Things I Did Not Know Before: Healty Lifestyle

Showing posts with label Healty Lifestyle. Show all posts

Sunday, March 1, 2009

Fast-Food Causes STROKE!!!

ATTENTION: FAST-FOOD LOVERS....... How often do you dine-in or buy take aways at McDonalds, Wendy's or KFC, etc...? Sounds pathetic really while I love going to McDonalds to have my Chicken burger meal. All I know of is that, for as long as you don't have them everyday (we have at least once a week), then its alright I guess.

... but read all the way down to know the truth about FAST-FOODS, and how they could affect our health and lives.....

Would you like a stroke with your burger? People who live in neighbourhoods with numerous fast food outlets are more likely to suffer a stroke than those in neighbourhoods with fewer such outlets, according to a new study of one Texas city. This doesn't necessarily mean that their burgers, French fries and fried chicken cause stroke, says Lewis Morgenstern, an epidemiologist at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor who presented the study at the International Stroke Conference in San Diego, California. Rather, fast food could be an indicator for other factors that lead to poor health, such as lack of exercise or poor air quality.

Morgenstern's team recorded all 1,247 strokes that occurred in Nueces County, Texas between 2000 and mid-2003. The region is home to Corpus Christi, a city home to 280,000 people and 262 fast food restaurants. His team split the city into 64 neighbourhoods with roughly the same population, based on census data.

Burger prohibition?

People living in neighbourhoods with an average of 33 fast food restaurants suffered 13% more strokes than people who lived near just 12 fast food joints, Morgenstern's team found after accounting for differences due to age, race and income. Each additional McDonalds, Burger King or Taco Bell upped the risk of stroke by about 1%.

His team hopes to next nail down how fast food relates to stroke. "It may turn out that consumption of fast food is the problem, but we're not at this stage yet," he says.

Daniel Lackland, an epidemiologist at the Medical University of South Carolina says fast food could be linked to stroke both directly and indirectly, but more research is needed before any official guidelines were put out, let alone before banning the consumption of fast food.

"I don't think [the association] is strong enough that you would go, right now, and say no fast food restaurants," he says.

Saturday, January 17, 2009

Snoring Isn't Just Annoying, It's Linked to Serious Health Problems

I didn't realize the effect behind snoring! Hubby snores a lot and loud enough to wake up people next door :)... Especially if he is tired and or if he had couple of beers before bed time. Irritates me if happens to be still awake, but most of the times his snores wake me up in the middle of the night.

Snorers have always been the butt of jokes. In cartoons, their nasal roar lifts the roof off houses. In sitcoms, there's the wife who rolls her eyes at her snoring bed mate. But in reality, it's not all that funny. In fact, snoring can be a nightmare for snorers and their beleaguered partners, who may wake up several times a night to poke, prod and maybe hoist loved ones onto their sides for a little relief. It's no wonder that bleary spouses can wake up grumpy and resentful - WELCOME TO THE CLUB, I AM ONE OF THEM!

Studies had proven that it is linked to serious health problems. Loud snoring with breathing pauses is associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease and increased health care utilization, according to a new study.

For snorers who don't appear to have sleep apnea, there are other measures to avoid bad nights. They include: avoiding big meals and sedating drugs like antihistamines and alcohol before bed; sleeping on one's side instead of the back; treating conditions like allergies and colds that can cause or worsen snoring, and maintaining a healthy weight.

According to the results, loud snorers had 40 percent greater odds of having hypertension, 34 percent greater odds of having a heart attack and 67 percent greater odds of having a stroke, compared with people who do not snore, after statistical adjustment for age, sex, body mass index, diabetes, level of education, smoking, and alcohol consumption. Quiet snoring was associated only with an increased risk for hypertension in women. Loud snoring was also associated with increased use of health care resources (emergency visits and hospitalization).

Source: Science Daily, News Week

HOW TO REDUCE SNORING?

INSTRUCTIONS:

Things You’ll Need:

Antihistamines
Sleeping Masks
Tennis Balls Cut In Half
Earplugs

Step 1: Don't drink alcohol before going to bed. It can increase muscle relaxation, which may make snoring more likely.
Step 2: Avoid muscle relaxants and sleeping pills.
Step 3: Sew or tape a tennis ball to the back of your pajamas or T-shirt. Snorers are more likely to snore when lying on their backs. The ball will make this position uncomfortable and force you to roll over onto your side.
Step 4: To prevent snoring while lying on your back, elevate your upper body 30 degrees using a foam wedge.
Step 5: Talk to your doctor about taking an antihistamine if your snoring is caused by a cold or allergy.
Step 6: Give up smoking. Experts believe cigarette smoking disturbs sleep and increases the likelihood of snoring.
Step 7: Lose weight; this helps reduce the size of the palate.
Step 8: Offer your partner earplugs if your snoring keeps him or her awake.
Step 9: See a dentist for information about an anti-snoring dental device, which prevents the lower jaw from falling back while you're sleeping.
Step 10: Talk to an ear, nose and throat specialist for possible surgery or treatment. There are a variety of techniques that can help reduce snoring.

