Additional moisture helps, but you need to do more to actually counteract these effects and keep skin looking youthful and smooth. To reduce chapping, redness, itching, and keep skin more healthy and comfortable this season, try these tips.
Friday 27 October 2017
TIPS TO KEEP SKIN SOFT AND GLOWING IN WINTER
Additional moisture helps, but you need to do more to actually counteract these effects and keep skin looking youthful and smooth. To reduce chapping, redness, itching, and keep skin more healthy and comfortable this season, try these tips.
Tuesday 17 October 2017
Diwali skin care: 6 foolproof ways get glowing skin this festive season!
Diwali skin care: foolproof ways get glowing skin this festive season!
The festive season is here! With Diwali just around the corner, maintaining the perfect glowing skin might come across as a huge challenge for you. But with these skincare tips, it won’t be a problem anymore. So in order to get the perfect glow, all you need to take care is the pre-festive skincare regime. If you are not sure which regimen will suit your skin, these simple tips and tricks will give you the most supple and glowing skin. You need not shell out a bomb on your beauty and skincare treatments, regular DIY homemade skin care tips will work like magic.
1. Eat fresh vegetables and fruits
Completely avoid junk food, and try to eat as much as fresh fruits and vegetable. No matter the season or your schedule, try to include a lot of fresh vegetables and fruits into your diet. By keeping a tab on your diet, you will make sure that your skin gets the essential supply of vitamins and minerals. Daily consumption of fresh veggies and fruits will also keep the bowel movement good, contributing to general health and good skin.
2.Avoid places where there is lot of smoke and crackers burning.If you really want to go, then cover your face with handkerchief.
3.Eat four to six times a day, but smaller meals. Consume home cooked meals, this will not worsen your problem.
4.Don't forget to take medication on time. Also keep your inhalers handy if travelling.
5. Face wash
With the increase in pollution, you need to take steps to tackle the damaging skin ageing effects of the pollution. Wash your face at least twice a day to keep it clean. But do not go overboard and use a harsh cleanser, always wash your face with a gentle, foaming face wash. To avoid dust from sticking to your skin, you can also use facial wipes to wipe your face, that suit your skin. Also, regular exfoliation of skin is essential to keep it soft and unblock pores.
The most important tip for this festive season is to be happy and joyous. If your mind is happy and occupied, you will forget about asthma. So have a great time in Diwali, enjoy colours, lights and always remember prevention is better than cure. So stay fit and healthy.
Tuesday 19 September 2017
Tips for Navratri Garba nights
Navratri is just around the corner. While many observe a fast for these 9 days, they also enjoy the festivities by playing garba or dandiya, the traditional Gujarati dance. This needs optimum energy and stamina which may not be possible if you don’t follow the right diet. Here are some quick-tips which will make fasting easier and keep you energised for your gala garba night.
Thursday 14 September 2017
Wednesday 6 September 2017
Tuesday 22 August 2017
Care in Swine Flu
Novel H1N1 flu virus infection (formerly known as swine flu) can cause a wide range of symptoms, including fever, cough, sore throat, body aches, headache, chills and fatigue. People with the swine flu also can have vomiting and diarrhea. Like seasonal flu, swine flu in humans can vary from mild to severe. Severe disease with pneumonia, respiratory failure, and even death is possible with swine flu infection. Certain groups might be more likely to develop a severe illness from swine flu infection, such as persons with chronic medical conditions. Sometimes bacterial infections may occur at the same time as or after infection with influenza viruses and lead to pneumonias, ear infections, or sinus infections.
The main way that influenza viruses are thought to spread is from person to person in respiratory droplets of coughs and sneezes. This can happen when droplets from a cough or sneeze of an infected person are propelled through the air and deposited on the mouth or nose of people nearby. Influenza viruses may also be spread when a person touches respiratory droplets on another person or an object and then touches their own mouth or nose (or someone else’s mouth or nose) before washing their hands.
Check with their health care provider about any special care they might need if they are pregnant or have a health condition such as diabetes, heart disease, asthma, or emphysema.
Check with their health care provider about whether they should take antiviral medications.
Stay home for at least 24 hours after fever is gone, except to seek medical care or for other necessities. (Fever should be gone without the use of a fever-reducing medicine.)
Get plenty of rest.
Drink clear fluids (such as water, broth, sports drinks, electrolyte beverages for infants) to keep from being dehydrated.
Cover coughs and sneezes. Clean hands with soap and water or an alcohol-based hand rub often and especially after using tissues and after coughing or sneezing into hands.
