Varicose Veins Not Just A Cosmetic Problem

by: Elizabeth Catalanotto


Since varicose veins seemingly only create an unsightly appearance, many people often think that there is no real medical problem, and that they are merely a cosmetic problem. This is a common misconception of varicose veins, and it results from of a lack of knowledge about the condition.

Although they pose only a cosmetic problem for many patients, some people experience varicose veins that cause physical discomfort and in some cases are quite painful. When varicose veins cause discomfort or pain, the legs may ache, swell or feel heavy or tired.

Varicose veins develop when surface blood vessels become weak. The pressure of blood pushing against the vein’s wall can cause it to bulge or twist. They have a rope-like appearance and commonly develop on the thighs, calves, feet and back of knees.

If left untreated varicose veins can continue to enlarge and the pain and discomfort will worsen over time. Some of the more popular methods of treatment available include Sclerotherapy, Phlebectomy, vein ligation and Endovenous laser therapy.

1. Sclerotherapy can be used to treat smaller varicose veins through the injection of a chemical solution, which causes the vein to cave in and prevents blood from continuing to flow through it.

2. Phlebectomy is the surgical removal of the problematic vein. During this procedure, a hook is used to remove the vein through a small incision.

3. Vein Ligation is a surgical procedure involves tying off the vein, which forces the blood to flow through healthy veins and eases the pain of the affected vein.

4. Endovenous Laser Therapy is a less invasive treatment in which uses a thin laser fiber inserted into the vein to collapse the problem vein.

Regardless of which procedure is chosen, the appearance of the affected vein will improve once the blood flow through the vein has stopped.

Although existing varicose veins can be treated, these treatments will not prevent the development of additional varicose veins. To prevent varicose veins patients can begin by maintaining a healthy weight and exercising regularly. Wearing compression stockings and/or elevating the legs can help to improve blood flow in the legs and relieve pressure.


About The Author

Elizabeth Catalanotto is a freelance writer for the Acadiana Vascular Center, http://www.acadianavascular.com, a full-service vascular practice in Louisiana offering comprehensive varicose vein treatments.

Exercise And Cutting Calories – Tips On How To Add It To Your Lifestyle

by: John Purfield


If your top priority is to loose weight, then keep reading. Losing weight is simple but it’s not easy. You can try for years with the latest diet fads and come up short with your weight loss goals.

You don’t need a fancy diet coupled with professional counseling to lose weight. All you have to do is cut down on your eating and start exercising. Following a sound reduced calorie diet and exercise plan will help you achieve the results you seek

Your goal should be to eat a low amount of calories that stimulates fat loss. However, you want to eat enough calories to keep your body from starving. Eating a variety of healthy foods will also keep you on track and avoid boredom.

One big way to cut down on calories is by eliminating fast food from your diet. However, busy people find fast food is a necessary convenience. They turn to fast food when they work extended hours or can’t leave their desk.

While highly understandable, you’ll have to make a difference in your lifestyle to cut calories. One way is to choose smaller meals at the fast food restaurant or choose a meal choice with lower calories. Most places have their menus nutritional information on their web site or you can ask for it at the restaurant itself.

The optimal way to reduce calories is to spend time preparing meals. You can prepare your meals a few days in advance. When done properly, this can actually save you time during the week.

Preparing your meals gives you the benefit of planning your meals. You are empowering yourself to eat healthier foods and lower calorie meals. You’ll find that you are eating healthier more frequently and you’ll improve your lifestyle.

Exercise is the other part of the equation. Exercise burns calories and is very effective with a reduced calorie diet. It is the ultimate and only “one-two punch” to start burning fat right away. However, you must be consistent with your efforts.

Before you start any exercise program, you should see a doctor to evaluate your overall health. A doctor may also provide information on how to get started with your own exercise program.

You should take the time educate yourself on how to exercise. Walking is a great start to exercising on a daily basis. However, you need to work out vigorously in order for your body to burn fat optimally. Meaning you need to challenge yourself.

One of the best resources available is a personal trainer. Personal trainers are excellent to help you get started right away with your own exercise routine. Also the help you create a routine with a personal touch that will fit your lifestyle. Furthermore personal trainers will also help you set your fitness goals and help you hold yourself accountable.

Making the effort to add exercise and diet to your life will provide benefits you never thought that where achievable. Not only will you loose weight, you will also feel great by being more active and providing more challenges for yourself than just working.


About The Author

Trying to lose weight? Get our free report "5 Free Weight Loss Tips You Can Use to Start Burning Fat Today." FREE Articles: http://www.addfitness.com. FREE Report: http://www.addfitness.com/newsletter.asp.

The Secrets To Hair Loss Cure Revealed

by: Ron Shelf


Today I will tell you about an alternative way to treat hair loss.

There are many different products on the market that should do the job but yet there are so many other natural ways that do the same. Who wants to use chemicals while you can make your own remedy safely at home. Some might work for you and some might not but that is up to you to try it and decide.

So hair loss what is it really and why do we suffer from it?!

Hair loss, also known as baldness refers to excessive hair loss from scalp and can be the result of heredity, certain medications or an underlying medical condition.

It is normal to shed some hair each day as part of a cycle of growing new hairs and loosing some.

However, some people may experience excessive hair loss which might cause baldness. Hair loss of this type can affect men, women and children.

So now that we know what it is, we need to know how to deal with it. For that I added a few natural remedies you can try:

1. Yemeni med: Soak fenugreek (Hilba) in deep pot of water throughout the night. Massage the liquid into the scalp and wrap with a cloth for 3 hours. Repeat everyday for 1 month.

2. Massage the scalp with uncooked egg yolk, leave for 1 hour and wash.

3. Smear Red Henna on the scalp and wait for 1 hour, then wash, Repeat for 10-14 days. Be ware- your hair will turn red from the henna!

4. Smear castor oil on the scalp and the hair roots but not on the hair, wrap the hair with a newspaper, tie with a cloth and leave overnight, wash in the morning. Repeat every 7-10 days (results will come after 6-7 treatments).

5. Boil 1 cup of water, add 1 teaspoon of mustard seeds, cook for 5 minutes, cool and drink.

6. Blanch scented geranium leaves in boiling water, strain, cool and use to wash the hair.

7. Rub olive oil into the scalp to reduce hair loss.

8. Boil rosemary leaves in water, strain and save the liquid in a glass bottle. Use to wash the hair every day. You can also put the rosemary water in a sprayer and spray the hair every morning.

There are many more home remedies for hair loss at the GrannyMed website.

Good luck!


About The Author

Ron Shelf
Natural Home Remedies Advisor
Home Page : http://www.GrannyMed.com
Home Remedies For Hair Loss : http://www.GrannyMed.com/Meds/Hair-Loss.aspx

Panic Attack Treatments and Prevention

by: Keith Bronson


Most people with panic attack disorder are treated in their primary care setting, which is not surprising, since the physical symptoms of a panic disorder can cause people to seek care for what they perceive as a physical ailment.

Difficulties in the diagnosis of panic attack disorder in this setting argue for the possible value of population based screening for the disorder in primary care, which is currently recommended for major depression. Panic disorder is associated with severe disability and work impairment in people receiving primary care, even if the effects of comorbid physical and depressive illness are accounted for. The quality of primary care given to people with panic disorder (and other anxiety/agoraphobia disorders) is not the best; only 19-40% of people are estimated to receive the minium standards accepeted for evidence based treatment. In addition to detection and diagnosis difficulties, many other barriers exist, including uncertainty about where to seek help, insufficient organization of primary care to treat chronic disease and problems with insurance coverage and concerns about cost of care (especially in the USA)

New approaches are needed to overcome these barriers and to improve delivery of health care for people with panic attack disorder. Other promising approaches that could supplement care provided by primary-care physicians, or that might be used alone for some patients, include self-help treatments for which computer (internet-based) delivery approaches are being increasingly proposed.

Because the onset of panic disorder peaks late in adolescence, prevention efforts could be best directed at or before this critical developmental period. In a study, 150 individuals presenting to the emergency room with panic attacks were assigned to 1 h of contact with a clinician from whom they received reassurance or exposure instruction. The exposure group improved on all measures of anxiety and panic after 6 months, compared with controls. 40% of the sample group met criteria for panic disorder, so this investigation was not a pure prevention study. In another study, 151 university students with at least one panic attack in the past year and moderate anxiety sensitivity were assigned to be put on a waiting list or to undergo a 5-h, cognitive-behavioral workshop.148 6 months later, 13•6% of controls developed panic disorder, compared with 1•8% of individuals in the workshop group. Increased research into methods for the detection and identification of individuals at risk of panic disorder (e.g., children of patients with the disorder or behaviorally inhibited children) will be crucial.


About The Author

Keith Bronson is a former panic attack sufferer who supports the mental health community through his articles. For more treatment, medication, prevention and mental health information visit http://www.agoraphobia-panic-attacks.com or http://www.agoraphobia-panic-attacks.com/Panic_Attack_Treatments.html

(C)2006 Reprints must include byline, contact information and copyright.

Tips on How to Lose Weight

by: Ernest Kent


Losing weight can be frustrating and sometimes make you quit trying to lose the weight. Here are some tips on how to lose weight.

Tip 1: Avoid skipping meals. No matter what anyone tells you, don’t skip a meal and use a shake to replace that meal. Eating will increase you metabolism, thus is you skip a meal, you will slow you metabolism down.

Tip 2: Take control of what you eat. Avoid as much fatty and fried foods as you can. Eat more fruits, vegetables and whole grains. Read the labels of what you’re going to buy to eat. Now you don’t have to worry about not going out to eat, just watch what you eat when you do.

Tip 3: Be positive about your weight loss. The more you feel good about yourself the faster and easier you lose weight. Look in the mirror, tell yourself you are going to lose weight or tell yourself you are going to exercise.

Tip 4: Eat slowly and chew you food thoroughly to decrease your appetitive.

Tip 5: Find a weight loss buddy or club. This will help you stay in the weight loss program you are in.

Tip 5: Do not eat 3 hours before bedtime. This can be difficult to do, but you can do it.

