Feb 15 2010

Tips for Taking Care of Yourself

Category: Tips for Better Health — Charles Beaumont @ 8:20 am

 

Taking good care of yourself means eating a healthy diet, getting exercise on a daily basis and learning to relax and take care of your mental health. It is only when our bodies and mind are in union can we feel and be totally healthy and fit, there are many ways that you can ensure you take good care of yourself and which can enable you to live not only a healthier lifestyle, but also a much happier one.

  • Learn to let your feelings out, a problem shared is a problem halved, so find someone you can trust and in your times of need lend their shoulder. At the very least get your feelings out by writing them down in a daily journal.

  • Never put anyone above yourself, by comparing yourself to others you are frequently putting yourself down and this can lead to low self-esteem or feelings of envy.

  • Take time out of your day to just do something which you enjoy doing. By taking a half-hour from the day and just devoting this time entirely to yourself, you are telling yourself that you are worthy.

  • When things are getting you down remember to smile, always look for the funny side of any situation no matter how bad it is.

  • Use whatever self-help methods work best for you to help you to relax more easily. There are a variety of methods you can use, including audio CDS, books, DVDS, exercise classes, meditation or yoga classes. In order to be happy and healthy you have to be able to release stress before it builds up.

  • Don’t allow anyone to put you up on a pedestal; this will lead you to believe you have let someone down when things don’t go right.

  • If your work is getting you down then ask yourself, are you in the right work? It is also important to remember that there are always some thing’s that every one dislikes about their work. Take the good and bad into account and weigh them up.

  • Remember to take short breaks throughout the day, if at work then this could be something as simple as stretching your arms, legs and back by taking a walk to the coffee machine.

  • Practices developing a more positive attitude towards everything in your life, if there is something you are not happy about, ask yourself what you need to do to change things.

  • Get some form of exercise everyday, exercise helps to ward off diseases, makes us feel better, sleep better and is a great form of stress relief.

  • Eat a sensible diet that includes plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables while cutting down on fatty foods, salt and starch.

  • Keep a journal; this can benefit you in many ways by allowing you to get your thoughts and feelings out.

  • Make goals that you work towards to achieve what it is you want out of life.

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Feb 14 2010

What Does Happiness Mean

Category: Tips for Better Health — Charles Beaumont @ 9:28 am

Do you feel there is something missing from your life? That perhaps the world is against you or that other people seem to smile, laugh and be a lot more happy and contented in life than you are? Have you ever stopped to wonder why this might be? Moreover, what you can do about it? Have you even considered what happiness actually is.

Happiness and contentment in life differs for all of us, what makes one person happy doesn’t necessarily bring contentment to another. Very often we are happy in life but we just don’t realize it. Very often the hustle and bustle of life can completely overtake all else and leaves us little time to enjoy the things that make us smile and enjoy life to the fullest. If you stop and sit down and think about what actually makes you happy and feel contented, you might actually find you have those things already around you but you just didn’t realize it.

However there are times when we can get into a slump and haven’t yet come across the conditions that we regard as bringing happiness and contentment. If this is the case then you have to figure out what changes you need to make, to bring happiness into your life, in most cases it is the smallest of things which bring happiness and you have the power to gain them by working towards them.

Your happiness and contentment depends entirely on you, no one else can give it you, it is something inside you that you have to find and work towards. You can either decide to stop in the rut or to take positive action and make changes to your life or yourself in order to accomplish contentment.

In order to understand what happiness means to you, the first step you should take is looking at your emotions, ask yourself questions such as “if I could be enjoying something in my life, what would it be?” and “what makes me feel contented in my life right now?” Once you understand what your vision of happiness and contentment is you can build on what you have now or focus on changing your life to what you would like it to be.

The important thing to remember is to examine your feelings by way of the answers you give to your questions, examine them honestly and concentrate on the good or bad feelings that you get from your questions and answers.

There is no magic spell or potion that can bring you contentment and happiness, it is something that is already right there inside of you, you just have to realize what it is and develop and bring it out to start enjoying life. Happiness can be found in family life, work, relationships, nature or a pet, to name just a few, in fact it can be found in anything and any situation if you just know where to look and look in the right direction, the inner you.

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Feb 14 2010

Understanding and Preventing Asthma

Category: Tips for Better Health — Charles Beaumont @ 8:23 am

 

Asthma is a condition that affects the small tubes which carry air in and out of the lungs, an irritant usually triggers an asthma attack and irritants can vary from person to person. During an attack the muscles around the airways become increasingly narrower and the lining swells, sticky mucus can also build up in the airways which cause further narrowing and the problems associated with asthma, namely a difficulty in breathing.

There are a variety of reasons why people develop asthma, but there are certain factors that can cause it such as :

  • If you have a family history of asthma or allergies

  • Environmental factors such as changes in hot and cold

  • Smoking during pregnancy increases the risk of your child developing asthma

  • If you smoke then you are more likely to develop asthma

  • Environmental pollution

  • Allergies to pets

  • The onset of asthma can develop after a viral infection

  • Irritants found within the workplace

The most common signs and symptoms of asthma vary from person to person in severity with some people experiencing some of the symptoms all the time to some extent, while others only from time to time, they include:

  • Coughing uncontrollably

  • Developing a wheeze due to the restriction of the airways

  • A shortness of breath

  • A tight feeling around the chest

Asthma cannot be cured but it can be treated and kept under control very successfully, there are many types of medication that can help you to successfully keep your asthma under control. Medications are divided into different categories which depending on the severity of your asthma you might have to use a combination of them. Categories include

  • Inhalers that prevent asthma

  • Inhalers that relieve asthma

  • Steroid tablets

  • Spacers

  • Nebulisers

  • Complementary therapies

A preventer will do exactly as the name suggests help to prevent attacks of asthma, it is important to use them everyday as prescribed, even if you are feeling well. They don’t help to relieve the feelings of an asthma attack such as breathlessness or tightness of the chest and most usually contain a very low dose of steroid.

Everyone who has asthma will have been prescribed a reliever; the reliever is designed to quickly ease the symptoms of asthma during an attack. The medication in the reliever will help to open the airways again making breathing much easier, it is important that if you have been prescribed an inhaler then you always make sure you have it near you.

If you have an infection and suffer from asthma then your Doctor may give you a short course of steroid treatment along with a course of antibiotics while you overcome the infection. A very few of those suffering from asthma do occasionally need to take steroids long term.

Spacers and Nebulisers are two ways that help you take your reliever medication more easily; spacers are usually given to children with asthma while Nebulisers allows you to continually inhale medication through a mask and is helpful during a particularly bad attack of asthma.

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