Wear a facemask — if available and tolerable — when sharing common spaces with other household members to help prevent spreading the virus to others. This is especially important if other household members are at high risk for complications from influenza.
Be watchful for emergency warning signs (see below) that might indicate you need to seek medical attention.
Has difficulty breathing or chest pain
Has purple or blue discoloration of the lips
Is vomiting and unable to keep liquids down
Has signs of dehydration such as dizziness when standing, absence of urination, or in infants, a lack of tears when they cry
Has seizures (for example, uncontrolled convulsions)
Is less responsive than normal or becomes confused
The following information can help you provide safer care at home for sick persons during a flu pandemic.
The Swine Flu: How Does it Spread?
The main way that influenza viruses are thought to spread is from person to person in respiratory droplets of coughs and sneezes. This can happen when droplets from a cough or sneeze of an infected person are propelled through the air and deposited on the mouth or nose of people nearby. Influenza viruses may also be spread when a person touches respiratory droplets on another person or an object and then touches their own mouth or nose (or someone else’s mouth or nose) before washing their hands.
People with novel H1N1 flu who are cared for at home should:
Check with their health care provider about any special care they might need if they are pregnant or have a health condition such as diabetes, heart disease, asthma, or emphysema.
Check with their health care provider about whether they should take antiviral medications.
Stay home for at least 24 hours after fever is gone, except to seek medical care or for other necessities. (Fever should be gone without the use of a fever-reducing medicine.)
Get plenty of rest.
Drink clear fluids (such as water, broth, sports drinks, electrolyte beverages for infants) to keep from being dehydrated.
Cover coughs and sneezes. Clean hands with soap and water or an alcohol-based hand rub often and especially after using tissues and after coughing or sneezing into hands.
Wear a facemask — if available and tolerable — when sharing common spaces with other household members to help prevent spreading the virus to others. This is especially important if other household members are at high risk for complications from influenza.
Be watchful for emergency warning signs (see below) that might indicate you need to seek medical attention.
The Swine Flu: When to Seek Emergency Medical Care
Get medical care right away if the sick person at home:
Has difficulty breathing or chest pain
Has purple or blue discoloration of the lips
Is vomiting and unable to keep liquids down
Has signs of dehydration such as dizziness when standing, absence of urination, or in infants, a lack of tears when they cry
Has seizures (for example, uncontrolled convulsions)
Is less responsive than normal or becomes confused
Saturday 8 April 2017
8 Summer Steps for Healthy Living
8 Summer Steps for Healthy Living
1. Give Your Diet a Berry Boost
If you do one thing this summer to improve your diet, have a cup of mixed fresh berries -- blackberries, blueberries, or strawberries -- every day. They'll help you load up on antioxidants, which may help prevent damage to tissues and reduce the risks of age-related illnesses. Blueberries and blackberries are especially antioxidant-rich.
A big bonus: Berries are also tops in fiber, which helps keep cholesterol low and may even help prevent some cancers.
2. Get Dirty -- and Stress Less
To improve your stress level, plant a small garden, cultivate a flower box, or if space is really limited, plant a few flower pots -- indoors or out.
Just putting your hands in soil is "grounding." And when life feels like you're moving so fast your feet are barely touching the stuff, being mentally grounded can help relieve physical and mental stress.
3. Floss Daily
You know you need to, now it's time to start: floss every single day. Do it at the beach (in a secluded spot), while reading on your patio, or when watching TV -- and the task will breeze by.
Flossing reduces oral bacteria, which improves overall body health, and if oral bacteria is low, your body has more resources to fight bacteria elsewhere. Floss daily and you're doing better than at least 85% of people.
4. Get Outside to Exercise
Pick one outdoor activity -- going on a hike, taking a nature walk, playing games such as tag with your kids, cycling, roller blading, or swimming -- to shed that cooped-up feeling of gym workouts.
And remember, the family that plays together not only gets fit together -- it's also a great way to create bonding time.
5. Be Good to Your Eyes
To protect your vision at work and at play, wear protective eyewear. When outdoors, wear sunglasses that block at least 99% of ultraviolet A and B rays. Sunglasses can help prevent cataractscataracts, as well as wrinkles around the eyes.
And when playing sports or doing tasks such as mowing the lawn, wear protective eyewear. Ask your eye doctor about the best type; some are sport-specific.
6. Vacation Time!
Improve your heart health: take advantage of summer's slower schedule by using your vacation time to unwind.
Vacations have multiple benefits: They can help lower your blood pressure, heart rate, and stress hormones such as cortisol, which contributes to a widening waist and an increased risk of heart diseaseheart disease.
