Wednesday, February 4, 2009

--Improving Mental Health

“Mental health can be referred to exercises that will help you to reap some astonishing benefits from your mind”.

If you wish to keep your brain healthy and functional for a long time then you must improve your mental health with the help of exercises. Mental Exercises essential if you want a healthy lifestyle. Doctors suggest that with the help of mental exercises you can successfully combat stress. If you want to break the stress cycle of your life then mental exercises is the best solution to your problem. Don’t forget you can’t remain tense and relax simultaneously.

According to a research by Physiologists mental exercises are a successful alternative in dealing with feelings of depression. These exercises give you a brighter outlook towards life. With the help of these exercises your ability to concentrate would be improved and you would remain more alert thus keeping your brain sharp. Here are some ways in which you can improve your mental health:

• If you want to tease your brain power then indulge your self in mind games. Games like suduko, crosswords and electronic games will improve brain’s memory and speed. These games will help you out in improvement of logic, math and word skills. You can experiences their benefits in few days if you play these games daily for 15 minutes.

• Mediation is one of the best exercises for your mind, body and soul. It gives your brain a complete workout along with complete relaxation of whole body. You can indulge your brain in new and different ways with the help of mediation.

• If you want your brain to function well then you must supply it some healthy fats. Nuts such as walnuts and fish oil from wild salmon are some of the best alternates. You must eliminate Tran’s fats completely from your diet and increases the intake of less saturated fat.

• If you want to solidify memories and events then you must tell good stories. With the help of stories you can interpret things easily and share some of your precious moments. Story telling is not only interesting it’s also a complete fun it would keep people’s interest in you for a long time.

• Spend more time with nature exercising rather than sitting at home and watching television. TV can hamper your mental abilities and relationships.

• If you wish to have a healthy brain then you must exercise your body well. With new physical exercise your brain learns muscle skills that help you to be sharper mentally and physically.

• Your mind becomes active whenever you learn new skills. So focus on learning new things if you wish to make your mind sharper and stronger. Your memory comes into play whenever you learn something new and multiple areas of brain become active.

• If you want to improve your mental health then you must take help from brain training techniques. You can either buy books on such techniques or take web help to learn them.

--Mental and Emotional Health

“Mental and emotional health refers to feelings, thoughts and actions of an individual specifically when a person faces stresses and challenges in his or her life”.

Emotional and physical health problems are due to absence of good mental health. Our society is divided into distinct cultures which have their own metal and emotional characteristics that define well-being of a person.

Our emotions are not separate entities from us they are an active part of our body mind & soul. Whenever you suffer from emotional and mental stresses, your physical health is also affected. Your spirits are raised only if you are mentally and emotionally fit. Researchers reveal that if stresses are never balanced then you can suffer from many physical distresses which are linked to your state of mind. When people are depressed, anxious, stressed or grief-stricken then their lives are in danger. Mental and emotional stresses affects your personal relationships and work abilities.

Mental and emotional health problems can be due to traumas and serious losses in early phases of life. Social conditions in which a person lives are the most important characteristic for good mental and emotional health. Feelings of disgust are usually developed due to negative thoughts and even sometimes because of side effects of medications. There are various genetic and bio-medical causes of which are responsible for emotional stresses.
A person with good mental and emotional health must have the following characteristics:

• A healthy person always posses a sense of contentment and well-being. One must have the ability to enjoy life and have fun. An emotionally healthy person always has a zest of living, to laugh and enjoy along with others.

• You should keep up the spirits high and must be capable to deal with stresses of life. The ability to fight back even in adverse conditions is must.

• With the help of positive relationships and meaningful activities, an emotionally healthy person participates in experiences of life to complete extent. The feeling of self realization is must in person.

• Presence of good mental health means ability to grow, change and experiences different aspects as one faces different circumstances in life. You must make your self flexible in order to deal with ordeals of life.

• Another important characteristic of good emotional health is the ability to strike balance in different aspects of life. You must be social as well as remain in solitude with your loved ones. One must have the ability to work and play simultaneously. Similarly catering all your daily physical and emotional needs of exercising rest and sleep.

