Healthy and Medical

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…

Did you know that you can increase good health by making sure that you get enough water? Yes plain water that has
been purified in some way. The water most of us get from the tap is full of chemicals that is bad for our health. Do
not drink tap water, unless you have your own well, which you know is not contaminated.

Drinking water is essential for a healthy body. Water regulates body temperature, lubricates joints, keeps skin youthful and muscles strong.

Water is present in every cell and tissue and involved in so many biological functions: digestion, absorption, circulation and excretion. It helps us with keeping our
hormones balanced and our brain chemistry Relies on water for proper balance. Water gives us energy and strengthens the immune system.

Most people are not drinking enough water and are semi dehydrated. Your body cannot work at optimum level without the water it needs.

What happens when you don’t drink enough water?

I won’t go into all the details, but do want to mention a few things here. All the things mentioned above that water helps keep in balance and lubricated are affected when you don’t drink water. You will not feel as well as you possibly
could, your body does not have what it needs for good health and so your health declines. Read more…

Do doctor visits make you nervous? When you are sitting in the exam room with your health care provider, do you suddenly forget what you wanted to talk about? Try these 3 simple tips to prepare yourself and make the most out of each visit.

1. Write down a list of questions or concerns. Sit down and think about what you have been experiencing. Anything unusual like rashes, headaches, bumps or sores that won’t go away, painful areas? Use the list when visiting your health care provider.
2. Try bringing a friend, significant other, or caregiver with you. Most clinics or doctor’s offices will let you bring someone. Having this person there may help you stay relaxed. Also, he or she may remember to tell the doctor or nurse something that you might have forgotten.
3. Be 100% honest. If questions come up about personal issues like sex, drug and alcohol use, or even how many doses of medication you miss, answer as truthfully as possible. Your health care provider is there to help you, not judge you, and needs to know the facts in order to make the right decisions for your care.

If you have been through most of the anti-HIV drugs out there and are running out of options because they no longer work against the virus, here are a few things to remember: Read more…

You should exercise each and every day. If you want to get the most of your workouts, then try out these healthy exercises for the best possible health benefits.

1. Push Ups: Though they do happen to be rather hard to do, these are one of the best exercises you can do. Pushups are good for your upper body strength and that’s a great thing for your overall health. It can help to start slow because they are hard, especially at first, but the payoff is well worth the hard work. This is the type of exercise that can also get your heart rate up and that’s good for every aspect of your health. Try them out and feel the burn—that just means that it’s working!

2. Leg Lifts: Oftentimes we engage in exercises that fail to work certain parts of our body. One such area is the calves and therefore leg lifts are great for your lower body strength, particularly focusing on your calves. We all want those great looking legs, and this is the type of exercise that will help us to get them. These also happen to be easy enough to do anywhere, and that makes them a healthy and very approachable exercise overall.

3. Sit Ups: Though you do want to incorporate other exercises as part of your regimen, sit ups are one of the best you can do for your abs. We can all stand to strengthen our abdomen muscles, and this is one of the best ways to do so. Get into the habit of doing sit ups each and every day for the best effects. You can do these in the comfort of your home or do them when you are on the go, so they are easy to practice and offer some excellent health benefits.

4. Lunges: If you want a tighter butt, better legs, and stronger hips, then this is the exercise for you. Lunges are hard to do, but you can quickly work your way up as you practice them on a regular basis. Start with stationary lunges for an easy way to break into this exercise, and then move up to walking lunges for a great alternative. These work so many muscle groups and help to contribute to great lower body strength overall, so they’re one of the most perfect exercises that you can do.

5. Jumping Jacks: If you want to get in some cardio and strength training at the same time, then this is the exercise to include in your regimen. Jumping jacks help to get your heart rate up and work your upper and lower body at the same time. This happens to make them a great exercise and one well worth including if you want to get the most bang for your buck.

Though all exercise is good for you, some are better than others. If you want to really bump up what you get out of your regimen, then consider including these great exercises.

Mary Frederick writes about how to obtain a master of health informatics