February
Wash Hands Frequently

Work up a lather on your hands with soap and water and do not rinse off before 20 seconds have elapsed. Rinse hands with warm water and dry them under a commercial hand dryer or with a clean paper towel. Avoid touching the faucet handles with your bare hands to prevent contamination, and try not to grab the bathroom door handles when you are in a public restroom. Push the door open with your body if you can, or grasp the door handle with a paper towel. Always wash your hands prior to touching food, after evacuating, when you are finished changing a baby's diaper, after making contact with someone who is ill (including yourself), after touching an animal, when finished cleaning an animal's waste matter and after touching any rubbish. If caring for an open cut, make sure you wash your hands prior to and after treatment. Carry a hand sanitizer with you for times when soap and water are not available and rub a generous amount all over your hands.

 

January
Aerobics Workouts For Awesome Health

Aerobics workouts are fun ways for you to keep fit, control your weight and maintain a strong and healthy body. Even if the recent aerobics craze has swept the entire world with its very own feel, the recent times features abundant information and tools about aerobics that has never existed before.
Aerobics workouts when done in greater intensities can help reduce fat and at the same time tone muscle tissues. Aerobics can be performed at home or in the gym and is perhaps one of the most enjoyable methods of doing workout and losing weight.
Aerobics Workouts for the Heart
Cardiac exercise routines are usually made up of aerobic exercises such as swimming, walking and jogging. Aerobic workouts will help you burn much of the unwanted fats in your body. Cardiac aerobics exercises are especially geared towards making the heart work at a rapid fast giving it extra work to the heart muscles itself and the lungs.
Some of the most common cardio workouts include cycling, running, sit ups, rowing, swimming, jogging, walking and several sports activities such as soccer, badminton etc.

 

2011 Tips....

December
Healty Food

Eating a healthy diet should be part of your daily routine. Healthy food gives your body the fuel it needs to cope with the stresses of daily life. A healthy diet may also boost your immune system and help you ward off colds and serious diseases like cancer and heart disease. Eat plenty of fruits, vegetables and whole grains. Avoid junk food filled with sugar, salt and saturated fat. Drink eight glasses of water every day. Substitute water in place of soda and other unhealthy drinks.

 

November
Holiday Stress Tips

As the holiday season rolls in many people begin to experience the telltale signs of stress. The holidays can be a very wonderful time of family, friends, togetherness and enjoyment. On the flip side they can also be intensely stressful for those that have not found an effective way to deal with everything. If not managed properly, stress can actually ruin the beauty of the holiday season. With this being the case, it is very important that people learn how to effectively handle the various factors that can cause stress during the holiday season.
The reality is that the while the holiday season is highly anticipated it can also be one of the most stressful times of the year for many individuals. Taking the necessary steps to prepare for the hustle and bustle of the holidays will ensure that any stressors encountered are merely minor hurdles that can be easily eliminated so that everyone can enjoy the holidays to the fullest.
In order to combat stress that is associated with the holidays it is always best to have a plan. Now, things don’t always go as planned, and this is very important to remember particularly during the holiday season. However, people that take the time to sit down and make to do lists are better prepared than those individuals that leave everything up to chance. Everyone knows there is so much to do during the holidays.
There are meals to be planned, presents to buy, travel arrangements to be made, cards to send out and parties to plan. In order to reduce the amount of stress that one incurs around the holidays such activities have to be planned ahead of time. Taking the time to make a plan for holiday festivities is highly recommended for surviving the holiday season.
In addition to having a plan it is also important to expect the unexpected. People that are very rigid tend to have the highest levels of stress because they are not willing to be flexible. Around the holidays there are so many things that can happen that can throw a monkey wrench in a person’s plan. Flights can be delayed or worse cancelled causing stress for everyone involved during the holiday season.
Someone could snatch up the very toy that someone wanted to give to their child for the holidays leaving very little time to find another toy of the same or equal caliber. These are just some example of the situations that can occur which make the holiday season stressful. Thus, it is important for people to be prepared for such unexpected events by having a plan B or C just in case.
Finally, one of the best ways to reduce stress around the holidays is enlist of the help of others. There is no reason to handle all the activities related to the holiday season on one’s own. The holidays are about togetherness so people can greatly reduce the amount of stress in their lives by allowing other individuals to help them with the various holiday duties. Enlisting the help of others is a great way to reduce stress during the holiday season.

