  
What is Actually Health? - By Dr. Jamie Fettig, DC
Nature works mostly
on the principle of thing and no thing. Light is the thing and darkness is the absence of
light.
Sound is the thing
and silence is the absence of sound.
Health is the thing
and symptoms and disease are the absence of health. But some time back they got mixed up. Somehow symptoms and disease became
the thing and once you treated away the symptoms and disease, you'd be left with health.
And yet most people
know that health is more than the absence of symptoms and disease. So what does this mean?
It means you have
to do something other than treat symptoms and disease to be healthy.
Let me show you why. If there are shadows or darkness in a room, the only way to get light in the room is by
turning on the light. No matter how many ways you can measure and quantify shadows, you can't sweep them under a rug, cut
them out of the room, or invent some chemical to get rid of the shadow. The only thing you can do is turn on the light.
Health is the thing.
And no matter how many ways you can measure and quantify symptoms and disease, the only way to be healthy
is to add to your health.
You can treat your symptoms and disease all you want and
you'll never be left with health. You can treat symptoms and disease with medicine, herbs, supplements, chiropractic, surgery
or anything and until you add to your health, you will not be healthier.
Treating symptoms
and disease naturally is better than with medicine and surgery because there are less side effects, but you're still not adding
to your health.
Treating Symptoms and Disease often helps make you more comfortable, but never healthier. The only way to be healthy is adding
to your health.
13 Healthy Habits to Improve Your Life
Disregard
them and you may well be taking a big gamble with your mental and emotional well-being.
By Dulce Zamora
WebMD Feature
There are 13 ways to boost
your chances of living a happy, healthy life. More can be added to this list, but, for simplicity's sake, we'll stick
with this typically unlucky number.
Instead
of bringing misfortune, however, the 13 habits promise a life of vigor and vivacity. There are, of course, no
guarantees, but many of the practices mentioned here have been published in scientific journals. Disregard them and you may
well be taking a big gamble with your mental and emotional well-being.
Healthy Habit
No. 1: Eat Breakfast Every Morning
Breakfast
eaters are champions of good health. Research shows people who have a morning meal tend to take in more vitamins and minerals and less fat and cholesterol. The result is often a leaner body, lower cholesterol count and less chance of overeating.
"That one act [of eating breakfast] seems to make a difference in people's overall weight," says Melinda Johnson,
RD, a spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association (ADA). She says breakfast can hold off hunger pangs until lunchtime
and make high-calorie vending machine options less enticing.
Not only that,
researchers at the 2003 American Heart Association conference reported that breakfast eaters are significantly less likely to be obese and get diabetes compared with nonbreakfast eaters.
Another study in the International
Journal of Food Science and Nutrition showed that people who consumed breakfast cereal every day reported feeling better both physically and mentally than those who rarely ate cereal in the morning.
For kids, breakfast
appears to enhance alertness, attention and performance on standardized achievement tests, reports the ADA.
To get
the full benefits of breakfast, the Mayo Clinic recommends a meal with carbohydrates, protein and a small amount of fat. They say that because no single food gives you all of the nutrients you need, eating a variety of foods is essential to good health.
Yet,
even with so much scientific support that breakfast does the body good; many people still make excuses not to eat in the morning.
They include not having enough time and not feeling hungry. For these people, Johnson suggests tailoring breakfast to the
day.
"When I'm getting ready in the morning, I don't really want to take the time to eat breakfast because that
would mean sacrificing sleep," says Johnson. "So I bring my breakfast with me and I know I have an hour when I'm reading emails
in the office when I can eat it. By that time, I'm hungry because I've been up for almost a couple of hours."
Healthy
Habit No. 2: Add Fish and Omega-3 Fatty Acids to Your Diet
The AHA
recommends a serving of fish 2 times per week.
Besides being a good source of protein and a food relatively low in the bad type of dietary fat called saturated fat, fish has omega-3 fatty acids - which have been shown to reduce the risk of heart disease.
Fatty
fish such as mackerel, lake trout, herring, sardines, albacore tuna and salmon, are rich in 2 kinds of omega-3 fatty acids:
- eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA)
- docosahexaenoic acid (DHA)
Foods
such as tofu, soybeans, canola, walnuts, flaxseed and their oils contain alpha-linolenic acid (ALA), which convert
to omega-3 in the body. Even though the benefits of ALA are controversial, the AHA still recommends foods containing it as part of a
healthy diet.
In addition
to their heart-health benefits, there's some evidence that omega-3 fatty acids may also soothe an overactive immune system, says Johnson.
Even though this benefit is
still being studied, she says there appears to be a link between getting more omega-3s in your diet and reducing allergies, asthma, eczema and autoimmune disorders.
Healthy
Habit No. 3: Get Enough Sleep
"Your
body has to have enough time to rest," says Michael Fleming, MD, president of the American Academy of Family
Physicians (AAFP). Otherwise, he says you may find yourself feeling cranky and tired.
This may sound like common sense, but according to the National Sleep Foundation (NSF), more than 2/3 of older adults suffer from sleep problems and many American adults don't get the minimum amount of shuteye needed to stay alert.
Sleep is vital to good health and to mental and emotional well-being. The NSF reports
that people who don't get enough slumber are more likely than others to develop psychiatric problems and to use health care
services. Plus, sleep deprivation can negatively affect memory, learning and logical reasoning.
Not enough
ZZZ's can also be hazardous. More than 1/2 of adult drivers - some 100 million
people - say they've driven drowsy in the past year, according to NSF polls.
About
1 out of 5 of these drivers - 32 million people - say they've fallen asleep while driving.
Each year drowsy driving causes more than 100,000 car crashes, 1,500 deaths and tens of thousands
of injuries, reports the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The NSF recommends taking a 15 to 20 minute nap.
