Heart Attacks and drinking Warm Water
This is a very good article. Not only about the warm water after your meal, but about heart attacks. The Chinese and Japanese drink hot tea with their meals, not cold water, maybe it is time we adopt their drinking habit while eating.
You may never have the first chest pain
A cardiologist
Maintaining a Strong Skeleton
Approximately 95 percent of our skeleton is developed during the first 18 years of life. Periods of rapid growth occur during the first year of life and during the adolescent growth spurt. After adult height is achieved, our bones continue to become more dense as minerals are deposited. This is the consolidation phase. An additional 5-percent increase in bone mass is accumulated by age 30 to 35. At this age, our bones are the most dense and we are in a period of peak bone mass. After age 40, we experience an age-related phase of slow bone loss. The most rapid loss of bone mass for women occurs during the first 4 to 8 years after menopause. This chapter discusses the consequences of bone loss and also the lifestyle factors that protect the skeleton.
Osteoporosis
When enough bone mass is lost that bones become vulnerable to fracture, the individual has developed osteoporosis. Osteoporosis is a debilitating disease that affects over 24 million Americans. Each year in the United States, 1.3 million fractures are attributable to osteoporosis. The most common fractures occur at the wrist, the spine, and the hip. Hip fractures alone result in annual health-care costs of $10 billion. This figure will continue to increase with the increase of the elderly population. Between 15 and 25 percent of persons with a hip fracture enter long-term-care institutions. Hip fractures are associated with a high mortality rate due to surgical deaths and to complications such as thromboembolism, fat embolism, and pneumonia.
Treatment of Osteoporosis
A number of drugs are being investigated for their efficacy in the treatment of osteoporosis. These include calcitonin, bisphosphonates, and 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3. These drugs slow bone resorption but have little effect on the stimulation of bone formation. Other agents being researched are fluoride and parathyroid hormone; these may stimulate bone formation but are not proven to reduce the rates of fracture.
Because of the lack of a cure for osteoporosis, the prevention of excessive bone loss is the current focus. Approximately 80 percent of bone mass is genetically determined. The other 20 percent can be modified by lifestyle factors. Adequate calcium intake, weight-bearing exercise, and estrogen-replacement therapy for women who have entered menopause are the primary lifestyle factors associated with reducing the risk of osteoporosis. Factors associated with increased risk of osteoporosis include smoking and abuse of alcohol and caffeine. Thin, small-framed women are more vulnerable to osteoporosis, and Caucasians and Asians are at higher risk than African-Americans. Women are at greater risk than men by a ratio of 4 to 1. Women have less hone mass, experience accelerated loss of bone mass following menopause, and ingest less calcium than do men.
A researcher at the USDA Human Nutrition Research Center at Tufts University (Boston, MA), Bess Dawson-Hughes, has shown that calcium supplements can prevent the usual bone loss associated with aging in women who consume less than 400 milligrams (mg) of calcium per day. Furthermore, two studies have reported that the risk of hip fracture is reduced by as much as 60 percent on higher calcium intakes.
Other nutrients that are important to the skeleton are protein, vitamins C and D, phosphorus, magnesium, manganese, copper, zinc, and boron.
Estrogen-replacement therapy can also prevent or retard bone loss in perimenopausal and postmenopausal women as long as the therapy is continued and the dietary calcium intake is sufficient. Calcium supplementation in combination with estrogen replacement has synergistic positive effects on bone loss; that is, the effectiveness of each treatment is enhanced.
Early-Life Steps To Prevent Osteoporosis
Building bone mass in early life may be the most effective way to prevent osteoporosis in later life. If this opportunity is missed, it probably cannot be made up. Even small increases in bone mass can have a great impact on the risk of fracture. For instance, a 5-percent increase in bone mass can reduce the risk of osteoporotic fracture by 40 percent.
A lifelong habit of drinking milk is associated with increased bone mass. Researchers at the Indiana University School of Medicine in Indianapolis have shown that calcium supplements increase the bone mass in preadolescent children, compared to that in their identical twins who received placebos during a 3-year study.
