Posts from — September 2008

Aging is Inevitable

Although aging is inevitable, how we look, feel and cope as we get older, is not. Aging affects each of us at different rates and in different ways. Even within the same individual, each organ and organ system ages differently, influenced by genetics, environment, lifestyle, attitudes, social networks, spiritual connections, and overall health and well being.

In infancy and childhood, we can be fairly accurate in predicting physical growth and development at different ages and stages. But as we age, there is no uniform timetable. Chronological age is notAging is Inevitable

How Do You Know When You Are Old?

Stereotypical Signs of Aging

• You get dizzy when you stand up or bend over
• Your joints and muscles ache all the time
• Your skin is itchy, spotty, wrinkled and dry
• Your body fluctuates between constipation and diarrhea
• You have poor muscle tone, tire easily, and often feel weak
• You are often irritable, grouchy, depressed and generally unhappy
• You can’t remember what you did an hour ago
• You’ve stopped learning or trying new things

The above symptoms are generally considered to be inevitable effects of aging, but these are actually signs of lifestyle deficiencies, injury, and disease.

Physiologic Changes and Aging

Past research about aging has focused on patients suffering from illness and disability, observed in doctors’ offices, clinics or hospital settings. What we have believed about aging, it seems, has been a reflection of the effects of disease process and unhealthy lifestyle. Studies are only beginning to focus on active seniors and the normal aging process.

• Aging is NOT Disease

Physiologic changes that occur with aging do not necessarily cause disability. Aging does not inevitably lead to declining levels of cardiac functioning, bone density, muscular strength, cognitive ability and memory, sexual desire and activity, physical and social functioning, nor does aging insure rising levels of blood pressure, cholesterol and anemia. But aging does decrease the body’s ability to withstand and respond to stress. As we age, we are less able to regulate pulse rate, blood pressure, oxygen consumption, blood glucose, serum sodium, and blood ph levels under stress. Aging leads to greater difficulty reacting to injury and the probability that the stress of injury will lead to acute or chronic illness over time.

• One Percent Rule

From age 30 onward, most organ systems lose roughly one percent of their functioning each year. The percent of loss does not increase as we age.

• Body Organs Age Differently

The physiologic state for any organ in our body is affected by the rate of change that organ has experienced multiplied by the number of years that change has occurred. As we age, changes in one organ does not predict changes in other organs.

• Dementia is NOT Part of Normal Aging

Memory decline with age is common, but does not inevitably lead to dementia which is an illness. Dementia-type symptoms include hearing loss, confusion or disorientation, difficulty performing simple tasks and making every day decisions, as well as changes in mood and loss of interest in life activities.

* Remaining Healthy is Often a Lifestyle Choice

Scientists and wellness experts alike are discovering that we are more than our genetic makeup. We do actually influence our own aging processes through diet, exercise, stress management, rest, sleep, social activity, positive mental thought and spiritual connection. Remaining healthy is often just a lifestyle choice and the choice is yours.

Dr. Erica Goodstone has helped thousands of men, women, couples, and groups to develop greater awareness of the issues in their relationships and their lives, to overcome and alleviate stressors and discords, and revitalize their relationships and their own mind-body-spirit connection. Dr. Goodstone can be contacted through her web sites at http://www.DrEricaWellness.com and http://www.SexualReawakening.com

Are you interested in a career in integrative health and wellness? Integrative health and wellness training and educational programs that are offered at holistic, traditional, and alternative medicine schools to practicing healthcare professionals may include but are not limited to a comprehensive curriculum including courses in acupuncture; chiropractic care; Chinese medicine; conventional medicine; nutritional counseling; and stress management classes.

Part of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM); integrative health and wellness educational courses offer learning platforms based on the whole person. Teaching mind-body medicine and disease prevention coursework, integrative health and wellness programs provide diverse treatment classes and training that combine alternative, complementary and conventional medicine that promote natural healing.

Integrative health and wellness training institutions may offer certification in graduate-level courses to health care professionals who wish to expand their medicine expertise. While integrative health and wellness courses vary in curriculum, length and cost, it is always best to check with specific educational institutions to find the learning program that best fits your particular needs.