October
Safe Insomnia Home Remedies

• One of the worst things about going through insomnia is the panicked feeling you get, the fear that you will never start sleeping a solid eight hours at night again. Actually the chances of never being able to sleep well again is very remote, but it still doesn’t help us feel better when we wake up yet again after a restless and uneasy sleep. To help you start sleeping deeply again for as long as you need, try the insomnia remedies listed below, which are all natural, safe and easy to do.
• Drink a glass of warm milk thirty minutes to an hour before your bedtime. Milk helps encourage the release of the hormone called melatonin in your body, which helps the body feel drowsier at night and helps you stay asleep. Milk is also a good source of the essential vitamin B12, which encourages the production of melatonin, so if you drink enough milk, you will not need to take vitamin B12 shots or tablets. If you like your milk sweet, add a little pure honey, but no sugar or, worse, artificial sweeteners, which can energize you.
• Worried? Try meditating. Sit up straight in bed, cross your legs, rest your hands on your knees, and close your eyes. Breathe as deeply and slowly as you can, and think only of the breaths as you inhale and exhale. Do this for as long as you need to forget those worries and until you get drowsy enough to fall asleep.
• If it’s outside noises that wake you up, then look for a good and comfortable pair of ear plugs that can block out all external sounds. Playing white noise on the radio can also help, but the buzz of electronic devices may not suit you and only keep you feeling wired and stressed, so go for soft and sturdy ear plugs. Look for them at health shops or drug stores.
• Light a scented candle or two, or spray a little relaxing pillow spray on your sheets before bed, or to a piece of paper you can then hang next to your air conditioner or electric fan. The best scents used for getting rid of insomnia are chamomile and lavender, but you may feel better with green tea, jasmine, juniper, ylang-ylang, cucumber, or bergamot. You can also dab a little massage oil formulated for the skin on your pulse points, neck, and even some on your pillow to help you relax and get sleepy faster with the soothing scent.

 

September
Stress Reduction

Devote part of your day to reducing stress in your life. A regular stress reduction program can help you combat depression and control high blood pressure. You can practice meditation, yoga or participate in a hobby you enjoy. Add activities to your daily routine that bring you joy and a chance to laugh and have fun.

 

August
Exercise

Get 30 minutes of moderate to intense exercise every day. Walking is a convenient exercise that anyone can do just about anywhere. Walk at a fast enough pace that your heart rate increases and you get a good workout. A leisurely walk will not provide as much benefit. A combination of aerobic exercise and weight training will help you keep in shape and resist disease and depression.

 

July
Sleep

Get eight hours of restful sleep every night. Go to bed at the same time each night and get up at the same time each morning to establish a healthy sleep routine. Do not eat snacks or drink alcohol close to bedtime as these can cause you to awaken during the night. If you cannot sleep, get up and read until you get sleepy enough to go back to bed. By being properly rested each day, your mind will be sharper and you will not be tired and grumpy.

 

June
Are you protecting your skin?

• Avoiding mid-day sun between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m.
• Wearing wide-brimmed hats, long sleeved shirts, and pants
• Using a generous amount of sunscreen and reapplying it frequently (every two to three hours)
• Using sunscreens that have a sun protection factor (SPF) greater than 15, and that have UVA and UVB coverage
• Avoid tanning beds

 

May
Spring allergies are upon us

Allergies can keep us from doing the things that we enjoy the most. It doesn’t have to stop us though. There are ways to manage your spring allergies so that you can do the things that you love best.


Tips on managing spring allergies:

• Pollen:  Pay attention to the pollen in your area.
• Medication: Have allergy medication readily available for your particular allergies.
• Eat Right: Eating the right way will help keep allergies to a minimum.
• Air Purifier: Will clean the air so that dust and allergens don’t get the better of you

 

April
Lower Your Blood Pressure with Just 30 Seconds of this

You could lower your blood pressure significantly in 30 seconds if you just do this: breathe deeply.
In a study, that simple act helped lower the study participants' systolic blood pressure. In fact, the study participants only had to do it six times to see their systolic pressure dip as much as 10 mm Hg! Not too shabby for a few slow in-and-out breaths.

 

March
Try This 40-Minute Trick to Remembering Better

You could turn fuzzy thinking into a killer memory with this brilliant little habit: power napping.

In a study, people who took a power nap after learning a new task performed 50 percent better than the non-nappers when they were later given a test on the task.

 

February

Accelerate your metabolism and fat-burning furnace -- and lose weight more quickly -- by eating five times a day.

Eating smaller, more frequent meals is just like revving the engine on an idling car. And that could lead to faster, easier weight loss.

 

January
Eat This Fruit to Undo Overindulgence

Next time you load your plate with mac and cheese and eat the whole thing, here's what you should do next: Grab a couple of handfuls of strawberries. High-calorie, fatty meals cause artery-damaging blood fats to spike temporarily. But in a recent study, people who followed a high-fat meal with a test beverage of pureed strawberries had a much smaller hike.