Forget brain training – This simple exercise can work wonders for your memory

October 13, 2010 by  
Filed under At Home, Health

If you think the Internet is a lot of fluff and nonsense — or full of useless trivia — then this piece of information might change your mind. CBS News in Los Angeles featured an unusual exercise to improve mental health and acuity that has created positive results for learning disabled and autistic children as well as older Alzheimer’s victims and the rest of us whose memory can occasionally leave home and leave us wondering why we are standing in the middle of the spare room.

The exercise was introduced by pranic healing Master Koa Chok Sui’s book SuperBrain Yoga and taught by him personally on lecture tours. Prana is another word for Chi, the subtle life force energy that surrounds and permeates the body and the basis of Eastern medicine and practices such as Qi Gong and yoga.

If you still think that’s fluff then you will be surprised to learn it has been endorsed by doctors, a Yale neurobiologist, an occupational therapist, educators, and parents and has gone viral on the internet.. It is a simple routine, and useful for any kind of brain fog or dullness, even emotional instability, and might even make you laugh as well.

It can improve memory and focus, and it’s even made some a little smarter – memo to self, forward this on to the Houses of Parliament, and it seems to work for everyone regardless of mental condition (second reminder to self re the above).

Here’s how to do it
This exercise is suitable for any age but please monitor and respect your own personal level of fitness.

With your feet pointing straight ahead, spread them apart about shoulder width. Grab your right earlobe with the thumb and finger of your left hand. Cross over your left arm and do the same using your right hand on the left earlobe.

Then squat as fully as you can, breathing in. That’s a little counter intuitive, as well as making you feel ridiculous, but that’s apparently what you do.

The breathing needs to be synchronized with the squats, so breathe in as you squat and breathe out as you stand. The instruction is to do this on a loop for three minutes, though I suspect that most of us will start out with one minute and work up. On bad days it might even be 30 seconds, but you can apparently continue for as long as five minutes if you wish to — and your thighs can hold out.

You keep doing this every day until you can feel that mental fog drifting away and certainly you will be able see an improvement in your final sort!

How It Works
According to Los Angeles physician Dr. Eric Robins, the brain cells and neurons are energized with this simple exercise and he certainly has seen good results from his own patients. He gives the example of a youngster doing poorly in school who was given the exercise to do and went on to become an A student.

If you are wondering what the earlobes had to do with it than this explanation from Yale neurobiologist Dr. Eugenius Ang might help. The earlobes grabbed are acupuncture points that stimulate neural pathways in the brain. The brain’s hemispheres are in opposite sides of the earlobes and using opposite hands for pinching the earlobes may have something to do with the way our subtle energies are arranged.

Still too new age and fluffy for you? Well, Ang showed that the results from EEG readings after doing this exercise indicate the right and left hemispheres of the brain had become synchronized. EEG readings measure the neuron firings in the brain via electrodes on the scalp, and are used to determine brain wave normalcies and abnormalities.

Apparently this is the same effect that subliminal sound recordings (as in many new-age CDs) have attempted to do by producing subliminal sounds to the brain attached to audible sounds through a headset. Dr. Ang believes firmly that this exercise really does achieve the brain being actually lateralized, which is apparently an ideal hemispheric arrangement.

What’s more he performs the exercise daily, so if it’s good enough for Yale, then surely it’s worth giving it a try? If you do, I would love to hear how you have got on with it.

Help for Bad Backs and Knees and Clean Floors!

October 11, 2010 by  
Filed under At Home, Health, Healthy Ageing

I don’t know what it is about getting older, but the knees are definitely not quite as flexible as they used to be and I know from my young relatives that pregnancy also makes getting down to the floor more of a problem. If you just want a quick clear up and don’t want to have to do drag out the Hoover — and you certainly don’t want to get out the dustpan and brush — then I have been trying out something that you might find helpful. It’s a cordless Power sweeper that is rechargeable and also seems to be very helpful for a friend with arthritis in her hands who has also been trying it for me.

I always like to see British design and the Gtech Cordless Power Sweeper is based in Worcestershire and is apparently selling well to pregnant women and those of us for whom the floor has got rather farther away than it used to be. Lifting heavy items whether you are pregnant, or have a bad back, is not advised and sadly many household vacuum cleaners are fairly heavy.