Because it takes about 30 minutes for the caffeine to work, taking a nap while you wait for the caffeine to kick in can help
restore alertness.
To
avoid the pitfalls of insufficient sleep, make sure to get at least 7 to 10 hours of slumber each night. Kids need more sleep, depending on their age.
Healthy
Habit No. 4: Make Social Connections
Volunteer. Go to church. Join a club. Whatever you do, do it with people. Communal activities are good for your physical and mental health, according
to a study published in the March/April 2004 issue of the American Journal of Health Behavior.
It makes
sense, says C. David Jenkins, PhD, author of Building Better Health: A Handbook of Behavioral Change. He says
social ties have many benefits, including:
- Providing
information. You may think, i.e., your frequent nosebleeds, coughing and sneezing episodes are trivial, but when a close friend or relative hears of it, he or she may encourage you to go to a doctor.
If the symptoms turn out to be a serious condition, the social tie could have saved your
life.
- Instrumental help. Friends and family can provide
physical support in time of need. They may help with cooking, cleaning, running errands, doing grocery shopping and driving to the doctor's office.
- Emotional support. Sharing a problem with a trusted person can help alleviate an internal burden. "It's a load off your chest," says Jenkins.
- Offering a sense of belonging. This feeling not only helps reinforce a person's identity, it also assists in preventing and overcoming depression and anxiety.
Community
ties also help improve mental functioning, says Fleming. Group activities can help keep the mind active and
maintain desirable levels of serotonin - the brain chemical associated with mood. "Lack of social interaction will [decrease] serotonin levels," says Fleming.
Healthy
Habit No. 5: Exercise for Better Health
We already
know that physical activity has a bounty of benefits, which makes it so puzzling why so many people just don't
do it. According to the CDC, more than 60% of Americans don't get regular exercise.
In case
you needed an incentive, here's a review of the advantages of exercise, per the National Cancer Institute:
- Helps control weight
- Maintains healthy bones,
muscles and joints
- Reduces risk of developing high blood pressure and diabetes
- Promotes psychological well-being
- Reduces risk of death from heart disease
- Reduces risk of premature death
Studies
have also shown a link between exercise and a reduced risk of certain cancers.
Besides its long-term effects, moving your body has immediate benefits, says Cedric Bryant, chief exercise
physiologist for the American Council on Exercise. The short-term results of exercise include helping people to think and move better, manage stress, improve mood and get an energy boost.
The excuses
that people often give to not exercise are the precise reasons to exercise, says Bryant. People who say they're too tired or don't have time to workout don't realize that exercise gives people more energy and allows them to be more productive with the rest of their time.
Healthy
Habit No. 6: Practice Good Dental Hygiene
Flossing
your teeth every day could add 6.4 years to your life, according to Michael Roizen, MD, author of RealAge.
In his book, Roizen lists flossing as one of the most important daily activities - along with exercise and quitting smoking - that could extend life span.
Roizen's
calculation may raise some eyebrows, but the idea that oral health is connected to overall health isn't far-fetched.
The mouth,
after all, is an integral part of the body. "Teeth have a blood supply and that blood supply comes from the heart," says Richard
Price, DMD, consumer advisor for the American Dental Association (ADA).
Researchers
suspect that the bacteria that produce dental plaque enter the bloodstream. They say these bacteria are somehow
associated with the inflammation that occurs with plaque that blocks blood vessels and causes heart disease.
Other researchers have found links between oral bacteria and stroke, diabetes and the birth of preterm
babies and those that have low birth weight.
In addition
to preventing disease, flossing and brushing can help keep your pearly whites intact for more than just cosmetic reasons.
Teeth help you chew food, speak properly and smile - which, according to Price, can help you keep your dignity.
Healthy
Habit No. 7: Take Up a Hobby
Look up
the word "hobby" in the Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary and you'll find the definition as "a
pursuit outside one's regular occupation engaged in especially for relaxation."
Since
they're relaxing activities, hobbies are usually enjoyable. Some people find joy in craftwork, bird watching, sports, going to flea markets, walking in the park, or playing cards.
The
joy may help people live healthier and recover better from illness. For one thing, taking part in hobbies can burn calories, more so than just sitting in front of the TV.
In a study
of people who had undergone surgery, Jenkins found that people who were involved in hobbies before their operation had better
recovery 6 months later, compared with people who didn't have hobbies.
The participants
with hobbies tended to have more drive and interest in things and other people, says Jenkins. "It was a more active orientation
to life."
Healthy Habit
No. 8: Protect Your Skin
Our skin
starts to age as soon as we are born and according to the American Academy of Dermatology (AAD), the best way to protect it and look younger is to stay out of the sun.
The sun
has harmful ultraviolet (UV) rays that can cause wrinkles, dryness and age spots. Overexposure can cause sunburn, skin texture
changes, dilated blood vessels and skin cancers.
Avoiding the sun, however, isn't always ideal or practical. To reduce the risk of skin damage, the AAD offers the following
tips:
- Always wear sunscreen with SPF 15 or higher.
- Don a hat with a brim and wear other protective clothing.
- Don't deliberately sunbathe.
- Try to avoid sun exposure between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m.
Healthy
Habit No. 9: Snack the Healthy Way
The
ADA recommends 5 or more servings of fruits and vegetables a day as part of a healthy diet.
These plant foods can do many things to boost good health, including:
- Reduce the risk of some cancers
- Beat the signs of aging
- Improve memory
- Promote heart health
- Enhance the immune system
One way to incorporate fruits
& veggies into your diet is to have them as snacks. "If you can do one thing [to improve your health], concentrate on
getting fruits & veggies," says Johnson. "They're low in calories & high in nutrients."
She says baby carrots &
cut-up produce make tasty, convenient munchies. Other healthful snacks include low-fat yogurt & nuts (in moderation).
