Deyhydration May Be Your Health Problem
Indigestion, ulcers, kidney problems, urinary tract infections, fatigue, dry skin, headaches, constipation, joint problems… The list could go on and on. What do all these ailments have in common? If you have any of these conditions, it very well could be dehydration, which is more common than people realize.
“Dehydration” means not taking enough water into the body. If you are not drinking at least one quart for every 50 pounds of body weight, then you are not giving your body enough of the vital “fluid of life” we call water.
Most people would ask “Why is water so important?” Normally the body is made up of more than 70 percent water. The body needs water to carry out its many functions, including formation of blood and lymph to carry nutrients and oxygen to every cell of the body and to take away wastes and carbon dioxide that can accumulate to toxic levels if not eliminated.
Consider that at least 66 percent, or two-thirds, of Americans don’t drink enough water, and 10 percent don’t drink any water at all. Most people take better care of their car than they do their own body. They wouldn’t dare run their car’s engine without water and motor oil. But a car is just a machine that wears out and is then discarded. A person’s body should be more important to them than that.
Water is essential, just like breathing air. Our body can go without food for much longer than it can without water. So water is fundamental to being healthy. Taking in enough clean water should be the first thing to consider when adopting a program to improve health, before anything else, including nutrition and vitamins. Without water, no other health measure will have much benefit.
For those who refuse to take in enough water, eventually it will catch up with them when their body begins to break down and one or more of the symptoms listed above show up. Then they will want a magic pill to try and fix things, or maybe then they will start to listen to their body. Can you hear your body calling: “Water. Please, give me water.”
Dr. Tim Holcomb is the “Tox Doctor”, the source for information about living a toxin-free life by avoiding toxins from your water, air, household chemicals, and electrical products, and how to detoxify them from your body. Register for his free monthly newsletter at thetoxdoctor.com thetoxdoctor.com
How Smokers Quit
Let’s talk about why we smoke. It may come as no surprise to smokers but most nonsmokers do not understand how strongly addictive tobacco products can be. Like an old school advertisement used to say, “It’s what’s inside that counts.” It begins with nicotine.
Nicotine is a drug that is a natural component of tobacco. Nicotine is highly addictive and is considered by many to be as addictive as heroin or cocaine. The longer one smokes the more the body becomes physically and psychologically dependent on nicotine.
Researchers find that smokers must break their psychological and physical dependence in order to become smoke free long term.
Once smoke is inhaled the nicotine is carried deep into the lungs. Once in the lungs it is absorbed quickly directly into the bloodstream and travels through the body.
Nicotine exerts a dramatic affect on many parts of the body such as the heart and blood vessels, hormonal system, metabolism, and the brain.
Unfortunately nicotine is found in breast milk and even in cervix mucous secretions of smokers. During pregnancy, nicotine freely crosses the placenta and has been found in amniotic fluid and the umbilical cord blood of newborn infants.
Now here’s the way the psychological addiction takes hold so deeply. Once inhaled the nicotine triggers pleasurable feelings that induce the smoker to crave smoke more. This drug also acts like a depressant by interfering with the way information travels between nerve cells.
Once the nervous system becomes adjusted to the presence of nicotine, smokers find their habit increasing by several additional packs per week. Additionally, their blood nicotine levels increase proportionally.
Once level of tolerance to the drug is developed by the smoker the smoking habits continues to increase.
What Happens When Smokers Quit
According to the American Cancer Society, the following benefits are experienced once smokers break the habit.
• 20 minutes after smoking stops the heart rate and blood pressure drops.
• 12 hours after stopping, carbon monoxide levels in the blood drop to normal.
• 2 to 3 weeks after stopping circulation improves and lung function increases.
• 1 to 9 months later coughing and shortness of breath decreases. Additionally the cilia fain lungs regain normal ability to handle mucus, clean the lungs and reduce risk of infection.
• 5 years after quitting the risk of stroke is reduced to that of a nonsmoker of 5 to 15 years.
• 10 years after quitting the cancer death rate is ½ that of continuing smokers. “
So How Do I Quit?
Use these 5 Top Tips To Begin Your Life As A Nonsmoker
1. Eliminate guilt. Changing a habit takes several weeks so a few missteps are part of the normal pattern of change. Don’t beat yourself up should you finding yourself smoking again after you’ve started your program.
Guilt triggered emotions and reactions cause more failed nonsmoking results than any single other factor. Be kind to yourself and forget about guilt. You will be successful if you follow this program.
2. Decide on a date when you will become a nonsmoker (set it close enough to be realistic but not so close as to be stressful)
3. Write the date on a 3 X 5 business card and look at it at least twice a day for the next 30 to 45 days (in the morning before getting out of bed, at noon/optional, at night as the last thing you do before retiring)
4. Spend some time during the day visualizing yourself as a nonsmoker. It may take a while to get comfortable with this exercise but it is well worth the effort. Find a quiet spot where you won’t be interrupted for at least 15 minutes.