Tips and Warnings:

Heavy snoring can be a symptom of sleep apnea, a sleep disorder that has been linked to serious health problems. If you snore heavily and often feel drowsy or fatigued despite sleeping all night, consult a doctor.
This information is not intended as a substitute for professional medical advice or treatment.

How to Reduce Snoring Provided by eHow.com

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

When Do You Say You Have Lost Fats When You Do Exercise?

I've got to tell you now that I have been running in the morning, up until Christmas I stopped for a week plus the New Year, so in short, I stopped for at least 2 weeks! But it wasn't bad though, in fact I have managed to loose 6 kilos, YES IN JUST A MATTER OF 1-1/2 MONTHS... Yes, I did! To only do two things - RUNNING and CONTROL YOUR FOOD INTAKE, especially sweets and chocolates.

However, over the holiday celebrations I should say that I put on weight again (too much yummy Christmas puddings, chocolates and plenty cooking... lol), but not as much as I have lost, otherwise, all my efforts would have been in vain. Until this morning I was asked by one of our expats here, if I went jogging this morning? I said, NOPE and I think I need to start since I have put on weight over the past two weeks, and he started talking about IF I SMELL SOMETHING STRANGE WHEN I SWEAT OR AFTER RUNNING!!!

I have learned that when you smell ammonia after running, YOU ARE NOT LOSING FATS, YOU ARE LOSING MUSCLE INSTEAD!!

AMMONIA AFTER RUNNING explains, that "young men at their physical peak begin smelling strongly of ammonia after weeks of insufficient caloric intake, lack of sleep, and non-stop exhausting exercise. The smell is assumed to be the indication that the body has stopped burning fat and started burning muscle". Therefore, I was losing fats cause I don't any stinky smell after I run in the mornings. He said, he does... so he is quite worried he might just wasting time of running as well.

Yea make sense to me, but what is it suppose to me then that I am a woman?

Typically, the smell is associated with high intensity exercise, especially if completed for an extended period of time (such as a high intensity 60+ minute run). The logical answer would be that the kidneys are dumping nitrogen (ammonia is NH3) in an effort to buffer the increased lactic acid production or because the body is breaking down protein, which also has nitrogen as a base. In my experience it should go away as your body adjusts to training. Eating more carbs may or may not be a solution. Decreasing the intensity of your workout a little may also be a solution. Generally, getting your body to the point where you have an ammonia smell would not be considered healthy no matter what the cause is.

Could this smell be dangerous? Or is it a warning sign of some underlying problem?

First, this ammonia smell is—in fact—ammonia. Our body produces ammonia every time we run hard. Whether we smell it or not is a different story, but our body produces it on every long, hard run. The reason this happens is ammonia is a by-product of protein metabolism. When we run hard and long, our body burns protein and carbohydrates for fuel. When the carbs are burned off (or there isn't adequate carbohydrates), the distinctive ammonia smell presents itself.

The fact that ammonia is produced on every run doesn’t mean the smell is noticeable afterward. Usually the smell is only present when there is the carb deficit. This increase the ammonia levels in your muscles and the ammonia is then picked up by your blood and carried to your respiratory system. When this occurs, you can usually smell it. In addition, some of the ammonia will show up in your sweat which makes the odor even more noticeable.

The smell usually isn’t anything to worry about. But if it persists, you probably aren’t taking in enough carbohydrates. If you emphasize carbohydrates before, during and after running and the ammonia smell is still around, you should get checked out by a physician. This isn’t dangerous at all. But it is a not-so-subtle warning from your body that it needs more carbs (rather than more protein) to burn on long and hard training runs.

The solution is easy: Eat more carbohydrates to fuel your muscles. Especially if we’re running longer than an hour or two your muscles crave carbohydrates which burn easier than protein. We can also do this by taking in in carbohydrates while running. Simply drink a cold sports' drink (which has carbohydrates) every 15-20 minutes while running. If our carbohydrate intake is adequate to fuel our running, the ammonia smell should disappear.

Our body will still be producing ammonia, but we probably won’t be able to smell it.
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Friday, December 19, 2008

The Main Causes of Liver Damage

I am not a Medical Practitioner, nor I did study medicine either! The main reason I have became interested to know about our LIVER, since my uncle had undergone liver surgery last 2 months ago. It was a serious case, a life-threatening! I didn't know the whole story as to how, when and what caused him to have had this kind of illness.

Did he manage to survive? YES, and been taking his medications!

Liver failure is a condition that occurs when large parts of the liver become damaged beyond repair and the liver is no longer able to function. This a life-threatening condition that demands urgent medical care. Most often liver failure occurs gradually and over many years.

We must realize these basic causes of damaging our LIVER:

1. Sleeping too late and waking up too late are main cause.

2. Not urinating in the morning.

3. Too much eating.

4. Skipping breakfast.

5. Consuming too much medication.

6. Consuming too much preservatives, additives, food coloring, and artificial sweetener.

7. Consuming unhealthy cooking oil. As much as possible reduce cooking oil use when frying, which includes even the best cooking oils like olive oil. Do not consume fried foods when you are tired, except if the body is very fit.

