1. Move More
Make it a daily challenge to find ways to move your body. Climb stairs if given a choice between that and escalators or elevators. Walk your dog; chase your kids; toss balls with friends, mow the lawn. Anything that moves your limbs is not only a fitness tool, it’s a stress buster. Think ‘move’ in small increments of time. It doesn’t have to be an hour in the gym or a 45-minute aerobic dance class or tai chi or kickboxing. But that’s great when you’re up to it. Meanwhile, move more. Thought for the day: Cha, Cha, Cha…. Then do it!

2. Cut Fat
Avoid the obvious such as fried foods, burgers and other fatty meats (i.e. pork, bacon, ham, salami, ribs and sausage). Dairy products such as cheese, cottage cheese, milk and cream should be eaten in low fat versions. Nuts and sandwich meats, mayonnaise, margarine, butter and sauces should be eaten in limited amounts. Most are available in lower fat versions such as substitute butter, fat free cheeses and mayonnaise. Thought for the day: Lean, mean, fat-burning machine…. Then be one!

3. Quit Smoking
The jury is definitely in on this verdict. Ever since 1960 when the Surgeon General announced that smoking was harmful to your health, Americans have been reducing their use of tobacco products that kill. Just recently, we’ve seen a surge in smoking in adolescents and teens. Could it be the Hollywood influence? It seems the stars in every movie of late smoke cigarettes. Beware. Warn your children of the false romance or ‘tough guy’ stance of Hollywood smokers. Thought for the day: Give up just one cigarette…. the next one.

4. Reduce Stress
Easier said than done, stress busters come in many forms. Some techniques recommended by experts are to think positive thoughts. Spend 30 minutes a day doing something you like. (i.e.,Soak in a hot tub; walk on the beach or in a park; read a good book; visit a friend; play with your dog; listen to soothing music; watch a funny movie. Get a massage, a facial or a haircut. Meditate. Count to ten before losing your temper or getting aggravated. Avoid difficult people when possible. Thought for the day: When seeing red, think pink clouds….then float on them.

5. Protect Yourself from Pollution
If you can’t live in a smog-free environment, at least avoid smoke-filled rooms, high traffic areas, breathing in highway fumes and exercising near busy thoroughfares. Exercise outside when the smog rating is low. Exercise indoors in air conditioning when air quality is good. Plant lots of shrubbery in your yard. It’s a good pollution and dirt from the street deterrent. Thought for the day: ‘Smoke gets in your eyes’…and your mouth, and your nose and your lungs as do pollutants….hum the tune daily.

6. Wear Your Seat Belt
Statistics show that seat belts add to longevity and help alleviate potential injuries in car crashes. Thought for the day: Buckle down and buckle up.

7. Floss Your Teeth
Recent studies make a direct connection between longevity and teeth flossing. Nobody knows exactly why. Perhaps it’s because people who floss tend to be more health conscious than people who don’t? Thought for the day: Floss and be your body’s boss.

8. Avoid Excessive Drinking
While recent studies show a glass of wine or one drink a day (two for men) can help protect against heart disease, more than that can cause other health problems such as liver and kidney disease and cancer. Thought for the day: A jug of wine should last a long time.

9. Keep a Positive Mental Outlook
There’s a definitive connection between living well and healthfully and having a cheerful outlook on life. Thought for the day: You can’t be unhappy when you’re smiling or singing.

10. Choose Your Parents Well
The link between genetics and health is a powerful one. But just because one or both of your parents died young in ill health doesn’t mean you cannot counteract the genetic pool handed you. Thought for the day: Follow these basic tips for healthy living and you can better control your own destiny.

More deaths are caused each year by tobacco use than by all deaths from AIDS, illegal drug use, alcohol use, motor vehicle injuries, suicides, and murders combined. Smoking harms not just the smoker, but also family members, coworkers, and others who breathe the smoker’s cigarette smoke, called secondhand smoke or passive smoke.

Among infants up to 18 months of age, secondhand smoke is associated with as many as 300,000 cases of bronchitis and pneumonia each year.

