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Change Your Lifestyle And Become Fit

  • Posted on July 2, 2009 at 7:15 am

Your lifestyle is the way that you live your life. Although each of these other elements that we’ve already talked about is very important parts of your lifestyle, they are not everything.

Each decision you make throughout the course of the day plays a role in your fitness. Unlike the other chapters, this one will be structured a bit different. Each of these lifestyle considerations is important and each offers a unique spin on the quality of life you will lead. Improve them, and physical fitness increases.

Smoking, Drinking And Drugs
Each of those three things, smoking, drinking and drugs, is a problem for your health and your ability to make it through the life you have. You probably already know the risks of what these things can do to your life, but you may not realize the extent at which it takes to improve them.

For example, smoking will eat away at your lungs and will cause cancer. There are no ifs about it. It will cause cancer eventually in your lungs.

But, smoking is something that you can stop, even if it is one of the hardest things you will have to do. To improve your fitness, find a method to stop smoking and do it. You will find that your health increases, your energy increases, your stress levels DO go down and you can feel better about the life you are living.

When you quit early enough, your body can repair the damage that you have done to your lungs. This can only happen if you stop soon enough, though.

Drinking and drugs are just as bad. Each time that you consume too much alcohol that makes you drunk or you take illegal drugs, you destroy your body slowly and methodically. You kill brain cells, you put your life at risk and you destroy the organs in your body. Some damage can be fixed through healing over time, others can’t.

To improve your lifestyle and to extend your life, you need to remove these problems from it. Smoking and drugs are simply a no no. Drinking alcohol isn’t nearly as bad for you when you drink it in moderation and only when you are drinking low concentrations of alcohol such as in wine rather than in hard liquor or beer.

Sleep

Do you sleep? No, we mean actually lying down and sleeping for 7 to 9 hours per night? Do you wake up rested? If not, then you aren’t getting the right amount of sleep for health. Your lifestyle fitness requires that you get quality sleep each night.

Why is sleep so important? There are actually several reasons. For one, sleep is the body’s time to relax and to recoup what it’s done all day. You need this time for your mind to. It’s the way that your mind works through problems. It’s the time that your body heals from the exertions of the day.

It’s a time to restart, refresh and give yourself the best chance at improving tomorrow.

Those that don’t get enough sleep are not capable of performing at their best physical or mental level. They aren’t able to improve the level at which they can function and they make bad mistakes. Stress hurts more, physical ailments hinder you more when you don’t get enough sleep.

If you are having problems with sleeping, there are many ways that you can overcome them.

• Reducing stress levels during the day is helpful as is working out the stresses that you can’t get rid of.

• Try to go to sleep at the same time everyday and give yourself as much time as necessary to feel rested.

• Don’t do stimulating things before bed such as watching television or working on a project.

• Don’t eat before bed, at least two hours beforehand.

If you are facing problems with insomnia or are struggling to get to sleep, talk to your doctor about it. There may be an underlying medical condition that could be causing it.

While it used to be that there were only sleeping medications that were addicting, today there are many that are not like that which can offer you a night’s rest. Don’t use these unless your doctor has Okayed them for you, though!

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Article Source: Change Your Lifestyle And Become Fit

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Meditation Changes Your Brain Cells

  • Posted on July 1, 2009 at 10:12 pm

It may seem intuitive that our mind’s activity would affect our brain’s biology, but now new research is supporting that assumption. It reveals that meditation and other techniques affect brain fitness at the level of your genes—turning genes on or off that are associated with free radicals, inflammation, and cell aging, which affect cell and tissue damage. They have also been shown to affect our body’s “fight or flight” response to stressors.

In fact, according to an article by Michelle Andrews in the May 4, 2009 issue of the Baltimore Sun (“How to beat stress and angst through meditation”), one study on individuals who were meditation novices showed changes in brain and behavior after two weeks of daily 30-minute meditation sessions.

While it can’t eliminate all of your problems, Richard Davidson, director of the Waisman Laboratory for Brain Imaging and Behavior at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, says, “It can transform the emotional brain in ways that promote higher levels of resilience (and) less vulnerability and affect the body in ways that can improve health.”

There are many different kinds of meditation, and many places and people available to train you in meditation. But here is a simple one from Principles of Brain Management by Ilchi Lee that you can try right now:

Sit comfortably, making your back as straight as you can. Relax your body completely. At first, just focus on the rhythm of your breath in your chest; just relax and follow your natural pattern. (You can also do this lying on your back.)
Focus on each part of the body, letting go of all tension in that area. With every exhalation, try to release more and more tension from your body. Thoroughly release all tension from your face, shoulders, arms, back, abdomen, and feet.
When your chest relaxes, gently begin to breathe more deeply into the abdomen, until you feel increased warmth there.
Notice any emotions or thoughts that you have. Visualize them as part of the tension in your body. You may see it as a dark cloud within you.
As you breathe in, imagine that a bright light is piercing through that darkness, the way sunlight cuts through a cloud.
As you exhale, toxic vapors from the clouds are expelled from your body.
Smile gently with each exhalation, allowing the light to overcome the darkness. Continue until all of the darkness has evaporated from your body and mind.