Getting Enough Calcium
In the American diet, almost 75 percent of dietary calcium comes from dairy products. Few other foods are concentrated sources of absorbable calcium. At Purdue University (West Lafayette, IN) and Creighton University (Omaha, NE), plant foods are being screened for calcium absorption. These include broccoli, bok choy, kale, and tofu made with calcium salts. Calcium is well absorbed from these vegetables and from all dairy products—that is, milk, yogurt, cheese, processed cheese, and their low-fat counterparts. Spinach is a concentrated source of calcium, but this calcium is poorly absorbed because it is complexed with oxalic acid and is therefore indigestible.
Depending on their stage of growth, people need 2 to 5 cups of milk or the calcium equivalent each day. American females more than 12 years old typically consume less calcium than this recommended amount. Calcium intake in American women is 40 to 50 percent below that in men. A 1984 National Institutes of Health consensus-development conference recommended 1,000 mg of calcium per day for premenopausal women and 1,500 mg per day for postmenopausal women. However, 25 percent of American women have an intake below 300 mg per day, which is the amount of calcium in one glass of milk. Calcium supplements are recommended for individuals who cannot get adequate calcium through diet. However, supplements do not contain all the nutrients necessary for building bones, and people often forget to take pills. An alternative source of calcium is the fortified beverages now on the market.
Exercise
Weight-bearing exercise has a positive impact on bone density. An effective exercise program applies weight loading to all parts of the skeleton. For example, the right arm of a right-handed tennis player has a higher bone density than does the left arm. Activities that are exclusively aerobic seem to be the least effective in building peak hone mass. Thus, weight lifters have higher bone density than do swimmers. We do not know if the positive effects of exercise on bone mass are retained when exercise is discontinued.
A partial explanation for bone loss in the elderly is the reduction in physical activity with age. The physical work of the average sedentary elderly adult is 30 percent less than that of the average younger adult. If immobilization occurs, bone loss is accelerated; but bone mass can increase when the individual again becomes ambulatory.
The Known and Unknown
Obtaining adequate dietary calcium, exercise, and estrogen-replacement therapy following menopause are three lifestyle choices for maintaining a strong skeleton. The interaction of these factors is not well understood. Nor do we know the residual positive effect after cessation of treatment. Research to determine the best food sources of absorbable calcium and the most effective exercise programs, in combination with education programs on behavior modification, can help reduce the suffering and the healthcare costs associated with bone loss.
Stress Can Affect Your Mental Health
Mental health issues that are caused by stress can range from homicidal or other violent acts towards oneself or drive others to addictions. The range of mental health disorders that are stress related is so broad that it can be difficult to understand how two situations fall in the same category. The days of shock therapy are gone for the most part, but it still is used for certain mental illnesses. Gone, too, is the routine procedure of frontal lobotomies to calm patients into total submissiveness.
A large key to dealing with stress related mental health issues is to know how to relieve stress. We now understand that men who are returning from wars endure thoughts and images that affect them in ways that we have only begun to be aware of. Post traumatic stress disorder which is caused by stress can affect victims of abuse and violence of all types. Only recently have we begun to understand how traumatic events can affect the people who survive them.
Despite the many types of mental health disorders that currently exist because of stress, some of them tend to be much more common than others. Mental health disorders are not discriminatory and affect everyone. They do not choose specific people or races to affect. Mental health disorders are equal opportunity problems. These disorders have been proven to be hereditary in some cases but that is the closest generalization that you can expect.
A very common mental illness that is caused by stress is manic/chronic depressive disorder. This is characterized by extreme highs and lows in moods for no apparent reason. Sufferers are irrational and quick to change, in terms of mood. For example, if you suffer from this disorder you are happy–very happy or sad—very sad for no apparent reason. Stress is a major cause of this problem.
Eating disorders, which are also quite common, include anorexia (not eating), and bulimia (binging and purging) are also caused by stress that arises from self esteem. Anxiety disorders are characterized by having an irrational dread of living one’s life, to the point where it is incapacitating.
Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a form of anxiety disorder where a person obsesses (thinks about) and is compulsive (does) about a particular action such as washing their hands, to the point where he or she repeats this action an inordinate amount of times. Stress is a major aspect of our lives and can lead to serious mental problems if not taken under control. Learning to contain stress can lead to your overall health.
Abbas Abedi
How To Manage Stress To Get Total Stress Relief?
Stress is a complicated web. If I say, it bothers everyone, from the cradle to the grave, from the womb to the tomb, it won’t be an incorrect statement.
Stress has a combined effect, on your body and on your mind. Those who have no jobs are stressed due to unemployment. And ask those who have jobs! They complain about day to day job stress. There may be varied reasons, such as time spent on traveling, low salary, harassment by the boss and lots of outstation tours. To secure relief is the normal expectation of any individual. Nobody wishes to live continuously under stress.
You please note that stress is entirely different from a challenging situation. Difficulties are not to be confused with stress. Stress is mainly your inability to cope up with a particular situation or a cluster of situations.
Can you ever be totally stress-free? In that situation you would not be a human being. You will be an angel in the celestial world! As a human being, you need to know, how to live with a certain level of stress!
I will explain this with an example. A young man wished to take bath in the sea. He went to the sea shore, but saw the waves. He surmised I shall take bath, when all the waves are over. Will such a situation ever come?
The sea has learned the art of living with the waves! You need to know the art of taking bath, swimming in the sea with the waves ever present there!
So, the golden rule is, having gone for a sea bath, don’t be afraid of the oncoming waves. If the waves are powerful, duck them, when the waves are friendly, dance with them. When the waves are normal, swim your way further.
There are many strategies for stress relief. Review, yourself and decide whether any lifestyle changes are required. When your body is relaxed, your mind will also be relaxed. Yoga asanas, meditation, breathing techniques, jogging, running and dancing are brilliant techniques of stress relief. Get your body massaged from a professional once in a while. This is a great stress reliever.
The topmost techniques accepted all over the world today for stress relief are meditation, exercise and massage. Each of these serves different purpose, at the same time they contribute to the total purpose of stress relief. They provide you with many additional advantages. Laughter is also one of the best stress relieving methods.
You get ultimate stress relief, when you know the art of working for joy and not from the career view point alone. Work sincerely, by giving the maximum out put, not because your boss is telling you to do it, but only because it is the correct way of life.
Work for a cause- you will have the ultimate stress relief!
Does Stress Damage The Immune System?
Does stress damage the immune system? That question can only be answered by first discussing the difference between acute (short-term) stress and chronic (long-term stress). While acute stress causes responses in the body that include boosting the immune system, chronic stress may impair the immune system.
Better questions are “Does stress damage the immune system on the short term?” and “Does stress damage the immune system on the long term?” The body’s response to acute stress (a real or immediate threat such as a confrontation with a burglar) which is sometimes called the “fight or flight” response includes changes in all the systems of the body. Since the question is “Does stress damage the immune system?”, then we will focus on those responses to acute stress that are temporarily boosting the immune system during this flight or flight scenario.
The most noticeable initial response to the burglar’s appearance is an increase in heart rate. Your body is preparing itself for the possibility that you will need to run. The increase in heart rate triggers the spleen to discharge more red and white blood cells. The red blood cells increase your oxygen supply, while the white blood cells will be necessary for boosting the immune system, in case you fall or the burglar attacks you. Portions of the brain trigger the production and release of cortisol, a primary stress hormone, which dampens less important parts of the immune system, so that white blood cells and other infection fighters can be directed to the areas of the body where injury or infection are most likely to occur, namely the skin, bone marrow and lymph nodes, thus effectively boosting the immune system temporarily. Once the immediate danger has passed, the body systems return to normal.
So, the answer to “does stress damage the immune system” on the short-term is “no”. Acute stress activates the body’s natural defense systems and while this results in boosting the immune system temporarily, it does not “damage” the immune system. Chronic stress, however, is a different story.