7. Alcohol: Go Lite
Summer's a great time to skip drinks with hard alcohol and choose a light, chilled alcoholic beverage (unless you are pregnant or should not drink for health or other reasons).
A sangria (table wine diluted with juice), a cold beer, or a wine spritzer are all refreshing but light. In moderation -- defined as one to two drinks daily -- alcohol can protect against heart disease.
8. Sleep Well
Resist the urge to stay up later during long summer days. Instead pay attention to good sleep hygiene by keeping the same bedtime and wake-up schedule and not drinking alcohol within three hours of bedtime.
It's also a good idea to avoid naps during the day unless you take them every day at the same time, for the same amount of time.
There they are: Eight super simple ways to boost your health this summer. Try one or try them all. They're so easy you won't even know they're -- shhhh -- good for you.
Tuesday 7 March 2017
Laughter is the Best Medicine
Laughter is the Best Medicine
Sure, it’s fun to share a good laugh. But did you know it can actually improve your health? It’s true: laughter is strong medicine. It draws people together in ways that trigger healthy physical and emotional changes in the body. Laughter strengthens your immune system, boosts mood, diminishes pain, and protects you from the damaging effects of stress. As children, we used to laugh hundreds of times a day, but as adults life tends to be more serious and laughter more infrequent. By seeking out more opportunities for humor and laughter, though, you can improve your emotional health, strengthen your relationships, find greater happiness—and even add years to your life.
What you can do
Share funny moments—even if they are embarrassing—with friends
Host a game night for friends
When you hear laughter, move towards it
Seek out playful people who laugh easily
Learn to laugh at yourself
Why is laughter the sweetest medicine for mind and body?
Laughter is a powerful antidote to stress, pain, and conflict. Nothing works faster or more dependably to bring your mind and body back into balance than a good laugh. Humor lightens your burdens, inspires hopes, connects you to others, and keeps you grounded, focused, and alert. It also helps you to release anger and be more forgiving.
With so much power to heal and renew, the ability to laugh easily and frequently is a tremendous resource for surmounting problems, enhancing your relationships, and supporting both physical and emotional health. Best of all, this priceless medicine is fun, free, and easy to use.
Laughter is good for your health
Laughter relaxes the whole body. A good, hearty laugh relieves physical tension and stress, leaving your muscles relaxed for up to 45 minutes after.
Laughter boosts the immune system. Laughter decreases stress hormones and increases immune cells and infection-fighting antibodies, thus improving your resistance to disease.
Laughter triggers the release of endorphins, the body’s natural feel-good chemicals. Endorphins promote an overall sense of well-being and can even temporarily relieve pain.
Laughter protects the heart. Laughter improves the function of blood vessels and increases blood flow, which can help protect you against a heart attack and other cardiovascular problems.
Laughter burns calories. OK, so it’s no replacement for going to the gym, but one study found that laughing for 10 to 15 minutes a day can burn about 40 calories—which could be enough to lose three or four pounds over the course of a year.
Laughter lightens anger’s heavy load. Nothing diffuses anger and conflict faster than a shared laugh. Looking at the funny side can put problems into perspective and enable you to move on from confrontations without holding onto bitterness or resentment.
Laughter may even help you to live longer. A study in Norway found that people with a strong sense of humor outlived those who don't laugh as much. The difference was particularly notable for those battling cancer.
Physical health benefits of laughter
Boosts immunity
Lowers stress hormones
Decreases pain
Relaxes your muscles
Prevents heart disease
Mental health benefits of laughter
Adds joy and zest to life
Eases anxiety and tension
Relieves stress
Improves mood
Strengthens resilience
Social benefits of laughter
Strengthens relationships
Attracts others to us
Ehances teamwork
Helps defuse conflict
Promotes group bonding
Laughter helps you stay mentally healthy
Laughter makes you feel good. And the good feeling that you get when you laugh remains with you even after the laughter subsides. Humor helps you keep a positive, optimistic outlook through difficult situations, disappointments, and loss.
More than just a respite from sadness and pain, laughter gives you the courage and strength to find new sources of meaning and hope. Even in the most difficult of times, a laugh–or even simply a smile–can go a long way toward making you feel better. And laughter really is contagious—just hearing laughter primes your brain and readies you to smile and join in the fun.
The link between laughter and mental health
Laughter draws you closer to others, which can have a profound effect on all aspects of your mental and emotional health.
Laughter brings people together and strengthens relationships
There’s a good reason why TV sitcoms use laugh tracks: laughter is contagious. You’re many times more likely to laugh around other people than when you’re alone. And the more laughter you bring into your own life, the happier you and those around you will feel.