Turn off the ringer on your phone and let everyone know you need some quiet time. See yourself involved in activities as a nonsmoker. Enjoy the feelings, sights and sounds that would naturally be part of the surroundings that you are visualizing. Allow yourself to spend as much time as you want, enjoying activities as a nonsmoker.
5. Most often there are events or activities that have created habit patterns that are directly connected to smoking. For some it is the first cup of coffee in the morning. Others find when they are out socializing with friends they smoke more than at other times.
Review your own smoke related habits for situations that tend to contribute to heavier smoking than other activities. Eliminate or modify the frequency of times when you engage in those activities for the next 30 to 45 days.
About The Author:
Alex Rich PhD is a hypnotherapist with a private practice in personal development and business coaching. Did you know nearly 85% of those who try to stop smoking fail. howsmokersquit.blogspot.com Click here to learn how you can quit smoking in 1 hour.
Copyright 2007 – Alex Rich, PhD. All Rights Reserved Worldwide. Reprint Rights: You may reprint this article as long as you leave all of the links active, do not edit the article in any way and give author name credit.
Lifestyle Disease – What Is It?
So what exactly are lifestyle diseases? I’ve heard the term mentioned so often during the past few years I decided it was time to find out once and for all.
When did lifestyle disease first begin to emerge? Before we can answer that question let’s first look at which diseases fall under the lifestyle disease banner. Well how about this for a “hall of disease fame” line-up:
Cancer..Heart Disease..Alzheimers..Parkinsons..Osteoporosis..Diabetes and
Osteoarthritis. That’s just for starters. It’s quite a scary “cast of characters.” And the scariest part is, they have been on the increase since the early 1940’s.
Why?
Speaking with those experts who deal with disease for a living, there are a number of factors. What “floored” me was this following explanation:
“The increase in the incidence of the above-mentioned diseases would be associated with supposed improvements in people’s lives.”
What! An improvement in people’s lives. You mean people’s lives have got better yet they’ve become more susceptible to some of the most devastating diseases known to man.
How?
How could lifestyles possibly bring about the onset of cancer, heart disease, obesity, diabetes etc. Well, one of the main culprits has been the deterioration in nutritious levels of food. More high fat and high sugar foods; food preservation techniques; and improved farming methods have all contributed in one way or another to the lack of proper levels of nutrition in food. Add to this low cost food, more processed foods to satisfy commercial needs rather than seasonal fresh foods, less physical exercise, increased leisure time, and continued improvements in modes of transport and it begins to take it’s toll.
Up until the late 19th. and early 20th. centuries, communicable diseases such as pneumonia, influenza and tuberculosis accounted for between 60 to 70 per cent of human deaths in the western world. Improved medical techniques and breakthroughs gradually brought this figure down. Then, enter the new breed – what we know as degenerative disease. It’s particularly deadly because it forms over time… sometimes degenerative or lifestyle diseases don’t surface for years. In some cases, it can take up to half a century for someone to be diagnosed with cancer but the process would have commenced many years before.
Since the 1940’s, lifestyle disease has been on the rise and by the time we reached the new millenium, it would account for over 60 percent of all deaths in western society.
So what’s the bottom line? I’m not going to suggest any cures in this article but getting the proper levels of nutrition would be a good start. People appear to be dying longer and living shorter.
And what does the next 100 years hold in store for us? Let’s hope a huge turn around in lifestyle disease incidence.
Dean Caporella is a professional Journalist and Sportscaster who takes an interest in a wide variety of topics. Dean says.. “You know, it’s been said armageddon may come in the shape of a super bug. That’s a scary thought. At yourinfectionsite.com yourinfectionsite.com I hope to provide reliable news and information for people to become a little more educated on this sometimes avoided subject.”
Digesting The Often Unpalatable History Of Dieting
When it comes to selling diets, it’s always “new”, always “revolutionary” and it is always “the diet to end all diets.”
But let’s take a close look at the history of dieting because, as that great American man of letters George Santayana said, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it” – and those words are as true of eating behavior and obesity as they are of any other area of human history.
There is pretty much general agreement on the physiological creation of obesity. How many millions of people have starved to death down human history, no-one knows. But evolution grew to favor those who were adept at converting easy food pickings into fat stores for survival during the lean times.
And throughout much of history until only quite recent times, for the vast majority of people the major issue with food has always been getting enough of it, not unwanted fatness. Until about 200 years ago, most guidelines on diet were mainly to do with custom and culture, particularly issues of religious observance.
Prior to this time, various early Greek and later European sages, when commenting on the moral benefits of relative moderation and temperance, also noticed some of the apparent health benefits but health was rarely the major focus of their discourses.
It is said that William, the Norman Conqueror of Britain, was spurred by his failing riding abilities to attempt to lose weight. He tried drinking extra wine as a substitute for food, foreshadowing some modern dieters’ habits of attempting to suppress appetite with alcohol or cigarettes.