Does stress damage the immune system on the long term? It can, if persistent stressful situations, such as a high-pressure job or an unhappy relationship, do not allow the body to return to a normal relaxed state. Instead of boosting the immune system, chronic stress appears to blunt the immune response, increase the risk for infections and impair a person’s response to immunizations. Studies have shown that people under chronic stress have lower than normal white blood cell counts, are more vulnerable to colds and other viruses, take longer to recover from them and experience worse symptoms than people who do not have high stress levels.
If you are concerned about the answer to the question; does stress damage the immune system, then you may feel that you are in a stressful situation over which you have no control. It may not be possible to leave a high-pressure job in order to reduce your stress level and if doing so would cause financial problems, you could actually increase your stress level. Good nutrition, regular exercise and certain health supplements may help you protect yourself from the effects of chronic stress by naturally boosting the immune system and allowing the body to return to a more relaxed state.
Constipation, Hemorrhoids or Piles, and inactivity go hand in hand. If you have been constipated for quite a while, chances are you have hemorrhoids. If you are inactive because you just like sitting around or are confined to a bed or chair, then you will have constipation and hemorrhoids.
So if you want to get rid of hemorrhoids, you need to take 3 steps. These three steps can be done at the same time, especially if you have hemorrhoids that are itchy, painful, and are in need of attention.
First you need to do something about your hemorrhoids. There are many different natural remedies for reducing, relieving, and eliminating hemorrhoids. Since everyone is different in his or her chemical make-up and nutritional requirements, one remedy will not work for everyone.
Each of you has to find out what remedy works best for you. Use the remedy that feels right for you, the remedy where you have the ingredients, or that one based on the severity of your hemorrhoids.
Here’s one remedy you can try – Collinsonia Root Powder Collinsonia is a vegetable, known as “Stone Root” because of it hardness. It comes in powder and liquid. Stone Root is found in Canada and in Florida. It has been found quite helpful in aiding hemorrhoids.
Linda Clark in her book called, Linda Clark’s Handbook of natural remedies for common ailments, 1976, says this about collinsonia root. “I have heard people rave enthusiastically about the results of this remedy, which works quickly.” It’s benefits come from,
Supporting blood vessel contractions and flow
Reducing irritation and inflammation of veins
Providing a tonic effect on weaken veins, capillaries, and tissue
Improving digestion
Helping to keep mucus membranes healthy
Secondly, you need to do something about becoming regular and to eliminate mild or chronic constipation. To start with, do these simple changes in your diet.
Eat fruits as a snack between meals – oranges, apples, bananas, prunes, grapefruits, mangos, watermelon, grapes, cherries.
Stop eating bread, flour products, milk, sodas, back off on eating a lot of protein.
Eat a few serving of vegetables during the day – green lettuce, celery, carrots, and so on
Drink at least 2-3 glasses of water every day or drink more water than you normally do.
The third thing you need to do is add some exercise to your daily routine. It can be any thing as long it is something you like and you do it regularly – walking, swimming, or rebounding. Don’t over exercise; all you need is 10 – 20 minutes per day.
There you have it, the threes step to getting rid of hemorrhoids – a hemorrhoid natural remedy, a slight change in your diet, and 10 minutes of daily exercise that you like.
Drugstore Hemorrhoid Medications
There are many drugstore and alternative Internet products for treating hemorrhoids. Most of the products are not made to cure or eliminate hemorrhoids but to give you temporary relief of itching, pain, swelling or bleeding. I don’t recommend using any type of product that is not natural or that comes from a drugstore.
If the product contains petrochemicals, additives, coloring, dyes, or other chemicals, which enhance its appearance and feel, I would not use them. Most, if not all, of these chemicals will be absorbed into your body where your organs of elimination will have to deal with eliminating them.