The best time to snack is
when you're hungry between meals, says Johnson. But beware: Cravings could easily be mistaken for hunger cues, especially
for people who are dieting.
Healthy
Habit No. 10: Drink Water and Eat Dairy
Water
and milk are essential fluids for good health, but they can also help with shedding pounds.
The body
needs water to keep properly hydrated and individuals vary widely in how much water they need. Joints need it to stay in motion, and vital organs such as the heart, brain, kidney and liver need it to work properly.
If you
don't get enough water, the body goes into emergency mode and clings to every single water molecule it
can find, reports the Univ. of Minnesota Water Resources Center. The stored molecules appear as extra weight. The weight is
only released once the body gets enough water.
The calcium
in dairy, on the other hand, is known to be important for strong bones and teeth. Studies have also shown it
can help prevent high blood pressure, kidney stones, heart disease, and colon cancer.
In the
weight loss arena, three 8-ounce glasses of low-fat or fat-free milk appear to encourage body fat loss while
maintaining muscle mass, according to the ADA. The dairy consumption must be part of a balanced reduced-calorie meal plan.
Healthy Habit
No. 11: Drink Tea
"Decaffeinated
tea is better," says Fleming, noting that the caffeinated variety can be dehydrating, and sugary drinks can lead to
weight gain.
There
is some evidence that tea may help in improving memory, and preventing cavities, cancer, and heart disease. Fleming says, though, that the overall research is still inconclusive.
"There
may well be some beneficial effects of tea, particularly the potential antioxidant effect, but we don't have great
data on that right now that is that specific."
However,
there's no doubt that a cool iced tea can be a refreshing treat during hot days.
Try flavoring your tea with
juices, fruits, cinnamon sticks, ginger, and other condiments.
Healthy Habit
No. 12: Take a Daily Walk
We already mentioned the merits of exercise in habit No. 5. Now, here's a tip on how to incorporate
physical activity into your daily life: WALK.
We're
not talking about taking the time out of your busy schedule to work out - that's important, too - but infusing
life - and limb-saving movement into your waking hours.
"Just
move. Pace during phone calls, while you're brushing your teeth, while watching your son's soccer game," says
Bryant, noting that every 20 steps a person takes is 1 calorie burned.
An eight-year
study of 13,000 people also showed that people who walked 30 minutes daily had a significantly reduced chance
of premature death compared with those who rarely exercised, reports the American Council on Exercise.
And there are
plenty of opportunities to move those legs:
- Take the stairs instead of the elevator.
- Walk to the store.
- Window shop at the mall.
- Leave your desk and visit your co-worker instead of sending
him an email.
- Walk and talk with friends instead of meeting for a meal.
Healthy
Habit No. 13: Plan
There
is, perhaps, no better word in the English language to better illustrate how you can incorporate healthy habits into your everyday life.
"A little
planning goes a long way," says Johnson. "Eating healthy never happens by accident."
For the
most part, neither do good fitness, skin protection, healthy teeth, weight
loss, and social ties. Many of these habits take effort that need to be scheduled into busy lives.
To eat healthy, for example, it would help to set aside time to draft a menu, make a grocery list, go
to the store, prepare meals, and pack breakfast and lunch.
Published June 14, 2004.
Medically reviewed Jan. 24, 2006.
The Hidden Price of Being Healthy
- By Dr. Jamie Fettig, DC
There's
a price you have to pay in NOT being healthy. A
price that most people don't want to pay when they realize they're paying it.
What I'm also going to point out is the not-so-obvious cost of not
being healthy. But, as you know, nothing in life is free. If there's a benefit, there's a cost. What most people don't see is the cost, the price you have to pay for the benefits
you're getting.
There are also tons and tons
of hidden costs that most people never see. I'll list some of the biggest ones. This is the price you have to
pay for not being healthy:
1. Vitality
2. An abundance of energy to do everything you
want to do
3. Happiness
4. Love and closeness with others
5. Satisfaction and fulfillment in life
6. Healing symptoms
and disease
7. Symptoms and disease
going away
8. Relief from the suffering that goes with the symptoms and disease
9. Inner peace and harmony
10. Being symptom and
disease-free
11. Mental focus, memory and clarity (no brain fog)
12. Being awake and
fully alive every day (not just dragging through stuff
and surviving)
13. Being present and having the ability to be with people
14. No worry or fear
15. Being confident in yourself
16. Being complete and feeling happy
17. The ability to deal
with issues that arise simply and with ease
18. Having better health
now, with security for yourself and your family later
19. More time to do
what you want to do
20. Simpler choices
21. Looking great, feeling good, reducing fat and having tons of energy
22. Being satisfied and Not being hungry all the time
The list goes on and on, but these are some of the big ones.
These are all things you do NOT get if you avoid being healthy. It's the price you have to pay to not
be healthy.
If you're
being healthy, these same things are your rewards. These are the things you get when
you're well. These things show up in your life as you're being healthy and well. So much
so, that I want you to think of your own reasons why, things vital to your happiness, freedom and life that you know you would get you out of bed in the morning wanting to be healthy.
There are the hidden benefits that many
people get for not being healthy. Benefits that, if you're honest with yourself, you like getting as well.
You
probably are very familiar with the benefits you get from NOT being healthy. You get to eat food that tastes good, you get to be lazy and sit on the couch and veg out and watch
TV.
You get to not do all the hard work of exercise. There are many other benefits that people get from not being healthy
and many others that I probably didn't list. I'm not going to list them all, because you know most of them. I'll list
the benefits you do get that most people don't want to admit, often, even to themselves.
There are 4 main benefits that you
probably get from not being healthy, that you don't want to admit:
1. Avoiding being responsible
2. Getting to be right and making others wrong
3. Dominating others and avoiding domination
4. Justifying yourself and invalidating others.
These things are the hidden benefits. I'll talk about each of
them in more detail and explain what I mean. You have to dig down and be honest, though.