The Gtech has the advantage of weighing only 1.6kg and is fully rechargeable so you are not trailing any flex either. It will not replace your vacuum cleaner as it has only a small slide out drawer to collect dust and debris, but it is invaluable for day-to-day light use and the manufacturers claim that it will even pick up glass — which happily I never had to put to the test.

What certainly surprised me is that having invested in a specific (and very expensive) cleaner for dealing with pet hair this small sweeper actually pulled up more hair out of the carpet and is much more efficient than I would have expected.

It will be useful for anyone with problems with their back, or bending, but the telescopic handle has a very unconventional shape – like a large firm loop -which makes it very comfortable to hold for anyone who has problems with their hands and its swivels easily to make the sweeper of a flexible in use. The friend with arthritis who used it certainly found it much easier to use and more comfortable than the conventional handle on a vacuum cleaner.

You should find it in most high street retailers including Argos, Comet, Currys, Lakeland and Robert Dyas but in case of difficulty go to their website at www.gtechonline.co.uk

Are Men Too Stressed to Cope with Heart Attack Risk?

September 9, 2010 by  
Filed under At Home, At Work, Healthy Ageing, Mens Health

You may have seen the news reports this week that because men are working longer hours and taking less exercise they are doubling their risk of a heart attack. If you know anyone in this vulnerable position, you might want to pass on this email to them to reinforce the importance of taking care of your heart in order to stay healthy.

Click here to find out more information about my How To Cope With Stress eBook —-> Cope With Stress

We know that stress plays a major part in whether or not you are going to be more likely to succumb to a whole host of health problems and heart disease is a major killer. Trying to handle a constant level of stress will undermine all your best efforts at staying healthy so I want to offer you some immediate help to identify and deal with your personal vulnerability to stress

Poor health, strained relationships, lack of effectiveness at work or at school are just some of the results of living with stress on a daily basis. Of course we cope, we have become experts at that, but we all have limits and going over them has serious consequences for our physical and mental and emotional health.

One of the problems of coping with stress is that we take that stressed state for granted and it becomes ‘normal’ for us and we don’t see the warning signs. Like all my books, this brand new ebook came from my own, and my clients, issues and in trying to help them I came up with some unique insights and a clear, practical plan to help them move on with their lives. When you are stressed you don’t have time to wade through heavy tomes or search out key information: now you don’t have to because I have done it for you. Here you will find all the easy, accessible information that you need to help you to identify the causes of stress in your life and then get some real, working, solutions.

How will this help men to cope?

In too many ways to list here, but if you are genuinely looking for ideas and solutions, then these are some of the key elements you will benefit from:

• Identifying the emotional and physical symptoms of stress

• Discovering the Chemical Connection to Stress

• Your Personal Vulnerabilities

• Self-assessment questionnaires

• Conventional and alternative treatments compared

• Self-help options

• Top tips to handle stress every day

Are you handling your stress or is it handling you?

Once you have read the book, then you can continue to use those top tips as part of your everyday life. Stress comes from those things that upset us the most and that is usually related to change. I have designed an action plan for both types. Knowing which you are will lead you to solutions to dealing with your stress, and there are questionnaires in the book to help you identify just what stresses you the most.

You are unique, and what stresses you, and how you respond to it is unique too. I have been writing and speaking about handling stress for over ten years and I know how distressing it can be to live with – both for you, and your friends, family and colleagues as they watch you struggle without really knowing how to help.

Let me give you the tools to not only overcome the stress you are currently dealing with, but give you with the means to avoid it in the future. I know it works, and so do those who have read it.

Are you ready?

If you want to know if my approach works, then my instantly down loadable e-book will be with you immediately so you can start to put your positive health plan into action. Visit my website at www.creativecatalyst.co.uk and on the marketplace page you will be able to buy How to Handle Stress — your proven action plan for just $9.97 and as a special bonus you also get my free special report on “ATTITUDE AND ILLNESS” because that is a key factor in having that healthy, stress-free future. Click here to find out more information —-> Cope With Stress

If you will learn to handle your stress, and not let it handle you, then that is a major bonus on the road to reducing your risk of a heart attack.