Sharing humor is half the fun—in fact, most laughter doesn’t come from hearing jokes, but rather simply from spending time with friends and family. And it’s this social aspect that plays such an important role in the health benefits of laughter. You can’t enjoy a laugh with other people unless you take the time to really engage with them. When you care about someone enough to switch off your phone and really connect face to face, you’re engaging in a process that rebalances the nervous system and puts the brakes on defensive stress responses like “fight or flight.” And if you share a laugh as well, you’ll both feel happier, more positive, and more relaxed—even if you’re unable to alter the stressful situation itself.
How laughing together can strengthen relationships
Shared laughter is one of the most effective tools for keeping relationships fresh and exciting. All emotional sharing builds strong and lasting relationship bonds, but sharing laughter also adds joy, vitality, and resilience. And humor is a powerful and effective way to heal resentments, disagreements, and hurts. Laughter unites people during difficult times.
Humor and playful communication strengthen our relationships by triggering positive feelings and fostering emotional connection. When we laugh with one another, a positive bond is created. This bond acts as a strong buffer against stress, disagreements, and disappointment. Using humor and laughter in relationships allows you to:
Be more spontaneous. Humor gets you out of your head and away from your troubles.
Let go of defensiveness. Laughter helps you forget resentments, judgments, criticisms, and doubts.
Release inhibitions. Your fear of holding back and holding on are set aside.
Express your true feelings. Deeply felt emotions are allowed to rise to the surface.
Use humor to resolve disagreements and tension in your relationships
Couple playing in mirror
Laughter is an especially powerful tool for managing conflict and reducing tension when emotions are running high. Whether with romantic partners, friends and family, or co-workers, you can learn to use humor to smooth over disagreements, lower everyone's stress level, and communicate in a way that builds up your relationships rather than breaking them down. See: Managing Conflicts with Humor
How to bring more laughter into your life
Laughter is your birthright, a natural part of life that is innate and inborn. Infants begin smiling during the first weeks of life and laugh out loud within months of being born. Even if you did not grow up in a household where laughter was a common sound, you can learn to laugh at any stage of life.
Begin by setting aside special times to seek out humor and laughter, as you might with working out, and build from there. Eventually, you’ll want to incorporate humor and laughter into the fabric of your life, finding it naturally in everything you do.
Here are some ways to start:
Smile. Smiling is the beginning of laughter and like laughter, it’s contagious. When you look at someone or see something even mildly pleasing, practice smiling. Instead of looking down at your phone, look up and smile at people you pass in the street, the person serving you a morning coffee, or the co-workers you share an elevator with. Notice the effect this has on others.
Count your blessings. Literally make a list. The simple act of considering the good things in your life will distance you from negative thoughts that are a barrier to humor and laughter. When you’re in a state of sadness, you have further to travel to get to humor and laughter.
When you hear laughter, move toward it. Sometimes humor and laughter are private, a shared joke among a small group, but usually not. More often, people are very happy to share something funny because it gives them an opportunity to laugh again and feed off the humor you find in it. When you hear laughter, seek it out and ask, “What’s funny?”
Spend time with fun, playful people. These are people who laugh easily–both at themselves and at life’s absurdities–and who routinely find the humor in everyday events. Their playful point of view and laughter are contagious. Even if you don’t consider yourself a lighthearted, humorous person, you can still seek out people who like to laugh and make others laugh. Every comedian appreciates an audience.
Bring humor into conversations. Ask people, “What’s the funniest thing that happened to you today? This week? In your life?”
Simulated laughter
So what do you do if you really can’t “find the funny”? Believe it or not, it’s possible to laugh without experiencing a funny event—and simulated laughter can be just as good for you as the real thing. It can even make exercise more fun and more productive. A Georgia State University study found that incorporating bouts of simulated laughter into an exercise program helped improve older adults’ mental health as well as their aerobic endurance. Plus, hearing others laugh, even for no apparent reason, can often trigger genuine laughter.
To add simulated laughter into your own life, search for laugh yoga or laugh therapy groups. Or you can start simply by laughing at other people’s jokes, even if you don’t find them funny. It will make both you and the other person feel good, draw you closer together, and who knows, may even lead to some spontaneous laughter.