These 4 things are usually true for everyone and the point
of my sharing them is to make you aware of them and for you to be honest with yourself about them. Most people don't think of these things as benefits.
But if you look at them and are really honest with yourself, you'll see the benefit people get from them.
People get to avoid being responsible by putting the responsibility on the medical symptoms and disease care system. You live under the illusion that they'll create a magic pill or invent some
technique or system to make you think and healthy without you having to do a thing. They're responsible for your health, not you. It's an illusion many of us believe.
Because then we get to avoid being responsible for our own health and eat anything we want. We get to do what we want and then blame all of our symptoms on someone else.
You
get to be right and do exactly what you want. You don't have to listen to all those doctors, all those people, especially that annoying "health freak" in your family. Every family usually has one.
You get to be right about being able to do what you want. You get to make them wrong. And don't we all enjoy making someone we don't like so very wrong?
We all want to be right and I can prove it. Have you every seen someone try and prove themselves
wrong? Argue that they aren't right?
People love to be right and that includes being right with being able to eat whatever they want for whatever reasons they want.
You get to dominate others and avoid others' dominating you. You don't have to do what they say. You can do what you want. You can probably even control people and make them angry by doing things your way, by doing what you want.
You get to justify yourself and invalidate others. You get
proof for yourself that what you're doing is right. You get evidence that the way you're doing it is right. You get to make sure that other people's way of thinking is wrong and make sure they know you know they're wrong.
Realizing
the real, often hidden truth about the costs and benefits of being healthy will often help you create a stronger
desire to be healthy.
Tips for Living a Healthy Life
- By Deon Du Plessis
What's more important than the way you feel?
Is there anything more
important?
Your physical health,
the way your body "feels," is probably the most important determining factor in the way you feel.
Any feeling, weather it be physical or emotional is experienced through our bodies and by applying these simple tips for living
a healthy life, the way you feel will vastly improve.
Psychoneuroimmunology,
the science of the mind-body relationship, has now produced scientific evidence of the effect of your mind on your body and
vice versa.
Depressed people use their bodies in a certain way that causes them to feel depressed and by just changing simple things like their facial expressions, studies have shown, they can literally change the way they feel instantly.
The significance of this fact is that it proves beyond
a shadow of a doubt that our physical bodies have a tremendous effect on the way we feel both physically and emotionally. The one thing
we are all pursuing in life is happiness and happiness is nothing but "feeling good."
By following some basic
tips for living a healthy life we can make significant changes in the way we feel physically, emotionally and mentally.
We've all heard the cliché
"a healthy body houses a healthy mind" and thanks to scientific
research we now know this for a fact.
Also, the opposite is
equally true:
If we learn to
be in control of our emotional association to food, we'll automatically take care of our bodies. The instant satisfaction we get from junk food caused a lot of people to make pleasurable association (in their
subconscious minds) to these foods that lead to overeating and addiction.
Living a healthy life starts with your body. If you
take care of your body you'll develop that sense of pride in yourself and the consequently the way you feel about yourself (or your self esteem).
With this in mind, let me offer you some very simple and basic
tips for living a healthy life.
Firstly, realize
the importance of oxygen to your body and your health. Breathing isn't just to get oxygen to our vital organs. Every cell in your body requires
oxygen for it's survival and health.
You're only as healthy
as the cells in your body. In order to fully oxygenate our bodies we must learn to breathe deeply, fully and effectively.
Deep, diaphragmatic breaths will, apart from oxygenating your system, stimulate the movement of lymph fluid through the body.
Lymph is the body's
natural cleansing system, essential to keeping your cells free from toxins and maintaining a healthy
environment for the cells of your body to live in.
To breathe properly
you must breathe in the following ratio:
-
inhale (1)
-
hold (2)
-
exhale (4)
For example inhale
for 4 seconds, hold for 8 seconds and exhale for 16 seconds. Doing this simple exercise with 10 deep breaths 5 times a day
will vastly increase your health, your energy and help maintain a healthy immune system.
Secondly, understand the importance of water to your body and health. Our bodies consist mainly of fluids and water, along with oxygen is the basis of all life.
Taking sufficient amounts
of water is essential for health and life, but also we need to avoid foods that drain our bodies from vital fluids. Foods that are high in sugar, salt, caffeine and preservatives will actually
absorb fluids from your body causing certain vital functions to shut down.
Eating foods that
are naturally rich in water is essential and include all fruits, vegetables and sprouts.
Your
body is your temple and what you put in is what you get out. Stop abusing it and adhere to these simple tips for living a healthy life. The very least you must do
to life a healthy life is to stop depriving your body from the 2 most essential element, water and oxygen.
Applying these simple tips
for living a healthy life will vastly improve your health and consequently the way you feel.
When we feel good life is a pleasure and we suck from it all the juice. Life is a gift and know that tomorrow isn't promised
to you.
Live everyday like
it's your last and constantly seek out tips for living a healthy life and improving yourself
and the quality of your life. It's all out there and the only thing that's required to have whatever you want from life is
for you to go and get it.
Just do it and
do it with passion and joy.
7 Tips for a Long and Healthy Life
- By Dada Vedaprajinananda
As good as modern medical
technology is, it can never save you from the problems caused by a life style that is unhealthy. Instead of getting a modern medical fix for every problem, it is far better to live in such a way that you will hardly ever
fall ill.
An ounce of prevention is certainly better than a pound of cure.
Here are seven tips
on how to live a long and healthy life. In addition the same life style that helps you to
avoid illness also helps you to lose weight.
