Healthy Living Tips

MikeA May 10th, 2010

Foreword By The Author

Statistics show that the western world is experiencing a huge increase in rates of obesity and that this is true among all age groups and both sexes. It is now realized that this is mainly because people are more inclined than ever to over-eat on ‘junk food’ and, despite knowing better, neglect to ensure they have the recommended intake of fruit and vegetables. Additionally, the irresistible lure of television and computer games is promoting an indolent lifestyle that is exacerbating the problem, particularly among the young.

Mike Alexander
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Discrimination

It has been reported that airline carriers are thinking about weighing individuals when they buy their tickets and charging for their services by the pound. They’ve even suggested that people who do not fit in one seat should pay for two tickets.

Many would look upon these extreme measures as discrimination, plain and simple. Nevertheless, many people happily denigrate the overweight through taunts and name-calling and by dwelling on other comparitively trivial areas such as the dilemma they must have of finding super-sized clothes etc. The truth is that some people are naturally slim while others are not. In the case of the latter, fighting against obesity is an ongoing battle that some win and some don’t. They need encouragement, not ridicule.

Fashion And The Media

One of the great ironies of modern life is that the fashion industry, supported by the celebrity media, promote being super slim as the ideal body shape. This only helps to keep the social stigma of being overweight alive. At the same time, it is very difficult for people who have excess body fat to aspire to the accepted norm they are constantly bombarded with on television and in magazines. The truth is that the desire to possess an excessively thin body is not normal and certainly does not help those who often see it as an unattainable goal.

Excess weight is a medical problem and should be treated as such, not for the shallow self-gratifying purposes the media would have us support, but for the severe health difficulties associated with not having a balanced diet and an active life. Discriminating against the overweight and obese is cruel, but not encouraging them to lose weight is worse.

The Correct Approach

The correct approach to obesity should involve eliminating consumption of ‘junk’ foods, increasing consumption of fruit and vegetables, more exercise, and a lot less time spent in front of the television and computer or playing video games.

Ideally, severely overweight people, if they can, ought to talk to a nutritionist about their recommendations regarding a balanced diet. They also need to keep themselves informed about what is healthy and what is not, because a lot just do not know what is best for them. They should be encouraged to only have nutritious foods available in the house or at work. Keeping junk foods around and seeing them all the time only makes the desire to eat them all the harder to resist.

Dealing With The Stigma

The best way to deal with the social stigma of being overweight is for people to accept themselves for who they are; that it doesn’t matter what they look like to others, but to try harder to overcome their eating problems with a more balanced diet for health reasons alone. Obesity must not be considered just a pounds issue but, more importantly, a health issue.

And they should keep trying. It’s an ongoing procedure. There may be obstacles sometimes, but they ought to stress in their own minds the successes they’ve had and the ways they’ve performed well. It’s a form of positive thinking to achieve goals and share them with others if they help along the way.

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Tags: childhood, diet, exercise, nutrition, obesity, positive thinking, stigma, stress

• 3. Healthy Minds
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MikeA September 19th, 2009

Foreword By The Editor

This article by Stephanie Morris discusses anxiety and panic attacks from the standpoint of someone who was once a sufferer herself but who found that, through self-help, she was able to overcome them. If you find her article helpful, may I suggest that you visit her site (you’ll find details in her ‘bio’ at the end of the article). Thank you Stephanie, for your insight.

Mike Alexander
For all your content needs go to ClipCopy Content Solutions

The Role Of Stress

A lot of money is made by doctors and drug companies off people who unfairly have to suffer with panic and anxiety attacks. Unfortunately, of course, life isn’t fair. However, there is new research being conducted all the time and it is now recognized that one of the main reasons why panic attacks continue to pop up in life is due to unhealthy levels of stress.

Other factors like mental genetics and chemical imbalances are there as well but many times unhealthy stress can activate these too. That said, panic and anxiety attacks are something you probably should be able to control most of the time, if you know how.

What Are The Causes?

Anxiety attacks usually begin in the brain and cause all the affects from there. You might be wondering what, at that point, is going on in the brain. One answer is that oxygen, which is carried to the brain in the blood supply, is responsible for the stability of the levels of different chemicals. That’s why exercise is one of the best ways to fight anxiety. It increases the amount of oxygen delivered to your brain.

But different forms of unhealthy stress can be very hard to manage when they are thrown on you at multiple times in the day. It’s like an evil circle; stress causes anxiety, and anxiety causes yet more anxiety, which leads to panic and then it can just snowball from there.

That’s why medication is not necessarily the best way to go about fighting anxiety. Once you stop taking it you will continue to suffer.

Two Main Treatments

There are two ways that I think are best: self-help or hire a doctor for some therapy. Personally I think the self-help way is better because you can be more honest (not to mention that there are some great tools out there to help you).

Hiring a doctor can actually work against you. You will have to bend to their personal and professional schedules. You may be left with questions unanswered and that can just put you into a greater state of anxiety.