8. Consuming raw (overly done) foods also add to the burden of liver. Veggies should be eaten raw or cooked 3-5 parts. Fried veggies should be finished in one sitting, do not store.

We should prevent this without necessarily spending more. We just have to adopt a good daily lifestyle and eating habits. Maintaining good eating habits and time condition are very important for our bodies to absorb and get rid of unnecessary chemicals according to "schedule."

Because:

Evening at 9 - 11pm: Is the time for eliminating unnecessary/ toxic chemicals (detoxification) from the antibody system (lymph nodes). This time duration should be spent by relaxing or listening to music. If during this time a housewife is still in an un-relaxed state such as washing the dishes or monitoring children doing their homework, this will have a negative impact on health.
Evening at 11pm - 1am: Is the detoxification process in the liver, and ideally should be done in a deep sleep state.

Early morning 1 - 3am: Detoxification process in the gall, also ideally done in a deep sleep state.

Early morning 3 - 5am: Detoxification in the lungs. Therefore there will sometimes be a severe cough for cough sufferers during this time. Since the detoxification process had reached the respiratory tract, there is no need to take cough medicine so as not to interfere with toxin removal process.

Morning 5 - 7am: Detoxification in the colon, you should empty your bowel.
Morning 7 - 9am: Absorption of nutrients in the small intestine, you should be having breakfast at this time. Breakfast should be earlier, before 6:30am, for those who are sick. Breakfast before 7:30am is very beneficial to those wanting to stay fit. Those who always skip breakfast, they should change their habits, and it is still better to eat breakfast late until 9 - 10am rather than no meal at all.

Sleeping so late and waking up too late will disrupt the process of removing unnecessary chemicals. Aside from that, midnight to 4:00 am is the time when the bone marrow produces blood. Therefore, have a good sleep and don't sleep late.

TAKE CARE ABOUT YOUR HEALTH...... .........IT IS NEVER TOO LATE TO KNOW THAT "PREVENTION IS ALWAYS BETTER THAN CURE"....

Source: Medicine Net, Web MD
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10 Biggest BRAIN Damaging Habits

I have noticed for these past couple of days that my brain hasn't been working properly, I needed it to be able to write good articles for my blogs! It started when I got 3 opps from PPP and it took me 3 hours to finish my first article (300 words)!!

I wonder what was wrong with me... thought there must be something!!... So out of my curiosity, I have searched something like "ways to exercise brain" / "brain exercise", etc...I didn't take it seriously as I've had to finish my articles and submit them soonest otherwise I would have lost them!

WHAT A COINCIDENCE......

When this morning I got an email from one of my friends, some sort of reminder! Why do I say a reminder? Because I should say that these health tips are very basic, that we might heard them from people around but we just ignore them. See, we tend to ignore things we hear very often without realizing how crucial they were for our health!

"10 BIGGEST BRAIN DAMAGING HABITS"

By:

Dr. Muhammad Imran Yousuf
Lecturer
Division of Continuing Education
University of Arid Agriculture,
Pakistan

1. No Breakfast - Due to our busy schedule, we normally forget to take the breakfast. People who do not take breakfast are going to have a lower blood sugar level. This leads to an insufficient supply of nutrients to the brain causing brain degeneration.
> I don't eat breakfast at all, geezzzz this means that my brain hasn't been working properly! No wonder I do feel empty sometimes.

2. Overeating - This is most usual cause, most of the times we find tasty food and start eating more that what our body requires. It causes hardening of the brain arteries, leading to a decrease in mental power.

3. Smoking - I never smoke, but I put this in the list as a message to those who smoke “PLEASE STOP SMOKING” because it causes multiple brain shrinkage and may lead to Alzheimer disease in later life.

4. High Sugar consumption - Extra Sweets! Must minimize eating chocolates? Too much sugar will interrupt the absorption of proteins and nutrients causing malnutrition and may interfere with brain development.

5. Air Pollution - This is the common problem, wherever you go, you are welcome with the polluted air, that’s pathetic. As the brain is the largest oxygen consumer of the body, and inhaling the polluted air will decrease the supply of oxygen to the brain, thus there will be a have damage to the brain. So try to be away from the polluted air.

6. Sleep Deprivation - Attention all bloggers who stay up to the late hours to do write-ups, drop EC's, to be able achieve any goals, this is bad for us!! Long term deprivation from sleep will accelerate the death of brain cells. Oh! more cells dead, more loss of memory.

7. Head covered while sleeping - Sleeping with the head covered increases the concentration of carbon dioxide and decrease concentration of oxygen that may lead to brain damaging effects.

8. Working your brain during illness - Working hard or studying with sickness may lead to a decrease in effectiveness of the brain as well as damage the brain.

9. Lacking in stimulating thoughts - Thinking is the best way to train our brain, lacking in brain stimulation thoughts may cause brain shrinkage. So think more, write more, explore more all this will help you to keep your brain fresh.

10. Talking Rarely - Intellectual conversation promote efficiency of the brain. So be active participants in the meetings and get-togethers. I always talk more then required so no problem.

TAKE CARE ABOUT YOUR HEALTH...... .........