Weight training for the over 50s

September 8, 2010 by  
Filed under At Home, Fitness & Sport, Health, Healthy Ageing

When you mention weights to me, I tend to think of dark and sweaty rooms full of people (well men actually) sweating away to the accompanying noise of clanging barbells. However it seems that I am wrong as I was just sent a new book which has been written by two very respectable looking ladies (one even wears pearls) which offers the complete program to what they describe as staying stronger longer and contains easy exercises to avoid the effects of the ageing process and be fit for life.

Pauline Eborall and Patricia Furber are the authors of ‘Wonderful Ways With Weights’ and were inspired to write it because of their own unsatisfactory experiences as middle-aged women in fitness classes and gyms. For both men and women osteoporosis is a real danger as we get older and weight bearing exercise is one of the best ways to combat it and these exercises focus on building a strong body and happily they also say that you do not have to be fit to start. The exercises are based on their own experience and were roadtested on a group of their friends for over a year aged between 40 to 80. What they found was that if exercise is regular and progressive than strength can be gained and maintain even by those in their 80s and 90s.

This regime is gentle and gradual and you never need push yourself beyond your current level of fitness as it is a continuous process. Indeed they even have exercises in their easy to follow illustrated guide that include exercising in water and from a chair. What I particularly liked was that the photographs used show people of the right age doing these exercises which makes it seem much more realistic.

As well as exercises there is also good dietary advice and tips scattered through the book on improving things like arthritis and even suggestions for spicing up food without using salt. If you’d like to get a copy then it is available from Amazon or at www.kintburypublishing.co.uk

The Benefits Of Eating A Raw Food Diet

So I guess by reading this article, you may be asking what are the benefits to eating a raw food diet ? Well, the benefits of eating more raw foods are numerous and once you understand them you’ll probably wonder why you haven’t eaten more raw in the past. You’ll also think twice about eating dead cooked foods ever again.

Raw Foods Give You More Energy

I can’t tell you of one person I know that follows a raw food diet that doesn’t have more energy than the average person . I know that when I transitioned away from eating a diet made up of breads, dairy, and cooked foods, and adopted more of a raw foods diet, my energy went through the roof. And I’m not talking about the quick surge you would get from an espresso but alternatively long-lasting energy that enables you to do more with less.
An example, eating raw foods will allow your body to sleep less and have far more energy than you’ve ever felt before . When I’m eating at least 80% raw, I can easily function on just 4-5 hours of sleep. I literally bounce out of bed and don’t require any naps throughout the day. Oh yeah, did I mention that I workout every single day as well? Sometimes, even twice!

Energizing Enzymes
When following a raw food diet, there are several reasons why it will give you more energy . First, raw foods are rich in food enzymes. Enzymes are compulsory for every single reaction in the body. Unfortunately, our bodies only have a finite number of these enzymes, so when we run out, we run out of life! To add to this, when you heat foods above 118 degrees fahrenheit, you destruct the food enzymes that are naturally present in all raw foods. Therefore, if you eat a predominantly cooked foods diet, you’re not getting enough food enzymes, which means that your body will have to produce and use more of its own to digest and metabolize your foods.

The less energy you will have for activities if your body requires more energy to divert towards digestion . You will feel more lethargic and tired as your body is trying to breakdown “dead” foods and figure out what to do with them.

So the food enzymes apparent in raw foods are a big reason why it boosts your energy . They are the spark plugs and are intricately related to the next property that make raw foods so energy-boosting.

Life Force

When raw foods are left intact, they are also known as living foods . They are named “living” because they carry an incredible amount of life force.

Now, since every living being has an aura or energy field illuminating from their body, which foods do you think would enhance yours? Cooked foods that are dead or high energy raw foods ? I think we both know the answer.

As I like to say, “eat alive and you will thrive”.

Weight Loss and Beautiful Skin

The other highly sought-after quality of a raw foods diet is its ability to help you lose weight and beautify your skin . Almost all raw foodists have reported losing weight they could never lose. At the same time, they notice an instant improvement in their skin. They look younger and have a natural glow that comes about because of the “living” nature of raw foods, their abundance of enzymes, and of course the plethora of nutrients that are ingested when eating more fruits and vegetables.