Because of the variety of health problems that are linked to smoking, the majority of those people would love to be able to quit. But as with any addictive habit, this is often easier said than done.

People who quit smoking often experience severe withdrawal symptoms (both physical and mental), making it hard for them to stick with their goal of quitting

Blame nicotine, the main drug in tobacco, for your smoking addiction.

Your brain quickly adapts to nicotine and develops a tolerance for it, meaning you need to smoke more to get the same rush you used to get with just one cigarette. And when you develop a tolerance to a drug, you’re usually addicted.

Over time, the brain learns to predict when you are going to smoke a cigarette and releases the ‘anti-nicotine’ chemicals. These chemicals make you feel depressed and tired, so you think, ‘I need a cigarette!’

It’s never too late to quit smoking and there are many benefits to be gained no matter what age you are when you give up. Here are some quick tips to help you kick the habit:

1. Believe in yourself: Believe that you can quit. Think about some of the most difficult things you have done in your life and realize that you have the guts and determination to quit smoking. It’s up to you.

2. Write down why you want to quit: Live longer, feel better, for your family, save money, smell better, find a mate more easily, etc. You know what’s bad about smoking and you know what you’ll get by quitting. Put it on paper and read it daily.

3. Plan ahead: Plan ahead for situations in which you are likely to be tempted to smoke, such as parties, drinking or going out for coffee. Try to avoid these situations in the early stages of your quitting program, or try sitting in the non-smoking section at restaurants, drinking your coffee standing up or with the other hand, or keeping something in your hand when you’re talking on the phone.

4. Cut back on cigarettes gradually: Ways to cut back gradually include: plan how many cigarettes you will smoke each day until your quit date, making the number you smoke smaller each day; buy only one pack at a time; change brands so you don’t enjoy smoking as much; give your cigarettes to someone else, so that you have to ask for them each time you want to smoke.

5. Know the triggers: Learn what triggers your desire for a cigarette, such as stress, the end of a meal, arrival at work, entering a bar, etc. Avoid these triggers or if that’s impossible, plan alternative ways to deal with the triggers.

Find another smoker who is trying to quit, and help each other with positive words and by lending an ear when quitting becomes difficult. Visit Forums and Chat Room on the internet to find a “quit buddy”.

7. Ask your family and friends to support your decision to quit: Ask them to be completely supportive and non-judgmental. Let them know ahead of time that you will probably be irritable and even irrational while you withdraw from your smoking habit.

8. Do Not Skip Meals: Each puff of nicotine was your spoon releasing stored fats and sugars into your bloodstream. It allowed you to skip meals without experiencing wild blood-sugar swing symptoms such as an inability to concentrate or hunger related anxieties. Don’t add needless symptoms to withdrawal but instead learn to spread your normal daily calorie intake out more evenly over the entire day. Don’t eat more food but less food more often.

9. Drink lots of water: Water is good for you anyway, and most people don’t get enough. It will help flush the nicotine and other chemicals out of your body, plus it can help reduce cravings by fulfilling the “oral desires” that you may have.

10. Begin an exercise program: Exercise is simply incompatible with smoking. Exercise relieves stress and helps your body recover from years of damage from cigarettes. If necessary, start slow, with a short walk once or twice per day. Build up to 30 to 40 minutes of rigorous activity, 3 or 4 times per week.

11. Reward Yourself: Set up a plan for your rewards. Definitely reward yourself after the first day, and the second, and the third. Make them good rewards that you’ll look forward to: CDs, books, DVDs, T-shirts, shoes, a massage, a bike, a dinner out at your favorite restaurant, a hotel stay, whatever you can afford.

If You Fall, Get Up and Learn From Your Mistakes. Yes, we all fail. That does not mean we are failures, or that we can never succeed. If you fall, it’s not the end of the world. Get up, brush yourself off, and try again.

