Stress and Anxiety – Untreated They May Lead To Serious Health Issues
Stress and anxiety affect every living person. Men, women, young and old. No one is immune. The causes of stress and anxiety are all around us: high-pressure jobs, bad relationships, money problems, weather, crowding, poor diet, and loneliness are just a few.
Even the well-off, educated and healthy experience stress. Some people seem prone to create their own stress when nothing is actually wrong. They will create things to worry about. Today environmental pressure is greater and most of us are exposed to this mentally taxing situation.
Long-term stress is the culprit that causes the body to break down over time. Everyone experiences stress, but not everyone handles it constructively. Our body, unless afflicted by a dread disease, can handle stress, whether physical or mental. Most people cope with it and move on. If the stress is short-term, then the chances are good that it does little harm.
The stress-related symptoms, or “nerves”, some suffer do in fact effect the parts of the body that are relate to the nervous system, especially in the digestive and intestinal systems. The first signs of stress-related digestive disorders may be an ulcer attack or colitis. Irritability, high blood pressure, headaches and neck aches, diarrhea, dizziness, and loss of appetite are some disorders brought on by stress. More serious illnesses occur if the stress that produced theses symptoms is not dealt with.
So what can one do to reduce stress and anxiety? Relaxation, although difficult at first for chronic stress sufferers, alleviates stress. Try to visualize a time or place when you had no stress. Go to a quiet place such as a park and practice this visualization. I know it has helped me cope on numerous occasions. Also very important is exercise. Exercise causes the release of serotonin which creates a general feeling of well-being throughout the mind and body.
A proper diet is also extremely important. The disorders that arise from stress are often the result of nutrient deficiencies; the body doesn’t handle nutrients well during this time. B complex vitamins are important for proper functioning of the nervous system. They aid in improving brain function and reducing anxiety.
Besides B-complex vitamins there are other important to consider in the fight against stress and anxiety:
• Calcium and magnesium
• L-Tyrosine which is an amino acid that helps reduce stress and is an effective and safe sleeping aid.
• Vitamin C which is essential to the adrenal gland function, which id depleted by stress.
• Lecithin
• Multivitamin
• Vitamin E for immune function
• Zinc for immune function
Get started as soon as possible in your efforts to fight stress. Consider what you can do with diet and exercise to reduce the effects of stress and anxiety against health.
Chuck Lunsford is the owner and developer of EveryDayHealthmatters.com. He offers advice on how to get your health in order and start feeling great everyday. Visit his website and learn about everydayhealthmatters.com stress health issues regarding women and men and what you can do to minimize the effects.
You Are No Good To Anyone Dead – Health Tips For The IT Professional
When was the last time you took a good hard long look at your overall health? Was it days, weeks, months or even years ago? Do you think that you are an iron man and can persevere through anything? I was once in that state of mind, nothing could knock me down, maybe just pushed back a bit which allowed me to recover well. Not anymore!
A lot of things have changed since those days. Those days weren’t all that long ago. Today my overall health is one of the most important strategies in my personal business plan and a key in my life plan. I am no good to anyone dead. To my family, business, friends or anyone that cares about me.
The wakeup call occurred one day when I was pushing close to the three hundred pound mark and my knees were seriously hurting due the strain of the extra weight I was carrying around.
Some days my knees would lock up tight to the point where I couldn’t even get up because of the amount of pain. I was tired all the time, and I was no good to anyone, I lost the drive and desire because I was frustrated with myself and that I chose to gain all this weight. No one force feed the hot dogs at the hot dog stand to me as I went between clients or the extra plate at the buffet. I chose that lifestyle.
Since then I have dropped close to fifty pounds and starting to feel a lot better, not as tired, I have more energy and I do not need to sleep nearly as long to feel totally rested. This a great place to be. How did I get there?
No miracle diets, no special potions, simple eating the right feeds with a combination of a good exercise program. That is it, pretty straightforward. Instead of taking that quick hot dog on a way to a client’s office, I plan daily to eat healthy, have a good lunch in the middle of the day, something that will contribute to my overall well being and give me long lasting energy for the entire afternoon. Another tip – cut out the junk food snacks. Bring snacks in the office or carry along with you that are healthy. I am not a healthcare professional; I recommend that you consult with someone that specializes in diet to understand what is best for you.
One additional tip that I can share with you on my experiences is that I have cut out drinking soft drinks and other beverages along the same lines. During the day, I drink nothing but water and try to cut down on the amount of coffee that I drink. I find that drinking water during the day keeps my mental retention high and focused on my tasks at hand. I can’t say what water is better than others, I just have the regular water in our water cooler, and it seems to be working for me.
Your health as an IT consultant or business owner is critical to your success, without you running your business, will your business survive? How would poor health affect your family life? These are questions you need to ask yourself. It is even more critical when you are a sole entrepreneur, when you are not able to function, create your work, sell your solutions – where is the money coming in from? Having a healthy lifestyle combined with the recommended amount of exercise will aid in you having that competitive advantage in the marketplace. Give you the energy to shine over perhaps your competition that can’t keep pace with you. There are a lot of reasons to choose a healthy standard of living, what is yours?
Stuart Crawford is a business leader in the Calgary, Alberta small business computer consulting business. He has taken his best practices of success in this market and is sharing this with other IT consultants throughout the world. He can be reached at mailto:stuartc@youfactor.ca stuartc@youfactor.ca. Stuart also managed the Canadian Small Business Show at canadiansmallbusinessshow.com canadiansmallbusinessshow.com Stuart recently completed his first book on computer challenges for the average person, visit takingnotes.ca takingnotes.ca for more information.