You will find it easier to lose weight on a raw food diet because your getting more nutrients and, therefore, your body won’t crave “dead” foods. Second, the enzymes help to breakdown the foods you are eating and excess energy and fat stores in your body. Third, raw foods are water-rich, which helps you feel more satiated, as well as hydrated.

Many of these reasons also help us explain why living foods make you look younger and beautify your skin. Enzymes, life force, water, and high quality nutrients all play a role in natural skin care.

We could talk about the benefits of a raw food diet for hours but the only to truly understand them is to experience them for yourself. So why not take action today and enjoy the health, the body, and the vitality that you deserve!

Unknown Facts About Lowering Cholesterol Revealed By The Experts

August 26, 2010 by  
Filed under At Home, Diets, Health, Mens Health, Womens Health

You don’t know how much poison you swallow day in and out. Much of it won’t kill you right away, but it is accumulating over time, you could just drop dead one day and that would be the end of it, so you need to start to reduce high cholesterol right now. That’s the way it works with cholesterol.You don’t want to die young, do you? Well, that is exactly what is going to happen to you if you don’t do something about all that cholesterol in your system immediately. Talk to a doctor and take some action to get it under control. They should be able to work something out for you that will help to lower your cholesterol.

Folks make a big deal out of lowering cholesterol, and they are right to do so. Do you want to die, or don’t you? If you don’t, then you want to lower your cholesterol, and you can do that by paying attention to this article and taking action.

Increase your fiber! This is an important piece of information that I have to give a lot of Americans today that can help in reducing high cholesterol, because too many people don’t even have a clue about it. Increase your intake of fiber foods and check out the dietary alternatives you have available.With a healthy diet, you can lower your cholesterol to more acceptable and healthy levels. A detox diet, I know, could actually do the magic. Why don’t you try a detox diet and focus on eating only fruit and vegetables, and drinking water for a week.

Fiber is roughage, and is a kind of food that is good for you. In consuming roughage you get to get rid of cholesterol in your system. Your cholesterol levels aren’t going anywhere but up as long as you continue to eat all that junk food. The only way to do it is to lay off the grease and eat more healthy foods.

The level of cholesterol in your system is bound to affect you whether you like it or not. Besides the fact that it makes you susceptible to a lot of illnesses, it can actually end up killing you by blocking your blood vessels. That’s why you have to lower it.Your system can only take so much cholesterol before it shuts down and tries to reboot. The problem is that rebooting a human being is not that easy; oftentimes the fellow winds up dead. So instead of letting you body try to restart itself, why not restart on a diet that will lower your cholesterol levels but not bring you down.

Information About Sleep Apnea, Narcolepsy and Insomnia

August 25, 2010 by  
Filed under At Home, Health

Sleep is the body’s unplugged time, time to rest and regenerate ; but when anomalies such as sleep apnea narcolepsy and insomnia meddle with this necessary recess, there may be medical and psychological repercussions.
 
As if having only one of these sleeping disorders would not be damaging enough to the system, it is possible for folks to have all of these conditions simultaneously. Often, folk are unaware of precisely what’s wrong in their lives.
 
Sleep apnea
 
A condition in which a sleeping individual frequently stops and starts to respire across the night is known as sleep apnea. There are two sorts of apnea, the most typical being called obstructive and the other being central sleep apnea. Folk who experience this condition have no realisation of the breathing interruptions, only understanding that they feel fatigued much of the time. Waking with a sore throat, dry throat and headache are regular grumbles, as is having an issue staying asleep. Central sleep apnea is a threatening condition that is less common which is due to coronary disease and stroke.
 
Narcolepsy
 
The thought that narcolepsy is caused by other sleeping disorders like sleep apnea is a myth. Although the exact cause isn’t known, the brain chemical called hypocretin is found in significantly lower levels in those with narcolepsy. There are also many other contributory factors to the condition such as genetics, stress or environmental problems that are believed to play part in it. When subjected to this disorder, people can enter into REM sleep all of a sudden without first experiencing NREM sleep, which is normally the kick off point of sleep. This condition can affect someone physically, psychologically and socially.
 
