Healthy Living

Stress. Just the word makes you tighten up if you have experienced it. You no doubt are aware of how hard it is to get rid of. Sometimes we can manage it by making small changes in our lives. Talking about your problems is one way. Many expert listeners and advisors are available at the web site below to help you with a stressful situation. They have many wonderful suggestions on how you can change your outlook on a situation to help change how you internalize it therefore reducing stress.

A pro active way help get rid of stress is to meditate. Don't be fooled. If you think you can't meditate because you can't relax, you are not alone! It takes a lot of practice and dedication and hopefully you won't get frustrated and give up. Meditating is a wonderful way to refocus your energy and open up your mind so you can get inspiration and direction from having a 'clear head' instead of 'static' always clouding your emotional state due to stress and anxiety.

Changing our routine or removing ourselves from situations and people that give us stress are other ways to reduce stress and the ill effects. However, sometimes, we have many things going on in our lives that we can't control that cause anxiety and stress. When we don't have control of a situation, but can't escape it, the stress is hard to manage. Like trying to outrun a mudslide, you just can't jump out of the way. So how do you deal with stress that you think is almost impossible to do anything about or even reduce? When conventional medicines are not an option, for many reasons...side effects, expense and getting diagnosed and waiting for a prescription, you may consider the alternative ways to reduce stress.

If you can't meditate or change your routine, which I strongly recommend, you may want to consider an 'energy clearing'. This is done with the help of a 'Master Healer'. They read your energy and tell you where you are weak and help you to clear channels of energy to invite positive energy in. This has been practiced by spiritual and not-so-spiritual people since the beginning of time. Many cultures believe that 'energy' or 'spirituality' is the core of our being and needs to be healthy for us to be happy. Remember the saying for computers.. "garbage in garbage out'? Well the same for us. SO if it's 'positive energy in, positive energy will come out'.

Stress will do you in. You always feel like you are carrying a heavy burden with you wherever you go. It effects you physically, emotionally and clouds your judgment usually leading to a worse situation! An Energy Clearing or Spiritual Healing can help. You can find someone to go to in your area that practices alternative medicines. You may also want to consider taking a yoga class so you have support around you and practice 'centering' yourself a few times a week to help handle stress in the future.

I have used the help of a master healer to cope with stress and it helped me to reduce anxiety. Her name is Tracy known as AngelHealing. I personally have had her do a 'healing' on me and it was like nothing I had ever experienced! I suggest if you need help for stress right now and have tried other methods, give this a shot. I awoke the next day with energy, inspiration and joy. The feeling of joy...it's to be cherished, especially when you KNOW what stress is!

Start reducing your stress so you can manage your life better and have balance! Many blessings and good luck!

By : Anna Pereira

Article source : http://ezinearticles.com

We spend one third of our life in sleep, but without that we would not be able to work for the other two thirds. Sleep is the rejuvenating mechanism of the body. As the sun sets and darkness falls, we naturally tend to feel sleepy and when we wake up with the sun, we are again full of energy. Why we sleep is still a subject of scientific investigations.

Advantages of sleeping

• After rest, the brain is better able to concentrate during the day

• Sleeping allows the brain to organize memories collected during the day. If we go without sleep, we may not be able to remember many things.

• During sleep, the body repairs nerve cells which get damaged from the day's activity and stress. The skin, which is exposed to U-V rays during the day, also rejuvenates during the night.

• Many hormones are active when we are asleep, especially growth hormones.

• It is a recent finding that sleeping also reins in the appetite hormones as a result of which we feel less craving for energy rich food, thus preventing causes of obesity.

Sleep deprivation for long periods can cause hallucinations. Irregular sleep patterns greatly affect blood pressure and levels of cholesterol, which are directly related to heart attacks. Sleeping less also contributes to other diseases like diabetes, colon cancer and obesity.

Many people cannot sleep or if they sleep, they wake up early feeling exhausted. This is known as insomnia which results in poor performance in job, mood swings and inability to maintain good relations with people.

Tips on correct sleeping habits

• Hormonal activity is high during early hours of the night, so it is advisable to go to sleep before 10 pm.

• Waking up at different times of the day causes disruptions in the body's biological cycle, so make a habit of getting up at the same hour everyday.

• A sedentary lifestyle does not make the body tired enough to sleep. Therefore, walking for 30 minutes before sleeping can promote a good sleep.

• Eating just before sleeping keeps the digestive system in operation preventing the body from doing other tasks.

• Uncomfortable clothes and a noisy environment create disturbance in sleep so make sure these factors are taken care of.

• Working on something stressful just before sleeping causes the mind to continue its work thus causing sleep disorders.

• Since coffee or caffeine based drinks make you alert, avoid them before going to sleep.

