Health Blog and Health Product Reviews

Saunas have been a popular tool for relaxation for a very long time. When saunas were first introduced, they were used primarily for relaxation of muscles and relieving the stress and tension that build up throughout life. As saunas became more and more popular and widespread, the people who used them regularly began to notice some very desirable side effects. Specifically, people began noticing weight loss as a result of using saunas.

Weight Loss – Myth or Fact

Many people are still incredulous about the reported weight loss through sauna use. However, the increased popularity of saunas all over the world cannot and does not lie. Studies have shown that frequent sauna use does indeed help in weight loss as the high temperature acts not only on the muscle tissue but also on the fatty tissues of the body.

Many people agree that saunas have indeed helped them with weight reduction. The question is how? It is not true that the heat of the sauna helps in melting fat. Saunas – natural or infrared – are unable to melt fat with the help of heat. What a sauna actually does is help the body get rid of its excess salt through sweating.

What does salt have to do with weight loss? Plenty – there are many medical reports which explain the connection of salt and gain of weight. This gain is not fat gain but water retention gain. When a person consumes excess salt, this is deposited under the skin and in order for it to stay non-toxic it will demand water. The more salt you collect under the skin, the more water your body will demand and retain.

The sauna helps you get rid of this extra salt and thereby gets you rid of the water weight that you have gained. If you want to maintain the weight loss you enjoy from visiting the sauna, you need to keep salt consumption to a minimum in your diet.

Hence, the sauna does indeed help you loose weight though not in the regular way of melting fat. The heat usually forces the body sweat out the excess salt and toxins and thereby reduced a great deal of your water weight. Combined with a healthy and salt free (or reduced salt) diet, you could enjoy the new found way of staying trim and healthy.

Those who have studied the effectiveness of saunas for weight loss have observed that side by side with the relaxation benefits of saunas, they do help with detoxification of the body and with weight loss, when used frequently. What could be a better combination? One takes a sauna for relaxation and relief from stress and ends up with weight loss and body detoxification.

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Tim is on his second year high school’s track team. He is the best runner in the conference at 200 meter and 400 meter. He is going to get a track scholarship to college next year. However, one day after the practice, Tim coughs and wheezes. He does the same on the bus after track meets. His coach thinks Tim might have asthma and suggested that Tim see a doctor.

Tim has asthma sign and symptom. He coughs hard after exercising, and he makes a wheezing sound when he breathes. Other physical asthma sign and symptom include shortness of breathing, tightness in the chest, excess mucus, coughing attacks after laughing or crying, and coughing attacks during the night. People with asthma might have one or more of these sign and symptom. Asthma sign and symptom vary from person to person. It may appear suddenly, or they may occur regularly.

1.Shortness of breath, an early asthma sign and symptom, appears as a sensation of breathlessness or choking, as labored breathing or as panting or gasping for air. Known as dyspnea in medical lingo, shortness of breath is thought to be caused by bronchospasms.

2.Chest tightness is a feeling of pressure in the front of the chest, in the area around the sternum, or breastbone. This is also a result of bronchospasms.

3.Wheezing is the result of air being forced through narrowed or constricted airways. It may be loud enough to be heard by bystanders or audible only through a doctor’s stethoscope. Best described as a whistling or rasping sound, wheezing is initially heard on exhalation. But as asthma worsens there is wheezing during inhalation as well.

4.Excess mucus is produced during an asthma attack, and this thick, sticky matter obstructs or clogs the airways. Excess mucus is a symptom of asthma, but it is also cause of the next symptom.

5.Coughing occurs as the body tries to clear obstructions from the lungs. The cough may be a deep and loose cough that brings up mucus. A cough that fails to bring up mucus may eventually irritate the lungs and in itself produce bronchospasm.

There are other sign and symptom of asthma as well. People with asthma may be irritable because of the discomfort. They may dislike playing sports or doing exercise because they get winded too easily. They may avoid going places where they must climb many stairs or walk long distance.

Certain signals generally appear before an asthma attack. They warn the person that an attack is coming. The signals can be seen, heard, and felt. Some examples of signals include runny nose, sleeplessness, slight changes in breathing, coughing, and sneezing.

Asthma can be dangerous. If the situation persists, carbon dioxide builds up in the body and the person may experience respiratory failure – meaning, in effect, he could pass out and die. Check out Asthma Product Review to read our recommended Asthma products and user reviews.

High blood pressure (hypertension) is among the first causes of stroke. Almost 70% of all strokes are caused by hypertension, the statistics say. Moreover a person with hypertension is four times more likely to have stroke than a person with healthy blood pressure.

Having read the above, you probably have at least a few questions ready in your mind. We have tried to answer them below.

What is blood pressure?
Blood pressure is the measurement of the force that the blood exercises over the arteries walls when passing through. If the hypertension is high the blood is putting extra pressure to the artery walls.

What causes hypertension?
Hypertension is caused by various factors including an unhealthy diet (including a lot of salt and fats), obesity, lack of exercise, smoking, stress, drinking abuse, drug abuse, high cholesterol, family history of cardiovascular problems, diabetes, gender (men are more likely to suffer from hypertension).