Insomnia
 
Sleep needs vary from person to person, but everybody wishes some quantity of sleep. When an individual has difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep, it may be insomnia. It can be due to a range of different reasons ; a medical condition, particular drugs, stress, depression, alcohol consumption or too much caffeine. Insomnia can come from lengthy periods of bad sleeping habits and also from simple ageing.
 
Everyone knows how vital restive sleep is to the health ; however, knowing it and achieving it can be fully different matters. When a sleeping problem like sleep apnea narcolepsy or sleeplessness interferes with ordinary daily activities, it may be time to consult your doctor before further medical or mental conditions happen.      

The Toothbrush That Doesn’t Need Toothpaste – or Water!

August 17, 2010 by  
Filed under At Home, Health, Travel

Wanting to brush your teeth after every meal and being in a position to do so are not always the same thing. If you are one of those people who manages to carry both toothbrush and toothpaste with them you are more organised than I am so I was intrigued when I came across a toothbrush that cleans teeth without the aid of paste or even water.

The publicity for the hyG toothbrush recommends it for those going camping or to festivals – two areas where you are very unlikely to find me – but I do appreciate the benefit of being able to brush not just after a meal but to erase the traces of that mid-morning coffee and almond croissant.

It works by breaking the strong attraction that exists between teeth and plaque. It does this by reversing the polarity of teeth from negative to positive and since plaque is positively charged it is repelled from the teeth and onto the negatively charged hyG toothbrush.

So how does it do that is exactly? Apparently, all you need to do is wet your thumb and make sure it is in contact with the metal plate on the toothbrush’s handle to create the necessary electronic charge. Even when used without toothpaste or water, the hyG toothbrush has been shown to be up to 48% more effective at removing plaque than normal brushing – which puts its certainly ahead on most daily routines. I have tried it out myself on a recent trip and given that it is considerably lighter than my electric toothbrush — and needs no recharging — it was certainly just as effective and a plus on the packing side.

If you want to get one for yourself you should be able to find one in your local Waitrose store, health food shops, or your dentists. It is also available online from www.pharmacy2U.co.uk

Electronic Air Filter: Why You Need One & Which One Should You Buy?

August 4, 2010 by  
Filed under At Home, Health, Mens Health, Womens Health

We all take breathing for granted, and hardly ever give it a second thought.  We have existed this long without any apparent problems.  Why must we be worried about an issue we can not actually see…right?

Regrettably, there’s a concealed issue that we cannot see, but which will potentially do us serious physical harm if preventive steps aren’t taken.  The fact is we’re encompassed by air that is horribly dirty. It is polluted by fumes from gases and chemicals, pet dander, dust, dirt, smoke to name just a few of these unpleasant elements.

So, how can we remove these types of harmful particles from our home and make sure the air we are breathing is pure?  We need to use an electronic air filter!

Here’s Why You Should Choose An Electronic Air Filter:

An electronic air filter is a relatively inexpensive and low maintenance way of eliminating airborne contaminants from the atmosphere in your house. Using electrostatic technology to provide a kind of filterless air purifier, electronic air filters really are a safe method to keep your air particle, fume and dust-free.

These filterless air purifiers operate by employing the scientific principle of electrostatics. This law signifies that materials with opposite charges are attracted to one another. Thus electronic air filters harness the power of this principle by collecting the air and giving any particles gathered a charge. The charge emitted by electronic air filters is completely safe to humans, but pulls the collected contaminants to a plate inside the unit, where they stay, safety extracted from your breathing air.

A typical electronic air filter is ninety five percent effective in eliminating particles and fumes from the air in your home, collecting the offending substances on plates kept safely inside the unit. A few people find this idea to be a drawback to electronic air filters as these collection plates must be cleaned frequently.  This is, nevertheless, a relatively basic job, as the collection plates are easily cleaned by wiping them with a wet cloth. This simple maintenance job ensures that your electronic air purifier continues to be effective in keeping your atmosphere dust, fume and particle-free.