Creating opportunities to laugh
Watch a funny movie, TV show, or YouTube video
Invite friends or co-workers to go to a comedy club
Read the funny pages
Seek out funny people
Share a good joke or a funny story
Check out your bookstore’s humor section
Host game night with friends
Play with a pet
Go to a “laughter yoga” class
Goof around with children
Do something silly
Make time for fun activities (e.g. bowling, miniature golfing, karaoke)
Tips for developing your sense of humor
An essential ingredient for developing your sense of humor is to learn to not take yourself too seriously and laugh at your own mistakes and foibles. As much as we’d like to believe otherwise, we all do foolish things from time to time. Instead of feeling embarrassed or defensive, embrace your imperfections. While some events in life are clearly sad and not opportunities for laughter, most don’t carry an overwhelming sense of either sadness or delight. They fall into the gray zone of ordinary life—giving you the choice to laugh or not. So choose to laugh whenever you can.
How to Develop Your Sense of Humor
Laugh at yourself. Share your embarrassing moments. The best way to take yourself less seriously is to talk about times when you took yourself too seriously.
Attempt to laugh at situations rather than bemoan them. Look for the humor in a bad situation, and uncover the irony and absurdity of life. When something negative happens, try to find a way to make it a humorous anecdote that will make others laugh.
Surround yourself with reminders to lighten up. Keep a toy on your desk or in your car. Put up a funny poster in your office. Choose a computer screensaver that makes you laugh. Frame photos of you and your family or friends having fun.
Remember funny things that happen. If something amusing happens or you hear a joke or funny story you really like, write it down or tell it to someone else to help you remember it.
Don’t dwell on the negative. Try to avoid negative people and don’t dwell on news stories, entertainment, or conversations that make you sad or unhappy. Many things in life are beyond your control—particularly the behavior of other people. While you might think taking the weight of the world on your shoulders is admirable, in the long run it’s unrealistic and unhealthy.
Find your inner child. Pay attention to children and try to emulate them—after all, they are the experts on playing, taking life lightly, and laughing at ordinary things.
Deal with your stress. Stress can be a major impediment to humor and laughter, so it's important to get your stress levels in check. One great technique to relieve stress in the moment is to draw upon a favorite memory that always makes you smile—something your kids did, for example, or something funny a friend told you.
Don’t go a day without laughing. Think of it like exercise or breakfast and make a conscious effort to find something each day that makes you laugh. Set aside 10 to 15 minutes and do something that amuses you. The more you get used to laughing each day, the less effort you’ll have to make.
Sure, it’s fun to share a good laugh. But did you know it can actually improve your health? It’s true: laughter is strong medicine. It draws people together in ways that trigger healthy physical and emotional changes in the body. Laughter strengthens your immune system, boosts mood, diminishes pain, and protects you from the damaging effects of stress. As children, we used to laugh hundreds of times a day, but as adults life tends to be more serious and laughter more infrequent. By seeking out more opportunities for humor and laughter, though, you can improve your emotional health, strengthen your relationships, find greater happiness—and even add years to your life.
What you can do
Share funny moments—even if they are embarrassing—with friends
Host a game night for friends
When you hear laughter, move towards it
Seek out playful people who laugh easily
Learn to laugh at yourself
Why is laughter the sweetest medicine for mind and body?
Laughter is a powerful antidote to stress, pain, and conflict. Nothing works faster or more dependably to bring your mind and body back into balance than a good laugh. Humor lightens your burdens, inspires hopes, connects you to others, and keeps you grounded, focused, and alert. It also helps you to release anger and be more forgiving.
With so much power to heal and renew, the ability to laugh easily and frequently is a tremendous resource for surmounting problems, enhancing your relationships, and supporting both physical and emotional health. Best of all, this priceless medicine is fun, free, and easy to use.
Laughter is good for your health
Laughter relaxes the whole body. A good, hearty laugh relieves physical tension and stress, leaving your muscles relaxed for up to 45 minutes after.
Laughter boosts the immune system. Laughter decreases stress hormones and increases immune cells and infection-fighting antibodies, thus improving your resistance to disease.
Laughter triggers the release of endorphins, the body’s natural feel-good chemicals. Endorphins promote an overall sense of well-being and can even temporarily relieve pain.
Laughter protects the heart. Laughter improves the function of blood vessels and increases blood flow, which can help protect you against a heart attack and other cardiovascular problems.
Laughter burns calories. OK, so it’s no replacement for going to the gym, but one study found that laughing for 10 to 15 minutes a day can burn about 40 calories—which could be enough to lose three or four pounds over the course of a year.
Laughter lightens anger’s heavy load. Nothing diffuses anger and conflict faster than a shared laugh. Looking at the funny side can put problems into perspective and enable you to move on from confrontations without holding onto bitterness or resentment.
Laughter may even help you to live longer. A study in Norway found that people with a strong sense of humor outlived those who don't laugh as much. The difference was particularly notable for those battling cancer.