Tip 6: Do exercises. Try going out for a walk or aerobics. Get an exercise bike and use it. Get a membership to a gym. There are a lot of ways you can exercise, it don’t matter what you do just make sure you do it at least five or 6 days a week.

If you follow these tips you should be on your way to losing weight. Following these tips will not help you lose weight fast but they will help you lose weight at a normal health speed.


About The Author

Ernest Kent has been using these tips to help him lose weight and keeping it off. Are you ready to lose weight and keep it off? http://the-best-way-to-lose-weight.blogspot.com/.

Skin Care Begins While We’re Young

by: Kadence Buchanan


The skin care industry is a virtual goldmine. With more women and even men growing more aware of the need to care for their skin, the skin care industry seems poised to get even bigger in the decades to come.

Already, the industry has shown a segmentation of various products that cater to specific market niches. There are cleansers, moisturizers and other skin care products for women as well as for men, and these are further divided by skin type or skin color as well as by age and lifestyle.

Overall, however, they share one single purpose: to make the skin beautiful - which is to say, to make the skin look fresh, young, vibrant and healthy. Nothing makes a person look younger - or older, for that matter - than their skin. Our skin is the first thing other people see and assess

In terms of skin care, the importance of starting young cannot be stressed enough. Many beauty experts believe that the sooner you start taking care of your skin, the better. Even children will benefit from constantly washing their face and hands as well as staying away from the sun. Over-exposure to the sun is the single biggest reason for the premature aging of skin.

The sun's UV radiation rays can also create free radicals (split oxygen molecules that are corrosive) tht damage the elastic proteins that the skin needs to keep it tight, causing sagging skin with prolonged and continuing exposure.

Teaching teenagers that tobacco and alcohol can make their age faster and look bad may well be the most effective way of making them avoid these vices, especially considering how sensitive teenagers can be about their appearance.

The general rule about health - that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure - applies to the skin as well. Once your skin has become weathered, sagging and wrinkled, there is no way to turn back the clock except perhaps through surgery. However, going under the knife is not an ideal method.

In the final analysis, bad skin is simply the result of a lifetime of accumulated bad habits. Paying attention to this process and taking steps early can give us a lifetime of great-looking skin.


About The Author

Kadence Buchanan writes articles for http://allaboutourhealth.net/ - In addition, Kadence also writes articles for http://inutritioncentral.com/ and http://computerinformationsource.com/.

Adult ADD: One Quick Way To For People With ADD To Control Time And Avoid Distractions

by: Tellman Knudson And Stephanie Frank


People with ADD are prone to distractions, even more so than people without ADD, though everyone has them. If you work at home, mundane distractions can be frustrating and very hard to ignore.

But here's something that you can do, and you can start in the next 10 minutes:

Focus on two doors, if you work at home--your front door and your office door. I mean that literally, like a door with hinges.

First is your front door. Train your friends not to stop by and not to call, at least not during the day. It may take a while, but eventually, they catch on. But even when they know the program, they will still come by occasionally. When you're doing something that requires your ADD hyperfocus, put a note on the outside door that says, “To all friends: Do not come in. I am working on a project and cannot be distracted. Call me and leave a voicemail because I will not pick up my phone.” Simple?

"But what if there's an emergency?" you may ask. Well, if that's the case, they’ll come in anyway, don’t worry. When you have an office at home, the fact is that people know you're there, so they want to stop in or call because it's on their minds. That can be quite enticing for someone with ADD, so you have to get non-ADD people to understand. Post the note.

You won't need a note on your front door, if there’s someone around or someone else at home that can act as your buffer. But if there’s no one else around, put a second note on the door to your office. This note is for anyone who ignored your note on the front door and came into the house anyway. It’s also for anyone in the house who might forget that you're in the middle of working on something. So put a note on your office door, too

People who know you have ADD will understand that you're doing this to accomplish things. It seems a little rude at first, but it is one of the most powerful methods of controlling your time, and people don’t mind, after you explain to them why you’re doing what you’re doing. That’s tremendously powerful.

But a lot of people feel guilty about closing their doors. Or, they’ll say, “Oh gee, maybe I’m going to miss something.” That can work in two ways. Your ADD can make you so distracted that you’re afraid you’re going to miss something or you can realize that measures to control your time provide the kind of support that you need to get something done faster, so that you can get back out there more quickly to see what’s going on.

The main idea is to control your time, which is crucial for those of us who have ADD. We have to control the distractions that can be controlled and work with the others. If you need to focus and don't have a particular project that you're working on, if you're just brainstorming ideas or in the initial phase of just setting something up, you still need to block out time when no one can distract you. With ADD, you have plenty of distractions without other people adding to the situation. That's why hyperfocus is so important to ADD people and why controlling who can distract you and when is vital to your success.


About The Author

Tellman Knudson, certified Hypnotherapist, is CEO of Overcome Everything, Inc and Hyperfocus. Stephanie Frank is an internationally known speaker and author of "The Accidental Millionaire." Together they founded http://InstantADDSuccess.com (http://instantaddsuccess.com).

Helping Your Wife Cope Acne In Pregnancy

by: Ashish Jain


Pregnancy is the most crucial period in the life of a woman. Especially, the time she is pregnant for the first time, it gets too difficult for her to maintain her mental equilibrium and posture. She remains most tender; and unexplainable feelings of anxiety grip her. This is the time, when she requires understanding and sympathy, the most.

The most unwelcome development for her during this period is sickness. She remains always doubly worried. Firstly, about her own constitution, and next, how to properly support the other growing tiny self within her! Her worry about the later aspect is much more.

And there at times come acne to add to her sorry state. Acne is a disease that upsets the woman even during the normal times. And during pregnancy she is doubly upset, because she has information that acne is a hereditary disease. Her intense worry is that, what if the child gets acne?

Herein, you can play a guard to the emotions of your wife. As such you can not do anything to help your wife to cope acne in pregnancy. But you can surely get her the best medical advice and provide or not provide her medication, on the lines indicated by the medical practitioner. Your sympathy and understanding and kind words are more than any balm, lotion or gel to her.

You can provide her with good reading material or articles on how the other women have faced similar situations in their life and how they were able to tackle it successfully.

Such success stories do a lot to boost her moral courage. That is the real medication needed at this time of her life. Don't allow her heavy mood swings to overpower her. Keep her in good humor by talking to her sweet nothings and by telling her that acne is indeed a minor problem!

But if the depression persists, it could be Postpartum Depression (PPD). Before it gets serious, consult a psychiatrist or a specialist.

The correct causes of acne are still not known. It is a subject, under active research. Acne could be due to the side effects of certain other medications. Stress and pregnancy could itself be the reason for acne. So, you can carefully advise your wife against stressing out on this aspect of acne.

At this stage, what she needs is your constant company. You are a better subject to talk to, than the subject of acne. Spend as much time as is possible in her company. That is the best that you can do for her.


About The Author

Ashish Jain writes articles on different topics. To get more acne articles visit http://www.acnetalks.com/pimple/

Do You Have an Acid Reflux Symptom?

by: Rudy Silva


Acid reflux and heartburn are words used to express the same symptom - a burning sensation in your chest by your heart or right up the chest middle. This acid reflux symptom can also be experience much higher along the esophagus or throat. Over time, stomach acid can continue to dissolve esophagus tissue and this can lead to a bleeding ulcer with severe pain.

Another acid reflux symptom can be bad breath or consistent dry coughing.

Still, when esophageal tissue is eaten away, scar tissue can form which can narrow the esophagus making it difficult to swallow.

Poor eating habits

Heartburn or acid reflux doesn’t happen when you eat a healthy diet. And when I say a healthy diet, I don’t mean a diet that you need to deprive yourself of the food you like.

Most of us developed our eating habits from our parents. As we grew, we watched how they ate, when they ate, and what they ate. And we did the same thing.

Most people that I know and all family members don’t have good eating habits. They are eating too much at one sitting, they mix their food improperly, they drink too much water or drink the wrong type of liquid when they eat, they don’t assist the digestion with digestive enzymes and the list goes on and on.

So when you have a heavy meal where you ate more than you should have ,make sure you don’t bend over, lift anything heavy, or lie down.

More acid reflux symptoms

Most people experience an acid reflux symptom after their last meal. This burning sensation can be real severe and they may think they are having a heart attack, but make sure you are not having a attack. But this sensation will past and in the early stages of this symptom there is no real damage to the esophageal tissue.

A symptom that is not to common is throat laryngitis where your throat becomes hoarse in the morning, you have a dry cough, or have to repeatedly clear your throat. Some times you may have problems swallowing and feel like food is trapped in the esophagus or in the upper chest. This can also lead to a feeling that you are choking or that your throat feels tight.

Another acid reflux symptom is coughing and wheezing like an asthmatic. Or you could have nausea, which is persistent and causes you to vomit regularly.

It is easy to overlook acid reflux in children and infants. Acid reflux symptoms that children might have are regular coughing, vomiting, or other respiratory issues. Usually children grow out of this condition, but of course, keep a close watch and take them to a doctor, if the symptoms are continuous.

Some foods to avoid to keep your acid reflux in check are sodas, fried and fatty foods, spicy foods, peppermint and chocolate, and acidic foods like tomatoes and citrus fruits.

Do you have an acid reflux symptom or symptoms? You might have chest burning sensations, coughing, hoarseness, wheezing, clearing your throat regularly, vomiting once in a while, or severe pain in the chest. Whatever the symptom you might have, if it stays with you around two weeks, then you need to see your doctor. In some cases where these symptoms are severe, then see a doctor right away.


About The Author

Rudy Silva is a Nutritionist and writer. To discover more information and tips about acid reflux symptoms and remedies go to this site: http://www.acid-reflux-relief.for--you.com.

Hemorrhoids Treatment Using Bioflavonoids

by: Rudy Silva


If you have hemorrhoids then you need to be taking a good supplement of bioflavonoids. Bioflavonoids have been found to be most effective in helping to relieve and eliminate the symptoms of hemorrhoids. They are useful in reducing enlarged veins in the rectum and in the legs (varicose veins.)

