Health with Nature

In the days when people still had fireplaces and, more importantly, actually lit fires to keep warm, there were always stories of folk sitting in front of the television watching the news. A talking head would calmly announce price increases from leading cigarette manufacturers. Deeply angered smokers would pitch their packs into the fire, muttering, “Nevermore,” or something equally decisive in raven-speak. For those in the ranks of the Quit Now, these stories were always good PR. Throwing the unsmoked cigarettes into the fire is a kind of poetic justice for the death sticks. But not everyone can be so decisive. Look at the number of people whose New Year Resolutions are forgotten until the next year when they are all solemnly repeated. How many of us have lost all those pounds in weight? All those good intentions defeated by the hard cold reality of the will power needed to make them work.

Worse, it can all come down to whether you know what the right decision is. Although everyone “knows” it”s the right thing to quit smoking and lose weight, there are a hundred-and-one lifestyle choices where not everything is so clear. For example, did you know progressive lenses are bad for your neck. continue reading…

Social anxiety comes in many different forms with a wide range of different trigger situations which provoke the anxiety or panic attack. But one of the more common problems is the need to speak in public. Whether in the office or some other place where “others” will listen to you speak, this provokes anything from slight nervousness to paralyzing fear. Some will experience insomnia in the build-up to the “big day”, others will physically shake, their brow will break out into sweat, and their voices will tremble. It’s a sad sight to behold. Although medication can and does help, it’s far better to try overcoming the problem yourself. Let’s start with the obvious. Never refuse the chance to do it. The more you give into the temptation to avoid speaking, the worse your fear is going to get. This is something you have to face and overcome. That said, you don’t have to book the largest local venue and invite hundreds to listen to you. This is something you solve with slow and deliberate steps, aiming to plant the first seeds of confidence and then encourage them into life.

Whatever it is you are to speak on, you have to know and understand the content. People tend to go off topic when they are uncertain of which points are genuinely important. The more you reduce the chances for error, the better your performance is likely to be. So get organized. Plan exactly what you want to say. If you are proposing to use Powerpoint or something similar, get the slides prepared early and practice with them. continue reading…

Rheumatoid arthritis is one of the more depressing diseases. Starting out with low level disability and some discomfort, it slowly grows more severe as time passes. It’s the slowness of the decline that makes it so terrible. There’s little to choose between one day and the next but, when you look back over the last month, you realize you’re another inch down the slope to the joints seizing up. The problem is the slow destruction of the cartilage as the autoimmune system fails to work properly and attacks healthy tissue, generating increasingly severe inflammation. The basic strategy for treatment is to balance physical therapy to maintain some mobility while using different drugs to halt the immune system’s misbehavior and control the pain. But there’s only a certain amount you can achieve through weight loss programs and physiotherapy. At some point, the joints cannot continue to move as before. The statistics show that, after about ten years, the majority of people will have significant disability despite the success of the DMARDs (disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs).

One of the key indicators of the inevitable decline is called morning stiffness. As the name suggests, lying down for sleep encourages the body to stop moving. During this period of inactivity, the affected joints and surrounding musculature stiffens. continue reading…

Thanks to the internet and the growth of the online pharmacies, it’s just so easy to buy your drugs. All it takes is a few clicks and before you can say Jiminy Cricket, Cowabunga, or whatever leaps into your mind when you’re looking for just the right thing to shout when you want to make a point, the padded envelope is on its way to you. But there’s a trap in the speed of this transaction. You’ve been watching all those TV ads. You’re sold on the idea of this drug as the bestest treatment for whatever ails you. No more lurking in the doctor’s waiting room or those shakes of the head when the know-it-all doesn’t think that drug is quite what you need. Those drugs are on their way to you before you have the chance for second thoughts. So what’s the problem? Ah, insomnia. Finding it hard to get too sleep. Waking up too early. Feeling tired all the time. Well, let’s take one step back. There’s a possible cause and effect here. Fewer hours asleep and you feel tired. Except, the feeling of tiredness is not necessarily insomnia. Huh? Everyone tends to lump everything together. You feel tired when you wake up so you must have insomnia. Hmmm. . .

So just why are you finding it hard to sleep through the night? You’re not in pain, are you? Sometimes a physical problem like arthritis can generate just enough pain to disturb you. Or perhaps you have restless leg syndrome. continue reading…