It was in the late 1700’s that social commentators first started noticing a rising level of obesity in Europe and the US, this being the time of new wealth creation and the fast rise of new middle classes keen to acquire and flaunt their money. Until then obesity was a rarity, a curiosity, or generally a sign of affluence, reserved for the mighty of status and mighty in bulk of the state, church, or commerce.
Some historians pinpoint the emergence of modern-style dieting to the 1829 vegetarian and wholegrain advice of New Jersey preacher Rev. Sylvester Graham. However, Graham’s advice was heavily framed in Presbyterian moralism about lustings of the flesh and it is perhaps to a slightly later figure that we better look as the Father of Modern Dieting.
William Banting was a London undertaker in late middle-age who despaired of being able ever again to bend to tie his shoe laces or even walk forwards down a flight of stairs. He then adopted a high-protein and high-fat diet, supplemented with some vegetables, as recommended to him by his doctor – and lost several stones over a period of a year or so. So enthused was Banting that he published the world’s first dieting blockbuster, his Letter on Corpulence. Banting was not so much concerned about any perceived major health risks of his obesity, more the sheer discomfort of immobility and the many minor associated ailments.
Like so many dieting books that have followed, the Letter of 1862 was flabby, overwritten, repetitive, smug and desperately deficient in any detailed scientific explanation……Banting is indeed the Founding Father of a dubious publishing tradition!
However, to be fair, Banting lost a considerable amount of weight – and kept it off (and he didn’t publicize for monetary gain). Yet his achievement is the starting point of a heated debate that has been central to the Dieting Industry’s evolution ever since.
Banting put his success down to abstaining from “starch and saccharine matter”. This has been seized upon by legions of low-carb diet advocates every since as seminal proof that high-protein, high fat-and low-carbohydrate dieting is the Holy Grail of weight-loss.
There is, though, a glaring problem in this contention. Whilst Banting quantifies in some detail his diet consumption, he simply generalizes about what went on beforehand. We hear of beer and pies and pastries and bread – and we can only speculate as to the quantities.
Was his weight-loss simply due to eating less overall food, or was there a magic in his particular food method? From his evidence we cannot know. And ever since this argument has raged between advocates of one diet or another diet – is there a particular effect of limited carbohydrates in raising metabolism, accelerating weight-loss and facilitating weight-control?
But does it even matter? What if all this debate about whether certain foods have certain effects is simply a sideshow which maintains an unhealthy focus on food and eating? Could it be that there are higher food and dieting truths which should take precedence? – Namely that the vast majority of people know only too well the fundamentals of healthy eating, recognizing instinctively what they need and what is merely consumerism, or just plain gross.
Also, perhaps it is far more the emotional and cultural factors which keep excess weight in place than the precise mechanics of exact foods, with the simple truth being that an excess of intake will result in an ongoing excess of stored fat. And, to take it forward one more step, there are apparently more and more people realizing that a dieting-lifestyle obsession can in fact be a contributor to obesity.
Whatever, the diet bandwagon was rolling and German doctor Felix Niemeyer very soon subtly altered Banting’s advice by adding in a low-fat prescription, thus sending the two strands of protein-and-fat-in-the-diet and restricted-fat-in-the-diet on their divergent paths.
By the late 19th Century, dawning health concerns over excessive overweight were being matched by high-Victorian moral prudishness. It was no longer cool to be rich and flaunt it with a paunch. It is no coincidence that the first recorded characterizations of Anorexia were drawn at this time amongst the daughters of the rich.
Around 1900, when insurance companies proclaimed a relationship between obesity and morbidity, fat and health became generally linked in the popular consciousness.
In the early part of the 20th Century, the growth of bigger government – a more all-pervasive state – led to great advances in public health in both the US and the UK. Along with many epochal advances in social welfare there came a series of general and aspirational announcements on what the “ideal diet” should be. As ever down to the present day, the public generally paid not a blind bit of notice to such exhortations, unsupported as they were by the excitement of any hard sell from the Diet Industry.
And hard sell there certainly was. The first quarter of the new century saw everything from thyroid extracts from dead animals, to relatively harmless (and useless) herbal extracts, through to the newly developed amphetamine drugs being promoted as obesity wonder cures.
Two key factors fueled the fast growing Diet Industry. The first was a relative abundance of food in the West; today we live in an era of global nutritional imbalance – there are roughly the same number of people who are overfed as are underfed.
The second was the glamor of Hollywood, with its perfect stars of perfect physique. To an increasing number of observers, dieting has always remained more of a slave to fashion, despite its lip-service to health issues.
Flying the flag for moderation in the 1920’s, bringing the old-style abstinence-is-close-to-godliness messages forward into a new era, was US doctor Lulu Hunt Peters. She added the new science of calorie counting to traditional self-denial, advocated lifelong restricted calories via an obsessively closely-controlled regime. For Peters it was not just overindulgence which was the sin; physical evidence of overweight was abhorrent.
