An Exercise in Proper Breathing

An Exercise in Proper Breathing
Take a Good Breather
By Mike Kramer

Proper breathing is an underestimated, but critical building block of good health. Slow, deep breathing gets rid of carbon dioxide waste and takes plenty of clean, fresh oxygen to your brain and muscles. More blood cells get the new, oxygen-rich air instead of the same old stale stuff. Experts estimate that proper breathing helps your body eliminate toxins 15 times faster than poor, shallow breathing. You’ll not only be healthier, but you’ll be able to perform better (mentally and physically) and, of course, be less stressed and more relaxed.

Here’s an exercise that will help you get the full benefits of good breathing. The techniques in this exercise are ones you should try to develop in your normal breathing, and that could take practice. Try to take about 10 minutes, but it can happen in five by cutting the time for each step in half. Most of it can be done anywhere you need to relax or clear your head:

1. Get Ready (2 minutes) Make the room dark, or at least darker. Lie down flat on your back, or sit against a wall. Use a pillow for comfort. Make sure no part of your body is strained or supporting weight. Close your eyes. Just pay attention to your breathing for a minute or two. Don’t try to change it, just notice how it feels. Imagine the fresh blood flowing through your body. Listen to your surroundings.
2. Stage I (2 minutes) Practice breathing in and out of your nose. Exhaling through the mouth is okay for quick relaxation, but for normal breathing, in and out the nose is best. Take long breaths, not deep breaths. Try not to force it, you shouldn’t hear your breath coming in or out. You’re drawing slow breaths, not gulping it or blowing it out. Feel the rhythm of your breathing.
3. Stage II (3 minutes) Good breathing is done through the lower torso, rather than the upper torso. Each breath should expand your belly, your lower back and ribs. Relax your shoulders and try not to breathe with your chest. Put your hands on your stomach and feel them rise and fall. If it’s not working, push down gently with your hands for a few breaths and let go. Your stomach should start to move more freely. Relax your face, your neck, your cheeks, your jaw, your temples, even your tongue.
4. Stage III (3 minutes) Feel the good air entering your lungs and feel the stale air leaving your body. “In with the good, out with the bad” is definitely true here. Make your exhale as long as your inhale to make sure all the bad air is gone. Remember, long slow breaths. Most people take 12-16 breaths per minute. Ideally, it should be 8-10. Now try to make your exhale a little longer than your inhale for a while. Pause after your exhale without taking a breath. Focus on the stillness and on not forcing an inhale. Your body will breathe when it needs to.

From SparkPeople.com

Health Benefits of Garlic

Garlic is a culinary mainstay that provides a host of health benefits. It can help improve overall cholesterol levels, lower blood pressure and decreases clot formation, thus reducing the risk of stroke and heart attack. It also has antiviral, antibacterial, and antifungal properties, making it especially helpful in combating respiratory infections.

A simple way to treat a cold is to eat two cloves of raw garlic at the onset of symptoms. Chop or crush the cloves to release the allicin (a sulfur compound with strong antibiotic effects) and put them on a sandwich or mix them in applesauce. From DrWeil.com

Watkins Garlic Oil Softgels  Article No. 01465 (60- to 120-day supply)

For centuries, mothers and herbalists have prescribed garlic in large quantities at the first sign of almost any illness. Today we are finding that garlic may indeed have great benefits for the heart and circulation.

It contains many major nutrients, as well as phytonutrients that slow aging and help maintain optimal health.

Garlic has been studied for its benefits in enhancing immunity and promoting healthy cholesterol levels and blood pressure.

Unfortunately, most of us don’t eat nearly enough garlic in our normal diets to be of  maximum benefit.

Our Garlic Oil Softgels contain a full gram of garlic oil each, together with parsley seed oil and chlorophyll to help minimize any breath odor. 120 softgels; one or two per day.

• Garlic oil: Contains potassium, phosphorus, B-complex vitamins, vitamin C and calcium.
• Parsley and chlorophyl: Help minimize any aftertaste or breath odor caused by the garlic; parsley contains natural chlorophyll, which is known to eliminate odor. 
• Softgels: Easy to swallow; a convenient way to add garlic to your diet.
• Pure/all natural: No preservatives, artificial color

Testimonials

Individual results may vary. Consult your physician before taking any dietary supplements.

“Watkins Garlic Oil Softgels have enabled me to control my blood pressure without medication.” – Ron Losey, Kentucky

“My cholesterol had gone up and I started taking Watkins Garlic Oil Softgels. When I went back to the doctor he couldn’t believe how much my cholesterol had dropped. Needless to say, I’m very satisfied with Watkins Garlic Oil Softgels.” – Virginia Miller, Minnesota

Why Do Women Feel Cold More Than Men Do?

The proper setting for the thermostat can spark fierce disputes among couples, and while there are exceptions, typically, women complain of cold temperatures more often than men do.

Ironically, this is probably because women are better at surviving extreme cold than are men.  Mark Newton, a clothing-industry consultant and researcher at the University of Portsmouth, explains that women have a more evenly distributed fat layer and can more effectively pull all their blood back to their core organs in cold temperatures. While this fosters survival in sub-freezing conditions, it also means less blood flows to their hands and feet, and as a result they feel cold at higher temperatures than men typically do.

There is no simple answer to this disparity; it simply suggests that in cold weather, men and women should be more willing to compromise in the thermostat battle, as their differences are determined genetically – a fact no amount of arguing will alter.

