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Month: March 2016

Chiropractic Care and Other Ways to Manage Your Anger

Chiropractic Care and Other Ways to Manage Your Anger

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You throw a fit at the slightest provocation. You lose your temper even over the little things. You get easily irritated with other people even when you have hardly enough reason to be.

You are one angry person!

In spite of these, you know for yourself that you would not want to be an angry individual. Angry persons live shorter and unhappy lives. People who are filled with anger have a higher risk of having heart attacks. Breathlessness, sleeplessness, a high blood pressure, a migraine attack, and even a stroke are only some of the manifestations of anger.

Anger affects all aspects of an angry person’s life. He becomes unable to sustain relationships. He becomes unable to think straight and come up with wise decisions. Moreover, he becomes unable to explore the good things that life to offer, simply because he is stuck with his anger.

The good news is that anger can be managed! By following both common and unconventional ways, you can learn to control your temper and manage your anger.

The Role of Chiropractic Care

Anger is considered an emotional stress. Although not clearly manifested, it produces pain from the inside. Chiropractic care, which aims to seek balance and free the body from any pain and damage, helps in relieve this pain brought by stress and anger.

Chiropractic adjustments are done to restore the normal functions of the nervous system and get rid of subluxations. When the nervous system is free from any damage, stress, and pain, balance is achieved. This means, that both the mind and the body are brought back to their healthiest state and are free from any form of stress, including anger.]

Therefore, though not directly, chiropractic care can help manage your anger and other forms of stress affecting your mind and body.

10 Other Ways to Manage Anger

Here are the top 10 secrets on how to manage and control your anger:

  1. Take deep breaths. This will help you calm down.
  1. Try not to talk when you are angry. Just keep quiet for a while and let the negative feelings pass.
  1. Walk away from the situation that triggers strong emotions even for a short while.
  1. Pray and try to think of happy thoughts.
  1. Take a shower. This will relieve your body and your head off too much heat.
  1. Listen to soothing music. This will have a calming effect on your tense muscles.
  1. Play some sport. A round of basketball or badminton will help release the tension.
  1. Drink a glass of ice-cold water. Once you’re refreshed, you feel more relaxed and calm.
  1. Talk to someone you are very comfortable with. Open up your feelings, but be careful not to scare him or her away.
  1. Finally, you can always sleep your anger away. As you wake up the next day, you will have a more positive and relaxed feeling.

These are easier said than done, of course. But they surely are worth a try. After all, these will save the angry person from a life filled with unhappy relationships – and heart attacks.

Simple but Sure-Fire Ways to Overcome Insomnia

Simple but Sure-Fire Ways to Overcome Insomnia

White male caucasian young adult on bed with head on pillow with eyes wide open staring off into space at the camera. Afraid of the dark.
White male caucasian young adult on bed with head on pillow with eyes wide open staring off into space at the camera. Afraid of the dark.

The most common sleep disorder is insomnia, the inability of a person to fall asleep or to remain throughout the night. A common cause is worry but it may also be caused by diverse physical and mental conditions that prevent a person from relaxing.

People who have insomnia have a hard time to sleep at night. They often find themselves wondering why they are wide-awake in the middle of the night or sleeping hours. They feel sleepy and restless during the day.

Some possible reasons include stress, tension, excessive drink of coffee and other stimulants, too much coffee and other stimulants, too much smoking, uremia or high level of ammonia in the blood, excitement, irregular bedtime hours, noises, digestive disturbances, respiratory distress, thyroid problems and uncomfortable bed or bedroom.

Below are simple remedies that may help people with insomnia to sleep.

  1. Have a regular sleeping and wake-up hours. If you have to, use an alarm clock until such time that you can wake up on your own.
  1. Avoid too much drinking of coffee, wines, beers, and other stimulants before bedtime. Instead, try drinking a glass of warm milk before going to bed to help you fall asleep faster.
  1. Avoid heavy smoking, especially at night. Smoking can keep you awake and active.
  1. Sleep in a well-ventilated room and comfortable bed. Use pillows that support your back and neck well.
  1. Eat light snacks before bedtime. Eating a heavy meal will not only make it difficult for you to sleep; it may also pose some serious digestive problems.
  1. Have a regular exercise routine, but not before sleeping.
  1. Read relaxing books and articles, or listen to soothing music as you go to bed.
  1. Drink warm milk or take a quick warm shower before retiring to bed.
  1. Don’t watch TV shows or do paper works when in bed. Go only to bed when you are about to sleep.
  1. Avoid taking a long nap during the day or in the afternoon. If you really have to, limit it to 30 or 40 minutes only.