In these ways best-seller Peters could be seen as being the Founding Mother of what modern weight control charity The Weight Foundation calls Lifer Dieting, referring to those who are permanently dieting and cannot envisage without catastrophizing a single day off their strict routine.
Taking stock, we are now have background on the formation of four of the major strands of the modern Dieting Industry: high-fiber/whole-food, high-protein with high fat, low-fat and, fourthly, rigid overall calorie control.
Another major tradition had already become a widespread dieting phenomenon by the time of Peters’ pious exaltations to abstinence.
William Hay came up with the idea that certain food groups of his designation should only be eaten in strictly defined pairings. Food combination diets also still recur frequently in fresh guises because it is exceptionally easy to come up with new combinations to recommend.
The second half of the 20th Century saw it all trotted again in endless variations – the high fiber F-Plan, the carnivore’s delight of first Stillman and then Atkins, low fat in numerous guises, new combinations with the Beverley Hills and simple deprivation endlessly repacked, usually with “celebrity” endorsement (and often with an increased emphasis on low carbs, or somehow differentiated carbs).
So, are we scraping the barrel by now for new diets? Well, the big bandwagon rolling on in to the 21st Century has been carbs with a new twist. Picking up on the Glycemic Index, developed to assist diabetics with the timed glucose-level effects of various foods, this concept has been dragged into the realm of dieting advice. But is it just a case of new words, old ideas – aren’t we back with Banting’s “starch and saccharine matter”?
In fact, we could go back a good deal further. The world’s oldest surviving medical document, the Ebers Papyrus from 1550 B.C. Egypt, contains a recipe for an anti-diabetic diet of wheatgerm and okra.
It’s got a long history, this dieting business. There are grains of truth here and there but it’s not a particularly proud history when it comes to lasting weight control.
Certain diets will make people lose weight. Consistently consuming less energy than you expend will definitely result in weight loss. Diets just happen to be notoriously hopeless at achieving the one thing that really matters – moving away from a poor or obsessive relationship with food, to a good and relaxed relationship. Mind-shifts do not happen in the stomach.
The Weight Foundation secretary Malcolm Evans is the author of this article. The Hardcore Dieting Index self-test on dieting behavior is featured on The Weight Foundation website: weightfoundation.com weightfoundation.com.
Hypertension Causes and Risks
Primary (aka essential) hypertension has no known cause, however there are a number of lifestyle factors which do seem to effect the chances of developing hypertension.
Risk factors may be related to the environment, genetics and family history, smoking, diet, hormones, how much sodium (salt) you have in your diet or even the level of stress in your life.
Hypertension also increases your risk of having a stroke or heart attack, and can lead to other diseases as well as make other health conditions even worse. It is important to your health and your future to learn about the risk factors and by controlling and altering what you have control over you can change you decrease your risks.
• Exposure to environmental pollutants, such as tobacco smoke, vapors around the office, etc.
• Obesity – being over weight is a factor in hypertension, especially as one ages. Proper diet and weight loss may aid in reversing the associated problems.
• Lack of exercise – Daily ‘aerobic’ exercise (walking, swimming, running, cycling, etc.) can be very beneficial in decreasing blood pressure, as well as helping with your weight .
• Stress – we could all benefit from a little less of this. Exercise also helps with reducing your stress.
• Lower Alcohol Consumption – Drinking excessively doubles your chances of suffering high blood pressure or a stroke.
• Medicines and prescriptions (Ritalin, hormones, steroids, anti-rejection medications), your doctor and pharmacist should be intimately aware of what you are taking. Illegal drugs can also cause you problems (amphetamines, cocaine, ecstasy).
• Diet – a diet high in sodium puts strain on the blood vessels by increasing the fluid volume in the body (salt attracts water)
These risks can be helped or even controlled with the help of a doctor
• Pregnancy – the extra volume of blood, plus toxemia from high dietary salt intake can put a great strain on the vascular system.
• Kidney failure – the body is unable to remove fluids from the body causing an increase in fluid volume and blood pressure.
• Right-sided Heart Failure – decreases the hearts ability to pump high volumes of fluid through the heart causing a back-up into the blood vessels
Risk Factors over which you have no control
• Family history of hypertension especially onset before the age of 50.
• Age -your increases your chances of getting hypertension
• Gender (male or female)
• Race (Afro-American)
• Nervous System disorders
Secondary Hypertension
While the single cause of Primary hypertension is not known, the cause(s) of Secondary hypertension is and it is usually caused by another condition or disease. Conditions such as arteriosclerosis, diabetes, kidney disease, or even from medications and pregnancy (Gestational hypertension and is one of the reasons your doctor wants to see you more frequently near the end).
