Tag: Healthy Diet

Title:

Title:
Stretch Marks And Skin Changes In Pregnancy

Word Count:
403

Summary:
There are countless physical changes to your skin, both pleasurable and painful attributed to your pregnancy only.

The common skin change that most pregnant woman experience is the stretch marks. Stretch marks are separations of the outer layers of skin caused by the overstretching of underlying layers.

Beside pregnant women, stretch marks are found on children who are obese, adolescents who have a sudden growth spurt during puberty and athletes and body builders who d…

Keywords:
Skin Care, Skin Nutrition, Skin Care during Pregnancy, Stretch Marks

Article Body:
There are countless physical changes to your skin, both pleasurable and painful attributed to your pregnancy only.

The common skin change that most pregnant woman experience is the stretch marks. Stretch marks are separations of the outer layers of skin caused by the overstretching of underlying layers.

Beside pregnant women, stretch marks are found on children who are obese, adolescents who have a sudden growth spurt during puberty and athletes and body builders who do constant exercises. The most commonly affected areas by stretch marks are hips, abdomen, breasts, thighs and buttocks. Stretch marks are itchy reddish marks.

In pregnancy, heredity plays an important role in determining who will have and will not have stretch marks. If your mother has had them, chances are that you will get them too, unless you were born with stretchy skin. There is no sure shot remedy for stretch marks as mostly they fade after delivery. The only way to avoid stretch marks is to prevent them. We recommend the following

– Massage vitamin E or olive oil on the abdomen areas from the start of your pregnancy. Massage it liberally over the marks after a shower. Incase you skip a shower, clean the area with a wet cloth and then apply the oil.

– Regular exercise helps to tone your muscles and keep your skin firm.

– Maintain healthy diet and drink plenty of water. Plenty of proteins and vitamin C & E foods should be included in your diet. Increase your intake of minerals such as zinc and silica to maintain healthy skin.

– One ounce of sweet almond or jojoba oil with 7-8 drops of lavender and chamomile oils is a good homemade recipe.

– Avoid excessive weight gain in a short time span.

– Cocoa butter reduces stretch marks and helps to keep the skin supple.

– Wear a glove and massage your skin to increase circulation.

– While massaging your body with body oil, add coconut and almond oil. Daily massage with Olive oil, flaxseed oil, cod liver oil or vitamin E oil after shower or before sleeping is an excellent home remedy for either preventing or treating stretch marks.

– To avoid stretch marks around breasts, wear a supportive maternity bra.

– To make stretch mark cream, mix 1/2 cup cocoa butter, 1 tsp wheat germ oil, 1 tsp apricot kernel oil, vitamin E oil and 2 tsp grated beeswax. Heat the mixture until cocoa butter and beeswax melt, stir well and store in air tight conditioner.

How To Stay Young Forever

Some people think aging is inevitable. They feel to stay young forever is not going to happen. Science has advanced and it has been discovered methods to use to stay younger is quite possible. Studies show changing the habits or lifestyle makes a huge difference between staying young forever and feeling old before your time.

If you smoke quit. If you dont smoke then dont start. Smoking increases the free radicals leading to cell death, damaging your lungs. You will have breathing complications including difficulty exercising.

Have a healthy diet that includes your essential fatty acids. It is recommended you eat fish twice a week so you get enough omega-3, omega-6, and DHA. These help your body cells be flexible and permeable. It has been proven they are an important part of the cells in the nervous system, blood vessels, and skin. They help to fight wrinkles and the brain. Oily fish is the considered the best for the diet.

Include fresh vegetables and fruits in your diet. The vegetables that are orange and yellow are high sources of beta-carotene, which is antioxidant that fights free radicals in the body. They help the bodys cells stay healthy and fight off cancer. Beta-carotene is converted into Vitamin A, which is great for your skin and eyes.

Maintain a healthy weight. When you are overweight you hurt your joints and put extra stress on your heart. When you are overweight you also have other health complications such as high cholesterol, high blood pressure, diabetes, and heart disease. Being underweight is not good for the body either. When you are underweight, the muscles and bones are robbed of the benefits of building stronger as well as energy. It is damages your kidneys and leads to early menopause and osteoporosis.

Exercise helps to work your heart. Cardiovascular exercise makes your heart pump and become a stronger muscle. When you keep your heart in good shape it lessens the chances of heart disease and stroke. You also lower your blood pressure helping the blood flow easier through the vessel, skin, brain, and digestive systems creating a healthy youthful body.

Build up your muscles. Start a weight training regimen of training twice a week. Strong muscles lead to strong bones helping you reduce the risks of breaking them easily. With age, it is easy to break bones so the stronger muscles and bones help you create a stronger youthful body.

As you get older, your sense of balance is effective. Combat the loss of balance practice yoga or dance. The neuromuscular exercise helps your body and brain remain in contact and builds the communication that is often lost with age resulting in balance problems.

To keep your brain active and sharp, do crossword puzzles, brain teasers, and math problems and read to stimulate the brain. Research has shown older adults who regularly stimulate their brain are less prone to the mental deterioration associated with memory loss.

Laughter goes along way. Make a younger attitude that is filled with laughter to keep you feeling youthful.

What Can You Do to Stop Anxiety Attacks

Episodes of anxiety attacks can be uncomfortable, unpleasant and unhealthy. Because of this, most people head to the medicine cabinet for a quick relief. While some may find medications as an effective way to battle anxiety, there are more natural and equally effective ways of dealing your excessive emotion without subjecting the body to different negative side-effects.