Why hypertension is a risk factor for stroke?
Hypertension has different effects over the human body. It can accelerate the effect of atherosclerosis (narrowing the walls of the blood vessels because of build-up of fatty plaques). These plaques can be off the artery walls and can block the blood supply to the brain and to cause a stroke. In addition chronic hypertension weakens the walls of the blood vessels which increase the risk of hemorrhagic stroke (caused by bleeding within the brain). In other cases hypertension helps thicken artery walls due to the constant strain applied which reduces their flexibility and makes them fragile and easy to rupture. This may also result into a stroke.

What shall I do to prevent stoke if I have high blood pressure?

First of all ask your doctor to carry the required tests and estimate the severity of the problem. He will prescribe you some medications that will normalize your blood pressure. If you have close relatives suffering from cardiovascular diseases and high blood pressure in particular, start making regular checks early. One of the great dangers is that many people suffer from hypertension and don’t even realize it this is due to the fact that there are no symptoms at the begging. A healthy diet will greatly help improve not only your overall health but the health of your cardiovascular system. A low-salt diet rich of fibers is great for this purpose. However consult with a specialist and don’t just apply a diet of your own. Try to reduce stress as much as possible. Quit smoking. Smoking is a stroke factor on its own and on the top of this it is among the risk factors for high blood pressure. The substances contained in cigarette smoke increase the blood pressure, increase the cholesterol levels and harm oxygen supply

Keith Londrie II is the Webmaster of http://life-after-strokes.info A website that specializes in providing information on
Life After Strokesthat you can research on the internet. Please Visit http://life-after-strokes.info Today!

Many women when facing the menopause have to go through the suffering of sleeplessness or insomnia. Most people believe that insomnia is when you can’t sleep and this is true, but it is also not being able to stay asleep.

Waking up one or more times every night then finding it almost impossible to get back to the land of nod is also a very normal factor of insomnia. A common symptom of the menopause are sudden hot flashes, or night sweats and this obviously breaks women’s sleep completely.

Normal sleeping habits usually get back into sync when these night sweats disappear or are controlled. Some women develop chronic insomnia when these symptoms refuse to disappear or, after so many nights of waking up, they condition themselves to continue the bad habit.

Most doctors point out that if you have to put up with the inability to sleep every night or most nights for about a month then you probably have chronic insomnia. At first you could blame the hot flushes but if they disappear and sleeplessness is still a problem, then apart from having conditioned your body into this bad state of affairs, you should start looking into other possible causes.

Guess what are the most frequent causes of chronic insomnia. Depression and anxiety. These two bugbears really need evaluating by a specialist. After depression and anxiety have been crossed off the list of possibilities, you then have to start looking for other causes.

Restless leg syndrome may well seem like a joke but if you get it then it is no laughing matter. Luckily there now exist new medicines to combat this. Other problems sleeping could be due to having to work shifts and changing your internal body clock, sleep apnea and obviously, pain.

I am afraid I am going to shock you. 30% of chronic insomnia sufferers are never able to identify the cause of their affliction. You think I’m kidding. I’m not. Even worse is the fact that they are regularly treated with sleeping pills. That’s right. They create another (bigger) problem by trying to deal with the first.

It is commonly known that sleeping pills should only ever be taken in the smallest amount possible and for the shortest time, otherwise dependency ensues. And you know what that means. The sad fact is that doctors are just too busy to delve into the sleeping habits of their patients and write out a prescription is much more beneficial. TO THEM.

You have heard of dental hygiene. Now meet sleep hygiene. The best hope for chronic insomnia sufferers during or after the menopause (or at any other time come to think of it) is changing bad sleeping habits, and I bet you have them all. Here are some things you should really think about changing.

1: Go to bed when you are feeling sleepy. So you want to wait up and watch Orange County? Video it.

2: Your bed is your nest. Use it for sleep and nothing else. (well, ok, sex too). Get your brain to associate bed with sleep because at the moment your brain associates bed with problems.

3: If you really can’t sleep then don’t stay in bed. Get up, go to another room. Your bed is for sleeping, not tossing and turning.

4: Try to go to bed and wake up at the same times every day to teach your brain when it has to sleep. (just imagine your brain as a naughty little boy who wants to stay up and watch TV, you get the idea).
5: The next one is pretty obvious: Don’t have coffee and booze in the evening. In fact, don’t have coffee and booze.

6: Lots of people agree that exercising in the day releases pent up stress and allows the body to rest during the night.

They are many more ways to help yourself improve your quality and quantity of sleep. Try one thing for a week, then if it doesn’t work try another. But one thing is certain: Taking strong drugs will not aid you in the long term, and probably not in the short term either.

Keith Londrie II is the Webmaster of http://overcominginsomnia.coffee-info.info A website that specializes in providing information on overcoming insomniathat you can research on the internet. Please Visit http://overcominginsomnia.coffee-info.info Today!