All products whether drugs, drugstore medications, or natural formulations use chemicals, substances, oils, and herbs that have the following properties:
Anesthetics – suppresses pain and gives relief…any name with the suffix “caine” like tetracaine
Analgesics – suppresses and give pain relief – some of them are Anacin, Tylenol with Codeine, OxyContin, Darvocet, Ultracet
Vasoconstrictors – helps to narrow or constrict hemorrhoidal veins…any name with the suffix “rine” like phenylephrine
Lubricants – provide lubrication in the colon to relieve constipation – mineral oil, flax seed oil, castor, oil olive oil
Astringents – help to tighten tissue, which have been pushed out by hemorrhoid action – zinc oxide, witch hazel, calamine
Keratolytics – help to remove excess hemorrhoidal tissue. They are compounds of sulfur and salicylic acid
Many of the drugstore medications have anesthetics. They can aggravate and irritate the hemorrhoids you’re trying to eliminate. If you are using one of these drugstore medications, consider using a more natural remedy.
In 1975 Carl I. Flath, wrote a book called The Miracle Nutrient – How Dietary Fiber Can Save Your Life. In his book he talks about the effectiveness of drugstore suppositories,
“Suppositories quickly work their way up in the rectum beyond the location of most internal hemorrhoids, and so are of limited value in reducing local pain. As antiseptics they are essentially worthless, since the surface areas they are supposed to protect are under constant exposure to new bacteria….
Anesthetic agents do offer temporary relief from local irritations and pain… Neither the suppositories nor the ointments, however, do anything whatever to correct the basic cause of hemorrhoids—constipation.”
How Do You Get Hemorrhoids?
A lot of people don’t even know they have hemorrhoids. The rectum is not an area you can readily see. Some times you don’t know you have hemorrhoids until you see blood in the toilet water after a bowel movement, when you start to have pain or discomfort in the rectum, or when you feel extra tissue around the rectum.
So how do you develop hemorrhoids? For sure, constipation is not the only way you can get hemorrhoids. Here are some additional ways:
Alcoholism or drinking to many alcoholic drinks
Being pregnant and not eating enough fiber
Doing daily heavy lifting and holding your breath while you do it
Eating excessive processed foods, which are low in fiber and move slowly through your colon.
General body weakness, which will affect the colon function
Having a predisposition to constipation or inheriting a weakness in the colon and rectum area * Holding fecal matter too long in the rectum causing pressure to buildup in the rectum veins – postponing a bowel movement
Having a weak liver, which reduces the amount of bile released into the intestines. Bile helps to active peristaltic action.
Having inflammation in the rectum that causes you to have constipation
Irregular eating patterns
Lack of protein leading to weak tissues and slow healing of wounds
Not eating foods that keeps you constipation free such as fiber, vegetables, essential fatty acids, protein, water.
Not getting the right vitamins and minerals in your food.
Being overweight
Poor muscle tone in the anal area from lack of exercise
Pressure on rectum veins from cysts or tumor in the colon
Sitting in a chair at home, at work, in a car, or in a truck for long periods
Using laxatives to the point where your colon no longer works properly and you end up with constipation
As you can see there are many reasons that you can develop hemorrhoids. And most of them relate to the function of your colon. If you want hemorrhoid relief look at the list and see which condition or situation relates to you and try to make changes in these conditions. In addition to changes add new foods that will help your colon to work better.
Using Herbs to Relieve Hemorrhoids – Aloe Vera, Bilberry, Butcher’s Broom
To relieve hemorrhoids first look for ways to get your bowels moving easier and more frequently so they produce softer stools. I have suggestion ways, in other articles, to do this by changing your diet.
Any straining and puffing you do to push hard or even soft stools out during a bowel movement will aggravate your hemorrhoids and can lead to bleeding and pain.
When completing a bowel movement, make sure you are using the softest tissue available so that when you clean yourself you don’t scrape or aggravate your hemorrhoids. You can also use pre-moisten tissue. Just make sure that the tissue you use is not colored or scented because these chemical additives can aggravate your hemorrhoids.
You may have to take a shower a couple times a day to keep your rectum area clean.
Here are three natural remedies that you can use to aid in eliminating your hemorrhoids.
