Treatments For Lower Back Pain
Monday, August 25, 2008
If you are feeling persistent pain in your lower back, the first thing you want to do is visit your doctor in order to get a diagnosis for the problem. After your diagnosis has been completed you will then want to look over the different types of treatments available for back pain.
Most problems involving back pain can be treated in a moderate way, while certain conditions may require you to have surgery. Most patients suffering from back pain will begin feeling relief two weeks after beginning treatment.
Some of the methods used in correcting back pain are very basic. You may only be required to rest or exercise while undergoing physical therapy. More advanced treatments may include acupuncture or chiropractic help. Your doctor will be able to give you a list of treatments for different types of back pain.
Despite this, doing your own research will allow you to better understand the types of treatments available. Different methods of correcting back pain have both advantages and disadvantages. The most important factor in treating your back pain is to be in control of your treatments.
When you have pain in your back, you should be able to get pain relief. Many doctors prescribe medications to their patients in order to reduce pain. Pills taken orally such as aspirin and other medication which don't require prescriptions are often used.
If this isn't strong enough, doctors will often begin prescribing opioids. These usually add to the medicine you're already taking, and are usually ingested in the form of codeines. Sometimes stronger opioids such as morphine are used. Sometimes patients may experience undesireable side effects when taking medications for back pain.
Patients with severe back pain may also need to undergo physical therapy. Some forms of physical therapy are more passive thant others. Getting back massages and applying heat are cold objects to the back generally only work the first few weeks after suffering a back injury. After this patients begin doing active forms of physical therapy such as correcting their posture and other forms of exercise.
Another important treatment for back pain is psychological therapy. Back pain often causes large amounts of stress due to the fact people suffering aren't able conduct everyday activities. Some people may not be able to work and be employed in the types of jobs they enjoy doing. Psychologists will often counsel patients in order to help them cope with and manage the stress they have.
posted by Healthy Life @ 2:52 AM,
Top 10 Drug-Free Ways to Say Good Night to Insomnia
Monday, August 18, 2008
“Treating Insomnia: Is having sweet dreams just a dream?”
A person who is suffering from sleepless nights, someone who frequently wakes up at night and rises up early in the morning even though that person does not have enough sleep is having a sleeping disorder known as insomnia.
Insomnia is a condition in which a person is not getting enough sleep. This person when awakened at night has a hard time sleeping again. Insomnia can happen every night, from time to time or in a period of time.
Here are the some suggestions wherein insomnia can be treated:
1.Follow a positive routine.
If an insomniac has an erratic eating routine, this should be changed to a fixed routine dedicated to directly fight insomnia. The person should eat early dinner so as to condition the body to sleep early.
2.Do not drink coffee.
As much as possible, a person with insomnia should avoid drinking coffee, sodas, chocolate, cocoa, green tea, black tea or anything that has caffeine. Caffeine is a stimulant that triggers sleeplessness. It can make someone awake for as long as 20 hours. For some, even drinking a cup of coffee in the morning causes them sleeplessness at night.
3.Exercise at night.
Insomnia is often caused by too much stress. Doing exercise at night makes blood to circulate in our brain and body. This in turn makes us calm and stress free.
4.The bedroom should be conducive to sleep.
Loud noise coming from cars in the street, upbeat music set at very high volume, bright lights and uncomfortable bed should be avoided.
5.Read not watch.
Read books, magazines or anything that interests an insomniac instead of watching television. Television enhances attention, which makes a person awake. Reading on the other hand while in bed causes the eye to get tired and creates a sleepy feeling.
6.Relax
Try ways that causes our body to relax. Meditation technique like yoga can initiate a calm state of mind and body. Listening to soft and classical music can also help. There are fragrant oils, incense, and candles that are made specifically to aid in relaxation. Consult a shop that sells these on type of scents that can induce sleep.
7.The root solution for insomnia.
There are root extracts that can engender a sleepy state. 300 to 600 mg of concentrated extract should be taken 30 minutes prior to going to bed. This root extract can be mixed with calming herbs like chamomile, passionflower and balm made from lemon.
8.Take melatonin with caution
Melatonin can help in adjusting one’s sleeping pattern. 0.5 to 3.0 mg an hour or two before going to bed may help. Melatonin though should only be taken with the approval of a physician. The human body has different reactions to melatonin.
As people grow older, the melatonin level of the body decreases. This explains why older people usually have a hard time sleeping and sleep less compared to children and younger people.