Use them everyday as a hemorrhoids treatment. There are many foods that contain rutin, so eat the foods, but to get a high dose use a supplement.

The bioflavonoids have been used in clinical studies and have been shown to be a positive hemorrhoid treatment.

Rutin

Rutin is bioflavonoids, which is effective in reducing and treating hemorrhoids. It does this by strengthening and improving the permeability of the blood vessels and capillaries. Blood vessels that have a high efficiency of allowing nutrients and wastes to move in and out of their walls easily – permeability – allow the area involved to recover from illness quicker.

Here are some of the benefits of rutin:

provides nutritional support to the circulatory systems
provides nutrition to the eye capillaries and is used for glaucoma
prevents recurrent bleeding caused by weakened blood vessels
prevents blood vessel walls becoming fragile
In addition to its use as a hemorrhoids treatment, rutin has been found useful and effective for poor circulation, high blood pressure, varicose veins, capillary fragility, and other conditions where the blood vessels are weak.

In his booklet called Natural Remedies for What Ails You, 1985, Mark Bricklin shares some testimonials about the use of rutin,

“Last summer I was home visiting my mother. I had just returned from a long and very tiring trip, where I was on my feet all day every day. At this time I was having terrible pains and chills, and bleeding from hemorrhoids. I had been having trouble for eight years and the doctors were recommending surgery.

I had been in bed at my mother’s house for three days when she started me on rutin tablets. In one week, my hemorrhoids were gone: no bleeding or swelling. It has been a year this month and I have never been bothered again. –K.R., Oklahoma.“

Foods that contain rutin are

Buckwheat
Lemons
Oranges
Grapes
Plums
Apricots,
Cherries,
Blackberries,
Green peppers,
Currants
But most foods do not contain enough rutin to help as a hemorrhoids treatment. So it best to use a quality supplement.

There are however some herbs that are high in rutin.

Wild pansy flowers – one flower has up to 20 mg of rutin
Violets
Eucalyptus leaf
Mulberry leaf.
How to use rutin

Take from 30 to 60 mg of rutin three times a day. Use the high dose for severe cases and the lower dose for mild cases. You can experiment with the dose by taking up to 100 mg of rutin three times a day.

Use Vitamin C with rutin to make rutin’s curative powers even more effective. Take any where from 1000 mg to 4000 mg of vitamin C. When you are experimenting with a hemorrhoids treatment, use higher doses of these nutrients then back off if you see any side effects. Use higher doses of these nutrients to make a difference in your hemorrhoids.


About The Author

Rudy Silva is a natural nutritionist that will give you plenty of free information. For more tips on what else you can do to eliminate hemorrhoids go to: http://www.hemorrhoid-relief.for--you.com.

Psoriasis Treatment Using Natural Remedies

by: Rudy Silva


If you have Psoriasis or any other skin problem, I know you are always looking for a solution. With psoriasis, the skin breaks out in itchy rashes, unsightly blemishes, and white flakes.

In psoriasis, the skin cells multiply quickly causing rashes to appear quickly. Normal skin renews itself in 30 days, but in psoriasis, skin cells move from the innermost layer of skin to the skin surface in 3 days, causing red and itchy areas. In addition, as cells accumulate on the surface they die, turning white and flaky.

Finding a psoriasis treatment that cures is not easy since there doesn’t appear to be one. Most doctors or dermatologists do not know what causes psoriasis and consider it incurable. But there are many different natural remedies that can give some relief to psoriasis but at far as a natural psoriasis treatment that is a cure, there is none.

Here is a list of psoriasis treatments that you may want to try.

Give your skin some sun to give your body additional energy and Vitamin D to fight your psoriasis. You can add Vitamin D supplements to the list of vitamins you take. The psoriasis sun treatment works better with UVB rays but these rays also cause sunburn. So you may want to put sunscreen on those areas that do not have psoriasis.

Drink teas or take capsules of sarsaparilla, milk thistle or nettle leaves.

Take a regular dose of fish oil or flax seed. Start with 1500 mg per day of fish oil

Use a couple tablespoons of granular lecithin. You can add it to your soups, salads, morning cereal, or smoothes. Never add it to boiling water or use it as cooking oil since it oxidizes rapidly and becomes rancid.

Take large dose of inositol, a B vitamin, around 1.5 grams or more and see how it affects your psoriasis.

Use a diluted apple cider vinegar over your psoriasis to reduce itching. Start with 10 parts apple cider vinegar to 90 part of distilled water. No known pathogen can survive in apple cider vinegar.

Keep stress down if possible, stress lowers the immune system and a weak immune system cannot keep up with the activity of psoriasis.

There is another herb that appears to be an excellent psoriasis treatment. It’s called mahonia quifolium and is better known as Oregon grape or holly-leaved barberry, which is a natural plant extract

This extract is a,

A strong antibacterial

A strong antifungal

Inhibits the excessive abnormal skin cell growth

Reduces inflammation

Activates the release of histamine

You can find mahonia aquifolium in a product called M-Folia. This product comes in various forms – ointments, shampoos, sunscreen, and cream preparations

Keep your psoriasis area open to air and don’t allow jewelry or tight clothing to press against it. Stay of away from harsh chemicals sprays and liquid irritants.

Keep stress down if possible, stress lowers the immune system and a weak immune system cannot keep up with the activity of psoriasis.

Use a psoriasis treatment as mentioned above to help give you psoriasis relief. You can use a combination of these remedies, so experiment to see which works the best for you.


About The Author

Rudy Silva, Nutritionist, writes a newsletter called natural-remedies-thatwork.com To get more free information on skin problems like acne, go to: http://www.acne-no-more.for--you.com To signup for my remedies newsletter go to http://www.natural-remedies-thatwork.com.

How Cholesterol Triglyceride Cause Artery Plaque Buildup

by: Rudy Silva


You need to know about cholesterol triglyceride because it is this cholesterol that will cause give you a variety of cardiovascular diseases. Triglycerides are part of the cholesterol picture that is not talked about very much and are extremely dangerous for your health. And, they come from the fat that you eat every day.

Cholesterol triglyceride is a lipid, which is a type of fat. This fat is used by every body cell in its membrane structure and in your brain. When cholesterol triglyceride combines with protein a new chemical is created called “lipoproteins”, which flows through your blood.

As lipoproteins circulate in your arteries, they tend to deposit their fat on your artery walls. This process is always occurring, but the problem is when you have high cholesterol triglyceride you create high lipoproteins. The result is you deposit more fat on your artery walls than normal.

Clinical studies show that people with high cholesterol triglyceride are more prone to heart disease. So why don’t you hear about triglyceride instead of just HDL and LDL cholesterol. The reason is that there aren’t any drugs that can lower cholesterol triglyceride, so doctors don’t often discuss this part of the cholesterol picture.

So to reduce your susceptibility for heart disease, you need to reduce your cholesterol triglyceride. How do you know if yours is high? You need a blood test and need to talk with a doctor about your results.

Here is a list of some of the damage high cholesterol triglyerides can do:

At 200 ml/dl your risk for coronary artery disease doubles

At 200 ml/dl and HDL less than 40 mg/dl your risk for coronary artery disease is four times greater.

At 200 ml/dl women have a higher risk of artery disease than men

If you have diabetes, you are more prone to higher triglyceride levels

High triglyceride levels make you prone to kidney and pancreas diseases

Now, to have lower triglyceride levels, you can change some of your diet habits. I always recommend you change them gradually as you learn about good eating habits..

Here are two ways to control triglyerides:

Exercise regularly – the way you exercise makes a difference on your cholesterol triglyceride level. Instead of a straight 30 minutes brisk exercise do three 10 minutes brisk exercises during the day. By adding some resistive exercise, you gain more benefits for your heart and bones.

Diet - Eat a balanced diet that's low in sugar, simple carbohydrates, and processed foods. Eat more fruits and vegetables to get the fiber. Fiber will help you keep your cholesterol triglyerides low. Fiber will trap excess cholesterol as it is released into the colon through your gallbladder and moved out in your stools. The less fiber there is in the colon the more cholesterol is reabsorbed back into the body through your colon walls.

There you have it, concentrate your efforts on keeping your cholesterol triglyerides low by eating less processed fats, less processed foods, exercising throughout the day, and eating more fiber.

Bio:


About The Author

Rudy Silva, natural nutritionist, provides free tips and information. To discover more about lowering cholesterol triglycerides and cholesterol diet go to: http://www.cholesterol-diet.for--you.com.

Do You Need Acne Scar Removal or Treatment?

by: Rudy Silva


If you have acne scars from breakouts that you had in the past, there are ways to help remove them. Or, you just might have some pimples now that are leaving scars. Well, there is help. Know what some of your options are for treatment, and understand that acne scar removal is possible even with persistent acne woes and scarring.

Now a days the treatment for removing scars are up to date and modern. There are all kinds of treatments, but only a qualified dermatologist can help you get those scars off of your face or body, so you can start feeling confident about how you look. Depending on the type of acne that you’ve had, or are experiencing now, your doctor will determine the routine of acne scar removal that you need.

Most acne scar treatments require clear skin before treatment begins, so this is the first issue that must be addressed. If you haven’t done it already, make an appointment with your dermatologist to get started. Every person must be evaluated individually and treated on a case-by-case basis, and what works for one may not work for another

Some of the different ways that this is done can range from medication, surgery, and light or laser therapy. Medications like Tetracycline are antibiotics that will clear up acne by stopping infection, and the skin heals naturally.

Another type of medication that helps with acne scar removal is called Accutane. It has high doses of Vitamin A that eliminate oils from the skin, and cuts down on the scarring by eliminating infection. There are potential side effects of the antibiotics and Accutane. After a while you can develop immunity to the antibiotics, or even become very allergic to the medications.

Do not take Accutane if you are thinking of becoming pregnant or are pregnant. Only a dermatologist should prescribe this type of acne scar removal.

Light or laser therapy is great for removing scars that are moderate or severe too. You’ll know that your doctor is recommending these types of acne scar removal treatments when Blue or Red Light Therapy is discussed.

