Healthy Living Tips

MikeA April 2nd, 2009

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Exercise

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.

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.

Mike Alexander

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• 1. Healthy Living
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MikeA March 31st, 2009

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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• 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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