NAWHO

Staying healthy is harder than you think and – in addition to raising a family and working 40 hours a week – it can seem utterly daunting. It seems like someone in the office is always coming down with something and that can spread real fast in the work environment. Not to mention that it’s just so easy to get worn down from time to time with everything going on.

Lucky for you, there are five things you can do that will help promote a healthier immune system:

Get some sleep. The human body needs a minimum of 6 hours of sleep, but you should always try to make sure you get a full 8 hours whenever possible. Sleep reinvigorates the body’s natural immune system and is the only chance your body has to really shut down and repair itself. If you go too long without sleep, you could not only suffer mental but physical consequences, as well.

Drink plenty of liquids. The recommended daily requirement of water is somewhere around 64 oz. That could be 8 or 9 glasses spread out of over the course of the day and evening. Drinking plenty of water helps flush out your system of any nasty germs or toxins. It’s also a great way to filter out your immune system.

Exercise regularly. Last month, we published an article on this site about the importance of exercise as a way of life – it’s also crucial to your immune system. Continuous exercise gets the blood pumping, circulating all the bad stuff and switching it for the new. Keeping an active lifestyle helps promote an active immune system.

Eat healthy. It sounds like a cliché, but there is an element of truth in all of it and the fact of the matter is that if you want to stay healthy, you have to eat healthy. Getting the recommended amount of fruits and vegetables each day gives the body plenty of vitamins and nutrients necessary to fight against germs and infection.

Wash your hands. You don’t need to become obsessive about it, but you should wash your hands whenever you have interacted with something that you know has been touched by countless others. The gas pump at a station, a restroom door knob, the railing on a staircase – if thousands of people have touched it, you had better wash your hands before touching your mouth, eyes or any other crucial part of your body.

Your immune system is very important, but it can only do so much. You have to meet it halfway when it comes to how you conduct yourself in public. That means getting enough sleep, washing your hands and eating right to promote a healthier, stronger immune system.

There are many excuses a person might come up with for not wanting to make the switch from mass-produced to organic. Some people cite the expenses as the major reason why they don’t shop organic. Other people say that it’s because they trust the industries over the organic food stores.

While these might be valid reasons, you owe it to yourself and your continued health to weigh both sides of the argument. There are many reasons why you should switch to organic foods and we are going to talk about a few of them today.

• It’s healthier. Organic foods are typically free from all the pesticides (when it comes to vegetables) and growth hormones (when it comes to the meats). That means that none of those nasty toxins or additives are being passed onto you as the consumer.
• Organic markets support local farms. Every year, small, family-run farms are put out of business by the major industries. These industries produce more, faster, but at the cost of both cheapening the produce and passing on harmful additives to the consumer.
• Organic food is more humane. When you bite into a hamburger you bought at a fast food chain, do you ever stop to think about where it came from. Sure, it came from a cow, but how was the cow treated? Did it suffer in the creation of that hamburger you are enjoying? Major industries have a nasty reputation for brutally and needlessly mistreating the livestock under their care – something you won’t be hearing about in the organic food market any time soon.

And those are just a few of the many reasons why you should switch to organic. Yes, in some cases, organic food might be more expensive than the regular, mass-produced stuff you can buy anywhere but, as we’ve said before, it’s also healthier. Another way of looking at it is simply this: pay now for healthy organic food or pay later at the doctor’s office.

Be honest, how often do you exercise?

When we think about the prospect of exercising, we usually look at it as work. Exercise is work that we do to look good and feel good and, frankly, that’s usually why we don’t always stick to it.

Because when you get right down to it, who wants to do more work when the day is done? Especially if you are one of those people who works forty hours a week.

Unfortunately, you still need to exercise – at least, if you want your body to continue to function properly as you get on in years. Exercise is very important for a number of physical and mental reasons and if you aren’t exercising now, you could pay the price later. The trick is to incorporate exercise as a seamless part of your daily routine.

Make exercise a way of life, not just time you spend working and physically exerting yourself.

Based on a new study in the Journal of Physiology, you only really need to exercise twenty minutes a day to stay fit, healthy and happy. Here’s how you can do it:

1. Commute to work via bike. Or jog or even walk – if you are close enough to your job that you don’t need to drive then consider a more active means of handling the commute. Depending on the distance and the time it takes getting to and from work every day, you could knock out that twenty-minute exercise requirement easy.