Fotofacials are another type that is often used too. It rids your skin of scars by using pulsating frequencies of lights or lasers. Scars are either totally removed, or they are faded to the point that a good makeup will hide the remaining evidence. The best thing about it is that results are sometimes better with this type of acne scar removal treatment.

Most acne scar treatments are not covered by health insurance plans, and can be quite costly if more than a couple of treatments are needed, which is the case in more instances than not. Less expensive acne scar treatments can always be tried first, especially if the scars are not too severe. Check with your dermatologist’s office for prices of various procedures recommended, and also check online for more in depth information on acne scar treatments

It’s important too that medications don’t have to be used for an extended period, and it’s not as dangerous. Acne scar removal is possible, and all you have to do is to make an appointment, and start on the way to healing your scars on your body, and your outlook on you.


About The Author

Rudy Silva is nutritional consultant that writes on natural remedies. To get a free copy of how to eliminate acne using facial creams go to: http://www.acne-no-more.for--you.com.

Eating Better To Achieve Fat Loss

by: Raymond Burton


Eating for fat loss doesn't have to be a terrible affair. It's just a matter a relearning what is supposed to taste good and a little planning. It's been awhile since most North Americans regularly cooked their own meals from scratch. What this means is that you are not used to eating foods that are conducive to fat loss in their natural states. What you have been eating you have learned to like because that is what was fed to you. Just like you learned to like what you were eating that has been bad for you, you can learn to like something else.

The best thing I can think of to illustrate where you are now to where you want to be with better eating is my cat. Yup, my cat. You see every morning I woke up and I opened the Tupperware container, scooped up some dry bits of weight reducing formula cat food and my cat went nuts. Ariel (my cat) was just tickled pink to be getting fed food at all. This is the way it worked day in and day out. That is until one day I thought I would be a caring owner and offer her a kitty treat as an appetizer and soft canned food for the main course.

I woke up that night to find the cupboards above the sink open and a half chewed through kitty treat bag on the floor. My cat had learned about synthetic yet yummy tasting treats. Sounds like anyone you know with cookies or another late night snack perhaps?

Somewhere along the way, we all forgot what real food was. Real food doesn't come in wrappers and doesn't last 3 years on a shelf. Foods that burn fat and keep you fit and lean need to be prepared. Where most of us hit the stumbling block though is the preparation phase. We are too busy to find time to prepare. Because of this rushed lifestyle we end up grabbing something that is in a wrapper. No nutrition and no substance, just filler. That filler usually has a lot of calories too.

So what are you to do in order to get a handle on eating better and head towards fat loss with your food intake instead of weight gain? You write down three days of food intake. For the next three days, write down every single thing that goes into your mouth. Include the times of day you ate, what you ate, how much you ate and your level of hunger when you ate it. I don't care if a tub of ice cream when in you mouth, just make sure you write it down.

You can learn an awful lot about your eating habits by taking a look at this info. You will also see where you can make the big improvements that wont kill your lifestyle too much. For example, you will be able to see if the biggest area of improvement lies in needing to eat more, eat less or if its just a change of food choices. After you make the easy to implement improvements, if you want more fat loss, you can tweak the details some more.

Take a look at what days seem to kill your best eating habit intentions. Once you know, you can start a work around. The one thing you do not want to do is try to change everything at once. This is a guaranteed trip to the loony bin. Just make once change at a time and don't go any further until that one improvement to your eating habits is an ingrained part of your lifestyle.

I'm going to give you a little tip that will help this process out immensely. That tip is to take a piece of paper and divide it into two columns. On one side you write the pro's of eating better and on the other side you write the cons of eating better. This sounds simple but this really helps you to see right in front of your face the motivations and reasons why you are taking certain actions with your eating habits. Now a lot of the pro's will take care of themselves, it's the cons you want to be concerned with. What you are going to do is take one of those cons and think for as long as you need to in order to figure out a way to get around that con. It doesn't matter if it takes you days, just figure it out. The way to arrive at any goal is not to find the easiest path but to clear the path as you go. You could wait forever to find the perfect path.

I hope this helps you out.


About The Author

Ray Burton is the author of Fat To Fit that can be found on the fitness website http://www.fattofitbook.com If you would like to read articles on planning your diet to lose weight please visit http://www.planningdiets.com/

What are Antibodies?

by: Joe Mann


What are Antibodies?

Antibodies, also called immunoglobulins are large y-shaped proteins which function to identify and help remove foreign antigens such as viruses and bacteria.

In mammals there are five main types of antibodies including: IgA, IgD, IgE, IgG, and IgM. There are 4 IgG and 2 IgA subtypes present in humans.

Antibodies are created by plasma cells which are derived from the B-cells in the immune system. Due to the fact that antibodies exist freely in the bloodstream or bound to cell membranes, they are said to be part of the humoral immune system.

Every different antibody recognizes a specific foreign antigen. This is because the two tips of its "Y" are different to each antibody are allow different antibodies to bind to different foreign antigens. When the antibody binds to a bacteria, it tags the microbe or virus for attack by the immune system such as killer T-cells. Sometimes, antibodies can directly neutralize the foreign body. The production of antibodies by B-cells is the main function of the humoral immune system.

Autoimmune disorders can usually be traced to antibodies which bind the body's own proteins or epitopes, and these types of antibodies can be detected through serological blood tests. Due to the amazing specificity of antibodies, they have some important practical applications in both medicine for the detection of HIV and other viruses in blood, and in research to purify and detect proteins in the study of molecular biology. For example, currently medicine is using biotechnologically designed monoclonal antibodies which work as an antibody therapy. These methods are being employed recently and are the result of numerous clinical trials in a number of diseases including cancer, and rheumatoid arthritis.

For all your antibody needs and for more antibody information, please visit Antibody Station.

You may ONLY use this article, if you maintain the author's information and website address.


About The Author

Joe Mann is a contributor for Molecular Biology at Molecular Station. http://www.molecularstation.com.

Adult ADD: Use ADD To Make Their Day (And Yours)...

by: Tellman H. Knudson


If you’re not getting what your want out of life, it’s not because you have Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD), you’re a bad person, you don’t have anything to offer the rest of the world, any learning disability, background, or how much money you have. It’s all whether or not you can communicate what’s on your mind in an effective way.

Where I'm from, people don’t generally walk around smiling and hugging you when they first meet you. What I found was that when I said, “How’s it going?” almost all the time, people would say, “Not bad.”

So, one dull, drab, overcast day, while considering ADD and how it affects communication, I said, “Okay, I’m going to totally mess with people. Every single time someone asks me how I'm doing, I'll look them straight in the eye, smile, and say, “I’m doing awesome!" This was before I made much money. I didn't say, "I have ADD, I'm living on Ramen Noodles and grilled cheese sandwiches, and I don't know how I'm going to pay rent." I said, "I’m doing awesome! Things are phenomenal!”

Part of the experiment was to see how it affected my own mindset. I was learning about internal and external communication, too, because ADD sometimes makes it hard to communicate effectively.

So, they would say, “Hi. How are you doing?” and I'd say, “I’m doing awesome!” and smile.

The first thing that happens is: they smile! Why? Because everyone can identify with “doing awesome.” It’s like, “I just won the lottery. I’m doing great!”

After a couple of months I’d walk down the street and people would know what was coming and would always be like, “Man, how is Tellman always doing awesome?” What happens is that you leave a strong imprint in someone’s mind, especially a positive one, and that’s the last thought you leave with them.

Use your ADD to focus your behavior this way, and after repeating, "I'm Awesome!" the next time people see you, their immediate feeling is that experience of feeling awesome, of feeling absolutely amazing.

To this day when I see people that I’m friends with and we have this interaction, it’s always, “I’m doing awesome!” and “I’m doing awesome!” It’s a lift for both people. And it's a great way for people with ADD to improve their skills.

In fact, this is one of the most powerful and simple ADD exercises you can possibly do, and it will be really good for you, if you have ADD and find it hard to communicate easily. But, you have to put some enthusiasm behind it. You also can’t just slump over and walk down the street shuffling your feet, and dress like a slob and say, “I’m doing awesome!” or be distracted, as those with ADD can be, mean it! Dress like today is the day that you get to choose what your entire life is going to be like.


About The Author

Tellman Knudson, a certified Hypnotherapist, is CEO of Overcome Everything, Inc and Hyperfocus. See more information about controlling ADD at http://InstantADDSuccess.com ( http://instantaddsuccess.com ).

Eating Tips For Keeping Fit

by: Jonathon Hardcastle


When it comes to keeping fit, there are a host of responsibilities that you must taken on in order to ensure that the diet and exercise that you maintain has positive effects on the health of your body. In this article, we'll be talking about some simple ways to change your life in order to allow your lifestyle to be more beneficial to your level of fitness.

- Get your nutrition from a variety of sources. The wider the range of the foods you eat, the better your body can get the various nutrients and minerals that it requires to function properly. Sticking to a picky diet of the same foods over a long period of time can have negative consequences when it comes to your health.

- Whenever possible, include garlic as an ingredient in what you eat. Garlic is a veritable wonderfood, helping the body in a large number of ways. Garlic helps the immune system to function more properly, aids the thinning of the blood, and allows the body to produce hormones more readily.

- Keep your alcohol consumption to a minimum. In addition to increasing your risks of cancer and other health problems, alcohol has a lot of calories and little to no nutritional value. In addition, when you drink alcohol, your body's store of B-vitamins is decreased.

- Eat small meals throughout the day. Those who are totally in condition with their body tend to eat small meals roughly around 6 times per day. This allows the body to have a steady flow of nutrients throughout the day, and it also helps the body to regulate insulin, allowing better metabolism of fat and greater chance of building muscle.

- When you can, eat organic foods. While there aren't millions of options available when it comes to organic foods, they are the only known types of foods that are beneficial to health. Many of the ingredients found in common store-bought manufactured foods have not been thoroughly researched over long periods of time, and by eating organic, you ensure that your body is getting what it needs with no damaging additives.