1. Get Enough Exercise
In the past people had to use their physical bodies in the course of their normal work. But today someone may
get up, go to work in a car, then sit down, get up to go home in the car and when arriving at home, sit down again for the
rest of the day.
In such a life
there's no physical labor. This physical inactivity is one of the main reasons for a host of diseases. Sport, running. walking
and other things must be added to our life if our normal work doesn't require us to exert ourselves physically.
2. Go to sleep when you feel sleepy
This may sound simple,
but many people stay up late even when their body is telling them that it's time to sleep. Yoga and Ayurvedic doctors also
say that it's better to sleep in the night and be active during the day.
However, people
such as students will take coffee and stimulants to study late into the night. Others develop the habit of remaining active
at night and sleeping during the day.
While we can do
this, it eventually takes a toll on health. Alternative health doctors say that this kind of unnatural living is one of the
contributing factors in the causation of cancer and other diseases.
3. Eat when you feel hungry
This is also a simple idea, but once
again we often go against the messages of the body. If you eat out of habit or due to social pressure at certain time of the
day, even when you have no real appetite, then you'll not digest your food properly.
Acidity and indigestion
begin and this contributes to the likelihood of other more complex diseases taking root. Having an appetite is actually a
sign of good health, but if you have no appetite you should wait a bit and then eat. (If
you have no appetite even after awaiting a reasonable amount of time, then you should consult a doctor because something is
wrong.)
4. Fast on a Regular, Systematic Basis
If you'd ask any person to work 365 days per year without any rest, they'd complain and say that they must have
some rest or else they'll break down. But we've never bothered to ask or to think about our digestive organs which we compel
to work day after day without a rest.
They can't protest
the way a person would to his boss, but they do give us signals that they cannot work non-stop. When we ignore those signals and still compel them to work, those organs break down.
That's why periodic
fasting is necessary. Refrain from eating for one complete day. This gives a rest to your digestive organs and also helps
in the elimination of wastes from your body. Regular fasting allows a person to gain extra time for intellectual or spiritual
pursuits.
Fasting isn't for
hermits in a cave, but is a sensible practice that anyone can practice.
5. Wash yourself
with cool water before going to bed
As mentioned above, proper sleep is essential
for the maintenance of health. If you wash your important motor and sensory organs (hands,
arms, eyes, legs, mouth, genitals) before sleep using cool water, this will relax you and prepare you
for deep sleep.
6. Perform meditation on a regular basis
Your body is linked to your mind. Many of the diseases
of this era are psychosomatic. Stress and anxiety take their toll on our physical health. Meditation is a mental exercise which, among other things, allows you to detach yourself from the worries of life.
Learn a simple
technique and do it regularly.
7. Get up early every day
Once again the old proverb, "Early to bed, early to rise makes a person healthy,
wealthy and wise." I don't know if it will make you wealthy, but it'll certainly make you healthy. Your
body needs just enough sleep, not too much and not too little.
Follow these tips and you can't go
wrong.
How To Keep Your Brain Healthy and Your Mind As Sharp As A Tack...
Whatever Your Age By Michael Coleman
Brain health shouldn’t be something you first start thinking about in middle or old-age. Just as you need to exercise your body throughout life to keep it healthy so too does your brain require
a daily workout to keep it vital and alert.
It's common for people to experience
a gradual decline in their mental abilities as they age. We're told that this is normal and is the result of age-related structural
changes in the brain - and that such changes are inevitable.
But you know what…
there’s a lot of evidence coming from the latest research into brain health that brain aging is only ‘normal and
inevitable’ if you do nothing to prevent it.
This means that it doesn’t have to happen to you - that you can keep your
brain healthy and in ‘tip-top’ shape, enjoy being creative and improve your
memory with just a little bit of effort… whatever your age.
The question is how…?
Research findings
point to 3 main ways to support your brain: healthy diet, mental activity and getting physical with the brain. The first
2 have been promoted for many years.
However, the 3rd - getting physical with the brain - isn't widely known yet may well
prove to be the most powerful factor in maintaining brain health.
What does ‘getting physical’ with
your brain mean? To make the explanation simple I’ll define getting physical as anything that's clearly not diet related
nor a mental activity such as puzzles, number sequence exercises, memory games, practicing musical instruments and so on.
So what can you do to get physical with your brain? Plenty! In fact, as you’ll discover
shortly, there are many powerful ‘hands-on’ ways of using physical activity to boost your brain-power and keep you as sharp as a tack regardless of your age.
And, because they are based
solely on natural health principles, they help your brain to help itself without having to resort to popping pills, taking
supplements, mood enhancers or anything like that.
What’s more, you’re
likely to find getting physical with your brain so easy and enjoyable that you can readily picture yourself doing it for life.
Here are some of the factors you should consider when developing a strategy to keep your brain
healthy, alert and vital:
Physical exercise: Physical exercise can encourage a healthy brain to function
optimally in ways that aren't widely known or their value appreciated. i.e., exercise can help the brain by promoting the production of new neurons (brain
cells) and strengthening the connections between neurons.
Reduce
stress levels: Stress plays havoc with the functioning of the brain and the body systems it controls. In particular, the sustained
presence of stress hormones in the bloodstream can damage brain cells.
Encourage the flow of oxygenated blood to the brain: Increasing blood flow and oxygen can help support the survival of new neurons and foster neuron ‘firing’.
In simple terms, ‘firing’ means a neuron connecting with its neighbours
- which is how messages are transmitted to and from the brain.
Promote the generation and
circulation of sexual energy: Sexual energy can play a key part in supporting mental health as it fosters, i.e., the movement of chemicals called neurotransmitters between neurons.
These play a critical role in the communication of information between nerve cells.
As an illustration, the neurotransmitter serotonin associated with sexual behaviour and arousal is involved in a number of
functions including influencing mood and alertness.
