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Tuesday, October 28, 2014

9. Blood Pressure – Beware of Six Serious Risk Factors


The risk of high blood pressure is quite high and you can’t afford to be complacent about it. Some specific risk factors that you have to guard against have been identified. There are six risk factors which are more significant.  If you have one or more of these factors, then you should take steps to protect yourself.
  1. Age:
    The risk of contracting blood pressure increases with age. Statistics indicate that 50% of the people in the age group 50-60 and 75% of the people above 75 years suffer from high blood pressure.
  2. Overweight:People who have excess weight are more prone to be affected by high blood pressure. In fact if you are overweight, your chances of contracting hypertension are 6 times the chances for a person with normal weight.
  3. Family history of hypertension:
    If one or more among your parents, grandparents or siblings have had high blood pressure, you run a high risk of being  affected by high blood pressure.
  4. Improper diet:As you know only too well, diet plays an important role in maintaining your health. High salt consumption and consumption of packaged foods will result in accumulation of excess fluid in your body. This condition will impose an additional burden on the heart and will translate into increase in blood pressure.
  5. Inadequate physical activity:If you do not exercise regularly or if you are not otherwise physically active, the risk of hypertension will increase significantly.
  6. High Stress:Hypertension is sometimes characterized as a psychometric disease in that it can be caused by emotional stress.  You may not be able to avoid stress completely but you should be able to keep it under control.


Be in the look out for these risk factors and if one or more of these factors apply to you, you should be cautious to avoid getting affected by high blood pressure.

Sunday, October 26, 2014

8. Quit Smoking by Doing Exercises


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Quit Smoking and Exercising – Are they related? Odd as it may sound, the answer is ‘yes,’ Exercising will help you give up smoking and lead a healthy life by the effect it has on your system, your overall health and your lifestyle in more than one way.  Let us see how exercising will help you quit smoking. 

1)      Exercise will reduce your carvings for nicotine:
If you are a habitual smoker, you have developed some carving for nicotine, the harmful chemical contained in tobacco. Studies have shown that exercises temporarily arrest your nicotine carvings. You can verify this by an experiment. Exercise for half an hour and you will discover that you won’t feel like smoking till sometime after you have finished the exercise.

You may wonder whether a temporary  cessation of the carving for cigarettes can help you quit smoking. If you exercise regularly, you will find that your desire to smoke becomes less and less intense over time. If you decide to quit smoking after doing exercises regularly for a few months, you will find it easier to  live without a cigarette.

While the connection between exercising and the decrease in the craving for tobacco defies a credible scientific explanation, it is generally agreed that the result is achieved by your mood getting lifted after you exercise. After all, smoking is related to your moods. You smoke more when you are in a depressed mood.
2)      Exercise reduces your stress level:
It is a well established fact that physical activity will reduce your stress. Since smoking is related to stress, it is only natural that exercising helps you to quit smoking. When you exercise, beneficial hormones are secreted in the brain which will fight the stress inducing hormone cortisol thereby have the effect of making you feel good. When you feel good, you are not inclined to think of going for a cigarette.

3)      Exercising makes you sleep well:
A sound sleep not only makes you feel physically stimulated but also frees you from the debilitating power of addictions. While it is not easy to come out of a habit overnight, the long term effect will be very strong. People who give up smoking often suffer from the debilitating symptoms of nicotine withdrawal. Good sleep is the best antidote to overcome these withdrawal effects.
4)      Exercising will counter weigh again:
Well, I can hear your asking the question, ‘Pray what has weight gain got to do with giving up smoking?’ It is a bit indirect, but is important, nevertheless. Weight gain is often seen as a consequence of giving up smoking. By preventing the occurrence of weight gain, exercising helps you to quit smoking in an indirect way. 

To sum up, making a physical activity as a part of your quit smoking program will bolster your efforts and enhance the chances of your succeeding in saying goodbye to smoking once for all. Needless to add, exercise  not only helps you give up smoking but also improves your health. 

Saturday, October 25, 2014

7. Control Hypertension without Use of Drugs

Hypertension Symptoms:
Some of the common symptoms of hypertension are:
• Giddiness, Dizziness and a Feeling of Instability.
• Palpitations.
• Insomnia (inability to sleep well).
• Digestive problems and Constipation.

Treatment of Hypertension:
Hypertension, like any other physical disorder needs to be treated by a physician. Yet, hypertension, not being a disease but only a condition can be controlled through diet, exercise and adjustment of lifestyle.

There are several claims about "cures" for hypertension through use of herbal medicines and other remedies. I do not like to go into the merits of these claims.

But there is a simple method which does not involve use of any drugs or remedies. This technique called Slow Breathing can bring down your blood pressure quickly and almost effortlessly. This method has medical recognition - FDA approved, easy to use and practicable by all.

This method has been used and endorsed by such institutions of repute as the Harvard Medical School, The Mayo Clinic, Rush-Presbyterian Hospital and the American Heart Association.

Studies published in the Journal of Human Hypertension and numerous other respected medical journals reveal that:

Breathing slowly and deeply (less than 10 breaths per minute) for 10 to 15 minutes a day while extending exhalation results in significant reductions in blood pressure. That's because gentle, slow breathing acts like a natural safety valve to relax muscle tension, especially in the chest area, allowing constricted blood vessels to open and relieve pressure on the heart.

It literally takes a load off your chest!