- Be sure to drink plenty of water throughout the day. Getting a lot of water consumption helps the body to eliminate toxins more readily, which can help the body to operate in prime condition.

Of course, it takes more than a proper diet to find fitness in your life. However, following the above tips can be a great supplement to a regular exercise routine. Your body is your responsibility - take the reins today!


About The Author

Jonathon Hardcastle writes articles for http://yourfitnesssource.net/ - In addition, Jonathon also writes articles for http://kidsandteenscentral.com/ and http://yourworkexpert.com/.

Organic Lecithin Has Health And Food Processing Benefits

by: Sarah Thomas


Lecithin or phosphatidycholine (PC) is a phospholipid, first discovered in the 1800s by a French scientist called Maurice Gobley. He extracted the compound from an egg yolk and in 1850 the compound was named lecithin from the word lekithos, which is the Greek term for egg yolk.

This lecithin was first used commercially as an emulsifying agent for a number of years. It could extend the life of many processed foods so the food industry began to add it to all kinds of food products including baked goods, nut butters, candies, chocolates, protein drinks, prepared foods and instant soups. The lecithin would also be added to recipes for flavor and also to be an emulsifying agent.

In the 1930’s when there was a boom in soyabean consumption, the byproduct of the soyabean processing was discovered to include 1.8 percent of hydrophosphatides. If this sludge was put through a process called “degumming” organic lecithin could be extracted and it would be an alternative to the lecithin from eggs. With this new development, lecithin really gained in popularity.

In fact the organic lecithin from the soybean turned out to be a safer product. The animal’s lecithin goes through the kidneys and may come in contact with all sorts of toxins. The soyabean lecithin hasn’t got that kind of potential pitfall so presently soybean lecithin makes up the main part of lecithin sold commercially.

Aside from food, organic lecithin has a multitude of other uses and has been added to paints, metal tape, animal feeds and cosmetics. In addition to that, it is sometimes used as a supplement in things such as capsules, granules or pills.

There are a number of effects that are related to lecithin. For one, it keeps fat dispersed in food. It prevents the oils from separating. In fact, one theory is, that it in this way it may help keep the cholesterol levels in a body low in the same way. This is still a theory though. Lecithin allows the fat content in foods to be reduced while maintaining the taste.

Organic lecithin is comprised of ethanolamine, insotil, phosphatides of choline and other lipids. All living organisms have these substances which are necessary in the human for the muscles, liver and the reproductive tract.

Lecithins must be studied further by the medical research community. It may be a potential treatment for high cholesterol. It keeps the fat in the bile and disperses cholesterol. Right now lecithin has been added to a number of dietary supplements for weight loss.

Organic lecithin holds great promise in the weight loss and cholesterol control fields of medicine. In addition it is very important to modern day food processing.


About The Author

Sarah Thomas is an established freelance writer. You can find more of her writing at http://www.lecithinguide.com and http://www.green-tea-guide.com.

Hypnosis And Ultradian Rhythm – A Natural Strategy For Relaxation And Healing

by: Alan Crisp


Pressure of modern-day life

So many people these days are under so much pressure to perform in one way or another and under so much strain from just everyday living in a fast paced and highly stressed modern world.

It is little wonder then that some people turn to relaxation therapy as a way to slow down the madness and to allow them time to catch their breath. In fact what they are doing is a natural and necessary process of the human condition,that becomes for those who want to reduce the stress, like a kind of pressure release valve, or a time-out to re-focus and perhaps change direction, or fine tune what we are doing.

A new thought

Ernest Rossi, an American psychologist studying the minds activities, found that when a person is not under any pressure to do anything during the day, they remain in a conscious state for about 90 minutes and then move into a trance like state for about 20 minutes, and this cycle is maintained, as long as there is no direct pressure to anything in particular.

This trance time, is like a kind of day-dreaming, or a ‘time-out’ to just catch up with whatever they’ve been concentrating on or doing consciously.

It is also interesting that this cycle, which Rossi called ‘Ultradian Rhythm’ also applies to animals. In considering its application in my field of hypnotherapy and psychotherapy, I realise that we can utilise this natural cycle to help us make best use of our time when learning, studying, or making an important decision. If we work consciously at the task in hand for about 90 minutes, and then take a time out to relax and just let our mind wander, daydream, let the thoughts just float past without trying to concentrate on or understand them, then this may help us to reach a speedy and useful resolution to whatever we are attempting to achieve.

Combination and a new therapeutic strategy

Now, if you take this concept a step further and combine the ‘time-out’ with a good focused hypnotherapy deep relaxation session of the kind I often provide for clients, then the results can be truly spectacular, both in terms of de-stressing, and in terms of creativity and resolution to our task.

This strategy seems to be a worthwhile and highly beneficial tool in the therapist tool box, and also a simple way for those who might otherwise suffer from undue stress and negativity in their day, to relax, have a time to heal, and be creative at the same time.

The message is clear – take several time outs each day to just relax, let go, and let that super powerful creative subconscious mind of your work as it was designed to do and enjoy a greater sense of achievement in life and a greatly reduced strain.


About The Author

Alan Crisp – Clinical Hypnotherapist, Stress and Trauma Consultant, Motivational Trainer and Speaker – http://www.hypnoseek.com.

Alan's consulting rooms are situated in Beckenham on the West Kent, SE London and East Surrey borders.

How To Manage Stress Through Meditation

by: Jason Rickard


Stress is often referred to as the curse of modern era. Meditation is one of the proven methods for stress management. Meditation is a natural healing therapy, famous for its multifarious effects on a person. The routine practice of meditation therapy in the daily life has been seen to remove most of the ill effects of stress. The reasons of stress include busy schedules, change in working patterns and revisal of the relationship concepts. However stress management techniques are given much importance because of the serious impact of stress in the physiological, psychological and social aspect of the person. The relevance of meditation in stress management is mainly due its capability to provide alleviation to the effects of the stress.

Meditation is primarily a concentration technique, in which you focus to provide relaxation to mind. The relaxation of the mind is the basic necessity of stress management. Meditation is not a new technique; it prevails from ancient times as the method to bring tranquility to the mind. The increased acceptance of meditation in stress management is mainly because of the scientific evidence that support its effectiveness in that area. Experiments have shown that meditation will shift the brain waves from the right frontal cortex to left front cortex, which helps to change the mind from a tensed condition to a calmer state. With this practice, the body can switch the brain waves to resting alpha state or relaxing theta state and the stress inducing endocrine secretions such as cortisol and adrenal hormones can also be suppressed. The secretion of endorphins is also substantiated, which is a natural stress and pain reliever.

You can manage your stress through meditation effectively by including it in your daily routine. There are many different types of meditation techniques such as mindfulness meditation, concentrative meditation and transcendental meditation. Meditation practice is simple irrespective of the technique and requires only 15-20 minutes daily. It will be an effortless procedure and does not require any other probes to perform the meditation. To begin your meditation, simply sit or lie down and concentrate on a particular object or your breath.

Meditation is actually referred to as a fourth state of consciousness and regular attainment of the state will reflect in your outlook about the life positively. Not only your mind, but the body is also well maintained by the meditation. Meditation will reduce the psychological symptoms of stress such as depression, anxiety and panic attacks. This will provide behavioral and social changes, which will make you more creative and boost the talents to increase productivity.

The regular practice of meditation will help to manage stress as well as to avoid stress inducing situations. The natural enhancement of talents and mental capability will help for better planning, time utilization and proper management of the situation.


About The Author

Jason Rickard is the owner of http://www.yourfavouriteshop.com - Offering a variety of White Noise CDs to help block noise and relieve the symptoms of tinnitus, hypertension, colic and more - Visit http://www.hapahapa.com for more articles.

A 2 Minute Chinese Weight Loss Secret

by: Rob Maraby


Here is how to rub fat away from your belly

The conventional methods for losing weight and flattening the abs are often tedious and they simply don’t work, they require a lot of sacrifice and are very expensive, each day there is a new book on how to lose those inches!

Today I am going to show you a simple way to remove fat from your belly-it is a simple 5000 year old Chinese method that tales just two minutes of your time!

To begin this exercise lie on your back. Now put the palm of your hands on your navel- then simply rub it as follows.

Use your right hand, then rub clockwise from the center, that is from right to left, first in small circles, then increase the circles until the upper and lower abs are being rubbed when you have covered both the lower and upper abs, reverse the movement counter clockwise , this time the circle gets smaller with each and every counter clockwise rotation until you are back at the navel.

Do not apply force, you want a simple gentle rub, when you get to the navel, repeat from the start again, do this 10-12 times

What is happening when you apply your right hand on your belly and you are performing the clockwise movement, is that your chi- invincible energy is being passed from the hands through the skin to your belly, so as you go in circles, you are applying energy to the muscles of the stomach.

To make this exercise more effective visualize the energy from the hands going through the skin to your belly, gently massaging and burning fat off your abdominal area.

This electricity from your hands- your chi- massages your intestines, your blood vessels and your digestive and bowl system

Fat accumulations are disturbed from their resting place and broken up, where it is passed into the bowl system and eliminated.

This way your stubborn fat is burned away simply by rubbing away!

But there is another benefit- when you rub your abs in a clockwise position you are encouraging proper bowl movement, this relives constipation and allows you to have the proper bowl movements/ Constipation is what usually causes water retention, and weight gain (fat deposit!)

So if you suffer from constipation, this exercise will allow you to have regular bowl movements which will allow you to lose those last few stubborn pounds.


About The Author

Rob Maraby is the author of 25 fitness books , his latest book is the fast abs program- a simple way to get six pack abs in just 4 minutes using nothing but your couch, check it out at http://www.mindnmuscle.com/abs/6-pack-abs-stomach.htm.