Aloe Vera
Aloe Vera gel is an astringent that helps to heal open wounds. It is useful in hemorrhoids by applying the gel directly onto your anus. The best type of gel for this is directly from the aloe plant. If you don’t have one, then 100% organic whole leaf aloe gel is second best. You can get this organic aloe at a health food or nutrition store.
If you have a fresh plant, wash a leaf thoroughly with distilled water. Peel it on one side, bend it with the peeled side outward, and slip it into your anus. This will provide you with pain relief and reduce your hemorrhoid bleeding. Just trim down the leaf so it slides into your anus easily.
Aloe Vera juice, that you drink, is also good for hemorrhoids. It helps to soften your stools and to activate peristaltic action. If you like aloe juice, then drink around 1/2 a cup of Aloe Vera juice three time a day.
You can add 1/4 or 1/3 part aloe juice to a cup of apple juice to make the taste easier to handle. To make this aloe-apple juice more effective, add 10 drops of barberry extract.
Barberry is an astringent for blood vessel congestion along the colon and rectum. It will improve blood circulation; it stimulates the immune system to resist disease, and will tone body tissues. It also is capable of stopping bleeding hemorrhoids.
Bilberry
Bilberry’s active ingredients are flavanoids. Bilberry contains chemical called “anthocyanosides.” This fruit like herb has been used in Europe for a long time. In clinical studies, it has shown to be effective in treating weak capillaries by strengthening their walls.
Buy the 25% standardized formula and take 100 mg three times a day of bilberry. Bilberry will give you hemorrhoid relief.
Butcher’s Broom
Butcher’s broom, an evergreen bush, has a history of being used for varicose veins and hemorrhoids. As an extract, it contains “ruscogenins”, which can narrow blood vessels and decrease their inflammation and swelling. It strengthens and tones veins and capillary walls.
Take 100 mg of butcher’s broom three times a day. Use the type that has 9-11% ruscogenins.
Now you can use either of the three herbal remedies for hemorrhoid relief. If one is not working to good, try the other. Once you have gotten the hemorrhoid relief that you want stop using the herbal remedy.
10 Ways to Avoid a Heart Attack
A heart attack is known as a myocardial infarction. This occurs when the heart muscle is damaged or does not receive enough oxygen. Many cardiac related problems occur due to blockages in arteries that carry purified blood away from the heart to different parts of the body. Another cause is the formation of blood clots.
Very often, it is quite difficult to differentiate between a heart attack and heartburn. The common signs of a heart attack are a tightness, pain, or discomfort in the chest. Sweating, nausea, and vomiting that are accompanied by intense pressure in the chest. A radiating and intense pain in the chest that extends from the chest to the left arm. A shortness of breath for more than a few minutes. If you have any of the above you must consult the doctor or go to the emergency rooms.
If you even think you are having a heart attack you must call for a cardiac care ambulance, and put under your tongue a sorbitrate or chew an aspirin. If you are allergic to aspirin don’t take one. At the hospital care will include rapid thrombolysis, cardiac catheterization, and angioplasty. They will also administer intravenously clot busting medications.
The risk factors for a heart attack include: smoking, diabetes, high levels of cholesterol, hypertension, family history of heart diseases, atherosclerosis, lack of exercise, obesity, and fast foods.
Reduce the risks of a heart attack by:
1. Quitting smoking.
2. Eating healthy. Avoid fatty foods, excess salt, and red meats.
3. Controlling high blood pressure and diabetes.
4. Ensuring regular exercise at least 30 minutes a day. Walking is most beneficial.
5. Preventing obesity. Doing all you can to maintain weight.
6. Choosing to live a healthy lifestyle.
7. Practicing meditation.
8. Doing regular relaxation and breathing exercises.
9. Undergoing periodic cardiac evaluations.
10. Including foods that are rich in anti-oxidants in your diet.
A killer disease, according to the American Heart Association approximately 58,8 million people in the US suffer from heart diseases. And, about 950,000 Americans die of heart ailments each year. Heart diseases and death from it can be prevented by maintaining your health. Find a balance in life between work and other activities, abandon the couch for the outdoors, don’t watch sports on television play sports instead and you can hope to live a long and fulfilled life.