Health Checks

The benefits of periodic health checks

In conjunction with eating healthy and having regular exercise, a regular health check with your GP allows you to stay on top of your health matters.

What are health checks? And why do we need them?

Well firstly, plan to see your GP once every 3 months, whether you have a concern or not, this way you can keep a peace of mind, and enjoy your life knowing that you are fit and healthy.

Often people never know when they have contracted a particular disease, virus, bug etc... Regular visits to your doctor means that you can identify and address any issue that otherwise might have gone undiagnosed by you.

With respect to health checks, one thing to consider with reference to women's health is that the female specie has a completely different physiological development. In most cases, these health issues relate to the female genitalia and the breasts or in some cases issues brought out by hormonal changes in the female body. Remember it is very common that women develop thrush, or breast cancer, and or ovarian cancer, so it is imperative to keep a tab on all health checkups provided.

Among other issues, women should discuss or address the following with their physician; menstruation, contraception, maternal health, child birth, menopause and breast cancer. These health issues can also relate to non-hormonal causes or problems not directly related to the biology of females.

Periodic health checks are particularly important for teenagers; particularly once the individual is sexually active. Reaching puberty can suddenly kick start hormonal changes and urges that often are misunderstood by teenage girls. Teenage sexual health is an important aspect of teenage life, and certain advices are given to help teenagers have a healthier life. Your GP will have invaluable advice pertaining to safe sex, contraception, and understanding the physiological changes that are brought on by puberty.

Talking to your parents about topics pertaining to sex (seeing as they were once teenagers too) is, though not easy, is almost certainly very useful. Try to discuss sexual matters with your partner even, if you are sexually active, your girlfriends and close family.

Making sure that you have all the information you require to understand your health matters is paramount.

Periodic health checks can help you, learn about different options available to you for example contraception, how to get tested for any sexually transmitted diseases, how to get your partner tested for STIs and how to check for STI's plus much more.

STI clinics exist for those who are willing to get tested, and also for those that are looking for answers to certain questions. STI clinics offer services like testing and treatment for sexually transmitted infections (STIs); advice about sexual health; free condoms; contraception, including emergency contraception such as the morning-after pill; HIV testing, including rapid tests that give results in about 30 minutes and counselling HIV positive people.

Remember, a healthy body means a healthy mind, and a prosperous life.

I hope you found this information useful; for more information go to 13plusstaysafe.org

Air Filtration Systems For Your Health

Ever since the Environmental Protection Agency or EPA was developed, people in the United States have been becoming more aware of the dangers posed by air pollution. The EPA has strict regulations to help keep the air clean, however their regulations are not set up to fully protect the air inside our homes. To ensure that the air in our homes is clean and safe to breath, home owners have to take precautions and make changes to their homes to help rid their homes of unwanted pollutants. Many homeowners are installing air filtration systems to help them maintain their homes air quality. Choosing the right type of air filter or filters for your home can be confusing. The air filtration market presents home owners with dozens of options for different types of air filtration. Each one of the systems focuses on a different type of pollution and employs a different technique to help filter the air in our homes. These are the most common types of home filtration systems on the market today.

One of the most common types of in home air pollution is particulate matter. Particulate matter is simply put, any foreign particle that is floating around in our air. Dust, pollen, and pet dander are all forms of particulate matter. Perhaps the most common and effective type of filtration system that can be used to filter out particulate matter from the air in our homes is a mechanical air filter. These filters use HEPA or high efficiency particulate air filters to remove particles from the air. The air is pulled through vents and passes through a HEPA filter that catches the particulates and then pushes the clean air back into the room.

Another type of particulate filter is an Electronic cleaner. These air purifiers rely on static to attract particles to plates inside the purifier. The final particulate filtration system utilizes ionization to weight down particulates in the air so they settle on surfaces in our homes quicker and can be removed with a vacuum or other cleaning method.

Particulates are not the only dangerous air pollution in our homes. Gaseous pollutants are the cause of many deaths in homes each year. Deadly carbon monoxide gas can be produced when appliances in our homes to not function properly. You should be warned that installing a gas air filter will not protect you against carbon monoxide so you should properly maintain your carbon monoxide detectors. Gas air filters only target very specific types of gas in your homes and should be installed in combination with other types of filtration for the most effective results.

Remember, when you are shopping for an air filtration system for your home, you need to define the type of pollutants that are present in your home and ensure that the air purifier you are buying is designed to remove that type of pollution. While air purifiers are efficient and better you home's air quality, you can also institute simple rules such as, making your home a no smoking zone, and requiring people to take their shoes off. Both of these things will help decrease the number of particulates in your home's air and help you filters work more efficiently.

