Avoiding Common Health Risks

by Mary Carlson
Since our natural health cannot be replaced, I think it is wise to take a look at common, everyday things we do that can compromise our health. Most of unconscious on our part….
I suppose I want to raise our awareness of our environment, work place, home activities, and play time. There no reason not to enjoy a healthy, fun filled life. But a few minor changes may be in order…and again, most of this is raising our awareness of our surrounding.

A few years ago, I attended a female self defense course for mature women. Some of it was down right funny…using your purse as a weapon…spitting in their eye….but there’s one thing they said that I will never forget: “Pay attention to your surroundings…stay alert….”

Well, since fine health is my bag, I started thinking about how unaware most of us are on a daily basis, especially when it come to guarding our health….we touch everything, then our mouth, you know we are all sort of asleep out there….

But I promise you… this is no time in history to be “unaware” about anything….

So I want to put a few ideas before you…to start you thinking…..

Home

1. Avoid breathing ANY aerosol sprays. These micro liquid drops lodge deeply in the lungs and immediately drag down the immune system. Hold your breathe outside and spray your hair.

2. Pay attention to anything that comes in contact with your skin. Your skin absorbs well and carries it right to your liver and blood stream; even your brain gets a dose of whatever you have touched.

3. Always take one Milk Thistle capsule and one Alpha Lipoic capsule 20 minutes before applying hair dye to your hair. These potent antioxidants will shield your liver cells from the assault. Hair dye is a very toxic substance.

4. Change the filters in AC often for clean house air. Dust often to avoid concentrations of bacteria in your home. Bacteria like to travel on dust particles. A clean house is a healthy house.

5. Clean your clothes dryer filter with each load. That filter captures a lot of nasty dander and dust mite residues. Heat up your pillow in the clothes dryer to kill dust mites at least once per month. Dust mites leave droppings that can cause chronic allergies and asthma.

Work

1. If possible, try to avoid working under fluorescent lights. Avoid looking directly at any halogen bulb. Move the halogen lamp away from your chest.

2. Learn to regularly clean your keyboard, phone, pencils, etc. Especially if other people touch these surfaces.

3. Try not to share your cell phone, mascara, lipstick, etc. Never eat, or drink after other people, except your spouse or children. (Hepatitis B is spread by saliva.)

4. Spend as little time as possible in public restrooms; use paper on the door to exit and anywhere else others have touched. This is a very infectious environment, especially for AIDS and hepatitis. (AIDS can live on surfaces for up to 36 hours.)

5. Always run your car ventilation unit on re-circulation to avoid as much indoor pollution in your car cab from outside air. When you get to work, spend as little time in the parking garage where car exhaust are particularly concentrated.

6. If you are sick, stay home. You don’t need to infect others and worse yet, pick up a worse infection due to your immune system being so weak.

7. Try to sit by yourself and read quietly on trains to avoid close, crowded contact with sick people.

Sexuality and Personal Intimacy Habits

1. Unless you are in a committed relationship, use a condom. 15 million people a year contract some form of a sexually transmitted disease. Worse yet, science is emerging that links STD to illnesses (cancer, heart disease, arthritis,) 20 years down the road. When I say use a condom, I mean for everything. Even candida yeast infections are transmitted sexually.

2. Avoid anal sex altogether. It is linked to prostate, bladder, and colon cancer, not to mention a heightened risk of getting AIDS. And we really don’t know all of the implications of contracting blood parasites. Cancer research has been focusing on fungal and parasitic infections for quite some time. Men are especially at risk for disease from anal sex due to drawing in while ejaculating. Once these invaders are inside your blood stream…who knows? Prostate cancer down the road? Why is prostate cancer at such high numbers now? What was once taboo is now okay, or is it?

Medical

1. Always pull the lead apron up close to your thyroid gland to protect it when getting dental x-rays. Radiation is cumulative. Never get any x-ray unless it is absolutely necessary.

2. Learn about your prescription medications and report side effects. Investigate natural alternatives before moving to chemical drugs, if possible.

3. Avoid touching surfaces in doctor’s offices, which can be a highly infectious place. Bring your own magazine. They don’t keep the climate in the office so cold for nothing. This is designed to knock down the bloom of infectious agents in the air because they like it warm and moist.

4. Always have someone with you when you go to a hospital. Mistakes are happening at an alarming rate and it ‘s only going to get worse and the aging population swells higher. Speak to the nurse, or doctor serving you. Confirm what is going on if you can. If you can’t, let your friend or relative watch over you.

© and ™ http://www.remedies-for-natural-health.com/ All Rights Reserved




Mary Carlson may be contacted at http://www.remedies-for-natural-health.com/ mcarlson@remedies-for-natural-health.com. Click here to view more of their articles.
Mary Carlson has been helping people find solutions to health problems and stay healthy naturally for over two decades. Visit her website at http://www.remedies-for-natural-health.com/ for free heath remedies and advice. © and ™ www.Remedies-for-Natural-Health.com All Rights Reserved

Developing a Healthy Sleep Pattern

by annette young
Can’t sleep? Feeling irritable? Lost your energy and concentration?
We have all experienced times when sleep eludes us, the frustration and anguish which continues to rise as the clock hands tick away the opportunity to gain that much needed slumber.

Time seems to race by when we so need it to slow down.