• There should be an intellectual development of your heart, spirit, body, mind and soul. A sense of well-roundedness and creativity is a must.

• The person who is emotionally and mental healthy always shows concerns for other. He or she has the ability to take care of his own and other closed ones. A person must have good self-esteem and self-confidence in order to remain physically and mentally active.

--Mental and Emotional Health

“Mental and emotional health refers to feelings, thoughts and actions of an individual specifically when a person faces stresses and challenges in his or her life”.

Emotional and physical health problems are due to absence of good mental health. Our society is divided into distinct cultures which have their own metal and emotional characteristics that define well-being of a person.

Our emotions are not separate entities from us they are an active part of our body mind & soul. Whenever you suffer from emotional and mental stresses, your physical health is also affected. Your spirits are raised only if you are mentally and emotionally fit. Researchers reveal that if stresses are never balanced then you can suffer from many physical distresses which are linked to your state of mind. When people are depressed, anxious, stressed or grief-stricken then their lives are in danger. Mental and emotional stresses affects your personal relationships and work abilities.

Mental and emotional health problems can be due to traumas and serious losses in early phases of life. Social conditions in which a person lives are the most important characteristic for good mental and emotional health. Feelings of disgust are usually developed due to negative thoughts and even sometimes because of side effects of medications. There are various genetic and bio-medical causes of which are responsible for emotional stresses.
A person with good mental and emotional health must have the following characteristics:

• A healthy person always posses a sense of contentment and well-being. One must have the ability to enjoy life and have fun. An emotionally healthy person always has a zest of living, to laugh and enjoy along with others.

• You should keep up the spirits high and must be capable to deal with stresses of life. The ability to fight back even in adverse conditions is must.

• With the help of positive relationships and meaningful activities, an emotionally healthy person participates in experiences of life to complete extent. The feeling of self realization is must in person.

• Presence of good mental health means ability to grow, change and experiences different aspects as one faces different circumstances in life. You must make your self flexible in order to deal with ordeals of life.

• Another important characteristic of good emotional health is the ability to strike balance in different aspects of life. You must be social as well as remain in solitude with your loved ones. One must have the ability to work and play simultaneously. Similarly catering all your daily physical and emotional needs of exercising rest and sleep.

• There should be an intellectual development of your heart, spirit, body, mind and soul. A sense of well-roundedness and creativity is a must.

• The person who is emotionally and mental healthy always shows concerns for other. He or she has the ability to take care of his own and other closed ones. A person must have good self-esteem and self-confidence in order to remain physically and mentally active.

--Spirituality And Health

“Spirituality and mental health can be defined as state psychological and emotional well being of an individual”.

Defining spirituality means defining yourself. Both spirituality and mental health can be referred to as the capability of the person to functions it self well. If you are suffering from emotional stresses then spirituality would help you out to recover yourself. With the help of spirituality you can re discover the holistic meanings of yourself which would help you in recovery of your mental health.

Spirituality means one should be acquainted with the notion of body, mind and soul. It can be viewed as a process of being connected to inner soul. With the help of spirituality you can add harmony to your surroundings and bring peace to your life.

With the help of spirituality you can improve your relationships giving you mental peace. If you are mentally stressed out then spirituality would help you to develop self esteem and would help you in sorting out issues affecting the peace of your mind. Spirituality would bring you closer to god, nature and force of universe; this would help you to develop healthy relationships and connections with your family and loved ones.

A person faces mental and emotional stress at workplaces. With the help of spirituality you can develop connections which would help you in social situations and you would feel that you have become more concerned about your work and you can now shine with your hard work.

Spirituality to attain mental peace is completely about finding the answers to the problems that are bothering your emotional peace. To achieve good mental health one needs to follow the path of spirituality because without it you can answer those questions that arise in your inner soul. If you give your self some time and isolate yourself to know what has been missing in your life that has taken your mental peace then you can make your life beautiful. With the help of spirituality you can bring back the missing element of life. Both spirituality and mental health are incomplete without each other.

To achieve mental peace with the help of spirituality one needs to set up specific goals that are achievable. With the help of spirituality you can achieve these goals. Here are some tips on spirituality which would help you to attain good mental health:

• With the help of prayers and meditation you can bring back the peace to your life. One should devote time to assess what has gone wrong in life and why has it happened. So that you don’t make same mistakes later in your life.