Health and Fitness - Nurture Your Body for Ultimate Wellbeing

We live in an age in which a great deal of importance is paid to physical wellbeing and people focus a lot on health and fitness. There is a premium on looking and feeling good and people spend a great deal of time and money to achieve the perfect looking body. However, you'll realize that you feel a lot better about life in general if you view your body in a positive light instead of a negative light. In fact, true wellbeing comes from feeling great about yourself instead of judging yourself constantly by standards that are set by the media.

Food has a very important role to play in how you feel about yourself. If you view food as something that just keeps you alive or something that should be feared and controlled because it can make you fat then you are unnecessarily filling yourself with a lot of negativity. It is best if you could take a more positive attitude towards food and use it to nourish not just your body but also your soul, thereby ensuring that you have excellent health and fitness.

Food is something that needs to be enjoyed and relished and it should also be perfectly balanced. While you need the right amount of proteins, carbohydrates and fats in your diet you also need a whole lot of vitamins, minerals and nutrients as well. You can achieve this very easily by eating high quality foods that contain excellent nutrition. There are many superfoods that should definitely be part of your diet. Avocados, blueberries, broccoli, salmon, almonds, and walnuts, just to name a few, should be part of your diet in the right quantities. If you eat the right kind of food and focus on enjoying the experience you are unlikely to overeat. In fact, this healthy diet will keep you very svelte looking.

Exercise is also an important way to nurture your body and spirit. It increases your metabolism and keeps you fit and active. Exercise helps improve your blood circulation and aids in the elimination of waste. Your skin will look glowing if you work out often. In addition, it releases large quantities of endorphins into your bloodstream. It is a well-known fact that endorphins have the ability to keep you happy. As a result, you will look and feel really great if you exercise often.

Another great way to feel good about yourself is to practice yoga. This ancient form of exercise originally from India involved meditation and deep breathing in addition to a variety of stretching and bending exercises. Not only does it improve your flexibility but it also enables you to have immense peace of mind.

Health and fitness are an important part of self-love because they require you to put your wellbeing in focus. You will be able to lead a well-balanced life if you take care of your diet and lifestyle and will not suffer from most of the lifestyle related diseases that ail modern people. It is time that you made health and fitness your first priority if you have not done so already!

Endorphins Vs Chronic Pain

It seems to me that there are many people who would benefit by utilizing the endorphin/serotonin way of alleviating chronic pain, whether it has been cast upon us by osteoarthritis or pain developed from a sports or job injury. Or consider pain from your lower back, or fibromyalgia or shingles. No matter where it comes from it tends to become chronic or long lasting and has affected far too many people for comfort: The American Pain Foundation states that this is a complicated state to be in and it has downed 42 - 50 million Americans and only 58 percent of these are helped by a thoughtful prescription of pain killing drugs. Chronic pain has a psychological as well as a biological effect. We know the biology of pain, which tells us that an aberrant nerve impulse will hammer the brain in search for tissue damage that may or may not have ever existed, continuing to call that pain to our attention: In addition, a person with chronic pain can experience a negative or positive reaction which dictates who survives the pain and who caves in under it.

Sometimes pain elicits negative emotions and other times the emotions cause the pain. It is very important to treat chronic pain in all its aspects because when we are experiencing it, there is nothing that can surpass it. So, why can't we think, "Endorphin Boost", when pain is calling the shots? The brain chemicals, the endorphins, improve your pain resistance and your outlook on life. We know that not only does exercise increase the levels of endorphins that come naturally, and assists the pain reducing molecules, it lowers stress, depression, and therefore, pain. And while all this is going on, Serotonin has a leading part in changing our bad moods for good and pleasant ones: high stress increases our perception of pain.

Exercise, while lowering our perception of pain does more than that: it contributes pain reducing effects by strengthening muscles which help in preventing injury that creates more pain. Exercise will help you keep your weight down, lessen your risk for heart disease, and keep blood sugar under control. The stretches I have in mind are for painful knees: Hamstring Stretch, Knee to Chest, Calf Stretch, Straight Leg Raises. Try these exercises slowly at first and ramping up the numbers as you progress, keeping your body and mind open to changes that might indicate a " high" or pain reduction.

At the present time I wonder if my questions are a little farther out than contemporary research covers. How much pain relief can a person receive from endorphins stimulated by exercise? I see that "runner's high" has been documented by a study that claims that euphoria, a floating feeling, as if your feet are not touching the ground, a perception that the runner could continue on, even after the workout is over, without pain or struggle. This study was limited to the role of endorphins on the runner, but the speculation is that more studies may uncover a variety of brain chemicals namely dopamine, serotonin, adrenaline and others that work together to produce an euphoric feeling and to reveal how these chemicals effect pain reduction. The studies may also ask how much exercise and what intensity does it take to produce pain relief. Another question would be "How long does it last?" So, at least we know that we can achieve a "high" by exercising intensely for a 2 hour period, but look to the near future for better news on pain reduction by exercise. Also, I would not hesitate to say that there are substances in our bodies that, know it or not, are working for our good.