• Breathing exercises can help to induce sleep

A good sleep can help you to work more, decide better, prevent injuries, and recover from illness faster.

By : Angela Giles

Article Source : Http://ezinearticles.com

We breathe in pairs, except for two times in our lives. At birth, we take our first breath; at death we exhale for the last time.

Every day, we breathe about 23,040 times moving over 438 cubic feet of air. It takes but two seconds to inhale and three seconds to exhale. During those times odors flood our smell receptors with information.

Smells swirl around us, enter our bodies and emanate from us. Whether the smells are dispersed in the environment or delivered discreetly through an aromapod, we are in a constant wash of them. The sense of smell is thousands of times more sensitive than any of our other senses. In less than a millisecond, just one whiff of a familiar smell can trigger memories of childhood, home and family. Smell impulses travel faster than signals from sight or sound because the olfactory system is the only part of the brain that is directly exposed to the air.

The brain processes sensory information delivered through sight, sound, taste and touch by identifying the incoming information first, which in turn generates an emotional reaction. But our sense of smell is different. It does the opposite. The information of incoming odors is first processed by the emotions and subsequently identified. This places our sense of smell at the root of our emotional being.

Aromas delivered directly to the smell receptors in our brain have a powerful effect on behavior. Just think of your response to the smell of a cup of coffee in the morning or your reaction to a dead skunk on the side of the road.

Since birth, our smell receptors have catalogued every scent that passed through our nostrils in an area of the brain the size of a postage stamp. The average adult is able to process approximately 10,000 different smells with each odor having the potential to evoke a memory.

Smell influences our moods, our emotions and the choice of our mates. It is the main organ that contributes to our enjoyment of our sense of taste. Smells warn us of dangers, such as fire, poisonous fumes and spoiled food and gives us awareness of our place in the environment. Our sense of smell contributes enormously to the quality and enjoyment of our lives, our health and our well being. It is the mind-body interface.

But we take our sense of smell for granted. There are no galleries displaying smells like paintings. There are no concertos written for nose. We do not have special menus of smells created for grand occasions. Odors cannot be measured on a linear scale like those used to measure the wavelength of light or the frequency of sound. We have not yet developed a smell scale because odorant molecules vary widely in chemical composition and three-dimensional shape.

Our culture places such low value on olfaction that we have never developed a proper vocabulary for it. We have names for all the pastels in a hue but none for the notes and tints of a smell. It is almost impossible to explain how something smells to someone who hasn't smelled it. We go through our daily lives paying little attention to this enigmatic sense.

But this is all about to change. Research into the power of our sense of smell is a new medical frontier. It will provide consumers with sophisticated products that use the sense of smell to analyze, manage and enhance behavior, treat diseases, improve performance and deliver an endless range of exotic scents to pleasure this forgotten sense.

We are at the beginning of a smell revolution.

What is a healthy amount of body fat? This depends on who you are and what you do. Athletes on strict training and diet regimens may have as little as 14-18% body fat for women and 6-12% for men. The healthy, fit range is from 18-22% for women and from 12-17% for men. Having over 30% body fat for women and 20% body fat for men increases the risk of disease and is considered obese. If your body fat percentage is higher than the healthy, fit levels yet is lower than the obese levels, you may benefit from a healthy diet and exercise, but are not at health risk related to body composition.

Now that we've covered the basics on body fat, let's move on to what's left, which is collectively termed "lean body mass." Lean body mass includes everything in your body but fat - muscle, bones, organs, fluids, etc. By exercising regularly and eating a healthy, balanced diet, it is possible to achieve and maintain a desirable ratio of fat to lean. Resistance training can increase muscle mass, which thereby increases your lean body mass. And since your muscles are what gives your body shape and form over your skeleton, building strong, healthy muscles can make you look good, too!

Another benefit of increasing lean body mass is that it can help your body become a better calorie-burning machine! It's true - by increasing muscle mass, you will increase your resting metabolic rate (RMR) and burn more calories all day long! How is this possible? Because muscle tissue contains little organelles called mitochondria, which put simply, are little energy producing machines. The more muscle tissue you have, the more mitochondria you have. And yes - you've got it - the more mitochondria you have, the more calories you burn!

Fat cells, on the other hand, do not have any such amazing abilities. In fact, body fat above the level of essential fat is considered storage fat and is actually a source of fuel that can feed the mitochondria and help keep your body running. A certain amount of storage fat is also important for cushioning and protecting the bones, muscles and organs, and for temperature regulation. However, high levels of body fat can adversely affect temperature regulation, as well as overtax the body's organs and systems over time.