Building A Home Gym

by: Jonathon Hardcastle


Due to your busy daily schedule, the time you once devoted to visit the gym has become so limited that actually now prevents you from enjoying a "real" hour of workout without thinking of the million things you have to take care of. Thus, some of your friends decided to create a home gym in an effort to balance work and family responsibilities and manage to stay fit at the same time. But before screaming "That's it!" and bursting out the door to shop till you literally drop, since you have not been using your muscles for a while now, you should better consider the following:

- Goals: The first thing you need to do is to determine your fitness goals. Before selecting which equipment will better serve your particular case it is necessary for you to conclude on what do you want to get out from your home exercising facility. Do you wish to maintain your fitness level or increase it? Do you want to burn more calories and add muscle tone or boost your energy? Moreover, upon deciding on your actual fitness goals you have to estimate which are your objectives; which muscle groups you want to train first.

- Budget: The crucial cost related question comes second, because upon deciding on your fitness goals and objectives you have to determine how much money you have currently available for your house gym project. Keep in mind that a usual price range is between $ 300 and $ 1,000 per equipment and in case you are aiming to buy the best there is, you should at least double those prices.

- Area: Prior to any purchase, you have to decide how much space are you willing to allocate for your home gym. Does the whole basement seem a good idea, or do you have a spare room you use currently to put laundry which can fit your purposes perfectly? Decide on which area of your house is going to be hosting all the equipment you will later carry in and measure its exact dimensions.

- Fitness Machines: In order to meet the previously determined fitness goals and after deciding upon the available budget, you have to go shopping. A variety of fitness stores can supply you with the equipment you will need to train that set of muscles you want, but before accepting an offer try first to look around and check what you can discover. A store might be selling off, a department might have an extremely good deal on a couple of machines, or your neighbor might be interested in selling his treadmill. Check, ask and test the equipment you are considering of buying. After all, you are about to spend a small fortune.

- Expert's Opinion: Ask, listen and write down the opinion of people much more experienced than you. Also it is always better to purchase the equipment you will be using from a fitness specialty store. You are entitled a guarantee and you can choose from a greater variety of machines. Moreover, these types of specialty stores employ professional trainers most of the times, who know what to advice you and why.

- Knowledge: Research and learn. Try to improve your knowledge on safety issues and exercising risks. Read all those equipment directions before attempting to use them and follow them!


About The Author

Jonathon Hardcastle writes articles for http://fitnessandourworld.com/ - In addition, Jonathon also writes articles for http://foodandourlives.com/ and http://4boatingstuff.com/.

Top 10 Reasons For Chronic Chapped Lips

by: Richard Johnson


Attempting to determine the cause for severely chapped lips is never simple. There are various causes you will need to research, rule out and note the results. Fortunately, we compiled a list of the ten most common causes of chronic chapped lips in order to give you a starting point for identification of the culprit.

1. Excess vitamin A may be the cause behind your peeling lips. Regardless of whether the source of your vitamin A comes from whole foods or supplements, taking in more than 25,000 I.U. per day might make you want to examine this further.

2. In addition to excessive vitamin A, you may be ingesting excessive Vitamin B12. The result of this is that you develop a cobalt allergy from taking your B12 supplements and develop crusty, swollen lips.

3. Often overlooked, toothpaste is a very common cause of chapped lips. Most toothpastes contain the ingredient guaiazuline, that commonly results in a contact allergy.

4. Red dye is an ingredient in numerous common products. Items like gum, candy, mouthwash, and lozenges all contain red dye that may cause an allergic reaction.

5. Metal objects like paper clips and pocket change is a very likely culprit for causing chronic chapped lips. An allergic reaction to metal may present itself on your lips.

6. Orange juice as well as any other citrus juice can irritate your lips. Citrus can cause photo-toxic reaction that appears to be chapped lips.

7. Cinnamon flavoring can produce lip chapping. This flavoring is commonly used in gum, candy, and mouthwash.

8. Lipstick containing the ingredient propyl gallate can also cause a contact allergy.

9. Various other lip care products are worth noting when it comes to narrowing in on allergic reactions. Many contain Phenylsalicylate or salol, which is commonly the cause.

10. Excessive fig consumption can also cause an allergic reaction due to photo-toxicity.


About The Author

Richard Johnson writes articles for several web sites, including http://zyfox.com and http://dukof.com.

Adult ADD: Secrets For A Carefree Mind

by: Tellman H. Knudson


Do you suffer from ADD? Does this sound like you?

You can’t remember where you’re going because the time and place are on a sticky note, or you put the information on a note card, and then lost it. It’s on paper, but you can't find the paper!

You definitely need to plug into things that work for you based on how your brain works when you have ADD.

Don't be a sticky note person. If you have ADD, you probably have issues with cluttering things up. Try making things really clean, neat, and organized, and stay that way.

But, let’s say you’re a work-at-home mom with adult ADD. How are you going to keep your schedule straight? How are you going to remember when your spouse is coming home from work that day (if they have no steady schedule), when the kids have events, when you’re trying to make progress in your business all at once?

Simple. Schedule your engagements.

But ADD may give you a problem with scheduling in a physical planner or any type of time management system where you have to write or type the same thing down every day. It's much better to use a technology-based solution, where you can set-up your appointment reminders to recur every week for the next year.

Every so often, change any alarms that sound for appointments, so you get a different sound every seven days or so in order to grab your attention. After a certain amount of time, your ADD may start tuning out that alarm. Variations won't let you forget.

The major point is that time bends. We think it’s steady, but it’s not. You can joke about it, but at the end of the day, if you learn how to master time and how to shape it and form it like a piece of clay, it’s very powerful. You can actually control time to work with your ADD. It’s amazing!

Use your ADD to focus on making time.

Ask yourself, “Is this the best use of my time in order to leverage the rest of the day?” When you get really good at this, even with ADD, you start thinking about leveraging the rest of the week, the rest of the month, even the rest of the year.

Though your ADD may tempt you to ignore the routine of organizing your life, it's the only way you'll succeed. Schedule your tasks and appointments and get rid of the clutter. Control time and never let it control you.


About The Author

Tellman Knudson, a certified Hypnotherapist, is CEO of Overcome Everything, Inc and Hyperfocus. See more information about controlling ADD at http://InstantADDSuccess.com (http://InstantADDSuccess.com).

Do Sleeping Pills Help?

by: Jason Rickard


Sleep apnea is a serious problem with several solutions. Now the challenge would be to find that single solution that is effective for you. You can change your lifestyle, change your diet or change your sleeping habits. If you exerted all your effort to attain a good night sleep but to no avail, you can head on to the drugstore and get yourself some over-the-counter sleeping pills.

Those sleeping pills that you can avail of without a prescription are usually sedating antihistamines. There are also approved sleeping pills that your physician can prescribe after a consultation. These would include temazepam, benzodiazepine, zolpidem and zaleplo.

There is still a controversy in using sleeping pills to stimulate sleep. Sleeping pills are not for everyone and it has different effects to different people. The next morning after taking in some pills, one may feel alive and enthusiastic while some people would feel dazed and unsteady. There are some instances when users take in the pill for several weeks and they would somehow create dependency on the pill and the pill would start to lose its effectiveness. This is actually dangerous and can result to rebound insomnia. When this happens, after patients stopped taking in the sleeping pills there sleep apnea would come back and it would usually take additional medication to properly treat their sleeping condition.

It is important to note that sleeping pills are not long-term solution to your sleeping disorder. It would just allow you to sleep for a certain duration. It is a short-term resolution and wouldn’t treat sleep apnea itself.

There are various side effects of sleeping pills, both good and bad. It is important to consult your doctor on which sleeping pill to use and in what dosage. If you have an ailment or any kind of disease, be sure to point that one out to your doctor as well. Oftentimes, insomnia is related to psychological issues. It is advised to let go of any depression, stress and anxiety before sleeping. Always exercise proper emotional training when in medication for sleeping pills to be efficient and effective.


About The Author

Jason Rickard is the owner of http://www.yourfavouriteshop.com - Offering a variety of White Noise CDs to help block noise and relieve the symptoms of tinnitus, hypertension, colic and more - Visit http://www.hapahapa.com for more articles.

Vocal Cord Dysfunction And Asthma

by: Linda Brown


Did you know that asthma can mimic other diseases or symptoms? Asthma is a chronic inflammatory disease that makes air passages (bronchial tubes) particularly irritant-sensitive. It is characterized by breathing difficulties, which range on a continuum from barely noticeable to extremely severe. The disorder has been increasing in frequency in recent years, and is especially noticeable as an increasing problem amongst children living in large cities. In North America, almost half of school children seem to carry "puffers" with them these days, and the incidence seems to be increasing each year.

Asthma is a highly ranked chronic health condition in adults in most western countries. It is also the leading chronic illness in children. Asthma has no cure. Fortunately, for most patients the symptoms can be managed so that they suffer only minimal and infrequent symptoms and can live an active life. However, there are a number of illnesses which can mimic asthma symptoms and often result in misdiagnosis.

One example of an illness that is commonly misdiagnosed as asthma is vocal cord dysfunction syndrome the symptoms of which can mimic an asthma attack. Usually the difficulty in making an asthma diagnosis is making it early enough. However, sometimes people who do truly have asthma as well, difficulty in breathing can result from abnormal movements of the voice box during breathing. This can so closely mimic a severe asthma attack that a proper diagnosis is made very hard. You can benefit from learning more about vocal cord dysfunction of you think you might be suffering from it instead of asthma.

However, if this condition is recognized, appropriate treatment is much easier to achieve. There are a number of other illnesses that can mimic asthma symptoms, though in comparison to asthma, these are all very rare, and they are also much rarer than vocal cord dysfunction. It is worth keeping this in mind if you are experiencing unexplained differences in your asthma reactions.


About The Author

Linda Brown contributes to several web magazines, including http://web-healthy.com and http://lutok.com.

Calcium Deficiency-are Your Bones Ready For It?

by: Low Jeremy


Calcium is the kind of mineral that is most likely to be a deficient in an average human diet. Currently, calcium deficiency is a common condition to every individual. According to the official statistics gathered by the Federal government, only 21 percent of the total population in the United States is getting the required amount of calcium.

Importantly, having calcium deficiency may result to a long term thinning of the bones, osteoporosis or the softening of the bony tissue and commonly called as “osteomalacia”. Also, the defective metabolism of the calcium in the body during childhood may result to the condition called “rickets” A recent study showed that lack of the required calcium level may cause hypertension or high blood pressure and colon cancer.