Control the breathing rate: Another important factor in optimizing brain health is the practice
of slowing down the breathing rate as that can enhance the activity of the hypothalamus and the pituitary and pineal glands,
the optimum performance of which is central to the maintenance of both physical and mental health.
Challenge the brain with a variety of ‘new’ experiences: Walking backwards is a simple
example. By experiencing such unusual patterns of behaviour the brain is stimulated and there's some evidence that the brain
can actually increase in size.
Stimulate the senses: The bottom line here is that
you should take every opportunity to engage your eyes and smell sensors by continually sampling your surroundings - consciously
keep your eyes moving so you present your brain with new information to analyze and process while you ‘sniff’
the environment in search of smells and odors for your brain to identify.
In conclusion
it's fair to say that all the above elements can have a marked positive influence on brain health in their own right. However, it's the synergistic impact of using them in combination that is likely to provide
the most powerful benefits.
Michael Coleman holds graduate
qualifications in mathematics, science and education; certificates in metaphysics and Reiki. He also studies Tao, Tantra and
martial arts. He's passionate about the power of the body to heal itself & detailed information on keeping your brain
vital & alert for life without spending a single cent is contained in his step-by-step guide “How To Keep Your Brain
Healthy” available at his website: www.knowledge-download.com/brain
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Recipe for a Healthy Relationship
- by Alina Ruigrok
First off, it's
important to ask yourself what you consider a real relationship to be. You need to understand what your needs and desires are from another person and what you're willing to give them.
This way, you can
see early in your first dates, if you wish to continue and work towards a future together and if the other person feels the
same of course (both sides count).
Once
you've decided to have an official relationship, you both need to remember what brought the 2 of you together in the first place. For instance, what attracted you to each other both physically
and emotionally?
What do you admire about his or her personality? This will help not taking the other for granted, which can often happen after 2 people have been together for a long time.
This doesn't mean
the love is fading, but it does mean that there's lack of effort. People tend to get lazy after a while, because they feel comfortable and safe. This problem can be solved when both people are willing to make the time and effort.
Everyone
is independent in their own beliefs and ideas about things, so never expect a person to always see things your way. However, it's important to have similar expectations out of a relationship, if you wish to avoid frequent arguments.
Look for things
like whether or not it's important for the both of you to see each other everyday, or have sex often. While seeing each other on a daily basis seems wonderful
and healthy to some people, others may feel smothered and need space to have some alone time.
Or if sex is on
the top of your list, but isn't on your partners, you might want to consider that, unless you don't mind waiting or taking
care of yourself once in a while…depending on how long you have to wait!
Patience is one of the main keys to a healthy relationship. There are times when our partner will
not respond in a way in which is pleasing to us, but this doesn't mean we have to take it so seriously or personally. Always
slow down, take a deep breath and think of reasons why your partner may be acting a certain way.
Assuming and jumping
to conclusions is always an unhealthy step to take because it shows your partner that they aren't entitled to act freely and they feel attacked, not to mention it shows that you automatically assume the worst of them. Give your partner some time
and let them know that you'll be there for them when they're ready to talk.
No matter what
the situation may be, patience is golden in a relationship, unless your partner never wants to discuss matters with you (which
would mean you need counseling or leave the relationship).
Honesty is also at the top of everyone's list when it comes to what people want out of a relationship. A person needs to know that they can trust their mate because it builds a zone of safety and comfortableness around them.
They need to know that they can at least rely on their loving partner to tell them the truth, no matter what. Being human means NOT being perfect, which means we will make mistakes. Now, we shouldn't let that fact
lead us to making mistakes we already know are wrong ahead of time.
If your partner
deliberately makes mistakes or you knowingly make mistakes, it shows that you or your partner lacks respect and care for the other. This is unhealthy for the relationship. What's healthy however, is realizing that the mistake you committed
is a mistake.
You or your partner
need to know that what they did was wrong and they need to feel the sympathy for what they did. Once you or partner have realized this, you can then figure out a way of how you'll confess your wrong
doings to the other.
Being accepted is a requirement in all relationships. No one desires to be with someone who judges them and rejects them for who they are or certain traits of their personalities. That's the beauty of being individuals. We're entitled to our own decisions, hobbies, goals, etc.
When some one truly
loves you, they love the whole package you come in, which means the physical you, the emotional you and the dreams and hobbies
that come along with you. The person you choose to be with should support your dreams and respect your hobbies.
Kindness and thoughtfulness are both equally important in a healthy relationship. Your partner needs to be considerate of your feelings and treat you with care and kindness, as if you were a sweet delicate rose.
He or she doesn't
need to attend you like a babysitter, but should be there for you when you need him or her, or when you don't need them, but just because you want them. They should just want to be with you as well. The point of a relationship isn't depending
on each other for our self-health, but being a part of the others life. You should be responsible for your own happiness and esteem, not your partner.
So remember, a healthy
relationship is when you and your partner can be yourselves, be feeling honest, feelings of honesty with each other, be patient, accept one another, be kind and remembering to be thoughtful. With an open and caring relationship like this, your love is sure to grow and grow like beautiful trees do, because they receive the proper care from the sun and the rest of nature. Our partner is our sun and water, as we are to them. Together, you can keep your relationship
feeling happy and healthy.
Attracting Healthy Relationships
- by Todd Puntolillo
I've often said
that there's no one in my life that I don’t want there. In consideration of the thousands of people that I’ve
encountered over the past half century, I’m pleased to report that no one who chooses to come around me is abusive, resentful or parasitic.
Of course, it wasn’t
always that way. Somewhere along the way my brother said to me, “You teach people how to treat you.” Wow, what
a revelation! If I don’t like the way that I'm being treated it's because I have, thru self doubt or guilt, made a silent pact to take the abuse that I believe I deserve.