Not going the doctor and therapy route leaves you with self-help. That is the best way for most people because there are so many tools that lead you in the right direction. During that process you will get to know yourself a lot better and that will breed ever more confidence. That confidence will then help you become the master of your anxiety and panic.

About the Author

Stephanie, until recently, was a sufferer of panic and anxiety. Through a lot of trial and error, she learned with success about how to treat anxiety attacks. You can learn about the exact tools she herself used to stop panic attacks.

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Tags: anxiety, exercise, panic attacks, positive thinking, relaxation, self healing, self-confidence

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MikeA April 2nd, 2009

Foreword By The Author

Regular exercise is an essential element for a long and healthy life. Not only that but a good exercise regimen will stay with you for the rest of your life and enhance your appearance, build self-confidence and improve your mind. People who are physically fit, regardless of their age, both look and feel good.

You should try to balance your physical activities with a reasonable amount of rest. Many experts in the field of aging now believe that regular exercise along with the proper amount of rest may actually add years to your life span. In fact, results from a number of tests indicate that agility and muscular strength, even in the elderly, can also be enhanced with the right balance of these two factors.

Do some kind of physical activity every day and complement it with some type of structured exercise, such as a 30 minute brisk walk, at least two or three times a week.

Mike Alexander
For all your content needs go to ClipCopy Content Solutions

Stress Management

There are different types of stress: mental, emotional and physical. Emotional stress seems to take the greatest toll on the average person.

Not that all stress is bad. In fact, life would be extremely uninteresting if it were not for the challenges we face every day. However, too much, too often, with no effective or appropriate outlet, does not allow the body and soul to recuperate. You might consider a typical week and see if you can identify the things that might be causing you anxiety or stress. Once identified, they can more easily be attacked and eliminated.

Stress can be a killer. A life filled with stress can wreak havoc on your body and contribute to, if not cause, a number of serious illnesses such as heart attack, stroke, asthma, gastric problems, menstrual disorders, ulcerative colitis, angina, irritable colon, hypertension, ulcers, headaches, etc.

Stress relief in the form of relaxation therapy is probably the best way to manage the problem.

Sleep

Getting proper sleep and learning to relax are both valuable in maintaining a healthy body and mind. Sleep is an absolutely vital component in everybody’s life but as one gets older, the actual amount of time needed for sleeping tends to lessen (this is not the case for everyone, however).

The quality of the sleep one gets is equally important. Proper ventilation, a pillow of just the right height and consistency, an even and comfortable temperature and a minimum of interference in the form of sound or flashing lights is important. Clearing one’s mind of thoughts about tomorrow, or what you did today, or particularly of thoughts about your problems, can help you relax more easily and slip into sleep mode with a minimum of fuss.

Sex

Of all the instinctive desires that people are subject to, sex is probably the most consistently persistent. Yet it is only in recent times that this basic human need began to be fully understood and accepted. Now that it’s importance is at last recognized, at least by some, its rightful place in human affairs has been accepted. No longer are people expected to fight against its influence over their lives. Despite remnants of various religious, social, and moral misgivings, most people are no longer critical of others, or themselves, for the part it plays in their lives.

There can be no successful stress management regime without an understanding and acceptance of the need for satisfaction and control of this basic instinct. Indeed, it is now generally accepted that a healthy sex life is absolutely essential for a long and happy life. If the person does not have a partner, or they or their partner are in some way disabled, then masturbation is a perfectly acceptable and valid alternative for satisfying this need.

A healthy libido is one of the surest indicators of overall health. It ‘rears its head’ in childhood (much to many people’s chagrin), develops into a raging torrent of demand by early adulthood, then enters a slow decline over the following years. It never leaves though and, despite everything that was previously thought, many older people have a satisfying love life until the day they die of old age. Indeed, there is a train of thought developing among some health professionals that an active sex life, whether alone or with a partner, is a very important component of longevity.

Laughter

People are naturally attracted to someone with a good sense of humor. Everyone is capable of developing a good sense of humor by associating with and surrounding themselves with pleasant and light-hearted people. Laughter is now well known to be a tonic for the soul and can be one of the best ways of improving your mental outlook.

To get the most out of this facet of life, try to think with a positive attitude and see the funny side of things. Also, read humor, watch humorous entertainment and associate with funny and witty people as often as you can.

Food

Eating the right amount of tasty, nutritous food is really important to your health, as is the variety and the balance of different types of food. Eating healthy foods and avoiding those high in fats, sugar, sodium and cholesterol will help to lessen the risk of high blood pressure, heart disease and other problems. Remember too, that we are what we eat, as the saying goes. What that simply means is that our intake of vitamins and trace elements etc, all of which are essential to health, come from the food we eat.

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Tags: anxiety, asthma, childhood, colitis, exercise, heart attack, humor, hypertension, keeping fit, laughter, libido, long life, mind and body, physical activity, positive thinking, relaxation, self-confidence, sleep, staying healthy, stress relief, stroke, ulcers

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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?

^ Laughter: The Best Medicine ^

“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 six years 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

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

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