Cancer Health

Cancer Health

• Be as lean as possible without becoming underweight: Don't just look at the scale; check your waist measurement as a crude measurement of your abdominal fat, Collins says. She recommends that men's waists be no larger than 37 inches and women's waists be 31.5 inches or less.
• Be physically active for at least 30 minutes every day: You can break that into 10- to 15-minute blocks, and even more activity may be better, notes Collins.
• Avoid sugary drinks and limit consumption of energy-dense foods: It's not that those foods directly cause cancer, but they could blow your calorie budget if you often overindulge, notes Collins, who suggests filling up on fruits, vegetables, and whole grains.
• Eat more of a variety of vegetables, fruits, whole grains, and legumes such as beans: Go for a variety of colors (like deep greens of spinach, deep blues of blueberries, whites of onions and garlic, and so on). Most Americans, says Collins, are stuck in a rut of eating the same three vegetables over and over.
• If consumed at all, limit alcoholic drinks to two for men and one for women per day: Watch your portion size; drinks are often poured liberally, notes Collins. Willett adds that the pros and cons of moderate drinking is something that women may particularly need to consider, weighing the heart benefits and increased breast cancer risk from drinking.
• Limit red meats (beef, pork, lamb) and avoid processed meats: Limit red meats to 18 ounces per week, says Collins, who suggests using chicken, seafood, or legumes in place of red meat. Collins isn't saying to never eat red meat, just do so in moderation.
• Limit consumption of salty foods and foods processed with sodium: Don't go over 2,400 milligrams per day, and use herbs and spices instead, says Collins. She adds that processed foods account for most sodium intake nowadays -- not salt you add when cooking or eating.
• Don't use supplements to protect against cancer: It's not that supplements are bad -- they may be "valuable" apart from cancer prevention, but there isn't evidence that they protect against cancer, except for vitamin D, says Collins.
• It's best for mothers to breastfeed babies exclusively for up to six months and then add other foods and liquids: Hospitals could encourage this more, Collins says.
• After treatment, cancer survivors should follow the recommendations for cancer prevention. Survivors include people undergoing cancer treatment, as well as people who have finished their cancer treatment.

Sexual Health

Protect Your Sexual Health

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Take steps toward a healthy, satisfying sex life

Sexuality is part of being human. Love and sexual intimacy contribute to healthy relationships, and to our happiness.

Research has shown that sex is more important to happiness than money. After analyzing data from 16,000 people, English researchers estimated that the happiness gained from increasing intercourse from once a month to once a week is equivalent to the happiness generated by getting a $50,000 raise.

Along with the positive aspects of sexuality, however, there are illnesses that can affect your sexual health. But by taking precautions, you can stay well.

Among the issues that can affect your sexual health are:

• Birth control
• Impotence and desire issues
• Sexually transmitted diseases
• Body image
• Sexual satisfaction

How Your Health Affects Your Sex Life

Experts agree: There is an important relationship between overall health, overall lifestyle, and sexual satisfaction. Research also suggests that certain physical conditions that go along with obesity also affect sex drive, further dampening the desires of those who are overweight.

The good news: You can make some lifestyle changes to enhance your libido, experts say. Those changes include:

• If you're overweight, lose a little weight (even 10 pounds) to stimulate sex hormones.
• Eat more nutritious foods, which control cholesterol and blood sugar levels. Choose heart-healthy foods such as grains, fruits, nuts, vegetables, and lean sources of dairy and protein.
• Exercise regularly. To strengthen your heart and help build endurance, add a few high-intensity bouts to your fitness routine. Strength training is also a good idea, to build shapely muscle and to keep your body strong enough to handle all your day-to-day activities (including sex).
• Get enough rest. It's hard to be in the mood for love when you are exhausted!
• Keep a positive attitude. Accept your body, whatever its size, and believe in your sensuality.

Get Help If You Need It

Although small changes in lifestyle -- along with some healthy "self-talk" -- can go a long way toward improving both drive and desire, if you still are experiencing sexual problems, professional help may be in order.

It's not as simple as getting a prescription for Viagra; sexual problems may be physical or psychological in nature, and can affect both men and women.

If the problems are persistent, or cause distress for you or your partner, it's time to see your doctor for evaluation and treatment.

Asthma Tips

Asthma Tips

Free Asthma Hints and Tips

• Knowing the cause of your asthma takes you one step closer to finding a cure. Become aware of your breathing when you are well. (Take as much time as you need for this awareness)
• FEEL your breathing
• LISTEN TO your breathing
• feel your breathing when you are CALM and RELAXED
• feel your breathing when you are MOVING or EXERCISING

Has your breathing changed?
How deep is it now ?
How do you feel when your breathing rate changes? (MEMORISE THESE FEELINGS)
Listen to your breathing when you have your symptoms, eg: Asthma Attack, wheeze, shortness of breath, coughing, sneezing, blocked nose.