Perhaps you’ve heard it many times that calcium deficiency may result to osteoporosis. Osteoporosis, is often diagnosed when it’s too late just to reverse the condition’s development. In United States, close to about 10 million individuals have osteoporosis that is caused by calcium deficiency. Close to another 34 million people is experiencing low bone mass, placing them to the risk of having the disease.

Having insufficient calcium intake to the body may result to the drawing of the reserves of calcium levels in your teeth and bones. With calcium deficiency, your bones will become lighter, hollow, and be porous. In weak bones, possible fractures in spine and weakened hips can take place easily and may end to permanent disability, cruel pain, hospitalization, and even death.

Moreover, there are other calcium deficiency symptoms that can be observed by anyone. Since calcium is also present in nails and teeth, having calcium deficiency may bring brittle nails and tooth decay. In view of the fact that your body requires a small level of calcium to move through soft tissues and bodily fluids every time, inadequate calcium intake can bring these additional symptoms and these are:

• Experiencing muscle cramps.
• Having muscle spasms in arms and legs.
• Leg and back cramps
• Tingling and numbness, and
• Joint pain

Fortunately, to prevent having calcium deficiency, you must take enough amount of calcium whether it’s in dietary form or in calcium supplements. On the other hand, one of the popular ways to prevent calcium deficiency is to take the calcium supplement commonly called coral calcium. However, you must consult first a health care provider for you to have the right amount of calcium.


About The Author

This content is provided by Low Jeremy. It may be used only in its entirety with all links included. For more information on calcium, please visit http://calcium.articlekeep.com.

Top Ten Causes Of Gout

by: Lisa McDowell


The disease of Gout is caused by the accumulation of too much uric acid in the body. Substances called purines are broken down and the outcome is an abundance of uric acid. Purines can be found in tissues all over the body. Purines can also be found in many foods that we eat such as liver, anchovies, peas, and green beans. Generally uric acid is naturally dissolved in the blood. The uric acid passes through the kidneys in the body and then exits the body in the urine. Sometimes though uric acid builds up in the blood when:

1. The body naturally increases the amount of uric acid it produces.

2. The kidneys, for some reason, do not do their job of purifying the blood and does not exit enough of the uric acid from the body.

3. A person eats a diet that consists of foods that have high levels of purines.

When the uric levels in the blood are very high it is then called hyperuricemia as most people that have hyperuricemia do not go onto develop gout. Gout can develop though if there are large amounts of uric acid crystals form in the body.

There are some reasons you can be more likely to get gout.

1. If you have a family history of gout you are more likely to be afflicted with the disease.

2. Men are more at risk to get gout than women.

3. If you drink a lot of alcohol or have a drinking problem in which you drink a large amount on a regular basis than you are more likely to get gout.

4. People who have a weight problem also are more likely to become afflicted with gout. The more obese a person is the higher the chances that they will get gout.

5. Considering that foods high in purines can cause gout it goes without saying that by consuming large amounts of foods high in purines will increase a persons chance of developing gout.

6. If you have had an organ transplant than you are more likely to have gout than those who have not had any organ transplants.

7. Being exposed to lead in any way will increase a person’s chance of getting gout. By knowing the chemicals with lead in them you can decrease your chances of becoming afflicted with gout.

8. If you have an enzyme defect within your body that does not naturally break down purines than you are more likely to get gout. By not breaking down the purines the uric acid crystals can start to form throughout the body.

9. There are some medicines that if taken can increase your change of getting gout such as diuretics, cyclosporine, levodopa, and even aspirin.

10. By taking the vitamin of niacin you increase your chances of developing gout.


About The Author

Lisa McDowell has an interest in Gout. For further information on Gout please visit http://www.cure-gout-now.com/gout.html or http://www.cure-gout-now.com/blog/2006/10/03/top-ten-causes-of-gout/.

Top Ten Causes Of Gout

by: Lisa McDowell


The disease of Gout is caused by the accumulation of too much uric acid in the body. Substances called purines are broken down and the outcome is an abundance of uric acid. Purines can be found in tissues all over the body. Purines can also be found in many foods that we eat such as liver, anchovies, peas, and green beans. Generally uric acid is naturally dissolved in the blood. The uric acid passes through the kidneys in the body and then exits the body in the urine. Sometimes though uric acid builds up in the blood when:

1. The body naturally increases the amount of uric acid it produces.

2. The kidneys, for some reason, do not do their job of purifying the blood and does not exit enough of the uric acid from the body.

3. A person eats a diet that consists of foods that have high levels of purines.

When the uric levels in the blood are very high it is then called hyperuricemia as most people that have hyperuricemia do not go onto develop gout. Gout can develop though if there are large amounts of uric acid crystals form in the body.

There are some reasons you can be more likely to get gout.

1. If you have a family history of gout you are more likely to be afflicted with the disease.

2. Men are more at risk to get gout than women.

3. If you drink a lot of alcohol or have a drinking problem in which you drink a large amount on a regular basis than you are more likely to get gout.

4. People who have a weight problem also are more likely to become afflicted with gout. The more obese a person is the higher the chances that they will get gout.

5. Considering that foods high in purines can cause gout it goes without saying that by consuming large amounts of foods high in purines will increase a persons chance of developing gout.

6. If you have had an organ transplant than you are more likely to have gout than those who have not had any organ transplants.

7. Being exposed to lead in any way will increase a person’s chance of getting gout. By knowing the chemicals with lead in them you can decrease your chances of becoming afflicted with gout.

8. If you have an enzyme defect within your body that does not naturally break down purines than you are more likely to get gout. By not breaking down the purines the uric acid crystals can start to form throughout the body.

9. There are some medicines that if taken can increase your change of getting gout such as diuretics, cyclosporine, levodopa, and even aspirin.

10. By taking the vitamin of niacin you increase your chances of developing gout.


About The Author

Lisa McDowell has an interest in Gout. For further information on Gout please visit http://www.cure-gout-now.com/gout.html or http://www.cure-gout-now.com/blog/2006/10/03/top-ten-causes-of-gout/.

Questions To Ask Your Health Insurance Agent

by: Shad Woodman


Questions to ask your insurance agent. These questions will help to ensure that your agent is being honest with you and help you understand and some of the big differences in the different types of policies.

1. Stop Loss- (The maximum out of pocket you will pay before you have 100% coverage for the rest of the year.) Most companies it will be under $5,000. There is a couple of companies that don't actually offer a Stop Loss. They will have limits to what the company will pay out but they have no limit to what YOU will pay out. This is the most important aspect to your insurance policy. I have seen some people get stuck badly with $50,000-$200,000 worth of medical expenses without a good stop loss.

Question to ask your agent: What is my maximum out of pocket (stop loss) per year before I have 100% coverage?

2. Deductibles- Some companies will have separate deductibles for different aspects of their policies.(Testing deductible, therapy deductible, chemotherapy coverage, separate accident deductibles etc.) This is where some insurance companies depend on there being big holes so that they don't have to cover things that may otherwise be covered. Ex: Things that one company may call testing and therapy, may not be considered the same type of procedure by another company. If something falls between categories for different deductibles, you will be stuck paying bill for all of it. You want a plan that has ONE DEDUCTIBLE. This way there are no gaps. You reach your one deductible each year, then everything that is covered under your policy will be covered as your policy states. It drastically eliminates holes in your policy.

Question to ask your agent: How many deductibles does my policy have?

3. Networks- You want to be in a plan that offers networks. Some companies will offer plans that are good at any doctor, any hospital, anywhere in the country. This is a great selling point but unfortunately, it is also very dangerous. Networks exist for very good reasons. If you have a plan that has big coverage holes in it and you go to a doctor for some reason, anything that is not covered by your policy you will pay 100% of all costs and you will pay 100% full retail price for it. If your plan has holes in it this can be catastrophic financially. Insurance companies and doctors give their customers/patients what is called 'Network Pricing". If you go to a network provider with insurance and something is not covered by your plan, in many cases you will still get the big discount that the insurance company would get just because you have insurance. This is "Network Pricing". Some companies offer nation wide networks so even if you travel a lot you will never be out of network. This is very important.

Question to ask your agent: If my company doesn't use networks and I have medical procedures performed that are not covered by my policy, how much will I have to pay? Do I get a discount because I have insurance? (The correct answer to this is you will have to pay 100% of retail prices. If the company does not use networks, any other answer is either wrong or deceptive.)

4. Coverage per period of confinement- Some companies will have definitions for deductibles as "per period of confinement." Ex: Your plan could have a $1500 deductible but we need to know if it is a yearly deductible or "per period of confinement" deductible. Some companies will list a period of confinement as 90 days. This would mean that if you are hospitalized for the same thing within 90 days you only have to meet one deductible. However, if 91 days later you have another medical problem, you will then have to hit ANOTHER $1500 deductible.

Again, this is another scary scenario.


About The Author

Shad Woodman is a licensed health insurance agent and specializes in marketing health insurance and dental plans online through multiple websites:
http://www.affordablemedicaldental.com
http://www.health-insurance-washington.com
http://www.dentaldoneright.com/

Choosing The Right Health Plan For You And Your Family

by: Shad Woodman


Health insurance can be a confusing. So as a service to our customers we put together this handy little guide to help them decide what their needs really are. These are the types of questions that everyone should ask them selves when considering purchasing a health insurance plan. Money is hard to come and by taking a moment to seriously evaluate your needs, you may be surprised at how much money you can save when shopping for a health plan. There is no point in paying for coverage you will never use!

The following is a brief list of some guidelines and recommendations for choosing a health care plan. Please browse thru this article as it offers some important things to consider when choosing the right health care plan for you, your family, or your business.

1. What is your budget for a health care plan? How much do you think you can afford to spend each month to maintain your health care plan?

2: Type of plan you need: Ask yourself some hard questions: Do you need a major medical plan, a high deductible plan, a health discount plan, prescriptions, maternity coverage, routine care, or dental? .