Hypertension can be caused either by taking medications or by stopping medications too quickly. Medications such as corticosteroids, birth control pills and other hormones, migraine medications, and medications used for chronic anemia (erythropoieten). Also a number of over-the-counter medications such as cough/cold medications and medications for asthma can cause hypertension.
Medications for hypertension can also cause a rebound hypertension if they are not weaned off of slowly.
Street drugs that can cause hypertension include: alcohol, amphetamines, ecstasy (MDMA and derivatives), and cocaine.
A small number of people experience malignant hypertension. This is an extremely high blood pressure that causes swelling of the optic nerve (the nerve that control vision). This is considered a medical emergency. Many of your vital organs are in serious risk of injury including your brain, your eyes, blood vessels, heart, and kidneys.
Mike Herman Is a Successful Webmaster and Publisher 4HealthConcerns.com 4HealthConcerns.com He Has More Heart Disease Tips and Information on the 4HealthConcerns.com/HeartDisease Causes of Heart Disease and Hypertension That You Can Research While at Home in Your Pajamas
Alternative Treatments For Back Pain
Back pain can be such a life changing malady. So what are you to do? Alternative treatments for back pain, also known as complimentary therapies, are gaining legions of fans as they are quickly becoming a new method of working to get rid of pain and problems found all over the body. There are many followers who trust in the many options of alternative treatments that supposedly relive that aching back.
They weren’t just invented yesterday. Alternative therapies have been around for ages. In fact this school of complimentary medicine has been around oodles longer than the medications we use today to treat everything from a sore throat to a nail fungus. But don’t be mistaken, there is still such a taboo surrounding those who preach the use of alternative medicine. As more and more research is being conducted the complimentary therapies are gaining fans and are becoming more acceptable.
So just what can be done in the avenue of alternative therapies to treat back pain? One of the easiest complimentary therapies that you can try is the use of aromatherapy. Essential oils such as Rosemary, Sage, Thyme, and Horse balm are thought to help reduce all types of pain as they contain natural compounds like thymol that help your muscles relax. Doesn’t relaxing sound wonderful to your aching back!
In order to get the complete benefit of aromatherapy it is important that you mix the appropriate quantity of oils together and massage them into the painful area after you have had an opportunity to soak in a warm bath. It is important to use the essential oils after bathing in warm water since after that yummy bath your pores will be open and your muscles relaxed. It will make the essential oils work more efficiently.
Another easy choice for alternative therapies for back pain include the use of certain herbs. For example, Camomile has a natural calming affect on muscle tissue, while other herbs like Bromelain, which is a pineapple extract, has natural anti-inflammatory properties. Proponents of complimentary therapies explain that if you ingest these herbs at a high enough quantity they can help to eliminate the back pain you are experiencing.
Trigger point therapy is another option of an alternative therapy which works on the premise that the body has trigger points for pain deep within the muscles. The muscles are then joined with the autonomic nervous system. Normally the trigger point will be centered on areas of knotting in the muscles and the point can radiate pain to other parts of the body.
Trigger point therapy treatment involves tiny injections of local anesthetic into the trigger point which is thought to scramble the electrical signals that send the painful sensations. It is important to remember that this type of therapy typically requires a few sessions before the therapy is fully effective.
Meditation, while still an alternative therapy, is more main stream these days. Meditation is thought to wash your body and mind of impurities including pain and tension giving you relief from the pain. The course of treatment for meditation intended to treat back pain is at least thirty to sixty minutes every day while lying on your back with pillows placed under your knees and thighs so the stress on your back is alleviated.
It takes a while to “learn” to meditate but it is important to keep at it for this to be an effective therapy. While meditating keep a clear mind, free from all thoughts, regardless if those thoughts are happy or sad, good or bad…just get rid of them all.
Finally, while we are still waiting for the hard cold facts that prove that alternative therapies for back pain work better than traditional medicine, there is also no conclusive evidence that these therapies don’t work! So after you’ve gotten approval from your physician, why not give them a chance. What do you have to lose except that horrific back pain that is making you feel ancient!
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Dry Skin – The Causes Of Dry Skin
Skin looks dry. Some flakes may be present. It looks weathered and wrinkles appear faster. The skin does not look plump and healthy. Lot of itching is associated with it. This is a typical dry skin. Those who suffer dry skin try to find out what can be done about it. No body loves either dry or oily skin. We all want normal skin. Let us find out about the causes of dry skin.
Skin- why it becomes dry?
Skin becomes dry for various reasons. The sebum on the skin is getting washed very fast because you might be over washing it. You might be using harsh detergents. The weather may be playing a role. Dry air will suck the moisture away from skin. Air conditioners and room heaters produce dry air and that is one cause. Many skin problems make skin dry. Psoriasis is one of them. If you have persistent dry skin with flaking you should consult a doctor and find out if there is any underlying skin condition that is causing this. Sometimes, your daily use cosmetics may cause irritation. please read more about that here – doctorgoodskin.com/skincare/cosmetics/irritation.php” target=”_blank Irritation-Common Cosmetics
Skin- Dry skin problems
Dry skin causes many problems. Cracks, itching, premature wrinkles, dry and unhealthy look and marks of scratches are few of them. If you have no diseases that are making your skin dry, you need to address the reasons that make your skin dry and adopt habits to correct the dryness.