If these steps do not work, classified sedatives or medicines may be prescribed by a doctor to take to help bring back normal sleeping habits while finding a cure for the insomnia. But these medicines makes a person dependent in using it so doctors only give it for a short time.

What You Need to Know about Choosing a Pediatrician

What You Need to Know about Choosing a Pediatrician

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One of the most common parenting mistakes is leaving your child’s health to the pediatrician. While it is the true that your child’s doctor is the expert, you, as the parent, are ultimately responsible for your child’s physical condition. Your child’s doctor is there to present to you the options available in handling your child’s illness or in shaping the way your child eats or conducts his lifestyle. But as a parent, it is your duty to choose which methods will best suit the needs of your child. So don’t be a passive parent. Take charge of your child’s health.

It is essential to keep a record book of health-related events that have taken place. Note immunization shots that have been given to your child. Record illnesses and medications taken. Jot down any allergic reactions. Log in surgeries or medical tests your child has undergone. This record book will be an important reference for your pediatrician, in order that he may be able to accurately diagnose any illness and recommend proper treatment.

Though you are not a doctor, it is important that you are well-informed about children’s diseases. This will make you more sensitive to changes in your child’s condition or to symptoms of illnesses. Moreover, education on such matters will aid you in deciding what food to give your child or what activities will promote good health. In addition, this will give you more confidence when talking to your pediatrician, as you understand well the medical conditions your doctor will be talking about.

When going to a doctor’s appointment, prepare a list of your questions and concerns. If you noticed that your child exhibited certain symptoms or reacted adversely to food or medication, list them down. If you have questions about the treatment your child is undergoing, write these questions down. As much as possible, address all your current concerns during that doctor’s appointment. This will put your mind at ease after the visit. Also, this will help you avoid being constantly on the phone with your doctor, asking questions, and for explanations. Both you and the pediatrician will benefit in a thorough discussion of your child’s health during scheduled doctor’s visits.

Be careful in choosing your child’s pediatrician. As much as possible, stick to just one doctor who will keep track and be familiar will your child’s health condition. A good source of information would be friends and family. Ask around who their pediatricians are and what kind of experience they had. Take into consideration also the pediatrician’s credentials. Do a little research. Find out how many years of practice the doctor has had, whether he has any subspecialty, whether he is pursuing further medical education. Consider also the hospital to which the pediatrician is affiliated. It would be a plus factor if the doctor is affiliated with a good hospital (well-equipped, well-trained staff) near your place. Also, check out his office and clinic hours.

Music Therapy: Heal Your Body with Music

Music Therapy: Heal Your Body with Music

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Do you know that listening to good music is a good way to soothe stress in the body and take away worries in the mind?

As parents, we are subjected to a wide range of emotions, most of which could be anger and depression. How can you get out of the pit of these feelings while you are at home, doing chores or in the office, working to make ends meet? The answer is actually simple. Turn the radio on and tune in to a station playing your genre of music or play CDs.

Researches show that music has an effect on a person’s mood and overall emotional status. If you are consumed with anger or irritation, classical music is said to be particularly helpful to rid you of these negative emotions. If you can get your hands on songs you were familiar with during your childhood, that could help you focus on your memories rather than your anger. You can also listen to all time favorite musicals like My Fair Lady, The Sound of Music, Mary Poppins, or to soundtracks or your favorite movies. The key is to let your mind wander away from your present emotional state. It may not be the lyrics that can lift your mood, but simply the melody of the song can bring about a change in you state. This is why music is called the universal language of man.

You can share this kind of therapy to your children. This will help them have a mechanism to cope with problems or get over a particularly painful experience. Thus, they will not have to resort to cigarette, drugs, or alcohol as their crutches to problems. This will also teach them the valuable lesson that one does not need destructive ways to help him cope with problems.

According to psychologists, you can actually listen to sad songs while initially getting pain and heartaches. Such exercise will make you realize that this kind of emotion you are feeling is not peculiar to you but is a universal theme experienced by people at one point or the other. After wallowing in such tracks for a couple of weeks, you will have to gradually switch to light music to finish off the healing process.

Improve Your Memory Skills and Brain Function

Improve Your Memory Skills and Brain Function

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The human brain continually evolves to digest information, interpret codes, and store memory. All activities somehow start with the brain. Words, images, and ideas cross the mind literally and get stuck somewhere inside there, temporarily or permanently. Some inputs must be remembered; others discarded; while a few others unconsciously kept.