In my opinion, there's something in common in most infatuations, casual friendships and too many marriages. It's the need to withhold love. Most of our relationships have boundaries. We use them for protection.
All right, so we’ve
been hurt before. Does this preclude intimacy forever? Trust usually takes a while to develop. The problem exists when someone is never able to be completely open - even with family and friends.
In order to have
an feeling intimate, intimate feelings relationship with anyone at all, we must first love and trust ourselves. If we're untrustworthy we probably will not be able to trust anyone else. It's good to see our own areas that need improving and to be feeling honest, feelings of honesty with ourselves; however, it's distorted to believe ourselves to be unlovable.
No matter who we
are or what we’ve done, the truth is that we are created out of the substance of pure love. There's no other building block! What we choose to do with our lives is a matter of free will. We can, at any moment in time, change our thinking and immediately begin changing our experience - if we prefer to grow rather than wallow in self pity.
Until we can truly accept and love ourselves exactly as we are, close, loving relationships will be hard to come by. Unhealthy, secretive and selfish relationships should be no problem to attract at all.
When I was younger I called
myself a “hopeless romantic.” What an awful affirmation! When I realized what I was believing, I changed the phrase to “hopeful romantic.” I was always looking forward to a kind of love that was, however, transient by nature.
What I really needed to conceptualize was pure love in action. Human affection is the natural outcome of unconditional love. It isn't the objective. Without an agenda for your loved one, there exists the possibility of trust and freedom like never before. This kind of thinking is an ongoing challenge, but pays off for everyone concerned.
When we resign ourselves to be in that perfect place of love where we're feeling giving, giving feelings, loving caretakers and trustworthy for others, people will come into our experience. Some will be healthy for us and others
energy draining. To attract those who will resonate with us we can simply speak softly our highest truth and stand quietly in our integrity. Those who can’t bare the light will slip back into the shadows.
If we would be
loved, we must be loving. Looking beyond the humanness of another we see the beauty within. It's often easier to love those we haven’t met than those we must face daily! We need not prepare a permanent place in our experience for those who don't respect us. We release them lovingly and move forward, trusting our inner guidance.
Love is an infinite commodity. You can’t give it away without creating more. You attract into your life that which you are. To find the right person, be the right person.
Be a beacon of light, then rest assured your ship will come in.
Todd Puntolillo 3/28/96
Healthy Relationships - By AlixSandra Parness
Life is about Relationship
on every level of our being. It is the reason we chose to be human. Our understanding about relationships and relating, is evolving as the members of different societies
and groups of people within those societies evolve themselves.
Rules of behavior and moral
conduct have usually been the deciding factors in our upbringing forming the path we choose in our life. However there are
other factors that must be considered if we're to understand why we're in some of the relationships we find ourselves in and then be able to bring ourselves to choice about transforming
those relationships.
The Soul is a major factor
in forming relationships. Our Soul has one goal, to help us resolve conflictive patterns and bring us to the place of unconditional love and light.
Our personal Soul
works individually with us, it connects to a group Soul and then a Planetary Soul. There's a group Soul for each society.
The one goal of resolving patterns of conflict is the presiding element in personal relationships, group relationships and relationships between societies.
Each level of Soul
can be reached and are constantly reached through introspection and meditation. If you've ever prayed for world peace you're sending your messages to the Planetary Soul who then communicates with your individual Soul.
Your personal Soul
then attracts situations thru relationships that offer you the opportunity to achieve your own prayer. You may see results
in the world, but you'll surely see them reflected in your own life.
The Soul has already
evolved to a place that understands we are all one, its job is to help us understand as well.
The Soul must always honor the prime directive of free choice. The Soul must go through our personality and can't override our decisions and desires.
Our personality deals with
day to day issues and sees only what is directly in front of it. The personality is only in touch with the big picture thru
the Higher Self and Soul and often has a very narrow view of relationships.
The personality thinks our relationships should last forever and is devastated when they don't. Why?
Because the personality needs to feel safe and safety relates to holding onto what it knows very often negating free choice. The Soul on the other hand has a broader view and knows safety isn't the issue.
The Soul relishes
change because change represents greater opportunities to meet its goal. Therefore, relationships aren't always meant to last forever. Relationships
build character and so relationships will come and go according to the mirrors we need to see in ourselves.
The Soul draws
on our vast experiences, finds the places that need culling and strengthening and then brings us the perfect relationship to mirror the lesson that needs to be learned.
Our job is to
allow the change to take place and release the relationship when we feel complete. When we're unable to do this we enter into an unhealthy relationship which we'll defend against all reason. The personality is now in charge.
The results of unhealthy relationships are evident. They're oppressive and foster deceit and denial. It isn't until the pain becomes unbearable that the Soul is sought after once again.
Our heart cries out for peace, for honesty, for respect and for happiness. It's the longing of the heart that communicates and reaches our compassionate Soul immediately. With the Souls direction the first thing that usually happens is that we seek out a group Soul that reflects
the integrity we're looking for.
Within this group we're able
to redefine ourselves. To heal wounds and transform energies that'll lift us out of the fear-based world of the personality. We learn about Self-Love and self-compassion as we heal.
But, most of all we learn
about truth. We learn that truth isn't something to be feared, we learn that truth sets us free. We learn that it's OK to say what we feel when we feel it even though it might feel unpleasant.
This awareness unlocks the door to healthy relationships, healthy mirrors
we look into & that look back at us with compassion and love. Healthy relationships
that allow us freedom while maintaining integrity.
A
healthy relationship says, I'm learning to define myself, "Thank you for allowing me to be myself while I learn to
live my life in the best way possible for both of us."
Codependent relationships compromise integrity. A codependent relationship says, You define me, "I need you to tell me who I am."
And, "I can never be or do
enough" or "I have to control you to feel powerful" (humiliation is good for the soul). As long as these ideas are acting out, this relationship isn't healthy.