Physical health benefits of laughter
Boosts immunity
Lowers stress hormones
Decreases pain
Relaxes your muscles
Prevents heart disease
Mental health benefits of laughter
Adds joy and zest to life
Eases anxiety and tension
Relieves stress
Improves mood
Strengthens resilience
Social benefits of laughter
Strengthens relationships
Attracts others to us
Ehances teamwork
Helps defuse conflict
Promotes group bonding
Laughter helps you stay mentally healthy
Laughter makes you feel good. And the good feeling that you get when you laugh remains with you even after the laughter subsides. Humor helps you keep a positive, optimistic outlook through difficult situations, disappointments, and loss.
More than just a respite from sadness and pain, laughter gives you the courage and strength to find new sources of meaning and hope. Even in the most difficult of times, a laugh–or even simply a smile–can go a long way toward making you feel better. And laughter really is contagious—just hearing laughter primes your brain and readies you to smile and join in the fun.
The link between laughter and mental health
Laughter draws you closer to others, which can have a profound effect on all aspects of your mental and emotional health.
Laughter brings people together and strengthens relationships
There’s a good reason why TV sitcoms use laugh tracks: laughter is contagious. You’re many times more likely to laugh around other people than when you’re alone. And the more laughter you bring into your own life, the happier you and those around you will feel.
Sharing humor is half the fun—in fact, most laughter doesn’t come from hearing jokes, but rather simply from spending time with friends and family. And it’s this social aspect that plays such an important role in the health benefits of laughter. You can’t enjoy a laugh with other people unless you take the time to really engage with them. When you care about someone enough to switch off your phone and really connect face to face, you’re engaging in a process that rebalances the nervous system and puts the brakes on defensive stress responses like “fight or flight.” And if you share a laugh as well, you’ll both feel happier, more positive, and more relaxed—even if you’re unable to alter the stressful situation itself.
How laughing together can strengthen relationships
Shared laughter is one of the most effective tools for keeping relationships fresh and exciting. All emotional sharing builds strong and lasting relationship bonds, but sharing laughter also adds joy, vitality, and resilience. And humor is a powerful and effective way to heal resentments, disagreements, and hurts. Laughter unites people during difficult times.
Humor and playful communication strengthen our relationships by triggering positive feelings and fostering emotional connection. When we laugh with one another, a positive bond is created. This bond acts as a strong buffer against stress, disagreements, and disappointment. Using humor and laughter in relationships allows you to:
Be more spontaneous. Humor gets you out of your head and away from your troubles.
Let go of defensiveness. Laughter helps you forget resentments, judgments, criticisms, and doubts.
Release inhibitions. Your fear of holding back and holding on are set aside.
Express your true feelings. Deeply felt emotions are allowed to rise to the surface.
Use humor to resolve disagreements and tension in your relationships
Couple playing in mirror
Laughter is an especially powerful tool for managing conflict and reducing tension when emotions are running high. Whether with romantic partners, friends and family, or co-workers, you can learn to use humor to smooth over disagreements, lower everyone's stress level, and communicate in a way that builds up your relationships rather than breaking them down. See: Managing Conflicts with Humor
How to bring more laughter into your life
Laughter is your birthright, a natural part of life that is innate and inborn. Infants begin smiling during the first weeks of life and laugh out loud within months of being born. Even if you did not grow up in a household where laughter was a common sound, you can learn to laugh at any stage of life.
Begin by setting aside special times to seek out humor and laughter, as you might with working out, and build from there. Eventually, you’ll want to incorporate humor and laughter into the fabric of your life, finding it naturally in everything you do.
Here are some ways to start:
Smile. Smiling is the beginning of laughter and like laughter, it’s contagious. When you look at someone or see something even mildly pleasing, practice smiling. Instead of looking down at your phone, look up and smile at people you pass in the street, the person serving you a morning coffee, or the co-workers you share an elevator with. Notice the effect this has on others.
Count your blessings. Literally make a list. The simple act of considering the good things in your life will distance you from negative thoughts that are a barrier to humor and laughter. When you’re in a state of sadness, you have further to travel to get to humor and laughter.
When you hear laughter, move toward it. Sometimes humor and laughter are private, a shared joke among a small group, but usually not. More often, people are very happy to share something funny because it gives them an opportunity to laugh again and feed off the humor you find in it. When you hear laughter, seek it out and ask, “What’s funny?”
Spend time with fun, playful people. These are people who laugh easily–both at themselves and at life’s absurdities–and who routinely find the humor in everyday events. Their playful point of view and laughter are contagious. Even if you don’t consider yourself a lighthearted, humorous person, you can still seek out people who like to laugh and make others laugh. Every comedian appreciates an audience.
