Posts Tagged ‘Health / Fitness’

Nighttime Rituals To Help You Sleep

If you’ve ever had trouble sleeping, you know how frustrating this can be; after all, although it might be nice for a little while to have a hard time sleeping (it sure does give you a lot more time during which you can get stuff done!), your body will simply continue to get more and more tired, and this starts to become worse and worse if you are unable to sleep. While there are plenty of different reasons why people might have a hard time sleeping, and while the solutions might be different for many different people, one common cause of having a hard time sleeping is simply being too “wound up,” and you can solve this problem by finding a ritual that helps you relax before you go to bed.

When people think of tea, many of them think of caffeine, but there are many non-caffeinated teas as well; drinking something hot and tasty is often a great way to relax and unwind, so find a flavor of tea that you enjoy, and see if this helps you get to sleep any better.

Taking a long, relaxing, hot shower is another great way to unwind your mind and your body; even if you usually shower in the morning, you might consider adding an extra shower at night, as this might be just the key you need in order to have an easier time falling asleep at night.

And a lot of people find that reading helps them to relax and unwind at night; of course, if you are truly an avid reader (and if the book you are reading is really good), reading might have the opposite effect – waking you up instead of helping you fall asleep – but some people find that reading helps them transition into sleep, and it is certainly worth testing this out for yourself to see if it works.

If you have been having trouble sleeping, keep these tips in mind – trying out different things until you find something that works great for you!

Tips For Stopping A Flesh Wound From Bleeding

Even though people usually do not think about such things as “how to stop a flesh wound from bleeding” until the situation is upon them, you never know when this information will come in handy, and it is certainly better to know what to do before the situation arises than to scramble once you are in the situation! Especially if you have children, it is important that you know how to stop a flesh wound from bleeding in order to prevent infection and scarring.

You should make sure your hands are absolutely clean before you do anything at all with an open wound, as you will be working with your hands and will not want to get dirt or germs into the open cut. The main thing you need to do after you have washed your hands is to stop the bleeding; use sterile gauze (or something similar) to stopper the wound, and then keep pressure applied to the wound while also keeping the area of the wound raised so that it is held above the level of the heart.

You can apply an ice pack to the area if the bleeding persists, as this should slow the bleeding further; it can take up to ten or fifteen minutes for the bleeding to stop completely, so be patient – as long as the situation is continuing to improve, you have no reason to be worried!

Once the bleeding stops completely (or close to completely), you should clean out the cut with antibacterial soap, and then you should apply an antibacterial cream to a bandage and apply the bandage to the wound.

When you follow all these steps, you should have no problems solving most flesh wounds, but if you have followed these steps and the situation has not improved, you can deem it to be a medical emergency, and you should immediately get in touch with an emergency medical technician to assist you.

So You Want To Quit Drinking Coffee?

Even though coffee is entirely legal – as evidenced by the prevalence of coffee shops all across every town – it is a stimulant, and it is actually quite similar to a drug. Of course, coffee does not have the adverse effects on the body that many drugs have, but if you try to quit drinking coffee, you will find that the withdrawal symptoms can certainly make you feel like you are quitting something much harder than coffee! If you have found that you are dependent on coffee, and you want to break this cycle, here are a few tips for weaning yourself off coffee – without experiencing the headaches and fatigue many others experience!

Slowly cut back: You will eventually get to a place where you no longer need coffee if you slowly cut back on your intake. The first step of cutting back is to figure out exactly how many milligrams of caffeine you consume in a day; once you have come up with this figure, try to cut twenty percent off this original level of caffeine every week, until you are finally no longer in “need” of coffee!

Find alternatives: There are plenty of alternatives to drinking coffee – but realize that this does not mean you should switch to energy drinks instead! There are plenty of foods that are “energy foods,” and once you start adding these foods to your regular diet, you can quit coffee much more quickly.

Drink water: More than anything else, your body needs water, so when you start cutting back on coffee, you should help your body make the transition by giving it as much water as you can. Water will make it less likely that you end up with those nasty caffeine headaches, and it will also help to give you natural energy.

Coffee is not horrible for your body the way a drug is, but it is always nice to be able to have coffee as a “treat” instead of because you are dependent on it; once you follow these tips, you will be that much closer to cutting coffee off your “needs” list completely!

Building Your Home Yoga Practice

If you love yoga but you don’t want to go into the gym, you may want to start your own home practice. If you start a home yoga practice, you’ll get to stay in poses as long as you like, enjoying the solitude and privacy.

