Healthy Living Tips

MikeA March 31st, 2009

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Degrees Of Stress

Almost everyone in the western world suffers from stress to a certain degree. It’s the curse of modern living. Unfortunately, feeling stressed out, worn out by fatigue or simply by ‘getting out the wrong side of the bed’ can affect our thinking and sometimes badly cloud our judgment. It can also extract a heavy toll on our emotions, our minds and our bodies.

It should be no surprise then, that relaxation as a therapy can be very effective in overcoming stress. Anything from fifteen minutes to an hour every day, or every two or three days, can be extraordinarily beneficial over time.

What Is Meant By Relaxation Therapy?

Watching television is a form of relaxation for some, but it is not recommended as therapy by experts. Why? Because watching TV means being subjected to commercials, sudden loud sounds, rapid flashing images etc. Mostly, the whole tenor is one of excitement rather than relaxation. Relaxation as a therapy should be the opposite.

Achieving Relaxation

So how do we achieve this kind of relaxation? Mainly by turning off the outside world. For example, one of the most effective ways known is a form of hydrotherapy. This is where the subject floats in a special tub of warm water with a lid which insulates him/her from all outside interference such as noise, images, and even light. A supply of air is provided so that the person is completely comfortable but, effectively, in a world of their own.

Of course, it is not necessary to go to this extreme. Another alternative, for example, is to lie on your own bed wearing a face mask and earplugs to gain the same effect. The fewer the number of sensations related to outside activity the better. Instead of earplugs, it might be preferable to provide stereo sound in the form of soothing music or something similar like the sound of running water or tinkling bells.

Proper Breathing

Proper breathing is an important part of any kind of relaxation therapy and it is one of the easiest ways to help you to totally relax. Our breathing can influence many aspects of our being. It can affect our mind, our mood and our body. Simply focus on deep breathing (in through the nose and out through the mouth), and after some time you will feel its beneficial effects, especially if you’ve taken care to ensure the minimum of interruption from outside influences as discussed above.

The Benefits Of Relaxation Therapy

Recent studies have determined that heart disease is often linked to anger and irritability and that these characteristics are just as strongly linked to mental stress. An excess of stress brings about ischemia and can lead to, or even cause a heart attack or stroke. Relaxation takes on added importance in light of this knowledge. Managing your stress levels can significantly help you to manage your anger and attitudes and thereby lead to a healthier heart, among other benefits.

Relaxation therapy is a also a necessary precurser to a number of somewhat deeper forms of meditation and other techniques, such as yoga, acupuncture, transcendental meditation, relaxation massage and hypnosis, all of which (and more) will be covered in later articles.

Mike Alexander

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Tags: acupuncture, deep breathing, heart attack, hypnosis, massage, meditation, relaxation, stress relief, stroke, yoga

• 3. Healthy Minds
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MikeA March 26th, 2009

Mind And Body

Healthy living, when the aim is to have a long and enjoyable life, has every bit as much to do with the mind as the body. Debate still rages about the effects of positive thinking on the ability of the body to heal itself. Nonetheless it is generally recognized that an optimistic attitude and a reasonable degree of self-esteem have been associated in an overwhelming number of studies with physical wellness and health that leads right into old age.

Prevention Or Cure?

“So what is covered here?”, you might ask. “Are you offering tips on how to stay healthy or is the focus on remedies for the ailments that might bother us?”

Well, the answer is: both of the above… and lots more. In the case of prevention, I offer tips on how to enjoy a healthy lifestyle and look after the needs of your mind and body. As far as remedies go, I suggest natural solutions that might be considered first, particularly for relatively mild conditions or those for which medical science has yet to provide a convincing treatment.

What About Conventional Medicine?

Does this mean I am skeptical about conventional medicine, as provided by your doctor?

Absolutely not! It’s just that I think equal weight should be given to all forms of healing, at least until such time as intelligent assessment deems one to be superior to another. I am aware of some of the pitfalls that can come from an almost religious belief in what some call ‘mumbo-jumbo’ cures. But similarly, I am also skeptical about relying wholly on one answer from one person who has been trained to look in one particular way at all ailments—over-prescribing of antibiotics is a good example of what can go wrong with such a narrow outlook.

Advances in modern medicine are truly amazing. Nevertheless, any doctor, if he’s honest, will admit that there is still far more to learn about how the body and mind work than the sum of all knowledge currently available. So far, they have only scratched the surface.

A Long And Enjoyable Life

So why do I think I’m qualified to offer health tips? Am I a physician? No, but I’m now almost 70 years old and I think I’ve learned a thing or two in my long life. I’ve made many mistakes, including some made during the course of my marriage of 45 years and bringing up a son and a daughter. However, both our offspring are now in their forties and seem settled happily into their own lives so we can’t have done too badly. My wife too is still with me and putting up with my funny ways but we are still able to laugh at (and with) each other. We’ve experienced hardship and setbacks, including in my case, ill-health (I had a devastating stroke 15 years ago) but we’ve also experienced travel and adventure and can still enjoy each other’s company.

I joined the Royal Marines at 15 and from the age of 18 served most of the next decade in the commandos, eventually becoming the youngest sergeant in the corps. Fitness and survival skills were paramount for me then but went into decline over the following years. However, my stroke, which left me crippled, was a wake-up call and I now do a 10 km walk every other day and a one hour relaxation session in the intervening days. The result is that I feel almost as fit and healthy now as I did in my younger days (not taking my disability into account, of course).

Product Reviews

You will find brief reviews of various products I think you might be interested in, and which are related to the subject matter, peppered throughout this site. Where they appear, there is invariably a link to the actual product as well. This does not mean I have personally tried the product in question (frankly, that would be impossible anyway) but that I wish to draw your attention to it. By the same token, the inclusion of such a review does not amount to a recommendation either but rather a referral for your consideration.

In closing I would like to stress that I’ve tried to make navigation of this site as straightforward as possible. Simply browse the menus in the right sidebar or, for current posts, scroll below here to view them. Also, I very much hope you will support the advertisers by reading about their products. After all, they make it possible for me to run this website.

Mike Alexander

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Tags: diet, healthy remedies, long life, mind and body, positive thinking, preventive care, self healing, staying healthy, stroke

• 1. Healthy Living
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