is to say that breath awareness and conscious relaxation, you can enhance your ability to cope with life’s increasing pace and take control of all aspects of your health in general. Besides, deep breathing also enhances concentration and eases pain. Research have even shown that breathing correct helps to burn fat, make your skin glow and correct hormone imbalances in addition to lowering blood pressure, improving digestion and increases blood circulation throughout the body and decreases overall anxiety.
However, many have adopted bad breathing habits and shallow breathe without chest instead of without diaphragms. By changing breathing patterns and consciously breathing deeply into the abdomen, you can create a calm relaxed state from a stressful one. Deep breathing calms both the body and mind by slowing down heart rate and easing the nervous system. However, many people rush around, shallow-breathing their way through life and wondering why they always feel stressed, unwell and out of breath.
By learning simple breathing exercises and by becoming more mindful of the art as well as the act of breathing, you can do a power of good for your mind and body. It is recommended that you practice twice daily for a minimum of five uninterrupted minutes using the following steps:
⦁ Sit in a chair, with your back straight but not rigid.
⦁ Relax your shoulders and place your palms on either side of the abdomen
⦁ Inhale slowly through the nose, drawing air into the abdomen to fill and expand it and then up through your middle and finally expanding the chest.
⦁ Repeat 2-3 times.