DISCLAIMER: Above is a GENERAL OVERVIEW and may or may not reflect specific practices, courses and/or services associated with ANY ONE particular school(s) that is or is not advertised on SchoolsGalore.com

Copyright 2006 – All Rights Reserved

C. Bailey-Lloyd in association with Media Positive Communications, Inc. for SchoolsGalore.com

C. Bailey-Lloyd is the Public Relations’ Director for Media Positive Communications, Inc. in association with SchoolsGalore.com. Find Integrative Health and Wellness at SchoolsGalore.com; meeting your needs as your educational resource to locate schools

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Michael_Bustamante

I once knew a man who had been through a lot in his life. Several broken bones, a couple of concussions, a lot of stress, damaged brain cells, etc. But this fellow was quite unique. Shortly after he celebrated his 49th birthday he challenged a much younger friend to a push-ups contest.

This man, who we will call Mr. “49er”, despite all of the in life still looked like he was in pretty good shape. He was definitely not a muscle bound “Hulkster” or anything like that, but he was not overweight and just looked healthy. As the contest unfolded, Mr. 49er won hands down. He did 70 good, nose-to-the-ground push-ups, and he probably could have done a few more had he been pushed! His endurance was outstanding. I was quite impressed.

I asked this chap what his secret was. He replied that there was no secret. When he explained it to me, he was right. Everybody has been taught these principles since they were young children. The problem is that few practice them. Here are the keys he gave me to health and wellness.

1. A regular exercise program. He does a good, solid workout in an eight day cycle. Day 1 is designed for the upper body, day 2 is for the abs, day 3 is geared toward the lower body. Day 4 is a rest day. Then days 5-7 are somewhat different routines but once again for the upper body, abs and lower body. Day 8 is another rest day. He doesn’t go overboard. He doesn’t work out for hours at a time. His routine generally lasts between 30-45 minutes. But the key is consistency. Of course, he is not perfect at maintaining the 8 day schedule, but he does keep it up very well.

2. Diet. Our 49 year old friend watches what he eats and drinks. Once again, he is not on a crazy diet where he partakes of copious vitamins and minerals daily. What he does do is eat in moderation with a good balance. He takes a small amount of supplements daily, and he sticks to it. To him, the biggest factor is that he does not eat foods that he knows or strongly suspects do not agree with him, no matter how delectable or socially acceptable they may be. That can mean turning down food or drink at times when it is against his will. Mr. 49er considers his health more important than the temporary pleasure obtained from items that he knows will come back to haunt him later.

3. Time with his creator. One more thing that he specifically mentioned was that he tries to spend private time with his Lord and creator every day.

Conclusion
We have all seen many people who get hooked on wild and crazy Superman diets that promise the world, or fad exercise programs that guarantee to make a Hercules out of a person in an “incredibly short time.” These things do not work, I have never seen one that does. Maybe Mr. 49ers balanced approach is something we should all consider. It works for him.

It’s fun and easy to develop a regular exercise program and get a Total Gym workout with the Chuck Norris Total Gym It’s a great piece of exercse equipment than tones, strengthen and builds endurance.

Tom Thorne
http://www.FeelingOutstanding.com

What exactly makes Oolong Tea an excellent product for wellness?

1. Oolong Tea promises a more youthful and radiant skin glow by destroying free radicals thereby preventing age spots and wrinkles.

2. Oolong Tea can help prevent certain types of cancers due to its sufficient level of catechin anti-oxidants.

3. Oolong Tea promotes good oral health and minimizes the risk of plaque thereby giving you stronger teeth and a brighter smile.

4. Oolong tea stimulates metabolism and boosts up the body’s ability to burn more calories due to plant polyphenols, one of its natural potent ingredients.

Oolong Tea or Wu-Yi Tea can definitely help you shake off your excess fats and reduce your weight. However, it can have an undesirable result for some users and the reasons are as follows.