Tips For Dealing With Insomnia

Insomnia is when you have either a problem falling asleep, or when you have problems staying asleep long enough to get a proper night's rest.

Although many people have an occasional night with too little sleep even that can make you feel very tired the following day. If you're driving or operating machinery then this can be quite dangerous. If you have Insomnia for a longer period of time then this can have further impacts including health problems such as high blood pressure and diabetes. Long term sleeplessness can also increase the chances of you becoming overweight.

Insomnia falls into two main categories. These are called primary and secondary insomnia. Primary insomnia has no obvious cause. Secondary insomnia is when the sleeplessness is caused by an underlying problem. This could be a medical condition or a psychological problem such as grief and depression.

Sometimes insomnia is a short term problem. If you have problems sleeping for a few days, up to about four weeks, then you have short term insomnia. If you have problems sleeping for more than four weeks then you have long term (or Chronic) insomnia

It appears that around one in four people suffer from insomnia at some point in their lives. Insomnia is more common in women than men and, as you get older, you're more likely to have difficulty sleeping. Half of people over the age of 65 have insomnia at some time.

Here are some Tips for combating Insomnia

• Don't have drinks with caffeine in the late afternoon or evening
• Avoid alcohol late in the evening, and cut back on alcohol consumption overall
• Avoid nicotine in the afternoon and evening, and better still give it up altogether
• Take regular exercise, but avoid strenuous activity immediately before going to bed..
• Don't take naps during the day.
• Try having a warm bath shortly before you go to bed
• Try having a milky drink immediately before bed.
• Try listening to soothing music to help you relax before you go to bed.
• Try to get into a daily routine to establish a sleep pattern. Go to bed at the same time each night and get up at the same time each morning.
• Don't have heavy or rich meals, especially in the few hours before you go to bed.
• If you can't sleep, don't lay there getting stressed about it. Get up and read until you feel sleepy or, if reading isn't your thing do something else that you find relaxing. As a general rule don't watch television as this can stimulate your mind (although that may depend on the program you end up watching)
• Close the day down before you go to bed so you don't lay there worrying about what you haven't done. Write down any worries to deal with the next day, before you go to bed. This can help to clear them from your mind and prevent them re-surfacing in the early hours.
• Get you room at the right temperature, make sure it isn't too hot or cold.
• Try to avoid sleeping in a room that is too noisy, or close to something that is noisy. If necessary consider ear plugs.
• Be aware of the light in your room. If it's too bright consider darker curtains or wearing an eye mask.
• Have a comfortable supportive mattress on your bed.
• Use your bedroom for sleep and sex only - don't use it to work, read or watch television.

Seeking Help for a Mental Health Problem

The hardest part of overcoming a mental health disorder is recognizing that you have one. Many people go through life vaguely aware that something is wrong, but ignoring all of the warning signs. Since individuals with undiagnosed mental disorders have much higher rates of depression and poverty than the general population, it is imperative that anyone seeing signs of mental illness seek help. But many are afraid to go to a doctor or psychiatrist, fearing expenses, judgment or even the loss of their sense of self. Still, medical help is often the only way to return to normal function.

If you suspect you're having mental health problems, you should first assess how long you have been showing them. If, however, the symptoms have been persistent since young adulthood, it is likely a mental disorder and will need psychiatric evaluation. Patients feeling anxious should remember that seeking help is not an admission of weakness, but more an attempt to improve daily life. You may need to shop around for a local psychiatrist who takes your insurance. If you have no insurance, call a few offices and ask them about programs for the uninsured. You may be surprised by your options.

Most psychiatrists have a working general knowledge, but specialize in certain topics such as abuse or anxiety disorders. If you can't find someone in your area who works with your particular problems, don't despair. A trained psychiatrist should recognize all but the most obscure of mental disorders, and know how to treat them. It may be difficult to open up to a stranger at first. It's alright to wait for trust to build up before you begin tackling the big issues, but try to always be truthful with your therapist. You aren't harming anyone but yourself if you mislead him or her.

Mental disorders can be a crippling, lifelong condition, but only if you let them. By seeking help, you can regain control of your own life and brain, and start to function normally again. Don't wait for a wave of suicidal depression to see a doctor, and remember: mental disorders are not a sign of mental deficiency. It is important to visit the doctor as soon as possible, because the earlier you get help the more chance you have of getting better. A doctor may wish to run a MRI scan, an ultrasound scan and other tests on patients exhibiting sudden changes in behavior.