For optimal safety and enjoyment, you’ll need to invest in some basic yoga equipment. You should purchase a good yoga mat, a block, and a yoga instruction manual (book or DVD is fine) so you’ll have several yoga asana (poses) onhand for referral. You’ll benefit from form-fitting yet comfy workout clothes and a headband to keep your hair out of your face as well.

Since this is your practice, you get to select the specific asana for your routine. If you like to follow an instructor, you’ll want to rent or buy DVDs or books and find a routine that you enjoy. Many people like to follow the traditional Ashtanga sequence of poses, which you can find in a variety of mediums. Or you can combine various poses in your own order so as to create an independent and unique routine.

When starting your practice, take time to meditate, setting aside the worries of the day. Then assume a stretching series of poses, such as sun salutations. When you are properly warmed up, go through poses that are athletically challenging, pausing to rest in child’s pose, downward dog or happy baby when it gets too difficult. End in corpse pose; while there, allow yourself to relax completely, releasing any negativity.

The best yoga routines combine pranayama (breathing exercises) with the movement from pose to pose. You may find it powerful to add a form of spritual meditation into your routine such as metta meditation (loving kindness) or vipassana meditation (accepting physical sensations and emotions as they come). With time, your yoga practice will become an essential piece of your life, bringing with it many health rewards.

Do You Need Vitamin B-12 Supplements or Shots?

Maybe you’ve heard about the weight loss clinics that say you need high doses of vitamin B-12 to lose weight. The natural response is to consider trying vitamin B-12 shots or supplements, just to see if they will indeed help you lose weight.

We need vitamin B-12 for red blood cell production, a healthy nervous system, and to prevent anemia. Vitamin B-12 is also needed for the production of DNA.

Many weight loss clinics are prescribing B-12 shots, but most doctors do not believe this improves weight loss efforts. If you think your might be B-12 deficient, ask your doctor for a test; most people have stored enough B-12 to last them for years. Getting a vitamin B-12 shot is not going to enhance your metabolic rate or provide extra energy unless you were truly deficient or anemic, both of which can be proven with a test. Consult a licensed physician before you get on a B-12 shot or supplement regimen, especially if you already take medications–sometimes vitamin B-12 can reduce the effectiveness of certain prescription drugs.

Natural sources of vitamin B-12 are animal products. You don’t need to worry at all if you eat meat, eggs, fortified products, dairy products, or shellfish. Vegans—people who do not eat any animals products at all—are particularly susceptible to vitamin B-12 deficiency. If you are vegan, you’ll want to eat fortified cereals so you get enough B-12 in your diet.

Most people need between 2.6-2.8 micrograms of vitamin B-12 a day to be healthy. You will get enough vitamin B-12 for the day if you eat a simple breakfast meal of a cup of milk and a bowl of fortified cereal. Usually people with B-12 deficiencies are actually having trouble using the B-12 they’ve ingested. Your intestines may not be absorbing B-12 or your body might not be releasing B-12 that you’ve absorbed and stored. In most cases, people store vitamin B-12 for years, meaning deficiency is unusual.

Building A Base Tan To Protect From The Sun

Americans have started to do a good job of understanding the risks of skin cancer that result from too much exposure to the sun, but one thing that is also important to remember is the fact that the sun is beneficial for our bodies as well, as it provides us with vitamin D, which will boost the immune system, promote health, and contribute to elevated moods; one way to protect yourself from harmful UV rays that will increase your risk to skin cancer is to make sure you consistently apply sunscreen, but this requires you to constantly be aware of whether or not you have on sunscreen.

The other approach for protecting yourself from the sun’s harmful UV rays is to build up a base tan that will keep your skin safer when you are in the sun, and there are a few easy ways to make sure you are doing exactly that.

You need to make sure you avoid getting sunburned if you want to build that base tan that will keep you safe in the sun (and of course, avoiding sunburns will also keep you from putting yourself at heightened risk of skin cancer) – and this means that you should take a slow, steady approach to building a base tan; start by going into the sun only a little bit at a time (no more than 20 to 30 minutes of exposure at a time – less if you have fair skin), and during this time, make sure you are still applying sunscreen.

As you begin to build a bit of a tan, you will be ready to cut back the SPF on your sunscreen, and you will be ready to increase the amount of time you are spending in the sun; by doing this, you will be able to witness your tan growing darker and darker, and the darker your tan becomes, the safer you will be when you are out in the sun.