12 Elements of Healthy
Relationships:
1. Mutual Trust
2. Good Communication
3. To Feel Included
4. Fun, finding enjoyment
in life
5. To be wanted, admired and loved
6. Spiritual Commitment
7. A Sense of Giving
8. Intimacy
9.
Growth, maturing elegantly in the process of relationship
10. Healing, Honesty Always
11. Freedom to Be
12. Honoring each other as a sacred treasure of God What we look for in another we long for in ourselves. The halls of mirrors change as we learn to accept ourselves. Self-Love is the final frontier in evolving healthy relationships.
What is Healthy Sex?
Sexual energy is
a powerful, very natural force in our lives. But like any natural force we encounter - be it wind, sun, rain, or our own laughter
- our sexual energy has the potential to be channeled and experienced in either destructive or life-affirming ways.
Healthy sex involves
the conscious, positive expression of our sexual energy in ways that enhance self-esteem, physical health, and emotional relationship.
It is mutually beneficial and harms no one.
The CERTS Model of Healthy
Sex
Healthy Sex requires that these five basic conditions be met:
Consent, Equality, Respect, Trust, and Safety
Let’s look at each of these conditions more
closely:
CONSENT
means you can freely and comfortably choose whether
or not to engage in sexual activity. You are able to stop
the activity at any time during the sexual contact.
EQUALITY
means your sense of personal power is on an equal level with your partner. Neither of you dominates the other.
RESPECT
means you have positive regard for yourself and for your partner. You feel respected by your partner.
TRUST means
you trust your partner on both a physical and emotional level. You have mutual acceptance of vulnerability and an ability to
respond to it with sensitivity.
SAFETY
means you feel secure and safe within the
sexual setting. You are comfortable with and assertive about
where, when and how the sexual activity takes place. You feel safe from the possibility of harm, such as unwanted pregnancy,
sexually transmitted infection, and physical injury.
source site: click here
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What is Healthy Support? - by Maria Marsala
For
many feeling giving, giving feelings another human being the support they require isn't an easy thing. It means letting down our own judgment and wishes for that person - and REALLY supporting and encouraging them - even if feeling giving, giving feelings that support means that they move 3000 miles away.
It's
also about inner support and learning how to support ourselves. It's about watching the messages of the universe for their support and about not giving up on you! And oh... it's about walking over and under and through lots of mountains and pastures too.
Healthy support is nothing less than miraculous. Personally it has meant the difference between working for someone else - and owning my
own company. With the support of a new network I was able to leave my wonderful, vibrant, energizing NYC and fulfill a 20 year dream by moving to what seemed like the end of the world - WA! Sometimes being self supportive means letting go or trying something different.
Learn to say No!
Yes,
support means being able to say no! Repeat after me, "saying no to others means saying yes to me." So start saying no to the things
you really don't want to do and send messages to the universe about the things you do want!
Learn
the difference between boundaries and standards. Many people think their "problem" is that they have no boundaries - you know those rules we have for how we want other people to treat us. Part of the challenge is to realize that those rules are definitely there and we're just not enforcing them.
And
yes, repeating our boundaries time and time again is part of learning how to support ourselves. (My favorite articles on boundaries & standards are located at www.topten.org)
Learn to "use" what you read.
John Bradshaw,
recovery author and speaker, tells a story about the two lines there are to get to heaven. One line will get you straight there, the
other is a how to get to heaven class. Most folks would want to take the class first!
Reading
is wonderful and yet its only one part of the process. Reading is the first part of a slogan recovery group's use. It's part 1 of the three "A's" - awareness.
Don't
forget about the other two A's - acceptance and action. (3 A's is a slogan from the recovery movement.)
Learn to be assertive.
Want to be assertive from a very centered place? The acronym below is from an Assertiveness Training Program, by Anne Johnsen, CSW, Staten Island, NY.
1)
Start any special assertiveness conversation with "I feel" "I believe" "I think".
2)
Use the assertiveness sentence I feel _________ when you ___________ I'd prefer that you ________
3)
NEVER start sentences with YOU - the blame word
4)
If you find your feelings are a whole lost more than more than the situation at hand calls for, KNOW that this is a situation from your past that requires
some action - don't take it out on the person who has brought this to light for you.
Learn
to set goals and listen.
I am one of those who believe in setting goals - and writing them down. The downside of goal setting is that some people can become "stuck" in the goal. They forget to listen to the universe as they walk towards the goal.
So enjoy
the "adventure" of moving forward and celebrate every step - big and small. Adventures seem to remove the fear of the unknown and they make the journey as much fun as "getting there."
Learn to ask
for what you need or want.
Do you hear yourself complaining to others or yourself a lot? If so,
then you're not asking for what you want or need.
So learn
to ask. Do you need some extra help? A support group? 12 step recovery group? Therapist? Coach? Look for the help... it's out there waiting for you.
Learn to
ask yourself for support.
Write a list of at least 50 things you're tolerating in your life - people,
places and things. Things that you think about, know require doing and keep putting off would go on your list. Remember to include things you're tolerating about
you and your things.
You'll
be surprised at how much energy goes into "that spot on the wall" that requires painting... until it's painted! What do tolerations
have to do with support?
When
you get rid of half the things you're tolerating you'll have more time to give support to others from a cup that is overflowing with energy.
Learn to regroup.
If something you believe in somehow isn't currently working out... take a breather, let it go by putting it in your "God Box" and come back to it later. Later, you can always talk about it to others, make some changes and regroup. Hey, you're worth your effort!
2000 Maria Marsala, Life & Business Evolution Coach www.coachmaria.com
Healthy Body Image
visit the additional info site for feeling emotional four! to read about Healthy Body Image
by clicking here!
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