Acupuncture for Facial Twitches
Acupuncture is a unique treatment in that it can treat many different problems with different causes. This includes habitual facial twitching.
There are a wide range of disorders that are characterized by problems with the nerves and muscles of the face. One of these is known as Bell’s palsy. Doctors are not completely sure of the cause of this common affliction, but it is suspected that it might be related to a viral infection of the facial nerves. It tends to strike people between the ages of twenty and thirty five. The symptoms include facial paralysis and numbness. Bell’s palsy will clear up without treatment in about 80% of cases although the duration of the illness might be as long as a year.
There is a town located in China that has an abnormally high rate of Bell’s palsy. Acupuncturists in this town have had much experience in its treatment and have developed some techniques that are extremely effective. One of these involves the rapid insertion and then removal of needles on points located on the face itself.
Acupuncture is also indicated in the treatment of a related syndrome known as facial twitching. This is defined as an involuntary twitching or contraction of a muscle that takes place when another muscle is stimulated. Its cause has thought to be the growing back or twigging of nerve branches in the wrong place after trauma. The nerves tend to stimulate muscles they are not intended to stimulate. One of the symptoms of this condition is the tearing of one eye when another facial muscle is being used. For instance, the tearing can be triggered by the movement of the mouth during eating.
These facial disorders are fairly common and they are generally temporary. In some cases, they can be the result of what appears to be permanent damage to nerves and do not respond to treatment at all. One of the major side effects of this problem is emotional distress. The distortion of facial muscles is viewed as grotesque at best.
Acupuncture for facial muscle twitching is often attempted. As in many conditions, there is a shortage of reliable clinical studies addressing the effectiveness of acupuncture as a treatment for any facial nerve disorder. This is true even though this is a possible area for the resolution of some conflict on the general effectiveness of acupuncture in general. Western Medical Practitioners tend to see the nerves as serving the purpose that practitioners of Traditional Chinese Medicine attribute to the Meridian Channels of the body. The success rate of acupuncture treatments for nerve related disorders such as this would be very interesting indeed.
Get more alternativehealthcompanies.com/acupuncture-information-articles acupuncture information at AlternativeHealthCompanies.com.
The Sauna – Ready, Set, Sweat!
Western culture has brainwashed far too many people into thinking that sweating is a bad thing. The intense marketing of antiperspirants continues to convince generations of consumers that perspiration is an undesirable bodily function. While no one would argue that sweat can be quite unwelcome in important social and business situations, it would be unwise not to acknowledge and understand the great necessity of perspiration and its role in human health.
Sweating is an essential function of the human body, as essential as eating and breathing. It is simply your body’s way of regulating its temperature by getting rid of excess heat. In addition to excess heat, perspiration also helps to remove waste material from your body. Skin is sometimes referred to as “the third kidney” for this very reason.
Your body gets rid of various toxins through a variety of metabolic processes, one of which is urination and another of which is perspiration. The kidneys filter waste from the blood and excrete them, along with water, as urine. Human eccrine and apocrine sweat glands produce sweat, which is composed of water, salt, organic compounds, fatty materials, urea and other waste, all of which is then excreted through the skin.
In the interest of better health, therefore, the objective should not be to block, inhibit or reduce perspiration; it should be to find ways to sweat more effectively, preferably in a controlled environment away from any threat of embarrassment.
What better environment exists for achieving such a goal than a home sauna?
The temperature in a traditional Finnish sauna typically ranges from 180 to 200 degrees Fahrenheit (80 to 95 degrees Celsius). The temperature in a far infrared sauna or heat therapy room is usually between 75 and 135 degrees Fahrenheit (24 and 57 degrees Celsius). The two types of sauna operate differently, but, at their respective temperature ranges, working up a sufficient sweat in either type should be an achievable task for even the most novice sauna bather.
Utilizing high heat to induce perspiration has numerous benefits. In addition to reducing the amount of toxins and heavy metals, such as lead, mercury, zinc, nickel and cadmium, in your body, an intense sweat bath in a sauna can help cleanse it of other impurities like nicotine, sodium, sulfuric acid and cholesterol. By improving blood circulation, regular sauna bathing can help draw the skin’s own natural nutrients to the surface, leading to improved tone, elasticity and texture. The sauna can be a great aid in the alleviation of skin ailments such as acne, eczema and psoriasis. Some European beauty specialists even claim the sauna can be quite a worthy weapon in the war against cellulite.
As beneficial as sweating in a soothing hot sauna may be, however, it is important for bathers to not become dehydrated from the experience. As well, just as you should for any new diet or exercise program, be sure to discuss your plans and expectations with your doctor before you take to the sauna or sweat bath for the first time, as he or she should be aware of any existing conditions or limitations that pertain specifically to your health.
Once you receive your doctor’s approval, find yourself a great sauna and shift those sweat glands into high gear! On your mark, get set, sweat!
Pertti Olavi Jalasjaa is the Finnish-born author of “The Art of Sauna Building,” an acclaimed reference book on sauna construction. He is also the general manager of Great Saunas, which has been manufacturing and selling high-quality saunas and sauna kits to sauna enthusiasts around the world since 1974. Visit Great Saunas online at greatsaunas.com greatsaunas.com.