Whenever you are going to be spending a significant amount of time in the sun, it will still be beneficial for you to apply sunscreen – no matter how thick your base tan is – but you can use a lower SPF if you already have a good base tan in place, and in this way, the tan will continue to darken, while you will continue to get that vitamin D you need and keep your skin safe all at the same time.

Tips For Going Gluten Free

If you have to make a huge change in your eating habits, you can find that it is difficult, and if you find that you have a gluten allergy (which just may be the case if you deal with neurological or dermatological problems), it can be especially difficult, as anything with wheat or flour in it also has gluten – and you will be surprised when you start realizing just how much this is!

The good news is that you can still have things such as pasta and sandwiches if you discover you have a gluten allergy, as there are gluten free pastas and gluten free bread – and what’s more, you can also use things that are corn or rice based, such as corn tortillas and rice flour.

There are also a lot of gluten free mixes you can use; for instance, there are mixes for making gluten free pizza that are just as easy as making regular pizza, and there are mixes for gluten free pancakes that taste the same as regular pancakes!

If snacks are giving you trouble on your gluten free diet, you can usually find them in such stores as Whole Foods and Akins, with options such as gluten free potato chips and gluten free granola – and of course, you can always go with options that are naturally gluten free, such as dairy products and meat.

Learn the secrets to enjoying a gluten free diet!

Because more and more people are starting to realize that they have an allergy to gluten, many restaurants also cater to those who are gluten free; take a look at restaurants online before you visit them, and find which ones make an effort to provide gluten free options for their patrons.

If you do not know what options are available to you, it can be even more difficult to switch to a gluten free diet than to switch to other diets – but if you take the proper path to finding gluten free options, you will find that your eating habits will not have to change that much as all, as long as you know what to look for!

How To Stay Awake Without Coffee

There is a good chance you have spent years hearing conflicting reports about whether coffee is or is not healthy for you if you are a coffee drinker, and in fact, you may have reached a point where you no longer pay attention or even care at all – but while the general consensus these days seems to be that coffee is really not so bad for you at all, there is still the undeniable fact that it is not good for your body to be dependent upon any one thing. And even though most coffee drinkers claim that they can actually stay awake just fine without coffee, they would find that this is not truly the case were they to go a few days without it – and if you have realized that this is the position you are in, here are a few things you can do to stay awake without coffee, even if just to wean yourself off to a point where you are no longer dependent on it.

Knowing how much sleep your body needs, and getting this amount, is the most seemingly obvious solution – but this is not quite as simple as it sounds, as each person’s body actually requires slightly different amounts of sleep, and what’s more, you can feel sluggish if you get too much sleep just as you can if you get too little, so you should figure out how much sleep leaves you feeling optimal, and then you should always aim to get exactly this amount.

Another thing that can help you to be less dependent on caffeine is to start pushing back the time of day when you make your coffee; by either pushing back your “coffee time” by five minutes each day or by a half hour each week, you will eventually reach a point where you no longer actually need coffee at all.

And if you are looking for something that can replace the energy boost you get from caffeine, you should try eating foods such as oats and apples, as each of these go a long way in giving your body the energy it needs!

Tips For Getting Into Swimsuit Shape

Trying to get into what one would call “swimsuit shape” is one thing that tends to give a lot of people problems – and if you have a tropical vacation coming up in the winter, this can be even more difficult to do, as it is tougher to really sculpt your body the way you might like when it is cold outside; at the same time, however, it is entirely possible for you to get your body into swimsuit shape, no matter what time of year it is, as long as you keep a few simple things in mind.

If you are wanting to get into swimsuit shape, the first thing you will need to realize is that you can train your genes to burn fat, and if you want to do this, one of the best ways is by realizing that when it comes to eating, more is less; rather than eating “three square meals a day,” get in the habit of eating five or six smaller (healthy!) meals a day, and this will help your body to burn fat on its own.

Another thing for you to realize is that getting your body into swimsuit shape will generally entail getting your body fit and toned, and in order to do this, you will want to combine your “more is less” approach to eating with a “less is more” approach to working out. When you do a lot of walking (instead of putting unnecessary strain on your back and joints by running!) and do some lifting just a few days a week, you will tone your muscles, encourage your body to lose fat, and keep your body from experiencing cravings for sugar and carbs – all of which will add up to a much better “swimsuit body.”

Combine these things with plenty of rest (making sure you are giving your body as much sleep each night as it requires), and you will soon find that you are in tremendous swimsuit shape – with a whole lot less work than you may have thought this process would have required at the start!

Do I Have Chronic Fatigue Syndrome?