Happiness is Catching

Hang out with happy people and you’re likely to be happy, too. In fact, findings from a new study suggest that being around happy people boosts your spirits even more than a financial windfall.

For the study, investigators from Harvard and the University of California, San Diego, tracked more than 4,700 people who participated in the 20-year Framingham Heart Study, each of whom completed a questionnaire about their happiness. Results showed that happy people tended to be at the center of social networks and were likely to have many friends who were happy.

They also showed that having friends or siblings nearby boost your chances of being happy – and that all this happiness really is contagious: it spreads outwards by three degrees to friends of friends. The investigators calculated that each happy friend you have increases your chances of being happy by nine percent while having downbeat friends reduces your shot at happiness by seven percent. Happiness isn’t just a state of mind: it has a protective effect on the immune system.

The study was published on December 6, 2008, in the British journal BMJ.

Flu or False?

Hot drinks have long been a traditional remedy for the cold and flu but now scientific research has shown that a steaming mug of hot liquid really can help.

For generations, grandmothers have served up warm drinks to help reduce the symptoms of suffering relatives, and now experts reckon they have been right all along.

The study, carried out at Cardiff University’s Common Cold Centre, found that “a simple hot drink can provide an immediate and sustained relief from symptoms of runny nose, cough, sneezing, sore throat, chilliness and tiredness.”

Here, we take a look at some other old wives’ tales to find out what ones have a basis in fact and which are nothing but stuff and nonsense.

Those that have been proved by science to be true include:

• An apple a day will keep the doctor away. Several studies show that the high levels of phenolics contained in apples work as a potent antioxidant, which has been shown to reduce the risk of breast and colon cancer. Other research suggests apples can also help stave off Alzheimer’s disease. 
• Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Studies show that people who don’t have breakfast develop a low blood sugar during the hours between lunch and dinner. This can lead to increased hunger as well as deposition of fat. 
• Cranberry juice can help bladder infections. According to a study at Harvard Medical School, the properties in both cranberry and blackberry juice destroy bacteria clinging to the walls of the bladder. 
• Chicken soup helps colds. Doctors at the University of California have discovered the amino acid cysteine, a common by product of chicken soup, holds the same properties as acetylcysteine, a common antibiotic prescribed to people  with   respiratory  infections.
• Sitting in a hot bath can make men infertile. A three-year study of infertile men at the University of California found their sperm count rose dramatically when they stayed out of hot baths for between three to six months. 
• Eating carrots helps you see in the dark. The old wives’ tale that most of us will have heard when we were young actually turns out to have some basis in fact. Carrots are packed with Vitamin A, which is vital for good retina health. 
• Toothpase can get rid of spots. Many toothpastes contain menthol, which cools and soothes inflammation. Antibacterial agents can fight infection, so toothpaste can make the perfect spot-fighting cream if you don’t have anything else to hand. 
• Listening to loud music will damage your hearing. Research suggests as many as one in five of today’s teenagers have already done damage to their ears through listening to music at excessive volumes. 
• Chewing parsley gets rid of bad breath. Parsley has been used for thousands of years to counteract garlic breath, as it contains compounds which counteract the high sulphur content of garlic that causes the unpleasant odor. 
• Counting sheep helps you go to sleep. Counting is calming which can help lull the brain to sleep, but experts say to stick to counting the same one or two rather than counting hundreds. 
• Cloves help relieve toothaches. Cloves and clove oil contain properties that can temporarily help numb the tooth, but the British Dental Health Foundation warns it should only be used in an emergency, as clove oil on the gums can burn them and even cause ulceration. 
• Cleaning your ears with cotton swabs will make you deaf. It is all too easy to damage the eardrum by poking things such as cotton swabs into the ear canal. 
• Feed a cold, starve a fever. A study showed that those who fasted then consumed nothing but water, produced raised levels of toxins that fight infections. However those who fasted and then had a meal, produced more of the kind of compounds which can tackle viral infections such as colds. 

Here’s a few that aren’t true.

• Wearing copper bracelets helps alleviate the symptoms of arthritis: There is no scientific evidence to support this claim.
• Eating boiled eggs makes you constipated: Scientists say you would have to eat an awful lot of eggs to get constipated. 
• Pull out a gray hair  and two will grow back in its place: You can expect one new hair to appear in around three months, but not two. 
• Sitting too close to the TV will damage your eyesight: It may well give you a headache, but it won’t cause any permanent eye damage. 
• Heartburn while pregnant means your baby will be born with a full head of hair: There is no scientific proof of this.

From ThirdAge.com

Do Heating Pads Cause Cancer?

Do Heating Pads Cause Cancer?

In the cold winter months it’s tempting to pull out the heating pads and electric blankets to help keep warm and alleviate minor discomforts. But are they safe? Heating pads, used correctly to create moist heat, can provide temporary relief from mild aches and pains such as pulled muscles, menstrual cramps, and stiff joints. However electric heating pads, along with other household appliances such as electric blankets and mattress covers, hair dryers, computers, and coffeemakers, all generate electromagnetic fields (EMFs). These invisible lines of force surround electrical equipment, power cords, and power lines, and their potential effects have been in the center of controversy surrounding a possible link to the development of cancers.

Research has not concluded whether EMFs disrupt the cellular systems that control the normal growth and development of tissues. Interfering with these processes might increase the risk of cancer, and the possibility of an EMF/cancer connection hasn’t been definitively ruled out. Because we can’t say for sure that EMFs are harmless, I recommend using a non-electric heating pad, such as one that you warm up in a microwave oven, or that uses hot water.

From DrWeil.com