This article is only for informative purposes. This article is not intended to be a medical advise and it is not a substitute for professional medical advice. Please consult your doctor for your medical concerns. Please follow any tip given in this article only after consulting your doctor. The author is not liable for any outcome or damage resulting from information obtained from this article.
C.D. Mohatta writes articles on skin problems, skin treatments and skin care. For more information about how to have good skin that looks young and blemish free, please visit
Stop Smoking Herbs – A List Of Some Of The Most Effective Ones
Today, there is a definite trend for using natural herbs for stopping the smoking habit. These stop smoking herbs do a variety of things to the body – they can reduce the craving of the nicotine, detoxify the body from the harm already caused by the smoking habit and also help the person to overcome the pangs of depression that come on with the habit. Here is a list of some of the most potent herbs prescribed to stop the smoking addiction.
Lobelia – Lobelia or the Indian tobacco perhaps tops the list because of its extreme effectiveness in curing the smoking habit. Lobelia is very similar to the real nicotine, but it has none of its addictive properties. Cigarettes made of lobelia in betel leaves are prescribed to smokers.
These cigarettes are herbal and also healthy in many respects. But the most important thing they do is that they create a distaste for the real nicotine. As a result, they are very helpful for people to give up smoking. They may get addicted to the lobelia cigarettes instead, but that is not half as bad as the nicotine cigarettes.
Clove – Oil of clove has properties to reduce the cravings of nicotine in smokers, even in hardened smokers. Herbal experts prescribe taking a single drop of clove oil and placing it on the back of the tongue whenever the person has the craving to smoke. This application immediately reduces the craving.
Primrose – Oil of primrose is traditionally prescribed to people who have been smoking heavily, which has almost damaged their lungs. The tar deposits on the lungs can be flushed out by a formulation made with primrose oil. This oil – taken in a particular manner – helps in flushing out toxins from the lymph system and the lungs, thus detoxifying the body.
Chamomile – A herbal tea made from chamomile and sipped on several times a day is excellent to kill the cravings for the cigarette. Chamomile is also an antidepressant. It helps smokers to face the withdrawal symptoms of their smoking habit, and not succumb to the cigarette once again.
When giving up smoking, the most important and primary thing to be addressed is that the therapy should reduce the cravings for the cigarette. In fact, the cravings are the most significant part of the smoking addiction. Stop smoking herbs help to reduce these cravings in an excellent manner, but they should be supplemented with a healthy diet that is rich in alkaline minerals such as calcium, magnesium, potassium and zinc. Vitamin C foods also help to combat the craving.
SmokeRX is a very effective formulation of the necessary herbs for kicking the smoking habit. This formulation has been developed in such a form that it can help overcome the habit in as less as a week. This and other similar herbal remedies are what smokers are looking up to to give up their addictions.
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How Do Activities Improve Memory?
People are encouraged to keep an active lifestyle, in order to preserve their memory. Some activities improve memory, according to the studies that have been performed. These are either mental activities, or physical activities. The way in which these help is presented below.
Keeping the brain active most of the day will surely lead to an improved memory. The more people use their brain, the better it gets. A proof that activities improve memory is sustained by writing and singing. Writing is known from a long time ago as a method to improve memory. It can be used for creating lists, a fact that leads to an improved short-term memory. In addition, evidence that such activities improve memory is the fact that writing down the notions and deleting them one by one, as soon as they are memorized, helps people to enhance their mental processes.
Singing enhances memory because most of the songs are complex and require prolonged thinking in order to be memorized. In addition, singing changes the mood, a fact that leads to a decrease of the depression level, in most of the cases. As it is known, depression represents the most frequent cause of memory loss.
In children, the best way to improve memory is to learn new words. This can be done directly or by inventing a trivia quiz. Of course, at the beginning the children do not know the answers to the questions, but repeating them periodically will help them to memorize the notions. Such activities improve memory because they also enhance the reaction time and the long-term memory.
Other activities that prove to be effective in children include reading. By doing this, people transfer the information from the short-term memory to the long term memory. Hence, this activity is also useful in adults, and not only in children. Reading aloud seems to enhance the memory even more. Combining more senses, such as seeing and hearing, leads to even better results.
Physical exercises are also a must for people who suffer from memory disorders. Such activities improve memory by enhancing the blood flow to the brain and by maintaining a certain tonus. Furthermore, the physical exercises increase the energy and determine the depression level to drop. Certain sports may require good reaction times. This fact also leads to an improved memory. Performing more difficult sports that have more difficult rules represents a challenge and also a way to enhance memory.