Bring humor into conversations. Ask people, “What’s the funniest thing that happened to you today? This week? In your life?”
Simulated laughter
So what do you do if you really can’t “find the funny”? Believe it or not, it’s possible to laugh without experiencing a funny event—and simulated laughter can be just as good for you as the real thing. It can even make exercise more fun and more productive. A Georgia State University study found that incorporating bouts of simulated laughter into an exercise program helped improve older adults’ mental health as well as their aerobic endurance. Plus, hearing others laugh, even for no apparent reason, can often trigger genuine laughter.
To add simulated laughter into your own life, search for laugh yoga or laugh therapy groups. Or you can start simply by laughing at other people’s jokes, even if you don’t find them funny. It will make both you and the other person feel good, draw you closer together, and who knows, may even lead to some spontaneous laughter.
Creating opportunities to laugh
Watch a funny movie, TV show, or YouTube video
Invite friends or co-workers to go to a comedy club
Read the funny pages
Seek out funny people
Share a good joke or a funny story
Check out your bookstore’s humor section
Host game night with friends
Play with a pet
Go to a “laughter yoga” class
Goof around with children
Do something silly
Make time for fun activities (e.g. bowling, miniature golfing, karaoke)
Tips for developing your sense of humor
An essential ingredient for developing your sense of humor is to learn to not take yourself too seriously and laugh at your own mistakes and foibles. As much as we’d like to believe otherwise, we all do foolish things from time to time. Instead of feeling embarrassed or defensive, embrace your imperfections. While some events in life are clearly sad and not opportunities for laughter, most don’t carry an overwhelming sense of either sadness or delight. They fall into the gray zone of ordinary life—giving you the choice to laugh or not. So choose to laugh whenever you can.
How to Develop Your Sense of Humor
Laugh at yourself. Share your embarrassing moments. The best way to take yourself less seriously is to talk about times when you took yourself too seriously.
Attempt to laugh at situations rather than bemoan them. Look for the humor in a bad situation, and uncover the irony and absurdity of life. When something negative happens, try to find a way to make it a humorous anecdote that will make others laugh.
Surround yourself with reminders to lighten up. Keep a toy on your desk or in your car. Put up a funny poster in your office. Choose a computer screensaver that makes you laugh. Frame photos of you and your family or friends having fun.
Remember funny things that happen. If something amusing happens or you hear a joke or funny story you really like, write it down or tell it to someone else to help you remember it.
Find your inner child. Pay attention to children and try to emulate them—after all, they are the experts on playing, taking life lightly, and laughing at ordinary things.
Deal with your stress. Stress can be a major impediment to humor and laughter, so it's important to get your stress levels in check. One great technique to relieve stress in the moment is to draw upon a favorite memory that always makes you smile—something your kids did, for example, or something funny a friend told you.
Don’t go a day without laughing. Think of it like exercise or breakfast and make a conscious effort to find something each day that makes you laugh. Set aside 10 to 15 minutes and do something that amuses you. The more you get used to laughing each day, the less effort you’ll have to make.
Thursday 16 February 2017
Smokeless Tobacco: Tips on how to stop
Why is it hard to quit using smokeless tobacco?
Like cigarettes, smokeless tobacco (snuff or chewing tobacco) contains nicotine, a very addictive substance that causes changes in the way you think and act. If you are addicted to nicotine, you crave the “buzz” you get from using smokeless tobacco, and you have to use more and more to get the effect you want. Smokeless tobacco puts more nicotine into your bloodstream than cigarettes do. This is one reason why people who chew or dip tobacco regularly may think that quitting smokeless tobacco is even harder than quitting cigarette smoking. Using smokeless tobacco might also be a habit for you when you’re in certain situations or with certain people. For example, you may always chew tobacco when you go to a sporting event or when you watch TV. It can be hard to break this pattern of behavior. However, many smokeless tobacco users have quit successfully – and so can you. Your family doctor can help you quit.
Why is it important for me to quit using smokeless tobacco?
The use of any tobacco product has both immediate and long-term effects on your health and overall well-being. Smokeless tobacco stains and wears down your teeth, causes your gums to recede (peel back) and produces mouth sores. Bad breath is also a common problem. Over time, the use of smokeless tobacco can cause mouth cancer. Nicotine from smokeless tobacco also raises blood pressure and cholesterol levels, and can increase your risk of having a heart attack. List your own reasons for wanting to quit using smokeless tobacco. In addition to the effects of smokeless tobacco on your health, you may be concerned about saving money or setting a good example for family members and friends. Write down your reasons for wanting to quit. Then keep your list in places where you can see it often.What can I do to get ready to quit using smokeless tobacco?
