Tag: Health Concerns

Humor To Relieve Stress-Can Take Its Toll

If it is left unchecked, stress will take its toll on your health. While it isn’t possible to completely eliminate all forms of stress from your life, you can feel a lot better when you use humor to relieve stress.

It has long been said that humor is the best medicine, and there have been several studies that have shown this to be true, at least to some degree. The full effects of humor are not completely understood, but laughter appears to release certain chemicals in the brain, and these chemicals make us feel better and relieve stress.

Before we get to ways to add humor to your life, it’s important to mention that you should always discuss any health concerns with your doctor. Your stress may be the result of an underlying medical condition, and your doctor can also give you additional suggestions for relieving stress.

Now, on to the funny!

Your goal should be to laugh as many times per day as possible and then a few more on top of that. Free your funny bone and look at the lighter side of life. Stress is the result of your perceptions. You can’t always control what happens to you, but you can always choose how to respond to it. There are times when stress is a good option, but those times don’t happen all that often.

Television and movies can be good sources of comedy. Maybe you don’t like the most popular show, or romantic comedies may not be your thing, but that’s okay. The key is to watch whatever makes you laugh. If you’re the only one in the room laughing hysterically while everybody else sits there with a straight look on their face, then you can laugh at that too. Humor is a subjective thing, but that’s no excuse not to laugh.

The internet is a practically endless source of humor to relieve stress. There are tons of funny people online, though some of them are unintentionally funny. Log on to the internet and you can find funny videos, cartoons, pictures, quotations, jokes, and just about anything else you can think of.

Surround yourself with as many things that bring a smile to your face as you can. A calendar that has a new joke every day, a T-shirt with a goofy picture on it, or even a humorous bumper sticker are just a few ways to add more humor to your life.

Starting your own personal “humor file” is another way to get a much-needed chuckle when you need one. Cut out funny comics from the newspaper, stories from magazines, pictures, and so on, then put them into a folder that you can access whenever you need to. It’s a good idea to have a one physical file, as well as a file on your computer dedicated to humor.

One of the cool things about using humor to relieve stress is that it doesn’t require a prescription, so there are no side effects to worry about.

Facial Exercises For A Firm Neck And Throat

Looking your best takes a lot of work, but it sometimes seems as though you just can’t win the battle against aging. No matter how good you are to your skin, wrinkles and sagging start to appear. The neck and throat tend to be a major problem, but that doesn’t have to be the case. You can do simple facial exercises for a firm neck and throat.

Understanding the cause of the problem will help you to find solutions. As you get older, your skin loses some of its elasticity, and this is the main cause of wrinkles. At the same time, you start to lose some muscle tone, which contributes to sagging. Some people go for the all-out solution and pay thousands of dollars to have plastic surgery. While surgery is always an option, it can have complications (as can any form of surgery), insurance does not typically pay for elective procedures, and there is no guarantee of how the finished result will look.

The good news is that you can do facial exercises to firm up your neck and throat, and turn back the clock a few years. You should do all of the following exercises gently, because overstraining your muscles can lead to injury, and that would only make things worse. Also, it’s always a good idea to talk to your doctor about any health concerns that you have. With that in mind, here are a few facial exercises for a firm neck and throat to get you started.

Sit down on your floor with legs comfortably folded, making sure to keep your back straight. Slowly tilt your head back and hold it there for 10 to 15 seconds before returning it to the starting position. Do this 10 times. You should feel a gentle stretch along the length of your jawline.

Maintain the same seated position for this exercise. Lower your shoulders slightly, and look straight forward. Turn your head almost as far as it can go (again, don’t overdo it) to the right. Hold it for 5 to 10 seconds before returning to the forward position. Do this 5 times, and then switch to the left side.

While still in this position, tilt your head towards your right shoulder and hold it there for 5 to 10 seconds, then return it to the center. Repeat this 10 times before tilting it towards your left shoulder. This is a wonderful exercise for a firm neck.

Get on your hands and knees and drop your head toward the ground, being sure that your back, neck, and elbows are straight. Breathe in slowly. While exhaling slowly, arch your back gently downward as you lift your head up. Do this 5 times.

You can do the next exercise in just about any starting position, even while sitting in your car (when stopped at a red light is a perfect time). Tilt your head back, and while it is still tilted, open your mouth wide, and then close it. You should feel a relaxing stretch in the middle of your neck and throat.