Source: http://www.rediff.com/getahead

Sex is good for adults. Indulging on a regular basis, at least once a week, is even better. The obvious benefits like it can burn calories, relieve stress and help you fall asleep more easily are there, but these are just the tip of the iceberg. Given below are some more reasons why sex may help you live a longer, happier life:

1. Sex relieves pain: Immediately before orgasm, the level of the hormone oxytocin rises to five times normal levels. This in turn releases endorphins, which alleviate pain. So if your headache, arthritis pain, or PMS symptoms seem to improve after sex, you can thank those higher oxytocin levels.

2. Sex increases immunity: Sexual intercourse once or twice a week raises the body’s level of the immune-boosting antibody immunoglobulin A (IgA). This secretion increases the overall immunity level of the body which keeps cold and flu away.

3. Sex reduces stress: Satisfying sexual activity can, of course, be an exhilarating mood lifter. Recent research revealed that people who have more sex reported that they felt more at ease, happier and learned how to handle stress better. During orgasm, there is a surge in oxytocin, which may account for both the stronger emotional connection between partners and tension relief.

4. Sex promotes longevity: Having an orgasm releases the hormone DHEA (Dehydroepiandrosterone), which works as an anti-depressant and improves immunity levels in the body. DHEA can repair tissue, improve cognition, keep skin healthy. Also, according to a british study of 1,000 men found those who had at least two orgasms a week had half the death rate of their countrymen who indulge less than once a month.

5. Sex increases blood circulation: Sex increases blood circulation, beneficial especially for the brain, due to increased heart rate and deep breathing. As fresh blood supply arrives, your cells and organs are saturated with fresh oxygen and hormones, and as the used blood is removed, you also remove waste products that cause fatigue and even illness.

6. Sex helps you sleep better: Not only does the oxytocin released during orgasm make you feel all coupled up, but research has shown it also helps you sleep. And getting enough restful sleep has been linked with a host of other good things, such as maintaining a healthy weight and blood pressure.

7. Sex improves cardiovascular health: In a recent study, scientists found the frequency of sex was associated with strokes in the 914 men they followed for 20 years. The researchers also found that having sex twice or more a week reduced the risk of heart attack or stroke by half for the men, compared with those who had sex less than once a month.

8. Sex reduces prostate cancer risk: Prostate gland-related disorders are known to be caused by or worsen as a result of the secretions from the gland. Regular sexual activity eliminates these harmful secretions and also helps protect the gland from cancer. According to researchers, frequent ejaculations, especially in 20-something men, may reduce the risk of prostate cancer later in life. Another study found that frequent ejaculations, 21 or more a month, were linked to lower prostate cancer risk in older men compared with less frequent ejaculations of four to seven monthly.

9. Sex helps in weight loss and overall fitness: While you might not want to hang up your gym shoes just yet if you’re looking to lose weight, regular sex can help add activity to your lifestyle. Thirty minutes of sex burns 85 calories or more. It may not sound like much, but it adds up: 42 half-hour sessions will burn 3,570 calories, more than enough to lose a pound (or 0.45 kg). Sex also boosts production of testosterone, which leads to stronger bones and muscles.

10. Sex boosts testosterone and estrogen: Regular sexual activity boosts both testosterone and estrogen levels in both men and women. Testosterone is what makes the sex drive in men and women more aggressive. Besides boosting your libido, testosterone fortifies bones and muscles. It also keeps your heart healthy and good cholesterol high. In women, sex increases estrogen levels, which protects against heart disease. It is estrogen that makes a woman want to be touched and feel romantic, it is testosterone that evokes sexual arousal. Estrogen also plays a huge role in a woman’s body scent.

Men’s bodies also produce estrogen. Some estrogen helps a man to develop the softer, more nurturing, feminine side of his personality. As men age, the testosterone-estrogen balance begins to shift, with testosterone decreasing and estrogen increasing, and this is one reason why many men seem to mellow out as they get older.

Good, healthy sex with someone that you love has survival benefits. The caressing, hugging, stroking and cuddling promote feelings of love, nurture and care. Any expression of love and emotional intimacy encourages healing. Thus, sex with the touching and caressing related to being in love puts a smile on our face for health benefits as well.

Source: http://www.rediff.com/getahead