Be sure that you can trust your memory to serve you well. Boost your memorization skills with the help of mnemonics.

Mnemonics are defined as methods or systems for improving the memory. Memory tool is the layman’s term for a mnemonic. Each one has his own personal pattern or version of mnemonics, depending on whether images or words leave better imprints on the mind. Effective means of using mnemonics include the following:

Use nice and pleasant images

The brain usually prefers to block out undesirable – and sometimes similar – visuals, so try to fill it up with distinctive images. Also, paint your imagination with colors. Image-sifters in the brain are suckers for photographic quality – anything dull and lackluster goes straight to the trash bin.

Exaggerate

It is easier to remember something too much or too little than something normal. Exaggeration is the key to remembering descriptive data. Extremes usually stick to brain cells like paste. For example, if you want to remember “a big, tall guy”, try thinking about a giant.

Use creative humor

Something funny is always worth remembering time and again. It is hard to forget a certain sea organism that brushes teeth even though you were asked to commit it to memory by its scientific name.

Utilize all your senses

Remember the taste, the feel, the smell, the look, and the sound of things. If one sense fails you, you can still rely on the other four.

Retain information by association

Find connection and similarities among two or more objects. For instance, if you want to remember that the product of 8 and 2 is 16, think about 2 boxes of pizza with 8 slices each.

Retain information by location

Remember where and how objects are positioned, like remembering which part of the book or a page a specific word was located.

Look for definitive patterns or create series

For instance, in memorizing a number of enumerations, put together the first letters of every item. Recognizing repetitive patterns also strengthen a data’s tendency to stick to your mind. A popular example for this technique is the mock name created for the colors of the rainbow, ROY G. BIV which stands for red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet.

Social Anxiety and Cognitive Behavior Therapy

Social Anxiety and Cognitive Behavior Therapy

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While staying in just one place may keep you safe and secure, it is actually not healthy to develop fear of other people and the environment. Know more about social anxiety and why it is considered a disorder.

What is social anxiety?

Social anxiety is a form of anxiety disorder in which an individual is hampered from doing everyday things that require social interaction. For the individual, this is often a painful realization because he or she apparently cannot do simple things such as buying from a grocery, mingling in a party, and asking help from others.

Social anxiety is different from being just shy, as sufferers often are debilitated considerably and may experience ostracism from having this disorder. Social anxiety actually causes an overwhelming fear and leaves an individual helpless in dealing with others.

Understanding social phobias

Social phobias must be differentiated from other forms of anxiety. Unlike panic attacks, social anxious patients do not experience an abrupt unprovoked fear. They experience fear in relation to dealing with others.

Social phobias have two types: generalized social phobias and specialized social phobias.

General social phobia refers to a difficulty in most or almost all social situations. Sufferers could be described as being “painfully shy”, not able to mingle with others, perhaps in fear of rejection.

Specialized social phobia, on the other hand, is characterized by anxiety triggered by specific situations. Sufferers of this type of social phobia may have an acute fear of speaking or writing in public, using restrooms, or eating in public places alone.

How to deal with social anxiety

Social anxiety is considered by almost all clinicians today as an illness in its own right, not just a manifestation of other conditions. As such, many interventions are recommended for this disorder. Most treatments are psychological, including systematic desensitization, in which patients are slowly and gradually made tolerant of experiences that trigger their fears.

Cognitive behavior therapy includes the adoption of schemas that enable an individual to conquer their fears. Group therapies allow sufferers to draw on each other’s experiences and allay their fears. Drugs such as anti-depressants or anti-anxiety medication more often supplement the above-mentioned treatments.

So, if a friend or a family member is suffering from this social disorder, do not just let him be. Help him conquer his social fears and make him face the world with courage and confidence. Do not let him live his life in the shadows and not be able to see and appreciate the real beauty of life.

Breaking the Vicious Cycle of Tobacco Dependency

Breaking the Vicious Cycle of Tobacco Dependency

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Getting rid of the vicious habit of cigarette smoking may seem difficult, but with the right discipline from yourself and enough support from the people around you, it is possible to quit smoking once and for all.

Do you know that as much as 15 billion cigarettes are sold all over the world every day? That’s equivalent to 10 million sticks per minute!

And do you know that each cigarette stick you smoke contains thousands of chemicals that are harmful to your body? There are a host of diseases a smoker is likely to get – lung cancer, chronic bronchitis, ischaemic heart disease, and cancers of the larynx, esophagus, and the oral cavity. And these are just a few of the many consequences of smoking!