How do you feel now? Keeping this feeling requires consistent practice. As Davidson says, “This is mental exercise. If one wants (benefits) to continue, you have to continue.” So try and practice this every day for long-term results.

Michela Mangiaracina is an editor for the independent publishing company, BEST Life Media, as well as a certified Dahn Yoga and Brain Education Instructor. She studied Health Communication at Emerson College and has an undergraduate degree from Cornell University in neurobiology and behavior.

Article Source: Meditation Changes Your Brain Cells

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Depression Part III – How to Prevent and Treat Depression with Common Sense Appoach

  • Posted on July 1, 2009 at 7:36 pm

As we mentioned in previous articles depression is a normal response as part of our daily lives, such as the loss of a job, the death of a loved one, or illness. Over 30 million Americans suffer from depression and the amount is increasing in an alarming rate. Depression may be a mental health disorder that can affect the way you eat and sleep, and the way you feel about yourself. In this article, we will discuss how to treat depression with common sense approach.

1. Reduce intake of saturated and trans fats
Saturates and trans fats cause the increase of levels of bad cholesterol in the blood stream, blocking the circulation of blood and reducing the levels of oxygen that are essential for brain cells resulting in mood change and low interest for daily function.

2. Reduce intake of fat food, simple carbohydrates, and artificial sweetener
The above food causes chemical and nutritional imbalances and contribute to depression.

3. Be careful with conventional prescription side effects
Conventional medication while common can produce negative side effects and tends to treat the symptoms rather than the cause of depression. Some prescription medication may cause side effects to only some patients but not others. Be sure to talk to your doctor if you have some depression side effect.

4. Moderate exercise
Exercise helps to increase the circulation and oxygen level in the bloodstream, gives body energy and produces feelings of revitalization and accomplishment triggering the release of certain hormones that help to boost your mood.

5. Join a social group or club
Joining a social group or club is the best way to climb out and learn something new. It is the proven way to keep your brain active and increase your confidence and self esteem.

6. Get enough sleep
Over half of people with sleep disorders are found to have some mental disorder such as depression. In fact, study shows that insomnia may be the cause of depression.

7. Light therapy
If you have season affective disorder, the body chemistry is thrown off by a decrease in the amount of day light. Light therapy will help to increase energy levels and overcome difficulty in getting out of bed.

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Article Source: Depression Part III – How to Prevent and Treat Depression with Common Sense Appoach

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Can You Recognize Signs Of Depression ?

  • Posted on July 1, 2009 at 7:36 pm

We do not realise just how important our brain is in controlling every single thing we do, feel or experience. That is especially true for feelings of hunger, sadness or euphoria. So, what is going on? Well, we have billions of brain cells which are all communicating with each other and they live in what we could call a server. If the server crashes for whatever reason then this could be one of the depression signs. Brain cells or neurons will use neurotransmitters which are basically chemicals such as serotonin, endorphins and dopamine to send out the signals to other cells in our bodies. We get the message and we react. That could be a call to action, a feeling, an emotion, hunger, fatigue or sexual stimulation. It is when these brain chemicals get upset for whatever reason that signs of depression begin to show.

Dopamine is very important for communicating feelings of pleasure which we get when we satisfy our hunger, thirst, sexual needs, or experience pleasure through music or movement. If there is any imbalance in these neurotransmitters then this causes the brain to malfunction and our moods and feelings will be compromised. That is what happens with depression as the main neurotransmitter (serotonin) which governs our moods is depleted and feelings of sadness and hopelessness become pervasive. It is this feeling down which is one of the first signs of depression. But this sadness is not just a temporary phase of the blues but persists to such an extent that we cannot function normally at all in our daily lives.

Have you ever wondered why when we are feeling down we start to seek comfort from carbohydrates which we call comfort foods with good reason. Snacking, binging could be an indication that depression signs are starting to show. Serotonin controls our appetite so when our serotonin levels are low we decide to self medicate in a certain sense and we start eating these cakes and sweets to console ourselves and our serotonin levels may start to come up again but the effects on our waistline later on may cause us to become even more depressed. It seems to be a vicious circle. Eating disorders are another one of the signs of depression.

Other signs of depression may be a lack of interest in once pleasurable activities, indecision, lethargy, low energy and reduced sex drive. Insomnia, feelings of guilt, headaches and indigestion all add to the mix and are indications that signs of depression are evident. To learn more about ways of treating various types of depression such as SAD bipolar or MDD (major depressive disorder), see the link below for some valuable information which may surprise you.

Want to learn about signs of depression ? Robert Locke has written extensively on Mental Health for many years.

Article Source: Can You Recognize Signs Of Depression ?

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