3. How often do you go to the doctor? Some medical plans will cover routine doctors office visits with unlimited use but they are much more expensive than those that have some limits to doctors office visits. If you never go to the doctor, a plan that includes this type of unlimited benefit would be a waste of your money. Some health insurance policies will cover routine "Wellness Visits" at little or no cost to the policyholder.

4. Do you take any medications? Some health insurance plans include prescription drug coverage. If you don't take any medications, having a health insurance policy that covers prescriptions may be a waste of your money. If you do take medications, make sure that the plan you purchase has enough benefits to it to make it worth the added cost to have prescriptions included in the plan.

5. Do you travel much? If you travel a lot you may want to look for a plan that doesn't require you to stay within a network. The insurance benefit that a company pays out is always better if you can stay within that companies network. Some companies use nationwide networks while others may use more localized networks.

6. Are you self-employed? Self-employed people will likely have different needs than people who work for a large company. It is important to make sure your insurance policy will cover you while you are working. Not all of them will!

7. Do you plan on having children? Maternity coverage is very expensive to add to a policy. Nearly all health insurance companies require you to have a policy in force with them for at least nine months prior to becoming pregnant. If you become pregnant before the end of the waiting period, the insurance company will not cover the pregnancy or the delivery.

8. Are there any medical conditions that are considered "pre-existing"? Most health insurance will have some very strict guidelines for covering pre-existing medical conditions. However, many of the discount programs and the guaranteed acceptance discount programs have no waiting periods or pre-existing condition exclusions. These may be a good option for you. This depends largely on what the condition is and how urgent the need for care is.

9. Do you need dental and vision coverage? Sometimes a dental or vision insurance plan can be like throwing your money away. Several of the discount plans offer exceptional savings at rates that are much lower than the insurance plans. If you need major dental work right away, the dental insurance policies may not be your best choice, as they will have waiting periods for up to 1 year before major dental work will be covered. If this is the case for you, the dental discount plans are your best choice, as they have no waiting periods or limits.

10. Who will the benefits cover? Adding people to an insurance policy can cause the rates to go up. The more people on the insurance plan, the higher the risk of financial loss to the insurance company, therefore the rate must be higher.

Keeping money in your pocket is much easier than making it if you are armed with the proper knowledge about what you are shopping for.


About The Author

Shad Woodman is a licensed health insurance agent and specializes in marketing health insurance and dental plans online through multiple websites:
http://www.affordablemedicaldental.com
http://www.health-insurance-washington.com
http://www.dentaldoneright.com/

Asthma Attack - What It Can Do To You

by: Charles Amith


When asthma strikes, it is usually due to a constriction in the air passageways, which disallows a person to breathe normally and even produce a wheezing sound in severe cases. The main factors that cause the airways to become narrowed and blocked during an asthma attack include a constriction of the muscles surrounding the air tubes, an inflammation and swelling of the lining of the air tubes, and an increase in mucus production, which clogs the air tubes.

Twitchy Airways

The air tube is made up of several layers. On the outside of the air tube there is muscle which, by tightening and relaxing, controls the size of the opening of the air tube (the space through which air must pass). The muscle works by reflex, and is guided by the same portions of the nervous system that control reflexes, like involuntary blinking.

We have little conscious control over the tightening and relaxing of these muscles. Everyone's airways have the potential for constricting in response to irritant, such as cigarette smoke, perfume, or newsprint. In the asthma patient the airways are overreactive and have been described as 'twitchy'.

The overreactive asthma airway responds not just to allergens (like cat dander and ragweed) but also to other factors, like viral infections, barometric pressure changes, exercise, and cold air. During an asthma attack, the muscles surrounding the airways tighten, causing airway narrowing.

Asthma is not a problem limited to muscular constriction of the airways. An equally important problem is the inflammation of the lining of the airways. Inflammation can be understood by describing what happens when you scrape your knee. The scraped area becomes swollen and oozes with a fluid that contains many kinds of cells, some of which help to fight infection.

However, this fluid also contributes to the swelling. In asthma, the innermost lining of the airways is filled with cells and fluid that, as with the scraped knee, are a product of the inflammatory response. These cells and the associated swelling contribute to the obstruction of the airways in asthma attacks. Steroids, the medication most often utilized for difficult to manage flares of asthma, help to reduce inflammation in the airways.

Mucus Plugs

Mucus, which normally lubricates the airways to allow air to flow smoothly, increases in amount during asthma attacks and serves as a sticky plug to clog the airways, especially the smaller ones. All asthma patients are aware of the sensation of trying to cough up mucus. Often, they feel that if they could clear their airways by coughing up a sufficient amount of mucus, their asthma symptoms would subside.

But frequently there is so much mucus that even if one mucus plug is brought up, the same sensation and symptoms persists. It is important to seek your doctor's advice early on if you are unable to clear mucus plugging your airways, since neglected mucus plugging often prolongs asthma attacks.

In addition, when the plugs are allowed to linger they can become a source of infection. For this reason, an antibiotic is often prescribed for patients who are slow to respond to treatment during an asthma attack.

Asthma attacks at varying time intervals. The attacks can be as brief as several minutes or as lengthy as hours or days. Between attacks, there may be symptom-free intervals when it is impossible to tell an asthma patient from someone who does not have it.

A breathing test called spitometry, which is used to determine whether a person has asthma, may be normal in an asthma patient during an asthma-free attack. Nevertheless, spirometry is an important clue for determining whether a patient has asthma and should be part of the doctor's evaluation.


About The Author

Charles Amith reveals a FREE $27 eReport...For The First Time Ever... * Barely Known Secrets * That The Drug Industry Has Been Hiding That Can End The Pain and Suffering Caused By Allergies and Asthma Attacks!"

http://AllergyandAsthmaTreatment.com

Anti Aging Skin Care: 10 Tips To Help Avoid Your Skin Aging Prematurely

by: Donna Kelly


Skin is living tissue. It needs regular care and attention to remain smooth, tight and vibrant. Some signs of aging are inevitable, however there is a lot you can do to influence how quickly your skin ages. How fast your skin ages is significantly influenced by the health and lifestyle decisions you make every day. Making unhealthy choices can cause premature skin aging.

Here are 10 lifestyle tips to help you avoid premature skin aging.

Don’t smoke: Whether you smoke, or you spend time with a smoker, cigarette smoke is damaging and aging your skin. Exposure to cigarette smoke significantly increases skin wrinkles and dryness. Cigarette smoke depletes your body of Vitamin C which is a key ingredient for keeping skin plump and moist.

Manage sun exposure: The sun’s UV rays penetrate deep into skin tissues contributing to wrinkles, dryness, sun burn and, in the worse case, skin cancer. When spending time in the sun protect yourself with a sun screen. A sun screen with an SPF 15 rating, or higher, is recommended. Remember to continuously reapply your sun screen if you are outside for long periods of time, or have been swimming or exercising. Don’t forget clouds do not protect you from ultraviolet ray exposure. You need to protect yourself from the sun, even on a cloudy day. Don't forget your eyes, wear sun glasses. Long term sun exposure can lead to serious health issues with your eyes.

Contrary to popular belief sun beds are not a safer way to tan. Sun beds also emit UV rays contributing to premature skin aging. For a “skin friendly” tan consider self tanning creams.

Exposure to cold weather: If you live in cooler climes cold winds and low temperatures can also contribute to premature skin aging by drying out your skin. If you venture out in the cold make sure to use a good moisturizer.

Eat healthily: One of the most important influences on our skin health is the quality and quantity of food we eat. A balanced diet is a good barrier against premature aging. By eating fruits and vegetables, especially brightly coloured fruit and leafy greens, we are giving our bodies vitamins and antioxidants that combat the breakdown of collagen and elastin in our skin. Collagen and elastin helps keep our skin tight and youthful. It is also important is to make sure you drink plenty of water every day.

Manage stress: To help reduce premature skin aging due to stress be aware of your stress level. Stress and worry cause frowning and, over time, the muscles in the face actually “remember” the stressed and worried expressions. A good anti aging skin care program should include meditation, yoga, gentle exercise or other relaxation techniques. Keeping stress in check will help you look and feel younger.

Exercise regularly: Exercise has a positive impact on muscle tone and blood circulation contributing to skin health and a more youthful appearance. The benefits of a regular exercise program will show on your face, having a bright smile and lots of energy will help you look younger, at any age.

Think about your beauty products: As you age you should use both lighter coloured cosmetics and hair colours. Lighter colours will be more flattering to your skin lightening skin tone.

It is also worth considering AHA (Alpha Hydroxy Acid) based moisturizers and skin care products. AHAs are natural fruit acids found in fruit, sugarcane, and milk. As skin ages natural exfoliation becomes more difficult and dead skin layers build up. AHAs allow the top layer of dead skin to be exfoliated more easily and help to unblock and cleanse pores. AHAs also loosen inter-cellular fluid smoothing fine lines and surface wrinkles and improving skin texture and tone.

Did you know that your lipstick or lip gloss can help your lips not only look great but can also protect them from the sun at the same time ? When choosing your lip products look for lipsticks or lip glosses that contain Sesame Oil and Vitamin E.

Moderate alcohol use: Alcohol contributes to skin aging by dilating small blood vessels in the skin and increasing blood flow near the skin's surface. Over time these blood vessels can become permanently damaged and broken.

Moisturize: Think of all the hot showers and baths you have taken; sure, they clean your skin, but they also dry it out. Our skin also gets drier as part of the aging process. The best thing to combat dryness is, of course, to moisturize. Your local drug store or beauty spa sells a great variety of moisturizers, and one of them will be just the right for your skin type. Ask the beauty advisor or pharmacist for assistance if you’re not sure which one to buy.

Get enough sleep: While we sleep our body, including our skin, recharges and prepares for the next day. Take time to get some sleep – at least 7 to 8 hours per night.


About The Author

Donna Kelly is a trained makeup artist with her own beauty business. As both a business woman and a mom with 2 children Donna understands the time pressures on women today and through this, and other articles, has endeavored to take the complexity out of looking great with some "busy women friendly" beauty tips and advice. If you would like to read more of Donna's articles check out her website: http://www.coloursandscents.co.nz.