Finally, do you know that an adult smoker loses more than 10 years of his life due to excessive smoking?

With all these said, why can’t smokers stop the harmful habit of smoking? Ask them and you’ll get one common answer: “It’s difficult to quit.” Sure, it’s hard to break the bad habit, but it CAN actually be done! Here are some helpful tips to finally break the vicious cycle of cigarette dependency:

  1. Tell yourself you’re gonna quit! We are all aware that cigarette smoking is dangerous to our health. In fact, all cigarette advertisements even warn consumers about it. So, develop the guts to quit smoking and you’re on your first step to finally breaking a negative habit in life.
  2. Think of the people around you. Constantly remind yourself that healthy non-smokers such as your friends and family are also at risk of contracting life-threatening diseases whenever they inhale second-hand smoke from your burning cigarette. If you really care, you’ would stop smoking.
  3. Explore your options. Look for oral substitutes like gum or candy to remove your attention from that dangerous stick. You may also opt to undergo a nicotine replacement therapy. Among the alternatives available are nicotine gums, patches, inhalers, and lozenges.
  4. Stay away from bad influences. Avoiding persons and places that tempt you to take a puff will help a lot. Many teenagers say that they tried smoking because they have friends who smoke. So, find friends who know better. Besides, there are other ways – healthy ways – to have clean fun!
  5. Keep yourself busy. Distract yourself from the urge to smoke. Engage in exercise or sports such as basketball or swimming. When you look around, there are actually dozens of healthier alternatives than cigarette smoking.
  6. Seek help. Former smokers who were able to quit smoking cite the importance of support from family, friends, as well as medical institutions. Help is always available. A good number of groups offer counseling services to those who want to quit. There are also smoke cessation clinics in hospitals that can help you get rid of the habit.

There’s nothing wrong with being a cigarette quitter. Sure, a lot of people find it cool to smoke. But eventually, you’ll realize that it is way cooler to give up the habit before it’s too late.

Chiropractic Care and Women

Chiropractic Care and Women

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Chiropractic care suits very well with women because of the many situations they are in that require a safe, gentle and effective form of healthcare only chiropractic care can offer. Today’s women are more conscious about nutrition, diet, weight loss, physical fitness and sports and ways to maintain general fitness and wellness, about which they can learn a lot from chiropractic care. Women have special needs on pregnancy, being new mothers, having chlidren, losing weight, being in stressful situations, health conditions afflicting predominantly women, hormonal and menstrual issues, bone problems and degenerative diseases.

Special Needs of Women and Chiropractic Care

Women face many specific health challenges that affect them. Some of these challenges are unique to women and are brought about by the female anatomical and physiological features. Chiropractic care has demonstrated great relief with these health challenges. They include:

  1. Pregnancy. Being pregnant, preparing for and recovering from childbirth are uniquely female issues that chiropractic helps address. These female processes can be facilitated and made less painful by means of chiropractic treatments particularly back adjustments.
  2. Pain during menstrual period and other menstrual issues. Dysmenorrhea or pain during a woman’s period, premenstrual syndrome (PMS), chronic pelvic pain and amenorrhea or absence of menses, are distressing conditions which greatly disrupt the otherwise normal and healthy way of life of many women. Pain from menstrual cycle and chronic pelvic pain respond well to chiropractic care. The typical chiropractic method used is the diversified technique where misaligned vertebrae are manually readjusted.
  3. Diseases from aging. Two of the most common conditions in women that develop as a result of getting old are Alzheimer’s disease and osteoporosis. Alzheimer’s disease is the near-total loss of memory and reduced functioning of the brain in an afflicted person. In osteoporosis, the person’s bones weaken, become brittle and porous, resulting in a stooped posture with rounded shoulders. Women must be aware of these two problems of aging and take actions to prevent them. Chiropractic care can help boost bones, joint and muscle strength and vitality and improve posture. It can improve the wellbeing of women afflicted with osteoporosis. It can even delay the onslaught of this degenerative disease. Chiropractic can also improve overall health and mental sharpness by boosting the communication along the nervous system of your body.
  4. Headaches. Women may experience headaches during their menstrual periods and sometimes during pregnancy. In headaches, the blood vessels and nerves to the head are compromised resulting from the vertebral bones’ losing their normal alignment or motion. When these tissues are irritated or stretched, they can lead to headaches. Headaches are among the most common symptoms chiropractic helps alleviate or eliminate.
  5. Osteoarthritis. Many women often suffer from osteoarthritis, a degenerative disease of the joint. They also have a 200% to 300% greater chance of developing rheumatoid arthritis compared to men. Chiropractic therapy can help reduce inflammation, pain and may delay or prevent further deterioration of the joint by maintaining the body’s normal nerve function.
  6. Stressful life. Women who have stressful lives as well as those who are not physically fit need regular chiropractic care. Aside from employing spinal manipulation when necessary, chiropractic care also involves advice on nutrition and exercise as well as lifestyle suggestions to promote overall wellness.