There are some sellers of Wu-Yi Tea who claim that this product can help them reduce fat just like that. This is not a right selling point because Wu-Yi Tea alone cannot give you the results you desire. First, you should have the right diet. Second, you should have some level of activity or exercise. Wu-Yi Tea alone cannot produce dramatic effects. In fact, no diet supplement can. Diet and exercise are essential elements of reducing fats in your body plus a doctor recommended dose of diet supplement. Taking the recommended dose of Wu-Ying Tea can speed up the process of reducing weight.

Oolong Tea is getting a lot of attention due to its high polyphenol content, higher than that found in green tea. Plant polyphenols speed up the metabolism in the body by stimulating the release of enzymes responsible in burning triglyceride. A process called thermogenesis is generated in the body which means “heating up”. More calories burned results to weight loss.

All teas found in the market contain polyphenols. What makes Wu-Yi Tea unique and revolutionary is that it contains more of these plant properties. This can be attributed to how it is processed.

All types of teas are good for the health. However, if you have the goal of losing weight, you should incorporate the habit of taking tea with exercise. Nothing beats having an active lifestyle. It can help you enjoy life better.

Loose leaf Oolong tea, both Taiwanese and Chinese, can also promote weight reduction. When brewed from whole, they offer a great taste which tea drinkers will definitely enjoy.

For more great information on the Oolong Wu Yi diet or to order your free sample of Wu-Yi tea visit WuYiReview.com. They offer many great Wu Yi Reviews.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Justin_Rankin

What Are the Physiological Changes of Normal Aging?

From conception to our early twenties, aging involves growth, maturation, and learning. Then, sometime in our late twenties, the growth process slows down and deterioration begins. Some human abilities, such as athletic strength, agility, and sexual potency, tend to peak for many of us by age 30. Other abilities, such as business acuity and social savoir-fair, continue to expand and improve with practice over a lifetime.

• Height

Height tends to gradually decrease due to normal posture changes and increased compression of joints, spinal vertebrae, and discs. By our 80’s, some of us have lost as much as 2 inches (5.1 centimeters) in height.

• Hearing

Decline of hearing acuity, especially with higher pitched tones, changing speech tones, and background noise, tends to accelerate after age 55, and decline more rapidly in men (which can be frustrating to female partners with higher pitched voices). Shorter stature from birth and loss of height may also be associated with hearing loss.

A study conducted at the University of Sweden compared the hearing acuity of two groups of about 500 men.

- Among the workers exposed to noise at work, those who were short had worse hearing than expected for their age
- Short workers were three times more likely to have hearing loss compared with taller workers
- Short workers were 12 times more likely than taller workers to be taking medication

• Eyesight

Beginning in our 40’s, as the lens becomes more flexible, most of us experience a decline in near vision, peripheral vision, depth judgment, clarity of colors, visual sharpness, and night vision. From our 50’s on, many of us have decreased visibility with glare, with lower levels of light and more difficulty detecting moving objects. From our 70’s on, ability to distinguish fine details may decline. Puffiness and skin folds under the eye are caused by thinning of the connective tissue septa that holds the orbital fat in position.

• Taste

As we age, there is a decrease in taste buds and saliva, which tends to lower our ability to distinguish between different flavors. To improve our enjoyment of food, it is important to display foods with a variety of colors, textures and smells.

• Smell

Our ability to detect different smells also tends to decrease as we age. Adding additional spices and varied flavors is helpful.

• Touch and Kinesthetic Sense

Aging is associated with decreased sensitivity to touch, often leading to lowered sexual activity, but perhaps requiring greater sensitivity from partners, enhancement of all the senses, and longer periods of time to allow sensual pleasure to increase. Aging is also associated with decreased ability to balance, often leading to accidents and injuries, which can be prevented by becoming more careful and deliberate in one’s physical actions.

Dr. Erica Goodstone has helped thousands of men, women, couples, and groups to develop greater awareness of the issues in their relationships and their lives, to overcome and alleviate stressors and discords, and revitalize their relationships and their own mind-body-spirit connection. Dr. Goodstone can be contacted through her web sites at http://www.DrEricaWellness.com and http://www.SexualReawakening.com

Health and Wellness Product information is flooding into our conscious world by computers, television and all kinds of print advertising. What about all the lotions, potions and pills available on the market today? WOW! It is enough to make your head spin around.