9.Magnesium
Conditions such as, restless legs syndrome (RLS) and period limb movements (PLM), while sleeping can cause insomnia. Taking 300 mg of magnesium at night from four to six weeks can solve insomnia. Again this should be done with doctor’s consent.
10.Acupuncture
Acupuncture, which is a Chinese healing method, could help to heal insomnia. These needles put into the skin strike nerve transmitters that produce sleep-inducing hormones like serotonin.
Altering a person’s diet is effective in preventing and healing insomnia. Doctors suggest eating food that is high in carbohydrate prior to sleep. Examples of these are bread and crackers. Studies showed that carbohydrates enhance the quantity of serotonin produced by the body.
Serotonin is a chemical messenger or neurotransmitter that affects the brain. This chemical lessens anxiety, which in turn creates sleep.
Consulting a psychologist or psychiatrist may give light in solving insomnia. This sleeping disorder is usually caused by stress. A psychologist or psychiatrist can give expert advice on how to treat insomnia.
posted by Healthy Life @ 2:52 AM,
Men's Health and Weight Loss Tip #1: How to Regain Your Prime and Never Lose It Again
Monday, August 11, 2008
Guys, let's face it.
Aging is an inevitable process for all of us. However, you don't have to take it "lying down". As a matter of fact, you can literally manage the whole ordeal and either hang on to your body's prime condition or regain that which has been lost for years following a few very basic principles.
EATING HABITS
The first and most important aspect of your prime maintenance program has to do with what you allow to enter your body via your eating habits. You know what they say---"garbage in, garbage out"---and it couldn't be more true than when it
applies to your longevity and how good or bad you will age over the next few decades.
One thing that you will want to start doing immediately is to wean your body off of its cravings for and dependence on sugar. Sugar has a very insidious way of speeding up the aging process by weakening your body in a number of ways. In fact, Nancy Appleton, Ph.D., and author of "Lick the Sugar Habit" outlines the following detriments of sugar intake:
* immune system suppression
* upsets the body's mineral relationships
* can raise the body's triglycerides
* reduces the body's ability to defend itself against bacterial infection
* causes a loss of body tissue elasticity and function
* contributes to copper deficiency
* interferes with calcium and magnesium absorption
* can weaken the eye sight
* can cause general premature aging
* causes tooth decay
* contributes to obesity
* can cause gallstones
* can cause heart disease
* can cause appendicitis
* can cause M.S. (multiple sclerosis)
* can cause varicose veins
* can lower vitamin E levels in the blood
* increases cholesterol and systolic blood pressure
* can cause cataracts
* deregulates bowel movements
* can cause myopia (near sightedness)
* can compromise the lining of the capillaries
* can make the tendons brittle
* can contribute to Alzheimer's disease
* can lead to the formation of kidney stones
feeds cancer
* the body changes sugar into 2-5 times more fat than it does starch
* may induce cell death
Need I say more about sugar?
Good. Let's move on.
Another thing that you'll want to get a handle on is alcohol.
Not such a bad thing in moderation, excessive alcohol consumption inhibits the youthfulness and vibrance of the body by making it more susceptible to a number of diseases and infections which debilitate its ability to function.
Of course, some of the same diet intake strategies that are affective in weight loss help to maintain prime condition as well. Not making a habit of eating late or consuming a lot of dairy and animal fat products will help to both keep you trim and preserve the functioning of your arteries in order to help your body keep control of its blood pressure and cholesterol levels as well, measure which will protect you from developing heart problems.
In addition to things that you will want to restrict from you diet, there are several that you will want to make sure to supplement it with or at least make sure that you get plenty of in your regular intake.
First on this list is water. Cliche as it may sound, there wouldn't be enough room to discuss all of the things that it does to keep the body's systems clean and operable. Not to mention the aesthetic benefit that it has on the clarity of the skin.
Antioxidants will definitely need to be a part of your daily food regimen. These substances fight the aging effects of free-radical damage to the body. Some of the more popular antioxidants include:
* Green Tea
* Vitamin A
* Vitamin B
* Vitamin C
* Vitamin D
* Vitamin E
* Selenium
* Soy and Isoflavones
* zinc
Two of the easiest ways to add anti-oxidants to your diet are to drink green tea daily and to use soy milk with added isoflavones in the place of where you would use regular milk or cream.