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome impairs the lifestlyes of roughly one million US adults.  Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (commonly known as CFS) is largely described by its name, but it takes a bit more than this to diagnose CFS. If you have been unusually tired lately, and if you cannot trace this to extra exertion or lack of sleep, you can use the following signs to decide whether you might have CFS yourself.

One of the first signs of CFS is that you are consistently feeling fatigued for no reason that you can specifically point to. If you have CFS, this fatigue would be so extreme that it is reducing your activity levels. If this is the case for you, it is probably time for you to start looking for the additional signs of CFS.

The following are among the additional signs of CFS: decreased levels of memory or concentration; muscle pain for no discernable reason; headaches that have increased in regularity or severity from what you are used to; a persistent and recurring soar throat; joint pain; and sleep that hardly refreshes you at all. You should plan to see a physician and be tested for CFS if a combination of these symptoms persist for six months or longer. Because CFS is defined and diagnosed in a number of different ways, this diagnosis from a doctor will come by process of elimination. If they are unable to find any other cause for your symptoms, they are likely to classify you as suffering from CFS.

There are a lot of “cures” for CFS, but there is no cure that has worked consistently for all those afflicted by CFS. Two things that come into play here are the instigating factors and the severity of the CFS. For instance, if you are deemed to be experiencing CFS as a result of depression, this might be solved by taking antidepressants. Furthermore, some people with CFS can combat it with such simple measures as regular exercise and dietary adjustments. If you find that you have CFS, search for a doctor who has dealt with CFS patients before. This disease and all its nuances can be better solved by a doctor who has experience dealing with CFS.

Hopefully, if you find yourself feeling tired all the time for no reason that you can put your finger on, you can wait it out and it will go away. If, however, it does not simply go away, you might have CFS, and you will certainly want to begin fighting it as quickly as you can.

How To Help Yourself Work Out Every Day

People often reach a point in their life where they suddenly realize that they are not in nearly as good of shape as they would like to be, and this leaves them feeling like they need to do something quickly to change this – but if you are wanting to get back in shape yourself, the first thing you need to realize is that one of the biggest keys will be that you work out every day, as you will not get nearly the results you are hoping for if your workouts are irregular!

One of the best ways to make sure you are working out every day is to have a set time of day during which you work out; getting into the habit of working out again can be difficult if you have to force yourself to do it at different times each day, but when you have a certain time of day during which you work out, the question of whether or not you “feel like it” goes out the window!

Another thing that will also help you to work out on a daily basis is providing yourself with variety in your workouts; you are likely to get sick of your workouts if you simply do the same ones over and over again, but when you are always changing things up, your workouts will remain fresher and more enjoyable.

And finding workouts you can do outdoors is another way to make your workouts more enjoyable; when you find such workouts, you will be able to get out of the confines of the gym, and will instead be able to get fresh air and sunlight – each of which are great for your body – in addition to getting your body back into shape!

No one said that getting back into shape is a piece of cake (and if they did say this, they were not telling you the truth!), but when you keep these tips in mind, it will be much easier for you to work out daily – and this will make it easier for you to get back into shape.

Taking Care Of A Painful Lower Back

If your lower back has ever given you problems, you know what a nuisance this can be, and one of the most frustrating things of all can be that it is difficult to figure out exactly what you can do in order to make this pain subside – but while there are a number of different options to consider when it comes to taking care of lower back pain, there are some options that are less expensive than others, and it is always beneficial to go with these options first to see how they work!

Of course, when many people start dealing with lower back pain, they immediately think of going to a chiropractor, but one option that is a lot less expensive and can often be just as effective is using a massage chair; find a massage chair that you can plug in and put on your couch or another chair in your house, and use it periodically if you deal with lower back pain, checking to see if this solves the problem for you!

If you go to a chiropractor, one thing they will advise in order to keep you from dealing with chronic back pain is that you work out your core; when you work out your core (which will work out your abs and your lower back), this may cause a bit of an uncomfortable strain on your lower back during the workout itself, but this is because the muscles in your lower back are being worked out and strengthened, and in the long run, this will actually make your lower back less susceptible to such pain.

Pain free ways to get rid of lower back pain!

And if you have dealt with lower back pain for years, one thing you can do to prevent this problem in the future is start paying attention to your posture; when you keep your posture nice and upright all the time, you will decrease the pressure your lower back experiences, and this will make you feel much better as time passes.

It is wise to seek medical help if you are dealing with serious back pain, but think about trying some of these solutions first, finding out if you can save time and money by taking care of the problem yourself!