The Right Ringing Ears Cure

A chronic ringing in the ears, or tinnitus, is a fairly common problem, but that commonality doesn’t make it any easier to bear. While ringing and buzzing are the two most frequently described sounds, some people also report hearing clicking, hissing, or chirping sounds. Whatever sound you may be hearing, finding the right ringing ears cure for you will help you to lead a normal life again.

Most people with mild tinnitus (if there is such a thing) do their best to live with what they consider an annoying symptom. However, that never-ending sound in the ears can be the symptom of a more serious problem, and it should be checked out by a doctor as soon as possible.

After all, you won’t be able to cure the problem until your doctor has figured out what the root cause of the problem is. You should always see your doctor about any health concerns that you have, but you will play an active role in helping him determine what the cause of your problem is.

Two of the more common causes of ringing in the ears are injury and loud noise. Any sort of trauma to the head can lead to ringing, and loud noise could be considered a type of trauma. A single event may not cause ringing, or the ringing may subside in a short time, never to return. However, if the noise in your head persists, then you need to get it checked out.

The right ringing ears cure for you will depend mostly upon what is causing the problem. If, for example, your tinnitus is caused by poor circulation then doing exercises to improve your circulation would make the most sense. On the other hand, if the ringing is due to a cumulative effect (such as being exposed to loud noises while working in a factory) then finding the proper treatment may take a bit more effort.

Some people have found relief in the form of holistic medicine or various herbs. While modern science may frown on these concoctions as cures, they may be worth a try if they are able to stop the ringing in your ears.

What you may not know is that some cases of tinnitus could be classified as psychological. That’s not to say that problem is imagined, but rather that there is a psychological component contributing to the problem. A lack of sleep, working too much, or being under a lot of stress can all be contributing factors to ringing ears, and they need a unique form of treatment. Something as simple as meditation or stress reduction techniques may be all it takes to get the ringing to go away.

If you are having a hard time finding a cure, you may be able to get some relief by using other noises to mask the ringing. White noise can be particularly effective, but you may need to do some experimenting yo find which noises work best for you.

Obesity And Heart Failure-Strong Link To Each Other

Being overweight is not only bad for your image, it’s bad for your health, too. That probably doesn’t come as a shock to you, but there are some things that may surprise you about obesity and heart failure. While the correlation between heart failure and high blood pressure, diabetes, or coronary heart disease has long been understood, it’s only recently that researchers are discovering the strong link to obesity.

One thing researchers found is that any increase in weight seems to correlate to an increased risk of heart failure. Some people think that only the morbidly obese are at risk, but that is not the case. Being as little as ten pounds overweight may have an impact on your likelihood of experiencing heart failure. It also seems that the more overweight you are, the greater the risk.

In one study, participants who were obese were three times more likely to suffer heart failure than those who were overweight, but those who were overweight were more likely to suffer than those who maintained an ideal weight.

The results of this and other studies show a clear link between obesity and heart failure. One of the causes appears to be LVH (left ventricular hypertrophy), which is a fancy way of saying that the walls of the heart get too thick to work properly. Another cause that may lead to heart failure in the obese is metabolic syndrome X, a condition that has a negative effect on lipids.

NOTE: You should always talk to your doctor about any health concerns you have including obesity and heart disease.

At first, this situation causes a dilemma. Which one should you treat first, the LVH and metabolic syndrome X, or the obesity? There are treatments that are effective in battling the first two conditions, and they may help to take care of the immediate threat of heart failure. However, treating the obesity decreases the overall risk, though it can take a bit longer to see results. The answer is that all conditions should be treated at the same time. In other words, if you have LVH or metabolic syndrome X, and are obese, then you should get the first two conditions treated and start losing weight as well.

You will have to discuss your treatment options with your doctor, but there are several things you can start doing right away to lose weight.

When it comes right down to it, there is only one way that anybody can lose weight. They have to burn more calories than their body stores. Two-pronged approach is the best way to go. Decrease the number of calories you take in by watching what you eat, and burn more calories by exercising. Again, always talk to your doctor before making any changes to your diet or exercise routine.

The main thing to remember is that if you are overweight, then you are increasing your risk of many diseases. Obesity and heart failure need to be taken seriously, so it’s important that you take action.