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Avian Influenza – Bird Flu FAQ
As more and more cases of bird flu are reported, the world faces an immediate threat of a deadly pandemic. Pandemics (Global Disease Outbreaks) are known to be like flash floods. They start abruptly, spread fast and cause a lot of damage all over the world.
A few facts that everyone should know:
What is Avian Influenza?
As the name suggests, avian influenza refers to the infection caused by avian (bird) influenza (flu) viruses. These viruses are commonly found in intestines of wild birds and these birds can carry the viruses without getting sick. However the viruses can be pathogenic to domesticated birds like chickens, ducks and turkeys. Domesticated birds become infected through exposure to other birds or through surfaces contaminated by secretions and faeces of the infected birds.
These viruses are classified as Low Pathogenicity and High Pathogenicity. Most strains of Avian Influenza come under Low Pathogenicity Avian Influenza (LPAI) Group and produce mild symptoms in the infected birds. Common symptoms are ruffled feathers, decreased food appetite, decreased egg production, sneezing and coughing. Many times LPAI may go undetected.
High Pathogenicity Avian Influenza (HPAI) has more severe symptoms which include sudden death, loss of energy and appetite, decreased egg production, respiratory problems, facial oedema (swelling), poorly formed eggs and diarrhoea. HPAI can reach a mortality rate of nearly 100%.
What Is H5N1 strain of Bird Flu?
All flu viruses are classified as type A, B or C depending on their structural arrangement. Type A is responsible for lethal pandemics and is found in both animals and humans. Type B causes local outbreaks of flu. Type C is the most stable of the three and infected people show only mild symptoms of flu. Type B and C are usually found only in humans. Type B and C are more stable than type A and are not classified according to their subtypes.
Influenza viruses of type A are divided into subtypes and the naming is done on the basis of two proteins (antigens) found on their surface – Hemagglutinin (HA) and Neuraminidase (NA). Sixteen types of HA and nine types of NA exist. Thus a total 144 combinations are possible.
Thus H5N1 is a type A virus and gets its name from HA 5 protein and NA 1 protein present on its surface.
How Do Type A Viruses Cause A Pandemic?
Type A viruses are further classified into strains. These strains can continuously evolve into different strains. Their ability to exchange genetic material with other viruses and create new influenza viruses makes them unpredictable and difficult to fight with. Humans have to develop new immunity (antibodies) every time new strains are created.
Viruses cannot repair genetic damage, small changes known as “Antigen Drift”, are continuously creating new strains of viruses. However when genetic material from Type A viruses from different species – say a bird and a human, comes together and merges, an entirely new strain is created. This is known as “Antigen Shift” Humans have no immunity to such a strain and the strain can spread rapidly causing a Pandemic.
How Is The Virus Transmitted To Humans From Birds?
Usually Avian Influenza viruses do not infect humans. Migratory birds act as carriers of these viruses and do not get affected by them. These birds then come in contact with domesticated birds such as chickens and turkeys and spread the infection to them. Domesticated birds may get the virus from contact with contaminated surfaces too. Once a virus infects domesticated birds, it can cause severe epidemic among the birds. Humans come in contact with infected birds or contaminated surfaces and pick up the virus.
In the human body, this avian flu virus then undergoes an antigenic shift, combines with genetic material of a human strain of influenza virus and creates an entirely new strain of virus against which humans have little or no immunity. These genetic reassortments may also take place is the body of a third species (susceptible to both avian and human viruses) like the pig, where an avian influenza A virus and human influenza virus mix their genetic information and produce a new virus which might be able to infect humans.
Why is H5N1 dangerous?
The first reported cases of H5N1 infections were detected in geese in 1997 in Southern China. A total of 18 human infections were reported and six of them succumbed to it. The infection spread quickly to poultry in Hong Kong. At that time a million and half chickens were culled in Hong Kong to keep the virus under control. The virus disappeared for a few years, but resurfaced in 2002 in Hong Kong again. Since then it has killed millions of birds in Asia and many cases of human infections have been reported.
The persistence of this H5N1 strain of virus is a great concern for humans. Although the virus does not spread from birds to humans easily, the severity of the infection of H5N1 in humans is frightening. The virus has killed every second person infected by it. These cases were reported in perfectly healthy individuals who had no past history of infections. However the greater concern for the world is the POSSIBILITY THAT THE VIRUS MAY MUTATE (UNDERGO ANTIGENIC SHIFT) AND CREATE A FORM THAT MAY SPREAD FROM HUMAN TO HUMAN. Such a strain of virus may result in a pandemic, killing millions of people worldwide.
Is Consumption Of Poultry Birds Safe?
Yes, it is safe to consume THOROUGHLY COOKED poultry products. The H5N1 virus is sensitive to heat and gets destroyed by normal cooking temperatures of 70- 100 degree Celsius. If meat from poultry birds and eggs are cooked properly, the virus will be destroyed. Just make sure that no part of the meat remains raw or uncooked.