• To develop relationships you must spend time groups. You can participate in any interactive sessions or plays.

• Recreation is something best for those who are distressed. Try to indulge in activities where you can have fun.

With the help of new hobbies and sports you can remain cheerful all the time. So take time for yourself to pave out way for your own happiness.

Stress Can Be Seen By Looking Your Skin

It seems itchy skin, blotches and rashes now increasingly figure on the list of lifestyle diseases that afflict young urban professionals. Typically, a stressful life (coupled with sedentary habits) is seen as a causative factor for a host of ailments—from hormonal imbalance to hypertension. Skin disorders now figure alongside these health issues as more people turn to dermatologists with problems ranging from adult acne to pigmentation.
Itching with anxiety?
“Stress is responsible for many skin problems, including conditions such as dermatitis, where one develops a rough, dry, scaly dark patch, which is highly persistent and itchy,” says Charulata Bose, consultant dermatologist, Artemis Health Institute, Gurgaon.
Also Read Combating some stressful skin conditions (PDF)
Dr Bose recalls a 25-year-old marketing professional (name withheld to protect patient’s privacy) whose new job entailed long hours and tough working conditions, including a difficult boss. “Within three months, she noticed very severe hair fall,” Dr Bose says. As often happens in skin-related disorders, the hair fall further exacerbated her stress. By the time she came to Dr Bose, her scalp was showing. She was treated with nutritional supplements—“We had to pump in antioxidants into her system to help negate the effect of stress,” says Dr Bose—then a three-month treatment to regenerate hair, followed by topical applications for hair growth.
Photo: JupiterImages
Photo: JupiterImages
“Urbanites today are ageing faster than previous generations, with issues such as ageing skin, wrinkles, dark circles and hair loss emerging as common complaints in the age group between 25 and 40 years,” says Pakhi Pereira, consultant dermatologist, Kaya Skin Clinic, Bangalore.
Is it your work?
Take the case of 27-year-old Savita Lakshman, a public relations consultant who found that her work routine had triggered a bout of adult acne that left her with scars. Lakshman has been treated by dermatologists at Kaya Skin Clinic for over four years now, starting with a year-long course of glycolic peels combined with treatments for acne and scar reduction. Lakshman now follows a rigorous routine of skin protection coupled with adequate fluid intake to protect her skin.
“In traditional societies, the physical activity involved in (the) daily routine would release endorphins that helped people de-stress,” says Pereira. “These days, the combined effect of less physical work and long hours spent indoors shows on the skin.” She also lists higher pollution and exposure to ultraviolet radiation as triggers.

A 12-hour workday leaves 28-year-old Rashmi Panwar with little time. As early as her first year in a new job, Panwar, a retail and real estate consultant in New Delhi, realized that stress at work was taking a toll, leaving her with habitual dark circles and dull, uneven skin. There was little time for remedial action until two years ago, though, when she found the first signs of pigmentation: dark freckles on her earlier clear skin. “I realized it was time to seek help to prevent further damage to my skin, which was reflecting the fatigue that was bottled up,” says Panwar, who has been treated with photo facials to reduce the pigmentation. She now combines regular skincare and twice-a-week yoga sessions with a personal trainer to help her destress.
Dermatologists recommend holistic treatments to soothe stressed-out skin. “I use a combination of skin procedures such as microdermabrasion and peels along with procedures such as colon hydrotherapy to detoxify the skin,” says Simal Soin, dermatologist, Apollo Hospitals, New Delhi. She sees an increasing number of patients in the 30-50 age group with skin disorders.
Recent research also points to stress as a trigger for skin ailments. After all, the skin is the first level of defence against infections, both as a physical barrier and as a site for white blood cells to battle invading bacteria and viruses. But these white blood cells can also overreact to stress, resulting in inflamed skin (as with dermatitis), according to a study published in the November issue of American Journal of Pathology. “Knowing the cause actually helps remove half the problem. A little help from the dermatologist can go a long way in taking care of, and reversing, skin disorders,” says Dr Bose.
Destress first, then treat
“Mental stress can exacerbate chronic skin conditions such as psoriasis and give rise to allergies, so it is important to understand what is causing the stress before we treat the skin,” says Pereira, who recommends medical treatment along with counselling to help a person identify the cause of stress and find ways to combat it.
Shiv K. Sharma, senior chief medical officer, department of skin and STD at Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital, New Delhi, agrees. “Stress should be managed before taking up the treatments of (the) above-mentioned elements for long-lasting effect. One should follow a regular routine of sleeping and eating, with a sufficient intake of fruits and vegetables. Exercising at least four-five times a week is most helpful. If stress is not addressed, the stress-induced diseases can progress to psycho-pathological disorders like neurotic excoriations (unconscious picking, digging and scraping of skin) or trichotillomania (the abnormal urge to pull out one’s own hair from the scalp, eyebrows or beard, or even eyelashes),” he says.