A last point to note is that your body weight is about 60-70% water, with muscle tissue being 70-75% water and fat 10-15% water. Women will be slightly less hydrated than men, due to the higher level of essential fat. Water is essential to life - it is present in all of your body fluids and tissues. In blood, it transports nutrients and oxygen to your cells, and picks up waste products for elimination. In sweat, it helps cool your body and in saliva and digestive fluids it helps break down the food you eat. Water is even a key ingredient for healthy, radiant skin!

While height and weight are valuable numbers to know, your body composition will tell you much more about your overall health, and it gives you some insight into what is going on inside you!

References:

Jordan, P., ed. (1995) Fitness: Theory & Practice. Aerobics and Fitness Association of America.

Clark, N. (1995) Water: the Ultimate Nutrient. Physician and Sports Medicine, 23:5: 32g-32h.

When I began using my first 'Radionic black box' back in '85, my understanding as to what it could do was minimal, but my hopes were high. A 'rates book' came with this new 'black box'. What made me marvel at this work that had been done in the 1950's was that these clever minds had discovered and developed a way of calibrating everything with it's 'own unique number'.

Through trial and error and the powers of 'deduction' they managed to formalise the intangible. A true test to the scientific method! With this 'rates book' I could simply dial in; emotions, colours, metaphysical levels, energy systems, the moon, whatever! I could stimulate or sedate. I could affect physical levels through to the etheric. I could literally influence any atom, in any cell, in any organ, in any system, in any living thing. Mind blowing! This was 'like magic', only real and 'concrete'. I tried to explain this 'miracle of Science' to people but it was dismissed as myth.

At first, I had to conduct a crude way of 'testing' to see if this was all real. For Radionics to work, three things need to work perfectly. Firstly, that the rate used for the 'target' on the 'witness' was correct. Secondly, that the machine was calibrated correctly so it could 'transmit' via the 'electromagnetic field of the earth'. Thirdly, that the 'witness' or 'receiver' was getting the 'energy' in sufficient amounts to register on a 'conscious' effectual level. I initially tested it on myself. I could really 'feel' a sensation.

I thought of an immediate use for this machine, it could relieve headaches! It worked like a charm. What I could do with this 'machine' was only limited by my ability as an operator. I went to my brother and asked him if he would help me with an experiment. I said to him I would do something to his body and I wanted him to tell me what part of the body it was and what was the 'sensation'. After about 10 minutes my brother indicated the part that he thought was being 'targeted' and said he felt 'a tingling and full sensation' in that body part. This was absolutely correct! I then 'neutralised' the effect of the 'experiment'. I had no need to find any further confirmation that this was indeed real and that the only question remaining was whether I really knew how to 'operate' the Radionic machine properly.

Radionics has a HIGH level of 'validity' for two main reasons. Firstly, electromagnetic radiation is an accepted 'real and measurable energy'. Secondly, by using the 'scientific method', a whole world of possibilities can be 'postulated' and tested with a high degree of certainty. We have been given so many gifts and talents that allow us insight into dimensions and worlds, that at first seem like fantasy, but are in fact real. In time these 'beliefs' become 'real' with additional evidence.

Once I had confirmed my belief in this 'Radionic machine', I began to do some real tests. I had always been fascinated in the Chakras. They were supposed to be 'centers' of tremendous 'force and energy'. What Chakra would I focus on?. While the Brow and Crown Chakras were very significant, I also read about being cautious about how these were stimulated. I intuitively chose the Heart Chakra. I chuckle a little when I remember back to those days in the 80's and how little I knew. I had the faith of a child and I was willing to explore things. I dialed up the number of the 'Heart Chakra' and had a guess at the potency. I competed the first dosage. Then waited an hour and gave myself another dose. Soon after, I began to feel 'lifted' in my 'spirits'.

I could feel my nerve endings on my skin tingling. The sensations spread to my whole body. I felt that I was 'opening up' to everything. I began to feel warm, elated and relaxed. Any fear was overcome by 'euphoria'. These sensations kept on building for some 30 minutes. I became aware that even though I was still in the present I 'understood intuitively' the bigger picture. I felt; a deep, spacial, quiet, yet excited, compassion for myself and for everything! Like a note changing up several keys! Colours became more vivid, sounds more harmonic, sensations more sensual and gentle. This 'great compassion' expanded like a wave beyond everything. It was one of the most beautiful experiences I had ever had in my life. Profound and beautiful beyond words!

Too beautiful! It left me with a sense of 'wonder and awe' about life. Whenever I remember the experience, I feel like I get right back there and feel 'reconnected' once again. I feel part of the 'big picture' again. These were real 'experiences' and not just something in the head. It literally changed my life and left me with a feeling of deep compassion, gratitude and respect for all life. While that 'state of being' was not sustained for long, I will always remember these experiences that go beyond the mind and questioning.

By : Patrick Sibraa