BODY TONE AND MOBILITY
You may or may not be currently putting your body through regular resistance training. However, doing so get more and more important as you get older. Once past the age of 35, our bodies lose approximately 1% of their muscle mass annually. Since it is this muscle mass that gives your body its shape, form, and much of its strength, you will want to use resistance training to prevent atrophy and preserve as much of the actual muscle tissue as possible.
A second way in which resistance train helps you is that it keeps the bones strong and able to take abnormal amounts of pressure. This "practice" for the bones will come in handy in keeping them away from breaks and fractures that are very common as well as debilitating in older people.
Even more important than resistance training is your body's flexibility. Nothing contributes more to optimal mobility than having flexible joints and muscles.
What's more is that a regular stretching routine not only adds to mobility but also helps to guard against 3 of the most common injuries---those to your back, knees, and hip area. Many of these injuries are the result of a rigid body being twisted into positions beyond its strength capacity or its range of flexibility to the point that something "snaps". Once any of these areas suffers major damage, it is generally never the same again.
The third major ingredient in preserving prime body tone and conditioning is cardiovascular activity. The benefits of such activity are obvious: a stronger, healthier heart and minimized body fat, the latter of the two helping the body maintain its most attractive shape and tone.
PRESERVING WHAT YOU HAVE
When someone said "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure", boy were they on target.
Taking the best care of your body's condition before it begins to give you problems is the absolute most important part of any strategy to regain---or maintain---your prime.
Much of what has already been discussed has dealt with taking care of yourself through diet and exercise. However, there are additional things that demand attention cosmetically in order to "put the icing on the cake" in all of this.
Getting the proper rest so that your body may recuperate properly is of the utmost importance. Sufficient rest alone does a great deal to retard at least the appearance of aging. You'll feel a heck of a lot better as well.
Other things can be done include staying out of the sun to avoid excessive skin damage, and following at least a basic washing and moisturizing regimen to keep the face clean and fresh. Good grooming also goes a long way as well with looking and feeling your absolute best.
THE FINAL WORD
Finally, it is imperative that you keep at least a once-a-year appointment with your doctor for an annual checkup. This is the best way to catch any deficiencies that may slip through the cracks with everything that you've got going on to keep yourself in peak condition.
Even with lots of effort being put into your body's maintenance, a few things are bound to slip through due to your
individual lifestyle, habits, and genetic predispositions. Therefore, keeping tabs on your vital signs and being on the lookout for common killers like heart problems, cancers, and auto-immune deficiencies are paramount to your success.
Keeping all of these things in mind AND in practice will not only help to restore and retain your prime, but will help you to enjoy the absolute best overall quality of life that you possibly can.
To Your Best Body,
Lawrence Cole
Your Lifestyle and Fitness Coach
http://www.yourbestbodynow.com
posted by Healthy Life @ 2:51 AM,
Osteoporosis and Exercise
Monday, August 4, 2008
Osteoporosis is known as a silent disease. Early in the bone loss process, you may not see any signs, but eventually it can lead to broken bones, the disfiguring dowager’s hump, loss of height and certain types of back pain.
Throughout life, your body loses bone. New bone grows to replace lost bone. The rate of new bone growth changes as you age. Young adults reach their peak bone mass between the ages of 25 and 35. That is when your bone is the strongest. From about 35 years and older, bone mass slowly declines and that’s were weight bearing exercise becomes important to maintain and / or build bone density.
A rate at which your bone declines can be minimized and osteoporosis can be preventable. An active lifestyle, weight-bearing exercise and proper eating can significantly slow down the rate of bone loss. Eating foods rich in calcium and vitamin D will help protect your bones. Weight-bearing exercise will help your entire body and help you maintain bone mass. Resistance exercises help maintain bones by strengthening the muscles around them. Building muscle strength will make you less prone to injury. Non-weight bearing exercise, such as swimming or water exercise may help prevent back strain and pain by building muscles in your trunk and legs.
Osteoporosis affects men and women alike. The risk factors include heredity decreased hormones, lack of physical activity, inadequate calcium and vitamin D, certain medications, smoking, too much caffeine and too much alcohol.
The best way to see if you have low bone density or osteoporosis and are at increased risk for breaking a bone is to have a bone density test. This is a simple, painless and noninvasive exam by using sound waves or small amounts of radiation to determine the thickness or density of bones. Talk to your doctor or health care provider to determine if you are at risk and the possibilities of being tested. For more information and tips on exercise, go to http://www.easyexercisetips.com
posted by Healthy Life @ 2:51 AM,