2. Use the stairs. If you work in a large office building with a lot of floors, then there are probably a lot of elevators and stairs. If your job requires you to move around the office a lot, why not just use the stairs instead of the elevator? It’s a great way to exercise in the office, clear your mind and you might even experience greater productivity as a result.

3. Go on a long walk with the dog. It’s a great way to bond with your four-legged friend and get some much needed exercise – for the both of you. You can enjoy the fresh air and the time with your dog while getting some good aerobic exercise.

Most women experience hot flashes during the early stages of menopausal transition. It is often characterized as a warm feeling that spreads across the entire body. This feeling is typically caused by hormonal changes that occur during the aging process. This can affect the body’s ability to regulate body temperature resulting in the hot flashes that many women across the country experience quite often.

Hot flashes carry many different symptoms, but the most obvious one is a feeling of hotness that spreads throughout the entire body lasting from around 30 seconds to a couple minutes. Another symptom of hot flashes involves redness of the skin typically referred to as flushing and excessive perspiration that can even result in night sweats.

There are, however, a number of treatments for hot flashes.

Hormone Therapy

This method involves either oral or transdermal forms of estrogen being introduced into the body. These methods have been successful in reducing the frequency of hot flashes by about 90%. However, caution must be observed before entering into this treatment as recent studies on the long-term effects of this treatment seem to indicate an increased risk of heart attack, stroke or even breast cancer.

Black Cohosh

This is an herbal preparation that has become more and more popular in recent years. Studies have shown that the use of black cohosh over a short-term not only reduced the occurrences of hot flashes but brought with it none of the negative side-effects from other types of treatments. A more rigorous study, however, is still pending and not everyone believes in this treatment as much as the others.

Megestrol Acetate

This drug can be prescribed as a short-term solution in dealing with hot flashes, but it is not recommended for long-term use. Side-effects such as weight gain have been attributed to this drug making it comparatively unpopular in the list of treatments.

And there are many more treatments that can help one cope with the symptoms of hot flashes. If you are finding yourself waking up with night sweats, experiencing warm sensations that spread across the entire body or noticing excessive redness of the skin, then it may be time to consult your primary healthcare provider.

According to the American Cancer Society, breast cancer is the most common cancer afflicting women in the United States. About the only thing more difficult than the cancer, however, is the treatment. Chemotherapy is often used in combating this disease. It is a systemic treatment given through the bloodstream and distributed throughout the entire body.

There are a range of side-effects resulting from chemotherapeutic techniques and many of them vary in terms of severity and quantity depending on the types of medications and even the individual. Because of this, many doctors have decided to consult with individual patients and nurses to come up with a list of things patients should be aware of before starting chemo.

Below are a few things anyone undergoing the treatment should take into account:

1. The importance of exercise. You may not feel motivated to get up and move either before, during or after the treatments, but you have to exercise and move as much as possible. Exercise can help get the blood flowing through your body and it can also promote the production of chemicals called endorphins in your body. Endorphins are important for relaxation and stress relief.

2. You need to simplify your life. If you live with a spouse or family member, then it might be a good idea to start delegating chores to anyone who can help. The last thing you need to be thinking about during the treatments is the small things. Modern medicine still doesn’t understand the extent of the physical impact stress can have on your body, but you don’t need any extra during chemo.

3. Always keep a journal. And always write in that journal – every day. Even if you don’t feel like there is anything worth writing about, write down whatever you are thinking and feeling. Talk about the other patients you met during chemo, describe the dream you had when you fell asleep during treatment, whatever you want. It’s your journal for your thoughts.

4. Don’t go at it alone. If the hospital where you are being treated has the space and will allow it, bring someone with you. Occupy yourself with reading, games, television, conversation and any other activity you can enjoy with this person. Try not to give yourself the opportunity to dwell on your situation or the treatment – give yourself a break.

5. Trust in the treatment and the doctor. Going through chemotherapy can be a discouraging time but you must try to stay positive through the experience. Most of the activities mentioned earlier can help with that. You must also trust the doctor and the treatment. And you must stick with the program no matter how bleak or uncertain things seem. There CAN be more good days than bad days.

Breast cancer is often described by sufferers as a personalized disease, but there are things every woman can do to help make the process and the treatment a little more bearable. And remember that, despite how prevalent breast cancer can be, there are more than 2.5 million survivors in the United States – and the number is growing.