 

The nervous system coordinates and controls the different functions of all your body systems and any disruption in the communication between the nerves and your body systems, organs and tissues will result to anomaly in any of these functions. Chiropractic care helps restore normal nerve communication and function, thereby bringing your body back to normal work and operation.

Chiropractic and women’s heath are a good match. Chiropractic care helps ensure health and wellness for women of all ages. It is well suited to bring relief to women who are in pain and have specific conditions that need special attention and natural care to bring their bodies back in line and enjoy a high quality of life. Nonetheless is always good for you to first consider some things before visiting a chiropractor.

Chiropractic Care and Children

Chiropractic Care and Children

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Parents know best. They know what’s best for their children in terms of healthcare. This is the reason why more and more kids, healthy and with symptoms alike, are being brought to chiropractic clinics for consultation and care. Most often, these parents are themselves recipients of chiropractic care and are convinced of its benefits in helping relieve many symptoms of dysfunctions and in bringing out the body’s optimal function and performance.

Top Reasons for Bringing Children to a Chiropractor

The common reasons for parents to bring their children to a chiropractor include:

  • To improve and support their child’s general health and wellbeing.
  • To encourage the development of their child’s brain and nerves, or for good plasticity.
  • To help boost their child’s immunity and prevent the incidence of colds, infections, earaches and other illnesses.
  • To assist with the treatment of colic and symptoms of irritable baby syndrome.
  • To promote proper spinal posture.
  • To provide relief with respiratory symptoms such as breathing difficulties, asthma, and allergies.
  • To help improve the child’s concentration ability.
  • To help address behavioral disorders.
  • To aid in digestive problems.
  • To address sleep issues and bed-wetting problems.

As with adults, children’s conditions can come from spinal related issues. In fact, some of the spinal problems seen in adults trace their beginnings from birth or during their childhood years. Even natural birthing methods or normal deliveries can cause stress in an infant’s spine and in the nerve system, which is newly developing. Children’s conditions, such as colic, nursing difficulties, breathing problems, allergic reactions, sleep disturbances, and chronic infections are often traced to stress in the nerve system. Parents, who realize the significant spinal trauma a baby can suffer during birth, bring their newborns for chiropractic check right away.

The source of spinal and nerve issues continue as the infant grows. Learning to hold the head up, crawl, sit and walk are activities that can affect spinal alignment. These are important times to have a child checked by a chiropractor.

The succeeding years in the child’s development will be as risky for the child’s spine. Significant spinal misalignments or subluxations can potentially occur as the child learns to ride a bike, skate or play rough games. Misalignments may result in pain or symptoms immediately, in which case, appropriate examination and prompt care may be given. It will be more unfortunate if the misalignment or injury does not result in pain or symptom immediately after an incident and it is ignored. Injuries neglected during this period, may cause more serious problems later in life.

Trauma during childhood will negatively affect the person’s future spine development leading to impaired function of the nervous system. And any interference to the nerve system will be detrimental to the body’s normal functions and prevent it from performing at its optimum level.

Chiropractic Care for Children

Chiropractors do not treat children’s conditions or diseases. Their expertise and experience focuses on checking the children’s spines for misalignments that impair the function of the nerve system and affect the body’s overall function, consequently. The vertebrae in the spine are where the spinal cord is housed. The spinal cord acts as a brain extension carrying vital information coming from the brain to the different body parts and feeding information back to the brain again. Subluxation within the vertebrae interferes with the important ability of the nerve to transmit vital information between the brain and the rest of the body. Nerve interference may impair any aspect of the child’s health because the nerve system coordinates and controls the function of every and all systems in the body. Chiropractic adjustments restore nerve system function in the child’s body. The procedures are modified specifically to suit a child’s size and unique condition of the spine. They are gentle and appropriate to the child’s spinal structures.

Choosing a doctor for a child is always chanllenging, but your child’s health and wellbeing are priceless. That is why every available means to give your child the best treatment and care possible should be utilized. Chiropractic care offers a natural, safe and effective option to bring children relief and full health potential to successfully meet the challenges ahead of them.