Alert
Wash your hands, folks—especially you, ladies. A study funded by the US National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation, published in November, found women have a greater variety of bacteria on their hands than men. The researchers suggest it may have to do with the acidity of skin (men generally have more acidic skin than women). Other possibilities include differences in sweat and oil gland production, the frequency of moisturizer or cosmetics application, skin thickness or hormone production, the researchers say. Kavita Devgan

Household linen, clothes, mats dipped in ayurvedic herbs and dyed with vegetable colours are all part of a clothing line, Ayurvastra, that is retailed at the Niraamaya store in Fort Kochi (ayurvastraonline.com). The concept of herbal medicines infused in clothing and linen that people come in contact with is an idea that originates from the ayurvedic system of medicine. According to ayurveda exponents, the benefits of clothes infused with medicinal herbs are more pronounced during periods of repose, the reason why the ayurvastra line of clothing includes nightwear, mats and bedcovers. Archana Rai
Avoid
Human genes remember a sugar hit for two weeks, and prolonged poor eating
habits can permanently alter DNA. Australian researchers found that cells showed the effects of a one-off sugar hit by switching off genetic controls designed to protect the body against diabetes and heart disease. “We now know that chocolate bar you had this morning can have very acute effects, and those effects can continue for up to two weeks,” says lead researcher Sam El-Osta of Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute. Poor eating would amplify the effect, he adds, with genetic damage lasting months or years, and potentially passing through bloodlines. AFP
Read
His book defends vaccines against the anti-vaccine movement in the US; but there will be no book tour for Paul A. Offit, author of ‘Autism’s False Prophets’ (Columbia University Press). He’s had too many death threats. Offit, chief of infectious diseases, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, is co-inventor of a vaccine against rotavirus, a diarrhoeal disease that kills 600,000 children a year in poor nations. Offit traces the history of autism theories (from child psychologist Bruno Bettelheim blaming “refrigerator mothers”) and early false cures (“facilitated communication”, which helped mute children to type their thoughts; head-squeezing by osteopaths; cod liver oil; diets; and a 1998 fad for secretin, a pig hormone). ©2009/THE NEW YORK TIMES

Fitter In Just 10 Minutes

Ideally, you should ensure that you are out of breath for an hour a day, every day. However, exercise needn’t be an all-or-nothing venture. Just 10 minutes on a treadmill or stationary bicycle make a significant difference. You may not lose weight or lower your blood pressure, but you will end up aerobically fitter—and your waistline could get smaller (belly fat is linked to insulin resistance, contributing to heart disease and diabetes). You could also try:
• Working around the house or in the garden
• Swimming
• Playing in the park with children
• Brisk walking
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More power to your stride
Walking can burn calories faster than a jog. Even better is power walking:
• Aim for 4.5mph.
• Long strides are tiring. Take quick, heel-ball-toe steps.
• Bend elbows and swing arms to help you walk faster.
• Can’t sustain the pace? Add speed bursts to your walk.
Elastic strength
Forget machines and weights. A simple elastic band lets you stretch and train for strength, balance and agility, at near-zero risk of injury. Anyone can use resistance bands (even children or seniors). At a one-time cost of Rs1,000 each, they are much cheaper than gym fees for a family, and can work most muscles.