Everyone needs sleep. Sleep allows the body to rest and affects both physical and mental health. While scientists are unsure of everything that sleep does for the body, there is no question that sleep is necessary for survival. But, how much sleep does a person really need?
The amount of sleep a person requires is affected by the person’s age. As people age, they tend to need less sleep. Babies need an average of 16 hours of sleep per day and teenagers require approximately nine hours. By the time someone is an adult, they generally need an average of seven to eight hours in order to remain in optimal health. Some people may function effectively on as little as five hours of sleep and others may need as many as ten hours per night in order to feel their best.
Other factors that affect someone’s sleep requirements are the amount of sleep they have had in recent days and their general health. For example, a pregnant woman usually needs additional sleep in her first trimester. Someone who is ill or has a depressed immune system generally needs additional rest as well. When the immune system is depressed, the body produces chemicals to fight infection; these same chemicals induce sleep. Very elderly people often find that they sleep less than when they were younger adults. Read more…
Between the job and house and the kids, we are too tired to do anything extra by the end of the day. We could all use more energy. The most common cause of fatigue is stress. Stress causes tension and tension zaps emotional and physical energy. There are many things that we can do to help boost our energy levels.
Exercise makes you tired? That is a fallacy. Exercise actually releases tension and helps you feel more energized. It stimulates the cells and circulates the blood and oxygen in the body. It also makes the body produce endorphins which make you feel full of energy. Depression can cause us to feel sluggish and tired. Exercising doesn’t have to be strenuous either. Dancing, raking leaves, and swimming or playing tennis are all great forms of exercise and stress relief. Exercise also promotes sound sleep.
As we said before, stress can sap energy, making us feel sluggish. So, by decreasing stress, we can inadvertently increase our energy level. When we are happy and not depressed, we feel better mentally and physically. Some other ways to decrease stress include:
-Listening to “easy listening” music, “Sounds of Nature” cd’s or classical music. All of these have been found to have a relaxing effect. Conversely, hard rock, loud, harsh music can over stimulate and actually cause tension. Read more…
How often do you find yourself saying, “I’m so stressed out!” If you’re like many people, such a statement is a part of our everyday lives. Often we don’t take the time to relax our bodies and minds, refresh our outlook, and give ourselves much needed time away from the pressures we face on a daily basis. Unfortunately, over time, ignoring the buildup of stress can affect both physical and mental health. Along with draining our energy and decreasing our level of performance, stress can also wear down our bodies, contribute to emotional imbalance, high blood pressure, decreased circulation, headaches, depression, and overall poor general health. Below are a few simple strategies you can bring into your life that can help you free your body and mind from tension.
1. Breathing
Breathing right can help improve your posture and lung capacity, as well as your peace of mind. The great thing about utilizing breathing techniques to decrease stress is that you can use them anytime throughout your day: at work, in your car, on the phone, even waiting in line at the supermarket. The first step to breathing properly is to become aware of how you breathe. Awareness is always the first step to making a conscious change. Most of us use our lungs sparingly; our breaths are shallow because they’re surrounded by tension. To try deep breathing, place your hand on your lower abdomen. When you inhale, concentrate on pushing your hand out with your belly first, then filling up the rest of your lungs so your breath comes in bottom to top. In this way, you are using the full capacity of your lungs. Inhale through your nose and exhale out through your mouth and take long, slow breaths. Even after doing this just ten times consecutively, you should feel your shoulders drop a bit, and your neck extend upward. (Note: if you become light-headed while deep-breathing, switch to your regular breathing pattern and resume deep breathing when the feeling has passed.) If you practice this type of deep breathing just once a day for five or ten minutes, you will soon become so familiar with the technique that you can put it to use anytime without even thinking twice. Soon you’ll be going through your day breathing deeply and feeling great. Read more…
The options for drinks seem to be at an all time high with energy and sport drinks, new flavored sodas, tropical fruit juices, fancy vitamin water, and even water with protein appealing to all ages. Sodas and sport drinks, however, can have as much as 13 teaspoons of added sugar. It is especially important to look at the serving size on the nutrition label. So if you quickly read that a beverage bottle says 80 calories, you may need to look again. For example, if the serving size sates 2.5 servings/bottle, you need to do the math. In this case, the 80 calories beverage actually contains 200 calories. Similarly, not all fruit juice is alike. Many do provide 100% juice but be careful of marketing. SunnyD may look like orange juice and sell you on it’s 100% vitamin C, however it’s second ingredient is high fructose corn syrup as well as other ingredients not found in juice.
So what is a parent to do? Certainly, 100% fruit juice can be counted as a serving of fruit in a child’s diet. Just be careful of portion sizes. Offering OJ in a small glass (4- 6 oz) is great at breakfast but shouldn’t be the main choice of the day. Orange slices would be a great option, providing beneficial fiber and phytochemicals. If the soccer moms are bringing in sports drinks, you may need to be the one to point out that water is just fine. Sport drinks can be useful for the athlete who vigorously exercises for more than an hour, but isn’t necessarily needed for kids, teens, or adults. It is more important that you child is hydrated. Have your son or daughter drink water at least a half hour before his/her practice. Bring a water bottle to ensure he can drink during breaks in the game. Offering watermelon after the game is great as it contains 90% water. Finally, most adults and kids get plenty of protein (think cheese, milk, peanut butter, chicken, tofu, etc). Adding protein to a beverage just comes down to marketing again. Similarly, children consume plenty of vitamins in real food as well as fortified cereals and bread. Drinking vitamin water adds no real health benefit.
When you are out and about doing errands with the kids, it is quite convenient to just to purchase sodas, Slurpies and even a Jamba Juice for you family. Again, it is all about portions. A 16 oz Jamba Juice Mango-A Go Go has 300 calories. Ask for an extra cup and split it up between your kids or just ask them to only fill it up half way (it is hard to stop halfway once it is in your cup). Even for yourself as you drop in to Starbucks for a 12 oz pick-me- upper café mocha (with whip cream of course) you’ll be drinking in 260 calories. Having young children have sips of your frosted mocha is not a great idea because caffeine can have more of an effect on children whose body weight is much less than an adults. Caffeine can cause upset stomachs and disrupt sleep. Read more…
Are you suffering from recurring Urinary Tract Infections? If you are, I have good news and bad news. The good news is I have a proven guaranteed remedy I would like to share with you. The bad news is if you don’t find a cure for your recurring UTI you could be asking for other serious health complications.
Long Term Consequences of Recurring UTI
Successful natural remedies are being uncovered every day and the one thing they all have in common is that they treat the body as a whole. It only makes good sense . . . if you are in the habit of only treating your “symptoms,” then you are missing the real potentially deadly underlying cause.
Fact is many diseases have common causes that are complicated by poor lifestyle, stress and environmental factors like toxins and unhealthy foods.
The danger of recurring urinary tract infections is that the bacteria causing the inflammation can travel up the urinary tract and attack the “upper” urinary tract.
Between your kidneys and your urinary bladder you have what’s called “ureters.” These ureters are long delicate muscular ducts (10-16 inches long) that pump your urine away from the kidneys into your bladder.
Every 10-15 seconds small amounts of urine are emptied into your bladder. If the urine stops moving or backs up into the kidneys, your kidneys can get infected. This can happen from an upper urinary tract infection or when tiny mineral deposits travel into the ureters and become urinary stones. This often causes nerve damage leading to urinary incontinence. About 13,000,000 people suffer from urinary incontinence in the U.S. Read more…