Set a date to quit and stick to it. Choose a date 2 to 4 weeks from today. Quitting can be hard, so develop a plan that works for you. Prepare yourself for quitting by identifying the times when you will want smokeless tobacco the most. Plan to avoid those situations or to have tobacco substitutes with you (such as sunflower seeds or chewing gum). Get rid of all your chewing tobacco or snuff before your quit date. Start cutting down now on the amount you chew or dip. Get support from your family, friends and doctor. Even better, have a friend or family member who uses smokeless tobacco stop chewing or dipping at the same time that you do. Studies have shown that people who have the support of family and friends are more successful at quitting. Your doctor may also be able to recommend a support program that might help you quit.What can I use to replace smokeless tobacco?
Talk to your doctor about whether nicotine gum or another nicotine replacement product is right for you. Generally, people who use 3 or more tins or pouches a week, people who use smokeless tobacco within 30 minutes after they wake up, and people who usually swallow tobacco juice when they chew or dip benefit most from nicotine replacement. Find an oral substitute for smokeless tobacco that you enjoy. This may be sugarless gum, hard candy, beef jerky or sunflower seeds. Don’t substitute cigarette smoking for smokeless tobacco. Stop using all tobacco products. Find activities to do when you want to chew or dip. Many people chew or dip when they are bored. Instead, take a walk or a quick jog, lift weights, take a hot shower to relax, or do any activity you enjoy that will keep your mind off smokeless tobacco.What if I slip up and start using smokeless tobacco again?
This is normal. Learn from your slip! Think about what you can do to avoid that situation next time. Plan ways to handle things without going back to using smokeless tobacco. Once you quit, congratulate yourself. You’ve worked hard! Celebrate beating the habit by using the money you would have spent on smokeless tobacco to buy yourself a present or do something that you enjoy.Thursday 2 February 2017
Care in Cough or Cold
Non-medication treatment for your cough or cold
- Get plenty of rest and drink plenty of fluids.
- Try to breathe moist air. Use a humidifier or take a steamy shower.
- Consume warm fluids (soup or tea) to provide relief for a stuffy nose and to loosen phlegm.
- For nasal stuffiness, try saline nasal spray or a Neti Pot.
- For sore throat pain relief: suck on throat lozenges, hard candy or popsicles; gargle with warm salt water (1/4 tsp. salt per 8 oz. of water); and eat soft, bland foods.
- Eat a well-balanced diet. If you cannot, ensure you are getting enough nutrients by taking a daily multivitamin.
- Avoid dairy products, as they can thicken phlegm.
- Avoid alcohol, as it impairs your body’s immune system
CONTACT YOUR DOCTOR IF YOU EXPERIENCE ANY OF THE FOLLOWING:
- High fever
- Ear pain
- Sinus-type headache
- Unusually severe cold symptoms
- Cough that gets worse while other cold symptoms improve
- Flare up of any chronic lung problem, such as asthma
RECOMMENDED NON-PRESCRIPTION MEDICATIONS BY SYMPTOM
Contact the SHCC Pharmacy with any questions or concerns about medications: (352) 392-1760.Cough, Non-productive (not coughing up phlegm)
- Cough suppressant containing dextromethorphan (Robitussin® DM or Delsym®)
Cough, Productive (coughing up phlegm)
- Cough suppressant (see above)
- Expectorant: Mucinex® tablets or plain guaifenesin syrup, also known as Robitussin®
Fever/Headache/Muscle Aches
- Acetaminophen (Tylenol®)
- Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs (NSAIDs) such as ibuprofen (Advil®) or naproxen (Aleve®)
Nasal Stuffiness
- Nasal steroid sprays: Flonase® or Nasacort®
- Decongestants:
- Topical spray: Oxymetazoline (Afrin® Nasal Spray); limit to 3-4 days maximum
- Oral medication: Pseudoephedrine (Sudafed®) – MUST BE PURCHASED FROM PHARMACIST
Runny and/or Itchy Nose/Sneezing
- Nasal steroid sprays: Flonase® or Nasacort®
- Antihistamine: Benadryl®, which will likely cause drowsiness, or Loratadine (Alavert®), which is not as likely to cause drowsiness
Sore Throat Pain Relief
- Take acetaminophen (Tylenol®) or ibuprofen (Advil®).
- Try throat sprays (Chloraseptic®).
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)