Exercise Exercise improves the health of the body and mind, and improves the overall well-being of a person. A 30-minute exercise, 3-5 times a week is enough to provide anxiety relief. Increasing to at least an hour of aerobic exercise each day provides maximum benefits for relieving stress and anxiety.

Sleep A popular adage, “early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise,” speaks of the importance of sleep in the overall health of a person. Qualitative sleep for 8 hours a day is a proven and effective technique to battle stress as well as anxiety attacks.

Healthy diet Along with exercise, diet plays an important role in the overall health of the body. Eating healthy food maintains the normal chemistry and hormones of the body as well has provides resistance to common ailments that increases the risk of anxiety attacks.

Avoid unnecessary stressors Most stressors are unavoidable and it is also unhealthy to turn your back to certain situations that need to be addressed. Still, some situations and people cause unnecessary stress that result to anxiety attacks. Avoid people that stress you out, learn how to say ‘no’, trim down your to-do-list, avoid sensitive topics such as politics and religion, etc.

Relaxation techniques Yoga, meditation, Taiji, progressive muscle relaxation, visualization and breathing exercises can reduce anxiety and promote the feeling of relaxation and emotional well-being.

Keep a positive outlook While it is very difficult to maintain a good attitude when experiencing an anxiety attack, it is very crucial to be more conscious and help stay in control over the situation to effectively battle your condition. Do not think “Oh no, not again!” or “I’m screwed” when an episode hits you. Think that it will be over soon and control your emotions so that your anxiety will now get worse.

If the abovementioned techniques do not work for you, it is probably time to consult a health professional about your health. Since symptoms of anxiety attacks may be a result of other psychological and physical conditions, you need to see your medical doctor first and get a complete physical in order to rule out any other possible causes.

If anxiety prevails and symptoms last for more than 1 to 2 weeks, especially if you have no idea why, see a trained therapist.

A person with anxiety disorder usually goes under medication, therapy or both. Prescription drugs for anxiety are usually antidepressants and benzodiazepines. However, they provide short-term relief and thus, other therapy is often recommended. Therapies given are cognitive-behavioral therapy and exposure therapy. They are both effective (especially when combined with medication) to treat anxiety disorders. Cognitive-behavioral therapy helps patients to replace negative thoughts with positive ones.

Exposure therapy, on the other hand, helps treat anxiety attacks by subjecting the patients to control fear in a safe and controlled environment. Through repeated exposure, patients gain greater self control and more confidence in facing fearful situation.

Causes Of Chronic Fatigue Symptoms

Drowsiness is a simple feeling that can be relieved by going to sleep. Fatigue is more serious such that sleep can never relieve the condition. Apathy is more different as it is a condition where one doesn’t completely care of the things around them. All three are fatigue symptoms. Fatigue is the condition when one is suffering from tiredness, lack of energy, and weariness. Chronic fatigue symptoms are more serious than what you may think.

They require medical attention as there can be other serious health case overlooked. For example, a thyroid problem can cause fatigue symptoms. Another is the condition of depression, which is different from CFS, but displays similar symptoms such as low energy level and fatigue lasting a day.

Sometimes, the symptoms of chronic fatigue are associated by other illnesses, such as diabetes, addison’s disease, eating disorders like bulimia or anorexia, arthritis, kidney disease, congestive heart disease, lupus, cancer, and even malnutrition. If the patient is suffering the symptoms due to one of the mentioned diseases, medical advices are needed before giving them any kind of treatment. These symptoms are entirely different from the normal and common chronic fatigue symptoms, which often happen to adults who lead a pretty stressful and unhealthy lifestyle.

Causes of chronic fatigue symptoms can be divided into two types, psychological and physical, which include the following:

Sleep disorders such as insomnia, narcolepsy, or apnea
Asthma or hay fever
Hypothyroidism
Anemia
Illegal drugs or alcohol regular use
Ongoing pain
Grief and depression

There are home care treatments which can help overcome most of the chronic fatigue symptoms. Adequate and regular rest each night is one thing. Eating balanced and healthy diet, as well as drinking lots of water everyday, is another to curb the symptoms. Learning to avoid a sedentary daily lifestyle can bring the energy out of you. Even simple walking and jogging can help you relax. While maintaining a reasonable personal and work schedule will avoid you from getting easily tired. Or avoiding the increase in your stress level will keep those symptoms away.

Also, taking off from stressful circumstances will help you avoid too much stress. Taking vacation, dealing with relationship problems in a calmer way, taking multivitamins, and avoiding stress-triggering activities are simple yet proven ways to avoid those chronic fatigue symptoms. It also works if you avoid too much night life activities as well as refraining from too much consumption of nicotine, alcohol, caffeine, or drugs.

Alternative and Natural Remedies

If considering medication, there are alternative or natural remedies which can help the condition. There are different alternatives readily available such as having a reflexology massage. It is not only a good way to relax but it also helps improve your blood circulation. While acupuncture, on the other hand, is perfect for the more adventurous type. It increases physical and mental strength, a very ideal way to help overcome those symptoms of chronic fatigue syndrome.

Other natural remedies include meditation, which helps bring in your inner piece. And also aromatherapy, which gives you not only inner peace but helps you instantly relax after a whole day of stress and demands. All these natural remedies are believed to bring effective calming results; however, if the patient is suffering from other illness, it is advised that they seek medical advice from a qualified, professional physician before trying out any of these alternative medications.