I have tried so many different natural ways to combat sleeplessness over the years. It’s a common problem and affects so many people, and although I do not suffer that often, I have discovered that when my stress levels rise or I have unexpected problems, sleep can often become elusive. The mind ticks over the day’s events and the size of the problems seem to increase and threaten to overwhelm us. It doesn't take long before sleep deprivation becomes the norm and we lose our ability to function to the same high standards.

Focusing the mind on something other than our problems or clockwatching is the trick. Try to forget that time is running away with you and focus on something else. Some people will read a book for a while; others get up and wander round the house or make themselves a warm, milky drink. There is no right or wrong way, its finding the correct method for you. I find a gentle visualization relaxation technique works for me. This could be anything which is appealing or has relaxing undertones, a holiday, a night out with friends or family, a special moment with a partner or children?

I find that closing my eyes and imagining myself snorkeling in Spain, is both peaceful and rewarding. Memories of picture postcard holidays in the sun, when I first began snorkeling are positive ones. The warm weather, blue skies and peaceful feel of the water around me, supporting me, whilst a whole new natural world of imagery was revealed to me, was an incredible feeling. It makes perfect sense for me to focus on the sense of achievement and pleasure, which I experienced at that time and helps me to regain that inner calm and peacefulness.

Equally, visualising myself sat quietly on the river bank on a sun-drenched day, with the gentle hum of insects and a sprinkling of breeze blowing through the greenery around me, a gentle splash as fish rise to the surface of the river, is again tranquil and positive.

When you begin to visualise scenes on a regular basis, it becomes so much easier to conjure these images just when it is necessary. In essence, you are training the brain to recognise that sleep or relaxation will follow. Once trained, the brain will respond to suggestion and every time you feel worried or stressed, focusing on pleasant thoughts so that you are transported away from your problems can only help you to combat negative and harmful thoughts. In essence, you gain control.

A visualisation can be done at any time, but practicing the art of visualisation at night time, will help to form that positive and successful pattern which will help you overcome the frustrations of a sleepless night.

It's the perfect drug free method to gaining your required sleep every night and it really does work.

annette young may be contacted at http://www.yourlife-naturally.com/ annettejyoung@hotmail.co.uk. Click here to view more of their articles.
Annette Young Co-Editor of the new website www.yourlife-naturally.com Health/Spiritual Writer, writing articles, courses, workshops and ebooks Qualified stress counsellor. Teaches Creative Writing and Journalism. http://www.blogit.com/Blogs/Affil/?156113/Blog.aspx/seven18/

Breast Cancer: Steps to Aid in Early Detection

by Donna Rivera-Loudon
I learned some interesting facts about breast cancer that I feel every woman should know. The sources I used for this article included the American Cancer Society, The National Cancer Institute, and the Avon Foundation’s Breast Cancer Crusade.
Early breast cancer isn’t usually detected by pain. In fact, when breast cancer first develops, there may be no symptoms at all. That is why regular exams are important. If you have anything that makes you suspect breast cancer, contact your doctor immediately. Don't wait around to see what happens. Let the professional decide. Some symptoms that may indicate breast cancer include, but are not limited to, the following:

Nipple discharge or tenderness
Lumps in breast and/or underarm area
Visual changes which include: size of breast including swelling; inverted nipple; and pitting. Pitting means the skin looks like the skin of an orange. Scaling of the breast skin could also be a symptom.
Early detection of breast cancer is important. There is a 97% five-year survival rate when breast cancer is detected early since this can help prevent it from spreading. Below are some guidelines to early detection. I hope they help save someone's life.

Get a Mammogram

A mammogram is a specialized x-ray of the breast to help detect cancers which cannot be detected by feel. Some women are confused as to how often they should get a mammogram. Here is what the professionals say about mammograms.
At age 40 begin getting annual mammograms by a licensed technician. A mammogram will take about twenty minutes. When getting a mammogram avoid wearing deodorant, powders, or cream under your arms. Sometimes they can interfere with the results. Make sure to contact the center if they do not inform you of the results within thirty days. It is very important that results are compared from one year to the next. Hence, be sure you know where your mammogram film is being held.

Clinical Breast Exam

This is an exam by a health care professional. Women in their 20s and 30s should have a clinical breast exam at least every three years and women 40 or older should have an exam each year.

Self-Examination

Starting at age 20 women should begin doing a self-exam. Ask your doctor if you are not exactly sure how to do this or if you are not sure you are doing it correctly. Here are a few guides to follow: Lie down and place one arm behind your head. Using your three middle finger pads press firmly across your breast in overlapping dime-size circular motions. Use three different levels of pressure: light, medium, and firm. This allows you to feel the tissue close to your skin, to feel a little deeper, and to feel the tissue closest to your chest and ribs.

Move across your breast in an up and down pattern, starting from the underarm and moving across the breast to the middle of the chest bone, repeating the pressure.
Stand in front of a mirror with your hands pressing down on your hips and look at your breasts for any changes in size, shape, contour, or dimpling. Also, do this with your arms slightly raised. Make sure you check under your breasts as well.
I hope that this information proves helpful to you. I am not a health care provider and by no means a professional on breast cancer. I am simply sharing with every woman possible the importance of detecting breast cancer early and some simple guidelines that might save a life.

My sources for the above information are:

American Cancer Society The National Cancer Institute Breast Health Resource Guide by the Avon Foundation's Breast Cancer Crusade