How Big Is The Risk Of A Pandemic Breaking Out?
The world had to face a Bird Flu Pandemic, thrice in the twentieth century. In 1918-1919, “Spanish Flu” killed anywhere between 20 million to 50 million people (exact figures not known), including half a million in the United States alone. The “Asian flu” in 1957-58 killed 70,000 in the United States and in 1968-1969, the “Hong Kong flu” killed 34,000 in the USA.
Currently the risk of H5N1 strain leading to a Pandemic is high. The virus is spreading fast to new areas and the efforts made to curtail it have proved inadequate.
Domestic ducks have now become a “reservoir” for the virus. They are acting like a carrier for the virus – their bodies carry the virus without showing signs of any infection. Infected ducks then release large quantities of the virus in pathogenic form in their excretions spreading the virus to other birds or humans. This has made detection of the virus difficult especially in rural areas.
According to health experts, the virus has already met the first two prerequisites for starting a pandemic. First it has attained a form, for which humans have no inbuilt immunity; and second, it has proved pathogenic enough to cause serious illness and death in humans.
The present risk of a pandemic is very high. The only factor that has prevented a pandemic so far is that the virus has not mutated into a form that would allow it to transmit efficiently from one human to another. Once such a genetic change takes place for the virus, a pandemic will be inevitable. The first signs of such a reassortment will be presence of the clusters of patients with flu symptoms, closely related – both in time and space. This would be a clear indication of virus having the ability to transmit from human-to-human.
Currently no vaccine has been developed for fighting H5N1 strain. Simultaneous work is being done in many countries for developing a vaccine, but no success has been achieved. The exact virus that may cause the pandemic cannot be predetermined. Thus mass production of vaccine before the pandemic starts is ruled out. The worldwide manufacturing capacity is inadequate to match the sudden demand surge during a pandemic. The best that scientists can do is to carry out a study and determine the smallest amount of antigen per dose that will provide sufficient protection and thus maximise the number of vaccines produced.
What Are The Precautions Necessary To Prevent A Pandemic?
The logical first step is to control the disease from spreading among birds, but this seems a difficult task now. Bird Flu has become a bird epidemic in many parts of Asia and is spreading fast.
The Next step is to prevent the disease from getting passed on to humans. People who come in close contact with birds (like poultry farmers) are advised to keep a close watch on the health of birds, notify any sort of sickness in birds to the health authorities and avoid direct contact with sick birds in all cases. (Ducks have become a reservoir for the virus and may not exhibit signs of sickness even if they are carrying the virus.)
In case the flu becomes a pandemic, most countries of the world will be affected. In such a scenario, the best preventive measures would be personal hygiene, avoiding crowded places and staying away from raw meat and eggs.
A flu shot does not prevent bird flu, but it can protect a person from other forms of flu and avoid complications. Persons above 65 years of age, children, health services workers, people with chronic respiratory disorders, travellers to flu affected countries and pregnant women may consult a doctor regarding flu vaccination.
What Are The Symptoms In Humans and Treatment Options For Bird Flu?
A person infected by bird flu may have all symptoms of common flu like fever, persistent cough, sore throat and body ache. Moreover, there is a high risk of complications such as pneumonia, bronchitis, eye and ear infections and severe breathing problems.
Presently four drugs are used to combat influenza.
The most effective drugs known for seasonal flu are Oseltamivir (commercial name Tamiflu) and Zanamavir (Commercial name Relenza). Both of these are known to reduce severity and duration of seasonal flu, but they may prove ineffective if the virus is allowed to stay in the body for too long. Health professionals advise that TREATMENT OF FLU WITH THESE DRUGS SHOULD START WITHIN 48 HOURS OF FIRST APPEARANCE FLU SYMPTOMS.
Oseltamivir and Zanamavir fall in the Neuraminidase inhibitors class. The surface protein Neuraminidase breaks bonds between new viruses and infected cells. By blocking the activity of Neuraminidase, these two drugs prevent the new viruses from being released.
Another class of drugs – the M2 inhibitors is also available, but viruses develop resistance to these drugs quickly and thus these drugs may prove ineffective in controlling pandemics. Amantadine and Rimantadine are two drugs from this class. These drugs inhibit the activity of M2 protein, which forms a channel in membranes of viruses and thereby preventing the viruses from replicating.
One should consult a doctor before taking any of these drugs as THESE DRUGS ARE KNOWN TO HAVE SIDE EFFECTS IN SOME CASES. For example, Zanamavir is not recommended to people having chronic respiratory diseases such as asthma.
(This article was written on 25th January 2006 and may not contain developments that took place after this date.)
Sachin A. is a rightarticle.com Freelance Writer and specializes in articles that require extensive research. Check out this work at rightarticle.com rightarticle.com