Additionally, an electronic air filter has the benefit of cleaning the oxygen of your entire home if the unit is positioned in the proper place and the correct settings are used. This enables you to clean the oxygen inside your whole house with the use of one device that is devoted as much as you are to keeping your loved ones healthy.

Finding the Right Electronic Air Filter:

A number of individuals become totally baffled when they’re attempting to shop for an electronic air filter. The options that are available to them turn out to be quite overwhelming. Nevertheless, with some work it’s feasible to discover the ideal match for your requirements. For instance, you should determine the air capacity of your home to make sure that the electronic air filter device you buy is large enough to take care of your needs. It is a lot less expensive to buy a bigger electronic air filter, instead of purchasing two smaller units.

Additionally you should look for an electronic air filter that will run quietly and not increase the noise in your home. Many consumers who purchase noisy equipment end up turning them off, which in turn renders the equipment worthless. This obviously is a waste of money and doesn’t improve the oxygen quality. Make certain you purchase a quiet electronic air filter device so that it will stay on.

You should also compare the service plans as well as warranties that accompany each model of available electronic air filters. Shopping around is fairly easy on the internet in the comfort of your home.  This way you’ll be equipped with all of the info you require, rather than base your decision on the information that a sales person provides.

Conclusion:

Electronic air cleaners are a simple and effective yet low maintenance method for cleaning the oxygen you breathe. The fact they remove as much as ninety five percent of problem contaminants from the oxygen inside your home helps make the purchase of an electronic air cleaner a shrewd investment.  It’s going to help provide your loved ones with an atmosphere that’s safe and wholesome for everyone!

Wnat to read more?  Click here:  Do Air Purifiers Work?

Learn About Craniosacral Therapy

July 31, 2010 by  
Filed under At Home, Health

Most things that we do throughout the day affect the intricate nervous systems in the body.

Because by design the nerves and sensitive tissues that run throughout our systems are delicate, they are prone to both short and long-term damage, which can lead to bodily and balances.

Craniosacral Therapy is a special variety of make contact with treatment which is developed to directly stimulate the sensitive nervous tissues in the spinal cord, as well as the connective tissues that surround the mass of the human brain all without the require for any variety of invasive surgery.

Actually, Craniosacral Therapy is just as gentle as most other types of alternative medicine, and because it involves direct make contact with between the practitioner and also the patient applying their hands, it may give many from the exact same sensations that a typical massage will.

You’ll leave feeling a good deal much more relaxed than you did when you got there.

To fully obtain a grasp of how this sort of therapy works, it is important to understand how the major elements from the nervous system are connected to one another. Obviously, basic anatomy tells us that the spine is connected on the base with the brain. What several folks may not know is that the whole spinal column performs the “tree trunk” in the body’s connective nerve tissue is surrounded by a distinctive form of spinal fluid.

In very much the exact same way blood does, the spinal fluid flows and washes more than the several parts from the brain and upper spine. You’ll be able to think of it as having a pulse of its own, and Craniosacral Treatment is intended to utilize direct get in touch with with the patient’s back to stimulate the flow of this critical substance.

By holding the patient’s limbs in certain, diligently chosen positions while simultaneously running their hand gently up the length in the spinal column, fresh spinal fluid is allowed to more easily circulate, and come into contact with brain matter.

The most immediate effect that most people notice when they have a Craniosacral therapy procedure done to them can be a renewed feeling of alertness. Although it is impossible to really view it taking place, the fresh fluid washing over the brain causes it to wake up, and fools it into thinking that you have just sat up out of bed after a full night of rest.

Within the long-term, a recipient of this natural therapy treatment can expect to experience a loosening of tight joints related towards neck and back, which means that they could see several relief if they’ve been experiencing lots of pain with these areas inside past.

The philosophical aspects of Craniosacral therapy are based on the principles of motion. By encouraging the motion of vital fluids that act as lubricants, practitioners are able to promote an incredible level of flexibility and freedom of motion.

It’s a completely painless way of allowing yourself to feel years younger, and all that’s needed is always that you open your mind on the possibility that an “alternative” medical treatment still has the potential to help you with your issues.

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