Health and Wellness is a billion dollar industry that is growing by leaps and bounds. The baby boomers, who thought 30 to be really old, are now at, or approaching retirement age and are looking for ways maintain their health and wellness by all means possible. The products available in the market place that tout weight loss and anti-aging are on the shelves everywhere. They scream at us to buy, buy, buy and you too, can look like the thin young model on the box cover. Infomercials, for those who can’t sleep at night, and let’s face it, many older people have that problem with that, run 24/7 on your TV. It is being shouted from the roof tops.

The concern over cancer, heart problems and diabetes are just a few of the other major health worries of the American public. There are countless of products available, but do they do what they promise or are they just snake oil? The consuming public is rightly concerned over all of these issues. No one wants to be taken advantage of when their health is at stake.

I believe that there are many legitimate products out there. Many of them would be considered to be alternative medicine by some. Not all Health and Wellness products get the seal of approval from the FDA. In fact most do not even qualify to be evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. Dietary supplements do not need approval from the FDA before they are marketed. Except in the case of a new dietary ingredient, where pre-market review for safety data and other information is required by law, a firm does not have to provide the FDA with the evidence it relies on to substantiate safety or effectiveness before or after it markets its products. Does this make them bad? I do not believe so.

There are many terrific products that are available only through network marketing. You must purchase them directly from the company or a distributor. Most of these exclusive products rely only on word of mouth to get known. Testimonials are a wonderful way to learn if some of these products actually work. Real people with real stories always peak my interest. It is so important to do your due diligence with any product that you want to use.

What exactly does this mean? Research is the key! There are legitimate people and organizations out there evaluating health and wellness products all over the world and you need to look at their information. Be sure to look at their sources and the studies that they quote, this is the real key.

There are a great many people that just follow the trends like sheep to the slaughter, but you don’t have to be one of them. So open your eyes and let’s learn the truth together!

Denise Clarke is a retired Paramedic and has been involved in the health and wellness industry for over 20 years…… to follow her latest blog go to: http://www.healthwellnessproduct.blogspot.com

Because of the rise in wellness tourism business owners on the Big Island of Hawaii have got together to promote a travel initiative that they collectively hope will prove so successful that it will eventually be adopted by the rest of the state.

The Hawaii Island Wellness Travel Association, composed of 120 business owners and holistic professionals, has set up a meeting with both the Big Island Visitors Bureau and Hawaii County officials to take the initiative further at which they hope to agree marketing strategies, develop effective packaging and adopt a set of rules for health and wellness travel to Hawaii, which they regard as a booming business.

As recently as 2005 almost $50,000 was set aside by Hawaii Tourism Authority to be used to quantify how well wellness tourism could be developed in the archipelago. A leading research company was approached to produce a comprehensive study of the health and wellness tourism market for the state of Hawaii. However, significant progress stalled once the report had been produced, and only now, some two years later, is the idea being re-launched.

One of the most vociferous proponents and advocates of wellness tourism Lew Whitney, co-founder of the Kokolulu Farm and Qigong Center based in North Kohala said: “We’ve been trying for years to persuade the Hawaii Tourism Authority that this (wellness) offers a great opportunity for the whole state of Hawaii and not just the Big Island.” Over the last nine years the Center has offered a range of cancer retreats and meditative healing programs and Whitney admits that it has been a struggle getting the message across to tourism chiefs. However, Whitney highlights that the Center, located on the northern tip of the Big Island, has been successfully trading for almost 10 years, and with little promotional help from the Hawaii Tourism Authority has managed to remain in business, albeit with the help of some charitable contributions.

Indeed, leading research group Mintel produced a comprehensive Market Research document which looked at wellness tourism being offered throughout the world in places as far flung as Japan, Hungary, India, Austria and Thailand. It concluded, amongst other things that markets were expanding as more and more people, of all ages, made their vacation choices based on health and wellness travel demonstrating that that the sector had a bright future.

As more people take to using alternative and natural remedies, tying wellness into hotel deals in Hawaii could herald a bold new initiative that in the long run may well add an extra string to the already well developed tourism bow for the state.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Adam_Singleton