COMPARE this breathing against symptom free breathing.

WHAT DO YOU NOTICE?

Your breathing is always deeper and harder to control when you have symptoms

• more chest movement
• tendency to breathe more through your mouth

THEREFORE WHEN YOU HAVE SYMPTOMS

• keep your mouth closed
• try to relax your breathing
• don't fight your breathing
• try to gradually reduce your breathing to the rate you had when you were well

CHILDREN
Always encourage your children to breathe through their nose even when playing strenuous games. Nasal breathing can reduce the loss of carbon dioxide.
CHILDREN MUST NOT MOUTH BREATHE

EXERCISE AND SPORT

Always breathe through your nose during any activity. If you have to open your mouth to breathe or you loose control of your breathing STOP, normalize or take control of your breathing, then resume the activity.
Do not try to overbreathe when exercising.

WHY YOU SHOULD BREATHE THROUGH YOUR NOSE (always breathe gently)

Breathing through your nose will

• help reduce the volume of air you breathe
• It will warm, moisten and filter the air before it reaches your lungs ( if your nose is blocked use the following technique)
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UNBLOCKING YOUR NOSE 5 EASY STEPS

• blow your nose
• take in a normal breath
• breath out ( pinch your nostrils closed with your fingers) "DON'T OPEN YOUR MOUTH"
• hold this breath approximately 5 seconds longer then when you first experience the need to breathe
• Now breathe gently through your nose ( Do not gulp air through your mouth)

N.B. you may need to repeat this process until your nose clears

SOME BASIC BREATHING RULES TO FOLLOW

• Do not sleep on your back. (it deepens your breathing)
• Breathe through your nose. (in and out)
• When you have symptoms try to relax your breathing and return it to normal.
• Generally try to breathe slightly less volume of air at all times.

Yoga Good For Health

Yoga Good For Health

   This section provides you with various articles related Yoga and other technics to manage your daily life.
This section provides you with informative articles on Yoga. Simple technics and tips to maintain good health. Before starting to work on Yoga, one has to understand yoga better. For attaining a healthy life, physical excercises, yoga technics need to be practiced with utmost care. These should however be practiced under the supervision of a trained person.


You can find Helpful articles on Yoga, easy to follow yoga Tips and Technics. Introduction to Yoga and its benefits to attain healthy life. Simple and easy to follow physical excercises help you in your daily routine.
Articles for stress relief and eye strain below gives you easy to follow tips and technics to overcome stress and also treat your eyes. These technics result in stress relief and treatment to your eyes.

Inverted Asanas for longevity: Remove toxins and slow down ageing by learning inverted asanas
Benefits of Sarpasana: Reduce upper back pain and relieves muscular tension
Benefits of Samasthithi asana: Samasthithi asana helps you cultivate a balanced stance towards the world
Benefits of Vrikshasana: This yogic posture helps improve concentration and builds mind power
Benefits of Bharadwaj asana: This asana gives a good twist to the lower, mid and uppder back
Yoga Do's and Dont's: Yogic exercises have to be practiced with caution.
Benefits of Pranayama: Pranayama is a kind of meditation that creates awareness, controls the unsteady mind, refreshes the brain.
Introduction to Yoga: Yoga is a system of physical excercise and natural healing. Our ancient sages have suggested eight stages of Yoga to secure purity of body, mind and soul and final communion with God.

Get A Flatter Tummy

Get A Flatter Tummy

The secret to a firmer, flatter tummy is to combine abdominal exercise with a sensible low-fat diet. For the best results, mix up your routine with exercises that target the various muscles that make up the abdominal region.

To tone and strengthen your upper abdominals, the basic crunch is your best choice. Perform this exercise with your knees bent and back flat on the floor. Raise your chest and shoulders several inches from the ground, exhaling as you come up and inhaling as you release.

To work the oblique, the muscles on the side of the stomach, perform the crunch at alternating angles, reaching with the shoulder (not the elbow) across the body to the opposite knee. Repeat on the other side.

To work the lower abdominals, bring the knees up towards the chest, forming a 90 degrees angle with the body. Using only the lower abdominals and not the legs or hip, bring the knees slightly towards the chest as you exhale. Return to the starting position. Remember this is a very small movement, so don’t try to bring the knees up to the face. Start with 10 repetitions of each exercise and gradually increase your repetitions to 25 as your abdominals become more conditioned.

Unlike other muscles, the abdominals can be exercised every day. They don’t need a rest day in between workouts because they are not as prone to fatigue or injury, and there is no fear of them getting too big.
Crunches performed slowly and with control provide better results than fast repetitions or quick pulsing movements.